Set in season 2 of 'Free!'

Disclaimer: I don't own 'Free!', but Ayaka is all mine.

Understandings

With every waking moment, the weight of sleep only became heavier. It was a sweet promise, one that left her lids drooping and her usual attitude vastly more despondent. And she really couldn't blame anyone but herself for her current state – it was a fact Ayaka Shibata would never think to refute.

She was the one who made the decision to stay up so late, despite her older brother's warning otherwise. It wasn't a smart choice, given that she had to wake up early that morning to watch the local swimming competition, but the chance to prolong her phone call with Rin Matsuoka had been too sweet of an opportunity to pass up.

Now she suffered the consequences, pitying herself if only because no one else would. She sat on a seat inside the swimming club, waiting for company to join her. It had been the plan that, after the competition ended, Rin would meet her there before taking her out for lunch. A date, as she loved to call it. Ayaka felt no shame bringing up the fact that they were dating at every possible opportunity.

Her head lolled against the wall behind her, her arms tightening her hoodie around her. Ayaka's eyes stared up at the ceiling light, reflecting gold where in the dark it might have looked brown. It was the gift of brown eyes, she supposed, even if it didn't match the ash-blonde of her hair.

The quiet was only disturbed by echoing footsteps. Her eyes wandered, surprised to find that it wasn't Rin who approached. Sousuke Yamazaki possessed the silhouette a much taller figure.

"Sousuke," She greeted him with blunt words and a frown, "Where's Matsuoka?"

"Getting changed still." The black haired swimmer replied, decidedly odd in his cool tone.

Ayaka's frown persisted, her worry sprouting deeper roots. She was not particularly well-acquainted with Rin's childhood friend, but the few months she had known him were enough to tell that he was acting out of character. Whatever warmth with which he had acted before seemed to desert him.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, pressing her lips together. Her eyes widened just a little, growing steadily more alert under the solemn scrutiny of his expression.

Sousuke rolled his shoulders, chest heaving as he breathed deeply. It was a difficult issue to broach, even under the best of circumstances. He began clumsily, saying, "Look, I know we don't know each other all that well…"

She raised an eyebrow, but held her silence. Sousuke returned her look passively, intent upon nothing more than saying what he felt had to be said.

He nodded shortly before continuing on to say, "It's about Rin."

"What about him?"

"Him and you." Sousuke clarified, blue eyes narrowing.

"Okay then; what about us?" Ayaka corrected herself easily. Her stomach seemed to drop as her apprehension grew and a sense of foreboding chased her doubts.

"Well, it's like this," Sousuke declared, crossing his arms. His eyes bore into hers, an icy gaze that spoke his intentions even before he added, "I don't want you going out with Rin if all you're going to do is mess around with him."

The blow was sudden and low, origins unknown. Still, there was something about being told off by a six-foot-one giant of a man that led to Ayaka's understandable fright. Her tongue seemed to falter, confused, as she muttered, "Mess around?"

"The other night, I passed by your work and…" Sousuke seemed to hesitate, as if wondering how best to say it.

Ayaka had no such doubts. "Spit it out."

Her mind was spinning with ideas. She wondered what Rin and her part-time job could possibly have in common – other than herself. Or, at the very least, she was puzzled as to how they concerned Sousuke. More than anything, she was curious as to how he could have reached this conclusion.

Part of the explanation came as he declared, "I saw you with another guy."

Ayaka's immediate and instinctive first reaction was to laugh, as loudly as she could. There was no restraining herself at this point. Even at Sousuke's confusion, at the prospect of utterly perplexing him, Ayaka only continued to laugh. It was ridiculous, the entire notion that she would – and Ayaka had always handled things best when treating it lightly.

"Another guy?" She echoed. "Like, how?"

"You kissed him-"

"-What? Oh, yeah, him; I kissed his cheek-!"

"-and I don't see-"

"Neither do I," Ayaka cut him off swiftly, raising her voice to catch his attention, "I don't see how this is any of your business."

