"Don't ever get in Rin's way again." Sosuke's words echoed through Haruka's head as he sunk further into the tub, letting his head become submerged in the Luke-warm water. Haruka had thought everything would be okay after last year's tournament and that now it was all going to be friendly competition, but turns out he was wrong. This definitely wasn't going to be the easy going year he was hoping for. Not only was there a new threat to everyone being friends again, but there was also the pressure of this being his last year. Haruka just wanted to be free and keep swimming… But it seemed like everyone was looking for answers on what he was going to do. The worst part was the reality was setting in that he and Makoto might have to part ways after this year, and despite how much he tried to push away his emotions, he couldn't help the stinging sadness that came with the thought of his best friend leaving. Makoto had always been by Haruka's side… He was the only one who could read Haruka's thoughts; speak up for Haruka, and in all reality, the only one who would never think of spending time with Haruka as troublesome or annoying. If Makoto wasn't there by his side, Haruka would be lost. The sound of the front door opening snapped Haruka out of his thoughts and made him resurface from the water to catch his breath.
"Haru-chan?" A voice rang throughout the house. 'Speak of the devil' Haruka thought as he heard the gentle voice of his best friend. They didn't have school today but had plans to hang out with the others and practice later, Haruka had almost forgotten. He made no effort to get out of the water yet, he knew that no matter what Makoto would come in and tell him he should get ready or they're going to be late like usual… To others this morning ritual could seem annoying, but Haruka knew it just meant Makoto cared. It wasn't long before just as expected, Makoto stood outside the bathroom and made a small knock on the door frame.
"I'm coming in." Makoto said, just giving a polite warning before actually entering. Haruka looks towards the door as his friend enters the bathroom. His olive hair still stayed in its messy style, his green eyes glowing, and his warm smile still as welcoming as always.
"Haru-chan, you need to get ready." Makoto scolds. Haruka sighs.
"Didn't I tell you to drop the 'chan'…? Anyways, I refuse to leave without breakfast." Haruka states, his voice monotone. Makoto lets out a sigh at his stubbornness, but his smile goes against the assumption he's annoyed.
"Fine, Haru, I'll make you your mackerel, just get dressed." Makoto says holding out his hand for Haruka to take. Haru finds this as an acceptable compromise and takes Makoto's hand, standing up and going to get out of the tub, once again he was wearing his swim suit in the tub. Some traditions never change.
It was soon after that Haruka was sitting at the table, eating the mackerel Makoto made for him and finally dressed. Makoto was rambling on about the swim club and how he thought they had a good chance this year. Haruka just made small nods to show he was still listening as he ate his mackerel. It wasn't until Rin's team was brought up that Haruka started listening more closely.
"Rin seems to be taking the leadership role pretty well, he's lucky that he's getting so many new team members. And that Sosuke guy seems pretty good, going to be a tough competitor, huh Haru?" Makoto says. Haruka stiffens at Sosuke's name, still remembering their last encounter where he was threatened by Sosuke. Makoto seemed to notice Haruka stiffened because he now seemed worried.
"Haru? What's wrong?" Makoto asks. Haruka hadn't known how to react to the encounter, let alone tell his friends about it. He didn't even know how he could tell his friends… Haruka sighs and looks away from Makoto, just making a non-committal shrug, hoping Makoto would drop it. Sadly enough, Makoto knew that Haruka was hiding something and didn't let go of the topic.
"What Haru? Is it about Sosuke?" Makoto asks. Haruka flinched slightly when the name was brought up, not enough to be obvious, but his olive haired friend had still seen.
"It is Sosuke… Are you worried he's going to be tough competition?" He presses on. Haruka sighs and looks away from Makoto.
"No…. it's not that…. You know I don't care about winning… It's just…" Haruka trails off trying to find the words for it.
"It's just… What?" Makoto asks tilting his head. Haruka rubs his face as he thinks of what to say.
"I… At the swimming festival…. Sosuke and I had an… encounter…. Before the race…" Haruka starts and grumbles when he can't exactly find the words. Makoto is patient, like always, and waits for Haruka to figure out the words, just looking at him with his kind eyes that Haruka has learned to both love and hate over the years.
"He stopped me when I was getting a drink and cornered me against the machine… Then told me not to get in Rin's way." Haruka finally says in as simple of a way he possibly could. He looks at Makoto, keeping the same stoic face as always, but was a bit shocked to see anger on Makoto's face.
"Why didn't you tell me before Haru?" Makoto asks quietly, Haruka blinks.
"I didn't know how… Anyways it didn't seem like anything important…" The raven haired teen says giving another shrug as if saying it was fine but Makoto didn't seem happy at all with that.
