Archive of Our Own

I.

“Good work today, girls,” Rin hears from across the penalty area. She grits her teeth and drops her head in between her knees.

Rin sits on the pitch near the goal, tearing grass from the ground as she sulks over her scrimmage team’s loss in practice. Already mopey over the fact that her team of lukewarm idiots cost her a match, no matter how insignificant, Isagi Yoichi’s chipper voice does nothing to soothe Rin’s frustration.

Digging her fingers into the turf one last time, she pushes herself up into a standing position with a huff. Fucking Isagi. Goddammit, if Rin has to hear her and her useless friends celebrating the only win they’d ever have over her for one moment more, she might march over and strangle each one of them herself.

“Isagi,” she calls, lips curling down into a sneer. “Quit acting so damn superior. You know you’d never beat me in a real match, so save yourself the embarrassment and stop this ridiculousness.”

Isagi pauses in her ruffling of Kurona’s hair, hand still entangled in pink locks as she turns towards Rin with a raised brow. “What the hell? You think me celebrating has anything to do with you? You’re the one who needs to quit acting superior, you self-centered jerk.”

Next to her, Hiori laughs. “Damn, Yoichi, hold your horses. Y’know how Itoshi gets, ya don’t need to entertain her.”

“Don’t call me that—”

“You’re one to talk, Yo, you sadist!” Isagi snorts, cutting Rin off. “Hey, I’m gonna hit the showers now. See you guys later?”

Hiori flashes her a grin, and Kurona nods jerkily. “Later. Later.”

Rin watches, eyes narrowing, as Isagi traipses towards her. “What do you want?”

“Drop the act, Rin. Locker room, c’mon.”

They maintain eye contact for a few seconds, Rin glaring at Isagi’s bright smile.

“…”

“Rin.”

“Goddammit, Yoichi, fine.”

Yoichi laughs, bumping her shoulder against Rin’s. “You know you don’t have to go all emo every time you lose a practice game, right?”

Rin scoffs, affronted, and elbows Yoichi right back. “Nothing is ever practice, Isagi. When I’m playing against you, it’s always the real thing.”

“What an honor, Itoshi.” Yoichi thrusts her entire body into Rin’s side, instigating a full-on shoving war between the two as they walk towards the locker room.

As they cross the threshold of the locker room’s door, bodies jostling against each other, Rin grunts and pushes Yoichi hard enough to force her to the floor. “There. Should teach you to stop touching me.”

Rin turns on her heel, headed towards the neatly folded towel placed upon her gym bag. She unfolds the towel, unties her dark hair from its high ponytail, and raises the cloth to her head to dry her scalp.

She inhales, relaxing as air fills her lungs. As intense as she is about soccer, and as passionate as she is in her rivalries, Itoshi Rin still gets tired. The high-energy environment and constant pressure to be the best weigh down on her sometimes, too.

Isagi Yoichi, despite her friendliness towards Rin, offers little respite from the storm. She’s never not challenging Rin, never not invading her comfort zone and forcing her out of her shell.

Yoichi is all noise and wild grins and optimism, and even Rin finds herself occasionally blinded by her presence.

Rin pauses in drying her hair. Speaking of Yoichi, it’s been rather quiet for the past thirty or so seconds. Rin glances over her shoulder, only for—

“Oof! Fuck!”

A heavy weight throws itself onto Rin’s back, sending both girls tumbling towards the ground.

From her spot on the tile floor, Rin gapes. Yoichi hovers above her, shaggy hair hanging around her face, lips trembling as her eyes crinkle with unreleased laughter.

Rin’s face begins to crumple up in a scowl, and that sends Yoichi over the edge, making her burst into a fit of giggles. Through her peals of laughter, she leans down to bury her face into Rin’s shoulder.

“Hey, you— Stop! You dumbass, you could have given me a concussion! Quit laughing, I’m serious! Yoichi— Oh, my God…”

The girl in question pushes herself up on her hands to grin down at Rin. “Hey, I’m serious as well! You need to lighten up and let other people have their wins too!”

“Get off me,” Rin huffs, and Yoichi dutifully sits up. “I’ll do no such thing. The only reason I didn’t win this time is because Shidou chose a bunch of idiots for teammates, the lukewarm bastard.”

Yoichi rolls her eyes. “You think everyone’s an idiot, save for, like, Itoshi Sae.”

“She’s an idiot, too. Giving up the striker position for midfield is a stupid move.”

“Okay,” Yoichi drawls. “Either way, there’s no reason to act like an asshole to my friends. Ranze and Yo did nothing to you.”

Rin pauses, unable to come up with a proper retort. “I… You could do better than them, I guess. They could never be as good a striker as me.”

Yoichi rolls over to the side, gazing at Rin, who’s still laying on the floor, hair spread in a halo around her head. “You know, soccer’s not the only reason I hang out with anyone. I actually like being around nice, friendly people sometimes. And you,” she reaches out a fist to knock on Rin’s forehead, “are neither of those things.”

Rin sits up abruptly. “What? I don’t need to be personable. That does nothing for me.”

“Sure it does,” Yoichi shrugs. “You don’t know how much being nice benefits you until you start getting opportunities from being friendly with important people.”

Rolling her eyes, Rin frowns. “Only lukewarm idiots need to be nice to get jobs. People want talent, not kindness.”

“People want respect, Rin. You’re, like, the least respectful person I know.”

“Shidou?”

“She’s a close second.”

If looks could kill, Yoichi would be dead with the glare Rin fixes on her. “Compare me to her again and I’ll break both of your legs.”

Yoichi only laughs in response. “And lose your only soccer rival? Yeah, right. You’d die out of boredom.”

Rin shoves her hands in her lap. “I don’t need you, asshole. As soon as I step onto that field, I’m the only one who matters.” Never mind that Rin’s constantly aware of Yoichi’s position on the pitch. Never mind Rin’s orders to keep her eyes on her. Yoichi is inconsequential at best, and an annoyance at worst.

Unfortunately, and as per usual, Yoichi entirely misconstrues her words. “Only on the field? Does that mean I matter outside of soccer?” A downright evil grin stretches across her face, and Rin wants to punch her.

“That is not what I said, you fucking moron.”

Yoichi scoots closer to her—reminding Rin that they’re still seated on the locker room ground—and leans into her personal space. “If I don’t matter so much, it won’t be troublesome for you to come accompany me to the mall this weekend?” She asks, lips curling into a smaller, more playful smile.

“How the hell does that make sense in your mind?” Rin grumbles, already preparing to accept.

“Unimportant in Itoshi language just means not an immediate problem, which is practically a declaration of love,” Yoichi says, nodding her head sagely.

“Itoshi language? Are you comparing me to Sae? Are you close with Sae?” Rin’s hackles quickly rise at the implication of her older sister.

Clearly sensing a larger underlying issue, Yoichi decides not to press it. “I’m not close to her, but y’know. Shidou talks.”

At that, Rin’s nose wrinkles even more. “Are you close with Shidou?”

“Don’t accuse me of something like that!” Yoichi huffs, and Rin can’t help the small snort that escapes her. As if a predator latching onto her prey, Yoichi whips around at the noise and beams at Rin, who grimaces in turn.

“See! You laughed at my joke!” She announces triumphantly. “You think I’m funny!”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

Rin nearly jumps as Yoichi claps her on the shoulder and stands up. “You’ve spent the last fifteen minutes in a friendly conversation with me and haven’t tried to kill me. If I’m not mistaken, that means you’re accepting my invitation to the mall and officially starting our relationship as friends. Right?”

