Work Text:
Reaching
Where height became his prior measurement when pursuing her.
It is a fairly cool morning when they step through the main door of their home, with the surrounding shifting from one of comfortable stillness to a fresh burst of spring air. Despite the piercing glare of the sun upon such fine weather, the breeze continues to regulate the outdoor temperature accordingly. Greeted by a view of relative calmness of their surroundings, Rin reaches her left hand out in the air to feel the warmth of the sunlight among her fingers. Given any typical day, her hands would have been covered by multiple layers of colour stains from her artistic duties. With that being said, she could hardly spare a time of leisure whenever her work schedule gets hectic, as it did for the entirety of the past two months.
Of course, her built-up frustration over multiple due dates had not fallen into the knowledge of the unknown, for Haru would always keep up with her progress and insisted on breaks in between when things tend to overwhelm her. Though Rin now has a better grasp upon her piling responsibilities while balancing self-needs, still, she could be very insisting in achieving a certain level of perfection once she put her all into it. Hence, it brought the two into agreeing for a longer break from work once they had wrapped up the remaining parts of it right before spring vacation commences.
Turning from the locked door behind to reach for her hand, Haru shakes Rin off her short reverie with both his action and words. “Shall we go?”
Tilting her head up a little to meet his eyes, she smiles back with a nod before squeezing their joined hands momentarily. Beginning their walk to a park not too far from their residence, the two engage themselves in silence until Rin’s mind began to tug upon a memory – one of the few pleasant ones that saved her from her haunting past. Though the latter has yet to be completely forgotten as the time ages, there were certainly bits of it that became faded as better days took a deeper hold in her heart.
Coming to the first of the many trees at the entrance of the forest-like park, Rin comes to a stop where it further causes Haru to follow suit and look at her in question. “Remember this tree?” She asks rather randomly, a little out of her usual thoughtful words.
There is nothing remarkable on the said plant but its durability against shifting seasons over the years; with fresh green leaves branching out from all sides that could act as a temporary shelter from the heat of the sun for the children’s height. Which is why Haru fails to foresee the meaning behind her question, safe for their memories of doing the same way back then.
“What about it?”
Rin lifts her free hand to point at a particular branch. “You used to be mad at that one.”
There is a glimpse of peculiarity in his eyes before they break away to cast a look forward. He hums and then nods slowly. “Yeah, I guess I did.”
“We used to reach our hands out and try to land a touch on the lowest branch – that one – from way before we outgrew its height.” In reality, Rin was the first to gain that advantage due to her height in comparison to his in those days. And true to that, she recalls the same memory as a continuation of her previous statement. “I succeeded first.”
She smiles in triumph over that moment, causing Haru to reply the same as his mind catches flashes of a rather similar counterpart from their much younger days, sometime close to the beginning of the dark ones that came when Rin was estranged from her parents. It had taken her awhile to wander through the places that held her happier memories but it did not take them long to return to the same park where the said height competition commenced once again, as if rekindling their closeness with one another despite the sinister twist on the other side of their lives’ reality.
“But you refused to acknowledge that and we left the moment after.” The tug on Rin’s lips grows into a grin as she casts a knowing look towards Haru, whom playfully narrows his eyes at her. She had purposely emphasised the plural pronoun in her sentence because Haru would then insist them to leave the scene and had eventually brought her along, casually joining their hands since then. “And then you would compare our heights from time to time, some days were rather sudden and random than the other.” She shakes her head at it, still grinning.
Haru gives a half-hearted shrug. “Just some of the important matters I need to be sure of.”
“And being taller than me was one of those?” She asks in a puzzled expression, into which he hums in a steady tone.
Rin was conscious of her unchanging habit of asking Haru ‘why’ in his random yet thoughtful gestures over the years. In fact, one that she thought to be able to last a lifetime if she is to continue down the said question. Hence, there are intervals of herself raising an eyebrow for a change and now was one of those times.
Haru heaves a low sigh while gazing back at the tree as Rin patiently waits amidst the short quietness that comes. “It made me realise something in actuality.” That realisation was definitely somewhere in between his defensiveness and awareness of his own feelings towards her. “It reminded me of my own helplessness right then, and I figured that I had to do something to be strong enough to overcome that.”
He squeezes her hand a little as the thought of seeing Rin collapsed on the walkway and his inability of doing anything but to seek help from others began to blur the confidence in him. Seemingly sensing the invasive thoughts that undoubtedly drown away his fading smile, Rin tightens their hands and moved to stand right in front of him.
Untangling their hands to place both on the sides of his face and tilt his head down for their eyes to meet, the perks of having his height outgrowing hers for years that it had developed into another habit of hers.
Rin shakes her head slightly before speaking, “No, none of that. Don’t go down those thoughts.” She has to make sure that her message could get through to him in its full effect when she gives Haru a comforting smile after that. “We live in the present while keeping the past in mind, hence there is no need to revisit the memories that would cause you to be upset all over it again.”
Thanks to the matter that shaped her past, Rin is well-known of the path along her troubled thoughts. It was something she had secured deep into her mind up until a turning point where she took on the bravery of speaking them out and addressing the matter upfront for the sake of ridding it for good. In fact, it was something she and Haru had unconsciously been doing with one another since the beginning of their friendship and maintaining the same as their trust continues to grow. Just as much as Haru understands Rin’s line of thoughts, she could similarly sense his as well.
