Thanks to everyone that reviewed! TheBookAddict67, what I did to 'Haru and his lover?' And this is seriously a freelance thing for me, it's hard to write consistently. thank you! Shh, I have room for everyone in my heart. SymphonySoldier, I'm glad you like them, aww. L. Monster, Yes, Makoto does have the hots for him. You're completely right about the tension too- and ack, okay! 2509su, love you too! I'll try to write more. TruthFoxOfficial, This story was started on a whim and meant to be maybe three chapters originally, you know. stephqu I'll try! thanks! Nekki, IT'S YOU AGAIN. I've started school too, don't sweat it! And yes I've started to see Eternal Summer! 222222 (I got the number of two's wrong but too lazy to count) that's such a nice compliment, thank you! Rinrin is what Nagisa called him in elementary. I love rambling! Oshawott-kun, Guilty as charged. Of Pots and Cheese, Love you too! Petting human Haru,, yeep. More than HaruMako drama will occur, and the wedding thing would be a funny parody. Jackhammerbaby0103, aww, you're back! I still remember you on chapter two or something going "where's the smut." HahAHA. celestialstarynight, you precious gem, Classic is one of my forever favorite songs. And poor Rei. Maiden Warrior, Destruction and horror indeed. I haven't seen Kisumi yet, but I saw all the GIFs so I know him. AND IT IS. JustJolola, You were right! And Momo would do anything to see Gou. Whoo, you're watching it~ (favorite song). Tbh all the boys are kind of awkward, they're just ridiculous enough to be okay with it. Rin even says in the drama CDs that he gets along with them so well (more than his 'best friend,' AKA Sousuke) because they're such lame losers. Aww. Isn't he sweet? And thank you, school will keep me busy! darkdoll25, yes, let it commence. Guest 1, I think Iwatobi is just a mesh of ridiculousness and I'm glad you like it all. I HEARD FROM A FRIEND THAT KNB'S MATCH FINISHED, I NEED TO CATCH UP OH GOD. RAKUZAN AND SEIRIN. BlackKaZeBlue, afsdjkl; thank you /falls over. Ern Estine 13624, you're still here! thank you! Break of Dawn, they will stay, no worries.


I'm wavering in-between Haikyuu and Free! again. Help. Currently infatuated with Tsukishima Kei and Hinata Shouyou all over again, scrolling Tumblr to find snapshots of the trash captains (OikawaandKuroomaybe) for periods of times. Edited: DID EPISODE NINE MAKE ANYONE CRY.

There isn't explosive development in this chapter with RinHaru, it's mainly Iwatobi and Rin freaking out, but once the issue of Gou gets wrapped up, some development might occur. The sleepover arc is not going to center in on Rin and Haru, unfortunately, as it's not recommended to get handsy and touchy-feely when you have a lot of friends watching, okay.

Note: Line breaks don't work for me on this site (+1 reason for me to love Archive better), so if you don't see any after a set of kanji brackets, assume that there's one supposed to be there, s'il vous plait.

Song Credit: One Night Star by Arrows. KHR ED (don't know which, one of many). I haven't been able to stop singing it for three days straight. Hibari and Mukuro's voice actors sing this one mmf. I'm starting to sink back into KHR, though it's been five years and the fandom is -nonexistent-. Help.


Make My World Just Explode

By Ko-Sensei

part twenty-eight entails of a certain penguin starting up friendships with the socially awkward teenage boys and the kouhai's dominating!

【雲を離れて拭く涙の雨を流し。 】

【Shedding the rain of tears that wipes away the cloud. 】

"Hi, Makoto," Haruka says, and Makoto responds with a smile and a wave—

-But it wasn't quick enough to hide the look of what seemed to be –hurt- on Makoto's face that showed for a second.

The expression on Makoto's face vanishes after a second though, flashing back to normal in an instant. It just happens so quickly that Haru wonders if he imagined it, was he overthinking this.

