Chapter Text
Haru was in the bath, as usual. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t the only person in the house anymore.
“Hey, will you get out of there?” Makoto called from behind the door. “You’ll be late for orientation!”
Maybe, if I don’t answer, he’ll leave me here… Haru thought. He had forgotten about orientation, and the thought of it was enough to ruin his year. An entire day of standing up and sitting down and standing up and sitting down and… well, he had better things to be doing, like bathing, and eating lunch.
He heard Makoto knock at the door and leaned back under the water. No. No orientation today. Only bath.
To his despair, Haru heard the door open. He sat up, frowning at Makoto.
“I told you not to call me Haru-chan anymore-”
But it wasn’t Makoto who had come to see him.
“Yo, Haru,” said Rin, waving lazily at him. He was dressed for rain, but also dressed like he was the catalog boy for Uniqlo. Haru thought he ought to shop at different stores for once. He was starting to see the logo in his dreams.
“Rin. You’re here,” Haru said.
“Observant.” Rin laughed. “Come on, I’m taking you to school.”
Haru sighed irritably and got up out of the bath. Rin smirked at him.
“Still bathing in your swimsuit?”
Haru scowled at him. “Don’t judge me.”
“You know it’ll ruin the material.”
“I swim in my other one.”
“Do you sleep in a swimsuit too?”
“Rin…”
Rin shrugged and held the door open for him. “Just get dressed.”
“I haven’t eaten breakfast yet,” protested Haru.
“Good.” Rin smiled, holding up a plastic grocery bag. “I got you some mackerel onigiri before I arrived. I know it’s your favorite kind.”
Haru flinched. This guy… He’s thought of everything…! He had no choice but to go and get dressed now.
He wandered into the hallway, where Makoto was waiting. Makoto smiled at him piteously, arms crossed, and shook his head.
“Don’t say anything,” Haru said, turning red.
“Me? Never,” Makoto responded, grinning.
He went into his room and put on some jeans, a button down shirt, and a windbreaker- remembering to put on his daytime swimsuit, of course. He also made sure to grab his student ID, and the new phone that Makoto made him buy. Apparently communication was “important” and Haru “needed to stop ghosting his friends, or they’d think he was dead”.
He put his stuff in his backpack and came out of his room. Makoto handed him his jacket and gave him a quick hug.
“I’ll be joining you later on, ok? I’m helping Kisumi move into his place.”
“Alright. Have a nice time…” He turned to Rin, who was waiting by the door for him. “Let’s go?”
“Let’s go.” Rin held the door for him again. He couldn’t help smiling softly at the floor, where he was sure Rin couldn’t see.
“Thank you…”
“No problem,” Rin replied, putting his umbrella up.
Haru looked up and his face flushed. It was raining; his favorite weather.
“This weather getting you fired up?” Rin asked him.
“Not really,” Haru said, feeling extremely fired up. Rin laughed at him.
“Aren’t you just typical…”
They climbed down the stairs and Rin let Haru into his car.
“You can eat in here, I don’t mind,” said Rin.
“Thanks…” Haru sighed sadly as he sat down.
“What’s the big deal?” Rin asked him, frowning a little.
“Nothing.”
“It’s because I’m not letting you walk there in the rain, isn’t it…”
“Not really.” Haru frowned, because that was exactly what the problem was.
“I’m not letting you give yourself a cold. Your dad back there would have a heart attack.” He pointed at Makoto, who was waving to them as they left.
Haru couldn’t argue with that, so he stopped talking and watched the rain.
“Hey, Haru?” Rin asked him.
“Hm?”
“Aren’t you excited?”
“How come?”
“Well, I mean…” He smiled, and pushed his hair back so he could see the road better. “It’s the first time we’ve been on a team together since elementary school.”
The realization hadn’t kicked in before, but it hit Haru hard in the gut, like a bicycle had crashed into him. Although they had swam together the past year, they hadn’t had much to do but compete.
“Yeah. I’m excited.” Haru nodded, not hiding his smile this time. “I’m burning up.”
“Don’t think this means I’ll go easy on you,” Rin drawled, parking the car.
“I’m not thinking that…”
“Then what are you thinking?”
“I’m going to beat you into the ground in the time trial,” Haru said casually.
Rin’s eyes widened, and he turned away, clutching his chest. His face wasn’t visible, but his ears were redder than his hair.
“Man, can you give me a heads up next time?”
Haru raised an eyebrow. “Next time what?”
“You’re treating me like a worthy opponent for once…” Rin looked up at him, smirking. “You should be careful. Get me too fired up and I’ll sweep the free leg of the relay from under your feet.”
“Mmhm.” Haru clambered awkwardly out of the car, ruining the smooth exit he planned to make. Rin didn’t seem to care though, as he was still red faced. He looked at Haru fondly and jogged up the path a little.
“Come on! The office is this way.”
“Slow down ,” Haru complained, running after him. He’s always got to be the fastest, huh…
The office was a small, red building with an umbrella rack outside. Rin closed his umbrella, shook the rain off it, and placed it in the stand.
“Come on, Haru! In here.”
Rin walked over to the office secretary and pulled out some paper from his bag.
“We’re here to check out our locker keys. I’m Matsuoka and he’s Nanase.”
“Alright. Just a second, please,” the secretary said, digging through a drawer. “May I verify your phone number?”
Haru glazed over a bit and looked longingly through the small window on the back door. The locker room was so close… The pool was so close…
5 more minutes , Haru thought. 5 more minutes until I can be free…
He came back to his senses as Rin nudged him in the chest slightly, dangling a key in front of his face.
“This one’s yours. Shame your locker’s so far from mine…”
“Hm…”
Rin raised an eyebrow at him.
“What? Do you want me to wait with you while you load up?”
Haru nodded.
“Thank you, Rin.”
“Nah. No time for that now. You can thank me later, after I beat you.”
Haru sighed softly and went to his locker to change. As he put his clothes away, Rin looked sideways at him, and smirked again.
“I knew it. You’ve got your swimsuit on under your clothes again.”
“You shouldn’t watch people getting undressed, Rin,” Haru muttered, smiling a little as he put away his shoes.
“Hey- you were the one who said I should wait with you while you loaded your locker! How was I supposed to know you were gonna change?”
“Context clues.”
Rin shook his head and sighed.
“I really can’t tell if you’re joking or not, Haru.”
Haru shrugged.
“We watch each other change all the time. You tell me.”
“Ugh… anyways, prettyboy, if you’re done now, I’m going to load up my locker, and I’ll do it with my shirt on .”
“Ok. See you in the gym.”