Based on a submission from marukaprompts on tumblr. I changed it up a little bit though~

Makoto was not the one repeatedly talking when the crabby old substitute was trying to teach their elementary class. This was as crystal clear as water to Haruka Nanase. So why did she get mad at him anyway? Was she looking for someone to blame? And why did Makoto just accept the it? The young boy did not understand how this situation came to be, but he knew one thing: this wasn't right at all. He almost raised his hand to tell the teacher that she was wrong, but she was already talking again.

"Mr. Tachibana, I'm afraid because of your unforgivable behavior, you won't be allowed to go outside today. I'm sorry, but that's the only way you'll learn from your mistakes. Please go sit out in the hallway." The look on Makoto's face broke Haru's heart into a million pieces. But Makoto just shakily nodded.

"Okay." he quietly said as he slowly made his way down the aisle of shocked students. The boys who were the ones who were supposed to be getting in trouble only snickered at the brown haired boy, making Haru even angrier than he was before. The blue eyed boy suddenly rose from his seat, not caring that all eyes were on him. This was an injustice, he thought, to have someone as sweet and innocent as Makoto get in trouble for something he didn't do. He briskly made his way across the classroom, with the substitute angrily asking where he was going. He made it to the door, pivoted around, and said,

"Away from idiots like you."

Meanwhile, Makoto sat just down the hall, occasionally sniffling and hiccuping. He vowed to himself that he wouldn't start crying, no matter what. He had to stay strong and accept his fate, for he didn't want to be made fun of by his peers. He buried his head in his arms as he thought about the situation. His peers hadn't even stood up for him, even after all the nice things he'd done for them. Did all of those nice things mean nothing? Was Makoto only good for helping others out and being nice when it was convenient? He felt tears well up in his green eyes, but quickly rubbed them. When he looked back up, he noticed Haru standing there, staring down at him. The sudden appearance of his friend was surprising, and he squeaked out a small yelp.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Haru said in a soft, gentle tone. His eyes shown much concern for the brunette, but Makoto only smiled.

"It's fine. I'm fine." he said. But Haru could clearly see that Makoto was far from fine.

"No Makoto, you aren't fine. What they did was wrong." Makoto, now being reminded of the incident, frowned again. He could feel tears well up once more as he thought about what friendship even was. Was Haru his friend? Or was he just with him out of pity? Thinking about this proved to be too much for the green eyed boy to handle, and he couldn't stop the warm tears from falling down his face. He let out small sobs, and tried to turn away from Haru, who only came over and hugged him.

"It's okay to cry Makoto." the boy said as he stroked his friend's back. He could feel Makoto nod on his shoulder, and heard a soft 'thank you' being whispered to him.

And in that moment, Makoto knew for sure that he could rely on Haru for anything.

Fast forward to the present

"Haru-chan! Mako-chan! We should go get ice cream!" It was a beautiful Sunday morning, which meant the members of the swim club didn't have school or practice. This lead to their occasional weekend meet ups, in which shenanigans ensued. Everyone agreed that it would be a good idea, especially for this type of sunny weather. As soon as everyone started to leave, Makoto turned to tell Haru that they were leaving, when he noticed something odd. Haru seemed to be fixated on something in front of them. Makoto looked to see that Haru was looking in a department store. Inside, there was a woman that looked to be in her mid-sixties, and she appeared to be trying on a cardigan. Everything looked normal, so why did Haru have a death glare? And why was he directing it towards that woman?

Oh well, I guess there are some things I'll never understand about Haru. Makoto thought as he managed to snap Haru out of it.

"C'mon Haru, let's go catch up to the others." Haru only stared at Makoto before nodding and taking his place beside Makoto. However, he stood closer to his friend than usual, leading Makoto to really wonder what was up with him. While Makoto never would've guessed in a million years why that old lady bothered him, Haru would always know.

He could never forget the face of the woman who had hurt his best friend.

Heh, this is really short. But it's only a warm up for my next chapter story whichmightormightnotmakeyoucry. So stay alert lovely readers!