Archive of Our Own

Rin felt the world ending.

When he fell to the ground, he had hoped he would get to continue playing. As he was taken to the hospital, he hoped it was nothing serious. When the doctor told him he had to take two weeks off soccer, he hoped he was lying.

But he wasn't. Rin realized that as his mother came rushing into his room to change the cold pack that stuck to his leg.

"Mom," he could hear his own voice breaking, "When am I going back?"

Rin knows it was a stupid question. He had already asked it multiple times. His mother's answer remained unchanged.

"You heard the doctor, Rin. Two weeks. Until then, no soccer, no school."

Rin grits his teeth. His brother felt farther than ever.

His mother places her hand on his own, the other rubbing the cold pack on his leg. "It's okay, Rin. You'll be up and running in no time. Just make sure to get lots of rest."

His mother glances at his desk and frowns. She points towards the untouched bowl that rested on top of it. "And eat up. You haven't even touched it at all. You won't get better at this rate. I even added lots of bream..."

Rin grunts, making no effort to look up to see where his mother was pointing.

Seeing this, his mother sighs, standing up to leave. "Eat up, okay? And rest lots."

Rin gives her a weak nod.

The door closes and Rin sinks into his hands once again. All the time he had spent, trying to get close to his brother's level, only to end up falling in front of him during their first match in a long time.

He felt a warm streak running down his face. He quickly wipes it away, instinctively glancing around to see if anyone else had seen despite being alone in his room. He shouldn't be wasting time being pathetic. He had to get his mind off this.

He sees the bowl his mother had set for him and starts walking over to it, pulling over his seat.

He looks at it wordlessly, mindlessly messing with the chopsticks he had picked up. He was sure he could feel his stomach being empty, but no appetite came to push him to do anything about it.

He grips on the chopsticks harder, and he could see it, tears dropping to his desk, becoming more and more frequent as his vision blurs.

He was frustrated. He could feel it, bubbling in his throat, throbbing in his mind. He was so, fucking frustrated. All his anger came pooling out, slicing through the thick air.

Rin screams. As loudly as he can.

He didn't care if his neighbors would come complaining seconds later, nor did he care if his mother rushed back to his room, knocking on his door again. All he wanted at that moment was to disappear, along with these unnecessary feelings that disturbed his heart.

He screams again, and more tears come falling out.

He sits himself up, finally separating the chopsticks that had ended up more stuck to each other with his iron grip.

He had already decided. The moment he gets back on the field, he would bury his brother's face in the dirt with a goal. He'll score all the goals by himself.

He pokes the chopsticks into his food. As he was about to take a bite, a crumpled piece of paper hits the books that had been propped up on his desk. It almost lands on his ochazuke, and Rin quickly shifts the bowl away.

Eyebrows furrowed in even more anger, he looks out of his window to see the perpetrator.

Across the street, Isagi Yoichi stared back at him with a neutral, unreadable face. He seems to have just waken up. The blue-eyed boy then walks off, probably to lie back on his bed, disappearing from view.

Rin's anger quickly morphed into confusion. Isagi?

"Rin!" his mother's voice echoes from the other side of the door.

Right.

He quickly shifts his attention to dismissing his mother, before finally sitting down to finish his cold meal.

Rin thought he'd get over it quickly, but a few hours later and Isagi's interruption still lingered on his mind.

Isagi hadn't been in contact since 7 months ago.

It was a surprise for everyone, even Rin, as Isagi showed no signs of wanting to be socially closed off. That was, until he suddenly made the request of shifting to being homeschooled indefinitely, leaving everyone in shock.

Rin had absolutely no problem with that. Whatever Isagi preferred was none of his business. However, what bothered him was the fact that Isagi had stopped showing up to their soccer practices and matches, too.

That was something Rin did not expect.

Ever since childhood, they'd always been up against each other, on the edge of beating the other each time. If it weren't his brother, it had always been Isagi who Rin looked out for in the field.

