Work Text:
Rin doesn’t understand how exactly he’s found himself here. Sighing, he pushes aside his thick textbook and closes his laptop… only to roll his eyes. Rin shakes his head in disbelief as he takes in the infuriatingly adorable sight across him: body currently plastered across the table, face tucked neatly into his folded arms as he sleeps.
This asshole, really.
He really, really doesn’t know how things could have escalated to this point.
~
“No.”
“But why?”
“We aren’t even in the same grade? And I’m pretty sure Isagi isn’t free today,” Rin retorts as he walks to his next class. The bundle of pure, barely contained energy continues to whine, even resorting to tugging at Rin’s sleeve.
“Rin-chan, please! My English grade depends on this! I’m sure you’ll be able to help me even if we’re in different years. Any help is better than no help for me.”
“I disagree. Your English is hopeless.”
“Hey! And, why would it matter if Isagi was here or not? We could totally hang out, just the two of us.”
Rin continues to walk, faster this time. He doesn’t know whether he’s actually trying to run away for real. Not like it will work anyway, Bachira’s always been great at keeping up.
The older boy breaks into a mini jog, purposely blocking Rin’s path with extended arms, the big pleading eyes as he pouts. Full-on pouts.
“Rin-chan…”
Rin has two options: look utterly stupid while trying to get past the human barricade, or just simply endure whatever few hours he’ll spend tucked away in the library with Bachira.
Seeing as he was already getting looks, Rin makes the quick decision.
“You end at 1 today, right?”
And Bachira beams. So brightly. Rin should look away, but he can’t bring himself to.
~
The session starts off surprisingly tolerable. Rin has unfortunately developed a high level of patience, having tutored Isagi for quite a while as well.
(Isagi would argue that it’s a very, very fortunate change.)
“And when you need to translate this, keep in mind the differences between English and Japanese grammar.” Rin points to the practice paragraph on the worksheet.
He looks to Bachira to make sure the other is following along, but all he sees is the boy’s big eyes staring back at him, utterly lost.
“Here, I’ll write down the first line for you, and you’ll finish the rest of the paragraph. Note for the tenses and punctuation,” Rin orientates the worksheet to face himself, quickly tearing a sheet of paper out of his exercise book as he starts to write.
When he looks up, Bachira’s no longer sitting opposite him, instead a small “oh!” nearly has Rin jumping out of his seat as he realises the older boy has migrated to his side of the table.
“Sorry Rin-chan, didn’t mean to scare you. Your handwriting is…”
“What about it,” Rin’s lips pressed into a straight line, unamused.
“Nothing! It’s better than mine! I just think it’s cute! Like you,” Bachira says easily.
Oh my god.
“Just,” Rin coughs, patting the boy to return to his seat, “Go back and finish up.”
It’s silent for a while. Bachira finishes the question in ten minutes, sliding it over for Rin to check. Rin carefully points out the few small errors, before giving him the green light to continue.
“You know, Rin-chan, you’re a lot more patient than I’d expected,” Bachira pipes up.
“Oh?” Rin scoffs, “And what did you expect me to do?”
“Yell? Throw a book at me? Maybe even get on the table to try and grip my collar,” Bachira shrugs.
“And I will, if you make a mistake with the apostrophes one more time. Don’t test me.”
“Okay, whatever you say,” Bachira taunts, wiggling his eyebrows as he plays with his pencil.
“I’m serious. Stop fooling around before you actually fail this test. Like you did your last assessment.”
“Hey!”
~
“Hey. Hey. Bob Cut,” Rin nudges the top of Bachira’s head with his finger. Nothing happens, as expected.
And maybe Rin should just watch. The steady breathing of Bachira as his figure slowly moves up and down. His barely visible face and his trimmed bangs, the way his eyelids flutter—
Rin slaps himself lightly on the cheek.
“Hey!” He resorts to a whisper-yell, with a slightly stronger smack to the back of Bachira’s head.
The older boy finally stirs, craning his head up as Rin lets him regain his clarity. He sits up straight, before peering down to his English textbook and plonking onto the table with an unceremonious thump, whining softly.
“Rin-chan, I hate this. I hate this I hate this I hate this. I might actually die from this.”
“The sooner you get back to work, the sooner you’ll find out,” Rin replies, sliding his things back into place as he opens his laptop—
“Nuh-uh.” Bachira closes it once more, “You’re here to help me, Rin-chan.”
“You fell asleep.” Rin deadpans.
“Yeah, because you weren’t helping me!”
