Rin studied his own reflection closely, his fingers carefully caressing the fine beadwork of his new accessory.

The previous evening, Haru had shyly draped a necklace over his head. It was too perfect of a fit to be a coincidence— it had been hand-crafted with him in mind. It wasn't ostentatious. It was short enough to be a choker, and its simple 'pendant' was a single shark tooth. Rin wondered if Haru had found it or if he had asked one of his shark friends from a few days prior for it. Alongside the tooth were small black beads and impossibly small pieces of dark blue sea glass held together with silver wire.

It was perfect for him. He couldn't help but blush. Haru had taken to calling him a shark from time to time, but he hadn't expected something like this. He thought of putting it on as his induction into the brotherhood of sharks.

Just then, he heard his door creak open, and he turned to face Sousuke. Sousuke squinted at him for a moment.

"Nice necklace," he remarked. Rin noted his suspicious tone.

"I was just trying it on, I know it's not exactly fitting with the uniform. What did you want?"

"Cap called me. He just wanted me to let you know that we're all going out for lunch today."

Rin could only blink at that. It was true that sometimes, if it was an administrative paperwork or office-cleanup kind of day, the squad would finish their work early and go out to lunch together, taking turns with whoever was left behind to keep watch. However, the Captain rarely called ahead. It was always a spur of the moment kind of thing, not something planned in advance.

"Is that all he said?" Rin asked, still bewildered. Sousuke shrugged.

"That's all."

Something about Sousuke's words was too blunt, almost like they were clipped, kept deliberately short. Something was missing. Rin raised his eyebrows, but nodded his head.

"Oh, okay. Do you think he has some kind of special meal in mind?"

Sousuke shrugged again in lieu of a verbal answer and ducked back out the door. Rin clicked his tongue in annoyance and followed him. He'd keep quiet for now, but he was certain Sousuke was hiding something.

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

The day played out normally up until lunchtime arrived. It was an administrative day, meaning only a couple of people were out on the streets and most everyone else was stuck in the office doing paperwork. Sousuke, as usual, studied for his upcoming detective's exam with Gomez. Rin finished his paperwork early and spent most of his time trying to help Nitori clean up his desk.

Nitori was shockingly messy. He had leftover papers dating back over six months, food wrappers, family photos, magazines— everything a person could imagine, and none of it even remotely organized. Rin couldn't help but wrinkle his nose at it. Rin was often seen as someone who was a bit rough around the edges, but he was pretty serious about keeping his possessions neat and his life in order.

When the desk was clean, Momo finally returned (he'd gone into hiding), his elder brother by his side. The captain clapped to get everyone's attention, and then grinned. Rin saw Gomez and Noble whispering to Sousuke about something.

"Well, squad, let's get going! We're gonna have a sort of picnic lunch at the local park."

Rin raised his eyebrows at Momo, who shrugged, but averted his gaze. Apparently everyone knew something that he didn't. He filed outside with everyone else and piled into his car with Sousuke, following the Captain's vehicle to their destination.

"So who's going to be there, Sousuke?" Rin asked bluntly. Sousuke flinched.

"What do you mean? The squad, of course."

"Well who's bringing the lunch, then? Nobody said anything about going to get the food. And everyone is headed straight to the park. Tell me something, do you all think I'm fuckin' stupid?"

Sousuke actually blushed, something unusual for the large and stoic man, before changing the subject without bothering to answer the question. Rin groaned.

When at last they arrived, Rin found that rather than standing around to talk, everyone headed straight for the picnic tables. As they approached Rin could barely see a group of people already there. Food, utensils, and plates were set out upon the tables, and a pile of colorful flyers sat next to the only girl in the group. Rin squinted. He felt like he recognized one of the people.

And when finally he was close enough to see clearly, he grinned, and the familiar young man stood to greet him.

"Hi, Officer Matsuoka! It's been a little while, huh?"

Rin didn't bother to respond audibly before running to the boy and pulling him into a hug. The boy's friends laughed, and Sousuke walked to stand right behind them.

"It's nice to see ya again, Derek," Sousuke said, and the teen nodded at him. Derek's face was flushed, and there were tears in the corners of his eyes.

