Chapter Text
Isagi woke up to Bachira snuggling up against him.
The thing about Bachira was that although he was cute and sweet, he was just a little forward sometimes. There was nothing wrong with that but Isagi didn’t want to talk to one person the whole time.
He wanted to explore today and see if he had a stronger connection. Soundly, Rin. He was a man on a mission.
He missed his chance to see any messy bed hair action but he did however bump into Rin leaving his morning shower, a towel slung across his waist. Arguably better.
Rin towered over him scowling a little. “Heh.” Isagi tried not to say anything stupid. His brain had short circuited.
Rin was working out. He always got up early.
Lovelock had a good gym set up going on. He had to stay on his top game here. Life went back to normal after this show. He would still hate himself. And hate his brother. His family. He’d go back to work or maybe give himself a break with the prize money.
It didn’t matter. Rin couldn’t even imagine falling in love.
“Oh Rin Rin!” Shidou cooed, whistling at him like a weirdo. He held two plates in his hand. One for him. Eggs and bacon with tomato sauce in the shape of Shidou's face. It captured his aggravating smirk perfectly.
But somehow, Rin wasn’t that annoyed, he always forgot to make himself breakfast.
They sat and ate together in the sun.
Hiori notices obviously, once he woke up in an empty bed and went outside. He tried not to be bothered by it.
Isagi enters the kitchen at the same time Ness trails by with two plates in hand.
One was a lavish breakfast of everything the kitchen offered, pancakes, bacon, avocado and eggs, all perfectly separated so they weren’t touching. The other plate was an array of fruit cut into small intricate shapes.
Isagi saw melon stars, strawberry hearts, a cup of berries and an orange cut so good, it resembled a rose.
“You're only eating fruit?” Isagi asked him, he could guess that the big savoury breakfast was for Kaiser. Ness looked confused for a second, looking down at the plates. “Oh no of course not, these are both for him. I’m making mine a bit later.”
Ego: I want a Ness in my life.
Isagi frowned watching the magenta haired boy leave. He decided to make breakfast for Ness instead. He must’ve been in the kitchen for at least an hour tops, to make all that for Kaiser.
Isagi was no good cook by any means but he had always had a skilled hand in scrambled eggs and he walked back into the bedrooms.
“Hey. I thought I would bring you something to eat anyway.”
Ness was taken aback to see Isagi bring him breakfast but it had been a nice gesture. “Thank you.” Although, if this was his attempt to slide into what he and Kaiser had. There was no way.
Kaiser looked like he wanted to kill Isagi as he left.
Kunigami had the best pee of his life when he woke up. He physically ingrained which shower Kaiser and Ness used in his memory, so he would never set foot in it. He made a quick breakfast and joined the gym session.
Reo fed Nagi fruit by hand. “I don’t think those two are aware that other people exist,” Kunigami mutters to Isagi and Bachira as they sit together.
Reo’s burner phone buzzed. “I got a text!” He announced, getting everyone’s attention. “Islander’s gather at the fire pit and get ready for your first challenge!”
Anri entered, sporting a shimmery blue mini dress.
“Hello! We have an exciting one today!” She waves as they all greet her. “This is the Secrets Challenge. I’ll hand out a small questionnaire and I want you all to answer with complete honesty. This could be your opportunity to gain more interest within your group.”
They all receive the papers and Niko receives the questionnaire, gawking at one question out of the 12 in particular. What’s your body count? He felt his face burn.
———
“I have all your answers now! Get ready! I hope you guys know that if the majority of you islanders guess who’s answer it is correctly, then it’s pool time.” Anri held a stack of cards and motioned for the islanders to stand in front of the pool.
Rin pats his hair subconsciously, there was no way he was affording to look like a drowned rat on live television.
“Isagi! Come up and read one!”Anri hands Isagi a card.
“Which Islander spends the most on their appearance?” He read.“Definitely Kaiser.”
“It’s Kaiser.”
“It’s totally Kaiser.”
Kaiser looks offended.
“It’s Reo.” Ness scoffs exasperately, “Kaiser’s beauty isn’t something he has to work for.”
Anri grins, “Slide out the answer Isagi!”
Isagi feels for the tab, pulling out Reo’s face. The villa erupts into laughter at only Ness being right.
Reo shrugs, “My conditioner is expensive.”
“Raichi! Come up for this next question!” Anri smiled.
hoped to hell he didn’t have to read something embarrassing. He knew better than to hope for anything though. He was the unluckiest person he knew. “Which Islander has had an orgasm in a public setting?”
Raichi sighed. “Ness probably, no offence.”
Ness turned red.
Kunigami wasn’t one to air out dirty laundry so he kept quiet, but Ness’s face gave away everything anyway.
Even Kaiser was blushing a little and it didn’t take long to put two and two together.
Raichi did feel bad so he gave Ness a light shove into the water where he swam out in seconds and got handed a towel.
“Bachira! You can ask the next question.” Anri handed a card.
“Who has a body count of 14 and has never dated before?” Bachira laughed. “That’s not cool dude. I think it’s Shidou.”
“It’s Shidou.” Kunigami said immediately.
“Definitely Shidou or Kaiser,” Niko says out loud.
“Check it Bachira!”
“It’s Shidou.” Bachira delighted in giving the blonde a shove in the pool.
“Next, Hiori you can read!”
Hiori grabs a card. “Which Islander is crushing on someone in another couple?” He doesn’t like this question too much. The easy guess would be Shidou or Kunigami since both have made it obvious they dislike each other. Hiori had seen Shidou and Rin this morning.
“Shidou.” Plus if he was right then he would get to push him in. The group agreed although Bachira did announce Kunigami because of that first door coupling.
