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“What the fuck, Okumura?! Do you have some kinda death wish or something?” Rin tried to put up a carefree front despite the adrenaline that was still flowing through him. His skin felt like it was crawling and his fingers itched for his sword. His eyes scanned the room for potential threats, instincts screaming to protect Ryuuji.
“C’mon, Suguro, y’know it wasn’t that bad.” His blatant lack of remorse only served to further infuriate his friend.
“Not that bad? You were practically mauled!” Rin’s nostrils flared at the reminder of exactly what had dared to come at Ryuuji just minutes earlier. The rage that he was struggling to push down came bubbling back up to the surface.
“That Tangle-”
“Tengu*,” if Rin wasn’t so on edge the quick correction would be endearing, the adorable nerd.
“Whatever! IT was comin’ at your back!”
“I know! I’m perfectly capable of summoning a shield, Okumura!”
“But you hadn’t!”
“You didn’t even give me a chance before you were throwing yourself into its claws!”
“And if you didn’t get it up in time? Hesitating could’ve meant instead of me gettin’ hurt and healing within minutes, you gettin’ torn apart and bleeding out right on the field. That’s not a chance I’m takin’,” Rin stubbornly crossed his arms and glared at the boy in front of him. He knew he was in for a hell of a lecture when Ryuuji shoved him into the bathroom the moment they were able to separate themselves from the other exorcists, but this wasn’t an argument he was willing to lose. Ryuuji matched his fierce stare, cheeks already burning red at the anger Rin knew he was trying to keep in check.
“Even if I couldn’t get a shield up I still have plenty of weapons. I’m not defenseless, I’m a fucking Dragoon, too!”
“I never said you were defenseless!”
“You don’t have to! With the way you’ve been acting around me you clearly believe I am.” Ryuuji was starting to sound more hurt than angry and that was baffling enough for Rin to pause.
“What are you talking about?”
“You’re always doing this type of shit! Hovering over me in fights, cutting down demons I could’ve handled, taking hits I could’ve dodged. Why? I thought I proved myself after everything we went through together in Kyoto.”
“You’ve never had to prove anything to me, Suguro, you don’t understand,” Rin faltered, trying to come up with a logical excuse for why he’d treat Ryuuji any differently than the others. He hadn’t realized he’d been so obvious.
“Then help me understand. If I don’t have anything to prove, what can I do to make you trust me?”
“I do trust you!” More than anyone. Rin trusted Ryuuji with his life. It was everything else he didn’t trust. Ryuuji had his whole heart and he didn’t think he could survive if something happened to him. So they went on missions together and he tried to choke down these feelings he knew he shouldn’t have for the most unattainable human being on the planet while coping with the terror that the constant danger they found themselves surrounded by would rip Ryuuji away from him. Everyone Rin cared about got hurt. The one thing both his human and demon half agreed on was that Ryuuji’s life was far too precious to leave up to chance.
“Not enough to hold my own though. Do you really see me as that weak?!”
“It’s not like that! You’re the strongest person I know!”
“Then what is it?” For someone so smart Ryuuji could be so frustratingly dense. Rin clenched his jaw and ran a hand through his hair, tugging hard to try to ground himself. He couldn’t answer that, so his only option was to derail the argument.
“I don’t understand why you’re so mad. I’m already healed. No harm, no foul, right?” He lifted his blood soaked shirt and gestured to the bright pink slashes of fresh scar tissue across his side, hoping to placate his teammate. It seemed to have the opposite effect. Ryuuji recoiled, his face scrunching up and somehow turning an even darker shade of red.
“No harm? What the fuck do you call those, then?” Ryuuji threw his hands in the air in the direction of Rin’s torso. Had he not fully healed? Rin glanced down at himself and inspected the new raised marks on his skin before dropping his shirt and looking back up. It seemed like a rhetorical question, they were both fully aware of what they were, but Ryuuji was staring expectantly at him.
“Uh...scars?” Wrong answer again apparently. Ryuuji looked like he was going to hit something. He paced away from Rin for a moment before whirling back, visibly seething.
