Hello!
This is my very first Free! fanfiction! It takes place during Eternal Summer, I'm not entirely sure when. Enjoy!
Free! does not belong to me.
Rin sat on his bunk looking at his phone in annoyance. It had been a few months since the room change, and in that time Ai had one texted him five times, called him three times, and come to his room four. Not that he was counting or anything, it was just strange. He had grown used to having the boy around him constantly, and now that he only saw him at practice or in passing during the day, he didn't quite know what to do. They didn't even eat together anymore. Now Nitori sat with his annoying new roommate, and hardly even glanced at Rin, and Rin didn't like it.
Sousuke coughed loudly, snapping Rin out of his thoughts. They were eating lunch and talking about the new training schedule Rin was planning for the team, but the sharks attention was somewhere else. He was looking across the room at a certain silver haired boy as he laughed at something Momotauro was doing. Tearinig his attention away from them, he said absentmindedly "What do you think they're talking about?" Sousuke glanced over at the young pair and raised an eyebrow "No idea. Does it matter?" Rin glanced over at them again before shaking his head and saying "No. I guess not." Sousuke studied him for a moment before shrugging off the strange behavior and went back to talking about swimming. Rin tried to pay attention, giving the occasional "hmm" and "uhuh", but his eyes continued to wander back to Nitori. Finally, Sousuke had had enough. He rolled his eyes and picked up his tray. "I'm going to get ready for practice. Come on, if you're not to busy staring at that second year." That got the swim team's captain's full attention. His face turned as red as his hair and he growled "Shut up.", his voice about an octave higher than usual. His friend laughed and walked away, leaving Rin alone to send one last look in his old roommate's direction before he got up to follow.
After practice that day, Rin spoke to his team to congratulate them on the good speeds and remind them that they would be picking people to swim the relay in a week. Everyone was walking away when he called out "Hey, Ai!" the second year turned around and smiled at Rin "Yes, Matsuoka Senpai?" For some reason Rin's face began to feel hot and his stomach flip-flopped. To hide his embarrassment, he turned his face to the side and scowled. "I told you just to call me Rin." he said, wincing at how harsh the words came out. If Nitori noticed, he didn't say anything. He just smiled and said "What did you want?" Rin thought for a moment. What had his reason been for calling Nitori over? Did he even have one? If he had, it had been forgotten the minute the silver haired boy had smiled at him (although why that was, Rin couldn't figure out). He stuttered for a moment before saying "I just, um, wanted to say...er... good job. You know, today. In...um...you know... swimming." He could have slapped himself. Why did he have to sound like such an idiot? Ai's face lit up and he practically bounced up and down. "Thank you, Senpai!" he said happily. "Whatever." Rin said, the harsh tone back in his voice. "See you later." He practically sprinted back to his room, getting there out of breath and still in his swimsuit since he had forgotten to change.
He closed the door with a heavy sigh and walked into the bathroom to shower. What had that been about? Not only had he made himself look like a complete idiot, he also ran off and left Ai standing there alone and probably incredibly confused as to why he was acting so strangely. Rin wished he could figure it out himself. Why was it that recently every time he had talked to Nitori, he felt embarrassed and nervous? Why did he get butterflies in his stomach whenever Nitori was nearby? And why in the name of swimming couldn't he get him out of his head? As he climbed into the shower, Rin sighed. It was a complete mystery.
And that's all for chapter one! I don't know why I write Rin as such an idiot, but I feel like he's not very in touch with his emotions and would be extremely confused about things like crushes. I'm going to alternate the focus character back and forth, so next chapter will be more Ai centered.
Please leave a review, and thanks for reading:)