Chapter Text
One last lap and he would be done for the day. The training was hard and gruelling but it was all worth it to reach his dream to be a professional swimmer. Gasping for air every time his head turned in the water as he did freestyle the satisfying touch of the concrete wall in the pool brought him to a stop. Finally coming up for air and catching his breath the coach with the timer smiled down at him, “Good job Rin, you beat your personal record by fifty seconds!”
He smiled back and thanked the coach as he pulled himself up from the pool. His muscles burned but it felt good too. Grabbing a towel and a water bottle from a table not far away he patted his face dry while other swimmers made idle chat with each other around him. It felt good to be back in Australia, swimming in the huge pool he once bought Haru to and glimpsing an Olympian practice every now and then. The language barrier was a lot weaker now then it was when he was training as a child, he had made many friends and English came to him a lot better now. Even so he always found himself missing Japan and all his friends.
Haru, Makoto, Nagisa, Rei, Sousuke, Nitori and Momo had all seen him off along with his family. It had been emotional but Rin had kept from getting upset in front of everyone, Gou patting his arm telling him it was ok to cry (She already was teary when she said it) but he shook his head and composed himself. Haru didn’t say much, Makoto wished him luck, Nagisa bawled his eyes out and Rei thanked him again for helping him with his swimming. Sousuke promised to write and lost one last time at paper, scissors, rock so Rin promised to think of something he would owe him later. Momo loudly told Rin to keep in contact and let the swim team know when he was visiting, promising to work on his backstroke while trying to flirt with Gou who remained oblivious to him. Nitori was quiet though. He was at the back of his group of friends and seemed to be looking for the words to use to say goodbye. He made it to the front, maybe from a soft nudge from Makoto, and once they made eye contact he began to cry in front of his red headed senpai.
“Hey now,” Rin had said, patting the sobbing boy on the head, “Captains shouldn’t cry in front of their teammates.”
“Speak for yourself,” Sousuke mumbled from the group. Rin decided to ignore him.
Nitori sniffled, “I know…I’m just really going to miss you Rin-senpai, I’m not sure if I can be the captain of a team when you’re not there to guide me.”
Rin’s face softened at the smaller boy’s words, “Have more confidence in yourself, I wouldn’t of made you captain if I didn’t believe in you. You’ll be just fine.”
Ai looked like he was about to say something but was interrupted by an announcement to start boarding the plane. People around them began to line up with their tickets and his friends all looked to Rin knowing this was the time for goodbyes.
He took his hand off Nitori’s head and smiled down, “I believe in you, you’ll do great.”
Another tear slid down his face when suddenly he was pushed forward by Nagisa as he ran to hug Rin, joined soon by everyone else who came to say goodbye. Nitori was pushed into Rin’s chest but got over it quickly and wrapped his arms around his senpai with everyone else. It must have been a spectacle in the airport with several boys all hugging the red headed male who was struggling to keep holding his carry-on luggage. Soon the hug died down and everyone let Rin go to finally walk out to the plane. His friends were basically stuck to the glass in the viewing room, never stopping themselves from waving until Rin couldn’t see them anymore while seated on the plane for take-off. He bet they kept waving until the plane was out of sight in the sky.
The memories flooded back and he smiled to himself, at least he should be able to see them for Christmas at least. He was about to head into the locker room to change when another swimmer called out to him. A blonde tan man, Rin recognised him as a guy named Matt, walked over with a small wave.
“Hey Rin! Nice job with that hundred meter lap, I swear you get faster every day!” Matt smiled.
“Thanks,” Rin nodded back to him, “Did you need something? I was just about to have a shower and get changed if you want to hang out or something.”
Matt kept his cheery face but shook his head, “Nah that’s not what I came to ask you, I just came to tell you that there’s someone here to see you.”
Rin cocked his head to the side in thought, had he made plans to meet someone today?
“Who is it?” he asked.
“He didn’t tell me his name, wait a sec I’m pretty sure he’s just by the entrance,” Matt told him, “I think he’s shy or something.”
Rin still couldn’t work out who it was but he followed where Matt was pointed and looked around the corner of the entrance to see who it was.
There was a young man looking down at his phone, checking the time maybe, with a backpack sitting near his feet. He was reasonably tall and had his hair cut short, a fringe cut straight across the top of his forehead. He looked up at the sound of Rin’s footsteps and instantly slammed his flip phone shut and turned to face him. The boy’s face was mature and thin, with kind blue eyes and a small beauty mark under his left eye.
He took a step forward and lightly smiled, “Hello again, Rin-senpai!”