Cait (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cmbranford) wrote2014-04-14 02:57 pm
cmbranford) wrote2014-04-14 02:57 pm
Entry tags:
April Pool's Day
Title: "No Waterfalls"
Fandom: Free!
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
compli_cait
Characters: Haruka, Gou
Length: 1845 words
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Language
Summary: Gou leaves her muscle magazines at Haru's house to hide them from her brother who is coming home to visit for the first time since his return from Australia.
Notes: For the April Pool's Day Tumblr Event
Prompt: Haru/Gou's muscle magazines
No Waterfalls
"Thanks so much, Haruka-sempai! I just don't want my brother to find them in my room this weekend. He can be so crazy about me not being a 'little girl' anymore."
Haruka did not remember agreeing to this.
Now that he thought about it, though, it was rather strange that she'd followed him home after practice as if of course Haruka knew why she was there. They were talking about something as he jumped in the pool today. It was probably this.
He scowled, searching for the words to object and send Gou packing with her little shopping bag in tow. A few months ago he could have just turned his head away and refused whatever it was she wanted outright. Having real relationships was hard.
But it wasn't really his fault. His friends should all know better than to try engaging him in conversation when there's water around. Or maybe that's why they chose right before practice to bring this up. He'd get them back for this, but right now Gou was shoving a sizable stack of magazines into his arms and grinning that "no room for objections" grin she was so skilled at.
Was it a Matsuoka thing? Did she pick up that "shove Haruka around like a rag doll to get whatever she wants" technique by watching her brother in action for so many years?
So, yeah, magazines. Haruka racked his brain to try and piece together whatever it was they had apparently hoisted on him for the weekend.
There was something about Rin visiting home for the first time since he came back from Australia. There might have also been something about Nagisa's devilish sisters and Rei's family visiting. And Makoto. He probably used his younger siblings as an excuse to not have to hoard Gou's stash of... did that say Muscle and Fitness?
Really, this was an inconvenience Haruka really didn't want to deal with, but fighting Gou on it now seemed moot, as she turned briskly and headed back down the path towards the shrine near his house, shouting as she went, "I'll pick them up after practice on Monday. Thanks again, sempai! See you at school!"
Then she was gone.
Haruka stood in the open doorway with a blank expression for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes as the sun set. Finally entering the house, he unceremoniously dropped the stack of magazines onto the low table before proceeding into to the kitchen to make himself some mackerel for dinner. He ignored the stack while he ate, not in the least tempted by the intense glare of the overly-muscled man on the top cover.
He also ignored the stack while he cleaned up, washing dishes in the sink as it sat, emanating its masculinity all over his living room behind him.
And he certainly didn't think about the magazines when he took his evening bath. He made sure to soak for an extra long time tonight, as if to prove just how much he didn't care those things were in his house.
As he trudged back into the kitchen to pour himself a pre-bedtime glass of pineapple juice, the only reason he paused by the table was to consider whether or not he should just leave them there or move them somewhere less conspicuous... In case Makoto brought Ren and Ran over tomorrow.
Yeah, that was the only reason he decided to take the magazines up to his room with him. The kids didn't need to be seeing these things and asking troublesome questions.
Right.
Gathering them up, Haruka retired to his bedroom for the night. He planned to turn in early so he could get up by 6am and go for a morning jog. If Rin was going to do dry training even on the weekends, so was he.
When he plopped them down on his desk to go brush his teeth the stack shifted, tumbling down and spreading the issues all over his school books.
What a bother.
As he straightened them back up, Haruka took note of the titles.
Not because he was interested.
He just happened to see them and read them off automatically.
In addition to the issues of Muscle and Fitness and Ironman in Japanese there were some English magazines. He could only discern the titles: FLEX, Men's Fitness, Fitness Rx and MuscleMag International. And, for some reason, there were also a few very old issues (too old, even, to have been Rin's) of Weekly Shonen Jump with Kinnikuman covers.
Where the hell did she even get those?
And then he saw it.
Swimsuit issue.
He picked it up without thinking. It was the swimsuits. He was interested in the swimsuits, obviously. Maybe there'd be a picture with a waterfall or two. A guy could hope. And then, you know, settle down on his bed with said magazine and check it out.
As he began to flip through the issue, he focused only on the suits. On the fit of one vs. another. Sometimes his eye would stray to the background, where there was a pool, or a beach line. He had no interest in the models.
None whatsoever.
There weren't any waterfalls. How disappointing. But...
Maybe there's a waterfall in one of the other ones.
Haruka jumped off the bed and returned to the stack, grabbing the whole thing and bringing it back with him. He sat down, propping himself up against the wall, and started his "search." It lasted long into the night and as dawn broke he was finally satisfied that there were no hidden waterfalls lurking amongst the pages upon pages of hard-bodied men.
But, you know, the articles might be interesting.
Something to give him an edge in training. He needed to keep up with Rin, after all. It was research. So what if he couldn't actually read most of them because they were in English? He could discern methods and such from the pictures.
Yeah, that's why he decided to spend hours staring at living adonises in tight fitting shorts.
By chance, practice got rained out on Saturday, giving him the opportunity to make a second pass at the stack. Then a third. He ignored his phone and only stopped to eat twice, and of course to take his requisite two soaks a day in the tub, but he could bring the issues in with him while he did that. He didn't even get any water on them.
By Monday, Haruka's eyes were bloodshot and his stomach unsettled. He collected the accursed magazines into a shopping bag and dragged them to school, depositing them in the clubroom before classes started.
He spent the day ignoring Makoto's concerned looks, and by practice had put his wasted weekend behind him, hopeful a few hours in the pool would help him feel better.
But fate would not be so kind to Haruka Nanase. Practice became unbelievably distracting as soon as the other swim team members arrived. He suddenly caught himself thinking about how powerful Makoto's lats were, or how surprisingly well-defined Nagisa's abs had become since spring, or how perfectly-tuned for running the former track athlete Rei's glutes were.
He was staring at another man's ass.
Is this what Gou dealt with all the time? Being utterly distracted by the physiques of her half-naked male friends?
How did she function like this?
He let Makoto make excuses for his poor performance in the day's time trials by postulating that he was coming down with a summer cold and should go home early. He wasn't going to argue, even though he really wanted to just stay in the pool for the rest of practice, but it was easier than explaining that he couldn't concentrate because Makoto's pecs were like, right there in front of his face, taunting him.
Gou caught him on his way out of the changing room.
"Thanks so much for bringing them to school for me, Haruka-sempai."
Oh, right, the magazines.
Haruka shrugged, just wanting those accursed things out of his sight.
"I know you're not into these sorts of things, but there was an issue on the new line of swimsuits out this season I thought you might be interested in, so I figured you could hold onto it for a while, you know? To check them out."
Then she produced the damnable object that had started his downward spiral into sexually-conflicted madness and all but shoved it in his face.
"No waterfalls," he heard himself mutter.
"What was that, Haruka-sempai?"
"Nothing. Thanks."
He grabbed the magazine and shoved it into his bag, making a hasty exit amidst murmurs of Nagisa and Rei discussing how sick he must be to pass up swim practice.
They had no idea.
The next weekend Rin came over to spend the night. Makoto left early to give them some alone time. To bond or something.
Everything was going fine until Rin announced he didn't have anything to wear for bed by coming in from the bath fucking shirtless and barely dried off.
Seriously, how was he ever supposed to swim on a team again if he couldn't deal with this?
It took all of Haruka's willpower not to stare at his friend's chest their entire exchange. He didn't even register Rin's apparent disgust with Haruka's bed-shirt options. Luckily when Haruka suggested they share the bed together Rin took it as a taunt.
Why the hell did he say that?
Then Rin wanted food and god Rin's biceps were so gorgeous he didn't even realize he'd served that salty mackerel monstrosity Makoto had made.
Why couldn't this night just end?
He suffered through some banter and more teasing before he could finally convince Rin it was time for bed by setting out the futon for him. So they could sleep separately.
Unfortunately, Rin didn't know how to keep his eyes to himself and just go to sleep. He managed to see something under Haruka's bed.
And suddenly, Haruka's blood ran cold.
The magazine. Where was it?
Oh, shit.
Try as he might, Rin's persistence finally won out and he dragged the item out from under the bed.
And not for the first time that night Haruka dodged a bullet.
It was just an old issue of Famous Japanese Mineral Springs and Me Monthly.
Oh, the good old days when Haruka's world only revolved around water.
The rest of the night passed in relative awkward silence.
In the morning, as Rin explained about the dolphin statue now displayed in his family's genkan, Haruka couldn't stop himself from taking note of Rin's beautiful quads through his running pants.
And that's when Haruka realized.
"I think your sister made me gay.
"For buff dudes."
And with that, Haruka started their run, ignoring Rin's frantic call of, "Oi, Haru, you can't just say something like that and take off!"
---
Notes:
I don't know where Gou got all those magazines, but I looked the titles up on Amazon Japan to find ones actually available over there (in Japanese and English).
