Haruka tried to rub the sleep from his eyes as he walked into his classroom and his first class of the day. Why he decided to schedule a class at 7am was beyond him, and he was regretting it immediately, especially since he was thirty minutes early. He scanned the empty room for a seat that looked most pleasing to him, and he settled on a spot toward the back in the hopes that no one would sit next to him. As he pulled his notebook and a pencil out of his bag, a backpack went flying through the air and landed on the table directly next to him. Haruka jumped in his seat, taken aback by the shock and surprise of the loud thud, especially at this hour of the morning. The loud thud of the backpack was soon followed by the thud of a student flopping dramatically into the chair directly next to Haruka, and slamming a travel mug onto the table next to the backpack. He looked around the room at all of the empty chairs, and then glared back at the jerk who decided to choose this one of all seats.

The man sitting next to Haruka was sprawled out, seemingly asleep, in the chair, his light brown hair sticking off in every direction possible. He wore glasses with a thick bronze frame, and his gentle features were completely relaxed. Haruka studied his face with a scowl, but despite his frustration, he couldn't deny how beautiful this stranger was. Even as the student lay there with his mouth wide open, snoring obnoxiously, Haruka's gaze was immovable as he stared at this effortlessly gorgeous man next to him. Suddenly, the stranger's eyes flew open and Haruka was shocked by the stunning and vibrant green that stared back at him. Haruka looked away, as his face flushed red in embarrassment from being caught staring.

"Sorry if I snored, I'm not exactly a morning person." Haruka glanced over at the student as he spoke, surprised by the smooth and warm sound of his voice. "I guess it's time to break out the big guns," sighed the student as he reached into his backpack. Haruka watched as he pulled out a giant can of Red Bull and cracked open the top of it. He then opened up his travel mug, and Haruka was hit with the powerful scent of an extremely strong coffee. The student then poured the entire can of energy drink into his travel mug and replaced the lid.

"I'm going to die," laughed the student as he chugged the drink while Haruka watched with his mouth agape. He then slammed the now empty mug back onto the table and turned to face Haruka. Haruka stared back at the boy, noticing his pupils dramatically increasing in size. He couldn't help but worry for this completely eccentric stranger, despite not even knowing his name. Haruka once again studied the student's appearance, this time moving toward the wrinkled plaid flannel he wore over a black t-shirt. The flannel was rolled up to the base of the student's elbow, and was tight enough that Haruka could just make out the size and definition of his muscles. Haruka gulped as he admired the stranger's physique, and began to imagine what he might look like under that shirt.

"Makoto."

"Huh?" Haruka muttered, suddenly jolted back into reality. He looked up and was met with those piercing green eyes again.

"Makoto Tachibana. Nice to meet you…..?" The student trailed off and looked expectantly at Haruka. Haruka stared back expressionless at Makoto, unsure what he wanted from him. "And you are…?" Makoto nudged, attempting to break the awkward silence.

"Oh! Me, right." Haruka muttered, shaking his head in embarrassment. "I'm Haruka. Haruka Nanase."

"Well it's nice to meet you, Haru-chan!" Makoto smiled warmly and Haruka thought he might melt right there.

"Drop the -chan," Haruka muttered under his breath, impulsively reacting to being called -chan, even though he liked the way it sounded with his name on Makoto's lips.

"Okay, so Haru it is!" Makoto retorted, still flashing his gentle smile that made Haruka feel weak all over.

The two were suddenly interrupted by the professor rapping a pen against his desk to signal the start of class. Haruka was stunned at how quickly the past thirty minutes with Makoto had gone by. He glanced back at Makoto, who threw him an apologetic smile that seemed to say "We'll continue this later."

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An hour later, the professor released the students. Haruka packed his things into his bag and stood up to leave. Makoto grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving, however.

"Hey Haru, what are you up to right now?" Makoto smiled his gentle smile again, as he stood up and threw his backpack over his shoulder.

"I was actually going to head back to my dorm," Haru said, averting his gaze from the bright smile that gave him butterflies. Despite his discomfort with being touched, he didn't do anything to pull his arm from Makoto's grip. Makoto was taller than he was, which made him feel even more embarrassed to look up into his eyes.

"Hey, I was heading back to the dorms too. Let's walk together!" Makoto exclaimed, crouching slightly to try to find Haruka's eyes.

"Oh… okay." Haruka mumbled as he looked up to meet Makoto's gaze. With Makoto still gripping Haruka's arm, the two made their way out of the classroom.

※※※※※※※※※※

"So Haru, you're on the swim team right?" Makoto asked as he looked up at the clear sky. Haruka couldn't tell, but Makoto seemed to really love looking up at the sky. His stare was quickly met with those sharp green eyes staring back at him. He realized that he hadn't responded yet.

"Oh, uh, yeah. I am." Haruka answered shyly. "How did you know that, anyway?" He asked, kicking a pebble that was on the sidewalk in front of him.