Not bothering to dignify that with a response, Rin rises to her feet and begins to shove her belongings into her gym bag. She feels Yoichi’s gaze on her all the while, though neither of them says a word. As she zips up her bag and slings it over her shoulder, Rin turns back to make eye contact.

“Send me the time and which train stop. And don’t be late; I won’t be waiting.”

Rin stalks off without giving Yoichi a chance to reply. As she steps out of the locker room and blood rushes inexplicably in her ears, Rin can’t help but feel she’s made a sort of mistake.

II.

Rin can say with full confidence that she absolutely detests going to the mall. It’s unbearably loud, none of the stores interest her, and the bustling atmosphere sets her nerves on edge, making her feel like she could burst out in anger at any moment. The food is greasy and terrible, half of the frequenters are men three times her age whose stares she can feel on her back, and to make it even worse, the music that blasts through the strategically placed hidden speakers makes her wish she was deaf.

Unfortunately, Isagi Yoichi loves the godforsaken place, and Rin finds herself on a Saturday afternoon wandering around the mall with a green tea boba in one hand and Yoichi in the other.

Because Yoichi is a stubborn bastard who won’t take no for an answer, Rin had been coerced into accompanying her for Christmas shopping after the locker room incident, never mind that Christmas wasn’t for several weeks. Now, Rin is being dragged around to various clothing stores, fingers intertwined with her rival’s.

Rin glowers as she catches sight of the next brightly colored display that they’re walking towards. “How are we not done yet? How many goddamn people do you have to buy stuff for?”

“Having a lot of friends isn’t a bad thing, Rin. You’d know that if you—”

“I swear to God, if you comment on my social life one more time I might just throw you off that balcony,” Rin hisses.

Yoichi turns to glance at the aforementioned loft, opening her mouth to respond before her eyes catch on something in the distance. She gasps and tugs on Rin’s hand. “Hey, there’s that shop I needed to go in for Meguru! Come on, we’re going in.”

A sound of protest escapes Rin’s lips. “At least ask me first–”

“Shut up, dude. You can go along with something for once in your life.” With that, Yoichi begins to lead them across the top floor, hand tightening around Rin's so as to not lose her in the crowd.

Rin glances down at their entwined digits, noting how her own fingers are longer and more slender than Yoichi’s, which are broad with vaguely crooked joints. Rin’s are cleanly manicured as opposed to the other girl’s bruise-littered, short-nailed hands, and Rin furrows her brows at the sight.

“You should really invest in a good hand cream, you know,” she mumbles.

Yoichi looks up to meet Rin’s gaze, nose wrinkled. “Are you trying to say my hands are ugly?”

“Maybe I am.”

She splutters in response. “Oh, come on, my hands are just fine! You’re just weirdly perfect all the time.”

Something in Rin’s chest twinges at that. She blinks, shaking off the feeling, and turns her head away, only to catch sight of a fortunately located lotion shop. “Yoichi, we’re stopping in here. We can go to your place afterwards.”

Rin ignores Yoichi’s cries of protest as she navigates them through the crowd, still holding on tight to the other’s hand. They step into the outlet, and the immediate deluge of sweet, feminine scents makes Rin wrinkle her nose.

Yoichi notices and scoffs. “You’re the one who brought us in here. If it bothers you so much, let’s just leave!”

“No. Come try this one, it’s blue like you.” Rin is already focused on the task at hand of finding a proper lotion scent.

Dutifully, Yoichi steps forward and takes a whiff. “Ew, no. That smells like toothpaste.”

Rolling her eyes, Rin replaces the tube onto the shelf and moves onto the next display. “Here. It’s strawberry.”

They go through the same sequence of actions several more times, each product unfitting to Yoichi’s tastes. Rin grows increasingly frustrated with each rejected item, and after four or so of the same reaction, she turns to fix Yoichi with a glare. “If you hate them all so much, why don’t you just pick one for yourself? Do you know you can do things without my help?”

Yoichi’s face scrunches up as if she’s holding back a retort. “I’ve actually recently started doing meditation, so I’m not going to answer that. I don’t want to disturb my inner peace.” She starts walking towards the other side of the shop, and then stops in her tracks. “If you’re so set on finding something for me… then I like vanilla.”

Suddenly, the white and cream labeled tubes seem especially appealing to Rin’s eye, and she picks one out at random, raising it to her nose to sniff. It’s a pleasant smell, something with warm spices and vanilla and coconut. Good enough, she thinks, and makes a beeline to Yoichi.

“Try this one,” she orders, shoving the container into Yoichi’s hands, and watches as she takes in the scent. Satisfaction spreads through her chest as Yoichi raises her brows in pleasant surprise.

“Hey, I like this one,” she remarks, turning to face Rin. “Did you smell it already?”

“No,” Rin blurts out, immediately cursing herself for it. Yoichi only laughs, and unscrews the tester tube’s cap to dispense some onto her hands.

“In that case, you can just do it after I rub this in.” She finishes massaging the cream onto her hands and holds them up near Rin’s face level.

Eyes wide, Rin glances between Yoichi’s face and her outstretched hands. Yoichi quirks a brow, amused by Rin’s hesitation. “Scared I’ll hit you or something?”

Rin scowls. “Like I wouldn’t beat your ass if you even tried. I’m not sniffing your stupid hands, weirdo.”

Exasperated, Yoichi throws her lotion-ed hands into the air. “I wasn’t trying to make it weird, Rin, that’s all you!”

At the accusation, Rin huffs and hisses out a “Fine!” before grabbing Yoichi’s hands of her own volition and bringing them to her face.

They smell good, sure, but Rin is suddenly completely focused on the other part of this, the part where she and Yoichi are standing not a foot away from each other and Yoichi’s callused hands are in her own, emanating warmth.

Fascinated, Rin strokes her knuckles gingerly. They’re prominent, littered with scars from over the years and one or two recent scrapes. Yoichi is a few shades darker than Rin, a result of her lack of attention to sun damage compared to Rin’s meticulous daily sunscreen application, and Rin notes the difference in tone, emphasized by their proximity.

Rin glances back up to find Yoichi staring at her expectantly. “Well?” She asks.

Their hands are still connected. Rin looks down again.

Finally, she meets Yoichi’s eyes. “Good,” she says plainly. “Nice.”

Blue eyes crinkle at that, and Rin wilts internally as Yoichi extracts her hands from hers. “Alright then,” Yoichi breathes, “I’ll go buy it.”

She seems to collect herself again as she strides off to the register. Rin stays rooted to her spot, heart doing something strange in her chest as she replays the interaction in her mind. She coughs loudly, trying to dislodge the feeling, and Yoichi turns around at the noise, eyebrow raised.

“You okay?” She asks, laughing slightly.

Rin glares at her. “Just go buy your damn lotion!”

They walk out of the shop minutes later, Yoichi toting a small bag in one hand. The other is not intertwined with Rin’s.

“So,” she starts, “Where to next?”

Rin shrugs. “I’m not the one on a shopping spree here—”

“Holy shit!” Rin flinches as Yoichi smacks her arm.

“What the fuck?” She snaps, rubbing the spot. “That hurt, asshole!”

Yoichi’s eyes are fixed on something in the distance. “Photo booth, Rin!” She makes a beeline for it.

Oh, hell no, Rin thinks, and says exactly that. “Oh, hell no,” she calls out, following Yoichi’s path. “I’m not doing a goddamn photo booth.”

Yoichi looks at her, eyes pitying. “Rin, do you ever have fun?”

“No,” she says flatly, and Yoichi rolls her eyes.

“I guess you’re going to have to not have fun while taking photos, then, because you’re not getting out of this.” She looks over at the booth, whose curtain is drawn across the door.

