Things were always very simple if defined by colors: Makoto was a nurturing green, Nagisa a vibrant yellow, Rei a studious purple, Haru an oceanic blue, and Rin an angry red.
Nitori, though, Nitori's color was… different.
Upon first meeting him, Rin thought Nitori was a simple, reliable grey. This thought changed with time. With every bright smile and cheerful note with which Nitori graced the room, Rin's perception of the boy changed. Plain grey became lustrous silver. Rin took it all in stride, without saying a word to his roommate about his thoughts.
He simply accepted his friend for what he was- nothing more and nothing less.
The problem came though when Nitori became more than just silver. When violet and indigo began to blossom on Nitori's fair skin, when twisted purple and black littered his arms and torso, even the side of his face every now and then… It was when Nitori went from silver to a bruised rainbow of injury when Rin realized that Nitori was having some problems
And if someone was giving Nitori trouble, then fuck if Rin didn't give that person hell in return.
Rin didn't bother to hide his concern. Every time Nitori would wince and clutch his shoulder or Rin would catch a glimpse of a yellowing bruise as Nitori changed, he would immediately demand answers. What's wrong with you? What happened? Who the fuck did this?
Yet for all of his interrogating, all he would get was a hasty, "Thank you for your concern, senpai, but it's nothing, really!"
And it pissed him off.
Needless to say, every single time Nitori brushed off his concerns, Rin got progressively angrier and angrier, his temper flaring to a blazing crimson fire ready to burn up everything at the slightest provocation.
One notable day, Rin finally went off.
Nitori had been one of the last swimmers to leave the pool, so Rin had decided to wait for him outside the locker room before heading back to the dorm. When ten, fifteen minutes passed with no sign of his silver haired kouhai, Rin went back inside in search of him.
"Oi, what's taking you so long?" he started to grumble as he pushed open the door. The sight that greeted him stopped him in his tracks.
There was Nitori, shoved up against a locker, whining in pain as his arm was twisted behind his back by a snickering second-year. Rin blinked once, and he swore in that moment he saw pure red. The next few moments were a furious blur, but in a flurry of fists and brute force, Rin had yanked the bully off of his roommate.
"What the fuck were you doing to him?!" he shouted, keeping the guy in close by the front of his jacket. The corner of his lips barely moved as he started to reply, but that was enough to set Rin off again, and he delivered another strong punch right to the guy's jaw.
"Senpai, no!"
He could hear Nitori's shouting, his earnest pleas for him to just put Yakamura down already, to please please please stop hitting him, but burning rage, red hot blood throbbing through his veins fueled his movements and it wasn't until there were several restraining hands on him that he was able to stop.
"Matsuoka! Stop it! Put him down before I kick you all off the team!"
Rin's thrashing ceased at the sound of this new voice. Captain. Recognizing Mikoshiba's authoritative presence, he grit his teeth and bit out, "He was hurting Nitori. Physically beating on him."
Mikoshiba's grip on Rin didn't loosen, but he did direct his stern frown toward the accused swimmer. "Is this true, Yakamura?"
Yakamura wiped away some of the blood trickling down his chin and mumbled something that Rin didn't quite hear. Perhaps it was for the best though, because Nitori's pale face and Mikoshiba's indignant scowl told him it was nothing good.
"Nitori, you and Matsuoka head back to the dorms. I need to talk to Yakamura, but I'll be up in a little while, alright?" Mikoshiba instructed. He looked to Nitori and his expression softened. "Go on, get out of here," he murmured, before turning to Yakamura with a much more steely gaze.
"As for you…"
Rin and Nitori were already out of the locker rooms and well on their way back to their room while Mikoshiba continued to punish Yakamura. Their walk was uneasily quiet, and it gave Rin the opportunity to finally get a good look at Nitori. Bruises where Yakamura's fingers had been clenched around Nitori's forearm were already forming and Nitori's nose was bleeding, presumably from being shoved face-first into the wall.
When they entered the room, the first thing Rin did was go get the first aid kit. He then forced Nitori to sit down while he tended to his injuries. He cleaned up the blood, prodded for any broken and displaced bones, and even went so far as to get ice for Nitori to put on his nose.
Once he had patched up the silver haired swimmer, Rin remained sitting on the floor, brow furrowed and body tense. Unable to withstand the silence for much longer, Nitori anxiously spoke up.
"I'm sorry!"
Rin shot him a glare. "What the hell do you have to be sorry for? It's that asshole who should be apologizing." He sighed. "You just... You okay?"
Nitori nodded and gave Rin a reassuring smile. "I am. And I mean it. I didn't expect you to tend to me like that, but then again, Matsuoka-senpai is really caring so I shouldn't be surprised."
The redhead looked away, muttering something under his breath as he gave a noncommittal shrug. Nitori took it as a sign to continue.
"Normally I can push him off of me before things get too bad, but this time, he twisted my arm and had me trapped against the wall. If you hadn't come back when you did, well… It doesn't matter now anyway. Thank you, Rin-senpai, for helping me out."
There was so much Rin wanted to say to that- make a sarcastic comment on what Nitori's idea of "too bad" was, or maybe even bring up how none of this would ever had happened if Rin had taken his head out of his ass long enough to recognize the signs and push for Nitori, or possibly how Nitori needed to learn how to defend himself and stand up for himself against bullies…
All of these things, though, flew right out the window when Nitori gave him a soft, sweet and undeniably sincere smile. In that moment, the iridescent silver shimmer with which Rin associated Nitori returned in full force and everything else faded away.
It was for this reason that, instead of saying any of the things that had been on the tip of his tongue in that moment, Rin leaned forward and pressed a tender kiss on Nitori's swollen nose. He left Nitori to deal with his own rosy-hued musings while he got up to let in Mikoshiba.
Silver sparkle, rosy blush, unblemished cream.
Rin vowed that from then on those would be the only colors allowed on Nitori.