Rin and Nitori met for the first time when they were only babies. Rin was two, and Nitori was barely over one.

Their mothers had met each other during a meeting at their workplace, and upon finding out that the both of them had very young sons, they decided it was crucial that their children had a play date.

So it was set. Rin's mother arrived early on a Saturday morning, with one arm around Rin as she carried him against her side.

"Hiroko-san, welcome!" Nitori's mother smiled warmly as she opened the door. "Come on in."

Rin's mother did as she was asked. She entered the cozy house, taking a warm cup of tea when it was offered. Nitori's mom told Rin's that their sons could play in the living room while they drank their tea on the couch.

Rin was set down gently on the carpeted floor as his mother took her seat on the couch a few feet away.

Rin sat up straight, pulling his legs into the crossed position.

He watched as a boy much tinier than him stared at him, large turquoise eyes gazing curiously.

Rin waited for the other boy to move, but he didn't move from his spot on his stomach.

Instead of waiting longer, Rin stood up slowly, wobbling on tiny feet, and walked over to where the other boy was laying.

"Hi." Rin's voice was a bit raspy.

The smaller kid just stared at him. Slowly, the kid pulled himself into the sitting position, his legs shaking a bit.

"Hi..." The smaller boys voice was high pitched and gentle.

"I'm Rin. Who are you?"

The younger boy seemed to have trouble forming a full sentence, though in his mind he knew what he wanted to say.

"Ai." A simple word, muttered in the place of a full introduction.

Rin nodded slowly, grinning widely. Upon his teeth being revealed, however, Nitori stumbled backwards, his eyes wider than ever.

His bright blue eyes were brimmed with tears when he sat back up, now a few feet away from Rin.

Rin was a bit startled. Why was his new friend so scared all of a sudden?

"Ai?" Rin asked, as he began to feel worried. "Ai?"

Nitori's bottom lip trembled, nervousness clear on his bright features.

Nitori pointed a shaky finger at Rin's face. "Shark."

Rin poked at one of his sharp teeth with a pudgy finger. He then understood why his new friend was scared. He though Rin was an actual shark.

Rin slowly got into the crawling position- in his mind it was a way to be less intimidating- and looked at Nitori. He kept his mouth tightly shut as he crawled towards his new friend.

Nitori shook his head, causing a few tears to drip down.

"It's okay." Rin assured him. "I'm not scary. I'm safe."

Nitori gazed at him, fright still evident in his eyes.

"Shark...?" Nitori muttered.

Rin shook his head. "No."

The fear in Nitori's eyes faded, returning his eyes to the gentle turquoise color that they were meant to be.

Rin, despite his usual cautiousness around people, pulled himself next to Nitori, plopping down close enough that their sides touched.

Slowly, Rin wrapped a short arm around Nitori, gripping the younger boys shoulder and pulling his little body against his own.

Nitori stared upwards, locking eyes with the boy who was hugging him. The older one smiled, gently this time, to show that he wasn't a scary shark-boy.

Much to Rin's pleasure, a wide smiled broke out on his new friends face. A few teeth were missing, but that was to be expected.

Their mothers had begun to watch fondly by this point, and they knew that the two boys would be friends for quite a long time.

They had many play dates in the following days and years, lasting even when they were seven and eight.

They went to the same elementary school, and although Rin made some new friends, he never ditched Nitori. Though, admittedly, it was hard to be together as much as they wanted, since they weren't in the same class.

One day there was a pack of bullies swarming the school yard. There were four of them, anyone they challenged wouldn't stand a chance.

Nitori was one of the unlucky targets. The pack of kids surrounded him, pushing him into the corner of a school building near the playground.

Nitori whimpered, tears threatening to spill. This just made the bullies laugh harder, and shove more often.

Nitori felt little scratches gracing his light skin, from where he boys were grabbing at him. He tried his hardest to shove them away, but his tiny size and the difference in numbers made it impossible.

Just when he thought he was going to get lost in panic, he heard a raspy yet strong voice. He smiled widely, despite everything. He knew that voice with certainty, and he words couldn't express how happy he was to hear the voice.

"Let go! Leave him alone." Rin spoke harshly, but he was trying not to lose his temper.

The boys looked at Rin briefly, but they brushed him off, crowding
around Nitori once again.

"I said get off!" Rin's temper was clearly worn thin. He grabbed two of the four by the back of their shirts, yanking them back. Nitori took this new opportunity, with two of them surprised and two of them held by Rin, to attack on his own. He looked down at the only thing holding him back from freedom, the hand pressed against his chest.

So, he did the first thing that came to mind.

He bit down hard on the hand.

The kid tore his hand away in shock, allowing Nitori to break free and run towards Rin. He took a spot beside him, as Rin shoved the two boys back, releasing their shirts so they fell forward.

Rin glared at all of the boys, until they finally shook their heads and stalked off.

Rin turned towards Nitori, eyes gentle with worry. "They didn't hurt ya too badly, right?"

Nitori shook his head. "Nothing major... Thanks for saving me..."

"No problem. Besides, you got a good move in there too! Good job."

Nitori grinned cheekily, his missing front tooth smile radiating.

The downfall came four years later. Rin was twelve, Nitori was eleven. Both of them had gotten into swimming, in Nitori's case because of Rin.

They had a tournament coming up. Nitori was upset about being on a different team than Rin, since Rin had been moved to a different elementary school, but he knew that Rin had other friends on his team.

