The doorbell rang multiple times at Nanase's house, including loud and agressive knocks. The seniors ditched that day's training, and went straight to Haruka's house. Rin had tried his best to stay composed, but the thought of finally seeing little Nitori again made him restless.
"Nitori, are you there? Answer me! Haru!" Rin asked as he knocked.
Sousuke stood in the back and texted Haru about their position. A few minutes later, he replied.
"Nitori's better. Iwatobi now."
"Damn, we have to go to Iwatobi high school?" Rin looked at his friend as if he was shit.
"Let me call Haru first" he answered as he pulled his own phone from his pocket. After a big discussion with a lot of curse words, they both agreed on a meeting point.
"There's a restaurant not far from here they want us to meet at."
Rin glared at his childhood friend, expecting him to show the way.
As they walked, Sousuke noticed that Rin grabbed his phone, looked at the screen and put it back in his pocket, only to repeat it several times.
"On a scale of one to Piglet, how anxious are you?" Sou asked.
"Haa?" Rin tried his best not to laugh at the stupid joke. As he felt more relaxed, Rin started thinking. His eyes darkened a bit, and remembered his mean words.
"What do you think Nitori will do, when we meet him again? Will he return to normal?"
Sousuke looked down on the red head.
"I dunno. You DID hit him hard with the pillow, remember? He might have a concusion and never be the same. Maye he even turn straight after this." Sousuke grinned as Rin didn't get his joke. The confused Rin seemed really upset by the thoughts that now ran through his own head. Concusion? Unable? Wait, straight?
"He isn't STRAIGHT?" Rin almost yelled, looked up at his friend with seemingly more information about people around him. Sousuke stopped walking and just glared as his friend like he was the stupidest person to ever live. His face just screamed, but he said nothing.
"What?" Rin didn't notice the stupidness in his own reaction.
The whaleshark shook his head before he started walking again, not saying a word until they arrived at the restaurant.

"It'll be okay, Nitori-kun. We're here to help, no matter what happens." Makoto's smile lightened up Ai's glum spirit. Haru nodded with approval. The couple had decided to meet up at their favorite restaurant, which was placed between their homes and school. They often dropped by to eat after practice. As they waited, their orders had already arrived. Makoto's chocolate cake and hot cocoa smelled delicious, and Haru's dish was filled with Taiyaki. Nitori's own food was a creppe with icecream and strawberries. Just as they began eating, the bell over the front door faintly signalized more customers. Nitori didn't really mind, as the creppe tasted like heaven. The vanilla icecream just melted within his mouth, as the hot pancake warmed the insides. Makoto seemed to enjoy the food exactly the same way Ai did. They both moaned and let out a sigh of happiness. Haru stayed silent, but it was still possible to tell that he enjoyed the food too. Makoto and Nitori smiled at eachother, but then two customers appeared.
"Seems like we're late, Sou."
Nitori's stomach suddenly grabbed itself and knitted knots on the inside. He felt like puking, and the needy feeling of running away grew stronger and stronger. He froze stiff, immobilized to even move so Rin and Sousuke could hit a spot. Would Rin sit down next to him? Would he yell? Is he mad? How mad is he? What should I do? Should I run? I should run..
Sousuke must have seen Ai's reaction, and decided to sit down beside Ai, leaving Rin to take a place beside Haru. He was very grateful for that, and Sou's extra pat on his head helped more than the senpai would ever think. With this, he felt like they all were on his side.
Rin seemed nervous too, as Ai caught a quick glance of his old roommate. He didn't dear to look up, in case he'd look into the marooncolored eyes of his significant other.
"Would you guys like to order anything?" A waiter appeared shortly after they'd taken their seats. Sousuke just brushed her off, while Rin ordered a black coffee. None of them seemed very happy. Makoto tried his best to keep the spirit up, but failed miserably. Haru didn't really mind, as he kept eating his takiyakis. Everyone kept silent. Weirdly enough, it was Haru that opened the dialogue.
"What do you plan to do now, Rin." He looked at his old rival.
"Eh? What I plan on doing.. Apologize, of course!" Rin seemed offended and desperate at the same time. His eyes was filled with tears, ready to burst at any moment.
"Apologize?" Ai looked up for a moment, but glanced down quickly. Because, Rin looked straight at him with endearing eyes. He was serious. His heart was ready to jump out of his chest, and he was sure that everyone in the room could hear his heartbeat.
"Nitori, would you look at me?"
He did as he was told, thrembling. He could tell that all of Ai's actions had taken it's toll on Rin.
"Sorry for not being of any help, Ai. Sorry for not listening and helping you when you needed it, and all your bad experiences the past year. I haven't really given you much attention, and I apologize for that. Really. Would you be able to return to the club?"
Rin's begging eyes looked straight at Nitori. The maroon eyes, that usually looked somewhere else, centrated on him. He didn't hide anything behind his look.
Nitori felt the tears began to fall down, and quickly whiped his cheeks with the big sweater he wore. It was Makoto's.
"Rin, I forgive you," Ai was barely able to speak. As his sight turned blurry, he leaned over to Sousuke's side as support, and felt the warmth from his senpai as he suddenly fell asleep.

..

