One of these days, he will end up killing himself for worrying about trivial things. If he does not wind up dead, then he will suffer from a few injuries at the very least. With pain or death, he may just have a shot at forgetting his raging romanticism—even better if he lost it altogether.

Why was it that he managed to change this much, but still he remains a romantic? His childhood friends had even mentioned that he was no longer as open as he was more than three years ago. His personality practically did a full 180. But, why did he still cling to his ideals in romance? People did say that some things just never change, but why did his have to be his romanticism? If anything, his romantic ideals just grew and grew as he got older, it was ridiculous. More than ridiculous, it only gave him trouble.

Rin just wanted to be rid of it. It only made him mull over silly matters that would normally be easy to deal with.

It was a curse, especially in love. Most especially when he was dating someone.

His romanticism bled into every little thing he does in his love life. This would have been nothing if he still had the same personality when he was a brat—being so open and jovial, he would dive into any of his romantic ideals in a heartbeat. But because he was not like that any longer, his romanticism and current personality was always at odds with each other. Every day was an internal struggle to be a passionate lover or to be casual boyfriend.

It was as if every day, he would wake up and immediately find himself in conflict over whether to send a good morning text message with a or a plain good morning message. Worse was if he worried about it too much, he ends up not sending one at all and seeming like an indifferent boyfriend. He does not want that to happen. If only he weren't a romantic, he wouldn't be so torn over a simple text, or so he thought.

In his defense, Rin does not think that his romanticism was all to blame for his troubles. He believes that to some degree, the other party was also to blame. After all, a person's thoughts and decisions are always partly influenced by another person. The level of conflict depends a lot on the partner. Unfortunately, for him, his partner was someone worth thinking about regularly.

Haruka was definitely worth thinking about whenever he had the chance (for various reasons). This, his romanticism and his personality did not even have to fight about.

But then, it all goes back to himself eventually. After considering the other party, it will still be up to him to make the final decision. Of course, the outcome will vary depending on the side that took over most of his thoughts. And most of the time, if his romantic side wins, he almost always ends up regretting his decision.

Like a moment ago, Rin was debating whether or not to ask Haruka what he wanted for his birthday. His romanticism managed to win him over and made him go ahead and ask. His romantic side told him that it would be really nice if he would give Haruka what he really wanted. Although, knowing Haruka, anything water-related would definitely make him happy. But, Rin did not want to make so simple, but he also did not want to risk choosing a present that Haruka may not like. So, asking Haruka was his final verdict.

At first glance, the idea did seem foolproof, and it never crossed his mind that he would regret asking what Haruka wanted. Alas, he was completely mistaken and he just wanted to go ahead and kick the bucket.

But to be fair, Rin did not expect the usually reserved Haruka to request for something so bold. He figured he and Haruka would step into this level of their intimacy in the future, but he did not think it would be this soon. Did he hear Haruka's words correctly?

"Sorry, Haru. What did you want for your birthday?" Rin repeated slowly.

Rin watched the other boy's face closely. Haruka did not even look remotely shy, maybe he had heard it wrong the first time. He waited patiently until Haruka opened his mouth and flatly said:

"Pool sex."

Rin took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. No, maybe he still did not hear that right. Trying to be calm he asked, "I'm sorry, what?"

Haruka looked mildly irritated. "I said, I want to have pool sex for—"

Rin finally snapped. "Oy, Haru! I'm being serious here! Stop fooling around!" He roared. Mentally, he sighed. This was the first time he attempted to do something like this and it ended up being taken as a joke. It was disheartening.

"Look, just tell me what you want, okay?" Rin said, partially begging.

To his surprise, Haruka glared at him. "I already told you." He murmured and almost immediately turned, and ran away—leaving Rin gaping in disbelief.

To think that Haruka would ask for sex as a present was surreal. Even more so was for him to ask for a specific type. When he said Haruka would be happy with anything water-related, he did not think intercourse was also under that category. But nature of the gift aside, how serious was Haruka about it? From how he spoke and acted, there was a high chance that he was not kidding. Rin still found it hard to believe. But, assuming Haruka was a hundred percent serious, how exactly will Rin be able to give him that?

How does one go about preparing pool sex as a birthday present?

Rin kicked himself mentally. If he knew this was going to happen, he never should have asked. Once again, he managed to create a world of trouble for himself. This was exactly why he wanted to be rid of his romanticism. Always striving to meet his ideals, he almost always ended up getting a headache for his efforts. He shouldn't have had worried so much about Haruka's birthday gift. Didn't they always say that it was the thoughts that counted?

Nevertheless, even if regret was always at the end, he still had to see through his decisions. No matter how much of a mess he was in, he did not have the heart to go back on his words and actions.