A day before the tournament, Rin and Nitori were eating breakfast and Rin's house. Rin's mother and little sister had gone shopping, leaving the two boys to talk... And Rin had a lot to say.

"Hey, Ai?"

"Yes?"

"I uh... I'm kinda..."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Rin sucked in a breath. "I'm moving."

Nitori's eyes widened. "Wh-what? When...? And where are you going?"

"The day after tomorrow... I'm going to Australia. There's a special swimming school there, I'm going to work on my training."

"Oh..." Nitori dropped his gaze to his lap.

"Don't worry, I won't be there forever, I'll visit!" Rin tried desperately to cheer up his friend.

"Okay, that's good...!" Nitori was still stricken by the news, but he didn't want to cause Rin any trouble.

"I'm not going to get to see you the day I leave though... Meet up with me after the tournament, okay?"

"Sure." Nitori smiled.

The next day rolled around too quickly. Nitori was not in top condition, as he was stressed over how his race would go, and worried about Rin moving.

Nitori exited the locker room, glancing around the pool area, looking for Rin. He saw him in a bunch with three other swimmers. Nitori knew Rin and these other three boys were best friends, they had grown extremely close since Rin joined their club. If Nitori recalled correctly, they were Tachibana Makoto, Hazuki Nagisa, and Nanase Haruka.

Nitori didn't want to bother them, so he walked over slowly to where his team was gathered. None of the kids in his club ever really talked to him, not that he really minded, he had Rin after all.

He did now, at least. Nitori knew that he would feel quite lonely once his shark toothed friend left.

Eventually, it was Rin's turn to race in the relay with his friends. Nitori got a good look from the sidelines, watching intently.

Their backstroke swimmer, Makoto, went first. Then came Nagisa, the breaststroke swimmer. Then Rin himself... The butterfly swimmer. Nitori watched with awe as Rin moved dynamically through the blue water, smiling even as he came up for air. He made the turn, came speeding for the wall, touched it, and watched as Haruka dove. Rin's face lit up with something that Nitori had never seen before. It was a look of pure joy and shock, and it stayed plastered on his face even as Rin got out of the pool, and as he watched Haruka swim. Nitori had never seen Rin so happy... Never.

The Iwatobi elementary team came in first. It was to be expected, they were a perfect team.

Nitori watched as Rin slung his arms around Makoto and Haruka, laughing joyously. Nagisa clung to them all, completing the circle.

Nitori was both content and sad as he watched them. He knew Rin was happy, and he knew that those other three made him happy. However, he knew that he wasn't going to get to say goodbye to Rin.

He wasn't going to interfere. He wasn't going to rush in and destroy the happy moment that Rin was having. He just wouldn't...

So by the next week, Rin was long gone, and Nitori was alone. He sat on his bed, reading a book and absentmindedly twirling bits of his silvery hair.

Suddenly he heard a faint ring. It went off once, and he recognized it as being his phones texting tone. Who would have messaged him? His family members and a few kids he didn't know well were in his contacts, but that was it...

New Text: Matsuoka Rin
Hey, Ai, I didn't see you at the tournament! I wanted to say goodbye... I guess you couldn't find me in the mass of people? It was very crowded. Anyways, iwatobi won the race, did you hear?

Talk to ya later,
Rin.

Nitori stared at his phone for a moment. Rin? He had forgotten Rin even had his number, since neither of them used their phones very often.

He was glad Rin thought Nitori not saying goodbye at the tournament was accidental. He felt Rin would scold him if he knew Nitori's through process relating to his absence.

Nitori typed out a quick text.

To: Matsuoka Rin

Yeah, I got lost in the crowd and couldn't find you, and I didn't go to you house because I figured you'd be busy... Sorry!

-Nitori

Nitori shut his phone and layed back on the bed. Rin never texted back, but Nitori knew he was busy... Of course... He was just busy.

Days, weeks, months, and eventually years passed. Nitori had tried desperately to contact Rin, but nothing worked. Nitori just assumed he was fixated on his swimming, he didn't have time to have mindless chats.

Time had done a lot to both boys. Five years had passed, and this meant change for the both of them. Nitori had followed in Rin's footsteps, making the decision to go to a prestigious swimming boarding school, Samezuka Academy.

Nitori's parents had to go to a business meeting on Nitori's first day of school, so they had simply dropped him off, leaving him to lug his bags in on his own. Classes wouldn't be starting until the next day, luckily, so Nitori had time to unpack.

He slammed the door to his dorm room as he walked in, stumbling as he carried his bags. He dropped them in the center of the room, grabbing a paper from his pants pocket once his hands were free. It was the paper that gave him information about the year. Another page was folded with it, the one that would show his roommate assignment.

After briefly glancing over the information for the year, he tossed it down on one of the desks. He took the roommate assignment sheet and gently unfolded it.

His hands shook, and he nearly dropped the paper when he read the name.

His new roommate...

Matsuoka Rin...

Authors Note:

Well, Rintori is officially taking over my notes and my mind xD Oh well, these dorks are super adorable, so I can't to note, I know Rin's mother probably isn't actually named Hiroko, but since her name isn't ever mentioned, I made one up. Also, I know that Rin didn't have his pointy teeth until his late teens or so, but the idea of baby Nitori being terrified by Rin's shark teeth has been floating around in my mind for weeks, and I just had to write it! :D

Whelp, that's it! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!