Credits: Thank you so much to kleonlumi, grimwoode & Annie The Gamer for beta reading

Disclaimer: Nah, Free! ain't mine; sheesh!

A Matter of Taste

Fear spurred Haru's feet forward, notwithstanding the six shopping bags encumbering his hands. The blaring sirens of ambulances and fire engines assaulted his ears, further antagonizing his syncopated heartbeat. Scarf fluttering behind him, he cast a restless glance left and right with each hasty step. Still, he failed to find what he was searching for, and cold sweat broke down his temple. He had been comparing the mackerels for succulence at the supermarket nearby when a thunderous noise split every shopper's ears. Judging from the sweltering air and the rising smoke that mingled with clouds, fire had started to raze the place he had left Rin some twenty minutes prior.

The previous evening, Rin's favorite mug had slipped from Haru's soapy hand and shattered against the kitchen sink. It was for this reason, along with grocery shopping, that they visited the town arcade that afternoon. With them hitting the forties, going out truly felt leisurely. No one recognized them as gay athletes anymore, unlike when they had still been in their twenties and regarded as Japan's top swimming medalists.

After two hours of comparing items in the home decor and kitchen utensil stores, they sauntered down an avenue of illuminated trees. That was when one of the shirts on a shop's window display had caught Rin's attention. However, on the way to the cashier, they bumped into Gou's parents-in-law, and Mr. Hanamura asked for Rin's suggestions about which clothes to buy. That became Haru's cue to leave.

Whenever Chigusa's parents met Haru, they would greet him with a perfunctory hello, and then ignored him to coddle Rin. It wasn't hard for Haru to figure out why: the Hanamuras loved Rin to the extent of wishing they could have him as a son-in-law and beget biological grandchildren from the next-to-nothing chance for a marriage between Rin and their only daughter. Rather than the reason to stop, Chigusa and Gou's wedding had served as the beginning of their not-so-covert endeavors to hook her up with Rin. Years of countless dinner invitations (which resulted in over ninety percent of Haru and Rin's rejections) were the mildest of such attempts. The time they made Gou persuade Rin to join them in an amusement park visit, only to separate Chigusa from Gou to pair up with Rin on roller coaster and haunted house … that was by far not the worst. Thus, to vex the Hanamura couple in return, Haru pecked Rin on the cheek when he told his husband that he'd go ahead to the greengrocer's despite not being a fan of public display of affection.

As for the affection in private, that was an entirely different story. It was a good thing that Rin didn't mind Haru curling up to him while they watched TV together because when Haru was in the mood for skinship, he clung to Rin no less persistently than a young koala to its mother. Not that seducing Rin required any special effort in the first place. Take the daily hugs and kisses in the kitchen while Haru cook in his usual apron, for instance.

Then there was also last week's closet sexcapade. With the button coming off while Haru bent to pick the scattered magazines from the floor, he took off his trousers. He was climbing the second step of the short ladder, hand fumbling for the sewing kit on the top shelf, when Rin entered their bedroom. "Nice view" was the only warning he received before the other man's face invaded the cleft between his buttocks. The next thing he knew, Rin's hands slid his boxers down his bare thighs. The tongue came next, followed by a pair of returning hands that fondled his sac and stroked his length. Naturally, the trail of kiss marks around his nape and the push of his spouse's cock between his thighs as he stood against the closet door became an inevitable outcome. On the other hand, bouncing up and down Rin's lap in the bathtub before his partner even finished shampooing his hair was entirely Haru's idea. The discomfort from the bubbles and suds on his head proved to be more than worth it: Rin's enthrallingly flushed expression and sweaty skin while Haru impaled his ass on his husband's cock and Rin's lava-hot semen erupting inside him were enough incentive for another encore.

At present, in an attempt of dispelling the memory from invading his thoughts, Haru veered left to avoid the couple in matching sweaters knitted with reindeer pattern. He then dodged to the right to avoid a scrambling toddler. Nonetheless, he failed to avoid tumbling down the slippery sidewalk when melted snow tripped his feet. He trudged his way against the thronging last-minute Christmas shoppers as well as the streaming firefighters and paramedics like a fish opposing the water current. The clothing store that was just a stone's throw away felt as though it had gained a trifold distance.