So when he suddenly made the decision of disappearing in his life completely, even the high and mighty Itoshi Rin couldn't help but feel bitter.

It was also the exact reason why Rin was so confused now, staring at the paper that Isagi had sent flying into his room.

Then, as if he had made some sort of revelation, Rin sits up on his bed. He quickly reaches for the crumpled up paper and starts unravelling it.

/Close the damn window./<--

Rin felt his eyes widen, and out of boredom, or whatever other stupid reason there was, Rin stood up and grabbed ahold of a pen and paper.

-->/Fuck off. You almost hit my ochazuke./

Rin almost snorts at the triviality of the message, and knew that its receiver would, too. It was however, the only thing he could think of.

Looking up to check that his target's window was open, he winds his arm back, before throwing the paper ball at Isagi.

It hits Isagi right in the forehead. Goal. Or more like, oops. Rin did not mean to do that.

He watched as Isagi reaches up to rub his forehead. The older boy looks at him.

Rin didn't know what to expect.

Isagi glares at him in anger, closing his window. He abandons the work that he had been doing on his table and disappears again out of view.

Rin blinks, mildly disappointed.

/You fuck off. I couldn't care less about your food./<--

Rin jerks up, eyes darting from his phone towards where the paper had landed on his desk. It had already been the next day when Isagi replied, but Rin quickly reached for his pen nonetheless.

-->/Why are you not showing up for soccer/

Rin waits.

/None of your business./<--

-->/It is. Who the fuck else is there to shit on? You're the worst on the field./

That was a lie. Something hits Rin hard on the head.

/Fuck you. I fucking hate you, you're nothing but a piece of shit. You can suck dirt off the ground./<--

Rin gapes at the letter. The Isagi a few months ago wouldn't have sent something so brutal, much less off the field. Maybe a couple of swears here and there, but way more tamer than this. 

Something else hits his head.

/Then you tell me, what the fuck are you doing stuck in your house? Don't you have soccer practice to show up to?/<--

At the reminder of his strained leg, Rin grits his teeth. At that point he probably should have stopped, but his pride swelled inside him.

-->/Leg strain./

-->/Your turn./

Across the street, Isagi looked back at him in shock, mouth wide open.

/Sorry./<--

/Just personal stuff. I don't wanna say./<--

Rin leaves it at that. Of course, he was still the Isagi that was so lame to apologize right after a mistake.

-->/Do you plan on coming back/

/Why are you so curious?/<--

Rin's face sours.

-->/Just answer the question./

/No, probably not./<--

Rin was confused. He said it so casually, as if he hadn't been obsessed over soccer a few months ago.

-->/Why/

/I told you, I don't wanna say./<--

-->/You finally realized how lukewarm you are/

/Fuck you./<--

-->/How the fuck do you do calligraphy/

Rin genuinely wanted to ask. The homework racked his brain so much.

/You're doing it right now./<--

-->/That's not what I meant, dumbass. You'd say the same if you had this shitty homework./

He sees Isagi sigh.

/What's the question?/<--

Rin perks up. Maybe not having the same homework had some advantages after all.

Rin didn't know why, but he had the urge to keep sending paper towards Isagi's window, even about the most trivial of things. Isagi didn't always reply, but Rin sent them his way nonetheless. He observed all of the older boy's reactions. Angry, irritated, defiant, or confident and many others, Rin saw it all. Eventually, he had sent so many that the notebook he was tearing paper out from had run out. He told his mother to get the spares that had been stored away.

-->/I had kintsuba today/

/So what/<--

Rin almost smirks. He saw the older boy's expression before he had sent the message, and Rin expected him to react like so, knowing kintsuba was Isagi's favorite snack.

-->/It was good./

/You're turning even this into a competition?/<--

He could almost hear the exasperation in Isagi's voice.

Then, an idea hits him. He didn't know why it took him this long to think of.

Isagi's voice. He hasn't heard it since forever.