“Exactly! Scars!” Oh. So, right answer? Ryuuji’s eyes bore into his, willing Rin to understand, but he’d never had anyone look at him with such fervor. Staring back into Ryuuji’s beautiful brown eyes (the most gorgeous eyes he’d ever seen, really) while they swirled with fury and worry over him was overwhelming. Ryuuji cared so much about just a few more scars and he really shouldn’t. The unexpected ferocity of it was starting to make coherency become a struggle. Focus.
“Right. What’s the big deal? I’m covered in ‘em.”
“And how many of them should be mine?”
“What do you mean, should be-” Rin couldn’t finish before the meaning of Ryuuji’s question hit him. His words caught in his throat and he bared his teeth, growling at the suggestion of allowing those same pink gashes to mar Ryuuji’s skin instead. There wasn’t a single mark on his body that was meant for Ryuuji. “This is the one thing only I can do, Suguro. They should be mine because I can take ‘em.”
“But why do you have to carry all of them? We’re a team. Let me share the burden!” The thought of standing by and allowing Ryuuji to be torn apart the way he was had the demon inside of him howling, it was clawing at his psyche, desperate to keep Ryuuji from ever experiencing that kind of pain. This conversation was getting dangerous. They were teetering on the edge of some very uncomfortable confessions and Rin realized that he had to find a way to close his mouth and make a hasty exit.
“No!”
Ryuuji clenched his fists so hard they shook at his sides.
“It’s not just ‘no’! Fuck, Rin! There’s no reason I can’t-”
His given name coming from Ryuuji’s lips, laced with a passion so similar to the way Rin longed to hear it from the handsome Aria, caused his brain to briefly short circuit, his words flowing out before he was even aware his mouth was moving. He had to make Ryuuji understand that wasn’t an option.
“I’ll never let you take a hit I could’ve prevented,” he all but snarled. Confusion pushed its way through the fury on Ryuuji’s face before it hardened again with a new sort of determination.
“So you’re just going to make me watch you take them all for me?” Rin knew that he needed to stop talking before he said anything more incriminating, but he seemed to be losing control of his stupid mouth.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe!”
“But most of the time it’s not even necessary! If you’d just stop and think-”
Rin’s pupils flashed with red and he surged forward until they were only inches apart, standing up on his toes to try to close some of that obnoxious (so, so hot) height difference.
“I can’t fucking think when you’re in danger!” Ryuuji’s eyes widened and Rin had a second to panic about his inability to just shut the fuck up before he felt a fist clench around the front of his shirt. Ryuuji’s other hand shot up to cup the back of his head, threading his fingers through Rin’s hair, and dragged him the remaining distance closer, smashing their lips together. Their tongues and teeth clashed and Rin groaned, low and hungry, before wrapping his arms around Ryuuji’s neck.
Ryuuji shoved against him and Rin stumbled backwards until his back hit the wall. Ryuuji’s hand left his shirt and slid down Rin’s side to cup his hip, pulling him closer until they were completely flush, and Rin thought he might implode. He had been in love with Ryuuji for so long and kissing him was somehow simultaneously everything he’d ever dreamed of and nothing like he’d imagined. Fantasies didn’t hold a candle to the real whirlwind intensity that was Ryuuji Suguro.
Ryuuji pulled away much sooner than he would’ve liked, just far enough to brush the tips of their noses together, and took a deep breath. His eyes were glazed over, his lips pink and swollen, and Rin prayed he’d never forget the sight.
“From now on,” Ryuuji growled, and Rin’s stomach clenched, “you and I will be training together a few times a week. We’re going to get you used to fighting by my side.”
It wouldn’t be easy. His Old Man was as strong as an exorcist could be, and in the end even that wasn’t enough to save him. But… now that Rin had been given a small taste of what they could be together, he couldn’t help but hope. The possibilities filled his head; learning each other’s strengths and weaknesses, knowing when to step in and when to push each other’s limits, fighting back-to-back on a battlefield with complete confidence in one another. A real power couple. Was it possible to fall even harder? He hadn’t thought so, but there he was, pressed against a wall with his senses entirely consumed by the incredible boy against him and his heart free-falling to depths unknown. Rin brushed their lips together in a featherlight caress that had him seeing stars.
“Deal.”
He sealed it with a kiss.