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"Oi, Rin, good game back there!"
Rin doesn't look up from his locker to greet the sharp-haired boy.
Karasu pats him on the back nevertheless, grinning a sly smile.
Rin grunts, continuing to adjust his books.
The sharp-haired boy leans in, and the tips of his hair glimmered as if he were about to spill a secret, "But, are you really gonna keep him waiting?" he whispers into Rin's face.
Rin finally stops from his task. He opens his mouth to speak, but not before swatting Karasu away in disgust, which the other dodges gracefully, "Mind your own business."
The other pouts, as if to say that yes, it is his business. "Aww, but Rin! How can we possibly ignore this? Mr. I've-got-no-friends-and-I'm-miserable has a loyal admirer? And it's mutual?! No way we're keeping shut about this, right, Otoya?"
"True." Otoya chimes in from behind him, appearing out of nowhere. His green highlight also seemed to glow brighter today. "Kinda coward-ish, if you ask me."
Rin closes his locker, irritated and ready to leave the duo's noise behind. His hand grips the golden-colored lock in front of him, inserting its shackle into the circular hole in his locker, but doesn't press it shut. His hand slowly moves away from it.
The two friends continued to pester him, one on each side.
"Booooo, Rin-"
"Rin bro, are you sure about that-?"
"Riiiiiiin-"
"Both of you," Rin snaps, silencing the both of them. "Shut the fuck up."
The two looked at him, mouths closed, watching what he would do next.
Rin stared at the open lock in front of him. He locks it.
"OOOOOOHHHHHHH"
"OOHOHOOHOHO"
"RIN YOU SLY ASS MOTHERF-"
Rin leaves without a word, a tiny smirk appearing behind his varsity jacket.
Isagi blinks in confusion.
Was this supposed to happen?
Isagi stares at the golden lock that circled through the locker's hole, shut tight.
Glancing around to see if anyone was there, he swiftly reaches for the lock to see if his eyes were deceiving him.
They were not.
For the first time in five years, Itoshi Rin had actually remembered to lock his locker around this time.
He usually forgets to early in the year, Isagi carefully recalls, as that was the time when their training started to pick up in preparation for their sports competition in spring, and he sees the boy always heading off in a rush to his training.
If things were normal, Isagi would've been happy for his friend (if he could call him one) for the one time he finally remembered.
However, things were not, and Isagi strengthens his grip on the paper that he had been holding, a watercolor piece of the dark-haired boy scoring a goal, still hidden inside his messenger bag that slung around his shoulder. Next to it were chocolates that had been tucked neatly in the inside of his bag's pocket.
How was he supposed to sneak them in, then?
He hears a couple of voices from the corner of the hallway approaching, and he quickly shuffles towards his own locker, only one locker away from his target's.
He pretends to be looking for something for a while, letting the voices pass. Once they do, he got back to work.
This time, he tries prying the locker's handle open. No luck. He tries again. Still nothing.
Isagi's hand remained suspended in the air, inches before the locker's handle after a handful of tries.
Was there really nothing he could do?
He looks at the sealed locker, unsure, before turning back to his own. He shuffles around a few more books and folders.
After five years, his streak of sneaking in things to Rin's locker every Valentine's day has finally come to an end.
Isagi Yoichi was a coward. That was a fact that Isagi himself had come to accept.
In most things, like watching soccer games, getting in line for the cafeteria's kintsuba, and most importantly, painting the canvas with graceful, swirling colors, he was an egoistic beast. That is because Isagi is naturally confident in himself, despite seeming timid. There was just a very significant exception that made all the difference, and that was none other than the object of his affection, Itoshi Rin.
Isagi looked at the locker one more time and thought back to the hours that he had spent perfecting his little watercolor piece. There had to be some point where the line between cowardice and persistence had to be crossed, right? After all, this was his only comfortable means of communication for his feelings.
After a few minutes of staring daggers through the locker's thin, rough metal, Isagi felt his own pride swelling inside of him. Right. He had been a coward for way too long. He heaves a long sigh, wearing a new of face of determination.
He observes the locker more carefully. There were three horizontal vents near the bottom of the locker, though it seemed like they had been closed off by something. He tries his luck, cursing at the hard surface of books that met the watercolor paper. He tries the other three horizontal vents near the top of the locker, and is met with yet another hard surface. Ducking hell.
