Star-Crossed Lovers
Rindou Haitani x Reader
Warnings: 18+ content (Allusions to sex, drinking), references to underage drinking (I do not condone or promote these behaviours), angst to fluff
Description: Everyone knows that when Rindou and the reader break up, they always end up back together, but this time something feels off.
You and Rindou broke up every other week.
When people asked how long youâd been together, youâd argue for hours on end about which break-ups counted and which didnât. You liked to say youâd been together five years â ignoring the break-ups that occurred in the middle. Rindou, on the other hand, was adamant that every little break-up counted.
Yes, that included the time you broke up with him because he wouldnât let you buy two of the same dress just in case something happened to the first one. It included the time he broke up with you because you absolutely demolished him in Monopoly. It included the time you broke up with him because he didnât come home for five days straight. It included the time he broke up with you because he didnât want to see you get deep enough into his gang business that you couldnât get out.
So, after five years of dating â or three weeks, by Rindouâs standards â it became relatively obvious to everyone including yourselves that no little issue could actually spell the end of your relationship. The two of you were invariably intertwined. Star-crossed. At any given point in time, the most important person to you was him, and to him was you. There was nothing, truly nothing, that you couldnât overcome together.
Except this break-up was different.
You could taste it in the air. Bitter. Empty. Soulless. There was hatred there, between you and Rindou, and it seemed that star-crossed lovers were truly just a thing of fiction.
It started out as just a petty argument. You had pointed out an engagement ring at the local jewellery store that you thought was just the most gorgeous thing in the world. It was vintage, from the mid-nineteen-twenties, and it was perfectly your size. You suggested, only half-jokingly, that he buy it and keep it in his pocket for the right time. Afterall, you were twenty and neither of you were getting any younger. But for some reason, some stupid, stupid reason, he completely freaked out.
âIâm not ready for that, Y/n!â Rindouâs head whipped around so his cold, violet gaze bore holes right through you. âHow am I even supposed to know youâre the right person for me?â
The very same eyes that had just sent a chill through your entire body then betrayed his composure. Like a mirror struck by bad luck, they shattered, softened, and tried to reason with you wordlessly.
âWeâve been together five years and you donât know if you want to marry me one day?â You asked him, both furious and heart-broken.
âThree weeks,â he said. Muscle memory. That was always his response to the whole âfive yearsâ accusation, it was supposed to be funny, but in the moment it reeked of this sense that he was sick of you â ashamed of you, even.
Rightfully, you stormed out of the store, but he was hot on your heel, pleading with you to just stop and listen to him. By the time you had your keys in the lock of the driverâs door to your car, he was practically on his knees. It was a mistake, he didnât mean anything by it, you had to understand that he was just so caught off-guard!
âCaught off-guard?â You scoffed, âHow could you be caught off-guard when weâve been together this long?â
âWe break up so often, Y/n, I just didnât thinkâŚâ He didnât know what to say, or how to justify his reaction. Rindou knew that at some point in your lives the two of you would probably be married, but he hadnât really thought too seriously about it.
You rolled your eyes, âTake your brother, and get out of my house.â
For the next month, Rindou and his brother, Ran, crashed at Madarameâs. Ran had been whining the entire time about how much of a downgrade their living situation was since Madarameâs apartment stunk of his horrible cologne, and none of them were as good at cooking as you. Youâd received about a dozen phone calls a week from him, each one begging you to either forgive Rindou, or at the very least, drop a meal off for them.
âWe arenât friends anymore, Ran, Rindou has ruined everything. Donât call me again,â you told him eventually.
Everyone was feeling the effects of the break-up. Gang violence in Roppongi was at an all-time-high because Rindou was beating so many people up just to expel as much of the anger as he could. In meetings with the rest of Rokuhara Tandai, he was hardly focused, and would walk out having no idea what had just been discussed.
Rindouâs friends had tried in vain to convince him that this break-up was just the same as all the others â that the two of you would be back together in no time â but even they werenât sure it was true. The days were getting longer, they were being drawn out into an agonising picture of the proverbial end, four horsemen and all, and it was becoming increasingly obvious that you werenât interested in getting back together with him. It had just been so long.
It was unsettling to Rindou when he saw you for the first time since the day he moved out of your house. You didnât notice him as he took in the dark semicircles under your tired eyes, and the slight limp you were carrying yourself with, and he was glad you didnât. He could tell you hated him â he could feel the hatred oozing out of your pores and spreading all across the grocery store you were shopping in. There was no chance of you ever getting back together. He had just fucked up way too badly.
