Free! After the Storm (M)

[PetalsAndThorns]

Since I have one fic waiting to be updated, what better to do than start an entirely new multi-chapter one?

THIS FIC IS AN ALTERNATE ENDING TO EPISODE 6. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 6.

Beyond this point you are in spoiler territory. Tread cautiously for the monsters be many.

I recently watched Free. I loved the 6th episode, but I had some objections. For example, jumping in the cold water of a swimming pool is enough to get Haru sick, but getting caught in the ocean in a storm, nearly drowning, and sitting shirtless in the rain all night is just dandy? Psshh your continuity!

Once again, this is hardly edited, so it may be a bit clunky ^^;

Part 1

The four of them stood beneath a glowing night’s sky. All around them the star speckled water glowed like a million tiny diamonds twinkling against their legs. Rei closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. A wind stirred the water and splashed it against their legs. Nagisa giggled and Makoto gave a small laugh. Rei felt Nagisa shift closer to him, their arms brushing against each other. Nagisa shivered as another breeze pressed against them.

The wind died back down. Nagisa’s shivering did not.

“Nagisa-kun, you’re shivering.”

Haru and Makoto both looked over. Nagisa turned faintly pink.

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” Nagisa reassured him with a bright, warm smile and a wave of his hand. “It’s just a bit cold out h-here.” His teeth chattered as he tried to finished his sentence and his breath caught on the last word. Rei turned to Makoto and Haru.

“We need to get him out of the water, now,” he said. The sudden urgency in his tone broke the peace of the moment in one swift stroke. Makoto and Haru nodded.

“Rei, c-calm down!” Nagisa said with a laugh through chattering teeth. “It’s nothing that serious!”

“It is serious!” Rei said, turning on Nagisa and grabbing his teammate by the shoulders. “If we don’t get you to warm up, you’ll become hypothermic.”

“Come on,” Makoto urged. Before any of them could press any further, Haru had grabbed Nagisa by the arm and was leading him out of the water. The four reached the shore and broke from the clinging waves. Nagisa was trying to pretend that he wasn’t shivering anymore, but it wasn’t doing him any good. He wrapped his arms around his waist, hugging himself for warmth and trying to keep his arms from trembling.

“Nagisa,” Rei said, getting the boy’s attention as Rei stooped down to get a good look at Nagisa. “His lips are slightly blue,” he said as he took Nagisa’s hand in his and examined his fingernails. Nagisa’s arms were spotted with goosebumps and as another wind stirred their hair his shivering became more violent.

“Let’s get him inside.”

------

While Rei got Nagisa settled against the wall Makoto and Haru collected all of the aprons that they had found in order to build some kind of blanket of insulation around Nagisa.

“What else can we do?” Makoto asked as he and Haru tucked the aprons around their shivering teammate.

“The most important thing is to keep his body temperature up,” Rei replied. “If we can find absolutely anything else that will keep him warm that will be important.”

“This is all we could find…” Makoto replied uncertainly.

“In that case,” Rei continued, “our best bet is to create a human blanket.”

“Human blanket?” Haru asked.

“We need as many of us as we can fit around Nagisa to snuggle with him,” Rei replied. Haru blinked. Nagisa gave a small giggle through his shivering.

“T-team h-hug puddle~!” he chirped brightly, and giggled again. Rei blinked, then gave a small smile. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Nagisa-senpai, m-may I…” he started to ask. Before he’d finished his question Nagisa’s hand appeared from the pile of overlapping aprons, grabbed Rei’s arm and yanked him forward. Rei gave a yelp and went tumbling into Nagisa’s lap. Beside him Makoto covered his mouth as he started laughing.

“Hurry up and get under here,” Nagisa said as Rei blinked up at him. “I’m cooooold~!”

Rei smiled slightly and wiggled his way to join Nagisa beneath the aprons. Makoto took Nagisa’s other side and slipped beneath the aprons as well, shifting up against his teammate’s side.

“Haru,” he said, looking up at their final teammate. Haru stood back from the group, hesitating.

“Haruka-senpai, you should join Nagisa-kun between Makoto-senpai and I,” Rei instructed. Haru blinked at him. “After Nagisa-kun, you’re the next most likely to succumb to hypothermia,” Rei explained. “Hypothermia hits people with less biomass faster, and you’re smaller than Makoto-senpai and I. You’re muscular, but you have no fat to insulate you.”

“I’ll be fine,” Haru replied a bit coolly. His expression was neutral as his eyes flicked between the three of them. His shoulders angled back away from their group, his entire body language putting space between him and his teammates.

“Haru…” Makoto prompted him lightly.

He knew how difficult situations like this were for Haru. Haru had never really been good with physical contact. It had taken him years of being friends with Haru before he’d been able to hug him without Haru getting tense. Nagisa had also managed to get Haru at least a little bit comfortable with him hugging him. But too many people too close to Haru, and it didn’t really matter that it was Makoto and Nagisa, Haru’s most trusted friends. The tension would come back.

“Nee, Haru-chan, join uuus,” Nagisa chimed in, shifting one of his hands out of the apron pile to make grabby fingers at Haru. Haru took a step back, and turned away from them. Makoto’s face fell.

“Haru…” he murmured under his breath. He began to consider if there was a better way to set this up that would make Haru more comfortable. Maybe split them into two groups of two instead of all four, so that the number of people wouldn’t be so overwhelming…

Before Makoto could get any further in his planning Haru jerked forward.

“Heeh-AKshuu!”

“Haruka-senpai?” Rei asked.

“Are you okay, Haru-chan?” Nagisa asked.

“I’m fine,” Haru mumbled, turning back to them.

Makoto blinked, and then started laughing. Haru gave Makoto a look.

“Again?” Makoto asked through his laughter. Haru went faintly pink.

“Don’t say it like this is a normal thing!” Haru snapped back. Rei looked between his teammates.

“What’s a normal thing?”

“Oh! Haru-chan got sick a few weeks ago because he went swimming too early,” Nagisa explained.

“Shut up!” Haru snapped back. “I wasn’t sick, and I’m not sick now!”

“If you say so,” Makoto replied with a smile.

“Still,” Haru continued, turning his head to the side and not looking at them. “It may be better if I’m not close to you guys…”

“Haru,” Makoto said chidingly.

Was that your main concern? Makoto wondered with a shake of his head.

“Haruuuu-chaaan~! No faaaaaiiir,” Nagisa whined. “Come keep me waaarm!”

“Haruka-senpai, please. It’s safest for everyone if we clump together until the morning comes,” Rei continued. Haru continued to hesitate, but under the intense stares of the entire rest of his team, he soon relented. A few moments later he had wormed his way under the aprons between Nagisa and Makoto. The four of them clung together in a compact clump in the corner of the room. Once Haru had gotten himself settled Makoto carefully leaned in against him and wrapped a warm arm across his shoulders. Heat radiated between the four of them and built up beneath the blanket. To Rei’s relief after a little while Nagisa’s shivering began to subside and the small boy let his head droop onto Rei’s shoulder. Rei smiled and ran a hand over Nagisa’s hair. He looked up and caught Makoto’s eye, and the two shared a smile before Makoto closed his eyes as well and let his head come to rest against Haru’s. His nose buried in Haru’s hair.

The exhaustion from their ocean adventure finally hit full force and Makoto felt the warmth and dark tug his mind toward sleep.

“AT-shhu!” A sharp jerk woke the entire group as Haru buried his nose in his hand. The young athlete turned faintly pink and mumbled, “sorry.”

Makoto just smiled and stroked Haru’s hair lightly as he drifted back off to sleep.

------

The sand shifted beneath Rin’s feet as he jogged along the shore. Each step the cool ground cushioned his step and seemed to suck his foot down, making each step more difficult than it would have been on the concrete he was used to.

A few yards away he could see a pair talking to each other standing in front of a pair of camping tents. As he got closer, with a jolt he suddenly recognized his sister. His first impulse was to turn around on the spot and jog back the way he’d come. If that was his sister, he didn’t need to guess who would be in those tents…

But something stopped him. There was a twinge in the back of his mind, something that raised the hair on the back of his neck as he watched his sister talking to the older woman. Something was wrong. He wasn’t close enough to make out his sister’s expression, but her posture was nervous. Her hands were running agitatedly over a singe lock of her hair- Rin knew that nervous tick all too well- as she paced back and forth, every so often turning to stare out at the ocean.

He slowed his running, considered turning back- but his curiosity wouldn’t let him, so he picked up his speed again.

“Onii-chan!” Gou exclaimed. Amakata-sensei turned to see a tall, lean boy come jogging toward them dressed in a black tracksuit. His red hair pulled back into a short ponytail to hold it out of his face nearly matched Gou’s in shade.

“What are you doing out here?” he asked in a cold tone. One that didn’t so much suggest anger, but rather boredom at having to talk to anyone.

“My entire team vanished!” Gou exclaimed, her tone somewhere between anger and helplessness. The boy cocked an eyebrow.

“Vanished?” he asked, his eyes flicked over their shoulders to peer at the empty tents behind them. “Are you sure they didn’t just head out for a walk?” he asked skeptically, turning away from them to continue his jog. “Stop freaking out so easily.”

“The insides of the tents are wet!” Gou’s anxious voice stopped Rin mid-step. “I checked the weather report, it stopped raining at two in the morning! They’ve been gone since before two AM! And they left without closing their tents while it was raining! I’m sorry if that makes me freak out!”

Rin stood frozen in his tracks, his heart thumping in his chest as the words sank in. A few paces away Amakata-sensei had pulled out her cellphone pressed to her ear.

“Ah- hello, yes? My name is Amakata Miho, we have a bit of a problem, can you tell me who I should be talking to…”

------

Light streamed in through the window and landed on Rei’s face, illuminating his skin against the navy blue of his eyelashes.

“Tchhh!”

Nagisa shifted and nuzzled his face further into Rei’s shoulder.

“Tccchhh!”

Makoto’s deep rhythmic breathing pressed his chest against Haru’s back.

“Ha-AKTchuu!”

Makoto stirred and blinked blearily, then shifted, buried his head in Haru’s shoulder and closed his eyes again.

“Haa-AT-shuu!”

Makoto stirred again, for real this time. Be blinked, rubbed his eyes and looked over at his teammates. Rei and Nagisa were snuggled up. Haru had fallen asleep curled up in a small ball with his head against Nagisa. At some point during the night Makoto had ended up with his arms wrapped around Haru, their bodies pressed together. So when Haru drew in a breath, Makoto could feel his chest expand.

“Haa—KTchhuu!”

Nagisa and Rei stirred now. Nagisa opened a bleery eye and turned to find Haru curled up next to him, cheeks pink, face buried in his hand as he roughly rubbed at his nose.

“Good morning, Haru-chan,” he said, rubbing his eyes with his fist and yawning widely. Haru sniffed wetly and pressed his nose harder against his hand.

“That doesn’t sound very good…” Rei commented.

“Shut up,” Haru mumbled, pulling an apron over his head so no one could see him.

“Haa—Iiiihhttchuu!” Nagisa blinked and turned to see Rei with a hand clamped over his nose. The boy shifted, trying to turn away as his shoulder jerked again. “Ihhtchhhuu!Ttcchuu!Chhh!Chh!Haa—Tiichhuuu!”

“Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked.

“S-sorry,” Rei stammered.

Makoto gave a small laugh.

“It looks like you’re not really in a position to talk,” he commented.

“Rei-chan! Not you too!”

“Sorry!” Rei repeated.

“Don’t apologize,” Makoto said. He turned to look out of the window. It was early still. The light was just appearing in the sky. The ocean would still be too cold for them to swim back through…

Nagisa shifted and gave a wet cough into his arm.

…Then again… Makoto wasn’t sure any of them would be in shape to swim back to shore no matter what the water temperature was like…

[Akahana]

Oh my god this is great and hot and wonderful and I hope they all get sick and take care of each other even though they are all sick and then get rescued!! This looks so good I can't wait for more~

[Sitruuna]

Mmmm Haruka. That episode was definitely lacking something. Hehheh

This is a very, very nice fic. o3o

[coldcure08]

Argh! cuddles and happiness. I love it! i hope there will be more!

[Bobsuperawesome]

YUS!!!!!! OTAKU POWER!!!

[Kshu]

God I'm sooooo excited for more of this!!!

[Natto]

Oh gosh, this is wonderful. I actually had the same thought as you did--it made no sense that just being in cold water would make Haru sick, but that practically drowning wouldn't do anything to any of them. I mean, ignoring the fact that illness is caused by viruses in the first place, you need continuity within universe, and any excuse to make them sick is a good one. XD; Anyway, this is going really well so far. I like that you keep sort of switching to who we should be worried about--first Nagisa, then Haru, then...everyone. I also like Amakata and Gou's reactions...Amakata would be in such huge trouble with the school oh my lord she could lose her job over this. XD; Oh dear. Anyway, I'm looking forward to see how this develops. Thanks for posting!

[SterlingSilver]

UNFF~ I've never seen Free personally, but I adore when talented writers, like you Petals, write about all the fuzzy-feelzy boys and their sniffly adventures <33. This is lovely~! Sooooo cute that they all cuddled together because of Nagisa~ H/C is the best >w<~ *claps*

[Kushami Suki Da!]

Aaaaaaaaaah cute~~! Can't wait for more!

[Pyrus_Fangmon]

Yes yes YES! There just has to be more! This is soooooo perfect!

[Slash2347]

yay~!

[monochrome]

This is super cute!! <3 Please continue~!

[Kshu]

Yes please! I really liked where it was going!

[PetalsAndThorns]

Thank you everyone so much for commenting! I know this has been a long time in the waiting. I finally got it so it doesn’t feel so clunky anymore! (Looks at the word count.) Wow! Much longer than my usual updates. Please enjoy this monster of a chapter!

Seriously, thank you guys for the amazing comments! They just make my day whenever I come back to look at them. <3 (I would say something more coherent, but it’s almost 3 AM and I should be asleep.)

Open word. Insert drama.

--------

Part 2

“Waterproof backpack?” Gou asked. “Why…?”

“Waterproof pack,” her brother repeated. “Any kind. Do you have one?”

“Um… I didn’t do much of the packing, but I can check…” Gou said.

“Also, if you have any of the following, bring it to me. Towels, a first aid kit, any food that can be stored in a backpack, bottled water.”

“Onii-chan, are you going to-”

“Do you have any of those things, or not?” Rin cut her off.

“I’ll go look,” she said, turning away and running off toward where they’d stored everything they couldn’t fit in the two tents. Rin turned to look out at the sea. Which way had the wind been blowing last night? Which island is most likely?

-----

Nagisa’s stomach gave a loud growl that resounded through the room. The boy wrapped his arms around his stomach and rolled across the floor.

“Huuuuuungry,” he complained loudly.

“Nagisa-kun,” Rei said, shaking his head.

“We could all use some food…” Makoto commented as his own stomach voiced its complaints.

“I know! We can go out and forage!” Nagisa piped up, leaping from where he’d been lying on the floor in excitement.

“Do you know anything about wild edible plants?” Rei asked, reaching up with a hand to adjust his glasses before stopping when he remembered he wasn’t wearing any.

“Nope! But I read a lot of adventure stories as a kid!”

“Nagisa-kun, that’s a good way to kill us.”

Nagisa puffed out his cheeks.

“Fine then. What’s your brilliant idea?”

“I say we should head down to the shore and try to hail someone on the mainland as soon as possible,” Rei replied.

“That’s not necessary.” Haru had finally extracted himself from the pile of aprons and was now stretching his arm above his head with a crack somewhere in his shoulder. “I’ll swim to shore and get someone to send a boat.”

“Are you in shape to do that?” Makoto asked a bit dubiously.

“Yes,” Haru replied simply.

“Haruka-senpai, I’m not sure that’s a good idea…” Rei started. “You still look a bit pale…”

“That isn’t going to get in the way of my swimming,” Haru replied. Just as he lowered the arm he’d been stretching his face went blank and he buried his nose in the crook of his arm. “Huhh-AHTTCHH!”

“But that might,” Makoto pointed out with a smile. Haru shot him a look as he gave a wet sniff.

“It won’t.”

“Aren’t you the one always telling me not to underestimate the water?” Makoto asked.

“This is different,” Haru replied.

“How so?”

Haru frowned and turned away from looking at Makoto, knowing he was about to be made fun of. “The water and I have an agreement.”

Makoto laughed. Haru ignored him and turned toward the stairs. Nagisa stepped between him and planting his hands firmly on his hips.

“No! You’re not doing this,” Nagisa stated firmly. “This is exactly how we got into this trouble last night! You two making silly, impulsive decisions. We got into this by acting on impulse. We need to get out of it using caution! We should go with Rei-chan’s plan.”

Haru frowned. Makoto came up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Nagisa has a good point,” Makoto said.

“We’re only going to get hungrier and more tired the longer we wait,” Haru argued. “We don’t know if anyone will see us. If someone has to swim back, they should do it as soon as possible.”

“Let’s give Rei’s plan a try, at least.”

Haru gave a sigh but turned away, which Makoto took as a sign of submission. He turned back to the group at large.

“In any case, we should head down to the shore.”

--------------

The island was less scary by daylight. The trees that had loomed like ominous demons by moonlight stood as a friendly canopy between them and the rising sun. The air outside wasn’t much cooler than the air inside, but the light breeze that stirred the air caught them as they walked, drawing goosebumps along Nagisa’s arms and causing Haru to duck away as he pitched with another sharp:

“Haah—ATTCCHH!”

The sun slowly climbed from its position just above the horizon line to hang lazily with an early morning glow. By the time they finally managed to locate their way back to the open beach, the light was reflecting off of the pale sand, warming it just enough to be pleasant without being painfully hot.

Makoto let out a relieved sigh as they finally broke from the trees into the open beach. They’d been wandering through the forest for so long they’d begun to wonder if they’d lost their way. Beside him Nagisa let out a triumphant cry and dashed forward, flopping into the sand. Haru made a beeline for the shore, burying his feet in the cool moist sand and letting the foamy tips of the waves engulf his ankles. He let his eyes slip shut and the tension that had been in his shoulders all night slowly melted off and drifted away with the water.

Already as they stood there Makoto could tell that something wasn’t quite right. As he peered out at the shore just visible across the waves he felt a sinking feeling in his chest.

“It’s the wrong shore,” he said, his words emotionless as all energy for feeling seemed to have drained out of him.

“What?” Nagisa asked, yanking his head up, sand spilling from his curls.

“We’re on the wrong shore,” Makoto repeated. He pointed out across the waves to the other tree lined shore beyond. “That’s not the mainland,” he said dully. “It’s one of the other islands.”

Nagisa turned sharply to stare out where Makoto was pointing and his face fell dramatically. Then a moment later he perked up again.

“But we found shore!” he exclaimed. “We made a step! All we have to do is keep walking along the shore and eventually we’ll find the mainland!”

“Do you have any idea how long it would take us to traverse the entire parameter of this island?” Rei asked. He’d emerged last from the forest, twigs sticking out form his hair and grimacing as he massaged his shoulders. “The islands here have, on average, a parameter of 11 km. The average human walking speed is 5 kilometers per hour on solid ground. Without taking into account the extra resistance of sand, or our existing fatigue a full circle of the parameter would take at least two hours.”

Nagisa puffed out his cheeks and batted a wave of puffing sand at Rei, most of which simply clung to his wet ankles, but some dispersed into the air around Rei. The athlete blinked, his eyelashed fluttering, turned a pale shade of pink and quickly whirled away to cover his face as he launched into a small fit.

“Haaaa—ihhhhtcchh!chhh!chhh!chhnnx!Hiiihh—tcchhh!”

“Nagisa,” Makoto chastised his teammate in a stern tone. “Are you alright, Rei?” he asked, reaching out a hand to touch the boy’s shoulder.

“F—Fhhine—hhhhh-tiihhcccch!hhh—hhhh---hhhttchhh!” Rei shook his head fervently, scrubbed at his nose, and finally turned back, distinctly pinker in the cheek than when he’d turned away.

“Rei has a good point though,” Makoto commented. “We can’t bank on getting around the island.”

“We don’t have to!” Nagisa objected. “We only have to go far enough to see the main shore!”

“That only works if we set off in the right direction,” Rei said. “If we go the right way, it won’t be too far. If we go the wrong way we’ll have to go about 3/4ths of the way around the island. We have no idea which way the mainland is. We could figure that out if we knew which island we were on, but we don’t…”

Nagisa puffed his cheeks and made to swat sand at Rei again. Rei gave an utterly undignified squeak and danced away from where Nagisa lay.

“Children,” Makoto said exasperatedly, scrubbing a hand over his face. He looked around for Haru, to see if he could get any support there. Haru had crouched down just within the reach of the waves, and was drawing shapes in the sand until another wave came and wiped away his efforts. He was clearly determined to do everything in his power to be as close to the water as possible while still obeying his teammates’ requests not to swim. Makoto sighed.

“Let’s give Nagisa’s plan a shot,” he said. “There’s not point in standing around. We might as well think of better alternatives while we walk.”

Nagisa hopped up victoriously and the group set off again.

But Nagisa’s plan was not fated to be long lived. They’d long been walking for maybe twenty minutes when a mass of gnarley rock appeared ahead of them, cutting across the shore like a fence. As they drew closer it became clear that they would not be able to scale it. Nagisa gave it a few hearty attempts before he conceited defeat and flopped back into the sand.

“What now?” he asked, staring hopelessly up at the grey mass blocking their way.

“We think of something else…” Makoto said, though his tone didn’t hold much hope. A soft flurry of noise behind them caught his attention and Makoto turned around to see Rei, lagging some ten steps behind the rest with his face buried in his hand as he succumbed to a flurry of sneezes.

“Hahh—iihhhhiii-ttchhhh!hhiihhkkktcchhh!Huhhh—tchhh!Huhhh---uhhh—hhhttccchhh!hhihhhtttcchhhhnn! Ahhh…haaaahhh…Hiiihhhh-tiiihhhCHHhhnnxxx!”

“Why do you keep doing that?” Nagisa asked as Rei, having finally recomposed himself, rejoined the group. Rei blinked.

“Doing what?” he asked.

“You keep falling behind. Is something wrong with you legs?” he asked, peering Rei’s at the finely sculpted calves. Rei turned pink and took a few steps away, trying to escape from Nagisa’s scrutinizing gaze.

“Of course not, I’m fine,” he said.

“Then why?” Nagisa pressed. Rei turned another shade pinker.

“Because- because it’s embarrassing,” he exclaimed breathlessly. Nagisa tilted his head.

“What is?”

“N-nothing!”

“Are you embarrassed because you’re sneezing, Rei-chan?” Nagisa asked bluntly, causing Rei to suck in a breath and bury the bottom half of his face in his hand. Nagisa grinned.

“You are!”

“I- h-hush!” Rei tried to sound commanding but it lost some of its kick to the wavering, breathless tone. “It’s not beautiful at all!” he exclaimed. “It’s ugly, sudden, uncontrollable, unsanitary- and I don’t even have my kerchief- It’s just terrible!”

“But, Rei-chan, we all heard you sneeze this morning. You don’t have anything to hide,” Nagisa commented.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” Rei mumbled, not looking at them. Makoto rolled his eyes.

“Well, at least we know you definitely belong on the team now,” Nagisa chirped brightly.

This seemingly out of the blue comment caught Rei completely off guard. “What does that mean?” he asked.

“Because! You’re a boy with a girly name and a girly sneeze,” Nagisa replied brightly. A few paces away Makoto laughed.

“I’m not girly!” Rei objected.

“Since when has that been a thing we share?” Makoto asked.

“Since forever!” Nagisa replied. “Don’t be embarrassed about it, Rei-chan! We’re all like that~. Yours is cute though~. They all come out together, huh? Kinda like a flurry of birds- or butterflies~.”

“Can we please stop talking about this?!” Rei snapped breathlessly. He’d turned away again, but Nagisa could hear the blush in his tone.

“Why?”

“Because its embarrassi—haahhh—ttiihhhhhhhchhh!huuhh---uhhh---tihhhchhh!ttuuhhhhchhh!hhuuuhhhtttuuchhhhnnxx!” Rei rubbed at his nose aggrevatedly. “Can we please get back to the problem at hand?”

“Fire.”

Makoto gave a small jump and stumbled forward as a voice spoke very suddenly from directly behind him. He whirled to find Haru standing there, his expression as blank as ever.

“Where?” Nagisa asked in a bit of a panic. Haru shook his head.

“No. Fire. We could make a fire. If we can make a column of smoke it doesn’t matter that we’re not on the right side of the island. People on shore will see it.”

The group agreed that this plan made sense. But they only had to spend a few minutes on it when the problem with this plan became clear. All of the wood on the island was soaking wet from the last night’s rainstorm. Even Makoto, who knew how to light a fire without matches, wouldn’t be able to get anything to light in these conditions.

“This isn’t working,” Haru stated plainly as he and Makoto sat together collecting sticks alone while Rei and Nagisa tried desperately a little ways away to find any wood not soaked to the core.

“No,” Makoto replied solemnly. “No, it’s not.”

“Can I go with my first plan, then? I can swim faster than we can walk.” Haru said. Makoto sighed and took a little while to respond. That was one of the things that Haru liked about Makoto. Nagisa would immediately have refused. But Makoto actually thought. He took the time to really consider it, and so Haru trusted the answers he came up with better.

Half of Makoto contemplated how to respond, while the other half processed Haru’s state. The boy’s face, thought resolute as ever, had gained no color as the day progressed. Although to outside eyes he may have looked unphased Makoto could see the small indications that Haru was off. The tints of exhaustion about his eyes, the weariness in his posture. And when Makoto’s hand had brushed Haru’s skin earlier he’d felt warmth there. Warmth that wouldn’t have caused him concern if Haru had spent the last hour sunbathing. But given the cool touch of the morning air…

“I understand why you want to go,” Makoto told him softly. “I’m not really comfortable with this much chance involved in our rescue either. But…” Makoto steadied himself and took a breath. If he was going to get Haru to listen and believe him, he needed to be honest and real right now. “The idea of you going into the ocean right now scares me.”

Makoto kept a level face, but he knew Haru could read through it. Haru was watching him with his chin resting on his knees. His hair was tumbling into his face, accenting the pink flush of his cheeks with their dark locks.

“I’ll stay here then.” His expression, though as neutral as ever, had a glum feeling to it.

“Thank you,” Makoto said.

“Mako-chan! Haru-chan!”

The two of them stood and turned to see Nagisa hurrying toward them.

“Rei-chan’s though of something,” he panted. “Rei-chan thinks he saw some old chairs, and maybe even some construction wood in the rest house. And now that I think about it, I’m not sure we checked every drawer for matches!”

Makoto’s expression brightened at this news. “That’s actually a pretty good idea.” He turned to Haru who shrugged and with no better options available, they began to trek back toward the shelter.

---

It took them awhile to return to the rest house, and by the time they got there they were about ready to collapse. But dutifully they each set about deconstructing the interior, looking for anything wooden they could glean while Nagisa searched every nook and cranny for matches.

Rei and Haru were just beginning to make progress on deconstruction a small wooden table into its smaller parts, when Haru suddenly went still cocked his head to attention like a prey animal who just caught the whiff of a fox on the breeze.

“What is it?” Rei asked, pausing himself to watch Haru.

“Did you hear that?” Haru asked.

Both Rei and Makoto paused what they were doing to follow Haru’s line of vision, the entire room going quiet.

“Hear what?” asked Nagisa.

“Footsteps…”

“…I don’t hear anything…” Rei commented after a moment.

Suddenly there came an unmistakable scrapping sound, followed by the sound of the door being pulled open.

“Someone’s here!” Nagisa exclaimed.

“Thank god!” Rei breathed, his eyes wide with surprised relief.

“Hello! Is someone there?” Nagisa called. Their group sat on the upper level of the rest house, which was constructed in a circular, railed balcony that looked down on the lower level of the house.

Nagisa leapt to his feet and rushed over to the railing that separated their floor from the floor below and propped himself up on his arms to peer over.

“Heeey—” Nagisa’s voice cut off abruptly as if something had clenched its fist around his throat. His eyes went wide and a moment later he seemed to find his voice. “Rin-chan?!” the word escaped his lips before his mind had even process what it meant.

The moment the word left his mouth it felt like all of the air had been sucked from the room. Everything was suddenly eerily silent. Makoto blinked at Nagisa, as if to make sure he’d heard that right, then, as if on instinct he turned to look at Haru. Haru had gone completely still, his face frozen in its neutral position.

Tap

Tap

Tap

Tap

The sound of bare feet on the wooden floor below was the only thing to break the silence.

The footsteps reached the staircase.

Slowly, Haru turned.

All eyes were fixed on the staircase as the gentle tap, tap, tap, grew closer. And a moment later a head of silky, wet, red hair appeared over the steps.

“Rin…” Makoto managed. “What are you doing here?” he asked as the tall boy came to a stop at the top of the stairs. He wore only his swimming trunks, black against the pale skin of his sculpted abdomen. Water was still dripping from the tips of his hair, one drop landing on his shoulder and rolling its way over his chest and down his side. On his back was a large, black, plastic pack that he’d turned into a makeshift backpack with the help of a length of ship’s rope.

Rin shifted, swinging the pack from his shoulders and dropping it on the ground in front of him with a loud THUNK that came like a gunshot in that silence. Rin left the pack sitting on the floor as he stepped smoothly over it and continued forward.

“Rin-” Makoto tried again, but Rin ignored him. Ignored Nagisa as he passed him. Didn’t so much as glance at Rei. Makoto realized where he was going a moment too late and before he could move, Rin had grabbed Haru by the shoulder and slammed him hard into the wall behind him.

“Rin!” Makoto shouted- starting forward with Nagisa and Rei close behind.

“What the hell were you thinking?” Rin’s shout stopped them in their tracks. Makoto’s yell paled in comparison to the raw fury in Rin’s tone. Haru didn’t move, didn’t shift to defend himself or retaliate. Only his wide eyes betrayed his surprise. “How could you be so stupid! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Rin-san!” Rei tried to cut in.

“Shut up megane!” Rin snapped at him. “This has nothing to do with you!”

“It has everything to do with me!” Rei bit back, standing a hair taller as his hands curled into fists at his sides. “It was my fault! This was entirely my fault! I did something stupid, and Haruka-senpai, Makoto-senpai, and Nagisa-kun came to rescue me. I have everything to do with this. If you want to hit someone, hit me! But let Haruka-senpai go. Now!” The last word came out in a tone so cool and demanding that Makoto wondered if Rei wouldn’t make a much better coach than him someday.

Rin growled low in his throat. “I wouldn’t expect a talentless newbie to understand anything. But I expected better of you Haru,” he said, turning his attention back to the boy, still frozen beneath his hand. “Or Makoto! Or Nagisa! Why didn’t a single one of you call for help?! Why didn’t any of you tell anyone what you were doing?! Where you were going! You know how dangerous the ocean is! You know how quickly a man can drown!”

“Rin!” Makoto took another step forward.

“You know that in an ocean storm no one can hear you scream! And by the time they do it will be too late!”

Makoto stopped in his tracks.

“You know that drowning happens in a second- Your body goes rigid and no matter how good of a swimmer you are it doesn’t matter when your limbs freeze and you can’t move!”

The color drained from Makoto’s face. Without thinking his body took a hesitant step backward, but froze midstep. For the first time anger flashed across Haru’s face, sparked in his eyes. His lips set in a cold frown and before Rin could process this shift Haru had grabbed Rin by the wrists and was shoving him back.

“Not here,” he growled, pressing back against Rin. While Rin’s growl had been scary, Haru’s was terrifying. There was no yelling, no explosion. The low, quiet tone sent a shiver down Rei’s spine. “Yell anything you want at me, but not here.”

“Rin-chan, Haru-chan, please! Stop!” Nagisa begged. He made a move to step between them and push them away from each other. In that moment Rei appeared behind Rin and made a grab for Rin’s arm to pull him off Haru.

Rin whirled. Pulled back his hand to strike Rei. In a split second Haru had started forward to intercept Rin’s backhand- but Rin came to a freezing hault halfway through his strike, a grimace plastered across his features. His lip curled in disgust, but instead of striking, Rin just yanked his arm away from Rei’s touch. He shouldered his way roughly past Rei, his shoulder slamming Rei’s hard enough to send Rei staggering back. By the time Rei had recovered, Rin had already reached the top of the staircase he’d come up just minutes earlier.

“There’s a cellphone in the pack,” he said coldly. “It has your teacher’s number in it. Text her your location.”

Without another word Rin vanished down the staircase. Nagisa looked like he wanted to say something to stop him, but no one in the room could manage to make a noise. The sound of the door opening came again, and then it SLAMMED shut, leaving silence like ice water in the room behind it.

The noise echoed in their ears as the silence stretched.

“Are you okay, Haru-chan?” Nagisa finally asked into the silence. His voice was soft and mousy, but it was still jarring in that silence.

“Fine,” Haru replied, but his eyes were elsewhere. “Makoto…” he started. Makoto, who was standing stalk still, his expression blank, his eyes wide, slowly turned to Haru and smiled.

“I’m fine,” he said softly. “Don’t worry about it.” He took a breath and his smile faltered, then fixed back in place. “I’m going to step out for a minute to get some air.”

Haru watched Makoto turn and then he too vanished down the staircase. This time the door’s opening and closing was hardly audible. Like a ghost trying not to wake the owner of the house he was haunting.

“…Should we…” Nagisa started, but Haru shook his head.

“Give him some time alone,” he said. Nagisa fidgeted, looking between Haru and the door, clearly uncomfortable with this idea. But a stern look from Hary stopped any more discussion before it began. Nagisa nodded and that was that.

“…What…” Rei managed. “What was that?”

Haru didn’t reply. Instead he stepped forward and unclipped the backpack that Rei had brought and began setting out the items inside.

-------

Makoto turned to look up as someone drew up and settled down beside him. He hardly had to look. He’d recognized Haru’s footsteps the moment he’d heard them.

Makoto’s face was soft. He was smiling again. The color had come back to his cheeks, and his eyes had the distantly calm look that Haru recognized as the calm that came over Makoto after he’d come down from a serious bout of anxiety. Haru reached out, his fingertips brushed Makoto’s and he dropped a food bar in his palm and a water bottle in his lap.

Makoto blinked down at the objects.

“From Rin’s pack,” Haru informed him.

“Oh. Thank you,” Makoto said warmly as he turned back to look out over the waves. A few moments passed in silence.

“How are you?” Haru asked.

“I’m alright,” Makoto replied, fiddling with a corner of the wrapper on his food bar. “I’m sorry… for leaving right after that. And if I made you guys worry—eep.”

Makoto ducked and squeaked as Haru flicked him lightly on the cheek.

“You’re being ridiculous,” Haru stated bluntly. Makoto laughed, his shoulders rising as he tried to hide his face behind them, feeling suddenly bashful.

“You haven’t eaten since yesterday, you’re dehydrated, and you hardly slept last night,” Haru informed him in a monotone that did not invite objections. “You’re going to be at least a little bit miserable. Until that’s not true I’ll be more worried when you pretend to be happy than if you’re honest.”

Makoto blinked, and then he smiled again, but the strain behind it was more visible this time.

“Eat,” Haru instructed, nodding at the food bar. Makoto opened the wrapping obediently and nibbled a corner of the oats and honey bar within. He forced himself to take a bite, chewed it and swallowed it thickly. His mouth set in a thin line as he stared down at the remaining food bar in his hand. Slowly he closed the wrapping again and set it in the sand beside him.

“I’m sorry…” he whispered. “I don’t… really have an appetite.” He tugged his legs up to his chest and his head sunk down to rest on his knees. Haru reached out hesitantly, and then ran a comforting hand down Makoto’s back. Makoto shivered and hugged his legs closer. Haru continued stroking Makoto’s back, lightly at first, but his fingers walked their way across his shoulder blades, finding those spots where Makoto held his strain and applying gently pressure, like a massage. Makoto let out a soft gasp of pain as Haru found a particularly sore spot and he buried his face in his knees.

Slowly the tension began to release from Makoto’s shoulders, and he began to uncurl from his ball and let his head come to rest against Haru’s shoulder. Makoto’s cheek was warm against Haru’s neck, and when Haru ran a hand through Makoto’s hair and brushed against his forehead he felt the heat as his fingers passed.

Makoto closed his eyes and let his weight fall fully on Haru. His entire body felt heavy with a lead that seemed to have collected in his chest, stopping up his heart and pumping into each and every limb and crevice of his body. He bit his lip hard to keep his breathing calm as it threatened to shudder or hitch. Haru’s fingers brushed his temples as they ran through his hair and he gave up and let out a shuddering sigh.

“…I feel terrible…” he confessed in a whisper.

----------

Rin didn’t stop moving. He didn’t pause outside the door, he didn’t linger on the beach. He didn’t take any time before diving into the water. He didn’t think as he swam back to shore. He left his tracksuit and everything he’d had with him before he dove in the water with Gou, some yards away and out of sight.

Instead he resumed his jogging- keep moving- keep on- as if nothing happened.

The sand clung to his legs, shifted and rolled beneath his weight-

Rin stumbled-

His heart pounded in his chest-

He pulled harder, pressed harder against the sand-

His feet only slipped faster.

Rin let out a wordless yell of anger and kicked at the ground.

The sand only puffed around his feet, unimpressed in the face of Rin’s rage.

Rin gritted razer sharp teeth, reached down, grabbed a handful of sand and lobbed it at the ocean. It came apart the moment it left his hand and poured to the ground in a disappointing cloud.

Rin turned and ran- slipping- his knees slamming into the sand- grabbing at the ground with his hands- anything to keep himself going forward-

Forward-

Forward-

He reached the pier and his shoulder slammed into one of the wooden support beams. Rin grabbed it for support and pushed himself beneath the towering wooden structure. Shade fell over him and the air went cold.

Rin collapsed to the sand, his back hitting the beam he’d just run into. He threw his head back with a thunk against the wooden support and pressed his hands hard over his face. Trying to block the world out, trying to press his brain back into submission. He could feel his heart hammering in his throat. His stomach seemed to be turning circles in his abdomen. He felt sick.

Images flashed through his mind.

Him, standing at the competition, watching the other competitors file in. Waiting for Haru-

And Haru never came.

Him, at Iwatobi- standing on the path that Haru took home, waiting-

And Haru never came.

Him, standing at Haru’s door, watching the steps leading down to the village, waiting-

And Haru never came.

Him, standing on the peer, staring out over the ocean, waiting for Haru to come back-

And Haru never came.

And the final image of Haru in his mind would be Haru pulling away from him-

“I want you to promise me something. If you lose, don't say you're going to quit. Don't embarrass yourself. Don't cry if you lose.”

Those words would echo through his head every night.

That promise, they had a promise.

Every night.

And Haru would never come.

Rin would practice- and every waking moment he’d be reminded that he’d never know. He’d never find out if he could win. Because Haru would never come.

He’d never be able to beat Haru. He’d never know if he was worth anything. He’d never be able to stand proudly before his father again.

And Haru would never come back.

And Makoto would never come back.

And Nagisa would never come back.

And his Father would never come back.

And Rin would be alone.

And he would feel like this forever.

[Pyrus_Fangmon]

I can not express emotions to this...

Your writing is so perfect and in line that I could visualize it as if it was an actual continued episode.

Marvelous job. Well done!

[Bobsuperawesome]

Awwwww, Rin!!! Stupid Haru, having to hurt Rin while he protect s Makoto!

[pretz]

That was so good! I hope you continue this c:

[ProfessorBiscuit]

This is excellent! You do a really good job of capturing the characters' personalities. I can't wait for another chapter!

[Natto]

This is brilliant! It's probably one of my favorite Free fics on the forum so far. The first chapter was awesome, but you really outdid yourself in this second chapter. First of all, the way you're pacing their developing illnesses is great. I'm not exactly sure who's going to be sick and how badly, but I can tell that most of them are coming down with something and that's great. The suspense is great. I also love all the emotional/plot content. I love that they're actually challenged by having to get off the island, rather than solving the problem easily like they did in canon. I love how Haru subtly defends Makoto from Rin's scary description of drowning...and how Rin's graphic description was clearly coming from a place of extreme fear and misery, since he had a close family member die by drowning. The ending absolutely blew me away, it was a punch right in the heart and I loved it. It was brilliant. Thank you so much for writing this beautiful fic.

[Akahana]

Awwwww, Rin!!! Stupid Haru, having to hurt Rin while he protect s Makoto!

Ok this quote really gets on my nerves and I just have to get this off my chest. I am so proud of Haru for defending Makoto like a best friend would, especially when Makoto sounded like he was about to go into a panic attack. I ship Makoto and Haru pretty hard, but I have to say this is exactly how best friend should act. Haru cares about Rin a lot, but he abandoned Haru. He left and cut all ties with everyone over some stupid petty bullshit that could have been solved if it wasn't for his ego and fear. But Makoto has never left his side, and is one of the only permanent thing Haru has had throughout his life. Makoto is terrified of the ocean, terrified of drowning and most of all terrified of loosing the people he loves to drowning. He already almost lost Haru once and the only reason Makoto still swims is to be with Haru and to be able to protect him. For fucks sake he does the backstroke because he's afraid to face the water. Despite being terrified of the ocean he jumped in to save Rei without a second thought because he refused to loose someone he loved to the water. And here Rin comes in when they are all sick, tired, scared and stressed and starts yelling at them, acting like the only person who matters is Haru, and then almost sends Mako into a panic attack on top of it? ESPECIALLY Makoto, because he hides his pain and fear behind a smile and would rather suffer alone than bother anyone with his problems. No you protect your loved ones and at that moment, the person who needed protecting was Makoto. It was Haru's turn to protect and worry over his friend and he stepped up to the plate and I am so proud. Good job Haru, no one fucks with your best friend.

[Bobsuperawesome]

I don't understand why people are always against Rin! Don't get me wrong, Makoto is my favorite character from the show, but even I have to admit that he's almost a grown man! Buck up dude, face your fears!!!! Everyone has fears, just get over it Makoto!

[PetalsAndThorns]

@Natto:

Your comments are always so depth-fully written and high content. You always go above and beyond to communicate your thoughts on the writing, and to share your experience of reading it. It gives me the chance to get a secondhand enjoyment of my story through your comment and I love it. You hit everything that I was trying to do with this fic in your comment. The pacing, the shifting spotlight. (After the first chapter I was just lost. I’d never written a fic with more than one ill person before and I had no idea how to do it without it just turning into "everyone's sick everywhere", feeling forced and losing impact.) And you pick up on all the underplaying emotions going on behind the scenes. I really enjoy reading your comments. Thank you for putting so much work into your words.

----

On the subject of the conflict in the rest house, I wasn't sure I was going to say anything on the subject at first. I usually prefer not to explain my thoughts as the author behind the scene, because I feel that stories are stronger when the reader can fill it in themselves. But there's a real, serious conversation happening here, and I don't want to overlook it.

I’m having trouble replying to this without writing an essay, so I’m trying to consolidate my words.

Rin is my favourite character. I love him. And yet, I will be the first to say that he has no non-violent communication skills whatsoever. His temper steps out of bounds, and the instance in this fic was no exception.

I loved writing this scene because the emotions in it were so complex. What I found interesting about it is that Makoto and Rin are having almost the same experience, and yet the way they show it on the surface is exactly the opposite of each other. Makoto goes still, Rin flares up.

I am extremely wary of words like “buck up, face your fears”. When dealing with any kind of emotion, repressing it is a good way to cause damage to yourself and the people around you. But this goes a hundred times more when a person is facing a panic attack. This message of “man up” is so deeply ingrained the image of what it means to be masculine that boys learn from a very young age that showing emotion = shame.

In my mind, Makoto is the most emotionally mature person in that room. You can see it in the way that he handles conflict between his friends. The way that he is a steady rock for Haru throughout the show, and the way that he reveals his deep seated fear to his friends. He has mastered his shame, and learned how to coexist with his emotions and needs. And most importantly he has learned how to express his emotions.

Rin is the image of what happens when someone internalizes the message “man up, get over it”. Rin is the person in the room most obsessed with avoiding/overcoming emotion. But honestly he is by far the most emotional person in the room. He’s internalized the message to bottle his emotions and has internalized a voice that shames him out of expressing his fear and pain. The only socially acceptable way for boys to display emotion is violence, and so all of the emotion that Rin feels is filtered into anger and flame.

The reason why I love Free, is because the male cast is allowed to show emotion. They’re allowed to be soft and cuddly, to be afraid; they’re allowed to cry, to laugh, to play, to have a full range of experience without shame. That is what makes their group special, and I think that that is the hole that Rin feels being outside their group.

I loved writing this scene because I empathized so deeply with each of the characters. It was a mass of overlapping and clashing emotions all just happening within the same space. It was not a healthy conflict. Rin was deeply hurt and utterly terrified. But that does not give him the right to inflict harm on others. And that was what he was doing. His words were already attacking and he was bordering on physical violence. None of this negates the pain Rin was in. But none of Rin’s pain negates the damage he was causing.

I stand by Haru’s actions to the end. I love them all, as I love all of my plot children.

[Natto]

I don't understand why people are always against Rin! Don't get me wrong, Makoto is my favorite character from the show, but even I have to admit that he's almost a grown man! Buck up dude, face your fears!!!! Everyone has fears, just get over it Makoto!

No, everyone doesn't have fears like that. His "fear of the ocean" is a traumatic reaction to a natural disaster resulting in death. It's trauma. He's panicking. It's not the most extreme case, but it's still a real thing and it's not easily gotten over. I had panic attacks at 17 (Makoto's age), and I still do occasionally as an actual full-grown adult...mine were a lot more dramatic and a lot less easily explained, but they sucked and I couldn't easily just stop having them because it was inconvenient for others or babyish or whatever.

Honestly, in this story here, Makoto was doing a damn good job controlling himself while he was being triggered. All he did was stop trying to handle Rin. He didn't start screaming or crying (stuff I would have done panicking over lesser things) he just got upset so that Haru noticed it, and left so that he could deal with his emotional response alone. That is "dealing with it", as best as someone in that position can. Meanwhile Rin is screaming and insulting people because he's just as triggered. Both reactions are completely in character and both reasonable responses from teenagers, but Rin's is a lot less socially adaptive than Makoto's is, and it causes others pain. Unlike Makoto's. So what you're criticizing is that he has a fear reaction, which is honestly pretty insulting as someone who has been subject to panic attacks/anxiety.

[PetalsAndThorns]

@Natto: Thank you. This was something that I couldn't quite figure out how to communicate and you did.

[Bobsuperawesome]

Although, I agree that Mailto handled that extremely well, never in the show has he ever had a panic attack, let alone mentioned full out anxiety. Now I'm not saying that his fear isn't there,but it's more of the way that Haruka handled it in this situation. Haringey knew that both of his friends were emotionally unstable, but he chose to pick Makotos side over Rins. Even though they are best friends, he was almost as close with Rin. There's also no doubt that in this particular situation he could have effectively told off Rin and Protected Makoto without hurting anyone's feelings. Now I'm not hating on Haruka, and I'm definitely not hating on this story. This is just my opinion and thoughts on this situation.