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A feeling of inanity crawls up his spine, Rin thinks he hears spirits whispering in his ear, is he dying?—”RinRin, Rin, Rin, wake up”—for a second Rin thinks he sees the light, which is then accompanied with pink. Maybe heaven has pool parties with flamingos and watermelon piña colada. And maybe Rin now has wings that were big enough to poke his che—what the hell is poking his cheek?
His eyes snap open, blinking into focus at the sight to behold—which really wasn't—that was the opposite of heaven, what the hell was Ryuusei Shidou doing in his dorm?
Rin swatted the.. Anomaly’s finger away from his cheek with a scoff. “What are you doing?” Oh god, he was grinning, what the hell? How many times has he said—thought, that?
“Welcome back to life, RinRin! Charles said we should practice together since we’re the aces of PxG and everything,” Shidou beamed, toothy and way too cheerful. Okay. Maybe not the complete opposite of heaven.
“Why would I waste my time with lukewarms,” he muttered, noticing how Shidou was ignoring the way Rin’s lips tugged downward—not quite a frown, but unfortunately more of a pout. Cue the snort from Shidou. Of course he noticed. How observant of him.
“If you don’t want to, that’s fine. We’ll just get someone else to do it,” Shidou said, standing up from where he’d been crouched beside Rin’s bed.
And of course, Rin had to retaliate. “Your loss. And I didn’t say I wouldn't do it,” he said, lowering his gaze to avoid seeing Shidou’s reaction—even though it was painfully obvious what it would be.
Oh, he was grinning, Rin expected a smirk. Whatever, same thing.
“You’re getting soft, RinRin,” Shidou cooed, ruffling his hair like Rin was some kind of pet, which obviously resulted in Rin smacking his hand away with a scowl, sitting up and running a hand through the mess that used to be his hair. “Touch me again and I’ll break your fingers.”
“Ooo, kinky, lovin’ it,” Shidou laughed, already backing toward the door. “Okay for real, hurry up. Charles is waiting for us to pick up mini-Rin, and if we’re late, he’s gonna force Loki to make us run drills until we puke.” He called, shutting the door behind him.
His brow furrows. Who was mini-Rin?
⊹ 🍸｡⋆
After finishing his usual morning routine—now newly haunted by two eerily similar blondes—Rin scrubbed at his wet hair with a Blue Lock-issued towel, skin still damp and clinging with post-shower heat. The chill in the air did nothing to help. Neither did the sound of familiar, obnoxious laughter echoing from down the hall.
Rin slipped on his jersey, grimacing as the collar briefly caught on his still-damp hair and put on his earphones. Turning to the mirror, he scowled at his reflection and rushed to fix his bangs—which were messy and long overdue for a cut—ensuring they were covering the proper angles of his face, and walked out of the room.
It wasn't long before both Charles and Shidou came into view, both tumbling on the artificial grass like buffalos or whatever animal Rin actually studied up on besides owls; he wouldn’t dare tarnish the reputation of such noble birds by comparing them to those two.
It also wasn't long before they noticed Rin and stopped their bickering to annoy him. “Rin-chan! I’ve set up the whole thing—okay, so boom, Niko’s gonna visit our stratum to make it fair,” Charles announced proudly.
Mystery solved, mini-Rin was Niko—What? Rin raised an eyebrow at his words, at the realization and at the expression on his face—that smug, lips-pursed, wide-eyed look. The human equivalent of that proud little emoji people used when fishing for praise. Praise in which, obviously, Rin wasn’t going to give.
“Is that even allowed?” He questioned, soon regretting it after the answer Charles gave, possibly part-French, possibly just fast enough to confuse the translation software.
“Yep!” Charles beamed, “Big boy up there said we could ask Ubers to help out with training since they don’t have any upcoming matches. Just—y’know—don’t tell the other team. What if that weird purple guy teaches them some weird purple tricks or something..” He said with a shudder that elicited a laugh from Shidou.
“Chill, Charboy,” Shidou said, placing a hand on the younger’s shoulder, “Inviting your boyfriend over some major league player from Ubers is balls bold, we’re gonna crush the two of you!” He said with an overly exaggerated grin, reaching over to ruffle Charles’ hair.
Charles easily retaliated with a pout, “He is not my boyfriend, I simply chose him because he’s a great player..”
A snort accidentally slipped from Rin, which was then covered up with a cough, which then made the two snicker. “Sorry.”
“All good RinRin! Alright, where's eyeballs?” Shidou exclaimed, stretching his arms.
Charles scoffed, “Niko deserves a better nickname, call him pretty boy.”
“You’re whipped,” Rin spoke, rolling his eyes.
“Whipped and proud!” Charles flashed a toothy grin, quickly turning into a snicker “At least I don’t pretend I’m not into him,” Rin didn’t respond. Mostly because Charles had a point, and also because if he did, Shidou would probably make it worse.
“Aww, you guys are so cute when you argue,” Shidou drawled, jogging ahead. “We’re like one big happy family!” He said, smiling widely.
Rin gave him a side glance, “We are not.”
“We kind of are Rin-chan, you gotta admit.”
“Shut up.”
“Okay! Let’s go find Pretty Eyeballs before he starts brooding in the shadows or something.”
“You’re never calling him that again,” Charles called after him.
“No promises!”
⊹ 🍸｡⋆
After an exhausting training session—most of which consisted of Shidou and Charles relentlessly teasing both Rin and Niko—the group finally parted ways. Rin found himself, once again, in the sterile bathing rooms that Blue Lock provided.
He turned off the shower with a metallic creak, cold water still dripping down his face. Grabbing yet another Blue Lock-issued towel, he dried himself off and slipped into the same Blue Lock-issued pajamas. Seriously, did they own his entire wardrobe?
The sound of the shower stopping echoed in his mind, Ego’s voice droned through the intercom—scolding Charles for sneaking off or something equally idiotic as the soft patters of rain—rain? He turned to the mirror and noticed blood dripping down his nose.
The sting in his nose returned as he rushed to the sink, the same sting from earlier when that antennaed freak had thrown an elbow a bit too aggressively during their tussle for the ball.
Disgusting, Rin thought to himself, watching the water from the tap swirl pink in the basin. He quickly washed his face, grabbed the towel again, and pressed it to his nose. Truly disgusting.
He took a long breath, glancing at the mirror and grimacing at how similar the sight was to that of his older brother. He reached up to fix his bangs before a pair of tan arms encircled his waist, eliciting a sharp gasp from him.
“You look fine, stop worrying about it.” Shidou said in a drowsy tone, burying his face into Rin’s neck.
Rin pressed the towel against his nose, applying just a little more pressure—there was a fifty percent chance his nosebleed just got worse. “Get off,” He muttered, albeit making no attempt to move.
Shidou nuzzled closer in reply, “Let me have this. Pre-game jitters are a real thing, RinRin.”
Rin scoffed. “You don’t even get nervous.”
“I do when I care.”
“…Gross.”
“Still not moving, though.”
“Just shut up.”
-
And so that night, Rin wakes up with a gnawing headache and a blonde, pink eyed demon curled up next to him.