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It’s loud. That’s what Rin hates about New Year’s eve. He hates loud noises, even the roar of the crowds whenever he scores a goal. He prefers when it’s silent, little sounds around him and making him scared enough to feel something.
Everyone from Blue Lock’s gathered downstairs. Rin curses why Sae didn’t just let Reo host this party or something. Just because his family had two football superstars raking in the money doesn’t mean they should be the ones hosting the rowdiest event of the year.
No doubt Shidou and Sae are already making out downstairs. Otoya and Karasu are definitely trying to get Yukimiya and a lot of people drunk and he just hopes that no one would break anything down there. He can trust that Barou would at least kill them if they made a mess, and Kunigami and Chigiri should at least be good enough to babysit them all. Aryu’s snapping some Instagram pictures. Isagi invited him for a game of chess but he’d rather die than get his ass beat at the end of the year. Nagi’s passed out in one of the guest rooms with Reo trying to wake him up and Zantetsu getting drunk beside them. Niko’s gaming on the stairs and Nanase wanted him to join them but he already completed the game. Tokimitsu’s having a breakdown a step above them. Bachira is who-knows-where and Rin just wants this year to end.
He’s on the rooftop and contemplating jumping down but he knows he doesn’t have it in him to actually do it so he just sits there, staring at the city, above all the drunk football players.
He hears a sound behind him and immediately turns around.
“Ah, sorry, I was just goin’,” Hiori says, holding an all-too familiar DS in his hands and smiling apologetically as he puts his hand on the rooftop door.
“Goddamn they were wild last night,” Rin mutters as he looks at all the bottles on the floor. Fortunately he couldn’t see any shards and he doesn’t know whether Barou cleaned it up or they were all just careful enough to not break anything.
“Pffft yeah,” Hiori says, leaning down as he starts picking some of them up. “God I hate this smell.”
Rin doesn’t pry. He could probably already guess why Hiori didn’t bother going home for the night. He picks some up as well. He tries not to be hateful and bitter about the fact that Sae left him to clean all of this up on New Years just to fuck his boyfriend. It’s working, for some reason. “When d’you plan on going back?”
“Can I not?” Hiori replies with a smile that almost looks like a grimace.
Rin shrugs. He doesn’t really care. “Sure. But all we have is leftovers.”
“It’s fine. Honestly fuck Ego for letting us go home during the holidays,” Hiori mutters, carrying an impressive number of bottles in his arms as they walk into the kitchen. “Where’s the trash?”
“Ah, outside,” Rin says, quickly grabbing a few more bottles before running towards the door and holding it open.
“Thanks.” Hiori smiles as he walks out. Rin follows him and turns on the light outside.
It’s cold outside, and the sky’s still dark. Rin hates the cold but he’s glad it’s not going to snow in a few months. At least he won’t have to be reminded of that day.
“It’s chilly here. Do ya have coffee inside?” Hiori asks as he dumps all the bottles in the trash. Then he starts arranging and stacking them.
“Yeah,” Rin replies. He wouldn’t go anywhere without it. And he and his brother are both notorious for drinking it.
They finish arranging the bottles and Hiori steps away from them like the plague. Rin tilts his head back towards the inside of the house and Hiori nods. They close the bin and head back inside.
Hiori parkours past the trash still left on the floor and towards the kitchen sink, immediately washing his hands, pouring half the soap bottle. There were a few sparkler packets and even some firework packets around the sink area, too. Man he’s so glad the house didn’t burn down.
There are way too many glitter and trash on the floor and while cleaning the couches, he’s found someone even left their phone there. Hiori picks it up and opens it. An image of Nagi sleeping appears as the wallpaper. Ah, Reo. Of course he’s the only one rich enough to afford this high-end phone.
“You’d think they’d bother more about not leaving their shit here,” Hiori says, holding up the phone and waving it at Rin. Surprisingly he chuckles. He’s never heard Rin Itoshi chuckle before and it’s adorable, not like he’d ever want to admit it out loud, lest he gets killed.
“You’re telling me. Shidou left his shirt again,” Rin says, nose wrinkling as he returns to folding a shirt with way too many holes that it doesn’t even look like a shirt anymore.
“Doesn’t he always live his things here?” Hiori asks. “Aren’t he and your brother… y’know…?”
“Yeah but that doesn’t mean he can just use our house as a damn storage unit,” Rin says with a groan. “Sae even tried to get me to give up my gaming room so he could stay there and like hell I would. So I told him to fuck off and let Shidou sleep in his room since they’re all over each other all the time anyway. Not my fault Sae has too much football stuff that there’s no space for his boyfriend’s toys.”