"Mmn..Mhn?" Nitori moaned as he felt somebody touch his arm. Wait, touch my arm? He quickly withdrew his hand, unsure what was happening. He opened his eyes up wide to look at the culprit, and stared into the soul of Rin. The both looked confused, as Rin had bent over him while he was sleeping in a bunkbed. He assumed it was his own.
"Come here with your hand, quick." Rin quickly said, not looking away but trying to grab the hand. Nitori avoided his senpai, as he kept staring at his senpai. It turned into a staring contest.
"Damnit Ai, give me your hand before it all dissolves!" He didn't look away.
"Wh-what are you even doing here, senpai?" Ai tried to ask, not really thinking about what he was doing. He was still half asleep, so his senses weren't really connected yet.
"Look at your hand and decide for yourself, idiot.." Rin lost the competition when he looked at the hand. Ai did the same thing, and realised what Rin meant. He quickly apologised and moved the hand towards Rin. Apologising over and over, he also wondered why his senpai did this. He had bandaged Nitori's arm, the whole thing from elbow to thumb. He could tell there were something on the insides of the piece of cloth. Something that reminded him of coconut oil..
"Uhm, what is this?" he asked.
"This, is something that will make your scars disappear. Keep it on for-"
"Ueeh? Eh-uhm, we, aah, we-well, s-s-s-s-s-senp-pai.."
SCARS? Did he see my scars? Of course he did, he must have seen it while I was sleeping, right? Now he knows everything, right? Or maybe, he's got it all wrong? Is it possible? Should I ask? What will he do? Yell at me? Scold me? Go back to how we were?
"Ai, it's alright. I'm not mad or anything for this. It's partly my fault for not noticing, right?"
Ai looked up at Rin, surprised by the unexpected comment.
"I know it'll be hard on you to go swimming again, even without these scars. The least I can do is to help you make them disappear. A friend of mine recommended this oil to me, said it would make any scar disappear. I'm not too sure, and if it won't work-"
Ai interrupted Rin's protective and "cool" talk with a big hug.
"Thank you," he whispered in Rin's ear. He felt the elder's cheeks warmed up, as he shyly hugged back. They stayed that way until Rin lost his balance, and they both fell on the ground. Ai smiled and just laughed it off, as Rin showed his sharp teeth with a cute smile.
"Senpai.." Ai looked down as he tried to rise from the floor. Rin grabbed his hand and forced him down again, making him trip and collide their heads.
"Ittetete-te.. You alright, senpai?" Ai rubbed his head as he leaned backwards. His poor senpai lost the facefight and ended up on the floor, unconsious for a moment.
"S-senpai? Rin-senpai?" Ai's heart stopped for a moment.
"Damn, that hurt, Ai.." Rin didn't move, but started to laugh. Wait, what?

He said it.
He said my name.
Not only that, it was my first name, and no honorifics.
Ai.
Crap.
How can I calm down after this?
I'm way too happy right now..

"-chan, is something wrong?" Rin looked at Ai with a confused expression. Was something wrong? The position they now were placed in, seemed like a typical BL where the seme showed the uke on the floor and was ready to kiss and.. Yeah. When they realised that, they both felt flustered.
"Ah, ye, senpai! I-I-I-I-I-I-I-" When he moved, something fell from his face. At first he didn't recognise it, but when they touched Rin, he understood what troubled Rin. The silverboy's salty tears kept falling down his face, fast, and with no control. He felt the pain in his throat, like he was about to choke, and began to tremble. His hands began to search for something, running over Rin's chest like it was a piano, while lightly touching and nipping at the shirt his senpai wore. He became more and more nervous, for every second he stayed on top of his senpai, the hunch that he should flee seemed to be more and more likely to be the right answer. As he was about to run, Rin grabbed Ai's small hands with a firm grip and stared at him. Surprised by the sudden moves, he froze for a moment and left an opening for Rin to catch his pray. Again, Rin pulled Nitori down to himself but this time, he held him down. The sudden feeling of having senpai so close, was overwhelming. Even better, the fact that he was hugging Ai was enough for him to stay happy for the rest of his life. To experience a long hug like this with senpai..
"Everything's gonna be all right, Ai. You can cry if you want to.." Rin whispered in his ear. He'd never heard his fantastic senpai say anything this erotic before! His gentle voice when whispering was like a beautiful firework-show at the end of the perfect festival.
"These are not bad tears, senpai. I-I'm just happy! It's tears of joy!" Ai did his best at expressing his feelings, but would Rin understand how much this meant to him? The fact that the person he'd look up the highest to, would call him by his first name? To think that someone as gorgeous and full of talent would notice a small, talentless nobody who'd never win anything.. Rin was absolutely someone worthy the admiration.
"I see.. Happy tears, huh? What are you so happy about?" Rin asked as he snuggled his face into Ai's hair. He let out a small gasp and felt his body became boiling hot. "He's never done that to me, or anyone at school, or anything! Aaaah, this must be heaven~!"
Rin's breath was deep and hot. He smelled of the coffee he drank at the restaurant.
"Aah, eehm, well.. I-I felt really h-happy when you called me by my.. F-first name.." It was hard for Rin to understand all of Ai's words as he stuttered. His voice was weak; he mumbled AND stuttered. Surprisingly enough, Rin understood enough of the sentence to know what his babyduck just now confessed. A pause appeared.
"..my name.." Nitori whispered.
"Huh?" Rin loosened the grip a bit, so the boy could look up at him. He refused to look at his elder, but repeated the sentence.
"Say my name, please.."
Rin put his right hand onto Ai's head and ran it through the silverhair.
"Aiichirou," He whispered. Nitori shook his head a bit.
"Not the long one" He was barely able to hear the sentence, but smiled and ran his nose up and down Nitori's forehead. He let out a small, yet mocking sound with his nose. They became closer, and could feel eachother's heartbeats through the thin layers of clothing. Rin was so warm..
"Ai.."