Free! doesn't belong to me. Neither does High Speed!
Pprompt: "It sounds like you're trying to convince yourself."
Uncomfortable questions
.
It was all Nagisa's fault.
"Hey, Rin-chan!"
Rin winced as Nagisa approached him and jumped on his back. Haruka raised an eyebrow and picked up his pace, minding his own business in a rare display of common sense. Then again, the best course of action when Nagisa was around was pretending not to be here and running away before their friend laid his eyes on his next prey.
"What?" Rin asked, not trying to get Nagisa off him, even though Makoto and Rei were already far ahead, focused in their own conversation.
"So I was wondering," Nagisa started. That alone was bad. The last time his friend had wondered something Rin had ended walking barefoot on a cliff (don't ask). "Do you like anyone?"
Rin forced his eyes not to look at anyone in particular. Especially at Haruka, who had stopped to look at them again. Since when did Haruka even care about those kind of things? Rin was willing to bet that the closest thing to romantic love his friend had ever felt was towards water.
"No," Rin finally answered. "And get off me."
Nagisa pouted, but complied reluctantly.
"You're no fun, Rin-chan," he complained.
"And a liar."
Rin's head turned towards Haruka so abruptly his neck hurt, making him momentarily dizzy. Rin blinked a few times to clear his sight.
"What?"
Haruka shrugged. "You're lying."
There was no way he could know– They had made up less than one month ago and Rin had made sure to keep that particular feeling buried down, not only because he was more than happy with their friendship for the time being, but also because what would he think if he knew I'm–
"I'm not," Rin snapped. "I don't like anyone."
Someone should have given him a medal for swearing he didn't like anyone to the person he actually liked. But Rin didn't get any prize, only an intense blush flourishing on his cheeks.
"That sounds like you're trying to convince yourself," Haruka replied, in that infuriatingly calm tone of his.
"Think whatever you want," Rin hissed.
"As long as you keep telling yourself you don't like anyone." And Rin couldn't tell if Haruka was being serious or taking his teasing a bit too far, but it made his insides boil in shame.
"I wouldn't keep saying it if you dropped it!"
Rin didn't realise he had raised his voice until he tore his gaze off Haruka's wide-eyed expression and noticed Nagisa standing one step further than where he had been before, staring at him surprised. Even Makoto and Rei had stopped to look at him.
"I didn't mean to upset you," Haruka stated then, softly; Rin looked at him again. "I'm sorry."
Rin breathed deeply several times, then shook his head as he hid his trembling hands behind his back. "It's fine, I just overreacted."
Haruka nodded, and Rin was thankful he glared at Nagisa when their friend opened his mouth, probably to ask why who he liked was such a big deal.