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“This blows.”
“Mm.”
“I mean, who really cares about the use of gold in Byzantine period art anyway?”
“Mm.”
“Ugh, why do I even have to take this stupid class? This has literally nothing to do with physical therapy!”
“Mhm.”
“Thanks for the support, Haru. You’re really helpful, I don’t know what I’d do without our little talks.”
Haru rolled his eyes, putting down his pen when it became clear that Rin wasn’t going to let him get back to studying anytime soon. He gave his friend a blank stare, secretly pleased when it succeeded in setting Rin off further.
“You know, I shouldn’t have even bothered to come over and study with you-”
“I didn’t ask you to, you followed me in after dinner,” Haru muttered, but Rin continued, clearly ignoring him.
“-especially since you’re an art freak anyway. You’re probably loving this crap, aren’t you?”
Haru raised a brow. “Drawing has nothing to do with art history, Rin.”
“Still, you probably know all about how Van Gough was the most famous Romanticism dude or whatever,” Rin jeered, glaring at Haru from across the table.
“Van Gough was Post Impressionism.”
“See!” Rin pouted, turning his head and glare to focus on Haru’s bed. “Stupid required credits,” he bemoaned, getting up from the floor and practically throwing himself on the bed.
Just help yourself why don’t you. Haru scowled at his overbearing friend, even though he knew it would do no good; even if Rin wasn’t face down on his blanket, the obnoxious redhead would just ignore Haru. Kind of like he had when Haru had protested Rin’s invasion of his room an hour ago.
“Hey, gimme your phone.”
Haru blinked out of his glare, looking at Rin in confusion. “Why?”
“Cause mine died and I need to text Sousuke,” Rin declared, rolling onto his side to look at Haru.
“I don’t want you sexting from my phone.” Haru deadpanned.
“Oh, fuck off, I wasn’t going to! That’s gross, Haru, like I’d do that from your damn phone,” Rin yelled, turning red at the very idea.
“But you do it from yours, clearly,” Haru continued, thoroughly enjoying the variety of different shades of red Rin’s face could turn.
“Sh-shut up, Haru!” Rin stuttered. The effectiveness of the glare he shot Haru was cancelled out by the blush crawling down his neck. “Just give me your fucking phone already!”
Before Haru could deny Rin, because he was definitely going to, no matter what promises Rin made- that and he had kind of hoped Sousuke had lost his number and Haru didn’t want to risk changing that- Rin had managed to locate the cell in question on top of Haru’s desk, quickly swiping it up before Haru could make any move to stop him.
“Rin-”
“Password, eh? What, don’t trust me, Haru?” Rin jeered, tapping away at the screen.
“No,” Haru muttered, more to himself than Rin. “Give it back, you can’t open it anyway.”
“I can’t, huh? Let’s see… Haru’s password… Not ‘water’? Shocker.”
“Rin.”
Ignoring the warning tone, Rin continued to attempt to unlock Haru’s phone. “Wait, I know. M-a-c-k-e-r-e-l.”
Haru’s eyes narrowed. “Rin-!”
“Oh my god, Haru, really?! I was just kidding! You need to be more creative, jeez,” Rin laughed, scrolling through Haru’s now unlocked phone and into his contacts. “Chill out, dude. I just need to ask Sou a question about this weeken- hang on. Who the hell is ‘Hot Guy’?”
Fuck.
“No one. None of your business,” Haru answered quickly, probably too quickly for his words to be believed as he launched himself at Rin in an attempt to reclaim his phone. “Give my phone back.”
“Which one is it, Haru?” Rin taunted, as he- unfortunately- dodged Haru’s attack, rolling off the bed and dancing across the floor, putting the low table between him and Haru. “There’s an awful lot of texts here for him to be ‘no one.’”
“Rin, if you don’t give me back my phone-”
“You’ll what?” Rin asked with a laugh.“Wait, what does ‘You must be a compound of beryllium and barium because you’re a total BaBe’ mean? ...Holy crap, are you flirting with this guy?!”
He clearly wasn’t taking Haru’s threat seriously. Haru would have to change that.
“Give it back or I’ll tell Yamazaki about the time I found you practicing confessing to a picture of him and calling him your ‘Sunshine.’”
That got Rin’s attention.
Face as red as his hair- which Haru off-handedly thought was quite an impressive feat- Rin immediately dropped the phone, the device going dark after bouncing on the rug a few times. Haru shot Rin a final glare as he stooped to pick it up, checking to make sure the screen wasn’t cracked before stashing it safely in his pocket.
“That’s low, Haru,” Rin whispered, unable to meet Haru’s gaze.
Haru hummed a vague agreement. It was, but he didn’t regret it. Not if it meant keeping Rin from finding out about Makoto. Haru didn’t know why, but he wanted to keep his new friend all to himself.
He decided not to delve too deeply into that thought.
