A familiar voice calling their name caused Rin to look up from the passport in their hand, a soft smile coaxing its way out of the blank expression they'd been wearing all morning. Rin's brother carefully pushed them towards the blue haired person running towards the two of them.
"Rin! Good morning! I haven't seen you in three months!" Nii laughed, wrapping their arms around the younger red head "I've missed you, you're looking great, honestly" they mumbled, eyes closed as they kissed the top of Rin's head, hoping they wouldn't notice. Rin smiled softly at Nii as they stepped out of the slightly awkwardly long hug. "shall we go get breakfast? I havent eaten yet" Nii asked, holding both of Rin's hands and swinging their arms. "pleeeaassseee?"
Rin nodded, looking over at their brother. "Are you gonna be okay? I can't come past security with you because, well, I'm not flying" Rin's brother said, holding his arms out when Rin just nodded. Rin complied and hugged their brother, smiling softly. "Have a safe trip, yeah? I'll come pick you up when you land back here, tell Theo and the others I said hey" he said finally, handing Rin the carryon thta was in his hand. "See you in three months, sharkbait" Rin's brother laughed, waving as he turned to leave.
"See you in three months, loser" Rin mumbled as their brother left, turning to their blue haired friend, "lets go through security and then go get breakfast"
***
The drive to Heathrow was a short one for Theo, though it was the first of two trips to this airport, Kory was due to land with his flight from Aberdeen in 20 minutes, Nii and Rin weren't due to land until the afternoon. Theo stood with families, significant others and taxi drivers waiting for the people getting off landing flights. Kory's purple hair made him easier to spot among the crowd. Once Theo and Kory spotted each other, they did an awkward half run to get to each other quicker without drawing too much attention to themselves.
After the hugging and slight awkwardness, Theo helped Kory with his bags and lead the way to the car. The drive back to the apartment they were renting for the entire time the group of friends were together was a little longer than Theo's initial journey to the airport. They both passed the time by singing loudly along to old songs, laughing as if they'd been friends for years and this wasn't their first time meeting in person. Once back at the apartment, Theo and Kory crashed on the sofa, deciding to take a quick nap before they had to meet Emmie at Waterloo Station.
Kory and Emmie made their way back to the apartment as Theo made his way back to the airport to pick up the only two missing from the group. Once he arrived at the airport, Nii and Rin were already off their flight, Nii had facetimed Theo just as he was parking the car.
"Hey Nii, you've landed already? Can you guys make your way out? I'm not exactly parked in a proper parking space, there was a lot more traffic than usual because it's the first day of summer" Theo laughed, getting out of the car only to sit on the hood of the car to wait for his friends.
"We're on our way" Nii laughed at something as they finally made their way out of the airport. "Rin says they can see you? Where are- are you sat on your car? Theo you could fall!" Nii ended the call before he had chance to respond and allowed themselves to be dragged towards him by Rin.
Once at the car, the two Americans attacked the Londoner in a tight hug, all three of them laughing quietly as Theo fell backwards against the car, the weight of two people a little too much for his legs. "Guys, guys, I can't breathe, you're strangling me" Theo laughed, releasing the two of them and began to help them load their things into the car. "Safe flight? No annoying children kicking the back of your chair?" Nii and Rin shook their heads, laughing quietly.
"there was this one kid- sat next to Rin - who tried to steal their shark necklace while we were on our second leg of the flight. I thought they were going to bite this kids hand off!" Nii explained, eyes bright as they relived the moment in their head. "You had to be there, I guess, but Rin instantly woke up the second he felt someone lean over him, if looks could kill the kid would be dead!" Nii laughed, earning a light shove from Rin, who just muttered 'they scared me, I mean what kind of person leans over another person while they're asleep?? Who in their right mind-...' Before trailing off into silence, embarrassed by the fact they'd begun to ramble.
"We should head to the apartment... I dread to think what kind of mess Kory and Emmie have made.." Theo thought aloud, shutting the boot of the car and getting in to start the car.
The drive to the apartment seemed shorter, somehow. Light hearted conversation and soft music filled the car, a strong contrast to the previous car journey. As Theo pulled the car into the outdoor car park near the apartment building, he saw Kory making their way over, smiling widely.
***
Once everyone had settled in and chose their rooms, Theo decided to order in Food, everyone far too tired to even consider making food, but it wasn't like they had much in anyway. There were many debates on what they should order before everyone settled on Domino's.
Once the pizza had arrived, Theo put on a TV show the group had all been watching together through Skype calls. Nii and Rin were settled on one of two sofas, legs tangled together under blankets. Theo and Kory were sat next to each other on the smaller sofa and Emmie was laying across both of their legs. Eventually, the TV show was turned off and they all sat talking for a couple of hours.
"But I don't get it, sharkbait seems offensive" Emmie mumbled, sleepily sitting up slightly to sip the drink Nii had gotten from the kitchen. Emmie, Nii and Rin were the only ones left awake now, Theo and Kory both retreated to their beds half an hour ago. "It's not really offensive, my brother calls it me all the time. I was obsessed with sharks as a kid" Rin shrugged, laughing quietly "He started calling it me when he realised he couldnt shorten Rin to anything" Emmie nodded, also laughing quietly before finishing the drink and standing up "well, kiddos, I'm off to bed, you should go to sleep soon too, you guys are the ones who traveled furthest afterall", both responded with a quick goodnight as Emmie retreated up the stairs to go join Theo in their shared room.
"I think it's cute" Nii said softly, letting their head drop to the side as they looked at their friend. "hm?" Rin looked back to Nii, momentarily confused. "oh, the nickname. Thanks, I guess?" They responded, blushing slightly. "maybe we should go to sleep soon, we did travel quite a bit and I'm kinda tired" Rin added, stretching but not making any attempt to move. Nii just nodded in agreement as they fell into a comfortable silence for a few moments. Nii was the one to break the silence again, "come on then, sharkbait, lets go sleep" They teased, standing up and pulling Rin up with them, earning them an eye roll and a halfhearted punch in the shoulder.
YOU ARE READING
Gender Identity Studies
Teen Fiction(On hold due to lack of inspiration) 5 internet friends, an infinite amount of gender identities and 3 months until they have to leave each other to return to return to their home towns. (Alt. title - The art of finding yourself while in the presenc...
