Of Birthdays and Butterfly Kisses
Rin had never really enjoyed his birthday.
In Australia, they always felt empty, desolate even.
Until a parcel, wrapped with simple, rough, tan paper, and bound with twine came.
Haru's gift to him.
They had stopped coming after they had raced, and Rin had left, bitter thoughts brewing in his mind.
Haru had quit swimming after that.
But today, this year, he was back in Japan, back with the team, (plus one. He had mixed feelings about Rei joining the team. Jealous, nawww. Not him.)
Rin ran his hand blindly across the smooth surface of the messy desk in the dorm room, until his hand collided with an unknown object.
Rings?
Rin opened his magenta eyes, and his pupils grew small.
This was the sketchbook.
THE sketchbook.
It was the last gift Haru had given to him-before they raced.
Leaning over, Rin grabbed the book, and began flipping through the pages.
He had no idea how it had gotten onto his desk. Last he remembered, he had left it on the floor, in the empty laundry basket. But, whatever. He'd try to figure that out later. Maybe Aiichirou had moved it.
The first page was always a welcome sight.
It was a beautiful drawing of the cherry blossom tree, during spring, with all their messages drawn on the bricks surrounding it.
For the Team
Free
I Swim
They were, and always had been the swimming weirdos of the grade.
Well, Haru being the weirdest of them all.
Next page.
Nagisa, Mako, and him, all smiling, bobbing in the pool.
They had been joking around, until Nagisa had fell in, taking Mako with him, who took Rin with him, who pulled Haru in as well.
Nagisa had ended up snorting water out of his nose.
Next page.
It was a picture with all of them, even Rei.
Oh, yeah.
It was at a Christmas party, and they had all been really uncomfortable, so they eventually met Rei, who was attempting to escape out the window.
(Despite what he claims, he really wasn't all that intelligent when he was younger.)
They had ended up having a great time.
The drawings were colored vividly, and Rin smiled.
Only Haru, who acted so unemotional could do something like this.
The last page came up, and Rin's hand quavered.
It was a drawing of them holding up the relay trophy, all of them grinning like maniacs, except for Haru, who was looking away from the camera, a total robot like usual.
That hadn't changed, had it?
Rin reached to close the book, but a new page fell out.
It was a new drawing.
One that Rin was sure hadn't been there when he had first gotten the book of drawings.
It was a sketch, unfinished, unpolished, yet it instantly became Rin's favorite.
It was them, including Rei, at the tournament, all of them laughing.
Why that little-
Haru had come into Rin's dorm to see what was keeping him up last night, when the team had plans.
Obviously, he had slipped this in there, and left the sketchbook on his desk.
Jeez, the guy was sneakier than he thought.
But, it was wonderful.
Jeez, he really was a sap, wasn't he?
But, for his birthday, he got another sketchbook from the raven-haired swimmer.
And on the opening page, was a completed version of the sketch that had fallen out of the book.
He leaned over and kissed Haru.
Sometimes he wondered who was the bigger sap: him or his boyfriend.
But still, he couldn't of asked for a better birthday present.