Makoto returned to Haru's house an hour later, past eleven, to find his lovers sprawled out watching Haru's television- looked like Rin's favorite, Jaws- with a scraggly rat creature sitting between them. It had Rin's hand and was rolling around underneath it, biting and clawing and uttering squeaky growls, and the redhead calmly shifted his mauled appendage side to side to entertain it.
Green eyes regarded the drowned rat with impunity. "What the hell is that thing?" He asked as he came in, discarding his bag at the doorway.
Rin offered up a distracted hum and as Makoto came closer he recognized the nub of a tail and the orange spot that came down toward its left eye...

"Is that Akiha?!" The brunette yelped, staring in pure mortification at the bedraggled creature.

His boyfriends finally paid him due attention at the outburst.

"Yeah, of course." Rin muttered, looking mildly offended.

"What happened to her?" Makoto gasped. The second he picked her up, he knew.

"Haruuuuu!" He moaned, feeling the dampness of her fur. "Cats don't like water, you can't bring her in the bath with you-"

Rin snorted dryly and Haru deadpanned "Not that cat."

"...eh?"

Rin laughed. "She was in the bath before me, Mako. She loves water."

Makoto stared at the wet beast in his hands. "You're kidding. Please tell me you're kidding."

"Nope!" The redhead said brightly as he sat up, a mischievous smile baring sharp teeth. "She jumped right in."

Makoto groaned under his breath- just what he needed, another responsibility when it came to water duties- but a soft smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"I guess this is the cat for us then, huh?"

"All ours," Haru agreed with a smug smile.

Makoto chuckled. "One of you fetch me a towel so we can get this little ragamuffin cleaned up and dry before she catches cold."

Rin got up for it and came back a few minutes later with a dishtowel that he tossed to the brunette and instead of going back to Haru he sat next to Makoto within easy reaching distance of both to resume watching his movie.

As big gentle hands began to ruffle up damp fur Makoto said lightly "While I was home I got a few more texts from Kou-chan."

Rin sighed and rolled over, ignoring the movie, a sign that he was actually interested in this conversation.

"She wanted to apologize for any harm done, and wondered what your reaction was. Naturally," he flipped the kitten and began to tickle her belly with the towel, "I couldn't exactly tell her that there was no reaction because we had you a moaning mess, so I just told her you were upset by how she choose to reveal the news to you."

Rin scowled at the mention of being a 'moaning mess'- even if he truly had been- because while he had dialed it back considerably being with the two of them he DID still have quite a bit of pride.
"So she's not upset?"

"Not if you're not," the brunette replied as he rubbed gently at their kitten's face.

She mewed and tried to struggle away but Makoto held her fast until he was finished, upon which he turned her loose from the blanket with a light toss that had her bouncing over to Haru. Akiha had a staring contest with the blue-eyed boy that ended with a tiny mewl and a soft laugh from Haru, who scooped up the small feline and dropped her in his lap.
She stared up at his chin for a moment, then looked at Rin still stretched comfortably out on the floor, then turned a circle and settled into the hollow of Haru's folded legs. Her purr was surprisingly noisy for such a little thing.
Haru yawned and rested his back against the table as he pet their kitten.
Makoto smiled at the sight- Rin's hand loosely clutching one of the black-haired boy's knees- and leaned over the table.

"Tired?"

"Slightly," Haru replied softly, rubbing his eyes with the hand not currently stroking orange-and-black fur that was slowly refluffing.

Makoto reached for the hand and brought it to his lips, a fond tilt to his mouth at the sleepy grin he got from Haru for his affection, and hummed "Should we go to bed then?"

"Sounds good," Rin mumbled from the floor. "What do we do with Akiha?"

"She comes too," Haru said firmly, the diminutive body already tucked in the crook of his arm.

The brunette chuckled at his boyfriends' mixed reactions- Rin's mild disbelief and Haru's determination- and helped Haru then Rin to their feet.

Between waking up with a kitten collar and his phone's buzzing Rin wasn't sure which he was more upset about.
His phone, he decided a few minutes later, once he had blundered out of bed by draping Akiha over Haru's chest and read the text causing all the trouble.

'Mikoshiba-buchou says we have a joint practice tonight.'

Rin growled and only realized he should stop clenching his fists when his phone made a couple of odd cracking noises. The absolute last thing he wanted was to see Mikoshiba, much less Mikoshiba and his sister, much much less on his weekend with his lovers. Honestly, it was bad enough that he only saw them at select times (even on the weekends) and yesterday had been cut even shorter than normal thanks to Mikoshiba and Gou and that debacle of a date/reveal.

