#hopefully ryuuji can stay on task long enough to help

[tonguetiedraven]

Swap It Till You Make It

Summary: After fighting off the Impure Baron in Lightning's cursed Aria deck, Bon tries to free Rin, only for something to go horribly wrong.

Can they find their ways back into their own bodies? And can Bon keep quiet about his crush while they try? (Not if Lightning has anything to say about it.)

Part: One, two, three, four, five (you're here.), six

— — — — — — —

“Which clothes?” Rin asked as his eyes traveled around the room. It was a pretty nice room, not that he’d spent a lot of time in it. Incense aside (which always made him sneeze and itch) he liked it. He liked how orderly it was and how comfortable it was despite that order. He liked the colorful books, the sutras hanging on the wall, the sketches Ryuuji had around the mirror, and the yoga mat rolled up neatly in the corner. It felt lived in and functional. There wasn’t a lot to distract him, even if the entire building was loud as hell.

Well, it usually was. It was a low hum now that he was in Ryuuji’s body. All things together, Rin felt like he was handling this madness pretty well.

Rin rubbed at his eyes, but it did nothing to help with how blurry everything seemed. Squinting helped a little, but it felt like he should be able to just rub this problem away.

Weirder than the annoying eyes, was how quiet everything seemed now. He was able to follow people’s words and questions without noticing and focusing all the other things around him, and he didn’t feel like he was going to twitch his way out of his body. His clothes didn’t rub weird, the constant thump-thump-thump of his heart wasn’t raging in his head, and he could focus.

It was weird and a bit unnerving.

He was so tall. He’d never really had to look down at people (aside from a small handful) and the new vantage point kept making him pause. His balance felt off as well. At some point he’d grown accustomed to his tail, and he was missing it now.

Rin was in Ryuuji’s body. He was a little cold, and aside from the eyes, it didn’t feel too different from what he used to feel like. It was just everything else that was strange.

And the whole ‘not my body’ thing. The being in charge of Ryuuji’s body thing. This was a tremendous responsibility. A horrifyingly large responsibility. Rin was clumsy as hell and he did not trust himself to not bang this body up. And he was tall and he had muscles.

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, and found his eyes widening at the sight.

It had to be Ryuuji. It had to be this incredibly boy who was pretty much his opposite in every way and who was handsome as hell and in really hard classes. If Lightning was wrong and this was more than a day thing, Rin was going to flunk Ryuuji out of his classes. Maybe he could fake a sick day and avoid them.

Rin’s eyes flicked back to his body and Ryuuji who was once again staring at his tail like it was the most startling of things.

Rin’s lips quirked up a little. “Think about it and you can get it to stay still.” It was still surprising how gruff his voice was, and how low it sounded in his ears. It didn’t sound quite like Ryuuji did. Ryuuji’s voice was lower and warmer. Typically a little annoyed, but still warm.

Ryuuji jolted and turned towards him with wide eyes. It was obvious from this taller angle that his pupils were tinted red. He didn’t like the idea of Ryuuji always seeing that. Maybe he could get contacts? Ryuuji sure needed them.

“Huh?”

Rin motioned towards the tail that was curling curiously through the air. “It’s fine in places like this, but ya gotta tuck it around your chest when we’re outside. Just think about it real hard and you can make it move.”

Ryuuji set the protein bars down on the dresser without opening them and reached for his tail. Rin wasn’t quick enough to stop him before he’d wrapped his hand around it and promptly yelped with pain.

“Shit,” Rin crossed the space between them and gently took Ryuuji’s tail in his hands. “You gotta be really gentle. It hurts like hell when you squeeze. Here,” he reached over and pulled up Ryuuji’s shirt so his chest was showing and gently guided the tail around his midsection, not noticing the blush that lit Ryuuji’s cheeks or the way his breath hitched. He was fully focused on the task at hand, hiding the tail, and he could focus. “Now think about it and try to squeeze it a bit tighter around your chest.” He raised his gaze to Ryuuji’s eyes (he could see the little scar above his eyebrow from when they built the swing set at this angle) and smiled.

