See end of chapter for notes(*).

Water.

Calm, soothing water encased Haruka in it's cool embrace as he floated on his back, eyes transfixed to the sky, rocked gently by passing waves. Being in the water made Haruka feel weightless, buoyant, free—free from all his problems, disconnected from reality, just how he liked it. Haruka blinked lazily at the cerulean sky—there was not a cloud in sight, and the sun offered a gentle ray of light, just strong enough to warm the top of his cheeks, but not enough to make him squint. He fluttered his eyes closed, feeling the icy cool water lap occasionally at his ear. Haruka took a deep, relaxed breath, and his olfactory system was graced with notes of the salty sea, the crisp ocean air, and..

the smell of rotten natto?

With an almost mechanical-like movement, Haruka's eyes snapped open. To his dismay, instead of the blue sky, he was staring at the gray, dinghy ceiling of his room—and instead of hearing seagulls caw in the distance, there was only the sound of his alarm clock blaring in his right ear, making it go numb. Without needing to look, Haruka stretched out his right arm and gave the alarm clock a good whack, accidentally knocking it off the bedside table where it fell to the floor with a metal clack. Haruka squeezed his eyes shut and pulled his pillow taut over his face, making small frustrated noises and twisted expressions where the world wouldn't be able to see.

I wish I could keep dreaming forever.

Haruka could have fallen back asleep right then and there, if not for the pungent smell of natto that had been left out permeating the air around him, making him feel sicker by the minute. One thing in my dream had to be real, and it just had to be the spoilt natto, Haruka grumbled in his mind, whipping the sheets off of himself before he stood up, stretching. The shirt unsticking from his back and his clammy skin only served as a bitter reminder that it was still summer and ugh it's so hot I want to live in my fridge. He glared at the bright sunlight streaming in through his window as he walked past it, half-hoping the sun could see his annoyance and retreat behind the clouds.

Yeah, he was not a morning person. Especially not hot summer mornings.

Once Haruka opened his room door, he was greeted by a gust of potent natto-scented air like a sucker punch to the face. He exhaled roughly and crinkled his nose in disgust, walking briskly to the table where he could see his natto container. He was just about to pick it up and throw it out when—wait, why was it open?! Haruka's eyes shifted from the opened natto container, to the unwashed rice bowl next to it, to the scattered pair of chopsticks nearby, confusedly trying to piece together a memory of having a midnight snack last night and not washing up, but Haruka always washed up, and he didn't remember anything about this..

Snoring from the living room made Haruka's memory reboot.

A quick peek into the living room confirmed his memory. He could see the back of someone sleeping on a futon, and there was only one person he knew with that color of hair and that loud of a snore..

"Rin," Haruka called, rubbing his eye, his voice carrying tones of both sleepiness and annoyance. The cherry-red head did not stir at the call of his name, responding with another snore that somehow managed to be louder than the last. Haruka's eyebrow twitched.

Rin had slept over last night—self-invited, mind you—just because he wanted Haruka to tell me all about what happened that day, Tachibana won't tell me anything, and is that really everything that happened? Haru you'd better not be hiding anything from me-

Haruka, who had been totaled from an intense day of dryland exercise—his absolute nemesis—went to bed early after watching some game shows on tv with Rin and setting out his nicest futon. Of course, Haruka had also told Rin to make himself at home, but what Rin had apparently taken from that was Rin please help yourself to the rice, there's natto in the fridge—oh and don't forget to leave it out all night so it stinks up the place in the morning!

Haruka stood over Rin as he slept, looking at his peaceful face, wondering how he could wake him up in the same disgruntled state Haruka had been in when he was rudely awakened by the smell of rotten soybeans. I was dreaming of water, too, Haruka thought huffily. In the two minutes he spent there thinking, a plethora of ideas formulated in his head, ranging from sounding an air horn directly into Rin's ear, to dragging Rin, futon and all, out of his front door into the garden where he could awaken to the faces of amused passersby.

However, Haruka knew he had to go for a classic. He padded quietly into the kitchen, grabbing a mug from the drying rack and silently filling it with water. As he walked back out to the living room, full mug in his hand, a twist of mischievous excitement tugged his stomach.

