Chapter Text
“Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does. Love is a battle, love is a war; love is a growing up.”
-James Baldwin
⊰══════════⊱
Itoshi Rin had a predicament.
He’d let Isagi Yoichi- an irritating classmate of his who kept pestering him, even going so far as to follow him practically everywhere and partner with him during projects- talk him into going on a blind date.
Well, it wasn’t his blind date.
It was Isagi’s, and he wanted to bail out since Isagi’s parents had been insisting on setting him up, but all of these attempts had failed.
Hence, Isagi begging Rin to take his place.
In Rin’s defense, Isagi was a rather persistent person, and Rin had been far too exhausted from his late-night gaming session to argue further.
The plan was simple- Rin would go to the blind date, pretend to be Isagi, but scare the date off in the process with his apparently “unapproachable personality”- at least, according to Isagi.
…This could only go so well.
⊰══════════⊱
Rin tapped an impatient finger on the table. His Isagi’s date was late.
Even worse, the place that had been picked for the date was a restaurant notorious for catering to “singles ready to mingle” and doting couples in general, so it was filled to the brim with couples staring at each other with the most ridiculous lovesick expressions, as well as several desperate-looking people looking around to find someone else as equally alone as they were. Rin could’ve sworn one pair was practically sucking their faces off, and therefore made it a point to avoid glancing in that particular direction.
Maybe if Rin left now, that would count as scaring the date off, and he wouldn’t have to sit through an awkward dinner.
He was just contemplating the probability that this plan would succeed when the sound of someone sliding into the seat in front of him tore him out of his thoughts. Rin looked up, mentally readying himself for war.
The man sitting before him sported a blond mullet dyed with blue tips, with the most prominent feature about him being the blue rose tattoo at his neck, which seemed to travel down his arm from what Rin had been able to observe thus far.
Rin resisted the urge to groan at himself- just why did he agree to this again…?
“You’re Yoichi, right?” the guy asked pleasantly. His Japanese was tinged with a faint German accent.
Rin sighed quietly to himself. Well, if he was going to scare off this date, he might as well go for it.
“...Correct. You?” Rin lied smoothly. He figured that if he kept his answers short and brusque, the date would be deterred by his indifference.
“Michael. Michael Kaiser,” Michael responded, tilting his head to the side curiously.
With a slight pang of annoyance, Rin saw that Michael was hardly bothered. “Shall we?” Rin gestured to one of the laminated menus lying on the table.
“Gladly. I’m starving,” Michael agreed at once, picking up the menu and perusing it with great interest.
Trying not to seem too irritated, Rin enacted his underdeveloped ingenious plans after their meals were brought to their table.
Yet, to Rin’s growing exasperation, this “Michael” seemed unperturbed by any of Rin’s rude, curt communication. It was as if this infuriating man was actively shutting down all of his plans (and by all, meaning two).
Exhibit A:
“What do you study?” Rin had reluctantly initiated a conversation.
“Psychology,” Michael had answered easily as he was cutting his steak.
“...You really plan on getting a degree with that?” Rin then asked bluntly with obvious underlying skepticism.
Michael responded pleasantly with, “Of course. It’d make sense to get a degree in something you like, no? For me, I enjoy psychoanalysis and learning what makes people tick.”
…Rin gave up trying to be verbally rude after that. Later, when interrogated by Isagi, Rin would say that it was too “mentally taxing” on himself to try any further.
Exhibit B:
Towards the end of the dinner, when the waiter brought them the check, Rin pushed it towards Michael. “For you. It’s only fair, since someone was late. Don’t Germans typically value punctuality?” Rin asked pointedly.
And yet again, Michael’s smile never wavered. In fact, it seemed to grow with amusement. “Ah, so you picked up on the fact that I’m German.” Much to Rin’s chagrin, Michael actually handed his credit card to a waiter who most decidedly was trying their best not to express disbelief at their conversation.
Rin clicked his tongue as he crossed his arms. “It’s a bit obvious, no?”
Michael hummed absently, taking his credit card back. “I guess.”
…Rin’s eye twitched.
He stood from his seat. “We’re done here.” He hoped that was enough of a sign to Michael that he was not interested.
…Apparently not, because Michael reached out in a flash to grab Rin’s wrist. And just as Rin was about to jerk his arm away and snap at Michael for crossing a line, he felt the telltale edge of a piece of paper being pressed into his palm. “Wha-” Rin started, about to lash out with his usual venom, but Michael cut him off.
“Just take it, will you?” Michael implored insistently, finally letting go of Rin’s wrist.
And when Rin stormed out of the restaurant, silently cursing it on his way out, he reluctantly glanced at the contents of the paper once he was in the safety of his car.
“...What in the cringe as fuck attempt at flirting is this?” Rin scoffed in pure disbelief as he stared at the infuriatingly elegant scrawl.
It was Michael’s number, seemingly taunting him with its digits.
Rin was going to murder Isagi for this.
⊰══════════⊱
“So? How was it?” Isagi pestered him the next day as they navigated their university’s crowded halls.
“...Shitty,” Rin grumbled, that piece of paper from last night feeling heavy in his coat pocket.
“...Did you scare him off?” Isagi persisted.
“I tried. But it seems like he’s into shit like that,” Rin spoke through gritted teeth, and when a look of bewilderment spread across Isagi’s face, Rin retrieved the paper with Michael’s number written on it and practically shoved it into Isagi’s hands.
The look of bewilderment on Isagi’s face turned into faint horror and disbelief. “No way.” Isagi looked over at Rin, wide-eyed. “It’s actually possible for people to be interested in you?”
“Shut up,” Rin grumbled, practically seething with distaste. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”
“Well, don’t text him- that’s a start,” Isagi responded as he handed back the slip of paper to Rin, still in shock.
“That’s what I was already planning on doing,” Rin retorted, giving Isagi a sharp look. “And you owe me big time for putting me through that shit.”
Isagi simply gave a solemn nod, likely still baffled by Rin’s current situation.
…Rin really shouldn’t have agreed to go on that stupid blind date.