@agaricals Here is your gift!! I hope you like it! Again, I am so so sorry for taking so long to complete this. I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are having a fantastic year so far!!
I went ahead and set this to be right after season 1 ended, I hope that was okay. And again, I’m very sorry about the delay and I really hope you like it!!
“Is Haru-chan even home?”
Haruka’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of a familiar voice. Nagisa?
“I don’t think he had any other plans tonight. Let me check my phone,” another familiar voice said. Haruka recognized it immediately as belonging to Makoto. But why are the two of them here? “I didn’t get a text or call from him saying otherwise,” he added after a brief pause.
“Makoto-senpai, you’re not Haruka-senpai’s guardian. He could have done something without telling you.”
Haruka buried his head under his pillow after identifying the third voice as Rei’s. He vaguely wondered if he had missed some kind of team meeting; it was fairly common for Makoto and Nagisa to come and go as they pleased, but Rei generally considered it rude to show up uninvited or without notice.
He had almost drifted back into a light sleep when a fourth, painfully recognizable voice spoke: “He never does anything. Check the bath.”
Haruka sat up in his bed, very aware of the puzzled expression etched into his face. When was the last time Rin had been in his house? He blinked his eyes several times to clear away the sleep as he heard someone check in his bathroom and yell that he wasn’t there.
For a moment he wondered if this was all some bizarre dream, in which case he would make sure and never go to bed early again if this was the consequence. But when the light flooded into his room followed by a barrage of voices, he knew something like this could only exist in reality.
With a delighted exclamation, Nagisa all but jumped onto Haruka’s bed. “Haru-chan, wake up! We’re having a sleepover!”
“Isn’t the point to sleep then?” Haruka murmured, attempting to crawl back under the covers.
“Later,” he whined. “For now we watch a movie!”
Haruka eyed the blond from under his blankets. “And who said we could hold this at my house?”
“Ah! I’m sorry, Haruka-senpai! Nagisa-kun made it sound like you knew about this!”
“Haru-chan never minded before.”
“Nagisa, you really should have asked first,” Makoto scolded lightly.
“Haru doesn’t care though,” Rin said. “Do you?”
Haruka blinked at Rin’s tone: one he hadn’t heard since they were young, a combination of smug knowingness that bordered on teasing and genuine asking. He shook his head, because truthfully he didn’t mind. It had been ages since everyone had gotten together purely out of the desire to spend time together. And it has been even longer since any of those times included Rin.
Nagisa cheered at this. “See, Rei-chan? I told you it would be okay.”
Rei mumbled something about being a proper house guest, but dropped the topic after that.
“Should we start the movie?” Makoto suggested.
Nagisa nodded vigorously and held the DVD case up to Haruka’s face, only centimeters from his nose. “This is the one we brought. Rei-chan thought it would suit everyone’s tastes. I wanted to bring a horror movie, but…”
“The dog movie is a better choice,” Makoto interjected.
Haruka frowned as he studied the title. “Makoto, you know this isn’t a happy movie, right?”
“It’s not? But Rei said—”
“It’s a well done movie that had very high ratings and it won’t offend or frightened anyone present. It is a good choice.” Rei pushed up his glasses as a final punctuation.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Rin said with a small huff. “Are we going to get started or not?”
Everyone looked to Haruka, waiting on him to give the okay. When he nodded again, they all scrambled out of his room, talking excitedly about the night ahead.
By the time Haruka dragged himself out of bed and changed into something other than his pajamas, the rest of them had already set up the movie on his television and were sitting, waiting for him. Nagisa lay on his stomach on the floor, a bag of sweets in front of him, which he offered to Haruka as he walked by. Makoto was also on the floor, leading up against the edge of the couch. Rei sat on the couch near Makoto and looked entirely too stiff to be comfortable; Haruka vaguely wondered if Makoto had chosen his particular seat solely for the purpose of comforting the newest addition to their team. And Rin sat on the opposite side of the couch from Rei, looking forcibly relaxed, his arms sprawled out on the back of the couch, his jaw set and eyebrows drawn together.
Haruka sat between the two of them, holding a pillow in his lap, wondering if the tension he was feeling in the air was just in his imagination.
The movie was, as Haruka predicted, a rather sad one. As the credits rolled, Rin excused himself to the restroom and returned with puffy eyes and a small shake in his voice. Nagisa declared that Rei was no longer allowed to select movies, causing Rei to immediately defend his choice.
With a small chuckle, Makoto said, “It was kind of a sad movie. We should do something fun to take our minds off of it.”
“Swimming?” Haruka offered, more as a reflex than an actual conscious suggestion.
Rin’s face split into a toothy grin. “Yeah, that sounds fun. I mean when was the last time we all swam together just for the fun of it? No competitions, no rivalries…”
“Where would we swim though?” Makoto interjected. Not the ocean, Haruka heard him speak in between his words.
“Iwatobi’s pool isn’t far,” Nagisa suggested, a sly smile appearing on his face.
“With what could only be described as a motherly frown, Makoto sternly said, “Absolutely not. It’s after hours; we’d be trespassing.”
“We’ve trespassed so much this past year, would one more time really make a difference?” Rin argued, a familiar twinkle in his sanguine eyes.
“That’s all the more reason not to go! And besides, we don’t have our suits.”