Rin exhales. “Looks like it’s not available. Alright, move on.”

She begins to walk away, but is caught by the sleeve. Rin turns around to find Yoichi’s death stare (mainly utilized on the field) directed at her. “We’re waiting in line for the fucking booth, Rin.”

They stare at each other for a few seconds before Rin groans, admitting defeat, and Yoichi pats her on the shoulder with a knowing grin.

As Rin waits, trying not to dwell on her easy admission, strange noises begin to come out of the booth. She squints, trying to make out what’s happening inside. And… oh my god. Rin tries not to vomit.

She bumps her elbow into Yoichi’s arm. “There are people kissing in there. I am not going into a kissing booth with you.”

“It’s not strictly a kissing booth!” Yoichi argues. (“Then is it partially a kissing booth?” goes ignored.) “We can just, like, not kiss in there. And it’ll be just fine.”

“Well, yeah, I’d hope so,” Rin mumbles. At the same time, the curtain draws back, and Rin’s heart drops to her stomach.

Out of the booth steps one Itoshi Sae and one Shidou Ryusei, both with rather flushed cheeks and Shidou with an easy grin on her face.

“N… Nee-chan?” Rin says, horrified.

“Oh, hey guys,” Yoichi smiles.

“Rin-rin!” Shidou exclaims.

Sae glances between them, lips tightening into a thin line.

Rin steps forward, gesturing, accusatory, at Sae. “Were you two in there making those noises?!”

To anyone inexperienced with Sae’s mannerisms, her face remains stoic and unchanging. To Rin, however, the flash of panic that darts across Sae’s striking features is evident. “You heard that?” She asks.

Shidou laughs, wrapping an arm around Sae’s shoulders (which is immediately shoved off). “Yeah, Sae-chan and I were in there making out all sloppy-style. Here, I’ll show you, we even have the photo evidence—”

“If you don’t shut up right now, you’re not making it home tonight,” Sae hisses. Shidou only laughs delightedly. “Is that an invitation?”

Ignoring her, Sae turns back to Rin. “Don’t listen to a word she’s saying. We did no such thing.”

At that, Shidou pouts. “Man, Sae, I didn’t take you for the embarrassed type. Is it really so bad to be seen with me?”

“Yes,” Sae replies monotonously. Whining, Shidou wraps around her, and Sae’s gaze flicks over to make eye contact with Rin.

Thick eyebrows furrowing, Sae exhales. “We’re leaving, demon. We did the photobooth like you wanted, so now I get to choose the rest.” Seemingly content with that deal, Shidou hums and takes Sae’s hand, swinging their arms between them as they walk away without so much as a goodbye.

As they go, Yoichi huffs out a laugh. “You guys really are alike, aren’t you?” She says, shaking her head.

“Ew, no,” Rin snaps. “Where the hell did you get that from? Shut up,” she adds on quickly as Yoichi opens her mouth to respond.

“I didn’t even— Whatever. Photobooth now, please.” Yoichi steps into the tiny room, holding the curtain out expectantly for Rin. “Well?”

Wordlessly, Rin enters the booth and sits down on the bench, thigh and arm pressed into Yoichi’s side as Yoichi inserts her credit card into the machine. She leans back after a moment, huffing out, “1400 fucking yen for four photos?” Rin only shrugs in response, feeling strangely constricted.

“Here, lean in,” Yoichi encourages her as numbers counting down from five begin to flash on the screen. Rin does so awkwardly, face expressionless bordering on inconvenienced. Yoichi grins into the camera, bright enough to make Rin wince.

For the next photo, Yoichi holds out one hand cupped in a half heart, making eye contact with Rin and raising her brows. Rin scoffs. “I’m not doing a heart with you.”

“I will make you redo this photo booth until you cooperate with me.”

Rin cups her hand and places it near Yoichi’s.

The camera flashes, and Yoichi leans in further. Rin is about to turn her head in question, but she freezes as Yoichi’s head tucks into her shoulder. A jolt of heat runs through her body, stomach lurching, and she stares, shocked, at the head of navy locks resting against her.

Still facing whiplash, Rin barely registers it when Yoichi tells her to make a silly face. A shocked Rin is still Rin, though, so she opts to glare at the camera instead as it takes the last photo.

She lets out a shaky sigh of relief as Yoichi shifts forward to collect the strips, handing one to Rin and inspecting her own. “You look like you’ve been to war.”

“And you look like the whole fucking sun,” Rin grumbles, staring at the bright grin she sports in every photo.

Yoichi laughs, bumping her shoulder into Rin’s as they exit the booth. “I’ll take that as a compliment, regardless of your intention. Hey, c’mon, I still need to go into that place for Meguru before it closes.”

Dutifully, Rin follows, pocketing the photo strip. She can only hope it doesn’t crinkle from the death grip she holds it in, fists trembling as she squeezes.

III.

If those two goddamn idiots waste one more minute of Rin’s precious time, she swears she’ll flip this entire table over and storm out of the café in a fit of rage.

Her fingers drum impatiently on the faux wood surface on which her cup of tea rested. After gratuitous begging from Meguru and a few thinly veiled threats from Yoichi, Rin had been coerced into a meet-up at a cozy coffee shop a couple of blocks away from school.

Truly, Meguru’s insistence on the three of them hanging out is astonishing. They already spend enough time together during school (although, Rin shares no classes with either girl. She takes pride in the fact that her schedule is too advanced for those two lukewarm morons) and at practice, so why would they need such an unproductive café date? Especially if two thirds of the party intend on showing up fifteen goddamn minutes late.

Checking her phone once more and releasing an irritated sigh, Rin rises from her seat. If Yoichi and Meguru want coffee so badly, they’ll have to get it without her, for Rin can’t stand just waiting around aimlessly any longer.

Rin picks up her tea and shoves her unoccupied hand into the pocket of her black jacket, making her way through the maze of tables and cutesy Christmas decorations that adorn the shop. Her eye twitches as the door closes behind her, irritation rising in her chest at the wasted time that she could have used to be shooting goals or taking a long run. She takes a deep inhale of the crisp air, closing her eyes and attempting to relax, only to walk straight into a fast-moving object.

Rin startles, fully prepared to apologize to the small child she must have collided with. When she glances down, however, she is greeted with–

“Meguru?”

Bachira Meguru, with a winded Isagi Yoichi in tow, beams up at Rin’s disgruntled face. “What are you doing outside, Rin? You were supposed to be in the café, like, twenty minutes ago!”

Rin’s face contorts into a scowl. “I could ask you the same thing, you bastard! I’m leaving because I just waited for fifteen minutes at the booth just for you two to ditch me!”

“Sorry, Rin,” Yoichi huffs. “I tried to come earlier, but there was some trouble with my train ticket.”

“Whatever,” Rin mumbles. Meguru pats her on the shoulder and nudges her back towards the cafe, and she furrows her brows. “Are you seriously trying to get me to go back in there? Do you know how weird it looks to leave and then immediately go back in?”

Meguru nods seriously. “Yeah, it looks like you’re scouting out the area to shoot up the place.”

“What?”

“Come on, let’s go.”

Rin finds herself dragged back into the café along with Yoichi, who just shrugs when she and Rin make eye contact.

They seat themselves down at a different booth from the one Rin sat at earlier, Meguru seated on one side while Rin and Yoichi sit next to each other on the opposite bench.

“So!” Meguru claps her hands together. “How have you guys been?”

Yoichi laughs softly. “Alright,” she replies. Rin says nothing. They ruminate in the awkward silence for a moment before Meguru clears her throat and stands up.