Rin only barely recognized Derek Campbell like this. When last he'd seen him he'd been in a state of utter defeat, his face covered in dark bruises. Seeing him healed and happy was a pleasant surprise. Rin turned to look at Sousuke, who smirked knowingly.

As soon as they had finished exchanging formalities, Derek gestured at the person directly beside him at the table. He was a boy Derek's age, but slightly taller and more broad, with short-cropped grey-brown hair and green eyes. He smiled somewhat shyly.

"So, uh, this is—"

"Chris," Rin finished, and the boy in question perked up at having been identified so easily. Derek looked a bit taken aback. "What? I thought it was pretty obvious. You guys are still together, then?" Chris chuckled, and Derek nodded furiously.

"Yeah, yeah, of course!"

Rin turned to the last person who had been waiting for them. She was another teen, and had her dark hair pulled into a ponytail and thin-framed glasses balanced on her nose. She dressed rather professionally for someone her age, he noticed.

"And who's this?"

"That's Sarah," Derek explained. "She helped us set all of this up. She's the brains of the operation."

"Operation...?"

Rin looked at Sousuke again, who had returned to acting innocent, and finally the rest of the squad felt it appropriate to step forward. Sarah encouraged them to help themselves, and Momo eagerly began to load up his plate with potato salad and hot dogs. Derek discreetly grabbed the stack of fliers and hid them beneath his forearm. Rin took the hint, and set up a plate for himself. He took his seat across from Derek and Chris. Sousuke sat beside him.

For a while they exchanged small talk while everyone started on their food and took their places. Sarah had pulled a file out of somewhere, and was flipping through the papers to make sure everything was there. The Captain sat beside her, and she occasionally allowed him a glance at whatever she was looking at. He nodded, and said encouraging things between mouthfuls of cheeseburger. Rin felt himself growing more and more anxious in anticipation of whatever was coming.

Finally, everyone had gotten comfortable, and Derek cleared his throat.

"So I'm sure you're wondering what we're doing here, and what we came to talk about," Derek began, and Rin froze with his fork halfway to his mouth.

"Pay attention, everybody!" Captain Mikoshiba loudly rapped his soda can against the table, immediately silencing Noble, who had still been chattering on about something. Pay attention was usually directed at him.

"So when you helped out Derek here, he asked that I be left out of everything. So you never got my side of the story. But shortly after what happened, we both decided to be honest, and while it went okay for Derek, it wasn't the same story for me."

Rin's eyes widened. He'd never heard Chris speak this loudly, and the first clear words out of his mouth had been something so serious.

"What... What happened?" He asked, but he already knew the answer.

"My parents made me leave the house."

Rin felt himself buckle forward slightly, even if he had been expecting it, and felt Sousuke reflexively pat him on the back. Sousuke looked unaffected. He must have known in advance. Looking around, it seemed he was the only one who did not have have this information. He gulped.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have pushed you to out yourselves if the risk was so high. I of all fucking people should know that—"

"Rin. Let him finish," Sousuke interrupted. Rin obeyed.

"You don't have to feel bad about anything. The only people to blame are my parents," Chris reassured, and Derek patted Rin's hand. It did not erase the gnawing feeling in his gut.

"...So after what happened with Chris, things got pretty complicated. Thankfully my parents are understanding. Like I said, they've known him for a long time, so they trust him. They let him live with us in our guest room," Derek explained.

"That's good, at least," Rin mumbled.

Derek looked over to Sarah, and she seemed to take it as a cue. She sat up straight and opened up her file to the first page. She had all the commanding presence of a professional and the poise of a politician. She cleared her throat.

"What happened to Chris is not a rare story. It happens every day. And while Chris had help to fall back on, this is not the case for many young people. What happens to teenagers who are forced to live in homeless shelters or foster homes, or worse— on the streets? Teens and young adults in such situations often do not have access to school supplies, regular transport, study materials, nutritious food, or the Internet. They tend to drop out of extracurricular activities, and a startling amount drop out of school altogether."

Rin nodded along as she spoke. Her words were clearly rehearsed, and she occasionally looked at her files, but the way she spoke, the indignation in her voice, remedied this. He noticed Sousuke eyeing him, gauging his reaction. Sarah gestured vaguely at Chris, and he resumed his speech.

