"Hey, anything wrong, Haru?"

The swimmer turned at the sound of his teammate's voice. "No."

"We figured you'd be out of here already since you skipped showering after practice," said Takumi.

Kaito added, "You forget your metro pass or something?"

"No, I'm supposed to meet Kiyoko."

"You early or something?" inquired Mitsuo.

Haru shook his head. "She was supposed to be here ten minutes ago."

His three friends frowned and Kaito asked, "Is that normal for her?"

"No, not really."

"Do you know if she's okay?" Takumi asked.

Again, the blue eyed swimmer shook his head in the negative. "I texted her but she hasn't responded."

"We'll wait with you for a while longer and if she still doesn't show up, one of us will go with you to check on her and the other two will stay here in case she shows up. We all have our phones, so we'll all still be in contact," Mitsuo decided.

"You guys would do that?"Haru asked, surprised.

"Well sure!" Kaito grinned. "You're our friend and Kiyoko is such a great girl."

Takumi nodded. "We want to make sure she's alright."

"Thanks," Haru said, touched that his friends cared so much.

The four young men sat on the steps leading up to the training facility. Mitsuo asked, "Hey, so you've never told us a lot about you and Kiyoko. Like, how did you meet? How long have you been dating? What're you guys gonna do after graduation?"

"Why're you so curious?" Haru mumbled.

"Well, it's clear you're really into her, but yet we don't know much about her," Kaito explained.

Takumi nodded and continued, "And from when we met her, we know she's more than just a cute girl; she's pretty special. But we're still curious about some things."

Haru was silent for a moment before he sighed. "We met because we were both part of the same orientation group freshman year. We started dating summer before sophomore year, so we've been together a little over two and a half years. We're going to do whatever is necessary after graduation to stay together."

"Aw, way to answer that so vaguely," Kaito complained. "Come on, tell us some interesting stuff. You must have told your other friends more than that."

Haru shrugged. "Like what?"

"Like who asked out who?"

The freestyle swimmer flushed slightly. "She asked me."

"Did you guys hit it off right away or was it weird coming out of the friend zone?" asked Mitsuo.

"Sort of both. We did hit it off, but I wasn't really sure what to do a lot of the time and it made things sort of awkward. And I'm not big on physical contact, so that was different."

"Really?" Takumi asked, sounding surprised. "Didn't you wanna cop a feel? I mean…"

Haru glared at his teammate and said, "Don't talk about her like that."

"Well, I wasn't trying to check her out, they're just hard to ignore."

Still annoyed, Haru asked, "Any other questions?"

"Sex life?"

"That's personal."

"So you have one," Matsuo smirked triumphantly.

Haru flushed and looked away, frustration mounting. Takumi asked, "Fine, what's one of your favorite things about her?"

He was silent for a long moment, mulling over how to fulfill the request. Finally, he arrived at his answer. "Last year, when regionals were coming up, I was so busy with school and practice, I hardly saw her. When I did, I almost always fell asleep. One night, we were watching a movie, and I passed out on her. I woke up a couple hours later, and she was sitting there, awake and letting me lie on her. The movie was done and her phone was out of reach, so she was stuck there. I felt awful and started to apologize; I hadn't been paying her much attention and another night had been a bust, but then she just smiled and waved it off. She said it was enough just to be together. That's cliché I guess, but I really appreciate how much she appreciates simplicity."

"You're right; that is cliché. Don't you have anything juicier than that?" Takumi asked, sounding bored.

Haru sighed and admitted, "One of my favorite things she does is after sex –"

"Oooh!" his friends cheered, happy to have gotten a more exciting story.

"Get your head out of the gutter," Haru rolled his eyes. "After sex, she has this habit of sitting up in bed and talking for a few minutes. It's not what she talks about, but I love that she is so comfortable with me that she can just sit there and hold a conversation like that. Not many people are comfortable around me, but she's at ease even at her most vulnerable."

"That's actually really cute," Takumi grinned.

"She's pretty special," Haru stated simply.

The sound of running footsteps met their ears and the four males looked up. Haru stood, taking long strides to meet Kiyoko. She stopped before him, breathing somewhat heavily.

"Sorry I'm late," she managed. "The train station nearest my apartment was closed so I had to go to the one past your apartment, and then when I was on the train, it had to stop because of some sort of malfunction, and of course there was no service, so I couldn't even tell you I was going to be late and-"

Haru wrapped her in a hug, silencing her. "It's okay, Kiyoko. I'm just glad you got here alright."

"I feel badly that you were waiting," she frowned.

"My friends and I were hanging out and talking; it's not a big deal."

She noticed the other three swimmers for the first time then. They waved at her, each sporting a huge grin. "Thank you for staying with Haru on my account."

"Our pleasure," said Mitsuo. "We're going to get going now, though. Have a good night, you two."

The other swimmers left the couple alone, and Haru hugged Kiyoko closer, enjoying just standing there with her. Kiyoko looked up at him and asked, "Haru, is everything okay? You seem particularly affectionate today."

"I'm fine," he answered softly. "Sometimes I just remember how important you are to me."

Kiyoko blushed and was vaguely glad that she had been late.

A/N: Thank you for reading, favoriting and following! If you have a moment, please consider leaving a review; feedback is always appreciated.