Notes:

"A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous" –Ingrid Bergman

Yeah, right.

Thank you for taking the time to read the story! I'm on time this week! (Probably because I wrote this instead of my history paper, snort)

Disclaimer: I do not own Free!. Any similarities in events or characters living or dead are entirely coincidental.

Enjoy!

If he were to search the Internet for quotes on love, Haru was doubtless that he'd get over five million hits in less than a second. More often than not those quotes would be full of cheesy metaphors, pointless roundabout wording and dreamy, inspiring phrases.

Yet there probably wasn't a quote to describe just how awkward the morning after was.

The two of them made it to the office fifteen minutes past eight after a morning of carefully step-siding each other and avoiding eye contact at all costs. The car ride was stifling to the point of painful, and even the radio Makoto had turned on seemed to wilt in the heavy atmosphere.

Haru felt pretty awful when the two of them walked into the room with a storm cloud brewing over their heads, startling an unsuspecting Nagisa.

"Er— are you two okay? And what happened to your faces?" the blond asked, staring between them. He'd nearly forgotten about the bruises; there was a discoloured mark on his cheek and the brunet's cheekbone was swelling rather badly.

"It's nothing," Haru muttered, and Makoto gave the assistant a strained smile before reaching into one of the drawers in his desk to pull out a duffle bag. It undoubtedly contained a change of clothes usually reserved for when the PI would be stuck in office pulling an all-nighter, and not so much because he spent the night at his estranged friend and co-worker's house after giving each other blowjobs.

Haru could feel his face heat up at the mere thought of that. Dear lord, he was pitiful.

"Haru-chan? Do you have a fever?"

"What? No— no I don't have a fever," Haru sighed, pushing his bangs back. "It's nothing. Tell me about whatever you got around to yesterday night."

Nagisa arched an eyebrow, but let the subject drop. He quickly dug up some paperwork and showed the dark-haired man the compiled lists of all the graduates from the Four Islands University that had been gifted a pen with environmentally friendly ink.

As it transpired, there were only several faculties that gave away such an accessory, and further research had revealed that the Literature, English, Japanese, History, Journalism and Communications were the ones to do so. That at least managed to narrow down the list of possible suspects even further, but roughly fifteen thousand people graduate per year. There was still a lot to go through.

Makoto returned several minutes later, dressed in a plain white shirt and pressed slacks with his glasses back on. Nagisa immediately informed the brunet of all the things he'd come across, and after a short discussion everybody went back to work again.

The silence was awful.

When noon finally came around, Nagisa suddenly leapt to his feet and said, "Mako-chan! Can you do me a favour?"

"O-oh? What is it?"

"Since you're the only one with a car, can you drive over to the Ramen House? I don't feel like cafeteria food today so I'll treat everybody to lunch!"

"Eh? You don't have to do that—"

"I'm just selfishly wanting noodles," Nagisa whined, tugging at Makoto's sleeve. "The restaurant is on the other side of the city, and if I'm going to make you drive all the way there I might as well buy for you too!"

"But—"

"Pleeeease?" Nagisa pouted, almost batting his eyelashes. Makoto deflated, giving the blond a half-smile as he accepted the wad of bills.

"Okay, I'll go. Is there anything you guys wanted specifically…?"

"There's a buy two get one free special on Tuesdays," Nagisa said. "Regular seafood ramen with chai tea to go! Just get that!"

"A-alright then. I'll be back later," the brunet said, grabbing his coat as he exited the room. Haru let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding in, and then felt bad for wanting to avoid Makoto so desperately. What a mess.

Suddenly, Nagisa bounded over to his desk and wrestled the detective out of his seat and out of the room, pushing him down the hall and towards the stairs. Haru stumbled, completely caught off guard.

"Nagisa! What are you—"

"Walk, Haru-chan," Nagisa said with a dangerous smile, prodding Haru sharply in the back. "Onto the roof, this is a kidnapping."

"What the heck," Haru deadpanned was the blond quickly pushed him up a long set of stairs and through the doorway that lead to the empty rooftop of the registry building. It was a little windy that day, and the strong breeze made Haru shiver despite his jacket. Nagisa grabbed him by the hand and quickly tugged the detective over to a set of benches set out by the furthest corner away from the door. Mostly smokers used this area during down times, but since the weather looked bad nobody was outside.

"Alright, talk," Nagisa said the minute they sat down. "What's bugging you?"

"Nothing," Haru said at once, and internally winced. Such a direct answer would definitely make Nagisa suspicious.

The blond raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "You know, I might suck at fitness but I didn't get into the police force purely on my pretty face. I'm an assistant in the homicide division. If I can't hold my own in a fight then I made damn sure I could be smart enough to spot one coming and avoid it entirely. So, I can tell when something's not right between you and Mako-chan. And knowing you, you're just going to try and hide it until things get awkward, and what d'you think will happen to the case then?"

The speech was followed by a pointed look, and as much as he didn't like just how much Nagisa had picked up on already, the man had a point. Sighing, Haru set his jaw in slight frustration and admitted, "Stuff happened at the club yesterday night. We got into an argument, and… one thing led to another."

"You got into a fight with Mako-chan?" Nagisa exclaimed, surprised. "I thought the bruises came from somebody at the nightclub!"

"It was Makoto," Haru grumbled, massaging the blooming mark on his cheek. "He's got a mean left hook."

"Why did you guys end up arguing? I can't even imagine Mako-chan punching someone. And you're usually so levelheaded!"

"I'm only human," Haru said crossly. "It was… something stupid. Something trivial. We weren't acting like mature adults on a job and the result was a banged-up face. The only upside to this whole fiasco is that I managed to get some kind of description of the suspect that could possibly be the Pirate. But even then, it's still vague. We're going to have to work harder."

"We're only as strong as our weakest link," Nagisa said in a poetic voice, and Haru scrunched up his nose.

"Have you been talking to Amakata lately? She's the only one around here who spews proverbial phrases like that."

"Well, I was stuck in the office until 1 am yesterday night while you two went clubbing! She was nice enough to pick up coffee and some sandwiches from the cafeteria for me," Nagisa said indignantly. "Besides, you're missing the point. You and Mako-chan might be the driving force behind this whole operation but if you two run out of gas we'll be stuck in the middle of nowhere. Remember how well you guys were bouncing ideas off once another? You need to sort out whatever happened yesterday night, and quickly."

The words yesterday night resonated strongly in his mind, and before Haru could stop himself he felt an awful blush creep up his cheeks, forcing him to duck to hide it. Unfortunately, Nagisa hadn't been lying about being able to pick up on hints really quickly and latched on to Haru's arm at once.

"Why is your face turning so red?" the blond demanded. "Good grief, don't tell me you lost the fight and now you're embarrassed about it?"

"I didn't lose a fight!" Haru hissed. "And it's complicated, okay! I can't just— waltz up and pull some apology out of a hat—"

"Wait, what do you mean it's complicated?" Nagisa interrupted, narrowing his eyes. "Don't tell me something else went on."

If possible, Haru's face flamed even more, and before he could vehemently deny anything Nagisa's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"Haru-chan! Did you have sex with Makoto?!"

"Shut up! I didn't!" Haru shouted back, but even he could hear how awful his lie was. Nagisa's jaw slackened.

"You did it with Mako-chan? While on the job? Didn't you have some kind of rule about not fucking while working?"

"I had no such rule," Haru groaned, burying his face in his hands. "And I hardly ever date, you moron. And I did not have sex yesterday night, so quit gaping."

"But you don't deny getting some kind of intimate action," Nagisa pointed out, and Haru had never been more grateful for the vast emptiness of the rooftop.

"… maybe," he muttered, stuffing his hands into his pockets. Nagisa stared, and then a massive grin split open on his face.

"Aw, look at my little Haru-chan, all grown up! I knew something was up between to two of you! Honestly, you could cut the sexual tension between you guys with a knife. Don't worry, though, you'll definitely get the good stuff soon!"

"Will you shut up?" Haru demanded, smacking the blond lightly on the side of the head. "This is none of your business!"

"You know I'll just find out eventually," Nagisa winked. "Man, you two probably secretly had it for each other from the beginning. Are you guys childhood friends? I think there's a betting pool running between some of the others about whether or not you knew each other from before. No wonder you guys are so compatible."

He could almost feel the floor dropping out from beneath him, though the feeling was quickly replaced by a crippling sense of bitterness.

"That's got nothing to do with being friends in the past," Haru muttered. "I'm professional to the extent that I won't let personal issues interfere with my work."

Nagisa fell silent. Then, a moment later, he reached out and looped his arm around Haru's in a comforting gesture.

"Haru, hiding it isn't going to make it better. And don't try to deny there's something between the two of you. You've been wary of Mako-chan since before he came, when Sasabe mentioned his name. You don't have to tell me what's going on, but at least talk to Mako-chan about it, or else you're going to be distracted during this case. And that's dangerous."

Well.

He did have a point.

Haru pressed a hand over his mouth for a moment, exhaling wearily before tilting his head to face his assistant. The heaviness of an eight-year feud between him and the brunet had been dragging behind him like a dead weight, and he was sick of it.

"We grew up together," Haru murmured, scuffing his shoe against the ground. "Our mothers went to the same high school, but they weren't particularly close. We just happened to go to the same preschool and live down around the corner from one another, so we hung out a lot as kids. We became friends. Good friends, actually. Everybody liked Makoto 'cause he was so friendly and open. Even you guys latched onto him like eels the minute he introduced himself."

"I remember that," Nagisa said, chuckling. "I think Ama-chan asked if he was single."

"Yeah, that I recall," Haru snorted, rolling his eyes. "Later on, it turned out that my father and his uncle were both cops that worked at the same station, so we grew even closer because of that. We looked up to the two of them, and it became our dream to become police officers. But…"

He took a breath, steeling himself for the next part of the story, and Nagisa's hand seemed to unconsciously tighten on his forearm.

"There was— an accident. With my father. He was one of the first response units that arrived on a crime scene and he got caught in the crossfire between two small-time gang members. And he was shot."

Nagisa let out a tiny noise of alarm, and Haru clenched his hands into fists to stop them from shaking.

"Dad died on the way to the hospital. It was— it was my birthday that day. I turned fourteen."

"Oh, Haru-chan," Nagisa whispered, a pained expression on his face. Haru shot the blond a weak grimace before he tilted his head back to stare up at the colourless clouds drifting slowly by in the wind.

"After that, I could barely focus on anything. The only thing that stayed in my mind was my hope to follow in my father's footsteps, so I worked my ass off at the Police Academy with Makoto. We both did really well, but when we graduated Makoto decided to move."

"Move? To where?"

"Tokyo. He was offered a post there because of his grades. I was… furious. Unreasonably so, I think. At that point in my life there had been two constant things, and aside from my dream of becoming a cop it had been Makoto. He had higher sights than I did, and I was so— so afraid of him leaving me behind that I tried to distance myself from him. I didn't want to see another person leave my life and, god, what a stupid reaction that was—"

"Haru-chan," Nagisa interrupted, squeezing his arm. "Relax."

He took another breath.

"I liked Makoto. And I was— I am sure he liked me back then too. And I hated the idea of being placed replaced by a career, so I reacted badly. I made Makoto feel so horrible over it. He tried to patch things up and to keep in contact with me after he left, but I couldn't bring myself to keep it up. So we lost touch over the years, and I think the last time I talked to him was the Christmas a year after he moved. The day we ran into him in the city was the first time I've spoken to him in seven years."

"Jeez whiz," Nagisa sighed, shaking his head. "That's awfully complicated."

"You're telling me."

"So… how did you end up in Iwatobi, of all places? Why not go to Tokyo if that's where Mako-chan was?"

The detective shrugged. "I was a coward, I guess. I did think about it, sometimes. I was a trainee in my hometown's station and I had to admit it wasn't the most exciting place to be. But not long after I turned nineteen, my mother got sick and passed away. At the same time, I was also offered a post at the Iwatobi City Police, so I packed everything up and moved here. I got away from a small town full of bad memories and started new, and that's where I've been since."

They lapsed into silence after Haru finished his story, but Nagisa appeared to be thinking quite intensely. A second later, the blond suddenly grabbed Haru by the shoulders and cried, "I'm sorry, Haru-chan! I told Mako-chan that you were afraid to use your gun!"

"Huh?" the dark-haired man spluttered. "What are you talking about?"

"The day we went to visit Rin and Gou, you sent Mako-chan and I downstairs to get the car. And I told him how you wouldn't carry a weapon after your injury two years ago."

"W-why did you tell him that…?" Haru stared, completely bemused.

Nagisa let out a weak chuckle and moved back, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"Well, between you and me, we both are quite aware I'm not that hot in a fistfight, right? I mean, I really did pass my fitness tests, okay, despite all that you and Sasabe like to tease me about, but compared to somebody as sharp as the Pirate I won't be much help to you. But Mako-chan has experience, and he's solved so many cases by himself. He really does want to work well with all of us to catch that guy, but most of all he cares about you. He wouldn't want anything to happen to you. So trust him, okay?"

"I trust you too," Haru objected. "I trust both of you."

Nagisa beamed, and it seemed to light up all of his face. "I know, Haru-chan," the blond said softly. "Thank you."

Haru tilted his head, allowing the corner of his mouth to tug upwards slightly as well.

"Well… that was a good talk."

Nagisa laughed and hopped to his feet. "I think so too. At least you'll know what to do now, right?"

"There are a lot of things I need to go, Nagisa. Which task are you talking about specifically?"

His assistant winked. "Now that you've unloaded your past, you shouldn't focus on making amends for what happened so long ago."

Haru raised an eyebrow. "Then what should I be doing?"

"Making the best of the future, of course!" Nagisa grinned. "Nobody can change what happened back then, but you can choose what to do from now on. So; don't look back."

A cool breeze brushed past them as Haru sat, running Nagisa's words over in his mind. He thought back to the day his dad died, the day Makoto moved, and getting shot in the alleyway.

He thought about the Pirate's text threatening Makoto.

He got to his feet.

"I need a favour, Nagisa," Haru said, making his way purposefully back towards the door. The blond cracked a mischievous smile and bounded after him.

"Yes, Haru-chan?"

"If anybody wants to find me, tell them I'm in the gun range for the rest of the afternoon."

Nagisa's answering smile could light up an entire city.

The evening sun hung low in the sky as he leaned against the wall of the building, a cigarette tucked casually between his index and middle finger. The thin trail of smoke drifted dreamily through the air, undisturbed, before fading away into nothing. The day had looked as though it promised rain, but in the end, Iwatobi had been spared from another downpour. Perhaps it would rain the day after, if he were lucky. Then things might go according to plan. Rainy days were, after all, generally sad days.

There was a noise, and suddenly the peaceful atmosphere of the empty parking lot outside of Oceans Athletic Complex was broken by a group of four people trudging out of the building. They were talking rather loudly, and it sounded as though they were arguing. He leaned back into the shadows of the building, attempting to remain discreet, but kept his ears perked up as he eavesdropped onto the groups' conversation.

"— for the last time, brother, you can't keep on bullying Rei-san like that—"

"I wasn't bullying Glasses! It's not my fault he was standing so close to the edge of the pool!"

"If I recall, Matsuoka-san, it was because you purposefully scared me that made me lose my balance and fall in!"

"Hey! You're just easily spooked!"

"Guys, guys, calm down now—"

"I will not calm down, Mikoshiba! This is the final straw!"

"Are you quitting? Good! Maybe we'll finally get some decent security around here then!"

"Brother!"

There they were. Rin and Gou Matsuoka, his so-called targets. He wondered if the detective had been thrown off by his choice of victims this time, or if he had any idea which of the siblings he was going to kill. They seemed quite close, the two of them, and he momentarily toyed with the idea of killing one while making the other watch, but it was quickly quashed. Such a dramatic change in his style would surely make things complicated, and everything was topsy-turvy already.

The group had made it over to the police cruiser now (an awful idea, really, cop cars always drew attention) and he watched as the redhead officer open the door for Gou.

They were an interesting development. A basic preliminary hack had revealed that the 'security detail' on the siblings was Seijuurou Mikoshiba and Rei Ryugazaki, a sergeant and a senior constable, respectively. There was no doubt that they were loyal to their cause and well trained, but that was all they had: training. He was better than they were. He was unpredictable. He was a killer, and they were not.

Flicking the cigarette aside so that ashes would fall on his varsity jacket, he walked briskly around the lot to the back of the building, where his motorcycle was parked. Strapping his helmet on, he silently wheeled his bike out and remained half-hidden from sight until he saw the cop car start, pull out of the parking lot, and then drive off towards the exit. Deeming the vehicle far enough from him, he straddled his bike and turned the key, making the engine rev. Kicking up the stand, he shot off just as the cruiser merged with traffic and drove away.

It wasn't hard to stay out of sight. The motorcycle was a mode of transportation that gave its rider a lot more flexibility, didn't require a lot of storage space and offered a quick escape. He remained within distance of the car, but even if he were to lose them it wouldn't be difficult to guess where the officers were taking the Matsuoka siblings.

He knew where they lived from day one.

The ride was wholly uneventful, which gave him some time to reflect on his continued tryst with Nanase Haruka. To be honest, the man was perfectly brilliant. He remembered the first time he heard the news that the young detective was going to take over the case of the Pirate, and excitement had coursed through his veins as he listened to the televised conference. The man was sharp, no-nonsense and relentless in his chase. The noose around his neck had never felt tighter before, and it thrilled him to know just how closely they were dancing with each other.

Then, of course, things went bad. Shu Ishiguro was a rookie mistake. The man had been nothing more than a crazed fanboy, and he'd been horrified to learn how badly Nanase had screwed up his mission. To get shot, of all things! And how could the superb detective have ever associated that sickly piece of trash with his infamous namesake? Either way, the tables had turned, and he wasn't about to take advantage of a traumatized, injured man. If anything, he was a fair man. He wouldn't cheat anybody, ever.

So he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

After remaining endlessly patient for two long years, he decided a glamorous return would be exactly what Nanase would need. The man was wasting away over piles of shoddy cases and amateur crooks while he deserved a much more challenging case.

Besides, he kind of missed the detective; they were, in his opinion, kindred spirits.

But then Makoto Tachibana entered the scene, and he was furious. So angry, in fact, he deviated from his own style and murdered that bitchy, stuck-up woman he'd met some time ago at a bank and strung her up for all of Iwatobi to see. He'd even texted Nanase, ominously threatening Tachibana's safety. This game was supposed to be between the two of them— and Tachibana was the one who ruined it all.

So absorbed was he in this thoughts that he nearly missed the turn leading up to the street where the Matsuokas resided. Shaking his head, he made a turn, drove into another street, and stopped his motorcycle. From his backpack he retrieved a pair of binoculars, flipped up his visor, and pressed the device to his eyes.

The siblings were getting out of the vehicle. Rin and Rei were arguing loudly with each other, as usual, but Mikoshiba was helping Gou retrieve her duffle bags from the trunk. The pair of them chatted amicably and Mikoshiba said something that made the young gymnast blush, laugh, and then return a compliment that made the sergeant turn a vibrant shade of red. Grinning at each other, the cop closed the trunk and hoisted up one of the bags, walking the woman up the driveway towards the house.

He removed the binoculars and tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"Matsuoka Gou," he murmured to himself, testing the words on his tongue.

Yes.

That was where he would start.

There. That's it. The long-awaited unveiling of Haru and Makoto's past.

(whispers) I'm super sorry if it wasn't as dramatic as you guys expected… it was a pretty clichéd setting too. Actually, this whole chapter was a freaking emotional morning-after cliché; so sorry for that (´＿｀。)

Also: cliffhanger, because I'm a shitty author like that. Sorry so sorry!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read, and for all your comments. We're almost at ten chapters! It might even make it to eleven!

Ta,

Laurie