“Hey,” Rin said after clearing his throat, drawing Haru’s attention again. “Seriously, who is this guy, Haru? He’s new, right? Did you meet him in class?”
Haru gave Rin a suspicious look at the sudden change in demeanor. Rin might not have been the most conniving person, but he did have Gou for a sister, so Haru imagined some of her cunning must have rubbed off at some point. Best to stay on guard. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because I’m your friend, you ass, jeez,” Rin snarked, crossing his arms as he glared at Haru. He had been doing that a lot that night. “You act like it’s weird for me to care about you and what happens in your life.”
Haru couldn’t help feeling a bit guilty at that. Rin probably was just trying to look out for him; in his usual obnoxious, heavy-handed way. Maybe he could cut him some slack. “Sorry.”
“So… Have you fucked yet?”
Too much slack. Way too much.
“Relax, I’m just messing with you!” Rin cackled, thoroughly amused with himself as he ignored Haru’s deathglare. “Sorry, you’re way too easy, Haru. Or rather, you aren’t, which is why this is all so hilarious.”
Haru thought he and Rin must have very different definitions of the word as he continued to glower at Rin.
Of course, Rin was right, in a sense. Haru was lacking in the romantic experience department. He had never liked someone enough for all the hassle a relationship, or even just a one time fling, would take to be worth it. But maybe for Makoto…
“Come on, Haru, I’ll stop teasing you if you just tell me who he is already!”
Haru sighed deeply, knowing that really was the only way he would get Rin to stop harassing him. Not that he would actually tell him everything. “He’s just a guy I met. He’s… a friend.”
“Wow, friend, huh? That’s a mighty impressive feat,” Rin said, nodding as if he really was impressed. And maybe he was; Rin was just as aware of Haru’s ability to make friends as Haru’s ability to get dates, after all. “So what’s so special about him, then? Besides his good looks,” Rin added with a smirk, because of course.
“Why do you say that?” Haru asked slowly, eyes narrowed.
“Haru. You named him ‘Hot Guy’ in your phone. It’s probably safe to assume his body is banging. Unless your taste has really went downhill from high school,” Rin said, grinning far too much in Haru’s opinion.
“It hasn’t,” Haru grit out, feeling the irrational and probably poorly thought out urge to defend Makoto’s hotness.
“Ah, now we’re finally getting somewhere,” Rin said, flashing his shark-toothed smile and Haru knew he had fallen right into the trap. Crap. “Tell me more!”
“No thanks.”
“Oh come on! I can’t even remember the last time you liked someone! Indulge me here!” Rin flashed Haru what he probably thought was a cajoling look, though it only served to sour Haru’s mood further.
“I don’t- I don’t like him. It’s just a crush, it doesn’t mean anything,” Haru muttered, though at that point he wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince more, Rin or himself.
Rin scrutinized him for a few moments, making Haru shift uncomfortably where he stood. “Yeah, sorry, not buying it,” he concluded, continuing before Haru could interrupt, “I’ll let it go for now, but don’t think I won’t find out, Haru. Cause you know I always do.”
Haru didn’t dignify that with an answer- mostly because he knew Rin was right (about the always finding out part only, of course). Instead he decided it was time to return to studying, gracefully returning to his previously abandoned spot on the floor. His phone seemed to be burning a hole in his pocket though, the urge to text Makoto suddenly at the forefront of his mind- not that it was ever really far off to begin with.
It had been a few hours since they last talked via message, chatting about their upcoming lab. It was only a few days away, but somehow it felt much longer, especially after he had spent a good portion of the weekend finding excuses to hang out with Makoto. Not that they were really ‘excuses’ of course; Haru did have to do his laundry, what difference did it make that he stal-visited the laundry room a handful of times during the day on Saturday until he (finally) stumbled upon Makoto down there? And he had promised Makoto a mackerel dinner after all; it wasn’t his fault that he had bought enough fish for two meals and Makoto was too polite to turn down a second dinner. And Makoto had asked Haru to study with him, and it wasn’t really all that odd that Haru suddenly forgot most of chapter two and needed Makoto to go over it with him- while sitting close together- for an extra hour. And then they both had to eat on Sunday anyway, so it wasn’t weird that Haru told- er, asked Makoto to meet him in the dorm lobby so they could go eat together.
Just totally normal friend stuff.
Haru nodded to himself, as if to further convince himself of that fact, and made a silent promise to text Makoto as soon as Rin left- which would hopefully be soon.
Rin eventually followed suit, flopping unceremoniously to the floor and pulling his text book into his lap, apparently keeping his word of dropping the subject. For the moment.
The room was blissfully silent for a full ten minutes after that, Haru able to finally relax and focus on his notes once again.
“So. When can I meet him?”
Haru was honestly surprised Rin had lasted as long as he had.
That didn’t stop him from sighing deeply and chucking his highlighter at the laughing redhead in front of him though.