"Haru, that's not okay! He threatened you!" Makoto says angrily. Haruka blinks, a bit surprised by Makoto's outburst.
"There's nothing really we can do about it Makoto…" Haruka says with a sigh, trying to just remain calm.
"We can tell Rin… Or at the very least I could make sure Sosuke doesn't come near you again." Makoto says, crossing his arms with a huff. Haruka looks off to the side and makes a tiny nod, Makoto frowns at this.
"Haru… I know you have a hard time discussing feelings and all but… Are you worried he's going to hurt you?" The olive haired teen asks. Haru's quiet a long moment before just making a shrug and getting up. He goes to the kitchen and starts to clean up his plate, not wanting to discuss this further. He notices Makoto followed and walked into the kitchen but doesn't look over.
"Haru-chan…" Makoto starts but Haruka sends him an icy glare.
"Drop the chan." Haruka says sternly. Makoto frowns.
"Sorry Haru…" The olive haired teen says. There's a bit of silence, when Haruka finishes cleaning his plate he hears Makoto mumble something. Haruka blinks and looks to Makoto.
"…What?" Haruka asks and Makoto rubs the back of his neck, giving a shy smile.
"I said… I won't let Sosuke hurt you… I… Won't let anyone hurt you Haru." Makoto says, embarrassment hinted in his voice, but when Haruka searched his friends face he saw the determination in his eyes. Haruka felt his cheeks warm up, and for a moment he thought he saw a light blush on his friends face, but shook off that thought. There would be no reason for Makoto to be blushing right now, so that thought is illogical… A part of Haruka actually wished that Makoto would blush around him, because that might mean-
Haruka blinked and mentally shook off that thought. Makoto was his best friend; he shouldn't want the olive haired teen to blush around him, that's just… weird. Haruka noticed he had been having weird thoughts like this lately… He just didn't know why they were happening. They had started around last year and have been getting progressively more frequent, some thoughts even making their way into Haruka's dreams. Yeah, it was weird to be waking up from a dream about your best friend and having an issue in the lower region. Haruka realized after a moment that he hadn't said anything back to Makoto and had just been staring off. He blinks and looks over to his best friend who seemed to look unsure as if he said something wrong.
"Thanks Makoto… That… Means a lot." Haruka says quietly. Makoto visibly seems to relax and a soft smile forms on his face.
"We should get going and meet the others at the train station… We're already late so we don't want to worry them even more." The olive haired teen says. Haruka just makes a small nod and walks with Makoto as they go to leave the house.
The two walk in peaceful silence to the train station to meet their friends, Makoto was thinking about what stores they would go to at the mall while Haruka was looking out at the ocean like always. He had noticed that Makoto would look over at him every once in a while but tried not to pay any attention to it. Haruka could feel his and Makoto's arms brush against each other, he was glad that he was looking away from Makoto because he could feel a light blush form on his cheeks. Had they always walked this close? Haruka felt his heart pounding in his chest, he didn't understand why the closeness made him feel so... different. They always walked next to each other so he had no clue why lately it was making him feel like this. The raven haired teen honestly wasn't sure if he was happy or upset when they got to the others and Makoto moved away. It made Haruka start to calm down but the lack of warmth by his side was a bit upsetting.
"Haru-chan! Makoto-chan!" Nagisa says excitedly, running over to the two. Haruka sighs at the fact Nagisa's voice attracted so much attention and everyone was looking over at them now.
"Hello Nagisa, where's Kou and Rei?" Makoto asks, wearing the same warm smile as always. Haruka wished that he was the only one who could get Makoto to smile like that… 'Ugh…damn it, another thought like that…' Haruka grumbles to himself. He needed to remember that friends didn't think like that and also that he wasn't Makoto's only friend. Makoto didn't belong to him. He wasn't listening to the two friends' converse anymore, just more focused at cursing at himself for these reappearing thoughts. Haruka felt a tug on his sleeve and looked to see Makoto and Nagisa looking at him.
"Hey Haru, Nagisa said the trains about to leave, Rei and Kou are already on it so we should get on before we get left behind." Makoto says, Haruka just makes a small nod in response. He could see the worry that Makoto was trying to hide and felt guilty for making his friend feel that way. Haruka said nothing about it though, knowing that if it really bothered him he could talk about it later with Makoto. Instead he just walked with Makoto and Nagisa to the train and got on. Kou sat alone and Nagisa took a seat by Rei. Haruka sat down, and of course, was joined by Makoto. Haruka knew that now he might not be able to think clearly. He didn't look to Makoto but instead just looked out the window; maybe he could get some rest instead. As the train started up and he kept looking out the window he felt his eyes grow heavy. Yeah… He'd just rest.
