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Air forcefully made its way to Isagi, blowing his bangs up, exposing his forehead. He let out a light giggle as the wind embraced him, tickling his eyelashes and cheeks.
Isagi braced himself as the metro came to a full stop in front of him and the air surrounding him fell. He stepped inside as the doors opened, finding a handrail to hold onto right away. He tiptoed, trying to reach one of the higher handles with his left hand, but then came to terms with not being able to hold onto it comfortably and moved to holding one of the side handles as the metro started moving.
He was on his way to a karaoke room, for some reason. He wasn’t sure what to expect; it’s not like he was hoping to meet anyone there, those plans had already been burned to dust— but just in case, it wouldn’t hurt to expect and want some company.
Earlier in the week, Bachira had harassed everyone to go to karaoke; every corner you turned there seemed to be an overly eager Bachira begging you to go karaokeing with him.
Surprisingly, he succeeded and had grouped everyone in the group chart for a karaoke day.
Stupidly enough though, Bachira caught a cold after deciding it was a good idea to run through the halls naked during one of the colder nights of the warm season. After this, the whole karaoke plan came crashing down as they couldn't find another break day to reschedule.
Still, Isagi was going just in case anyone else still showed up (either way if they didn’t he was still content with having a mini concert by himself).
His whole body swayed and he tightened his grip on the handle as the metro came to a stop. He composed himself and held the strap of his crossbody bag, checking behind him making sure he didn’t drop anything.
He stepped out and began to make his way out. He went up the escalators as the sun from the outside began to hit his eyes again and the warmth settled his nerves. Once he reached the top, he started to make his way to the building with a little pep in each step he took, making a list of all the songs he would sing once he arrived.
The karaoke place was only about a five-minute walk from the metro station. On the way to the karaoke building, there seemed to be many food stands preparing for the expected crowd. The small little shacks burst with different aromas of meats and vegetables, making Isagi’s stomach growl. He looked down at his stomach as he frowned, making a mental note to visit one of the stands on his way back.
His foodie fantasy was quickly interrupted, however. Too busy looking down, the top of his head was quickly met with a bony shoulder.
“Watch it”, a voice said as Isagi stumbled back, dropping to the ground; though he quickly got up again, bowing to apologize.
“...What the hell are you doing?” the voice asked again, a bit more confused than angry now.
Wait.
Isagi comically and slowly turned his head up from his bow; the sun penetrated his eyes, but he was quickly saved as a familiar figure stood in front of him, blocking the solar rays.
“RIN. WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Isagi said in a tone louder than he wanted, bringing his whole body back up, cringing at his sudden reaction.
He was staring at Rin, who was leaning against a wall now, dressed in a long-sleeved light sweater with casual pants and a strap bag. All Isagi could think of at that moment was whether he was hot in that outfit or not.
“What do you mean what am I doing here? I thought everyone was coming?” Rin spoke up, still obviously irritated from the bumping.
Isagi shook his head, breaking his own train of thought.
“Huh? Did you not read the group chat? I thought you out of everyone would be happy the plans got canceled.”
“What are you talking about?”
He asked as Isagi finally put the pieces together finally understanding.
Oh.
“Bachira fell sick, so everyone else just decided to reschedule for whatever day we might all be free again…” he said, trying his best not to tick off Rin too much as he spoke, but where was the fun in that?
He smirked, deciding to take a jab at him.
“Wooow, Rin, did you come here alone too? Didn’t take you as the singing type”, he continued as his smirk grew into a full-blown condescending smile.
“No. I'm not. I just didn't fucking read the group chat idiot." he said surprisingly in his normal level of irritation.
“I'm going home.”
“Wait noooo” Isagi said as he got a hold of his arm.
“Please please please, Rin just join me. I won’t even force you to sing. Just keep me company.”
“Why should I do that?”
Isagi tightened his grip on Rin’s arm as he tried his best to make puppy eyes.
“You look like you're going to shit yourself.”
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!” Isagi said quickly, tugging at his arm, a bit offended.
“Pfft"
Isagi froze for a second. That was new.