-->/xxxx-xxxxxxxx/

/What the hell is that? Some kind of code?/<--

-->/My number, in case your dumb ass forgot. Stop wasting paper and call me. Or message or whatever. You changed your number without telling me you fucker./

He observed Isagi's reaction from afar.

Rin saw him stare at the paper for a while. Then his expression darkens, much to Rin's surprise.

His forehead furrowed, and his hand that gripped on the paper looked like it was shaking. Only then did he notice the dark circles that surrounded Isagi's eyes. Isagi closes his window, suddenly remembering he had curtains.

Rin stands up in surprise. But he shakes off the uneasy feeling, thinking that Isagi would come to his senses tomorrow, folding back his curtains and eventually opening his window again.

He doesn't. Rin slumps back in his chair in defeat. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Part of him was annoyed that he thought like that. So what? Rin had his own life, he was pretty sure, and Isagi did too.

He sinks further into his chair, hand on his forehead.

Grunting, he turns his attention back to the movie he had been watching.

The days pass by slowly, and Rin's two weeks were finally up.

His teammates welcomed him back to the team, though something didn't feel right. Something was missing.

After having talked a lot with Isagi the past few weeks (or at least, before he shut him off coldly), Rin only thought it was natural that he would see Isagi at school again.

He quickly reminded himself of reality and shut his mind off.

Drenched in sweat, Rin drinks from his water bottle, finishing another day of practice after class. He feels a cold arm snake around his neck.

"Riiin! How was your break, captain?"

The darker haired boy grimaces out of instinct, fighting the arm around his neck. "Fuck off, Bachira."

"Aww, and to think you were starting to warm up to us, your teammates!"

"Fuck off, Bachira," he repeats himself, not caring if it sounded like a threat. "You can suck dirt off the ground."

Rin's eyes widen at the familiar sentence that had just escaped from his mouth.

Next to him, Bachira makes a similar face, before making an exaggerated jump backward. "Oh, my! The captain's gotten more creative with his disses! Something souring your mood?"

Rin hated how accurate he was. "No."

"So there is!" Bachira grins widely. "You usually have a 'fuck off' attached to your every sentence!!"

"Fuck off," he snaps, standing up to go somewhere else, but at that point it had already been too late.

"Riiin!! Don't leave a friend hanging! What is it?"

Friend... Bachira was friends with Isagi. Surely...?

"Give me Isagi's number."

Bachira's eyes widened more than ever. He starts to sweat visibly, even more than he had been after their practice.

This time, it was Bachira who made the effort to run off. "Oop! Sorry! No can do!"

Rin curses, frustrated. Why did everything that had to do with Isagi always turn out to be so unpredictable?

Rin: This is Rin.
Rin: Open your goddamn window.

Isagi, who had been mindlessly browsing on his phone, jumped up at the notification that popped up on his phone.

Something threatened to burst from his throat.

How the hell did Rin get his number?

Isagi: How the fuck did you get my number.

Rin: Bachira. Threatened the shit out of him.
Rin: Don't make it all for nothing.

Isagi starts to shake. In a panicked frenzy, he blocks the number that had texted him.

Phone in hand, he rushes off to the bathroom, hands gripping the sink as soon as he reaches them.

Petals of all colors came fluttering down the drain, drenched in red warm blood. More came rushing down, with no signs of stopping.

Tears formed in Isagi's eyes. The pain had been unbearable ever since he initiated contact with Rin. The petals had become significantly bigger and harder to cough out, their colors slowly turning from mostly blue, to turquoise, threatening to turn into a familiar shade of teal eyes, which didn't help at all.

As he proceeded to cough out petals bigger than his throat, the difficulty of not being able to breath starting to wear him off, Isagi wishes that he regretted the day he threw that crumpled paper to Rin's window. And yet, not an ounce of regret ever touched his heart, and every interaction still made him crave more. No matter how hard the pain was to bear, he did anything he could to be able to see Rin huff at his stupidity, or maybe even have his lips quirk up a little, his keen eyes observing each and every one of the younger boy's move. He knew it was stupid.

