Work Text:
Long distance relationships, huh...
Rin never thought he'd be in one, let alone in a relationship with his childhood friend. Who would've known things would turn out like this? A childhood friend you've admired since the beginning, had so many arguments with, shared so much pain yet so many fond memories—memories that he held close to his heart.
And yet here he was: laying on his couch, contemplating whether to contact Haru or not. Rin stared at the screen for far too long and when it suddenly rang, the phone fell right onto his face.
"Oww, fuck—" his anger dissipated upon seeing the caller ID.
七瀬遙
Decline Accept
Rin swore to God, he has never answered a phone call so fast in his whole life. This is Haru after all: his boyfriend.
He cleared his throat, pretending he wasn't too excited about it. As if he didn't contemplate calling him.
"Yo, Haru." his voice was echoing with nonchalance, seemingly unaffected.
"Rin..."
Crap, he said my name, he said my name!!
Rin covered his mouth with his other hand, suddenly forgetting how to breathe.
Shit, what do I say?
When there was no response, Haru was the first one to break the silence.
"I-Is it a bad time for me to call? What time is it there?" Rin almost felt bad for maneuvering the conversation to a dead end when their call was just getting started.
"N-no, and it's just an hour advance. No worries." The slight panic on his voice can be heard, afraid to give off the wrong impression when in reality, he was looking forward to seeing this the most.
"Ah."
"D-Did you need anything?" There was no way Rin would let this conversation end too soon.
"Nothing, I just wanted to hear your voice." It was said too casually to the point that it caught Rin off-guard. His face turned red at the thought.
Rin has always been the upfront kind of person yet Haru's bluntness took him by surprise.
I won't yield.
"I see."
"How did your practice go?" He added, playing it cool.
"It was okay. How about yours?" From the looks of it, Haru sounded a bit sleepy, his words slurring.
This instantly worried Rin.
"You sound sleepy, have you been overtraining again?" The tone of his voice shifted from being composed to a concerned one.
"Tch, I swear—"
An unexpected chuckle can be heard from the other end of the call which made the redhead's heart skip a beat.
SHIT, I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE.
He nearly fell to the ground from rolling on both sides due to how clumsy he was.
"Rin, you okay there?" The noises of his movements probably echoed through the call.
He cleared his throat, regrouping himself.
"Y-yeah!" his voice came out a bit out of tune.
God, you're too obvious, Rin. Get ahold of yourself!
"You didn't answer my question." Thankfully he managed to divert the topic elsewhere.
"Ah, that... I just had a long day. That's all." At least, it looked like Haru was telling the truth.
"Don't overdo it, you got me real worried there."
Huh?! Me?
"You're worried about me?"
Rin could've sworn he almost erupted like a freaking volcano.
Of course, I'm worried about you, you asshole! Why do you think I'm not? You're literally my boyfriend!
Except he said those words out loud.
Alas, silence filled the call once more.
Rin couldn't handle the embarrassment thus hanging up the call.
松岡凛: 悪い、さっきが知らねぇーけど俺はじゃねーよ.
(Warui, sakki ga shiranee— kedo ore wa janee—yo!)
sorry, I don't know what that was. But that wasn't me!
松岡凛: ったく、ねるんだよ! おやすみ.
(ttaku, nerundayo! oyasumi)
and for fuck's sake get some sleep! Goodnight.
松岡凛: 😘
松岡凛: あああっーそれは忘れてくれ.
(Aaa—sore wa wasurete kure)
Uhhh delete that from your memory.
七瀬遙: 何言ってんだ? おやすみ
(Nani ittenda? Oyasumi)
What are you saying? Goodnight.
A smile formed on the raven-haired's lips.
The two only became busier than ever, occupied with their swimming practice. After all they're both swimming competitively which meant working harder, and most definitely swimming longer than usual.
2 weeks has passed and their messages were only exchanges of good morning's goodnight's, how did your practice go? and have you eaten dinner yet? Nothing beyond the daily conversations that don't last for 30 minutes as they both don't have the time to plop down and chit chat since they were too tired from their practice.
Rin had been occupied with swimming but aside from that, his teammates have been bugging him to drink every week to blow off some steam but as an aspiring professional athlete, Rin cares too much about his physique. Not to mention he barely has time for himself so he always turns them down.
His phone rang and without checking the caller ID, Rin fished out his phone and haphazardly answered,
"Chris, for fuck's sake I am not going, mate. Can't a guy get some rest?" He groaned, clearly this wasn't the first time Chris phoned—pestered him to join them to go drinking.
There was no answer from the other end.
"What? Cat got your tongue?" He sighed a little too loudly, grabbing a fistful of hair.
Still, there was no answer from the other end of the call.
When Rin was about to say something he got immediately cut off—
"More."
Eh?
EHHH????
"Haru?!" the shift in his voice from Japanese to English was a bit drastic—the tone, voice and even the pitch but this is probably because it's Haru.
"You sound like a completely different person when you speak in English." Haru blurted out of nowhere.
"Is it a bad thing?" Rin asked.
"No... I like it, because it's you." Since when did Haru become this straightforward?
Rin was not prepared for that, it almost felt like cupid struck him straight to the heart.
"Although you seemed like a different person, I can tell that it's you."
Was Haru's goal was to render Rin speechless? If so, he has succeeded. Rin's raising his imaginary white flag now.
"Are you still there?"
The redhead was probably too occupied by his own thoughts, forgetting he's still on a call with his boyfriend.
