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Rin is going to kill Mikoshiba.
It’s as though the maid cafe wasn’t bad enough. No, he just had to decide that the cafe wasn’t going to raise enough funds for the swim team budget this year, he just had to decide to set up an additional booth, and not just any booth, oh no. A fucking kissing booth.
And he, for some reason that Rin will never know on account of plotting the captain’s death, decided to put Rin in charge.
This probably hasn’t even been approved of by the school.
He’s still in his fucking maid outfit.
Rin is going to kill Mikoshiba.
“Oh my God, Rin-chan!”
Correction: he’s going to kill Mikoshiba, if he doesn’t kill himself first.
It’s like a scene straight out of a horror movie--Rin can feel the dread grow in his stomach and creep up the back of his neck as he very, very slowly forces his head up, knowing exactly what he’s going to see and desperately hoping it is anything but.
The first thing he sees is Nagisa grinning in his face. It takes every ounce of control he has to not punch him on instinct, even as his attempt to keep his face as neutral as possible fails miserably.
“H-hello, Rin,” he hears Makoto say, voice quivering like he doesn’t want to laugh, but can’t think of any other response. Gou is just straight-up giggling, and while on principle Rin knows he can’t exactly say he’d kill his baby sister like he most definitely will kill the captain--because he knows she’s the reason they’re here, even after he explicitly told her not to come--she is still going to pay.
Actually, killing the captain may very well work in terms of taking care of that. It would certainly take care of a good few of his problems in one fell swoop.
Unfortunately, being stuck in a dress running a kissing booth is not one of them.
Rin forces himself to look past Nagisa to the rest of the group: the one glasses-kid that Nagisa always seems to hang about nowadays looks remarkably confused and maybe a little flustered, although the latter may have more to do with how Nagisa is trying to pull him closer to the kissing booth; Gou has her hands pressed over her mouth as she tries hard not to laugh any more than she already has, which she is failing miserably at, even as Rin glares fiercely at her. Makoto’s mouth is twitching at the corner, tugged between a grimace and a grin, and Haru--
Haru looks annoyed.
That one gives Rin pause, because why Haru would be annoyed about the situation, Rin hasn’t a clue: he’s not the one wearing a dress, after all, being paid to kiss strangers, and Rin is fairly certain the only thing keeping him sane at this point is imagining the various ways he can go about murdering Mikoshiba for putting him through this hell.
It’s probably because there’s no mackerel at the cafe or something. Rin honestly wouldn’t be surprised if that was it.
He deepens his scowl and waits for someone else to talk first, because he really doesn’t trust his own voice to work right now.
“So, uh, this is an interesting, um, set-up, huh, Rin?” Naturally it’s Makoto who gains the composure to speak first, even as he’s clearly unsure in what he’s saying. Out of the corner of his eye, Rin can see Haru’s eyebrow twitch. “Although, I’m not sure it would be that popular at an all boys school?”
“I had no idea you were so bold, Rin-chan,” Nagisa giggles, and Rin snaps.
“It’s not like I wanted to do this!” he shouts. “It was the captain’s idea, some bullshit about bringing more girls to the school festival, apparently they’re a good source of revenue or some shit.”
Rin swears he actually sees Haru start to open his mouth, and it’s so clear now that even he is going to jump on the let’s-make-fun-of-Rin train that he’s almost grateful when Nagisa beats him to it and says brightly, “Is that also why you’re wearing a dress?”
Maybe not that grateful, mind you.
“All the newbies on the swim team have to do it, it’s not my fault it’s either dress up or quit!”
“You should’ve quit.” It takes Rin a moment to recognize that it was indeed Haru that said that out loud, and his brain just sort of fizzles out as the words sink in.
“Wha--you--motherfu--fuck you!” he finally manages to sputter, and he knows he must sound pathetic right now, but Nagisa is openly laughing at this point and Makoto looks so fucking concerned that it’s downright embarrassing. It also really doesn’t help that Haru is looking as bland as can be, and Rin will be damned if he lets him get away with this. “Look, I don’t have to take this! Either pay or get out!”
Haru’s eyes narrow almost imperceptibly, and Rin glares right back, red-faced and wanting nothing more than for them all to leave, even as Haru refuses to budge. The staring contest drags on long enough for Makoto to start fidgeting uncomfortably, not that Haru’s paying him any mind. He just stares Rin down as Rin uses every bit of willpower to not grab him by the collar and shake him until he just gets on with his inevitable mocking already, because he knows it’s coming and the wait for it is possibly worse than the actual mocking part. But of course Haru just continues his blank stare, and it’s starting to piss Rin off more and more, but he refuses to break first, he refuses.
A girl wanders in the direction of the table, and Haru suddenly slams a coin down.
It takes Rin a moment to process the action, and then he gapes.
“You cannot be fucking serious.”