It seems like it. Maybe he has? His best friend casually waves back at him, laughing sheepishly while saying something pretty normal for them ("Ah, sorry I'm late, Haru-chan, I had to run some errands and put the kids to bed!"), but there's still something that seems off about Makoto-

What could it be?_

Then at the same time, maybe there really was nothing. Makoto's mint-green eyes are shining and are very clear (no cloudiness or doubt whatsoever). He's also wearing his usual slight (gentle) smile, with maybe a little amount of added excitement (for the party, Haru guesses).. so nothing much?

Haruka decides to brush it off as nothing for now...

...Though there's an intuitive part of him that wonders if something is wrong.

Hmm. He makes a note to question his best friend about it later, privately, if Makoto doesn't explain himself.

Meanwhile, Makoto sets down the bag of food by the door, carefully moving it out of the way.

Oh. That is smart, because if he didn't, it'd probably be smashed/sat-on/ruined by the others.. who are all over the place, being hyperactive… as usual.

"Now everyone is here, let's start the party!" Nagisa announces excitedly, while Rei starts arguing with him with something like "You're completely forgetting that it's 'Rin-chan'-san's celebration, stop going off and having fun on your own!" With Rin adding on something about "Hah?! How many times have I told you not to call me that?"

So on and on. More chatter and conversations occur, but Haru tunes it out, eyes curiously fixated on Makoto.

The green-eyed boy then goes over to sit down on the ground in front of Haru, plopping back (resting his head on the edge of the bed) with a sigh. Haru only arches an eyebrow at him, and lets a tinge of inquiry seep into his question.

"Are you okay, Makoto?"

Bright green eyes look over at him in slight surprise. It's not a question that Haru normally asks.. but Makoto still seems to be normal, making his usual carefree and happy smile.

"Ara? Haha. I'm a bit tired, since I had to do some chores before coming," Then here, he waves a few times, "But nothing other than that." (What an actor, Haruka thinks, mentally shaking his head. He'll have to interrogate Makoto about this later). "More than that, are you ready to stay up all night? Especially with this crowd, if you fall asleep, we'll probably get our faces drawn on…"

Speaking of the crowd… they both take a moment to look over at the rest of the occupants in the room.

...And both groan at the same time, because…

Within that short amount of time, the entire scene has changed.

Not just changed.. but radically, exponentially, and drastically become a battlefield.

1) Gou is angry. Well, not really angry, but.. irritated, was more like it? Still, it was an unusual sight, she's normally really happy and dazed/out-of-it when she's surrounded by this many muscles.

2) Rin had apparently been arguing heatedly with Gou whether she was allowed to be at an all-male sleepover, and the two are loudly duking it out at the door ("I'm not a kid, nii-san! Lay off!" And "Even if everyone here is a naive loser who'd never do anything to you, that's still a no. Go home. Now.")

3) Momotarou is currently trying to get over to where Gou is (for a hug, maybe?), but is being held back… by being stepped on by Rin's foot, and is currently stuck on the floor like that.

...Haru chooses not to comment on this.

4) Nagisa is currently flailing over his new best friend in peril (Momotarou), dramatically clinging to Rin's leg (the one that's stomping on Momo) and also dramatically asking for him to let Momotarou go with obvious flailing ("We've only known each other for an hour, Rin-chan, why are you coming in-between my and Momo-chan's love?!")

5) Rei seems to be upset over Nagisa acting like that, and is curtly telling him off for being embarrassing ("That's not very becoming of you, Nagisa-kun!") and trying to tell him to behave like a high-schooler while trying to drag him off, away from Rin and Momotarou-though it doesn't work since Nagisa's clinging to Rin like glue, definitely glue.

6) The only sane one here seems to be Nitori, and normally, Haru would be thinking something along the lines of whew, but.. the blue-eyed kouhai is also caught up in the mess...and is currently tugging at one of Momotarou's legs frantically, attempting to drag him away.

Why, Nitori. Not you too.

So there's a total of six people making a lot of trouble at the doorway of his room, and Haru has to quell down his urge to cover his ears with his hands and hide under the blankets. It won't help, he reasons, as he probably needs to go and pull them apart.

However… uh.

Aaand how did this start, again?

"You don't even answer my texts or calls ever, don't try to act all parental on me, nii-san! You'll regret it!" Gou states angrily, stomping her foot while making a 'hmph' sound (trying to look stern, but it looks more like the poise of a cute five-year old trying to look tough here).

