Happy Birthday

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

"Happy Birthday Onii-chan!" cried out Ren and Ran as they jumped on Makoto's bed to wake him and greet him.

"Thanks guys," said Makoto, as he was smothered with hugs and kisses.

"We got you a gift!" they handed him a wrapped present and Makoto carefully unwrapped to find a video game.

Animal Crossing: Deep Deep Sea, it was the twins favourite game and, Makoto's mouth quirked, Haru's. "Thank you!" Makoto said sincerely, knowing the twins had picked the game so that the four of them could play it together.

The grinned, "Let's invite Haru-chan this weekend and play together," suggested Ran.

"Yes! I can show him my new drawings!" said Ren, "I have been practicing lots!"

Makoto grinned, "I'll invite Haru," he promised.

They left him to get ready. "Happy Birthday," his mother said, "Papa had to leave already but he wishes you happy birthday too."

"Thanks mom," said Makoto cheerfully.

"Here's our present," his mom handed him an envelope. Makoto figured it had about 10,000 Yen or so of cash. That's the amount they gave him last year.

"Spend it wisely!" his mother encouraged.

"I will," truth was that the bulk of the money was going to go into his savings account but he would use part of it to treat himself and Haru to something this afternoon. Possibly monjayaki, he hadn't had that for awhile.

As soon as he stepped outside, he found Haru coming down the stairs, "Good morning, Haru," Makoto said, expecting Haru to reply with a birthday wish. But Haru simply nodded. Makoto was a bit surprised but let it go.

"Let's eat monjayaki after school today," suggested Makoto.

"What's the occasion?" wondered Haru.

Makoto wasn't about to embarrass Haru by reminding him that it was his birthday so he simply said, "No occasion, just wanted some."

Haru shrugged, Makoto took that as an yes and Makoto started talking about random things as they walked to school as the chilly winds of November blew away what remained of the autumn leaves.

Since it was too cold to each on the roof, Makoto and Haru ate at the cafeteria. Haru was not comfortable. The cafeteria was always too noisy and too full of people. "Let's eat in the club locker," suggested Makoto.

"No," said Haru, "This is fine." Makoto ate quickly and they soon headed out.

"I have an art project to finish," said Haru, he was in a more advanced art class then Makoto.

"Okay," replied Makoto, "I'll head to the library and get started on my history assignment. I'll see you in class after the break. We have biology next," he reminded Haru. Haru gave him an annoyed 'I know' sort of look. Makoto just smiled back charmingly.

However, Haru didn't turn-up for biology. Nor for Maths afterwards. So Makoto was forced to conclude that Haru decided to ditch the rest of his classes and had just gone home. This stung a bit since Makoto thought they had agreed to go have monjayaki after school. But perhaps he misread Haru's intentions this time.

"Or Haru might go with me afterwards," Makoto thought, "He knows I'll go to his house to drop of the notes from the classes he missed. So maybe he'll come with me after," Makoto smiled at the thought.

Feeling cheerful again Makoto headed towards Haru's house, taking a slightly different route that by passed the stairs. This meant he would come to Haru's house first, as opposed to his house first - which is what would happen should he have gone up the stone stairs.

He tried the doorbell but no one answered and the front door was locked, "Is Haru in the bath?" wondered Makoto. He decided to try the back entrance - it was open. "Excuse me," he said as he let himself in. He was going to check the bathroom but thought he heard something in the living room. So headed that way instead.

"Surprise!" screamed all his friends as he was showered in confetti! Makoto was shocked speechless.

"Happy Birthday Makoto," Haru said as he approached his friend with a large chocolate cake.

"Haru…" Makoto finally managed, "Everybody, thank you!"

"Candles!" called Rin, "We need candles."

"Ah! I have them," said Gou, presenting a '1' candle and a '7' candle.

"I'll put them on!" said Nagisa as he took the candles while Haru set the cake on the table. "There!" cried Nagisa as he finished putting the candles on.

"Nagisa-kun!" exclaimed Rei, "That says 71!"

"Ah? Mako-chan isn't 71?"

Everybody laughed as Rei fixed the candles to the proper 17 and Rin produced matches to light them, "Make a wish Makoto!"

Makoto did, he blew out the candles and cut the cake. Cutting out a small piece. "Who wants the first piece?" asked Makoto.

Rin grabbed it and said, "First piece belongs to the birthday boy so, say ah!" Makoto opened his mouth to protest but Rin just took that opportunity to shove the cake in Makoto's mouth. Good thing it was a small piece.

"Don't choke the birthday boy," said Haru amused as he handed Makoto a tissue and a glass of water, "Choking teammates is Nagisa's job."

"Haru-chan is so mean!" said Nagisa with a pout, but then turning to Makoto he asked, "Mako-chan, Mako-chan, what did you wish for?" he asked.

Makoto took a moment to recover, "I wished that we could all swim together forever."

"Makoto-senpai…" said Rei and Gou simultaneously.

"Mako-chan!" exclaimed Nagisa.

"Makoto," whispered Rin as Haru just gazed at Makoto fondly. It was such a Makoto wish.

"Let… let's have more cake!" cried Makoto to distract everybody because he was starting to feel a bit embarrassed.

They ate, they talked, the showered Makoto with presents and generally had fun. But in the midst of it all, Haru remembered to whisper to Makoto, "Let's have monjayaki tomorrow, just the two of us." Makoto beamed.

Author's Notes: So I decided to do a fluffy friendship fic based on the Makoto surprised birthday party magazine picture. I noticed that Haru was wearing a dress shirt, not dissimilar to their school uniform. So I figured that Haru did go to school for at least part of the day, while the others ditched school entirely or at least left early enough to be able to change into casual clothes. Makoto on the other hand looks like he just came from school. I was thinking either Makoto goes to cram school afterward or Haru ditches school halfway through the day. Since we know that Haru does ditch school halfway through if he gets bored, I figured Haru bailing would make more sense.