"Tomorrow is the prefectural tournament, so make sure you all get enough rest tonight!" Gou said, and Makoto began listing the races that each of the swim team's members would be in. When he stated that he himself would be entering the 200m freestyle race, he was asked why he entered that one instead of the 100m race.
"It's because I know I don't stand a chance against Haru in that race!" He said grinning, and Haru looked at him questioningly.
The rest of the practice went by smoothly, with Rei and Nagisa showing off their new matching swimsuits, and everyone saying some last minute words before the tournament the next day.
On their walk home, Makoto noticed that Haru seemed upset about something, and he had sensed it earlier too, after he said he would be joining the freestyle race. He stopped walking and asked, "Haru, you're upset. What's wrong?"
Haru turned around at the sound of Makoto's voice and shrugged, trying to change the subject. "Why'd you enter the freestyle race, Makoto?"
"I entered because this is our last year in school together, and I wanted to race against you, at least once." Haru frowned slightly at this and tried to turn back around, but Makoto stopped him. "Haru, promise to actually race against me tomorrow?"
"Sure." Haru said and the two of them continued to walk home.
That night, laying in his bed Haru thought of what had happened earlier that day. He frowned again, remembering it. "It's like he forgot the promise completely…" He said.
Back in elementary school, after Makoto had convinced him to join the swim club with him, they had both made a promise that they would always be on the same team together, and never have to swim against each other. Haru had done his best to stick by the promise throughout the years, only ever swimming freestyle, so him and Makoto would always be working together. He remembered it clearly, when Makoto had come up to him, the same way he had when he had asked Haru to join the swim club.
"Hey, hey Haru!" He said, climbing up to the slide to sit next to Haru, "Let's make a promise, okay?"
"A promise?" Haru asked.
"Yeah!" The brunet said excitedly, "Let's make a promise to never race against each other!" He said, offering his pinky to Haru, "Okay?"
Haru let out a sigh before hooking his pinky finger with his friend's, "Okay."
Haru rolled over onto his side and decided to just go to sleep, and he would deal with Makoto tomorrow.
When Haru got up in the morning, he did what he does every morning, he picked out which swimsuit to wear for the day, put it on and then got into the bathtub. He figured that Makoto would be coming to pick him up today, as he does every day, so he didn't see the need to have a set time to get out of the tub.
About half an hour later, Haru was still soaking in the bathtub, occasionally tapping on the little dolphin toy Makoto had given him when they had first joined the swim club. He heard Makoto knocking on the bathroom door to let him know he was coming in, and when he saw Makoto reaching his hand out to pull him out of the tub, he got up and took his hand, much like the way Makoto had on the first day of joining the swim club.
"So today's the tournament, huh?" Makoto said, grabbing a towel and drying Haru's hair for him. Haru gave a nod from underneath the towel that the taller boy was massaging against his scalp. "Did you use shampoo at all in the tub Haru?" Makoto pulled the towel away from Haru's head and ran his hands through the shorter boy's hair, "You still smell like chlorine and your hair doesn't feel like you conditioned it at all." He pushed Haru towards the tub and started refilling it.
Once the tub was filled Haru got into the tub and waited patiently for Makoto to grab the shampoo from the side of the tub. Makoto opened the bottle and poured some into his hand and started rubbing it into Haru's hair.
"Why don't you ever shampoo unless I make you, Haru?" Makoto said, exasperated. "You know we're almost late to school because this happens every day."
Haru shrugged and leaned back into Makoto's touch, playing with the dolphin toy a bit while waiting for the brunet to be done grooming him. After rinsing out the shampoo, Makoto grabbed the conditioner and rubbed that into Haru's hair until it was as soft feeling as it could be. Then Makoto rinsed out the conditioner and helped Haru out of the tub again, and once again dried Haru's hair for him.
When Haru was dried and clothed for the swim meet, he looked up at Makoto and figured that now would be the best time to talk about the promise from years ago.
