DISCLAIMER: I wish I owned Free! Then Haru would be married to Rin. Oh, they already are.
A/N: I'm sorry for the late update. I had a hard time deciding stuffs for this story. The next one will come sooner.
It's been ten years since the last time Haruka saw him. Ten years since the last time he talked to his so-called rival. Ten years since he last swam with him.
After having beaten by his rival, Haruka fell into depression not only because he lost in swimming but also because he had his heart broken. He never felt at such a loss before that time, never felt so hopeless, never felt so empty. Even the water which always made him feel better had not healed him. And he even almost stopped swimming. He did stop swimming competitively again though. He just couldn't bring out the same excitement he used to have when feeling the water anymore. He couldn't feel the thrill as if he's gone completely numb. And he might actually have because of him.
It's amazing how that person was able to affect him so much that not even his childhood best friend, Makoto, could compare. He was supposed to be a calm, stoic guy but that person always managed to make his feelings overflow. Even after ten years, that person still took his breath away at the mere sight of him.
"Haruka-senpai, can you meet me?" The younger sister of that person, Kou, had sent him that message on his cell phone while he was on his way towards home from work. He'd become a swimming coach by the encouragement of his friends even though he wasn't very good at it. The details to what time and where to meet was written out under the question, indirectly stating that she wouldn't take no for an answer.
Since he didn't have anything important to do other than get to his house and bathe, he agreed to the meeting and headed towards the indicated place from the message.
He stopped in front of the tracks and dazedly watched the train pass by him. The tracks always brought him back to the past, from that time when that person had just returned from abroad and they coincidentally met one another. While thinking back, a question would always float into his mind which he couldn't find an answer to.
As the train's ends passed by him, he let out a sigh and prepared to cross. Then he froze. The reason being, just like in the past, his rival, the person of his depression, the man who had broken his heart was standing on the other side.
They both looked at one another with identical looks of surprise and stayed like that for seconds. Haru seemed to have recovered from shock first though, and as his feelings started welling up in his chest like waves flooding all over his entirety, he murmured the name of the person he last saw ten years ago. "Rin."
Rin snapped out of his shock and abruptly turned away. Without even thinking, Haru ran to Rin and got a hold of the man's arm before he got away. Somehow, he knew and expected Rin to run away when they met again. However, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of pain with this kind of reaction coming from the person he cared the most. Ten long years, they've not seen each other yet Rin would still run away at the sight of him. Was I the reason he didn't return in all those years?
"Rin." He called out again, his voice coming out normal even though he was feeling so much turmoil from within.
The redhead turned around with a smile that wasn't quiet him and greeted, "Yo, Haru."
Haru stared and so did Rin. The latter had not changed a lot except he looked more mature and stronger. Literally. Haru thought it must've been because of all the competitions Rin went through to get to the Olympics. Still, he had the same beautiful face and beautiful red eyes which, sadly, didn't have any shine into them just like how Haru had last seen them. And he found that strange.
The arm in which he held unto was pulled away from his grasp then a click of tongue. Haru immediately thought of things to say to break the awkward silence in between them that he knew the other wouldn't be breaking and there were a lot of things that occurred in mind. But the question which came out of his mouth was, "Rin, why didn't you say you've come back?"
As soon as he heard his own question, he wanted to bang his head against a wall. Rin looked at him then turned away with a frown. He opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out so he just closed them again. Haru knew why Rin couldn't answer his question. He was painfully aware of the reason and he actually knew the answer to his own question.
Rin didn't look like he'd initiate a conversation soon so Haru started it. "Congratulations," he said and forced out a smile when Rin looked at him. "You've finally reached your dream." He almost choked from the mixed feelings he felt from his own words and he swallowed hard to keep himself composed. This was the first they saw each other in ten years; he didn't want to make Rin see him in a mess.
"Yeah." Rin murmured.
Haru took in a quick breath as he felt his throat hurt from holding his feelings back so much. His eyes started to gather water which immediately threatened to fall. "I watched all of your matches. You've truly gone so far and it's amazing." He forced out just to keep the conversation going and make the other stay awhile longer. Just awhile longer would do. His tears had started rolling down his cheeks but his voice amazingly stayed firm. "Seeing you reach your dream and swim in the Olympics, I feel very happy for you."
A sob almost escaped his mouth but he stubbornly forced it back down, his throat hurting with protest. He wiped away his tears with his sleeves, wishing that Rin wouldn't notice him crying even though he's so obvious. No, no, no, he kept thinking to himself as he tried to stop his crying. Rin will be troubled, and he didn't want his crying to disrupt their very rare moment together.
He looked at the red-head when his tears had cleared away his sight but he felt his heart sank even further. He didn't know what he was expecting but seeing Rin crossing his arms while looking irked, he couldn't help but feel saddened. And suddenly, he just wanted to run away and break down. "I'm very happy that I'm able to congratulate you, Rin." He stated and turned on his heel then walked away.
Chase after me. He prayed. Come after me. He wished. Stop me. But nothing.