I used the transcript here for the details from the Rin/Haru drama CD.
Fandom: Free!
Author:
compli_cait Characters: Haruka, Gou
Length: 1845 words
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Language
Summary: Gou leaves her muscle magazines at Haru's house to hide them from her brother who is coming home to visit for the first time since his return from Australia.
Notes: For the April Pool's Day Tumblr Event
Prompt: Haru/Gou's muscle magazines
No Waterfalls
"Thanks so much, Haruka-sempai! I just don't want my brother to find them in my room this weekend. He can be so crazy about me not being a 'little girl' anymore."
Haruka did not remember agreeing to this.
Now that he thought about it, though, it was rather strange that she'd followed him home after practice as if of course Haruka knew why she was there. They were talking about something as he jumped in the pool today. It was probably this.
He scowled, searching for the words to object and send Gou packing with her little shopping bag in tow. A few months ago he could have just turned his head away and refused whatever it was she wanted outright. Having real relationships was hard.
But it wasn't really his fault. His friends should all know better than to try engaging him in conversation when there's water around. Or maybe that's why they chose right before practice to bring this up. He'd get them back for this, but right now Gou was shoving a sizable stack of magazines into his arms and grinning that "no room for objections" grin she was so skilled at.
Was it a Matsuoka thing? Did she pick up that "shove Haruka around like a rag doll to get whatever she wants" technique by watching her brother in action for so many years?
So, yeah, magazines. Haruka racked his brain to try and piece together whatever it was they had apparently hoisted on him for the weekend.
There was something about Rin visiting home for the first time since he came back from Australia. There might have also been something about Nagisa's devilish sisters and Rei's family visiting. And Makoto. He probably used his younger siblings as an excuse to not have to hoard Gou's stash of... did that say Muscle and Fitness?
Really, this was an inconvenience Haruka really didn't want to deal with, but fighting Gou on it now seemed moot, as she turned briskly and headed back down the path towards the shrine near his house, shouting as she went, "I'll pick them up after practice on Monday. Thanks again, sempai! See you at school!"
Then she was gone.
Haruka stood in the open doorway with a blank expression for what seemed like hours, but was probably only a few minutes as the sun set. Finally entering the house, he unceremoniously dropped the stack of magazines onto the low table before proceeding into to the kitchen to make himself some mackerel for dinner. He ignored the stack while he ate, not in the least tempted by the intense glare of the overly-muscled man on the top cover.
He also ignored the stack while he cleaned up, washing dishes in the sink as it sat, emanating its masculinity all over his living room behind him.
And he certainly didn't think about the magazines when he took his evening bath. He made sure to soak for an extra long time tonight, as if to prove just how much he didn't care those things were in his house.
As he trudged back into the kitchen to pour himself a pre-bedtime glass of pineapple juice, the only reason he paused by the table was to consider whether or not he should just leave them there or move them somewhere less conspicuous... In case Makoto brought Ren and Ran over tomorrow.
Yeah, that was the only reason he decided to take the magazines up to his room with him. The kids didn't need to be seeing these things and asking troublesome questions.
Right.
Gathering them up, Haruka retired to his bedroom for the night. He planned to turn in early so he could get up by 6am and go for a morning jog. If Rin was going to do dry training even on the weekends, so was he.
When he plopped them down on his desk to go brush his teeth the stack shifted, tumbling down and spreading the issues all over his school books.
What a bother.
As he straightened them back up, Haruka took note of the titles.
Not because he was interested.
He just happened to see them and read them off automatically.
In addition to the issues of Muscle and Fitness and Ironman in Japanese there were some English magazines. He could only discern the titles: FLEX, Men's Fitness, Fitness Rx and MuscleMag International. And, for some reason, there were also a few very old issues (too old, even, to have been Rin's) of Weekly Shonen Jump with Kinnikuman covers.
Where the hell did she even get those?
And then he saw it.
Swimsuit issue.
He picked it up without thinking. It was the swimsuits. He was interested in the swimsuits, obviously. Maybe there'd be a picture with a waterfall or two. A guy could hope. And then, you know, settle down on his bed with said magazine and check it out.
As he began to flip through the issue, he focused only on the suits. On the fit of one vs. another. Sometimes his eye would stray to the background, where there was a pool, or a beach line. He had no interest in the models.
None whatsoever.
There weren't any waterfalls. How disappointing. But...
Maybe there's a waterfall in one of the other ones.