"Why are you joining the freestyle race, Makoto?" He asked.
Makoto was shocked by the shorter male's sudden question, but he smiled down at him and answered, "It's because I want to race against you, Haru."
"Don't you remember what we promised in grade school?" Haru asked, his voice small.
"What?" Makoto asked, "Promise? Did you say something about a promise, Haru? Oh yeah I did make you promise to actually race me today, huh?"
Haru frowned and walked out of the bathroom, with Makoto following him.
"Haru, what's wrong?" Makoto asked.
"Nothing, I just want to get breakfast."
Haru walked into the kitchen and grabbed all the supplies to grill some mackerel and Makoto smiled down at him, and grabbed the rice maker and some rice.
"You can't just live off of mackerel, y'know?" He told Haru and began preparing the rice.
Not long after, the two of them were sitting at Haru's table eating rice and mackerel for breakfast, and Makoto was all but shoving Haru's food down his throat, because if they didn't leave soon they were going to be late.
Once Haru finished taking his time eating, he and Makoto rushed out the door, and to the school where they and the rest of the team were supposed to meet. Everyone was already there, and waiting to get on the bus they would be taking to the tournament, but Gou told them that it was impolite to get on without everyone there. As soon as Nagisa saw Makoto and Haru he rushed over to them and bombarded them with questions, asking why they so late, what if they didn't make it in time for the first race, and just every possible question about the tournament.
On the bus Haru sat by the window, with Makoto sitting next to him. Makoto occasionally glanced over at him, and eventually, Haru fell asleep leaning against the window. Makoto smiled at him and gently pulled Haru so he was resting against him instead of the window. Throughout the rest of the ride, Makoto thought about what had happened today and yesterday, and why Haru would be upset, but he couldn't think of anything.
The team finally got to the pool where the prefectural tournament was being held, and Makoto shook Haru gently to wake him up. It took him a moment but he got him awake, and he helped the still sleepy Haru off the bus so he wouldn't fall.
When Haru saw where they were he remembered again that he was going to have to race against Makoto, and he got worried. What if he beat Makoto and he got really upset? Or what if Makoto didn't make it past the preliminaries? Deep in his thoughts, he hadn't even realized that the rest of the team had already started going to get ready. Only Makoto had noticed Haru's faltering and he stopped to wait for him.
"Haru? What's wrong?" He asked, going back to stand next to his friend.
"Nothing, I have to go to the bathroom." Haru said and walked away from Makoto.
Makoto tried to follow Haru, but Haru insisted that he go alone, and Makoto go with the rest of the team.
Haru found the bathrooms and instead of going inside, he sat down outside, pulling his legs up underneath his chin. He couldn't believe that Makoto had forgotten about the promise, he had expected himself to forget about it, but Makoto was so big on remembering stuff like that, he just didn't want to believe it. He hid his face in his hands and let out a loud sigh.
"Haru, are you okay?" Makoto asked, stepping towards Haru carefully as if he would run away like a scared animal.
"Makoto…" Haru said looking up at the brunet.
"Haru, you've been upset since yesterday and you haven't told me anything, even though I've asked. Why won't you talk to me?"
Haru shrugged and stood up, leaning against the wall.
"No, don't just shrug, I want you to talk to me Haru." Makoto said, moving closer to Haru.
"I don't want you to race against me, Makoto." Haru said quietly.
"What? Why not, Haru?" Makoto asked, "You've never raced against me, and this is our last year! Why won't you race against me just this once?"
Haru turned away from Makoto and responded with, "See, that's what I mean, you've just completely forgotten."
"Forgotten what, Haru? You can't just expect me to know these things, I may be your best friend, but that doesn't mean I can read minds you know." Makoto said, his voice raised a bit.
Haru turned to face Makoto and tried his best to keep the tears welling up in his eyes from falling. "Our promise, Makoto! Don't you remember it?" He asked.