At some point, when Rin had asked for his number, Isagi finally let his stupidity sink in. His heart ached badly then, and genuinely thought he was about to pass out. If this were to go on, he knew he was going to die.

Once he was done with his coughing, he turns back to his phone.

He feels guilt sink into his heart and unblocks Rin's number.

Rin: You absolute, shitty dumbass.
Rin: If you block my number again I'll actually come over there and knock down your door.

And Isagi knew it was meant to be a harmless threat, but in that moment, it actually was.

He hears his parents come in from a floor below him, and he quickly cleans up the sink, and all the other petals that had fallen on the floor.

Rin felt like he was about to go crazy. All around him, rumors of the Hanahaki disease kept spreading.

Suddenly, three, five, and so on more classmates went absent, with Hanahaki as the excuse.

Rin huffs, thinking that Hanahaki being an immediate valid excuse of being absent was stupid. Some of his classmates were probably lying to get out of class, and they were doing so successfully.

Rin continued to think so, until days later, he sees his brother huddled in the corner of his room, back turned around, holding on to a bucket.

Rin had then walked over with no hesitation, and found the bucket filled with bright petals that shone red with blood.

It hadn't been Rin that was throwing up, but Rin was not a stone cold robot to not feel anything.

It looked painful.

So was his brother's expression.

"This," he says, weakly coughing over a petal, "is what it feels like to love, Rin."

Rin went back to his room, absolutely mortified.

He knew it wasn't his brother's intention to scare him off, but still, his words rang through Rin's ears.

'What it feels like to love.'

Rin had never been one to venture through such concepts. It was a space completely unfamiliar, unpredictable. Rin would rather to never have himself involved with it.

He pulls back his chair, sitting on his desk. He looks out the window and, as expected, sees Isagi mulling over something on his desk.

The blue-eyed boy had finally given in to Rin's request of opening his window.

He had one of his elbows propped up on the table, head resting on his fist. His other arm was writing something down on his notebook, most likely homework.

Rin's eyes flicker to the other boy's face. He had been blinking slowly, almost groggily, with a blank look on his face. His bright, blue eyes that usually shone with fire were almost hidden behind his eyelids. Isagi today had worn a shirt that matched the color of his eyes, plain, ocean blue. It draped off of Isagi's slightly smaller frame, seeming to be a bit big for him.

Rin realizes what he was doing and he looks away in shame. Suddenly, his brother's voice rang again through his ears. His mind went to all the paper messages he had sent to Isagi.

'What it feels like to love.'

A switch flicked in Rin's head.

Oh fuck no.

Without thinking, Rin had shut close his own window, blinds coming down and covering the entirety of the glass surface, leaving his room in complete darkness.

What the hell was he thinking?

A week later and Shidou was over at he and Sae's shared house.

Rin looked at him in surprise when he went to answer the door.

Shidou only reached a hand over to pat Rin on the shoulder, which Rin quickly swatted away.

"Shidou? You're here?"

"Yup, right here babe!" Shidou invites himself over to walk towards Sae, planting a kiss on the shorter boy's forehead.

Rin grimaces. This is what his brother has been so obsessed over the past week? Nevertheless, Rin was glad for his brother for overcoming the deadly grips of Hanahaki.

In less than a week, not a single trace of a petal remained in the Itoshi household. Rin expected nothing less of his brother.

"Where do you want the pasta, babe?" Shidou calls out to his boyfriend who had already gone in to the kitchen to prepare something. He holds up a plastic bag that had probably been fresh from the groceries.

"Just over there's fine." Sae replies, pointing to the foot of a chair of one of their dining tables.

Shidou places it down where he was told to, and heads on over to the kitchen to join Sae.

Rin observed them carefully.

Shidou wraps his arms around Sae, who was too busy preparing ingredients for the spaghetti. He watched as the blond hugged his brother from behind.

Rin could see their mouths moving. They were whispering things to each other. Rin sees Shidou smirk, and his brother blush.

He continued to watch them in complete silence.

