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The conversation had long ago lost Ren's interest, the group babbling about the goings-on in town, about what Ryu was going to make for dinner, about Manta's plans abroad, and he found himself picking at his half-eaten bowl of rice, the only part of his meal remaining.
Beside him, Horohoro was still eating, scarfing down his food with pure enthusiasm, only pausing occasionally to join in, talking through his mouthful of food, barely understandable.
It was disgusting.
So disgusting Ren couldn't help watching him, his gaze flitting over Horohoro's cheeks stuffed like a chipmunk's, his Adam's apple bobbing with each big swallow, his lips glistening with sauce from the grilled chicken he'd just crammed into his mouth. His eyes glimmered happily as he listened to the conversation, as he laughed through his yakitori, shooting a shiver down Ren's spine.
His chest constricted the moment Horohoro's glittering eyes shifted to meet his and he grinned, cheeks puffed up with food.
Ren turned away, cheeks flushing. "Don't you have any manners?" he snapped. "You're positively disgusting."
"Don't you have manners?" he growled, though it was hardly intimidating with his mouth full.
"Certainly more than you." Ren turned away, not wanting to look at him anymore, not wanting to even see him. "I don't eat like a starving dog."
"Do you ever have anything nice to say?"
He scoffed and sent Horohoro a sidelong glance, quickly taking in his angry downturned eyebrows and the flecks of sauce and rice on his cheek and his practically empty dishes before turning back to his own lunch.
But something about Horohoro's array of empty bowls didn't sit right in his stomach.
Ren glared down at his half bowl of rice and finally set down his chopsticks. "Here," he said, holding out the bowl to him. "Eat this too since you can somehow still fit food in that bottomless stomach of yours."
Nothing happened.
After a moment, Ren glanced over.
Horohoro was staring, mostly at the bowl, then his eyes flickered up to Ren, then back again, and his face had turned a brilliant scarlet, all the way to his ears.
He opened his mouth, but something about Horohoro's wide eyes made Ren uneasy.
"O-okay," Horohoro finally mumbled, accepting the bowl.
He ate it quietly, calmly, even politely, his entire demeanor changed, and Ren couldn't help watching that too, his eyes drinking in every slow, careful bite of the white rice Ren hadn't been able to finish. He couldn't help watching every minute, no matter how slowly his flushed friend ate the rice. Something about the whole affair felt suddenly, overwhelmingly intimate.
Until he'd eaten every single grain.
Ren's chest quaked, and he swallowed as he looked away.
Suddenly, the conversation seemed more appealing than it had previously, the others at the table chatting away pleasantly, even if he couldn't quite focus on the words they tossed around.
The sound of the empty bowl being set on the hard surface seemed unnecessarily loud.
On the other side of the table, Pirika was grinning, a wicked twinkle in her blue eyes, and dread settled in Ren's stomach. He narrowed his eyes at her, but she just giggled behind her hand, unable to contain her amusement.
"Shut up, Pirika," Horohoro hissed, leaning over the table in a way that was probably supposed to be discreet but only succeeded in drawing attention to his bright-red face.
"Everything alright?" Yoh asked from the head of table, curiosity more than concern etched in his brow.
Pirika only giggled more.
"Everything is fine," Horohoro snapped, the final word coming out in a deep growl, as he glared at his little sister.
And Ren could only watch in fascination.
Sometimes, Horohoro really did act like some sort of wild animal, rough, territorial, shameless, uncouth. It seemed to intimidate some people, even frighten them, but Ren couldn't see anything dangerous there. As far as he was concerned, Horohoro was more like an untrained puppy, foolish and overly energetic and more than a little crass but generally harmless—scratch him behind the ears and he'd become pathetically sedate, tranquil and limpid in your lap, entirely at your mercy.
"That's good," Yoh said, beaming. "I was worried for a second there."
Anna rolled her eyes and directed her attention to Pirika. "Spill. Now."
A growl rumbled low in Horohoro's chest, but it didn't stop his sister from bursting into a fresh fit of giggles and finally letting it out.
"Onii-chan and Ren-san are engaged," she announced, loud enough her voice filled the room.
Ren couldn't breathe.
The table went silent, aside from the laughter Pirika was muffling behind her hands.
"Oh," Yoh said after a long minute, "I was wondering when you two were finally going to tell us you were together."
"Congratulations then," Ryu called from across the room, smiling uncertainly.
"Yes," Tamao said quickly, nervously, "congratulations, Horohoro-san, Ren-san." She smiled at them.
Ren's face was on fire.
He leaned toward Yoh's place a few seats away. "What the hell does that mean? We are not together. That, that, that would be—ridiculous. Complete insanity. It would never happen."
Yoh simply cocked his head. "Then why are you engaged?"
"We aren't, you imbecile!"
Silence fell on the table again, and Ren finally leaned back in his seat, allowing him to see Horohoro without actually looking at him, without drawing attention to the fact that he needed to see his reaction.
Horohoro was hunched in on himself, trying to hide his flushed cheeks with the flaps of his ridiculous headband, painfully tense and avoiding looking at anyone.
"But…"
Somehow, Yoh was still confused.
Ren shot him a glare.
"I don't understand," he said slowly, a deep furrow beneath his bangs. "Haven't you been dating since the end of the Shaman Fight?"
"What?" For a moment, Ren could only stare at him, trying to comprehend his idiocy. "What on earth gave you that idea? Wait, no—you!" He turned his full attention to Pirika. "Why would you say that?"
She grinned at him, and her eyes darted down to the table between him and Horohoro.
His eyes fell on the bowl.
The bowl of rice he'd offered to Horohoro, that he'd shared with him.
Once again, he was struck with the unexpected intimacy of the act, how that potential intimacy hadn't even crossed his mind until a blushing Horohoro had accepted his food and eaten it with care, instead of devouring it like a rabid animal as he had everything else he'd eaten during their meal.
Horohoro nudged the bowl with an elbow and mumbled, "Marriage proposal."
"Oh."
That realization settled heavily in Ren's stomach, and he found himself unable to look at Horohoro yet again.
"And Onii-chan accepted," Pirika added with a snicker.
Yoh clapped his hands with a bright laugh. "Great! When are we having the wedding?"