Okay this is a long chapter! I really like this chapter too, so I hope you all enjoy it! And also, thank you for all the kind comments about how I portrayed Makoto. I expected to get hate but I got none of that, instead I just got very kind reviews about how I wrote him. So yeah, thanks a bunch guys!

Disclaimer: Free! and it's characters do not belong to me and belong the respected owners. I only own/made this story.

"Matsuoka, I need to talk to you" Rin looked up to see his math teacher standing in front of him. The lesson had just ended and he realised he was the only one left in the classroom.

"Yes, Sensei?" he asked, wondering what he had done wrong.

"Have you been tutoring Nanase lately? Because I noticed improvement for one lesson, but there has been no other improvement from there. How many lessons have you had with him?"

"Uh..." Rin sighed and rubbed the back of his head "...one lesson"

"One lesson? That's all? I thought you told me you weren't busy in the afternoons"

"I'm not" Rin reassured "I just...things came up is all. I'll tutor Nanase tonight and tomorrow night as well"

"Good" the teacher nodded "because he really needs those lessons, and I think it's best that he gets them from you"

The redhead raised an eyebrow "Why's that?"

"Because...how do I explain this?" the teacher mumbled, holding a hand to his chin "Whenever Nanase is in my class, he seems very far off. But I noticed whenever he's with you, he comes back to Earth. So you're probably the best tutor for him"

Rin frowned "I think you're seeing things Sensei"

The man laughed and shook his head "No, I'm not that old. Just make sure you tutor him tonight, okay?"

The redhead nodded, bowed and walked out the door. He sighed as he walked towards the school exit

"Hopefully Makoto won't find out..."

...

Haruka was lying on the ground of his house, holding a light pink envelope above him. He stared at it, wondering what he should do with it. He knew the right thing to do was to give it to Rin, but that meant Rin would date that girl, and that frustrated him for some reason.

He had considered opening it multiple times, and each time he thought about it, the closer he got to opening it. He was curious as to what the girl had said to Rin, wondering just how she felt about him.

With curiosity getting the better of him, Haruka sat up and opened the envelope. This was an invasion of privacy and he knew it, but he had to know what it was that girl said.

He opened it carefully, making sure not to tear it, and set the empty envelope down on the table. Finally, with a long sigh, he unfolded the letter and began to read it.

Dear Matsuoka Rin,

You probably don't know who I am, you probably haven't even seen or acknowledged me, but that doesn't stop me from thinking about you. Every day I see you walk into class with a bright smile, and I can't help but fall in love with it.

At first I thought I had just fallen for your looks, but when I saw you stand up for your friend, Nanase kun, I realised just how much of a great person you are.

I have fallen for you, not just because of your looks, but because of your personality. I have fallen for everything about you and my heart speeds up when ever I see or hear you. I can't help feeling this burning emotion for you, and I need to let you know.

I have fallen in love with you, and I would like to know how you feel about me. Please meet me behind the gym after school on Monday.

The girl had written her name at the bottom and Haru felt himself getting agitated. Why was this letter working him up so much? It was just some words on paper, but...they were strong words. Strong words like love...a word he had never used, one he didn't really understand.

All he knew was he loved water and mackerel, but was that a different kind of love to what this girl felt for Rin? Surely they couldn't be much different, right?

The doorbell rang and Haru yelled out "Coming" before putting the letter back in the envelope and getting up.

He opened the front door to see Rin standing behind it, and the two said nothing as they stared at each other.

"Yo-" Rin greeted before having the door slammed in his face.

The redhead blinked before snarling slightly and banged on the door "Oi, Haru! I came over to tutor you so open this damn door!"

The door opened again and Haru glared at the teen "I thought you had a family dinner"

"You know I lied about that" Rin sighed, now trying to avoid Haru's gaze

"Why did you lie to me?"

"Because..." Rin rubbed the back if his neck while trying to think of an excuse "...I haven't been getting much sleep, so I've been trying to catch up on it"

It wasn't a complete lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. He couldn't tell Haru that Makoto was threatening him, the two had been friends for years and Haru would never believe him, he'd just think it was another lie.

Haru continued to stare at Rin, trying to decide whether or not he was telling the truth, but seeing the bags under the teens crimson eyes convinced him.

"If you needed to sleep you could've just told me..." Haru mumbled "I thought...you were avoiding me"

Rin chuckled lightly and smiled when seeing the small, embarrassed blush on Haru's face. He walked through the door and slung his arm around the smaller teens shoulders.