“There. I paid,” Haru replies mildly, even as Rin is internally scrambling to find something that’ll make this make sense and coming with absolutely nothing other than this has to be a joke, except Haru isn’t capable of making jokes so it just boils down to what the fuck. Even the Iwatobi gang has gone silent, only for it to be broken by Nagisa suddenly shouting, “Yeah, you get some, Haru-chan!”
“Nagisa-kun!” glasses-kid snaps as Gou hastily claps her hands back over her mouth to cover up her sudden laugh, but the damage is done and Rin can already feel his face turn red.
“No!” he very nearly yelps, which only makes him blush harder and good lord he hates his life. “I’m not--no!”
Haru doesn’t say anything, but there’s a sudden sharp edge to his look that’s making Rin feel as though he just did something wrong, even if for the life of him he can’t guess what. He’s about to defend himself when Gou interrupts first this time.
“Onii-chan, it’s not nice to turn Haruka-senpai down like that!” she manages in between giggles, and Rin is definitely going to have a talk with her after this because she really has no right to sound so amused at his plight. “He did just pay, after all.”
“Right!” Nagisa chimes in, and Rin only barely holds back a growl because this. Isn’t. Helping. “I mean, no offense Rin-chan, but you can’t have had many customers yet--” Haru suddenly frowns at that, the first break in his expression, though once again Rin has no idea why Haru would acting as though he’s been insulted rather than Rin, “--so it can’t be good business to go turning down perfectly willing customers now, can it?”
“Nagisa, maybe we shouldn’t push this--” Makoto starts, mouth starting to twitch at the corner again, but any chance he had at salvaging the situation for Rin is gone as soon as glasses-kid gives a contemplative hum and says, “No, he has a point.”
“Ehh?” Makoto cries out at the same time as Nagisa cheers, “Right on, Rei-chan!” Rin buries his face in his hands, if only to escape Haru’s unending gaze, though the fact that they’ve gathered something of an audience by this point--obviously attracted by all of the shouting--really is not improving his mood.
“Rin,” he hears Haru say. Rin glances up, already regretting the move, and Haru simply pushes the coin forward, sliding it across the table with a single, smooth movement. He then sits down and leans forward expectantly, and Rin numbly follows suit.
Rin’s hands are shaking and his face is burning hot; he’s in the middle of a public place, being paid to lose his first kiss to his rival, surrounded by his childhood friends who won’t stop laughing, he’s wearing a fucking dress, and Rin is about ready to just give up on it all.
So he seizes Haru’s face and yanks him forward hard.
It’s barely a kiss, more a brief collision of lips that leaves his entire mouth tingling, but it’s enough to say he’s done it, and Rin pulls away even faster than he forced Haru forward, feeling like he’s straight-up burning from the inside out. It takes everything he has to not immediately press a hand over his mouth. Haru’s natural silence has never been more welcome than in the first few seconds after Rin has officially lost every bit of dignity he may have had left; he simply sits there quietly, looking entirely unruffled as Rin desperately tries to pull himself back together. And then Haru opens his mouth and says blandly, “That was terrible.”
Rin wants to die. He probably could die, with the unhealthy amount of blood that has rushed up to his face by now. And then, as if things couldn’t possible get any worse, Haru pulls out another coin and places it directly in front of Rin, a challenging glint lighting up his eyes. “Do better.”
It’s rather pathetic when he thinks about it, but it’s like Rin is physically incapable of resisting a challenge from Haru, and even as the rational side of recognizes just what it is Haru actually challenged him to, that base instinct is already kicking in and Rin can’t stop the sharp grin from spreading across his face.
He should probably be more concerned than he is about how he’s been conditioned like this. Not that it matters, because the challenge is still enough to make him growl, “Oh I’ll show you better,” and he kisses Haru again.
It is a little better, this time, if only because when you start at the bottom you really can only go up, but still. Rin’s throat feels oddly tight, and he hastily looks down, only to see another coin being slid across the table. He doesn’t need to look back up to know that Haru still has that glint in his eye, although he can’t help a quick glance up that reveals it’s shining even brighter than before. He involuntarily licks his lips.
“Try again,” Haru says, and Rin doesn’t even hesitate this time.
It’s maybe around the tenth kiss that Rin simultaneously realizes that actually kissing Haru has gotten vastly better than it was at the beginning, and that the reason for that is because this has been going on for a very long time. He swallows hard and pulls back, albeit not without some difficultly because Haru actually follows his movement back, lips lingering against Rin’s own before he’s able to get out of reach. Face burning, he glances quickly to the side to reveal exactly what he expected to see. Nagisa, Gou, and glasses-kid have all converged off to the side, chatting animatedly about something or other, and Makoto is awkwardly checking his watch, very carefully not looking anywhere near the kissing booth. Any crowd that had been there before has long since dispersed. Rin suddenly feels mortified all over again, and this time it has nothing to do with the dress.