"Not everyone will have access to the same opportunities that I did or the same circle of support, and as it stands we don't do enough to combat youth homelessness by itself. And that's without the LGBT element. At the moment there isn't a proper solution in place. And... We want to change that."

With that vague statement, Derek finally handed Rin one of the flyers he'd stashed under his arm. Rin lit up the moment he saw it, and he saw Sousuke grin proudly out of the corner of his eye.

The flyer's multicolored appearance was due to the rainbow banners at the top and bottom. The Equality House Project to End LGBTQ+ Youth Homelessness.

"Look at that," he laughed, flashing the flyer at Sousuke. It was then that he realized he was the only not yet aware of the project. The Captain, particularly, was awful at pretending he was in the dark. Rin had already seen him looking at Sarah's file.

Sarah slid the entirely of said file in Rin's direction, and started flipping through the papers. His grin grew wider and wider as he did. The kids had done a great deal of work already, enough that he was blown away by their determination.

The plan was to buy some local buildings from the city and turn them into new homeless shelters. The buildings would supply security guards, nutritious food, and proper heating and air conditioning. Each would be equipped with a library of sorts that made use of donated school materials and computers. They'd also make use of high-speed internet. Sarah, in particular, had been aggressive in securing the project's financials. She had local business lined up to supply cell phones for the students, nutritious meals from local restaurants, and even donations of high-quality clothing from some local reseller's shops.

"I like the clothing thing a lot, actually. Teenagers need new clothes all the time, and there's always plenty of it in terms of donations, but it's always shabby hand-me-downs, and kids are really mean about that stuff." Rin was almost reminiscing aloud more than commenting, and it showed on his face.

"And we thought of that. There are some local stores that buy high-end and expensive retail or even designer clothes from people to resell at a discounted price. A lot of clothes come by that are nice, but not quite up to the reseller's standards. We would offer to pay those businesses a small sum and offer some free advertising in exchange for their efforts in convincing customers to donate those clothes to the shelter. It's not like they need the clothes anymore, anyway," Sarah explained. Momo nodded furiously, apparently sharing her sentiment.

"Businesses these days like opportunities like these. Customers are very aware of business ethics, especially because of social media, so helping out for a project like this is actually good for business. For that reason, a couple of restaurants have offered to cook fresh meals for the shelters, or to lend us some of their part-timers to cook in-house. They've been really generous." Derek smiled as he recalled this, and Rin couldn't help but smile along with him. Things certainly had changed since he was growing up.

Rin finished flipping through the file, occasionally asking questions and commenting on things he liked, and finally he couldn't keep the question contained any longer.

"This is great. It's all fantastic. Really, you guys have outdone yourselves. But why hasn't anyone told me? Why this little formal announcement party?"

Rin noticed everyone fidgeting with excitement, and saw Sousuke start scarfing down more food in an effort to hide his expression. Derek and Chris grinned at each other, and looked to Sarah, who perked up.

"Well... the local Pride festival is coming up, and we've got a chance to meet with the mayor right afterwards. He's the first openly supportive mayor the city's had, and he'll be on one of the floats in the parade."

"You secured a city council meeting?! How did you manage that?!" Rin exclaimed, and Sarah blushed.

"...That one was all my dad, actually. He's on the council."

Ah. Everything made sense all of a sudden. Sarah seemed like someone who had political aspirations herself, and she knew an awful lot about budgeting and permits for a high schooler.

"Anyway, we're the brains of the operation, but none of us are old enough or experienced enough to be the voice and the face of it. Soooo..."

Derek paused, and smiled at Rin, and everyone gathered around leaned forward expectantly. Rin blinked, at first not understanding what was being asked of him. When it hit him, he lurched backwards. His eyes widened to the point that they probably looked like red pinpricks in a sea of white, which Nitori apparently found hilarious.

"Me?!"

"Who else?" Sousuke asked with a casual shrug. He looked oddly paternal somehow. His smile was a bit too proud.

"Well, I appreciate it, but I don't know that I'm cut out for that sort of—"

"What do you mean? You've spent your entire adult life working on projects like this, haven't you?" Chris asked. He'd apparently heard a lot about Rin from Derek.