"Oh… well, that's actually kind of embarrassing…" Makoto muttered as an uncomfortable blush crept into his cheeks. "Well, you see, I was watching the swim team practicing the other day. I used to swim, but I wasn't good enough to go for the olympics or anything. But I really like to watch the team practice, and I noticed you right away. You're an excellent swimmer, Haru. It's really cool. I think that skilled swimming is a really attractive quality in a person." Makoto awkwardly rubbed his neck and laughed uncomfortably as he looked over at Haruka to gauge his reaction.

Haruka could feel his cheeks growing hot and he turned away to hide his blush. "Oh, well I think it's cool that you're interested in our practices…" Haruka mumbled to hide his embarrassment. After a long pause Haruka broke the silence. "Umm…. So what stroke did you swim?" he asked.

"I swam backstroke." Makoto responded excitedly. "I actually was afraid of the water when I first started swimming, so I learned the backstroke and it stuck. I love being able to look up at the sky while I'm swimming, you know?"

Ah, Haruka thought to himself. There it is. "Yeah… Yeah, I think I do." Haruka finally said, feeling more confident in his observations of the handsome man he walked with. The pair walked in silence for a bit, until they finally arrived at the dorm building. Makoto held the door open for Haruka and the two walked over to the elevators.

"Which floor?" Haruka asked, his hand hovering over the buttons on the wall.

"Oh, I'm on floor 5." Makoto replied, leaning against the hand rail that ran along the sides of the elevator.

"Really? I'm on floor 5 as well." Haruka stated as he pressed the button and leaned against the hand rail next to Makoto.

"Yeah, I know. You room with that weird red-head with the shark teeth, right?"

"Rin Matsuoka, yeah. We've been friends since we were kids. Wait, how did you know that?" Haruka abruptly asked, taken aback by how many details Makoto knew about him.

"I'm the floor 5 RA, actually…" Makoto stated, glancing over at Haruka. "I've seen you on the floor, but I knew you couldn't make it to our floor meeting before classes started so I didn't want to overwhelm you by knocking on your door or anything. When I saw you were in my class, I thought it would be a good excuse to talk to you. I'm glad I did though, I really like you Haru."

Haruka looked down at the floor, feeling his blush return with a vengeance. His heart pounded in his chest. Suddenly, he jolted back up again. "Wait, so that means that you're the one in the room next to us?" Haruka could feel the excitement bubbling up in his chest at the prospect.

"Yeah, that's me! Feel free to knock on the wall if you ever need anything." Makoto laughed. "Or you could try the more traditional route of knocking on my door."

Haruka smiled up at Makoto. "Sure, I'll take you up on that offer." he said boldly, ignoring the light blush creeping up into his face.

The short silence between the two was broken when the elevator let out a loud ding to signal that they had arrived at their floor. Makoto laughed nervously as he broke eye contact with Haruka and turned to leave the elevator. Haruka followed closely behind him. As they walked down the hall, Haruka fumbled nervously through his bag for his keys. Now he knew that he shared a wall not only with his RA, but with one of the kindest and most beautiful men he had ever met. The idea alone was enough to send an excited jolt down his spine.

The pair arrived at their doors right as Haruka found his keys and pulled them out of his bag. He started to speak nervously as he stuck his key into the lock. "Well, thanks for walking with-"

"Hey Haru, listen." Makoto blurted out anxiously, cutting off Haruka. A dark blush crept up into his face. "I was wondering… If you were free tonight, maybe you would want to go get ramen with me? I know this really great place, it's a short walk from campus. I've been wanting to try it, and I thought maybe we could go together? I think ramen is always a great first date. Not that this is a date, I mean, if you want it to be a date, I would love that but-"

Haruka silenced Makoto by placing a hand gently against his chest. "I agree, ramen is a great first date. I would like that very much."

"Oh, okay! Great! So, uh, knock on the wall when you're ready I guess? And I can come pick you up?" Makoto rambled, giggling nervously. He peered down into Haruka's eyes from under his messy hair.

"That sounds good. I'll see you tonight." Haruka replied, turning the key and opening his door. "Bye Makoto."

"Bye Haru-chan. See you tonight." Makoto said with a giant smile spreading across his cheeks.

Haruka closed the door behind him and turned to lean his back against the door. He sunk down and pressed his face into his hands to stop the blush that was threatening to take him over. He wanted to scream in excitement, but he knew that he couldn't since he now knew that he shared a wall with Makoto. He then heard excited shouting from behind their shared wall, and he looked over to the wall and laughed.

"So, that hot RA finally asked you out, huh?" Rin teased from his bed.

"Rin!" Haru exclaimed in embarrassment as he shot daggers at his roommate. Rin laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes. Nicely done… Haru-Chan~" prodded Rin, laughing as Haruka's face erupted into a deep red blush.

Nighttime could not come fast enough.