Free!, Call It Like It Is

Title: Call It Like It Is [Rin/Haruka]
Rating/Warnings: NC-17
Summary: Being Haruka’s partner boyfriend thing is more challenging than Rin had honestly been hoping, or maybe it’s just the quality of the advice he keeps getting from his friends.
AN: Set between seasons 1 and 2 of FREE so i guess it might be a little spoilery for season 1, but not about anything in particular. My first Free! fanfic, apparently. I don’t even have an icon so I have to use Tezuka.

Call It Like It Is

It wasn’t like Rin thought that being Haruka’s partner boyfriend thing would be especially easy, but he’d been hoping more for “challenging but with added making out” and not so much “want to strangle partner boyfriend thing with goggles 99% of the time.”

Nagisa was being no help at all, of course.

“I mean, what did you expect?” Nagisa asked with a shrug. He didn’t even look like he was trying to help, that fluffy little sadist, he looked amused. “Haru-chan can barely talk about the weather, much less his feelings, and you can only talk about them by grabbing people and shouting.”

“THAT’S RIDICULOUS,” Rin announced, then shut his mouth with a snap when Nagisa raised one eyebrow like what did I just say?

“Be patient, okay?” Nagisa reached over to pat Rin’s hand. “And quit calling him your partner boyfriend thing, it’s super weird.”

“Your face is super weird,” Rin grumbled, then cleared his throat when Nagisa asked silkily for Rin to repeat that. “I mean, it’s not like I want that idiot to write me love poetry or something. I just want him not to look at me like I’m the most irritating thing in his entire world.”

“Why?” Nagisa asked, tilting his head. “Isn’t he the most irritating thing in your entire world?”

Rin’s mouth bunched up like he’d just sucked on a lemon, and Nagisa laughed at him because he was a jerk. All his friends were jerks, Rin had come lately to conclude, and next time he’d just ask Nitori for advice because maybe his senpai kink was a little creepy but at least Rin wouldn’t have to leave his own room to get this kind of treatment.

Rin was a confident guy, maybe even kind of a braggart if you asked his teammates. He was independent and self-assured, and didn’t need somebody patting his back and telling him good job kiddo. He’d gone abroad as a sixth grader, for fuck’s sake, and he’d done just fine for himself all that time without any coddling or whatever. So he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why all that went right out the window when it came to Nanase Haruka.

Haruka never told him no when Rin hugged him or kissed him or shoved him up against the lockers, but then again, he never exactly said yes either. He always just let Rin have his way while staring up at him with that same blank expression, while Rin’s whole chest churned with emotions that he could never get a grip on or even name. Sometimes when Rin happened to open his eyes while they were kissing and saw Haruka looking up at him like that, all he wanted was to take two fistfuls of Haruka’s shirt and shake him until he flopped like one of his stupid mackerels.

As embarrassing as it was, Rin had taken to asking if what he was doing was okay, if Haruka liked it.

“This is all right?” he asked, running fingers up Haruka’s side, underneath his T-shirt. Rin had him pressed against the wall just inside Haruka’s front door, barely even having made it inside after a week of being too busy to see each other. Haruka’s calm expression made Rin’s desperation feel twice as unbearable, Haruka’s hands on Rin’s hips but still. Rin tugged at his T-shirt. “Can I take this off?”

Haruka shrugged a little, looking to the side. It was as much as Rin ever got out of him, or sometimes if he was particularly passionate, Haruka might mutter a “yeah” or an “okay.” Rin tried to not worry about it, because certainly Haruka had no problem speaking up when he didn’t want to do something. But it was hard not to wonder if he was pressuring Haruka and doing it all wrong when Rin felt like all his nerves were on fire and Haruka only blinked at him blandly.

Also it was really hard to think about anything clearly when Haruka was so close, so warm under Rin’s hands, hair falling in his eyes in damp strands and arm muscles flexing when he lifted them to let Rin pull his shirt off. Rin might have been hot, but Haruka was beautiful, and for a few seconds Rin was struck speechless by the smooth expanse of Haruka’s skin that had just been bared to him.

“What?” Haruka asked, shifting uncomfortably, and Rin kissed him fiercely because it was totally not cool at all to tell his partner boyfriend thing how beautiful he was. It sounded like dialogue from some of those girly comics that Nitori kept hidden under his mattress where a normal dude would keep porn.