“Maybe give another customer a chance, huh, Haru?” he half attempts to joke when he sees Haru already reaching for another coin, not that there’s another potential customer anywhere in sight. Haru goes still for just a moment, and then glares at Rin so fiercely that he actually quails in his seat. Before he can even think to raise a defense, Haru slams the coin down so hard it rattles the table, and he grabs Rin by the front of his stupid, stupid maid dress and kisses him hard. It’s different from Rin’s first attempt at kissing Haru; this is a hardness not born of clumsiness, but instead feels almost possessive, and Rin’s breath gets stuck somewhere in his throat. By the time Haru lets him go, he’s almost certain he can never be kissed by anyone else ever, because they would all pale in comparison to the mark Haru just left on him.
“No,” Haru says, needlessly, pointlessly, as though that kiss didn’t prove his point enough. Rin just stares at him dumbly, trying to regain feeling in his lips. He doesn’t get much of an opportunity to do so, because as soon as Haru is satisfied with his lack of a response, he pulls out another coin and leans forward once more.
It’s about three long, lingering kisses later that Haru reaches into his pocket, only to still once more, and both he and Rin realize at the same time that Haru’s run out of money. Rin tries very hard to convince himself he’s not disappointed. The sudden lack of kissing does not go unnoticed by the Iwatobi gang, and Makoto immediately steps forward.
“Oh, did you finally run out?” he asks with evident relief, although it is short lived as Nagisa promptly bounces forward, right on cue.
“Don’t worry Haru-chan, I’ve got you covered!” he calls out cheerfully, pulling out a coin of his own. Haru blinks, and after a moment’s pause takes it. There’s another pause where he just looks at the coin now in his hand, and for the first time, Haru looks embarrassed, like what he’s been doing has only now fully caught up with his brain. Rin does not think he can handle Haru having a sudden burst of rationality after everything he just put Rin through, so he leans back in his seat with a smirk that implies a hell of a lot more confidence than he’s feeling right now.
“Well, what are you waiting for?” he says, and Haru very slowly lifts his head to meet his eye. Rin struggles to hold back a swallow. “It’s your last kiss, Haru, you better make it count. You’re my best customer after all.”
Haru’s eyes are shining again, but this time it’s not with the challenging glint from earlier, but closer to the look he gets whenever he’s looking at water. He slides the coin from Nagisa with a certain gentleness that was lacking before, and true to form, dives right in.
Right from the start it’s clear this kiss is different, and the revelation that Haru really is planning on making this last kiss count hits Rin like a ton of rocks the second Haru lays a hand on his cheek, thumb brushing the side of his nose, and carefully tilts his head. He can barely bring himself to recover in time for the soft pressure against his lips, the small shocks the run through his body every time Haru shifts against his mouth, and Rin thinks he would be perfectly fine if it all ended like this.
Except it doesn’t end. Instead, Haru pushes a little more, shifting with careful deliberation, to the point where Rin’s hands have started to shake again, except this time it’s less out of fear and more out of arousal. He should probably be concerned about this. He doesn’t have much time to linger on the thought, though, because there’s suddenly a swipe of a tongue against his lower lip, and the surprise is enough to make him pull back.
“Wha--” he starts, but the second he opens his mouth Haru is pulling him back and slipping his tongue inside, and if Rin thought he was feeling overly warm before it’s nothing compared to now.
Rin should probably be wondering how exactly Haru got this good at this, except it’s making him feel so good that he can’t bring himself to care. Haru’s hand has shifted from his cheek to the back of his neck, fingers tangled up his hair; he scrapes his nails against a particularly sensitive area behind Rin’s ear, and Rin lets out a rather embarrassing whine, which naturally makes Haru do it again and Rin really does not know how much of this he can take because he’s about ready to explode.
Maybe it’s instinctual for Haru, kind of like how swimming seems to come so naturally to him. Of course, that’s got Rin imagining Haru half-naked which in a shocking turn of events is not helping his own half-aroused state at all. Haru runs his tongue over Rin’s teeth, and Rin groans.
Maybe it’s the noise Rin made, or maybe he’s finally run out of breath, but Haru finally pulls back. Rin can only imagine how he must look like, because Haru looks a mess, and Rin has no idea what to do with that. His shirt is all bunched up from where Rin at some point starting gripping it hard, his face is flushed and his lips are red, and they’re both panting hard like they’ve just raced. They can only stare at one another, still only inches away, when a noise off to the side suddenly reminds Rin that he and Haru are in no way alone right now.
Both Gou and glasses-kid’s faces are bright red, and Gou’s hands are clamped over her mouth once more, albeit due to a slightly different emotion this time around. Makoto simply looks traumatized, and even Nagisa’s cheeks are slightly pink, his mouth open in a half-forgotten grin before he lets out a low whistle of approval.
“Wow, Haru-chan, that--yeah, that one probably should have cost you extra.”