Chapter Text
Rin is gone, again.
It’s the fourth night in a row that Sousuke’s come back from the weight room to an empty dorm, and he’s starting to feel like he should say something. Well, he has said something, he tells Rin constantly that he should be focusing on himself instead of training some lost-cause second-year from a rival team who can barely even swim, when he’s not sneaking out to meet up with his boyfriend from that same rival team, but apparently Sousuke’s advice hasn’t sunk in because it’s nearly lights-out and Rin’s still gone. This shit is getting ridiculous.
Sousuke battles with himself for a moment, then hastily puts his favorite hoodie on over his sweaty tank top and heads outside toward the pool. If Rin’s out with Tachibana, chances are he won’t be back until morning classes (he will get caught one of these days, Sousuke’s sure of it, everyone’s luck runs out eventually), but if he’s at the pool, Sousuke can be a good best friend and remind him to get his ass to bed.
When he gets to the pool, he checks the window first, and as he thought, Rin’s there, coaching that second-year from Iwatobi. Sousuke hangs back for a moment, watching the kid’s atrocious front crawl, and shakes his head, smiling to himself. “What a fucking waste of time.”
“You think so?” says a voice coming from his left, and Sousuke jumps about a foot in the air.
“What the hell?” When he looks over, he’s irritated to see that he was scared by the little blond-- and least intimidating-- member of the Iwatobi swim club. He gets even more irritated when the kid starts laughing.
“Jumpy, Sou-chan?” he asks, smiling.
Sousuke narrows his eyes. “Don’t call me that,” he growls, trying to regain his composure. “And no, I just didn’t think anyone else would be out here this late.”
“Right, right,” the kid says. “So what are you doing out here if you’re scared of the dark?”
“I’m not--” Sousuke starts, then lets out a huff. “What are you doing here at all? This is a private campus, you know. Someone ought to send a memo to your little club to remind you all.”
The little blond takes a few steps closer to Sousuke. “Don’t be like that Sou-chan,” he says, pouting slightly. “We’re all friends.”
Sousuke sighs and steals a glance toward the pool and Rin again. “If you say so. What’s your name again? Hazama?”
“Hazuki Nagisa,” he says proudly.
“Right, Hazuki,” Sousuke repeats, and now that he hears it, the name does sound familiar. “So why are you creeping around outside the pool at night while they’re in there?” he asks, pointing at the boys in the pool. “You just have nothing better to do on a Thursday night?”
Hazuki shifts to stand on his tip-toes and peers through the window, smiling fondly at Rin and his friend. “You can call me Nagisa, you know.”
Sousuke rolls his eyes, and Hazuki catches him.
“I mean it,” he says earnestly. “Rin-chan’s your best friend-- he’s mine too! One of them anyway, and that means we’re friends too, okay?”
Sousuke looks down at the sincere and determined expression on Hazuki’s face and can’t help softening a bit. The kid’s short stature and eagerness remind him a bit of Nitori, but instead of being skittish and proper, he’s confident and brash. Sousuke wonders why he never really noticed him before; maybe he’s not that strong a swimmer.
“Sure,” Sousuke says finally, the corners of his mouth turning slightly upward. He’s turning into such a softie.
“Great!” Nagisa says, beaming, and links arms with Sousuke so fast he’s almost knocked off balance. “So why are you out here Sou-chan? Do you get sentimental watching Rin-chan being such an amazing teacher to Rei-chan?” he asks conspiratorially.
“Uh. No, I was coming to get him before lights-out,” Sousuke says. “A good thing too, since it looks like neither of them are watching the clock.”
“Wait!” Nagisa cries as Sousuke wriggles his arm back and starts in the direction of the door. “Don’t go in yet.”
Sousuke looks down at him in confusion, and sees a faint blush on Nagisa’s cheeks. “It’s just--” he says, more calmly this time. “These practices are really important to Rei-chan.”
“Is that why you’re out here instead of in there?” Sousuke asks. “Your boyfriend thought you’d be too distracting?”
