This is the longest, sappiest, and probably most OOC chapter I have ever written (although if it's OOC or not is your opinion). It honestly kind of made me cringe at some points because of all the sappiness. But hey! It is all for the RinHaru! And I hope you all like it anyway because I do like this chapter!
Disclaimer: Free! and it's characters do not belong to me and belong the respected owners. I only own/made this story.
Ocean blue eyes opened and adjusted as the sun fell onto them. Haruka could feel his head sinking into the soft pillow, then dug his face into it and sighed as he heard yelling outside the door.
It had been four days since his parents had come home, and the second he came home from school he'd go straight to his room. Not because he was told to, not because he was grounded, but he knew his parents didn't want to see his face. The only time he would leave his room would be to get food or go to the bathroom. Sometimes he would just eat on the way home from school.
Although Haru noticed something different about his parents. The last time he had seen them they were both normal around each other and would have work related conversations, but now they kept yelling at each other. Haru always knew when both his parents were home because he would hear them yelling, and it would go on for hours. So Haru would simply put his headphones on and try to block out the sound of his parents shouting at the other.
The first day he did try and listen to their conversation, considering he hadn't heard them yell at each other before. Haruka could only make out a few words, which were "given up...our son...a chance"
When hearing those words, Haruka felt his stomach drop. First he ended up being a failure, and now his parents are fighting because of him. Haruka felt like crying, he felt like the most useless and hopeless human being on the planet. So all he wanted to do was block out the conversations his parents were having, for he knew they would just make him feel even worse about himself.
Haru felt his stomach growl and he sighed, knowing he would have to have breakfast soon. Luckily, it was a Sunday, so he didn't have school, which meant he could take as long as he wanted to get up. But Haruka noticed that the yelling had stopped, and he decided that now was the best time to get food.
The teen stood up, stretched, walked towards the door and took a deep breath before opening it. He took a few steps through the narrow corridor before someone bumped into him. Haru stumbled back slightly and looked up to see a tall man wearing black framed glasses. He had very dark, blue eyes and black, wavy hair with a few grey strands. He also had some neatly trimmed stubble on his face. The man didn't even acknowledge Haru as he walked past him, shoving the teen aside with his shoulder and walking out the back door.
Haru's father, like his mother, would just completely ignore him. But he never actually talked to him about his grades unless his mother was there, so Haru would prefer to be around his father more than his mother. There were a few mornings where Haru would be eating at the table while his father would be reading the newspaper and drinking coffee. Those were mornings when Haru actually felt like he was in a family, even though his father never talked to him during those times.
But those moments were short lived, since whenever Haru's mother would walk in they would begin to talk about his grades and what he would do with his life. This would always lead to Haru apologising about how useless of a son he was, then locking himself in his room.
Unlike other parents, who would apologise for yelling at their child and comforting them after an hour or two, Haru's parents never apologised for the hurtful comments and left him to sulk in his room. They always told him he put it on himself, since he couldn't keep his grades up.
Haruka sighed and continued walking down the corridor to the kitchen, only to see his mother standing over the sink. One of her hands was leaning on the sink while the other was on her forehead in a distressed manner.
She was mumbling to herself and her hand was clenching the sink, her knuckles going a pale white. Haru looked at her with wide eyes, feeling as if he should do something. He had never seen her like this, he had never seen her so stressed before.
So slowly, very slowly, he opened his mouth and said "Mother...are you okay?"
The women's head shot up and she turned to see Haruka, frowning when realising it was him. She crossed her arms and gave him a cold look before saying "You shouldn't worry about others, right now you should only be worrying about yourself. Those tutoring lessons seem to be helping you, so you should study today to refresh your memory on things."
She walked straight past Haruka like he was a ghost, as she usually did, and Haru clenched his hand into a fist. All he wanted to do was to help, to see if there was anything wrong with his mother, and she just gave him that disappointed look like she always did.
"Why?" he muttered, making the woman stop and turn.
"Excuse me?"
"Why do you always have to talk to me about my grades! Why can't we have a normal conversation like families should!" Haru burst out, feeling like he was on the verge of tears.
The woman gave him another cold look before turning back around and saying "Because that's all that matters. Having a normal conversation with you would be pointless and a waste of both my and your father's time."
With that she was gone, and Haru felt a rage bubbling up inside him. He stopped trying at school because he knew that, even if his grades would go up to a high level, his parents would continue to talk about it. They would continue to ask him if he was studying every night and would tell him to never stop working. They would tell him that school and work was all that mattered in life, and he needed to keep his grades up.
