Work Text:
“Hey Ai, Wanna hear a joke?”
“What?“ I turned my desk chair toward the bunks to better view Rin with what I’m sure was a look of incredulity and disbelief, with a hint of worry. Rin-senpai was never one to crack jokes or start a conversation for that matter. So him doing both at the same time, was shocking to say the least.
“I asked if you would like to hear a joke,” he replied. Rin was laying down on the bottom bunk with his feet propped up against the wall and his head hanging upside down from the edge of the mattress. His long red strands of hair cascaded down to the floor and his red eyes were hyperfocused on me. The slight glare on his face was nothing new so I wasn’t too worried about his state of mind. Still, Senpai was acting strange and that was troubling to me.
“Senpai, are you feeling alright?”
An exasperated sigh escaped Rin’s lips.
“I’m fine, Ai. I just heard a joke today that I thought you might enjoy,” he said.
After saying that, Rin averted his gaze in an effort to hide the blush adorning his cheeks. It was so incredibly adorable I couldn’t refuse his efforts.
“Ok, let’s hear it,” I said.
The look I received was like that of a little kid on Christmas morning. Rin sat up from his position on the bed and grabbed his own desk chair. He placed it in front of me and looked to be thinking for a moment on where to start.
“Ok, so this joke is kinda lengthy. You still up for it?” he asked.
“Yes senpai, that’s fine,” I said.
“So there is this little boy around 7 years old and one day while he’s riding his bike, he sees a monk temple at the top of a hill and he hears a strange noise emanating from it. So loud that it reaches the city far below it. So this little boy decides to go up to the temple and figure out what it is that is making the noise. Once he gets to the top of the hill, he knocks on the door and asks the monk who answers “What is it that makes the strange sound?” The monk replies, ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you. You are not a monk.’
The boy, a little angry that he had wasted his time and energy getting up the hill returned to the town below and life continued on for many many years. When the same boy turned 30 he returned to his hometown. Again, he saw the temple and again he heard the same noise as he did when he was 7. With renewed curiosity, the man rode up the hill on his motorbike and knocked once again on the temple doors. Once again, he asked what it was that made the noise and once again the monk replied with, ‘I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you. You are not a monk.’
So the young man decided he would become a monk so that he may one day find out what that noise was. He shaved his head, wore the robes, and prayed a whole lot. Every day the man would hear the sound and every day his curiosity grew bigger and bigger. Finally, after being apart of the temple for many months, the man asked if he could see what it was that made the strange noise. The head monk led him to a hallway that had a plain black door at the end of it, but the floor was unlike most others. Between the man and the door, there were three pits of fire and he would have to carefully jump over every single one of them.
The head monk handed him a key and wished him luck. The man jumped over the first fire, but accidentally dropped it into the pit. Devastated, the man asked if there was another key. The head monk said that yes, there was, but it was in India. So the man had to cross the ocean and walk around for miles before he found the second key. By the time he returned, a year had passed and the other monks had anxiously awaited his return. He went back to the same hallway and managed to jump over the first pit without dropping the key. However, when he jumped over the second one, he dropped the key once again. The man despairingly asked if there was a third key. To his great joy there was, but this one was all the way in London. So the man had to walk many many miles, cross many rivers, and ask for many directions before he finally found the key in possession of an old woman whom he had to pay a great deal for her to hand it over.
An even longer amount of time had passed, two years to be precise and immediately upon his return, the man went back to that same hallway. He jumped over the first pit, then the second. But at the third he dropped the key yet again. The head monk gave a reassurance that there was one last key somewhere in the Amazon River.
The man crossed an ocean, spoke to the native, and walked many many many miles before he found the river the key was supposedly buried in. And he searched and he searched and he searched the entire river and just when he was about to give up hope and return to the temple, a shiny reflection underneath the murky water caught his eye. When he fished out the object he saw it was the key and with renewed vigour, the man returned to the temple on the hill. Three years had passed since he left on his latest journey and for the third time in his life, the man faced the same hallway. He jumped over the first fire pit successfully, then the second, and finally the third. He stood before the door and after a few minutes of collecting himself he slowly inserted the key, twisted it, and you know what he found on the other side of the door….?”
