Two

Rin waited until Bachira could have more than made it to his house, turned back, and arrived back home before he called him again.

"Hello?" he answered again, sounding just as tired and far away.

"What the hell?" Rin asked, getting sick of spending each passing minute dreading the next piece of muffled speech he might have to bear alone. "Where are you?"

"I'm lost," Bachira said.

"What?" Rin asked.

"I'm lost," Bachira repeated.

"It's not a hard route," Rin scolded. "I gave you clear instructions."

"Sorry."

"Where are you?"

"I don't know."

"What station did you get off at?"

"I got off at the right one," Bachira said. "I got lost after."

"How?" Rin demanded. "My house is a five minute walk from the station."

"I don't know."

Rin sighed. "Whatever. Are there any signs around you?"

"Uh huh."

"Send me a picture and just stay where you are," Rin said, grabbing his sweater off the back of his desk chair. "I'll come get you."

The second Rin hit the outside air, he realized he was grateful for the excuse to leave the house. Maybe he should have thought about that before he hatched this stupid plan. He didn't know what he was planning to do to Isagi and Sae anyways. Nothing, really. This was just some makeshift solution to fix what wounds he'd clearly jabbed at without intending to.

Rin had no fucking clue how Bachira ended up where he was. It took him twenty minutes to get there, and it involved taking such a psychotic route that it seemed almost impossible he'd just ended up here. Maybe he was fucking with him too. Maybe it was National Piss Itoshi Rin off day.

He ended up finding Bachira sitting on the curb of the street corner, watching his feet as he lifted them up and down in turn. He didn't even notice him until he was a few feet away. Rin was almost sure he was just fucking with him, and was all but ready to grab him by the collar of the jacket and say something he was sure wouldn't be kind, until Bachira looked up at him and made Rin stop in his tracks.

He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.

"Hey, Rin-chan," Bachira said. He was smiling, and he tried to laugh, but the whole thing had an eerie air hanging over it. "You found me."

"Get up," Rin said.

The two of them walked side by side in silence for the first few minutes. Rin didn't really have much he planned on saying, but was aware of the silence. He was also aware that it was Bachira's doing. Bachira had always been the one roping him into conversations, and Rin hadn't had to do much beyond respond. But Bachira wasn't talking. He was humming to himself, so quietly it was barely audible, watching his feet as he walked. Which, Rin realized, was because he was deliberately avoiding stepping on any of the cracks in the sidewalk. Rin was sure he had some strange reason for doing so, but he was just as sure that he didn't want to know what it was.

"So," Bachira finally said. "What's the plan?"

"The plan?"

"To fuck with them."

"I don't know," Rin answered honestly. Bachira stopped walking and looked up at him.

"You don't have a plan?" he asked.

"Not really," Rin admitted.

"Oh, Rin-chan," Bachira said, and his smile looked almost the way he remembered it. "If you just wanted to hang out with me, you could have said that."

"That's not why I called you," Rin said.

"Then why did you?"

"I wanted to know why the hell Isagi was at my house with my brother," Rin admitted, not surprised to see Bachira's face fall again. He started walking again too, and Rin followed suit.

"I don't know why he's there," Bachira said, his head tilted back down to his feet.

"Yeah," Rin said. "I gathered that."

They walked another block in silence before Bachira asked, "What were they doing?"

Rin eyed him from the side, trying to figure out if he should answer that. He almost asked if he really wanted to know, but figured he wouldn't have asked if he didn't. Still, it didn't really feel right to tell him what he'd heard.

"Pissing me off, mostly," Rin said, answering in his own way. Bachira was clearly waiting for him to say more, and he still didn't care to. "What happened between you guys, anyways?"

"No offence, Rin-chan," Bachira said. "But I don't really feel like discussing my breakup with you."

"So, you did break up?" Rin asked.

Bachira paused, like he'd said too much, but then a strange type of smile crept across his face and he looked up at Rin. "I accepted your invitation, didn't I?"

"From that I take it you were the one who got dumped," Rin said.

Bachira's smile shrank and became tight lipped. He shrugged, but didn't say anything. He went back to watching his feet.

"I don't even know if they're really dating," Rin said after some time. "Or if Sae is just trying to fuck with me."