"You know I couldn't avoid you, we both can't stand being a part from each other!" he said the last part with sappy sarcasm in his voice, making Haru frown and push him off.

Rin chuckled and took his shoes off, then followed Haru into the living room. Everything was as spotless as always, and the flower crown was still sitting on the shelf in the corner.

Haru began walking off and Rin frowned "Where are you going?"

"To my room to get my books" the teen answered, disappearing down the hall.

Rin sighed, sat down at the table and stretched, then looked down to see a pink envelope. He frowned when realising it was the envelope that was given to Haru this morning.

The redhead picked it up to see it was already opened, then turned it over to see Haru's name written on the back...or was it? He looked at the kanji closer and realised it was his name, making his eyes widen.

"Rin, isn't tomorrow a public holiday...what are you looking at?"

The raven haired teen stared at his friend, who was sitting on the ground and staring at a small, pink envelope.

A small...pink...

Haru's eyes widened in horror as he realised he left it on the table and dropped his books, jumped forward and landed on top of the redhead, quickly taking the envelope. He had no idea what he was doing, but all he knew was he had to get the letter away from Rin. Why did he have to do this? Because then Rin would start dating that girl, and Haru didn't want that happening.

"What are you doing?!" Rin questioned, who was pinned to the floor by Haru.

"It's not yours!" the teen immediately said back

"It has my name on it!"

"That doesn't make it yours!"

Rin growled and flipped their position, which took Haru by surprise as he had no idea how strong Rin actually was.

The letter was taken from his hand and he gasped "H-hey! Give it back!"

Rin sat on the smaller teen, who was struggling under him, and took the letter out from the envelope. He started reading through it and Haru stopped struggling, knowing it was too late.

Once the redhead was finished reading, he looked down at Haru and asked "Why did you want to stop me from reading this?" the smaller teen said nothing and moved his eyes to the side.

"Haru" Rin growled, placing his hands either side of Haru's head.

When he still didn't answer, Rin bent down so their noses were only inches a part.

"Answer me, Haruka"

Haru looked into dark, crimson eyes and shivered slightly. The way Rin said his name was so...quiet, and almost silky.

"Wait...what?!" he thought, feeling his cheeks heat up "W-what is wrong with me?! Why am I feeling like this?! My body...my body is burning all over! I must be getting the flu, this isn't natural!"

"Rin..." Haru muttered, placing his hands on the teen's shoulders "...get off"

"Answer my question" Rin demanded, still keeping his face close to Haruka's.

"R-Rin..." Haru stuttered, sounding breathless. He clenched the teen's shirt and curled his toes, feeling his whole body tense and shiver.

"Whats happening?" he thought "Why do I feel...so excited? Why is my body...so hot?"

Rin raised an eyebrow when seeing the teen below him shaking "Haru?"

Haru made a high pitched mewling noise, surprising both him and Rin. Haru quickly put his hand over his mouth and let his hair fall over his eyes.

"What...was that?" Rin asked, now sitting up slightly.

"...you're heavy" Haru lied, his body still burning

"But I'm not putting my weight on you"

"You're annoying"

"You're not getting out of it that easily"

"Get off me"

"Answer my question"

"..."

Haru went quiet once more, but decided he had to get Rin off him, or more weird things would happen.

"I don't want you to go out with that girl"

"Do you like her?"

"No"

"Then why?" Rin asked, moving his hand to Haru's forehead and pushing black hair back to see ocean blue eyes. He did this because Rin discovered Haru's eyes always gave away how he was feeling, so he could tell if the teen was lying or not. While doing this, Rin noticed how hot Haru had gotten.

"...I don't know" the teen finally answered

Rin stared into Haruka's eyes. They were shimmering slightly, but he couldn't see one bit of guilt in them.

Deciding he was telling the truth, Rin sighed and stood up "Well...I'm not going to go out with her anyway. I don't want a girlfriend at the moment"

Haru felt relief wash over him and he had no idea why, but what he did know was his body was still hot and he needed a cold bath.

"Where are you going?" Rin asked

"Having a bath..." Haru answered bluntly

Rin was about to stop him, but remembered how hot the teen was when feeling his forehead.

"Tsk...fine, but be quick. Oh, and can I sleep over tonight?"

Haru stiffened "Why?"

"Well, why not?" Rin shrugged "Tomorrow is a public holiday and I don't really want to go home, considering we are probably going to be staying up late tonight. My mum has gone to her sister's for the night anyway, so the house will be empty."

