Work Text:
“Yo, Sousuke—”
On the other side of the door, Rin’s voice was muffled. As it creaked open, he made an indignant sound.
“Shit. What the hell? It’s a hundred degrees in here, Sousuke.”
“Welcome back,” Sousuke said, unmoving.
Rin’s gym bag thumped to the floor. His shoes scuffed on the floorboards as he crossed the room. Without needing to look, Sousuke deduced they were the white Pumas that Rin only ever wore with a pair of black sweats.
The light flickered on. Sousuke closed his eyes against the brightness, turning his face into the pillow. He’d been lying in bed since late afternoon with a light sheet draped over him in the hope that the end of the day might bring some relief from the stifling heat. Even with the windows open and the fan overhead whirring loudly, it was still too hot. The mattress was damp with sweat, dark patches which marked the places his body made contact with the bed. His hair clung to his forehead and the back of his neck, his skin was clammy and his head was swimming, and Rin’s voice was too loud. Sousuke turned his head just enough so he could send a half-hearted glare at Rin—even that took energy he didn’t have, energy that had been gradually drained out of him by hours spent in the sweltering room. Rin wasn’t looking in his direction, too preoccupied with shedding his jacket and hanging it over the back of a chair.
“You sick or something?” Rin asked, eyebrows knitted. “Why is it so hot in here?”
Sousuke grunted and faced the window again to watch the fading orange of the setting sun past the cluster of buildings beyond the balcony of their room. He might have found it poetic if he hadn’t been slowly melting to death for the last three hours while he waited for Rin to finish up with his gym training—something Sousuke had to skip out on these days by order of his physiotherapist. The only outlet he had was in the form of repetitive isotonic and isometric exercise: small, useless contractions of his half-starved muscles that kept him busy for a total of five minutes twice a day. His lifting was heavily restricted, which irritated him more than anything else. He had always kept himself motivated through a lifting regime, aiming for more and more with each session, and now he had to settle for miniscule weights that even Ai would find easy. Weights that would never challenge Sousuke the way he wanted; weights that would never give him an effective source of catharsis.
He was strongly encouraged to run. His physio had pointed out that, particularly in the absence of his normal cardiac training, it was important to keep at least one aspect of his health in good condition. The physio had also been quick to hone in on what might really push him to run: to prepare him for a return to swimming, which he was suspended from indefinitely.
Four months and nine days. And ten hours, seven minutes if he was counting, which he wasn’t. He’d been away longer from swimming in the past. Another two months was nothing in comparison to the year he’d spent out of the water, allowed only to watch other people swim. The same year he’d been in and out of hospital, each visit more hopeless than the last.
Two months was also nothing when he thought about the five long years he’d been apart from Rin.
Rin broke through his thoughts with some shuffling sounds and a few choice swear words. With considerable effort, Sousuke cracked open an eye and turned over, the sheets tangled around his waist. Rin was by the kitchen counter, leaning over it. He gripped the granite countertop as he balanced precariously on one leg, attempting to toe off a sneaker without having to touch it.
The gym bag was still by the front door. It would likely stay there unless Sousuke moved it. Rin always made excuses for refusing to unpack it: he would be using it again tomorrow morning anyway, the smell of his towel was too much for his delicate sensibilities, it wasn’t laundry day.
Rin’s neat freak tendencies extended as far as their workspaces, exactly one half of the bathroom, his side of the bedroom, and the shelves in the fridge and pantry dedicated to his collection of protein powders, steaks, and bottles of chili sauce. Rin deemed common areas not his problem, which worked for Sousuke, because he would just toss all Rin’s stray belongings inside the closet and feign ignorance later when Rin, red-faced and cranky, inexorably turned their apartment upside-down looking for things.
Pushing down his annoyance, Sousuke straightened out the sheet and tugged it back over his shoulders.
“The air-conditioning is broken,” he mumbled.
Rin looked up at him dubiously, pausing for a moment. “Huh? What do you mean broken?”
“Broken,” Sousuke repeated. “Malfunctioning. Not working.”
