Nitori drummed his fingers against the tabletop as he waited for Rin to return from the bathroom. He had agreed to stay seated since the fast food place got crowded pretty quickly once students from all the nearby schools rushed in after class. Nitori turned at the sound of approaching footsteps, thinking it to be his boyfriend. Instead, a tall, handsome stranger stood at his side. The man gave Nitori a charming smile.

"Hey, do you mind if I borrow one of the chairs at your table? I'm expecting a bunch of friends and there aren't enough seats at my table," the guy explained. He held out a hand for Nitori to shake. "I'm Kurokawa Atsushi, by the way."

"Ah, it's a pleasure to meet you, Kurokawa-san," Nitori said politely, shaking the stranger's hand firmly. "I'm Nitori Aiichirou. Oh, and you can definitely take the chair! There's only two of us sitting here, so we don't need it."

"Great, thanks," he said, grabbing the chair. He remained rooted to the spot though, smiling at Nitori. Confused, the first year smiled back at him. This seemed to encourage Kurokawa because his grin widened and he leaned his arms on the chair casually.

"So you're from Samezuka?" he inquired, gesturing to Nitori's uniform. Everyone in the area recognized the Samezuka Academy uniform; the school had quite the reputation after all. At Nitori's nod, he continued, saying, "That's that fancy swimming school, right?"

Nitori chuckled. "I don't know if I'd put it that way, but yeah. Rin-senpai and I are both on the team," he informed the brunet, gesturing to Rin empty's chair before realizing that the other didn't know who he was. "Rin-senpai is here with me. He's one of the fastest swimmers on the team, actually."

As he spoke, his face lit up in excitement and it was just in that moment as he was babbling cheerfully to this attractive brown eyed stranger that Rin finally returned from the restroom.

Rin gave Kurokawa a sideways glance before focusing on Nitori. He opened his mouth to ask who the hell was this guy and why he was at their table, but his boyfriend beat him to it.

"Rin-senpai! This is Kurokawa-san," Nitori chimed, introducing his new friend. "He was just asking if he could borrow one of our chairs. I told him it's okay since it's just you and me here."

Red eyes narrowed suspiciously on this unfamiliar figure. He could see the flirty twinkly in the guy's gaze as he spoke to Nitori and he didn't like it one bit. As anger began to bubble up in his chest, Rin grabbed Nitori by the wrist and said, "Yeah, well, he can keep the whole damn table. We're moving to a booth."

"Wait, but…!"

"Hey, hold on!"

Rin ignored both their protests and only tightened his grip, irritated that Nitori was so reluctant to leave this guy in the first place. Nitori was with him so why the hell should he care about that Kurizaki dude?

The aggravated redhead selected a booth practically on the other side of the small restaurant and set Nitori down into the seat. "Stay here," he instructed, giving his boyfriend a stern look before directing his angry gaze to anyone in the immediate area. "I'm going to order our food, so just stay put. And don't talk to strangers."

Nitori frowned. "Rin, I'm not-"

"Promise me, Ai."

He sighed. "Fine. I promise I won't talk to strangers while you're gone."

Rin cracked a relieved smile and ruffled Nitori's hair. "Good. Now tell me what you want."

He listened as Nitori recited his order, then nodded once and turned to go get their food. Nitori watched as Rin stood on line, somehow managing to look both casual and tense all at once. He snorted with laughter when Rin made a face at him from the end of the line, only to end up bumping into the old woman in front of him. The redhead apologized awkwardly and decided to stare straight ahead of him from then on.

"You have a cute laugh."

Nitori turned, startled by the sudden voice. Kurokawa stood beside the table, smiling at him kindly. Nitori hesitated. He had promised Rin he wouldn't talk to strangers, but then again it would be rude not to respond, right?

Well, I know his name so technically Kurokawa-san isn't a stranger, he justified in his mind, nodding to himself at his own reasoning. He gave the man a slow smile and replied, "Thanks, I guess. Rin was just being silly and he made me laugh."

Taking Nitori's sweetness as a good sign, Kurokawa slid in the booth beside him, leaving but a few inches space between them. The younger male automatically slid away to put a more respectable gap in between them.

