Haruka looked around as he approached the fountain outside of the university's union. It appeared that Makoto hadn't arrived yet. He stared longingly at the spray of water splashing into the round pool, overcome by the urge to dip his fingers over the edge into the glassy surface. But he restrained himself, instead choosing a nearby park bench to plop down on and covering his longing with a frown.
The first time he had visited the campus, Haruka had received a stern warning from Makoto. "Listen, Haru. You can't jump into these fountains—you just can't." Haruka hadn't been convinced until Makoto finally told him in exasperation, "I need to maintain a professional reputation at school, and you stripping down and jumping into fountains will definitely be a problem!"
Haruka could care less that it was still March and far too chilly to go swimming. Similarly, he didn't care one whit what people would have thought of him. But he did care about Makoto's future, and there was no way Haruka would be the reason his friend was held back from pursuing his dream.
So instead he maintained a suitable distance from the fountain, doing his best not to succumb to the siren's song of the trickling stream. It was a torturous practice in self-discipline.
"Ah, Haru!"
Haruka looked up at the sound of Makoto's voice to see his friend approaching with another guy. Letting go of a relieved breath he hadn't even noticed he had been holding, Haruka turned his back on the fountain and met Makoto halfway.
Makoto glanced at Haruka, his bespeckled green eyes quickly flitting to the fountain, then shot Haruka a happy smile. Good job, that smile said. Haruka pressed his lips together, glancing away with a small flitter of irritation. There was no need to patronize him—Haruka wasn't one of Makoto's young students, after all. He didn't need to be praised. Makoto's smile deepened.
"I don't think you've met Akira-kun, have you?" Makoto asked, turning toward his companion. The name caught Haruka's attention—so this was the Akira-kun that Makoto had mentioned now and then.
"This is Jishi Akira, my classmate," Makoto explained. "Akira-kun, this is my childhood friend from Iwatobi, Nanase Haruka."
"Nice to meet you," Haruka said formally, eyeing this Akira-kun as he bowed. He was tall—nearly as tall as Makoto, actually—with deep brown hair, brown eyes, and a thin face.
"Nice to meet you too, Nanase-kun" Akira replied, bowing in return. "I've heard so much about Makoto-kun's good friend. You're a swimmer at N University, right?"
"Yeah," Haruka replied simply. He briefly considered saying something more—perhaps his answer had come across as too short, and he wondered if Makoto's friend might think him rude. But Haruka didn't have anything else to say, and forcing the conversation to continue would just result in it being awkward.
"Well, we're heading to the station, Akira-kun," Makoto said, stepping in to save Haruka from his inconclusive pondering. "I'll see you later!"
"Actually, I'm heading that way myself," Akira said with a bright smile. "Do you mind if I walk with you guys?"
Makoto threw the slightest glance in Haruka's direction, and Haruka felt his lips press together more tightly. There was no need to double check with him—it was Makoto's friend after all. Haruka gave a small shrug as he glanced away, barely more than a twitch of his shoulders.
"Sure!" Makoto replied without missing a beat. "You heading home for the day?"
The two classmates fell into easy conversation, allowing Haruka room to breathe without needing to join in. Instead he walked alongside Makoto, opposite Akira, and listened as they discussed the difficult homework from the night before and laughed about a friend who had fallen asleep in the middle of the lecture.
Even more than learning a crowded new city or adjusting to university life, this had been the most difficult adjustment. Even now, after nearly a full year in Tokyo, it still seemed so foreign that Makoto had friends with whom he spent every day that Haruka had never met. Back in Iwatobi the two of them had never had much chance to meet complete strangers—they were in the same neighborhood, in the same swim club, at the same school, sometimes even in the same class. And even when they were in different classes, the classmates were always familiar faces, people who were easily recognized from the schoolyard.
Yet the last year had been filled with a seemingly endless parade of unfamiliar names, all faceless strangers. Although Haruka had met a few of them, his intense practice schedule often did not leave time for going out. Makoto and Haruka already had such limited time together, and more often than not they spent their time together by themselves at one or the other's apartment or out somewhere.
Makoto, ever the considerate one, always made an effort to invite Haruka along, particularly if he knew Haruka had time in his schedule. But all of Makoto's invitations had only resulted in two occasions, both of which Haruka had spent awkwardly sitting silently around a table as his best friend laughed and chatted with no-longer-faceless strangers. Makoto was good at making friends—Haruka was not. If anything, Haruka only seemed to be good at attracting fellow swimmers who admired his freestyle. Though many of these people had turned into good friends—Nagisa and Rin being notable examples—all it really did was emphasize how helpless Haruka was outside of the water.
"I almost forgot," Akira said suddenly. "Whatever happened with that love note you received this week?"
That grabbed Haruka's attention, and he suddenly looked up from the sidewalk to Makoto's face, which was now conspicuously missing his cheery smile.
