Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Free!(FrFr!) Iwatobi Swim Club, I only own Haruaki Nanase (OC).
Thank you for reading!
'It's too cold to swim…ah, school starts today too...'
The sounds of wind chimes filtered in through the open window.
"How troublesome…" Haruka Nanase mumbled, the morning light irritating his eyes the moment he opened his eyes. But there was no inclination to remain in bed, he was at this point, fully awake.
With a sigh he rolled towards the edge of the bed, pushing himself up with his right arm into a sitting position.
An unseen figure beneath a thick blue comforter shifted, curling within itself to form a ball. Haruka spared a glance at the mass of sheets before leaving the room.
Makoto Tachibana hurried himself to the Nanse residence whilst keeping a wary eye on his wrist watch.
'We'll be able to make it on time, I just hope they're awake,' Makoto pleaded, 'But knowing them, that might be a stretch.'
The gentle giant let out a quiet chuckle as he halted in front of the door. Catching his breath, he rang the doorbell, waiting half a minute before pressing the doorbell again.
"Oh, come on," Makoto chided as he stared up at the window above the front door. However rather than waiting, Makoto walked around the right of the house towards the back door. And always, it remained unlocked allowing him to enter the household.
"Excuse me," He called out, walking down the familiar hallway towards the first door on the right in the hallway. A basket of clothes sat atop a wire rack beside a secondary door. A glance into the clothes sitting in the basket confirmed Makoto's thoughts, unfortunately.
'Naturally, he's here..'
"I'm coming in!" Makoto announced as he slid open the wooden door.
He couldn't bring himself to feel the frustration associated with this situation as his childhood best friend broke the surface of the water.
'Always here without a care, then again, he wouldn't be Haru-chan if he wasn't,' Makoto smiled gently as he inched forward, extending a hand in aid towards the raven-haired boy sitting in the bathtub.
"Good morning, Haru-chan," His smile grew as Makoto predicted Haruka Nanase's next words to the T.
"I told you to lay off the -chan," Haruka accepted the aid regardless, relishing the feeling of the water rushing down his body.
"Eh, you were in the bath with your swimsuit again?" Makoto questioned the shorter boy with a bland look.
Haruka returned the blank look, stepping out of the bathtub.
"Buzz off, you're going to be late."
"That's my line." Makoto replied in defeat.
"Wait, why are you grilling fish?!" Honest amusement and disbelief filled Makoto as he watched the unhurried Haruka calmly grill two pieces of mackerel.
"I haven't had breakfast."
'Of course you haven't.'
"And you're wearing an apron over your swimsuit, where's your uniform? Aren't you cold?"
"I don't want to get oil on my swimsuit,"
A ring alerted the two towards the toaster.
"Fish and toast?"
"My favorite~" A third voice chimed in tiredly.
Makoto turned towards the entrance of the kitchen, blanching at the sight.
At the door, Haruaki Nanase rubbed her eye as she made her way towards the toaster clad in seemingly just an oversized blue pajama top that stopped mid-thigh. Unlike the two teenage boys, Haruaki fell short of their towering heights stopping at 5'4". Her hair, like that of her brother's remained short and cropped with long bangs, her longer lashes and more feminine features differentiating her from her brother. Much to her annoyance, she had inherited her mother's larger-than-normal bosom. Something that increased drag resistance when she swam.
The warm piece of bread made home in her mouth as Haruaki slinked her way towards the brown-haired boy. Her slow trek towards the boy didn't stop until her head bumped against his chest in a half-hearted greeting.
"You're-you're not dressed either Aki-chan?!" Makoto exclaimed, reaching down to pat her short hair.
"I just woke up."
"Just woke, do you know what today is?" He questioned exasperated.
'Today? Today is...too cold to start swimming...' Haruaki thought as she strained to remember what today was however seemed more preoccupied at soaking in Makoto's body warmth.
"...Sunday."
"What! It's Tuesday! First day of school!"
'Oh yeah...yesterday was the opening ceremony. Heh.'
"Ah."
"Ah?! That's all you say?!"
"Ah," Haru chimed in as he moved the two mackerel pieces onto plates.
"Haru, don't you say that too!"
After an agonizing half hour of Makoto rushing the Nanase twins into uniforms, they were out the door walking towards Iwatobi High School.
Haruaki sipped on her juice pouch as she walked in between the boys, enjoying the light ocean breeze.
'Second year of highschool, yet still as boring as every year in school,' Haruaki sulked.
"So, why did you come get me?" Haruka broke the silence, looking at Makoto.
"The two of you didn't show up to the opening ceremony yesterday, so I came to make sure you were okay and to take you to school," Makoto reasoned.
"We're not children, besides I called sick."
"What about you Aki-chan?"