The sound of his ringtone rang for the umpteenth time and he just couldn't bear to continue on listening to it end anymore. He was doing nothing but lie down on the tatami mat lifelessly and let his eyes leak tears anyway. And he'd stayed that way ever since he'd arrived home. So he strained himself to take his cell phone from the table, slide a finger across it then sloppily press it against his ear. "Yes."
"Haruka-senpai? Sorry for disturbing you." A familiar female voice which Haruka recognized that was of Kou's said.
"What is it?" He asked uninterestedly, closing his eyes tiredly. He cried his eyes out so he felt really exhausted that he could already feel himself falling into sleep.
"Were you able to meet brother?" A realization hit Haru and he didn't know if he should thank the girl for giving him a chance to meet Rin or be angry at her. No, he thought to himself. He was very very thankful that he got to meet Rin. Seeing him was already good enough.
"Yes."
"… Did you talk things through?"
Haru exhaled, ready to go to deep sleep. "There was nothing to talk about." He almost only whispered. He relaxed a lot when there was only silence from the other side that he fell slightly asleep.
"Haruka-senpai, brother will meet you tomorrow night at Iwatobi school pool." Haruka's sleepiness vanished into thin air, his eyes snapping wide open as he sat up. He leaned into the phone which he clutched tightly with two hands as he uttered, "What?"
"Brother will meet you tomorrow night at Iwatobi school pool." Kou repeated then added. "Please be sure to get things straight between the two of you at that time."
Haru's chest fluttered, his azure eyes gleaming brightly in a way that they had not for a very long time. Rin was meeting him in a pool and meeting in a pool could only mean one thing, right? Will we be swimming together again?
The club activities and swimming practice finally ended and Haru bid farewell to his students with rare cheerfulness that his students stopped by him for seconds to stare at him then moving on while whispering to one another. Haru knew he must've been acting strange but he couldn't help it. He was meeting a certain someone and he couldn't help his happiness from leaking out.
"Haru!" A familiar voice called out and Haru almost jumped when he snapped his head towards the source of the voice. He saw his three loyal friends waving at him from the wall beside the door to the exit and he ran to them with a puzzled expression.
"Haru-chan, let's go out and eat!" Nagisa enthusiastically offered, Makoto explaining after him with a chuckle, "It's been awhile since we last got together so we thought we should eat out today. What do you think?" Rei immediately added to be more persuasive, "It's not always that our schedules match together so we should definitely go out!"
Haru only stared at them and Makoto noticed the slight change in his childhood best friend. "You seem to be in a good mood today, Haru. Did something good happen?"
The answer to that was very clear when Haru's eyes shone, not one from the three could even miss it. They gaped at Haru for a moment before Makoto's expression broke into a fond smile. He turned to the other two with a disappointed smile. "Seems like Haru can't go with us today. Let's try again next time."
"Ehhh ?" Nagisa whined, repeatedly asking Makoto, "Why?" but only received a, "I'll explain later."
When the three were heading towards the exit, Haru called out to Makoto and the said childhood best friend turned to him. "Thank you." He said with a smile that Makoto had not seen since a long time ago. Makoto smiled back cheerfully with a nod then pushed the other two out of the pool.
Then, Haru waited.
The sun had set, the moon had risen, Haru stayed seated by the edge of the pool. The temperature had dropped so he draped a jacket on his bare shoulders and waited.
Hours had passed and it wasn't impatience that Haru felt. It was his excitement going down the drain. Won't he come?, he thought the first hour. Why won't he come?, he thought the second hour. He won't come, he thought the third hour. But even then, he didn't leave. Just a bit more, he couldn't help but hope. Even that hope, though, also died out.
He withdrew his feet from the waters and stood up to go change into his clothes. After that, he took his bag and exited the pool and locked up. He slowly walked out of the building, feeling like he's carrying a heavy baggage from how his shoulders were slumped.
Why didn't he come? Even though ten years had already passed, even though they were already adults, even though Rin already reached his dreams, why can't we just go back to how we used to be?
Upon reaching the exit of the building, Haru bent down on his knees, his head leaning down on it, his arms wrapped around himself. He knew this wasn't the right place to be breaking down but he couldn't contain his feelings anymore. Why was he still waiting for Rin? Why was he still hoping to have a better relationship with him? Why couldn't he just forget him? Why do I still love him? He took in a deep breath and muttered to himself, "I should just give up."
"Haru." For a moment, Haru couldn't register the voice in his head. "Oi, Haru." But when he did, his eyes widened to their fullest and his head snapped up to look at the owner of the voice. His heart that seemed to have been dead started beating fast with both excitement and happiness that threatened to drown him. "Rin."
Rin raised an eyebrow at Haru as he demanded, "What did you mean when you said you'd give up?"
With only one thing going through his head, Haru got up to his feet and ran to hug Rin tightly. "I changed my mind." He whispered. "I won't give up." Because Rin was with him. Rin came.
A/N: The next one contains the M. Thank you for the reviews The Only Sane One, Marii-san, PinkSugarDust and Anime Writer2 . I love you guys . Thank you for the follows and favorites too ! :D