“I get it,” Rin said with a sigh of exasperation. At last, he just sat at the table and propped a foot on one knee so he could start pulling at his shoes. His fingers tore at the laces. “When did that happen?”
“A few hours ago?” Sousuke shrugged, though the gesture was lost on Rin, who was still struggling to undo a particularly stubborn knot. “Stop tying those so tightly.”
“That’s not what we’re talking about,” Rin retorted, jabbing a finger at Sousuke before he pulled off his remaining shoe. “What did you do to break it, huh? Don’t tell me you tried to crank it down to a subarctic temperature again, Sousuke—”
“I didn’t,” Sousuke said testily. “It was like this when I got back from work. Management said the whole floor is out.”
Rin’s mouth opened as if to protest. Then he groaned. “Seriously? It’s hotter in here than it is outside!”
“I already called and asked if it was being taken care of. They’ve got someone working on it now. But,” Sousuke glanced at the alarm clock beside the bed, “that was two hours ago. Nothing’s changed.”
Only the levels of fluid in Sousuke’s body. He suspected they were reaching critically low levels with how much he had been sweating.
Rin grabbed either end of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, leaving him in just a black tank top. He balled up the shirt and threw it over his shoulder. Closing his eyes, Rin tilted his head back, and Sousuke watched the beads of sweat already starting to pool in the dip of his collarbone. “So we’re stuck.”
“Yeah.”
Sousuke swallowed when Rin hooked two fingers into the front of the tank, shaking it to fan himself. Rin’s other hand splayed on his thigh and his fingers dug into the fabric of his sweats as he breathed out a sigh.
“Stuck. In here. Where it’s, like, hotter than hell.”
“Yes. Glad you noticed.”
Rin opened an eye, a trace of a grin at his lips. Alarm bells rang in Sousuke’s head, prompting him to sit up and support himself on an elbow. He knew the look well: the slight twitch on the left side of Rin’s mouth, revealing a few of his teeth, the slight crease of his brow, the calculating look in his eyes. It was Rin’s way of communicating interest. Under the gaze of the once-captain of Samezuka, Sousuke suddenly felt like prey being measured up, like Rin was looking for the best way to quarter him as if he were meat. The irony of it wasn’t lost on Sousuke as he eyed the razor-sharp teeth pricking at Rin’s lower lip.
That expression only showed itself when he was intent on something.
Before Sousuke could try to figure out what it was, Rin was starting to get up, one hand planted on his hip. The growing gleam in Rin’s eyes made Sousuke want to shrink back into the pillows. Instead, he scoffed and rolled back onto his side, away from Rin.
Rin’s weight sank into the mattress as he knelt on the other side of the bed. Sousuke, attuned to every shift and small movement of Rin’s, barely noticed when his pulse jumped into his throat.
“You seem pissed.” Rin sounded amused, and Sousuke wanted all the more to disappear under the sheets. Somehow he managed to stay still, his entire body rigid. The bed dipped as Rin leaned over him, his shadow falling on Sousuke’s ribs. His hair was visible in Sousuke’s peripheral, bangs tousled with dried sweat. One of Rin’s knees was touching Sousuke’s back. Instinctively, Sousuke moved away from it. “Is this what you’ve been doing all afternoon?”
“You think?” Sousuke said under his breath.
“Yeah,” Rin said, chuckling. He was completely at ease, like someone who had been in an air-conditioned gym all afternoon instead of trapped in what was essentially an apartment-sized kiln.
Sousuke shifted until their eyes met. “Rin.”
“Sousuke.”
Frowning, Sousuke tried to stare him down. Rin just looked back at him, untroubled. Sousuke nearly groaned in frustration when he remembered that his usual tactics almost never worked on either of the Matsuoka siblings. It was their glares that unsettled him—Gou’s more so than Rin’s—not the other way around, and he was used to being able to get what he wanted with barely a flicker of his gaze.
“So,” Rin started, his smirk widening, “you could do with some help.”
“What kind of help?” Sousuke asked tonelessly, fixing his eyes at the window again.