“Toys? Oh.” The colour immediately drains from Hiori’s face as he realises what that meant. “Great, now I don’t wanna think about it.”
“See you get it. Goddamn it’s almost like I don’t live here. We each get two rooms, that’s what we fucking agreed on in the contract back then. Sae doesn’t get to breach it just because he has a boyfriend,” Rin mutters as he throws the shirt into the trash like it’s cursed. Knowing the events of last night, it probably is.
“You guys made contracts as kids?” Hiori couldn’t stop himself from giggling at the thought, imagining mini Rin with his arms crossed as he made his brother sign his name on how to split the house. Rin snaps his head at him with a glare and he smiles apologetically.
“Shut up,” Rin says as he folds a few more articles of clothing from last night. He makes a face as he picks up lingerie. “God, that's so much shit to bring to the laundromat."
“Wait, ya guys don’t have your own washing machine?” Hiori asks, incredulous. With all the fame and fortune Sae got he’d assume that the Itoshis got the best of everything.
“Sae’s neglectful as fuck, no surprise. Takes that from our parents.” Rin shakes his head as he makes some space on the couch, collapsing. He sighs deeply as he leans his head back. “I told him when he got back to buy a washing machine and an actual oven but he kept procrastinating that shit and wouldn’t give me his card. Fuck him.”
“God,” Hiori mutters, sitting tentatively beside him with his hands on his lap. He doesn’t know how exactly to console him but he still feels Rin relax a bit.
“Hey, maybe you can move here so I have a decent roommate. You hate your parents enough anyway right?” Rin says, a little bit of hope in his voice. A voice foreign to the entirety of Blue Lock. He kinda cringes at himself, god forbid the Rin Itoshi wanting company, but he'll embrace it. Just for today.
“I mean…” Hiori muses, slowly tracing circles around the couch arm rest. “I have been considering moving out for a while. The only problem was the money and finding a place to stay. But if you’re really offering…”
“Legit?” Rin asks in a small voice, as if he didn’t really believe it.
Hiori, however, is tired and spiteful enough to do anything. And unlike Rin, he’s happy that he at least has a stable support system back in his hometown by the name of Karasu. And maybe Otoya if he’s staying over at his boyfriend’s house. “Yeah, for sure, Rin-kun. If you’re really okay with me. I can move in before next week.”
He doesn’t know if he’s hallucinating it but he swears he almost saw Rin’s cheeks turn red. “Well, uh, if that’s what you’re fine with. Um, we should probably clean out this house now before you move in…”
Hiori watches as Rin gets off the couch and follows suit, heading towards one of the hallways and helping clean up the various papers and plastics on the floor. Hiori spies a few cassettes and quietly pockets it. They’re not getting those back anymore.
“Who threw up last night?” Hiori asks, thinking of the long line in the bathroom before Karasu declared that the toilet was ‘fucking broken.’ Apparently someone did manage to throw up enough solid stuff to cause a clog. He shudders at the thought of cleaning it up.
“Yukimiya. No matter how popular he got as a model, it’s fucking surprising he never drank before. And your friends are insane at peer pressure,” Rin mutters, slowly putting his hand on Hiori’s back and steering them away from the bathroom. “We can get Sae to clean that, I don’t give a fuck. I have my own bathroom, you can use that.”
“It’s gonna be a worse party and a worse mess to clean once we win the World Cup,” Rin says with a groan as he steps next to Hiori and washes his hands after him.
Hiori smirks. “Come on, hard to believe ya won’t join in the fun when we do win.”
“Nah,” Rin says, even though he isn’t entirely sure if he actually won’t. “I’ll be up on the roof again and then we can play higurashi or something.”
“A-Again?” There’s a slight delay with Hiori asks and he could tell Rin probably knows why. Hiori doesn’t want to make any assumptions but Higurashi’s probably his comfort game with how often he talks about it. He just doesn’t know why. He wants to know.
“Yeah,” Rin says, unphased. He starts walking to the closet near the stairwell. “You could stream it some time, you know.”
“Ah, I should actua–” Hiori stops in his tracks, skipping over the trash to catch up to him. “You know I stream?”
Rin looks at him. “I have for a while. I thought the entirety of Blue Lock knows that?”
