reposting fic here for simplicity
Written for crystalusagi at rikkai_shorts
Pairing: Yana/Kiri
Title: A Fallibility of Data
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
In retrospect, Renji isn't entirely sure what he expected to find when he stumbled somewhat sleepily into his living room that morning, but it certainly wasn't Kirihara Akaya, asleep on his couch.
He was collapsed, without any apparent regard to propriety, with one leg arched over the back of the couch, the other nearly touching the floor. His arms were splayed in a position that would undoubtedly be painful if he was awake, and his head was tucked into the armrest. Renji’s tabby, the traitor, was asleep on his stomach.
Renji sincerely hoped Kirihara wasn't drooling. It would be difficult to explain to his mother.
Even though it had been nearly an entire month since he had seen the other boy, Renji hadn't thought his data would become inaccurate this quickly. The picture of Kirihara lying there, still outfitted in his school uniform - tie, shoes, belt, and all - made Renji's fingers itch for a notebook, or even a camera, but it was likely that any movement on his part could wake the sleeping idiot, and he would rather figure out what could have possibly inspired Kirihara to break into his home before he regained consciousness.
After all, he had a reputation to uphold.
He inched closer to the couch, eyes never breaking contact. What exactly he was looking for, Renji couldn't say. His methodology in assessing the situation probably would raise a few eyebrows if anyone had thought to question him. Still, Renji couldn't think of anything else to do, especially when he seemed so unable to look away.
Before Renji had reached any conclusions, though, Kirihara stretched and turned over - to his cat’s displeasure, who had meowed angrily before jumping off - to blink slowly at him. He smiled lazily, and in a somewhat dazed voice whispered, "I’m going to crush you, " and then turned back away, asleep.
Renji was taken aback - it was a bizarre thing to claim, particularly when the other boy was currently intruding on his home. But he the phrase wasn’t entirely unfamiliar, and -
Kirihara suddenly flipped over, and Renji was staring into a pair of clear, although terrified, green eyes. "Ya-Yanagi-sempai!" Trying to sit up and put himself in a more dignified position, he only succeeded in tumbling onto the floor. He winced as his head made impact, but recovered more quickly that Renji expected, and was standing in front of him, eyes trained on his shoes.
It was difficult to keep the amusement from his voice. "You were expecting someone else?"
Kirihara combed a hand through his hair, mussing it further. Renji had never seen him look that disheveled. Then again, he had never seen the younger boy after he had spent the night in his uniform on a couch.
"...No." Kirihara looked sheepish.
"You broke into my house, Akaya." There was a fifty percent chance he had done this on some kind of dare. Even though the other fifty percent was still pure speculation and guesswork, Renji was unwilling to abandon the pretense that he had already understood the situation.
The shorter boy - although the difference was less than Renji had remembered - only nodded.
"And you decided to sleep on my couch, where anyone could find you, instead of coming to talk to me?"
Momentarily forgetting his embarrassment, Kirihara sputtered indignantly. "You were asleep. And it was dark! And..." He trailed off, mumbling. "Icouldn'tfindyourroom."
If Kirihara thought this was the definition of a well-constructed plan, Renji obviously hadn't left much of an impression on him.
He turned around to walk back to his room, picking up his cat as he did so. "Get your things."
"...Are you kicking me out?"
"No. We're going to the street courts." As he was still ignorant with regard to Kirihara’s intentions, Renji felt nothing could be more appropriate than stalling for time.
*
Renji was well acquainted with comfortable silences. Three years as Sanada's friend had given him ample experience. The silence that encompassed Kirihara as they walked, however, was nothing like the peaceful quiet that had accompanied his stoic classmate. In the last five minutes, Kirihara had cleared his throat as if to speak seven times, tripped over invisible cracks in the ground twice, and muttered a colorful string of obscenities, doubtlessly inspired by Niou at one point or another.
Renji had been amusing himself with the other boy's painfully obvious discomfort, but his own patience was wearing thin. Perhaps a non sequitur would be apt.
"Are you enjoying your captaincy, Akaya?"
As he was in the middle of kicking a rock into the street, Akaya took a few moments to respond. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever." He stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking away.
