Yes I finished it! Wow this chapter took a long time to edit, it is the longest one yet. Oh and I'm not sure but...is Panadol a world wide thing or an Australian thing? That question might be stupid but I'm really not sure. So just in case Panadol helps with headaches and body aches and is just a little pill that you take when you have a cold or are feeling sick. I am probably stupid for not knowing this so sorry about that! Now please enjoy the new chapter to the fullest! (I'm also sorry for any mistakes I may have missed because my cat was all over the keyboard when I edited this.)

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

The sun's rays shined bright as the waves of the ocean crashed onto the sandy shores of a small town. Pink buds sitting atop long branches of cherry blossom trees tightly wrapped, the air still too cold for their beauty to fully emerge.

All of these sights and sounds indicated the start of a new school year, and now hundreds of students were walking through the school gates of Iwatobi High School. Most not looking forward to being trapped behind the steel bars like rats in a cage, deprived of their freedom for another year. Even so, a good education was like a delicious block of cheddar cheese and had them scurrying back, no matter how dangerous or stressful it seemed.

Haruka was sitting in class with Makoto, who had pulled him out of the bath this morning as the brunette usually did on winter. Other students were slowly pouring into the classroom, many of them greeting the two best friends and some complaining about the new year. None of them, however, were Rin.

Haruka subconsciously kept his ears sharp, whenever the sound of the door sliding open was heard he moved his head with cat like reflexes. The ears on his head slumping when seeing it wasn't the redhead.

"Where is he? Why isn't he here? What's taking him so long?"

These questions raced through Haruka's head, and he felt himself becoming agitated as the first bell was coming closer and closer. When the bell went, Rin definitely wouldn't be showing. Haruka knew the teen would rather die than be late to school, especially on the first day.

In a sense, the bell was like a bomb, and slowly approaching. Without Rin's appearance, there would soon be a massive explosion.

A sound of the door opening, Haruka's ears perked up as he turned towards it with lightning speed. Finally, and with a few minutes to spare, the redhead showed himself.

The bomb has been detonated.

Haruka watched the teen with keen eyes, waiting for a greeting and explanation for why he was so late. However, neither a greeting nor explanation was given as Rin simply slumped down on the desk in front of him, making Haruka's brow furrow.

Rin didn't turn around, didn't say a word, and looked as if he wasn't even breathing. Blue eyes bored into his back, Haruka hoping to get a reaction from the redhead if he glared hard enough.

There was a twitch, a sigh, but still not a word spoken. Haruka tapped his fingers on the wooden desk and internally screamed at the redhead in front of him. Rin was never quiet in the mornings, this just added to Haruka's curiosity.

Makoto watched Haruka's impatient fidgeting, irritation pricking at him. Although the brunette was also curious for why Rin looked so in the gloom, not that he cared, of course.

Haruka didn't want to say anything, he didn't want to seem needy for an answer, so he continued to stare and make small, annoying sounds. Like the tapping of a pencil on a desk, the chair squeaking as he kept repositioning himself, the ruffling of his clothes as he did this repositioning, loud purposeful sighs as he couldn't find a comfortable position to sit in.

When Rin didn't turn he began tapping the pencil louder and louder, now banging more than tapping. Other students glanced his way to see where the sound was coming from, but Haruka ignored them as he was only trying to get a reaction from Rin. It seemed the teen couldn't hear a sound Haruka was making.

But the redhead could hear them all too well, he could probably hear it louder than anyone else in the room. His head was clutched in his hands as his eye twitched, and he could take the sound of the desk behind him being abused no longer.

"Will you shut up!" Rin yelled, quickly turning to the noisy teen.

Every student went quiet while staring at the exchange, Rin feeling his face go red as he didn't intend to shout so loud.

Haruka gave him wide eyes, but quickly looked away with his usual bored expression "What noise?"

"You know well what bloody noise I'm talking about." The redhead growled under his breath, giving Haruka a look that could kill.

"Please don't use your Australian slang on me." Haruka bluntly commented, dodging the topic.

"That is not-!" Rin started, but decided to save his head the stress "Just please don't make so much noise, I'm not feeling well."

Haruka tilted his head "You're not? Why, what's wrong?"