"What promise, Haru? You hardly ever promise me anything. The only promise I remember you making me was the promise you made yesterday to race me for real today!"
"Why am I even friends with you, Makoto?" Haru said, quieter than ever, as a tear fell down his cheek, "Why do I even like you so much?" he added so quiet that Makoto couldn't hear him.
"What? Haru, what did you just say?" Makoto said, surprised.
"I said, why am I even friends with you, Makoto?" Haru said with a bitter edge to his voice before trying to walk away from the brunet.
"Haru!" Makoto said, grabbing his friend's arm, "No, don't say that Haru. There're so many reasons why we're friends, and I can remember what we promised about, I promise I will Haru. I swear!"
"Yeah, I bet you'd forget that you promised to remember in a few years too."
"H-haru!" Makoto said, trying to keep himself from crying.
Haru pulled his arm away from Makoto and looked back. "The tournament's going to start soon. You wouldn't want to be late, would you?"
Walking away from Makoto, who still stood by the bathroom door, Haru headed towards his and the rest of the team's place in the stands.
When he got to the rest of the team, they all asked Haru where Makoto was, and he answered by shrugging, not wanting to think of what had happened a few minutes earlier. He spent the rest of the morning as he normally would, speaking only a little bit and standing by Makoto as he always did. He would occasionally look in Makoto's direction and find the brunet staring at him, and Haru would always have to look away quickly.
During lunch, the team discussed how Makoto, Rei, and Nagisa had all gotten first place in their races, and they congratulated each other.
"It's too bad that the freestyle race isn't until the afternoon!" Nagisa said to Makoto and Haru.
"Ah, yeah." Makoto said and looked at Haru again.
"I've never seen Haruka-senpai and Makoto-senpai race against each other, I bet it's going to be beautiful!" Rei said.
'We've never raced for a reason,' Haru thought and watched the team discuss the other teams for the remainder of the lunch time.
After the lunch, Haru and Makoto got ready to race, putting their tracksuits into the lockers which were side by side.
Makoto tried to get Haru to talk to him about the promise he had supposedly made with him, but Haru shrugged him off. The two boys walked towards the pool together, but neither of them tried to say anything.
When the two of them were both ready to swim, and the whistle was blown, they dove into the water and Makoto was in the lead with Haru in second place. It kept up this way until the middle of the race, when Makoto remembered the promise he had made with Haru in elementary school. This caused him to start losing speed in the final turn, and Haru ended up getting first place.
Makoto came in second place, but he didn't notice, as he was exhausted from giving it his all, and he was upset after realizing how he hurt Haru. He rested his head against the wall of the pool, and he tried to keep from crying, but in the end a tear slid down his cheek, and Haru had seen it.
"Makoto…" Haru said quietly.
Makoto didn't want to make Haru feel bad, so he got up quickly and said with a grin, "I lost! It looks like you're the best in the water after all, Haru!"
He did his best to pretend that the tear was just a drop of water, and he saw the relief flood through Haru instantly. They both pulled themselves out of the pool and walked back towards the locker room together.
As they stood side by side, pulling on their clothes, Makoto looked towards Haru and said, "I'm sorry, Haru."
Haru looked at Makoto and shook his head, "No, I'm sorry. It's not your fault, I shouldn't have expected you to remember such a thing."
Haru looked away when he felt his cheeks flushing red, and Makoto let out a chuckle and set his hand on the smaller boy's shoulder. Haru flinched when he felt the brunet's touch and pulled away a bit to put on his jacket.
After the final freestyle race of the day the team got back on the bus and went home for the day.
On the walk up to Haru's house, Makoto spent the time by talking about the races from earlier that day, when Haru remembered how fast Makoto had slowed down after the final turn.
"Makoto, why did you slow down so much after the final turn? You could have won." Haru asked, "Didn't you want to have an actual race against me?"
Makoto decided that if he told Haru he threw the race because of the promise, he thought he would be more upset, so he decided against telling the truth.