Screams and wails had insidiously penetrated Haru's eardrums before his feet carried him to the street where he had last seen Rin. The tumult filled the void of his troubled mind, eliciting shudders from the core of his being. A jolt of fresh panic lanced through him and knots of anxiety twisted his stomach. Upon reaching his destination, he discerned that although the gas leak had originated from the café next to the clothing store, the stores on the café's immediate left and right were charred and the neighboring shops were covered in soot. Policemen pushed back the bystanders from approaching too closely. Ambulances were sending stretchers back and forth, debris crunching under the paramedics' boots with each hurried stride. Five people draped in comforters were huddled together by the nearest rescue vehicle, yet Rin was not among them.

"Thankfully this one isn't as bad as the Kaohsiung gas explosion in 2014," one of the bystander told his friend. "Back then, the blasts ripped up roads and overturned cars and fire trucks. Man, it was crazy! Electrical blackouts everywhere. And I even saw a street split along its length, swallowing fire trucks and other rescue vehicles."

The firefighter captain signaled his team to follow him rescue those who were still trapped underneath the rubbles. Chewing his lip, Haru stared at what used-to-be the windows on the second and third floors. If the panini he had eaten that afternoon turned out to be his last lunch together with Rin…

Nausea took possession over Haru, urging him to retch the contents of his stomach. A wail tore from the crowd when an ambulance stretcher carrying the body of a man in his mid-thirty passed by. A woman, younger than him by few years, dashed forward and embraced his unmoving form, her cry growing louder as soon as she found out he was no longer breathing.

A breeze whipped around the bystanders, moaning and whining. Somewhere in the background, a little kid asked, "Dad, will mom and Minori be okay? What if they get caught in that—"

"Ssh, Minako, we mustn't lose hope. Let's pray for their safety," a masculine voice responded. The voice sounded steady enough, but when Haru glimpsed at the speaker, the man's face was ashen-pale.

Haru's trembling fingers rubbed against the custom-made platinum ring that Rin had selected for their wedding. Snow drifted down from the funereal sky once again. Around him, people shouted and cried. Some were relieved when their loved ones came out with only minor injuries. Yet a strange sense of emptiness dwelled within him.

With Rin training in Australia, Haru used to feel incomplete during his middle school years. Then after they became lovers and went on their separate ways, the feeling of missing a part of himself grew only stronger. Getting back together with Rin was the best decision Haru ever made and, over the years, he had grown accustomed to Rin's presence. Would life still hold its meaning for him when he could no longer caress Rin's wine-colored hair, snuggle in Rin's irresistible chest, and lie next to Rin's sleeping figure?

Even their petty quarrels would be much preferable at the moment. Yet Rin could never quarrel with him anymore. Not now. Not later. Not ever.

Tomorrow would never come for Rin.

Inside Haru, emerged a hollow that he could not patch. It started as a little prick that soon grew like the single drop of black ink diffusing through the water in a beaker, rapidly tainting it dark. Having seeped in through Haru's pores and flowed in his veins, it hardened in his bones and turned his blood into tar pooling underneath his skin. Heavy and curdling, the deadly fluid spouted an inconsolable notion: his soul mate was forever gone.

The scythe of Haru's thoughts lopped through all the tendrils of hopes left within him. It rushed through his being, instilling him with loneliness despite the ebbing and flowing of the crowd around him. Amid the multicolored Christmas baubles, tinsels, and lights, the shopping district bore the desolation of a desert to him. As he stared blankly into space, the conversations around him died out to his ears, and the beat of his pulse drumming against his chest grew louder and louder until it became the sole sound in that street. Why couldn't the snow bury the mounting devastation within him and turn his mind into a blank slate of white?

Haru knew he'd have to leave eventually, to return to an empty house, to find Rin's footwear lying side-by-side with his own inside the shoe cabinet while knowing that two pairs of shoes wouldn't go out together anymore. Then there were Rin's toothbrush and other toiletries, all laid next to his own on the bathroom washbasin, but their owners could no longer do their hygiene routines in-between slurred good mornings and extensive cuddles. Even the matching pair of crockery in the kitchen would deny him further opportunities to share meals with Rin. Every little thing in what used to be their loving home would doom him to continue livingto face the bitter tomorrows while serving as a constant reminder of the yesterdays that had slipped through his fingers.

The moment Haru had cut all ties with Rin, nine years prior, he became a bloom that regressed back into a closed bud. Within it, he concealed his physical and psychological scars. The bud never blossomed again until he became reunited with Rin five years later. If he were to endure another living hell of Rin's absence…

"Haru!"

Haru hesitated in the space of a heartbeat. It was the same voice he heard the moment we woke up each morning and the last he heard before he closed his own each night. Daring to hope once more, he turned around. He didn't use to believe the saying "I'm so happy I could die" until his eyes met a pair of brilliant red ones. A long time ago, Rin had promised Haru the sight he had never seen before, and today Rin had given him the best sight he could have asked for: underneath the shower of snowflakes, the figure he had ached to see most was standing some eleven feet away, cheeks flushed and breath laborious from running.

"I was looking for you. I dialed your number several times, but you didn't pick up … so, I thought you must have left the phone in the car or—"

Haru darted forward, punctuating Rin's sentence by snatching his spouse in an embrace. The firm touch of Rin's flesh against his own, the scents of Rin's shampoo and fabric detergent, the sound of Rin's heartbeat … they all were indeed not a dream. Sinking in his beloved Rin's arms, he drifted off into blissful delirium. A zillion thoughts swirled in Haru's elatedly numb brain. He tightened his hug, mouth capable of articulating only a single demand: "Don't go anywhere without me."

Rin looked too stunned to answer with his widened eyes and parted lips. Haru knew that, out of consideration for him, his partner refrained himself from showing excessive intimacy in public. Yet here he was the one initiating an overt amount of skin contact. He couldn't help it. Until just seconds prior, he had been clambering his way through the deepest pit of despair, yet now, he was soaring on cloud nine. The burden in him evaporated and his spirit broke free from the path of misery. It was as though his heart had swelled with such unadulterated joy that it overflowed from his chest, spilling from his throat. All just from learning that Rin was still breathing.

Then Rin's arms found their way around Haru's back. Rin kissed the top of Haru's head, inhaling his scent as he murmured, "Leaving you? You know too damn well I failed to live without you. Like hell I'm gonna give it another try."

Haru didn't notice that people had been staring at them—two men, ripe with age, leaning against each other's body with entwined arms, shopping bags scattered around their feet in the middle of the sidewalk—until he and Rin had pulled away from each other. Not that Haru minded spotting the Hanamura couple among the bystanders, eyeing him with a look that might or might not be interpretable as Pity, he survived.

The ride home was a quiet one. Since Rin had driven on their outbound journey, it was now Haru's turn behind the steering wheel. He relapsed into his habitual state of pensiveness amid the soothing aroma of their sakura-scented car freshener. The vehicle progressed past buildings and trees in the stillness of the fading day and, after ten uneventful minutes glided by, Haru sensed another of Rin's stares lingering on him—his doting husband had so often gazed at him when they were reading or watching DVDs.

When Haru looked back, he found a pair of eyes regarding him like the most enticing treasure in the whole world.

"What?"

You're beautiful was what Rin's affectionate eyes conveyed. It wouldn't be something that a forty-year-old Olympian retiree could readily believe, except that the gazer had always looked his way with the same fascination for the last three decades.

However, when Rin opened his mouth, it pronounced, "So, did you manage to pick up some New Year cards?"

From Rin's light tone, it was apparent he was expecting a "no" from Haru. He couldn't have not noticed that the number of shopping bags that Haru carried was still the same as when they had parted at the clothing store. They should have gone stationery shopping afterwards, but Haru had no other desire in mind than to go home and cuddle skin-to-skin with his beloved spouse in their bed … or maybe right after their front door clicked close behind them, if they couldn't make it that far. At any rate, if Rin dared to use this verbal exchange as a bait for some sort of trick, Haru would love to see him try.

Without taking his gaze off the road, Haru feigned ignorance and shook his head. "I was planning to go to the stationery store with you after the supermarket, but I abandoned my shopping cart in the nearest aisle as soon as I heard the explosion."

Rin chuckled. "You might as well. I doubt you know which cards would suit our friends and relatives even after all these years, since I clearly have better taste than you."

"You do not," Haru denied with a sharp edge in his tone, a little too fast for a casual reply.

Rin wiggled his eyebrows. "Sure I do. I married you; you married me."

