AN: Hello there! I was reflecting upon the current lack of RinHaru feels in the series, so I thought, if the anime doesn't, I'll give them to myself! And I'd love it if you joined me in this! Generally I'm not too into yaoi, but I'm a sucker for those two ^_^

Title: A pinch of jealousy
Rating: K+

Rin was sprayed on the couch on that Saturday afternoon. His mother had been complaining that although he was back from Australia, they didn't get to see him often, so he decided to take a break from Samezuka for the weekend and spend some time with family. There was literally no time to kill with prefecturals and –he almost had it for granted– nationals coming up but, well, she had been bugging him for a while and he knew she was right.

He was zapping on the TV, listening to Gou and his mother quarrel in the kitchen.

"Come on mom!"

"You're not going that late."

"But I'll be with Hana-chan!"

"Did you hear about that girl that was kidnapped the other day?"

"But-"

"I'm not letting you go! Unless…your brother comes along."

"Really? If Onii-chan comes too, I can go?"

"I guess so."

Gou ran in the living room, almost stumbling on the edge of the couch and bent above Rin's head. "Onii-chan, will you come with me at the festival tonight? Please?" she pleaded with puppy eyes.

He looked up at her and sighed. "Fine."

"Yay! Thank you!" She hugged him from the neck and pressed a peck on his cheek.

"Alright, stop that." He muttered exasperatedly.

"I'll go call Hana-chan that we're going!" she squeaked as she ran up the stairs and disappeared in her room.

Rin sat up, rubbing the back of his neck. As much as he loved his sister, hanging out alone with two girls talking about girly nonesense would bore the hell out of him. Maybe he could ask someone to come along and keep him company. He shook his head, thinking about it. Sosuke would probably have his everyday training and sleep in early. Besides, he could hang with him anytime.

No, there was another person he wished he could spend more time with.

He grabbed his phone from the table and searched in his contacts for Haru. Contemplating a little longer than he normally should, he texted Hey.

Before he could get mad at himself for taking so long to type three letters, his phone vibrated with a text from Haru, as though the other teen had been hanging above his phone. He glanced at the screen.

Hi.

So I'll go with Gou downtown tonight. Wanna come?

I can't.

Why?

We have an assignment for school.

Can't you do it tomorrow?

Makoto says we'll barely make it.

Good luck then whatever.

Wanna swim?

So you have time for that.

Later on?

Freak.

They strolled down the crowded street; Gou and Chigusa walking ahead, eating marshmallow sticks, while Rin followed at slug pace, hands in his pockets. Leisurely glancing over the stands across the street, he could catch random phrases of their conversation, which revolved around nail polishes and hairdos or something along those lines, matters that seemed to be of insurmountable importance to them.

"Say Gou-chan, wanna go shopping this Monday?"

"I can't. I have practice with the swim club."

The girl elicited a pout, which quickly turned into a sigh. "You're so lucky Gou-chan…wandering around men's muscles all the time…"

Gou squealed happily. "I know right?! Those guys' muscles are the real deal! Triceps, deltoids, abdominals…God knows how I'm not swooning over them!"

Rin coughed to remind them of his presence but apparently they were too absorbed by the conversation to care.

"So…do you like any of them?"

He rolled his eyes; now he was supposed to listen to his sister talking about the guys she liked?

"No. I'm their manager, I can't have this mindset." she explained, before she peered at her friend suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"

Chigusa averted her gaze. "Well…I might or might not like someone…."

"Really? Who is it? Who is it?" Gou's lids flickered curiously, inwardly placing her bets on Makoto.

The brunette bit her lip. "Nanase-senpai…"

At the sound of it, Rin almost forgot to keep walking.

"Haruka-senpai?"

"Like, doesn't he have the most beautiful eyes you have ever seen?"

Rin sped up until he reached them. "So…Haru huh?"

The girl nodded with a faint giggle.

He snorted, "Why?"

"He's cute…" she reasoned.

His mouth hung half open. "Eh?"

Gou watched them with a puzzled expression, her eyes darting from her brother to her friend and backwards.

"But he rarely speaks, y'know..."

"Well that makes him more mysterious! And it's challenging, to make a cold guy open up…" she admitted bashfully, her cheeks flushing in light pink.

Now Rin was ahead, facing her as he walked backwards. "And he's always talking nonsense about the water and how he wants to feel it. The guy is messed up in the head, really."

"Isn't he your friend, Rin-san?" she asked curiously, wondering why he was presenting him as a total weirdo.

"It's because he's my friend and I know him well that I'm warning you in advance." he muttered, crossing his arms behind his head.

"Still, I'd like to find out!" she turned to Gou, "Can I come along at a practice?"

"Sure. But just to let you know, he might not be interested."

"That's harsh, Gou-chan!"

"Alright alright, we don't know unless you try!"

They walked Chigusa at her house, then headed back home, Gou throwing random glimpses at him on their way.

"What?" he asked when he noticed.

"I was wondering why you said all that to Hana-chan today."

He shrugged nonchalantly. That was exactly what he had been wondering as well.

"Could it be that you like Hana-chan and you're jealous she likes Haruka-senpai?" she asked with a playful wink.

He scoffed. "Not at all. I just thought she should know what to expect." He glanced at her, then stared back ahead. "Besides, he should be focusing on improving his times and get scouted, otherwise his talent will go to waste. I don't think he has time for that."

"Well, with prefecturals coming up, I definitely won't let him slack off!" she exclaimed.

Rin chuckled at her determination, before he trailed off, lost in contemplation. He was surprised with himself, if not irritated, for being so worked up about Chigusa saying she likes Haru. Maybe because it was something new? Most people were fascinated by the way he swims, that was a fact, but he hadn't heard anyone expressing admiration about him as a guy and not as an athlete before.

Beautiful eyes… He didn't know about beautiful, but they certainly were captivating. Once your eyes were caught in the ocean of his, you couldn't just trail away without getting lost. Was it the intensity he gave off with a simple stare? He didn't know.

Cute? His mind would drift to Haru a little more than occasionally, but he never thought of him as cute. Maybe that time when they made him laugh the hard way –through tickling; it was loud and spontaneous and so unusual of him he couldn't help but smile at the memory. Again, the sight was cute, not Haruka. At least that's what he convinced himself about, annoyed that he was actually debating whether Haru was cute or not.

He was mysterious. Rin wasn't even near at seeing through him as well as Makoto could. Sometimes he wished he could tell what was behind that unwavering neutral expression. Maybe if he was a little more transparent they would have avoided some of the previous year's mess. Not that Haru was the one to blame about it, he knew well it was all his fault. It was him and his stupid issues.

And sure as hell he was challenging. Causing his stoic face to heat up with the thrill of competition –which only he seemed to be able to stir up– and tense with pants after a tough race…it was one of his favorites and he had to admit he took quite delight into this accomplishment.

Maybe it was not all that weird for someone to like Nanase Haruka after all.

He took his phone from his pocket.

You still want to swim?

It didn't take long for his phone to chime with a text back.

I'll be there in 30'

Rin chuckled to himself, thinking that he was a lot closer to Haru than this girl would ever get.

AN: Chapters will be small (sorry 'bout that) and won't necessarily pick up from where the previous one ended, but there will be a continuation.

So...any thoughts? :)