“I’ve helped you plenty for the—” Rin checks his watch, “2 hours and 37 minutes we’ve been here. The ten minutes I look away to try and start work, you collapse onto that table snoring.”
“Well maybe if I continue studying I won’t just collapse… maybe I’ll actually drop dead!”
Rin rolls his eyes. Why did he decide to do this, again?
It’s not like he absolutely didn’t want to spend time with Bachira—
(In fact, a tiny part of his brain would argue otherwise, constantly taunting him whenever the older boy was in close proximity. Like, right now.)
He pinches the bridge of his nose, “You only have this last page of exercise questions left. You’ll be fine.”
With that, he re-opens his laptop, trying very hard to ignore the boy.
He’s pouting. Rin just knows it. Ignoring proves useless if you can already predict his actions, his mind whispers. Die.
“… worst date ever.”
That has Rin snapping his head up, his chest tightening at the words.
“Date?” Rin looks up.
“Yeah. This has been the worst study date ever! Rin-chan…” Bachira shrinks into his arms. He’s somehow still attached to that damn table.
Date. He means study date. The knot in Rin’s chest loosens. Though he isn’t sure if it’s out of relief or disappointment.
(Rin was right, by the way. The boy is pouting.)
“…”
“Are you good Rin-chan? You look really constipated. And flushed? Are you sick?” Bachira finally peels himself off the table, reaching over to press his hand against Rin’s forehead.
“I’m fine,” Rin gently grips his wrist before detaching the warm palm, “Let’s wrap up this study session soon so finish your work.”
(He’s testing something.)
“What if I don’t want the study date to end,” Bachira shoots back, blinking his innocent eyes.
Date. Date. Date. That word tauntingly repeats in his head like a mantra.
“Bob Cut— and you’re back on the table.” Rin must have aged ten years.
“I’m going to die!”
Rin sighs heavily, trying to reorganise his thoughts.
1. Bachira’s English assessment is tomorrow. He needs a good grade.
2. Bachira is refusing to finish his revision
3. Bachira thinks they’re on a date.
It’s just a study date… his brain whispers traitoriously.
Rin doesn’t have time for an existential crisis right now. That doesn’t stop him from overthinking, though.
Tuning out the other’s whines for just a while, Rin evaluates everything, mainly his weird friendship with Bachira for which he blames Isagi.
The blue-haired boy had been a mutual friend who had introduced them to each other. Originally, he was just Isagi’s English tutor, having begrudgingly agreed to ‘help a dear friend out’. Then Bachira pops out of nowhere, hijacking each and every session after they exchange names and now he’s wormed his way into Rin’s mind without much effort at all.
Like a parasite.
Except you wouldn’t want him gone. Rin hates his brain.
Rin looks back at the whining boy, and he thinks back to a few months ago…
~
“You know, sometimes Sae-chan rewards me with impromptu dates or kisses when he needs a favour. He doesn’t know I’d do anything for him in a heartbeat if he’d just ask, but hey! I’m not complaining.”
“The fuck are you doing here? Sae’s not home,” Rin nearly chokes on his sweet tea as he stands at the doorway. Walking into the apartment he shares with his brother, only to see his insufferable boyfriend lighting up at another person in the area, was not on Rin’s agenda.
Shidou’s pacing around the living room, continuing to yap Rin’s ear off.
“Well! Sae asked me to help him collect a parcel and drop it off here, and he offered me a mini date after he gets back! Isn’t he the sweetest I—”
“And I’ll get Sae to take you on another one tomorrow if you just shut up,” Rin groans, slamming his bedroom door.
“Well! We already have one tomorrow! But it was actually scheduled ahead of—”
“Just shut up!”
~
Rin looks back at the whining boy. This could either be the stupidest thing he’s about to do, or the thing that could change the trajectory of their weird ‘stuck-in-limbo’ friendship.
“If,” He sighs, “you finish your revision, plus the extra practices, I’ll take you on a real date.”
Bachira stops whining immediately.
“What did you say?”
“You called this the worst date ever, didn’t you? I’ll take you on a better one if you finish everything.”
No response. Rin wants to jump as he stares at Bachira’s flabbergasted expression, his cheeks flushing as he hangs his mouth open. Rin looks down immediately, face burning bright red.
He didn’t just misread the entire situation… did he?
A deep breath. Then a slam.
Rin looks up to see Bachira’s once closed exercise book spread open, fingers trailing after each question as he reads intently, quickly starting to write his answers.
It worked. It actually worked.
Rin watches in awe as Bachira finishes the final page, quickly moving onto the last package of questions as he writes with vigor.
