This is a story I have planned for a while. It originally started out as a fanfic I was writing for a friend but it ended up becoming larger than I actually wanted and decided I should post it here. This story is a RinHaru one, so if you don't like RinHaru then you can either endure it or leave. (I am sorry if there are any spelling or grammar mistakes)

Now before you read this, I will just say this: Makoto is out of character in this, but in a way I see him as slightly in character. He is not going to be mainly involved in the story for a bit but his personality will probably shock you. I do not want to spoil anything but if you are a Makoto lover, please don't be mad, it is for the story. I, myself, love Makoto and thought that the way I portrayed him made him more interesting. If you do love Makoto it is even better for it will conflict with your emotions and that's what I'm aiming for. But like I said, that side of him won't be seen for a while.

Now please enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: Free! and it's characters do not belong to me and belong the respected owners. I only own/made this story.

A raven haired teen emerged from the water and shook his hair to flick it out of his face. He noticed all the other people swimming around him and frowned, he didn't like joint training with Samezuka Academy. When he had normal training with the others it was never as serious and he could just drift through the water, but joint training was boring and loud since the Samezuka captain would yell at everyone to go faster.

Haruka sighed and sank down into the water so half his face was submerged, the only reason they had joint training was because the pool in Iwatobi needed to be cleaned since so many leaves had fallen in it and rotted overnight. Haruka looked up to see his red haired friend, Rin, talking to a grey haired teen. The fight they had at regionals happened two weeks ago and was long behind them, since Rin was back to his normal self and even transferred to Iwatobi. Rin was asked why he wanted to transfer, and his answer was:

"Because I want to swim with my team again"

Both were glad to be swimming together again and the two of them act like children around each other, as quoted from Makoto, and were both assigned by Gou to clean the pool in Iwatobi once joint training was over.

Haruka sighed, he loved swimming, but he didn't like cleaning pools. Maybe with Rin it would be better though.

Thinking of Rin, Haruka remembered he wanted to have a race today. Since both admitting they just wanted to swim with the other, their races were all in good fun. But their races almost always resulted in a tie, and if the other person ever won by just a little bit, the loser would demand a rematch. Haruka didn't know what Rin did to him, but whatever he did made Haruka much more competitive against the red head.

But at that moment Haruka was feeling lonely in the water, and he wanted Rin to be swimming next to him.

"Rin!" Haruka called, looking above the edge of the pool to see said teen turn towards him.

"Ah, just a minute Haru! I'm talking to Nitori!" he replied.

Haruka's brow creased. Usually Rin came straight over to him when he called for him, and Rin surely remembered challenging Haruka to a race today, right? So why wasn't he coming over? Why was this Nitori kid so important?

He peeked above the edge of the pool to see the two of them talking and smiling at the other, making his eyes narrow. What were they talking about? Why was Rin smiling? Why wasn't he coming over? Rin should have been coming over.

Haruka's grip on the pool edge tightened and he called Rin's name again,

"Rin!"

The red head turned to Haruka again and chuckled lightly, seeing only half the teen's face since he was only slightly raised above the edge of the pool.

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming! Sorry Nitori, tell me about it some other time"

"Y-yes Rin senpai!" the smaller teen responded before Rin walked toward the glaring raven haired swimmer.

"Well aren't you impatient today?" he smirked, bending over the teen in the pool "I challenged you to a race today, didn't I?"

"You did," Haruka replied "and what were you talking about with the grey haired guy?"

"Who? Nitori?" Rin questioned, seeing Haruka nod "He was just telling me how his swimming time has slowly been improving. It's good for him really, he thought he'd never improve"

"You don't really care, you're just being nice" Haruka grumbled, sinking down into the water.

Rin's eyebrow raised slightly, wondering where this rude attitude came from. He examined his friends expression to see him pouting, making Rin smirk and show his sharp teeth.

"Awww, is little Haru sulking because I'm not giving him all my attention?" Rin teased in a sickly sweet voice.

Haruka's eyebrows furrowed and he began to lift himself out of the pool, knowing Rin would just move out of the way. To his surprise, when he looked back up, the red head was only inches away from his face and still smirking. Haruka almost slipped back in from shock but Rin quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him up.

"When I get out of the pool you're ment to move" Haruka frowned, ripping his hand out of Rin's grip.

"Well you didn't answer my question, are you jealous because I have other friends then just you now?" Rin's smirk widened as Haruka stiffened slightly.

The raven haired teen said nothing and just walked in the lane next to him, getting up on the divers block "You said you wanted a race"

Rin sighed and stood on the diving block next to Haruka, then turned towards a tall brunet who was talking to a small blonde haired teen and a taller, blue haired teen.

"Oi, Makoto!" Makoto turned to him and gave him a questioning look "Time me and Haru would you?"

Makoto nodded and walked toward them, holding the stopwatch that was around his neck. He didn't bother getting another since their times were so close.

People stopped swimming and talking to see the two race each other, they all knew Rin was a great swimmer since he was previously on their team. But they also knew Haruka was just as good a swimmer since they've seen him swimming.

"All right..." Makoto said, holding up the stopwatch and keeping his finger on the large button "Ready...set...GO!"

The race ended like it always did, in a tie. Now the two teens were cleaning out the pool in Iwatobi with large nets and three giant bags of chlorine next to them. Makoto wanted to help, but he needed to babysit Ren and Ran since his parents were going out as soon as he got home.

Nagisa got out of it by saying he needed to study, which no one believed. But Rei backed him up by saying he was studying with Nagisa, since they were in the same class. They could all see this was true since Nagisa had such a sulky look on his face. Nagisa's grades had been going up lately, from D's to C's, sometimes even B's. Even though the blonde was grateful that Rei was helping him, he still whined about it.

