It's Free if it Takes Over Thirty Minutes

Chapter 2

"Rin!" Haru exclaimed more confused than ever. He tugged slightly at the collar of his work polo while waiting for Rin to explain.

It seemed like Rin had the same idea because neither of them spoke for a good minute. Finally realizing that, Rin spoke. "Haru, what-what are you doing here?"

"I-"

Rin cut him off again to say, "Never mind, stupid question. Okay, how about: why are you in my house?"

"I got called here on a delivery." He left Rin up to observe by the pizza, the uniform, and the hat that he was working for a pizzeria. Rin sighed in disbelief.

"Haru, I haven't seen you in two years. How am I supposed to believe this is just a coincidence?"

"Well, I have to go to the pool, would you please take your pizza?" Haru muttered, getting slightly angry, but it was unapparent on his emotionless face.

"I didn't order a pizza."

"Then whose pizza is this? It's not his." Haru implied, talking about the man upstairs.

"I don't know."

"Well, this is the address." Haru showed the paper.

Rin huffed and looked around. "Fine." Haru replied with a puzzled look. "I'll buy the pizza."

"But-"

"How much?"

Haru said quietly, "twenty . . . but . . ."

Rin handed him a twenty from his pocket and waved him away, "Go on then."

Haru stared for a while, but knew he had to leave. So he did. It's not that he wanted to stay, he was just uncomfortably confused. He turned around and put the hat back on his head. The cement felt strange under his feet, the sky getting gradually dark in early November. He wondered how much time he spent in there, it seemed like forever.

Rin wondered how much time he spent dealing with that, it could never be long enough. Truth is, he didn't want Haru to leave. He never thought he would run into anyone from Iwatobi again, especially not Haru. He was doing fine emotionally their senior year, but his first year of college put him in a rut. He was in a bad place, and he blamed everyone around him. He was smart enough to realize that if he talked to his Iwatobi or Samezuka friends that he would soon blame them too. In the end, he didn't. No matter how many calls or emails he got, there was no way he'd reply. But, he missed them, all of them. There's a chance that they could have helped him, but he didn't want to risk it.

Rin hugged the pizza box and sunk to the floor. "Haru . . ." he wept quietly. Why didn't he make him stay?

Haru walked into the Athletic building, his encounter with Rin not effecting him at all. He swiped his student ID card and entered the locker room to get changed, throwing his duffle bag under the bench. Stripping his clothes to reveal the swimsuit underneath, he sought his goggles and walked through the door to the pool. There were tons of people in and around the pool practicing, stretching, and coaching.

"Haru!" the youngest of the trainers called. Meeting halfway, the coach spoke again, "I see you've been getting your hours in, but you've skipped so many one on one sessions. I'm not gonna press it, but you really should make as many as possible." Handing Haru a kickboard, "Now get in there."

Haru nodded and dove in quick as possible. The feeling of the water, surrounding him, it was incomparable. He felt at home, the smell of chlorine and heavy breathing. While swimming, his mind only has one focus. There are no other thoughts to pollute his mind our cloud his thinking. He counted in his head, seconds until turns, seconds between breaths. He did this until everything was rhythmically clockwork. He felt free. It was a feeling unlike anything else.

And the feeling of getting out was one of Haru's least favorite. The way the cold air would hit his body, the uncomfortable clingy towel wrapped around him, and the rushing thoughts and worries he had come to forget. He talked to some of the coaches before leaving and apologized for his absences. Then he headed to his dorm, of course stopping and changing in the locker room on his way there. When he opened the door to his room, a note was left by his rarely present roommate saying he would be spending the night out again. Haru decided that meant he would have the time to cook mackerel. Lucky for Haru, the dorm building he lived in supplied small kitchens in almost every other dorm. It'd been a year since Haru had begun his internship at the pizzeria, but it paid well, so he continued. Haru was sick of making pizzas and pasta though. Italian food was and never would be his forte. But, the people were nice and the money was good, and the work wasn't too hard. He had no reason to leave, so he didn't. Problem solved, huh?

Rin walked across campus, trying to look cool by putting earbuds in his ears. Of course, in reality, he was just a total dork and was listening to a podcast on Olympic swimmers. His dorkish-ness didn't stop him from trying though. The campus wasn't that big, but just his luck, his classes were on completely opposite sides. While taking shortcuts strategically, he would pretend to check for emails when he obviously didn't have any. He was honestly just trying to get thoughts of Haru out of his head. Why would Haru be here? Does he go to this school? I know the swimming program is great here, but wouldn't I have seen him at some of the practices? Why was he delivering pizza, and why to my apartment? Rin took a deep breath and entered his English classroom. Why can't I stop thinking about him? Forty minutes into the lecture, Rin was doodling on his notes. He wrote one thing out and began to circle it profusely. Haru.

Haru called in to work telling his boss that he was taking the day off, he planned to hit the pool all day after classes instead. What Haru wasn't expecting was to see Rin in the locker room. Rin didn't see Haru, and Haru managed to slip right pasted him undetected, or so he thought,

Rin could have sworn he saw Haru. Rin honestly believed he was going crazy. Why else would all of his thoughts be about Haru? At least he could get in the pool now and clear his head, especially thoughts of Haru. He opened the door to the pool and got strait in the pool. It took him almost twenty five minutes to realize that Haru was swimming in the lane next to him. He was so surprised that he messed up his next turn and decide to go get a drink of water. His water bottle was against the wall next to his towel that was hanging off the edge of the bleachers. After cooling down for a minute, Rin got back in the same lane next to Haru. It was unspoken, but soon enough the two were racing each other back and forth, faster and faster each time. To be honest, Rin couldn't have been happier at that point.