She continues with the same gusto, waving a finger disapprovingly (kind of rude. pfft). "I'm the one and only proud manager of the Iwatobi swim team, thank you very much, and your biological little sister, so I'll decide whether I want to attend a celebration party for not only my brother, but the captain of our rival swim team that is hosted by my friends, nii-san."

Enter a subtle sassy hair flip from the pretty Iwatobi-manager;

And she starts an immediate chain reaction, again; Momotarou swoons immediately and tries to get up, Rin steps on him again as a result of that (while responding with something as equally smarting and curt, but it's not written since it would take too long to record how long their argument on whether-Gou-can-stay was), Nagisa cries for his newfound friend's pain, Nitori flails and tugs harder at Momotarou's ankle, and Rei exclaims something (about stupid otters and stop, Nagisa) aand..

"..." Haruka and Makoto both look at each other wordlessly.

There's no helping them.


【あなたが来るまで、私は待っているよ。 】

【I'll be waiting until you come. 】

It took the good portion of the first hour to calm everyone down, as it wasn't just Rin and Gou that ended up needing to be pacified, but everyone else (minus Haru and Makoto) that also followed their lead in getting worked up as well...

As a matter of fact, the entire affair turned out to be an immense pain.

(The headaches, the headaches).

Haru was anyone but himself, he would've probably groaned loudly and complained. Maybe he would've also facedesked the table several times, or even the wall (he wasn't picky). Following that, maybe call 110 and demanded for the police force to cart off and drag away all his friends since otherwise, he'd lose a bit of his sanity (ha).

Anything. Just anything.

Since seriously? This was absolutely, positively and utterly ridiculous.

(No other word for it).

...There was a reason why he didn't like bothering with people.

Too much bother and noise for things that didn't really matter (or interest him).

But since he was himself, he did not do any of things listed above (complaining, facedesking, calling the police, etc), and simply stayed sitting on top of his bed, wearing his usual indifferent expression, letting no expression (other than distaste) filter through on his face.

Surprisingly, he did not say a word.

Huh. Maybe spending that amount of time as -Iruka- had made his antisocial tendencies even worse... developed his cat-like traits, perhaps?

If there was such a thing.

The notion was absurd, so very absurd, but...

1) Haruka didn't enjoy loud rackets, check.

2) Didn't like having attention pointed on him, check.

3) Also didn't like strangers (he was wary of the sea-otter kid, just a bit maybe), check.

4) Had kind of started having OCD-tendencies (from fluffing Rin's pillow and blankets so many times), check.

5) ...Also started to like being petted on the head, his mind starts to begin, maybe by a certain red-headed person in particular, but Haru promptly stops that train of thought immediately.

Keep it together, Haru.

The blue-haired boy simply waited it out on the bed by burying his face into a pillow, ignoring all the chaos around him. He didn't sleep during their argument-probably would've been unable to, but he did go into a content state of half-awake rest.

Sleepily stretching out on the bed.

(...If he still retained his cat-ears and tail, his ears would have been flat against the top of his head, relaxed and comfortable, and his tail would have been up in the air loosely, waving around every once and a while).

(He also doesn't notice that for one moment, Rin's eyes wander over to him for a few seconds before darting away… or that his cheeks become slightly tinted with red afterwards).


【それを何かのために望んでいると拒否することによって、私達は助けることが怖く感じることができない。 】

【By desiring for something and refusing it, we can't help but feel scared. 】

Going back to what was going on with the others (Rei, Nagisa, Nitori, Momotarou-),Haruka thereby leaves all the domestic duty work to Makoto ("Ah?! Haru-chaaan, don't ditch me….") without too much of a guilty conscience since it's always been established that no, I don't involve myself with babysitting, please (not really) and thank you.

So then Makoto had gone to try and work things out with the impossible teenagers!

First , it was convincing Nitori to release Momotarou (since Nitori wasn't going anywhere with pulling him away), then telling Momotarou that the reason why Gou had to go was 90% his behavior ("Oh no! ..I'm sorry, Gou-kun, I didn't know!") and getting him to stop trying to lunge towards Gou for a hug (with innocent intentions, but Rin was in a scary state right then).