“The kind I’m good at.” Behind him, Rin’s weight shifted again. Sousuke pulled in a breath. “The kind you like.”
“I don’t need help.” Even to Sousuke’s ears, his voice was hoarse. He didn’t believe his own words, so he wasn’t surprised when Rin chuckled again and the warmth of his body pressed up against Sousuke’s back.
“You’re always so stubborn, Sousuke…”
Rin’s tank top was saturated with sweat. Sousuke couldn’t tell if it was from his workout or the sweltering heat of the apartment. Rin was too close for comfort and his hand was travelling over Sousuke’s side, fingers closing into the gap just underneath his ribs while his breath fell on the back of Sousuke’s ear—
“Rin,” Sousuke said sharply, electing to glare at him with full force. Rin continued to smirk, but his hand stilled on Sousuke’s side as he arched an eyebrow.
“What?”
Sousuke resisted the urge to grab a pillow and smother him with it. “What are you doing?”
Rin’s eyebrow rose higher. “Helping.”
He rubbed small circles into Sousuke’s skin through the layer of his t-shirt. The shift of the fabric sent blood rushing to Sousuke’s face, the back of his ears. His eyes slipped shut and he made a low sound in the back of his throat. Rin’s fingers rewarded him by pressing harder into the knots of his muscles, softening under the gentle but insistent pressure of Rin’s expertise.
Rin’s scent washed over him: musky, with a hint of those seaweed-flavoured chips he was so fond of, and a wisp of his cologne if Sousuke concentrated on it. Sweat started to bead on the bridge of his nose again and he swiped at it with the back of a wrist. The very limited space between their bodies had created intense heat. It was near-scorching, as if he might be burned if they got any closer, but Rin’s touch was calming.
Sousuke let go of a breath, mentally rifling for an excuse. “It’s too hot.”
“Look,” Rin said briskly, “if you’re gonna try to protest, at least come up with something good. You’re all tensed up, look at you.” His hand slid to the curve of Sousuke’s hip, his fingers catching the edge of the blanket and dragging it down as he went. “Lemme help.”
Lightning fast, Sousuke started to sit up, the sheet getting pushed aside in the process.
“I told you.” Sousuke’s voice was raspy as he made to stand, shaking his head to clear it. Rin let him go without protest, leaning back on an elbow. “I’m fine.”
The air was thick and suffocating and Sousuke’s head swam once he was on his feet. He hadn’t been upright in hours, not since he’d come through the door and thrown down his things before falling into bed.
Before he could take a step, Rin’s arms were around his waist, hauling him back and down. Taken off guard, Sousuke went with the motion and fell backwards to land heavily on Rin’s lap. He grunted, looking over his shoulder sullenly at Rin, whose arms were still locked around him tightly. That wasn’t the grip of a man who was letting go anytime soon. Sousuke’s back was to Rin’s chest again, so he couldn’t work his arm around without posing a serious risk to his own shoulder. Rin was grinning, looking entirely too knowing.
Sousuke frowned at him and tried to prise Rin’s arms open, but he was exhausted, and Rin was fresh from the gym and probably a protein shake or two.
“Rin,” he said through gritted teeth. “Let go.”
“Let me do something for you, Sousuke,” Rin said, sidestepping the order. “You’d do it for me.”
Sousuke started to twist, trying to dislodge Rin’s hold, but then he was reminded of how hard it was to exert himself when it was so warm and stuffy, and how sweat-slicked his skin already was. He fought for a moment longer to no avail. When Rin got something in his grasp, there was no escaping it—while his reaction time was slower than Sousuke’s, he was just as strong, if not more, given that Sousuke hadn’t touched proper weights in eight months. Nothing short of a fire alarm or an earthquake would move Rin now.
Sousuke stopped, slumping a bit against Rin. He looked away again, expelling a breath. Then he glanced back to Rin, a faint smirk on his face. Damned if all the mock-struggling wasn’t a mild turn-on.
Rin knew him well enough to take that as permission. Rin grinned against his skin, the threat of teeth ever-present. “Good.”
