French Kitties

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

They were returning by Shinkansen from Tokyo. Sosuke had found a corner for himself and was watching the scenery zoom past. A melancholy mood had overtaken him. Not only had that been his last ever tournament, his career as a swimmer was all but over. From now on, the best he could hope for is to be the most awesome swimmer at his community pool! Well he would be for a little while anyway.

More than the end of his career as a swimmer, Sosuke was sad about his future so far as Rin was concerned. In that, he had no future with Rin. From what he could gather, it seems that Rin and Nanase had reached an understanding. Nanase had decided that pro swimming would be his future. From now on, it'll be Haru who would be by Rin's side. All Sosuke could do was enjoy his time with Rin and the swimming club until the end of the school year. Then say goodbye both to the competition pool and Rin. In time, hopefully he'll be able to move forward.

"Ah man I am exhausted!" complained Rin as he dropped down next to Sosuke.

"Well a lot has happened," offered Sosuke with a smile. Mentally adjusting himself for company, "Ah, so you had fun with Nanase in Australia?" why did he just ask that? He didn't want to know. He didn't want to know what Haru and Rin had learnt of their feelings for each other while alone. Free to explore, to discover.

Rin's response was a snort, "Remind me never to share a room and certainly not a bed with Haru ever again!"

"You… shared a bed?" asked Sosuke, shocked and confused. He wasn't sure he wanted this conversation to progress.

"There was a problem with the booking," explained Rin, "I thought I had booked a twin but turned out I booked a double and so there was only one bed. The hotel refused to change the booking and we couldn't leave without losing money. Haru didn't care but then I am not the weird one!" Rin said exasperated.

"I mean, it worked out a bit because we got to have a heart to heart before turning in," continued Rin, "I got to tell Haru all the things I had been holding in. You know about how much I admire him and how I always knew we were bound for the same destiny," Rin went on, oblivious to Sosuke's mounting unease and deepening sadness, "But then we went to sleep," Rin sighed.

Sosuke thought he should make a joke to lighten the mood. Something about Rin being sad that they just went to sleep but he honestly couldn't master any humour. Not for this situation.

"Between the flight and touring the city, we were both pretty tired. So we were both asleep pretty quickly after we were done talking. But then, in the middle of the night I suddenly woke-up. I couldn't quite figure out what woke me at first. I just remembered hearing this weird noise. I was thinking it was my imagination but then I heard it again! I don't know how to describe it," Rin went on, "Closest thing I can think of is a weird dolphin sound."

"Weird dolphin sound?" repeated Sosuke, suddenly interested.

"Yeah and it was coming from Haru!" revealed Rin in a tone more fitted to revealing the twist from a horror novel, "I was shocked! Like what the hell! I know we say he swims like a dolphin in the water and he eats mackerels by the bucket load but this was too much! He's such a weirdo," said Rin distastefully.

"Ah…" well maybe Rin wasn't in love with Nanase Haruka afterall, thought Sosuke.

"But don't get me wrong, it wasn't the dolphin noises themselves that makes Haru a weirdo," clarified Rin, "The dolphin noises I could handle. Because I assume Haru was just dreaming of being a dolphin. That would totally fit my image of Haru."

"Mine too," owned Sosuke.

"But he wasn't dreaming of being a dolphin!" explained Rin, "Because the next words out of his mouth was, Makoto, there. Right there. Pet me like one of your french kitties."

"Pet me like one of your french kitties?" repeated in Sosuke in shock.

"Pet me like one of your french kitties," Rin repeated in agreement.

"What the hell does that even mean!" wondered Sosuke, "I mean, I suddenly have the image of a cat in heat presenting itself to Tachibana."

"At least you are imagining a cat! I have had a weird image of Haru in a cat custom giving come-hither eyes at Makoto stuck in my head! Like seriously, I was convinced he was asexual but now I find that he wants to be boned by his best friend while pretending to be a cat! A cat, Sosuke! A cat!" Rin tone was full of horror.

"Ah well… um… pussies are a bit of a sex symbol," offered Sosuke with an amused smile.

Rin shot Sosuke a scandalised look, "If this is some weird fetish you have, I don't want to know!"

"No, no, I assure you I have no cat fetish," Sosuke said while laughing, "So what happened next."

"I jumped off the bed and screamed my lungs out until Haru woke-up," said Rin, "I mean seriously he even had his hands down his pants! Not cool, just not cool!"

"What did Nanase say?"

"He at least had the good grace to apologise. Then threatened to flay me alive should I ever reveal any part of this to Makoto!" replied Rin, his tone dripping with annoyance, "I'll bet you a six pack of cola that Makoto already knows Haru wants to be boned by him while wearing a cat costume and probably thinks its cute!"

Sosuke laughed out loud at that, "So um…" he said after calmed down a bit, "You are okay with umm… Nanase liking Tachibana like that?"

"Huh? Sure why not," said Rin, "I mean, as I said I thought Haru was asexual but its not like Makoto and Haru being gay for each other didn't occur to me."

"No I mean, umm… aren't you perhaps in love with Nanase…" Sosuke suggested meekly.

"Huh? No! I mean… no!" Rin sighed, "Look, I would be lying if I said that I never thought about Haru. But the thing is that I also thought about Makoto. I also had girls I liked both here and in Australia. But honestly, I have always known I can't get in between Makoto and Haru. No one can and I am okay with that. I just need to find my own Makoto to my Haru, you know?"

Sosuke felt an enormous weight left of his heart, "You know Rin," he said, keeping his tone light and teasingly, "Technically I am the Makoto to your Haru, being as I am your childhood friend."

"Sosuke don't even joke about that unless you are going to back that up with a movie, dinner and a long walk on the beach that ends with us making-out under the stars!" said Rin, fighting to keep his tone teasing and fun even as his face was doing its best to match his hair.

"I could do that," whispered Sosuke.

"Sosuke…" they were looking into each others eyes, their heartbeat speeding up as their lips started to inexplicably draw closer as if someone was pushing their head together and whispering, now kiss... when suddenly they were interrupted by thundering footsteps running up the aisle.

"Yamazaki-senpai, Yamazaki-senpai, look what I found!" exclaimed an overexcited Momo as he thrust a jar with a stag beetle in front of Sosuke's face.

"Umm… very pretty…" said Sosuke as Rin tried to murder Momo with his glare.

"Isn't it! Isn't it! I mean…" with that Momo launched into a detailed story about how he found and caught the stag beetle.

Author's Note: I regret nothing!