Haruka jumped off the bed and returned to the stack, grabbing the whole thing and bringing it back with him. He sat down, propping himself up against the wall, and started his "search." It lasted long into the night and as dawn broke he was finally satisfied that there were no hidden waterfalls lurking amongst the pages upon pages of hard-bodied men.
But, you know, the articles might be interesting.
Something to give him an edge in training. He needed to keep up with Rin, after all. It was research. So what if he couldn't actually read most of them because they were in English? He could discern methods and such from the pictures.
Yeah, that's why he decided to spend hours staring at living adonises in tight fitting shorts.
By chance, practice got rained out on Saturday, giving him the opportunity to make a second pass at the stack. Then a third. He ignored his phone and only stopped to eat twice, and of course to take his requisite two soaks a day in the tub, but he could bring the issues in with him while he did that. He didn't even get any water on them.
By Monday, Haruka's eyes were bloodshot and his stomach unsettled. He collected the accursed magazines into a shopping bag and dragged them to school, depositing them in the clubroom before classes started.
He spent the day ignoring Makoto's concerned looks, and by practice had put his wasted weekend behind him, hopeful a few hours in the pool would help him feel better.
But fate would not be so kind to Haruka Nanase. Practice became unbelievably distracting as soon as the other swim team members arrived. He suddenly caught himself thinking about how powerful Makoto's lats were, or how surprisingly well-defined Nagisa's abs had become since spring, or how perfectly-tuned for running the former track athlete Rei's glutes were.
He was staring at another man's ass.
Is this what Gou dealt with all the time? Being utterly distracted by the physiques of her half-naked male friends?
How did she function like this?
He let Makoto make excuses for his poor performance in the day's time trials by postulating that he was coming down with a summer cold and should go home early. He wasn't going to argue, even though he really wanted to just stay in the pool for the rest of practice, but it was easier than explaining that he couldn't concentrate because Makoto's pecs were like, right there in front of his face, taunting him.
Gou caught him on his way out of the changing room.
"Thanks so much for bringing them to school for me, Haruka-sempai."
Oh, right, the magazines.
Haruka shrugged, just wanting those accursed things out of his sight.
"I know you're not into these sorts of things, but there was an issue on the new line of swimsuits out this season I thought you might be interested in, so I figured you could hold onto it for a while, you know? To check them out."
Then she produced the damnable object that had started his downward spiral into sexually-conflicted madness and all but shoved it in his face.
"No waterfalls," he heard himself mutter.
"What was that, Haruka-sempai?"
"Nothing. Thanks."
He grabbed the magazine and shoved it into his bag, making a hasty exit amidst murmurs of Nagisa and Rei discussing how sick he must be to pass up swim practice.
They had no idea.
The next weekend Rin came over to spend the night. Makoto left early to give them some alone time. To bond or something.
Everything was going fine until Rin announced he didn't have anything to wear for bed by coming in from the bath fucking shirtless and barely dried off.
Seriously, how was he ever supposed to swim on a team again if he couldn't deal with this?
It took all of Haruka's willpower not to stare at his friend's chest their entire exchange. He didn't even register Rin's apparent disgust with Haruka's bed-shirt options. Luckily when Haruka suggested they share the bed together Rin took it as a taunt.
Why the hell did he say that?
Then Rin wanted food and god Rin's biceps were so gorgeous he didn't even realize he'd served that salty mackerel monstrosity Makoto had made.
Why couldn't this night just end?
He suffered through some banter and more teasing before he could finally convince Rin it was time for bed by setting out the futon for him. So they could sleep separately.
Unfortunately, Rin didn't know how to keep his eyes to himself and just go to sleep. He managed to see something under Haruka's bed.
And suddenly, Haruka's blood ran cold.
The magazine. Where was it?
Oh, shit.
Try as he might, Rin's persistence finally won out and he dragged the item out from under the bed.
And not for the first time that night Haruka dodged a bullet.
It was just an old issue of Famous Japanese Mineral Springs and Me Monthly.
Oh, the good old days when Haruka's world only revolved around water.
The rest of the night passed in relative awkward silence.
In the morning, as Rin explained about the dolphin statue now displayed in his family's genkan, Haruka couldn't stop himself from taking note of Rin's beautiful quads through his running pants.
And that's when Haruka realized.
"I think your sister made me gay.
"For buff dudes."
And with that, Haruka started their run, ignoring Rin's frantic call of, "Oi, Haru, you can't just say something like that and take off!"
---
Notes:
I don't know where Gou got all those magazines, but I looked the titles up on Amazon Japan to find ones actually available over there (in Japanese and English).
I used the transcript here for the details from the Rin/Haru drama CD.