“Oh. Wow, didn't know thee Itoshi Rin could laugh.”
“Shut it before I leave you here.” Rin said as he removed Isagi’s glued hand from his arm.
Isagi frowned as the newfound warmth was suddenly pulled from him, leaving him bare again.
He wasn't going to let this end like this.
“Rin.” Isagi said as he swiftly turned to face the other, cuffing his face as he began to plead.
“I promise you I won't bother you for a whole 12 hours if you do this for me”, he said as he pressed their foreheads together.
Isagi, too entranced in convincing the other, didn't realize their proximity until Rin widened his eyes like he'd just seen a ghost.
“I'll do it if you let go.” Rin said, face rebutting back to its usual unreadable state, he gently grabbed Isagi's wrist, moving it to the side.
Isagi’s eyes widen, realizing their newfound closeness. He could clearly see every detail on Rin’s face: bangs, eyes, lashes, nose,.. His eyes began to make their way down until he remembered what Rin had just said.
“Oh, right..” he said, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed, dropping his other hand from Rin's face and taking a step back.
“So.. does that mean you’ll stay?” This was a stretch at this point, but Isagi still thought he should try.
Rin sighed. "Well, I didn't come all the way here for nothing, but you owe me one.” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Isagi's eyes light up, shining bright blue, like a radiating sea reflecting sunlight. He froze for a second, not expecting Rin to actually agree. There was a slight silence. Rin looked around for a second, trying to figure out if he'd done anything wrong, but that expression was only there for a second before changing back to its original- if you'd blinked, you would have missed it.
“RIN. YOU WON’T REGRET IT. I’ll give you the best private concert you've ever seen!” Isagi exclaimed as he readjusted a new grip on Rin’s arm, pointing in the direction of the building, getting them back on schedule.
“Let's go rin rin”
“Don’t call me that.”
♪
Isagi felt a chill run down his spine as the cool air of the karaoke lobby hit their skin. A swoosh of air hit their back as the door closed behind them. The lobby was fully decorated with neon lights and signs (as well as some advertising posters and stands of idols). They turned their attention to a mini bar which had a lady waiting to check them in on the other side.
They went up to the lady who seemed to be in her late 20s and explained to her that they needed to rent a room.
She presented them with a couple of different choices of prices and times. Isagi decided on one that would give him a good chance to get all the songs he wanted to sing out of his system.
She nodded and put his choice in the system, but before leading them to the room, she turned around to pick something up and set a laminated piece of paper in front of them. At the top of the page, the word Rules was written in a big bold letter. She looked at Isagi and pointed to a very specific section of the mini poster.
No making out in the rooms, she pointed out, tapping on the paper as she looked back at Isagi and Rin.
Isagi felt the red quickly run from his feet to his ears. He jerked his head to look at Rin for a reaction; however, he was too busy being distracted by the lights to notice.
Isagi quickly nodded, rushing the women before Rin could see. She smiled and said, “Alright, then follow me this way.”
Isagi let out a cough as he nudged Rin to follow them to the room.
They both turned and followed the lady down the hall. The hallway had the same neon decorations present; they went past a couple of rooms that seemed to be in use based on the loud rumble that seemed to be coming from the rooms. They were led to the farther end of the hall and stopped in a smaller room on the left.
The lady opened up the room and went on her way.
The room was a bit chilly; there was a big screen right next to the door as well as a tablet. A bit further into the room was a couch that stretched all around the square room, and in the middle, lay two cups of water that had already been set out for them.
“Oh, wow, they must be doing well,” Isagi said when Rin suddenly walked past him, heading straight for the couch. He picked a section for the couch in the corner, sat down, and pulled out an eye mask from his bag.
Is this guy for real?
“RIN.” Isagi said a little louder than intended, causing Rin to drop his sleeping mask.
“What are you doing with that?” he asked as Rin bent over to pick a mask and put it on.
“What I intended to do in the first place.” he said as he adjusted his sleeping masks and crossed his arms, ready to doze off.
“Ahh, come on, don't be boring, do you just carry that with you everywhere??” Isagi said as he got closer, lifting up a corner of his mask.
Rin pouted and groaned at the sudden light that hit his eyes again.
“But I'm tired already…” he let out in a sigh.
Isagi froze for what seemed to be the 100th time today. He's slightly ashamed to admit it, but that sent a tingle down his spine.
“Don't worry, Rin, I'll wake you right up,” Isagi said as he grabbed one of the mics mounted on the wall.
“So take that mask off and just look at me!” he gave Rin an idol-like pose as he extended his arm, while Rin fully removed his eye mask.
“Alright, don't worry Rin, I've been practicing on smule.” Isagi said as he turned to the tablet and put on his first song
AiScReam - 愛♡スクリ～ム！
The instrumental started as Isagi's song started playing on the screen. Excited, he gripped the mic, ready to sing the first words.
And Rin…
Rin looked like you had just kicked him in the d***.
♪
“♫ BABYYYY~♪” Isagi sang as he lowered his microphone, finishing which was now his 11th song of the day.
“Wasn’t that good, should have been an idol instead, huh Rin Rin”
“Don’t call me that.” Rin said as he removed his hands from his ears, which he had placed there to block the sound of the singing.
Isagi frowned. He wasn't a bad singer- at least he didn’t think he was.
“Stop overreacting, you're just mad.”
“Huh?” Rin turned to Isagi, who had fully garnered his attention with his stupid comment.
“Yeah, you're just jealous I obviously sing better than you.”
“What the heck? How would you even know??”
“Hmmm, you're right! I wouldn't! Which just means you got to sing to show me?”
Rin's eyes widen at the sudden suggestion, but that emotion left as fast as it came.
“What happened to not forcing me to sing?” He raised an eyebrow, obviously not falling for the bait- not yet at least.
“I'm not forcing you. This is a fight for your pride!” Isagi said as he gripped the mic in a fist.
“Have you ever sang karaoke with your life on the line?”
“Can you shut up!” Rin said as he snatched the mic out of Isgai’s grip.
“I’ll show you.” he said as he grabbed the control and started typing away.
CLOSE YOUR EYES ~ All My Poetry (내 안의 모든 시와 소설은)
Isagi stared at the screen as Rin's song pick popped up. A funky and fresh melody began playing, catching Isagi by surprise.
“Oh, wow Rin didn’t take you for the…-" Isagi trailed off as Rin started singing the lyrics.
"♫ 다시 미뤄진 하루 끝 ♫ "
It was embarrassing how fast he felt his whole face grow red; his mouth hung so far he thought it could be touching the ground.
"♫ 아껴뒀던 노랫말처럼 피어올라 ♫ "
It was as if an angel personally gifted him this voice; it was graced with so much smoothness, melting Isagi’s ear with each word.
Of course he's good at singing. Why wouldn't he be good at something. Honestly, it wasn’t fair, but Isagi was too entranced to even care about that now.
“♪If I write it, does it matter? ~♩" Rin lowered the mic, finishing up as the TV started calculating his score. Not caring about how well a bot said he did, he turned back to Isagi.
“Can you close your mouth”
Isagi quickly shut his jaw (which he didn't notice was still hanging open).
“What the heck, since when do you know Korean?” he said quickly while readjusting his jaw, trying to distract Rin from the fact that he was definitely star-struck three seconds ago.
“Can you shut up for five seconds?" Rin said as he shoved the mic against Isagi’s chest, slightly embarrassed, trying to hide the pink growing on his face. Though the microphone should have hurt as it landed heavily on his chest, he was too giddy to even feel the pain.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were so great huh? Were you trying to keep it for yourself?”
“Huh, I don’t have time to be doing these tepid things, that’s why.”
“Oh come on, sing me another, please please pleaseee” Isagi begged as he got closer to Rin. Impulsively, Rin took a step back, causing himself to stumble, landing on the couch as he grabbed Isagi's shirt, pulling him down with him. Almost on top of Rin now, Isagi was way too close to his face.
Flustered, Rin pushed his face out of the way and got up.
