"We need to stay with him." Makoto told me. I was holding his hand as we were in the kitchen getting snacks ready. No one else was around. I glanced back. Haru was sitting in his usual spot. He was watching Sosuke and Asashi trying to figure out his TV. The only thing weird was that Ikuya was laughing quietly next to the blue eyed teen.
"He's fine, you know." I pointed out.
"Its Haru." Makoto reminded me. I drew in a deep breath letting it out slowly. He babied him way to much.
"Yeah, it's Haru. Come on Makoto, he's fine. Look at him!" I gestured. Makoto leaned over his face right next to mine as he peeked under the cupboards to look. I pecked a kiss on to his cheek.
"Not here!" He hissed at me. "He isn't fine!" He grouched. "That is not his usual bored, I wanna swim face. He's worried he is being a bad son!" He informed me. I frowned as he drew his hand away from me. I took the almost full tray of snacks into the living room, leaving Makoto to get the drinks. Haru glanced up at me. There was a mark on his face from him leaning on his hand. Ok, so he wasn't technically fine.
After setting the tray down, I decided to mess with him. Haru was always an odd sort. But I could get those eyes to shine when I wanted to. They did seem rather dull tonight. I dropped into his lap. He jerked back as if I scolded him.
"Rin?" He blinked shaking the hair out of his face.
"Momkoto is worried about you." I told him. He sat up straighter.
"I'm fine." He whispered.
"Like hell you are." Sosuke commented. I glanced up.
"Since when can you, of all people, tell when he is fine or not?" I demanded.
"It's obvious. If he was fine, you would be on the floor right now." Sosuke pointed out. I huffed. That was true. Haru was often distracted, but even so I couldn't get away with doing this if he was fine. I huffed.
"Fine." I growled at my best friend.
"Fine!" He snorted back.
"Fine." Ikuya giggled.
"Not fine, I think I broke something." Asashi muttered.
"Give me that!" Haru stood, dumping me on my feet. I just managed to get them under me before he stood up. He smirked at me as he took the remote from Asashi. He pressed some buttons and whatever it was they wanted to watch magically came up on the screen.
"How?" Asahi asked looking puzzled. Haru just set the remote down on top of the TV.
"Want to talk about it?" Sosuke asked, he looked uncomfortable as he gazed at Haru.
"Haru never "talks about it". " I finger quoted the words as I flipped down by the table. Makoto brought out the drinks. He eyed Haru suspiciously.
"That's not true. He just doesn't like talking about things like this with you.." Makoto stated.
"Why not?" I asked scooping up some chips.
"My guess?" Makoto glanced at me with a slight twinkle in his eye. I nodded since my mouth was full. Damn he was hot when he was like this.
"Haru sees you struggle with the absence of your dad. Since his is still alive, he feels that it is not something you want to hear about. So, he doesn't bring it up." Makoto stated.
"Damn don't hold back!" Sosuke grouched. I blinked.
"That can't be it. We..." Asahi indicated himself and Ikuya. "Have parents and he doesn't talk to us about that either." He said.
"That's because you have a safe nuclear family. You wouldn't understand his life." Makoto said sounding exasperated.
"Well, so do you?" Asahi told him.
"Yeah, but Makoto has been there since the beginning." I muttered. "He knows what Haru went through and has never judged him. He always supports him." I shoved more chips into my mouth before I did something stupid like rush over and kiss him.
"See, you get it!" Makoto smiled at me. I really did just want to kiss him now. Instead I picked up a drink.
"I'm glad you're all here, but really, I'm fine. It's not that big of a deal any more." Haru said.
"You didn't tell your parents you moved." Sosuke rolled his eyes.
"No, he did." Makoto stated. He sat down beside Haru, across from me. "I went with him when he mailed the letter. Either they moved from the last place before they got it, of they decided to forget about it." He went on. I sighed.
"I remember your mom made you a fish shaped cake for your birthday once." I stated. I was leaning back on my hands. I saw the deep hungry green eyes roam over my chest. Haru gave a tiny smile.
"I remember that. It was the last time she was around for my birthday." He stated. Oops. I thought.
"That's cool." Ikuya muttered.
"She used to make fruit arrangements too." Makoto said seeing he same little smile on Haru's face.
"I say we all go to this dinner with his parents. Let them know Haru isn't alone!" Asahi cried.
"You all have practice tomorrow!" Makoto chided.
"MOMKOTO!" Ikuya and Asahi cried. I laughed. Sosuke snorted. Then I saw something odd. As I turned to look at the big dark haired man beside me, I saw him looking at Haru. He looked... interested. They hate each, don't they? I thought. My eyes flicked to Haru. He was starring out the window. Did he see the look on Sosuke's face? I wondered.
Makoto smirked about something I had missed while I was in my own head. Then a pillow hit me in the face. "Don't mess up anything." Haru stated. Ikuya tried to hit Asahi, but almost hit a lamp. Makoto caught it. Haru walked out. He didn't have shoes on. Makoto was yelling at the other two. I went after Haru.
"Hey, you forgot your shoes." I said as we walked in the grass, since I didn't put mine on either.
"You don't swim with shoes on." He said. He looked at me. I laughed, he smirked, we ran. Both of us began screaming as we ran to the ocean. It wasn't far from Haru's front door. Maybe this was one reason Haru took this place. Who knew what really went on inside his head.
We stopped on the beach. Facing each other we began to strip off our clothing. "Out around the buoy and back. First one to shore wins." Haru said.
"You got it." I cried.
"You're both going to get sick." We looked up to see Sosuke had followed. I laughed, clapping Haru on the back. We took off running to the water. It splashed around our legs, cold. This didn't stop us. We wouldn't be in long. Nothing but the water would ever truly lift Haru's spirits.
Our bodies arched, diving under the dark surface. When I came up, Haru was half a body length ahead of me. I kicked hard, pulling my body through the water as fast as I could. There is nothing more satisfying than swimming with Haru. He was really one with the water. His body cut through it so easily. Sometimes I thought he was born in the ocean.
We reached the buoy. He circled close to the bobbing dancing thing. He came around, placing his feet on it, he used it to thrust himself forward. Cheater! I did the same to try and close the growing distance between us. I managed to pull up a head behind him. Kicking furiously I fought to gain that extra ground. Even if he was in a depressed mood, Haru wouldn't forgive me if I let him win. That was our truth to each other. We swam for it all, especially if we swam against each other.
I plunged forward. Cutting the water with my hand. Tearing the chunks out of it as I strove to catch up. As I thought about this as a brutal attack on the water, Haru pulled further ahead. No, my mind was in the wrong place. Haru always said the water knew what you were thinking and feeling. The water wouldn't forgive me if I thought of this race like an attack on it. No, it had to be better. I was at home in the water. This was where I found my best memories! Where I had my first love. Even if I knew I didn't love it as much as Haru did, I knew it accepted me. I pushed forward.
I heard the cheers before my feet touched the bottom. Hands pulled me upright. Sosuke had walked into the water to get me. Haru was standing in the shallow water beside Makoto. I saw those green eyes widen. I started to turn. I could hear the water rising behind us. Sosuke was laughing. The wave struck us as I heard Makoto screaming my name.
The water boiled around me. The bubbles flipping me this way and that. Sosuke was ripped from my side. I couldn't breath, the darkness was crushing me. I fought, fought to find the right way up, but I couldn't. The ocean, it had always haunted my nightmares.
I wanted those green eyes to look at me once more time. I wanted to feel his strong arms holding me as we slept. This wasn't going to be the end of him and I. I screamed, wasting what little breath I had managed to gasp before I was yanked down under.
I felt my body hit something hard. Arms wrapped around my chest. I flicked my head sideways. My body wasn't really obeying me. I felt my mind starting to shatter under the crush of the water. Ikuya pulled me up tight against him. He used his strong legs to kick us up to the surface.
We broke through. I gasped for air and began to cough up half of the ocean I had managed to swallow. Ikuya was a strong swimmer. He held me against him, keeping my head out of the water as he swam us back. On my hands and knees in the sand, I coughed up the last of the water.
"HARU!" Asahi was screaming.
"I didn't see which way he went. I only saw Rin." Ikuya cried.
My head lifted. Makoto was sitting down a little ways away. His green eyes huge. He was locked in fear. Haru told me of his fear of the ocean. I crawled up to him.
"Its him, it won't take his life." I managed to gasp out of my dry mouth. I wrapped my arms around the strong solid back of my lover. My eyes scanning the vastness of the ocean.
There, I saw two heads surface. Haru was holding Sosuke. Oh man! He want going to like this.
"ASAHI. THERE!" I cried pointing to where they were. The ginger haired teen dashed into the water. He didn't get too far before Haru began pulling his prize toward him. Had their heads been unusually close? Na, it had to be the water in my eyes. I swiped at them.
When my hands came away, Makoto was clutching me. "I was so afraid. I couldn't move. Haru.... You..." He whispered.
"We are both safe." I told him hugging him while everyone else was helping Sosuke. I got up. We met them as they came ashore. Sosuke was holding his injured shoulder. I caught him.
"How bad?" I asked. He shook his head. His face was pale with pain. We all sat down. Haru between Sosuke and Makoto. We looked at each other.
"It's, it's good. Just a little pain." Sosuke muttered. I chuckled.
"You suck at lying." I told him. This appeared to break the mood around us. Every one laughed. Sosuke chuckled as he turned to look at Haru. Maybe to thank him? I wasn't sure, but it surprised me that Haru gripped his good shoulder in a friendly way. Hmm? I thought.