AAAAH I AM SO SORRY THIS IS SO LATE AND I HAD WRITERS BLOCK SO I WAS PANICKING AND PUTTING IT OFF BUT THANKS TO MY FRIEND I CONTINUED TO WRITE THIS! But I am really really sorry, especially since I left it on a cliffhanger last chapter. Thank you all for being patient and enjoy this chapter to the fullest!

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

Christmas was slowly approaching, and before long, it was Christmas Eve. A raven haired teen was on the phone with his parents and was continuously reassuring them that he was okay with them being away for the holiday.

"Are you sure Haruka? I feel like we should be there" a deep voice spoke through the phone

Haruka sighed "I'm sure, father, I have friends coming over tomorrow anyway. So I won't be alone"

Haruka's father was silent for a while, seeming to be thinking things over. It made Haruka wonder if the man was still on the phone, but his thoughts were answered as the deep voice was heard once more.

"Will that red headed boy be there? What was his name again? Matioka…Rin?"

"Matsuoka" Haruka immediately corrected, although he cringed slightly when saying the name.

"Ah yes, Matsuoka, will he be there?" the man asked, a small thankful tone slightly heard for being told said name.

"Uh…" Haruka had completely forgotten about that, or more specifically, he wanted to forget about that. It had been almost two weeks since that incident at the mall had happened, and Haruka could still remember the exact expression Rin made at him. How the teen's crimson eyes were cold, dark and emotionless…the same eyes he had when coming back from Australia.

Thinking about it now, would Rin really be coming? He was probably going to be doing something with Chigusa no doubt. As far as he knew the two of them were now going out, so Rin no longer had any time for petty things like friends.

For a petty thing like Haruka.

"…I'm not sure, he might be coming"

A gleeful sound was heard in the other man's voice "That's good! Even though you're not sure, it's nice to know he will be making an effort to get there!"

The raven haired teen's eyebrow raised in slight suspicion. His father had never sounded so happy about…well, whatever it was that was making him happy. Haruka had never really heard him happy at all, so he couldn't really pick it out.

"Why do you want to know if Rin's coming over or not? I thought you would have forgotten about him by now"

A slight chuckle was heard on the other end of the phone "Oh no, no I don't think I'll be forgetting him for a long time! I'm not too sure how to put it, but he kind of woke your mother and I up to reality. That reality being you depressed about us not being around anymore, so I do have my thanks to give to that boy! So you better keep him Haruka, he's a very valuable friend…"

Mr Nanase made sure to choose his words carefully, not wanting to give anything away or give out any hints. But Haruka only had one word stuck on his mind, and that word was friend.

The word was repeated over and over in his head, and he felt as if a cold wave had hit him, and it hit him hard.

They were friends, not lovers, friends.

If Rin was his friend, he shouldn't be feeling so shy and embarrassed around him. If Rin was his friend, his heart shouldn't be beating a million times per minute every time he saw the redhead. If Rin was his friend, he shouldn't want to get so close to him, he shouldn't want to touch him, he shouldn't want to kiss him.

If Rin was his friend, he shouldn't be so mad about the other going on a date with a girl.

If Rin was his friend…if…friend…

Rin was his friend, and he was just confused because of how fast the redhead had managed to gain his trust and his friendship. It was only ever his friendship.

Yeah, that's right, they weren't lovers, they were friends, and Haruka had never had a real friend besides Makoto until he met Rin. He didn't really know what it felt like to suddenly make a new friend like that, especially during the time his parents began to get on bad terms with him.

Haruka felt so stupid for getting those feelings confused, he always thought it was weird that he'd be falling in love with Rin anyway. He even thought, that for a slight moment, Rin might have fallen for him too. But all those assumptions vanished completely as Haruka saw the redhead with Chigusa, and now he knew he was just seen as a friend.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Slowly, he opened his mouth and spoke into the phone;

"Yeah, I'll be sure to always keep him as a friend…just a friend…always."

…

"Haru chan!" a blonde teen yelled when bursting through the door. Said person was in the kitchen and poked his head around the corner when hearing the voice.