"Sooo, Rin, when's the wedding?" Shidou asks as soon as they were left alone.

Rin snaps his head to glare at him, hand continuing to twirl his fork around in hot spaghetti. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Come on, Rin-chan! You've been looking us all over, nonstop! Or do you hate me that much?"

"Ye-"

"Nuh-uh-uh!" Shidou makes a point of shaking his head aggressively side to side. "Don't just take the cheap excuse I gave you there, I see it in your eyes, you're jealous!"

Rin's eyebrow twitch in confusion. "You can have my brother all you want, I don't care."

Shidou's grin widens, "Oh, that wasn't what I was talking about, but thanks for the offer. I meant, you're jealous of our relationship. You wanna have some of that love, don't you?"

Rin clenches his fist, almost digging the fork into the plate. "You're fucking wrong. I couldn't care less about any of that bullshit. If anything, it's the one thing I'm better at than my brother."

Shidou suddenly hunches over, wheezing, hands slapping on the table. "Fucking hilarious, Rin! Did they pull you out of the circus? How is that being better than your brother? In fact, that makes your brother a thousand percent better than you!"

He proceeds to laugh in front of Rin's astonished face. "The fuck are you on about? Of course it doesn't."

"And what are you being better than him at, exactly? Denying your stupid feelings? Meanwhile, Sae's out here, living his best life," he continues, "Will you ever experience being in someone's arms? Ever see them walk up to you excitedly when they wanna show you something? Will you ever feel a kiss burning with extreme passion?!"

Rin says nothing, shaking in frustration.

Shidou laughs, getting himself together. "Relax, loverboy. If you're getting this worked up you must have someone in mind, eh?"

Rin recalls a familiar shade of blue eyes.

"Fuck you," he says with all his might before getting up to leave.

"Try not to catch Hanahaki!" Shidou calls out teasingly, though some part of him meant it sincerely.

Sae comes back down in time to see Rin, walking up the stairs. He stares at Rin's unfinished plate and looks over at Shidou questioningly. "What happened?"

Shidou only smiled, "Dude's getting laaaiid~!"

Sae punches him in the back.

'Try not to catch Hanahaki!'

That was something that bugged Rin, as he slowly came in to terms with the fact that he liked Isagi. For the past few hours, he had been sitting on his chair, spinning around aimlessly.

He liked Isagi. He now knew that as a fact. However, if Hanahaki really was as common as his classmates made it out to be... then why was he not coughing out petals right now? He had witnessed for himself just how real Hanahaki was with his brother.

What it felt like to love. Was his love not strong enough?

Unless...

Rin felt a sudden lump in his throat and all his thinking stopped. He holds a breath. Here it is. He waited for one, two, three seconds.

Hiccup.

Shit.

His mind goes back to his previous train of thought.

Did Isagi already love him?

Rin stops spinning in his chair. That couldn't be right. Although, something in his head told him otherwise.

Isagi had ceased all contact with him since seven months ago, only exchanging a few unavoidable glances as they had been neighbors. They've only started to resume contact ever since Isagi had thrown that piece of crumpled paper, and most of the contact that followed after was often initiated by himself. It was subtle, but Rin had noticed, every time before he sends a message, how Isagi looked tired. And it became worse and worse as the days passed by.

Rin felt a sudden weight in his ribcage. He refused to believe that he had caused Isagi that much pain, for seven goddamn months. He would have much rather felt pain up his throat right now. He turns off his lamp. He decided he was going to wait until tomorrow.

Tomorrow came, and still no signs of petals.

Rin runs a hand up his hair, feeling the panic rush through his veins. Shit, shit, shit.

He had to do something about it, quick.

Rin: Isagi.
Rin: Isagi.
Rin: We need to talk.

[You can no longer message this user.]

Fuck.

As a last resort, he glanced up at his window that had still been closed, covered by his blinds.

He peeks through. Isagi's window had also now been closed. He sees a hand hurriedly pushing the curtains shut.

