For SouHaru week day 7! (prompt - free)

Disclaimer: Free! Eternal Summer is not mine.

Their friends have to be awfully bored, for Nanase Haruka and Yamazaki Sousuke to end up spending some time alone in the closet.

Their misery all started when Nagisa laid eyes on Haru and Sousuke who obviously hadn't been interacting at all in the third year's graduation party, in Haru's own house, for God's sake.

"Why don't we play ten minutes in the closet with our swimming rivals?!"

To be honest, that's just what it took.

No one really protested aside from Makoto, who at first was a bit hesitant to stay inside the closet with Momotarou. But Samezuka's otter displayed so much interest that he swore he would never let anything harm his "rival-senpai" while in there. They were the first pair to get locked up while their friends stayed in the room next door.

Followed by Nagisa who excitedly dragged "Ai-chan" himself into the closet. Nagisa promised they would only stay there for ten minutes, and Ai said "no cheating of the time!" as he was well aware of it even without holding a timer. They stayed in there for about 14 minutes, much to Ai's dismay.

Although Rin and Rei pretty much bickered in the closet half the time - they could be heard all the way through the next room - they actually enjoyed each other's company. Rei flaunted his newly learned complex English words. Rin said he was such a good teacher. Rei claimed he was a fast learner. It almost never ended even after they went out.

But apparently, their graduation party is far from over. It is barely before sunset.

Only the inside of the closet appears to be quite darker.

"Since we are here, we might as well do stuff," is something that neither of them would say. Haru for the past minute, hasn't said anything, just moved a bit and sighs here and there. Sousuke doesn't budge much either.

Much to his surprise, Sousuke makes the first 'real' move.

"Any ideas?"

Haru seems to be in deep thought, what with his knees bent and chin resting on them.

"Oi. Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you."

"I am not ignoring you. I'm thinking."

"Well now you're talking. Good."

"Because you're complaining!"

"I am not!"

Haru glares at him. His eyes quickly land on Sousuke's injured shoulder, and averts them before Sousuke notices. Back then, Sousuke was one of the major factors that made his head swirl in confusion and made him think hard, really hard. Not that it was on a positive note before, but still, he affected him in some way.

"What? You are spacing out." Sousuke asks, confused.

"Nothing."

"Nanase."

"What."

"You are weird."

"I hear people say that from time to time." Haru looks to his side.

"Oh? Guess I'm not the only one."

"..."

"I'm going to try my luck on you." Sousuke smirks.

Haru looks back at him. "What does that mean?"

"Let's play the rock-paper-scissors game."

Without batting an eyelash, Haru quickly answers,"no."

"The hell not?"

"Rin mentioned you never won against him. You're going to cheat."

Sousuke frowns. "Oi! That's not true. Don't believe everything he says. And I am not a cheater!"

"No. Let's play the connection game instead."

Sousuke snorts. "Is that something you're good at?"

Haru's eyebrows crease. "It's a popular game in school."

"Fine, tell me how it's played."

"It's a game of word connection. I say a word and you say another word related to it."

"So you're good at word play?"

"Maybe."

"How long can you last?"

"As long as you like."

Sousuke cracks his knuckles in response. "Sounds great to me."

Haru nudges. "You start."

"Rin."

"Samezuka."

"Best team.

"Don't say two words. That's not allowed."

"Uh, fine. Best."

"Iwatobi."

Sousuke chuckles. "Swimming."

Haru hesitates for a moment before answering. He looks at Sousuke's shoulder once again. "Pool."

Sousuke catches the look Haru has given him. "I'm fine. Don't look at me like that."

"Yeah, I know. Water."

"Blue."

Sousuke thinks for a while. "Nanase."

"What?" Haru frowns.

"Nanase."

"..."

Sousuke makes sure to emphasize each syllable in a low, mocking voice. "Na-na-se."

"You mean...?"

"Yeah, you."

"I don't...follow."

"Uh..." he slightly waves his hands, "your eyes are blue."

Haru looks surprised for a moment, but stares at the ground instead.

"Yamazaki."

"Hmm?"

"Ya-ma-za-ki. That's my answer. Your eyes are blue green. Or is it green blue...?"

"Don't copy me!"

Sousuke cocks an eyebrow. "That is too biased, Nanase. You can't connect mackerel to that."

"There are no rules about biased opinions."

"That's really unfair, though."

"Are you not going to reply?"

"I will! I'm not gonna lose to you!"

"Well, Nagisa, you are probably mistaken. I don't think Haru would say that!" Makoto blurted out.

Rin rubbed his temples. "My head is aching. How has it come to this?"

"No, I really did hear it! Sou-chan asked Haru-chan if he is good at foreplay and he said he's willing to last as long as Sou-chan likes! Then Sou-chan said it sounds great to him! I was about to listen to more but Rei-chan dragged me back here." Nagisa pouted while sharing what he overheard. It earned mix reactions from his beloved audience.

"Nagisa-kun! Don't say such embarrassing things! And we shouldn't have eavesdropped in the first place!"

"Aww, you're no fun, Rei-chan! They've been there for more than 30 minutes so don't say I'm wrong!" Rei cringes at Nagisa's insistence.

"No, wait," Rin interrupted.

"What is it, Rin?" Makoto asked worriedly.

"That's impossible, if they can spend more than 30 minutes on foreplay they might as well be getting on to it. Like, right now...?"

"Rin!"