but you force yourself to choose.

[overexerted]

[it was a pretty normal day for sousuke. well, as normal as it could get in a hellhole like haven. anyway- it was the pretty standard bump and grind for him. wake up, go out and scavenge for food, and survive. some of that was hard to do with the difficult curve balls haven would throw out at them all, but, you had to adapt to them in order to survive. and that's what sousuke was good at. adapting. especially since his arm wasn't that much of an issue with him anymore.

he woke up today as he normally would have any other day. as slowly as possible. the annoying alarm clock would beep at him annoyingly in an attempt to wake him up for the new day. nothing seemed out of the ordinary when he rolled out of bed. or, at least that's what he thought. he got out of bed, stood up, and stretched slowly.

as he did this he notices that the top bunk is actually occupied by someone (you bet your ass he took the bottom bunk after rin left.) else. and upon further notice he realizes that the person has the exact same hair color as his best friend....

hm....]

Comments

[overexerted]

[he sighs.] And I'll do my best to stay completely honest with you. [because he has a feeling that helps.....]

[jawdacity]

[ rin raises an eyebrow, nonplussed. ]

You're not gonna do your best, you're gonna do it. No other option.

[overexerted]

Oh, okay. I see. I either do or I just do. [he nudges rin in the side.]

[jawdacity]

[ yeah, dude, you're not getting off that easily. ]

C'mon, don't be a jackass. I'm serious.

[overexerted]

Be careful, Rin. I don't want to see you pop a blood vessel. [he knows tho. which is why he offers rin a tiny, apologetic smile a few seconds later.]

[jawdacity]

[ rin punches him in the shoulder, careful to choose the uninjured one. but there's a smile dragging at the corner of his mouth, too. ]

Once a jackass, always a jackass, I guess.

[overexerted]

And you kiss your mother with that mouth? [he chuckles a little as he turns his arm a little.]

[jawdacity]

You've probably heard her say worse.

[ matsuoka mommy is the most liberal of the bunch. and "liberal" also applies to her liberal use of colorful speech.

speaking of... ]

She's kinda pissed that you've never gone home to see her, you know.

[overexerted]

I actually don't think I have heard her say worse... [he rubs his chin thoughtfully.] And I've been... busy. I'll try to make time for that whenever we get out of here. [gotta visit his second mommy!]

[jawdacity]

Busy brooding in dark corners, you mean.

[ but rin lets him off the hook, knowing that sousuke won't want to get into all of that. again. ]

She was after Gou for awhile. [ and this brings genuine amusement to rin's face ] About you.

[overexerted]

[he makes a face at that brooding in dark corners comments, but then quirks a brow.] What?

[jawdacity]

[ rin nudges sousuke forward, until he can slip past him and sit on the edge of his bed. asking permission? yeah right, who do you think he is. he pats the spot next to him. ]

Handsome, accomplished, close to the family already, blah blah blah. [ his grin widens, showing off his teeth. ] Pity, huh? If Gou actually liked you, we could've ended up as brothers.

[ rin's reaction had been... well. again, that's reaching into the territory of "things rin doesn't think about or so help me god" ]

[overexerted]

[well that's... very embarrassing.... sousuke doesn't actually know what to do with his life right now oops. in fact he's just gonna sink right beside rin and rest his arms on his lap.] Ah... well, the feeling is rather mutual. Your sister is nice, but, she's not really my type... [he has dokis for another red haired baka.] So I'm glad it worked out for the best.

[jawdacity]

You're actually embarrassed.

[ rin is practically glowing. usually it's the other way around. ]

So, if my sister's not good enough for you - [ he takes the sting from the words with a flash of his grin. ] - what is your 'type'?

[overexerted]

Well it's not every day you hear about your friend's mom wanting to hook you up with their daughter. [he's even blushing! after a little while he looks over at rin and shrugs.] I don't know, I can't really describe it?

[also lmao like hell he's gonna tell rin: oh yeah you. you're my type.] I guess people I can be myself around?

[jawdacity]

[ okay, now that he's got sousuke blushing, he's definitely not letting up on this.

plus, it's kind of nice. falling back into the easy to-and-fro that has defined their friendship forever. ]

So, what. Was there someone in Tokyo?

[overexerted]

[say a word about this to someone else and he will spill all the embarrassing shit you've done when they were little.]

Ah, not really. I haven't exactly found that right person yet. [but enough about him-] What about yourself? Have you found someone?

[jawdacity]

[ hey now, don't play dirty. still, don't think rin didn't notice that attempt at deflecting. he'll get back to you. ]

Mm. Girls aren't really my thing. You know, with swimming and everything. I'm surprised you had time to think about all this, with all that crazy training you were doing, too.

[overexerted]

[his brows raise even more as he looks over at his friend. well- he's not surprised. but still!] Girls aren't your thing? So what are you into guys? [don't give him hope bruh. he shakes his head and shrugs.]

You tend to think about these sort of things when you have time to kill. [and when you're lonely. but he's not going to say that because that sounds hella depressing]

[jawdacity]

[ the thing is, the last time they'd been this close was when they were kids. they'd never talked about this sort of thing. and then rin was off to grow up in a foreign country, dealing with something as scary and divisive as a sexuality that young men - especially young men who were athletes - considered to be ... undesirable. to put it lightly.

and it's not like he expects sousuke to reject him, but -- it's still not such an easy thing to admit, when he's kept it so close to his heart for so long.

rin falls back in the bed, arms crossed behind his head. ]

This is a weird conversation to be having.

[ now who's deflecting. ]

[overexerted]

[he turns his body to look at his best friend.] It's not that weird, is it? And besides if you were into guys then that's okay. I hope you didn't think I'd judge you for that. So long as you find someone who makes you truly happy [and pass his friendship inspection.] then that's what matters the most.

[jawdacity]

[ rin is quiet for a long moment, wondering why the hell he'd been so reluctant to speak to sousuke about this. of course he'd understand.

rin's gaze lingers until it becomes somewhat uncomfortable -- and then he's looking away and rolling onto his side so that he can knee sousuke properly. ]

You're so embarrassing. [ which is rin's way of saying thank you. ]

[overexerted]

You cry at romantic movies, so you're the embarrassing one. [also wow, he's getting that urge to lean over and kiss his best friend! so instead he just shoves his leg lightly. yes, that'll...take away from that urge.]

[jawdacity]

[ yeah, sousuke had thwarted rin's attempts to knee him before, he's not going to be successful this time. rin keeps it up, pressing his knee into sousuke's side. just to annoy him.

the comment has him scowling, but he knows denial never really works. besides, sousuke had just given him ammo. ]

Yeah, well. You turn into a tomato when we talk about love stuff. [ yep, the grin is back. ] What are you, a kindergartener with a crush?

[overexerted]

[he's not going to walk into this one!!!!] I do not. It's only because we were talking about me being with your sister and that's... embarrassing. I look at her more as a sister than anything else.