©ZhenLe 22/10/13

MakoHaru - Angel

Title: My Angel

Prompt: For an elementary school assignment the class is told to draw angels and Haru draws Makoto ( post/61427192993/for-an-elementary-school-assignment-the-class-is-told)

X-X

The classroom was filled with loud chatter as the students started to talk with one another after settling down. Haru sat idly by, staring blankly at his table. The seating arrangement in the art room was set in such a way which forced his back on the windows, disallowing him from looking out at the blue sky and its fluffy white clouds. A one-sided conversation held by Makoto rang in his ears; Haru wasn't really one to socialise.

Hushed silence fell over the class as the door opened, revealing a young lady with a brilliant smile; their art teacher.

"Kiritsu!"* the class leader commanded, starting with the formalities, and the students stood up immediately. "Rei!"*

"Ohayo-gozaimasu"* greeted the pupils in unison as they bowed.

Smiling to herself, the teacher returned their greeting and got them seated once again before taking her usual stance at the front of the room.

"Class, I would like to say well done to all of you for your good work during the last project!"

Makoto blushed as he remembered having done a horrible job as compared to his peers. But he was never really good at art to begin with, his strengths lay somewhere else.

"Let's move on to the next assignment!"

She's way too enthusiastic about this, Haru thought to himself as he sighed.

"It's going to be a short one, since Christmas break is next week." There were a few cheers at this statement before the speech continued.

"Why don't we all draw something nice to hang up at home?" The teacher gently shushed the students who had begun to whisper amongst themselves before giving her suggestion: "How about we draw…angels?"

Surprisingly, the majority of the class went along with that idea which made Haru wonder how old they all were. After all, weren't they a little too old to bring back drawings for their parents to fawn over and pin up on the fridge? He kept silent however, not wanting to openly voice his view. Paper was distributed as the teacher continued to speak.

"I know all of you have different views on what angels are and that you all have different images of what they look like in your minds. So I urge you to draw what you see, not what others see. In other words, don't copy each other, alright? You're all unique and have your own ideas. I look forward to seeing your work, be sure to have it done by next lesson!" With that, the students were left with paper, drawing utensils and their own imagination to produce the necessary artwork.

Haru didn't even blink as he got to work straightaway. The image of the angel in his mind floated around, clear as crystal. Makoto, on the other hand, needed a little bit more time to think before he even dared to place his pencil on the paper. The boy bit his lip; he wanted his drawing to actually resemble some form this time. He couldn't help it though, that his art skills were so bad. He didn't know why either. He wanted to be able to draw as well as the gifted Haru was, he wanted to be able to share the satisfaction in producing a work worthy of commendation. A dreamy sigh escaped his lips. It must be really nice to be able to draw.

"Makoto," His best friend's monotonous voice shattered the delusion he was having.

Even though he said nothing more, his piercing deep-blue eyes bore the rest of the question into Makoto's forest green ones – What's wrong? Blushing, the boy turned back to the blank piece of paper in front of him.

"Nothing, Haru-chan" he whispered, "Go back to work."

Haru's all too familiar sigh entered his ears making the brown-haired boy stifle a laugh. That was his Haru-chan alright. Wait, his Haru-chan? Makoto gripped his pencil tight, had he just thought that Haru was his? Haru didn't belong to him, did he? The thought sounded so silly. Of course Haru wasn't his – it was only natural that Haru belonged to his parents, and to whoever Haru wanted to belong to.

The rest of the lesson passed by smoothly, Makoto finally having started on his artwork. He had been concentrating so hard on his piece that this time it was Haru that nudged his arm. It was Haru that had to tell him that the lesson was over. Makoto's lips formed a sheepish smile as he packed away his drawing, "Sorry."

X

Emerald eyes darted around the room nervously as Makoto clutched on to his finished drawing for dear life. The dark circles under them contrasting greatly with the glimmering green told the story of a lack of sleep the night before in the hopes of making the perfect artwork. Nothing had changed, really. Makoto was still Makoto and his art capabilities hadn't improved at all. In contrast to the tense jittery boy, Haru was sitting in his chair, cool and collected as usual. The signature bored expression plastered onto his face was ever constant, but his oceanic eyes shone brighter today for no particular reason. It was the last lesson on Friday afternoon, and the students were seated rather impatiently, wanting to go home already. After all, today was the last day of school before it closed for Christmas break. The normal bout of formalities was soon over and done with and the lesson resumed.

"Today is the day I get to see all of your beautiful artwork!" their teacher exclaimed happily, beaming away at her students. "Hmm, I think we should all proudly show off our work to our classmates right? Who would like to start?"

The braver students went up first, presenting their pieces to the rest of the class. The drawings held a range of many different art styles, as well as many different versions of 'angels'. Some were so disfigured that no one could tell what they were, while others looked so ridiculous that laughter erupted in the class. Makoto was lost. They're all still better than mine, he whimpered to himself as he held his sketch to his rapidly hammering heart, I want to go home!