He didn’t have fangs. It felt weird to smile and not worry about teeth. He could just smile.

His beard did kind of itch.

Holy shit, he had a beard. He could actually grow a beard. Did he need to do anything with it? Why was it itching? Was that normal?

Ryuuji kept staring up at him, wide-eyed, cheeks pink, and lips pressed firmly together. Rin smiled wider, amazed how much that expression looked like Ryuuji, even on his own face. Embarrassed and upset about it. He loved that expression.

“Try,” he added after a moment. Ryuuji frowned and his tail flicked before curling tighter around his chest. Rin beamed.

“Yeah! Just like that!”

Ryuuji’s cheeks flushed darker as his eyes shot to the side uncomfortably. “It ain’t a big thing. And stop smiling. It looks weird on me.”

“Nah,” Rin turned to the dresser and pulled open one of the drawers. Socks and underwear. “You look great with a smile.” And apparently impulsiveness wasn’t tied to his body. Great.

“Huh? Do not.”

“Course you do. You got a cute smile. All toothy and cheerful.”

“You’re the one with a cute smile,” Ryuuji grumbled. He stomped away, tugging his shirt down and once again drumming his fingers against his leg as he went towards the desk.

Rin picked up a few of the socks and underwear, tried not to think about knowing that Ryuuji liked darker colors and shied away from patterns, and moved onto the next drawer. “Did you want these?” He added absently, not wanting the silence while he dug through Ryuuji’s stuff.

“Want what?” Ryuuji was poking through the pencils and pens on his desk.

“The protein bars?”

Ryuuji swore a colorful string of words —only a few of which sounded like Japanese — and stomped his way back across the room. He snatched the bars up, ripped the wrapper off, crumpled that up with a vengeance, and tore off a chunk with his teeth.

It was such a grumpy move that Rin couldn’t hold the laugh back. He wheezed, grabbing his stomach and dropping the clothes on top of the dresser.

“Did you forget about it?”

“Shut up,” Ryuuji grumbled, taking another bite and stomping back to his desk. Rin decided against pointing out that his tail was once again flicking through the air. He’d just tie a jacket around Ryuuji’s waist. He could trap it in place that way.

Rin, still chuckling, turned back to the dresser and grabbed the rest of the clothes with a faint blush. There was a warm woodsy scent to everything — presumably the detergent — and it was a scent he associated with Ryuuji. The idea of wrapping himself up in that scent was heady, even if it wasn’t as strong in this body. He still couldn’t resist bringing a shirt to his nose and inhaling. (At least he didn’t have to worry about his tail wagging.)

Finally gathering all the clothes, he put them in a backpack by the bed and slung it over his shoulder. He grabbed Ryuuji’s gym jacket and brought it over to where Ryuuji was still at the desk. He’d stopped gathering items and started doodling when Rin wasn’t looking.

“Hey,” he grabbed Ryuuji’s shoulder and turned him around, wrapping the jacket around his waist. “This’ll help until you get the hang of hiding your tail.”

Ryuuji crossed his arms over his chest grumpily and frowned at the other wall. “I could hide it.”

“Took me a week to get it down.”

Ryuuji’s eyes darted towards him briefly. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. I still lose control of it sometimes.” He shrugged. It was what it was. Some day he’d have it mastered.

Finishing with the jacket, he dropped his hands away and stuffed them in his pockets as he stepped back. Funny how he’d never be brave enough to touch Ryuuji like this in another situation. It was easier to do when it was his own body. It felt less intrusive. Just like grabbing Ryuuji’s hand earlier. It also didn’t hurt that he’d wanted to hold Ryuuji’s hand. He wasn’t sure how it would feel in their proper bodies, but their hands had fit together nicely, and Ryuuji had squeezed his hand tight. He liked that.

“Come on,” he slung the backpack over his shoulder and grinned. He rubbed his eyes as he walked, heart fluttering as Ryuuji moved to join him, and wondered why the bright blurriness at the corner of his vision wouldn’t quite go away.