Renji arched an eyebrow. His question hadn't even been deliberately probing, for once, and yet Kirihara was overly defensive.
He had thought there was only a 4.3 percent chance any of this actually had to do with tennis, but on the other hand, Sadaharu had always accused him of placing too little emphasis on the obvious.
"You don't enjoy having legions of underclassmen to control?" This was surprising. Even Renji had stopped bothering to keep track of the number of times Kirihara had bemoaned his position as the baby of the team.
"Well...they run laps and do stuff when I tell them to."
Yukimura had never sounded this dejected at his position.
"And?"
Kirihara looked through the hair that had fallen back into his eyes. "And what?"
"Is that not enough?" Renji was at a loss, and could only manage to tease the other boy. "Are you concerned about making it to nationals?"
"We'll win." Kirihara's voice lacked the defiance Renji had been expecting in response to his near-insult.
"Always win, Rikkai Dai?"
"Yeah."
This was going nowhere. Renji half-expected Kirihara to fabricate an excuse and leave with any explanation.
The awkward silence resumed. Renji wondered if Kirihara would notice that they weren't actually heading in the direction of the street courts, nor the club, or any direction in particular.
"Look, it's...it's not the same. It's weird, ok?"
Renji stopped walking. It was fairly clear what Kirihara was implying now. But, considering the 642 times he had told him that his data tennis was stupid, Renji was stunned to discover that he'd apparently been missed.
He struggled for a reply, but Kirihara continued without prompting.
"There's...no buchou, telling us all to win, no fukubuchou to hit me when I screw up, and...no you."
Renji blinked, dumbfounded. He had been one of the three Kirihara strove to defeat, but after he had achieved that goal, he hadn't realized the other boy still noticed he was part of the team.
But Kirihara was still rambling. "...You always knew what was going to happen, and what I was going to do, what everyone was going to do, maybe." Renji was still reeling from the previous revelation, too much to really notice the significance of the messy-haired boy taking a few steps closer to him, and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"You probably knew I was going to do this too, didn't you?"
As Kirihara gently pressed his lips to Renji's, he didn't have the heart to correct him.
Pairing: Yana/Kiri
Title: A Fallibility of Data
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
In retrospect, Renji isn't entirely sure what he expected to find when he stumbled somewhat sleepily into his living room that morning, but it certainly wasn't Kirihara Akaya, asleep on his couch.
He was collapsed, without any apparent regard to propriety, with one leg arched over the back of the couch, the other nearly touching the floor. His arms were splayed in a position that would undoubtedly be painful if he was awake, and his head was tucked into the armrest. Renji’s tabby, the traitor, was asleep on his stomach.
Renji sincerely hoped Kirihara wasn't drooling. It would be difficult to explain to his mother.
Even though it had been nearly an entire month since he had seen the other boy, Renji hadn't thought his data would become inaccurate this quickly. The picture of Kirihara lying there, still outfitted in his school uniform - tie, shoes, belt, and all - made Renji's fingers itch for a notebook, or even a camera, but it was likely that any movement on his part could wake the sleeping idiot, and he would rather figure out what could have possibly inspired Kirihara to break into his home before he regained consciousness.
After all, he had a reputation to uphold.
He inched closer to the couch, eyes never breaking contact. What exactly he was looking for, Renji couldn't say. His methodology in assessing the situation probably would raise a few eyebrows if anyone had thought to question him. Still, Renji couldn't think of anything else to do, especially when he seemed so unable to look away.
Before Renji had reached any conclusions, though, Kirihara stretched and turned over - to his cat’s displeasure, who had meowed angrily before jumping off - to blink slowly at him. He smiled lazily, and in a somewhat dazed voice whispered, "I’m going to crush you, " and then turned back away, asleep.
Renji was taken aback - it was a bizarre thing to claim, particularly when the other boy was currently intruding on his home. But he the phrase wasn’t entirely unfamiliar, and -
Kirihara suddenly flipped over, and Renji was staring into a pair of clear, although terrified, green eyes. "Ya-Yanagi-sempai!" Trying to sit up and put himself in a more dignified position, he only succeeded in tumbling onto the floor. He winced as his head made impact, but recovered more quickly that Renji expected, and was standing in front of him, eyes trained on his shoes.
