Day eleven: worry

"Rin!"

"Oi, Matsuoka!"

"You better be okay, dammit!"

Rin winced, the pain coming from his head unbearable as he tried to open his eyes and was blinded by a way too bright light. His arm also stung slightly from the IV needle.

"Oh thank god..." he heard his captain sigh from beside him. "Hey, you feeling alright?"

"Just peachy," Obvious sarcasm, mouth dry. "What even happened?"

The redheaded athlete was speeding through the water, racing against his old time. With a final push, his hand had crashed into the wall of the pool and he surfaced, taking in a large breath of air as his captain exclaimed that he had beat his time by two seconds.

"Just two?" Rin scoweled, thinking that it would have been more. "Two?"

"Lighten up, Matsuoka! Your time is nearly unbeatable by now, you should be at least happy!" he watched as his captain wrote it down. "Tournament's in two weeks, if you're still feeling shitty about it, you do have time to improve."

SIghing and taking off his swimming cap and letting his goggles hang from his neck, Rin pushed himself halfway out of the pool with shaking arms. Suddenly he had lost balance, falling back a bit before his head collided with the cement edge of the pool, one of his teammates immediately grabbing him to keep him above the water. The last thing he remembered was being pulled out of the pool, and hearing a voice saying that he was going to a hospital.

"That would explain this godawful pressure," Rin mumbled, touching the bandage around his head and wincing. "Was it really that bad?"

"Rin, it could've been worse. You could've hit your jaw or your forehead but instead it's only the left side. And you could have hit it even harder. You're damn lucky to even be breathing right now."

He sighed, closing his eyes again and listening to the steady beats of the heart monitor next to him. His beats, he really was lucky to be alive.

"By the way, I called Nanase to tell him what happened."

Red eyes snapped open, heart meter picking up immediately.

"W-what?"

"I called Nanase first, and luckily he was home. He said that he was going to get Makoto and come right away." The elder man made a face. "What, do they not deserve to know or something?"

A nurse came in to check on Rin (with the sudden rate spike being way too alarming), and deeming that he was fine after changing his bandage and checking the wound, she left, and moments later the door opened again and saw his lovers rush in.

"Is he okay?" Makoto breathed, face red. Did they run all the way here...? Rin thought.

"Doctor said that he'd be fine. But you two need to make sure that he's okay and that means nothing stressful. And Rin, that means no practice until you get checked out."

"But...but we have that tournament coming up and I need to improve my time-!"

"I'm sorry, but maybe you'll get better the week before or maybe in a couple of days. I take health very serious, and I don't want you training in this condition because it could compromise your health. Permanently." Putting on his coat he nodded at the two men, and left.

Haruka and Makoto sat on both sides of Rin, taking his hands in theirs, no one speaking for the longest time, the steady beeping of the heart monitor and hum of machines to accompany the silence.

"You have no fucking idea," Haruka started, breathing deeply to control the wavering of his voice, and Rin could feel his hands shaking. "How worried I am, how worried I was when I got that call-."

"Haru, I-"

"Your captain called me from the fucking ambulance, Rin. And then I had to make a mad dash to get Makoto, trying not to fucking cry when talking to the stupid receptionist to get him out of class and-" Haruka stopped, tears spilling from his eyes. "And the look on Makoto's face when he saw me in there, waiting for him and then when I told-"

"Please don't cry," Rin whispered, squeezing Haruka's trembling hand. "Please."

"It's okay," Makoto's voice cut in, gentle green eyes staring into blue. "He's alive, and awake, and if anything were wrong we would have been told. I'm really...greatful."

"I almost lost you because of the water Makoto, I'm not going to lose Rin the same way!"

"I didn't Haru, someone-"

"Well what if no one was there to get to you in time, Rin!?"

Haruka was trying to get his breathing back to normal, tightening his grip on Rin's hand.

"Haru?" Makoto sounded worried, knowing Haruka only yelled when he was genuinely upset.

"I...I'm sorry, Rin, I didn't mean to yell, I-"

"You're right, Haru."

Blue eyes blinked, staring into guilty red.

"You have every reason to be upset and angry. I'm just...yeah, I'm stressed because this stupid tournament is important and...I want to make you and Mako so proud of me and I was reckless and wasn't being careful. I wasn't thinking right, and I'm sorry." He looked at Makoto on his right, and then Haruka on his left. "Please, both of you...forgive me."

"...alright." Haruka said, not expecting Rin to apologize like this. "But, really. Please, you need to be more careful."

"You'll do wonderful in two weeks," Makoto assured, smiling. "We'll take care of you so you'll be back in that pool before you know it."

Blinking back tears, Rin nodded and smiled slightly.

"Alright."

"You're lucky you just have a thick head, stupid." Haruka joked, rubbing his eyes.

"Oi!"

Author's note: I CAN'T EVEN DEAL WITH SAD HARUKA EITHER