Work Text:
Haruka Nanase should not be feeling like this. No, he has never felt like this. If only he had not done it. If only his curiosity did not get the better of him.
It all began when he was scrolling through his Instagram feed. At first, Haruka did not see why he had to have an Instagram account but then his boyfriend and the rest of his friends seemed to pretty much into it and bugged the heck out of him to sign up. Although he rarely posted or updated his feed, Haruka would sometimes find himself following accounts that focus on recipes, swimming, and ocean photography. Haruka was the type of person who liked whatever he saw on his feed as long as he found it interesting. But this one photo, he could not like it at all.
It was a photo of Rin and his friends in Australia. It was his last day there so his friends threw him a farewell party. Haruka had stayed behind since he still had college classes to worry about. Rin and his friends were standing in front of a fancy bar with their smiles out. But the one thing that caught Haruka’s eye was that one girl who had her arm wrapped around Rin’s. He immediately checked the tagged names on the photo to find out who the girl was. Her name did not come out. He then looked at Rin’s account and scrolled through his tagged photos. And this was when Haruka Nanase hit his breaking point.
There were different photos of Rin with other girls. Now, Haruka knew Rin was the touchy kind of person but this was crossing the line. In the photos, Rin either had his arm behind the girls’ shoulder or had a girl clinging onto it. He read the descriptions in each photo- “OMG so glad to finally meet him! @RinMatsuoka02”, “Meeting @RinMatsuoka02 is a dream come true <3”, “He shook my hand! I can’t believe it! Thank you so much for the great night @RinMatsuoka02 :)”, “Guess who’s with me right now? <3 It’s THE Rin Matsuoka!” Haruka felt something in his chest and had a sour taste in his mouth. He never felt like this before. He was annoyed, confused and wanted to shove the faces of girls into the mud. It was stupid to think that way since it was just a photo and Rin probably wasn’t into those girls. Or was he?
He locked his phone and marched to the bedroom. He threw the device on his bed then tried to lay down and sleep. “How dumb,” he mentally insulted himself. He was getting riled up because Rin had those photos with those girls. What was this feeling called? He was pissed, but he didn’t know who he was supposed to be pissed at: Rin for being too close to those girls, those girls for being too close to Rin, or at himself because he could not admit that he was getting worked up over what he saw. Maybe it was all three. No, Haruka Nanase will never admit it. He could not. There was no way he would ever say it.
He tried to shake off what he saw that night. He covered himself with the blanket and shifted until he could find a comfortable position to sleep in. But he couldn’t. He wanted to pick up his phone again and look into those girls’ profiles and see if they had more photos of Rin or to make sure that they were all taken. “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t,” Haruka reminded himself. And without noticing, he fell asleep.
The next morning, Haruka woke up to a call. He rummaged through the bed to find his phone and checked the caller ID. Rin. He looked at the screen and debated with himself whether he should answer the call or not. “Forget about last night,” he thought to himself. He then took the call.
“Haru? Hey!” A voice came from the other line.
“Rin.” Haruka responded.
“I’m guessing you just woke up. I was calling you for the past ten minutes.”
“Oh.”
“Anyway, I’m in a taxi right now. See you when I get home!”
“Okay.”
“Love you! And I really missed you.”
Haruka just hanged up and placed the phone on his bedside table. He dragged his feet to the bathroom and brushed his teeth. Afterwards, he got on with his usual morning routine. He looked at the clock and saw that Rin would be home in an hour. Should he wait for him downstairs? Should he go for a run and hopefully meet him on the way? Then he remembered the photos from last night. That annoying, irritating feeling with a semi-murderous intent and a sour taste was back. And Haruka hated it. What was this feeling called?
He stomped to the bathroom and turned on the tap. While waiting for the tub to fill, he undressed and washed himself. When he finished, he sank down into the tub and tried to clear his head. And no sooner, he fell asleep in the tub.
“Haru?”
“Haru!”
“BABE!”
The raven-haired teen’s eyelids fluttered. He looked up and saw crimson eyes staring at him. “I told you not to sleep in the tub.”
Haruka frowned and turned his eyes to the wall. Rin sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “You’re not even going to say ‘welcome home’ and give me a kiss?”
The raven was quiet.
“Hey? Earth to Haru?” There was only silence. "I got you a souvenir! C'mon!"
Not a single word from the latter.
“What’s wrong with you? Are you mad?” Rin was getting annoyed. He could feel his temper rising.
“No,” Haruka replied and stood out of the tub. He picked up a towel and began drying himself.
“Then why are you ignoring me?”
