Genres: friendship, romance
Rated: K
Characters: Haruka Nanase, Makoto Tachibana, Nagisa Hazuki, Rei Ryugazaki
Pairing: Makoto/Haruka
Summary: Haruka secretly treasured the little blue dolphin that Makoto had given him on his birthday.
Little Treasure
When Haruka Nanase noticed that he had lost his blue dolphin, he decided that today was not a good day.
The small animal was made of plastic and his best friend, Makoto, had given it to him for his twelfth birthday. The toy in itself was not worth much and he even thought it was silly, but Makoto had delivered it to him with a grin and a cheerful, "Happy birthday, Haru-chan," so Haruka had taken to carrying it everywhere he went, as a lucky charm of sorts.
He discovered that he had lost it while redressing after swim practice. It must have fallen out of my blazer pocket in my haste to get into the pool, Haruka concluded. He immediately got on his knees, searching the cold, tiled floor for any trace of his treasured gift.
"Is something wrong, Haru?" Makoto asked, his voice filled with concern as he watched the dark-haired boy, who was half-dressed and crawling on the floor of the change room.
Nagisa chimed in, "Yeah, Haru-chan, what are you doing?"
"I lost my dolphin charm." Blue eyes scanned the room, disheartened when Haruka realized that he did not see it anywhere.
"Why is this toy so important to you, Haruka-senpai?" Rei questioned while adjusting his red glasses.
He didn't want to answer, but his three friends looked at him with curiosity. "Makoto gave it to me as a present," he finally explained quietly, embarrassed, averting his eyes.
Makoto stared at him in surprise.
"Never mind," Haruka continued awkwardly—he knew that Makoto had never known he always carried his gift around with him—but his heart sank with every word, assuming that he would never see it again. "Let's just go home."
"Haru-chan? Don't worry, I'll buy you another one," Makoto assured him afterwards, comforting him on the way to their houses, "though I'm glad that Haru thinks of me in that way." He gently took Haruka's hand in his own, smiling softly. Was Makoto blushing?
Haruka was silent, but he tightened his grip on Makoto's warm hand and felt a little better.
Later that night, Nagisa found a small, blue dolphin buried in his school bag. A present from Makoto, eh? he chuckled to himself, knowing far too well of the blossoming feelings between his two friends. Haruka will be happy to see this again.
The end
Prompt: "I like to think Haruka treasures every piece of Makoto he has. When they were younger, Makoto gave Haruka a dolphin charm for good luck. Upon receiving it, Haruka dismisses it as silly, but in reality he likes it and still has it and even brings it to swim meets because Makoto gave it to him. So, of course he loses it and he's really desperate to find it, but he won't tell anyone what he's looking for. Nagisa has it the whole time. Embarrassed, Haru admits its whole backstory while Makoto smiles and blushes."