"As Rin's friend, I'm not just going to sit by," Sousuke explained, eyes narrowed, "And if you intend on playing games with Rin, it's my business to see that it doesn't end with him getting fucked over and hurt."

Again, Ayaka started laughing. The entire conversation didn't make any sense – it was absurd – and she was having a hard time trying to form a logical thought about it. Through her shock, it was hard to articulate just how stupid Sousuke's words sounded to her. At least her discomposure gave her a few seconds to sort her thoughts out.

It was slow, eventual, but she finally pushed herself to her feet to face him head on. Sousuke didn't so much as blink when she moved closer, but neither did Ayaka waver in purpose. "I understand why you're concerned for Matsuoka," she began slowly, solemnity dawning, "But the only thing you're right about is that we don't know each other that well."

"I'll listen if this is an explanation." Sousuke decided, crossing his arms resolutely.

Ayaka did her best to hide a smile at his words, drowning it in the words that fought with the tip of her tongue. "Even for however well you think you know Matsuoka, you still don't me – and granted, I don't know you that well either – but I think that's where the problem is here. The way I see it, even if you have known him longer and you do understand him better, that doesn't give you any right to undermine how anyone else feels about him."

"That's-" Sousuke was interrupted almost as soon as he began. Ayaka was determined to speak her mind, and – as had been pointed out to her many times before – she was pig-headedly stubborn when she wanted to be.

"That's exactly what you're doing," she declared, "But you probably don't know that I would never do anything to hurt him. I love him, of course. I love Rin, in every way and without exception – even the parts of him I don't understand."

She could see the hesitation in his eyes, the understanding that was quickly masked by an unwillingness to be wrong. "Then what were you doing with that guy?"

"Well, kissing him, apparently." She retorted sarcastically.

"So you're not denying it? If it's true, then Rin has a right to know." Sousuke declared, almost already turning in search of his friend.

Ayaka reacted on instinct, reaching across to grab his arm and pull him back to face her. Though mismatched in height, there glares were a fitting equal for the others.

"That's not your business." she repeated firmly, eyes flashing.

Sousuke opened his mouth to rebuke her, while Ayaka remained ready to throw it back in his face with a, hopefully, witty insult. Before anything more than an inhale could pass through either's lips, there were determinedly and resoundingly cut off.

A familiar voice breached the tension with casual tone. "But it is mine."

"Matsuoka!" Ayaka squeaked, more meekly than she meant to.

She eased away from Sousuke to look over his shoulder, searching for Rin in a relief that quickly dwindled. He emerged from around the corner, and unfortunately from Ayaka's perspective, was now fully dressed. His expression was in stark contrast to his nonchalant manner of speaking, eyes narrowed by a frown and a scowl on his lips. Sousuke was just as quick to meet his gaze, though even less eager when he was met with the same, stern glare.

Not sparing her a glance, Rin addressed his friend with a simple, "Sousuke."

It was enough of a hint. Before leaving, the taller man sent Ayaka one final, chilling look. It was a clear warning which she did her best to ignore, not wanting to be distracted from the more prevalent problem that was her and Rin.

The silence pervaded the distance left between them, words waiting for a signal neither really knew they looked for. Rin was the first to speak.

"Is it true?"

"Huh?" Ayaka snapped back to reality, to the immediate problem before her.

Rin took a few more steps closer, his hands closing around her shoulders as the distance evaporated. He always managed to catch her by surprise when he pulled her close like that, though it paled in comparison to the approaching shock. "Did you mean what you said?" Rin reiterated.

"About what?"

Even just thinking it was enough to make him blush. "That you love me."

"That's what you're concerned about?" Ayaka exclaimed, brown eyes widening before a smirk grew in place, "I don't know, do you think it convinced Sousuke?"

"Ayaka-" The use of her first name, in place of what was habitually her last, was enough to strip away all semblance of teasing.