Rin raised an eyebrow and gave a crooked smile. Nagisa stuck his tongue out playfully and winked. Haruka simply dropped his pants.
“I don’t believe this,” Makoto said in a tone that bordered on disappointment. “You guys planned this, didn’t you?”
“I had no idea this was happening until you guys showed up. Come on, your house is on the way,” Haruka said, heading for the door in his t-shirt and jammers.
“What about Rei? He doesn’t have a —!”
“I’ll be fine, Makoto-senpai!”
Makoto let out a defeated sigh, and the five of them left Haruka’s house and, after stopping at Makoto’s, headed for the Iwatobi High School pool.
“How are we going to get in?” Makoto asked as they stood staring at the fence.
As an answer, Rin hooked his foot in one of the holes of the chain link fence. Nagisa followed suit, then Haruka and Rei. Makoto gave one final look of disapproval through the fence before hoisting himself over to join them.
Haruka was the first to enter the pool, diving below the surface and enjoying the feeling of the cool water on his skin. When he came up for air, he floated on his back for a bit with half-lidded eyes, staring up at the stars and the moon. He felt the waves as the others jumped into the pool, and he dove under again.
When his head broke the surface for the second time, he heard Nagisa’s laugh, a squeak of surprise from Makoto, and a loud splash. He looked over and caught sight of Rin’s face: smiling so brightly and genuinely, just like in elementary school. Haruka then glanced over to the side of the pool and spotted Rei sitting on the side, still fully clothed.
Haruka swam over to where he sat and simply stood there in the pool, watching the other three alongside Rei. He eventually broke the silence by saying, “You know, you could have borrowed one of my suits.”
Rei nodded. “I know. But there really should be someone out of the water for safety measures anyway.”
Another moment of silence passed.
“You’re part of our team too, you know.”
Rei opened his mouth in surprise before chuckling lightly. “I know,” he said, eyes beginning to shine with emotion. “That’s what Nagisa-kun said too when he asked me to come tonight.” He looked off at the other three. “He also said that even though Rin-san swims on a different team, he’s still part of our team.”
Haruka stared at them, feeling his face soften into a smile. With a nod to Rei, he dove under once again, this time swimming over to the group. From under the water, he poked at Nagisa’s feet, tickled Makoto’s calves, and grabbed Rin’s ankles to pull him under.
The redhead’s expression was a mixture of shock and fury under the water, but when he caught sight of Haruka, it turned into a friendly threat to return the favor, which he did.
After everyone’s muscles grew tired and stomachs began rumbling, they changed into dry clothes and began the walk back to Haruka’s house.
“You know that was the third pool we’ve broken into this year?”
“Don’t remind me.”
Upon arriving at the house, Haruka headed for the kitchen to prepare a supper, while the other four collapsed on his living room floor, exhausted from the evening. It was almost quiet for a minute, only a low chatter being heard from the other room, until a voice came from the doorway.
“Are you making dinner, Haru-chan?”
Haruka merely gestured to his apron in answer to Nagisa’s question.
The blond smiled and skipped over to where Haruka stood. “Are you having fun?” he asked.
Haruka thought for a moment before nodding.
“Do you think everyone else is having fun too?” As Nagisa asked this, he dropped his eyes and became very interested in his fingernail.
A loud round of laughter echoed from the living room. “Does that answer your question?” Haruka said.
Nagisa nodded, his usual smile reappearing. “Yes, it does! I was worried there’d be some tension with Rei-chan and Rin-chan”—he paused, eyebrows coming together for a moment—“and even with you. But it seems like everything’s going well.”
Haruka nodded and sighed a little. “It’s nice having everyone together outside of practice, like old times.”
“Like new old times!” Nagisa corrected excitedly. “We have Rin back, but we also have Rei!”
Haruka smiled softly. “We’re not reliving old memories, we’re making new ones.”
“Exactly!” Nagisa cheered. After a moment of only the sizzling food being heard in the room, he eyed the cooking, bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet. “What are you mak—?”
“Mackerel.”
“Of course,” he sighed. “I’ll go let the others know.” Before leaving the kitchen, he turned back and looked sincerely at Haruka. “Thank you.”
Haruka was slightly taken aback at his thanks. What was Nagisa thanking him for? For using his house? For having fun with everyone? For being his teammate? Maybe it was everything all rolled into one, but regardless it made Haruka sharply turn his attention back to his cooking, slightly embarrassed.
Despite the chorus of groans at Nagisa’s announcement of the menu, everyone quickly ate up the mackerel Haruka had prepared, causing him to contemplate fixing more. Between yawns and laughter, the boys shared stories, memories of the past, far off plans for the future, secret hopes, and wildest dreams. Without even changing into pajamas, the five fell asleep on the floor there, unable to keep their eyes open any longer. Makoto lay against the couch in an upright position, snoring lightly. Rin used one of Makoto’s thighs as a pillow, arms wrapped around his jacket. Rei lay curled up under Rin’s legs, as if they were a blanket covering him. Nagisa was sprawled out on his back in the middle of the floor, clutching one of the sleeves of Rin’s jacket and his feet underneath Rei’s body to keep them warm. And Haruka use Makoto’s other leg as a pillow, his four best friends being his last sight before falling into a warm, comforting sleep.