Bachira looked up at him again. "You think your brother is fake dating Isagi to bother you?"

Rin realized how stupid it sounded when said out loud. He crossed his arms defensively, but when he looked back at Bachira, he wasn't looking at him like he thought it was stupid. He was just wondering. Rin kept his arms crossed as he shrugged.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Rin answered.

"So," Bachira said slowly. "Is that what we should do?"

"What?" Rin asked.

"Fake date?"

"What?" Rin asked again, but this time it wasn't because he was confused.

By what, he kind of meant no. But there was a pause in it. Would that work? The gears started turning in Rin's mind. Something had clearly happened between Bachira and Isagi, and if Isagi thought Bachira had moved on to someone he didn't like, that would probably bother him, and if he really was dating Sae, that would probably piss Sae off. If they weren't really dating, Rin would be exposing his stupid little stunt, and that would piss Sae off too. A lot of winning options. Rin didn't really care what it took to get the victory he deserved.

"Do you think that would work?" he asked.

"Maybe," Bachira said. "I don't know."

Rin continued to consider it, but then Bachira let out a heavy sigh.

"Isagi probably wouldn't care," he said. "Sounds like he's moved on."

"Well, if he has, he's found himself quite the downgrade," Rin said. Bachira looked up at him again, but his eyes were wide. He wasn't smiling, but his face had become rid of sadness. "What?"

"Thanks, Rin-chan," Bachira said.

"Would you relax?" Rin snapped, aware of how he was taking it. "I'm not complimenting you. Sae would be a downgrade from anyone."

"I appreciate it anyways," Bachira said.

And then the two of them found themselves at the foot of the Itoshis' driveway with no more time to come up with a better plan and a quiet and shared agreement that they were officially fake boyfriends.

Rin took Bachira into the living room, because Sae and Isagi would have to pass it to get to the kitchen or the front door, so it seemed the best place to enact their grand plan. However, before said plan was to take place, Rin realized he kind of had to entertain the other person the plan involved in the mean time.

"You need a drink or something?" he asked.

But Bachira wasn't looking at him. He was looking off into the rest of the house. "Do you think they're still here?"

"They're still here," Rin confirmed. "I can feel my brother's shitty energy lingering like a dark cloud."

Bachira looked at Rin doubtfully.

"What?" Rin asked. "You want me to check or something?"

Bachira shrugged.

"Fine," Rin said, turning towards the staircase. "I'll check."

He crept up the stairs as quietly as possible and made his way back down the hall in the same way. He felt this newfound dread and disgust as he remembered what he'd heard earlier that day, and hoped he wouldn't find anything. But the door was still closed, and that wasn't a particularly promising sign.

"You know, " he eventually heard when he got close enough. "You're not really what I expected."

"What did you expect?" Sae asked back.

Nervous chuckling. "I don't know."

"Let me guess. Rin told you that I'm awful," Sae said. Was this flirting? Rin couldn't tell. "I can be."

You are, Rin thought to himself.

"But I can be good to people worth my time," Sae continued.

"Oh," Isagi said. Followed by some shuffling. "Oh."

Oh God, Rin thought. Gross. Deciding that was more than enough, all but fighting off his gags as he moved back down the hallway, he cursed Bachira for not just trusting him.

"They're still here," Rin said when he got back downstairs, still fighting the urge to shudder.

"What were they doing?" Bachira asked.

"They're still here," Rin repeated, more solidly. Bachira pursed his lips and looked around the living room, looking like he was trying not to cry. Rin didn't know what the hell to do about it, but he knew he didn't like it very much. "So, you need a drink, or...?"

Or a shower? Or a decent meal? Or to sleep for fifteen hours straight? All things Rin felt Bachira needed desperately, and might have actually offered if he didn't feel horribly out of place doing so. Bachira finally looked at him and shook his head.

At least he didn't look like he wanted to cry anymore. "So, what should we do?"

"Beats me," Rin said. "What do fake boyfriends do?"

"I don't know," Bachira said. "I've never had a fake boyfriend before."

"You've had a real one," Rin pointed out. Bachira then got a smile on his face, but it wasn't exactly a welcome sight. It was a bit clever for Rin's taste. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything," Bachira said, bouncing from one foot to the other. Some of his chipperness was coming back. Rin could take that as a win.

"You were thinking it," Rin said.

"Maybe I was," Bachira admitted. Then, he laughed.

It may have been at his own expense, but Rin welcomed the sight.

But there was a limit. "So?"

"Wanna make out?" Bachira asked. And though Rin felt he was choking, Bachira didn't seem to feel any hesitation towards asking him this.

"What?" Rin finally managed.

"It's pretty fun," Bachira continued. "And I bet you're good at it."

"No," Rin said, both harsher and shakier than he expected.

"Oh?" Bachira said. He was still smiling, seemingly on the verge of laughing, and Rin no longer welcomed the sight. He took a step towards Rin. Rin took a step back. "Why not?"

Bachira took another step towards him. Rin took another step back.

"Get back!" he said.

"That's not very boyfriendly," Bachira said, continuing to walk towards Rin until he'd cornered him on the far side of the room. "Rin-chan, don't tell me you've never kissed anyone before."

"Shut up," Rin said again, waving a hand at him.

Bachira gasped, understanding the answer for what it was. "Why not?"

At least he was surprised, Rin thought.

"I've been busy," Rin snapped, jabbing a finger in his direction.

"Clearly not," Bachira mocked, sticking his tongue out.

This was a childish gesture, but not one that Rin considered himself above returning.

"And by the way," Rin added. "If your one and only kissing partner was the world's most lukewarm striker, that's hardly a brag."

Bachira's face fell again. Worse still, he sucked his bottom lip into his mouth and his eyes darted away from Rin, blinking more than was reasonably appropriate. A nerve had been struck, and he knew it. Rin wasn't great with apologies though, so he opted for distraction.

"Let's just start at level one," he said.

Bachira eyes returned to him, shooting him a look like he had indeed started at level one. But at least it was playful. His emotions tended to bounce around as sporadically as he did, apparently.

"You wanna cuddle?" Bachira asked.

"I guess so," Rin said. That he could manage.

Bachira motioned towards the couch. "Lay down."

Rin didn't much like being told what to do, but as far as the plan went, he'd rather Sae and Isagi stumble upon them cuddling rather than them discussing Rin's lack of relationship experience, so he did what he was told. Bachira fell onto him in a way that could only be described as falling, complete with an elbow to Rin's ribs and a chin jabbing Rin's chest.

"Now who's not being very boyfriendly?" Rin hissed. Bachira remained unbothered, and started thrashing around on Rin like a child. "And what the hell kind of cuddling is this?"

"I'm getting comfy," Bachira said. Rin jerked his head out of the way to avoid getting a forehead to the nose.

"No wonder Isagi dumped your ass," Rin said, mostly under his breath, but considering how close they were, there wasn't much air between them to buffer the statement.

Rin knew what Bachira's face would look like before he looked up at him, but he had the unpleasant circumstance of being met with it anyways, only a few inches away from his own.

"I mean," Rin said with a sigh. "Thank God he did, because now I have you all to myself. Is that better?"

Bachira forced a smile before laying back down, his head on Rin's chest. Rin was pretty grateful he didn't have to look at the evidence of his growing list of missteps anymore. At least he was finally still. The two of them lay like this for maybe a minute and a half before Rin felt uneasy about it. It's not that he was prude or afraid of intimacy or anything, but he had been busy with life and such and the idea of having his first concrete exposure to the concept with some fake boyfriend that he wasn't even sure was his friend was weird to him.

"What do we do now?" Rin asked.

"Wait, I guess," Bachira whispered back, his voice slow and quiet.

Oh my God, Rin thought to himself. Was he falling asleep?

Rin barely had the time to ask the question in his mind before Bachira's breathing gave him the answer. Maybe, under different circumstances, he would have pushed Bachira off or shook him awake, but he decided against it. He clearly needed the sleep. Rin may be cold at the best of times, but he wasn't a monster.

Besides, it was pretty comfortable. Bachira was a lot smaller than he was, so having him lay on top of him, their legs all tangled up, breathing more or less in sync, was nice. It was like having a weighted blanket, and Rin very much liked his weighted blanket. Rin could hardly blame him for falling asleep, anyways. It had been quite the exhausting day so far, and it wasn't long before Rin felt himself drifting off too.