A/N: I don't own free or anything really. Adult situations. Don't read this if you're not old enough or if you don't like that kind of thing.

There's lots of pairings, but as usual, the ultimate pairing is HaruRin/RinHaru. There's some MakotoHaru in this too though.

The characterizations in this are VERY different than those in UTL, but I enjoy them and think you'll like them. I spent a long time deciding who to have fill each role and whether or not Rin and Haru's places should be switched. Ultimately, I decided on this one for a few reasons, and I like it. This is probably going to be another semi-long fic. Maybe the same length as UTL? We'll see.

Next update: I have no fucking clue. I have to see where I get with it.

Alright already let me just fucking read it.

XXX

"Haruka? Haruka! Thank fucking God," Makoto gripped Haruka's hand tightly.

Haruka was in a hospital bed. He looked at the lamp on the ceiling and then at Makoto. He felt confused, very, very confused. Where am I?

"Haruka?" Makoto asked.

Haruka pointed at himself, "Haruka?"

Makoto's face fell. He knew this had been a possible outcome. No, more than that. He knew this had been a likely outcome. This was his field after all. Not that that made it any easier.

XXX

"Haruka, would you?" The professor asked.

Haruka nodded, stood up, and went over to turn on the projector. The teacher for their seminar was pretty useless with technology, and while most of the class was willing to wait for Media Services to come and help, or were simply too shy to go up front, Haruka was teacher's pet. This had been established during the first class, when the teacher made it clear that Haruka had taken past classes with her, was a star second year, and had specifically requested for Haruka to help her fix the technology. So, Haru went straight up to the projector, and did anything and everything to help. This annoyed almost everyone else in the room for whom it seemed a lot like sucking up, but it bothered Rin more than the rest. There was something about Haruka that generally just annoyed him. His voice, his face, his body, something.

Rin sat in the corner of the room. He, like Haruka, was just about the only second year in the class. Well, Haru was more of a fourth year. During Rin's senior year of college and first year here, Haruka had taken two years off and gone to America to study their subject more in depth at the prestigious Stanford University and do other research or something. This is part of why the department and their professor loved Haruka. But, now that Haruka was back, he was determined to make up for his lost time here. And it was clear that this professor had already picked him as a favorite, which pissed off every other student. But, none so much as Rin. Because Rin mostly just wanted to get through the program. People like Haruka made that difficult, and in order to manage to simply get through this class, he had to fight an uphill battle against the perfect Haruka.

Haruka, did everything and anything to help the teacher, to help the first years, to be generally obnoxious about his position in the program. It was made worse, because he was so damn modest. He really acted like he did fucking nothing. Which to Rin made him simply seem more arrogant. And so, Haruka over-participated and annoyed the crap out of Rin.

Rin kept his head down and stayed out of the spotlight, which seemed to cause Haruka to want to involve him more.

After they watched a video, Haruka would say things like, "Rin, what did you think?" or "Rin, you've taken English language theory, what do you make of the text? Don't you think that scholars from the 1900s would disagree with the video and think this language was particularly dull?"

This made Rin even more angry because Haruka was in fact not the professor, and yet, he always managed to take over the class. Additionally, Haruka seemed to find a way to do this solely when Rin had not been paying attention which meant that Rin got embarrassed.

After class one day, when Haruka had been particularly obnoxious, Rin turned to his best friend in the program, Nagisa, with whom he always gossiped. The two of them had been friends since their first semester. Nagisa was one of the other second years in this class. Since their first semester they had gone out partying together and had gossiped together about different professors in the program and different people. They were both from Iwatobi and for that reason, even though they hadn't known each other there, they connected immediately. They liked the same kinds of foods, beers, and so on. Nagisa was one of the few people with whom Rin could be fully honest. Nagisa was one of the other second years in the class, but for some reason Haruka didn't seem to give him the same attention in class as he gave Rin. Rin groaned, "What the hell is that guy's problem?"

"He's such a nerd," Nagisa agreed, "I bet all he fucking does is study."

"He's so fucking arrogant," Rin stuffed his books into his bag, "at least it's a Friday."

Nagisa nodded, "You wanna go to Shinjuku tonight?"

Rin gave him a look that said, "Do you even have to ask?"

Although he was out of earshot, Haruka had stayed after and was talking one on one with their professor. He was asking for her impressions of English literature in the middle ages, or something else that would have bored Rin. He probably never goes out.

As Nagisa and Rin were leaving, Haruka watched Rin.

