See, you liked Gou. You liked her enough to call her Kou, hang out with her, admire hot swimmer guys together, all that. You two were practically inseparable.
But this?
This was too far. This...this was simply unforgivable.
You stare at the incriminating piece of paper in front of you, the words 'twenty minutes of dryland' glaring up at you.
"Is something wrong?" you hear your so-called best friend ask.
You shakily set the paper down, horror evident in your eyes. "H-how could you?"
"Are you being whiny about dryland again? Jeez, (Y/N), it's only twenty minutes. You should be thankful I'm not making it longer."
"Kou..." you whisper.
"Stop being dramatic. Now go, they're all warming up." She turns suddenly, her maroon ponytail flicking you in the face. You scrunch your face up in disgust before stripping down to your suit. You gently tug your swim cap on, tucking in the loose strands before pulling on your goggles and pushing them into your eyes with your palms. After adjusting the straps, you dive in for a five-hundred warmup.
Warmups were nice because they were slow, steady, and, in your eyes, not as focused on technique. It was just a nice little wake-up call that never failed to refresh your school-worn mind.
Twenty laps later, and you were at the blocks again, this time eyeing the set hanging off the blocks. Next up were a few two-hundred IMs on a tight interval – nothing too hard.
The swimming part of the practice was easy.
It was the dryland that had you worried.
There were two reasons why you started swimming: first of all, you were like Haru: you adored being in the water. You didn't care much for the competitive part, but it was still fun to swim with everyone and cheer them on during meets.
The second reason?
You are nowhere near as graceful on land as you are in the water.
At least Haruka can walk a few steps with tripping over absolutely nothing. Not only that, but dryland wasn't for you – running...just the thought of it made you shudder. You were never able to keep with them. Not even Haruka. Not only that, but you STILL had no idea how to do a damned lunge. Rei had often attempted to teach you had to do various dryland exercises, but teaching you those things was equivalent to trying to teach Rei how to swim when he first joined. Dryland was not your thing and never would be.
Even worse, the only other person on the team who hated it as much as you did was Haru-kun.
Half of the time when Gou posted a set involving land, you and Haru would secretly scheme together on how to get to the pool unnoticed. It became harder and harder each time as Makoto would purposely fall behind just to keep an eye on you two.
But today...something a little more...creative...was blossoming in your mind.
"That expression looks evil."
You snicker, looking up at the raven-haired swimmer. An unusual, small smile is planted on his lips.
"I have an idea. But first, let's see if we can hide before-"
"Ah, ah, ah!" comes Makoto's doting voice. "Not this time. Come on."
You sigh. "I guess I'll have to initiate the plan when the time is right."
Haru only raises an eyebrow, wondering what you've come up with this time.
After you all change for the last part of practice, you're dragged out onto the field. Rei ended up leading the dryland session...again. It started off with a round of stretching. You groan as you are (once again) hit by the realization that you can't touch your toes.
"(Y/N)-chan, we really need to work on your form," Rei comments nonchalantly. Snapping back up, you nearly growl at him.
"Psht. Like I need to know how to stretch," you mumble, crossing your arms.
The bluenette only sighs in response.
Makoto chuckles, looking up. "But stretching's really good for you, (Y/N)-chan!"
"And it can keep you from getting hurt!" Nagisa adds, his eyes shining as per usual.
"We could be swimming right now. But no, we have to do dryland..." you complain before realizing that this is the perfect opportunity to initiate your plan.
You blink.
Haru knows what you're about to do from the look in your eye.
And the two of you take off towards the pool.
"Already?!" Rei yells. "Oi, get back here!"
See, you knew Rei would catch up to you two in no time, which is where the evil part of your idea came into play.
You're so very grateful that you were blessed with the purest boys in the world as your closest friends.
Smirking, you take your shirt off to reveal your colorful sports bra, still running. You toss your shirt to the side.
"(Y-Y/N)-CHAN!" Rei shouts, embarrassment evident in his tone. By the thud that follows, you think he's finally tripped.
"What? You see me in a bathing suit every day!" you laugh, also managing to wiggle out of your running shorts in order to reveal a pair of volleyball shorts you'd managed to snag from the girl's locker room at school.
"WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" comes Mako's voice.
Laughing, you continue running before the pool is in sight. You and Haru run and jump in.
Opening your eyes underwater, you see that Haru is looking at you. Is...is he blushing?
That's so cute on him...
You point at him, still submerged, and mouth:
'You're blushing!' Of course, only bubbles float from your lips.
His eyes widen ever-so-slightly before he shakes his head a bit. Giggling, you kick upwards and break the surface, breathing in oxygen.
"Oi, what happened?! I think Rei passed out! Is he okay?! Sick?! I didn't see what happened," Nagisa calls, running back with an extremely red-faced Mako-kun.
