Rin fastened his seatbelt and gazed out of the tiny aeroplane window. His excitement was threatening to overcome him, replacing the feelings of forbidden love for the first time in years. Rin had learned to live with the gut wrenching pain of one sided attraction, he'd forced himself to. Because Haru wasn't gay, and that settled the question. Although it didn't stop his heart skipping a beat when said black haired swimmer took a seat beside him.

Their legs brushed together slightly as Haru shifted in his chair, fastening his own seatbelt as Rin rolled down his sleeves to hide the goose-bumps that were a result of this touch. Get a grip, he thought.

The pilot's announcement echoed around them before the plane began to gather speed, tipping up onto a steady angle and slowly gliding up into the sky. Neither of the boys was travel sick, but the heavy pressure one had to endure during ascent was never pleasant. And, as it was Haru's first time on an aeroplane, Rin took it upon himself to make sure his friend enjoyed every minute of the journey. After all, it had been his idea to go to Australia.

"Hey, Haru," Rin said, prodding him in the arm. "Look out of the window! Look how small the buildings are!"

"Yes, they are tiny," Haru replied tonelessly, recommencing looking directly ahead of him after taking a miniscule glance.

Rin smirked, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms. To anyone else, it would appear that Haru was annoyed and unhappy, but the redhead had been with him long enough to know that it was just the way he was.

Several minutes passed, during which the plane steadily climbed higher into the sky, eventually breaking through the clouds and levelling out at last. The seatbelt light went out, and a collective sigh rose from the passengers as they undid their buckles and started to move about. Rin reached down and pressed both his button, and Haru's at the same time, watching absentmindedly as the black strap retreated into its holder.

Haru shuffled in his seat, rubbing the sides of his arms with his hands. Rin wouldn't be surprised if he was a little cold, he was only wearing a t-shirt after all. He had refused to be persuaded to bring any sort of travel luggage, so naturally Rin was the only one with a jumper.

"Are you cold?" the redhead asked knowingly.

"A bit," Haru replied.

"Do you want my jumper?"

"No,"

"Why not?"

"Because then you'd be cold,"

"Arghh, Haru!"

Rin groaned, pressing his palm against his forehead as he resisted the temptation to revisit the topic of travel luggage. Instead he changed the subject, putting one arm behind his head as a sort of pillow and turning his shining eyes towards Haru.

"So what do you want to do?" he asked. "We have a nine hour flight to sit through here, and you know how easily I get bored."

"Then occupy yourself, don't ask me," Haru said, getting to his feet. "I'm going to the bathroom."

And before Rin could utter another word, the black haired boy had disappeared into the distance. Rin looked around him, feeling mischievous, until his eyes settled on the people sitting on the row across from theirs. There was an elderly man sitting in the window seat, who was talking to a young woman bending over the neighbouring chair, rummaging in a rucksack. Rin caught snippets of their conversation.

"It has to be in here somewhere!"

"Keep looking, I remember you packing it,"

"It's tiny though, could have slipped out if the bag fell over. Oh damn it, I love that necklace..."

A shiny, golden glint from beneath the seat caught Rin's lazy attention. After leaning over into Haru's chair, he identified it to be a delicate heart-shaped necklace, probably the one that the woman was looking for.

"Excuse me," he said, making her look round. "Look under the chair, I think I can see it."

She ducked down and gave a cry of delight as she retrieved her lost jewellery, before turning around and smiling at Rin.

"Thank you very much!" she exclaimed, bowing her head graciously. "I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost it."

"It's no trouble," Rin replied, copying her respectful gesture before the reappearance of Haru distracted him. "Oh, you're back!"

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, maybe now we can do something? I'm so bored..."

"Grow up, you're acting like a child."

"Look who's talking! You're so mean! Who ignores a poor, innocent child like that?"

"You're not a child, you're just behaving like one. And you sure as hell aren't pure or innocent."

Rin laughed, grabbing the bottom of Haru's shirt and dragging him down into his chair, before he reached up into the overhead luggage rail and retrieved his bag. After depositing it into Haru's unsuspecting lap, he unzipped a front compartment and extracted his smartphone and earphones, before leaving Haru to replace his travel bag. However, Haru appeared unwilling to oblige and opted to begin searching through Rin's possessions, occasionally grunting in disapproval. Rin paused in mid earphone-insertion and turned to look incredulously at Haru, who was either oblivious to this or choosing to ignore it.

"What did you bring this for?" Haru asked, holding up a plastic square package between his thumb and finger.

Rin's face quickly became the colour of a sunburnt penguin as he snatched the item out of Haru's grasp, tucking it into his pocket and hoping that his friend hadn't realised what it was.

"Well?" Haru insisted, staring unblinkingly at his incredibly flustered friend. "Were you planning to fuck someone on this trip?"

"Haru!" Rin gasped, shocked at the bluntness of language, yet also incredibly embarrassed that he had indeed figured out what the packet was.

The black haired boy was still wearing his infuriatingly calm, nonplussed expression as he watched his friend fidget uncomfortably, looking like he was having a war with himself over what his next words should be.

"People can keep condoms in their bag if they want to," Rin mumbled eventually, before ramming his earphones as far in as they would go and pressing play on his favourite song.

Haru ignored this little indignant outburst, and continued sifting through his friend's things, his voiced observations now unheard by aforementioned teenager. Humming along to the faint beat he could hear coming from Rin's earphones; Haru examined the contents of the bag, wondering why the items inside had been deemed essential for the flight. He could understand the sunglasses, science fiction novel and travel blanket. But he was lost for words at the digital camera, wash cloth and, once again, condoms.