If Sousuke hadn’t already been watching Nagisa’s face, he would have missed it, the way his eyes turn to the ground and his shoulders slump and his chest sort of deflates a bit. But the next moment, he’s smiling up at Sousuke again like nothing’s wrong. “Yeah, I guess!” he says cheerfully. “Rei-chan says I’m too loud for most enclosed spaces. Or maybe he said ‘too obnoxious.’” He puts his finger to his lips, looking deep in thought.
“Maybe both,” Sousuke offers.
“Sou-chan!” Nagisa gasps, affronted, but his eyes are sparkling with amusement. “So mean! Rei-chan is allowed to call me loud and obnoxious, not you!”
Sousuke lets out a low chuckle. “But I thought we were best friends now.”
Nagisa’s jaw drops, and he laughs, linking arms with Sousuke again. “You want people to think you’re the mature, cool type, but you’re actually pretty funny, huh? Like how Rin-chan wants to seem cool but he’s actually a total sap and cries every day.”
This time Sousuke laughs for real, loud and from his belly, like he hasn’t done in a long time. When he catches his breath, he says, “Oh man, I like you.”
Nagisa just shrugs. “Yeah, I’m pretty great. And don’t think I’m gonna forget what you said about us being best friends.”
Sousuke laughs again, and Nagisa smiles at him, his eyes sparkling again, and Sousuke thinks he wouldn’t actually mind being friends with this kid-- he’s certainly better company than any of Rin’s other Iwatobi friends. Nanase’s basically insufferable, Tachibana’s so nice it makes Sousuke want to vomit sometimes, and the glasses-kid-- Rei-- seems like kind of a pompous idiot. But Nagisa’s all right. And the fact that he’s blond and has big, pretty eyes and is significantly cuter than the rest of them doesn’t hurt either. Not that Sousuke’s paying attention to that.
He’s about to respond when he hears the door open and shut, and they both turn to see Rin and Rei approaching, their hair dripping into towels wrapped around their shoulders. When Rin spots Sousuke, he gives him a slightly embarrassed look and a nod, like he’s already expecting the disapproving comments Sousuke hasn’t had a chance to make yet. Sousuke shrugs at him, and Rin scratches the back of his head.
Rei, however, stops in his tracks when he spots them, and the smile drops from his face. “N-Nagisa-kun?” he says, sounding surprised. “What are you doing here?”
Sousuke, who was preoccupied by his silent conversation with Rin, looks down at Nagisa, still beside him , their arms still linked, now looking sort of like a deer in headlights. “Ah, Rei-chan!” he says, quickly managing a smile. “Still practicing with Rin-chan? I didn’t realize you’d be here so late! Sou-chan was just walking me out, right Sou-chan?”
Sousuke feels a sharp elbow digging into his ribs, and when he looks down, Nagisa has locked eyes with him meaningfully. “Uh. Yeah.”
“Huh?” Rin says, sounding confused. “What do you mean? What were you two doing together?”
Nagisa’s eyes go wide for a moment and Sousuke just raises one eyebrow. “We were… studying!” Nagisa says. “Sou-chan needed some help with, uh… History! So I was tutoring him!”
Sousuke gives Nagisa a withering look, because, really? That’s the best lie he could come up with off the top of his head? It doesn’t even sound slightly believable, and Sousuke’s not sure why Nagisa even needs an excuse anyway. Didn’t he come here with Rei?
Rin and Rei seem pretty skeptical about Nagisa’s story as well.
“You… were tutoring Yamazaki-san?” Rei repeats slowly, full of disbelief.
“Uh, what?” Rin asks, looking from Nagisa back to Sousuke. “I didn’t know you guys even talked. And I thought you had to study for a math test and hit the gym, that’s what you said earlier.”
Nagisa laughs nervously and scratches at the back of his head with his free hand, grip tightening on Sousuke’s arm with the other. “Um, well, you see--”
Sousuke makes a split-second decision, and nudges Nagisa gently with his elbow. “Come on, Nagisa,” Sousuke says, rolling his eyes. “Tell the truth.”
Nagisa turns his head swiftly toward Sousuke, his mouth slightly open, looking utterly betrayed.
Sousuke looks back at Rin, straight-faced. “He needed help with Math, and then after we finished we worked on History, which, actually, he’s not terrible at.” He glances back down at Nagisa. “Just because you can remember a few more useless facts than I can doesn’t mean you were ‘tutoring’ me, you brat.”