He wanted to kiss Haruka like this forever, but Rin made himself pull away after only a few minutes before he rushed into some other disaster between them. He tried to calm his stupid body down by taking deep breaths, squeezing Haruka tightly. Even when they’d been young, Rin had always felt less manic when he hugged Haruka, as if his calm could transfer, like when you were overheated and pressed yourself against the coldness of the kitchen floor.

“You hug too tight,” Haruka complained.

“Maybe you don’t hug tight enough!” Rin snapped without thinking, Haruka’s words sending prickles of worry over his skin again, like ants. To his surprise, though, Haruka’s arms were around his waist suddenly, his grip strong enough to make Rin’s breath hitch a little. Haruka’s strength was a surprise every time he used it on Rin, easily forgettable when you looked at him.

“I hug fine,” Haruka said, voice stubborn like somehow they had even managed to turn hugging into a competitive sport, and he gave it a little extra oomph just to prove he was winning.

“Yeah,” Rin agreed, pressing his forehead against Haruka’s shoulder and relaxing into Haruka’s grip. It was reassurance enough, for now. Haruka shifted against him, and Rin muttered for him to just stay a minute, just stay.

They had three fights before bedtime, about what was for dinner and who got the bath first and no we are not sneaking into Samezuka’s pool in the middle of the night, you lunatic.

“I snuck out of that place to come here and see you, you know!” Rin pointed out with a showy eye roll. Haruka just blinked up at him from his sprawl across his bed, only a trace of judgement tinging his expression, saying he didn’t think much of Rin’s choice. “Honestly, you’re the worst partner boyfriend thing ever.”

“Nagisa said you have to quit calling me that,” Haruka informed him, which for some reason Rin found absolutely hilarious.

When they were curled up in bed together in the dark, Rin’s arm thrown over Haruka’s waist, Rin found it easier to murmur into the back of Haruka’s neck that actually he was a really good partner boyfriend thing. He thought Haruka might have already been asleep, but then fingers brushed over the back of Rin’s hand, so lightly he almost missed it. Grinning, Rin brushed kisses over the top of Haruka’s spine, just as lightly, making Haruka squirm.

“You two seem to be getting on well,” Makoto said, beaming at Rin in approval, which Rin supposed meant that he and Haruka hadn’t shouted at each other about anything in the first fifteen minutes of joint practice and nobody had tried to drown themselves. But he agreed with Makoto vaguely anyway, because if Makoto thought there was any kind of problem, he’d spend the whole joint practice trying to fix it instead of, you know, actually practicing.

It also might have had to do with the rushed makeout session that had happened in the locker room after everyone else had gone, leaving Haruka with pink cheeks and Rin with mussed hair. Kissing plus the promise of Samezuka’s pool always did make Haruka bit more…turned on felt sort of weird to say, but cooperative at least.

“Haru-chan seems happy lately,” Makoto continued, hands on his hips as he watched Nagisa cheerfully shove Rei into the water before he was ready, like a mother watching her kids horse around at the community pool.

“He does?” Rin asked. Haruka seemed the same as always to him, same face, same silences. “I mean, sure, yeah,” he added after a beat, not wanting to look clueless. Makoto read Haruka so easily, it made bubbles of jealousy rise in Rin’s chest every time it happened.

He channeled the heat of that jealousy into his time trials, like if he swam hard enough he could leave it on the other end of the pool. When that didn’t work, he took it out on Haruka’s skin afterwards, slipping into his shower stall to press his teeth against Haruka’s neck and collar bones, tasting the chlorine on Haruka’s skin.

“OW,” Haruka hissed, the first sound he had made. At least Rin never had to worry about Haruka being loud when they were in public. Anyway, Haruka was hard against Rin’s thigh, so he couldn’t have been that disgruntled about it.

“Wimp,” Rin mumbled, mouth still against Haruka’s shoulder. He yelped when Haruka shot forward to bite Rin’s shoulder in retaliation, just to prove his point.

“See?” Haruka demanded, his mouth still against Rin’s skin, and oh, why was everything so hot when Haruka did it? Haruka grumbled something else, the points of his teeth just barely grazing Rin’s collarbone, making Rin shiver despite the hot water pouring over them.

“No, keep doing it until I get it,” Rin said, too far gone to be embarrassed. The tiny part of his brain not occupied with Haruka’s wet skin sliding against his was thinking instead about Haruka biting him other places, all over, marking Rin’s skin anywhere he wanted.

“Keep…biting you?” Haruka asked, pulling back to frown at Rin. “Why?”

“Because…” Rin stopped himself before he could blurt out that he was never sure if Haruka was really into it or what, just wanted to know he made Haruka lose control, even just a little. “I just like it, okay? Look, never mind, whatever.”

He tried to capture Haruka’s mouth so they didn’t have to talk about this bullshit anymore, frowning when Haruka turned his head to dodge. But before he could get even more annoyed, Haruka’s mouth was against his neck, a tentative kiss that widened after a second, until Haruka’s teeth were scraping lightly at Rin’s skin.

“Haru,” Rin murmured, tilting his head to get more, fingers tightening on Haruka’s back. Haruka pressed down a little harder, sending heat rushing through Rin’s veins. “Fuck, Haru, mmm.”

Rin shoved a hand between them and wrapped it around both of them as best he could. It wasn’t perfect, but it was more than enough with the practice adrenaline and Haruka’s teeth on his skin, Rin coming in hot, sweet pulses after only another couple minutes. Haruka was licking at the spot he’d been biting when Rin came back to earth, as if trying out a new ice cream flavor.

“You taste like the pool,” Haruka said, which was probably the nicest compliment he could give, and Rin dropped to his knees right then and there to give positive reinforcement for the entire situation. Haruka kind of tasted like the pool, too, except at the end when it was ocean-salty.

“I like the ocean,” Rin said stupidly when they were shutting off the water and he was still running hands all over Haruka’s skin, still pressing Haruka against the wall a little despite Haruka’s squirming. He stole a last kiss, chuckling at the way Haruka wrinkled his nose.

“I do…too?” Haruka said doubtfully. Since Rin had really meant I like you, he chose to believe that’s what Haruka had meant too, however accidentally.

Rin was 100% sure that nobody saw him slip out of Haruka’s shower and back into his own, and it wasn’t like they left the showers together. They had definitely gotten away with it, he thought, until he came out with his towel around his waist to find Makoto already scolding Haruka.

“Honestly, right here?” Makoto asked, clicking his tongue at them. “We all have to use those, you know. Be more considerate.”

Haruka pointed at Rin like all his fault, and Rin gave a “Tcht” of disgust when Nagisa got in on it too, asking which one they had used so they could label it that shower, just for everyone’s convenience.

“What?” Nagisa asked innocently when Makoto and Rei both gave Nagisa horrified looks. “It’s better than wondering how many of the other ones they’ve used, right? Ne, actually, about that…”

“Ah, Gou-kun!” came Captain Mikoshiba’s voice echoing off the concrete, and then after that suddenly nobody wanted to talk about it anymore. Five minutes later, Rin bit down on a whine when the captain casually slapped him on the shoulder as he sauntered by.

“I’m sure he washed it,” Makoto offered, making Nagisa burst into unstoppable giggles while Rei wailed that nothing about this was beautiful, ew.

Rin supposed there was no fighting against the familiarity of childhood friends, and even though Makoto would say Rin was a childhood friend too, Rin knew it wasn’t true.

Maybe that was the reason it was easier to talk to Rei about them, because he was an outsider as well. Both of them were, no matter how much Makoto or Nagisa invited them in. Rei at least fit in with them well. Rin still felt like he was all sharp angles with them more often than not, starting arguments he didn’t mean to or poking at scars he had no idea they had.

And none of them would ever explain to Rin properly why Makoto had a debilitating phobia of frogs.

“He’s like six thousand times bigger than a frog!” Rin snapped, which for some reason made Rei laugh so hard he was doubled over for a full minutes. They were sitting on a bench outside the Samezuka pool before joint practice, Makoto and Nagisa running late because Haruka was Haruka as usual.

“They do have a long history,” Rei agreed when he could speak again, reaching up to push his glasses back into place. “I’m jealous that you were there at the beginning, at least.”

“You’ve spent more time as their classmate now than I ever did,” Rin pointed out. He knew that going away like he had was the reason that he could be where he was now, but sometimes it was hard to keep from wishing that away in exchange for understanding what all of Haruka’s eyebrow twitches meant.

“They’ve helped me a lot this year,” Rei admitted, sounding part proud and part sheepish. “I guess it’s true what they say, that you meet people when you need to.”

“Maybe,” Rin allowed, unconvinced. He had definitely needed them a lot earlier than when he’d actually gotten them back. Even after he’d come back to Japan he’d wasted so much of the time they could have been friends again, so much of the time he could have been with Haruka.

“So it’s probably true in the opposite direction, right?” Rei said, looking cheered by the thought. “It’s when they needed us that we showed up in their lives.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Nagisa’s piercing “REIIIII-CHAAAAAAN! RIIIIIIN-CHAAAAAAN!” and when they looked up, Nagisa was waving at them frantically, nearly choking Makoto who was piggy-backing him for some reason. Haruka was trailing along at their side, and when Rin gave him a little wave of his own, Haruka’s eyes widened for a second before they cut to the side. Rin dropped his hand with a roll of his eyes.

“Friendship is so beautiful!” Rei announced, returning Nagisa’s wave with feeling. Nagisa whacked Makoto soundly across the back of the head waving in response.

“I wonder which one of us needs Nagisa and why,” Rin said as the others came within earshot.

“What?” Haruka asked, eyes narrowed, but Rin just shrugged and said never mind.

Something about Rei’s words stuck in the back of Rin’s mind over the next few days. He wondered if it was true, that he hadn’t come back because he needed Haruka, but because Haruka had needed him. Did Haruka need him? For anything? It was a nice thought, but Rin had trouble believing in it. Whenever they went more than a couple days without seeing each other, loneliness felt like it was chewing on Rin’s spleen, but Haruka’s face when they did finally meet was always the same whether it had been an hour or a week.

Want to hang out tonight? Rin mailed, sick of the way his thoughts chased each other around in circles.

Why? Haruka’s reply came back a few minutes later. Rin chucked his phone aside with a grunt of irritation and flopped onto his back, staring at the bottom of Nitori’s bunk. He winced when his phone slipped off the edge of his bed and hit the floor with a clatter.

“Rin-senpai?” Nitori’s voice came uncertainly from the top bunk.

“What?” Rin answered irritably.

Nitori’s head appeared over the edge of his bunk, like a nervous rabbit poking its head out from underground. “You didn’t break your phone again, did you?”

“It’s fine,” Rin said, hoping that was true because after last time his mother had threatened to
replace this one with some stamps and nice stationary. Nitori was still watching him. “What?”

“Do you want to talk about anything?” Nitori asked. When Rin didn’t shout at him, Nitori’s head disappeared and his feet appeared instead as he started shimmying down the ladder. He perched on the edge of Rin’s bed. “I’m glad to listen, if you want.”

Rin made some more grumpy noises, but Nitori ignored him and waited patiently, used to Rin’s moods by now. Over the summer the two of them had become something more like friends, Rin supposed, Nitori’s first year worship and Rin’s eternal crankiness fading with equal pacing.

Still, Rin thought Nitori probably wasn’t ready for any details about Rin’s partner boyfriend thing problems, so he settled for, “Do you think it’s true that people show up in other people’s lives when they need them?”

Nitori puzzled that out for a second, expression thoughtful. “It sounds nice, I guess. But there’s lots of times I wished I had somebody to help me and didn’t.”

“See?” Rin said, feeling vindicated. “That’s what I—”

“But then again I made it through to here,” Nitori continued his thought. “So I guess I didn’t need them. And if somebody had come I wouldn’t be the me I am right now, right? You might have some other roommate right now. So I guess I’m pretty satisfied with the way things turned out.”

Nitori beamed happily at Rin, who just stared back at him, eyes not quite narrowed.

“That didn’t help at all, huh?” Nitori asked, sighing when Rin grumbled a no shit. “Well, it’s Nanase-kun you ought to be asking about it anyway, isn’t it? Since it’s him you want to be needed by.”

“What?!” Rin spluttered, reaching over to shove at Nitori. “Shut up! What do you know anyway?!”

“Be serious,” Nitori said, his sharp once-over giving Rin a hint of what Nitori would look like after his last growth spurt, penetrating and no-nonsense. “He’s the one you always make sure is watching before you dive off the block. Plus you sneak into his shower a lot.”

“GET OUT OF MY BED,” Rin roared, shoving harder until Nitori obeyed and pretending he couldn’t hear the snickering going on above him.

Rin’s phone was not broken but still contained no other mails from his partner boyfriend thing when Rin scooped it up ten minutes later. Standing up, Rin yanked on his jacket and was opening his mouth to tell Nitori he was going out when Nitori interrupted.

“Cover for you, got it,” Nitori said, glancing up from his textbook to wave Rin off. “Don’t stay up all night, senpai.”

“Did you just wiggle your eyebrows at me?” Rin demanded. “Who taught you that? As your senpai, it’s my job to beat the shit out of them.”

For some reason that made Nitori crack up laughing, and Rin shoved his hands in his pockets and marched out of the room while he still had a tiny bit of dignity left, kicking the door shut behind him.

It wasn’t the shortest train ride from Samezuka to Iwatobi, giving Rin plenty of time to stew and get himself all worked up again. Belatedly he realized that he probably should have warned Haruka that he was coming, but by that point he was five minutes from the stop and just figured whatever. If Haruka wasn’t happy to see him as a surprise, wasn’t that the answer Rin was trying so hard to figure out?

So maybe he was holding his finger down obnoxiously on the Nanase doorbell when Haruka finally threw the door open to find him slouching there against the frame. Haruka’s eyes were flashing with an irritation that only seemed to intensify when they caught with Rin’s, about as far from ‘happy to see you’ as he could possibly get. For some reason, though, being the focus of that irritated gaze actually went straight to Rin’s pants, along with the fact that Haruka was only wearing his boxers in the summer heat, hair damp at the ends like he wasn’t long out of the bath. Without thinking, Rin reached out to grab Haruka by the hips and yanked him close for a fierce kiss, right there on the doorstep.

“Neighbors,” Haruka hissed into Rin’s mouth.

“Bedroom,” Rin hissed back, then shoved Haruka inside and yanked the door shut behind them.

Rin knew, in the back of his brain where he could think about anything besides Haruka’s skin smooth and hot under his hands, that this was part of the problem, that he kept getting so carried away before they could even try to talk about anything. But it was hard to think of it as a problem as they stumbled through Haruka’s gloriously empty house, Rin dropping pieces of clothing along the way until he could shove both of them down onto Haruka’s bed. As usual, Haruka just let Rin have his way, fingers digging into Rin’s shoulders as Rin settled on top of him to keep kissing, offering neither encouragement nor resistance. Rin ran fingers through Haruka’s hair, breaking the kiss to trail softer kisses up Haruka’s jaw, trying to figure out what Haruka wanted, if there was anything that Haruka wanted.

When Haruka remained still, Rin finally propped himself up on his elbow to look at Haruka properly. Haruka only blinked back at him, flat and relaxed on his back.

“Is this okay?” Rin asked. Haruka shrugged a little. “I mean it, is it? You could tell me to stop, you know. Should I stop?”

“Whatever,” Haruka said, eyes cutting to the side. Rin sat up the whole way and Haruka didn’t move to do anything about it as his hands slipped off of Rin’s shoulders.

“I’m just trying to figure out what you want,” Rin said in frustration, searching Haruka’s face for something, anything, besides just that blank stare. “Would you say something? Do you want this? Do you want me?”

“Why are you asking me that kind of stuff?” Haruka muttered, obviously uncomfortable, and that was the last straw. No matter how much he wanted Haruka, and with Haruka naked and sprawled out under him, man, did he ever want Haruka, really this wasn’t what he wanted at all.

“I just don’t get you, you know?” Rin said, feeling incredibly tired. “Look, I’ve had enough. Sorry I surprised you by just showing up, I won’t do it again. I’m going ba—”

Rin was just shifting his weight to get up when fingers clamped tight around his wrist, that strength of Haruka’s that he always forgot about. When he looked down, Haruka was looking right at him. Glaring, but at least looking.

“You keep saying you’re leaving!” Haruka snapped, jaw clenched. “I hate it! If you leave again, I won’t forgive you, got it?!”

“Haru…” Rin said, voice uncertain. The knot in his chest eased a little, but Rin was almost afraid to hope, after all of this.

“Just shut up,” Haruka ordered. He flopped back down like his outburst had exhausted all his emotional resources, although his fingers stayed curled tightly around Rin’s wrist. “Shut up and stay here. I keep telling you it’s fine, don’t I?”

“No!” Rin protested, a flash of irritation flaring up in spite of his relief. “You keep telling me ‘whatever!’ Whatever and fine aren’t the same thing, asshole!”

“You know what I mean!” Haru heaves an aggravated sigh when Rin just stares at him (serves him right) because Rin emphatically does not know what Haru means, basically ever. “I mean, whatever is fine. You know, if it’s you. Obviously.”

“Obviously,” Rin echoed dubiously, but then decided he didn’t care at all and all but fell on Haruka’s chest to kiss him fiercely.

“Moron,” Haruka muttered sulkily against Rin’s mouth. Rin kissed him harder, nipping at his lower lip until Haruka opened up for him with a sigh.

Someday he would learn to read all of Haruka’s infuriatingly subtle signals, Rin swore to himself. Right now it felt like he could almost do it, the slight hitch in Haruka’s breath encouraging Rin to slide his hands down lower on Haruka’s sides, the shifting pressure of Haruka’s fingertips against his shoulders telling Rin when he reached the best spot on Haruka’s shoulder to graze with his teeth.

“This way?” Rin asked against Haruka’s skin. One of Haruka’s hands slid up to grip Rin’s hair at the back of his neck, and Rin thought that was a yes, probably. Haruka’s hand stayed in Rin’s hair as Rin slid down his body suddenly, the other joining it when Rin wrapped a hand around Haruka’s cock to stroke him tightly.

He’d only meant to suck Haruka off for a minute or two before moving on to other things, but Rin found it easy to linger there when Haruka was making soft noises and shivering under his hands. Rin swallowed Haruka a little deeper and Haruka outright yanked at Rin’s hair, making a flash of heat wash over Rin’s skin. It felt good to make Haruka squirm, to know he had the power to affect Haruka somehow at least.

“Rin,” Haruka said, voice breathless and obviously trying to warn him, but Rin only sucked harder, squeezing his fingers tight around Haruka’s shaft until he heard the telltale Ah of Haruka coming. Rin lifted his head to watch Haruka shudder himself out as he finished stroking Haruka off, eyes roaming over the flush spreading over Haruka’s pale skin. Once he realized Rin was staring openly, Haruka squirmed a little more, eyes cutting to the side like usual. “I thought you said—”

“I’m not in a rush,” Rin told him, sitting up and wiping the back of his hand over his mouth. “Besides I like doing that.”

Haruka’s eyes lifted back up to look at Rin, faintly suspicious. Rin grinned at him and licked at one of the white streaks across the back of his hand, then laughed when Haruka’s nose scrunched.

“Quit making that face,” Rin told him, even though honestly he thought it was a little bit cute. “You said you liked the ocean too, remember?”

“I…” Haruka’s eyes widened when he figured out what Rin was talking about. “Rin!”

Rin started laughing and couldn’t stop, leaning back on his hands. “You should see your face right now!” His laughter cut out abruptly when Haruka was crawling into his lap suddenly, Haruka having sat up while Rin’s eyes were closed.

“Why don’t you ever stop talking?” Haruka demanded, scowling, but he settled on Rin’s thighs like he belonged there, his arms fitting perfectly around Rin’s neck. Rin opened his mouth, but Haruka was already kissing him, apparently having decided to shut Rin up himself, for once.

Despite his big talk about not being in a hurry, Rin was turned on enough at that poing that having Haruka in his lap made him want to eat those words. He tried not to thrust up too obviously and distracted himself by touching Haruka instead, tracing the shapes of his muscles as he trailed fingertips down Haruak’s back, rubbing knuckles over his spine when Haruka hummed a little.

Eventually Rin’s hands settled on Haruka’s ass, squeezing lightly as he pulled back to break the kiss. This time instead of asking, Rin watched Haruka’s face to see if this was okay as he slid his hands lower. Haruka’s cheeks were flushed pink and his eyes were glued somewhere around Rin’s shoulder, but his lashes fluttered when Rin brushed one finger closer to Haruka’s hole, Haruka’s hips shifting just enough for Rin to feel it. Rin leaned forward to press his lips against Haruka’s throat, feeling Haruka swallow hard as Rin teased more deliberately at his rim.

“Should’ve grabbed the stuff first,” Rin muttered against Haruka’s skin, laughing a little when Haruka gave an aggravated grumble before sliding off of Rin’s lap. He expected Haruka to flop down onto his back again as soon as he dropped the tube of lube into Rin’s hand, but to his surprise, Haruka slid right back into Rin’s lap. “Like this?”

“Whatever,” Haruka answered, pushing up a little higher onto his knees and wrapping his arms more securely around Rin’s neck for balance.

“Got it,” Rin said, somehow managing to uncap the lube and get some onto his fingers despite Haruka’s body blocking his view. He kissed the skin nearest his face, just to the right of Haruka’s sternum, and then leaned his chin on Haruka’s chest so he could watch Haruka’s face as he rubbed slick fingers against Haruka’s rim.

“Don’t watch so close,” Haruka complained, but Rin didn’t bother arguing with him since he was having very little trouble working the first finger inside him. He slowed down when he saw Haruka bite his lower lip, until Haruka started rocking down against his touch. One of Haruka’s hands was in Rin’s hair again, and Rin definitely never going to admit out loud how good it felt when Haruka pulled on it.

He broke that promise immediately when he curled his fingers and Haruka’s grip tightened in surprise, making Rin groan loudly.

“Come on, already,” Haruka finally ordered, reaching down to tug at Rin’s wrist. Rin let Haruka pull his hand free and then reached for Haruka’s cock. He wasn’t the whole way hard, still recovering from his last orgasm, but Rin got him there quickly enough and let go to stroke the rest of the lube on his hand over his own cock. Even that was enough to make him hiss after all the waiting.

They’d only done this a few times before, and never in this position, so Rin wasn’t totally prepared for the difference in how it felt to have Haruka sliding down onto his cock. The way Haruka was digging his nails into Rin’s shoulders said that he hadn’t expected it to be like this either as he bottomed out, weight landing heavily on Rin’s thighs.

“You okay?” Rin asked, his own voice hitching as Haruka shifted. It was all he could do to hold on tightly to Haruka’s thighs and not thrust up, trying to give him enough time to adjust. Haruka gave him a baleful look. Loosening his grip a little, Rin ran palms over the outside of Haruka’s thighs and up his sides, hoping that the touch would feel soothing. It took a minute or two, but finally Haruka started to relax, his tight grip on Rin’s shoulders easing up until his hands were resting there for balance.

Haruka squirmed for a minute before he got his bearings, before he caught on and figured how to roll his hips. Rin got his hands on Haruka’s ass, sliding under just enough to help rock him up before letting his weight pull him back down. It felt amazing, Haruka tight around him, hot and slick, the muscles of Haruka’s thighs trembling just enough for Rin to feel it. Haruka’s cock was rubbing against Rin’s belly every time he moved, rubbing a small wet patch there.

“Should I…” Rin started, then stopped asking stupid questions and just did it, letting go of Haruka’s ass to wrap it around Haruka’s cock instead. Haruka’s breath caught as Rin stroked him, Rin marveling as always at how Haruka could feel so hard and like velvet at the same time against his palm. He tried to focus on that, on the plush of Haruka’s tip under his thumb, instead of thinking about how badly he wanted to come inside Haruka just like this.

Not like it was a competition or anything. But Rin would be damned if he didn’t make Haruka come all over himself first.

Haruka was as quiet during sex as during anything else, except for these soft noises that spilled out of his throat, barely audible over the sound of their skin sliding together, the rustle of them moving on top of the sheets. Rin swallowed his own noises just to hear Haruka’s, adjusting his grip on Haruka’s cock until Haruka was all but humming, shaking under his hands. He was close, so close, all Rin wanted was to shove him over the edge and watch him come.

“Come on, already,” Rin urged, rubbing his cheek against Haruka’s chest. “Just do it.”

Haruka growled something, and Rin thought it might have been the start of an insult, but then Haruka was coming, going tight around Rin’s cock and nails digging into his shoulders, trembling with tension. The few seconds it took seemed to stretch out much longer, until finally Haruka went limp against Rin, breathing heavily. His hair was stuck to sides of his face and hanging in his eyes in sweaty curls. Rin stretched up enough to lick at the salt on Haruka’s throat, humming a little himself.

Rin was not expecting at all for Haruka to shove at his shoulders suddenly, hard enough to make Rin tip backwards and hit the mattress with an oof. Blinking up at Haruka in confusion, Rin was opening his mouth to ask what the fuck was happening when Haruka planted his hands on Rin’s waist and rolled his hips like he’d been earning his rent at a shady host club.

“The fuck?” Rin managed, before Haruka did it again, and again. “Haru!”

“Come on, already,” Haruka said with a sharp grin, his impression of Rin irritatingly smug. “Just do it.”

“Fuck you, seri—ah!” Rin gasped. He had no idea how Haruka could be still moving like that after abusing his thigh muscles for so long, but it was more than enough in Rin’s weakened state. No matter how hot the sight of Haruka riding him was, Rin couldn’t keep his eyes from squeezing shut as he came with a sharp moan that half of Iwatobi could probably hear.

Everything felt fuzzy as Rin came back down, exhausted both physically and emotionally, Haruka’s weight still on his thighs about the only thing holding him down to the planet. Before Rin could pry his eyes open, Haruka’s weight shifted and he landed on Rin’s chest with a thud, hard enough to hurt a little. It felt good too, though, and Rin wondered if he ought to be concerned about that. He was sore and sticky and it was about a thousand degrees too hot to be this close, but somehow Rin didn’t mind any of that.

He was surprised Haruka wasn’t complaining about basically all of those things.

“Want to get a bath?” he offered eventually, offering Haruka an easy out if he was enduring just for Rin’s sake.

“In a bit,” Haruka said, sounding even more out of it than Rin. Grinning, Rin wrapped arms around Haruka’s shoulder and felt like if Haruka was willing to choose him over water even some of the time, then this partner boyfriend thing might actually turn out okay.

The next day, Rin woke up to Makoto leaning over him, and it was a long, painful second before he realized that he was still in Haruka’s bed, only a sheet tangled around one of his legs, and that unless Nitori was the biggest genius in Japan there was no way he could cover for how late Rin was going to be that morning.

“Honestly,” Makoto said despairingly. “It’s hard enough just getting Haru-chan anywhere on time. I really can’t manage two of you!”

Growling as he shooed Makoto out of the room and tried to find at least a few of his articles of clothing, Rin nearly fell on his face as he got out of bed and the whole back half of his body protested as he tried to stand up straight. Stretching it out as best he could, Rin was still only wearing his boxers and one of Haruka’s ridiculous Stoplit Loosy T-shirts when he slid open the bathroom door and leaned inside.

“If you don’t hurry up, Mako-chan’s going to kill himself, you know,” Rin said.

Haruka looked up from the tub, the little dolphin charm bobbing happily beside him, and it looked like he was scowling at Rin, but Rin caught a flicker at the corner of Haruka’s mouth that looked almost happy, the curl of his hands in the water relaxed. “Aren’t you late?”

“You’re asking me if I’m late?” Rin demanded, then started laughing so hard that he had to lean against the doorframe. “Asshole, you should have woken me up in time to get a bath too, I hurt all over.”

There was the slosh of water moving, and when Rin opened his eyes, Haruka was standing close enough to almost kiss, water dripping all over.

“Sorry,” he said, eyes cutting to the side. Rin leaned over and kissed Haruka’s cheek, making Haruka’s eyes pop open wider.

“Idiot, don’t apologize to your partner boyfriend thing for sleeping with him.” Rin tugged Haruka’s towel off the hook and wrapped it around Haruka’s shoulders before he caught cold.

“Nagisa said—”

“Shut up about him. What should I call you then?” Rin interrupted, still toweling off Haruka a little, not quite meeting his eyes. Haruka didn’t answer right away, chewing on his lower lip while Rin pulled the towel up over his hand and rubbed his hair down.

When he tugged the towel back down, Haruka was looking right at him, eyes clear blue like the ocean.

“Whatever,” was his answer.

Rin rolled his eyes and tugged Haruka in for a real kiss, forgetting about his sore muscles and catching the train, forgetting about everything until Makoto popped up behind them and snapped in exasperation that he was going to start sending Nagisa in here to be the lateness police and then they’d be sorry.