He will just have to see what he can do.

The next time he starts to decide about something, he will never consider his romantic side ever again.

His efforts to prepare Haruka's present were not only difficult, but they also reduced his dignity to its bare minimum. Apparently, when you meticulously plan something like pool sex for someone's birthday, you need other people to help you especially when you have not even graduated from high school. Somehow, spontaneous sex in the pool was far easier to do than a planned one.

There was the problem with the pool to be used. With his current economic capability, Rin did not have the means to procure a private pool by Haruka's birthday. Renting one for a day was presently impossible too. He considered buying an inflatable pool, but that did not seem enticing. Fortunately, he knew of a pool that he could use for the occasion. Unfortunately, it was an outdoor pool and a property of a school at that, so it may be difficult to just go ahead and do it there.

So, he acquired the assistance of other people—that is, Makoto and company—to make his birthday present a success.

Acquiring the assistance was mortifying and humiliating. Rin had doubts that he could perform the deed well with all the embarrassment he faced. Also, he feared he might end up complaining about the ridiculous request to Haruka, end up fighting, and nothing will have come of his efforts.

Rin never wanted to wrack his head about something like this again.

And now, here he was, standing near the Iwatobi High swimming pool with the birthday celebrant. A while ago, the area was catering a small gathering of friends. Now, everyone else has left the vicinity, except for him and Haruka. Rin was nervous. He had his back turned on Haruka, and his heart was beating like crazy.

He knew Haruka was waiting for him to say something, but he just wanted some more time to mentally prepare himself for what was to come. Seeing Haruka so composed, Rin was a bit annoyed. How the other boy was not feeling the least bit anxious was irritating. He felt like he was the only one worrying about it, he hated it.

"Rin, why are we still here?" Haruka asked, sounding impatient.

Rin turned to face him and stammered, "You—you were the one who asked for this!"

Haruka blinked slowly at him. "If you're going to give me your present, give it now so I can go home already."

"Hey, you know this isn't something I can give quickly. Don't be impatient." He gritted.

Haruka propped a hand on his hip and insisted, "What are you talking about?"

Rin glared. "Oy, don't play dumb. You asked for this!" He roared. "You asked for pool sex, so here!"

Haru just scrunched his brows in irritation. "You—don't tell me, you took that seriously?"

Rin gaped for a second, stunned. As the matter sunk in deeper, he snapped and shouted, "What—that was a joke? You seemed pretty serious when you said it!"

"What makes you think I'll do that to the pool?" Haruka scoffed. "We'll only get it dirty."

"You ran away after you said it!"

"I couldn't hold it in anymore, so I ran away to laugh somewhere else"

"You…" Rin trailed off. Well, he felt stupid. Haruka really was joking back then. After all the work he did, this was a big downer. At least he knew never to trust his romantic side again. Rin sighed heavily, tiredly.

"You know what, forget about this. Just—just go home, I'll give you your gift tomorrow or something." Rin grumbled, and slumped down on the ground in defeat. "Man, I'm an idiot."

Pfft.

Rin flinched at the sound. Was it not enough that he had to tell his friends that he needed to borrow their club's pool for something indecent? Did Haruka have to laugh at his misfortune? Maybe he should go through with his plan and dive into the pool for some hard, angry sex. It was going to be one-sided on his part though, since he was the only one angry.

As he drowned in his thoughts, he almost missed the hand patting his head softly. Then suddenly, he found himself being embraced. Rin still heard laughter coming from the other boy, but it did not sound as mocking as he had thought at first. It just sounded very, very content and very, very grateful.

"Don't look so down," Haru murmured against his chest. He looked up and smiled at Rin. "You're an idiot, but you made me happy. Thank you, Rin."

Rin blushed. "That—don't—don't joke around like that again!" he nagged, sputtering. "Your jokes are too misleading."

Haruka laughed for a moment. Then, he clung tighter to Rin and whispered, "Can I still have my present now?"

Rin swallowed. He did not expect this sudden development. Maybe his romanticism did have its merits.

"Not in the pool though." Haruka followed up.

"I get it already, now shut up." Rin whined before giving Haruka a kiss.

...

A/N: First off, I want to say I'm sorry because I can't seem to grasp their personalities very well. I don't know why. It's Free! this time around, and RinHaru. What am I doing. I actually wanted to name it "Pool Sex" but I didn't want to make anyone think that there was actual pool sex in the story. I gave up on writing about that already.

Again, please excuse any grammar and spelling errors! This was written for a week long countdown to celebrate Haru's birthday on the 30th. Please do visit "Haru's Birthday Bash" on Tumblr and check out the other works to be posted during the week!

Thank you for reading!