Hey, everyone. So I promised this would be out before Wednesday, but really I just meant before the new episode came out, so yeah. I was successful! We've got about an hour left until the livestream even airs.
So, since I have some time to talk, I'd like to first, thank you all for your reviews; they make my day and you all rock! And second, I want to bring to your attention a review I got that oh so nicely — not exactly — asked me to put this up on AO3. I have gotten an invitation and I will sign up and start publishing this fic there... if others feel the same way as this person did.
Well, do you? If you want to let me know, either leave it in your review or, if you never planned on reviewing, please go and answer the poll on my profile page. I'd really appreciate it! But to those of you who will review... How do you think I should go about publishing the chapters, should I put this up on AO3? I don't want to publish everything I have all at once, so what are you thinking I should do? A chapter a day until I catch up? Two? What? Let me know that, too! Anyway, enjoy Chapter 12, everyone! Sorry for wasting so much of your time!
Summary: —
Warnings: Some bad language. Sexual content is minimal to moderate.
Disclaimer: I don't own Free! Iwatobi Swim Club. Please stop remind me.
[CHAPTER TWELVE: "TO UNDERSTAND."]
"Prince Rin, sir— I apologize for disturbing you, but there's been an incident."
Rin grunted, bringing up a hand and pushing his bangs out of his face, his turban unwrapped and laying in a neat pile at the edge of his bed some ten to twelve feet behind him. "What is it? What's happened?" He asked, his voice gruff. He was already pissed off at Haru; he didn't need some other idiot coming to him, knocking at his door and telling his all about the problems that he, for once, wished his parents would just hurry up and handle.
"Sir," The guard standing just outside Rin's door corrected his posture, standing up straight as he picked up on the fact that the Prince was by no means in a good mood. Resisting the urge to adjust his glasses, Rei could imagine why the Prince was already irritable enough as things were; from what Haruka had told him, he was supposed to have delivered a present to the Prince for his assistant, Nitori, about an hour and a half before. Obviously, due to problems that had arisen, Haru had been unable to complete this task, though the Prince wasn't aware of that... yet. Rei couldn't help but wonder how the Prince's attitude towards the whole situation would change once he received the news he'd come to deliver; would the news fuel his fire or water it down slightly? Only time would tell.
"I'm afraid some complications arose when your fill-in assistant, Haruka, went into town for you this evening, sir." Rei tried to sound as official and mature as possible, always one to attempt to impress the royal family. Rin's eyes widened, his eyebrows raising. Was that why Haru hadn't come back? Had something happened? What if something did? Rin thought, his grip tightening on his bedroom door's handle.
"What kind of complications?" The Prince asked, a deep frown settled into his face as he gazed upon Rei, who let his eyes slip shut, his right hand coming up to finally adjust his glasses. "He was attacked while in town, sir."
Rin's entire body slacked, going limp as he stared at Rei increduously. Attacked...? "By who?" The Prince breathed, sounding a bit like he was holding his breath. He was.
"Two men who were also said to have been assaulting a blonde boy in one of the alleyways. One of the men appears to have been a guard in this palace— a man named Raido. I know very little about him."
Rin lowered his gaze, allowing his eyes to scan over the uniform the slightly taller male in front of him wore. A palace guard... Raido? Rin wracked his brain for answers, trying to recall who this Raido man was. "Is he new?" He asked, unable to place the man. Rei nodded. "Fairly. Your father— the King, he hired him to guard the northeastern entrance a week or two ago. I'd estimate it's been about twelve days since he first came here."
"What do you know about him? What does he look like?" Rin questioned, back to looking at Rei with a deep frown on his face that threatened to shift into a scowl as the guard shook his head, going on to tell the Prince that he had seen the back of the man's head once or twice. All he knew was that he had dark brown hair— nothing more. Rin finally scowled.
"Bring me Haru. He should know," The Prince ordered, turning away from Rei as he prepared to enter back into his bedroom. The blue-haired male frowned. "I don't think that's a very good idea, sir. Haru is injured and—"
"Did I ask you what you thought, four eyes?" Red eyes bore into amethyst as royalty questioned peasantry. Rei shrank back, shaking his head. The Prince could be rather intimidating when he wanted to be and those teeth looked so threatening. "No, sir," Rei mumbled, bowing his head before the Prince, his arms practically pinned to his sides. "I will bring Haruka to you, sir."