Hiori clicked his tongue, laughing in both a bitter and amused tone. “Dammit, Karasu…”
“Well that’s his way of caring, I guess.” Rin appears back from the closet carrying brooms, dustpans and a mop. He throws one of each to Hiori who catches it immediately. Maybe their passing skills did carry over from soccer. “I’m actually curious how many games you’ve already played. From the ones we played together.”
“Actually none of them,” Hiori admits as he waits for Rin to lock the closet. “I know I gotta stream every game I play for the most money but I deadass have not played Slay the Princess until last night.”
“Huh, weird. You should stream it. I’m sure they’ll have a kick from your reactions,” Rin says, an ever small smirk breaking out from his usually stoic face.
Hiori elbows him as they walk back into the kitchen together. “Come on, I wasn’t that scared.”
“I think you cope with humor and simping for monsters, fuckinf sadist,” Rin says. He isn’t sure whether he’s supposed to take that seriously and he wishes he isn’t.
“Ya know I should drag you into one of my streams one day. See how ya fare with a lot of people knowing you’re too much of a coward to be a monsterfucker.”
Rin kicks him back, but one look at his face shows that there’s minimum malice in that. “Now that was uncalled for.”
Hiori laughs as they start cleaning the kitchen. Only one out of the many many rooms in the Itoshi household. Man were they rich from that sweet sweet soccer money and fame. The money and fame his parents wanted him to achieve one day. Fuck them. “Honestly though the chat has wanted ya to join for a while. They shame me for not knowing lore.”
“Because you’re too busy memorising attack patterns and being a metaslave. Bet you only paid attention in Undertale when it was the fights.”
“Hey I did pay attention to the lore!”
Hiori splashes another bucket of water at him in retaliation. He laughs as Rin jumps from the surprise, staring at the water in absolute fear. Like an actual cat. Hiori isn’t laughing for long as Rin splashes him back, getting them both drenched.
“That’s what you get,” Rin says as he starts sweeping up the floor again.
“Aight, aight. Hope I don’t get a cold walking home though.” Hiori chuckles as he squeezes some water out of his hair.
“... aren’t you all the way in Kyouto?” Rin asks him.
“Yes?”
“Take a bath here at least. I don’t give a fuck if Sae complains, that is way too far for you to risk getting a cold. Put on my spare clothes, too. It’s fucking freezing out there.”
“Oh.” Hiori doesn’t really know what to say. He hasn’t had anyone care this much about him or his health in a while, especially if there’s nothing in it for them. Karasu’s nice enough but he still has plenty of nights where he had to walk home in the chilly weather.
“Let’s finish the kitchen and I’ll see what I can find. Tsk, at least you bothered to clean up their mess.”
They spend an hour cleaning up the kitchen then Rin leads him to the spare rooms that were miraculously not ransacked or fucked in. Hiori steps into the shower with nothing but a bunch of thoughts swirling inside his head. And shampoo bottles that smell exactly like Rin’s hair. He shouldn’t get used to this.
–
After around ten minutes Hiori hears a knock on the door and Rin’s voice. “I left the clothes on the bed. Tell me if that shit doesn’t fit.”
“Oh, thank you!” Hiori calls back out.
Rin doesn’t answer.
–
By the time Hiori’s out, the clothes are waiting on the bed as promised. A soft turquoise and white striped shirt that fit perfectly, some undergarments and black pants. He’s surprised Rin even had anything in his wardrobe that wasn’t black.
He spends an extra five minutes in the room just staring at the mirror, looking at how Rin’s clothes fit him. They surprisingly look good on him. Possibly because of their complimentary colour palettes.
Hiori decides that’s finally enough loitering in the guest room and steps outside to find Rin just playing with his laptop in the living room. There is definitely still loads of mess but perhaps he’ll just leave it for Sae to deal with.
“Oh, hi,” Rin says without even looking away from his game. Hiori can’t help but chuckle as he looms in from over his shoulder.
“Oh, Nier? Surprised it’s not another horror.”
“You got me into this, you only have yourself to blame,” Rin mutters as he continues playing a totally not pirated version.
“Bet,” Hiori says, making his way over to the couch and sitting beside him. Rin doesn’t flinch despite the contact. Hm.
“Oh also your phone buzzed. Karasu was asking when you were coming back. Pretty sure your parents are pissed.”
“Fuck yeah, I’m not going home,” Hiori says with an all too careless laugh.
Rin finally looks away. He doesn’t have any pity in his eyes, but there may be a hint of understanding. “Well I can’t really stop you, can I?”
Hiori chuckles. “Yeah… that’s kinda why I got into streaming as much as I did. Stream, get money, afford an apartment, move the fuck out. Guess I have football to help me collect that money, too.”