“Does anybody want something to drink?” She asks cheerfully, painfully unaware of the atmosphere.

“I’ve got something,” Rin says shortly.

“If you could order me my usual, that’d be great,” Yoichi smiles up at her. “I can pay you back.”

Meguru flashes her a thumbs up and a grin before making her way to the counter. Rin furrows her brows. “She knows your usual?” She asks.

Shrugging, Yoichi curls in on herself. “Yeah, we come here pretty often. I like sweet stuff, but not as much as she does, so I normally get a vanilla latte. It’s sugary enough that it tastes good but not enough to get me bouncing off the walls like Meguru.”

Rin scoffs. “Of course you’d like that overly sugared shit. It’s terrible for you, y’know—it makes your energy levels worse. Which, obviously, is what happens to you since you’re always already panting like a dog halfway through the first half of the game.”

“Uncalled for,” Yoichi protests, shoving Rin’s side. “Let me guess, you get plain, hot green tea. Am I right?”

Rin glances down at her cup of plain, hot green tea. “No.” Yoichi snorts, then shivers, making Rin look over. “Are you cold?”

“No!” Yoichi’s chattering teeth betray her. “Maybe. But I didn’t think it would be this freezing inside the café!”

“Lukewarm,” Rin groans, but begins nonetheless to unwind her scarf from around her neck.

Eyes widening, Yoichi points at the scarf. “Are you going to offer me that?”

“Shut up,” Rin snaps. “I’m only doing it so you don’t complain in my ear the whole time. Otherwise, I’ll be more miserable than I already am.”

Yoichi only laughs and takes the scarf from Rin’s hand, wrapping it around her neck. Rin watches as she snuggles into it, leaving an odd feeling to bloom in Rin’s chest. Huffing, she returns to her tea, warming her hands on the cup and sipping from it. Involuntarily, Rin shivers too.

Of course, Yoichi notices. “Sorry, did you need this? I don’t want to take it from you if you’re cold; it’s yours anyways.”

“It’s fine,” she mumbles. Suddenly, Rin feels a warm body press against her own side, and she flinches. She looks over to see Yoichi practically cuddled up to her, their arms flush against one another.

Yoichi grins. “Thought you might need something to heat you up.”

Petrified, Rin feels her heart speed up. “What the fuck? Don’t do that.”

“Nah,” she replies, only burying her head into Rin’s shoulder, an action reminiscent of last week’s photo booth incident. Strangely, Rin can’t find it in her to push Yoichi off.

“Fine,” Rin hisses. “But only because it’s cold. As soon as I warm up, you’re getting off.”

“Works for me,” Yoichi hums, mouth muffled.

Rin gazes down at the scene, incredulous. Who the hell gave Yoichi the audacity to pull this kind of shit? The answer, unfortunately, is Rin herself; she should have known that the second she let down her guard and allowed Yoichi to view her as anything other than a rival, she’d take every opportunity to break down Rin’s walls and force herself in. Rin grits her teeth.

She doesn’t like it, per se, but she… she doesn’t do anything about it, either. Mentally, she curses herself as she watches Yoichi take a sip from Rin’s tea and lean into her further. “Hey, I was right. It was green tea all along.”

“Fuck you,” groans Rin just as Meguru returns to the booth, sliding into her side.

“Woah, when did you two start snuggling?” She laughs, receiving a glare from Rin.

“Snuggling is an overstatement,” she grumbles.

“Yeah, we’re huddling for warmth,” Yoichi adds, and Meguru hums in understanding. Rin doesn’t miss the cheeky grin she sends Yoichi’s way.

Just as Rin is preparing to snap at them both, a waitress appears at the side of the table, carrying a tray of drinks and snacks. “Vanilla latte?” She asks.

Yoichi raises a hand from her place on Rin’s shoulder, not bothering to sit up as she takes the latte with a grateful smile. The waitress doles out Meguru’s bright pink frappe and the assortment of pastries she bought for herself.

“Enjoy,” she says, beaming. Before she leaves, however, she pauses in front of Rin and gives her a knowing look. “Hey, she’s a cutie. Consider yourself lucky.” She nods to Yoichi’s slumped figure, winking when Rin’s eyes widen before walking off.

Rin whips her head over to lock eyes with Yoichi, who starts to laugh. “Holy shit, she thought we were dating,” she snorts.

Meguru claps her hands happily. “How cute!”

“That is not cute,” Rin cries. “That’s totally inappropriate to say to a stranger.”

“Don’t act like half the shit you say isn’t completely out of line,” Yoichi retorts.

“But I say it to you, so it’s fine,” Rin fires back.

Yoichi only raises her eyebrows, the corners of her mouth quirking up. “Is this you admitting that we’re close friends?” For that, she receives a smack on the head.

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

As if invested in some sort of drama, Meguru leans forward conspiratorially. “I mean… she kind of had a point…”

Rin makes a noise like she’s going to vomit and shoves Yoichi off her shoulder, who yelps and fumbles with her latte. “I fucking knew it was a bad idea to come here!”

“Wait, Rin!” Yoichi protests as Rin gathers her stuff to leave. She snatches up her now lukewarm tea before sending a glare at both of the other girls.

Her dramatic outburst is lessened by the awkward silence that comes while she extracts herself from the booth, climbing over Yoichi’s lap and accidentally glancing at her in the process. Yoichi’s cheeks are red, her face scrunched in an uncomfortable grimace. Rin feels herself flush in turn, and she hurries to scoot out of the bench and stalk away.

“Ah—Rin! Your scarf…!”

“Keep it!” She yells back, ducking her head down as she weaves through the various tables and holiday decorations. She makes it outside without her scarf before a blast of freezing wind hits her.

Rin inhales deeply, collects her temper, and resigns herself to go back in the café for the third time. She feels Meguru’s and Yoichi’s gazes trail on her as she shuffles awkwardly back to the table, holding her hand out expectantly once she reaches them.

Brows furrowed, Yoichi glances up at her questioningly. Rin groans. “The—the scarf. It’s cold.”

“Oh,” Yoichi huffs out, laughing softly. “How’d I know you would be back.”

Their hands brush as Rin takes her scarf, and Yoichi grins at her gently. Rin swallows, and then her mouth twists upwards in a semblance of a smile. “Th…thanks.”

Yoichi bursts out into a fit of laughter, and Rin pretends she doesn’t hear Meguru’s wolf whistle from across the table.

IV.

The smell of browned butter permeates Rin’s kitchen, flour is strewn everywhere, and, seated on the countertop, Yoichi has taken to eating the chocolate chips that were supposed to go in their cookies. Rin stands next to her, furiously whisking a sugar and butter mixture that Yoichi sticks her finger in every once in a while to taste.

She does it again, making Rin pause in her mixing so as to not catch her finger in the metal wires of the whisk. Yoichi licks her finger and nods approvingly. “‘S good, Rin.”

“You said that the last time you put your grimy hands in there thirty seconds ago,” Rin grumbles. “It’s still the same stuff, I didn’t add anything. It’s not going to taste any different.”

Yoichi shrugs. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. I didn’t know you were this into cooking, Rin.”

Setting down the bowl and cracking an egg into the butter-sugar mixture, Rin hums. “It’s all just chemistry. I was always good at science, so it makes sense in my head.”

“That’s probably why I can’t cook for shit,” Yoichi laughs. “I was only ever good at P.E. I liked art, too, but all of my stuff came out terrible. Meguru would always try and be nice about it, but I could tell it was painful. Are you just going to… not measure that?”

Rin glances up from her concoction. “I never measure vanilla. The more, the better.” She adds another splash, just for good measure.