Rin shifts his gaze down towards the door of the Isagi household. There was only one way to sort things out.

Isagi couldn't handle it.

He knew something had been bubbling in chest. It wasn't there yet, but after months of having to deal with this cruel condition, he had gotten used to its sickening patterns and the way it tormented him.

He hadn't coughed petals ever since yesterday morning.

Sometimes things like these happened, where instead of frequent, moderate petals, sometimes they bulked up in his chest and came out in one big painful cough. The longer no petals came out, the more painful it would be. He would've preferred the frequent cough ups compared to the hell of a pain he goes through to get the bunch out of his system.

He waited, and waited.

A message notifies from his phone and he quickly blocks the number without looking, standing up to close the curtains. He wouldn't feel guilty if he didn't know who it was.

Sighing, he rests his face on his hands that had been propped up, resting on his crossed legs. He felt himself sinking further and further onto the bed, wishing it would just consume him whole.

He continued to wait.

He waits for a long period of time, but nothing came. He felt himself crying.

Instead, what came in big volume, was the sound of Rin's voice, knocking on their house's door.

Isagi looked up in horror. His parents had been home. No doubt, they would let the younger boy in, even come up to his room, if he wanted to.

His suspicions were confirmed when he heard voices sounding surprised before greeting each other downstairs.

Soon enough, there was loud knocking on Isagi's door.

"Isagi! Open up!"

Isagi trembled. That fucking idiot. It seemed like he actually wanted to kill him.

Unrelenting, Isagi wiped his tears furiously and remained rooted to his bed.

His hand reaches up to the back of his head, scratching it furiously. He actually didn't know what to do.

After a while, the knocking died down, and Isagi cried harder, reminded of all the memories Rin's voice triggered. He remembers the times he used to sit beside Rin on the soccer training fields a few blocks away from their home. They had always sat down beside each other under one specific tree after their drills, letting the wind pass through, drying their sweat.

One time, Isagi made the mistake of looking at Rin while resting his eyes. He noticed his dark, elegant hair, still a bit wet from their practice, flowing gently with the breeze. His perfectly sculpted face and his perfectly beautiful eyes that scanned the field quietly, as if he was already in full control of it. The slow, steady pace at which he had been breathing, that synced in with his. He was perfect, perfect in every aspect. It was that first night that Isagi came home, finding himself drenched in blood and petals.

Wiping his tear, Isagi finds himself whisked back to reality. The knocking had died down completely. For all his pain, Isagi still desperately missed going outside with Rin. He missed going to soccer practices and matches with him. Missed his voice that bluntly acknowledged him whenever he made a good play. Their little fist bumps, sharing water together, everything. Isagi missed Rin.

Isagi stands up, weakly going up to the door. He cracks the door open. Rin stared back at him with wide eyes.

The blue-eyed boy immediately tries to close it again, but Rin catches the other side of the door, forcing himself through. Isagi tries to push him back out, but Rin had already made his way into his room. Isagi stands dumbfounded in front of his bed, and Rin in front of his door.

"Isagi," Rin says calmly, breaking through the silent air. Isagi looks away in frustration.

"Isagi." Rin repeats. "Look at me."

Isagi suddenly felt irritation coursing through him. He slowly turns toward Rin. "I'm looking now. Good?"

Rin moves towards him, Isagi takes a step back. Rin takes it as a sign to not move any farther and begins speaking from his position near the door.

"...Sorry."

Isagi felt even more annoyed. "Sorry for what, really? Being human? You're allowed to have your own fucking feelings. None of it has to do with me."

Rin looked at him with an expression that his brain told him was pity. Isagi's eye twitches. "Is that all you had to say?"

"No," Rin replies immediately, his head lowering. "Isagi,"

"What?" Isagi snaps.

"Did you... have you coughed up at all recently?"

Isagi's heart tightens. "No. Nothing new, though. This is normal. It'll all come out later evening, I'm telling you. Don't try to convince yourself you like me just because you found out."