“What a fucking mood,” Rin mutters as he turns his attention back to the laptop, subconsiously swaying to the OST. Hiori knows Rin has some bad brother issues but he doesn’t know to what extent or the specifics of it. He decides not to speculate.
“Well we could just be the best midfielder-striker duo then and go grab that sweet sweet football money and then disappear from the face of the earth forever,” Hiori says with a laugh, leaning over to Rin. “I mean there’s not much waiting for us in that world anyway…”
“You’re telling me,” Rin says as logs on.
–
Yoyo: hey dad
Cawcaw: bitch I said to stop calling me that
Its papa
Yoyo: 🙄 hey gay ass father figure
Cawcaw: slightly better
Yoyo: im moving in
Cawcaw: really??? With who??? YOU NEVER TOLD ME THIS SHIT
Yoyo: rin-kun
And shut up its fine u didnt tell me otoya was moving in either
Cawcaw: my son needs both his parents
Yoyo: ur son is a big boi now >:(
anyway pls help me pack up and fight my sperm donator and surrogate
i wanna get out of that stupid ass house
imma be heading there at like 9:00 tomorrow if i wake up
Cawcaw: you’re gonna be all alone :(
in the big city :(
without your mama and papa :(
Yoyo: bold of u to assume ur not the mom
and besides im not alone
i have rin-kun
i like him
and i trust him
i know he’s gonna be a good roommate
Cawcaw: gay ass bitches gonna be playing COD until 3:00 in the morning
but okie papa will help you
Yoyo: lmao fuck off
…
ily
Cacaw: love u too kid
–
“Are you- are you sure you want me to go along?” Rin asks as he stands beside Hiori at the vending machine, trying to get them both hot cups of coffee before the train pulls up. “I’m not, like, close with any of the bitches there. They don’t know me.”
“Of course, Rin-kun,” Hiori says, reaching down and handing him a bottle. Rin had asked him if he could go along anyway but he still feels a little apprehensive about it all. That and he’s never really been that far from his house alone and without Sae. Call him childish but it does seem like one big adventure for him.
They board the train and share earphones as Rin watches Hiori play on his phone.
–
“Hello, son, and son-in-law!”
“Huh?” Rin rubs his eyes. The sun was a bit blinding, definitely not used to waking up this early in the morning, but he supposed this is the best time to help Hiori move out all his stuff.
“Ya goof, we ain’t married,” Hiori says, immediately kicking Karasu lightly in the shins. Rin watches this unfold, feeling a little out-of-place. He’s never had any loving interactions like that with his family for years now, but a smile from Hiori helps him relax a bit. “Sorry, he’s just annoying like that.”
Rin finds himself chuckling a little, not knowing what solicited that, as he fishes for a watch in his pocket and throws it over at Karasu. “You left that, by the way.”
“Ah god sorry, we made a mess huh?” Karasu says, catching the watch and ruffling his hair. It’s a bit more aggressive than the way Sae does it but he wouldn’t say he hates it.
“Big one. Don’t bully Kenyu-san like that next time, huh? The bathroom stinks,” Hiori says, wrinkling his nose at the thought. He looks at Karasu. “Is Otoya at home?”
“Yeah he’s at your home, actually. Started helping packing. You picked a real good time to run away, I’ll tell you that,” Karasu says with a smile. Rin wonders how it feels to have someone this genuinely supportive.
“Yeah of course I’d run away when they’re on a trip,” Hiori says as they walk through the train station, their steps quite fast. All the sights around Rin kind of blurred, eyes only focused on the bright cyan hair in front of him. He doesn’t know if it’s getting all overwhelming because of his asperger’s or because of something else. After all, he was still a rich football kid. It shouldn’t be that overwhelming to be travelling to new places. But something about being here, walking down a street that Hiori’s probably walked a million times before, is something.
Eventually Karasu slows down around a convenience store. “Kids, wait here, papa has to get some stuff.”
He waves and disappears with the ring of the bell.
“Rin, ya alright?” Hiori says, sitting down on the sidewalk, patting the spot beside him. “Ya seem a little dazed.”
“I dunno,” Rin says absentmindedly as he watches people cross the street or the birds circle some spot in the sky. It’s oddly calming being in another place with a friend. He can’t say he’s ever felt anything this warm and comfortable in a while.
“Ya do know,” Hiori says, leaning against him. Rin finds he doesn’t mind. “But it’s alright, I won’t pry.”
