Chapter Text
Sousuke didn’t think his plan through. At all.
He didn’t realize it until he was at the airport waiting for his luggage. His gaze scanned the baggage as it gradually rotated around the conveyor belt, waiting to see his suitcase. Everything around him was a flurry of holiday music and noise and commotion that Sousuke found easy to tune out until he felt a hand place itself on his left shoulder with the goal of gaining his attention. Sousuke glanced over and was confused at the embarrassed pair of friendly green eyes that met his gaze.
“Do you know where the men’s room is? I’m afraid I’ve never been here.”
Oh... Oh. The green-eyed man was speaking to him in English. Of course he was speaking to him in English; they were in Australia, where they spoke English, and wrote English, and Sousuke -
Sousuke was screwed.
“I,” Sousuke mumbled, mentally berating himself as he tried valiantly to remember whatever words he could from his travel guide. “I... I don’t... Don’t speak English.” He couldn’t remember conjugation, couldn’t remember sentence structures, and damn those classes at Samezuka to hell; how did not a single speck of information retain itself in his mind, especially when he needed it the most?
“Oh! Sorry! Merry Christmas!” The man nodded in understanding before waving and heading in the opposite direction, leaving Sousuke alone to face facts.
He was in another country that he wasn’t familiar with, completely unable to speak or read the language there. No one knew he was there - aside from Gou, and he had made her swear up and down that she wouldn’t tell a soul about his trip. And, now that he was taking the time to actually think about it, he had no idea how to locate Rin. He had his address thankfully, but other than that he had no idea where Rin’s flat was, nor where his team trained, where the Aquatic Centre was, where his home stay family lived... Nothing. Sousuke knew absolutely nothing.
Who was the one really getting surprised - Rin, or himself? He was beginning to take bets on the latter.
“Shit,” he sighed before moving forward to grab his suitcase once he finally saw it move by him on the conveyor belt. With his suitcase rolling behind him while being dragged by his right hand and his carry on slung over his left shoulder, Sousuke began making his way through the airport with the goal of finding an exit. He supposed he should’ve been hit with the reality of his language barrier when he checked in at customs with his passport. Maybe he was too jet lagged, maybe he was too caught up in his thoughts... Whatever the reason, it was too late for Sousuke to figure it out and plan accordingly. He was there and had to deal with it now.
He began following a large family as they maneuvered through the airport, hoping that they too were heading toward the same exit that he needed. Thankfully they did indeed lead him right to an exit, but it seemed busy and overwhelming for someone as lost as he was. He continued following the family as they headed to what looked like the end of a line, and he could only assume it was the line to wait for a taxi. Sousuke took the pause in movement as an opportunity to check his phone, thankful that Rin’s address was still saved in his texts. The sense of relief he felt was indescribable; he truly felt lost, but having that kept him grounded. It solidified his reason for being there.
Sousuke quickly glanced down away from his phone when he felt when tiny hands join his in holding onto the handle of his suitcase. Next to him was a short, giggly little girl with a long blonde ponytail, one of the family members he had been following around; he figured she recognized him because of that. She was smiling widely at him, and he found comfort in the fact that she didn’t seem to have even an ounce of the stressful tension that he felt. Well, of course not. She wasn’t lost, and she was surrounded by people who knew what they were doing and where they were going.
“Hi!” she said cheerfully. “We’re visiting my grandparents for Christmas!”
Sousuke chuckled nervously. “Visiting a friend,” he replied unable to keep from blushing at how thick his accent was and how very aware he was at his vain attempts at pronunciation. The girl didn’t seem to mind and only giggled at him, which caught the attention of the older man with her that Sousuke was assuming was her father.
“You waiting for a ride, too?”
That was a sentence Sousuke couldn’t fully grasp. His grip on his phone tightened in nervousness and he shrugged helplessly. He was starting to regret not having upgraded to something more modern before leaving, because then maybe he would be able to speak easier and with more comfort.