"Haruka-kun, would you like to share yours?" The raven-haired boy obligingly stood up although it was obvious that he preferred not to have to go through this. Haru didn't say a word as he held up his drawing for the eyes of his classmates.

Gasps escaped many mouths, jaws dropped, everyone including the teacher was speechless. Makoto took one look at it and almost fainted on the spot. Of course, Haru's natural artistic talent stayed unquestioned. But the 'angel' that Haru had drawn – that was a totally different question.

"I-Isn't that Tachibana-kun?!" The silence was finally broken by someone who had recovered.

"And what if it is?" Haru retorted coldly, displaying his drawing with unspoken pride.

"But Tachibana-kun isn't an angel!" came the sneering reply. All that that particularly loud obnoxious student received was one huge glare from those icy cold eyes and that was enough to make him stop talking.

"Now, now" the teacher started to say, "As I said the term 'angel' can mean different things to different people right? Haruka-kun, thank you. Your artwork was very beautiful! Are you going to show it to your parents?"

"No," came the immediate reply, "It's for Makoto."

Without looking at the flushed Makoto even once, Haru resumed his spot and placed his drawing right in front of his olive-haired friend.

"H-Haru-chan…" Makoto's voice trailed off; he absolutely couldn't get his voice out of his throat!

"Makoto-kun, would you like to share your artwork as well?" A softer gentler tone was used to address said boy as the teacher knew how insecure he was about his art abilities. She received a small shake of the head from her very bright red student as a response.

The matter wasn't pushed further as the teacher wrapped up the last lesson of the day. While she was speaking, Makoto managed a small squeak of a 'thank you' to Haru, who acknowledged him with a nod. And just like that, the bell rung and the day was over.

The still blushing Makoto grabbed his belongings (and of course handled Haru's masterpiece with care) and muttered something about having to rush home before leaving Haru with a muffled apology. The latter had quick reflexes though, and used to packing his stuff in lightning speed, the swimmer was trailing after his 'angel' in no time.

The chase continued as Haru was constantly swept away from his goal by the tide of overly excited students, all wanting to leave school. He was annoyed, but gritted his teeth and unrelentingly fought through the jumbled mess of people surrounding him. Mercilessly shoving and pushing his way through the throng, Haru was at last clear of the human traffic jam and could finally breathe a little easier. Throwing on his blue jacket and making sure he was ready to brave the bitter cold, Haru flung open the school doors and rushed out. The hunt for Makoto was not yet over.

When the sought after broad back and dull greenish-brown hair eventually came into view, Haru picked up his pace a little. They were already off the school grounds and on the road home. Swim practice had been cancelled today due to unforeseen circumstances, and for the first time in his short life Haru was thankful for that. He needed to talk to Makoto, alone.

"Makoto," Haru grabbed the boy's arm when it was finally within reach.

He panted ever so slightly from the physical exertion, but soon recovered due to his athletic build. Makoto stared at him with glassy green eyes, looking like he was about to cry.

"Makoto." Once again the named boy read the worried expression in Haru's eyes – What's wrong?

"N-Nothing! Nothing at all, Haru-chan!" Makoto rubbed the back of his head with a tight forced smile, a smile that was about to break any second, "Thank you for the picture."

"Show me yours," Haru seized the opportunity to ask, "Please."

"I-It's embarrassing!" Makoto stammered and slowly started to back off, "It's really bad, Haru-chan. Please don't look at it!"

His words went unheeded as Haru, still gripping Makoto's arm, forcefully opened his friend's bag and rummaged inside, something very uncharacteristic of the usually apathetic swimmer. At last, he found what he was searching for, crumpled and hidden in one of the bag's smaller compartments.

"Haru…" The bigger of the two whined as Haru smoothed out the paper against his leg.

Haru's eyes went wide with shock when he saw what was on the paper. This was who Makoto thought to be an angel, and it was absolutely unexpected. Although rather messily drawn, Haru could make out the black hair underneath a glowing halo, the asymmetrical bright blue eyes that dotted its pale face, and the lop-sided wings that were present on either side of a rather simple body. There was no mistaking it. It was Haru. Makoto had drawn Haru. Just like Haru had drawn Makoto. A rare smile crept onto his face at the realisation.

"May I keep it?" He turned to face the red-faced Tachibana who looked like he was about to collapse.

"Why? It's ugly!" Tears started to pool at the corners of the now wet and glistening pair of eyes.

"No, Makoto." Haru turned to face his friend with a special smile just for him accompanied with a slight blush dusting his cheeks, "I think it's beautiful."

* - just in case you didn't know:

Kiritsu – means 'stand up', it's when the class leader gets the class to stand up together to greet the teacher

Rei – means 'bow', so all the students bow together

Ohayo-gozaimasu – means 'good morning', it's one of the usual greetings to the teacher which the teacher will return and ask the class to sit down afterwards