Rin’s happy about Hiori respecting his boundaries but now it only makes him more willing to share. Weird how that worked. But if it’s with Hiori, he finds he doesn’t mind sharing. At least he doesn’t seem like the type to emotionally use it against him, unlike a certain someone. “I mean… I guess it’s comfy. You and Karasu. It’s…”
Rin trails off, not knowing exactly how he wants to word it. It’s what I wish Sae and I had. I want to be part of it, too. But he is Rin and he isn’t just going to say that outright. He knows Hiori already has plenty of family problems and is lucky enough to even have a friend nearby who’s willing to take care of him.
“Alright, kids, it’s time to go,” Karasu says with a smile as he steps out of the convenience store, swinging a plastic bag around. Rin does not question the suspiciously shaped package in there. He’s seen it enough times at his house anyway.
He throws a whole Yakult pack at Hiori, who catches it with ease. Hiori smiles as they start walking along the path.
He breaks off one bottle of Yakult and offers it to Rin. “Ya want?”
Rin hesitates, a bit put-off by the offer, but takes it anyway. He peels a bit of the foil off and takes a sip. “Thanks.”
It’s peaceful. It’s weird. It’s something he’s not used to.
–
They arrive at Hiori’s apartment complex and his demeanor immediately turns cold. He drops off his bag on the couch, acting like he doesn’t even live in the place. He’s distanced from the furniture, even if there are pictures of him and his family at his football games.
He doesn’t mention anything but he does fight the urge to also throw those photos in the trash. Something he had always wanted to do back home, but his spite lets him keep the photos of him and Sae there.
Otoya’s standing in the living room, among some boxes, few of which were for consoles. He waves as they enter, immediately dragging Karasu in for a sloppy kiss.
Rin looks away and Hiori just chuckles.
“Are ya two lovebirds done?”
“Nah we’re gonna fuck in your parents’ room.” Otoya wiggles his eyebrows.
Hiori rolls his eyes and kneels down with the boxes. His face is blank as he does so. Rin doesn’t know if he’s going over the memories, is repressing, or feels absolutely nothing about it all. But he picks up and inspects each and every box’s contents carefully before putting them back down, tossing a few of them into a ‘discard’ box.
“Ya really cleared out my room?” Hiori asks, his voice a little lighter. It makes Rin smile.
“Yeah. Except the furniture. Are you really bringing this shit all the way to the city?” Otoya asks, sprawling out on the couch.
“You guys definitely have a pick-up truck and I can drive,” Rin says.
“Son you’re sixteen, I’m not letting us get caught on the highway. Let papa do it.”
Hiori rolls his eyes at Karasu’s remark. He picks up one of the boxes. “The truck’s the one parked a few blocks down, huh?”
Rin didn’t even notice it.
Karasu nods. “Yeah. Otoya, help them get their shit in there.”
“Will do, baby.”
Rin audibly fakes a barfing noise, which makes Hiori chuckle from beside him. They both pick up some boxes and start heading out.
“Are they always this fucking embarassing?” Rin asks as they walk down the block.
“Hey, at least they don’t fuck during a party.”
“Touché.”
They walk back and forth a few more times before they fully load in the back area a little haphazardly. Hiori readjusts everything to fix the physics of things when the truck starts moving.
“Here’s the rope.”
Otoya quite forcefully throws the rope coil at them and Rin acts quick and catches it. The uncoiled end of the rope flails around but he immediatelt catches it in his hand before it got dangerously close to Hiori’s face. “Stupid ass bitch, you could’ve hit him.”
“My bad.” Otoya grins cheekily as he hops into the shotgun. Rin has the urge to just climb in there and murder him.
“Thanks, Rin-kun.” Hiori smiles and those urges dissipate for just a moment.
He sighs as he helps Hiori secure everything down with the rope. They arranged things carefully, putting all the consoles, cassettes and DVDs at the bottom so they wouldn’t fall off as easily. Then Rin secures all the clothes on top. He’s filled with a weird sense of anticipation. All these things would be moved to his place. His room.
He hates knowing he gets nervous but right now he can’t even pinpoint why. Hiori is a friend, after all. And not just any friend, but one who couldn’t piss him off. So there are probably going to be minimal disputes at home. And growing up with a brother, he’s used to sharing his living space. He prays this feeling would go away.
“Kids, are you ready back there?” Karasu calls out, rolling down the window that separates the back from the inside.
“Are we even allowed to be out here? On the highways?” Rin asks, trying to distract himself by being a smartass. At least then he didn’t have to think too much about feelings.