“I didn’t even know you could do that,” Yoichi marvels. She leans over the bowl, eyes flitting between the batter and Rin’s face. “So… is it done yet?”

“No, you idiot, I haven’t added any of the dry ingredients. And quit eating the chocolate, you’re going to make me run out!” Rin swipes a hand in the air, trying to snatch the bag of chocolate chips out of Yoichi’s hand.

Lifting her arm out of Rin’s reach, Yoichi dangles the bag down, laughing. She’s cut off, however, when Rin practically tackles her, trying to overpower her. Yoichi yelps and scoots backwards on the counter.

“Asshole! Give me that!” Though Rin’s words are harsh, she can’t help the grin that spreads over her face, nor the way her heart patters at their proximity. Rin pushes forward, ignoring Yoichi’s cries of protest.

Yoichi kicks her leg out, knocking against Rin’s chest. However, when she pulls back, her thigh jolts against the bowl of batter left unattended next to the stove.

They both reach out to grab it before it tips over, but Yoichi misses, hand landing square on the still-hot stove. “Fuck!”

She retracts her hand immediately, blowing on it and peering at the quickly reddening burn. Rin pulls back, the moment ruined, and rushes to the sink to fill a glass with water.

“Shit, that hurts,” Yoichi groans, gratefully accepting the cup and submerging her hand in it.

“How bad is it?”

“Hey, you’re not making fun of me for once,” Yoichi teases.

“Just answer the question.” Rin fixes her with a glare, staring directly into blue eyes that crinkle mirthfully.

“It definitely doesn’t feel good,” Yoichi hums. “Here, take a look.” She takes her hand out of the water and presents it to Rin, who studies the wound. Or, well, tries to.

Yoichi’s hand is once again in hers, and Rin thinks she knows now how all the scars on her knuckles came to be. “You’re really clumsy, aren’t you.”

Scowling, Yoichi slaps her wrist before wincing in pain. “Shit. I can’t be arguing with you right now, dude, it’ll only make it worse. It’s your fault, so you can go get me a bandage or something.”

Rin sighs. “Fine. Don’t accidentally kill yourself while I’m gone.”

“No promises.”

She trudges dutifully out of the kitchen and up the stairs in search of gauze wrap. Nowadays, Rin rarely sustains minor injuries; as she’s grown older, she’s moved away from her self-destructive habit. That is, off the field— on the pitch, her brain reverts, and she bullies her way to the goal without care for her own body. When that happens, however, whatever team manager is in charge of her is always prepared with band-aids and antibiotics, relieving her of the responsibility of taking care of her own wounds.

All of that to say—Rin rarely visits her own medicine cabinet. She’s not actually sure if they even have gauze, and when she opens the drawers, she doesn’t see any. The cabinet’s resources are scarce, considering the only pills Rin ever takes are painkillers for cramps. There’s no burn ointment, either, and she wonders for a moment how they’ve survived for years with a depleted supply of necessities. Then, she remembers her family is all capable people, unlike Yoichi.

She exhales, hands on her hips. Should she look in her parents’ room? No, they’re never home anyway; if they had anything helpful, it would probably be in a suitcase with them halfway across the continent. Going to a store would take too long, which meant Rin is left with just one option.

Begrudgingly, she makes her way to Sae’s room. She knows her older sister is home, as Sae had come down at some point into the kitchen to get a glass of water before returning upstairs. Hopefully, she wouldn’t immediately eject Rin.

As Rin approaches Sae’s room at the end of the upstairs hallway, she winces at loud rock music seeping through the cracks of the door. Since when was Sae such a prude to not turn down the volume? Since when did Sae even like rock?

Rin turns the handle and opens the door, the clicking noise muffled by the harsh guitar emanating from a hot pink speaker on Sae’s dresser, one that hasn’t been there before. Rin opens her mouth, ready to ask about the gauze, when she catches sight of Sae’s bed, and her heart jolts. “Fuck!”

She slams the door shut, chest pounding in the same way it did at the photo booth several weeks ago when Sae and her stupid fucking best friend stepped out from behind the curtain.

Rin feels like hurling. So those were kissing noises after all.

All of a sudden, the door yanks open behind her, eliciting a yelp. Sae stands on the other side of the threshold, bangs splayed across her forehead, face painted pink, and breath quick. “How much did you see?”

“Way too fucking much!” Rin snaps. “Since when did you lose all your self-respect?! And— you’re gay? For her?!”

She flings a hand towards the bed, on top of which an innocently smiling Shidou Ryusei sits cross-legged. She waves back, wiggling her fingers teasingly. “Nice to see you, Rin-rin, but me and Sae here were actually just in the middle of something. Come on back, baby, I’m not done with you,” she croons towards Sae, whose face flares bright red.

Rin, on the other hand, turns pale. “Oh my god, were you—”

“No!” Sae exclaims. “You saw us kissing, that’s all that we were doing.”

Rin’s mouth opens, and closes, and opens, and closes again. “It’s just— that’s gross!”

“It’s no different than if you were doing it with your girlfriend,” Sae retorts, and Rin freezes.

“My— who the fuck are you talking about? I don’t have a girlfriend,” she snaps. From across the room, Shidou makes a little noise of surprise.

Perplexed, Sae’s brows furrow. “Yoichi? Are you two not a thing?”

The color drains out of Rin’s face even further, before returning as a violent flush. “No!”

Shidou sounds like she’s holding in laughter, and Rin’s eye twitches, though she refuses to turn around to give her the satisfaction of being acknowledged. Sae still appears confused. “But you’re so close? And you go on dates all the time.”

“They’re not dates!” Rin feels like she’s about to faint. “She’s my friend, and she doesn’t even like girls.”

Sae gazes up at her, eyes simultaneously pitying and amused. “Rin… you’re really emotionally repressed. Now, leave my room. I’m not appreciating the interruption.”

As she’s pushed out of the room, Rin thinks she’s going into overload. Not only did she just catch her sister making out with their school’s number one dyke (does that make Sae number two? Or would she replace Shidou as number one, considering her audible reactions to… ugh. Rin throws up in her mouth a little bit), apparently it seems like she and Yoichi are dating.

How on God’s green earth did Sae even come up with that conclusion? It’s not like either of them are as affectionate towards one another as she and Shidou are, and they certainly don’t spend every waking moment reveling in each other’s presence.

Well.

Rin coughs. On second thought, perhaps she and Yoichi have been putting out the wrong image.

If she thinks back to their recent interactions from an outsider’s perspective, it isn’t… totally implausible that they could be together. From the constant hand-holding in public to the way Rin seeks her out off of the field despite her disdain for social interaction, maybe they are a little closer than regular friends should be.
Rin stops herself in her tracks. She shouldn’t be entertaining that line of thought, not when there isn’t a chance in hell that Yoichi would think of her like that.

Truthfully, Rin has never thought of Yoichi as anything but straight. Lingering glances are just admiration, and if Yoichi happens to wrap an arm around Rin’s waist while watching a movie on the couch, it’s because of the cold, or some platonic gesture. Rin has never considered that their football rivalry is a special relationship, that Yoichi is rarely as dedicated to simultaneously devouring and playing alongside anyone else as she is towards Rin. She attributes soft smiles to inside jokes, compliments as means to an end. Never mind that Yoichi knows Rin’s café order, or that Rin could pick out a perfume perfectly attuned to Yoichi’s tastes.

But as Rin stands in her upstairs hallway, the sound of Sae and Shidou’s hushed tones emanating from somewhere behind her, she comes to a realization. Perhaps Isagi Yoichi, with her unruly hair and questionable fashion sense, who takes up all of Rin’s time and makes her reconsider her own beliefs, has less innocent, platonic intentions than Rin originally assumed.

