The Sun Will Come Up

Rinbachi Christmas Special

A/N: this is another fic that is so damn bittersweet to have ended but here we are <3 also this christmas chapter got so fucking out of control and got to 10.3k words sooooo I hope y'all like rinbachi haha 

"Wow," Bachira said. "This is depressing."

Rin wasn't offended. He'd been the one to tell him the state of affairs when it came to an Itoshi Christmas, after all. But he'd insisted he come to see it for himself. So, Rin said that he could come retrieve him before they headed to his house for Christmas Eve. He didn't quite know what it was about this in particular that was so depressing, however. They were just standing in the foyer of the largely empty Itoshi house.

Just ahead of them, you could see the Christmas tree, one of four the house had to offer, this one the grandest and tallest, so tall it nearly brushed the chandelier, but not quite. This one's colour scheme was red and silver, and the artificial branches of the evergreen were brushed with fake snow. It matched the garland that snaked up the handrail of the staircase and the boughs that had been stuck on the sitting room shelves.

In the living room near the back of the house, the colour scheme took a distinctly winter turn, trading red for blue, and as one moved upstairs to the lounge and the bedrooms, the colour theme became golden, dusty colours and white and pink, respectively. It was done to precision, right out of a catalogue. The Itoshis hired staff to come in and Christmas-ify the house every year during the last week of November, and they came back and took it all away during the first week of January. Both events were all day procedures, during which Rin had to clear out and make himself scarce.

Rin shrugged. "It's worse when they're here."

Which they weren't. As usual, Sae was staying wherever he was, somewhere Rin knew and pretended he did not. And it took no more than a single mention of Rin's being invited to Bachira's for Christmas Eve and Christmas for their parents to decide well, if both the kids are gone, we might as well go somewhere warm for the holidays!

For two weeks.

They hadn't even been home to greet him when he got out of Blue Lock for Christmas break. It's not like Rin minded, really. He could take care of himself. He was used to that. But still.

Bachira came up behind him, wrapping his arms around him and burying his face into his shoulder blades in a way Rin imagined was supposed to be comforting. It wasn't unsuccessful. It's not like he needed the consoling. Nor the pity. But he let it happen regardless. Bachira held him here for a bit, and when he was finished, he kissed his shoulder and let go.

"Let's get out of here," Bachira said. "You're suffering from a serious lack of Christmas spirit. And cookies."

Rin hardly agreed, but he didn't comment on it. It's not like he was especially eager to hang around the ghost town his childhood home had become. His parents did make it worse, but it's not like there was much to ruin, really.

He grabbed his bag, locked up, and the two of them walked the quiet streets to the train station, gloved hands linked together. The station was more of the same. A few people lingering around and keeping to themselves, but not many. The whole world seemed to have slowed and begun to embrace holiday time. Most people had already made their way to where they were going. Which was just as well, because the world as a whole and everyone in it had seemed to have one opinion or another about Rin's first fuck the cameras moment from Blue Lock. That video had more hits than either of their soccer highlights. Which, whatever. But still. The silence seemed heavier in this context.

Rin looked over at Bachira. Bachira was staring into his phone. His glove had been pulled off at the thumb so he could type into the screen. Rin let himself smile on one side. Of course the social butterfly would have plenty of people to talk to over the next few days. Rin found himself wondering if his parents would text him Merry Christmas. Probably not, he decided. He then wondered if he would text Sae. Things had been somewhat better between the two of them in the past few months. If you could consider barely talking but not being openly hostile to each other better. Still, he came to the same conclusion.