“We’ll take the side roads. It’s fine, I’ve driven all the way to Toukyou many times before. Kamakura shouldn’t be that much farther.”
“That’s four fucking days away by truck. Stop at Nagoya first, at least.” Rin rolls his eyes but stays put as he sits beside Hiori.
“Road trip, even funner. Don’t worry, ya boy’s legal and he has a hella lotta money. And you’d definitely pay for gas, too, huh, Rin-chan?”
“Only for Hiori,” Rin says, rolling his eyes. “I’m not paying for your gas on the way back.”
He doesn’t know how or why Karasu and Otoya even had a truck. He thought that with the way they went about things, they’d just use the trains always and forever. He does not trust them with driving anything but he supposes he can’t complain as they bump along the road.
He watches Hiori as he looks around the place he grew up in. His eyebrows furrowed as a lot of different feelings mix, come and go on his face. Rin doesn’t even speak, afraid to mess up the Kyouto boy’s concentration. He doesn’t know if Hiori’s sentimental enough to be feeling nostalgic or if he’s just trying to memorise all the details and pinpoint what exactly happened at which street corner.
After a while Hiori seems to lean back, sinking into the rest of the boxes with a sigh. Maybe they’ve gotten past his main hometown.
“You doing okay?” Rin never thought of himself as someone who cares for anything ever. He can’t even remember the last time he asked something like that.
Hiori looks at him with a smile and Rin doesn’t believe in stomachs doing flips and having butterflies in them but in that moment, he almost does. “Yeah. As much as I can be anyway.”
It’s surprisingly peaceful, sitting at the back of a pick-up truck with his best friend as they make their way down back roads. The wind isn’t loud enough to interrupt their conversation yet either. He has never done anything like this, he’s realised. He never had friends of his own, and whenever he went somewhere, it was because Sae wanted to. He didn’t really have a reason to just get up and… go somewhere.
“I dunno if this is a l’il rude but do ya wonder if this is how Sae felt?” Hiori says, tilting his head as he looks back at the lake they were passing by. He’s never gotten this far either.
“What do you mean?” Rin asks, some unpleasant feelings stirring in his chest but it doesn’t hit him full force as they usually do when literally anyone else brings up Sae. He’s surprisingly approaching this with apprehension. Maybe it’s because he feels Hiori knows more about how his own brother might feel, or maybe it’s because he knows Hiori has it way worse than he does.
“Leaving everything behind. I mean, I don’t really follow sports news that much. Can’t be bothered. But I’ve heard a bit at Blue Lock and…” Hiori looks back at him. “When he left for Europe, d’ya reckon that he’d miss this place? Or did he just really wanna leave and go somewhere with good football?”
Rin shrugs, trying to ignore the slight headache that formed at the thought of Sae. “I guess he really just wanted to leave.”
Sae did not look back even once. The only time he did was to find a striker that’s actually good enough to receive his passes, and never in that period did he ever consider Rin. He supposed Sae was completely ready to say goodbye and never look back back then.
“You’re really not going back huh?” Rin asks. He doesn’t even want to think about empathizing with the people Hiori’s left behind because they actually deserved it. But it’s hard, after the question he asked.
Hiori seems to have picked up the slight hesitancy in his voice. He doesn’t know how, but Hiori’s always seemed to see through whatever walls and edginess he tried to put up. “I’m not. And I’m sorry about asking ya about that, it’s just- … yeah.”
“It’s just what?” Rin asks, carefully moving past the boxes as the truck speeds down the road. It jerks suddenly and Hiori quickly pulls him down.
Being a football player, he’s used to finding himself on top of other men in various sorts of positions, but he doesn’t know why his face starts heating up when he realises he’s laying on Hiori’s lap.
“It’s just I dunno how exactly to talk about this with you,” Hiori admits with a small laugh. “You’re not exactly who people come to for emotional support.”
Rin rolls his eyes. “I think I know that. You didn’t have to drag me along, you know?”
“I wanted to.” His fingers find their way to his hair and he finds he doesn’t mind it. “I mean I love Tabito-san and Otoya with all my heart but they’re a bit… much.”
Rin scoffs. “That’s putting it way too fucking generous, Hiori.”
“Well, ya know what I mean. They’d just fuss a bit too much over me.”
They sit in silence for a few more minutes, Rin resigning to his fate of having his head on Hiori’s lap.
“I’m kinda excited to be living with you. I’ve never really had anything like that before.”
