Ah, sorry this is kinda late. But oh my god school is really hitting me now (ugh). But here is this chapter to make up for it! And I am almost positive you will all love it! As always, sorry for any mistakes my dumb brain didn't see.

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

After two weeks, Haru's parents had gone back to Tokyo. They told him the trip to France would be in the first school holidays of the New Year, considering Christmas wasn't too far ahead, only around two months, and they would be busy during the end of the year. His parents apologised for not being able to be there for Christmas, but Haru understood, and he was just happy they acted like a normal family.

The next few days after they left, Haruka seemed happier and more into school than ever before. During his lessons Rin would have to kick him awake only once, and during swimming practice his form got stronger and more beautiful, meaning his time would improve every lap he swam. Rin knew he wouldn't be able to beat Haruka at freestyle at that moment, considering the high the teen seemed to be on. But Rin also knew every time Haruka's time improved, it would never go back down, only up. So he began to doubt if he could beat Haruka in freestyle at all anymore.

But with Haruka's time improving, it just encouraged Rin to train harder, so both of their times continued to improve. But Makoto, on the other hand, felt as though something was off. One week Haruka was as depressed as the brunette had ever seen him, and the next Haruka was as happy as could be. Makoto asked him what was going on, but the teen just replied with "I'm not on bad terms with my parents anymore." Nagisa and Rei were just as confused as he was, but the only person that didn't look confused was Rin. Gou also looked like she knew what was going on, and being Rin's little sister, that did not sit well with Makoto.

Haruka was keeping things from him, things he was only telling Rin, and he felt like he was being pushed away. Makoto knew Haruka was spending more and more time with Rin, and the brunette feared his best friend would find his true feelings very soon.

He had to prevent it, he needed to prevent it! Once Rin found out his own feelings for Haru, it was game on. Of course, this would be tricky to spot. Makoto was an expert at reading Haru's emotions, but not Rin's, so he'd have no idea if Rin finally admitted his feelings to himself or not.

All through swimming practice Makoto watched Rin. He watched the way he behaved and the way he acted around Haruka. To him, everything seemed normal, he couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary. Of course, just as he thought, he couldn't read Rin's emotions. He always smiled, it was so much easier to tell how he was feeling when he wasn't smiling, especially that time he came back from Australia. But now Makoto didn't know if the smile Rin put on was a true smile of happiness, a forced smile trying to hide his sadness, or a smile put on because he was nervous. He would always smile, and when he smiled the most was around Haru, and Makoto just couldn't pick out what smile it was.

Once training was finally over, Gou called it a day and everyone went to get changed. Haruka, however, was still in the pool. Makoto told him he couldn't wait for him because he had to go to a family dinner that night. Rin, as always, went home with Gou and the two Matsuoka's said goodbye. So Haru just began to float around in the blue water with a lazy smile on his face.

Everything in his life seemed to be going fine, especially since his parents were no longer yelling at each other and were now treating him like he was actually their son. They had only left a week ago but called him through the week and talked to him on the phone. Not once did the topic of his grades come up, and Haru felt a warm feeling in his heart. They were having normal conversations, he was no longer ignored, they were finally a true family.

After half an hour of floating around, Haruka decided to get out, as the school gates would close if he didn't leave soon. He walked over to the change rooms and opened the door, only to see two people inside. These people were standing very close to each other, they had their arms wrapped around each other. These people were...kissing?

"H-Haru chan?!" Nagisa stuttered, quickly pushing Rei off him.

"H-Haruka senpai?!" Rei exclaimed, almost tripping as he was pushed away from the blonde.

Haruka looked at the two to see they were wearing their uniforms, then looked up to see both of them blushing. Nagisa blushing was a very rare sight, since the teen almost never got embarrassed.

"W-we were just...!" Nagisa spoke trying to come up with an excuse "D-did you see us?"