"You know if I was lucky enough to be around you that often, I'd make you laugh at every chance I got, just so I could see that smile of yours."

Nitori's cheeks slowly blossomed into a rosy hue. "I-I, uh, ahaha, thank you?" he replied shyly, meeting Kurokawa's eyes for a second before directing his gaze down at the tabletop. Little did he know that his coy nature only served to make him all the more appealing to his new friend.

"You must not be used to receiving compliments," he commented, slinging an arm around the back of the seat. Nitori squirmed.

"Well, no, I mean, I've gotten compliments before," he mumbled, thinking back to those moments in the middle of the night when Rin would whisper sweet words to him until he fell asleep with bright red ears and a soft smile. Even now, just thinking about it brought an unbidden blush to his cheeks. He cleared his throat gently. "But it's still always surprising to be given a compliment out of the blue. It's sorta nice though, so I don't mind."

His companion nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I got ya. But still, a cute guy like you should be getting compliments all the time. I'm sure the girls and guys are all over you."

Nitori chuckled at the absurdity of it. "Not really, no. Then again, I don't really hang out with people outside of my classes or the swim team." He paused to take in his companion's appearance – and at this proximity, he got the perfect view of every beautiful detail – and replied, "I bet you are though. You have such nice hair, gorgeous eyes, a strong figure… It all adds up to be quite the catch." To Nitori, this was all simple fact; he didn't see it as flirting or anything, but rather a truthful, kind statement.

Kurokawa raised one fine brow. "Oh really? You think so?" he remarked, a sly grin making its way across his face. He leaned in closer, ostensibly to better hear Nitori's reply.

"Well, of course! Who wouldn't want someone like you?" he exclaimed, grinning in what he thought to be a friendly manner.

"In that case," the brunet drawled, deep brown eyes twinkling with something Nitori didn't quite understand. He blinked a few times, trying to back away, but finding that he was already more or less pressed up against the wall. He gulped, finally nervous by Kurokawa's proximity. For the first time, it occurred to him that the other boy's feelings may not have been as platonic as he initially believed.

"How about you and I…"

The end of the sentence never came because in that moment, a flurry of sounds of movement had Kurokawa forcefully dragged out of the booth. Nitori peered around him to see a livid Rin holding the guy up by the collar of his shirt. A tray of food had been slammed down on the table and Nitori tentatively pushed to the side, out of the way of the boys' scuffle. He was hungry and didn't want Rin's temper to send the food flying. Again.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing with my boyfriend?" Rin snarled, fists clenched tightly in the fabric of Kurokawa's shirt.

"Hey, back off, man! We were just talking," the guy shot back, trying to pry Rin off. He met Rin's fierce glare with an icy stare of his own.

"It looked like you were trying to do more than just talk, you fucker," Rin snapped. Nitori frantically crawled out of the booth, knowing that his boyfriend was at the very fringes of his patience.

"Rin, please stop!" he cried, immediately wedging himself between the two. "You're causing a scene," he hissed, glancing fervently around at the people who, sure enough, were staring at them.

Rin turned his harsh ruby gaze onto Nitori and they locked eyes for a few long seconds before Rin sighed and reluctantly released Kurokawa. "Fine," he snapped, "But we're heading back to the dorms."

Nitori nodded quickly, relieved to have averted a worse situation, but his eyes landed on the tray of food on the table and he said, "But, Rin, what about our food?"

"Now," Rin ordered, red eyes a deep shade of maroon by this point. He and Kurokawa – who was straightening his shirt and still hovering way too close for their comfort – continued to give each other dirty looks. Having run out of patience and mercy at this point, Rin reached out and, in one smooth move, grabbed Nitori and pulled him for a long, heavy kiss. When he pulled away, he moved to lick the shell of Nitori's ear and whispered, "Either we get back to the bedroom or I end up having sex with you here in front of your new friend and everyone else in the restaurant."

"You wouldn't," Nitori began, but a sharp nip to his neck immediately made him comply with a gasp. "R-Right." He turned on wobbly legs and gave Kurokawa a dazed goodbye, before allowing himself to be dragged out of the establishment, leaving a mess of Kurokawa Atsushi, their uneaten tray of food and a restaurant full of gossiping patrons behind them.