"No"

"Aww come on Haru!" Rin whined, throwing his arm around the teen for the second time that day "We haven't had a sleepover in ages!"

"F-fine!" Haruka said, jumping away from the teen's touch "but...don't touch me!"

Rin watched in confusion as Haru ran off, and he scratched the top of his head "Jeez...what's with him today? And that sound he made..."

Rin shook his head and sighed, then picked up the books Haru had dropped.

Haruka was pacing towards the bathroom and slammed the door closed when he got there, then fell to his knees, hugged himself tightly and panted heavily.

"Ah..." he moaned quietly, his body tingling as if it were on fire. He knew he shouldn't have let Rin sleep over, but he had to get the teen off him. Rin just made his body feel...strange. He didn't know if this was a good strange or a bad strange, but it was definitely Rin's doing.

"A-ah..." he moaned again, squeezing his legs together to feel a pain between them.

"This is a bad strange," he thought "this is definitely, definitely a bad strange!"

...

"So where am I sleeping?" Rin asked, sitting on the couch in the corner and watching TV. Haruka was sitting at the table and drawing something, drawing always calmed him down.

"Out here on the futon"

"Awww, not in your room?" Rin teased, chuckling when he saw Haru freeze.

"We're not kids anymore" he stated, getting up and putting his sketch book back on the shelf.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rin questioned "You think I'm gonna pull a move on you or something?" Haruka felt his eye twitch and grabbed a pillow on the couch, then smothered Rin's face with it.

"Kidding, kidding!" Rin said frantically, taking a deep breath when the pillow was off his face.

Haru sighed and sat down next to the teen "You have to get the futon yourself"

"But I'm the guest"

"You wanted to stay here, I didn't offer. Therefor, you're not my guest"

Rin frowned and turned back to the TV "You're so cold...could you at least make cocoa?"

"Why? It's almost midnight"

"Because Nagisa told me you make the best cocoa, so I want to see if it's true"

Haruka sat still for a moment, then stood up and walked towards the kitchen. Rin could hear the sounds of a kettle boiling and feet shuffling around, and wasn't really paying much attention to the TV as he was listening to the sounds in the kitchen. Haru came back after a few minuets with two steaming mugs of cocoa in his hands, topped with whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.

Rin stared at the drink once it was handed to him, surprised at how professional it looked.

"You're not going to drink it?" Haruka asked, already drinking his own

"No I am but...it looks too good to drink"

"Home economics is my second best subject" Haru mumbled, blushing slightly from the compliment.

Rin chuckled "That's right, I forgot about that"

He ate the whipped cream on top and took a long, slow sip. Now he knew what Nagisa meant, it tasted like liquid gold. Not only that but it was somehow the perfect temperature to drink straight away, he didn't even have to blow on it.

"Do you...like it?" Haru mumbled, giving the teen a shy look

"This is delicious!" he declared, turning to look at Haru and laughing at what he saw

"What?" the raven haired teen asked, raising an eyebrow

"You have a whipped cream mustache!" Rin laughed, watching as Haru's face went tomato red

"S-shut up!" Haru snapped, wiping the cream off his face and trying to ignore the redhead's laughter.

Once the two had finished their drinks, their eyes went heavy and they both slumped back on the couch. Rin felt he couldn't keep his eyes open much longer and looked at Haru to see the teen was just as tired.

He smirked as a thought came to mind, and fell onto Haru's lap. The teen jumped slightly and looked down to see Rin's head in his lap.

"R-Rin! If you want to sleep, go get the futon!"

"Mmm...too tired, can't I just sleep here?"

Haru went silent as he looked at the teen, feeling his body start to heat up once more.

"Rin..." he complained, but got no response "...Rin?"

The teen had already fallen asleep, and Haru sighed once realising this "You must have really been tired..." he muttered, combing his fingers through red hair and getting a sound of content from the teen below him.

"...your hair is really soft, Rin..."

I think blushing Haru is super adorable so you're probably gonna see a lot of that. Also, Home Economics is actually Haru's second best subject, the creator himself said that. So I thought his cocoa would be amazingly delicious.

Chapters may be coming out after two or three days now, maybe even four. School has started up again since I live in Australia, I also have a job too so yeah, I am sorry if they do come out late. Also, I still haven't finished this story. Some chapters haven't been written out yet, and I would like to catch up on those. I hope you still stay with this story though, and I will try not to bring chapters out too late.

Thanks for reading!