"Haru…" A voice accompanied by a strong, gentle hand shaking Haruka stared to wake him up from his sleeping. The raven haired teen groaned as he opened his eyes and adjusted to the light. When he became aware of his surroundings he first noticed the train had stopped, and whatever he was sleeping on was not a pillow. The second thing he noticed, which made a strong blush creep up on his face, was the face his head was resting in Makoto's lap, and he was looking right up at his friend. He quickly sat up and tried to avoid eye contact, hoping that Makoto hadn't noticed him blushing. It felt like his heart was pounding in his throat and his mouth was dry. Sure the two had fallen asleep on each other before, but something was clearly different now. Haruka just couldn't put his finger on it. He heard Makoto make a soft chuckle and noticed his friend getting up.
"Sorry if I startled you Haru, just the train stopped now and we need to get off." Makoto says, Haruka looks around now noticing everyone getting off the train. He gets up and then follows Makoto and the others off the train, staying quiet hoping to hide his embarrassment. He still had to survive the rest of the day with these guys so he didn't want them bugging him about what had him blushing.
The group of friends started to walk down the street. Haruka just listened quietly as they talked and planned some sort of party to celebrate the new school year. Haruka didn't really know why they should celebrate that but agreed to go since Makoto was. He supposed it couldn't be too bad.
When they passed a book store Makoto was the first to suggest going in, everyone eagerly agreed, well except Haruka who made a non-committal shrug and small grunt. He usually wasn't a big fan of reading but guessed he could at least look around and let the others have their fun. Haruka debated on just going to the café in the store, but had a feeling he should wait for everyone else. He walked around the store looking at all the books, he didn't really see anything interesting for a while but then one title ended up causing him to stop in place. It was in the learning and self-improvement section of the store and the title of the book read 'How to Deal with Your Sexuality'. Haruka blinked and stared at the book a moment, at first he didn't understand why he had stopped to look at the book, but then he started to think about the weird thoughts and feelings he's been having for his best friend recently and his eyes widened. 'No… it couldn't be…' He thinks to himself as he feels his mouth going dry. He looks around him to make sure no one was around before picking up the book and starting to skim through it, keeping very still as he read the words. Could it be that this whole time, this was the answer to what's been wrong with him?
"Haruka" A voice calls out causing the raven haired teen to freeze in place. He knew who the voice belonged to but couldn't even manage to think of the person, it felt like his brain shut down with the sudden realization, he couldn't even manage to put the book away. He heard the person walk over and the one thought that kept repeating through his head was 'Please don't be Makoto'. When he felt himself starting to come back to his senses, he slowly turned to look at whoever called him. He was met with Rin and Sosuke standing in front of him and blinked.
"Hey Haru, didn't expect to see you here." Rin says, Haruka looks between the two but then noticed Sosuke glaring at him so tried to avoid any eye contact.
"The whole team is here somewhere…" Haruka says, monotone. Even though he was friends with Rin again didn't mean he wanted to talk to him right now, especially with Sosuke right there. He notices Rin's eyes wander down to the book and Haruka stiffens. He quickly tries to hide the title but when he sees a smile start to form on Rin's face, he knows he had already seen what it was. Haruka chews his lip and shrinks down a bit.
"That's an interesting book you got there Haruka." Rin says with a grin.
"Shut up." Haruka quickly replies, just for Rin to laugh. Haruka huffs, this was just perfect. Not only would Rin keep bugging him about this but now Sosuke had something to use against Haruka. He noticed Rin stopped laughing, but what scared him more was the knowing smile on his face now.
"So let me guess…" Rin starts, but Haruka is quick to cut him off.
"No, Rin, shut up." He mutters, only earning a bigger grin from his friend. For a moment though, Rin was quiet and Haruka prayed that he was actually dropping it, but of course Rin opened his mouth again.
"Makoto?" The red haired teen asks and Haruka has to stop himself from stuttering like a complete fool.
"Why would you think that..?" Haruka asks, trying his best to keep his voice monotone and not blush, he didn't want anything to give it away, he needed to be calm. He really just wanted Rin to drop it, now, before they reached dangerous territory.
"You two have always acted like you were married, hell when I got back from Australia, I swore you two were together. If you had that book then there's no one else you could thinking about but him." Rin tells Haruka, who grips the book a tiny bit tighter. Was it really that obvious when he, himself, hadn't realized it before? He could hear Sosuke snickering and quickly shut the book and looked back to them with a stoic face again, when he opened his mouth to speak Rin cut him off.
