I don't own Free! or its characters.
Part of my rock band AU.
of phone calls and haircuts
The first thing Rin hears that Friday morning is his stupidly loud ringtone followed by Aiichirō's voice on the other end of the line, "It's high time you got your hair cut, Rin-senpai."
Rin grunts as he sits up on his bed, scratching at his belly while cracking his neck.
"It's high time you stopped calling me that, Ai," he answers, mocking the other's tone and words. "I'm not your upperclassman anymore."
"You will always be Rin-senpai to me," says Aiichirō, and Rin can hear his sigh, can almost imagine his petite face looking tired. "But I didn't call to talk about that."
Rin absentmindedly rubs the back of his hand against his eyes, stifling a yawn with the side of his wrist. The show of the night before has been incredibly packed, and they ended up going to a bar to celebrate their success. The owner recognised them as 'that new rock band' and offered his best table and free drinks for the night. He remembered Nagisa overexcitedly drinking until dawn, and when they parted ways he could hear him throwing up against a tree and Rei shouting at him, "I told you not to drink that much, Nagisa-kun!"
As it was expected, Rin still has a splitting headache and Aiichirō's high pitched voice is making it worse.
"When are you going to come home, Ai?" Rin asks, cutting Aiichirō off in the middle of some unimportant sentence.
He hears Aiichirō sigh for a second time and decides he doesn't like it when Aiichirō's tired.
"This afternoon I'm free," he says, and Rin contentedly thinks 'finally'. "I've been doing great in the 400 free, so the captain said it was all right if I took the weekend off. My grades are good, too, so after school ends today I'll go to Tokyo and spend the weekend with you."
Rin smiles softly; Aiichirō's doing great in his last year of high school and it makes him proud. He's happy to know he's planning on studying in Tokyo, too, because that means they'll be finally living together.
"And I'll cut your hair tomorrow," Aiichirō adds. Rin swears he can hear the cheeky smile on his voice.
Rin knows Aiichirō is able to tell Rin doesn't like other people touching his hair, let alone cut it. He doesn't like hairdressers, and he still remembers that time Makoto tried to cut his hair only to have Haruka glaring daggers at them. He hasn't accepted Makoto's help since then, so Aiichirō took keeping Rin's hair at a normal length into his own hands. Surprisingly, Rin likes the way Aiichirō handles it, so he hasn't complained even once.
But right now all Rin wants is to spend time with Aiichirō in bed, maybe cuddling and having sex till dinner time so he can take him out. They can watch some movies, too, and even go to the pool in local gymnasium, where Haruka will be floating around with Makoto watching him form the side.
He doesn't want to lose precious time with Aiichirō getting his hair cut.
"Aiichirō," he says, irritated.
"I know you don't want to, Rin, but it is necessary. The fans may love your long hair, but it's no good if you keep it that long, either. It only gets in your face while you play the guitar."
Aiichirō always calls him Rin-senpai but he leaves the honorific out when he wants to make a point. Rin knows he won't back down; for such a little boy, he sure is persistent.
Feeling utterly defeated, Rin breathes into the phone, "Okay, Ai. I'll be waiting for you at the train station."
After Aiichirō agrees, Rin hangs up and gets out of bed. He better get ready for the afternoon.