"Nagisa? Why are you here? It's barely three o'clock, didn't you say you were coming over at six?"

Nagisa giggled and walked into the kitchen "Well, I thought you'd want help with cooking, so I came over early! And Rei has to meet with his brother anyway so…"

"You can't cook" Haruka responded, continuing to chop and prepare dinner

"You're so mean Haru chan!" Nagisa pouted "For your information, I can co-"

"Strawberry milkshakes and strawberries dipped in melted chocolate don't count" he cut the blonde off, making Nagisa go silent with a guilty expression.

"Well…they still count as meals"

"They're desserts"

Haruka cracked a small smile when hearing Nagisa blow a raspberry at him. As childish as the blonde could be, it was still nice to have him around, comforting even, and Haruka was glad the small teen arrived early.

"If you really want to help, you could grab the bigger table from the corner of the veranda and bring it inside"

Nagisa made a small sound of joy and quickly ran out the back, almost launching himself right into Haruka as he bounced up like a spring. Haruka quickly steadied himself and tightly gripped the knife when almost dropping it. Nagisa was a pleasure to have around, but also very dangerous.

As the scraping of the table against the floor and struggled groans of Nagisa echoed throughout the house, Haruka slowly slipped into his own little world while cooking. He began to wonder if Rin was going to bring Chigusa along with him, and this made him think about what events would take place if he did.

Eating next to each other, laughing with each other, snuggled up together while watching TV together. Sharing gifts, hugging and singing Christmas carols together. Watching the snow fall and getting caught under the mistletoe.

Getting caught under the mistletoe.

Haruka pushed the knife down a little too forcefully at that thought, and the loud sound of sharp metal banging against wood made him blink back to reality. He quickly shook his head and tried to focus back on cooking.

The teen knew he shouldn't be mad that Rin might kiss his girlfriend, girlfriends are meant to be kissed. Haruka should be happy his friend has a girlfriend, they've probably already kissed!

…and yet, it pained him just to think that.

Haruka groaned, leaned over the kitchen counter and put his head in his hands. He knew he wasn't in love, he knew he was just mistaking love for friendship and he'd force himself to think that if he'd have to!...even though he was already doing that. But he'd force it on stronger, he'd force it as strong as he needed to until he felt nothing but friendship! He'd go back to being and thinking neutral, like how he was before meeting Rin. He'd do whatever it took to go back to being like that, to being without all these new feelings and emotions.

Nagisa came back in the kitchen with a line of sweat dripping from his forehead, using his long sleeved shirt to wipe it off.

"I've put the other table in the living room, do you want me to push it next to the smaller…are you okay, Haru chan?"

The teen quickly straightened his posture and went back to chopping and dicing food "Yeah I'm fine, and what were you asking?"

Nagisa stared at the taller teen for a while, trying to decide if he was lying or not.

"I was asking if you want me to push the two tables together, but never mind that, what's going on?"

"It's nothing" Haruka reassured, although not sounding very convincing.

The blonde raised an eyebrow and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs "Is it something to do with Rin?...oh, could I also get a glass of water?"

"W-what?!" Haru exclaimed, turning to stare at the small teen.

"I said a glass of water, not a body of water, calm down Haru chan"

"N-no" Haru shook his head, trying to recollect his thoughts "I heard what you said, but why Rin?!"

"Oh, that?" Nagisa questioned, a cheeky grin on his face "Because it's obvious! I assumed, but it was confirmed when you got mad at Rin for being with Chigusa! No wonder you didn't want to ask him all the things you were asking me!"

A small blush arose on Haruka's face, and he turned around to get the blonde a glass of water. He knew Nagisa was trying to stifle a giggle at Haruka's reaction, since he didn't see it every day.

"So what are you planning to do about this thing with Chigusa?" Nagisa asked as he was handed the glass.

"I don't plan on doing anything, Rin's just a friend after all"

"Huh?!" magenta orbs widened and stared at the teen in disbelief "So you've just given up and accepted being friend zoned?!"

"I'm not giving up" Haruka clarified "I'm accepting the truth. My feelings were just…mixed up is all. So now I've decided to not confuse myself any further. Rin is just my friend and I am his, that's all there is to it"

Nagisa's shoulders dropped and his expression was blank "…so you think you've got your feelings confused?"