And perhaps, it dawns upon her, Rin doesn’t mind.

Everything confusing from the past several months just makes sense now. Her heart does a little flip in her chest, and for a moment, Rin basks in her newfound understanding.

Unfortunately, she’s snapped out of her daze by a loud moan coming from Sae’s room. “Fuck!” She curses again, and hurries down the stairs. Halfway down, however, she pauses, groaning. She didn’t even find any damn gauze.

V.

The Incident—Rin refuses to acknowledge the actual events of that fateful encounter—was on a Sunday. Today is a Wednesday, and for the past three days, Rin’s mind has been a nonstop whirlwind of admittedly rather homosexual thoughts. So much so, unfortunately, that the quality of her schoolwork has deteriorated significantly.

She sits in her literature class, staring blankly at her computer screen and feeling absolutely incapable of generating a five-hundred word book report in the next half an hour (she’s already wasted the past ten minutes trying to expel one Isagi Yoichi from her brain).

One might think that after having come to a humiliating realization of romantic feelings, Rin would do her best to avoid Yoichi to minimize her own embarrassment, and honestly, she did. But Yoichi didn’t allow it, her with her pervasive nature making her way nonetheless into Rin’s academic life. In fact, Yoichi is currently sitting about a meter away from Rin, furiously typing away on her own essay and occasionally tapping her pen on her lips, which definitely does not distract Rin even more than she already is.

Rin’s eyes trail over Yoichi’s figure, the navy of her school uniform fitting perfectly with her coloring. Her hand has been properly bandaged (courtesy of someone other than Rin), and she seems to be using it well enough. Rin’s mind wanders back to the burn, holding her hand and inspecting it, running the pads of her fingers over Yoichi’s prominent veins—

She coughs. Loudly. Hacks, even, and the teacher’s brows furrow, gaze flicking over to Rin’s desk. “Itoshi, is everything all right?”

“I–Yes,” Rin manages, still choking on air. “Actually, I’m feeling rather unwell. Do you mind if I leave?”

The teacher studies her with worry, eventually sighing and dipping her head. “Go to the nurse. You can make up your report later.”

Rin nods rapidly, sneaking a glance at Yoichi as she collects her bags. Yoichi gives her a questioning smile that seems to ask, what the hell are you doing? Rin glares at her before hurrying out of the room and down the hallway.

Holy fuck. There’s no way Rin can keep this up for so long. How do gay people do this? Is it a common occurrence to fall for your best friend? If so, how do they prevent constant public humiliation?

She reaches the stairwell and slumps against the wall, sliding down it and groaning as she buries her face in her hands. She has never been religious, but she finds herself now asking for some sort of sign to do anything at all.

“Hey, it’s little Itoshi! What are you doing all gloomy looking over here?”

Not the sign she meant, God…

Rin extracts her face from her palms and fixes Shidou with a withering glare. “Fuck off, asshole.”

“You’re really gonna be so rude even after all that you saw this weekend? Be nice to your future sister-in-law,” Shidou pouts, stretching her arms out over her head.

Rin grits her teeth. “Don’t provoke me, Shidou.”

A laugh. “You gonna tell Sae I bullied you or something?”

Finally, Rin rises from her place on the ground, mad enough to knowingly take Shidou’s bait. “Don’t you act like you’re so good for her. You two won’t make it past your one-month anniversary. She doesn’t even like you anyways,” she hisses, cracking her knuckles.

Shidou leans down slightly to loom in Rin’s face. “Yeah? Well, you know, she likes me enough to let me fuck her—”

Rin swings.

Though Shidou is caught slightly off guard, she recovers quickly and dodges Rin’s attack before hitting back with a jab of her own. “Didn’t know you were such a protective little sister, Rin-rin!”

“Jump off a bridge and die,” she snaps, blocking the swing and raising a leg to deliver a powerful kick that would have gone directly into Shidou’s midsection had she not caught it. Shidou shoves Rin backwards with a strong push to her thigh before slamming her foot into Rin’s stomach.

All the air knocked out of her lungs, Rin gasps. “You motherfucker,” she growls, charging at Shidou and tackling her to the ground.

“It was your sister, actually,” Shidou says breathlessly. Rin pummels her fist into Shidou’s cheek, prompting her to return the favor with a hook to the underside of Rin’s jaw.

They roll around on the ground, trading equal punches, until both of Shidou’s hands shoot out to grab Rin around the neck and squeeze. Rin chokes, scrabbling at her constrictive grip, and Shidou takes the opportunity to flip them over once more so Rin’s chest is pressed to the ground and she can’t move.

Shidou releases Rin’s neck in favor of shoving her cheek, bruised and bloodied, onto the floor. “Don’t talk about me and Sae’s relationship like that,” she murmurs dangerously into Rin’s ear. “You don’t know what she means to me.”

“I don’t want to know,” Rin spits, raising her head briefly before it’s pushed back down. “I sincerely doubt that either of you is capable of love.”

“Y’know, I thought that about you before I saw how you act with your little best friend,” Shidou muses. “You sure you ain’t just jealous because Isagi won’t treat you the way I treat Sae?”

Just like that, anger flares back up in Rin’s chest. “You’re fucking dead, asshole!” She scrambles her way out from under Shidou, rising to her feet with a newfound zeal. Once again, Rin instigates the fighting, going straight for Shidou’s neck and slamming her backwards into the wall.

Shidou grunts in pain as her head hits the hard surface. This time, she opts to claw at Rin’s face with her long, sharp nails, leaving bloodied streaks across Rin’s nose. In response, Rin digs her hands into her hair and tugs.

The fight is messier now; each of them is more savage. Rin almost rips out one of Shidou’s ear piercings, eliciting Shidou to pull out her house keys from her pocket and try to stab Rin in the arm.

“You’re such a bitch!” Rin nearly screams, only making Shidou laugh.

“And you’re a melodramatic child,” she taunts back.

“You provoked me!”

“You took the bait!”

Rin has half the mind to bite Shidou on the jugular when rapid footsteps echo down the hallway. They both freeze as Anri Teieri rounds the corner, looking positively mutinous.

“What in the world are you two doing?!” She cries.

Shidou and Rin glance at each other, then back at Anri. “She started it,” Rin says quickly.

“You’re literally in the process of tearing off my skin right now. I don’t think it matters who started it,” Shidou replies. Rin looks over. Her nails are slowly dragging down Shidou’s temple, leaving ugly red gashes in their wake. She removes her hand.

After a moment and a murderous glare from Anri, Shidou, too, stops trying to pull Rin’s ears from off her head. “Oops?” She tries with an apologetic grin.

Rin groans. There is literally no worse way this could be happening right now.

—

As it turns out, Anri does not care who started it. After a long, furious lecture about kindness and maturity, Rin and Shidou are marched off their separate ways to receive punishment and medical attention. Shidou leaves first with some student council member whose name Rin can’t remember, but not before sticking her tongue out at her wildly. Rin gives her the finger in return.

After they’re gone, Anri begins to walk Rin to the infirmary. “Rin, I know you’re better than this. You don’t have to give in to her threatening you.” Rin doesn’t tell her that she wasn’t defending her own pride.

Anri looks over at her at the lack of response. “Do you hear me, Rin?”

“...Yeah,” she mumbles.

Anri pats her on the shoulder as they enter the nurse’s office. “They’ll be here in just a moment to patch you up. After you’re done, come to my office and we’ll discuss consequences.” Rin grimaces.

She leaves. Rin pulls out her phone, opening her messages to find multiple texts from Yoichi.

