Title: Phone Calls
Fandom: Free!
Pairings: Sousuke/Rin
Rating: PG (lol)
Word Count: ~1.2k
Warnings: N/A
Summary:

"So, uh, how are you?"

A/N:

Sometimes I remember what it was like to be a kid and in mutual love with another kid and I get the biggest smile on my face. After thinking about it I couldn't get little Rin and little Sousuke out of my head. This was supposed to be a ficlet but it didn't really end up that way LOL!

I hope everyone enjoys and please tell me if I made any major errors I should fix!

Phone Calls

"Rin, what on earth are you doing?"

Rin looked up from the floor at his mom. She was standing there in front of the laundry room door gazing down at him like he had lost his mind. Rin felt his cheeks heat up as he got up off the stairs and shrugged. His elbow hit the corner of the stair rail and it rattled his funny bone painfully. He rubbed it before shrugging again.

"Just, wanted to sit for a second," Rin said, trying to keep his voice casual. He could tell his mom still wasn't buying it when she raised her eyebrow and made that face that parent's sometimes had. The one that said they know something was going on but won't say anything.

"Well go grab your clothes from the laundry room and take them up to your room," she said as she walked across the hall and into the kitchen. Rin scrambled towards the door to the laundry room, grabbing his pile of clothes before sprinting back up the stairs. "When you're done putting it all away bring down your bed sheets to be washed!" She called and Rin groaned.

He quickly stuffed his clothes into his drawers, which was completely against his nature but he didn't have time. He removed his bed sheets with great force, pulling them all off and wrapping them into a ball. He didn't bother leave any behind as he started carefully carrying the blankets down the stairs.

He was half way down when he heard the shrill ring of their home phone. He hastened the pace of his last few steps down the stairs. Unconcerned about where they might land, he tossed the blankets into the laundry room before dashing back to the kitchen. The ringing had just stopped and when he entered the room he saw what he feared would happen.

"Oh Hello Sousuke-kun! It's nice to hear from you. You should come over for dinner again soon. Yes, I'll go get him now," his mother said as she turned around, spotting Rin at the entrance to the room. "Oh he's right here! That's probably why he was waiting on the stairs just now, so cute."

"Mom!" Rin groaned before running forward and grabbing the phone out of her hand. She made a face that told him he shouldn't have just taken it, but what else was he supposed to do when she was saying all that embarrassing stuff? "Hey, sorry about that."

"It's cool," Sousuke's voice said. It was all distorted and faraway. Rin felt his ears start to burn. It was the first time they had ever called each other. Rin waved to his mom as he took the wireless phone back up his room, taking the stairs two at a time. "Your mom's nice, she invited me over again."

"Yeah," Rin laughed uneasily as climbed up onto his bare bed. He pressed his back against flat against his bedroom wall, pulling his stuffed shark onto his lap. "You should come over again, or sleep over."

"I'll ask when my parents get home, if your mom's okay with it."

"Okay."

Rin was smiling like a fool. He glanced back at his door and saw that it hadn't actually shut, which was kind of annoying. Sousuke didn't say anything and for a few seconds it was just silent. Rin felt like his heart was going to burst he was so anxious.

"It's weird talking to you and not seeing you," Sousuke admitted after a minute. Rin let out some nervous giggling, he wish he could get rid of that habit but he couldn't. He put his hand against his mouth to try and stop them.

"Yeah. No one's really called me before," Rin answered after calming down. "Besides relatives anyways."

"Haha, yeah," Sousuke answered.

"So, uh, how are you?" Rin asked, pulling his knees and his shark up to his chest. He dropped his face into the soft gray fabric when he heard Sousuke laugh. It sounded nice.

"Good. You just saw me this morning Matsuoka," he teased.

"Well things could have happened between then and now!" Rin countered, half mumbling into his sharp toothed companion.

He felt silly, but it was nice. It was always nice with Sousuke. He'd be lying if he didn't feel a little special that Sousuke called. Everyone in his class wanted to be friends with him. Not only was her super good looking, but he was really smart and good at sports. Rin loved having a new rival in gym. A lot of people tried being friends with Sousuke, but he was the only one that Sousuke really talked to. Maybe he was a little persistent at first, but Sousuke wouldn't be the type to just go along with it.

"That's true. I was kind of bored before I remembered you told me to call you."

Rin perked up, his whole face felt hot.

"Yeah? Remembered? Am I just an afterthought?"

"What?" Sousuke asked confused for a second. "Oh, no that's. You're not. I just, uh."

"It was a joke," he snickered. Sousuke was funny like that, getting embarrassed over little things and missing when someone was making a joke.

"Oh."

"Well anyways, I was excited for your call. I didn't know if you would though," Rin sighed in a dramatic fashion, laughing inwardly at his own joke. It was fun to test Sousuke and see when he could pick up on him being dramatic or not.

"Me too, sorry I didn't call earlier. I was worried that I would read your number wrong and call someone else."

"Oh," Rin answered in surprise at Sousuke's honesty. His cheeks ached from his smile. "Well now you know it, so you can call whenever you want."

"I won't call unless you ask," Sousuke huffed.

"Why not?"

"It'd be stupid if you're not home," he mumbled, the line making it sound so soft Rin had to strain to hear it.

"Ah, you're right. It'd be weird if my mom started talking to you again," Rin groaned, thinking about what she had said not a few minutes before.

"She's nice. A little scary, but nice."

"Rin! It's dinner time! Say goodbye to Sousuke!" His mom called up the stairs. Rin moaned into his shark before scooting off the bed.

"Speak of the devil. I got to go, dinner's ready. Do you," he started hesitantly, "will you call again afterwards?"

"Ah well, probably not. If you're serious about a sleep over you should have your mom call my mom though."

"Oh, okay. I'll have her call later then."

"Alright."

"Bye."

"Yeah, bye."

They waited on the line another second before his mom's voice called for him again. Rin put in another quick goodbye before he hung up. He ran down the stairs, ignoring Gou's cry of surprise when he nearly knocked into her rushing into the kitchen. He put the phone back on the charger and ran into the dining room.

"Mom! Can Sousuke sleep over this weekend?"