No matter what he did, Haru knew they would never have a normal conversation. It made him wonder why he was born into this world if all his parents thought what life was, was work. If they thought that, then why did they marry and have a child? It didn't make sense, and Haru felt his throat go dry as his eyes began to water.
He needed to see someone. He needed to see someone that would have a normal conversation with him, someone that wouldn't ignore him and walk through him as if he were a ghost.
So he went back to his room, changed as fast as he could, and ran out the door. He didn't tell his mother where he was going because he knew she wouldn't care. To her he was worthless, to her he was a failure, but he knew there was someone that thought he wasn't any of these things, and Haru needed to see them.
...
A knock came from the door and Rin turned to Gou, who was in the kitchen attempting to make cookies.
"Gou, could you get the door?"
She pouted at him "It's Kou! And why can't you get the door? All you're doing is watching TV!"
"Because I'm comfy!" Rin whined "And until it says Kou on your birth certificate, I will continue to call you Gou."
The girl whined but went to the door anyway, and her eyes widened when seeing a panting, sweating raven haired teen on the other side.
"H-Haruka san?" Gou stuttered, staring at the teen in surprise.
Rin instantly stood up when hearing the teen's name and looked at the door with wide eyes "Haru?"
The teen walked into the house, eyes blank and lifeless. He walked up to Rin and, without saying a word, grabbed Rin's arms and put his head against the redhead's chest.
Rin and Gou both looked at him with wide eyes, and Rin could feel his face heating up "Oi, Haru, what's gotten into you?"
"Parents..." Haru muttered, clenching his hands and digging his fingers into Rin's arms.
Crimson eyes widened once more, and Rin put his arms on Haru's shoulders before whispering "This isn't the place to have this conversation, how about we go to my room?" Haruka nodded and Rin turned to Gou "Um, Gou, can you not mention this to Makoto and the others? If it's okay with Haru I'll tell you what's going on later."
Gou nodded and Rin gave her a thankful look, then the two teens walked off to Rin's room and left Gou in the kitchen to think about what she had just witnessed.
Once in Rin's room, the redhead closed the door and watched as Haruka took a seat on his bed. Rin stood over the smaller teen and gave him a sorrowful look as he stared down at Haru's blank expression.
"...you really surprised me there" Rin sighed "wasn't expecting you to come out of the blue like that...mind telling me what's going on?"
Instead of explaining himself, Haru asked "Rin...do you...usually have normal conversations with your mother?"
Rin raised a questioning eyebrow "Normal conversations with my...?"
He stared at Haru, about to question him as to why he asked that, but realised what was going on as he noticed the teen start shaking.
Rin jumped forward and wrapped his arms around the teen, hearing Haruka break down into silent, choked sobs. Whenever Rin would cry as a child, his mother would wrap him in a tight embrace, and it always helped him calm down.
He didn't know if it would work with Haru, but feeling the shaking begin to stop convinced him that it had calmed him down. Rin would do anything to stop Haru from crying, he just couldn't stand the pained sobs that would escape from his best friend.
Rin knew Haru was depressed about his parents coming home. Through the four days of school that they had been home, Haru would look much more out of it and spaced out than he usually did. Even during swimming practice he began to zone out and would just stop swimming in the middle of the pool to sink underwater and swim around in random directions.
Makoto would glare at Rin, as he knew something was wrong with Haru. Haruka would deny Makoto's request of spending the afternoon at his house, and of course the brunette thought it was Rin's fault. But Rin didn't want to tell the brunette that Haru's parents were over, as he knew Haru would tell Makoto if he wanted to.
"They are...always fighting" Haru suddenly mumbled, making Rin stand back and look at him.
"Come again?"
Haruka clenched his jaw "They are...always yelling at each other...because of me..."
Rin's expression softened as he stared at the pained Haru, and feeling rage for Haruka's parents bubbling up inside him for turning his friend into a wreck.
Rin took a deep breath and smiled softly "How about I go back over to your house? Your parents probably won't yell because I'm there and you can just tell them I'm there to tutor you. Is that a good idea?"
Haruka nodded and stood up, wiping the tears from his eyes "Thank you...Rin"
Rin felt his heart jump when hearing those words, but just continued to smile "Oh and Haru, I'm sure them fighting isn't because of you. And if it's alright with you, can I tell Gou about your parents? Not you crying and everything but just that you're on bad terms with them, because you made quite a scene back there."