Sousuke’s breath hitched as one of Rin’s hands crept lower, making short work of the zipper and thumbing open a few buttons on the way. His fingers slid into the waistband, pushing down his jeans to mid-thigh before he guided Sousuke forward and reached around to yank them off one leg. He left them like that, hanging on one of Sousuke’s legs as he settled back, drawing Sousuke’s back flush against his chest again.
Rin was always too impatient to get out of all his clothes, and doubly so with Sousuke, but he was used to Rin’s half-dressed bedroom habits.
Sousuke could tell by the breathy chuckle against the back of his neck that Rin was amused he had gone commando. Rin’s other hand worked Sousuke’s shirt halfway up his chest, hiking it up around his pectorals. Feather-light fingers danced over the swell of his ribs, tracing the raised shape of each that became more prominent with Sousuke’s shallow breaths. Then they moved over the skin of Sousuke’s stomach, the muscles underneath jumping at his touch. Then there was the pinch of nails around a nipple and Sousuke drew in a harsh breath that turned into a throaty groan as Rin’s hand curled around his length.
Rin shifted underneath him, adjusting Sousuke how he wanted him. Rin’s thighs flexed as they cradled his own. He spread them in encouragement, letting his head fall back against Rin’s shoulder. Rin’s skin was as damp as his own. It was slippery enough that Sousuke had to reach back with an arm, curling it around Rin’s neck and burying a hand in Rin’s hair to anchor himself there. Rin’s pleasure was clear in his sudden intake of breath, the stutter of his palm against Sousuke’s stomach where his fingers started to cut in.
His mouth brushed the shell of Rin’s ear as he hissed, “Rin—”
Rin’s hold on his cock tightened, almost to the point of pain for a nanosecond, before he was back to stroking Sousuke roughly, commandingly.
Sousuke might have smirked at that, were his mouth not twisted in an effort to keep quiet. Rin’s habits as Samezuka’s captain had followed him well beyond his high school years— into the here and now, where he accepted nothing but absolute compliance from Sousuke. Sousuke’s hand tensed in Rin’s hair as Rin scraped the calloused pad of his thumb over the head of Sousuke’s length, pulling a strangled moan from his throat. Sousuke’s chest heaved with the effort it took not to cover Rin’s hand with his own and stroke himself to completion—Rin was drawing him taut like a bow, trying to coax what he wanted out of Sousuke through his give-and-take.
“I’ve got you,” Rin purred against his ear, biting the lobe of it before soothing it with his tongue. “C’mon, Sou.”
“Fuck, Rin,” Sousuke managed to grit out through his panting.
Somehow he kept his hips still despite the firm upward flicks of Rin’s wrist, the drag of his tongue over the side of Sousuke’s neck. Pain bloomed against the back of his shoulder, where Rin must have sunk his teeth in, because there was the slide of something wet and Rin gasped his name in broken syllables. The motions of his hand became erratic, uneven, and Rin bit him again, right where he knew it would hurt Sousuke. But Sousuke liked the flash of pain that followed when too much pressure collided with that part of his shoulder—the one that might end up putting a stop to his career forever—and so Rin’s teeth met their mark again, deep in the aching muscle.
The tension bled out of Sousuke. He let the waves crash over him, his shoulder became the most distant point of focus, and he went boneless against Rin.
Rin chuckled again, letting Sousuke move from his hold. Sousuke collapsed onto his side, eyes still intensely focused on Rin as his breathing slowly came back to a steady pace. Then Sousuke reached out to grab Rin’s forearm, tugging him in without warning. Rin grinned as Sousuke’s mouth covered his, letting the kiss linger before he drew away, eyes half-lidded.
“Feel better?” he asked, peering closely at Sousuke. “You look better.”
“That’s not the point,” Sousuke said, with an answering smirk. One of his hands snaked down to palm the front of Rin’s sweats, and what he found made his smirk broaden. “What’s this, then?”
“Shit,” Rin muttered, grinning faintly as Sousuke’s hand dug into the waist of his sweats.
“Hope you like your own medicine, Rin.”