Without further warning, Haru pulled over. It was a blessing he had a poker face because Rin's rather panicky tone when he said, "Er, Haru…" was hilarious.

Once the car was safely tucked in the road curb, Haru unfastened his seat belt and sidled to the passenger seat to straddle Rin.

"Haru?"

Giving Rin no chance to talk any further, Haru lowered his face to catch the unspoken words against Rin's tongue with the weight of his mouth.

Relief washed over Haru when he felt the tender touch of Rin's mouth against his own. He had held that kiss back since he'd learned of his beloved's survival in the middle of a street full of people, so it might turn out to be too greedy for Rin's comfort. Nevertheless, since Rin was now responding with equal ardency, Haru ventured further by tracing his tongue along the seam of Rin's lip, prompting his partner to allow it to enter. Rin welcomed it with his own as Haru curled his arms around Rin's broad shoulders. They pulled apart for a fraction of a second before Rin, who was adorably flushed and still breathing hard below, stole another kiss from him.

"I love you … so fucking in love with you," Rin moaned between their torrid kisses, just as urgently as he had been amid the shadows of the lockers in Samezuka's chlorine-pervaded changing room, as solemnly as right after they exchanged vows in the presence of the Shinto priest and their wedding guests, and as passionately as in the privacy of their shared bedroom.

How Haru yearned to tell Rin that the sentiment was mutual! There was no one else in the universe whom he held dearer than Rin, but with his personality, this was impossible to express. No matter how he longed to put those feelings into words, he always ended up getting abjectly, mortifyingly tongue-tied. How many times had he choked on those emotions?

Then an idea struck Haru: he could tell Rin without letting his partner hearing that statement. He rolled his tongue while tracing shapes onto the word "aishiteru."

How Rin understood the non-verbal message Haru was conveying while they made out Haru had no clue, but a radiant smile shone upon his partner. Naturally, Haru had to avert his eyes from Rin's overjoyed expression, burying his face in the slope between Rin's neck and shoulder. Why did his stupid husband have to make such a big deal out of everything?

"You'd better not say anything," Haru mumbled, his voice muffled by the collar of Rin's coat.

Even though Rin failed to hide his enraptured smile, he challenged, "I'll be the judge of that."

At the disapproving glare that Haru cast Rin, his grin broadened. His hands fondled Haru's buttocks as he teased, "What will I get for my hush money?"

When Rin wore that face, he looked annoyingly gorgeous. Thinning hair and age lines might have settled down his features, but little they could do to negate Haru's never-ending captivation. After all, this was Rin. The same Rin who pestered him with races since they had barely known each other until they had retired from professional swimming. The same Rin who had crawled his way back to find Haru when Haru had disappeared on him for five long years. The same Rin who had been pampering him day and night in their cozy little house.

Haru forced himself to take a pause, as if he had to think it over even though he perfectly knew what Rin desired. It was what Haru himself coveted, as if he weren't already craving the sensation of Rin's lips, his alluring fingertips, and the sensation of their two hearts beating so closely together. "Do as you will with me."

Years of cohabitation taught Rin to bite his own lip to force back the bubble of ecstatic laughter that would humiliate Haru and ruin the romantic mood between them. Instead, he put his finger under Haru's chin, so Haru was looking down into his eyes. Rather than pulling Haru close, he pushed himself toward Haru, allowing their mouths to meet enthusiastically once more. Every movement they made brought them closer to bliss and farther from the merciless world outside their car.

After they broke apart, Rin cajoled with a cheeky wink, "Wow, if this is what I get each time I compliment you, I guess I should buy a book on compliments."

"Idiot." Haru chided without making an attempt to tear himself from Rin.

"Your idiot."

"Mine," Haru agreed.

Out of the millions of souls that populated the planet, the one Haru loved with all his heart had been infatuated with him since the age of ten and considered his taste to be a superior because he married Haru rather than the other way around. In this regard, Haru felt luckier than his significant other—not that he planned to tell Rin any of it. Pushing Rin back until he leaned against the seat's backrest, Haru started kissing the love of his life again.

THE END

More details about how Rin and Haru became a couple can be read in my older fic called A Mizuchi's Royal Consort, how they used to quarrel in Shark Teeth, how they broke up and made up in Ennui's End, and their domestic marriage life in In Saecula Saeculorum.