He dragged a hand through his hair. 'When? Exactly?'

A moment later the reply was 'Six.'

Ugh, what timing. Normally Haru would be cooking dinner with either his or Makoto's help while the other member would clean. But not today, no, noooo.

'We're also supposed to go to Nanase-san's home once practice is done and look at your cat? Rin-senpai, when did you get a-'

Rin stopped comprehending the sentence briefly, eyes going back over the first part because had he read that right?

They invited themselves? That was not okay and Rin would be having words with someone about that.

Nagisa or Mikoshiba, he seethed. Only one of those two would be pushy enough to invite themselves. Dammit Rin just wanted a weekend with his lovers, their newly acquired housemate (now half off Haru and half-on the bed), and some time to himself.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and expelled a hard breath.
On one hand it meant spending more time with his boyfriends- since they had come out all at once about being together none of their friends minded them being handsy- but on the other it meant other people around on his weekends with his lovers.
Yes, some time to himself would be good. A quick jog then.
Rin sighed and let his head fall heavily to the desk. There really was no winning here.

"Rin?"

He knew the sleepy tone like he knew how to breathe. "It's fine, Makoto. I'm fine."

"No, something's happened. What's wrong?"

The redhead glanced at the bed and smiled. The kitten's tiny head and big bright eyes peeked out from between Haru and Makoto but his gaze was drawn to the emerald eyes watching him the graceful curve of Haruka's shoulder.
The brunette was hardly awake but awake enough to be worried (though Rin had a sneaking suspicion that Makoto could be worried even when sleeping) and his half-lidded stare conveyed that without the need for words.

"Really. It's really nothing, Mako."

"Rin..."

He stood and shoved his phone in his pocket, smirking at the brunette. "I'm going to go on a run, okay?"

"Rin..." Makoto didn't need to say more. His tone- rich with worry, sadness, and that butterfly-inducing note of love- gave everything away.

"If it's still bothering me when I come back I'll tell you then, okay Mako?"

Green eyes remained troubled but at the very least he nodded.

"Be careful," he asked softly before he wrapped an arm around Haruka and Akiha and relaxed again.

He could think more clearly on his own anyway. Around the others there was too much clouding of his thoughts, in the bedroom or out, but most of the time he relied on that. Today he needed to think. The steady rhythm of his feet pounding the pavement in tune to his heartbeat was steadying.
In the end, he decided halfway through his run, there was really no way he could say no. It'd mean going directly against his captain's orders and if he disappeared with half of Iwatobi's swim team it'd be pretty obvious he isn't actually sick. Worst of all Rin was fairly sure that Mikoshiba just wanted him around when Gou was to keep him on a leash. No better way to make sure that Rin wouldn't fly off the handle than by keeping his lovers, his friends, his sister, and their team all in the same room.
The redhead sighed and toed off his sneakers, leaving them in the entryway. Draping the towel that was always hanging up in the hall for him over his shoulders and wiping his mouth with it, his brow furrowed as he headed up for Haru's shower. Mikoshiba was a lot more shrewd than he was normally given credit.

"Rin?"

He paused and shot a glance behind him, smiling slightly at the anxious yet drowsy look on Haru's face as he leaned out of the bedroom.

He ruffled his damp hair. "Mako told you, huh?"

"Told me what?" Blue eyes were honestly quizzical and Rin quietly blessed that saint of a Tachibana.

"Never mind then. Go back to bed, Haru, it's early."

A beat of silence and Haru hesitantly asked, "Are you headed to the shower?"

He nodded.

"Do you want company?"

Rin smiled and went back, kissing his boyfriend a thorough good morning, and had to smirk at the dazed expression he got in return.

"Not today. You take your time later. I'll start breakfast today. Deal?"

"I g-guess..." The black-haired boy reply was cut in half by a yawn.

A small orange-and-black-and-white kitten pranced out of their bedroom and twined around Rin's legs.

He grinned down at their kitten.
"Akiha will keep me company. Sleep a while longer, Haru."

The kitten is soaked through only a few minutes into his shower but it was so hilarious to see the tiny baby looking like a drowned rat and patting at the drain that his bad mood evaporated somewhat. He took a few minutes sitting on the edge of the tub to ruffle the kitten dry. Wrapping her in the towel he laughed.

"You're something else, Akiha."