Title: Return Home
Chapter Title: Catching Up
(Fic Series): A Life Worth Living
Fandom: Free!
Pairings: Sousuke/Rin
Rating: T
Warnings: Mentions of severe jealousy?
Summary: Post-Free! Eternal Summer Fic
A multi-chapter fic that's really just a series of short oneshots about Sousuke and Rin returning during the overlap of Rin's summer break and everyone's winter break.
A/N:
I wrote this a while ago but I haven't had much time to edit it. I hope I got everything but please feel free to tell me if I left any huge mistakes! I hope everyone enjoys it! I'm very excited to have gotten this far in the series, I'm half way done!
I've already written the next few, and hopefully I will have them all edited and posted soon! Thank you for reading! As always you can find this on both my tumblr and my ao3 accounts!
Return Home
Chapter One: Catching Up
"Rin-chan!" Nagisa yelled, leaping up onto the unsuspecting other. Rin stumbled back and Sousuke caught the two of them, not without effort. "I haven't seen you in years!"
"What are you talking about!? You just visited us over your summer break!" Rin barked, straightening himself up and trying to drop the boisterous blonde. Nagisa ignored his accusations, jumping over to Sousuke. Sousuke put his hands up as a sign that he would not carry the boy, as he had tried to get Sousuke to do on many occasions.
"Sou-chan too! I haven't seen you both in so long," he cried out in a dramatic fashion. Makoto laughed from the doorway.
"Nagisa, won't you at least let them in? And what about your game?"
Nagisa released the taller boy and ran back to Haru's living room, leaving the other two to finally take off their jackets and shoes. "Gou-chan! Rei-chan they're here!"
"I'm sorry I didn't get to the door sooner," Makoto apologized. Rin just smiled it off, hooking an arm around the taller boy's neck and pulling him down as he walked into the house.
"Don't worry about it, Makoto! Have you gotten taller? I swear this wasn't this hard before." Rin laughed as the other sputtered, embarrassed. Makoto hadn't stopped growing, and was already six feet and three inches. He was embarrassed by the attention it brought him.
"Yo," Sousuke greeted the other members in the living room. Rei and Gou were playing cards with Nagisa, which he had recklessly abandoned to meet them at the door. Rei looked up from his hand and smiled, pushing up his glasses.
"Good afternoon Sousuke-san!"
"Took you two long enough," Gou complained, eyes focused on her cards. They had left at separate times because Rin needed to go shopping for Makoto's birthday present. Between the end of his first year of college and getting everything ready to return during Australia's summer beak he hadn't had time to get it.
"Sorry, you know Rin. He had to find something sentimental," Sousuke joked quietly. Makoto and Rin had walked into the kitchen where Haru likely was. He didn't want to give away the secret. She hummed, turning back to the game. Sousuke settled down on the couch, squishing himself into a corner as he watched Nagisa's pathetic attempts at cheating.
"Sousuke-san, is your hand alright?"
Sousuke opened his eyes and looked at Rei who was focused on his wrapped up hand that he had been rubbing his temple with. An ace bandage securely wrapped it up. Gou didn't bother to pay it any attention, but Nagisa was also looking at the wrapping, curious.
"It's nothing, just a sprain," he informed them. He tried to hide the hand from their inquisitive eyes.
"How'd you do that Sou-chan?" Nagisa asked, voice all concern and innocence.
"Slipped," he supplied. An evil glint flickered in those eyes and Sousuke cursed himself, knowing something about the way he delivered his answer tipped the boy off. Nagisa grinned, putting a hand up in front of his mouth as he let out a fake gasp.
"Oh, Sou-chan that's so dirty," he scolded him. Rei looked terribly confused and Gou got red in the face from both embarrassment and irritation. She had already known about the injury since the start, and had been trying to forget about it since she helped her distressed brother wrap it up to prevent further damage.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sousuke retorted with a lazy tone, trying to keep it casual. Giving Nagisa dangerous thoughts was exactly what he had been wary about when heading over to their little get together.
"The hot coco is ready," Makoto called as he walked in with Rin and Haru, all holding mugs of chocolate to pass out. Gou and Rei took theirs and thanked them. In Rin's one hand he balanced a mug and three candy canes, all for his hot chocolate. He handed Sousuke his cup and plopped down next to him on the couch. Makoto sat down after handing Rei his, watching as Haru went back for his own cup. Once everyone was settled Nagisa put on a look of innocence and concern.
