A/N: Yay! Another Free! fic! This time, it's a RinTori. I do love these two and I wanted to do something fun and cute! Therefore, this! Enjoy!

LonelyHearts2008

Practice ended as it usually did with Nitori doubting himself and cursing his bad timing and Rin just listening.

"I wish I was like you, Senpai. You're always so fast, no one can beat you," Nitori seemed to drone on.

Rin had been beaten before, but he didn't move to correct Nitori or argue with him.

"You just have to focus on what you can do," replied the redhead.

"I do, but it seems like my best isn't good enough."

In a way, Nitori reminded Rin of a past self, one filled with doubt and yearning to be the best. One that hated to lose and always strove to be the best in his class.

"Don't beat up on yourself, Nitori."

As they approached their room, Rin noticed something white on the door. It was an unmarked envelope, hastily taped to the middle of the door. He ripped it off, inspecting it for a name.

"Is it for you, Senpai?"

"One way to find out."

He tore open the envelope and a piece of paper fell to the ground. He carefully opened the top of the folded paper

A letter. Addressed for Nitori.

He handed it to the smaller boy. "It's for you."

"For me?" Nitori squeaked, opening the letter. He read it in silence as Rin opened the door.

"I-it's a love letter!"

"A love letter?!" Rin exclaimed in shock.

This was an all-boys school. Who the hell was leaving love letters for other boys? Rin was sure that there were some boys in Samezuka that prefered the company of men; hell, Rin himself was one of them, but it went unspoken. If someone had an inkling, it was never brought up. Someone, emboldened by lust, was leaving love letters?

"This had better be some kind of a joke," Rin thought.

"Do they go here?"

"It doesn't say. It must be a secret admirer," Nitori elaborated.

"Might be some guy playing a joke. I wouldn't worry about it."

Nitori sighed, laying the letter on the desk. "You're right, Senpai."

Rin was starting to wonder how long a joke could go on for. Said wondering was starting to piss him off. It had been two weeks.

Today, Nitori received yet another mysterious letter. Last week, a letter arrived after practice with flowers - roses.

Rin started to notice a pattern; every other day, Nitori's secret admirer would leave a letter taped to the door. On the days they had practice, a gift would be bundled with the letter. On the weekends, there were no letters.

"Do you still think it's a joke?" asked Nitori.

"If it is, they're taking it too far."

"Oh. They talked about you in the letter today, Senpai."

Rin's eyebrows knitted together in frustration. "What for?" he grumbled.

"They didn't say anything mean about you!" Nitori shamefully handed Rin the letter, pointing to a particular sentence.

"So, what do you see in that Rin guy anyways?"

The redhead gnashed his teeth. That was mean enough.

"If I find out who's leaving these letters, I'm going to kill that motherfucker."

Rin stood up to return to his own bunk. "Tomorrow, we're going to wait for him."

"What!?" Nitori cried.

"We're going to see once and for all who's leaving you these messages."

Nitori, though not visible to Rin, shook his head. "But, Senpai -"

"No buts. We're going on a stake out tomorrow. Good night, Ai."

Unable to argue any longer, Nitori accepted his fate. "Alright. Good night."

Just as he said, Rin dragged Nitori out the next day beneath the stairs - although they were skipping practice to do this - to see just who was Nitori's secret admirer.

"Why are we doing this, Senpai?" whispered the younger.

Why was he doing this? He and Nitori were just roommates, friends even. So why did he feel so compelled to see who this dude was?

"Don't you want to see who this guy is?" asked Rin.

"A little bit, but I don't think we should do it like this."

"Well, how else should we do it?"

To that, Nitori had no response.

"That's what I thought. Now, what I need you to do is go inside the room, then leave and walk down to the vending machines. I'll call you when I see someone. Also, if you run into the captain, I'll bail you out."

An elaborate mission just to find out who was leaving love letters? Nitori thought this was unnecessary, but Rin would chew him out if he resisted, so off he went to put the plan in motion.

