The Sun Will Come Up

Sixteen

Some time passed, neither of them could say how much for sure, but then they both became aware that they were just making out in a park, so they pulled back, and in Rin's case, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and looked at each other. Bachira was just watching, with those sunshine yellow eyes, and Rin found it hard to look at him for too long. In all the time he'd known him, he'd never felt so unsure of what to do with him.

"What now?" Bachira asked.

Rin paused. He didn't know. But he did know that he didn't want to leave, or part ways. They couldn't, right? Not when this thing had just crossed over from fake to real and there was so much more to figure out. He didn't really know what to suggest, however. He liked to plan his dates in advance.

"You want to come over?" is what he decided on. Bachira smiled, but he shook his head.

"No offense, but I'm really over being at your house," he said.

Rin laughed. He couldn't help it. "I knew I liked you for a reason."

Bachira looked so genuinely touched by that. It was a maddeningly beautiful sight. Rin tried not to bash Isagi too hard in his mind when he thought about it. Maybe, in some way, he was grateful. Maybe the things that came along with love were hard, but love wasn't. He didn't know for sure, but he didn't think so anyways.

"Do you wanna come over?' Bachira then asked.

Rin didn't hesitate. "Yeah. I do."

Something had shifted, that much was obvious, but Rin didn't know how to make sense of it. Before this, things had felt so real and he had put in overtime work assuring himself that it was just fake, but now that it wasn't, it felt horribly fake. Nice, but fake. Like it was about to be ripped from his hands, like everything else he'd ever had and lost.

So, he enjoyed how steady Bachira's grip was when he held his hand. It was different from the first time, the by accident and then on purpose time on their way to their first fake date. There has been a shakiness to it. Now, it was still. Bachira even swung it a little while he walked, like this was the most natural thing in the world.

Approaching Bachira's house made him more anxious this time that it had either of the times he'd been there before. It made him nervous. Like this was the first. Which it was, he supposed. Even though it wasn't. Yuu made him feel the same way when she heard them go in through the front door and came in from somewhere at the back of the house.

"Oh, Rin!" she called from down the hallway. She opened her arms and was approaching him the second he got his shoes off. "What a nice surprise. I didn't know you were coming by."

"It was kind of a spur of the moment thing," Rin stumbled to say as he accepted the hug. As jittery as he felt, he liked the hug. He still hadn't gotten used to it, but he liked it all the same. "I hope I'm not intruding."

"Not. At. All." She wagged a finger at him with each word to emphasize it. "You're always welcome here. Always. Are you staying for dinner?"

"Oh, I," Rin started.

"Yeah," Bachira answered for him. "He is."

"Wonderful," she said, clapping her hands together a single time. "So, how was the park? Did you guys have fun?"

She started walking away from the foyer and they followed her into the warm, eclectic living room. Rin started to calm. It seemed to invite him in more than it had the first time. He hadn't realized how homey it was in here.

"Yeah," Rin answered. "It was a good time."

"We had the best time," Bachira confirmed.

"Good," she said. "God, you guys are such good kids."