"P-please put your shirt back on..." Makoto requests somewhat shyly as he lies the article of clothing beside the pool.
"Eh? Why'd you take it off?" Nagisa questions, before eyeing you and Nagisa (who had somehow gotten rid of his shirt as well) suspiciously.
You grin wickedly. "It's so hot!" you sing, hopping out of the pool and sitting by the edge. "In fact, I think I'll take this off, too," you joke, gripping the bottom of your bra for emphasis.
The two then run off squealing. You burst out in laughter.
"Th-that was hilarious," you groan, clutching your stomach.
"I have to admit, that took a far different turn than what I was expecting. But...it worked, and now we can swim in peace," he states, wading over to where you're sitting on the edge. His ocean-like eyes stare at you before he places his arms on either side of you.
"Aren't you happy?" you ask, smiling and placing a hand on his cheek.
"Ecstatic, actually. And you..." he shook his head. "You know you didn't have to go that far, right?"
"I know," you state. "In all honesty, I think my bathing suit's more revealing. I'm surprised I got the reaction I did. Besides, you guys are way too sweet to try anything."
And then, suddenly, something happens.
A part of his lips are raised up in what could only be a smirk. His usually emotionless blue eyes are filled with something challenging.
"Are you sure about that?" he murmurs, staring at you intently before he moves his hands to your legs and gently pulls you into the water with him.
You end up pressed against the wall firmly, with his arms encasing you. Now, it's your turn to blush at the sudden proximity and heat.
"H-Haru?" you mumble, frowning.
He brings his hand up to cup your cheek. "You're so beautiful. Especially in the water." Sighing, Haruka slowly brings the palm of your hand to his mouth. You're utterly shocked at the amount of affection he's radiating right now. Feeling your heart speed up, you look back into his eyes, gaze locking with his.
Then, he moves his hand to the back of your head before pulling your head towards his, your lips meeting.
At first, it's hard to process – Haruka freaking Nanase just kissed me?! Is kissing me?! ON THE LIPS?! IN THE POOL?! WITH ME IN MY BRA?! HIM SHIRTLESS?!
But then, you close your eyes, leaning into it and pressing harder. He grunts, bringing his other hand to the back of your head. You end up with your hands on his toned chest, admiring his amazing muscles that never failed to make you swoon. He slides his hands down your arms before separating.
"Breathe," he instructs. You don't hesitate to take a deep breath before he pulls you underneath the water.
He's behind you at the moment, entangling his arms around your figure. You look up at him and kiss him, bubbles occasionally slipping through. It was strange, because not only could you taste the water, but at the same time you tasted mint and mackerel too. Just like Haru...
Once you two surfaced again, he was hugging you.
Happily sighing, you returned the hug, still amazed at...everything.
You two ended up back-floating across the quiet pool for a while, his hand enveloping yours. Closing your eyes, you focused completely on the water and the effect that the presence beside you had on it.
Suddenly, you felt a tap on your forehead. Opening your eyes, you find that Haru is gazing down at you softly.
"Hey, I have an idea," he coos. It was then you noticed he had a kickboard in his hand. He slipped it under his back before he opened his arms. Slowly but surely, you were able to rest on his stomach with him supported by the kickboard under his back.
He takes both of your hands in both of his and you two begin drifting across the pool aimlessly. You're momentarily glad Makoto decided to roll the lane lines up before you'd left for the attempted dryland. You go from lazily kicking to almost falling asleep, only to be gently awakened by the small waves of water lapping against your skin.
Haruka coils his arms around your waist, his head having been propped up with another kickboard you had drifted across.
"What are you doing to me?" he says underneath his breath, hands intertwined with yours and resting on top of your stomach.
Giggling, you sigh happily and rub your thumb over the back of his hand. "What am I doing to you, Haruka Nanase? What brought on all of this affection, hm?"
He doesn't answer, but instead suddenly rolls over. You fall off of him and back into the water.
He's smirking at you as you rise again.
"Damn you," you laugh, splashing him. After taking the hit, he comes up and kisses you again, taking you into his arms.
Then, an excited screech comes from nowhere, and the two of you turn to see Gou standing at the edge of the pool, smiling like an idiot.
"IT FINALLY WENT CANON!" she shouts, jumping up and down obnoxiously.
Haru stiffens and huffs, winding his arms around your torso and pulling you against his chest. You smile softly at him.
"He's showing affection for once!" Gou swoons, sighing in content.
"Uh...maybe we should go?" comes Mako's hesitant voice.
"Yes," Haruka states in his typical monotone voice.
Gou drags the backstroker away, and you swear you hear Nagisa giggling before their footsteps fade away.
Haru shakes his head before pecking your cheek. "I don't know how your future methods of escaping dryland are going to match this one."