"Rin-chan did you hurt Sou-chan while doing the nasty?"
"What on earth are you talking about now," Rin groaned, not registering Nagisa's words as anything other than a tease. He glanced over at Sousuke and saw his look of exasperation and the injured hand he had wrapped around the hot mug. Rin turned a bright shade of red and closed his mouth shut. Haru raised a slim eyebrow as he returned with his own drink and settled down next to an equally bright colored Makoto.
"You shouldn't be so rough with your boyfriend," he deadpanned and Rin was a gaping mess. Makoto covered his face, embarrassed by the conversation. Rei was also in a rigid state, finally catching up with the meaning of their words.
"You're one to talk! And why do you assume it's my fault anyways!?" Rin cried out, completely bothered by the turn of events.
"I'm very gentle with Makoto," Haru informed him with a small frown. Makoto dropped his hands and stared at the other in shock.
"Excuse me," Rei interrupted with his voice high in pitch, "I don't think this is an appropriate conversation to be having!"
"I agree! This is the first time we're all together in a while, let's please talk about something else," Gou declared placing her hot coco on the coffee table. She glared at Rin and Haru, her small body releasing its unexpectedly intimidating aura.
"You're no fun Gou-chan!" Nagisa whined.
"It's Kou!" She argued. "If you three want to be vulgar please wait until the rest of us leave."
"You three!? What did I ever do?" Rin marveled at his sister, completely shocked that he had gotten thrown in together with Haru and Nagisa. Haru was also unhappy with the accusation. Gou nearly gave him the stink-eye before Sousuke interrupted with a loud, forced cough. Their quiet battle did not stop though, the air becoming tense.
"So Sousuke-san, Rin-san, how is it being home after so long?" Rei asked trying change subjects.
"Different," Sousuke offered, seeing that the stare down between the two siblings wasn't going to end. "It's strange hearing so much Japanese again."
"That's right! They all speak English over there," Makoto commented, focusing on the subject and trying to forget about his previous embarrassment. "It must be difficult. I don't think I could do that."
"Sousuke does fine," Rin boasted, finally breaking from the Matsuoka showdown. "He's improved a lot."
He nudged Sousuke with his elbow, grinning from ear to ear. Sousuke tried to will away the color on his cheeks, he never took compliments well. Nagisa hummed, picking up more marshmallows out of the bowl that had been placed on the coffee table and plopping them into his hot chocolate.
"Nagisa-kun please refrain from using all of the marshmallows!"
"But there's not enough Rei-chan," Nagisa whined.
"Nagisa your cup is already full of them," Makoto agreed. Haru quietly sipped at his hot drink as he glanced over at the mess of a group. He noticed the slouch in Rin's posture as he leaned towards Sousuke.
"It's okay if you sit closer," Haru declared. Rin didn't say anything, keeping his eyes trained on his hot coco, stirring it with his candy canes. Sousuke followed the advice and scooted over so that their arms were touching.
"How's practice anyways, are you taking care of yourself Haru?" Sousuke asked, tuning out the other conversations happening around them. Rei was flailing to keep his own hot coco from Nagisa who was trying to add many unwanted marshmallows into it, Makoto trying to act as a mediator. Rin was unusually quiet, watching everything around him, and Gou was drinking her chocolate in silence. She liked to finish her drink or food before talking so that wasn't much of a surprise.
"It's going well," Haru reasoned. "It's tiring."
"Just make sure you don't overdo it," Sousuke advised and Haru's eyes flickered to Rin. "He tries to sometimes, but he's been pretty good about pacing himself."
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Rin shouted, arms crossing defensively.
"It's good you're taking care of him," Haru huffed, the smallest sign of laughter. Sousuke smirked as Rin complained about them talking like he wasn't there. Makoto broke out into his own smile seeing how happy they seemed.
They ate and talked and played for hours. Rin complained about his friends and Gou complained about her brothers. Makoto and Haru had calm happiness overtake them at having so many friends in the same place again, and Rei and Nagisa continued on with their antics. It was tough being split up, but once they got together again it was like nothing at all had changed. Friends are family too, in their own strange way. With luck, even time couldn't separate them.