"I-I have, but it's important to me, that doesn't mean I'm some kind of expert."

"Officer Matsuoka, we think you're perfect for this. You have the knowledge, you have the life experience, you can connect to young people on a personal level, and you'd give the project an extra advantage in appealing to people: intersectionality."

At the exact same time, Rin perked up and Sousuke snorted.

"Oh, god, now you've done it. You found his favorite word," Sousuke choked out through his laughter. Rin glared at him, and he calmed down long enough to respond. "I mean, I understand why that's important, and not just to you. Had to do my research after the thirty-fifth lecture."

"...You've got a point there, Derek," Rin said in a strange low tone while looking at Sousuke, still snickering slightly, out of the corner of his eye.

At that, everyone fell silent and waited. Rin's eyes flickered between the faces of the three teenagers staring intently at him, and he bit his lip. If one listened closely they could hear him humming a quiet and extended note as he thought.

He cleared his throat. There had only ever been one answer, one possible option for him. His entire life's work had led up to it.

"Okay," Rin breathed. "Let's do it."

The table burst into a chorus of uproarious cheers and applause, and Sousuke slapped Rin so hard on the back that he felt the breath knocked out of his lungs before he was tugged into a side-hug. Rin realized that he was crying already, but didn't bother wiping the tears away. It made sense to cry at this moment.

When he'd managed to calm down enough that he could see, Rin got to discussing the finer details with Sarah while Sousuke and the Captain whispered about something. Captain Mikoshiba gave the others permission to start heading back to work, and before long it was only the three of them and the ambitious teens left at the table.

"Alright, this sounds like a plan," Rin said as he typed the last of his details into his phone.

He sat back and looked at everything and immediately realized it was a lot of work. He had to write a speech for Pride, which of course would involve figuring out what he was comfortable sharing about his past and what his parents would be okay with. He needed a second speech of sorts, or rather a presentation, for the council meeting, and he needed ideas and a rough outline of messages for any potential advertising they would get as a result of the meeting.

"So I'm sure you've noticed it's a lot of work," Captain Mikoshiba said, and Rin looked at him strangely.

"It is, sir, but I'm sure I can handle it." He was sure he could handle it, but he did regret somewhat that it would mean he'd need to cut his time with Haru short for a while.

Captain Mikoshiba, however, shook his head.

"You won't have to. You're taking a sabbatical. I want you to step back to focus on this."

Even Sousuke seemed surprised by this, and it seemed he'd known about everything else. Rin jumped up from his seat.

"Really?! I can take time off?!"

"Your job will be there waiting for you when you get back, yes. I'm sure Sousuke makes enough to keep you two alive for a couple of months."

"I do," Sousuke assured them both. He didn't look upset.

"A couple of months ago I couldn't have given you any time off, but my brother and Officer Nitori have stepped up quite a bit. I wonder where they got all this motivation from all of a sudden?"

Sousuke went a bit red in the face at that, and Rin winked at him.

It wasn't exactly professional, but Rin couldn't help it— he ran to the Captain's side and gave him a tight hug.

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

The rest of Rin's day was comprised of informing the others of his leave. Each of his comrades reacted happily, and with varying degrees of pride and excitement. At the mention of the upcoming Pride festival, Gomez had begun to say something, something else, only to receive a sharp elbow to the ribcage from Noble. Rin supposed he would have to wonder about that for a while.

"I'll work hard on that exam," Sousuke assured Rin. Rin had other goals in mind for now.

When he had time later in the day, Rin went through the entire folder with Sousuke. It detailed all of the work that the kids had done— they'd somehow managed to get the backing of a few local celebrities. It seemed that they had everything worked out but a logo for the organization. They'd need something eye-popping for any TV spots.

On the car ride home, Sousuke drove, and Rin called his mother to give her the news. Now that their relationship had been repaired, he didn't feel any nervousness about making the call, and she seemed as excited as he was. He heard her yell for his father, and then repeated the same story in its entirety again. He didn't mind having to do that.

Once they were home, Sousuke reminded Rin that he still had to do some grocery shopping. Rin nodded, saying they could go out and celebrate another time, and that he'd be fine staying in for the night.

