Chapter Text
“I think you’re gorgeous.”
Makoto stopped and checked himself, before glancing questioningly at Rin with puzzled smile. “What was that, Rin?”
They were in the middle of another joint practice. Makoto had just pulled himself out of the water after having done a couple of practice races with another backstroke swimmer from Samezuka. Rin had been watching on the side, unable to keep his eyes off the tall, well-muscled boy’s form and the way he laughed at the other swimmer’s joke as he ran a hand through his wet, olive-brown hair.
Rin met Makoto’s blank gaze. “Hm?”
“Just now,” Makoto tilted his head, his expression oblivious and his tone questioning. “I thought you said something?”
“Yeah I did,” Rin didn’t blink as he crossed his arms and leaned back on his heels. His gaze traveled across the pool area to idly rest on Nagisa pestering Ai about one thing or another. “I said I think you’re gorgeous.”
Rin didn’t need to look at Makoto to know he had a confused pout on his face when he responded, “Really? I don’t think I get it…”
It was common knowledge amongst the boys that English was Makoto’s worst subject in school. Rin just snorted and grinned. “That’s the whole point.”
“Eh?” Makoto made a noise of surprise that sounded like a squeak. He sounded vaguely affronted as well. “What’s that supposed to mean—“ A sharp bark coming from the other side of the pool interrupted him.
“Oi, Matsuoka!” Both Rin and Makoto looked up to see Seijuuro in the middle of a conversation with Rei and another one of the swimmers from Samezuka – Rin recognized him as one of the handful that swam Butterfly. “Stop flirting with Tachibana and come over here will you?”
Rin would’ve barked back something sarcastic if it weren’t for the fact that he knew his captain didn’t actually hear them talking. “Yeah, I’m coming! Catch y’later,” He added, giving Makoto a nod coupled with a half-smirk as he moved away.
Makoto laughed lightly because, bless his soul, he seemed to let it go as one of Rin’s (many) jokes. “Alright, Rin, you better go.” His green eyes diverted slightly and Rin saw Haru approaching with his light blue towel flopped over his damp hair.
Rin decided not to wait, instead waving a hand at the both of them as he headed towards the other side of the pool, leaving Makoto to his habitual fussing.
“Haru, are you done? You should—Huh? W-Why are you looking at me like that? Rin wasn’t actually flirting!”
Rin decidedly ignored the pointed looks of amusement Haru kept giving him for the rest of the joint practice.
A week before that.
If Rin had known Haru would make little effort to disguise his immense amusement, he would not have bothered to sought out the blue-eyed boy in the first place. Why Rin had chosen Haru to “pour his heart out” (so to speak), he did not know.
(Or, well, he did know, because Rin was in love with Tachibana Makoto and the water-obsessed front-crawler knew Makoto best. And said water-obsessed front-crawler was also his friend.)
Nonetheless, he was sitting on the tatami floor of Haru’s house with Haru sat opposite him, sharing a pack of animal crackers (Haru had refused to respond to Rin’s snubs about how they were for kids) between themselves.
“Do what you always do,” Haru said flatly, idly cracking an elephant-shaped cracker in half. “Spout out nonsense from your head without thinking twice.”
“I don’t spout nonsense from my head without thinking twice,” Rin snapped. He watched as Haru munched on the cracker pieces. Rin decided not to bother. “And this is—different. It’s not something I can just spout without thinking.”
Haru gave him a look. “It’s not like Makoto would laugh at you if you made a mistake.”
“It’s not that.” Haru’s brow raised by a fraction, still giving him a look.
Rin was not practiced in the art of reading Nanase Haruka’s expressions, but he could make a fairly good guess. Then what is?
“It’s…” Rin picked at a whale-shaped cracker, glaring at it as if it were to blame. “It’s actually saying it. Actually deciding to say it.” He glared at it some more.
Haru didn’t respond immediately, crunching on the crackers with utmost focus as if deliberately stretching the silence. Finally he exhaled.
“You say it or you don’t,” Haru said bluntly. Rin looked up to see him snapping another cracker in half. Don’t be so troublesome.
Rin resisted the urge to grind his teeth at Haru. There was no point explaining to the other boy that if Rin was to say it, Rin would have to get over his embarrassment, and if he didn’t say it, it might as well just eat him up inside.
Being in love was annoying like that.
Haru huffed a little. “Makoto’s worst subject is English you know. He’s horrible at it.”
“Yeah I know that,” Rin responded flatly, raising his eyebrows at him as if to question him why the sudden change of subject. Haru met his gaze and shrugged; Rin did not miss the glint in his blue eyes, however.
“Maybe you can say it in English then,” You’re good at it. Haru sifted through the crackers with a finger before picking up a cracker shaped like a fish (mackerel?). “Makoto can try to figure it out himself.”
“What?” Rin sat up and stared at Haru.
Haru, his gaze focused on the cracker, shrugged as he munched on the fish-shaped cracker’s predecessor. He didn’t seem like he wanted to try to advise Rin some more on how to express his feelings because god knows how much difficulty Haru already has with that when it came to the most simplest of thoughts.
“Haru?” Rin tried to prompt him, giving the other boy a nudge on the elbow. Haru grunted a little, meeting Rin’s gaze briefly before popping the fish-or-maybe-it-was-mackerel-shaped cracker into his mouth.
It lasted only for a split second, but Rin saw the fixated conviction in the blue irises and the suppressed smile.
Don’t worry. I support you, but you’ve got to do it yourself.