“Sorry,” he replied sheepishly, hoping that the other man wouldn’t take him as acting standoffish, but rather would see his communication issues. The other man didn’t respond. Instead, he reached into his pocket and Sousuke arched an eyebrow in confusion as the other man pulled out his phone and his finger started rapidly moving along a black touch screen. The little girl let go of Sousuke and his suitcase handle at that point, skipping over to her dad to try and watch him as he worked.
Before Sousuke could question it any further, the man extended his phone to him, taking Sousuke by surprise. He hesitantly reached out, taking the phone from the other man’s hold then glanced down at the screen with jealousy. Something like this would better suit situations like the one he was in, but now was not the time to regret what he didn’t have and find envy in the kindness of a stranger.
The screen was mostly in English, but Sousuke could tell it was some sort of a translation page. He had never felt so relieved. His fingers started tapping along the glass, feeling his relief grow as he switched it to translate from Japanese to English to type in - I need a taxi. I can’t speak English.
Sousuke handed the phone back to the other man who eyed the screen briefly before turning around and pointing behind them back into the festively lit airport. “Go back in,” he said slowly, “there’s an exit for taxis.”
“Daddy, he can’t understand you!”
The other man recognized his error and laughed in embarrassment before nodding and began typing quickly on his phone, handing it back to Sousuke who calmed down at seeing the kanji with instructions on the screen - you need to go back inside. Go straight. Make a right then there will be an exit for taxis.
He could work with that. He could do that. He nodded in gratitude, bowing down at the man and his family with a relieved smile on his face. If it weren’t for them, he would’ve been standing at that exit forever and wonder why no taxi was ever arriving.
“Thank you so much,” he mumbled out, giving a small wave to the the man and the little girl before he was on his way back inside the airport to, hopefully, follow the man’s directions. If it hadn’t been for her, he would have absolutely continued to wait on the sidewalk for the taxi that would never come.
But now came Sousuke’s next problem - where was he going, exactly?
“Go straight,” Sousuke repeated quietly, glancing around at his surroundings. There was an ATM a couple feet away from him, and in front of him appeared to be a meeting place of some sort from the looks of it. There were groups of people talking and hugging, others sitting and waiting, killing time on their phones. “Then... Make a left, was it?” He nervously scratched at the back of his neck before beginning to take a few steps in that direction, only to be stopped by the sharp jab of someone’s knee into the back of his thigh.
Sousuke stumbled forward, letting go of the handle of his suitcase causing it to roll forward and slam into the floor. The handles of his carry on slid off of his left shoulder but Sousuke managed to catch that one before setting it on the ground beside his suitcase. “What the hell?” he yelled, uncaring if he could be understood or not. He turned around, ready to face whatever was standing behind him -
Anything but Rin, that is.
Rin, and his narrowed red eyes, and his amused as hell smirk, and his hands on his hips, and the fact that it was obvious that the shorter boy was holding back laughter. Sousuke stared at him wide-eyed, unable to form words or thoughts thanks to the sheer confusion that plagued him. He went from nervous, to secure, to angry, to confused in the span of mere minutes and Sousuke shouldn’t have been surprised that Rin could cause such reactions out of him. It was par for the course.
“What are you doing here?” Sousuke asked, unable to raise his voice.
“I think the better question is what are you doing here?” Rin responded with a laugh. “You can’t speak English and your sense of direction is pathetic, to say the least.”
“I was doing just fine, thanks...”
“Yeah? So why did you come from the bus exit then come back inside and were wandering around aimlessly? You looked like a lost child just now.”
“...how long have you been watching me?”
Rin just laughed before taking the few steps forward to bridge the gap between them, arms immediately wrapping around Sousuke’s neck in a tight hug.
Sousuke couldn’t move. He stood still, arms stuck at his sides, trying to comprehend how Rin was there with him, arms around him, warmth against him, when he wasn’t even supposed to know that Sousuke was there yet. How did he -
“Gou told me. Said that if you hadn’t gotten to me by 2, that I should go find you.”