Rin heard Sousuke close the door. As soon as he was alone, he danced around the apartment, releasing his pent-up nervous and excited energy. When at last he'd calmed down, he went to his room and fished his cell phone out of pocket, not bothering to close or lock the bedroom door.

He dialed Haru's number. After four excruciatingly long rings, he heard a click.

"Rin," the other voice said flatly.

Rin didn't notice the front door quietly opening, or hear Sousuke trudge back into the apartment in search of his own cell phone, the one that he'd forgotten on the coffee table next to his newspaper.

"Hey, Haru. Today was a really great day! I'll swing by there and tell you all about it, it's too much to tell you over the phone," Rin half-shouted. He could practically hear Haru furrow his brow.

"Uh... Okay. I'll wait for you." A click. He had hung up.

Rin pumped his fists in the air a few times, and then burst from his room, having a near heart attack at the sight of Sousuke standing in the middle of the living room.

"I-I thought you had to buy groceries!"

"I forgot my phone. I thought you were staying in?"

Rin panicked for a moment, his eyes darting around the room, until he thought up a plausible excuse.

"Uh, I was going to, but I'm just too excited. I'm going to go to the library and do some reading, to see if they have some materials that could help with the project."

Sousuke responded only in a low hum and not in words, his eyes fixed on Rin's face. Rin tried not to gulp.

"I... I, uh, I'll be on my way then," Rin said, casually throwing his backpack over his shoulder and running out the door.

Sousuke watched him leave, and checked the time on his phone with a knowing smirk. What Rin didn't know was what had given away his lie— the local library was already closed at this hour. It closed early on weekends.

Sousuke waited until he heard the door close, and then quietly crept through it and down the hall without making any sound. He decided to forget about the groceries for now— he had bigger things to attend to.

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

Rin entered the cavern loudly. Haru heard his footsteps long before he saw Rin appear around the corner. When he burst inside, he was already red-faced and out of breath. He had apparently run all the way there.

Before Haru could manage a proper greeting, Rin had grabbed several precautionary towels and started unloading a stack of papers from his backpack. Haru had never seen files like these up close, and studied them curiously.

"I've been trying to find a way to help out LGBT youth for a long time now, and I've finally got a great opportunity!" Rin exclaimed. He was met by a confused expression on Haru's face, and took a step back. "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. There's other abbreviations that include a wider spectrum of people, too, but LGBT is the colloquial term and rolls off the tongue easiest."

Haru hummed, his tone one of pleasant surprise.

"And you've been trying to advocate for their rights, I assume?"

"Yeah, yeah! See, it's pretty common for LGBT kids to get kicked out of their homes, and they often don't have anywhere to go. There are always homeless shelters, but they tend to be dirty, and men's shelters in particular have issues with crime. And even then, how are kids supposed to get to school, or do their schoolwork?"

Haru nodded as Rin talked, his gaze directed at the ground. Rin guessed that he was thinking of, and worrying about, a specific person. Rin slapped the project's flyer and mission statement on the ground in front of Haru (where he had laid down a towel, of course) and beamed at him.

"...New homeless shelters," Haru said. He sounded happy and proud. He dried off his hands before looking through all of the papers.

Eventually, Haru noticed that the project didn't have a logo. He frowned at this, titling his head and stroking his chin in thought.

"...I have some ideas," Haru said, moving to grab his sketchbook and pens.

"N-no, Haru, you don't have to—" Rin was cut off by a sharp wave of Haru's pen in his direction.

"I don't have to. I want to. I'll try a few different things, and I'll show them to you when I'm finished. I should be done by tomorrow." He wasn't asking permission. He was telling Rin exactly what he was going to do, whether Rin liked it or not.

"...I guess it would save us money on hiring someone to come up with it," Rin admitted, a small smile returning to his face. He has already taken to saying us when talking about the project. His own influence on it had become clear when he read through the entire file.

Haru started sketching, the book tilted in such a way that Rin couldn't see him. For a short while, Rin watched him. Haru didn't know it, but he made faces when he drew, and he sometimes stuck his tongue out when he was concentrating on a particularly detailed spot. Rin wondered if this was common in artists.

"...Are you nervous?"

The question made Rin snap out of his trance. He slumped his shoulders.

