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“You’re staying at Haru’s for now?”
“Yeah, I’m at his apartment for a couple days,” Rin says as he leans back against the chair in front of Haru’s laptop. On the screen, one window of Makoto in his own apartment, and another window of Nagisa, Rei, and Gou all squeezed together blinked in curiosity.
It wouldn’t be long. Rin would be back home soon enough, but this would only be a brief trip back to visit everyone.
“Then we should get together,” Nagisa says, pausing before his eyes light up again. “And do something fun! Since we’re all going to be in town.”
“Well, I do know a place we could all go to,” Makoto says as he looks up in contemplation, a finger to his chin. “Something for a group.”
“Oh? What’s that?”
The conversation buzzed with different ideas, including the arcade, a bunny cafe, and of course where to meet up for dinner. Catching the sight of himself in the display of Haru’s laptop camera, Rin brushed back one of the locks of hair that make up his bangs. He looked back at Haru right after, who looked deep in thought, as if considering what this ‘fun’ thing must be if it’s not swimming together. That could be a part of it, but they should do something before that.
“Then we’ll meet at the mall, at… say, five?”
“All right. See you all then.”
With some waving and drawn-out ‘byeeee’s from the current Iwatobi team camera, the call ends and Rin gets up to look through his bag, soon laying out all of his going-out clothes on Haru’s bed. To use his torn jeans or skinny leg black pants? And what to put all on top of it? As he considers those, he sees Haru looking down at them too.
“Haru, you have some clothes for a night out, right?”
To that, Haru shrugged and held up a shirt and pants in his hands, which Rin guesses must be his only pair of clothes that weren’t used for land training or class.
“We’re definitely gonna pick out something for you at the mall,” Rin says with an arched brow as he looks over the single outfit in Haru’s arms. At least it’ll do for now. It’ll probably look better when Haru puts it on.
“It’s not like I go out like this all the time...”
“Still! Are you going out with just one look?”
Not like Haru needs anything. He can still look stunning in those boring old clothes. Still, it’d be nice if he had something to complement his looks, and Rin would definitely enjoy helping to dress him up.
Rin took out another pouch from his bag and sorted through it. He always wore his necklace with a simple metal charm, but he picked up and slid a few bracelets - along with a hair tie - on his wrist as he walked over to the bathroom mirror.
“I’m gonna get changed, then do something with my hair...”
“But your hair is already styled,” Haru says, looking on with wider eyes. Easy for him to say, with that hair that always falls into place and looks so soft and perfect-- not that Rin thinks about it that intensely. Or anything. Okay, maybe a little, but he can’t let it distract him right now.
“Well, I want to try something different. A braid here,” Rin draws a line from behind the hair at the front of his face towards the back of his head. “to here.”
From the front, his hair would look as it always does. Turning head, however, would reveal an elaborate French braid, joining in that one ponytail of his. At least, that would be the idea.
“I don’t know if I can do it right on myself, though,” Rin said. “I used to braid Gou’s hair, but...”
When he reaches for his own hair, he realizes he’s never really done it in reverse. Not to mention that it had been a while since he did any braiding. The last time he’d done it was back in elementary school, now that he thinks of it. While he used to do it so effortlessly then, now he just feels like he’s fumbling, all backwards and clumsy as he doesn’t know where to put what chunk of hair.
“Here.”
Rin looks up and sees Haru in the mirror behind him, reaching for the locks that he holds in his hair. Their fingers brush together and create sparks under Rin’s skin, and he can’t find it in him to insist otherwise and that he can do this on his own, instead letting Rin freeze in place as Haru nudges his hands away.
Does Haru feel it too? Would it be hoping for too much, even when they already have so much that he knows they both feel...
Then Haru combs his fingers through Rin’s hair and Rin could not tell if this was the best or worst idea he could have come up with. On one hand, it’s making him realize just how sensitive the skin of his scalp is. On the other hand… it’s the same thing. Though he never knew that he was that sensitive there, no matter how many hair dresser trips he took, it takes all of his self-control to not shiver under the light pressure of Haru’s warm fingertips.
Rin can see Haru’s hands in the mirror this way, as Haru places them against the line of Rin’s jaw and tilts his head. It’s unfair, how Haru suddenly has him under his control, his thumb sliding against the pulse point of Rin’s wrist and taking his hair tie. Long and thin and elegant as they work, Haru’s fingers look like a mix between the ideal pianist and a marble statue. At least Haru is currently too deep in concentration to notice the way Rin stares between them and his face in the mirror.
Maybe Haru really is a mermaid, catching people under his spell without even knowing. The way those fingertips brush against the nape of his neck and send that shiver down his spine has Rin convinced as his eyelids flutter closed...
“All done,” Haru says, tying the small ponytail, Rin blinking out of his reverie. Was it really done that fast? Or... did he just want it to go on longer? That touch calmed and excited him all at once, like a concentrated point of Haru’s presence seeping into him, like the water-- to the point where he’s starting to think in that weird way Haru does, apparently.
“Y-You, ah, work quick,” Rin says back with a brief chuckle. He didn’t even feel the need to sit. Though his knees had started to tremble, and he realizes he was gripping the edge of the sink. Hopefully Haru doesn’t notice the light flush on Rin’s face. “Hey, how did you know how to do that?”
“Practiced with Ran’s hair once.”
Of course Haru would learn something once or twice and never forget how to do it, with all of his skills by now. Part of Rin suddenly feels the urge to learn how to braid again. But it’s not like he’s bothered by the idea, when it came out looking both neat but not too tight. The braids came out just how Rin envisioned...
“They look like two fish joined at the tail.”
“ Really , Haru?”
Rin turns to give Haru a Look, but he realized what he should have known. The light in Haru’s eyes would give that away if he didn’t catch on so quick. Of course Mackerel Boy thinks of it as a compliment. Rin gives a light huff as a smile tugs at the corners of his lips, in some kind of endeared exasperation, as he turns to the mirror again and turns his head from side to side.
“Well… there are some pretty amazing-looking fish out there,” he says, now tilting his head up and down as he turns his head, checking it from all angles. The time he went to the Sydney Aquarium with Haru springs to mind as he says that. “Thanks, Haru.”
“It’s fine,” Haru says, being his cool self again as he looks away. Though he turns back at Rin in the mirror with scrutiny that Rin does not need right now. “Hey, are you all right? Your face is r--”
“But now we have to do something about your hair! Are you really going to let yourself look so plain next to me?”
Haru might have at first responded indifferently, like he didn’t need any of that, but the sound of competition in Rin’s voice definitely must have worked as his brow furrows and eyes narrow.
“You’re on,” he says, scooting himself in front of the mirror and pushing Rin out of the way by his hip. Rin chuckles as he steps back and looks at how very round his hair is. That just makes Rin want to make it messy (in a good way, of course).
“Go and wet your hair first,” Rin starts, but he barely gets the words out before Haru has the showerhead turned on and pouring down on him. Of course. With a light chuckle, Rin goes back to his bag to pick up some fancy hair mousse that he just got. He knows he can make something different with Haru’s hair this way…
Haru’s sitting there one of the of the bath stools, tossing his hair and freeing it of some excess water before turning to look at Rin. Looking like a mermaid so effortlessly again.
As he combed his fingers through the strands, Rin wondered if Haru could feel the same way as he does...