Haru nodded once more and the two walked out the door, Haruka now feeling warmer and happier as he walked next to Rin.
...
As the two teens entered the house, loud yelling could be heard. Rin turned to Haru to see his eyes quivering and his hands balled into fists. He was clearly trying to hold back the tears again. Rin frowned and walked on to Haru's room, determined to stop the teen's parents from yelling.
Rin stopped when reaching the kitchen and seeing both of Haru's parents yelling at each other. Haru quickly followed after him and stood in the doorway with Rin, also watching his parents yell.
Haruka frowned and said "Mother, father..." making the two stop and turn toward the teens. Haru's mother's eyes widened when seeing Rin and she straightened her posture.
"Haruka...and Rin, was it?"
Haru's father glared at the redhead "What's he doing here Haruka?"
Before Haru could answer, Rin answered for him "I'm here because Haru wanted to spend time with his friend"
"Rin!" Haru exclaimed, blue eyes widening in shock.
"I'm sorry Haru, but what's wrong with just spending time with you anyway? What would your parents have against that?!"
The woman put two fingers to her temple and sighed "Haruka, make your friend leave. You should be studying to improve your grades in your spare time, not hanging around with friends!"
"There you go again!" Haru's father suddenly interjected "I agree he should be studying, but there are times where you take it too far!"
"Our son's grades make him look like a failure! I never take it too far!" Haru's mother yelled back.
"Yes, his grades are terrible, I do agree with you on that. But he is still a teenage boy! He will mature soon enough!"
"He has had these horrible grades since he started school! And what are you going on about? Him being a teenage boy? You were a teenage boy! You should understand him better than me! So why don't you actually come home and see him for once?!"
"I have work! I have no choice!"
"As do I! But I still make sure to come home before two o'clock in the fucking morning to be with him at home!"
"You only get home early to make sure he's studying!"
"At least I actually talk to him! I have never heard you say a word to him unless I'm around you insolent pig! You are worse than me!"
"Stop it! Just stop it!" Haru yelled, making both his parents and Rin stare at him with wide eyes.
Haruka took a deep breath before speaking once more "You're both as bad as each other! You both completely ignore me and act like I'm not even there! You didn't even give me a choice if I wanted to come with you to Tokyo or not! You make me feel worthless, like I'm a complete and total failure!"
"Now Haruka..." his father started, but was cut off by said teen
"And you, Father!" he spat "That's probably the first time you have ever said my name! I have never heard you speak to me unless mother starts the conversation! You may say it's because you were never there since you have a full time job, but there were times we would be sitting at the kitchen table together and you wouldn't say a word to me! You wouldn't ask me how school was going, if I felt okay or if I needed help with anything!"
"Nanase Haruka!" his mother now butted in "Don't you speak to your father like that!"
"Well then how about you actually have a normal conversation with me for once!" Haruka yelled, making the room go silent "I am sick of talking about my grades! I am sick of being told to study every day! You are never concerned about me! You are only concerned about my grades!"
The woman balled her hands into fists and said through clenched teeth "That's because it's the only thing that matters in your life at the moment!"
"Well why don't you ask if I need help? Why don't you come up to me in my room and help me with my studying? You just make me feel like I'm a failure!"
"That's because your grades make you a failure, Haruka!" the woman yelled back, now even madder than before.
"If you feel that way then why did you have me!" Haruka snapped, not even fazed about what his mother had said "If you think that all there is to life is school and work then why did you have a child? Why did you bring me into this world if you are so busy with your own life?!"
"BECAUSE YOU WERE AN ACCIDENT!" the woman screamed, making everyone go silent.
Haruka's eyes widened as he felt a tight pain in his chest. He felt his legs begin to shake and his eyes begin to water. Now he knew...now he knew he wasn't even meant to exist, he was just an unwanted burden that his parents would forever be stuck with.
Tears fell down Haru's face and he stared at his parents, feeling like he was frozen. He stayed like this for a few minutes before his strength returned and he ran out the door, not wanting to see his mother or father's face.
"Haru!" Rin reached out, trying to grab the teen, but was a second too late as the teen had slipped away and was already gone. He turned to the two standing in the kitchen and gave them a disgusted look "What is wrong with you people?!"
