I am so sorry for not updating earlier. I planned to update this two days ago but I got sick, and it was one of those flu's where your brain just kinda dies and refuses to do anything. I am still sick but I needed to update! So hopefully you all enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Free! and it's characters do not belong to me and belong the respected owners. I only own/made this story.
Birds sang as the bright, morning light shined through the window and onto a teen's face, making him groan. His crimson eyes slowly fluttered open and he looked up to see a figure standing over him.
"Haru...?" Rin asked, his vision still coming into focus.
He wished he never opened his eyes as there, right in front of him, stood Makoto. He was giving Rin a glare that would make even the devil cower in fear.
"M-Makoto?!" Rin stuttered, now sitting up and backing into the couch.
The teen said nothing, just continued to glare down at the redhead on the couch.
"Makoto!" Haru called from the kitchen "Could you help me carry these?"
"Coming!" Makoto answered back, then leaned down to be eye level with Rin and whispered "We'll talk about this later"
Rin watched the teen walk out and tugged at his hair "Shit, shit, shit" he muttered under his breath "I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm fucking dead!"
He looked down at his lap to see a large white quilt, making him raise an eyebrow. There was also a pillow where his head had been.
"Did Haru put these here?" he thought "What happened last night? I...oh yeah, I fell asleep in Haru's lap" Rin's cheeks faded to a light red "So then...Haru must have put these here"
He heard a sound coming from the kitchen and turned to see the raven haired teen walking out with two plates in his hands.
"Rin," the teen said, turning to the redhead "you're awake"
Behind him was Makoto, who was still glaring at him. He felt his face go pale as he stared into those violent, green eyes.
"Ah y-yeah, good morning. What's the time?"
"Almost ten" Haru answered, putting the two plates down on the table.
"Really? I better go, my mum would be worried" that was a lie, Rin knew his mum wasn't worried since she was expecting him to be home around noon, as he had told her on the phone the night before.
Haru's eyes widened slightly "Do you have to go? Right now?"
Rin yawned and stood up "Why? Do you want me to stay?"
The raven haired teen said nothing and looked away, a light blush on his cheeks and...was that disappointment in his eyes?
"Well that was a reaction I wasn't expecting..." Rin thought, still staring at the teen.
"He made breakfast" Makoto interjected "but you don't have to eat it, you can go if you want"
Even though Makoto said that in a sickly sweet voice, his eyes were saying get the fuck out.
Rin stood still as he thought about what to do. On one side was Haru, looking disappointed and not wanting him to go. On the other side was Makoto, giving a look that could kill and telling him to go. What was more important? His life or making Haruka happy?
"I guess..." Rin muttered, rubbing the back of his head "...I can eat breakfast, don't want it to go to waste"
A light flickered over blue eyes while fire burned over green. Rin sighed as he knew Makoto would kill him, but he'll deal with it later.
The three sat down at the table and Rin looked over the food. Curry, rice, mackerel, mackerel, mackerel and...mackerel.
"God dammit Haru" Rin thought, smiling to himself "Well it's a good thing I like mackerel then"
There was silence as the three teenagers started eating, and Rin could feel Makoto's eyes on him the whole time.
"So Rin," Makoto smiled, making said teen jump "why did you sleep over at Haru's last night?"
Before Rin could say anything, Haru answered for him
"He was tutoring me and I told him he could sleep over"
Rin could feel a sense of triumph. If Haru answered for him then Makoto could see the teen had wanted him over.
Rin looked up to see Makoto frowning slightly as he wasn't expecting Haru to answer. Now feeling confident, Rin asked "And why are you here, Makoto?"
It went quiet as the brunette didn't answer, Rin could feel himself smirking as Makoto's eyes darkened. He was expecting Haru to answer for him and Rin knew it, but Haru wasn't saying anything and just continued eating.
After a few more seconds of silence Makoto finally answered "I'm here because I planned to go shopping with Haru today"
"Shopping?" Rin questioned "What do you need to get?"
"Swimsuits" Haru answered
"Don't you have enough?" Rin asked
"Haru you're not getting anymore swimsuits, it's a waste of money"
"It's never a waste of money"
The brunette and redhead sighed in unison as Haru continued eating.
"Well I have to get some school supplies" Makoto continued "and Haru needs to get more clothes, since he keeps complaining about them."
"And he has to go with mummy Makoto to get clothes, does he?"
