Chapter Text
C’mon Rin, just WALK IN.
…This was around the fifth time Rin was trying to convince himself to do so. He’d been in front of the café door for three whole minutes now, repeatedly putting his hand on the door-handle, and then immediately withdrawing it back to his side a few seconds later. He could see that the barista was starting to give him strange looks through the glass windows at this point.
Dammit, he thought, trying to look as normal as possible by glancing at his phone for maybe the hundredth time. Why is this so hard?!
Well, he’d actually already figured that out. Because, for the first time since Haru (as embarrassing as it was for Rin to say it) had seen Rin break down, and then saved him, showing him a sight he’d never seen before, the two of them were going to be alone. Well, not really alone, considering the café looked pretty crowded through the glass, but…it wasn’t like Makoto or Nagisa or Rei were here. It was just them.
‘I want to discuss training regiments with you.’
That had been Haru’s response when Rin had (admittedly, with a racing heart beat and shaky hands) asked Haru why he wanted to meet for coffee. Because, first of all, Rin didn’t even know Haru drank coffee, and second, wasn’t asking someone out for coffee the typical way to ask them out on a date? Though obviously Rin had just been getting his hopes too high. This was Haru, after all. Swimming would’ve been involved in some way or the other. Not that Rin minded, of course.
Rin glanced up one again, and the first thing he saw was that the barista’s slightly-annoyed look had turned into a full-on scowl, and, hands shaking, Rin took a deep breath and finally, finally pulled the door open.
And for some reason, the first thing Rin noticed in the café were all the couples. People who were sitting across from each other with a certain formality, making it pretty obvious it was their first date, and couples who were snuggling together in tiny booths in the corners, sharing scarves and drinks. High-school students, college students, even a few older couples…
Rin could feel the heat rising up to his cheeks (probably because it was so warm in the café… Yeah, that was it). Dammit…was it normal for a café to have this many couples in it? Rin internally slapped the side of his own head for asking such a stupid question. Of course it was normal. It just…wasn’t something he usually noticed.
I wonder why…
And just as Rin thought that, his eyes caught sight of the one person who was sitting alone at a table-for-two, silky black hair falling into the piercing, bluer-than-summer eyes Rin knew all too well. He was fiddling with the little dolphin charm hanging from his phone (Rin wasn’t gonna lie, Haru could be ridiculously cute sometimes), wearing a bluish-grey V-neck sweater over a white button down shirt, and Rin, for the second time that day, internally slapped himself for asking another dumb question.
This isn’t a date, this isn’t a date, this isn’t a date, Rin tried convincing himself as he walked over to Haru’s table, struggling (and absolutely failing) to fight the steadily growing blush that was rising up to his neck and cheeks. The sea of couples surrounding them wasn’t really helping, either.
“…Rin.” Haru looked up at Rin as he pulled out his chair, and…fuck, Rin thought he’d left the romantic in him, the part that used to internally swoon at the very mention of Haru’s name and imagine what their first kiss would be like, back in the past, but apparently not.
“Yo, Haru,” Rin said, flashing Haru a grin to show Haru that, no, he was NOT nervous, because they were just hanging out like normal friends would and this was most definitely not a date. “What’s up?”
“…You came.”
Rin snorted. “Well, obviously. I said I would, didn’t I?”
“You were taking so long, I thought you maybe died on the way.”
“Hey, shut up!” Rin kicked Haru’s shin under the table, feeling his heart-rate increase like it always did when he was around Haru. It didn’t matter what they were doing, Haru never failed to excite Rin.
“Whatever. We should order,” Haru said, getting up from his seat. He paused, stopping and giving Rin this look, and Rin was pretty sure that he would’ve fallen off his chair and melted into a puddle on the ground if those eyes hadn’t been pulling him in like magnets. Rin couldn’t really decipher Haru’s expression, but his eyes were…well, Rin had only ever seen Haru giving swimming pools those eyes.
“…Since I called you all the way here, I’ll pay for you. What do you want?”
“-Huh?” Rin stammered, struggling to look anywhere, anywhere but the captivating blue of Haru’s eyes. “Pay?”
“Yeah, I’m paying. What do you want?”
And yet again, Rin could feel the blood rushing to his face. “T-That’s not necessary…” Rin muttered, stumbling clumsily for his wallet.
Haru crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Rin. What do you want?”
“Are you sure, Haru…?”
“What. Do. You. Want.”
“Fine, fine,” Rin sighed, pushing his wallet back into his back-pocket. “I’ll get…hmm, whatever you’re having. …As long as there’s no mackerel in it.”
And Rin could’ve sworn that Haru had smirked as he’d turned around. “Can’t promise that.”
“Hey!”
But Haru was already gone, walking over to the back of the long line. Rin let out a long, shaky breath, trying to calm his out-of-whack heartbeat.
