pairing: itoshi rin x reader
notes: manga spoilers, didnât really think about readerâs gender but i think itâs gen, cross-posted on ao3
You start the oh-so-treacherous voyage from your house to Rin's, breath visible in the air in front of you. It was a particularly chilly day, but Rin's house always seemed to be warmer than your own, anyway.
No more than a minute later do you arrive at the front steps of your neighborâs house. The lights were on so you let yourself in. This had been a regular occurrence since the two of you were childrenâ Rin coming to your house and you to hisâ so the need to knock was long past overdue.
Stepping into the doorway, the instant rush of warmth causes you to sigh a breath of relief. You quickly rub your hands together, relishing in the delightful feeling of the newfound heat on your skin.
You took your shoes off and neatly placed them next to a pair you knew to be Rin's mothersâ. You took note of the fact that Rin's regular shoes were nowhere to be seenâmaybe heâs still practicing. Nonetheless, you continued to make your way to the living room.
The cold had all but dissipated in your body as you found yourself in the doorway of the living room. However, what you saw in front of you now caused a similar chill to spread throughout you once again.
âSae..?â you breathed out, eyes wide. He looked up from the TV, almost as if in slow motion, and his eyes met yours for the first time in who-knows how long (you knew, actually. it had been exactly four years since he left for Spain).
âDo you just walk into other peopleâs houses without knocking nowadays?â he quirked an eyebrow at you, but there was also a small smirk laying on his lips and a glimmer in his eyes.
Your lower lip jutted out just a bit at his jabbing, especially since it had been so long since you two had last seen each other.
âI'm basically an honorary member of this household, anyway,â you huffed out with a shrug of your shoulders. âI didn't know you were coming back today, though,â you made your way towards the couch he was sitting on. Moving slightly to the side, Sae made it so that he was no longer sitting in the middle of the couch, making plenty of room for you to join him.
âI won't be here long,â he said while he picked up the remote and paused the soccer game that was currently on.
Letting out a hum in acknowledgment, âfigures. our superstar needs to get back out there soon, right?â you let out a small laugh at your own words. You were, however, a bit disappointed at the news, although you tried not to let it show.
The next hour or so was spent in a comfortable conversation with Sae. You asking about his experiences in Spain, him asking you about your life here. It was almost like the way things were before he left, if only Rin were sitting beside you two, laughing and chatting away, as well.
You glanced up at the clock on the wall, eyes going wide when you saw it was already past ten.
âI wonder whatâs taking Rin so longâŚâ you mumbled under your breath, eyebrows furrowed at the numbers displayed on the clock. you suddenly felt Sae shift beside you. âHave you seen him yet, Sae?â
He let out a short âyes,â one that had your eyes wide in surprise. Judging by the tone of his voice and the way he kept shifting in his seat, he seemed to be uncomfortable with his little brother being brought into the conversation.
You let out some unintelligible sound of bewilderment. To say you were confused was an understatement, seeing as though you were under the impression that Sae went straight home upon arriving in Japan.
Although he seemed reluctant to say, he eventually gave you the location of where he last saw Rin. The soccer court that you two had first seen Sae play on, the court that was the beginning of your shared love of soccer.
Something felt wrong. Something felt wrong about this whole situationâSae not mentioning Rin at all the past hour, not even the fact that he had already met his once-beloved brother just earlier. With this in mind and an uneasy feeling in your chest, you got up off the couch.
You quickly bid your goodbyes to Sae, saying youâre going to get Rin, to which he let out nothing more than a hum of acknowledgment at. You werenât sure why, but your heart was beating out of your chest, so much so that you heard the steady pounding of blood in your ears. This drove you forward to messily put on your shoes and grab a coat off the rack for Rin. You hadnât noticed before but his favorite coat was still hanging up. An athlete should know better to take care of his health, you thought with a frown.
Your hand reached the knob and you hastily turned it before opening the door. The cold hit hard as soon as you stepped out, as to be expected, but you hadnât taken notice of the heavy snow falling down until this moment.
âJust great,â you huffed, putting up your hood at the same time. Maybe this was karma for thinking the ten second walk from your house to Rin's was âoh-so-treacherous.â
Despite your usual reluctance to leave the house in this type of weather, the harsh winds blowing the snow straight into your face didnât deter you from breaking out into a run. There would have been no reason for this any other dayâit wasnât unheard of for Rin to stay out particularly late practicing, if anything it was quite a common occurrence.
However, with the appearance of Sae and the knowledge that the two of them had already met, nothing about this situation seemed common at all. If this had been four years ago, they would have come back together. If this had been four years ago, thereâs no way Rin would have left his older brother to go home without him, especially after not seeing each other for such a long time.
With these thoughts in mind your pace quickened, kicking up flurries of snow in your wake. You canât remember the last time you had exerted so much energy into a physical activity (much to Rin's dismay, he doesnât think a life without consistent exercise is good for you).