“I’m so glad that the Matsuoka family has such high faith in my ability to survive,” Sousuke mumbled out, but there was no resentment in his voice. He regained the ability to move at last, arms coming up to wrap around Rin’s waist and for the first time since he stepped foot on the plane to Australia, Sousuke didn’t feel lost.
“I can’t believe you’re here,” Rin mumbled against the skin of his neck, and the heat from his breath caused goosebumps to wake across Sousuke’s body. “You knew I couldn’t fly out for the holidays so you came here instead. You came here. You’re here.”
“I wanted to be with you,” Sousuke mumbled, a dopey smile stretching across his face. His surprise didn’t go exactly the way he had planned, but he still managed to make Rin happy and speechless somehow, and that made it all worth it. “And don’t ask how, I know you’re wondering. I got some time off, and I wanted to spend that down time with you. If it’s not okay...”
“Shut up,” Rin interrupted. He began nipping at a patch of skin on Sousuke’s neck causing Sousuke to laugh in response and make a move to ease away from the embrace, but Rin was having none of it.
“Rin, you know we’re in public, right?”
“What part of shut up don’t you understand?”
Sousuke just chuckled, nodding against Rin’s shoulder as he tightened his hold on him again, pulling Rin’s body closer against his own. He lost track of how long they stood there in each other’s embrace, and would’ve been perfectly content with staying there forever, but his body was beginning to feel the fatigue and exhaustion of jet lag now that he wasn’t running around in a nervous rush for his next move.
Rin seemed to sense this, and reluctantly let him go. When Sousuke looked at him, he caught a quick glimpse of the faint blush Rin had spread across his face, and Rin scowled when he noticed Sousuke caught him. The response he got was a shy smile though, which he happily accepted.
“We can take a cab back to my place,” Rin said as he moved to pick up Sousuke’s luggage. “You can rest, and maybe later you can help me decorate. Russell and Lori invited me to spend Christmas with them, and you’re coming, naturally.”
“Okay, wait,” Sousuke stammered, his nerves kicking in again but this time they instantly ran into over-drive. “First, you’re not taking all of that yourself, I can’t let you...” Sousuke trailed off with the glare he received, and he hung his head in defeat. “Okay, fine. But, decorate? Did you really go out and buy holiday decorations when you found out I was coming? Rin, you’re adorable.” His response was another swift jab in the leg from Rin’s knee, but that confirmed his suspicions. “Okay, okay! But, one more thing. What is this about your home stay family? I can’t interrupt that, I can rest at your place, I can do sightseeing, I can - ”
“You will get lost and I’ll have to call the police to help me find you. I don’t feel like spending the holidays looking for your dumb ass,” Rin responded as he began to lead the way toward the taxi ranks. “Secondly, you’re family, you idiot.” Sousuke couldn’t help but notice how Rin’s voice fell to a quiet murmur; it made his dopey smile return immediately. “They want to meet you. I... I want them to meet you.”
“You’ve spoken about me to them?”
“Only since I was twelve,” Rin replied with an exasperated sigh. “No, I am absolutely not elaborating on that.”
“Duly noted,” Sousuke answered, snickering as he continued to walk with Rin to the other side of the airport. Sousuke felt embarrassed when he realized they were talking by the terminal where he exited from once he left customs. It was looking as though he had walked right past where he needed to go in order to get to Rin and went in the complete opposite direction. It turned out to have worked in his favor, but he couldn’t help but feel stupid at not having realized despite the language barriers.
“How long are you staying for?”
Rin’s quiet voice interrupted his thoughts and he shrugged, following the other outside where a shorter line was waiting for the next group of taxis to pull in.