By now I was eagerly awaiting the answer. I mean, I had been listening to Rin’s joke, though it was more like a story at this point, for close to 5 minutes.
“What?!” “What did he find, Senpai?!”
“…..I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you. You are not a monk,” he said with a shit eating grin on his face.
I blinked once.
Twice.
And then all hell broke loose.
“Senpai! What the actual fuck?!,“ I yelled. “Why the hell would you waste my time like that!,” I screeched. For God’s sake I could have been doing homework or some reading or just anything that wasn’t a total waste of my time.
Meanwhile while I was stewing in my anger, Rin was having the time of his life. He clutched his stomache while he laughed so loud the entire dorm building could probably hear him.
It seemed as though my words only served to make him laugh harder however and soon he was laying on the floor looking ready to burst. After a minute of this same routine, my anger slowly started to dissipitate and I too, though begrudgingly, laughed along with Rin. Pretty soon we were both howling on the floor like idiots.
After a few minutes the laughter started to fade and was instead replaced by occasional giggles from both of us.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a face drop so fast in my life,” Rin said which started a whole new peal of giggles from the redhead. I didn’t find his comment the least bit funny, because honestly I was still pissed he had wasted so much of my time on that stupid joke. If you could even call it that! None the less I found myself smiling anyways, because I liked seeing Rin smile and be happy. When he is happy, I’m happy.
Suddenly, rin turned around and our faces were VERY close to each other. So close in fact that I could feel his breathe on my cheek. The light atmosphere was gone and something heavier had replaced it.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Rin started to lean forward and just as our lips were about to meet he paused and pulled away slightly.
“I just realized, I’ve never heard you cuss before today,” he said with a look of befuddlement.
“Are you kidding me?,” I deadpanned. “You stopped in the middle of…whatever that was to tell me THAT?!”
He chuckled lightly and leaned forward once again and as he came closer he said, “I was only kidding Ai-chan.” Finally our lips met and it was better than I had ever hoped it would be. It was chaste at first and a little awkward due to some minor teeth clashing, but once Rin bit my bottom lip in a silent plea for entrance, things started to heat up, real quick. I had never made out with anyone before and I’m pretty sure Rin could tell, but I don’t think he minded too much. If the moans coming from the back of his throat when I gripped his hair were anything to go by.
When we finally pulled apart, both of us were breathing a little heavy and for a few blissful moments neither of us said anything. We just looked at each other while Rin lightly stroked the little mole underneath my right eye. That peaceful moment was ruined however when Rin suddenly decided to logroll his body onto mine, knocking some if the wind out of me. A muffled apology came from the junction between my neck and shoulder.
Rin would never admit it, but I could tell he had a smile pressed up against my skin and I found myself thinking about how beautiful said smile was while I lightly ran my fingers through his hair.
An hour passed by with us laying there on the floor like that. Rin had fallen asleep about 20 minutes ago with his arms securely wrapped around my waist so that I couldn’t move without waking him up. He had moved downwards so that his head now rested against my chest and honestly I liked it better this way because now I could see his face sleeping peacefully on top of me. In the daylight hours, Rin usually carried an irritated aura and facial expression, but when he’s asleep his eyebrows relax and his jaw falls slack. His lips part just the tiniest bit and his breathing looks so even and soft.
He looks like an angel, if I’m being honest.
But I know who he really is and he most definitely is not an angel. My angst ridden shark has many, many flaws. He’s hot tempered and pretends that nothing bothers him when in reality he is the biggest crybaby on the face of the planet. He hates sweets, isn’t too keen on public displays of affection, and worst of all he tells the most terrible jokes.
And yet…
My thoughts are always drawn back to that smile. The one that can light up a room when given a chance to shine. The one that lights a fire of determination inside of every member of the Samezuka Swim Club at any meet we go to. The one that always reassures me when I’m feeling down about my swimming performance. That one smile makes so many people in this world happy....
....and I’ll be damned if I ever lose it.
Eventually, the need for sleep starts to settle in and my wondering mind is momentarily put to rest. My final thought before I drift into dreamland is, ‘why didn’t the monk just get his key duplicated….?’