Haruka pouted and Makoto laughed lightly, although Rin could hear a dark tone to it.
"Well we're actually going to watch a movie after, that's the main reason we're going"
Rin raised an eyebrow with a bored expression on his face, then sighed and stood up "Well, I've finished eating so I'm going home now. Thanks for the food, Haru"
"You should come..." Haru muttered, looking down at the table.
Rin looked at him, confused "Huh?"
"You should come shopping with us..." Haru muttered once more, looking embarrassed.
Rin's eyes widened and he turned to Makoto to see him just as surprised. The redhead was going to decline until he realised something. Haruka had invited him, Haruka wanted him to come, so could Makoto really get mad at him for this? Haruka actually wanted him to be there, so there was no way Makoto could blame him for this.
"Well...I don't see why not"
Makoto scowled and Haruka's eyes brightened, making the redhead smile to see those shining blue orbs.
Today was going to be interesting...
...
"So what clothes are you looking for exactly?" Rin asked, turning next to him to see the teen gone "...where'd he go?"
Makoto, who was standing next to him, started looking around "Don't tell me he's already found a water tank"
Rin narrowed his eyes to look into the shops and spotted the raven haired teen "Found him!" he announced, walking over to the shop with Makoto.
Rin walked up to the teen and sighed when seeing Haru looking at swimsuits "I don't know how you can just disappear like that, but how about you stop doing that?"
Haru ignored him as he continued looking at swimsuits, then picked one up and said "I'm trying this one"
Before he could get to the change rooms, Makoto grabbed him by the collar "We're looking for clothes, not swimsuits, put it back"
Haruka pouted slightly and gave Makoto a look of complaint, but put the swimsuits back anyway. Rin couldn't help but chuckle as Haru looked like a child that didn't get what they wanted. Now he could see why Haruka needed someone to go with him when shopping.
The three began to walk through the stores together, Makoto and Rin both helping Haru pick out clothes while Rin avoided being near Makoto as much as possible. He could feel a dark aura emitting from the brunette and Rin knew he was a dead man.
After a few hours of shopping, Haru was holding a few bags full of clothes and Makoto had one bag full of school supplies. Rin was also holding holding a few bags, which were full of swimsuits.
"I can't believe you made us all buy swimsuits, and how many did you buy for yourself anyway?" Rin growled
Haru looked ahead in thought before answering "Ten"
"T-ten?!" Rin stuttered, almost tripping "How much money do you have?!"
"Doesn't matter"
"Of course it matters! Do your parents give you money?!"
A look of pain flashed across ocean blue eyes for a split second before the teen looked away and said nothing. Rin raised an eyebrow and he felt a strong elbow hit him in the side.
"Don't mention Haru's parents," Makoto growled "he's not on good terms with them."
Rin gave Makoto a questioning look and turned back to Haru to see the usual poker face. Now that Rin thought about it, he had never really seen Haru's parents. Whenever he went over to his friend's house as kids they were never there, it was always his grandma.
"Who's paying for the movie?" Haru asked, stopping outside the theatre.
Rin raised an eyebrow "What do you mean? Aren't we paying for our own tickets?"
Haru said nothing as he stood still and refused to look at the two next to him.
Rin stared at Haru as he realised what was wrong "Haru...don't tell me you spent the rest of your money on swim suits" Haru pouted and looked away with a light blush on his cheeks.
"Haru!" Makoto whined "You told me you had enough money left!"
The teen's blush deepened and Rin sighed "Fine, I'll pay for your ticket, but you owe me"
Haru said nothing and walked toward the ticket line, making both Rin and Makoto sigh before following him.
...
"I don't understand that movie" Rin said for the tenth time that day.
"It's not that hard to understand" Haru stated, making Rin frown.
"Shut up! Not like you understood it either! If you did understand it then why does everyone stay twenty five for their whole lives!"
Haru said nothing and stared ahead, ignoring Rin's question.
The redhead gave him an annoyed look and turned next to him to see Makoto, who seemed awfully quiet. He noticed the brunette's green eyes looked dark, but tried to pay no attention to it.
When the three walked up the steps and went past Makoto's house, Rin turned next to him to see the teen still there.
"Uh...Makoto, aren't you going home?" the redhead asked.
Makoto turned to the smaller teen and smiled "I thought I'd walk back with you guys, wasn't your house further back anyway?" Rin could hear a dark tone in Makoto's voice.
