Hi guys! :) I decided to get some of my stuff into this lovely fandom by whipping up some RinHaru fanfiction :D Although it's my first time, I know you guys are gonna be sweet and supportive about it 3 I actually posted it onto my tumblr (same username: shizuumi151) first and then AO3 ( /works/1061794), and then I realised I'd forgotten to put it here :)

There are some themes in here that may be a little mature besides the future smex, and no gore or violence cuz I would never be able to stomach that sort of thing let alone write it.

And most of all, I'd like to thank the amazingly wonderful person and Rinharu fic writer dreamxxdream for being my beta-reader! Honestly if she didn't help me throughout the way, this drabble may have never seen the light of the internet. Check out her fic here if you haven't already, it's gorgeous and multichaptered and everything :D

If you like my fic, I'd love to hear your thoughts and comments :)

Iwatobi was nestled between the fresh vitality of spring and the radiant warmth of summer: rays of light danced and pierced foliage as they rustled with the brush of a gale, scattering pinpoints on the clean, light gravel. It invaded the tranquil ambience and made the island crystalline and vivid. The sea's salty scent wafted throughout the suburbs, injecting a peaceful energy consonant with the quaint wooden installations and low-rise buildings dotted all over Iwatobi. There wasn't a soul in sight, yet the island had never looked more alive.

Haru absorbed the scenery as he sat on the porch in warm silence, droplets of water latching along his hair from his slaking, long bath. He had tossed on a faded purple hoodie with the sleeves rolled up and had changed into dry jammers

(The one that had the purple lines follow his hipbones; he didn't spend much time choosing)

His face made a makeshift cushion out of his crossed arms, and his body slouched in on itself. But he radiated with this energy, this unseen force instilled in the atmosphere.

He had always enjoyed the view his house offered. There was a maze of pavements that comfortably melded to the island border, that juxtaposed buildings and stairs placed so that no two were quite on the same level. Beyond that, there was a sweeping view of the dynamic, impermeable glaze of the sea, a brilliance which found a way to be reborn in Haru's blessedly blue eyes. It was massive, untouchable, and too far away from him. He gradually reached out his hand towards the vista, like a child fascinated with everything prancing out in a 3D movie theatre.

Always moving, yet always immaculate.

People never asked Haru why he had such a fixation with water (at least never to his face). If anyone wanted to sate their curiosity, Haru would easily give them reasons (albeit quickly; talking needlessly was time-consuming)

Water never discriminated him.

It sustained myriads of lifeforms: from the glowing rainbow of marine life flowing along with the depths of the sea to the bristly cacti that will never grace a body of water that offered more than sparse rain in its lifetime. And it could snuff life out all the same, suffocating without hesitation. It was accepting of all and none. Water didn't pore over your troubles or happiness; it drowned out the meaningless commotion, the external senses, and it consumed the body in soothing encapsulation.

Water ensnared him.

Something more profound than a moth to a flame. How it was simultaneously so accepting, adapting, yet spontaneous: water could be smooth to the brush of a tentative finger, or unforgivingly hard at the smack of a poor dive. It could warm the soul and tantalise the skin, or chill the bone unforgivingly, surging from the dip of the toes up to the tips of every hair, sending waves of goosebumps along its slick wake.

Water mesmerised him.

It transformed constantly; still rivers, pelting rain, dripping faucets, rushing gorges.

All the while possessing a wicked clarity

How many possible states of being could it seamlessly adopt? When would water ever exhaust its...that sometimes docile, other times bursting magnetism?

...like that beautiful waterfall…

The background cry of a seagull washed over his senses, pulling him back onto the porch.

He noticed his arm was still outstretched towards the sea.

His fingers lingered...and he tucked his hand back into his curled body. He blinked once...twice...then rose slowly out of his stupor.

He stood with the fluidity that naturally latched onto his every motion, but it was more deliberate than usual. He ignored the backache that blossomed from gazing at the sea.

...I'm hungry...There should be some mackerel left…

Haru's feet patted softly against the tatami. He slid open the shoji and opened the refrigerator snug against the left of the stove.

"All out." Haru frowned minutely. I'll have to buy some.

His eyebrows knitted together as he turned to glance at the calendar.

I wanted to stay in until practice too...

He huffed.

How annoying.

He shut the refrigerator door and made his way through the house to his room.