"Don't try to deny it Haru; nothing you say can change how obvious it is. You should just tell him." Rin says and Haruka can't help but scoff.
"Yeah, sure, because he'd definitely feel the same." Haru says under his breath, and before Rin can say anything Sosuke speaks up.
"Yeah, he's right Rin. Haruka shouldn't tell him. I mean, how could we believe this Makoto guy would even like someone like him?" Sosuke says, Haruka stiffens 'someone like him?' He looks to Sosuke and notices a challenging look in his eyes almost as if saying 'why would anyone like you?' Haruka takes in a breath, feeling himself lose his calm demeanor once again, he wasn't even sure of these feelings but the words still hurt. Rin seemed a bit surprised at Sosuke's words and opened his mouth to speak; he was cut off though when someone approaching was heard. Haruka looked over his shoulder and saw Makoto, the two made eye contact a moment before Makoto looked to Sosuke, he hoped Makoto hadn't heard the conversation. Haruka saw the same look from earlier, Makoto looked angry. The olive haired teen moved to be in front of Haruka and glared at Sosuke. Haruka made sure to keep the book he was holding close to his chest so Makoto wouldn't see.
"Is there a problem going on here?" Makoto asks, he kept glaring at Sosuke. Rin blinks, and looks to Haruka who just stayed quiet. He knew Rin was confused, but his eyes were screaming 'I told you so' to Haruka.
"I was just talking to Haruka about something." Rin says looking back to Makoto. Makoto blinks and looks to Rin, then back to Sosuke.
"I didn't mean with you. I meant is there a problem with him, Sosuke." Makoto huffs. Sosuke crosses his arms and looks to Haruka, knowing that he told Makoto what happened.
"Why would there be a problem with Sosuke?" Rin asks, being the only one out of the loop.
"Because he threatened Haruka!" Makoto growls, catching the attention of some people in the store.
"Makoto… We don't want to start a scene…" Haruka mumbles, looking down at the floor. Makoto looked at him a moment but then looked back to the two in front of them when Rin speaks up.
"Wait, Sosuke, you threatened Haru?" He asks looking to the one in question. Sosuke turned his glare off of Haruka and looked to Rin.
"I was just joking around, Haruka, you know that right?" Sosuke says, giving Haruka a look. Haruka stiffens and tries to figure out what to do; he looks to Makoto a moment before looking to ground.
"…Yeah…" Haruka mumbles quietly, getting Rin to relax, but Makoto knew better. He grabbed Haruka's hand and started to pull him away.
"Let's go Haru…" He mutters and continues to move away. Haruka blinks and looks to Rin, Haruka made sure he was still holding the book so that Makoto couldn't see it. Rin mouthed the words 'protective much' as he pointed to Makoto. Haruka quickly looks away after that and just lets himself be led off, Makoto was just being a good friend is all…
"Why did you lie?" Haruka looks up to see Makoto looking over at him. Haruka just gives a small shrug and sighs.
"He was right there… Telling Rin in front of him would make Sosuke hate me more." Haruka say quietly. Makoto sighs and lets go of Haruka's hand.
"Don't let Sosuke control you…" Makoto says then walks off to the café in the store. Haruka frowns very slightly and stays there a moment. He looks to the book and walks off to go buy it. The most uncomfortable part was the look on the cashier's face when she had to cash out the book for him. He sighs and walks into the café area, hiding the book in his pocket. After that he sat down with everyone at the café. The rest of the day went by in a blur, just going to random shops with the group and listening to them blabber on about random things. Makoto had noticed how quiet Haruka had gotten and even went to try to make Haruka feel better, which of course didn't help at all with Haruka's dilemma. Soon Haruka found himself on the train next to Makoto again. He didn't sleep though; he was wide awake thinking of what he had learned today. He felt like the book was burning a hole in his pocket.
Haruka didn't even go to swim practice with everyone after, he said he felt sick and went home, which seemed to worry Makoto out of everyone. In all honesty, thinking about the book and what he was figuring out did actually make him feel sick. When Haruka got home, he sat on his bed and read his book; he could barely get far into it when thoughts kept buzzing through his head. He didn't realize it before, usually he was observant and could see these things, but for some reason he hadn't, and now after much review on his life, most of all the past few years, he realized what the feelings were. He should've known by the dreams or how he felt when that smile formed, even how it felt when their arms brushed against each other. Makoto had always been there for him and Haruka knew he needed Makoto, he just never realized how much. Makoto wasn't only his best friend. He was more. That's when the scariest realization happened and he was sent into a full on panic attack. Both shaking and hyperventilating the words rang through his head. Haruka Nanase was in love with his best friend that he had known for almost all his life. He was in love with Makoto.
