Here's my first Asahi and Haru oneshot! Some will be about romance, others will feature just their friendship.
I don't own the Free! series, that belongs to Masahiro Yokotani and Ohji Kouji.
These oneshots will have no connection to one another (unless mentioned at the beginning of the small piece).
Some angst in this oneshot, but has a happy ending!
Asahi and Haru
Oneshot #1 – Apologize
Asahi was at war with himself. Part of him wanted to open up to Haru and apologize. But the other half of him was worried. What if instead of Haru accepting his apology, their newly reconnected friendship hit a snag? What if everything became awkward because of it?
When he was little, Asahi had felt so much guilt, but had promptly forgotten about it until recently reconnecting with Haru. But now after being in close contact with each other during swim practice, Asahi felt the need to rectify his mistake.
Releasing a drawn out breath, Asahi glanced over to see Haru swimming contentedly. That was a nice thing to see after all this time. He could just feel calmness washing over Haru with every stroke he took.
He remembered feeling inferior during middle school. When they first raced against each other Asahi peed himself. Heck, when he first saw Haru swim he felt intimidated.
Asahi was glad that was all over and done with now. Still, he felt guilt niggling at his chest. "Hey Haru?" He watched as his friend came to a stop.
"Yeah? What's up?"
"I know we've just reconnected, but I have to tell you something." Asahi knew it would be hard, but he had to do it. "I'm sorry for what happened in middle school."
"It's alright, Asahi. There's no need for you to bring up the past." Haru fidgeted, making the water swish around him.
"That's crap and you know it."
"What?"
"Remember our conversation a few days ago? You told me that what happened with Rin caused you to stop swimming. Even during high school when he came back into your life, it wasn't picture perfect." Asahi truly didn't want to upset Haru, he just had to make him see.
Rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly, he looked into Haru's eyes. "I know I wasn't in your life then, but the way I see it? Yeah most of it was his fault, but part of it was because you didn't let go of the past. You didn't open up your feelings."
Haru was now confused. "But it wasn't all my fault. He forced his own issues on me, when I didn't ask for that."
Asahi smiled grimly. "Exactly. I don't want you to look back on our friendship and feel any guilt over my messed up problems. I should never have piled my own crap onto you." Doing that to Haru was a moment in his life that Asahi felt ashamed of.
Asahi could feel the little ripples as his tears mixed with the pool water. "I also apologize for blaming you, when it was my own fault that I couldn't swim." Great. Now he was crying and making everything even more uncomfortable.
Asahi was still looking down, so he didn't notice that Haru swam up to him. When a wet hand was placed on top of his head, Asahi jolted in surprise. He felt droplets of water fall from his hair as it was ruffled by Haru.
"Asahi, you have nothing to apologize for. I forgave you long ago."
Shocked, Asahi stared at Haru. Had he really done that? Asahi opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Haru then looked away. In a blink of an eye, he was back to swimming laps.
What the heck just happened? Haru just forgave him so easily. Asahi couldn't believe it.
Haru watched as his friend stood still, a confused look on his face. An idea then came to Haru's mind. "Want to race, Asahi?"
"Huh?"
"I'll even give you a head start." Haru made sure to have a lighthearted tone when he said this. From the way Asahi's pink eyes lit up, Haru could tell he caught the tease.
"You're on!" Now smiling, Asahi got into position beside Haru. Instead of feeling anxious, Asahi felt exhilaration stirring in his belly. And when he looked into Haru's eyes, he saw nothing but peace.