The past five weeks had been hell for you.
You had sprained your ankle really badly when you kicked your couch violently only moments after throwing all Rindou and Ranâs things at them from your front porch. Daily living had become far too difficult to handle on your own. The shelves in your kitchen were always too high to reach, so Rindou would grab things from them for you, but with him gone you had to maneuver yourself onto the counter with your one good leg and pray to God that you wouldnât fall. The doctor had told you not to drive for as long as it took to get full rotation back in your ankle, so you were having to walk everywhere. Youâd been late to work almost every day.
Despite everything, it wouldâve been at least helpful to have Rindou around. Whenever something like this would happen to you, he was always there. Once, when you broke up after he got put in juvie, and you were having a rough time adjusting, he sent some of his friends (goons) to help you cook, and clean, and stay on top of your homework. You sighed at how nice it wouldâve been to have that kind of support.
Between the constant calls from Ran, youâd also spoken to Madarame and Kakucho on the matter. Madarame had called before he realised the severity of the break-up to ask when youâd be âhaving your boys homeâ because he was sick of not being able to bring girls back to his house. Kakucho, on the other hand, had shown up at your door in his Rokuhara Tandai uniform, disrespecting a rule you had put in place that they werenât to bring their gang affiliations anywhere near your house.
âWalk with me,â he ordered, and ignored you as you started to preach about how he had no right to speak to you that way. Together, you walked silently through the city, your eyes stuck to the concrete rivers you navigated through.
âWhere are we going?â You asked him eventually, bored of the awkwardness and of being told off by some kid.
âWhateverâs happened, you need to forgive him,â Kakucho said, âYou know youâre going to anyway, so I really donât understand what all this mess is about.â
You scoffed, âHe hasnât apologised.â He frowned, so you continued, âKakucho, he hasnât so much as called me! Iâm terrified that I overreacted, or that I didnât try hard enough to resolve it⌠I - I really donât know what to do. I think he hates me.â
When Kakucho didnât say anything in return, you left him in the middle of Roppongi by himself, and went home to drown your sorrows in the beers still left in the fridge.
The alcohol relieved some of the pressure of the tense break-up, and that was more than a good enough reason for you to decide to get drunk every night for the next three days. Some of your friends from high school invited you out clubbing that Thursday, and you hadnât the mind to refuse them. So, you got dressed up in your shortest black dress, and your best pair of heels (you had to redo your makeup after remembering they were a birthday gift from Rindou), and you skipped the line at a club owned by an acquaintance of Mocchiâs.
Inside, you were passed shots by every guy who managed to get within a one-metre radius of you. Nothing like that had happened to you in so long since it was just common knowledge through Roppongi that you more or less belonged to Rindou. You supposed that everyone knew that you were completely, definitely single for the first time in five years, and were taking the opportunity presented to them.
As you threw back another shot of fireball, cringing at the taste, your arm was grabbed by an all-too-familiar hand. Violet eyes made contact with yours, and a spark of electric panic â or perhaps it was passion â jolted through you until you took in the rest of the personâs appearance and realised it was not, in fact, Rindou, but Ran.
âY/n!â He shouted over the ear-destroying-ly loud music, but you couldnât tell whether you were actually hearing him or just reading his lips. He was grinning with delight. âWhat the hell are you doing here? Are you here to see Rindou?â
You bit your lip and frowned as you stretched your neck to search behind Ran, âIs he here?â You asked.
âYeah, duh, we always come here. Iâm starting to worry that you wonât get back together at all, the rate this is going!â Ran chuckled, but you just stared at him, mortified, and stole the wallet from his pocket. âWait â Hey!â
Turning back to the bar, you ordered another three shots with Ranâs card, and downed them all as fast as possible. By the time you were done, your eyes were beginning to water, and you could feel the last three, or four, or maybe it was eight shots starting to settle in.
âOh⌠Princess⌠Come, letâs sit down somewhere,â he cooed and you tried to scrunch your nose at the nickname, but you were falling way too far and way too fast into the alcohol spiral to have full control of your facial muscles.
Ran carried your stumbling form to a circular booth on the side of the dance floor, and slid you through to the back, resting your head on someoneâs shoulder to your right. He rubbed circles on your arm as a couple tears escaped the pool at the bottom of your eyes. Above you, you could vaguely hear the owner of the shoulder trying to quietly yell at Ran, so you pulled your head off of him to give him some space. As you did just that, you caught a glimpse of the shoulder-owner in question.