XXX

Later that night, Rin got dressed up. He loved going out at night with Nagisa. Graduate school had been different than he expected. Rin wanted to be a teacher, that's why he was here, but it was a lot more challenging than he had expected. Everyone was so damn professional. It was so different than undergrad. He never simply got to cut loose. Not that his undergraduate experience had been particularly easy. It was more that unlike undergrad, nobody ever partied. So, he never felt relaxed. Except when he was with Nagisa. This is what Rin enjoyed about going out at night with Nagisa. Nagisa was not only someone from home, but was also fun, Nagisa knew how to have a good time. They were country boys who had gone together off to the city. Not to say they hadn't blended well into city life. The two of them definitely knew how to party.

Nagisa texted him to meet in the main dorm. Nagisa lived in the dorm that was built on their campus, and Rin lived in a dorm that was a few blocks off campus. Rin walked over to Nagisa, and smirked. Nagisa looked good too. Not that either of them would make it back with their shirts on.

"So, I was thinking we'd go to that club in Shinjuku that we haven't been to yet," Nagisa led the way to where they were grabbing dinner.

Rin raised his brows, while he was pretty much up for anything, that club had a bit of a reputation, "Well, we did turn in our theses last week...and we couldn't go out then…"

Nagisa nodded and smiled, "It's going to be fucking incredible."

"I doubt we'll see anyone from school there," Rin laughed.

Nagisa smirked, "Could you imagine seeing Haruka there?"

Rin snorted, "I can't even imagine seeing him drunk. He's such a fucking goody-goody. He's not even that smart, but he always fucking has to help the professor."

Nagisa rolled his eyes. The two of them grabbed the subway and went straight to the club. It was larger than Rin had expected, and it was pretty insane. Not that Rin minded. He loved going to these sorts of clubs, they reminded him of his college days when he and his friends would get smoke hookah and drink beer. Those were the days.

Rin went straight for the bar. He split off from Nagisa usually around this point, though they always met up later. Nagisa was into anything and everything, and would usually find either a boy or a girl to hook up with. Rin was rather sexually flexible too, but tonight, he was in the mood to find a man.

For some reason, one that Rin could not fully explain, he and Nagisa had never hooked up. Not that they never had fun together. Sometimes Rin was half-sure that Nagisa flirted with him. Sometimes Rin was half-sure Rin himself instigated the flirting. And yet, they were two peas in a pod. They were just friends having a good fucking time when they went out. Sex messes things like that up. Not that he wouldn't fuck Nagisa if the time were right. Still, somehow, he was felt sure it never would be.

Rin looked around the club for someone interesting. His attention, however, was drawn back to the bartender. For now though, he wanted to unwind and booze up. He ordered a Jameson and Ginger. He began to drink the whiskey and felt his troubles slipping away. He began to feel a bit lighter by the second one and made his way onto the dance floor.

Nagisa was no where to be found in the club, which was only half lit by several brightly colored lights. Not that it would have been possible to find Nagisa even if the lighting had been better, there were hundreds of people there. But, even in the crowd, Rin saw a familiar face. It was Haruka's face. Haruka was less than 4 feet away from him. And Haruka saw Rin too. Haruka looked straight at him. Then, Haruka looked back at the man that he was grinding against, that man was pretty obviously high on something. He handed Haruka a pill, which to Rin's surprise, Haruka took. Haruka knew Rin was watching him. He winked at Rin as he did it. And then, Haruka made out with the man.

Rin went back to the bar. What the hell was that? And why is my heart beating so fast? Rin ordered two shots and a drink. He needed many drinks to process what he had just witnessed.

Seriously, what the fuck was that? That can't have been, Haruka? Haruka, the nerd, who fucking helps the teacher set up the fucking projector during every class meeting?

Rin looked around a second time, but Haruka was gone. Around that time, Nagisa reappeared. Nagisa had come back high, and with some molly to share with Rin, "Oh my god, you will not believe what just happened."

Rin smirked, "Let me guess, you found someone who traded this for a fuck?"

Nagisa rolled his eyes, "You never let me tell the full story."

"Your stories are always the same," Rin teased, but he took some of the ecstasy off of Nagisa's hands, "I need this way more than you right now."

"Hmm?" Nagisa asked, raising a brow, and grabbing one of Rin's shots.

"Ah ah ah! Order your own."

Nagisa shook his head, "I shared with you."

"Oh, alright, but it's not like you paid for those," Rin felt the high coming on.

"Oh trust me, he wasn't hot, it was definitely a sacrifice."

Rin laughed.

"So what happened while I was gone?" Nagisa asked.

"You'll never believe who I saw."

Nagisa raised a brow.

"Haruka is here. I saw him take a pill and get ready to hook up with a guy."

"Okay, you are so fucking with me," Nagisa threw back the shot, "did you get high without me?"

Rin shook his head, "I'm not lying. I swear. Why the hell do you think I ordered so many fucking drinks?"

"Dude, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were obsessed with him. You 'saw' him here? Please. You're starting to actually like him."

Rin simply looked at Nagisa, "No effing way. He's way too boring for that."