Ten questions and an extra revision package completed in thirty minutes. It had taken Bachira more than 2 hours to finish the first 3 pages earlier.
“I’m done, Rin-chan! No taking it back.” Bachira sounds breathless, eyes twinkling as his cheeks still retain that rosy colour.
“Yeah… I… you actually want one?”
“Of course, Rin-chan. You’re so dense sometimes. I’ve wanted to ask you for ages, but I always assumed you’d reject even just hanging out with me if Isagi wasn’t around. I was sick of just catching you in hallways and crashing your breaks,” The older boy admits softly.
“Well, you’re stupid. But I guess I owe you now,” Rin sighs.
Bachira cheers.
~
As they walk out of the library after, with Bachira clinging to his arm, Rin feels his mind relaxing.
“So, what do you want to do? And when? The beach? A movie? The arcade?” Bachira bounces on the balls of his feet, the slight skip in his steps forcing Rin to quicken his pace.
(Not that he minds, though.)
“We can discuss it after your test. I’ll text.”
(They’d exchanged numbers before leaving together, Bachira excitedly shoving his phone into Rin’s hands. Rin sighs, but he does so anyway.)
“Okay, Rin-chan! It better be good!”
~
The next weekend, Rin finds himself chewing on popcorn, eyes glued to the screen as a shrill shriek of terror reverberates through the theatre. Bachira whimpers, tightening his grip on Rin’s arm as he attempts to hide behind the latter’s shoulder.
“Rin-chan, when I said a movie date would be great, I didn’t expect you to book tickets for the hottest new horror movie out right—” Bachira whisper-yells, sentence interrupted by a small yelp as the woman suddenly gets dragged across the creaky attic by her legs.
“I like horror.”
Bachira only gives him a weak smile as another blood-curdling scream is let out.
“Just another hour left…”
~
Rin notices the way Bachira’s legs tremble slightly, as he wobbles out of the seat, staring at the movie credits roll as everyone else stands up to leave the theatre.
“This may just be the longest you’ve managed to look at the screen today.”
“Wow, Rin-chan does actually have a sense of humor. And hey! I was expecting a cute movie like the new Pixar film, not whatever this abomination of a flesh-eating creature preying after its mad scientist creator was!”
The two walk out, still bickering.
“It was really interesting, not being able to keep up really only does you a disservice,” Rin shrugs.
“Well then, tell me about the movie. I’m sure I’ll be able to actually focus if a handsome boy by the name of Rin tells me, instead of the plot being relayed by screams and growls.”
Rin rolls his eyes, but he obliges anyway. Once he starts, words explaining the plot with an impressive amount of detail easily flow out. Rin smiles as he thinks back to the movie, god he loves good horror.
Poke. The sudden pressure on his cheek finally has him halting his speech, opting to turn towards the older boy, whose finger remains stubbornly against the soft flesh.
“You’re cute when you smile, Rin-chan. If I had known it only takes a simple horror movie to get you to smile, I’d do this anytime a new one drops.”
Rin’s unable to stop the blush from creeping into his cheeks, and no, he obviously doesn’t feel like exploding. The older boy has fun with his shyness as he starts to coo and pinch both cheeks.
“Shut up. Let’s go get coffee,” he announces, pulling Bachira’s hands away. Bachira’s whines cut off when he interlinks their fingers, pulling him along so that Bachira remains ever so slightly behind, unable to see the persistent red on his cheeks.
Bachira giggles as he allows himself to get dragged, tightening his grip on Rin’s fingers.
~
bob-cut
thank you for today rin-chan o(^▽^)o
Me
i told you i’d take you on a better one.
bob-cut
hmm… better is debatable. we didn’t do what i truly wanted to do :(
Me
and that is…?
bob-cut
won’t you give me a kiss next time, rin-chan? or will we have to strike another deal for that?
Me
let’s see your test results.
if you get an A, i’ll give you what you want
bob-cut
ur so on o(｀ω´ )o
i’ll be getting that kiss for sure!
goodnight rin-chan, i hope you dream of me~
Rin smiles as he swipes to another chat and types a quick message. Surprisingly, the recipient immediately comes online.
You have unblocked asshole demon
Me
thanks i guess
asshole demon
?? what for? and omg you finally unblocked me?
You have blocked asshole demon
Shidou manages to get one message in before Rin twists his face in disgust, quickly setting his phone onto the nightstand and tucking himself into the sheets.
Sleep comes rather easy as Rin dreams of a certain boy who could rival the sun (But could never speak a sentence of english.)
Oh well, everyone has their flaws.