"Y-Yeah."
"You called all of a sudden. Did something happen?"
God, I miss you so much.
"Nothing. I just missed you." Rin could've sworn Haru was there to give him a heart attack.
"Fuck-"
Rin blurted out in English.
"Rin, what happened?!" The tone of the voice on the other end of the call shifted from a soft one to a worried one.
Rin wanted to punch a wall so badly. He wanted to explode right there and then.
"ARGHHHH—"
Again, there was silence.
"I miss you so much, I wanna go home to hug you, kiss you and just spend time with you. I hate being away from you." Rin exclaimed in English as this was the only way for him to express his feelings without getting embarrassed.
It felt great to finally let that out.
"会いたかったか?" (Aitakatta ka?)
Did you miss me?
んーそんな感じ、てかーハアアー?!? (Nn, sonna kanji, teka—HAA—?!?)
Uh, yeah something like that. Wait- HUH?
The delayed realization was quite cartoonish in a way which was entertaining for Haru to witness—Rin getting puzzled like that.
"Don't tell me you understood all of that..." His voice sounded a bit slurred, Haru can tell that Rin was pouting at this point.
"Stop pouting."
"HUH? how did you— I swear to God, are you spying on me?" Rin shifted his eyes from left to right, checking if there were any hidden cameras installed in his place, which he realized was ridiculous as Haru hasn't been to Rin's apartment in Australia yet.
"Why would I do that if I can just video call you." It wasn't just a mere statement. It was an invitation.
Video call, with Haru?!?
"Should we?"
"If you want to."
Rin was almost hesitant to tap the video icon on the upper right corner, almost fumbling on his phone.
"Yo—" Rin was laying on the bed on his side, moving the camera a bit farther.
"You look like you need some sleep."
"Yeah, you too."
"No wonder you turned down Chris."
"Yeah— WHAT? YOU UNDERSTOOD THAT?"
Oh God HE UNDERSTOOD EVERYTHING?!
Rin's complexion turned deathlike pallor, draining all the color out of his face as if he saw a ghost.
"Rin, you look sick. Did you see a ghost?"
Oh crap, I almost forgot that I'm on a video call.
"Tell me Haru, how long have you been studying English?" Rin immediately regained his confidence.
"Hmm" his eyes gaze up at the ceiling momentarily before giving his answer.
"A few months now, I think."
"Wow, well aren't you a fast learner? But how come you never told me?" Since when did Haru start becoming this secretive? Sure, the guy doesn't voice out everything but this was something Rin didn't expect from Haru—him studying English.
"I intended to surprise you but I guess the cat's out of the bag now." The shift from Japanese to English took Rin by surprise. Sure, Haru still needed to work on his pronunciation but hearing his boyfriend speak in English made him happy.
"Look at you." It wasn't meant to make fun of his boyfriend, in fact he was proud of Haru.
Oh, look at my boyfriend. He's studying English for me.
My boyfriend is amazing. He's the best.
My boyfriend is smart: he does art, he swims beautifully and he also speaks English.
"I know, the pronunciation isn't nowhere near as good as yours."
"That's not what I mean." Rin snapped out of his reverie.
"Seriously, you're working hard and for someone to understand English in a few months, I think you're doing great. Give yourself some credit." The delivery of his words sounded like he was defending Haru from someone criticizing his boyfriend except that the one who's criticizing themselves is none other than Haru.
Haru let out a soft chuckle.
Oh my God, he's laughing.
Rin took screenshots endlessly, making sure he captured every moment of Haru's smile.
"O-oi! Are you taking screenshots?" Now it was Haru's turn to pout.
There goes the white flash coming from the screen reflecting on Rin's face, exposing him once more.
"S-stop taking screenshots—" Haru moved his hand to the screen, covering the camera.
"Oh come on, I need this!!"
"What for, when you have me—"
The redhead wanted to burst and roll over his bed. His face is probably turning red. At this point, he won't be able to form any coherent sentences.
"ARGHHHHH—"
Rin's phone was discarded to the side, it slid down to the floor with a loud thud. Haru could've sworn he heard something muffled.
"What was that?" It was Rin's, screaming on his pillow because he couldn't contain his feelings.
"Oh shit—" Rin slipped in English once more.
"You should speak more... in English."
"Only if you let me take screenshots of your face."
"Only if you speak in English."
"Fine, what do you want me to say?"
"Anything."
"Huh? That's too vague."
"Fine, do one of those ASMR voices."
Oh
OHHH
"Oh—didn't know you were into that." It was Rin's time to tease Haru.
"Shut up—"
"Are you doing it or not?" Despite the lack of emotion on his voice, Rin can tell that the raven-haired boy was flustered.
"Fine, I'll grant you this wish before you go to sleep."
"Av ya eaten dinnah yet? Did ya make sah ta get enough sleep?" Rin breathed a little too loudly yet it managed to come off soft on the call.
"Pleayse make sah ta eat on time. Because yah boyfriend is wawrried about ya." His voice was a lot softer than usual, echoed with concern.
Hmm, what else should I say?
"Goodnight, babe." That last line was said in a husky and deeper voice than the rest.
And when Rin looked at the screen again, his boyfriend was sleeping peacefully.
見たことのない景色 (Mita koto no nai keshiki.)
A sight I've never seen before.
Rin made sure to take plenty of screenshots before ending the call.
Here's what Rin's text messages look like:
