Chapter Text
Hiori: heyy guys
Yukimiya: hey hiori
Yukimiya: are u feeling better now
Hiori: yepp
Hiori: ill be at school tmr !
Hiori: accidently pulled an all nighter
Otoya: yoo
Otoya: we missed u cuz
Karasu: I’m glad you’re feeling better
Hiori: aww thanks guyss
Hiori: btw i have good news
Otoya: share it w the class
Yukimiya: Whats the news
Karasu: What is it
Hiori: i have a bf !!!!!!!
Otoya: no way
Otoya: u did itt
Yukimiya: congratssss
Karasu: Who is it
Hiori: ty guyss :>
Hiori: oh yeah and its rin
Otoya: NO WAY
Otoya: WHAT
Yukimiya: Omg congrats Hiori !!!
Otoya: OMG
Karasu: WHAT
Hiori: YEAHH
Otoya: I CANT BELIEVE THIS
Otoya: KARASU OUR CHILD IS DATING SOMEONE FAMOUS
Karasu: Excuse me
Hiori: what
Yukimiya: …
Yukimiya: Anyways im so happy for u !!
Hiori: tyyy again
Karasu: I’m happy if ur happy
Karasu: If anything happens u can tell me
Yukimiya: us*
Otoya: yall r so corny 😭
Hiori: thank u guys 🥹
Hiori: otoya ;-;
Otoya: yes 🥺👉👈
Hiori giggled and lay on his back, it hasn’t even been a few hours since they were officially dating so he’s still feeling jittery. Knowing that Rin was his boyfriend made Hiori feel fluttery, like his heart has suddenly grown wings and is flapping around.
Hmmm. Hiori suddenly stopped to think. Since he and Rin were dating now, wasn’t it Hiori’s responsibility to protect his boyfriend? This would be hard because they don’t live close to each other. How would Hiori monitor Rin?
He sat upright on his bed and moved over to his desk. Opening up his pc, Hiori searched up the term “how to monitor your boyfriend who doesn't live near you.” Scrolling through the results, Hiori could only mainly see advice to get some app called ‘Life360’ but that wouldn’t work because it wouldn’t allow him to actually see and hear what Rin is doing.
After some more thinking and contemplating, Hiori found the perfect solution. He was going to get a camera in Rin’s room linked to his room so he could see everything Rin does! The only problem was actually getting the camera in the room.
Hiori: heyhey rinniee
Rin: Yeah
Hiori: whats ur address ^^
Rin looked at the message, stunned. He didn’t mind giving his address to his boyfriend or anything, but… For some reason Rin had a bad feeling about this but suppressed it, after all it was Hiori, nothing bad could go wrong with him. Right?
Rin: Sure
Rin: But why??
Hiori: it was supposed to be a secret ;-;
Hiori: but
Hiori: i wanna send u a gift !!
Rin: Oh, ok
A gift? That was sweet. Rin had nothing to worry about, he could maybe even feel a smile creeping up on his face. Wait, does this mean he should send one too?
Rin: My address is xxx
Hiori: okii tyy
Rin: I should be the one thanking you
Rin: ovo
Hiori had to stop himself from bursting out in laughter. It was so easy getting Rin’s address. Also the way Rin is adapting to Hiori’s texting language is so cute. But enough of that. Hiori searched Rin’s address online and what was shown was a modern apartment in Kanagawa prefecture.
Hiori pulled a drawer open to reveal the plush he bought off a sketchy website last year (was there in case he ever needed one) and fluffed it up, getting rid of the dust.
He quickly looked around then face palmed—he didn't have a box ready! Hiori sighed and put on a jacket, he was going to have to make a quick trip to the store.
Hiori briskly walked—the store was only about 5 minutes away from his apartment but he could make that 3 if he was fast. The excitement of getting to see Rin, even over a screen, consumed Hiori which made him a little blind sighted so he did not see the person in front of him.
“Ouch”
“I’m so sorry… Karasu?!”
“Yeah that’s me.”
“Uhhh what are you doing here?”
“I just wanted to drop by and say congrats on your new relationship” Karasu looked at Hiori suspiciously. “Why are you acting so surprised? I always come by.”
“Ahaha you know… I’m hungry. And I'm walking to the convenience store right now to get a snack!” Hiori lied.
“Oh ok. I'll come with you then.”
“Sure!” Truthfully, Hiori didn't really want Karasu to come with because he might feel that he was doing something wrong but… denying him would make Hiori look even more suspicious.
The duo walked to the convenience store, chattering after a moment of awkwardness. After talking to Karasu for a while, Hiori kind of felt at peace—it was nice talking like this, it made him think fondly of the memories they had years ago. It was like the old times.
“Ah. We’re here.” Hiori gestured at the store.
“After you.” Karasu smirked.
Hiori walked to the section with snacks, walking past the gift boxes. “Hey, want me to buy something for you?”
“Haha you wish.”
Hiori snickered at the other—trust Karasu to never accept anyone to pay for him.
“Hey uhh just wait a sec.” Hiori slyly looked at the gift boxes. He would have to buy them now.
Hiori chose a nice teal-coloured gift box complete with a ribbon—this box was perfect as it matched the colour of Rin’s eyes.
“Nice colour. Whose that for?” Karasu commented when he saw Hiori walking back holding the gift box.
“Oh ya know. Just for a friend. His birthday was last month but I forgot to give him a gift.” Hiori lied again. He felt like he was getting the hang of this lying thing, though it made him better at it each time he lied, it made him feel worse inside.
“That’s cool. Not the part where you forgot his birthday though.”
Hiori giggled but he could notice that Karasu didn’t really believe his lie, it was noticeable in his eyes.
“Hey…” Hiori started.
“Yeah?”
“Ya know, I realized that it’s been a while since we’ve hung out like this.” Hiori spoke, he and Karasu were sitting by a local park eating their ice creams.
“I wonder why.” Karasu chuckled, to which Hiori gave a questioning look.
Hiori smiled to himself, it was nice sitting by Karasu. He ignored the feelings of false security and familiarity, focusing on the moment. But his brain kept nagging him. Maybe he and Karasu were never actually close. There’s a whole lot of things Hiori keeps secret, which just eats him alive through feelings of guilt and shame.
Hiori’s scared that if Karasu knows his real self, he wouldn’t want to be friends anymore. He wouldn't be able to stand his friends looking at him differently.
That’s why he’s glad that he has Rin. He can tell Rin anything and Rin would probably accept him for it. When he’s with Rin, he feels safe and comforted, like he can finally show his true colours to someone who would love him for it.
Back in his apartment room, Hiori carefully placed the bugged plush into the gift box. He went to the post office and filled the form out, sending it to Rin’s address.
Walking home, Hiori felt overjoyed, he can’t wait to see Rin’s daily life! The post office told him that the package would be delivered in 1-2 days, which would be Saturday at the very latest.
Rin sighed, when would his lukewarm professor be done lecturing? Usually he doesn’t zone out like this, but today must have been special because he completely missed the part when his professor told the class that they were doing a partner project.
It wasn’t until he noticed his classmates chattering to one another to form pairs that he realized that the professor had finished talking. Oh well. Whenever his class does projects that involve group work, Rin just tells the teacher that he’s working independently.
That’s why he’s surprised that one of his classmates is looking at him expectantly, asking, “Hey, wanna be partners?”
Rin instinctively scowled at the boy, he was way too lively for his liking. The boy seemed to be shorter, and wore a white headband, presumably to keep his black hair from going in his face. Which Rin felt was stupid, really.
“I’m working by myself.” Rin simply answered. Was this boy new or something? Rin has always worked by himself on projects like this since the start of the year.
“Aww come on, I don’t have anyone to work with!”
“Not my problem.”
“But—”
“Find someone else.”
“Everyone already has a partner!”
Rin heavily sighed. Seriously, when was this guy ever going to give up?
“I’ll do a lot of the work, I promise. I just want to work with you!”
“Fine.” Rin grumbled. He felt that the boy would never give up, which reminded Rin heavily of Bachira.
“Great! My name is Nanase Nijiro by the way.”
“‘Kay.” If Nanase was lucky, Rin would remember his name for an hour.
“Anyways, I was hoping we would work on this project at your house.”
“What?”
“Yeah, my other siblings and parents are always at home and they are so noisy, we won’t be able to do any work there.” Nanase grinned.