Haruka then placed the towel on his head and began drying his hair. “I’m not,” he said as he walked out of the bathroom.
“Yes, you are!” Rin said as he followed Haruka into the hallway. He walked behind the shorter teen and followed him to the bedroom, only to get the door shut right into his face.
“What the hell is with you, Haru!?” The redhead knocked angrily at the door.
Haruka paid no attention to the enraged knocking at the door and got dressed. When he was done, he opened the door and came face to face with a clearly pissed-off Rin Matsuoka. “Talk to me.”
The raven just casually slipped past his lover, but then he felt a strong grip on his arm. “Haru.”
Haruka remained silent. Rin clicked his tongue. “Well? Are you just going to keep something from me.”
“Rin. Let go.”
“Look at me when you’re talking to me.” The redhead’s voice was cold and stern. Haruka then turned around and faced him. His eyes were as cold as steel. But Rin’s gaze was a fervid fire ready to burst.
It was there that Haruka dropped his head and sobbed. He had melted down and tears were running down his cheeks. He rarely cried and Rin has always had some trouble consoling him when he did.
“Damn it.” The redhead muttered under his breath. “Look, I’m sorry, Haru. It’s just that I can’t take it when you ignore me. You didn’t even say ‘I love you’ when I called you.”
The sobs were getting louder no matter how much Haruka tried to compose himself. He couldn’t. The more he held the tears, the more they flowed. Keeping them in was no good. Just like that feeling from last night.
“Look, I screwed up, okay? Just… Talk to me. I really missed you,” Rin said weakly.
But there was still no reply, just incessant sobbing. Haruka could not answer. Not when he’s going through another conflict with himself.
“I…” Haruka breathed out. There were so many voices in his head right now. Altogether, they were telling him to give in and admit his feelings, and to withdraw and flee from the situation.
Haruka raised his head and tried to look into Rin’s eyes. “I… I’m sorry… I just…”
His gaze dropped once again. He wasn’t just sobbing now, he broke down.
“I… I was…” Putting words together had never been this difficult for Haruka. “I… I didn’t like them!” The raven nearly screamed out.
“Huh?” Rin was confused. “Them?” He wondered.
“I… I don’t like it when other people get close to you! Especially if I don’t know them… I hate it….” Haruka’s crying had softened a little.
It was clear to Rin. “Wait, are you-?”
Rin didn’t know whether to laugh or not. Haruka finally stopped crying and was wiping some tears from his eyes. "It's not fair... I want to be the only one who gets to hold you."
The shorter teen looked adorable even with a flushed face and puffy eyes. It was unfair for someone to look this cute even after bawling for a good three minutes. Still, Rin felt like kicking himself in the balls for letting those pictures happen. “I... I’m sorry, Haru.” He pulled his lover into an embrace and rested his head on the latter’s shoulder. He felt a pair of arms weakly wrap around his torso.
"You're the only one for me even if I meet millions of people. Even if those girls were clinging to me, the only one I ever thought of while I was in Australia was you." Rin tilted Haruka’s face towards his and kissed his soft lips. “I won’t do it next time.”
When they broke away, Haruka looked into his eyes and lifted his pinky. “Promise?”
“I promise.” Rin replied and linked his pinky with his lover’s.
==================================================
“Is that him?”
“Silly, of course it’s him! There’s no mistake!”
“Wow, he’s really tall…”
“We should take a picture!”
“Are you crazy!? He’s got someone with him now, it would be rude!”
“But it’s rare to see a celebrity out in the open!”
Haruka scowled. If those two girls were whispering, they were doing an awful job at it. He took Rin’s hand and kept on walking only to be stopped when the two girls called out.
“E-excuse me, Matsuoka-san!”
They were right behind them. One of them had her phone in her hands. “Is it okay if we take a picture?”
Rin looked at Haruka. “Can I?”
“No touching.” Haruka replied. He let go of Rin’s hand and moved away.
“Oh! Please join in the picture too!” One of the girls told Haruka.
The girls stood on each side, placing Haruka and Rin in the middle. Rin then draped an arm around Haruka’s shoulders.
“R-Rin!” Haruka was flustered. “What?” The redhead cheekily replied.
“Okay, one… Two… Three!”
CLICK!
“Thank you for the photo!” The two girls bowed and walked away. Even from a distance, Haruka can still hear them.
“Woah, he’s even hotter in person!”
“I know! But the guy who was with him was cute too, right?”
“You bet! He had pretty blue eyes!”
While watching the two girls walk away, Haruka felt a hand on his waist. “You know,” Rin began. “You’re not the only one who gets jealous.”