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Language:
English
Series:
Part 1 of Free! You & Me
Stats:
Published:
2024-01-02
Completed:
2024-03-09
Words:
7,539
Chapters:
26/26
Comments:
2
Kudos:
47
Bookmarks:
1
Hits:
507

If You Return

Summary:

In which Rin and Haru have been to the Olympics. Rin has come out as nonbinary and Haru, after a tragic swimming accident, is at the hospital in a coma. Will Rin ever be able to acknowledge their true feelings now?

Includes both Haru's and Rin's POVs. Poetic (verse) writing & traditional prose literature.

Written in the second-person ("I" facing a "you") also known as epistolatory style. Characters facing each other/addressing the other in their narration.

Chapter 1: (Haru)

Summary:

thank you guys so much for stopping by! i poured so much heart and soul into this work and i'm so thrilled that you're here to check it out.

Free! is literally my favorite anime ever and i will be an obsessive fan, probably always. nothing brings me joy like being able to share in our fan community here on Ao3.

i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed creating it. I actually wrote this story back in 2018, so it's been a long time coming to Archive.

from the bottom of my heart,
- i_love_watermelon

note: at the time this story takes place, Haru has recently turned 24. Makoto is 23, Rin is 23, and Gou is 22.

Chapter Text

1
Hey,
Rin.
I know you’re here.
I know
it’s you.
I’d know you anywhere.
The length of your shadow
has etched itself into
the farthest reaches of my mind.
Hallways that would almost always
echo
hollow,
now resound
with every
stitch
of you.
Like the heat of your breath
beside my neck
or your laughter
bouncing off lonely walls,
I have memorized it.
The presence of you
hovers beside me –
your weight,
your shape,
your spirit –
unwavering.
Unmistakable.
I could fabricate some petty excuse –
spun out of glory
like rays of the sun –
blinding enough
to banish my hesitation.
I used to dream at night.
I used to climb stairways
all the way to the clouds.
I used to count
a hundred speckles of color
glinting in the oceans
that swallowed me.

But these days,
I don’t dream any more.
I think you would understand.

No.
I am not dreaming.
This
is real.