“Me neither,” Rin says, thinking of his childhood. Sae was a weird case. He almost doesn’t believe there was a period in his life where he loved Sae and wanted more than anything to be just like him. Sae had always dismissed his weird tendencies even if he did defend him from their parents. He never really had to share his space with someone who would just let him be.
–
The next few days passed by quite fast. They had made multiple stops at multiple cities since Rin isn’t trusting either of the two for driving for long periods of time without fucking anything up. And so they also forced him to pay up for whichever hotel or motel or whatever place they stay in.
Karasu always roomed with Otoya, of course, so it was him and Hiori most of the time if there weren’t enough rooms. And he didn’t mind this preview to whatever they’d have in a few days.
Hiori wasn’t really used to taking care of himself.
“My parents always did it so their son would always have ‘health that would make him perform better,’ but when I was in Blue Lock, I didn’t really bother. Didn’t really see the point,” he had told him.
And so Rin took it upon himself to help do the basic chores. He did also rely on Sae for most things, but ever since he had left for Spain, Rin found himself being more and more independent. Like Sae had never existed in his life. Like he had been the older brother all along.
The long periods of being on the truck were starting to get on his nerves and his legs weren’t exactly thanking him for it neither. But Hiori was brave enough to open one of his DS boxes while racing at 80kph speeds, and Rin had to admit there were worse ways to spend prolonged periods on a truck than playing with Hiori. If he had to admit, that was his most preferred outcome.
A few days later, they finally arrived at his flat in Kamakura.
“And here we are, at the same place we fucked in a week ago,” Karasu declares with an unreasonably proud smile, opening the back door to the truck. His eyes widen at the sight. Hiori's half-asleep leaning on some boxes and Rin's lying down, head in his lap.
Okay maybe he had gotten a bit more comfortable with Hiori back there, but he had told himself that it was normal to lay down on friends. He had seen Bachira do that to a lot of people already. It wouldn't be that much different if he laid down on Hiori. Plus it's the hot afternoon, who isn't going to get tired?
Still, it doesn’t stop Karasu from having an obnoxiously giddy smile. “Getting a bit comfy, aren’t we?”
Rin flips him off as he sits up, wide awake now. “Fuck off. And fucking hell, it was you two who left a mess in that room?”
“Hey, at least your brother had spare condoms laying around,” Otoya adds unhelpfully.
Hiori scoffs as stands up himself. He leaps down, before holding a hand out for Rin. Normally he’d be all sassy and snap something like ‘I don’t need any help’ (yes truly extremely sassy), but he just takes it and leaps down from the truck. Which hurts his legs more than he anticipated. “Ow, fuck– how’s that so tall?”
“Rin-kun, I’m shorter than you. That should not have hurt that much," Hiori says, patting his head. His ears feel awfully hot.
“Just by a few inches,” Rin mutters as he fumbles for the keys in his pocket.
He watches as Karasu and Otoya help Hiori bring the boxes down before walking towards his house and opening the door. This is it. He’s going to have Hiori living with him. He wouldn’t be completely alone from now on. That’s something that he never thought he’d think. It’s not that he particularly yearns for companionship, but he does prefer being in solitude way more. He’s surprised he’s feeling somewhat pleasant at the thought of this new change.
There’s next to no one in the Blue Lock facility who understood his entire reason to even be there and live. He doesn’t and wouldn’t understand the insane amount of passion they had for the game, or for someone who plays the game.
But then here’s Hiori, who only played for his escape. He didn’t aim for anything. His goal was to just wait for it all to be over, and Rin could understand the sentiment in a way.
Everyone in Blue Lock are small fry, none of them actually worth noting. It’s more of a side-quest, if anything. Get in, prove himself, get out and wait for Sae to look back at him and destroy him.
He supposes that’s what both of them are doing right now. Waiting. And he finds he doesn’t mind waiting with Hiori.
“Where’s You-chan gonna be staying at?” Karasu asks, looking around at the kitchen and living room that he definitely helped ransack a few days prior.
“Touch anything and you’re dead,” Rin mutters. He waits for Hiori to come in with the last of the boxes before he leads them up the stairs and into his room.
Karasu and Otoya exchange a look. “This isn’t your room, is it?”
“Look at that fucking collection, this is definitely his room. Also distinct lack of toys,” Otoya says. Rin doesn’t hesitate to hit him with a spare book.
“Hey- hey–”
“It’s fine, Tabito-san,” Hiori says as he moves the boxes down to a free corner of the room. Rin knows his room can be described as minimalist at best, no personality at worst. He never really cared about that, but a part of him’s looking forward to what Hiori could bring.