“You’re all wrong! It’s Isagi! He was trying to make a move on Nessie this morning by making him breakfast.” Kaiser glared at him.
“No I wasn’t!” Isagi snapped, “You're just too lazy to do anything for him!”
“Calm down boys,” Anri said, cutting through the small argument. “Well Hiori?”
“It’s Isagi.” Hiori read the words twice to make sure.
“Great.” Isagi muttered, staring at the floor. “You can all believe me or not, but it’s not Ness.”
He glanced up and met Rin’s teal eyes, completely by accident, and his heart rate tripled. Fuck, what if Rin knew now?
He had bigger things to worry about though because in that drama, he had forgotten completely about Bachira. He looked hurt and Isagi tried not to look at him again.
“Ness you’re up!” Anri smiled trying to dissipate the sour mood over the crowd.
“What Islander is most likely playing their couple?” Ness frowned, searching their faces. “Well, it would be Isagi then, if he likes someone more than Bachira.”
The islanders murmur agreement. “I think it’s Rin,” Kaiser said, smirking. “He likes Hiori because it’s convenient! I mean, does he look like a guy here for love?”
“Fuck you.” Rin retorted but he didn’t deny anything and Hiori felt a little sick. He had wondered himself, why someone like Rin would join Lovelock.
However the majority did guess Isagi, much to Isagi’s distress. Bachira’s mood had already hit the floor and now it was digging.
Anri looked at Ness. “Who was it?”
Ness felt his stomach constrict as he read the answer. “Kaiser.”
———
The rest of the day was quieter after that challenge. Isagi was a little humiliated with the questions but Ness had it worse.
“Hey.” Isagi entered the Speak Easy. He had glimpsed Ness go in earlier.
It’s not like he had anything to do. Bachira wasn’t speaking to him at the moment. Isagi would have to fix that later.
Ness was curled up on the sofa, his hand cradling his head. “Are you alright?” Isagi murmured, kneeling down.
“Go away.” His voice was higher than usual and sounded so sad, Isagi felt his hate for Kaiser growing.
“Ok, I’ll leave.” He stands up. If Isagi can’t respect someone’s wishes, then he isn’t suited to be in love at all. “But for what it’s worth, he doesn’t deserve you at all.”
———
Ness had always been alone.
His parents and siblings — it would probably be safe to say they hated him. A noticeably strange outlier in an intelligent science loving family. Ness seemed to disappoint everyone around him, including Isagi, as he left the Speak Easy.
The whole challenge made Ness feel like a complete clown. How everyone knew that he already initiated intimacy with Kaiser, and even worse, that Kaiser was determined to be the one who was using his couple.
He heard footsteps come in a bit later. It wasn’t Isagi this time. Speak of the devil.
“Hey Nessie. Can we talk?” He looked up at the beautiful German face. Kaiser sat and lifted Ness’s head onto his lap.
Ness couldn’t find the energy to push him away. He really really liked Kaiser. His wit and laughter. The way light seemed to shine in his blue eyes when he got excited. Maybe he was stupid, it’s only been two days on the island after all. But Ness had never felt that way before about anyone, not even an inkling, and it terrified him.
“I don’t like seeing you upset.” Kaiser stroked Ness’s hair.
“Micha. Are you just using me? I don’t understand,” Ness whispered.
Kaiser frowned. “You know it’s not based on anything I wrote in the questionnaire right? The whole point of Anri as a host is to stir up drama between couples.”
He sounded sincere to Ness. Really. He had been making a big deal and he knew it would be even more pathetic to keep wallowing in self pity.
“Don’t let this come between what we have.” The blonde added and leaned to kiss his cheek.
Ego: His love bombing is working on me too.
Kaiser and Ness disappeared from the Speak Easy afterwards.
———
At night when Isagi slipped into bed he realized Bachira was already there.
“Bachira.”
“Hm?”
“Are you mad at me?”
A pause. “No.”
He knew it was a lie when Bachira turned away from him. Isagi felt a pang of hurt. It didn’t matter that he was interested in Rin. Bachira and him were good friends. To be cut off all of a sudden, sucked.
Anri: Trouble in BachiSagi Paradise. My heart is broken.
———
Rin felt the need to reassure Hiori. But why? For the audience, to prove that he wasn’t just here for money when he was?
Hiori was exceptionally good at hiding how he felt in his face.
“How are you feeling?” Rin asks as they lay in bed. He was trying at least. After that challenge in the morning, Hiori had avoided Rin using the excuse of comforting Bachira.
“I’m ok,” Hiori smiled.
He was not. Hiori had been thinking about that last question, during the challenge when Kaiser made the comments about Rin. It was even worse when he didn’t try to deny it, because it only confirmed Hiori’s worst doubts.
Sure it might have been Kaiser’s cover up so no one would guess him and Ness, but it still struck its mark.
Rin was mysterious. There was an invisible shield around him that Hiori wanted to crack when he first saw him. He could see himself falling in love with Rin. But right now he was upset and a little confused, so before Rin could say anything, he leaned in and kissed him.
For a second, Hiori thought he had made a mistake when Rin pulled away a little awkwardly.
But Rin just smiled, looking a little surprised. And he didn’t smile too often.
The two had kissed the day before in the Speak Easy but after the trainwreck of a challenge earlier, Rin hadn’t been hopeful. He brushed Hiori's bangs away from his eyes.
"You worry too much." Rin murmured.
Hiori ended up sleeping pretty peacefully.
———
“Don’t you dare touch me in your sleep.” Kunigami muttered.
Shidou almost laughed at the absurdity. If touch meant strangle then he would probably take it more seriously.
“I wouldn't dream of it.” He retorted.
He has a tight grip on the blanket however, and had plans to hog it all night.