"I am. I know it'll be alright, though. I've got you and Sousuke, and the whole squad is backing me. Actually, I think they're still up to something. Some kind of surprise."

"That's nice of them."

They continued like this for a while. Haru would ask a question after several minutes of silence, and Rin would try to continue studying his face as he pondered his answers. After a while, Haru suddenly put his book and pen away and returned to the water, releasing a long sigh when he did. Rin raised an eyebrow at him.

"I was getting too dry. It's too warm in here," he said, and Rin made a noise of realization.

"I guess it's been pretty humid for a while, so I never thought about it, but you must not like being out of the water for too long, huh?" Rin was always amazed at how little he had actually thought to ask Haru about the way that his body worked. There was always some obvious thing that he should have realized sooner.

Rin laid on his stomach and leaned onto his elbows. He flashed Haru a grin, and Haru pretended not to chuckle. Haru asked questions about houses and apartments, and Rin inquired as to what mermaid dwellings were like. Haru told him about his cave, and Rin described his apartment.

They were so caught up in learning more about one another's worlds that they didn't hear the slight shuffling coming from the entrance of the cave. They didn't hear someone far bulkier than Rin squeezing his way through the narrow tunnel.

"We have separate bedrooms, and the walls are surprisingly thick in there, so I have plenty of privacy. The rooms are the same size—"

"Oh, I can see that you're reading very intently, Rin! And just what the hell is going on he—"

The intruding voice stopped, and then there was silence.

Heavy, tangible silence.

A deep voice had interrupted Rin, and he looked up, shocked and bewildered, to see that a hulking figure had frozen, still bent over, halfway through trying to make it into the cave. Rin stood, but still found himself unable to say anything. He raised his hands almost combatively.

Haru blinked and stared at him, tilting his head to process who this intruder was and what was going on. He looked back and forth between the faces of the two men.

"Oh— you're Sousuke, right?" Haru said, breaking the silence.

Sousuke's horrified expression turned to him, and he stared open-mouthed, raising a shaking hand to point at him and stepping out of the cavern's entryway to stand beside the water.

"Rin."

Sousuke's tone was that of a furious parent who had stumbled upon an enormous mess or a stash of drugs and was just barely keeping it under wraps because others were around.

"Y-yes...?" Rin stammered.

"What. The FUCK. Is THAT?"

Rin had never truly understood just what the expression precision F-strike had meant until that very moment.

"Sousuke, did you follow me? That's not cool, man," Rin said, laughing nervously. Haru rolled his eyes.

"Answer my question, Rin! What is that thing?!"

"That's not very nice," Haru said, pouting and feigning offense. Rin clicked his tongue at him to warn him to keep quiet.

"...That's clearly a mermaid, Sousuke."

"I'm a merMAN."

"A merman. Is what I meant to say."

There was another long silence as Sousuke silently fumed, staring mostly at Haru. Haru, to Rin's great annoyance, pulled himself out of the water to look at Sousuke, allowing the larger man a better view of his tail.

"This isn't some kind of joke, is it?" He growled, and Haru gestured vaguely at him and then at his tail.

"You can pull on it if you want, it's not going to come off."

Sousuke did just that. He knelt on the ground in front of Haru and grabbed hold of the tail with both hands. Haru's eyes widened a bit. He had apparently been joking.

"Whoa, be gentle!" Rin screeched, lowering himself to hold onto Haru's arms as Sousuke tugged.

He tugged, and he tugged, but the tail did not come off. All that happened was that his hands kept slipping on the scales, and Haru winced.

"Don't pull on his scales like that, it hurts him!" Rin yelled. He was getting genuinely mad now at seeing the merman so roughly manhandled.

"How long has this been going on?!" Sousuke demanded. Haru scurried away from him as soon as his tail had been released.

"Um... Remember your accident?"

"Yes, I remember my fucking accident, are you telling me this has been happening since then?!"

"Uh. When I went for my run that night... I found him here in this cave, and I've been stopping by ever since. He didn't know I was there at first, but then we got to talking, and now... Now he's my friend," Rin explained, patting Haru's tail gently. A silent apology for Sousuke's big, clumsy hands.

Sousuke folded his arms and narrowed his eyes at Rin.

"You said I was crazy," he said under his breath in Japanese, and it took Rin a moment to realize what he was talking about.

Then, he remembered. He was not the only one to have come face-to-face with a merman. He felt a pang of guilt— all this time Rin had pretended not to believe him. Every time the subject came up he would laugh and insist that the merfolk didn't exist, even knowing that was not true. It had probably been driving Sousuke insane for months, knowing exactly what he saw and having his best friend tell him he was wrong.

"I-I... I really didn't believe you at first. And then I had to keep it a secret, and you'd know something was up if I just suddenly told you I believed you."

"Do you know what has been going through my head all of this time?! I thought that you had a secret boyfriend. Hell, maybe you do! I would not put it past you to date a merman, you, you... You goddamned sap!"

"I can understand everything you're saying."

Both men looked to Haru at the sudden interruption, and Sousuke's face went pale. Rin couldn't help but laugh. This was the first time someone had been able to understand them and had interjected. Rin had been waiting for this moment for quite some time.

"And now you understand why I go the extra step of whispering," Rin chuckled. Sousuke glared at him.

"We're not dating, by the way," Haru added. He had returned to the water, and Sousuke spun around to face him, leaning slightly over the pool. Haru's expression didn't change. He was completely unaffected.

"Okay, you— whatever your name is—"

"His name is Haruka."

"Alright, Haruka—"

"I prefer to be called Haru for short."

"One of you two had better let me finish," he warned, and Rin hid his face. "Haru. You probably know about what happened to me, yeah? Am I crazy, or was that really one of you?"

Haru studied Sousuke's features for a moment and then snickered about something. Rin vaguely remembered Haru's account of what Makoto had said about the rescue (specifically, the part where Makoto had found Sousuke 'cute') and tried not to laugh. Sousuke, thankfully, didn't seem to notice.

"You aren't wrong, it was one of us."

"I knew it! That guy didn't even know what a goddamn lifejacket was!"

"And he was embarrassed about that, I assure you. He knows now, anyway."

Sousuke paused to furrow his brow. Rin smirked to himself. He was sure they'd just found a way to keep Sousuke quiet about all of this... Makoto was their ticket. Of course, if Rin were to ask him, he wouldn't tell anyone, but he wanted more than that— he wanted Sousuke to become an active part of this secret world, to see the things he had seen.

"You know him personally. I think he said his name was, um... Makoto, right?"

Haru nodded, a slight smile on his lips.

"You want to know somethin', Sousuke? Somethin' really cool?" Rin asked, his tone high-pitched and teasing. Sousuke looked at him suspiciously. "You were rescued not only by a merman, but by an ocean Prince. The future king of the Australian seas."

Rin burst out laughing at Sousuke's expression. He'd never seen such childlike wonder and bewilderment on his face before, and it didn't suit his sculpted features or his strong brow. Sousuke looked at Haru for some kind of confirmation, and he nodded.

"He's my best friend. His father is the current king, and someday he'll have to take the throne. He could get into a lot of trouble if the king finds out he helped you. But he's too nice. He couldn't let you drown."

"I think you owe the merfolk a favor or two, wouldn't you say?" Rin asked through a smirk, winking at Haru. Sousuke groaned.

"...If I go along with all of this, will you relay a message to him for me? Somethin' a bit more personal than the standard 'thank you'?"

Rin and Haru exchanged glances, and Rin nodded his approval. Haru looked at Sousuke and flashed a somewhat devious grin.

"I'll tell him anything you want. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear from you."

At that, Sousuke finally relented, though he did rub his temples at the headache already forming. Rin and Haru celebrated their victory, and Sousuke wondered just what he'd gotten himself into.

Only time would tell.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES

I have been SO FUCKIN' EXCITED FOR SOUSUKE TO MEET HARU YOU HAVE NO IDEA. NO. IDEA.

I didn't want to literally say 'Plato's Closet' when talking about the clothing resellers, but that's basically who I was referring to. My sister resells stuff there all the time, but there are always a few nice pieces that get rejected for small or arbitrary reasons, and it'd be cool for those to go to good use instead of ending up back in the pile or in Goodwill.

Also Rin just got himself, like, my dream job. And he and I have the same favorite word whoops