Rin had a feeling that Nanase had an ulterior motive to partnering up with Rin for this project, but he can’t tell what it is. “Not my house, we’ll go to the library.”
“A library?” Nanase then stopped for a few seconds to think. “Uhh… The library won’t be the best option…”
“What’s the reason this time?”
“I’m kind of banned from the library…” Nanase sheepishly giggled.
“How. Nevermind. I don’t want to know.”
“I promise it wasn’t my fault though!” Great. Now Rin has to listen to Nanase ramble. “You see, me, Bachira, and Isagi promised each other that if we all passed the latest exam, we would go celebrate! We all passed so we went out and started drinking, don’t worry, I didn’t drink, I don’t drink, but Bachira had too many shots so he ran out the bar and into the library somehow! Me and Isagi ran and tried dragging him out but we were making too much of a ruckus so they kicked us out and banned us even when we tried explaining the situation! I mean, Isagi and Bachira still go to that library to study and I probably could too but you see, I’m too embarrassed to! You know, they might recognise me. And—”
“Okay that’s enough.” Rin sighed. “We’ll work at my apartment.” Arguing with Nanase is quite the equivalent to arguing with a brick wall, why is he so damn persistent?
“Omg really Rin? You’d let me come over?!”
“Uh yeah. For a project.” Rin raised his eyebrows. Now why was he so happy?
“Okay, here are my contact details! Text me your address and I’ll be there on Saturday." Nanase winked at Rin, giving him a piece of paper he had in his pocket the whole time.
On Saturday, Rin woke up and instantly remembered that Nanase was coming over to do this group project. Great. Now he was going to have to make his apartment complex look a bit more presentable. Why did he agree to this again?
Ding! Rin looked at his phone. He blinked (smiled) when he saw that the message was from Hiori.
Hiori: heyy rinnie >:3
Rin: Yeah?
Hiori: my phone says that ur gift has arrived !!!
Hiori: go collect it !
Rin: Oh, ok
Rin: I’ll go check
Rin went down to the mail section of the apartment building to go and collect his package. He saw that it was boxed in a nice, teal box topped with a bow. “Cute…” He thought to himself.
Upon entering his room, Rin opened the gift box to find a light blue sheep plush, with shiny black eyes. The sheep looked very innocent, and it reminded him of Hiori in a way.
Rin: I received your gift
Rin: It’s very cute :)
Hiori: yaay i knw youd like it :D
Hiori: put it somewhere high so when ur laying down or sleeping its looking after u!
Hiori: u can think of the sheep as me protecting u ;)
Rin: Ok will do
Rin did as Hiori said, and placed the sheep on top of his cupboard, so it looked as if the sheep was watching over his whole apartment room.
Hiori felt his heart burst with happiness, Rin finally got the plush! Running the app connected to the plush, he was delighted to find that Rin had followed his suggestion and placed the plush in a position where Hiori could see his entire apartment room.
Hiori watched as Rin moved around, cleaning and tidying up. “Wow… Rin looks so dreamy doing this…” He thought. Though he wonders why Rin is tidying up, he lives by himself anyway so there wouldn’t really be any reason he needs to make the apartment room neater.
Unless… Ding dong! Hiori sat forward as he could have sworn he heard Rin’s doorbell go off through the plush. Ding dong! There was no doubt now, Rin is definitely having someone over.
Hiori frowned a little, call him jealous but he doesn’t really like the idea of people hanging around Rin, he knows how much Rin doesn’t like people. And the person (people?) whose outside his room seems impatient too, there’s no need to ring a doorbell twice.
Hiori monitored intently as Rin walked over to open his door, revealing a boy around their age. Hiori instantly hitched his breath. Who is this? Why is he here at Rin’s apartment? Why are they alone? Does Rin not love Hiori? Did Rin forget that they were dating? No, that can’t be true, right? It hasn’t even been a week!
His eye twitched as he watched the other boy get comfortable in Rin’s apartment complex. It was so obvious that he had a crush on Rin, can’t Rin tell? Well, Hiori doesn’t know if his socially inept boyfriend knows that this disgusting piece of filth is trying to hit on him, but he does know that the piece of trash is going to regret this.