Rin knows deep down that it is almost impossible for someone with a heart as warm as Haru could breed hatred. She even begun to cast a doubt on herself over the steady reduce of such emotion towards one particular person that had drawn a deep scar in her past and wondered if happiness and contentment in life had truly brought upon this radical change in one’s heart and mind for the better.
Sifting his truest mindset from back then and away from the guilt-filled memories, Haru turned to Rin for a reply to her prior question centring on the tree.
“It gives me a sense of assurance.” He paused, taking both of Rin’s resting hands into his own steady hold between them as she was tugged into another sense of confusion over the bluntness of his words. “By being taller, I can protect you from whatever obstacles and pain inflicted by the harsh reality that we live in. That was my initial belief back then.”
As if being taken back to the time when she was found by the streets, armed only with broken hopes and impossible wishes, Haru’s words had once again struck a deep impression in her. But unlike before, she could feel herself getting stronger in walking the paths of life alongside those she could now openly love and care about.
“We are safe and stronger than ever now.” She reassures him that everything is better as time progresses, that there is no need of keeping the previous fears and concerns in mind.
“I know and I am utterly grateful for that.” He flashes his usual calm smile and Rin returns it almost as easily as she retracts back to his side. “Speaking of this,” their gazes instantly shift back to the tree in front of them, “I remembered something from back then too.”
“What is it?”
Turning towards Rin to study her reaction on his incoming statement, he continues down that attempt. “I made a bet with myself.” He pauses for effect and could feel the steady increase in Rin’s curiosity through her piercing stare. “I wouldn’t confess my feelings for as long as my height doesn’t surpass yours.”
Having Haru constantly comparing their heights throughout their younger days would raise the question of just how long had he realised himself falling for her, though Rin appears to be more taken aback by the borderline absurdity of his self-made bet to actually consider the more romantic side of this revelation.
“You have got to be kidding me.” Rin’s eyes widen momentarily, only to be met with Haru’s stoic expression over it and then a shake of his head. “You do realise that there was a probability where I could end up being taller than you, right? I was pretty tall.” She nudges his side with her elbow in a playful manner.
“No, I was serious. Love the confidence but look who is talking now.” Haru leans down to the level of Rin’s face and smirks, emphasising the difference in their height and how his bet had eventually fallen into his favour.
She only grunts and narrows her eyes at the tease. Most would have seen the advancement of their relationship as something deeming of their minds’ maturity, though what remains unseen by them is the inner child that still lives within.
Rin then poses another question. “What would you do if that bet couldn’t be reached?” This time, she casts a sceptical look at him. “Would you have kept yourself silent until now, then?”
It was actually a valid question, Haru muses to himself. Though he loathed to admit that he had never come to think of it that far, he had instead focused solely on overcoming the said mindset all along.
“Your height doesn’t matter, you know. In fact, it had never crossed my mind. Until you took on the initiative of taking my height as your benchmark of sorts.” Rin spares Haru a response over the short thoughtful silence that came after her previous query. “It’s your true self and heart that really matters. Nothing more, nothing less, just yourself.” She confesses, something that could easily unnerve her though it gets more effortless each time, another strength that happiness had gifted her.
Upon hearing such words, it is now Haru’s turn to stand in front of Rin and places both hands on her face to scrutinise deeply into her eyes with a gentle smile. It never ceased to surprise him on just how much he could fall for someone he is already in love with – Rin causing him to reach a new milestone on the same thought from time to time.
Though it was Yuki whom had shaken him into a wake of pushing away the ill thoughts of others from claiming control of his way of life, Rin had been the listener of all his tales. A companion he never realised of needing since the start, a friend and a home where he could return to.
“What would I do without you?” He asks almost rhetorically.
“Probably still holding a grudge against that tree.” She nods sideways to the said plant behind her in an equal playful tone, fully aware of the possibility of trailing down a darker path if it came from her point of view though those thoughts are quickly distracted by a warm chuckle from Haru.
Eventually filling the comfortable silence that settled amidst his stare, Rin returns another question while enveloping Haru in her arms. “What do I deserve to have all this?”
“The world.” He answers her in utter certainty.
It had taken her a brief moment of surprise before coming up with a similar confession-like reply to his counterpart.
“I suppose that makes you my world then?” Rin smirks playfully, earning a swift yet deep kiss from Haru that shuts away all remnants of her quirky reply.
Conveying the same effect he had felt upon the prior shared moment, Haru breaks away and leans against Rin’s forehead to look right into her eyes. “As you are mine.”
Feeling triumphant of making Rin flustered in a constant unspoken challenge between the two, she only grunts in defeat as Haru plants a kiss on her forehead, almost grinning upon the action.
“We should continue our walk.” Rin suggests instead, settling upon a smile once she had failed to muster a roll of her eyes upon his success.
“Let’s go.”
He reaches for her left hand as their fingers intertwine instinctively with one another’s. Haru then steals the chance to caress his thumb upon their wedding band that graced Rin’s ring finger while she maintains the closeness between them as they continue down the park.