"Uh...yeah, but I'm holding Haru's swimsuits" he held up the bag as if to prove his point. The brunette gave him a light scowl before looking back ahead.
Finally reaching Haru's house, Rin gave the raven haired teen his bag full of swimsuits. Haru grabbed it, thanked him, said goodbye to the two teens and walked back into his house.
At that point, Rin realised he had made the biggest mistake of his life, he realised he was now alone with Makoto. What was even worse was Rin had to walk past Makoto's house to get to his own, which meant he had to walk back with Makoto.
It was silent as the two of them walked back, and Rin tried to distance himself from the brunette as much as possible.
Breaking the silence, Makoto asked "Why did you come with us?"
"So he speaks..." Rin thought, feeling his forehead start to sweat.
"Haru invited me," he answered "I just thought accepting his offer was the right thing to do"
"You know damn well it wasn't!" Makoto spat, now losing his temper.
Rin backed away slight as he saw the violent fire in Makoto's green eyes. Rin knew this was going to happen but...Haru was his friend too.
Makoto grabbed Rin by the collar and held him close to his face "You always get in the way, and what was with that sleepover last night? Why are trying to get near him? I told you to stay away from him!"
The redhead frowned and his eyebrows furrowed, now he was mad. Sure Makoto was tall, muscly and intimidating, but Rin could be just as fierce.
He grabbed the brunette's arms and squeezed them "Will you just shut up?"
Makoto raised a confused eyebrow "Huh?"
"I said SHUT UP!" Rin repeated, yelling in Makoto's face. He tore the teens hands off him and sneered, showing his sharp teeth.
"You clearly refuse to listen to me! Haru and I are just FRIENDS! I have no feelings for him apart from that! I haven't seen him since going to Australia and I need to tutor him, so you can't keep me away from him! Even if you do fight me and beat me up, Haru will ask me who did it. Oh, just imagine his face when I tell him who it was. You will break his little heart, and the trust he has for you will shatter! Haru clearly cares about me, he wants to hang out with me, he even asked me to come along on this little shopping trip of yours."
Rin stepped right in front of Makoto, their faces only inches a part.
"You may be able to keep me from Haru, but you can't keep Haru from me. Since you clearly don't want to show Haru this violent side, then there's no way you can stop him from wanting to be around me."
Makoto stared into the redheads glowing red eyes, seeing they were full of hate. He narrowed his eyes and then, unexpectedly, began to laugh. Rin stepped back as he saw the teen had doubled over, holding his stomach in bursts of laughter.
Once he gained control of himself, Makoto stood up and wiped a tear from his eye. "You think I don't understand how you feel for Haru? I know very well that you just see him as a friend"
Rin's eyebrows raised in surprise at Makoto's statement, "Then...why?"
"Because..." Makoto explained "it's not how you feel about Haru, but how Haru feels about you. He may not admit to it, but I can clearly see it. And the more time Haru spends with you, the less time it will take for him to realise it."
Rin's eyes widened and Makoto grabbed Rin's collar, pulling their faces together once more, but this time Makoto had this scary, almost psychotic smirk on his lips.
"And you may say you're just friends" the brunette whispered "but I can see you're feeling much more than that, you always have. You just keep denying it to yourself, ever since we were kids you've been denying it, and I have always seen it."
Makoto roughly let go of the redhead by shoving him away and walked down a few more steps before turning back and adding "Oh, and if Haru invites you to something like this again, you will deny the invitation. So don't make me repeat myself"
With that Makoto turned a corner and he was gone, leaving Rin standing there confused. He was trying to understand what the other had said, what he meant by when he said the more time Haru spends with you, the less time it will take for him to realise it.
It...what was it?" What did he mean by that? Haru didn't fell anything for him, Rin had never seen Haru have any feelings of love towards anyone. Rin sure didn't feel anything for Haru and he knew that...he definitely knew that...he probably knew that...did he know that?
Rin growled and tugged at his hair "Fuck you Makoto, now you've just made things even more complicated and confusing then they should be..."
The movie they were talking about is called In Time by the way and you should definitely watch it. Also the thing with Haru's swimsuits, I thought ten was too many, but then I realised it wasn't. This is Haru we're talking about after all.
I will try to get the next chapter out earlier if I can, so please hang in there!
Thanks for reading!