Bottles
Haruka never knew where Rin would go when morning came. Once every Sunday morning, Haruka woke up in an empty bed and Rin would come back before nine o'clock and ate breakfast with him. It wasn't strange that he went out in the morning for a jog, but lately he couldn't find any of their bottles when he took out the trash. That was when he started to question it.
At first, he thought of asking if he knew what had happened to the glass bottles. But if he did, Rin might say he didn't know or claimed to have taken the trash out early. No, Haruka thought, it can't be that. So why are the bottles missing? That was the question he thought about the third Sunday, the day it started to become a confusing situation of missing bottles and Rin going flustered whenever asked about them.
Where the bottles went Haruka never knew. However, an idea arose itself in Haruka's mind when he woke up earlier than usual. Well, more rather, a scene he saw. Rin was at the writing desk, a lamp light on and pen in hand. Strangely enough as Haruka watched through lazy eyelids, Rin had a bottle next to him as he continued writing on paper. What was he writing? And, more importantly, who was he writing to?
Witnessing this act of mystery got him wondering what was going on. And why Rin wasn't honest telling him what he was doing.
XxXxXxX
After a few nights of mystery, Haruka woke up early like last time, and this time he saw Rin sitting on the bedside, all dressed up to go outs and the lamp's amber orange glow lit the room softly. Haruka didn't know if he was holding a bottle or not, but Rin seemed deep in thought about something. Risking it, it was now or never. Haruka took out his hand slowly and, gently, touched Rin's shoulder and the sudden touch surprised Rin who looked over his shoulder and saw Haruka awake.
"Haru, are you up now?" he asked, looking down at the obviously awaken Haruka. "Sorry, you can go back to sleep. I'm just going out for a moment." Rin leaned his face down and gave him a sweet kiss on the nose.
"Why do you write on Sundays?" Haruka asked bluntly.
Rin expressed confusion, but he smiled down delicately.
"Have you been watching me?" Rin asked.
"I noticed you doing it for a while," he answered honestly. "Who are you writing to?"
Rin flopped himself on the bed, moved closer to Haruka and whispered, "I'm writing to dad."
Haruka stared into Rin's red crimson eyes, firmly waiting Rin to speak anything else, but it seemed that he couldn't find the words to speak. But as the silence between them dawned by only their eyes expressing physical connection, Haruka realized why he was writing letters at Sunday and why the bottles were missing. How did Haruka not comprehend this? Now knowing Rin's true intentions, Haruka broke the silence.
"You're throwing the bottles out to sea? Because of your dad who…" Haruka never spoke the rest of the sentence. He and everyone knew about what happened years ago.
"Yeah," he said. "It's something me and Kou do whenever we could. She was young and I thought it would help her move on, writing letters to dad. I guess I got into the tradition myself." He laughed a pleasant laugh, his shark-like teeth showed in his grin of nostalgia.
"Do you do this sort of thing all the time?"
"Yeah," he said, "All the time."
Haruka hesitated to ask but did. "Can I...come with you?"
Rin first gave a hesitant expression, but he then flashed a merry look, "Sure. We're going to the beach since..." Rin dared not to say the rest, and Haruka could sense the fading happiness to silent anguished mourning, but his face still had that beautiful smile. Haruka felt uneasy, but he got out of bed and left Rin to sit back up to change.
XxXxXxX
Haruka and Rin walked down the flight of stairs of the neighborhood. They got out of the neighborhood and Haruka never knew how quiet it was at this time, but most of them were asleep and the only two souls drifting off to the beach was Rin and Haruka. Skies above them were shades of violet, but they were cloudy in the morning and it seemed like there wouldn't be any sunrise to be seen.
Being deep in thought while following behind Rin, Haruka recalled the time Rin's father passed away sadly from a storm in the sea. He contemplated how that affected Rin and Kou and how much had happened in the past, and how it nearly separated the two of them if not Haruka being so determined to take back the old Rin he knew and loved. Haruka glanced down to the large brown bottle in Rin's right hand and was puzzled on what he wrote.
Did Rin write about all his times he spent with him? Did he write that they were together, or how everyone was doing well, or how Kou was growing up into a bright woman? Or how he and Rin were together as a couple? Haruka—as respectful for privacy as he was—desired to know what he wrote.
"Are you okay?" Rin asked, his neck turned over to Haruka who silently nodded.
It didn't take long for the two to get near the beach—as much as Haruka wished to strip and jump into the shining blue ocean, he forced himself not to this once—and the skies made the waters shimmered like an ocean of diamonds. The sky began descending clouds further away and from the horizon, at the time they strolled across the narrow street and entered the elder wooden port, the yellow round sun was seen far away. Its top head rose slowly upward, the beach's sands glistened at the light's touch and warmth was felt on Haruka's skin. Rin was staring at the ocean, a sad but generous smile seen upon his face.
The two lovers stood at the port, taking in the scenery while a ship from afar, an eyesore as it was, sailed far away. Haruka didn't want to interrupt the moment seeing how Rin was deep in thought and the scenery looked breathtaking.
"Have I ever told you I wished I knew my dad better?" Rin asked Haruka, still taking in the horizon. "There were times I wanted to know what he liked and everything, but I guess this is the only way he'll know me better."
"By throwing the messages you write into sea? What if…someone finds them, out there?"
"Maybe they'll write back," he said, "or keep it or throw it back. Who knows?"
Haruka remained silent. Rin took it in stride, backing up for a second and had the bottle risen up in the air. He held it tightly but gave it a good throw where it soared above the ocean, the brown bottle's color shined from the touch of Sun's sunlight and it plummeted into the waters as waves waved themselves in union.
Haruka went over to Rin's side, silent as Rin looked to his lover and gave off a bright smile like the today's sun. And when they began walking back, they held hands through the remainder of the morning.
"Hey, Haru," said Rin.
Haruka looked to his boyfriend. "Hmm?"
"You know what I write to my dad about? Mostly, it's about you and I and everyone else. I write to him about the good things in life and, honestly, you're the best thing in life." Rin turned his head toward his boyfriend and gave a huge grin.
Haruka pouted away and Rin took it into stride. Deep down Haruka knew that his desire to know was quenched, and he felt overjoyed to know Rin wrote to his dad about him. Him and their relationship.
"So now next time you'll just tell me when you go?"
"Yeah, I won't bottle it up anymore… Hey, I made a pun!" Rin laughed at his own joke.
Please don't tell me he's going to make bottle puns the whole day…
"Hey, Haru, you shouldn't…bottle up your emotions!" Rin said in a hilarious tone.
"Stop making puns, please…"
And for the rest of the morning, as they walked back home, Rin kept making bottle puns until Haruka learnt to accept his strange jokes.