Haruka looks at the photo album filled with pictures of him and his friends—birthday parties, tournaments, activities from the swim club. In some of them, there is a red-haired boy. Haruka stares at him and remembers their last meeting.
A chance meeting at the railway stalled by an oncoming train and ruined by a defeat.
He studies his face—always smiling, almost always looking at him. Haruka sighs and thinks about the last expression he saw on his face—anger, hurt, and hopelessness melded together.
Haruka closes the photo album and puts it away, hopefully along with the memories and the reality of that last meeting. He glances at the calendar and stares at the date—February 2. A grinning boy with sharper-than-normal canine teeth flashes in his mind.
"Happy 13th birthday," Haruka whispers, "Rin."
He lies on his bed and imagines how else that meeting could have gone. Maybe, they meet at the swim club, but it's closed already. Or maybe, Rin rings his doorbell and tells him he's back for the holidays. Maybe, they don't meet at all, and none of this is happening and Rin is still smiling and challenging Haruka to a friendly race.
Haruka falls asleep and dreams.
Again he is in front of the tracks, waiting for the train to pass. Across, he spots Rin, looking at the ground, deep in thought. Rin looks up and they make eye contact. Haruka notices Rin's eyes widen and his lips tighten into a straight line and then the train passes.
Haruka runs to Rin's side. "You're back?" He says and gives a faint smile. "You could have called." He catches Rin lowering his eyes, looking at the ground by his feet.
"It would have…" Rin starts. But then, he looks back up and straight at Haruka's eyes. A smile makes its way to his face and he continues, "…ruined the surprise." He smiles at Haruka—the brightest he has ever seen. "I was on my way to your place to surprise you."
Haruka smiles in his sleep. Because, at least in his dream, Rin never challenged him to a race, broke down, cried, and told him that he'd quit. Rin was just smiling and being who Haruka knew him to be. Rin was Rin and he called him every other night while he was still in Japan, and never stopped sending letters when he got back to Australia.
Author's Note: This was one of my submissions for RHweek 2014. I finally decided to post it outside of tumblr.
Prompt: Blue - You could have called