"Don't talk to your seniors like that!" the man frowned, giving Rin a cold stare.
"No, I will talk like that to you! Because I may be younger than you, I may know less about the world than you, but at least I know how to treat the people I love!"
Once he finished his sentence, Rin was gone, and Haruka's father's brow creased "People...he loves?"
He turned to his wife and his eyes widened. Tears were streaming down her face and her hands were covering them.
"Oh my god...what did I just say...? He'll...now he'll always hate me...he'll never forgive me..." she sobbed, flinching as she felt arms wrap around her.
"Come on," her husband spoke "we should chase after him and apologise to him. He is our son."
The woman nodded and both of them ran out the door, hoping they could find Haruka before it was too late.
Meanwhile, Haruka was running along the sidewalk. He had already ran down the stairs and continued running, he could hear Rin shouting behind him, but just ignored it. He didn't know where he was running to, he didn't know where he was going, but that didn't matter. Now that he knew he was unwanted, nothing mattered, his life was worthless.
He continued to run, tears streaming from his eyes. Rin's voice got louder and more desperate, but he didn't care. No one wanted him, no one needed him, no one cared about him.
Haruka turned onto the road so he could get to the other side and disappear around the corner, but he froze in his tracks when seeing a blinding light in the corner of his eye. A loud honking was heard and he turned to see a large car heading straight for him.
It felt like everything was happening in slow motion as Haruka watched the car. He closed his eyes and prepared for it to hit him, he prepared for the pain he was about to feel and prepared for his life to end. He may have been over exaggerating everything, but he didn't care. He was just told he wasn't meant to be, that he wasn't wanted by his parents, his own parents, so what was he meant to do? What was the point anymore...?
He tensed up and squeezed his eyes shut as the car got closer, but gasped as he felt someone wrap their arms around him and make them both roll out of the way. The car just honked at them and continued driving, not bothering to stop and check if they were okay.
The raven haired teen opened his eyes and looked up at his saviour to see it was Rin who had jumped forward and saved him.
"R-Rin..." Haruka stuttered "You...you could have been killed..."
"That doesn't matter!" the redhead retorted "You were just going to let that car hit you?! You think no one would miss you just because of what your parents said?!" Haruka was about to answer but was cut off "Don't be so stupid! Don't be so fucking stupid! How do you think your friends would feel? How do you think Nagisa and Rei would feel? How do you think Makoto would feel? How do you think I would feel?! I can't stand the thought of losing you! Not again! Never again do I want to lose you! So don't ever, ever do something as stupid and selfish as that! You idiot!"
Haruka thought it should have sounded offending to be called stupid and selfish, but it wasn't. At that moment, at that exact point in time, that was probably the nicest thing anyone has ever said to him. Rin was right, he was being selfish, he was being stupid. Haruka knew how it felt to have lost Rin all those years ago, and all his friends would feel the exact same way if he was gone, but it would be worse, because he would have never been coming back.
Rin's eyes were watering, he was on the verge of tears, but the tears didn't fall. Looking into those shimmering, crimson eyes, Haruka felt as though he really did have something to live for, or to be more precise, someone.
Haruka and Rin could both suddenly hear yelling from across the road, making Rin let go of him. Haru's eyes widened as he watched his parents run towards him, tears falling from his mother's eyes.
Once in front of him, both his mother and father fell to their knee's and wrapped him in a tight embrace.
"Haruka, you stupid, stupid boy!" his father scolded "Never do that again! We would have no idea what we would do if we lost you!"
Haruka's eyes widened as he could hear both his parents sobbing "But...I'm unwanted, I'm a burden to both of you..."
"No!" his mother quickly responded, his parents letting him go and staring at him "It's true you were an accident, you're father and I didn't mean to have a child. But you were a nice accident, we were so happy to hear we were going to have a child! Haruka, you are our beautiful boy, and we would never let anything happen to you!"
"We were blind in our work" Haru's father admitted "both your mother and I got too stuck in our work, and we were hearing stories of how people's children were complete failure's and couldn't find a job or get into a university because of their grades. We started worrying about you, but since we were both not prepared to be parents we pushed you too hard, thinking it was the right thing to do. So eventually we thought, if we let you live on your own, you would no longer feel stressed. We both thought you hated us! And as you started trying to get our attention, our work load doubled. That's why we both got a promotion so soon afterwards."
