It starts with a simple conversation spurred on by his best friend, "So you really like that Nanase kid?" He knows his whole name yet refuses to say it even now, lightly poking at the air around him with his words, testing the water of sorts.
"Yeah," Rin takes a deep breath and shifts, nervous even before the words leave his mouth, "He's like nothing I've ever seen before. His swimming is sort of beautiful almost like a dolphin. He isn't all that bad looking either." He couldn't find the words to describe to his best friend, a man manlier than most, that he found Haru gorgeous even when he wasn't swimming.
"He's not all that muscular." Sousuke shrugged, eyes curiously drawn to his best friend.
"He may not be." Rin bit his lip nervously before he carried on with his statement, "But he's pretty in a way like a mermaid or something. He's much more than that too." Rin shrugged, nervously dusting his work out clothes off as if this was the worst place to ever talk about guys.
"So he's like a lady to you?" Sousuke asked, Rin's bisexuality hadn't really bugged him, but the description Sousuke found more than a little weird.
"No, he's different." Rin took a deep breath and let it race from his lungs finally in a solid 'whoosh,' "He's masculine too. He's usually much more level headed than most, you know? He sees the world differently than anyone. It's intriguing."
"So his mind is also what you like?" Sousuke was definitely teasing him now, much more at ease over Rin's almost subtle crush for now.
"I guess." Rin shrugged, dropping the conversation so easily.
Nitori was the next to speak up about it in a much more subtle way, "You've known Nanase-kun for a while, haven't you?"
"Yeah, we were childhood friends." Rin shrugged it off.
"What was it like to meet him when you were both so young?" Ai smiled as he shifted closer to his friend and role model.
"It was different." Rin settled on, staring up at the ceiling for a moment, seeing the day they met so vividly. "He was different. I felt a little happier near him."
"Was he?" Nitori leaned closer, reminding Rin of a teenage girl seeking good gossip.
"Do you have a crush on Haru or something?" Rin tossed back at his previous roommate and close friend.
"Of course not. I just want to understand you guys better." Nitori looked so curious as if that statement and no other statement could steer him off of his current mission.
"We've been friends for a while. You know he was a cute kid." Rin smiled, thinking back on it once more, "We grew up though. I can't say that he isn't still attractive though."
"Do you think of him any different than when you were younger?" Nitori had dived from an eager gossiping teenager to news reporter mode in a flash.
"Not really." Rin shrugged, "Why would age matter at all?" Rin finally grumbled as he walked away, not seeing the gentle smile on his ex-roommate's face.
"You really make Haru more competitive." Gou admired as she stared up at her older brother, "You two seem a lot closer than a year ago."
"We've always been a little like that." Rin shrugged, not being super interested in the topic.
"But somethings changed since you, two, were younger." She smiled, half lost at just the thought of it, "How do you see him?"
"Like a friend." Rin grumbled before relenting to his sister since she'd undoubtedly pull more information from him sooner or later, "He's like a fish in a way, so naturally talented as if he belongs there, and that's kind of beautiful. He's loyal too."
Gou beamed, "That's almost cute."
"It's not like that." Rin sighed, "It's just he's sort of meant for the water in a way, you'd never guess."
"It's there anything else?" Gou grew almost playful as she nudged her brother gently.
"His eyes." Rin took a deep breath, nervous yet again over all of this, "They shine like the ocean that separated us yet also like the water that brings us closer and closer. They tell me to keep going."
"Beautiful." Kou spoke up, gingerly, not minding at all the thought of him liking Haruka as more than just a simple friendship.
"It's..." Rin took a deep breath, searching for his thoughts, "Unlike anything else, really. I don't like him as much as you're probably thinking I do, but he reminds me without trying to of my goals and how much I really do love the water."
Kou rolls her eyes with a light smirk before she changes the topic, sensing the shift in her brother's willingness to answer her questions.
There are days when he gets a rare chance to spend time with his captain since the man had graduated just a year before.
"So are you and the Iwatobi boys still close?" Seijirou asks Rin with an almost mischievous glint to his eye.
"Yep." Rin can't help grumbling, dreading that he'll ask about Haru like everyone else has been lately.
Sei grins as if he can read his mind and redirects the conversation, "So tell me about Hazuki-san."
Rin nearly groans before he realizes that it isn't Haru that's been brought up this time, "He can be a little annoying, but he's not terrible at all. I kind of missed talking to him before."