“Two weeks. I mean, if that’s okay. I mean, I didn’t even ask, I just showed up, but I figured I could enjoy Christmas and New Years’ with you, and I could try to get used to English and how better than by diving right into it? And, maybe, I could check a few things out, start coming up with some sort of an idea about what I could do, and - ”
Sousuke was once again cut off by Rin as he found the other’s body suddenly pressing against his own, Rin’s head resting on his good shoulder. There was no missing the wide smile Rin had, and Sousuke felt so ridiculously happy that he could cause him to do that. He hadn’t even been in Australia for long, but that was enough to make his trip a success.
“That’s very, very okay with me. God, Sousuke, why the hell wouldn’t it be okay? I’m so happy you’re here. I felt so bad that I couldn’t come home. I know Gou and my mom were upset about it, and Haru was giving me shit, and Nagisa, Ai, and Momo were practically crying in text messages to me, and even though they were being nice I could tell Makoto and Rei were disappointed, and you... Sousuke, you...”
“You don’t have to say anything, Rin.”
“I wanted to be with you so bad.”
The words were almost inaudible, but Sousuke heard them. It made him tilt his head just enough to press a kiss to Rin’s temple in response as an arm snaked around his waist to keep him close. “You’ve got me.”
Sousuke lost track of time between them standing for the next taxi and the trip to Rin’s flat. He was just so tired, so ridiculously happy to have completed his mission. He made a mental note to thank Gou when he had a chance; she and Rin knew him better than he knew himself and this made it more clear.
Rin didn’t let him go at all for the entire duration of the taxi ride. Once Sousuke’s luggage was in the trunk and Rin gave the address to the driver, he was leaning against Sousuke, head back on his shoulder, arms tangled and fingers intertwined. Sousuke couldn’t move an inch without somehow moving Rin as well. He loved it, wanted to be like that always. He was going to be facing some extreme withdrawals once he had to fly back to Japan, but he had two weeks before he needed to worry about that.
The drive felt like it was over in a heartbeat, but Sousuke couldn’t be sure. The exhaustion he had been trying his damnedest to ignore was really eating at him now and he was in no shape to stop it anymore; he had no reason to. Because of that, Rin had to basically drag not only his luggage, but also Sousuke out of the taxi and up to his flat. Sousuke couldn’t even remember getting inside. His next clearest memory was laying on his back in Rin’s bed with Rin seated on his thighs, hands making quick work of undoing his belt before his hands unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans. Sousuke sleepily allowed him to tug them down his legs and had no complaints when Rin’s next move was to grab at the hem of his shirt to tug it up and off his body.
“You lazy asshole, come on. Work with me,” Rin grumbled, and Sousuke could only laugh before pushing himself up into a seated position. Doing so made him find himself at a much closer position to Rin, and he couldn’t help but interrupt the other’s goal to wrap his arms around him and pull him into a kiss. His shirt was halfway up and over his head when their lips met, and Rin’s arms were stuck in Sousuke’s embrace, hands still weakly holding onto his t-shirt.
“S-Sousuke...” was the mumbled reply he felt against his mouth before Rin finally gave in and let go of his shirt, letting it fall behind them. He couldn’t move his arms from the way Sousuke was holding him, but he didn’t seem to have any more complaints in him as their heads tilted to deepen the kiss, lips moving together as though there hadn’t been months in-between this kiss and their last. Sousuke had no idea how long he had been waiting for that kiss, that heat between them, or that spark that always ignited itself whenever they touched in some way, no matter how innocent. It woke him up, kicking sleep to the curb temporarily as his hands maneuvered themselves under Rin’s shirt fingers itching to rediscover his skin and learn what changes, if any, there were in his body since they were last together.
Rin squirmed in his hold, but Sousuke didn’t feel like budging or giving in. Instead he bit down on Rin’s lower lip and held back a laugh that would’ve broken the kiss thanks to the way Rin’s body jerked in reaction. With the limited mobility they had, Rin’s hands started moving along Sousuke’s chest, not looking to do anything overtly sexual but simply touch him, feel him, truly grasp that this was Sousuke and that he was there in person. This wasn’t a slew of text messages, this wasn’t an email or a voicemail, this wasn’t a Skype call, this was real. It was really Sousuke’s warm skin under his fingertips, his muscles as defined as ever, and his heart racing under his fingertips.