"I swam too fast in the first two laps and got too tired to continue going that speed in the final turn." Makoto said with a sheepish smile. It was partially true, as he was tired in the final turn.
Haru nodded in understanding and walked up the stairs towards his house. Haru looked at Makoto as if to ask if he was going to come in, and when Makoto nodded he opened the door and walked inside.
The pair spent the rest of the day talking about their argument from earlier, and most of it was Makoto apologizing for not remembering, and Haru saying it's not his fault.
"But Haru, I came up with the idea for the promise I should have at least remembered it."
"Makoto." Haru tried to start talking, but Makoto just wouldn't stop apologizing.
Haru leaned in closer to Makoto than he already was and nuzzled his shoulder, which made Makoto stop talking.
"Haru?"
"Makoto, it's okay. You don't need to keep apologizing, okay?" Haru said, hiding his face in Makoto's shoulder, "Swimming against you today was kind of fun."
Haru's words made Makoto grin and he pulled the smaller boy onto his lap and hugged him.
"Haru, you're the best friend in the world, y'know?" He said and set his chin atop Haru's head. "But you still smell really strongly of chlorine."
"You're no better, Makoto." Haru said and leaned back into the brunet's embrace, thinking of what Makoto had just said. 'Best friends…' Haru thought, and he remembered what he had said earlier after he had asked Makoto why they were friends.
"Why do I even like you so much?" He whispered to himself. Why had he said that earlier?
"Hm? Did you say something Haru?" Makoto asked, and noticed that when he had spoken to Haru his cheeks started turning red.
"I didn't say anything." Haru said, shaking his head.
"Haru your cheeks are red, what were you saying?"
"It was nothing, Makoto."
"Haru."
Haru hid his face in his hands and muttered, "I said, 'why do I even like you so much?'"
"Like who, Haru? Do you have a crush on someone?" Makoto said and turned Haru around on his lap so they were facing each other.
Haru's cheeks flushed an even brighter red when he realized he was now quite literally, face to face with Makoto.
"I-I don't have a crush on anyone." Haru said, avoiding looking into Makoto's eyes. "I'm not a little kid."
"Your bright red cheeks say otherwise Haru." Makoto said, looking at Haru, "Haru, look at me."
Blue met green and Haru stared straight at Makoto and tried his best to keep breathing.
"Haru, who do you have a crush on?"
"No one."
"Haruuuuu," Makoto whined.
"Fine, I'll tell you." Haru said, looking away from Makoto again. "I like you, Makoto."
Before Makoto could respond Haru hid his face in Makoto's shoulder to avoid seeing how he would react.
"Haru look at me." Makoto said softly.
Haru sat up slowly and looked at Makoto, but was quickly thrown to the floor by Makoto, who had tackled him in a hug. He nuzzled Haru's neck and chuckled a bit.
"I was wondering if you'd ever come to like me back, Haru." He said and sat up, grinning down at the smaller boy.
Haru looked up at the brunet and scoffed. "Are you gonna ask for my hand in marriage or something now? You sure seem ready for it."
"W-what?!" Makoto said, "H-haru! Don't mess around like that! Marriage is a serious thing that should only happen between people who have been together for years."
"But we've known each other since we were in grade school, Makoto." Haru countered. "We have been together for years."
At this Makoto covered his face with his hands and Haru smirked at the brunet. Haru used this moment as a chance to sit up and move Makoto's hands away from his face and planted a soft kiss on his friend's lips.
Makoto blushed and hid his face in Haru's neck and asked, "Are we boyfriends or something now?"
Haru thought of it for a moment before nodding and saying, "Yeah, I like the sound of that."
A/N This fanfiction was mostly my prediction of what episode six of Free! Eternal Summer would be like
I was like no but what if they made a promise and Makoto forgot and Haru was really sad.
Like the entire end was just made up on the spot to add the fluff I promised my friends but yeah.
Thanks for reading, and reviews are always welcome~ c: