𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐑𝐑 𝟏𝟐- 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊𝐘 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓
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(Y/N) sniffs when she sees herself nearing Samazeka Academy. Her fingers were tightly wrapped around and bundled the edges of her skirt while her heart began to beat slightly faster with each step.

She knew Rin would finally be here, most likely ignoring her but other wise he was here. She would have to face him sooner or later, but the nerves that bit at every inch of her brain had little to no help in calming her down.

Stepping into the center, the cool air hits her warm face, and causes her to sniff once more. Haru glances from his place beside her, and fishes a small tissue out of his pocket. She accepts it with a sheepish smile, and rubs her already red nose.

'Damn it.' She curses herself, 'I can't be getting sick right now!' She misses when her friends leave to go change, and looks up to see Gōu eyeing every one of the shirtless men surrounding the scene.

(Y/N) laughs and shakes her head, before turning around, a little startled to be met with Makoto and Haru, shirtless, doing stretches right behind her.

The brown haired boy catches her eye, and his cheeks turn slightly pink before he turns his face to the side. She smiles gently at them, and moves when she feels a hand tap her shoulder.

Turning around, (Y/N) couldn't help but grin when she sees the Captain, Seijuro Mikoshiba, who's name she found out from her team's manager only an hour before they got there.

"Hey orangutan." She greets with a cheeky smile, and watches as the orange haired boy's welcoming smile slowly turns annoyed.

He scrunches his nose at her before addressing the rest of the team, his main focus being Gōu. "Thanks for coming out guys." The team all slightly bow their head's in thanks, which only makes Seijuro's smile widen. He nods before turning to face Haru. "You're Haruka Nanase, right? Back in grade school you took home quite a few medals from district tournaments."

His praise makes (Y/N) slightly bored, and she moves her attention to scan every inch of the center. It was impressive, she couldn't disagree, slightly intimidating at most. But she was more excited that her friend's were given a chance to finally show off their skills.

Her attention is caught when a familiar mop of maroon hair comes into her view, and (Y/N) swallows hard when she sees Rin. He was dressed in the official Samazeka swim team tracksuit.

She'd be lying if she said she wasn't happy for him, but she'd also be lying if she said she wasn't thinking of an escape route just incase they were both put into an awkward position.

Trying to hide behind Makoto was a mistake, as Gōu had caught her arm, and quickly darts towards her brother, while (Y/N) was trying to fumble excuses after excuses.

"Oh hey there Rin!" Hearing his younger sister, the older Matsuoka sighs before turning around, and mentally facepalms when he sees a slumped over (Y/N), desperately trying to hide behind Gōu.

Cue the awkward position.

Rin stares at her for a moment, his brows pulled together before he addresses his sister. "Gōu, what were you thinking bringing these guys here?" His question makes (Y/N) furrow her brows, and his attention shifts to her.

"Could you make it any less obvious that you're trying to avoid looking at me?" He watches as his old friend scoffs at him.

"Says the guy who quite literally avoided his childhood friends for over six years.." she mumbles, which only makes Rin glare harder. He tries to open his mouth to respond, but gets cut off. "Oh, did I hit a nerve?" (Y/N)'s smile is sickeningly sweet, and she rolls her eyes when she sees red slowly overtake Rin's cheeks and ears.

Gōu looks from her brother to her friend, and sweatdrops as flames surround the two silently glaring at one another. Their staring contest is broken, however, when a bubbly Nagisa tries to join in. "Hey Rin! After all this time we're finally getting the chance to swim together again!' (Y/N) feels her eye twitch when she watches him scoff.

"Swim together?" He rolls his eyes, and turns around to walk away. "This is complete waste of time." He makes his way to the door, but flinches when he feels something hard hit the back of his head. Whipping his head around, Rin stares at (Y/N), whose arms were folded behind her head as she whistles.

A plastic bottle rolled towards his feet, only half full, which made more sense as to why it hurt slightly when it smacked him.

Gōu and Nagisa stare, their mouths slightly opened in disbelief, before gasping as the bottle is sent flying back, and hits (Y/N) in the cheek. She winces at the pain, and goes to yell at the boy, but stops when she sees him quickly dart out the door, the side of his face being the last thing she sees before he runs away.

Feeling her cheeks heat up, (Y/N) couldn't help but replay the image of the tiniest grin gracing Rin's lips before he disappeared. She shakes her head, and ignores the perplexed stares she was recieving from almost everyone around her.

Rei adjusts his glasses, his brows raised in surprised as he stares at the (H/C) girl. "Is that some kind of weird flirting ritual between them?" His question makes Makoto waves his hands frantically. "Oh no!" The green eyed boy watches (Y/N), and frowns when he sees her slightly red cheeks. "Let's just say there's some history there.."

_____

The teams had been assembled shortly after, with Samazeka to the left while iwatobi stood off to the right. Seijuro had explained how the practice would work, and how to get the most out of todays practice, (Y/N)'s team would be swimming against the first year swimmers.

Despite both teams already set up and ready to swim, Seijuro quickly commented on Rei's lack of swimwear, and immediately ordered him to change, lending him one of the first year's extra swimsuits.

Thus the blue haired boy was now completely bare, with the exception of a blue and yellow speedo that had (Y/N) clutching her chest from how hard she was trying not to laugh.

She wasn't nervous however, knowing that this practice was simply that, a practice, where both teams just needed to compete against themselves to see how fast they were.

Makoto was up first, and (Y/N) gives him a small thumbs up, and watches when he gives her a quick wink before diving in and getting to work.

Gōu's small hum of surprise makes her look up to the bleachers above them, and her eyes soften just slightly when she sees Rin, his arms folded and head propped up with his hands as  he watches the practice.

Quickly, Rin glances down to her, and sticks his tongue out through a monotone expression. (Y/N)'s eyes widen in slight surprise, before she returns the gesture and turns around to watch her team, this time with Nagisa up on the board.

She tilts her head when she sees Rei begin to stall, his body slightly rigid as he stays standing next to the platform. Seijuro is quick to yell at him to hurry up, and causes the blue haired boy to practically start sweating bullets by the time Nagisa makes it half way.

Makoto is quick to try and calm him down. "Hey, what's the worst that can happen?" His empathetic smile does very little to ease Rei, but allows him to gain just a smidge of confidence. Taking off his glasses, he begins to walk forward.

As Rei passes by Haru, the blank slate of a teammate glances to him. "Are you sure about this?" The question only makes Rei even more rigid, but he shakes his head, and pulls his cap down to his brows. "I'll be fine!" He announces, and steps up onto the board.

(Y/N) watches as Nagisa finally makes it back to the starting point, and her attention shifts to Rei. She notes that he taps his ring finger against his thigh, which only left her to believe that he was running calculations once again in his head. She sighs, but watches with a small nod when he bends forward, his knuckles gripping the edge of the board firmly.

"He's got beautiful form." She hears Makoto, and hums in acknowledgment. The whistles blows loudly, and the team all watch as he dives forward. His form was no doubt impressive, the way his back arched only proving to (Y/N) that he would make an excellent addition to the team.

However this is short lived when Rei quickly flops into the pool, a loud splash left behind in his wake.

"..what?" Everyone on the team is dumbfounded, and (Y/N) is left slack jawed as she watches Haru quickly dive in to rescue Rei, who had yet to resurface. She quickly brings him a small green towel, and places it on his head to dry himself off when they pull him out and let him sit against the cool grey tiling.

Clearing her throat, (Y/N) bends down, and bites the inside of her cheek as she tries to think of what to say. The rest of the team stand behind her, all with equally awkward expressions on their faces.

"So..Rei.." she begins, and gently taps his boulder. "You never told us you couldn't swim.." she tries to sound as sweet as possible, trying not to make him any more embarrassed.

She fails, and watches Rei lift his head up with bright red cheeks. "Well I can't! It's not my fault. I tried to tell you I didn't want to swim today!" Nagisa is next to intervene, a small frown on his lips.

"You said you didn't want to swim, but you never said you didn't know how.." the blond haired boy tries to reason, which makes Rei look down in slight shame.

"That would mean admitting defeat, and I'm not adept at that!" He squeezes his forearm, likely beating himself up for what had just occurred. "There's nothing beautiful about being inferior.."

Makoto gives him a small, reassuring smile. "I'll go talk to the Samazeka team to see if we can clear all this up." He pats (Y/N)'s shoulder, and the two stand to get up to talk to Seijuro. The girl stops however, and looks up when she sees a certain blue eyed boy begin to make his way towards the diving board.

"Oh hey, Haru's next." All eyes are on the boy as he steps onto the board, and takes a moment before bending down and waiting for the whistle. As soon as he dives forward, (Y/N) feels a slight shift in the air. She watches him break through the water's surface, his form as impressive as ever.

Nagisa and Rei both stand at her side. "Now that's beautiful!" The honey haired boy exclaims, and they all watch as Haru swims as though he was all by himself.

(Y/N) smiles slightly at her friend, and looks up to see Rei, who couldn't seem to take his eyes off of Haru. She hums, happy to see that he may have found even just a tiny bit of inspiration from him, and turns her head up.

Of course, Rin was also watching, his eyes practically sparkling as he watches his old swim mate make a turn before swimming back. He taps his finger against his arm, and looks down just in time to see (Y/N) quickly turn her head away.

For probably the first time in a while, Rin feels a small, genuine smile make its way onto his face, before looking away and continuing to watch the practice. What he failed to notice, was that the very cause of his smile had one resembling his own, her cheeks warm while she covered her mouth with the sleeve of her jersey.

_____

"You still haven't given up hope, huh?" Makoto asks with a small smile. The team had returned to watching Rei continue his high jump on track and field, all comfortably sitting on a bench nearby.

"Of course not!" Nagisa replies with determination. He folds his hands into his lap, his head gently resting against (Y/N)'s shoulder as he watches a certain blue haired boy approach his starting point. "Hey, it should be Rei's turn pretty soon.."

"Seems like he's feeling a lot better!" (Y/N) hums, and folds her arms before keeping her eyes trained on their somewhat friend. She watches as he grips the pole between his hands, and tilts her head when he sees him breathe in and out.

It doesn't seem as though he was mumbling calculations to himself this time. He just seemed to be letting his body move forward with little to no thought, the wind hitting his face hard just as he pushed the pole into the ground, and he's sent flying into the air.

The group watch, but their eyes widen when he reaches the top of the beam, and spreads his arms and legs out, going full starfish. That was the last straw, and (Y/N) is sent bending over so her forehead grazes her knees as she bursts into a fit of laughter.

"(Y/N)!" Her friends, minus Haru, yell at her, and watch as Rei falls back onto the mat, the pole following close behind and hitting him square in the chest. Their friend's laughter only causes them to chuckle at the scene, before looking up and watching as Rei approaches them right after.

"He's coming over here!"

Rei stops just short of the group, and raises a brow at a beaming (Y/N). "Were you laughing at me?" He asks simply, but only receives a shake of the head, the girl's puffed out cheeks and squished smile making it hard to believe.

He sighs, before turning his attention to each and every one of the others. "If I'm going to grow then I need to become more like you, Nanase." The group then their attention to Haru, who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I want the freedom you have." He continues, and looks down at his hands. He goes to speak again but is interrupted.

"It's not just freedom." Haru's response makes the whole group look to him in surprised, interested to see what he had to say. "It's free style." Rei nods, taking every limited word to heart. "Right..free style." He clears his throat before adjusting his frames.

"Anyway, I was hoping you'd consider my official request." Breathing in deep, Rei bows to the group, his arms firm at his side. "May I join your swim club?"

This erupts a flurry of responses and gasps.

"What?!" Nagisa yells, a huge smile on his face. "Are you for real?!" Haru stares at the tip of Rei's fluffy hair, and sighs before closing his eyes. "No one here is gonna stop you from joining." Rei lets out a surprised gasp, a bit overwhelmed with how easy that was.

"You heard him, you're in." Makoto gives him a small smile, while Gōu and (Y/N) both gave him simultaneous thumbs up with big grins on their faces.

Nagisa continues his happy go-lucky expression. He looks up when Rei turns to him, his face slightly shy but otherwise confident. "Since you were the one who worked so hard to recruit me, even though I was less than cooperative.." his full attention turns to the blond boy, his glasses shining in the morning sun . "I'd preferred if you were the one to show me the ropes.."

Turning away, Rei misses the way Nagisa's eyes practically lit up. "Would you do that Nagisa?" Said boy jumps to his feet, and wraps his arm around his newest team member's shoulders before shaking him back and forth.

"Yeah! You can count on me!" Rei tries to gently push him away, his expression only causing the rest of the team to smile at the sight, the universe had finally begun shining in favor of the teens.

_____

𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝟑