RIN

A little while later Rin was waiting outside Makoto's house. He kept playing with his phone after texting Makoto that he was there, starting to get worried that the other boy hadn't gotten the message or that he had changed his mind and wasn't coming out after all.

"Hey," He heard and nearly jumped out of his skin and Makoto laughed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to sneak up on you"

"What? No!" Rin quickly tried to brush it off as a joke. Makoto smirked, but let it drop.

"So where do you want to go?" he asked.

"Uh, well… we could go swimming…?" Rin suggested and the taller boy laughed again.

"You sound like Haru!" he teased before he realized what he had said when Rin grimaced a little. "But, I have the spare key to the swim club. A swim sounds fun" he quickly added, smiling brightly at him as he dug through his jacket pocket and produced the key. When Rin smiled a little, Makoto ran back in real fast to grab his suit, then started to walk to the club with him. The red head was trying not to be awkward and quickly tried to think of something to say. He watched Makoto twirl the key on his finger when a thought struck him.

"So why the hell do you have the club key?" Rin questioned him after a little while.

"Sasabe-sensei gave them to me when the school's pool was too cold to use. He wanted us to be able to practice still," Makoto explained.

"That's… actually really nice of him," Rin said, smiling as he thought about their old coach. "He's your current coach right?" he asked and the boy nodded.

"Yeah, and he's been a lot of help! Gou's a great manager, but I'm really happy he is coaching us too," Makoto told him. Rin perked up at the mention of his sister and they continued to talk about the rest of their team – avoiding the topic of Haru – but Rin was happy to hear about the rest of their friends.

Soon after that, they reached the club as the sun was just beginning to set. Makoto opened up the doors and they both got changed into their suits. Before long they were in the pool. Rin swam around a little then popped up next to Makoto.

"This is… really nice actually…" he purred softly, looking over the pool. "Like, with Haru it's different… it's always a contest. Always who is faster? But with you it's different… it's relaxing to not be racing." Rin said softly then blushed a little when he realized what he was saying. "Though I could totally beat you in a race!" He quickly teased.

"Not in backstroke!" Makoto teased back, but what Rin had said stuck with him. "But, you are right, I like swimming with you too." He added sweetly.

"Che – sap! You are such a dork Makoto!" Rin said, splashing water in his face. The taller boy laughed then splashed him back. Rin responded by pulling his legs up and giving a strong butterfly kick to create a much larger splash. When Makoto tried to fire back, he rolled over and went over to get away. To his surprise, he felt a hand on his ankle as Makoto stopped his escape and pulled him back. As soon as Rin surfaced to protest, he got a big blast of water in his face.

"That's not fair!" Rin sputtered, but he was smiling and laughing.

"You cheated first! Using your legs was unfair too!"

"No way! That's totally fair!"

"Then what I did is fair too!"

"Oh yeah? How about this?!" Rin said before springing up and he grabbed Makoto's shoulders and forced him down as hard as he could, pushing the taller boy underwater. Makoto jerked back up, looking stunned before smiling again.

"Riiinnnnnn~! Not that wasn't fair!" He whined before lunging after the redhead, who quickly bolted away.

When Makoto was able to snag him again, he got him by the waist and dunked him underwater until Rin elbowed him to make him let go.

"Ha! Revenge!" Makoto cheered.

"Whatever!" Rin snapped, giving him a fake pouty face. The two broke out into laughs again before calming down.

"Hey… Rin?" Makoto asked, now sounding more sincere.

"Yeah?
"Do you want to talk about what happened with Haru…?" he asked softly, looking down at the shorter boy, who instantly stilled.

"No! It's no big deal! Don't bring it up now…" Rin thought, emotions bubbling up as he was reminded of it. He was about to just blow it off when Makoto continued.

"I know he turned you down…"

"What? Haru told you I asked him out?!" Rin snapped, looking a mix of pissed off and surprised.

"No…"

"Wait, then how…?" he questioned.

"I figured you were going to ask him, I'm a little surprised it took so long – "

"Hey!"

" – But I know he turned you down because… well he did the same too me last year." Makoto explained and Rin looked even more surprised now.

"He asked Haru…? I kind of thought Haru had actually turned me down for Makoto…" Rin thought, surprised to hear that from Makoto. "I knew you were close to Haru… but I didn't think you were really, um, like that…" he scoffed.

"You mean gay?" Makoto said for him and Rin blushed a bit as he said it out loud. The redhead wasn't really one to like acknowledging his sexuality.

"Um, yeah…" he muttered as a response.

"What I mean though Rin is that, well, I've been through the same thing. So, like, if you need to talk about it, I'm here," Makoto said, smiling at him again and Rin only felt his blush darken a little.

"Thanks Makoto…" Rin said softly. "But, I really am fine… it sucks and all, but there's nothing I can do about it really. I just… I just have to get over it," he concluded.

"Well, I can help with that too."

Note: Okay so I wrote this chapter and the next like a month ago... Somehow they made it up on the Ao3 of this story but not here... I am so sorry!