"Oniichan! What was all that noise outside?"

"Eh, nothing important," Rin lied as he closed the door behind him.

Somehow, he wasn't surprised that Gou met him at the door as soon as he walked through it, though she looked tired and disheveled in her pajamas.

Surely, she hadn't been sleeping the entire time he was gone.

She smiled sweetly, running her fingers through the loose hair spilled over her shoulder. "Did you have a good time?"

"Well, uh…" The jagged rocks around the harbor certainly made for a tough run, but it was almost worth it to see the look on Rei's face. "I'm not going to forget it any time soon, that's for sure."

Suddenly, she rose to her tiptoes to meet Rin at eye level, grabbing him by the shoulders, and demanded, "Did you kiss?!" like she had money riding on it, except for the fact that she was obviously too kindhearted to do something as shady as betting on his love life.

He grabbed her wrists and pried her off. "Yeah, duh. Of course we kissed. It was a date, right?"

Right.

She looked positively starstruck. "Oooo, was it super romantic? How did it happen? Was he a good kisser?"

"It was…" Rin sighed. "I dunno, I'm tired. Can't we talk about this tomorrow?"

Her giddy smile fell, only to be replaced by ominous determination. "Okay. Tomorrow."

In truth, though, there was no way in hell he'd be getting any sleep that night.

Not that he didn't try.

About an hour into staring at his alarm clock, reliving those precious moments of saying goodnight, his phone buzzed and lit up like the light of God in a void of endless darkness.

Rei (23:09) Are you awake?

And there was his angel.

Sent! (23:10) Can't sleep either huh?

Rei (23:10) I've been thinking.

Oh.

That was probably the most universal lead-in to any disappointing conversation ever. Was the kiss really that bad?

Rei (23:11) Our relationship cannot function well if we are not on equal footing. So, I want to give you something to put your mind at ease.

Before Rin could ask what the hell he was talking about, another message arrived with an image attached.

Rei (23:12) You've shown me yours, so it is only fair that I also share mine.

Perfectly centered in the shot in crystal clear focus was… a dick.