#rafkirin

Scotty, Seth, and Bo "oohed" in sync. Ivan gasped, smiling to himself. Even Josh made a noise in surprise.

"Yeah, you should be. Cause I'll smoke your ass," Kirin said, which was lame as fuck. Whatever. He wasn't used to Raf having a comeback that wasn't stuttering or giving up halfway through his sentence.

Seth snorted. "You'll smoke his ass? What does that even mean?"

"Shush, Chicago, this is between me and Rafe." He locked eyes with Raf. There was an expression on his face that he'd never seen before. His eyes were half-lidded and his jaw was set. Determination. He wasn't above admitting that it was kind of hot. "What do you say, Garcia? One on one? You and me."

Raf hummed, thinking it over. "What do I get if I win, O'Conner?" It must've been his ears playing tricks on him, but it almost sounded like Raf was flirting with him. But he couldn't have been. That was ridiculous to even think about.

"Um.." Fuck, now he had to think of a prize. The only thing going through his mind was the brown of Raf's eyes glowing in the sun, and the rasp in his voice. Ridiculous. And it wasn't like there was a lot to offer on a deserted island. What could he give him that they didn't already share?

"I know!" Josh exclaimed. He jogged to the food pile, then returned with the bag of Doritos they'd all pointedly been ignoring. It was a single serving bag of Spicy Nacho — which wasn't even the best flavor — that both Scotty and Henry had claimed that they smuggled in their bags. So, to avoid fights, no one was allowed to eat it. (Ivan's idea.) It sat on the tip top of their food pile, always in sight in case anyone got any funny ideas about stealing them.

It was kind of the perfect prize.

Kirin turned back to Raf, brain going fuzzy around the edges when he saw his bottom lip was between his teeth. He needed to get his shit together. "That good enough for you?"

Raf nodded.

"Let's do it then."

"Wait one sec," he said before stripping off Josh's jacket. He also took off his little stupid button up, leaving him in just his gray t-shirt. Kirin did not stare at his biceps or the tanned skin of his hip where his shirt rode up, thank you very much. "Okay, I'm good."

"What's the goal here?" Seth asked, as he, Josh and Scotty joined the others in the peanut gallery. Then he laughed at his own joke, even though no one else did. Fucking loser.

Ivan made a noise in agreement. "Yeah, is it, like, the best two out of three? Whoever scores on the other first wins?"

"I'll be generous and say best two out of three," Kirin said, "Wouldn't want this to be over quick for Rafe. That's no fun."

Raf pressed a hand to his chest in a mocking display of emotion. "How kind of you."

Kirin nodded, fighting a smile. Who knew Raf could be funny? "I'm known for my generosity."

+

They'd set up two makeshift goals with sticks, with a t-shirt that probably belonged to Henry as their center.

"On the count of three," Seth shouted. "One, two, thr-"

Kirin kicked the ball away from Raf's feet, making him shout "Hey!" as he ran down the sand. "You snooze you lose, Garc— Oof!"

Silently, without any kind of warning, Raf swiped his legs out from under him with a slide tackle, sending him flying face first into the sand. He smiled triumphantly as Kirin rolled onto his back to face him.

"What the fuck?"

Raf laughed as Seth said, "Is now a bad time to mention that Raf's played soccer since he was little?"

Kirin grunted, sitting up on his elbows. "Fuck you. I bet you think you're real clever, huh?"

Raf sent him a smile. If he was a weaker man, his breath would've gotten stuck in his throat. "Maybe a little.."

He rolled his eyes before pushing himself off the ground. "Whatever. Don't get too excited. I can still destroy you, easily. I bet I can score on you with no problem."

"I dare you to try." The conviction in Raf's voice made something tug in his gut. Ivan shot Bo a look, sitting up further, as if trying to get a better view.

Kirin wasn't someone to walk away from a challenge.

+

He should've walked away.

Raf — despite being a menacing as a baby deer — was scary good at defense. He was a brick wall, blocking Kirin in ways that he couldn't predict, nor comprehend.

He'd fallen so many times that he was covered in sand. He'd eaten so much of that that he didn't need to worry about hunger pain later, he was sure.

"This has been going on forever," Scotty grumbled. "Can't you just let him score once?"

Raf shook his head. "He's gotta work for it."

Kirin realizing that Raf was also kind of sexy as fuck wasn't helping him either. He kept getting distracted by a flash of a smile, or a glance at the way his thighs flexed, straining the fabric of his pants.

The whole thing was ridiculous. But Kirin wasn't a quitter, and he wasn't a bitch. He just needed to make one goal, and then he'd be satisfied.

"Aren't you tired?" Bo asked, as Kirin kicked the ball in Raf's direction.

"'M fucking exhausted, man," he said, making Seth snort.

"Maybe if you didn't suck," Raf teased, bracing himself as Kirin neared.

Kirin scoffed. "You know a lot about sucking, don't you?"

Raf hit him with a hard shoulder to the chest, sending him stumbling back. "In your dreams."

Astonished, Ivan said, "What the hell is going on?"

Kirin blindly kicked the ball, and by some stroke of luck, it flew through Raf's legs, and rolled over the stick. Into the goal. He could have passed out from joy. He fucking did it.

He didn't have a chance to celebrate however, because Raf stumbled, knocking into him. His tired legs didn't even try to hold him up, and they fell to the ground.

Raf ended up on top of him. His heart raced in his chest.

"Woah, sorry," Raf mumbled, back to his usual shy self. For a moment that felt like years, he straddled Kirin's waist, hand trailing from his chest to his abdomen, as he got to his feet.

Kirin prayed to every god that he could think of for his body not to react. He threw an arm over his eyes, hoping his blush would pass for sunburn and his embarrassment tinted lust would be masked by his exhaustion.

A familiar crinkling noise had him popping his head up in confusion. Raf stood above him, holding the bag of Doritos.

"Dude, Rafe, no. You kicked my ass–"

"Don't you mean he smoked your ass?" Seth called. They both ignored him.

Raf shook his head, gentle smile on his face. "No, you win. You were the only one to score a goal." He tossed the Doritos to Kirin's right, depositing them perfectly in the crook of his armpit. "Good game."

Kirin's stomach fluttered with butterflies, like some kind of dork. "You too, dude."

"So sorry to interrupt this touching display of gentle heterosexual masculinity," Ivan said. He had to ruin everything, didn't he? "But the sun is gonna set soon. We should probably start a fire. Get ourselves in order and all that."

+

Later that evening, long after the sun went down and their fire dwindled to flickers of light, Kirin opened the Doritos.