Isagi Yoichi (lukewarm idiot): Rin r u actually sick? (12:36)

 

Isagi Yoichi (lukewarm idiot): Rinnnnn (12:42)

 

Isagi Yoichi (lukewarm idiot): Answer me asshole

If ur actually sick idk what Im gonna do at practice

Kaisers gonna be worse than usual shes going to see ur gone and attack me (12:46)

 

Isagi Yoichi (lukewarm idiot): Ok wow js say you want me dead then

In that case my suicide note will be out tonight u can read it if u want (13:00)

Rin rolls her eyes with a soft huff of laughter.

Itoshi Rin: you’re unbearable, idiot

i won’t miss practice if i can help it. i’m not sick, just needed to leave (13:02)

Yoichi responds immediately.

Isagi Yoichi (lukewarm idiot): If u can help it?? What happened? (13:02)

 

Itoshi Rin: got into a fight. at infirmary right now, but i’ll probably get detention or something after school

do not laugh at me or i will murder you (13:03)

 

Isagi Yoichi (lukewarm idiot): ?!?!?!?

Im coming rn (13:03)

Rin squints at her phone.

Itoshi Rin: yoichi do not come here

if u skip class i will also murder you (13:04)

She doesn’t have the time to type anything else before the infirmary door bursts open. Yoichi stands in the threshold, staring at her incredulously. “How the hell did you get in a fight?”

“Shidou,” Rin grumbles. Yoichi sighs and nods in understanding.

“So, are you waiting for the nurses?”

Rin glances out the window, away from Yoichi. “Yeah, but they won’t come for a while, they’re on lunch break for another hour. I don’t really care. I intended to bandage myself up anyway.”

Yoichi pads over and sits down on the bench next to Rin, the paper sheet crumpling under her weight. “You don’t have to do it, Rin, I can do it for you. It’d be better anyways, I could see what I’m doing better than you could.”

Rin’s heart catches. Whatever devil sits on her left shoulder encourages her to accept the prospect, whispering, let her help you. Let her touch you. You want this, don’t you? Don’t chicken out now. Shuddering, she shakes the thought from her head. “Don’t bother,” she says instead. “Go back to class so you don’t get in trouble too.”

Yoichi’s already standing up, rifling through the medicine cabinets to find band-aids and ointment. It reminds Rin of the burn situation, and her heart stutters again.

“Hey, if I get in trouble we can just serve detention together, so it’s not that bad of an idea, right?” Yoichi teases. She sets her supplies down on the bench, then walks over to close the office door.

At that, Rin starts to panic. The devil on her shoulder fills her mind with ideas about the implications of a closed door, and it doesn’t necessarily comfort her. As much as her brain has been invaded recently by borderline shameful thoughts about Yoichi, she’s not… There’s no way Rin’s ready to actually act on those thoughts. Her heart speeds up even more.

“Okay, hold still.” Shit. Shit. Fuck.

Yoichi rises from the bench to kneel instead in front of Rin, hands busying themselves with the band-aid packaging. She opens the paper halfway, then changes her mind and unscrews the ointment. Rin watches anxiously as she squeezes a glob onto her finger.

Yoichi lifts her gaze to meet Rin’s eyes, smiling faintly at the petrified look on Rin’s face. “I’m not going to hurt you. Lighten up, man.” Impossible, Rin thinks.

One hand reaches up to cup Rin’s jaw, deliberately avoiding the bruises on her mandible. Rin thinks she could pass out. Her other finger finally comes up to dab the cream on a cut on her nose, and Rin winces at the burn.

Yoichi chuckles. “Sorry.” She pats the cream in a thin layer over the wound, then fixes the band-aid across her nose bridge. Rin has no idea how she manages to consistently have the worst hand placement possible, but Yoichi takes Rin’s face in her palms and smooths down the sides of the bandage with her thumbs.

Rin’s lips part in a soft breath as they make eye contact once again. For a moment, Yoichi appears as if she wants to say something, but then she shakes her head, tearing her gaze away from her. Rin doesn’t like it. Keep looking at me, she wants to say, but also she would maybe rather die than voice her recent thoughts aloud.

Yoichi clears her throat. “I think most of this stuff is small enough that it’ll heal on its own. There’s one more spot on your cheek that I should probably get, but otherwise it looks worse than it actually is.”

“Okay,” Rin mumbles.

She repeats the process of patting cream onto the gashes. It’s unbearably tense, the way she practically caresses Rin’s cheek with the softest look in her eyes. Finally, she places the bandages onto her skin, rubbing her fingers over them to ensure that they adhere. All the while, their eyes are locked together. Rin could drown in the marine depths of Yoichi’s irises.

Yoichi suddenly pulls her face away, though she keeps cupping Rin’s chin. Rin’s heart sinks, but she says nothing.

“Are your fights with Shidou normally this bad?” Yoichi says after a long moment of silence.

“No,” Rin murmurs. “She was… saying things that especially pissed me off. She’s always been an annoying asshole, but never like that.”

“About…?” Yoichi questions.

Rin sighs. “Sae, mainly.” She hesitates. “And… and you.”

Yoichi’s eyes widen slightly. “Me?”

Brows furrowing, Rin huffs. “That we were… I didn’t…” She takes a moment, trying to gather the courage to say it. “She implied that… that I wasn’t satisfied with you. How we are right now.”

“What do you mean?”

Yoichi’s face is close to hers again. Rin swallows. “That I didn’t want to just be friends with you.”

“Oh.”

Yoichi looks beautiful with a warm flush across her features, especially when there’s practically no distance in between the two. Rin studies her face, imagining familiarizing herself with all of the curves, bumps, and divots.

“Rin,” she whispers. “Is it all right if I…”

“Yoichi,” Rin breathes, eyes slipping shut. Her heart flutters as she waits for it, what she’s been wanting since the moment Yoichi stepped into the infirmary.

It doesn’t come.

A clatter sounds from somewhere to their left— a clipboard falls off of the nurse’s desk. Rin’s eyes shoot open, and she watches Yoichi’s do the same. Her hand falls off of Rin’s face in turn.

They’re not so close together now; Yoichi’s face no longer takes up all of her periphery. Rin feels a pit form in her stomach as they stare at each other awkwardly.

“I should—If I don’t get to class,” Yoichi starts, voice cracking midway.

“Go,” Rin says, annoyance and something more sensitive filling her chest.

Yoichi just looks at her, mouth gaping slightly. “...Rin—”

“Leave!” Rin snaps, feeling like she could cry. Yoichi, with her wide blue eyes and shaky hands, hesitates before nodding, once.

Rin watches her back as she steps out of the door, and her head falls into her hands.

I.

Rin does receive detention. Thankfully, it’s separate from Shidou—a wise call on the part of the administrators, as firstly, they would undoubtedly get into another fight, but also on account of the fact that Rin doesn’t think she could face anybody right now without lashing out, much less her worst nemesis.

Nevertheless, it’s annoying. After-school detention happens at the same time as practice, so Rin doesn’t even get to blow off steam on the field. That only pisses Rin off more. She’s found that recently, the only time she feels properly in control of herself is while playing soccer. When her feet touch the ball, everything else melts away, including her aching feelings about one Isagi Yoichi, which elsewhere consume her every waking moment.

Fuck. She’s not supposed to be thinking about her.

Rin clenches her fist around the chalk eraser in her hand. After today’s incident, she’s consigned herself to not caring about Yoichi at all. That bastard didn’t give a shit about Rin’s feelings, so why should she be expected to even think about her?