He goes on for another 10 minutes, trying out different possible ways in, occasionally going back to his locker when he hears foreign voices down the hallway, and even at some point grabbing the nearby stool from the janitor's closet to check the top of Rin's locker. Still no luck.
"That oblivious little fucker..." Isagi sighs, dropping down in front of the locker in defeat, arms crossed on his knees. There was an end to everything, he thinks, and perhaps this was the end to his pining for an oblivious darker-haired boy. He stands up, patting off his hoodie that had collected some dust from all his previous attempts. As he was about to turn around and walk off the scene a coward, a hand lands on his shoulder, hard.
Isagi, thinking he had been alone this whole time, yelps in surprise, as well as pain, from the iron grip he felt crushing his shoulder.
"Might as well use this," a cold voice says from behind him, breath barely brushing against his neck.
Isagi flinches, and he could feel himself sweating, recognizing the voice very well. Turning around with a nervous smile, he sees Itoshi Rin, in all his glory, looking down on him, holding up his own locker key. "Rin."
"Isagi." the voice grits back.
Realization sinks in, and Isagi starts speedwalking away.
"The fuck are you on about?" he makes sure to emphasize the irritation in his voice.
Rin quickly follows behind him, and tugged at the shorter boy's messenger bag as soon as he reached him.
Isagi is stopped abruptly and he watches in shock, mouth wide open as Rin's hand rummaged through the contents of his bag.
"Let me guess," he says, fighting off Isagi's light punches and grabs in an attempt to get him to stop, "one watercolor painting," his hand finds the piece of paper and takes it out, "and one bar of chocolate".
Rin held both of the items in front of Isagi's flustered face, his own face being expressionless as usual.
Isagi tries to snatch his items back, which Rin held highly, out of reach. "Give it back! They're not for you, you fucking bastard!"
Rin stops, examining the piece of paper that had the view of his back in plain sight, jersey clearly spelling out 'Rin'.
He turns to look at the shorter boy. "...Sure."
Isagi scowls, so much to the point that he was shaking in frustration. He eventually gives up, head lowering in front of Rin's triumphant gaze. "Fine, just... keep them," Isagi starts to say, before remembering something, "Or give them back to me, like you do with all the others you get."
Isagi holds out his hand expectantly, standing straight up in front of his locker and directing his eyes at Rin with all the dignity left that he could muster.
Rin cocks his head slowly to the right, before looking to the side with a sigh, muttering, "Really, who's the oblivious one..."
The taller boy turns to look at Isagi, sighing and taking a big step towards him.
"I think,"
one step forward,
"I'll keep this,"
he holds up the chocolate, stepping forward once again, getting closer to Isagi, who has backed up one small step to his locker,
"and this,"
this time, the watercolor piece was held up, along with another step forward. Dangerously close, Isagi thinks, completely backed up to his own locker and avoiding Rin's face that was approaching him.
"-along with the others,"
Isagi takes the risk of looking forward. Rin's face was close, very close to his, he could count each strand of hair that fell in front of his teal eyes. Rin's fist lands on the locker next to Isagi's head. Isagi could feel his heart beating rapidly, his face reddening. Rin goes past his face and to his ear,
"-that I've collected, back at home." he concludes.
Rin's face backs up from his ear, to meet Isagi's eyes that were looking at him nervously. As if wanting to see his reaction, Rin moves closer to his face, that one millimeter more and their noses would've touched. Isagi squirms backward.
Satisfied, Rin looks up to his own locker one space besides them, fist still pressed next to Isagi's head, holding him in place. With his other hand, he unlocks his locker. He opens it, letting the books that had covered up the horizontal vents fall out, then reaching further in - squishing the flustered Isagi in the process - to grab a bouquet of roses.
He shoves the bunch into Isagi's chest.
Isagi, with wide eyes, catches them on instinct.
Rin turns on his heel, adjusting the strap of his backpack and picking up the books that had fallen to the ground, shoving them back into their places. He closes the locker door.
He takes out his golden-colored lock and inserts its shackle through the locker. Then, purposefully turning his head around to make sure Isagi was looking, he leaves it unlocked. As he had, around every february, for the past five years.
Speechless, Isagi watches as Rin walks down the hallway without a word, his newly claimed watercolor piece and chocolate in hand. The blue-eyed boy looks at the bouquet of roses in his hands, then at the golden-colored lock that he had grown to be well-acquainted with throughout the years.
"That little fucker..." Isagi curses, out of breath.