Haru was now in his way to Australia with Rin. He had no idea what the teen's intention was but he went with it. He needed to get away anyway; Away from the swim club, rei and nagisa, makoto.
"Yo!" Rin snapped the other out of his thoughts.
"Did you bring your phone like I told you?" He asked him. He told Haru to pack certain things and to let people know he would be gone. Haru looked away.
"I don't need it." He simply said. Rin raised a brow at him.
"Really? What if someone calls you or-"
"I don't want to talk to anyone." Haru cut him off and looked out the window of the plane.
"Suit yourself." Rin sighs sticking headphones in his ears as the plane was about to take off.
"Rei-chan, do you think Haru-chan is okay?" Nagisa asked the taller of the two. He seemed to be a bit nervous as he laid on the floor of Rei's room. They returned to his place after the whole ordeal the night before and Nagisa spent the night. Now, it was morning and the two were a bit unsettled.
"I'm sure Haruka-senpai will pull through." Rei reassured him, but dropped his head. "At least I hope he is."
"Mako-chan seemed very sad when we saw him." the blonde mentioned. Rei remembered back to the night before when the two went to look for their upperclassmen and then Makoto ran past them in tears, not even noticing their presences. Nagisa felt a tad hurt when that happened as did Rei but they would leave to two be and decided to go home and sleep it off.
"Yeah." was all Rei could muster out.
"How will practice work out for us? Nationals are like in a week! We need to make sure to improve our relay times." Nagisa spilled his fears out to his teammate.
"Well, I think we should leave Haruka-senpai and Makoto-senpai be and focus on practicing ourselves. Last time we tried to help it...didn't end well." frowned the blue haired teen. Nagisa mimicked the look and knew what Rei was talking about.
"Do you think Haru-chan is mad at us? I mean, If we didn't bring it up….maybe we said the wrong thing….I just…" He felt a hand rest on his shoulder and looked up to his best friend there.
"Hey. Everything will be fine, okay? If they fight, or are mad at each other or us, or even any form of unpleasantly feelings, we'll work through it. We are a team! Besides, they wouldn't ever ditch the relay…would they?" the two sat there in Rei's room and pondered over the new thought.
The two teens finally came home to japan that night from the trip and Rin decided walked Haru back to his place.
"See? That helped a bit I hope."Rin smirked at his childhood rival.
"Yeah...thank you." Haru thanked the red head with every ounce in his heart. This surprised Rin and he chuckled a bit. He flew his arms on his shoulders in a friendly gesture.
"Couldn't leave you hanging. I'm sure this will give Makoto some peace of mind too." Haru frowned remembering his argument with Makoto and how he yelled at him and ran out on him.
"I...I said some mean things to him..." Was all he said. Rin knew though. Makoto called him that night in tears of the fight they had and both planned the trip to Australia in order to help Haru.
"Makoto...he'll understand. I'm sure you two will make up pretty easy" the Samezuka boy reassured his pal. Haru gave a light smile in return.
"I hope." He opened his front door. Before Rin could leave, he turned to him. "Rin, do you want to spend the night? It's pretty late." Haru offered.
"Mmm, yeah. Might as well. I'll head to samezuka in the morning. We have to start training to beat you guys at nationals anyway." Rin and Haru walked into the house.
"I...we have to practice too..." Haru just realized that his team needs to train. For regionals. In a few days. He began to feel a little unsure. Rin walked into the living room to relax for a bit when something or someone his eye sight caught his attention.
"Haru..." Rin called out in a quiet voice and the raven haired boy walked over.
"You have guests?" And Rin pointed to the two boys on the floor. Haru's eyes widened at what he saw. On the floor, curled up together, was his younger teammates. Nagisa held his phone and faced Rei and Rei held onto him as they accidentally fell asleep in their senpai's floor in his home.
"Seriously, how did they get in?" Rin sighed rubbing the back of his head.
"My back door doesn't work." Haru continued to watch the sleeping boys. Nagisa stirred a little and moved closer to Rei.
"Should we wake them?" Rin questioned. It took a moment but Haru answered. "No. It's late anyway." He left the room and quickly returned with a blanket to put on them. He places it on them as gently as he could to not wake them, which was a success. He then looked over to his phone, blinking with a message. He recalled the last time that happened and how his teammates worried about him and left him a message. Thinking it was important, Haru went to get the phone and opened it to his messages.
"You have 7 new messages." He was surprised at how many there were. The phone then began the long list of voicemails.