At least, that was the plan. Clearly it’s backfiring, much to Rin’s chagrin. With nothing to distract her, thoughts of Yoichi plague her mind and invade her privacy, not unlike the girl herself.

Rin curses aloud. She can’t play soccer, can’t get her feelings together, and apparently can’t even get a second of peace, as she learns when the door to the classroom she’s cleaning creaks open.

She doesn’t glance up from the chalkboard she’s erasing, just exhales slowly and tries to control her temper. Footsteps sound from the doorway, and whoever it is clears their throat. “Um… hey, Rin.”

She grits her teeth.

The person walks over to the chalkboard until they’re standing side by side. “What’s up?” Yoichi asks carefully, nervously.

“Fuck off,” Rin mumbles.

“That’s… that’s fair,” Yoichi breathes out a laugh. “Need any help?”

Rin gestures vaguely at the chalkboard on the other side of the room. “Go do something over there. Away from me.”

Yoichi chews on her lip. “...Okay.” She doesn’t go right away, instead lingering at Rin’s side hesitantly.

Rin speeds up her erasing process. The cloth swipes over notes about cotangent and tangent, wiping them from the board. She follows the hills of the sine wave graph written in pink chalk, tracing over the curve just as she feels Yoichi’s eyes trace over her body, tracking her movements.

After a minute or so, she finishes cleaning the board, and Yoichi still hasn’t moved. Rin purses her lips, refusing to acknowledge her. It’s only after she moves to start dusting the windowsills that Yoichi speaks. “I got detention for skipping class.”

Rin’s eyes flick over to her for a second. “Okay?”

Yoichi swallows. “That’s why I’m here.”

“I don’t fucking care why you’re here,” Rin bursts out, unable to maintain her nonchalance. “You’re lucky we’re here and not on the pitch. Otherwise, I’d have killed you by now.”

“What’s your problem?” Yoichi finally spits out, striding over to the window that Rin’s standing at, yellow light filtering in to illuminate them both. “I don’t understand why you’re suddenly so mad at me even though we’ve made all this progress as friends for these past few months.”

“Friends!” Rin sneers. “That’s my goddamn problem, Yoichi! You act like you think of me in some other way, and then you go on and call me your friend!”

“Is that not what we are?” Yoichi cries. “Sorry you’re so closed off all the time that I can never actually tell if you even like me at all, let alone as something other than a friend!”

Rin’s heart stutters beside herself at the near confirmation that Yoichi wants her, thinks of her, but she ignores it. “I’ve got no fucking clue how to do this shit. I thought you knew how to!”

Yoichi sighs. “Yeah, well, I don’t.” She runs her hands through her dark hair. “Fuck, Rin, I’m so bad at this. I really haven’t ever spent this much time thinking about anything else but soccer.”

That forces a snort out of Rin. “You’re such an idiot,” she mutters. “I’m still going to kill you though.”

Blue eyes crinkle in that way that somehow manages to enchant her every time. “I’d be concerned if you weren’t.”

They fall into a moment of silence, gazing at each other. Rin watches Yoichi’s face, colored orange and yellow by the afternoon sun. God, Rin’s always thought she was unfairly beautiful, but now… she doesn’t know what to do.

“I’m glad that didn’t turn into a full blown fight,” Yoichi says finally. “I don’t like fighting with you, Rin.”

Rin doesn’t think she could fight with her right now even if she wanted to. The sincerity of her voice, the hard lines of her face, the way she fiddles with strands of her hair, they all pull Rin in. She folds for her, just like she always does.

“If you were Shidou, we’d be on the ground trying to rip each other’s limbs off right now,” she replies.

“Okay, wow,” Yoichi snickers. “No wonder you got detention.”

“Shut up, so did you,” Rin groans.

Hand coming up to scratch the back of her neck, Yoichi chuckles awkwardly. “Um, so about that… I didn’t actually.”

Rin’s brows draw together. “Then why the hell are you here?”

“I may or may not have gone through all the rooms looking for you when I heard you got written up.” Yoichi’s pink cheeks look coral orange in this lighting. Rin is sure that hers are no different. She resists the urge to bury her face in her hands.

“They let you skip class?” She asks instead, focusing on the other side of the story.

“Uh, no, I told them I was sick and that I thought you might have given me something.”

“Oh my God,” Rin sighs, exasperated and embarrassed. “Way to make people think we were, like, making out or something.”

Yoichi gasps. “Nobody would have thought that. We hang out around each other all the time! You’re the only person whose mind would have gone down that path!”

Feeling strangely exposed, Rin flushes deeper. “Well, excuse me for not wanting to accidentally spread rumors about us.”

“No rumors would have been spread, weirdo.”

Rin does realize that most of her thoughts about Yoichi are overly dramatic, may they be murderous or infatuated, but the way her laughter fills the room is truly something out of a movie. It’s almost musical, curling around Rin’s ears and settling into her heart.

She feels her chest tingle at the noise, and she can’t help but smile, a genuine one this time.

Yoichi notices, and her laughter tapers off. Her lips part slightly, and all of a sudden Rin notices—again—how close they are. “Hey, Rin,” she starts. “You’re…you’re incredible. You know that, right?”

“Obviously I know that,” she mumbles, leaning subconsciously closer.

“Good,” Yoichi whispers.

Rin bites her lip. “Today… were you going to…?”

Yoichi blushes red. So pretty. “Y…yeah. I mean… kiss you, that is.”

Rin almost forgets to respond at that confession, staring wide-eyed into Yoichi’s cerulean gaze. “Then…”

“You look so beautiful in this lighting,” Yoichi breathes, not two inches from Rin’s face.

“If you don’t go for it, then I’m going to.”

A smile splits Yoichi’s face, and it’s the last thing Rin sees before her eyes slip shut again and Yoichi’s mouth finally presses to hers, a soft source of warmth that leaves Rin feeling weak.

She leans into it, kissing Yoichi back and reaching out to cup her face, thumbs gliding over her smooth, pink cheeks. In response, one of Yoichi’s hands slides around Rin’s waist, while the other tangles itself in her hair.

Rin startles as Yoichi’s tongue swipes along her bottom lip. Yoichi draws away, eyes opening questioningly, but Rin shakes her head and pulls her back in, this time inserting her own tongue into Yoichi’s mouth.

A groan reverberates from somewhere deep in Yoichi’s chest, and she tightens her grip around Rin’s middle, pressing them closer together as the kiss deepens. Her fingers dig into Rin’s muscles, forcing a broken whine out of her.

Rin’s face colors red, and she pulls away. “You did not hear that.”

“Are you seriously still trying to be nonchalant after all that?” Yoichi laughs.

Rin hits her lightly on the back of the head. “Shut up, you idiot.”

Grinning, Yoichi drapes herself over Rin’s chest dramatically. “Yeah, but I’m your idiot, and you like me anyways.”

“You’re so cliche, what the fuck?”

She brings her hands up to squeeze Rin’s warm cheeks. “Admit it, Rin, you like me.”

Rin groans, embarrassed, and pushes Yoichi away, averting her eyes towards the window. “I do not.”

Yoichi sidles up to her, leaning her head forward to peer at Rin’s face. “You know, good relationships are built on trust and communication.”

Heart skipping a beat, Rin whirls over to face her. “Relationship? We’re in a relationship?”

Yoichi flushes, realizing her mistake. “Ah… if you’d like to be… I mean, if that’s not what you want—”

In place of an answer, Rin slides a hand over the back of Yoichi’s neck and pulls her in again for a kiss. Yoichi’s hand finds hers, intertwining their fingers, and she squeezes softly. Satisfaction pools in Rin’s chest.

Yeah, she thinks. This will do.