âRindou?â You gasped, your voice so loud it was clear over the music.
A glance back at Ran who was sitting there with a shit-eating grin, then you were right back to looking at Rindou. His pupils were just as large as yours, and his eyes open so wide that his irises were just spots of violet in an ocean of white. His blue and blond hair was so gracefully framing his cheeks, neck, and collarbone that you thought you might faint just at the sight, and he was wearing an old Adidas tee that sat perfectly on his body.
âY/n,â Rindou breathed. He reached a hand out towards you, and you let him stroke your cheek with his thumb.
âYou didnât call,â you pouted, and your tears started to pour down over his fingers.
Rindou signalled that it was time for the other people in the booth to leave, and they did so with an ounce of hesitance. Boys were always more nosy than they were given credit for, especially the ones Rindou was friends with.
âI thought you hated me,â said Rindou in a sombre tone.
The only thing keeping your head from rolling backwards was his hand holding you up, and you were glad for it, as it gave you the visibility to squint at him. After the many, many, many times you had taken him back, how could he possibly think that one fight about a possible marriage would make you hate him? You were angry, sure, but only for a couple days. It had softened to sadness so quickly that youâd given yourself whiplash.
You reminded him of a half-dozen of the past break-ups. The time he threw you into a puddle of mud right before a school assembly, the time he joked about sleeping with one of your closest friends, the time he forgot to get you a birthday present, and all the others. He was prone to mistakes, but he always learnt from them. He was always trying so hard to do right by you. And you always took him back.
âI could never hate you, youâre the most important person in my life, Rindou.â His face lit up. âWhen you didnât call me immediately, I thought Iâd completely overreacted and pushed you away! I thought you hated me.â
For every break-up caused by Rindou, another had been caused by you, you were a dysfunctional couple like that, and both of you always resorted to the extremities rather than just sitting down and talking about your emotions. When you were twelve, you misplaced the study notes for the maths test he had the next week; when you were fifteen, you would flirt with adults outside of liquor stores to get them to buy you drinks; when you were seventeen, you stood him up on your anniversary. He broke up with you each time, and each time you always ended up back together.
âI shouldnât have said what I said. I do want to marry you one day,â Rindou explained.
You slipped your hand under his, and shooed him away from your face, âYou had a point, though.â He tilted his head in confusion. âWe break up all the time. Weâre not exactly stable enough to be thinking of marriage⌠In truth, I think weâre a bad couple. Toxic, even.â
âDonât say that. Weâve been together five years!â He said with a mix of anger and light humour.
âWeâre not even together right now, Rin,â you told him matter-of-factly, though your words had slurred together a little, taking much of the authority out of them.
âTake me back, then,â he suggested, but you shook your head and then gagged at the motion.
Rindou helped you up and out of the club, and the two of you sat on the side of the building, feeling the vibrations of the music beating through your bodies. The streets were busy with people, but it was so quiet in comparison to what the last few hours had been for you that you revelled in it like silence. While you vomited a couple times (you got a bit of it on one of your heels which prompted you to vomit once more), Rindou held your hair back.
Once you were finished, you leaned against him, and his hand wrapped around your waist to hold on to you so securely that you could tell he was scared it would be the last time he ever got the chance to do so. You looked up at the sky, but the lights of the city were so bright that there were no stars up there to guide you.
âDo you think weâre meant to be together?â You asked Rindou, âLike, do you think that, in another universe or timeline or whatever, weâd be together as well?â
He took a deep breath in, âAll I know is that if I got the chance to live my life all over again, I would choose to do it all the same.â
âYou love your life that much?â You smiled softly.
âI love you that much.â
In a predictable turn of events, you would find yourself waking up in your bed the next morning, Rindou by your side. Your house would be full of his and his brotherâs things by dayâs end, with a letter of gratitude placed in your mailbox by Madarame, and the very ring that had caused the whole mess sitting on your breakfast bar. You would ask your boyfriend to explain himself, and heâd shrug and reply that it was just a promise. He was going to put it somewhere safe, and one day, when the two of you had been break-up-free for a sufficient amount of time, youâd get the chance to wear it.
But in that moment outside the club, you didnât much care to think how your morning would be. The breeze was cold, but you could taste the air, and it tasted like bliss.