Rin watched the door vigilantly as Nitori made his unassuming way down the hallway, cell phone clutched in his hand.

"I don't like this at all, love letters and asking him what he sees in me," Rin thought with a grimace.

"But...what does Nitori see in me?"

Nitori was rather put-upon, and Rin hadn't been the nicest to him at first, but the boy was always there for him. He was the closest thing Rin had to a friend at Samezuka, and he did like the kid, but...

Wait. He liked Nitori? Well, yes. He did. Nitori never did anything wrong to him. They'd shared some personal moments, trained together...showered together...Rin had a lot of time to make up with Nitori - no, Ai, and if it meant protecting him from a potential stalker, then this would have to do.

"But, why? Why am I so worried about someone who likes Nitori?"

Rin's heart clenched with...worry?

"What if the guy wants to meet him and the kid ends up liking him back? What if they get together? What if...the guy's waiting to find Nitori without me with him!? And I sent him off alone like an idiot!"

Rin sprinted from his hiding spot, somehow having worked himself into panic.

Nitori sat idly near the machines, just like Rin had told him to. Had he found out who it was yet? He just wanted to go back inside and he didn't want to risk Mikoshiba catching him outside of practice. He'd have his hide for not showing up.

Suddenly, he heard running and screaming.

"Ai!"

"Senpai?"

Nitori rose from the bench, staring at the winded redhead.

"We've got to stick together. What if this guy's a stalker or something?" Rin said.

"What made you think of that?" questioned Nitori.

"Don't worry about it. Let's just go back."

On the way back, Rin, once again, spotted a note taped to the door.

"Fuck! He must have come after I ran to get you!"

"Why did you come to get me, Senpai?"

Rin remained silent, snatching the letter off the door.

"I mean, what if you met his creepy ass and started liking him back!?"

"Well, what's wrong with that?"

Rin sighed in exasperation. "You really need to choose people wisely! What if he's a stalker, Ai? Stalkers aren't cool!"

"Would you rather I choose you then, Senpai?" Nitori asked.

Slowly, Rin turned to face Nitori, aghast.

No, he wasn't mad at Nitori. He was mad at himself. Nitori pegged it just right.

He wanted Nitori. He wanted Nitori to choose him.

"Senpai?"

"That's it."

"What's it?" Nitori asked, voice trembling with fear.

"That's why I'm doing this," Rin said, leaning against the door. "I wanted you to choose me over this supposed 'admirer'."

"Senpai, I'd always pick you. I've admired you for a long time."

Rin pressed his forehead into Nitori's shoulder.

"Took you long enough to realize it," Nitori teased.

"Ai...I'm sorry...If I had known all this time -"

"No. You had your own things you needed to work through. I was content with admiring you from a distance."

"But, I was such a dick to you," Rin muttered.

"You have time to make it up to me, right, Rin-senpai?"

Rin rested his hands on Nitori's shoulders, smiling gently. "All the time in the world."

Just as he leaned in for a kiss, just as Nitori rose to the tips of his toes to meet him, someone began to speak.

"So, I see you found the letters."

The two looked up at the source in shock.

"Haru!?"

"Nanase-senpai?'

"What the hell are you doing here?" Rin cried, hands tightening on Nitori's shoulders.

"Senpai, you're hurting me..."

"What do you mean? I'm just having a little fun," Haruka said nonchalantly.

Rin let go of Nitori, slowly advancing on his friend. "Haru... were you the one writing those letters?" he asked menacingly.

"And if I were?" replied Haruka as the others finally caught up.

"There you are!" Makoto breathed, pulling Haruka back by hem of his shirt.

"Why would you do that!?"

A devilish smile spread across Haruka's face. "You looked thirsty."

"You fucking bastard!" Rin cried, lunging for Haruka. "I'll kill you!"

Nagisa cheered as Rin chased Haruka. "Go, Haru!"

"No!" cried Makoto. "No, don't 'go, Haru'! Haru! Stop making trouble! Get back here!"

"Senpai! Don't hurt him!"

"Haru!"