A month passed by since Haruka went to support Makoto. Haruka returned to Iwatobi and acted as if nothing had happened in Tokyo. He didn't talk to anyone about his trip, and avoided questions about Makoto. Haruka wanted to forget Makoto existed. He became heavily determined in his training, always pushing himself to his limits. When he thought he could run no longer, he ran an extra mile. When his arms felt like jelly from swimming, he would swim 3 extra laps. He tried his best to put his focus away from Makoto, anything but Makoto. And yet, everywhere he went, he could only think of Makoto. More months passed, and the winter season came. Haruka was sitting in his house drinking tea, when he realized the snow outside his house was becoming fairly high.
"I should shovel before it becomes unmanagable."
Haruka dressed himself in thick clothing before going outside with a shovel. He cleared away the snow from his porch first before moving on to the pathway. He then noticed a figure moving up the stone steps of his house. He set his shovel aside and waited for the person. When the figure had climbed the last step, he realized it was Makoto. Haruka's eyes widened, but his expression quickly turned to one of rage. He spoke roughly and angrily.
"What do you want?"
Makoto was surprised at Haruka's rough tone, but began speaking.
"Haruka, I came to talk with you."
"There's nothing to be discussed, so leave!"
Haruka's balled his hands into fists.
"Haruka, please listen."
"No, go away, can't you see you're not wanted?!"
Haruka felt his eyes become wet.
"Haruka your eyes..."
Haruka's fury had reached it's boiling point, and he charged at Makoto, ready to punch him. Makoto dodged Haruka's punch, and grabbed his hand. Haruka used his free hand to push Makoto down. Makoto still had a grip on Haruka's hand, and pulled Haruka down with him. They rolled aound in the snow while struggling. Finally, Makoto pinned down Haruka. They stared at each other while breathing heavily. When Makoto's breathing had calmed down, he spoke.
"Haruka, look me in the eyes, and tell me that you want me to leave. If you do, I will, and I will never bother you again."
Haruka stared into Makoto's eyes, and he wanted to scream.
"I..I.."
Haruka's voice faultered.
"I can't do that."
Silence fell over them, and the only sound that could be heard was that of their breathing. They didn't break eye contact, staring into each other's eyes as if their lives depended on it. Makoto was the one that committed the next action. Makoto could no longer contain himself, and closed the little bit of distance between them and joined their lips. Haruka was shocked, and his eyes widened before fluttering shut. They stayed in the snow like that for what seemed like years before Makoto pulled away to breathe. They're rapid breathing returned and Makoto could no longer support himself and his arms. He fell on top of Haruka with his face buried in Haruka's neck. Haruka looked up at the sky and noticed dark clouds beginning to form.
"We should probably go inside."
"Okay."
Makoto got up off of Haruka and shook some snow off before putting his hand out to help Haruka. Haruka took it, and they both had smiles on their faces. They entered Haruka's home and took off their outer clothing.
"I can make some tea and mackeral for you. You want some?"
"Sure, thanks."
Haruka went off into his kitchen and Makoto sat down at Haruka's table. He looked around and noticed the lack of pictures or memorabilia. Makoto felt a bit sad at this, but forgot about it when Haruka entered with a plate and a cup. They sat and ate while talking about unimportant subjects. They talked about how they had been doing, what they had been up to, until Haruka brought up something that had been bothering him.
"Makoto."
"Yes?"
"What about Kichirou?"
Makoto looked away as if to avoid the question, but began speaking.
"I only dated Kichirou because I wanted to forget about you."
Haruka's eyes widened a bit, but he continued listening.
"It's too bad he resembled you in some ways, so I never really forgot about you."
Haruka interjected.
"You're using past tense. So what happened that you're not dating?"
Makoto sighed deeply before continuing.
"Well, we had a falling out. After seeing you again, my thoughts of you only worsened. After seeing you cry, I felt terrible and I couldn't get you off my mind. He picked me up after, and he knows me too well, so he could tell something was wrong. I didn't want to talk about it, but he forced me to. Once he found out it was because of you, he understood, but he wanted to break up. So we did."
Haruka gasped.
"Makoto, I'm so sorry!"
"What for?"
"I ruined your relationship!"
"No, no, it's fine, it was bound to happen at some point."
Haruka settled down before speaking.
"I wanted to forget about you too."
Makoto was now the one with wide eyes.
"After your confession, I couldn't see you in the same light. It made me really uncomfortable, thinking that my best friend was now interested in me. I put away old pictures among other things that reminded m of you, but all of Iwatobi reminded me of you, so I could never really forget. I tried putting my mind to other things, like training, but it didn't help."
"Oh...so what happened at the competition?"
"I'm not sure. It was a terrible feeling though. Just knowing that you had someone else made me burn with jealousy. I couldn't contain it, and it all just kind of spilled out."
Makoto had a worried look on his face while staring intently at Haruka. Haruka felt a bit embarrassed and looked away. He felt his face become hot. Haruka felt a soft hand on the side of his face and turned to become face to face with Makoto.
"You don't have to be embarrassed anymore. I'm yours."
Makoto leaned in and once again kissed Haruka. Haruka felt his face become even redder, but kissed Makoto back.
