MakoHaru Roommates!AU Alphabet!

A: Assignment

Summary: One of Makoto's first assignments in college is to write a paper about someone close to him. At first he struggles, but after some advice from Haru, he finally manages to write the perfect paper. So why is it he won't tell Haru who it's about?

Makoto and Haruka hadn't been in college long and yet they both were already swamped with homework.

Haru laid across his bed, on arm draped behind his head, the other propping the book he was holding against one of his knees. Makoto was sitting at his desk, tapping his fingers lightly against the keys of his keyboard. A small noise came from each tap but he never pressed hard enough to make any letters appear on the screen. The blank document before him seemed to be mocking him as he continued to stare at it.

After a few moments, Haru shut his book and turned his attention to Makoto. The anxiety was practically radiating off of him and it made Haru feel like he couldn't properly concentrate.

"What is your assignment again?"

Makoto looked over surprised. He had been so enthralled in his thoughts, he hadn't even realized he'd been tapping the keys or distracting his roommate. "I'm supposed to write about someone close to me."

Haru stretched his hands above his head, his words straining as he spoke, "That doesn't seem so hard."

"You would think," Makoto mused, turning to stare back at the blank screen, "But there are a lot of people close to me. How do I pick which one to write about?"

Immediately, Haru knew where this was going. He sighed and stood from the bed, taking a moment to stretch his legs before walking over to Makoto. "Honestly, you're worried about hurting people's feelings by not writing about them?"

"E-eh? Well, Haru, you know—"

Haru cut him off with a look. "It's an assignment, Makoto. Nobody is going to be offended that you didn't choose them. Stop stressing so much and just write about the first person you think of."

"The first person I think of?"

"Yes," Haru turned to walk towards the door. "It's about someone who is important to you. So when you hear that phrase, someone should pop in your mind right away. That's who you write about. I'm going out to pick up a couple pops, you want some?"

Makoto's mind was already churning. The words he had been struggling for hours to find were now pooling at the tips of his fingers, waiting to be released onto the page before him. He barely remembered to reply to Haru before launching and his keyboard and completing his assignment in record time.

A few days later Haru was sitting in their dorm room, working through some math problems he had been assigned for that day when Makoto burst through the door, a huge grin plastered to his face.

"I got 100%!" He declared happily, holding a piece of paper in his hand.

"Congratulations," Haru replied, turning to face him. "On what?"

"That paper I had to write before about someone important to me!"

A small smile graced Haru's lips. With how much Makoto had struggled to write that paper, he could only imagine how good it felt to get a perfect grade.

"I told you that you could do it."

Makoto dropped his backpack onto his chair and began switching out books and notebooks, the smile still stretching from ear to ear. Haru tried to return to his math homework, but he really wasn't in the mood to deal with anymore math. Looking for any distraction, he turned back to Makoto who was moving his backpack to the ground and sitting in the chair himself.

"Who did you write it about?"

"What?"

"That paper. Who did you end up writing it on? Who was your special person?"

Immediately heat spread across Makoto's cheeks and all the way to the tips of his ears turned red. Interest piqued, Haru dropped his pencil and turned fully in his chair to study his best friend. Makoto was rubbing his hands together in his lap unconsciously—it was a nervous gesture he had had his entire life. Haru didn't think anybody else had ever noticed it, but it never failed to escape him.

"Makoto?"

"I—ah, I wrote it about my siblings."

"Ren and Ran?"

Makoto nodded earnestly, eyes never meeting Haru's. As the seconds ticked by, Haru's suspicions only grew.

"If it's about the twins, why are you so embarrassed?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" Makoto insisted, waving his hands in front of him in what he hoped was a dismissive gesture.

"Anyways, I have another class in a few minutes, so I'll catch you tonight, okay, Haru?"

Haru nodded, still unconvinced. Makoto scooped his backpack off the ground and darted out of the room faster than Haru had ever seen him move.

A few hours after Makoto left, Haru stood up to stretch again. He was done with his homework, finally. He crossed the room to toss some crumpled up papers into the garbage can—the one that just happened to be right next to Makoto's desk. As he walked back to his side of the room, he couldn't help but noticing something on the desk.

Makoto's assignment.

In his rush, he had left it sitting out in the open on the desk. Curious, Haru picked it up. They were best friends, after all. He would have gotten Makoto to tell him who it was about eventually. Plus, there was no chance Makoto would actually be mad at him for reading it. Embarrassing or not, they were best friends and there was no judgment between them.

He crossed to his side of the room and plopped down on his bed, flipping past the grading sheet that had been stapled on to the top of the assignment. As he got to the first page, he felt his heart skip a beat. The title, written large and bold across the top read:

Haruka Nanase: My Best Friend and My Most Important Person.

Well, that certainly explained why he was embarrassed. Not that he should be, Haru thought, but he knew Makoto and he understood all the same. Now, however, he was more curious than ever, so he began to slowly read through the three-page assignment.

The door opened and shut before Haru had a chance to react. He looked up to see Makoto standing in front of him, much calmer than before.

"How was studying?" Makoto asked.

Haru, still holding the forbidden assignment in his hand, feigned innocence, "Boring. I don't know what I'll ever do with this kind of math. It's useless."

Laughing, Makoto set his things down and plopped down onto his own bed. He looked over at Haru, "What is that? I thought you'd be done with all of your homework by now."

"This is, uh—" Haru glanced at the paper in his hand and then back at Makoto. Words tumbled through his mind but none seemed to stick or want to come out. The silence stretched for a few seconds too long and Haru could see the moment it clicked in Makoto's mind.

"Haru!" He cried, dashing across the room and pulling the paper out of his hand, "What are you doing? This isn't—it's not—oh no, Haru."

"Makoto—" Haru tried, but Makoto had already dropped his head into his hands.

Makoto dropped back on his pillows, mumbling some things that Haru couldn't make out. Quietly Haru stood up and crossed the room to sit on the edge of the bed next to his best friend. Makoto felt the bed sink down but refused to acknowledge the presence next to him.

"I'm honored," Haru offered, though it did no good. "Makoto, please look at me."

"How much of it did you read?" He demanded from behind his hands.

"All of it," Haru replied and Makoto visibly flinched.

Haru knew why he was flinching. He knew exactly which line was running through Makoto's mind right now. Smiling slightly, he reached out and pulled Makoto's hands away from his face. At first those green eyes refused to open but, eventually, they did slowly look up into the blue that was above them.

"You don't need to be embarrassed," Haru broke the silence between them, his voice low and soft.

Makoto groaned, "Yes, I do. You probably hate me—"

"Quite the opposite, really." Haru cut him off swiftly, "You may only think you do, but I know I do."

"Haru you can't possibly mean—"

Makoto's words were cut off by Haru's lips. As they molded together and shifted to get more comfortable, the assignment was pushed off the bed. It fell to the ground besides them, open to the last page. The very last line of the whole assignment, set a few lines below the last paragraph, seemed to stare up at them as they kissed.

Haru is my best friend, but he's more than that too; I think I love him.