"Good, now get going. Don't bother coming back with him, either. You're not the one I want to speak with."
Rei's mouth fell open as Rin crossed the threshold back into his room, shutting the door behind himself and leaving Rei absolutely no time to respond— not even to give a quick, "Yes, sir!" The guard quickly got ahold of himself, however, pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose as he turned away, preparing to go and fetch Haru. So that was a small demonstration of the Prince's quick temper, huh? Never thought I'd see one.
Shaking his head, Rei left the area, heading back towards the servant's quarters, where he had left Haru in his room rather than the boy's own. Once there he explained the situation and the Prince's request, causing Haru to groan and sigh, obviously far less than happy. But the boy heaved himself up off of Rei's bed all the same, his limbs crying out as he moved. His recently bandaged shoulder stung, the pain of having been stabbed echoing, pulsing throughout his shoulder and right arm.
Haruka brought his good arm up his left and placed his hand on his shoulder, continuing to grip loosely onto the body part as he left Rei's room, wondering why the hell, if Rin knew the situation so well, he couldn't come to him. It wouldn't kill him, Haruka thought.
His slight irritation towards Rin soon subsided, however, as Haru began to carefully make his way towards the Prince's room, having to go slow. It wasn't so much his legs that were the problem, as they hadn't been beaten up on by that man back in the alley, but rather the way his torso twisted as he walked, lighting all the slowly bruising patches of skin that littered his chest on fire. Have I always walked like this? Haru wondered, trying to stop himself from twisting and turning so much as he made his way down corridor after corridor, through room after room. He wasn't very successful in his efforts.
Needless to say, eventually Haruka found himself standing at the door to the Prince's bedroom— all thirty minutes of the half hour it'd taken him to reach his destination aside. Haru shut his right eye, finding that it hurt to keep it open, and reached forward, slowly wrapping his knuckles against Rin's bedroom door. With how fast Rin opened the door, how quick he was to answer Haru's knock... It'd have been a surprise if the Prince hadn't been sitting right by the door on the other side of the wall, waiting for Haru.
The look Rin gave Haruka as he caught sight of the boy was horrified. The jerk he used as a means to get Haru inside the room was quick and hardly painful, as Rin had — thank whatever supernatural being above — grabbed his left arm to tug him inside the room, rather than his right. And there were the questions— oh, all the quick, cobbled together questions. "Did you get a good look at the bastards who did this to you?" "Is the other kid that was with them safe?" "Did you even try to fight back?" Rin's questions came one after another, the Prince using every bit of breath he had stored in his lungs to ask them before he finally went quiet, panting. Haru took this as his opportunity to tell his side of the story.
And so he did. And at the end of it all, Rin cursed, pounding his fist against the wooden surface of his desk. "I'll have that bastard executed, along with his little buddy," The Prince said, shaking his head. Sitting on the Prince's bed, which he'd been given permission to sit on just this once, Haru watched the taller male, expressionless. He shook his head. "Don't do that."
"Huh?" Rin turned towards Haru now, a deep frown settled into his face as he approached the boy, coming to stand just in front of him. "I will have them executed for this," The taller male said, staring down at Haruka with angry red hues. Haru stared back into those red gems, his calm blue gaze meeting the Prince's red, passionate one, and he shook his head once more. "I'm not happy about this, either, but an attack like this one doesn't warrant death. I don't think—"
"It does!" Rin objected, hardly letting Haruka finish his sentence. The black-haired boy fought the urge to frown, slightly fearful that to move his face so much would hurt. "But—" He tried to object, tried to voice his opinion rather than just leave it up to his expressions to show how he felt about it for once, and Rin shook his head, cutting the boy off. "No!" He snapped, angry and hateful. Haruka shrank back slightly, slowly casting his gaze down at his lap. He stayed quiet for a little while, appreciating the fact that Rin chose to do the same, before speaking.
"I won't try to argue this out with you, Rin," Haruka used the male's name like it was nothing— like he was supposed to be so informal with royalty. "because I know I won't win."
"You're damn right you won't," Rin agreed, crossing his arms as he sat down beside Haru, staring straight ahead with his lips still pulled together tightly. "But," Haru continued, causing the Prince to look towards him. "But?"
"I do have a favor to ask, even if you won't listen to what I have to say about those two men." Rin raised an eyebrow. "What?" He questioned. Haru sucked in a breath. "The boy who was with them," He mumbled, staring down at his lap. "He made a big sacrifice for me, I think." The Prince's eyebrow raised even higher. "What kind of sacrifice?" He asked.
"He gave up his body to them. I know he was into having sex, anyway..." Haru mumbled, shaking his head slightly. "But I think he really dug himself into a deep hole tonight. I think he took a big risk for himself in order to save me— to get them to leave me alone. And I want to return his favor," Haruka explained, going quiet as they slowly settled into silence. Then the Prince spoke back up, not quite sure he understood, but figuring he understood just enough to respond to Haruka. "So what do you want to do?" He questioned.
Haru stared down at his hands, inviting images of Nagisa to dance around in his mind. Nagisa crying, Nagisa's face contorted into a look of pleasure as he moaned... Nagisa had seemed so different upon their first meeting; so bright, but also so secretive about himself. Why hadn't he expected him to accept him for who he was? Why hadn't he told him?
Well, they called him a whore... Haru thought. Who wanted to be known as someone who made their living by dancing in the streets by day and, apparently, having sex with men and women at night? I understand that now, a little. But why does he work in a brothel anyway? His dancing is beautiful. He could make so much money just from that... So why does he have sex with strangers? Unless... Does it just feel that good? Haruka pondered.
"Haru?" The servant boy was pulled out of his thoughts as Rin spoke up, frowning down at him. "Well— what do you want done?" The Prince repeated his question. Haruka sucked in a breath. It's a lot to ask.
"I want to understand," Haru mumbled. Rin's other eyebrow rose up to be on par with the first. "Understand? What does that mean?" He asked, not sure of exactly what it was Haru was wanting to understand. Haruka shut his eyes, turning his head away slightly. "I want you to have sex with me."
"What?!" Rin exclaimed, his mouth dropping open. Haru flinched, the loud noise bad on the headache that was forming up in his noggin. "You heard me," He mumbled, letting his head hang, his bangs covering his eyes. "I want to understand him better. And to do that I need you to have sex with me. I need to know how it feels."
Rin frowned, not sure if he was understanding what Haru was putting on the table well enough, after all. Haruka had been through a lot, though, and it wasn't like he wasn't into guys, so... Rin agreed.
"Lay on the bed," Rin muttered, slowly pushing Haruka back gently as he crawled to straddle the boy. He removed Haru's vest carefully, throwing it to the side.
"Haru, are you sure about this? It won't hurt too badly? You won't regret it?" Rin asked, holding himself above Haruka and staring down at said bandaged boy. Below him, Haru nodded, shutting his eyes as he did so to help relieve the pressure keeping his eyes open put on his swollen, bruised right eye. Rin frowned, his red hues roaming over the blackening skin, as well as the rest of Haru's bruising, cut up face, before he nodded. "Okay," The Prince mumbled quietly, lowering his head down to Haruka's neck. If he was sure...
"Damn, looks like he got you here, too," Rin mumbled, staring with bitter, dark eyes at the bright red bite mark that rested against the skin of Haruka's neck. He reached up, running the pads of his fingers against the mark as well as the edge of his thumb across another, slightly smaller bite wound located at Haru's collarbone, stretched across the boy's clavicle. Haruka winced, but otherwise remained still and quiet, letting Rin do as he wished. I want to understand, He thought to himself, an image of the blonde boy he'd reunited with on not the best of terms coming to mind. If this is what it takes...
"Does it look bad?" Haru asked quietly, feeling his body relax slightly as Rin gently kissed at his neck, moving upwards as he trailed kisses along Haru's Adam's apple. He hadn't been given a mirror to look into; he didn't know how badly he may — or may not — have looked. All he knew was almost everything hurt, but hopefully the things he'd heard about sex were true; hopefully it was pleasureable, just enough so that he could forget the events of the night, save for the sacrifice Nagisa had made for him, and the pain that had come with it all.
"Just really red," Rin mumbled in response to Haru's question, the movement of his lips against the skin of the boy's throat causing Haruka to shiver slightly. "I can see Rei cleaned these for you," Rin brushed his fingers gently against the bite marks engraved into Haru's skin once more, "but why didn't he bandage them?" He questioned. Haruka shrugged slightly with his good arm. "He was too concerned with my shoulder," The boy explained. "All the bandages he had on hand went to bandaging it." Rin nodded slightly, slowing withdrawing his fingers from Haruka's wounds. "Oh." He got that.
"Heh, glad he's got his priorites in order," Rin said, planting a kiss on the side of Haruka's neck opposite the man from the alleyway's bite marks. A stab wound should have been considered more of a pressing matter than a few bites, definitely. Rin wasn't sure Haru's shoulder had needed all this much bandaging, however. That is to say, Rei could have stood to have saved some of the bandages for Haru's neck, he personally thought. Well, whatever.
The Prince pushed these thoughts away and moved his lips against Haru's skin, kissing at it as Haru instinctively squeezed his eyes shut, immediately regretting his actions as a wave of pain crashed against the inside of eyelids. "Rin..." He mumbled as the Prince worked his way down to his collarbone, where said cerise-haired male ran the tip of his nose the length of the bone jutting out from Haru's torso before planting a kiss at the base of the structure. "This isn't what they were doing..." Haru mumbled, finding the sensations Rin was bringing to dance across his skin weird, though not overall unpleasant. The Prince laughed.
"Well, I don't guess so. I want to make sure you have a good first experience with this, though, so can it and let me work, okay?" Rin said, snickering slightly as he pressed another kiss against Haru's skin in the same spot he'd left the last one. Haruka shivered and nodded. "Okay..." He'd let Rin do whatever he thought needed to be done; it wasn't like he knew anything about this sort of thing. Haru had never cared to have sex before.
Rin smiled against Haruka's skin, allowing himself to move down the boy's chest. He kissed his way down to Haru's abs, his hands running up the boy's sides, which Haru didn't react too much to. The touches didn't hurt; the damage to his sides hadn't come in large amounts. The Prince took his time kissing at Haruka's abdomen, lining all of Haruka's muscles with kisses upon kisses upon kisses— with the occasional little suck here and there. Then, once he was ready to get the show on the road, Rin brought his hands together to Haruka's front, one hand sliding to rest on the boy's hip while the other grabbed onto the waistband of Haru's pants, ready to pull them down. That was when the black-haired male made an effort to stop him.
"Rin... W-Wait..." Haruka stuttered from above Rin, causing the male at his waist to look up. "What is it?" Rin asked, sounding concerned. "Change your mind?" Haru shook his head to the best of his ability, his blue eyes open and staring off to the side as he quietly muttered, "Before you do that... don't you think you should give me a kiss first?" Rin felt heat rush to his entire face, as well as the tops of his ears and at least the upper half of his neck.
Oh, so that was what Haru had wanted to stop him for? Even if his face is busted up, that was kind of... cute. Rin snickered, quietly mumbling, "Well, yeah, I guess I can."
That said, the Prince brought himself back up to hover over Haru, bracing his hands against the bed on either side of the boy as he stared down into tired but determined and willing blue orbs before Haru shut his eyes, waiting. Rin took a good look at Haru's face, decided that no— the boy didn't currently look like someone he'd usually agree to kiss, but that he would anyway. This was to make Haruka feel better, after all. And besides, it wouldn't have been a lie to say that, before Haru had obtained the black eye and bruises currently blossoming across his lightly tanned skin, Rin had found him somewhat attractive. The boy did have a pretty face.
Letting his thoughts stray away from him, Rin slowly leaned down, turning his head slightly to the right to get at a better angle. The Prince gave a quiet word of warning to Haru as his lips hovered above the boy's, telling him that he was about to do it. Haruka didn't respond, but Rin knew he'd heard; the boy wasn't deaf. And so with the red that had once painted his face and neck faded away, save for a light dusting across the bridge of his nose, the Prince pressed his lips to Haruka's. Haru's left hand curled into the blankets below him, his right trying desperately on his other side to do the same.
Kissing was a lot more pleasant than Haru had ever imagined it to be. Having seen people kiss in the past, he'd always thought it looked too needy, too sloppy for his tastes. And honestly, he didn't know why he'd requested that Rin kiss him just a moment beforehand, but he was glad he had. He felt like he was floating and not in an unpleasant way; almost like he was swimming, even, except the boy really didn't understand, at first, why he was making that sort of connection. It was during the third or fourth kiss Rin had given him that he put two and two together. He tastes like water.