At the evident irritation in the older boy's voice, Rin looks up.

"That's not-"

"That's exactly what it is, though." Isagi felt tired. It wasn't his style, getting this worked up off the field, so instead he smiles, weakly. "Get out of my room, Rin. I accept your apology, even though there was nothing to feel sorry for in the first place."

He smiles the most reassuring smile he could possibly muster in that moment. Rin wasn't reassured at all. He steps forward.

Isagi's legs collapse, sitting him up on his bed. Rin moves towards him, crouching down to his level. He places a hand on Isagi's shoulder.

"Isagi," he looks at him intently, straight to his eyes, "I like you. I love you."

The overwhelming sincerity in Rin's eyes made Isagi begin to cry uncontrollably. He was so pathetic. Despite this, Rin takes him in his arms, wrapping his arms around him, rubbing circles on his back. He refused to reach up to Rin's back, believing that he would wake up at any moment. But everything in this moment felt so real.

Isagi takes a deep breath. There were no petals that shuffled in his lungs, nothing that threatened to come out of his throat. Rin's warmth caged him in, and he finally felt his own arms wrapping around Rin's back. This moment was real. Rin's love for him was real.

"You should've told me sooner." Rin says, his breath gently brushing against Isagi's neck.

"And guilt trip the hell out of you? N-"

"Yoichi." Isagi stops. Yoichi. "That's not what I mean. I'm a fucking idiot when it comes to these things and you know it. If I had known sooner..."

Isagi hears a slight break in his voice.

"You wouldn't have had to go through all that... I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner."

Isagi allows himself to smile. He still had his doubts, but at least in this moment, he wanted to enjoy himself. "Whatever. At least, for now..."

Rin breaks off from their hug, and Isagi starts to get nervous. "That reminds me," he says, pulling something out of his pocket while looking at the raven-haired boy, who looked back at him curiously. His hand procures a crumpled piece of paper.

He throws it at Isagi who makes no effort to dodge it. Isagi unravels the piece of paper that had fallen into his hands.

/I love you./<--

Isagi shakes, trying to stop the tears that had reappeared on his eyes. This was exactly what he had been looking for. Something concrete. Something to remind himself that this was not a dream. I love you, written clearly in Rin's handwriting and thrown at him.

Isagi laughs, grinning widely, both hands still holding the piece of paper tightly, "You think if I framed this, the staff would look at me weirdly?"

He expects Rin to snort, punch him lightly, or make fun of him in any form or way. Instead, he huffs, "Then hurry up and write me one and throw it to me, too. I'll go with you to have mine framed."

In the end, it was Isagi who had snorted, punching Rin lightly on the shoulder.

"IIIIISAAAGIIIII!!!! I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE NOT DEAD!!!!!"

Bachira gleefully hops over to his best friend. "Welcome back to school, bud!!"

As Bachira reaches out to snake a hand around Isagi's neck, Isagi is pulled by the waist, out of the brunette's reach. "Hands off, Bachira."

Isagi reddens slightly, and Bachira snickers. "My, my, you lovebirds! One plus point for you Rin, from Isagi's best friend! Congrats!! That said, I am still his best friend, so can't I at least have some hand-around-neck privileges?"

Rin glares at him. "No."

"Wooow! But you should know, Rin! Bros before hoes!"

Isagi raises a hand and shakes all five fingers in unison, signalling to Bachira that they would talk later.

Rin remained in confusion, "I'm also Isagi's best friend."

"Sorry, Rin, but that title is already taken." Isagi laughs.

Bachira sticks out his tongue.

"What?" Rin asks Isagi, feeling lost.

"Is the title 'boyfriend' not enough?"

Rin stops, a smile slowly appearing on his lips. "Nope," he says, planting a kiss on Isagi's head.

Bachira makes a fake vomiting act before speeding off, praising his monster's gut that said Rin would soon fall in love with Isagi after Bachira gave him his number. He grins widely, knowing that both their hearts were dancing contently, holding each other in their arms.