Haruka raised an eyebrow. Did he see them? Of course he could see them! What a stupid question! But the raven haired teen guessed they were preferring to the kissing they were doing before. Haruka wasn't shocked or disgusted at what he had saw, but was more...confused. He had to wonder why they were kissing, was it another one of Nagisa's ways to show his affection?...no that couldn't be right, the blonde had never done that to Haru before. So why Rei? What made Rei so special?

"H-Haruka senpai!" Rei stuttered once more "I-I am sorry for what you just witnessed! We thought everyone had left!" the teen bowed deeply in apology, while Haruka just continued to look at them with a confused expression.

Not being able to wrap his head around it, Haruka asked "Why were you two kissing?"

Nagisa's face reddened and he put a hand on the back of his neck "W-well our families are home and we wouldn't have any-"

"No, I don't mean why here, I mean why are you kissing him?" Haruka interrupted, still confused at the situation.

Nagisa's eyes widened slightly as he turned to Haruka, wondering what the teen meant by that. Surely he knew what kissing someone meant...didn't he?

"Rei" Nagisa turned to said teen "you go back home, I'm going to Haru chan's house to explain the situation"

Rei gave Nagisa a worried look, but nodded. He apologised to the confused Haru once more and quickly left before it could get any more awkward. To have his senpai see him doing something like that was just embarrassing and...definitely not beautiful...

Once Haruka had finished changing, he walked back home with Nagisa. Through the whole walk the blonde was oddly quiet, making it feel awkward. Nagisa was never quiet, so Haruka had to wonder what the kiss meant. Surely it wasn't a very big deal...right? Or maybe it was something bad?

When the two finally reached the Nanase household, Haruka let Nagisa in and made cocoa for the both of them. He placed the mug in front of the blonde and sat down at the small living room table.

"Mmm..." Nagisa hummed, taking a sip of the cocoa "this always tastes so amazing, Haru chan"

Haruka said nothing and drank his own cocoa, then turned to Nagisa and bluntly asked "Why were you kissing Rei?"

Nagisa almost spat out his drink at the sudden question, but quickly swallowed it down and coughed a little. The raven haired teen just raised an eyebrow at his friend as he regained his composure.

"Well..." Nagisa started, his cheeks heating up "it's because...I love him..."

"...love?" Haruka repeated, his head tilting slightly

Nagisa's eyes widened at the teen "Haru chan...have you never been in love?"

Haruka thought about this for a second before answering with "I love water and mackerel"

"No, no, no!" Nagisa shook his head head and waved his hands around "Not that kind of love!"

"...there are other kinds?" Haruka responded, sounding generally surprised

"Yes! I had no idea you were this oblivious Haru chan!" the blonde exclaimed, his eyebrows in a slight furrow "haven't you seen romantic movies or anything?! Or do you just fall asleep while watching them?"

Haruka ignored the question and thought about this for a second before asking "...what are the other kinds of love?"

"W-well..." Nagisa stuttered, now trying to think of a way to explain it "...the love you are talking about is...the like love! The love I'm talking about is the romantic love!...you get what I'm saying?" Haruka shook his head and Nagisa sighed "Okay well...have you at least been taught about...the birds and the bees?"

"What...sex?" Haruka stated without hesitation, making Nagisa blush slightly

"Y-yes! Sex!" Haruka nodded and Nagisa continued, happy he didn't have to explain that to him "Uh, well...would you have sex with water and mackerel?" Haruka made a disgusted face and quickly shook his head, making Nagisa smile "Well you would have sex with someone you love!"

Haruka's eyes narrowed as he tried to understand this "So you've had sex with Rei?"

Nagisa's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates "N-n-n-NO!" he denied, waving his hands around once again "O-okay never mind! That was a bad example! Love is not about sex, so why did I even mention that?! Ummmm..."

The blonde's face went tomato red as he tried to cool off from what Haruka said before, and the raven haired teen just looked at him with a raised eyebrow. What was this other love Nagisa was talking about? Was it the love that that girl felt for Rin?

As he was caught in his thoughts, Nagisa spoke once more "Okay, okay! I think I got it now!...have you ever felt this warm, gooey feeling in your chest from being around someone?" Haruka thought about this, then slowly nodded "And has your heart ever felt like it was beating a million miles per hour?"