His mother began to sob loudly "W-while we were in Tokyo your father told me that we were putting too much pressure on you, and that we were neglecting you too much! I went off at him because he didn't really know how to act around you, and he never thought he was suited to be a father! We both love you dearly, but we never noticed how much we were hurting you! We had no idea how to act around you! Everything just got so hard when your grandmother died, and we had no idea what we were going to do without her!"
Haruka was silent as he tried to process everything that was being said "But you...you only ever talked to me about studying, you only ever cared about my grades! You always objected when I wanted to do something that didn't involve studying..."
"Haruka..." his father smiled, placing a hand on his shoulder "did we ever tell you to quit that swimming club? That was the one thing we saw you loved the most, we knew just how much you loved swimming. Your mother and I thought, if it relieved of any stress, then it was good for you. Not knowing how to act around you isn't an excuse, I know, but we weren't ready to be parents. We thought we could raise you together, but we panicked too much and overdid it."
The woman nodded "We knew we were overdoing it, and we were going to surprise you by telling you that we have saved up enough money to have a holiday in France, and we were going to be bring you with us."
"...why France?" Haruka asked, trying to understand what was being said.
"Because France is said to have the most beautiful swimming pool in the world, and we were going to take you there as an apology for being such bad parents. Even though we know nothing could ever make up for how horrible we've been" Haru's father answered, still smiling warmly.
"Ah..." Haruka sobbed, feeling tears stream down his face once more. He squeezed his eyes shut and sobbed, feeling relief, happiness, and joy all wash over him at once. He wanted to say something, but couldn't, and just continued sobbing.
Rin watched the scene with warm eyes, feeling happy for Haruka. All this time there had been a misunderstanding between both parents and child, but now everything seemed it was going to be fine. Rin had never actually seen Haruka so happy that he'd been reduced to tears, and it was an amazing sight to behold.
The redhead stood up, but before he could leave he felt a strong hand grab his shoulder. He turned to see Haru's father giving him an intense stare.
"...you have a lot of confidence in yourself, don't you?" the man asked. Rin didn't answer, instead felt sweat drip from his brow. The man didn't seem to want an answer as he continued "Well, you are a very straightforward young man. I may have taken what you said to us back at the house in the wrong way, but I just want to let you know, I do not object to it and neither would my wife"
Rin's eyebrow rose "Object to...?" he tried to understand what the man was saying, but gears started to turn as he remembered what he said.
" Because I may be younger than you, I may know less about the world than you, but at least I know how to treat the people I love!"
"...I love..."
Rin's eyes widened as panic began to rise up within him "U-um...I...that kinda just came out..."
"So you feel that way then?" Haruka's father asked, giving Rin a judgmental look.
Rin was going to deny it, but decided there was no point in hiding it anymore. Turning his head to make sure Haru wasn't listening in on the conversation, he sighed and slowly nodded.
The man continued to give him a judgmental stare, but his expression soon changed into one of happiness "Thank you for feeling that way about my son. People may say it's not natural, but if it weren't natural, it wouldn't happen."
Rin's eyes widened "You mean...you see no problem with it?"
"Why would I see a problem with it?" the man asked "There is nothing wrong with it, in my opinion it is completely natural. My wife thinks the same way. Honestly, I am just happy someone feels that way about Haruka."
Rin felt relieved, he couldn't believe what he was hearing. But little did the man know, one other person felt that way about Haru, but he decided not to mention it.
After all the tears were shed and apologies were made, Haruka thanked Rin for saving him, to which Rin just brushed off and smiled at. Even though Rin's heart was pounding at an unhealthy rate at the thought of getting hit by that car.
Nevertheless, the redhead watched as the Nanase family walked home together, but this time, they were a true family.
The most beautiful swimming pool in the world is in France and I know that for a fact! (watch Life of Pi pfffft) and like I said this was so sappy, which is good if you like cute and sappy things I guess? But like I said, not sure if it's OOC or not and that's for you to decide. I just reeaaally want to see Haru in a tear jerking situation where he actually cries god dammit! (I am a horrible person I know)
Also I believe Haruka's parents would be workaholics since they did move to Tokyo for their job and probably didn't have much time for Haru so yeah, and that whole him being an accident thing...I don't really know. It just made it seem more dramatic and that's what I was aiming for.
Also Rin being a good boyfriend and comforting Haru which could totally happen heheheh
I hope you enjoyed this chapter anyway and hopefully the next one will be out soon.
Thanks for reading!