For a split second, Nagisa’s eyes fill with wonder as he realizes that Sousuke is actually helping him out. Sousuke’s sort of wondering himself why he did it; he just knows he couldn’t let the poor kid flounder like that, it was painful to watch. “Heh,” Nagisa lets out a relieved-sounding laugh, “yeah, I guess if you wanna put it like that, Sou-chan.”
Rei’s still frowning, but seems to accept this answer better than the first. “Well, I was going to catch the bus back home if you’d like to walk together, Nagisa-kun?”
Nagisa nods and finally allows Sousuke to extricate his arm from the vice-grip it’s been in for far too long, and mouths a silent “thank you” as Rei says goodbye to Rin. Sousuke nods back, frowning.
Rin’s quiet during most of the walk back to their room, and Sousuke keeps stealing little side-glances at him, trying to read his expression. “You’re gonna have to sleep in til 6:30 if you want a full eight hours, you know,” Sousuke says.
Rin smirks at him. “Aw, worried about me Sou-chan?”
Sousuke bumps into Rin’s side. “Shut up.”
“No, Sou-chan, really, I had no idea you were so bad at History that you’d need tutoring from a second-year,” he says, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Sousuke just sighs as he opens their door and tosses his sweatshirt on the desk. He climbs up to the top bunk and settles in while Rin shucks off his clothes and puts on pajamas. “Seriously though,” Rin says, leaning on the metal bars, his expression a little less smug than before, “what was that about? You and Nagisa... That studying line was obviously bullshit, so what was really going on?”
“Nothing,” Sousuke says, resting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes.
“Tch,” Rin scoffs. “Whatever, fine, don’t tell me. But, just… Look, don’t be casually fucking around with my friends okay? None of them are the type, especially Nagisa, and I don’t want things getting awkward.”
Sousuke turns to look at Rin, surprised. “What type is that?”
“You know what I mean,” Rin says pointedly, and it pisses Sousuke off.
“Right, yeah, of course,” Sousuke says, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t worry, I was trying to help the kid out, not casually get into his pants right in front of his boyfriend, even though I’m totally ‘the type.’ I wouldn’t dare soil one of your precious Iwatobi boys, they’re safe from me and my casual ways.”
“Oh my god, first of all, don’t be such a drama queen,” Rin says, poking Sousuke in the ribs. “Second, don’t pretend I have no basis for saying something like that when you casually slept with Minami like your third day here and made shit weird for two weeks, and Uozumi still kind of wants to murder you over it.”
They stare at each other for a very long, drawn-out minute during which Sousuke tries to stay angry, but eventually he breaks and ends up smiling up at the ceiling. “Worth it.”
Rin laughs. “See? And third, Rei’s not Nagisa’s boyfriend, but that doesn’t mean he’s fair game, okay? I know he’s cute and acts all flirty and inappropriate, but he gets attached really easily, especially to tall dark nerds who take themselves too seriously, so just… tread lightly, okay?”
When Sousuke doesn’t respond, Rin pokes him again. “I’m not being a dick, I’m just trying to watch out for everyone, okay? Sou-chan?”
Sousuke laughs in spite of himself. “Okay, fine, just promise never to call me that again.”
“Oh it’s not cute when I do it?” Rin says, grinning.
“Nothing you do is cute,” Sousuke groans, and pushes Rin away from the bed. “Now go to bed, or text your boyfriend for an hour, just leave me alone.”
Rin laughs, but Sousuke does notice him grab his phone before switching off the light and getting into bed. He rolls his eyes at his sappy best friend, glad once again to be able to just go to sleep when he wants instead of having to send obligatory “goodnight” and “I miss you” messages to some needy boyfriend. Sure, Tachibana’s ridiculously hot, but he can’t help thinking (for the hundredth time) that Rin would be better off focusing on himself and his own goals. Boyfriends are a distraction they don’t need and can’t afford, which is why, not for the first time, Sousuke’s glad he’s single. He falls asleep in peace, without sparing a single thought to cute blond boys with big eyes and smooth-looking, probably nice-smelling skin, who are also (unexpectedly) single.