Her cheeks were painted a deep red, but it didn't lesson the genuineness of her words. "Of course I did, idiot."

All at once, he seemed to relax. His expression softened, his hands moving to rest either side of her face. There was an honesty in his eyes that she couldn't even think to dismiss, that only made his answering statement all the more precious and all the more real.

"Good," Rin sighed, relieved, "I love you too."

There was an odd, undoubtable look in his eyes. It was rare, but Ayaka knew it well enough to never question it. Ever since Rin had been named captain of his swimming team, he had been forced to take on and handle more and more leadership roles. He had developed the skills for it, the backbone and resolve to commit to such responsibility. There was something about that absolute confidence that Ayaka just loved – more so because she reaped the benefits of it.

Such as when, before she could even so much as think about replying, he kissed her without hesitating.

The beginning of their friendship had been troublesome, to say the least, and their relationship had always been slow to develop. From stupid, egocentric bets and childish competitiveness, to where they stood now; his lips pressed against hers, unashamed to be seen in her company.

The moment she kissed him back was the very same moment that resolved all his doubts.

"That was nice," Ayaka murmured lightly, "Wanna do it again?"

Rin, his fingers still framing her cheeks, took only a moment to consider it, knowing that he didn't really have a choice in the end anyway. "Damn it."

The second kiss was much shorter and a great deal more playful than the first. Ayaka's hands were around his neck, encouraging him to move forward, but her smile was enough to make him want to pull away and simply look at her. She was beautiful – even she had no problem admitting it – and Rin would have been well within his rights to be jealous and suspicious after hearing her conversation with Sousuke. It amazed her that he looked anything but.

"Hey, Matsuoka?"

"Yeah?"

"How…how long were you standing there for?"

He waited until she looked him in the eye before continued, "Long enough to hear about you kissing someone else."

For as quickly as Ayaka had glanced up, she once more glanced down. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"Yes," He growled, his hands moving to grip her shoulders tightly, "But you love me, right? So there's no reason to be worried if you do – at least, I hope not. Is there a reason to be worried?"

A small, thankful smile pulled on her lips, dimples peeking through. "No reason at all." She replied softly, before burying her head in his shoulder and seeking a place for her arms around his waist.

Rin remained holding her by her shoulders, his thumbs rubbing a soothing line up and down her skin. Whether it was a conscious action or not, it still sent her heart racing and shivers across her skin. It probably would have been a peaceful moment, if not for Ayaka's eventual, giddy laughter.

Rin took a step back to replace the distance between them, perplexed.

Ayaka tried to control herself, but found the giggles bursting forth anyway. "I kissed his cheek, first of all," she remarked, grinning, "And second of all, I'm sure that the guy Sousuke saw me with was my brother."

Rin stared her dead in the eyes, expression blank for a long second, before he made a strange scoffing sound and looked away. "Your brother always seems to get involved in everyone else's relationships."

"It's a talent." Ayaka agreed, before the return of her doubt had her adding, "So, you're really not mad?"

Rin used a single hand to brush back her hair, pausing only to watch her with unnerving scrutiny. He liked that she was worried about how he felt, that she cared so much, even if he would never admit something like that aloud. There was nothing like love to inspire trust, and he trusted her undoubtedly.

"No, I'm not mad," he concluded at last, the smallest of grins sneaking across his lips, "Not when you look this cute, anyway."

Ayaka laughed lightly. "Thanks, I – wait, are you implying I don't always look cute?"

Even for all her frivolities, even for the parts that he didn't understand, nothing could ever have made Rin change his mind. On that matter, Ayaka matched his feelings – and neither of them would have had it any other way.

This oneshot follows events from my Rin/OC story, 'Falling'. If you're reading the oneshot first and liked the pairing, go check it out! (Shameless self-promoting, sorry).

For those coming from 'Falling' and moving on to read this, I hope it was okay and fit the original story.

Thanks so much for reading!