"So how about Tachibana-san?" Seijirou begins easily enough.
"He's too nice; he needs to speak his mind more or he'll get hurt." Rin grumbles.
"Ryugazaki-san?" Seijirou grinned as he glanced over to his Kouhai, genuinely curious.
"He's a hard worker though a bit weird." Rin mutters calmly enough as he moves further away from Seijirou.
"How about Nanase-san?" Sei smiles, looking genuinely happy to have this conversation with his former team member.
"He doesn't talk nearly enough," Rin bites his tongue before he wills himself to say more, "He never was super talkative, but I still wish he'd talk to me more. He's still far too good of a swimmer, and it should definitely not be as beautiful as it is." Rin catches his breath and stops talking about his childhood friend.
"Wow, that sounded almost romantic." That twinkle is back in Sei's eyes, and Rin suddenly regrets saying too much yet again.
"It really isn't." He rebuffs his former captain, wondering how obvious he really was.
"How's your sister?" Sei seems happier now that he's asked about all of the Iwatobi Swim Team.
"You are still not allowed to date her." Rin grumbles, wondering why his ex-captain has to be so stubborn.
"Whoa, I didn't say anything about dating her, and what if she actually falls in love with me?" Sei teases as he watches Rin go still for a moment.
"You don't talk to her nearly enough, and I won't let you." Rin grumbles, stepping closer, but not really threatening him; Gou was not in front of them, so Sei's attraction was probably pretty harmless at the moment.
Nagisa's the one that corners him a little farther away from the pool one day, "Do you think Haru-chan's beautiful when he swims?"
"Go away." Rin grumbles, feeling his face turn bright red at the sudden pressure.
"Do you?" Nagisa looks too curious for his own good as Rin sighs, realizing that he has to answer Nagisa in some kind of way to send him to bug someone else with silly questions.
"Who doesn't think he is?" Rin grumbles, hoping that he sounds jealous and not at all like he wishes he could see Haru swim from his angle at the far end of the room.
"That's not really an answer." Nagisa rolls his eyes though his smile almost contradicts his statement as he silently begs for a better answer.
"Of course, I do." Rin mutters, hoping that the short blond will leave him alone with his incessant questions for a moment.
"How beautiful?" Nagisa eagerly interrogates his childhood friend.
"His hair looks dark and silky smooth when wet, his eyes sparkle when he's been swimming in the most beautiful way, and he reminds me of a merman with his ability to smoothly glide along the water." Rin blushes, wishes that Nagisa would just leave him alone, so that he doesn't have to dwell on the admittance than he'd given him, would deny the honesty of in the future if even so much as asked about.
"You're right." Nagisa hums, pulling back, and nearly smiling up at him. "I never thought of it that way."
Rin gulps back the burn of regret down his throat as he pushes Nagisa a little further away, so that he can see Haru a moment before Rin rushes to get changed out of his swim suit.
It's several months after Haru managed to calmly ask Rin out when Rin blurts out what he's been trying to keep in for so long that had been pulled out of him too many times in the past few months or so.
"You're like nothing else when you swim. Your eyes shine brighter than the stars in the dark, dark sky, and your hair is as smooth and soft as I always thought that it would be." Rin runs his fingers through Haru's hair tentatively, pressing a new kiss to his forehead, "I love how smooth it feels to be close to you and the way you swim as if you were born to the sea. I love the way you hold me close as if eager for every possible moment together."
Rin leans further away, feeling the sinking feeling in his gut of saying too much, too soon, but much too eager to finish speaking before he loses his train of thought, "I love the way you kiss me even though you taste like mackerel and how we seem to go together perfectly whenever we huddle close." Rin takes a deep breath, feeling the nerves kick in, nearly stopping him from finishing what he'd been saying, "I love swimming with you."
"I love you too." Is all that Haru says as he steps closer, knowing Rin far too well, and gently kisses Rin's lips as if it were the last drop of water in the middle of the desert.
"I love you." Rin breathes out, loving the way it soothes his throat, and makes his nerves fade way into the background of this moment.
Haru holds him tighter, gingerly brushing long, red hair back and calming the few tears that leak out of his boyfriend's eyes as they stand close together as if they'd become a single, breathing unit of life.
Rin latches on even tighter, thankful for the one that can always tell what he's trying to say when even the simplest words don't come out.