"Message 1: ….Haru-chan..." It started and Haru knew it was from Nagisa. "Please...pick up your phone. I'm sorry…Rei-chan and I are. We didn't want to upset you."
"Haruka-senpai." And Rei began in the same message. "I'm sorry Haruka-senpai. We were just really worried. We just wanted to tell you how we felt and hoped that it would inspire you." And then a switch back to Nagisa.
"If you get the chance. Please, call us back. End of message." And Haru continued to listen.
"Message 2: Haru-chan please pick up! Mako-change didn't show up for practice. Rei-chan and Gou-chan are all worried about you two!" Then switch to Rei.
"Haruka-senpai, if its because of what happened before, just forget it and lets just race together. As a team." Then to Nagisa.
"Haru-chan, we need you. I need you. Please call back. End of message." Haru looked over at the two resting on his floor then to Rin, watching it all as he listened more.
"Message 3: Haru-chan...I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry. I-I know you are mad at me but I only hope you continue to be happy. To be free! You have the choice to be whatever you want. I'm here for you if you want and I believe in you. Please...please don't hate me for what happened the other night. End of message." Haru's heart broke a bit hearing how Nagisa sounded in the message. He was crying.
"Message 4: Haruka-senpai...it's Rei. I just want to know if you are safe. Please call back to confirm if you are. Makoto-senpai isn't around for us to ask and Nagisa-kun and I are getting worried about you. If...if its about what we said the other night, we didn't want to force you into anything you don't want to do. You inspire Nagisa-kun and I and we want you to inspire the world with whatever you wish to do. You truly are amazing and that's all we wanted to say. Um,... Please give myself or Nagisa-kun a call back. I hope you are well. End of message." Haru felt touched at the words and started feeling bad for making them worry. But it would only get worse.
"Message 5: H-Haru-chan..." And he could hear Nagisa's tears. He was sobbing and couldn't stop. "Haru-chan...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry about what I said, making the swim club happen, for bothering you...I-I just..."he sobbed more and Haru's heart broke. "If...if I hadn't done any if that...maybe-maybe you'd be happy. If we didn't have a swim club, people wouldn't have been pressuring you into a career path you don't want. I-I know you want to be free...I'm sorry-End of message." Haru wasn't sure how much more he could take. He had 2 more messages.
"Message 6: HARUKA-SENPAI!" Rei yelled over the phone. "Please please please answer! First Makoto-senpai isn't around and now N-Nagisa-kun..." And he heard Rei start to tear up. "I can't find him. I can't...he talked about how everything was his fault and was really upset and I can't find him! He's not at home or school or any other place...please...if you find him…-End on message." Haru had a single tear fall. He never thought about how all of their drama would affect the younger members of their group. And he never bothered to tell Nagisa or Rei about him going. But there was one last message. He brushed his tear away and listened.
"Message 7: Haruka-senpai...I found Nagisa-kun… I called and hoped you wouldn't mind but Nagisa-kun broke into your home and we decided to wait for you to get back, hopefully before nationals. We hope you are safe..." Then a switch to Nagisa.
"Haru-chan, please don't give up. We miss you and we are worried about you. Remember when you had me confront my problems? I want you to confront yours too and Rei-chan and I will be there to support you no matter what."back to Rei.
"I hope you work everything out and we hope you are safe. Obviously, your phone is home so we assume you'll get these messages later." And then in unison.
"Be safe Haru-chan/-senpai. We miss you. End of messages." and Haru put down his phone.
"Sheesh, you left these guys in a loop. Told ya you should've had your phone." Haru ignored Rin's taunts and kneeled down next to the two sleeping boys.
"Nagisa…Rei...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have acted how I did. I should've told you that I left. I should've told you both that…" he smiled before speaking the next words. "You guys are the greatest and you make swimming everything to me." He spoke softly to them as they slept. Rei stirred a little in his sleep causing Nagisa to wiggle closer to Rei in his sleep and mumble some incoherent things. Haru chuckled. "Thank you." He stood up and went to the door when he heard a small voice.
"Haru-cha..." He turned to see Nagisa talking in his sleep. Rin chuckled at the sight.
"Oh, those dorks..." He sighed and patted Haru's back. " You have everyone falling for you, don't you?" Rin winked to the raven haired teen.
"What are you talking about?" He mumbled and looked away a tad annoyed.