Haruka thought back to the time when he was cleaning the pool with Rin, and when the redhead picked him up trying to prove he was stronger than Haru. Haruka remembered how his heart began beating rapidly when Rin touched him, and nodded at Nagisa's question.

Nagisa continued as he realised he was getting somewhere "And have you ever felt so happy around someone, that you felt you wanted to be around them more? Have you ever met someone that just makes you feel more confident and makes you feel like your life is the best it could possibly be?"

Haruka suddenly had all these images of Rin in his head, remembering the times Rin had made him feel all those things. He slowly nodded and Nagisa was almost surprised, wondering who this person was that made Haru feel like that. Nevertheless, Nagisa continued on with his explanation.

"Well...when you kiss that person, you feel fireworks going off inside your head. You feel so warm that you begin to boil, and your heart feels as if it's about to pop out of your chest!...I think that's love"

Haruka raised his eyebrows, was that even healthy? Still, Haruka had to wonder if that was true, and he began to wonder what it would be like if he kissed Rin. Surely those things wouldn't happen, it was just a kiss. It was just his mouth pressing against someone else's mouth, how could it make all of those things Nagisa had mentioned happen?

Nagisa saw Haru thinking about this, and decided he should leave him alone to think. So the blonde stood up and said "I'm going to go home now, oh and please don't tell anyone about me and Rei! We were kind of planning to tell you all on Christmas..."

Haruka nodded in understanding and Nagisa said goodbye, leaving the teen to try and understand what he had just said. If anything, Haruka now found love even more confusing.

...

The next night, Rin came over to tutor Haruka. Except Haruka wasn't listening to a word Rin was saying.

For the whole day Haruka had been thinking about what Nagisa had said, and he would space out as he though about it. The more he thought about it the more stupid it sounded, and the more he thought there's no way it could happen. Even if it could, there's no way fireworks going off inside your head was healthy for the body, it just sounded strange. It made him wonder if love was even a good thing.

So as Rin was talking about the English sentence structure, Haruka stared at him. He had his arms crossed on the table and his head on them, making him look up at the redhead sitting next to him.

All the things Nagisa had said, Rin had made him feel. So apparently if he kissed Rin, fireworks would go off. His body would also start to boil and his heart would feel as if it were going to pop out of his chest. So then that would be love...at least, it was Nagisa's explanation.

Rin continued to talk about the English structure, too into it to notice if Haruka was paying attention. The raven haired teen sat up, looked at Rin for a moment longer, then asked "Can I kiss you?"

"Sure..." Rin nodded, not even thinking about what the teen had said. His brain began processing what Haruka had asked, and once he realised what the teen had said, his eyes widened and he quickly turned to Haruka "What?!"

"Can I kiss you?" the teen repeated

"Y-yeah I know that's what you said!" Rin stated "But why?!"

"Because I need to check something"

Rin's face went tomato red as he stared into Haruka's sparking, blue eyes. What did he mean he wanted to check something? What did he want to check? His sexuality?! Of course, since Haruka was oblivious to how Rin felt about him, Rin knew Haruka had no idea what he was doing to him.

"W-what are you checking?!" Rin asked

"Just something" for some reason, Haruka thought it would be weird if he said to see if I love you.

Rin continued to stare into Haruka's eyes, trying to decide what to do. Sighing, he came up with a decision and said "F-fine! But this stays between us! And I am only doing this to help you check whatever you're checking!"

Haruka nodded and he sat on his knees, shuffling closer to Rin. Slowly, he began to lean forward, both him and Rin closing their eyes as they got closer to each other.

Rin felt himself getting nervous, he had no idea what to do. He had kissed a girl in Australia while he was there, but this was different, this was with the person he longed for.

Haruka, on the other hand, felt butterflies in his stomach. He had no idea why they were there, he hadn't even kissed Rin yet, but decided to ignore them as he leaned in, closer and closer.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, his lips touched Rin's. It felt strange, soft and oddly warm, but it almost felt as if they fitted together like a puzzle. Then, it happened.