And the Prince did. Rin tasted just like the water from the Great Well, way back over at the Bahr. Haru had only gotten a small sample of the water the other day — hadn't even meant to swallow any, really, but when a desperate, angry princess had latched herself onto his back, going down with him as he dove, it had been hard not to hit the water with his mouth open. The male hardly regretted it, however; the water tasted wonderful.
A bit different than the water back at the fountain had, though. I wonder what the difference is? Haru wondered, his attention only being stolen away as Rin pulled away as he had several times previously, but this time didn't immediately return to give him another kiss. Haruka began to open his eyes, but felt a warm hand placed over them.
"Don't open your eyes," Rin whispered quietly, moving his hand away from Haruka's face as he slowly went back down to the boy's lower half, beginning to tug down Haruka's pants. Oh, so they were finished kissing.
Haru gasped out quietly as Rin pulled down his pants, leaving him totally naked and exposed. The Prince smiled, snickering. "Well, at least the kissing woke you up a little," He noted, causing Haruka to scowl against the wishes of the muscles of his face, which were washed in pain as his face contorted. "Don't comment on it..." Haru mumbled, hearing Rin discard his pants and another article of clothing which, upon opening his left eye slightly, he could see had been the Prince's robe. The article of clothing being tossed aside identified, Haru shut his eye again just as Rin laughed. "Okay, okay, I won't." Haru heaved a quiet sigh. "Good—"
Haruka paused, hissing as Rin slowly took him in hand, beginning to pump him. The boy squeezed his eyes shut tightly, inwardly cursing himself for what seemed like the tenth time since Rin had laid him on his back on the bed. Haru's hands fisted the blankets below him, shaking slightly — his right more so than his left due to the damage his shoulder had taken earlier in the night — as Rin stroked him, his grip tight but not too tight, his strokes short and teasing. Haru moaned.
"Are there any, ah— bruises there?" Haruka asked, referring to his lower half far more than he was his dick; he didn't think there should be, but he wanted to make sure. "Nah," Rin shook his head, grinning as he watched Haru come alive in his grip. The Prince snaked his other hand into his own pants, touching himself. He knew he couldn't expect a virgin like Haru to do it, let alone in the condition the boy was in. "Looks like he stayed loyal to just beating the hell out of your upper half. The pain you feel down here tonight should be pretty moderate; the same pain everyone goes through the first few times around."
Haruka nodded in understanding, having known at least that much about having relations beforehand. The boy grunted as Rin leaned forward, beginning to stick out his tongue as he made his way to Haru's member. That was when, just as the tip of Rin's tongue made contact with the reddening organ, the boy held up his left hand, stopping the Prince. "Rin, no, wait." The cerise-haired male glanced up at Haru, frowning. "What is it now?" He questioned, to which Haru quietly responded, "...Please, put out the flames on the torches. It's embarrassing." Rin's frown deepened and the Prince gave a shaky laugh.
"But if I do that, I won't be able to see," Rin objected, to which Haru scowled, repeating, "It's embarrassing!"
The Prince blinked, staring down at Haruka, and laughed. He sat straight up, his lower half straddling Haru's legs as he shook his head, running the hand he hadn't been using to pleasure Haru through his hair. "Man, why are you so shy suddenly?" The Prince shook his head again before smirking down at Haru, pleased to see the boy's blue hues staring back up at him. "I oughta plow you into the bed for trying to boss me around. I'm a Prince, you know. Princes don't take orders from servants."
"But you already are, aren't you?" Haru questioned, to which Rin laughed, his weight beginning to shift as he moved to get off the bed, ready to go and put out those stupid flames to hopefully pacify his partner.
"Yeah, yeah, because you got the hell beat out of you. But just this once. Don't go tellin' anyone, either."
"I won't if you hurry up and get the lights out. I'm tired of looking at those creepy teeth of your's."
"Oi— don't tempt me, Haru! I could still make this hell for you, if I wanted to!"
"Okay, okay. Just turn the lights off, please."
"I'm getting there."
[CHAPTER TWELVE: "TO UNDERSTAND." END]
Okay, so to those of you who thought it sucked, I'm sorry. To those who didn't— don't worry, you'll get the rest of that dreadful sex scene soon; probably in the next chapter as a flashback. I hope it didn't suck too badly. If you've read anything else with an M-rating that I've published, you know I'm not very good at this stuff.
Anyway, I hope it was alright. And I hope today's episode is freaking awesome! (with lots of Rin, because I'm suffering from withdrawal.) Bye guys!