"Hey, I wasn't the one getting romantic but it sure looked like a shojo manga." Rin teased.
"Hey!" Haru defended but was caught off with Rin's chuckle in his ear.
"You have to admit, it was touching-" but the red haired teen was then cut off by the same voice from earlier.
"Mmm-what's going on?" Mumbled a sleepy blonde. The two 3rd years looked to see the boy sitting up rubbing up his eyes in a daze. He yawned and then adjusted his eyes. Just as he did, it registered to the blonde.
"H-Haru-chan...?" asking like he wasn't sure if it was a dream or not.
Haru smiled. "It's me, Nagisa." He replied. Nagisa had a smile spread across his face and then was found pouncing up into Haru's body.
"HARU-CHAAAAAAN! HAHA! YOU'RE BACK! YOU'RE BACK!" The boy yelled as he clung to his upperclassman. Unfortunately, the yelling woke the other.
"Nagisa-kun, what is- " and stopped when he put on his glasses and saw the scene. "Haruka-senpai!?" Rei jumped up and hugged his upperclassman as well. "We were so worried about you! Thank goodness your alright!" He cried out.
"Oi! Am I being ignored?" Rin chimed in. Rei then turned his attention to the other.
"Rin-San!? You're here too?" He let go of Haru to talk to Rin. Nagisa still clung to Haru, but he was shaking. He was sobbing.
"Nagisa-" Haru stared but Nagisa began instead.
"Haru-chan... I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you or-or bother you in anyway. Please...please don't go like that again." he hugged Haru's body tighter." I'm already loosing you after graduation again...I don't...I don't want to loose you." He blurred his face into Haruka's shirt. Said teen was so shocked to see his younger friend this way. But he smiled and hugged back.
"I'm sorry, Nagisa. I won't do that again. I won't leave you or anyone. Don't blame yourself." Nagisa looked up to his words and smiled.
"I'm so happy your back, Haru-chan. I've missed you. Rei-chan has too. And...I'm sorry for breaking into your place..." he sheepishly mentioned.
"At least you didn't make a mess." Nagisa giggled at the comment from his monotoned friend.
It was now late and once they talked though everything and explaining what happened, they broke into other conversations. During the time, Nagisa managed to fell asleep against Haru, though Haru didn't mind it. Rei noticed and smiled.
"We are glad you are back, Haruka-senpai." Rei stated getting his senpai's attention.
"It was tough on Nagisa-kun a whole lot more it looks like. After you and Makoto-senpai left, we sat on the beach and waited for you two to come back. When it was getting late, we decided to look for you two. We then saw Makoto-senpai. He was in tears and ran right past us. We didn't know what happened so we thought we'd ask the next day. Either way, Nagisa-kun was upset. Then the next day, no one was there. He started to worry and to investigate but wasn't getting answers. So, he was blaming himself and not eating or sleeping properly. Then eventually, he ran away here without telling me and scaring me so bad. Once I found him in your place...he was broken. He didn't know what happened to you and didn't know what to do. Once I talked to him and reasoned with him he seemed to calm down and we decided to wait until you returned home. That's why we were in your home and I'm sorry for the boldness that was, not to mention rude. But,..." He looked at Nagisa. "Nagisa-kun needed to be here. And I certainly wasn't going to leave him here on his own." Haru looked at Nagisa after Rei's statement and smiled.
"I understand. I'm sorry I worried you two." He apologized.
"Well now, that we have it all straightened out-" Rin cut in. "I think we need to go to bed. Gotta train for nationals you know." And he got up.
"Right." And Haru followed suit leaning Nagisa to Rei which Rei held the sleeping boy.
"Let me get you guys another futon." offered the teen.
"Haruka-senpai!" Haru stopped and turned to Rei.
"Are we...still doing the relay." He asked with hopefully eyes. Haru only smiled at his teammate.
"Yes." and he left to grab another futon.
~END
Hey! So I'm new to writing fanfictions (though I've been doing it in my mind forever now) so I hope you guys enjoyed my first fanfic I'm putting out. Granted, I didn't plan for this to be the first but after this episode I couldn't get this out of my mind. Like, It made me wonder what would be going on with Nagisa and Rei during this whole thing. Like, do they know that Haru is going to Austrailia with Rin? I also found this idea cute because these dorks care about Haru so much that I could kind of see this happening.
So yeah, I hope you enjoy this first fic of mine and prepare for others I plan to do. Thank you!
Also, I'm on AO3.