When the two finally eased out of the kiss, they were both smiling shyly, Sousuke’s arms still around Rin, and Rin’s hands still pressed against Sousuke’s chest.
“I really missed you, Rin,” Sousuke spoke up, his voice slightly louder than a whisper.
“Don’t be embarrassing,” Rin mumbled, but his grin only grew wider at the kiss Sousuke left in-between his eyebrows in reply.
“You missed me, too.”
“Of course I missed you. I missed you more than anyone. It was the worst being apart from you when all I wanted to do was be here, like this, with you.”
“Hmm,” Sousuke murmured in response, letting his eyes slip shut as he leaned in again, pressing soft kisses along the side of Rin’s face. His kisses trailed down the side of his face before he dipped his head enough to begin peppering them along his jawline and the side of his neck.
Rin sighed, head tilting back to grant Sousuke better access, unable to deny him when those kisses, those lips, felt so good. “Weren’t you tired?” he whispered faintly.
“Maybe, a little,” Sousuke cut himself off, incapable of stopping his trail of kisses back up Rin’s neck. “You’re addicting.”
“You’re disgusting,” Rin breathed out, sliding one of his hands down to Sousuke’s left nipple to give it a firm pinch. Sousuke’s eyes flew open and his body pulled back immediately, arms loosening their hold so Rin could finally ease his arms up and out of his embrace. “There we go. I know what that plane ride is like, it’s not short. Rest now, okay? We can do more of this later after we decorate.”
“Did you get any mistletoe?”
“Honestly...” Rin just laughed. “You’re having no problems kissing me without it, Yamazaki. But we’ll see, maybe I did. You don’t get to know until you rest, deal?”
“Deal. But after we decorate I have to give you my gift.”
“You mean it wasn’t you?” Rin asked with a blink, eyes wide.
“Did you honestly think I was going to come see you and not bring you something?”
“You’re something else.” Rin reached out, fingers pinching his right nipple this time, causing Sousuke’s body to jerk away once again. “No more stalling! Lay down.”
“Demanding. I like it,” Sousuke’s voice took on a husky tone that had Rin laughing, but he obliged and lowered down to his back, arms opening wide for Rin to fall into them - which he did. “Christmas with your home stay family, huh? That’s really not intimidating at all.” Sousuke’s eyes shut again and his arms regained their spot around Rin’s waist to keep him put.
“Shut up. They’re going to love you. I don’t know if they’re going traditional or going for a barbecue with other family members, but we’ll find out when we get there.” Rin shifted his body with the goal of getting more comfortable against Sousuke, slipping a leg in-between Sousuke’s before relaxing at last.
“Wait. How many - ”
“Stop worrying. They’re going to love you.”
“It’s only the people that took care of you when I couldn’t, basically your second family, close enough to scare me like your mom did when she found out we were dating... Only not, because I think she had an inkling from when we were kids.”
Rin didn’t respond. He closed his eyes and maneuvered himself a final time to slip a bent arm behind his head while the other draped itself across Sousuke’s waist. Sousuke was sure he wasn’t going to get any type of response, but then suddenly there it was in the form of a kick to his shin.
“You’re the biggest idiot I have ever met. Shut up and close your eyes, I want to make this place look really festive before I yell at you for getting me a gift when - ”
“...Rin, come on, how was I not going to get you - ”
“...when you’re all I need?”
Rin’s words shut Sousuke up. Sousuke turned his head to press a final kiss to Rin’s forehead before letting out a loud sigh. He could hear Rin humming softly in victory beside him and it took everything in him not to push Rin off of the bed.
“You’re ridiculous, Matsuoka.”
“You love me. Now sleep, damnit.”
“Yes sir,” Sousuke mumbled, sure as hell that when he finally gave in to his body’s desperate pleas for rest, he fell asleep with a smile on his face.