Fourteen

Whatever his motivation was, Sae heeded the warning and those two idiots went into town and made themselves scarce. Bachira didn't seem to care. Or if he did, he didn't comment on it. Rin was relieved, mostly because even though the initial moment of rage had passed, it would take all of one poorly toned word for him to make good on that promise, and he wasn't quite sure what the repercussions of straight out punching his brother in the face would be.

Meanwhile, Rin and Bachira made themselves busy. They ate, watched another movie, went out to the yard to kick one of the infinite soccer balls that seemed to appear out of any corner in any Itoshi household around. That was nice, because they weren't talking about the night before, the confrontation or afterwards, and when they were actively ignoring something, soccer was always a safe haven to go back to.

Rin was ignoring something, anyways. He was ignoring a lot of things. Or trying his best to. He was ignoring every single Rin-chan, every laugh, every smile flashed in his direction, how Bachira looked when he tied the little bit of his hair up at the nape of his neck, the way he wiped a sleeve across his forehead, all of it.

"If I score this goal on you," Bachira said, flicking the ball back and forth between his feet. It was nice that he had such great footwork. It gave Rin something technical to focus on. "You have to kiss me."

"No," Rin said automatically. He would have said it almost regardless of what it was, but when he realized what it was, he was only more thankful for the reaction.

"Still scared, huh?" Bachira joked. Or it seemed like he was joking. But it really didn't matter whether he was or not.

"I'm not scared," Rin said. And if he was being honest, he might have followed up with, I'm terrified. And honestly? I'm not sure if I could handle that. "Stop trying to kiss me."

"If you kiss someone else before me," Bachira said, swerving to try to move past him. "I'm going to be so mad."

Rin blocked it. Just barely. "Why?"

"I'm just so curious," Bachira answered.

There was a possibility of reading something into that interaction, but Rin talked himself out of it, solely because that was just how Bachira was. He had no sense of personal space, boundaries, or filter. He just said and did these things and thought nothing of them. He'd always been like that, even back when they'd first met. So it's not like it meant anything.

Rin swiped and stole the ball right out from under him and sent it right into his makeshift goal at the other end of the year. Bachira's eyes went wide and he turned just in time to see the goal. He looked just as pleased as if it had been his own and not scored on him instead.

"Wow," he said. "You really are amazing, Rin-chan."

"Stop flirting with me," Rin said.

"It's not flirting if it's true," Bachira said.

Rin was pretty sure that wasn't true, but he wasn't in the mood to continue this conversation. It wasn't just the mood. This too was something he felt he could just barely handle.

And then all of a sudden, it was over. The trip came to a close without incident, and they'd survived the ever ominous trip up to the Itoshi cabin. A little worse for wear, as far as Rin was concerned anyways, because he felt whatever lived in his chest in place of a heart was battered and bruised more than he thought possible. But it hardly mattered. They needed only to survive the drive back, and they were home free.

Despite the poor car seating arrangement, Bachira lived closer, which meant he was who was getting dropped off first. They stopped at the address given, and when Rin saw the front door to his house open and Yuu step out onto the porch, waving way over her head, he decided he'd get out too, to say hi.

Whatever the reason, he considered Sae to be relatively well behaved despite this display. Rin and Sae used to have a private ritual of making fun of kids with doting parents, largely to cope with the fact that they themselves didn't have them, so Rin halfway expected this old habit to spark back up. But it didn't.

Bachira was already out of the car before Rin heard Isagi say something. The door had all but closed before the two of them heard Sae respond, "So what? They're not even fucking dating."

Beside him, Rin saw Bachira tense. He grabbed his arm then too, which Rin thought better of shaking off. "Why didn't you tell me Sae thinks we're fake dating?"

"Who cares what he thinks?" Rin whispered back. "Wasn't this whole thing about pissing Isagi off more than my shit ass brother?"

Bachira paused. He didn't fully sound convincing when he said, "I guess."

They made it up the walkway and onto the porch where Yuu pulled them both into a hug. It was much too long and suffocating, but still nice all the same. She did the same thing she had during the first group hug, which was to pull back without letting them go. Another deeply tender gesture that Rin was not used to, but liked nonetheless.

"How was it?" she asked. "Did you guys have fun?"

"Yeah," Bachira answered, but he didn't sound very convincing when he said that either.

She pulled back just enough to wave to the rest of the car. Rin felt like dying when he pictured his own mother's fake smile and uneasy wave she was surely making in response. Picturing it was bad enough. He wasn't going to turn and look at it. Yuu smiled until she pulled them back in again, using Rin as a shield, and gasped.

"Is that him?" she asked.

"Mom," Bachira said, hiding his face.

"Should I flip him off?" she asked next.

"Stop," Bachira pleaded.

"He's not worth it," Rin said, without really thinking about it. "Neither of them are."

Yuu seemed surprised, and Rin was almost sure he'd misstepped before she reached up and ruffled his hair like he was a kid. "Right you are. I knew I liked you for a reason."

He didn't really know what to respond to her directly beyond thanks.

"I had a good time," Rin managed to say to Bachira once he regained his footing. A little for show, but mostly not. "I'm glad you came."

"Me too," Bachira said. He seemed to have perked up a little. "Even though you still kicked my ass at soccer."

"Well, don't expect that to change anytime soon," Rin said.

"Okay," Bachira said. The hug was over, and the moment was coming to a natural close. "Well, bye!"

"Bye," Rin said, sensing the lingering awkwardness hanging over them.

He didn't know if he should nod or smile or just leave or what. Everything he thought to do just felt weird or incomplete, and having an audience certainly didn't help. Especially not when Yuu animatedly covered her eyes with her hands and said, "I won't look! I promise!"

Now Rin felt really uncomfortable. Bachira rocked back and forth on his feet, seemingly giving him the same well, bye! as he looked at him. And he was thinking about how cute it looked, but he was also kind of thinking about they're not even fucking dating. And how disappointed Bachira had looked about it.

So Rin just grabbed him, one hand on the back of his neck where his little ponytail sat and one hand god only knows where, and kissed him right there on the porch with everyone, both fan and foe, watching. Don't make it look like it's a big deal, he begged himself. And for fuck's sake, don't make it look like you're kissing your grandma either.

By the time it was over, Rin thought he'd done alright. He'd satisfied the curiosity at the very least; that much was obvious by how utterly dumbfounded Bachira looked. Rin wanted to beg him to get that look off his face and just act normal, but Yuu was right there, hands no longer covering her eyes, and he figured the car was far enough away anyways.

"I'll see you later," Rin said. And with that, he turned right around and hightailed it the fuck out of there.

"Come back for dinner sometime, okay?" Yuu called after him. "I'm going to get permission to show you the face!"

He could barely wave back in response. He just kept putting one foot in front of the other. He'd done what he needed to do. He'd been a great fake boyfriend and a good friend, he was pretty sure anyways, and everyone was happy. Except him, but whatever. He was used to that, and he could get used to it once more.

"Ew," Sae said, the second he opened the door to the car again.

"Sae," their mother warned.

"I think you guys are good together," Isagi said.

And it actually took Rin a second to figure out he was talking to him. But when he did, he pulled out the old trick of scoffing and telling him to shut up and mind his own business.

He had been right when he had quietly thought to himself that he wouldn't have been able to handle it. His mind was reeling, and now that it was over, it was so much easier to play it back over and over in his mind. How impulsive it had been, how nice it was, how good it had felt.

He needed to break up with Bachira. He needed to break up with him right now.