This is for the water in my dream…

Just as he was standing over Rin, mug in place and ready to be tipped, the cherry-red head suddenly turned violently in his sleep and knocked his arm onto Haruka's calf. At the impact, Haruka was knocked out of balance and a few small splashes of water escaped the lip of the mug, getting onto Rin's face. Haruka watched in horror as Rin screwed his face up at the sensation, before opening his eyes and squinting at the ink-haired boy's face. Haruka cursed under his breath, stepping back and sipping water from the mug, instantly wearing a blank innocent face, though inside, he was in a minor turmoil.

Shit, shit, shit!

"Good morning, Rin." Haruka wasn't really thirsty, but he took another sip, looking perfectly oblivious.

Rin sat up and rubbed his face, groaning.

"Did you.. just try to pour water on me or something..?" Rin said, in a gravelly voice, rubbing his forearm where it had hit Haruka. Without missing a beat, Haruka shook his head.

"You bumped me when I was holding a cup of water, so it got onto you. It's not my fault," Haruka said, sounding slightly indignant towards the end. Rin scoffed, skeptical.

"Why did you need to stand so close to me anyway?"

Haruka didn't respond, and Rin glared mildly at his stoic expression, too sleepy to properly think about it. Rin stretched his arms and yawned. It took him awhile to notice the smell in the room, and when he did, he made a weird face, exhaling strongly.

"What's that smell?" Rin asked as he stood up, looking over to the kitchen. He turned to Haruka, eyes still small and sleepy, and shot him a look Haruka didn't like.

"What?"

"I didn't know you smelt so bad in the morning, Haru," Rin said, barely finishing his sentence before laughing at his own joke. Haruka looked miffed, not seeing the humor in it.

"It's the natto you left out," Haruka said pointedly, and Rin stopped laughing almost instantly. Remembering what he had done, Rin rubbed the back of his neck, grinning sheepishly at Haruka.

"I'll throw it out, and I'll get you a new one later, promise," Rin said, clasping his hands and bowing his head in apology to Haruka while he walked backwards to the kitchen. Haruka gave him a mild look.

"Wash your dishes too, Rin."

From inside the kitchen, Rin made a noise of acknowledgement.

Haruka leaned against the wall and listened to the sound of the sink turning on and the crinkling of the trash bag as Rin discarded the putrid natto. He took a long drink of water.

"Bring that natto out into the outdoor bin. It's still gonna smell."

There was a pause.

"Okay."

Haruka watched amusedly as Rin took his entire bag of trash out the front door before coming back.

"Don't forget to fold your futon."

Rin gave him a look that said don't push it.

"Got it."

As the cherry-red head started folding the sheets and rolling up the mattress, he could feel Haruka's eyes on him, but he didn't look up. It was quiet for a few minutes, minus the occasional ring of a bicycle bell and children laughing outside.

"Can you grill saba for breakfast too?"

"HARU I SWEAR TO GOD-"

Haruka chuckled under his breath and listened to Rin's small tirade. After a moment, Haruka, pleased with himself, went to kneel down next to a fuming Rin and help him clean up anyway.

"Haru, having just saba at every meal every single day isn't the healthiest thing to do, you know," Rin muttered, as he loaded the toaster with slices of white bread. He leaned against the counter next to Haruka and watched him prod a spatula at a cut of fish sizzling on the grill pan. Rin grimaced. "What do you think of ham and eggs sometimes for a change?"

Haruka shook his head no, flipping the fish a little too roughly and accidentally getting some oil onto Rin's arm. He yelped in pain, leaping away.

"Oi." Rin glared, rubbing his arm where it had been hurt.

"Sorry," Haruka mumbled, distantly. The whole natto and Rin fiasco had kept his mind pretty occupied all morning, but now that he was back to his normal everyday routine, his thoughts resumed their usual track—thinking of swimming, school and Makoto. (totally in that order, of course.)

