The first time Haru saw Rin cry his heart had shattered into a million pieces. Each jagged edge had cut and sliced their way into his soul, becoming embedded into his very existence. The sight of his friend trembling near the poolside, each shaky breath a labored attempt to keep the tears at bay, was a vision Haru could not bear. Slowly the tears had escaped their sorrowful prison and rained down upon the boy's reddened cheeks joining the fellow droplets of water on his lap.
If this is what it felt like to win, then Haru wanted nothing but to lose for the rest of his life.
The memory from their first race upon Rin's visit home from Australia was something Haru lived with for many years. Being surrounded by water a majority of his time and with his thoughts always drifting to the red head, it was a hard image for him to shake. He wondered if Rin was happy in Australia and if he had actually given up on swimming as he had said he would. The thought alone made him sick and he was once again brought back to that fateful afternoon. He wondered how things would have went if Rin had won instead. Would he have smiled that toothy grin, the one bright enough to light up the entire ocean? He would wonder these things throughout all hours of the day and sometimes it was even enough to keep him up at night.
On those occasions he would walk over to his desk and pull out a clean sheet of paper and a pen. There were so many things he had wanted to say to Rin, so many emotions he had been holding in for so long, but no matter how many times he had tried he could never express in words how he had truly felt. When it came to Rin there were no words. So Haru would retreat back to his bed and leave it up to fate.
It had turned out that fate was in his favor.
He remembered the day clearly. Makoto and Nagisa had nagged him into going to their old swim club to dig up the time capsule that they had buried there when they were children. At first he had refused. The place alone held too many memories for him, the picture of Rin's crying figure had been the first one to come into his mind. The time capsule had been another wound, considering it had been Rin who pleaded with them to partake in that relay, with the promise of giving them a sight they had never seen before. He had been true of his word, and in a form of commemoration they had offered bits of that sight to the grounds of Iwatobi Swim Club in the form of their time capsule. Allowing any of those precious moments to escape was unthinkable.
Although he had repeatedly refused, his friends had turned the tables and used the common pool trope on him. He played the part of water obsessed teen well, and agreed to let his friends drag him along. The night had gone by in a blur, his heavy feet having only moved with the strength of his determined companions, until…
Haru's heart had stopped when his eyes had made contact with those of Rin's fierce red ones. There had been no tears in them that time, but he detected the hidden sadness within them and that had been just as disheartening.
Ever since that fateful night Rin had become a set fixture in his life. His obsession had only increased and he went to great lengths to ensure he never saw tears in those beautiful eyes again. But despite his best efforts, he had found himself once again the cause of his friend's distress. After their heated confrontation under the school's cherry blossom tree, Haru had once again endured the pain of seeing Rin cry. Those tears had been different than the ones Haru had recalled from before and he had finally found the resolve to make things right. All Rin had needed was love, encouragement and belonging. Haru swore he would give Rin more than enough love and encouragement for the rest of his life to ensure he would never feel lost again.
They had spent the rest of their school days within each other's company, moving forward to their shared dream. Haru had no doubt in his mind that they would make it, and with Rin's bright smile at his side, he knew they were destined for forever.
The first time Rin saw Haru cry his heart had exploded into a million pieces.
They were standing on the Olympic stage, their gold medals hung around their necks and Rin's arm on Haru's shoulder. The crowd was roaring and there were hundreds of cameras flashing. Haru's eyes were trained on Rin and the silent tears that were racing their way down his cheeks were more than his heart could take. Tears of his own were beginning to form as he brushed Haru's away gently with a smooth swipe of his thumb.
They had come a long way from where they began. Their first heated race had almost become their last, but fate had other plans in store for them and allowed their paths to cross once again. Both never forgetting the tears that had changed their lives and the love that had changed their worlds.
A/N: This is just a little something I wrote for RinHaruWeek on Tumblr. This is my first time writing anything for this pair, but they're truly so precious to me so I hope you all enjoy :)