“You can put your clothes in here. I don’t have much,” Rin says, opening his closet and moving his very few clothes to the side. Hiori nods and brings over the box, opening it only to be met with the exact same sweater Rin already had in there. Otoya bursts into laughter, Karasu slapping his back with a giggle.
“God do you both have a shit ass wardrobe?” Otoya says, still shaking from how hard he’s cackling.
Rin throws another book at him, right before he hits the bed. “Not on the bed.”
Otoya rubs his head. “God your new roommate’s such a dictator.”
“Pffft.” Hiori just laughs as he sits down on Rin’s bed as if to tease him. Rin enables him, turning his attention back to the closet.
“Hey how come he can sit in your bed but I can’t?” Otoya complains.
“Aiya, Eita. It’s cuz you’re a dumbass,” Karasu says, moving the box of the consoles in another corner.
“Wait, I’ll set that up,” Rin says, god forbid Karasu breaks anything.
He steps back, a teasing grin on his face. “Alright, loverboy.”
“Nah, Tabito-san. He’s just impatient to see my collection,” Hiori says, suddenly appearing beside him. They spend the next few minutes perfecting the duo-gamer setup as Otoya complains about being lonely and bored.
“Karasu, get your husband to stop yapping,” Rin says once they’re finally done, standing up and stretching.
“Can’t, he yaps until he’s satisfied.”
Hiori grabs two pillows from the bed and throws them at both of them. “Ya dumbasses.”
“Eita, You’s being mean,” Karasu complains.
Hiori rolls his eyes and helps Rin up. “Get the hell out of my house now.”
“Your house? Since when was this your house?”
“It’s his house now, too,” Rin adds, making the three of them look at him. Otoya looks like he’s about to burst out laughing and Karasu looks ready to throw the pillow that hit him. Hiori’s looking at him with such a grateful smile that he feels compelled to look away.
“You-chan, are you really sure you want to stay with this guy? It’s not too late to move your things back,” Karasu says with a shit-eating grin.
Rin throws him another pillow as he sits beside Hiori on the bed. “Fuck off.”
“Tame your Discord kitten,” Otoya says at the same time Karasu grabs the hood of his jacket. “Alright, alright, fine. I gotta get the truck back before we head back to Blue Lock anyway. But be sure to call us whenever you need something, okay?”
Hiori chuckles and rolls his eyes. “Okay, dad.”
Karasu eventually drags Otoya out of the room, leaving him and Hiori alone in his room. Rin’s never really cared for lighting or actually taking care of his place but it somehow feels brighter just from the other boy’s presence.
“So… sleeping arrangements,” Hiori says, immediately reminding him about business.
“I have another futon.”
Hiori raises his eyebrows. “Really? Why?”
“It’s literally because Sae told me to. ‘You never know when you’d have a friend staying over.’” Rin shakes his head. “I’d always thought I’d just use his goddamn room if ever I did get a friend staying over. After all, it’s not like he ever stays here.”
“So ya stay here alone?”
“Not all the time. Sometimes my parents come home, but don’t worry. They’re not that bad. They’re just busy, most of the time. It’s Sae who mostly raised me.”
“Huh.” Hiori lies back down on the bed. “Sometimes I wish I could be like that instead. Would’ve been better if people had left me alone back there.”
“It’s fucking far, that’s for sure.” Rin shakes his head as he lies down with him. Nothing felt more natural than sharing it with Hiori. “I can’t believe you made that trip a few times.”
“I mean I had Tabito-san with me,” Hiori says. “I’m actually really grateful that you joined me on that. It was way less boring with you.”
“Hah, doubt it.” It had meant to come across as dismissive but it sounded more insecure than anything. Rin would normally be defensive as fuck with that sort of thing but he finds he doesn’t mind letting his walls down just a little bit whenever he’s with Hiori. And he realises he’ll probably have to get used to that happening way more now.
And while no one mentions anything about the slow but steady change with Rin’s attitude the next time everyone hangs out, he sometimes receives completely unsolicited throwaway comments about it. Which he promptly dismisses with a glare.
No one mentions anything about how close the two of them have been getting either. Everyone thinks it’s natural anyway, the friendship between two fellow gamers. Two soccer players. The midfielder and his striker. There is nothing out of the ordinary. There’s no reason people should think it’s special. Or at least that’s what Rin hopes.
But only a few of them know that whenever they get the slightest bit of a break from Blue Lock, they say goodbye to their other friends and head towards the exact same destination. A little haven as small as twenty square meters that would soon harbor years worth of healing.