Calm DOWN. Just because Haru’s paying for you doesn’t make this a date!
…Though it IS common for the person who asked the other one out to pay on a date….
Rin let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair. If he kept this train of thought up, things were bound to get awkward for both of them. As much as he maybe wanted this to be a date, he knew that there was a very slim chance that Haru felt the same way. He’d probably just felt the need to invite Rin since they’d just started getting along again after months of charged, angry rivalry and years and years apart.
…Huh. Rin rested his chin on the palm of his hand, staring at the little pile of napkins sitting in the middle of the table. If he thought about it like that, he actually felt pretty bad. He was the one who left to Australia and started everything. Maybe he should do this kind of thing for Haru once in a while…
“Rin.”
Rin looked up, Haru’s voice snapping him out of his thoughts. He was setting a tray with two cappuccinos and a slice of chocolate cake down onto the table- wait, were those two forks?!
Calm down, Rin. Calm down, calm down. CALM THE FUCK DOWN.
“We can split the cake. It’s a big slice,” Haru said as he slid back into his chair, as if reading Rin’s mind.
“Oh…yeah,” Rin stammered, struggling to rip his gaze away from the forks and pick up his cappuccino instead. “What, too cheap to pay for two? I guess you’re not as generous as I thought,” Rin tried for a joke, chuckling feebly to hide his nervousness.
“Shut up,” Haru said, turning his gaze away as he sipped his cappuccino. “Shouldn’t you be thanking me for paying for you?”
Rin snorted. “Well, I guess I should. Thanks, Haru.”
“Hmph.”
They were silent for a while after that, Rin making an effort not to look at Haru or the cake. He was over-exaggerating, he knew. This was a normal thing to do between friends…right?
“So…” Rin started when the silence started getting slightly overwhelming. “You still haven’t mentioned anything about training regiments.”
Haru set his cup down, looking confused. “Training regiments?”
“That’s why you called me here.”
“Oh…right.” And there was this expression on Haru’s face as he rubbed the back of his neck (was he embarrassed…?), and was it Rin’s imagination, or were Haru’s cheeks kind of…pink?
“Yeah, I wanted to ask if you were using a new regiment,” Haru said, picking up the forks and handing one to Rin, moving too fast for Rin to double-check.
“That’s all?” Rin asked, tilting his head as he took a bite of cake. …Too sweet. “You could’ve just messaged me about it.”
“I wanted to ask you in person,” Haru said, turning his head away.
“Hmm…well, I wouldn’t say it’s a completely new regiment, but I added some things, yeah,” Rin said, taking yet another bite of cake. He didn’t really like it, but Haru had paid for it. It would’ve been rude not to eat it, right?
“What did you add?” Haru asked, resting his elbows on the table and scooping up some cake onto his fork.
“Hah, like I’d tell you!” Rin grinned, prodding Haru’s forearm with the back of his fork, making him frown and swat Rin’s hand away. “I’d be letting you win if I gave myself away like that.”
“…Whatever. I don’t really need to know,” Haru said, shrugging and picking up a napkin.
“Well, I can tell you that you need more-“
And Rin’s sentence was cut short as Haru leaned over the table and fucking wiped the side of Rin’s mouth with the napkin. And then sat back down in his seat, resting the napkin on the side of the tray like nothing happened.
“I need more…?”
“S-Strength training!” Rin stammered, snapping out of his daze and oh god, he could FEEL his face burning like it was most literally on fire. “You need more strength training!”
What the hell was that? Was that…normal? Well, anything’s normal for Haru… Calm down, calm down, don’t let Haru see how freaked out you are…
“Rin? Are you alright?” Haru asked, concern lacing his tone as he carefully moved his hand to Rin’s forearm.
…Fuck.
Well, there was no point in trying to calm down now. Rin got up, practically jumping out of his seat and making Haru pull his hand back in surprise.
“Ah, I- I suddenly remembered… Seijuuro said we were supposed to have a meeting at five…” Rin babbled, clumsily grabbing for his phone to check the time. “I…I should go. To catch the train, you know?”
“Oh…okay,” Haru said, in a tone that sounded confused, and maybe if Rin could clear his head and actually listen properly…slightly disappointed. Though that was probably just Rin’s imagination at it again. “See you later.”
“Y-Yeah.”
~~~~~~~~~~
What the FUCK was that?!
Rin let out a groan, covering his face with his hands. He was back at Samezuka now, and he felt ridiculous. God knows what Haru thought of him now, randomly freaking out and leaving like that.
Rin sighed, lying down on his bed, arms stretched out. He’d fucked up. Now the slim chance he had with Haru had zeroed down to practically nothing.
…Oh well, he thought, sighing and tossing to his side. Not like it was gonna happen anyway.