"I know I do"

"Even though you asked me all those questions?"

"Yep"

"And you don't think you're trying to avoid something by accepting this?"

"What's there to avoid?"

"…I see"

Nagisa slumped back in his chair and put a hand on his cheek, wondering if he should help his friend or not. He didn't want to push Haruka any further, especially if said teen had decided upon his feelings, but at the same time he wanted to make sure Haruka had really confirmed it. The real question was if both his head and heart had accepted this fact about Rin.

If the head and heart weren't in agreement, then it would slowly start to destroy the teen. Haruka would see Rin around Chigusa and he would force himself to believe he had no romantic feelings for Rin, which would lead to his heart aching. The stronger he forced himself to believe a lie, the stronger his heart would ache and the more depressed he will get.

Nagisa didn't want to see that happen, he really didn't, but Haruka looked confident in his decision. He knew he shouldn't push the topic and risk confusing the teen over his feelings once more…but if Haruka was confused he would probably go back to Nagisa, albeit Nagisa didn't really want that as he was as useless on the topic as Haru was.

"Alright, I believe you" Nagisa sighed "but I have one question" Haruka turned to look at the blonde and Nagisa asked "Why aren't you going to Mako chan to help you with any of this?"

Haruka stood there for a moment, staring at the small teen while thinking about the question. He had wondered that himself, but only one answer came to mind.

"I guess…because he probably doesn't know as much as you?"

There was a silence between them, and Nagisa had to hold back a snort of laughter at the statement.

"Okay I think I get it now! You came to me because you saw me kissing Rei, but you haven't seen Makoto doing anything romantic with anyone, so you instinctively thought I knew more than him. Well, I'll tell you now that Mako chan probably knows a lot more than me!"

Haruka's head tilted in confusion "…is that so? Well then…I might ask him about something like this next time…if I ever need to."

…

A few hours past and the others began to arrive. Makoto arrived first, then Rin, and now they were all waiting for Rei. Nagisa continued to pace around and look out the window as he waited for the teen, while the other two helped Haruka with the food and Christmas decorations.

Makoto noticed Haruka and Rin were very timid around each other, and the only words they had exchanged were words of greeting. The brunette smiled at the thought and was hoping this would continue for the rest of the night, the further away they were from each other the better.

As Makoto walked out of the room to put pots of food on the table, Haruka glanced at the redhead. Chigusa wasn't with him, and the question of if she was going to show or not wouldn't leave his mind.

"…is Chigusa coming?" he mumbled quietly, catching Rin's attention

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"I asked if Chigusa was coming" he repeated louder.

Rin sighed and turned back around to finish pinning up the Christmas decorations "No, why would she be coming? Did you want her to come?"

Haruka caught himself almost sighing in relief, and straightened his posture as if suddenly gaining new confidence "I couldn't really care if she came or not, having you all over is enough of a bother as it is"

Rin smiled at the comment "Ouch, well I'm sorry we wanted to give you company on Christmas day"

A small smile appeared on Haruka's lips, and he looked back to see what Rin was doing behind him.

"I don't know why you're bothering to put those up, they'll just be taken down tomorrow you know"

"I'm putting it up to get a little Christmas spirit in this household, and there's already tinsel all over the house so I might as well keep going. This will probably be the last one." Rin replied, carefully placing the shiny object.

Haruka wiped the sweat off his forehead when finishing icing the cake in front of him, then placed it in the fridge and took off his apron. The teen turned back to Rin and raised an eyebrow as he watched the redhead try and pin down the tinsel properly, as it kept falling back down the wall whenever he'd let go.

"Give it here" Haru sighed, taking the blue tack off Rin's hands and carefully placing it "if you don't want it to fall then you need to put it here"

Rin rubbed the back of his head and sighed "Ah, that's right, you're an arty crafty person. I forget that sometimes."

"Rei chan's here! Rei chan's here!" a loud voice yelled through the house, making both Haruka and Rin jump.