Today was actually Thursday. In the morning when Makoto came to pick Haru up, he told him about missing school today.

"Eh? That's strange. Do you not feel well, Haru?" Makoto tilted his head at Haru who was soaking pensively in the bath. Nothing had seemed different, but Haru's sudden statement had unearthed some of his unease for Makoto to see.

"Yeah," he muttered, "Tell Amakata-sensei for me," He receded into the water until its surface stroked his lower lip. "Please."

Makoto's eyebrows raised. Haru wasn't rude per se, but he was certainly more forthright when he wanted something. And he usually never played hooky. The strange request and the tacked-on courtesy made the gears move inside Makoto's head, clicking as he drew in a small breath.

Oh...It's that time again, isn't it?...

It couldn't have lasted longer than a second before his gently chiding smile returned.

"Alright." Makoto started to head out, "I'll bring back any homework we have later." He leaned back through the doorway again. "Will you come to practice today?"

"Yeah. I'll be there."

"Okay then." Concern weaved into Makoto's voice. "Feel better, Haru-chan."

"Will you ever stop adding the -chan?" Haru wondered with unconvincing irritation, chipping his stoicism away.

Makoto giggled.

"Sorry, sorry." he apologised half-heartedly.

Haru studied the warm bathwater playing in the locks of sunlight for a moment before turning to address Makoto in the eye for the first time since he came to check on him.

"Thanks, Makoto."

Makoto opened his eyes from laughing to reveal a little twinkle with his cordial smile.

"Don't mention it." he insisted politely before clicking the door to leave Haru with his peace.

Haru stared at the surface of his bathtub while listening to Makoto's padded steps fade into familiar quietude. He stilled for a count of 10 before he reclined completely, allowing the water to sheathe him from his lips to tickling his scalp and teasing out his hair. His whole body was receptive to each wave of the water as he floated in his peaceful abyss; the cold light of the bathroom mingled together with the fading warmth of the bathwater.

He absent-mindedly contemplated how his loose sheets of homework weren't on his bedside table any longer as he rummaged around in his closet.

Makoto...

He threw on black board shorts, pocketing his wallet and zipping his hoodie up unhurriedly.

15 minutes there and back.

Haru treaded down the stairs.

30 minutes for mackerel.

He slowed for a moment as his featured twisted a little. He sneezed. He mused, out of sorts, before continuing on down. He slipped on flip flops and clicked the door open. The pouring sunlight made him squint a bit before he ambled to the grocery store.

Should be enough time.
_

"Oi, Makoto."

Rin's strident words cut cleanly through the amicable quiet in the locker room, save for the comforting background bickering between Nagisa and Rei and the splashes and whistles between the Samezuka and Iwatobi swim teams out at the pool. Makoto had went in to get a drink and Rin followed suit to ask something that had been nagging at him throughout practice. Rin stripped off his swim cap, ruffling his hair to shake out excess pool water. Makoto's mouth popped from his bottle and he pulled up his head to meet Rin's hard leer with a look of mild surprise.

"What is it, Rin?"

"Where's Haru?"

"Oh." This was bound to have come up some time. He patiently smiled up at him. "Haru doesn't feel well today, actually. But he's coming to practice later."

Rin raised an eyebrow and frowned in disbelief.

"He's going to come swim even though he's unwell?" Rin asked bluntly.

"No, well...He's not sick, he just doesn't feel well today."

"He's half an hour late."

He masked his sensitivity with harsh words.

(Ever the romantic.)

He didn't doubt how Haru would uphold his promise to swim for the team,

(To swim together.)

but to miss an opportunity to swim was like deciding not to breathe for Haru.

Makoto tried to sidestep directly telling the truth as he opened his mouth, but Rin's confused and determined expression that needed more elaboration than a repeat compelled him to withdraw in thought for a moment. Rin's scowl ebbed away, revealing his disturbance. Makoto looked down, thumbing his bottle absently and looked up at Rin again as he asked himself the eternal question.

Would this be best for him?

He slowly reasoned to himself that out of everyone here, Rin would understand the most. Surely.

Not even Nagisa or Rei know...But, it's Rin, not some stranger.

Makoto opened his mouth once uselessly, then found resolve at the second time, words coming out calmly.

"...Today is the anniversary..."

Is this the right way to put it?

"...Of Haru's grandma's death."