The soccer field was finally in your realm of vision. Your shoes and socks were now soaked with melted snow, causing every step to be more uncomfortable than the last. Your breath materialized into a frosty flurry in front of you with every pant that escaped your lips. The strain on your body was becoming apparent now that your steps had slowed at the sight of the field.
But you kept going. Until you were on the field and a figure on the ground caught your attention. Someone tall, laying in the snow, arms spread out on the ground beneath him.
Hesitant steps were taken towards the figure, even though you knew exactly who it was. Youâd recognize him even if he was lost in a sea of faces, in a crowd of thousands.
The slight crunch of your shoes on the snow and the small exhales coming from your mouth were the only sounds to be heard. In the dead of night, in the middle of a snowstorm, on a soccer field of all places, you supposed that was to be expected. But that fact didnât stop the fluttering of your heart or the churning of your stomach. Everything still felt so wrong.
Even when your feet stopped, right next to Rin's own, staring down at him, no other sounds were made. His eyes were open, you know he saw you in front of himâhell, you know he heard you approaching far before you saw him lying here. But he didnât say a word. Neither did you, to be fair.
Your gaze was focused on the way his breath turned white at the steady pace in which he exhaled. And the way his bottom eyelashes were covered in just the slightest bit of snow crystals. And the way his nose was slightly pink from the cold, you suspected. And the way his face seemed to be wet, glistening in the moonlight. Youâd usually assume it was because snow had melted on his face but, with the unsettling feeling in your stomach, you werenât so sure.
âHere,â you tossed his coat onto his figure. He made no moves to fix his position in any way, but he tugged on the sides of the piece of clothing so that it was covering him better.
A few beats passed with no other words said. Instead of standing above him and staring down at him like some type of god, you opted to lay beside him. You adjusted your position until you were comfortably side-by-side, your hands just barely brushing one anotherâs.
This wasnât the most ideal situation, laying in the snow in below negative temperatures. Nor was it the most ideal situation to be laying here, in silence, not having a clue in the world as to whatâs happened the past few hours.
But you knew Rin, and you knew that if he wanted to talk about it he would. You tilted your head to the side, now looking at the side of Rin's face. You also knew his face when he wanted to talk to you about somethingâand you were seeing it now. His lips slightly parted and his eyebrows just the teeniest bit furrowed. If the situation wasnât as intense and confusing, you probably would have teased him about the fact that you can read him and his expressions like a book (to which he would have said some unsavory words towards you while you laughed).
You didnât tease him, however, and the silence continued. You supposed it felt a little serene, as if the world had just stopped and you and Rin were together at that moment. You wouldnât mind if you two were the last two on Earth. Suddenly, your thoughts morphed into ones like these, filled with nonsense and hypotheticals.
It was as if Rin could feel you getting restless beside him, even though you had been completely still. After what felt like eons of no words spoken, his voice entered your ears, âI met Sae,â it was spoken like a whisper, like if he raised his voice any louder the world would return back to itâs normal pace and this serenity the two of you had laying in the snow in the dead of night would be gone for good.
You let out a hum at the information. Somehow, you knew he understood that those words werenât needed. He knew that somehow you already knew they had seen each other. But, he said it anyway. If anything, it would get some semblance of a conversation going. And despite his silence, you could tell he needed that right now.
âWe played a 1v1. He won, it was so quick. Then we argued, I guess,â his voice was still barely above a whisper but you could hear him clear as day. âThat didnât seem like the Sae I know. Four years ago he never would have said anything like that to me, ever,â his voice was starting to shake, you could tell even when he tried his hardest to hide it.
âI don't know what happened in Spain, but I should have expected this. I should have known that after four years things wouldnât be the same. God, he even stopped replying to my texts and calls but I still believed that heâd come back and weâd be the same as always,â he was talking fast, faster than youâve ever heard him speak. You suppose it makes sense, he never used to be able to shut up when the conversation involved Sae.
But you knew that it wasnât like those times when you were little. This wasnât like any of the times on the playground where someone would mention the words âItoshi Saeâ and Rin would magically appear right by their side, ready to boast about his wonderful big brother.
No, it wasnât like that at all because if you turned your head to the side, you know youâd see tears falling from Rin's eyes. It was evident in the way his voice was breaking every few words and the way you felt his body shuttering from where your arms overlapped.
âThere was no way you could have expected this. We all just thought he was busy, it made sense,â you finally spoke up. It was true, when the calls stopped, then the texts, thatâs what you told yourselfâheâs busy, heâs a superstar on the other side of the world. There wasnât any way either of you could have predicted anything like this happening.
âIt's stupid, though. Four years wasted,â his voice wasnât shaking as much now. âHe doesnât care about our dream anymore. Thereâs no reason for me to play soccer,â his words came out harsh, like there was venom on his tongue, something youâd never expect when he was talking about Sae.
âRinâŚâ you donât know what to say to that. If Rin were to look over at you now (which he wouldnât, not with his tear-stained face), heâd see that your face was in almost the exact same shape. Tears were falling out of your eyes and you bit your lip to hold back your sobs. Everything about this was so wrong.