"I had to take care of Onii-chan," Haruaki murmured, huffing quietly as Makoto laughed.
"Sa, so you two already know what class you're going to be in, then?" He teased the siblings.
Their silence urged him to continue with a smile, "We're in the same class again, Class 1. We've got a new lady as our homeroom teacher, they already gave her a nickname. She teaches classical literature. But she's a little on her odd side-"
Makoto paused in his speech, feeling that they had stopped listening to him. It always amazed him at how much the twins were identical copies of each other at times. Such as now.
"I hope it gets warmer soon so you can swim," He chuckled as Haru looked away as always whereas Haruaki choked slightly on her drink. He reached over to pat her back, his chuckle turning into full blown laughter as Haruaki stared at him with a critical eye, commenting in a croak voice,
"Psychic."
These two.
The rest of the trip was relatively fast, light chatter filling the air between Makoto and Haruaki, Haru chiming in occasionally.
Haruaki stretched in her seat as the new teacher-lady called roll on the class, she really did wish she was back in bed eating all the food she can or swimming. A blissful look adorned her face as she daydreamed about treading the cool water.
Laughter broke her from her thoughts as she noticed raise his hand enthusiastically.
"Teacher, Haruaki is a girl," He stated clearly with a sheepish smile as he turned towards the female Nanase on his right. Warmth rose from his cheeks as Aki-chan gave a small smile towards him.
'Ah I see, I'm used to getting mistaken as a boy,' Haruaki sighed as she raised her hand regardless, watching in amusement as the new teacher-lady floundered in embarrassment.
"A-ah! I'm so sorry Nanase-san! You were absent yesterday, right? You and..oh! Miss Nanase Haruka."
Another round of laughter filled the class, this time Haruaki joined in with muffled laughter as she ducked her head down. It was always funny to her how teachers mistook the genders of their students twice in a row, especially since the the female twin had the masculine name whereas the male twin had a feminine name.
"Haruka is actually a boy," Makoto explained again as he raised his arm again to inform the teacher of the mistake.
"I'm so sorry! Oh my goodness!"
Haruka turned to glare lightly at Haruaki and Makoto but turned away as he spotted both of them looking at him with smiles on their faces.
"I'm Amakata Miho, your new homeroom teacher. Nice to meet you two," The teacher introduced herself once the laughter had died down.
"Want to go eat on the roof?" Makoto asked, pulling out his bentou and water.
'He needs to get a clue,' Haruka thought as he stared at Makoto's cheerful face.
"Let's go, I'm starving," Haruaki stated as she pulled out her own super-sized bentou.
"EHhh, all that is for you?!" Makoto exclaimed as he stared at her lunchbox in comparison to his, her bentou was a family-sized bentou at least twice the size of his.
"Yes," Haruaki confirmed when in reality despite her large appetite, the bentou was for her brother as well. But she liked messing with the gentle giant that was Makoto.
"You just eat very little, for your size you should be eating more," She pointed at Makoto's neatly wrapped bentou.
"For your size, you eat too much," Haruka retorted as grabbed the bentou from her, feeling a slight smile come on as his little sibling immediately started protesting.
"That is a matter of opinion! This body needs constant nourishment, swimming burns a lot of calories!."
"You're not swimming. You're going to get fat."
"F-fat?! I'll have you know my mind is always training to swim, and that burns a lot of calories too! Onii-chan! Get back here!"
Makoto followed with a smile as Aki-chan ran after her brother.
"Hey! Aki-chan you have to be careful!" He picked up his pace as he prevented Haru from toppling over as Aki-chan jumped on to her brother's back, almost sending the siblings and food on the floor.
"Not until he tells me I'm not fat!"
"You intense weight is going to make me drop the food."
"What/Haru!"
Red circles glowed painfully on Haruka's face as they made their way towards the roof. Holding onto one of his hands was Haruaki radiating happiness as she held onto their lunch tightly, her smugness almost made him let go of her hand. Almost.
"Really Haru, you should be more careful with what you say," Makoto berated as he pulled out a small bundle of newspaper, "Ah, by the way do you guys want some squid?"
"Squid?"
Makoto drank in the sight of Haruaki's sparkling wide eyes, Aki-chan loved squid just as much as her brother loved mackerel. It was slightly strange to Makoto but he enjoyed her expression nonetheless.
He shared a look Haru as Aki-chan nibbled on a piece of squid with pure pleasure.
"Haru-chan! Aki-chan! Mako-chan! It's been forever!" A voice called out from the staircase.
The three friends looked down spotting a blonde-haired boy waving at them happily, "I'll be joining you here at Iwatobi High School."
"Mako-chan?"
"Haru-chan?"
"Awhki-chan?" Haruaki muffled through the squid strip.
Then it hit all three of them like a train.
"Nagisa?!"