"That's none of your business, Akira-kun," Makoto said with a frown, browns creasing above his glasses.
"Whaaaaat?" Akira whined in a voice that instantly irritated Haruka. "You're just going to keep all the good details to yourself?"
"That's rude to the girl," Makoto reprimanded his friend. "You should be considerate of her feelings and not just use them for your own fun."
Akira sighed glumly, and Haruka's frown deepened. Even back in high school Haruka had considered such prying guys to be extremely rude, but an Uni student? That was just distasteful.
Still, Haruka couldn't deny his own small flickering curiosity at the matter. Makoto receiving confessions was nothing new—both of them had been confessed to a number of times at Iwatobi High, and Haruka still continued to receive the odd confession here and there at university. It shouldn't come as a surprise that girls were still confessing to Makoto as well. Even so, Haruka realized, it was so surprising only because he hadn't been around to witness it. Back in high school, they had never pried nor really discussed the occurrences—that was the other's personal business, after all. But Haruka had still been there each time Makoto had found a letter in his locker or a stuttering girl had approached him.
"At least it was a girl this time, eh?" Akira asked, grinning slyly at Makoto. "How many have you received from guys, now? Five?"
"Akira-kun!" Makoto admonished quickly, his frown growing. "Seriously!"
"Sorry, sorry," Akira replied, throwing up his hands in defeat. Their conversation resumed its earlier track, the discussion turning to a story the professor had shared with them earlier that day. But Haruka found himself glancing sideways up at his best friend.
Guys? Makoto was receiving confessions from guys? He supposed it shouldn't have been that surprising. Makoto was such an affable and approachable person, after all. Yet it still knocked Haruka off balance. What else did Akira know about his best friend that Haruka didn't?
And not just Akira, but all of them. The girls—and even guys—who got to spend time with Makoto every day, watching him, talking with him, apparently even falling in love with him. Which sides of Makoto did they get to see? What was Haruka missing?
The hollow feeling from earlier on the train returned to Haruka's chest, though he did his best to ignore it. This was ridiculous—he was standing right next to Makoto, for heaven's sake. What was the point in feeling lonely when he was not even a foot away?
Besides, hadn't Haruka been worried not even half an hour ago about the fact that Makoto probably liked him? If that really was the case—which seemed more likely than Haruka cared to admit—didn't that mean that it mattered even less who confessed to Makoto?
Except it didn't. Which was frustrating.
The three of them approached the station, and Haruka was relieved when Akira pointed to his platform opposite the one that would take them to Makoto's apartment.
"It was nice to finally meet you, Nanase-kun!" he chirped happily, waving as he left.
"Yeah," Haruka replied noncommittally, watching as Akira slipped between the crowds of people. With a frown, he turned to glance at Makoto only to find his best friend grinning at him, eyes closed behind his black plastic glasses, head tilted to the side.
Haruka opened his mouth, ready to … he didn't know what. Taking a deep breath, he shut his mouth and frowned, glaring when Makoto shrugged at him (expression, as always, inexplicably happy). Thankfully, the train pulled up, and the two were swept up by the current of people streaming through the sliding doors, saving Haruka from needing to figure out what he was going to say in the first place.
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you continue to enjoy the story :3
If this wasn't apparent from the first chapter, this story is going to be a rather slow build. There are a couple of chapters I have planned in particular that should also be pretty funny/fun (hopefully! I'm crossing my fingers on this one), but even so the majority of the chapters are planned to dwell on Haru's thoughts and emotional development. And interactions with Mako, of course!
This time around I relied on a really cutesy playlist I put together for this fic. (Haru is just flat out adorable, in my opinion, and all of these cutesy songs made me grin like an idiot while writing.) This included the adorable song "My Love," by The Bird and the Bee. Another fantastic song you should check out if you're interested! I also listened to Owl City's "Fireflies" on repeat a couple times, and The 1975's "Chocolate." Like I said: cutesy songs x3
I can't guarantee when the next update will be. At the very latest, it should be by next weekend, although I might have some time during an evening sometime this week. Even though the prose of this story is rather simple, it's taking me a lot longer to write than I would have guessed. Usually a thousand words takes me about an hour if I'm planning to only give it a quick edit at the end (if it's just a rough first draft I can do 1k in about 30 minutes, but then it requires a lot more editing). But this one is taking me a lot longer. I write a sentence or two, then deliberate, take a look at Tumblr, re-read what I already have, then come back and write another few sentences. I'm really concerned with keeping Haru and Mako both in character, and also making sure I'm catching all of the nuances I want, which makes this story particularly difficult to write. Haru is like a butterfly or something—he kind of flutters around me, but I'm afraid that if I reach out too quickly he'll flitter away before I get the chance to accurately capture him. So I've been very deliberate in trying to accurately portray him. I'd love to hear if I'm doing alright, or if there's anything that seems off/where I can improve! Anyway, thanks again for reading!