"Precisely. Let's go find you someone to fuck. I don't want to talk about anyone from school," seeing the look on Rin's face, he added, "It wasn't him. It couldn't have been."

But, it was.

XXX

The next time that they had class, the professor assigned some writing assignment. It was a rather large project, but of course, as this was graduate school, they had to complete it within a week. Rin and Nagisa both sighed. It was going to be a long, boring weekend. Well, after their normal activities.

Rin was having a pretty bad week in general, after all, he was having computer problems. His battery was dying all the time, and so he had to keep it plugged in all the time or it died. This meant that he had to sit in the one part of the classroom that had plugs. Naturally, this put him close to Haruka. He didn't talk to Haruka about what he had seen last weekend at the club. Or, didn't see, the weekend before. He had no way to be sure after all. And besides, what Nagisa said made sense. Well, it sort of did. Rin did not want Haruka. But, it must have been a hallucination. Someone who looked similar to Haruka. There was no way it could have actually been him.

Sitting near Haruka hadn't been problematic during class, but at the end, it meant that because of his computer cord, he caused a bit of a traffic jam for people trying to leave class. Haruka teased him, "Rin, look at what you're causing here."

Rin flinched. What the fuck is his problem?

"I can't get by you," he teased, gently touching Rin's arm. Rin felt something electric pass through him when Haruka touched him. Even though Haruka could have easily stepped over the cord, he didn't and instead, he continued, "always in the way, making problems, aren't you?"

Rin felt his face get a bit hot. He quickly moved the cord and apologized. Haruka walked past him and started to leave the class.

What the hell was that? What the hell did I just feel when he touched me? Holy fuck, Rin realized, Nagisa is right. I want him. That's why he annoys me so much. I want to fuck him. Or better, I want him to fuck me. What the fuck is wrong with me? He is the exact opposite of the type of guy I typically like, but he's so fucking mysterious.

Rin tried to engage Haruka further before he left, "Um, what are you thinking about doing for the paper?"

Haruka turned around and looked at Rin strangely, "Haven't decided yet. I'm sure I'll think of something though."

"I-I see," Why the fuck did I ask him that?

But, Haruka was relaxed and smug. His usual personality, "Have a good weekend, Rin."

Then, Haruka left. Nagisa came up to Rin, "What the hell was that? You okay?"

"Yeah, he's just so damn weird," but Rin's voice didn't carry the same angry tone that it had before.

Nagisa nodded, "You wanna go out tonight?"

Rin agreed.

XXX

Rin woke up and he was not in his bed. He was wrapped in a sheet, and he could feel that he was naked underneath it. Haruka was smoking a cigarette, sitting up, leaning against the headboard. There was a sheet around him too, and based on the fact that his chest was bare, Rin assumed he was naked beneath it as well. This was his bed. His bed? Rin thought, oh fuck.

Suddenly, Rin began to recall some of his memories of the previous night. He had gone out to the bars with Nagisa, gotten drunk, and the two had gone their separate ways. And at some point, he had...ended up here?

Haruka said nothing. He only smoked his cigarette and watched Rin with minor curiosity.

Rin got up and grabbed his clothes and made his way to the bathroom without a word. He put the clothes on as quickly as possible, and by the time he got out of the bathroom, Haruka was dressed too.

What the fuck do I do now? I just had a one night stand with a classmate of mine. One of the most professional classmates of mine. Fuck. Fuccck. This was so unprofessional of me. What the fuck was I thinking? These thoughts and thousands of others ran through Rin's head. After all, their program was small and word was sure to get around. And that was not a good thing. Fuck.

"I'd appreciate it if -" Rin finally began.

But, he was cut off by Haruka, "Look. We may have to work together at some point. Let's just be mature about this."

Haruka's voice was silky and smooth, and it sounded sexy to Rin, but it was so damn cold. Distant.

"O-okay. Yeah, I'd appreciate that," now, I just have to figure out how much Nagisa knows, maybe he can fill me in on what the fuck happened.

Haruka opened the door to his apartment for Rin, "See you in class."

And with that, Rin headed back to the dorms. He sent Nagisa a text saying that they had to meet.

XXX

"You did what with him?" They were getting curry udon at a stand that the two of them liked. It wasn't done in the same style as Iwatobi, but it was damn close considering.

Rin shrugged, "I don't know. I don't even remember how it happened or what happened. I think I got roofied. I was hoping you could tell me more."

Nagisa shook his head, "Roofied...you mean you think he - "

Rin shook his head, "I don't think it was him. I think it was back at the bar and I don't remember seeing him there. I remember being the one to call him."

Rin remembered picking up his phone outside and then, after that, nothing. Nothing until the next morning. Where he was naked and Haruka was naked.

"I don't know anything. Fuck though, I can't believe you screwed him. That's insane," Nagisa couldn't help.

"I don't even know if we did."

Nagisa gave him a look.

"Well, I mean, I'm sure we did, but I just don't know. I don't remember any of it."

Nagisa laughed, "You're fucking insane."

"He had a nice chest though. I mean, he's pretty fucking hot, he just, ugh, something about the way he is in class makes me crazy," Rin grabbed some of the noodles with his chopsticks and ate them.

Nagisa shook his head, "You're fucking nuts. I wouldn't go near that guy with a ten foot pole. He's so friggin' arrogant."

Rin shrugged, "How about you, how'd your night shape up?"

"I didn't fuck anyone. Was boring. You went off and disappeared and that was my evening."

"Oh man, sorry about that," Rin wiped his lips with a napkin.

Nagisa smirked, "It's fine. This story makes up for it. Just knowing what you were fucking doing last night makes it like retroactively one of the best fucking nights ever."

Rin sighed.

"Yeah, I'm never letting this one go."

XXX

The following week in their class, Haruka sat at the front table, far away from Rin. He participated as normal, and behaved completely normally, which annoyed Rin. Did that really mean nothing to him? Not that like Rin didn't understand how one night stands work. He was typically someone who could have a one night stand, but for Rin they were with strangers. Rin had never had a one night stand with like, someone who he knew. Especially not someone who he may have had a crush on, who was in his classes.

He never had to sit in a classroom with a one night stand. It was just awkward. Rin had no idea what the professor talked about in the class, as he spent the whole time trying to remember and trying to figure out Haruka, but at the end, he turned in his paper. Haruka was gone before Rin could talk to him. In spite of the fact that he had not talked to Rin or even sat where he could really see Rin, he was dressed nicer than usual. Rin took note of this. He had a button down shirt on, and nice slacks. Rin wondered if Haruka was meeting someone important after their class. A part of him wanted to follow Haruka, but instead he talked to Nagisa.

"Did you see what he was wearing today?" Nagisa asked.

Rin blushed a bit, "I did."

"He does clean up nicely," Nagisa acknowledged.

XXX

Not much exciting happened that weekend. Rin tried to hook up with someone, when he went out with Nagisa, but the guy had a boyfriend. Nagisa got laid, but it was otherwise rather uneventful. During the next week in class, however, things changed.

Rin got his paper back with a giant red See me written on it. Ugh, Rin thought. He hadn't been particularly proud of his work, but he hadn't thought it had been so bad either that it was going to require a revision. Clearly, he had been wrong.

That class also moved slowly and dragged on. It was another week where Haruka had picked to sit as far away from Rin as possible. So much for simply being professional. On the other hand though, it probably would have annoyed Rin more if Haruka engaged him, but instead, he acted like nothing had happened.

This week, Rin noted, Haruka wasn't dressed quite as nicely. He didn't appear to have dressed up at all. Still, Rin spent most of the class watching him.

At the end of the class, Rin went up to the professor.

"Ah, Rin, yes, that really wasn't your best work," the professor began.

This had been a day where Haruka apparently decided to talk to the professor too, which meant that this began in front of Haruka, which embarrassed Rin. Not that it would have mattered, but Rin didn't want to look like a complete failure in front of Haruka. Although, he was only trying to pass, it embarrassed him a bit to look completely useless in front of Haruka.

Haruka stood back a bit, but it was clear that he could hear that part of the conversation, and then, he became much more involved. The professor motioned to Haruka, "Haruka wrote a perfect paper. That's why he's here. I asked him to stay after class. I'm going to have him send me his paper as an example paper for a future year. I was also thinking though that perhaps you would be willing to help Rin improve his paper, Haruka."

If Haruka was less than thrilled by the prospect, he didn't show it. Although, he didn't look particularly happy either, "I can."

"Good. I find that sometimes when we work with a partner, we can learn all kinds of new things," blah, blah, blah. The professor went on trying to convince Rin that he needed Haruka's help and that it wasn't that he was a failure for needing to do a re-write and so on. But, Rin felt horrible. As if it weren't awkward enough for him to be around Haruka, given what had probably conspired between them, this made it like 10,000X worse. Now, he had to deal with Haruka to help edit his paper. Plus, he looked like a complete moron in front of Haruka. Not that Haruka probably cared one way or the other, he had made it rather clear that their last encounter was merely a hookup. This probably solely cemented the fact that Rin was not good enough for him.

"Rin, let's meet on Monday," Haruka said as they walked out.

"Your place or mine?" Rin asked quietly. He was ashamed about his paper.

Haruka frowned, it was clear he was thinking about something, "Yours."

"My place is kind of small...I live in Chiisai."

Haruka nodded, "I guess you can come to my apartment then. I trust you remember where it is…"

Rin made an awkward acknowledgement of this.

"...is 5 okay?" Haruka asked.

Rin agreed.

XXX