âIt wasn't a waste. You love soccer more than anyone. You canât convince me that it was all because of Sae,â you finally turned your head towards Rin. âIf he doesnât want to share a dream with you anymore, then I will, okay?â
Rin turned his head to face you after hearing those words. There was a curious look in his eyes, one that didnât understand what you could possibly be suggesting. His dream was for him and Sae to be the best strikers in the worldâyou didnât even play soccer, so where would you fit into the situation?
âLet's beat him together, okay? I'll join the team as a manager. I already know everything there is to know about you and your teammates on the field and you make me go to every game, anyway. Iâll help you become the best striker in the world, a striker better than Sae,â your eyes were now interlocked, somehow the close proximity wasnât uncomfortable. âWhat do you think?â
Rin was silent for a while. His eyes glossed over your face, every so often blinking away the stray snowflakes that got caught in his lashes. You noticed how his eyes were red, even though his real tears had already stopped moments before he turned to you. With one last scrutinizing gaze he breathed out a single word, âokay.â
Your eyes widened. You had made the proposition but you had half-expected him to spit at your face at the suggestion. Although that was a vivid possibility in your mind, Rin would have accepted anything you offered.
âReally? I won't go easy on you, you know,â you wanted him to know that you wouldnât make a promise such as this half-heartedly. To create a new dream with him and fill the shoes of his most admired person, to say the least, was a tough objective. But if you were doing this, youâd put your all into it.
You could only hope that your eyes that still lingered on his face expressed all that you wanted to say. With the softening of his features, you knew heâd gotten the memo.
âI'll look forward to it, then. Letâs beat him together,â he tore his gaze from your face and stared into the night sky. The snow was still falling hard, but you two must have gotten used to the cold by now.
Rin raised his pinky finger in the air in front of the two of you. You followed his lead and latched your pinky onto his. Both of your fingers interlocked, shining in the moonlight that reflected off the snow, as a contract of a promise.
âStamp it,â you mumbled with a hint of a laugh in your tone. And he did. Rin pressed his thumb against your outstretched one while your pinkies were still interlocked.
The next few minutes, or maybe it wasnât a few, were spent in comfortable silence. It was no longer a silence that left much to be answered or a silence that only filled you with dread. Your hands had both returned to your sides, still close enough that they were brushing against each other. It left something more to be desired, almost like a pit in your stomach, but it was in no way the type of churning anxiety that was caused by the previous endeavors of the night.
But all havens have to fall, eventually (and you two couldnât lay in the snow all night). So, you get up on your feet and dust the snow off of your clothes. You outstretch your hand towards Rin, signaling him to take it and stand up with you.
He embraces your hand in his own and works to lift himself off the groundâbecause you werenât much help, even though you offered your hand.
âI think weâre going to regret staying out here so long in the morning,â you hummed as Rin brushed off the snow covering his outfit.
âProbably,â he replied nonchalantly while putting on the coat you brought him.
Itâll probably be worse for you since you havenât even been wearing that the whole time, you thought.
Starting to walk away from the spot you had inhabited for the past who-knows-how-long, you suddenly realized something you should have said sooner, âhe was at home, Sae was,â one footstep, two footsteps, âI donât know if heâll still be there. He said heâll be leaving soon, but I assumed he meant in a few days. But after seeing everything thatâs happened, Iâm not so sure about thatâŚ'' you trailed off.
Rin only nodded his head and you thought that was enough. There was no reason to linger on the topic of Sae any longer. You still have questions, like what happened in Spain or why he still seemed similar to the same you knew when you met him earlier, but those questions could wait. Hopefully theyâll be answered on a day where your clothes arenât wet from melted snow and your face isnât tacky with dried tears. Hopefully Rin will still be by your side on that day too.
The two of you then started the oh-so-treacherous voyage to your neighborhood once again. With Rin by your side now, though, it doesnât seem even half as bad as before. Your hands were brushing against one anotherâs again, each step initiating a slight touch. It was strangeâhow your hands felt warm even in the subzero temperature.
With words unspoken delivered through Rinâs hand grazing over yours, the two of you walked off of the field where your dreams had started, where they had ended and where they had started once again.
With words unspoken delivered through Rinâs hand grazing over yours, the two of you walked off of the field where your dreams had started, where they had ended and where they had started once again.
The two of you then started the oh-so-treacherous voyage to your neighborhood once again. With Rin by your side now, though, it doesnât seem even half as bad as before. Your hands were brushing against one anotherâs again, each step initiating a slight touch. It was strangeâhow your hands felt warm even in the subzero temperature. With words unspoken delivered through Rinâs hand grazing over yours, the two of you walked off of the field where your dreams had started, where they had ended and where they had started once again.
With words unspoken delivered through Rinâs hand grazing over yours, the two of you walked off of the field where your dreams had started, where they had ended and where they had started once again.
dailybridgerton
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jacobvanloon
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