A finger was placed on Rin's temple, his eyes squeezed shut "I just have a bad throat, running nose, and horrible headache. I took some medicine this morning though so I should be fine through the day."

Blue eyes flashed with worry when realising Rin's voice sounded hoarse and muffled, like his nose was being tightly pinched. Haruka quickly leaned forward, placing a hand on Rin's forehead to feel it was red hot.

"Rin, you're really burning. You shouldn't be at school."

The redhead swiped Haruka's hand off him and gave the teen a large grin "Didn't I say I wouldn't let a second go to waste?"

The room seemed to go silent as Haruka felt his heart skip a beat, his cheeks tinted with red as he stared at Rin's happy smile.

He really was taking what Haruka said the week before to heart, and it filled the teen with unreasonable joy.

"I'm sorry…" Haruka apologised, looking off to the side.

Rin's eyebrow rose "For what?"

"You probably caught the flu from me…you shouldn't have looked after me." Haruka explained, trying to keep his voice to a whisper.

The redhead stared at his friend for a long while, before letting out a snort and making blue orbs stare at the teen questioningly.

"Sorry, sorry!" Rin apologised, trying to keep down his snorts "I've just never seen you own up to something so obvious before, and if I hadn't have looked after you you'd be dead by now."

More snorts of laughter were let out as Haruka's expression went sour, now wondering if he really was happy that Rin had turned up. But one of the redhead's snorts were too forceful, and a string of snot was now hanging down from the inside of Rin's nose.

"Disgusting." One of the girls huddled around the desk next to him muttered, making the others whisper ill things about him.

Rin's face turned beat red and quickly turned around to cover the repulsive sight, Haruka now being the one to stifle giggles.

"Do you want a tissue?" He sputtered out, the question obviously mocking.

A crimson eye twitched "Shut up! I have my own you idiot!" Rin reassured, quickly digging into his bag with a red face.

Haruka looked at Rin with dreamy eyes, smiling and spacing out as he stared at the person he loved.

The person he loved…?

No, no, no, no! He didn't love Rin, he already talked himself out of that! But as Haruka shook his head to get rid of the thoughts, he couldn't help but wonder why he subconsciously thought that. If he really didn't love Rin, would he have even thought about loving him in the first place? Would the thought even have come to him?

Well…it wasn't hard to love Rin. Haruka could admit to that. The raven haired teen had no doubt that most girls and some boys fawned over him. It was just hard for Haruka to admit to himself that he was one of those people. But honestly, who wouldn't fawn over Rin?

His grades are impeccable, he has a great body shape, he makes sure to stay healthy and is an amazing swimmer. He's a hopeless romantic, he's fluent in another language, he gives off this aura that's addicting to be around. He's joyful, handsome, an easy laugher, excitable.

Almost everything about him was perfect, almost every one of his traits were lovable. And his smile…his smile was a sight that makes one feel privileged to see.

But Haruka knew Rin wasn't perfect, Haruka knew there were some faults about him. He was over emotional, would cry about anything, have random mood swings, get worked up incredibly easily, lose confidence as fast as he gained it. Having seen all these faults, Haruka felt as if he held some kind of key. A key that Rin had given him, and only him, that Rin trusted Haruka with completely.

Haruka felt privileged to hold that key, he felt special, he felt like there was a place in Rin's heart that only he could fill. And Haruka would fight to keep that, Haruka would fight to stay in the special place in Rin's heart.

That wasn't love, that was just…caring. But for some reason the thought of having someone else even look at the key that only Haruka held made the teen cringe. He couldn't stand the thought of someone else seeing that side of Rin, someone else seeing the flaws of Rin. That was a side only Haruka could see, a side Haruka wouldn't let anyone else see. If he let anyone else see Rin's flaws, let anyone else hold that key, there would be a possibility of Haruka being replaced from the special place preserved just for him.

If he lost that place, if he lost the key, then everything he'd been fighting for, for the past year and more would have been worthless. And in some way, Rin also held a key, a key Haruka had hesitantly given him. But he never regretted giving Rin that key, and he never planned to regret it, and to keep that line of thought meant he couldn't give away Rin's key. He couldn't let anyone else hold it, touch it, or even look at it. He couldn't let anyone else know he had it. If someone ever tried to take it, he would fight for it, he would hold onto that key with his life and refuse to let go.

Rin had given it to him, and he intended to keep it.

A loud ringing echoed throughout the school, interrupting Haruka's thoughts and indicating the start of the lesson.

Well, nevertheless, Haruka knew what he felt for Rin wasn't love…or shouldn't be love. No matter how lovable or perfect the redhead seemed.

…

"Rin's gone home?" Haruka asked, his eyes wide in astonishment.

Gou nodded "Yup, apparently he threw up during science."

"Ah, so that's what the screams were all about." Nagisa added, a smile on his face.

"What about swimming practice, then? Don't we have joint training with Samezuka?" Rei asked, concern shown in his purple eyes.

Makoto sighed and commented "Well it just seems we'll have to go without him for once, not that big of a-"

"No." Haruka interrupted, his hands tightly clenched "No I…I want to go see Rin. It's my fault he's sick, it'd feel wrong to swim without him."

Nagisa gave Haruka a small smile and quickly added "I'm going too! I want to see RinRin!"

Rei readjusted his glasses "Guess there's no choice, I'll come along with you to make sure Nagisa doesn't get into trouble…and also to see Rin."

Makoto clenched his teeth before putting on the angelic mask he always did "Well we might as well all go then, I'm sure Rin would like to have all of us there."

Gou placed her hands on her hips, letting out an exasperated sigh "That's well and good and all, but if you've forgotten we have joint practice with Samezuka. Considering the captain himself invited us to come I suggest we go, he's already graduated you know, I bet he just wanted to swim with all of us one last time. It'd be rude if we just didn't show up."

Haruka's brow creased and he looked to the ground, he could always wait after swim practice to see Rin but it would feel strange in the water without him.

He couldn't let a second go to waste.

"Alright, now about this year's swimming tournament." Gou started "I want to make sure we're all getting enough nutrition so-"

"No!" Haruka interrupted, making the other four look at him "I want to…to see Rin! I can't swim without him!"

Gou tilted her head, Makoto quickly putting a hand on the teen's shoulder and trying not to squeeze it too hard "Now, now, Haru, don't be ridiculous. This is only for today, I'm sure Rin will be swimming tomorrow. For now we'll just go to Samezuka and-"

"No! No, I don't want to!" Haruka shook his head, attempting to fight back "I have to go see Rin! We promised…we promised we wouldn't let a second go to waste…"

"A second go to…?" Rei questioned, both him and Nagisa exchanging puzzled looks.

Gou gave Haruka a sympathetic look, a small smile on her lips. No doubt her brother would have been incredibly happy to hear that.

"…alright, you can go see Rin instead of coming to joint practice." Gou agreed, making the four boys give her wide eyes.

"What? But why only Haru-!" Nagisa started, Gou cutting him off.

"I'll explain when we're at joint practice! For now, just leave it as it is."

Nagisa began whining at how he wanted to see Rin, Rei trying to calm him down and keep him quiet. Haruka let out a small sigh, relieved he had convinced the younger Matsuoka.

Makoto, however, had to hold himself back from yelling at Haruka for how ridiculous this all was. For how utterly stupid he was being. And since he was the captain, he had to go to the joint practice, and there'd be no way out of it. Which meant Haruka and Rin would have more alone time together, something that seemed to be getting more common by the day.

…

School had finally ended, Haruka hurriedly saying goodbye to Makoto and the others before walking off. He made sure to be out of sight before breaking into a full force sprint down the path, the chilled air slapping his face and making his skin go ice cold. The sweat beads on his forehead dripping down to create an odd prickling sensation.

He knew he owed Makoto an explanation for why he was so desperate to see Rin. The brunette wouldn't stop questioning him as to why he wanted to see Rin more than go to joint swimming practice, actually asking if the swim club wasn't as important anymore.

Of course the swim club was important, he could never toss it aside like that! He just knew Rin had this horrible sickness because of him, and Haruka had to make up for it. Right now Gou was, of course, at school, and their mother was probably out working. Rin would be home alone with no one there, which meant Haruka had far too many worries on his mind, worries he couldn't simply swim off.

He had to see Rin.

After 20 minutes of non stop sprinting, Haruka finally made it to the Matsuoka household. The teen bolted inside, forgetting to knock and hastily removing his shoes in the entryway. In his rush he didn't notice the car sitting in the driveway, and almost jumped back from shock when looking up to see someone standing in the kitchen.

"Nanase…Haruka?" The woman asked, her eyes wide from the sudden intrusion.

"Uh," he stuttered, face going red from embarrassment "yes, I'm Nanase Haruka. Sorry about the intrusion Ms Matsuoka, I didn't know you were home."

A large smile crossed her lips as the teen answered, her eyes brightly lit as she quickly ran around the kitchen bench to stand in front of him.

"It's been such a long time, Nanase san! Have you been well? You've really grown! I saw you in the picture after winning the relay last year, but seeing you with my own eyes is unbelievable! I think you're taller than me!"

The woman laughed and chimed, going back and forth about unnecessary things. Usually Haruka wouldn't care for idle chitchat, but he couldn't help cracking a small smile. Even with the many years that had passed, which clearly showed on both their faces, Rin's mother was still as bubbly and vibrant as ever. It was nice to see some things haven't changed.

"Oh, sorry, sorry!" she laughed, waving her hands in an apologetic manner "I was going off there for a bit wasn't I? So what caused you to suddenly break down the door like that?"

Haruka's cheeks tinted red "I'm, uh, sorry about that. But I came to see Rin, I heard he wasn't feeling well."

Ms Matsuoka nodded "Well you heard right, he doesn't look well at all. I had to leave work because I got a call from the school, the poor dear threw up in class. Although he probably scared the living day lights out of the other students!"

She started laughing once more, and Haruka had to hold back a small giggle himself. If Rin's mother didn't look distressed then it must have meant Rin was okay, and that made Haruka's heart calm to its' normal beating pattern. He had no need to be worried now that he knew nothing had happened to Rin.

"Well I came here to see if Rin's okay." Haruka smiled at the woman "As long as he's okay, I can leave."

The red haired woman nodded "He is okay, but…could you please stay here? It's fine if you can't but I have to go back to work after I finish cleaning the dishes. I just don't want to leave Rin home alone while he's sick."

Haruka's eyes went wide, if Rin was home alone that was a different story. How could he leave Rin home alone and sick? Anything could happen to the redhead if he left.

"…I'll stay." Haruka answered, making the woman's eyes light up.

"Oh thank you! Thank you Nanase san! Rin's in his room if you want to see him, just tell him I'll be gone in a few minutes, okay?"

Haruka nodded and the mother gave him a bright smile before going back to the dishes. The teen smiled back and walked down the hall, remembering clearly which room was Rin's. The last time he was here was last year, when he came crying to Rin about his parents. Haruka pushed that thought aside, however.

"Do not focus on the past, or even on the future. Focus on the present, it's what's most important." Is what his grandmother used to tell him, something he should've been telling himself more often.

Right now the present is Rin is sick, Rin needs him. This was the only thing on Haruka's mind, and his pace became a slight bit faster.

Once reaching Rin's door, Haruka put his hand on the door knob and hesitated the slightest bit before pushing it open. The teen's eyes instantly locked onto the red head lying on the bed, who was in a peaceful sleep.

Looking more closely, however, Haruka realised his sleep wasn't the least bit peaceful. Rin was in a cold sweat, his expression was scrunched up and his breaths were heavy. There were tissues sprawled out on the bedroom floor and the blanket covering him was hanging over one leg.

Ms Matsuoka may have said her son was okay, but he sure didn't look it. He looked the opposite of it. It pained Haruka to see Rin looking like this, without that naturally happy smile on his face.

Haruka's instincts immediately took over. He quickly walked forward to kneel next to the bed, putting a hand to Rin's forehead. The raven haired teen almost instantly realised his friend's temperature had gone up significantly since this morning.

The skin beneath Haruka's hand was incredibly sweaty and he moved down to Rin's arm, wrapping his fingers around the soft skin to feel how cold it was. Rin's arm was just as wet and sticky as his forehead, the grey tank top the teen was wearing almost completely drenched in sweat.

He looked horrible, but he wasn't dead, so that's a plus.

"You're so cold…" Haruka muttered to himself, grabbing the blanket and placing it over Rin's body.

There was a small huff as Rin twitched when being disturbed from his slumber, covering his hot face with his cold and sweaty arm.

"Mum, I told you it's too hot with the blanket." He mumbled, making Haruka freeze.

That's right, Rin didn't know he was here, Rin wouldn't expect him to be here. Would it be a pleasant or bad surprise if he was here…? No, it would be a pleasant surprise, they promised to spend the year together as much as possible. Rin should be delighted Haruka was here…should be.

"Uh," Haruka started, his hands clenched "it's not actually your mum."

The bed creaked loudly as Rin shot up like lightening, his crimson eyes wide when seeing the unexpected Haruka sitting next to him.

"H-Haru!" Rin exclaimed "What are you doing here?! Don't we have joint practice with Samezuka today?"

"We do…" Haruka confirmed, but said nothing to explain himself.

Rin stared at the teen with confusion, trying to understand what was going on. If joint practice was cancelled he could understand that, but the third years were finally leaving the school for good today. There was no way the practice would be cancelled. Even if it was cancelled, Haruka would still be doing normal swimming practice at Iwatobi. There was no logical reason for why he would be here, at the Matsuoka household.

"Well then why are you here?" Rin finally asked, making Haruka squirm slightly.

Haruka frowned, trying to avoid eye contact. The redhead obviously knew why he was here, but wanted him to say it anyway. Why must Rin always embarrass him like this?

"I…" Haruka started, looking around the room at anything but Rin.

There was no response, Rin giving Haruka a hard stare. The teen looked like a young, shy child who was being confronted by his mother. Odd behaviour considering Haruka did nothing wrong. Rin wasn't mad, although he was incredibly confused. Did Haruka think he was mad?

"Do you think I'm mad at you?" the words flowed from Rin's mouth before his mind could comprehend them.

Haruka quickly looked up at the redhead "Why? Did I do something?"

"No! No, of course not!" Rin quickly reassured, waving his hands in a defensive manner.

In retrospect, that wasn't the best thing to ask. Maybe he should just go back to the first question.

"So why are you here then?" Rin asked once more.

Haruka's eyes widened slightly before quickly moving back to the ground, his hands tightly balled into fists. Now that he knew Rin wanted him to say it, it was almost too embarrassing to say.

"Isn't it obvious?" Haruka questioned, making Rin tilt his head.

"No, I don't think it is."

There was more squirming as Haruka hesitated to answer the question. He wanted to leave, but Rin's mother would already be gone. All Haruka wanted to do was check on Rin, not look after him, but it wasn't a choice now. There was nothing else to do but tell Rin directly, otherwise the teen wouldn't stop making stupid comments.

"I came to see you."

"See me?" Rin questioned, brow furrowed.

Haruka quickly nodded "Because you're sick! I was worried! I'm the one that got you sick, after all…"

"You didn't get me sick, Haru." Rin sighed "Even if you did, I don't regret it. As long as you're healthy I'll be fine, so you should probably go to swim practice. I'm sure Captain Mikoshiba would love to see you one last time."

"Uh, about that, there's another thing." Haruka started "Your mum had to go back to work, and she asked if I could stay to look after you…that and I never intended on going back to practice."

The questions seemed to be piling up, Rin getting a bigger headache then he already had.

"You never intended on going back? You really hate joint practice that much?"

Raven hair swayed as Haruka shook his head "No, that's not what I meant."

"So you don't hate joint practice?" Another nod from the teen "Then what do you mean?"

Haruka's brain was fried. Obviously, he had to put it bluntly and let Rin hear what he wanted to hear, or their conversation would be going nowhere while getting more embarrassing.

"…you don't have to rub it in that I care about you, you know." Haruka mumbled, making crimson eyes widen.

"Huh?"

Haruka could hear the snap of his patience breaking, the part of his brain that kept him cool now boiling.

"I said you don't have to rub in that I care about you! What's so weird about that? So what if I decided not to go to practice because of you? There I said it! It's no big deal!"

An awkward silence filled the room, the redhead with a blank expression on his face.

"Wait…" he started "so if I was there, you'd be there?" Haruka nodded "But because I'm not going to be there, you won't either." There was another nod, although more hesitant this time.

Rin sat back in disbelief as the realisation of what Haruka was saying finally got through to him.

Haruka had chosen him over swimming.

"Is…is it getting hotter in here?" Rin asked, grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it out to let cool air flow down his sweaty chest.

The raven haired teen looked up when hearing the question, seeing Rin's face was as red as his hair. Blue eyes shined with concern, Haruka quickly putting his hand to Rin's forehead.

"W-what are you-?!"

"You're hotter than before." Haruka stated, voice filled with worry "Are you feeling okay?"

Now that Haruka mentioned it, Rin could feel the pounding of his massive headache. When he went to sleep it wasn't as bad, but now it was unbelievably worse. Especially since now he had just noticed it. His vision was going slightly blurry as he begun to sway from side to side, holding a hand to his head.

"Well I'm not feeling too good, to be honest."

Rin's head felt heavy, too heavy. So heavy he couldn't hold it up anymore, making him fall back onto the pillow. His world was spinning, his head was throbbing, his whole body was sweating, and to top it all off, his stomach began lurching.

"Oh god." Rin grunted, rolling over to grab his stomach.

Panic arose within Haruka. His eyes darting up and down Rin's frame as he quickly stood up, unsure of what to do.

"Um, uh..!" panicked sounds arose from Haruka, his hands were slightly raised from his sides as if he was going to comfort Rin but kept backing out. "Do you need anything? Can I get you anything?"

"A bucket and some Panadol would be nice, it should be in the bath-" a pained groan forced its' way out of Rin before he could finish his sentence, making Haruka panic more.

The raven haired teen showed a sign of understanding before quickly running out of the room, having to spin on the spot once, then twice, before finally seeing the bathroom. He bolted into it like his life, or more Rin's life, depended on it.

A few minutes passed while Haruka dug through the cupboards, hurriedly searching for the medicine. He started looking through bags and tossing them over his shoulder when nothing needed was inside. Almost all the cupboards were thrown open and Haruka inwardly rejoiced when finally finding the right bag, holding up the Panadol like it was a gift from god.

But Haruka knew he had no time to celebrate, because now he needed to find a bucket. Where to find the bucket? He had no idea.

"Rin!" He rushed back into said teen's room, seeing he was still scrunched into a fetal position "Um, where is a bucket?"

The redhead looked like he wanted to answer, but kept closing his mouth in fear of vomiting. Instead he made a pitiful look towards the packet of Panadol, Haruka taking a while to process what Rin was staring at until finally understanding.

"Oh!' Haruka exclaimed, holding up the Panadol "Uh, sorry! I'll get you a glass of water!"

The teen ran off with the Panadol in hand, Rin making a desperate noise as he tried to get Haruka's attention, but wasn't loud enough as Haruka ran off with his antidote. The sick redhead almost fell off the bed when reaching out as Haru ran through the door.

"That idiot!" Rin inwardly growled "I can swallow it without water! Does he even know how to look after someone?" There was a loud growl as Rin's stomach lurched once more, making him push a hand over his mouth. "Mum, you've dug your own son's grave."

A yell was heard from the kitchen "Rin! Where are your glasses?" Then cabinets being slammed open "Never mind, found them."

Rin's head was throbbing, his stomach now continuously spasming. He could already taste the puke, but tried to keep away from the thought. He didn't want to throw up again, although it seemed no matter how hard he tried he couldn't avoid it. Even if Rin did finally take the Panadol, he knew he'd just upchuck it. There was no use for the antidote now.

"Here, Rin!" Haruka ran into the room, glass and Panadol in hand, but froze when seeing Rin scrunched up into a ball.

There was a long silence as Haruka stood in the doorway, Rin's face covered by sweaty hair. The sick teen slowly sat up, looked Haruka dead in the eye, and muttered "Too late." before rolling off the bed and pushing past Haruka to the toilet.

Haruka tried to block out the sounds of loud, forceful retching, putting the glass and Panadol on Rin's bedside table. The teen considered holding Rin's hair back, but decided against it after making a sour face once another loud retch was heard.

As Rin looked at the remains of his lunch, the only thought going through his head was;

"Yeah, I'm definitely going to die."

Rin was kind of disgusting in this chapter wasn't he? Ah yes, he is definitely the perfect man. I really don't know why I'm so mean to all these precious boys, gosh.

I don't know when the new chapter will be out so you're just going to have to hang tight!

Thanks for reading!