He looked to the side after getting the awkward wad of words out, narrowly missing Rin's face break out into sombre revelation.

"...So that's what it was..." Rin stared at the splashes on the linoleum. A moment passed. The air held a bit more import; a whistle blew and a splash resounded in the distance as the next lap of training went by. ("Come on, let's pick up the pace!" Seijuurou's boisterous voice boomed) "But at this rate he's gonna miss practice..."

"He did say that he would come." Makoto said thoughtfully, "I didn't expect him to be this late, honestly."

"I can go get him."

That brought Makoto's head round, but it was so extraordinarily muted, so unlike Rin, that it could have been from outside. He was still facing the ground with an earnest intensity when Makoto tried to search for the reason behind his unexpected inquisition.

An offer like this would usually be seen as intrusive into Haru's personal life, but between Makoto and Rin, both had lost someone close in their lives. Both were intimately

(unfairly)

familiar with the workings of loss. Where bouts of emotion that seemed out of place were not unprecedented at all, where something unexplainably raw reopened the wounds that time had supposedly heal. And both understood that what would be better for a person who thought he had stopped grieving, and that was a fine balance between self-reflection and expending this...an anxiety, outside in activity than bottling it. Even for a practiced master of introspection.

(One Haruka Nanase.)

Both knew. But Makoto felt he could never hold a candle to Rin, what Rin had gone through at a tender age.

So when Rin met his focus, between a silent treaty of understanding and trust, that was when Makoto passed on an unspoken torch of responsibility to Rin with his trademark, benign smile.

"Okay, Rin. I'll explain to the captain where you went."

"Aren't you the captain for Iwatobi though?" Rin asked; a little smirk played at his lips that didn't reach all the way through to his eyes.

A blink, followed by a chuckle. "I guess you're right." Makoto stood finally, and turned to look at the clock above the lockers. "You should be able to make it back in time." he said as Rin quickly dried himself off with his red towel. "If you don't though, it's okay." he reassured Rin as he was putting on his red-collared, black Samezuka polo and grey trousers.

"Why wouldn't I make it back?" Rin asked, as he muffled the jangles of his keys and wallet in his pocket.

"I don't know." Makoto answered honestly with a little shrug and smile. He received a confused pout from Rin before he left to get Haru.

"Rin-chan! Mako-chan~!" Nagisa bounded into the locker room with split-second timing, along with Rei following suit.

"Nagisa-kun, that's rude! And don't run like that, you'll slip!"

"Hey, Nagisa, Rei." Makoto continued on genially.

"Hello, Makoto-senpai." Rei readjusted his glasses, polite as ever but still shot Nagisa a disapproving look.

"Are you guys okay? You were in here a while. Eh?" Nagisa put a hand over his eyes and scanned the room comically. "Where did Rin-chan go?"

"He went to get Haru."

Nagisa and Rei looked at Makoto at the simple, eye-opening statement.

"But...I thought Haruka-senpai was unwell," Rei voiced his disquiet with a faint question mark, propping up his glasses. "And it's halfway through practice. Would it be wise to get him to swim?"

"Yeah! He wasn't on the roof at lunch today." Nagisa had his fists balled up in front of his chest, and his cheeks puffed in worry. "Plus, don't you usually go coddle Haru-chan?"

"He did say that he would come to practice today," Makoto justified, "Don't worry yourselves about it."

He saw Rei's face become vaguely sullen.

"But..."

But it quickly dissipated with Nagisa's boisterous voice.

"Alright, let's go then!" He grabbed Rei by his wrist and pointed resolutely towards an unseen horizon, "Haru-chan will be here soon and we still need to practise! Let's gooo~!" He marched out towards the pool.

"What th-Wait, Nagisa-kun!" Rei stumbled (very un-beautifully) over himself by Nagisa's deceptively strong grasp. "You're going to make me trip!"

"Weak! How are you going to be a beautiful swimmer if you can't keep up? Onward~!"

"Stop it already, please!"

"Loud as always." Makoto sighed amusedly to himself as he followed behind the squabbling juniors.

They should have a nice talk. A comforting heat enveloped his skin as Mikoshiba flashed his whites through the shrill whistle at the swimmers' energy. Makoto replaced his goggles and rejoined the lines at the blocks while Rin was lightly jogging out Iwatobi's front gates. The same breeze cooled them, strengthening their respective resolves. They need that much.