Chapter Six

Date Five - The Movies

Rin had finally given up. Maybe he should think in the Nanase way - as they'd kissed a few times, they were a couple and that…was just that. But he still wanted more despite his own doubts and his paranoia that Haru was going through the motions for some reason for Rin's benefit and nothing else. That Haru didn't want to be involved in the whole dating process and he was finding it bothersome and pointless.

Rin was finding it bothersome and pointless and he started to wonder if a direct Haru-like approach would be better than all these dating attempts. Maybe he should just text and say / let's have sex/ and have it done with.

But Rin was the one who wanted dating - who wanted tradition and more so he was surprised when he received a message from Haru. It was an invite - on a date and Rin frowned at his phone a few times before he answered, pleasantly surprised by Haru taking initiative and inviting him out.

It was a simple request. The local movie theatre - some old movie - all that mattered to Rin was that Haru wanted to. And that was more than he could ask for.

He met Haru a little before the movie was due to start so that they could grab something to eat - a quick meal from a street vendor, before they walked to the movie theatre.

As a small town, Iwatobi had an old theatre that doubled as a place to hold small productions by travelling theatre companies. The movies that were shown were not the ones shown in cities - no popular romantic actors, no blockbusters or foreign imports - only old movies that the vintage reels could be acquired.

They bought their tickets for the double bill - some creature feature thing that Rin didn't really bother looking at and then walked to find seats in the old musty theatre.

They sat near the back and Rin propped his feet up on the seat in front as they waited for the first movie to start, old music playing as some minor form of entertainment - no trailers or previews in the small theatre.

Rin kept his eyes narrowed as a few people entered the theatre, seeing if there were any people they knew. Iwatobi was a small town and most people knew everyone but Rin was only concerned about whether there were people they went to school with.

None appeared. Rin supposed that figured - people their own age would go to the city to the large movie theatre complex and see something new and exciting - not something that would be considered old, vintage, retro.

Knowing that they would inspire no gossip, Rin reached for Haru's hand, clasping their fingers together and smiling slightly when Haru's fingers squeezed his own.

Smiling as the lights turned off - Rin leaned close to Haru, smelling the lingering chlorine on Haru's skin before he kissed the top of his head. Haru arched into his touch and Rin let go of Haru's hand to wrap his arms around his shoulder, the move obviously not making Haru uncomfortable as he leaned into Rin's embrace as the credits rolled.

It was an old movie and soon, Rin discovered, dubbed into Japanese. Rin understood English well so he could tell the mouth moves didn't fit and he found himself getting distracted rapidly by the dialogue conflicting with the mouth movements. He glanced to Haru who didn't have the same issues and then returned his attention to the screen as he tried to follow the plot.

The movie, Rin guessed was 80s due to the appearance and clothing, soon started to have significantly less dialogue as the images turned dark, the group of teenagers isolated in an old home. Rin suddenly found his mouth going dry as tense music played and he started to get caught up with the movie. He started to get caught up with the grim images, the implied cannibalism and he started to shift in his seat.

Though he didn't admit it, Rin was not a big fan of horror and gory movies. It wasn't that he was scared - no, not at all, he just didn't want to see the blood and entrails and viscera that seemed to spray the screen in those type of movies.

And Rin was sure certain things were about to happen. He shifted and Haru moved his eyes, his eyes looking into Rin's and questioning.

"Okay?"

Rin tried to pretend nothing was wrong - tried to play it cool but he heard the whirl of a chainsaw and the squelching noises that obviously were meant to be bodies being cut into and when he turned back to the screen, he felt a nausea in his stomach at the scene he saw.

Even though, objectively, Rin knew it was make-up and special effects and not at all real, the scene of the girl being sliced up was not an appealing one and he tried to damp down the desire to be sick.

Haru seemed to sense his sudden discomfort, the awkward shifting in his seat and Rin tried looking at his lap, the seat in front, and the other heads in the theatre but it was the noise - the squelches, the splats, the screams, the sawing...

Rin couldn't sit any longer. Jerking and standing up, displacing Haru from his comfortable location on his shoulder, Rin walked out of the theatre, sweat on his brow and sickness in his stomach. He wasn't going to be sick, it was all not real but somehow he was shaking as he walked over to the bathrooms, staggering to a stall. He wasn't going to be sick, he told himself, as he fell to his knees, leaning over the cracked porcelain. He wasn't going to be sick as he began to vomit. And Rin certainly wasn't being sick when Haru came into the bathroom, gently brushing back his hair as he continued to vomit, Rin blaming the street vendors fish rather than the blood and guts on the screen.

"You okay?" Haru asked softly after it seemed Rin had stopped, Rin sitting back on his heels and wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand.

Hiding his face behind his hands, Rib nodded. "Yeah...must've been the food."

Instead of embarrassing him and pointing out that it had been the graphic scenes in the movie, Haru merely nodded sympathetically and rubbed soothing circles over Rin's back, the movement lulling him into a wave of self-pity and exhaustion

"I should go back to the dorm. No good night kiss tonight, right?"

Rin gave an optimistic smile but knew it was fruitless - he wouldn't kiss someone who'd just threw up their guts and he didn't expect Haru to - unless there was toothpaste involved somewhere in between. There wasn't so after Rin washing his face and drinking some water from the faucet, gargling it in his mouth, they left the theatre, a curious glance from the staff but Rin steadfastly ignored any curious looks, ducking his head to avoid anyone seeing his flushed skin and damp bangs.

Haru didn't say anything as Rin mumbled something about early practice and needing to be back at Samezuka and neither did he stop him as he made his way back to his dorms.

Still feeling weak, a little shaken, he collapsed on the bed when he arrived, ignoring Sousuke's question as he sat at the desk doing homework.

"I give up," he said after a while, saying it out loud to Sousuke, the universe and any other deity that seemed his attempts to date Haruka Nanase as wrong.

"Dating Nanase?" Sousuke asked, turning in his chair with an eyebrow arched.

"Yeah... I think every attempt is fucked...so I give up."

Sousuke didn't ask a anymore sensing Rin's depressed mood and Rin gave up the pretence of sleeping, skipping out to the pool to do lengths until exhaustion claimed him. He walked back to the dorm then, not bothering with the shower, and he collapsed on the bed, falling asleep damp and depressed.