Afterthoughts

Author: Pixelated Optimism

Things that are better left unsaid.

Critics could've pointed out that all Nanase Haruka could think about was water, or mackerel, or Matsuoka Rin, and Haru, confronted with this, would only give his trademark stoic face, shrug, then mutter about being hungry for mackerel.

This is, of course, partially true. If you are Haru there isn't much to mind besides water or mackerel or Matsuoka Rin. He wasn't like Nagisa, who seemed to have made it a civic duty to annoy Rei, or Makoto who'd fallen over the habit of worrying over everything. He wouldn't waste time pulling pranks or being a mother hen, thank you very much. Water pretty much filled his mind, as much as mackerel and Matsuoka Rin did.

Water played an important part with him growing up. There wasn't much of a good memory he could remember without water. He liked to think that water had always been around with him. Water made him feel safe and challenged as well. Water was his everything.

His dietary preferences always appeared eccentric, but nevertheless people have lived with him without really minding too much, as if it was already a given contract to endure his weird cravings if you are to be Haru's friend. There's nothing wrong with mackerel.

Rin came after water and mackerel, so Haru used to think Rin must've been a combination of the two. Rin always made him feel secured as a friend and challenged as an opponent, and like mackerel Rin had been weird longing he liked so much to satiate. Besides, Rin was such a large arse and for argument's sake a large arse like him would be everyone's business whether they liked it or not.

The stoic seriousness? Haru blamed it to his lack of effort. Not that he resents lacking effort, truth be told it was all he really wanted; less effort means less pain. Why bother showing emotions? It's hard to pull faces and talk about feelings. He was raised as stiff as a breeze. He could carry himself well. He wouldn't bother people with trivialities like emotions and feelings and stupidity. He could keep them all inside him with ease.

It was a surprise that Makoto and Nagisa found him amusing. He didn't like people that much, and people don't like him much too. They always found him cold, and he always found people cold. It was a win-win situation from the very beginning. He didn't need company to live. Friends weren't much of a requirement.

Nanase Haruka, with his girly name, could live in ease minding water or mackerel or Rin Matsuoka.

So when that Saturday went by and he was bothered, Haru suddenly considered looking through his to mind list for the nth time.

Nothing much happened that may warrant special attention, just the normal routine of joint practice between Iwatobi and Samezuka. By normal it meant Rin hissing at his captain, Makoto scolding Nagisa for keeping Rei's googles and Gou keeping everything in check by glaring at almost everyone to go back into the pool. It was a habit the members of the Iwatobi and Samezuka had fallen, habit which he also got used to.

He was ready to discard his clothes in one swift motion, not caring if he'd receive another batch of stares, when he saw what bothered him for a week.

At first glance she looked perfectly normal, sporting that rather large Iwatobi shorts and yellow shirt, her handy whistle dangling on her neck, her clipboard on her right arm. He had to admit, for someone disinterested with girls he found Iwatobi's manager handsome with her scarlet eyes and her burgundy Matsuoka hair.

And that's where the problem started.

It was an innocent sight, Gou standing near the pool, hands tangled on her burgundy Matsuoka hair falling free from her shoulders and reaching down her waist. Her little face puckered with frustration, brows furrowed as her fingers tried to capture hair falling off her attempted ponytail.

It seemed trivial, really. It was just Gou bothered with her burgundy hair, but he thought so otherwise. No one could blame Haru of course. Matsuoka Gou always wore her hair in a ponytail. And Gou, with her burgundy hair all over her looked a little off.

When he walked towards Gou and took her hand, there wasn't anything running in his mind, not water or mackerel or Matsuoka Rin.

Nothing but that burgundy hair of hers.

She looked at him in awe and went a little red in the cheeks, but she held her speech straight, which was quite commendable. He used to think girls always fretted around anything, but not Gou. He thought maybe she was not a girl after all.

"Haru-senpai?"

Irked, he tried to look away, just to spare his growing irritation at the sight of her burgundy hair in front of him.

"Braid." he managed to say. With a short pull he uprooted her from the spot and steered her to the nearest bench to sit with him.

"B-Braid?" she asked, but he held his mouth shut and combed her burgundy hair between his fingers. Gathering a generous amount of hair he started braiding it, nimble fingers carefully dividing and twisting strands together. Maybe he looked a bit too serious because she giggled.

"Mou, Haru-senpai. I could manage." she said, her hands ready to claim her burgundy hair back, but he held firm. There was no way she'd get it back that easily.

"I've already started." he replied, giving a quick glance to her face before giving a generous amount of attention back at his task. Gou sighed.

"Well, t-this isn't very normal of you, but thank you, Haru-senpai."

He stopped and looked at her.

"Isn't very normal of me?"

She bit her lip and smiled.

"It's not every day that you mind other people's hair" she said brightly. He furrowed his brows.

"I mind your hair everyday."

It was now her turn to furrow her brows. He tried to make a face, which was pretty hard because he never did so often.

"Well, its fine to me that you wear it in a ponytail, though sometimes I think it's a bit too long and it would be a bother if you swim. Hair would float on your face. You look pretty with braid. Braid's better."

She puffed her cheeks and tried to give him a smile which came rather awkwardly.

Of course many things were left unsaid, and he wasn't much of a talker. It was a good thing because his thoughts wouldn't be exactly nice to tell. He may be rotten with social skills, but he knew she'd freak out if he told her how nice it was to have her hair sliding between his fingers, and how extra nice it would be if he held her hair in the pool with him, her head resting against his chest, or maybe in his bathtub for a little privacy, his hitching breath trapped against the crook of her neck, or maybe in his bed when he wakes up with her and her burgundy hair beside him, along with tangled legs, or in the breakfast table, after a hearty mackerel meal, her blushing face beneath him, or in the couch with an old forgotten movie drowned with whimpers.

As he finished her braid Nanase Haruka could've smiled at the silence his critics would now be giving him.

It wasn't true that all he thought about was water, or mackerel or Matsuoka Rin.

He did mind Matsuoka Gou as well. At least he did mind her burgundy hair.

And how she and her burgundy hair could've easily fitted the bed with him too.

Sorry I'm not sorry.

Yeah, I'm trying to be an adult here and yeah this sucks but for the love of the whole Free fandom I am doing this so bless me and my little old woman with her old typewriter up in the attic we all like to call brain.

Decided to write this because of a review that told me I should be writing more. Wish granted. And also because of that fanart I saw in tumblr where Haru is seriously braiding Gou's hair.

Murdered Haru-chan because I love him. Guess who's coming next?

Nibbling all the spoils of Hollow's Eve (/*A*\)

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