The blue haired teen walked through the door and was instantly tackled by Nagisa, making him almost fall back out the door. Makoto had to pull him off Rei as if the blonde were a cat clinging to a tree. Both Rin and Haruka walked out of the kitchen to greet the teen.

"Sorry I'm late" Rei apologised "my brother was wrapping gifts and wouldn't let me go without them"

Rin raised a questioning eyebrow "Why would that make you late?"

"Because the gifts are for you" as he said this, he held up a bag full of brightly wrapped presents.

Everyone's eyes widened as they stared at the large bag, Nagisa especially was excited and was about to leap towards it until Makoto held him back by the shirt and lectured him on how he had to wait until after dinner to open gifts.

"Why did you brother get us gifts?" Rin asked, still staring at the bag "he doesn't even know us"

"Ah, because…" Rei began to answer, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Because…?"

Rei sighed and looked to the ground "Because he wanted to thank you guys for being my friends…"

An amused grin tugged up the corners of Rin's mouth, showing his sharp teeth "So basically, your brother is thanking us for putting up with you"

"Shut up!" Rei blushed "He is just a bit over reactive like that; he's one of those really emotional people"

"Does he get overwhelmed and almost start crying when seeing something stunningly beautiful?" the redhead smirked

"Maybe being overemotional is a family thing?" Makoto thought aloud, a hand placed under his chin.

"But does Rei chan's brother like things that are beautiful?" Nagisa added, mimicking Makoto's pose mockingly.

"Uh…does he cry when watching almost any type of movie?" Haruka asked, also thinking deeply about it.

"You guys are all horrible" Rei frowned, taking off his coat and walking past them.

The four of them had to stifle a giggle and they followed Rei into the living room. The blue haired teen placed the bag of gifts in front of the large TV, as Haruka didn't have a Christmas tree to put up and Rin decorated the TV anyway, even though Haruka objected to it. The five of them sat down at the table and began to dig into the large amount of food, for once there was only one mackerel dish instead of five which reminded them just how special a day it was.

It was noisy, it was messy, it was exhausting, but it was fun. Even though rice was being spilt on the table, even though Nagisa was trying to steal everyone's food, even though Rin and Rei were yelling at him not to while Makoto tried to calm them all down, Haruka was smiling. He'd never really had anyone over on Christmas day, and for once, Christmas seemed to live up to its representation of being the happiest time of the year.

After everyone had finished eating, although half of the food was on the table, Haruka bought out the cake and as they ate it, the five teens were handing out and opening gifts. All of the gifts from Rei's big brother were overpriced and flashy but were still gratefully accepted. Rei gave Nagisa a giant penguin plush toy, which Nagisa almost cried over and Rei had to push the blonde back to remind him they couldn't kiss in the place they were in.

Makoto had given Haruka a range of different waterfall and lake magazines, which he quickly and gratefully accepted with wide shining eyes. The other three stared at the raven haired teen with slight concern but decided to dismiss it and went back to opening presents.

When the gift giving was done, there was a bunch of wrapping paper on the floor. Makoto offered to sweep it up and Nagisa and Rei offered to clean the table and dishes. Rin, however, had disappeared, and Haruka felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He noticed that he had gotten a gift from everyone, even Rei's brother, except Rin. Of course Haruka knew he shouldn't have really been expecting anything, but Rin had given everyone else a gift, so why not him? He even gave a gift to the redhead, which was a shark mug. It wasn't much but it was still a gift.

As the others were cleaning up, Haru decided to go upstairs and put away his newly given presents. He walked into the hallway to notice the backdoor was slightly open, and put down the presents at the bottom of the stairs to go close it. But as he got to it and was about to grab the handle, it slid open to show a certain redhead behind it.

"Oh, Haru…"

"R-Rin!" Haruka stuttered, almost stumbling back in surprise. Rin stared at the smaller teen for a while, as if trying to decide something. Haruka felt a little uncomfortable in the awkward atmosphere and was about to leave, until finally the redhead spoke.

"Good timing, I was just about to go talk to you. Could you sit out here with me for a bit?"

Haruka found himself nodding before even thinking about the question, and quickly stepped outside into the cold air. Rin shut the door behind him and sat down on the edge of the porch, Haru quickly joining him.

They watched the snow fall for a while, the air around them not just cold, but heavy. It had been a while since they'd had a moment by themselves like this, and Haruka was about to ask what Rin wanted of him until a small box was in front of his face.

"Here…" Rin said, not looking at the teen.

Haruka's eyebrow rose but he took the box anyway, his heart thumping fast as he slowly and carefully opened the tiny box. Rin was now staring at him intensely as the teen had lifted the lid all the way, and a small smile appeared on his lips as blue orbs widened.

Inside the box was a pure silver necklace of two dolphins swimming around each other with a beautiful, dark blue sparkling diamond between them. Haruka felt like he'd been winded, staring at the necklace as if it was something alien.

"I take it you like it?" Rin grinned, wondering if the teen had even heard him from the trance he was in.

"Is…is this real?" was all Haruka could say, not being able to tear his eyes away from the shining jewellery.

Rin nodded "Yup, completely authentic silver with a real diamond"

"But…isn't this something you'd get for Chigusa?"

Rin gave the teen next to him a confused look, Haruka's eyes now looking almost sorrowful as they continued to stare at the gift.

"What are you talking about?" the redhead asked, his eyebrows now furrowed at the sudden change of mood.

Haruka closed the box and slowly lowered his hands "Well you're going out with her, aren't you? I mean, you were shopping at the mall together…"

Crimson eyes widened at the response, and Rin tilted his head back slightly while letting out a loud sigh "Oh yeah, that. No we're not going out, I actually feel nothing for her at all, I was just shopping with her because…"

"Because…?" Haruka's eyes were shining once more

"Because…I didn't know what to get you so I asked for her help. I know the necklace is a little feminine but she told me to get one with a diamond that matches your eyes so…and before you ask, I didn't go with Gou because I don't trust her to keep her lips sealed"

Haruka felt his chest thump and he quickly turned away. He said he would force himself to believe that he and Rin were just friends, but right now his head was burning and felt as if his brain was melting. He didn't know what to do or say, so he just kept his head turned away from the teen to hide his bright red face.

"Haru, are you cold?" Rin spoke, making said teen jump slightly.

He didn't want to speak, but he knew he had to force something out "K-kind of…why?"

"Because you're shaking…come here" Rin stretched his arm out to grab the teen, and Haru almost squeaked when feeling the warm hand on his arm.

"R-Rin what-"

Haruka was cut short as he was pulled into Rin's chest, those long muscly arms circling around him and hugging him in a tight, warm embrace. Haruka could feel Rin's strong chest against his back and felt his heart start doing flips. His mind was a nuclear power plant that was having a meltdown and he felt himself start panicking.

"Rin, let me go!" Haruka began to struggle, making Rin chuckle

"Nope! I haven't talked to you for a while, so I'm not letting you get away this time!" he said cheerfully, tightening his embrace around the smaller teen.

"Rin I'm serious!" Haruka complained "We should go back inside! The others are probably-"

"Oi," Rin cut the teen off, grabbing Haru's face and turning it towards him "shut up"

Blue orbs widened as lips touched Haruka's, and he could feel himself start slipping away from the softness and heat. He closed his eyes and let himself drift away, although there was a slight nagging in the back of his mind that was making him feel hesitant.

As Rin released Haruka's lips the teen muttered half-heartedly "We're friends Rin, friends don't do this kind of thing…"

Rin responded with a quiet "I thought I told you to shut up" and kissed him once more, Haruka not hesitating this time and deepening the kiss.

Because of their passionate make out session, they didn't notice the door that was slightly open slowly being closed by a certain onlooker.

An onlooker with brown hair and burning emerald green eyes.

An onlooker that now had an expression as if he were ready to kill…

Super dramatical ending woah! And I so enjoyed writing Haru like this, all confused and jealous and annoyed and uGH it is great (I am such a horrible person)

Hopefully the next chapter will be out sooner than this! And I realise I needed school to write my fanfics because I write them when I find classes boring since that's when inspiration hits (which is most classes and yet I still pass all of them wtf)

Anyway thanks for reading!