Out of pure curiosity, Haru turned on the camera and flicked through the photographs stored on it, becoming more and more intrigued by the second. Almost every single image depicted himself in various positions, however the strange thing was that he couldn't remember any of them being taken. Although, looking more closely at them, he realised that he was fast asleep in every single one. This could have gone down as typical, creepy stalker behaviour in Haru's current position, however he felt more disposed to observe how very unattractive he looked in these photos.

They had clearly been taken during the time he had fallen asleep on the taxi drive to the airport in Japan. His eyes were tightly closed, and his hair was ruffled and messy. His mouth was slightly open in most of the pictures, and a tiny trail of saliva hung out of the side. In his opinion, the pictures were hideous and the only place they belonged was buried under six feet of garbage, but they clearly meant something to Rin for him to have taken them in the first place, so he was determined to keep his opinions to himself.

He flicked a button on the camera, and a new photograph slid onto the screen, once again starring Haru, dozing in the back of the taxi. Only this time, he was covered over with a purple blanket that he certainly didn't remember draping over himself. Suddenly, an image flashed before his eyes and he dove his hand back into the travel bag, eventually removing the travel blanket that he had examined before. Sure enough, it was the same one that was keeping him warm in the photograph.

"Haru? What on earth are you doing?!"

Deep blue eyes darted to gaze into curious crimson orbs as the two boys turned to face each other. Rin had finished his music playlist, and had glanced over at his friend only to find Haru searching his bag like one of the airport inspectors! It was not quite what he'd expected, but he wasn't complaining. Just the mere thought of Haru's strong fingers handling the items that he would later be touching, made him want to hand over everything he owned to the boy he loved so much.

"Why do you have pictures of me on here?" Haru asked, holding up the camera for his friend to see. "Don't lie to me Rin, I know something's going on. You've been acting strangely for a while now. Please, just tell me the truth."

Rin's heart had just about stopped in his chest. There was no way he could reveal his feelings to Haru like that, everything would be ruined between them. But then, if what Haru said was indeed true, he would surely see through any lie at once.

"I... um... Haru, I-I can't!" he stuttered, a hot flush creeping up his neck. "I don't want to ruin what we have by telling you! I couldn't live with myself if I did that. I can't lose you, Haru. Never."

Rin could barely breathe and he felt like he was about to cry. Not wanting to break down any more than he already had, he excused himself and hurried to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him before collapsing onto the floor.

Taking heaving gasps of air, Rin attempted to calm himself, but only found that the constricting feeling of panic increased to an agonising level. He wanted to tell Haru the truth so much it hurt, but he was too afraid of what could go wrong. He was too scared he might hurt Haru, and too scared that he might hurt himself. Haru means the world to him, and even to be able to stand at his side and hear his voice was enough to satisfy his longing.

A knock at the door startled Rin and he jumped up from the floor, steadying his voice before he tried to speak.

"Who's there? I'll only be a moment,"

"Rin. Open the door," said Haru.

Resisting the urge to throw up, Rin wiped his sweat-drenched forehead and turned the handle. The second the door gave way, Haru tumbled into the room, pinning Rin between himself and the wall as he kicked the door closed again. Then, before either of them could say anything, Haru had pressed his mouth against Rin's, engulfing the redhead in his warm, wet lips. The sensations were overpowering him from every angle, and Rin couldn't do anything but moan. The shock, the confusion, the passion and the relief he felt was all too much to bear, and he found himself kissing Haru back harder than he could ever have imagined. Haru was leaning into him, his leg pressing into Rin's crotch, one hand tangled into red locks. Rin's hand was on Haru's chest, gripping a handful of his shirt and pulling him even closer. His other hand was around the back of Haru's neck, deepening their kiss to an unbearable level. Rin feared that they were going to fall through the wall and tumble into the sky, but it felt far too good to stop.

Haru's lips, his hot breath, the heat emanating from his body; it was eating Rin up and melting him into a world of pleasure. He dug his nails into Haru's shoulder as the black haired boy growled like a wildcat, biting on Rin's lower lip and taking the motion to his advantage. As Rin gasped, Haru slid his tongue into his mouth, causing him to groan into the kiss yet again. He was being very obvious with his intentions and desires inside this tiny bathroom cubicle, but if he was honest with himself, he really didn't care. Haru wouldn't have barged in and kissed him this hard if he didn't share those feelings.

Their tongues were dancing, and their hearts were racing. Neither of them could breathe, but neither of them wanted to break the kiss. In the end, it was Haru who pulled away, snapping the trail of saliva that connected their lips and leaving Rin as panting mess against the wall.

"I... don't want to lose you either, Rin," Haru breathlessly, his deep blue eyes shimmering slightly. "I wouldn't be able to go on living if you weren't by my side. If I didn't have you, I would have given up a long time ago."

"Oh Haru," Rin choked, two tears leaking out of the corners of his eyes and trickling down his cheeks. "I did give up, and you brought me back. I need you. I want you."

"Don't cry," Haru whispered, leaning closer and gently licking Rin's face to catch the salty drops. "You know what I'm like with water. It might make me strip my clothes off!"

Rin laughed and hugged Haru's face to his shoulder, delirious with joy and relief. He hadn't lost Haru. And not only that, but his dearest wish had finally come true. Haru had returned his feelings, and that was more than Rin could ever have dreamt. Australia was starting to look like one hell of a holiday!