Their little "date", if you could even call it that, had taken place about a week ago. After sending Ren and Ran off to swim school, Haruka had invited Makoto over to his house and they'd ended up spending a few hours sitting on the floor in his living room, talking about swimming, their families, and occasionally sitting in comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's company, untouched iced drinks condensing puddles on the table. Being around Makoto simply felt effortless. He was brave enough to make a flirtatious joke or two but full-on blushed immediately after—Makoto, who was so attractive he made Haruka flustered that the ink-haired boy simply could not understand how Makoto managed to see him in the same light.

Upon realizing it had already become dark outside, Makoto had quickly gotten up ("I forgot about the time!") and Haruka, while trying to ignore the lump of sadness in his throat, saw him to the door. Makoto paused for a moment at the doorway, his back facing Haruka, and the ink-haired boy noticed his fists clutching. ("Makoto?")

Makoto had taken a deep breath before he spun around, a light blush on his cheeks but a genuine smile radiating off his face. "I'm so sorry things didn't go as planned, Haru.. but I had a really good time with you anyway," Makoto had said, and while he struggled through his bashfulness to say the words, the sincerity was apparent in his voice. Haruka smiled, ("I feel the same.") and, after returning a grin of his own, Makoto left with a promise,

"I'll make it up to you next time."

That night after Makoto had left, Haruka laid wide awake in bed with a warm heart and butterflies in his stomach, and one thing kept echoing at the back of his mind—he had never felt this way about anyone else before.

Presently, Rin had started talking about something, which Haruka didn't pay attention to for the most part, until he heard Rin mentioning a certain olive-haired boy's name. Subconsciously, Haruka quipped his ears. Rin noticed, and grinned slyly.

"I'll bet you didn't hear anything I said until I mentioned Tachibana," he said teasingly. Haruka tried to scoff and look indifferent, but the mild blush on his cheeks betrayed him.

"I was listening."

Rin rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah? What was I saying, then?"

Haruka pretended to check on his fish to buy himself some back-tracking time.

"…The school festival, right?" I'd better not be wrong or I'll get teased so much for this.

"Huh." Rin lifted his eyebrows. "Guess you were half-listening after all."

Haruka breathed a small sigh of relief.

"So yeah, anyway I'll recap for you," Rin straightened up and leaned back against the counter, hands clutching the edges. Haruka opened his mouth to protest, I heard what you said the first time, but decided not to because, well, he hadn't really.

"Samezuka summer festival. This Tuesday. You and your team should come," Rin said, facing Haruka, who met his eyes. Haruka looked back down at the saba.

"Iwatobi is having a summer festival this Tuesday too."

"Oh," Rin said, a slight frown creasing his eyebrows. Suddenly, he grinned to himself. He put on an exasperated expression and let out a loud, exaggerated sigh. Haruka looked up again, looking at him like, what now?

"I guess it's too bad you won't see Tachibana in his butler's outfit then, serving at our maid café—oh, did I forget to mention that? It's a school tradition.."

A sudden influx of thoughts of Makoto dressed smartly in a black suit and calling people *ojosama and **dannasama made Haruka gulp audibly. Rin grinned triumphantly, slinging an arm around his neck and pulling him closer.

"So you're coming to our festival, right?" Rin beamed, nudging Haruka's side with his free hand.

Icily, Haruka said, "I'm going to flip the fish now."

Rin immediately jumped 2 feet away, exclaiming before the oil could even touch him, and Haruka's quiet laugh hung in the peaceful morning air.

Okay I don't even know if people will even read this story anymore but I decided to get back to writing it anyway, hopefully my writing style hasn't changed so much that it doesn't fit with the rest of the chapters hahaha

(BTW I am writing this in the midst of my trials. I definitely have my priorities straight)

Also I'd like to apologise in advance for any grammatical errors/inconsistencies, if you notice any please help me point them out, I didn't really have time to proof read this chapter multiple times (u_u)

I'll do my very best to write an ending to this adorable story. I really hope you enjoyed this new chap!

*means princess in Japanese, when male butlers refer to female customers.

**means Milord in Japanese, when male butlers refer to male customers.