Hello everyone! My first attempt at an RinHaru story. Reviews are much appreciated! Please note, that english is not my first language, so if there are any mistakes, I apologize!

Rewards and Comfort

If anyone was direct enough to actually ask them, their answer was simple: it was just a reward. They decided that everyone deserves one for doing your best from time to time. And frankly said, they were busy men, focusing on their swimming careers, achieving their goals, making their dreams come true. The schedules were busy and they had no time and no spare energy to fool around or pay enough attention to strangers to actually find a partner or at least a lover. That was Rin's and Haruki's explanation, if anyone asked for one.

It was rare occasion, really, that they needed to justify their relationship. Their friends stopped questioning the unusual and unique bond the two swimmers a long time just decided to drop the topic at some point, after another argument at one of the group's get-togethers.

"Like seriously guys, just admit it already that you can't live without each other. The sexual tension while you bother pretend otherwise is becoming unbearable even for us!", Nagisa whined after some cups of sake been emptied. "You're torturing us just as much, as you're torturing yourself!"

"There is nothing to admit. We are just friends." Haruka retorted with his usual straight face after a side glance at Rin.

Nagisa groaned.

"Really now? You want to give me that crap again? You don't believe it even yourself anymore, that is why you keep glancing at your redheaded "honey". Just friends my as-"

Annoyed with the situation, Rin's temper rose, interrupting Nagisa in his verbal assault on Haruka.

"I'm not his honey, Nagisa. You should stop bringing this up every time we meet and search for some new topics. We are best friends sharing an apartment. That's it. How often do we have to go over this?!"

"Every time he has too much sake…", Haruka murmured, barely audible.

"What was that?!", Nagisa rewarded his dense, blue-eyed friend with a sharp glare.

"Hey, hey, let's all calm down and talk about something else.", Makoto barged into the argument, trying to change the course of the conversation.

"Machete is right. It is not our business Nagisa. Haruka and Rin need to sort this out themselves." Rei agreed and discreetly emptied Nagisa's cup into a nearby flowerpot and put it away, out of his husband's reach.

Rin's shoulders relaxed a bit as he leaned back in his chair with a huff.

"Exactly."

"Not that there is anything we have to sort out.", Hark mumbled again.

"So… How was your last tournament guys? Are you keeping up with your times alright?", Machete provided with a new topic and Rin smiled a bright smile, showing off his sharp teeth, as he always did, when their swimming career was mentioned.

"Yes, Haru did great again, as expected of him. I wasn't competing last time but my times have been improving steadily!"

"You won first place Haruka-sempai, did you not?", Reid dressed the man directly, currently staring off somewhere into space to include him into the conversation again. Sometimes, he wondered how someone as socially awkward as Haruka-sempai could possibly get along with someone as loud and extroversive as Rin-sempai. Sometimes, he thought, the opposites really did attract and match…

The deep blue eyes landed on Rei and the owner nodded once:

"Yes. It was a close call but I made it, with cheering me on all the time."

"I believe you got your "reward" from him, too.", Nagisa bumped into the conversation, wiggling his eyebrows at the couple in question.

Everyone decided to dismiss his remark this time and went on with the flow of the conversation at hand, discussing Makoto's promotion, the pregnancy of his wife and Rei's and Nagisa's plans to move to a bigger apartment.

That evening, when Rei and Nagisa got home, Rei forced his husband to swear to stay out of his friends' relationship for good, regardless of being drunk or not. The topic was never spoken of again.

Months later Rin lost his first national tournament.

Hark was waiting for him at their home, already expecting the worst, since Rin did not contact him right after his race, making a snarky remark about the competition being to slow and him being simply the best. As he heard the front door being opened and shut, he emerged from the living room, only being met by the sight of Rin slumped down in the hall, his head hanging low. Slowly, Haruka approached his team- and flatmate and went on his knees beside him, putting one finger under his chin, so the tear-stained red eyes were forced to meet his liquid blue ones.

"It's not the end of the world. You can't win all the time."

Rin sniffed, shedding some more tears and breaking the eye contact.

"YOU win all the time. At the very least, you always get placed. I… I didn't even get placed! I finished forth… It's as bad as finishing last. I don't know what happened. I just-…", Rin was rambling, trying to escape Haruka's intense gaze.

"You were sick, that's what happened. You weren't even supposed to compete. I told you to stay home, COACH told you to stay home. And that is like, close to a miracle. You're pushing yourself too hard… Again."

Pulling the crying man into a hug, Haruka stroked Rin's beautiful hair, waiting for him to calm down.

"Please don't cry. I hate it when you cry… I can't handle it. Do you want me to lose the next tournament? I'll place last if you want me to. Anything to make you feel better, I'll do it. Just tell me what I can do, so you'll stop crying, please? Rin…", Haruka pleaded with his friend, feeling powerless.

At that Rin jerked his head up and gripped Haruka's shoulders, glaring at him.

"Are you stupid or what?! You'll have to win FIRST next tournament. For both of us. If I am a failure, you have to be twice as good. You're the only one who can do that."

Haruka let out a deep sigh and smiled one of his rare genuine smiles he reserved for Rin only.

"You're the stupid one, Rin. Who ever dared to tell you that you are a failure? Who dared to put those thoughts inside your head? You're better that all of us. You're a dreamer, a fighter. Most people wouldn't eve try to compete after having such a severe cold."

At that the redhead just stared into the further corner of the room and forced out a bittersweet smile.

"Well, didn't turn out that well for me huh…"

He stood up, shaking his head, and pulled Haruka up with him.

"And as the final blow, since I lost, I'm not even getting my reward tonight."

Blue eyes sparkled with mischief and something more, while Haruka smirked back at his companion and leaned forward to kiss the redhead on the lips, parting them with his tongue. They still tasted like chlorine from the pool water. Rin's hand went to rest on Haruki's hip, while he let himself be whisked away from reality, his need to hold the other male growing with every second, every touch.

After a particular loud moan from Haruka, he finally snapped, lifting the other up, god bless his daily workouts, and carrying him to their bedroom, where he would throw this beautiful, sexy man on the bed and fuck him until they both pass out from exhaustion.

Later that night they laid beside each other, snuggling and stroking each others hair, letting the exhaustion from the emotional roller-coaster of the day and the afterglow of the amazing sex lull them to sleep. On the verge to dreamland Rin whispered:

"I didn't deserve that."

Lazy blues locked with intense reds, before closing once again.

"Obviously, I was comforting you, not rewarding."

Rin smiled. He could live with that.

16 months later, after Haruka won his 10th gold medal, it was just a reward, when Rin got down on one knee and asked the blue eyed swimmer to marry him.

It was also just Haruki's way to comfort his silly shark, since he did not manage to get first place that day, as he answered 'yes' an kissed him.

… Or that is what the told as they invited everyone to their wedding after announcing the engagement.

Thank you for reading :)