“Hey” he said, pointing to the no making out in the rooms sign that was posted on a poster in the room. Isagi got up and sat down in embarrassment, not realizing the sign was also posted up in the room.
It wasn’t like he got on top of him on purpose.. at least not consciously.
“I'm getting a snack.” Rin said as he walked out the door.
“Ahhh, come on, we still have a couple of minutes left in here” Isagi said, snapping out of thought, chasing after him.
He didn’t get far before he suddenly bumped into Rin’s back.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” a familiar voice spoke out. Isagi rubbed his head, stabilizing himself from the bump. He peeked over behind Rin to see Karasu.
“Yo! Rin, you still here?” Hiori said, popping out from behind Karasu.
“I thought you wouldn't show up after I told you Bachira canceled.”
For some reason, seeing Hiori made Rin’s face turn white. A bit concerned, Isagi stretched his body over a bit to get a closer look at his face.
“Oh, Isagi’s here too?” Karasu said a bit too loudly.
Isagi cringed as he realized he had fully exposed his presence.
“Oh. Wow, is this like a date or smt?” Hiori said with a smirk growing on his face.
“Can it” Rin said, turning his head, ignoring the other two.
“Pffttt, yeah like pffft” Isagi said, flustered for some reason, trying his best to ignore Hiori’s sudden comment.
Isagi cleared his throat. “What are you guys doing here?”
“Oh, we thought it would be a waste of a day to not come after all that planning.” Karasu said, rejoining the conversation.
“Not our fault Bachira is a dummy.”
“Yukimiya and Otoya are on their way here as well” Hiori commented
“We were about to go into our room, but…” “We heard someone who sounded really good, was it one of you?” they said, genuinely curious.
Isagi saw Rin hesitate to speak. He felt a jolt of panic rush through his body, for some reason… for some reason, he didn’t want them to know it was him.
He grabbed his arm and spoke, “Nope, we haven’t been singing much, haha must have been the wind ha..ha”
“Oh? Then what were ya doing?” Karasu said as he focused his attention on yet another one of those stupid rules posters.
Ah. The question stumbled Isagi as he used every cell in his body to think of a proper answer.
“Not much.. we were actually just heading out. Bye!” he said as he dragged Rin by the arm out of sight of the other two.
“What the hell was that about?” Rin asked when they finally reached the outside of the building.
“I won’t force you to sing for me again, but.. I just don’t want you to sing for anyone else either. Can’t we just keep this for me?” Isagi winked, trying to keep his request light even though his heart was beating so hard he thought it would give out at any moment.
There was a tense moment of silence as Rin stared at Isagi, processing his request.
“Tsk. Not like I would anyway" Rin mumbled, turning his head away from Isagi, hiding the red creeping up his neck.
“Alright, rin rin! Let's go but you a snack then, I owe you!” Isagi said as he happily linked arms with Rin, beginning their walk to the food stands.
“Oh, and Isagi”
“Yes?”
“You weren’t half as bad either.”
Isagi almost stumbled from the sudden compliment but quickly composed himself again.
“Yeah? Did you become a fan? Did you fall for me?” he said, now teasing the other.
“Nevermind.” Rin said as he released his arm from Isagi’s grip and began walking ahead.
“Ahh, noo you can’t take it back” Isagi said as he chased Rin, who seemed to be speed walking now.
He caught up and linked their arms yet again, “If you leave me here, who will pay for your food huh?”
Rin shrugged but didn’t seem to fight against Isagi taking place next to him again.
“Anyways, I meant to ask, what was that song you sang earlier about? It sounded nice.” Isagi said, shining a smile a Rin.
Rin stared at him a bit dazed as his mind and body froze. He stared at Isagi, trying to think of something. Anything. The sun reflected off Isagi’s eyes as they hit Rins’. He couldn’t think of one thing. Not like this.
"I don't know."
"Huh? What do you mean you don't know?"
"I just don't, do me a favor and don't look it up either. I can tell you later.”
Isagi pouted as he looked up at Rin.
"Whatever you say" he said, letting it go as they reached their first food stall.
Rin sighed in relief.
but little did he know,
Isagi was definitely going to look it up later at home.