It was difficult to keep the amusement from his voice. "You were expecting someone else?"
Kirihara combed a hand through his hair, mussing it further. Renji had never seen him look that disheveled. Then again, he had never seen the younger boy after he had spent the night in his uniform on a couch.
"...No." Kirihara looked sheepish.
"You broke into my house, Akaya." There was a fifty percent chance he had done this on some kind of dare. Even though the other fifty percent was still pure speculation and guesswork, Renji was unwilling to abandon the pretense that he had already understood the situation.
The shorter boy - although the difference was less than Renji had remembered - only nodded.
"And you decided to sleep on my couch, where anyone could find you, instead of coming to talk to me?"
Momentarily forgetting his embarrassment, Kirihara sputtered indignantly. "You were asleep. And it was dark! And..." He trailed off, mumbling. "Icouldn'tfindyourroom."
If Kirihara thought this was the definition of a well-constructed plan, Renji obviously hadn't left much of an impression on him.
He turned around to walk back to his room, picking up his cat as he did so. "Get your things."
"...Are you kicking me out?"
"No. We're going to the street courts." As he was still ignorant with regard to Kirihara’s intentions, Renji felt nothing could be more appropriate than stalling for time.
*
Renji was well acquainted with comfortable silences. Three years as Sanada's friend had given him ample experience. The silence that encompassed Kirihara as they walked, however, was nothing like the peaceful quiet that had accompanied his stoic classmate. In the last five minutes, Kirihara had cleared his throat as if to speak seven times, tripped over invisible cracks in the ground twice, and muttered a colorful string of obscenities, doubtlessly inspired by Niou at one point or another.
Renji had been amusing himself with the other boy's painfully obvious discomfort, but his own patience was wearing thin. Perhaps a non sequitur would be apt.
"Are you enjoying your captaincy, Akaya?"
As he was in the middle of kicking a rock into the street, Akaya took a few moments to respond. "Yeah. Sure. Whatever." He stuffed his hands into his pockets, looking away.
Renji arched an eyebrow. His question hadn't even been deliberately probing, for once, and yet Kirihara was overly defensive.
He had thought there was only a 4.3 percent chance any of this actually had to do with tennis, but on the other hand, Sadaharu had always accused him of placing too little emphasis on the obvious.
"You don't enjoy having legions of underclassmen to control?" This was surprising. Even Renji had stopped bothering to keep track of the number of times Kirihara had bemoaned his position as the baby of the team.
"Well...they run laps and do stuff when I tell them to."
Yukimura had never sounded this dejected at his position.
"And?"
Kirihara looked through the hair that had fallen back into his eyes. "And what?"
"Is that not enough?" Renji was at a loss, and could only manage to tease the other boy. "Are you concerned about making it to nationals?"
"We'll win." Kirihara's voice lacked the defiance Renji had been expecting in response to his near-insult.
"Always win, Rikkai Dai?"
"Yeah."
This was going nowhere. Renji half-expected Kirihara to fabricate an excuse and leave with any explanation.
The awkward silence resumed. Renji wondered if Kirihara would notice that they weren't actually heading in the direction of the street courts, nor the club, or any direction in particular.
"Look, it's...it's not the same. It's weird, ok?"
Renji stopped walking. It was fairly clear what Kirihara was implying now. But, considering the 642 times he had told him that his data tennis was stupid, Renji was stunned to discover that he'd apparently been missed.
He struggled for a reply, but Kirihara continued without prompting.
"There's...no buchou, telling us all to win, no fukubuchou to hit me when I screw up, and...no you."
Renji blinked, dumbfounded. He had been one of the three Kirihara strove to defeat, but after he had achieved that goal, he hadn't realized the other boy still noticed he was part of the team.
But Kirihara was still rambling. "...You always knew what was going to happen, and what I was going to do, what everyone was going to do, maybe." Renji was still reeling from the previous revelation, too much to really notice the significance of the messy-haired boy taking a few steps closer to him, and placing a hand on his shoulder.
"You probably knew I was going to do this too, didn't you?"
As Kirihara gently pressed his lips to Renji's, he didn't have the heart to correct him.