Fireworks began to go off in Haru's head as he pressed into Rin more. He began to feel warm, and almost boiling when Rin placed his hands against the sides of Haru's head. Then Rin tilted Haru's head back just a tiny bit so he had better access to his lips, making Haru's heart feel as if it were about to pop out of his chest.

Now Haruka knew what Nagisa meant, Haruka knew how love felt. But something Nagisa didn't mention was wanting to get more of...whatever this is.

Rin also began to lose control when Haru wrapped his arms around his neck, and Rin licked the teen's bottom lip to ask access to his mouth. Without thinking, Haruka opened his mouth to feel Rin slip his tongue inside.

Rin pressed his mouth into Haru's even harder, and the two of them began a tongue war, both doing whatever felt natural. Haruka clenched his hands as he wanted to get even more, shifting his position to now be sitting in Rin's lap and raised on his knee's, making Rin tilt his head up and allowing Haru to get even deeper into his mouth.

Haruka had no idea what he was doing, and neither did Rin, but it just felt so good.

Haruka let out a small moan as Rin wrapped his arms around the teen's waist, and detached his mouth from Rin's to show a string of saliva still connecting them together. They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, before Rin began to attack Haruka's neck with kisses and nips.

"A-ah...Rin!" Haru moaned, his whole body shaking with excitement.

"Haru...Haru...!" Rin breathed between kisses, then moved up to the teen's ear to nibble on it.

Haruka's grip on the redhead tightened as he pressed his whole body into the teen, getting a tingly feeling in his gut as teeth pressed down on a newly found sensitive area. Hands suddenly moved under Haruka's shirt and up and around his chest, then lightly glided over his nipples.

"Ah!" Haru gasped, his eyes widening "N-not there! Rin~!" he moaned Rin's name in a long and seductive manner, making said teen shiver.

"Y-you've...never sounded like this before" Rin swallowed hard, whispering into the teen's ear. He then moved back around to Haru's face and kissed him again, this time Haruka put his fingers into Rin's hair and gripped it tightly.

Nagisa didn't tell him this! He didn't tell Haru it would feel so good! He felt as though he should stop, but he couldn't...he couldn't...he just couldn't!

"Rin~!" Haruka moaned again, now beginning to move his lower body against him. What was wrong with him? He wasn't himself! Is this what love did to you? Did it make you do this? Did it make you change so dramatically in such little time?...no, this was sex...sex...sex?!

Haruka quickly pushed Rin off him and fell back to the floor, both of them looking at each other with wide eyes. They knew they went too far, but they didn't know it would turn out like that.

The raven haired teen blushed deeply and quickly pulled his shirt down, finding it too embarrassing to look Rin in the eye. Rin felt the same way and stood up, his face even redder.

"I-I'm...going to go home...f-finish that sheet!" without Haru's response, Rin was gone, and Haru fell to the floor with wide eyes.

He curled himself into a ball and, even though it was wrong, he still craved for the teen to touch him. He still wanted more of Rin, and he knew...he knew it was wrong to think that!

"So this is love..." Haruka mumbled, his face still red "...love is the worst"

...

As Rin ran home, he panicked. He had just kissed Haruka, Nanase Haruka, the person he loved! He should be happy, but it just happened too fast! He probably even left a hickey on Haruka's neck, which Makoto is sure to see. Now Haru's going to start avoiding him, Makoto's going to kill him, and to top it all off, his pant's are suddenly too tight!

Rin groaned in frustration and mumbled in English "Fuck, shit, fuck! I am in the deepest shit I have ever been in!"

Yeah I really made Haru incredibly stupid when it comes to love, but that's just how I see him. Also Reigisa is the most canon ship in the series and you can't argue with that. I also see Nagisa as someone who is strong and straightforward, but gets really embarrassed when it comes to things like love.

Anyways, I will have the next chapter up sometime next week, so just hold on tight!

Thanks for reading!