Author's Note: Obligatory explanation time. I hate to have short chapters like several of these are going to be, but the breaks made sense to me, so apologies on that front. The timeline is a bit wonky due to my floundering so ignore that, but it follows the plot pretty closely for the most part. Other than that, there isn't much to say so enjoy and tell me whatcha think!

Seijuurou was surprised to see an unfamiliar redhead carrying a box into the room a few doors down. He'd thought people had finished moving in a couple of weeks before. Apparently he was wrong. Curiously, he ventured to the newcomer's doorway and knocked on the frame to announce his presence.

A strange grunt/snarl combination escaped the new kid as he started and dropped the box on his foot. "Damn it!" he hissed, turning angry-looking red eyes to the swim captain. "What?" he snapped.

Sei blinked in surprise at the harsh reaction. "Uh, hey. I just saw that you were moving in and thought I would say hi. Sorry about your, uh, foot."

The apology seemed to snap the younger boy out of his annoyance. He sighed. "No, I'm sorry. It's just been stressful and that hurt. Can we try that again? I'm Rin Matsuoka."

"Seijuurou Mikoshiba," the orange-haired student grinned. "You wanna go get dinner sometime?"

And that got a look of surprise from Rin. "As in . . ."

"A date. You're cute," Seijuurou explained with a shrug. "Thought it was worth asking."

"Are you always this blunt?" Rin asked with a breathy chuckle. His mind was in a state of disbelief that this guy was being so forward. Not that he was complaining, mind. He was quite attractive and obviously was in some kind of sport. Probably swimming since this is Samezuka, Rin thought.

"Pretty much. So do you want to? It's cool to say no; I get it."

"Come back in an hour so I can unpack," Rin smirked.

That cute grin was back on the taller student's face. "Awesome! I'll see you then."

Maybe this won't be so bad . . .

Much to Rin's surprise, that date led to another and another until it was safe to say that they were a couple. Due to his . . . particular history that he didn't want to talk about, Rin was a rather private person, so the pair kept the details of their involvement quiet. Not secret, but they didn't go around yelling that they were together. Everyone else just assumed that the enthusiastic captain had simply become good friends with the moodier teen. To Rin, The taste of his failure in Australia was still foul on his tongue, but the cheerful boy—who Rin discovered wasn't just on the swim team, he was the captain—helped keep his mind off of it. Until he heard that the old swim club was going to be torn down, that is.