Gou absolutely refused to help, saying it was a mans job and she didn't swim in the pool anyway. Rin was about to say how bullshit that was until she gave him a glare that clearly said; "I'll tell mum" making him shut up.

So Haruka and Rin were left with the job nobody wanted to do, and Haruka just stayed quiet as Rin talked about how annoying school was. The two of them almost had all the leaves out of the water and Haruka just wanted to put the chlorine in so he could finish and get home.

Rin stopped talking and looked up at the teen across the pool from him, seeing his deep concentration as he caught the leaves in the net.

"You know, you could always talk once in a while" the red head remarked, staring at Haruka.

"Nothing to talk about" he replied, still not looking up.

Rin smiled and sighed "Ever heard of making conversation? It's the polite thing to do"

"I don't need to be polite towards you"

"Jeez, such mean words. But I guess that's just you, you haven't changed at all"

"I have changed" Haruka stated "I'm taller and more muscular"

"I mean personality wise you idiot" Rin chuckled, seeing an annoyed look on his friends face for a split second and gone the next.

Finally getting the leaves out of the pool, Haruka walked over to the bags of chlorine and cut one of them open with scissors that were lying next to them. Rin stood behind him and watched as Haruka did this, he couldn't help but grin in amusement as the raven haired teen tried to pick the bag up.

"Do you need help with that? I am stronger than you, you know"

Haruka frowned, saying nothing and refusing to give in as he tried to pick it up once again. Failing again and hearing Rin's chuckling, he attempted it one more time and managed to pick the bag up. However, since the bag was so heavy, he began to lose his balance the second it was in his arms.

Rin stopped chuckling as he watched his friend stumbling backwards, thinking if he fell the bag would crush him and his head would probably crack open.

Haru gasped as he could feel himself about to land on his back, but was caught by a pair of strong arms before he did. The bag was dropped and chlorine powder spilled out of it.

Haruka was too distracted to notice though, as he was being held by Rin. Rin's arms were hooked around the teens stomach, and Haruka could feel the other's breath on his ear since they were so close.

Rin tsked and rested his chin on his friend's shoulder "I knew you needed my help, we both know you're not strong enough. Now you've just wasted it"

"Let me go" Haruka frowned, ignoring the tingly feeling in his stomach. He didn't know what it was, but he chose not to focus on it.

"No" Rin grinned, gripping the teen tighter.

This was normal. When they were kids the red head would cling to him, literally. Whenever Rin suggested Haruka should swim in the relay and Haruka said no, Rin would whine and wrap his arms around the other and continuously say "Haru, swim in the relay with me, Haru!" in an annoying voice until Haruka either squirmed out of it or Makoto broke them apart.

Makoto wasn't there though, so Haruka began to try and squirm out of it. It was much harder to get out of the teen's grip now though, since Rin was much more
muscular and stronger then when he was a child. Rin just laughed and squeezed him tighter, making Haruka struggle even more.

"Let me go Rin!"

"Not until you admit you need my help with the bags"

"Why would I admit to a lie?"

"You just fell back because you couldn't hold it, and you still think you can pick them up by yourself?"

"I know I can! I just picked it up wrong is all! Not like you can pick them up anyway!"

Rin thought about this for a moment, keeping his iron grip around Haruka while he continued to struggle.

"...well you'd be heavier then the bags, right?" Haruka said nothing as he was now trying to push the teen's arms off from around him instead of breaking out of them. "If I can pick you up then I can pick up the bags, doesn't that seem logical?"

Haruka frowned "You're not strong enough to-ah!" he gasped as Rin suddenly lifted him up, his feet now hovering above the ground. Rin smirked triumphantly as he held the teen off the ground.

"Ha! I told you I was stronger!" the red head laughed.

"R-Rin!" Haruka exclaimed, his back was full on pressed against Rin's body and he felt himself getting flustered for no reason "Put me down, now!"

Rin ignored him and laughed louder, still holding him up. He didn't notice the teen's slightly flushed face and wide, confused eyes.

"Rin!" Haruka hissed viciously, making Rin go silent from the harsh tone. The red head looked up and saw Haruka's hard, blue eyes glaring at him, making him instantly put the teen down.

Once Haruka was on the ground, he quickly walked over to the spilt bag of chlorine and lifted it upright. He was flustered and confused, willing himself to calm down and is face to go back to its normal colour. He didn't understand why he was feeling like this but he chose to just ignore the thought, maybe he was getting the flu? It seemed to be going around and it was only logical. But would the flu make Haruka's body burn in the places Rin touched?

Meanwhile, Rin was still standing there, shocked. Sure, Haruka was a serious guy, but he had never had so much venom in his voice. Especially not towards Rin. It made him wonder if his friend had changed after all.

Haruka looked at the amount of chlorine spilled, luckily it wasn't even a quarter of the amount in the bag and he attempted to pick it up again. Finally deciding there was no way on earth he'd be able to pick it up without straining himself, he turned to Rin and hesitantly asked for his help.

Rin blinked as he was interrupted from his thoughts, staring at the teen who refused to look him in the eye out of embarrassment. Rin just smiled and they both poured the bags or chlorine in the pool, both deciding to forget about what happened earlier.

When finally finishing the two of them walked half of the way home together, said goodbye, and parted ways.

The second Haruka got home he ran into the bathroom and turned on the taps to fill the bath, it still burned where Rin had touched him and he decided sitting in cool water would fix it.

Of course, it didn't. So Haruka sat in the bath for almost the whole night wondering why he felt so hot in a tub of cold water.

I hope you enjoyed that! The next chapter will be posted tomorrow! But if I don't have time it will be posted the day after. Review if you want but I am not too fussed about that, I just want you to enjoy the story!

Thanks for reading!