After that, it was getting Nagisa to also release Rin's leg, which he had been hanging onto (which required no work, he stopped clinging to Rin as soon as Momotarou was released "Yay, Momo-chan! Our love prevails!"), and after that, Rei (who also required no work) had followed the blond with no question with a "Hah?! ...What love are you talking about?! (...of course), which left juust the two Matsuoka siblings still arguing.

….Right.

….. And for a while, neither Gou or Rin had backed off on each other.

They'd both been 'inflamed into passion' (or so Rei said) and they had refused to give up on either side of things.

To be honest, if anything, Haru would say that the entire quarrel between the two siblings had been -comical-, buut... it stopped being amusing for him when his own personal objects in his room started to get thrown around (as projectiles in war by Rin and Gou), and the entire thing got old extremely quickly.

Gou, go home, you can /not/ be at an all-boys party, Rin repeated (in about twenty-three ways).

Try making me. Like I said, I have professional reasons to be here, and there is no reason why I should have to go home! Gou would argue back.

There is nothing 'professional' about a BS-ed sleepover that these dorks put together, The older brother had snapped (which was met with 'boo's' from Nagisa and Rei).

Shut up, nii-san, there's no point in worrying. Everyone here are losers when it comes to making moves on girls anyways. Gou's point here was met with dissent, however, as immediately-

"Hey," All the Iwatobi-members with Momotarou had protested all at once-

("Oh, look, Momo-chan is one of us already!" "...No, Nagsia-kun, he is not and he never will be.")

But they were ignored by Gou and Rin, to no one's surprise.

Since this was supposed to be Rin's celebration and he was her older brother, it was kind of a topic they all stayed out of… and let the Matsuoka siblings duke it out.

It went on for a while. Five minutes grew to ten, and ten minutes to twenty…


【すぐに、私たちは、あなたがそこに発芽しているものを、夜明けを待っているのだろうか? 】

【Soon, we will be waiting for the dawn, what are you sprouting there? 】

...What eventually happened was they ended up deciding to settle it with a game of rock-paper-scissors.

(How had they taken so long to decide something so simple. Really).

(...They were so stupid).

"If I win, you have to leave immediately and swear not to attend any more all-boy sleepover parties with these guys or anyone until you graduate high school," Rin had announced, standing up straight with an air of absolute finality.

"And if I win, you have to apologize on your knees, take me out to dinner every other day for a month, and I get to lead all the processions at this party afterwards. You all have to do what I say," Gou shot back immediately, not backing down one step with an equally-determined look.

Rin got a serious gleam in his eye. Wow. "Ha. Don't go crying when you lose. We're doing this, then."

There were literal sparks fizzing in the room, Haru would later swear, flying from both the sibling's eyes. Scary.

Shrugging nonchalantly at this, the younger Matsuoka sister nodded, tossing her long, silky, straight rose-colored strands of hair back. Swish. (Causing Momotarou to melt and swoon in the corner, shouting something about the gates of heaven and seeing an angel).

"Fair enough, nii-san. Now, here we go.."

Ridiculous as it was, both Matsuoka siblings then took a step back with their right foot at the same time, almost stomping down on the same beat (it was incredibly dramatic), and took identical fighting stances.

There was a lot of shouting that occurred then, so much that Haru couldn't make out all of it-

(Makoto trying to convince them to stop with, "Ah, we can figure out a solution if we just sit and think together", the sea-otter thing shouting, "YOU'RE MY NUMBER ONE, GOU-SAN!", Nitori looking a bit embarrassed and exasperated but shyly trying to cheer, "D..-Do your best, Rin-senpai!", Nagisa encouraging them on enthusiastically "WHOO! GO RIN-CHAN, GO GOU-KUN!", and Rei countering in the background with an equally-loud "Then who exactly are you cheering for, Nagisa-kun?! Pick one!")

Rin and Gou both hold out a closed fist, chanting 'Saisho wa guu' before drawing it back dramatically, still doing their identical stances and movements (as if this is a martial arts drama, or something).

They lock gazes with their near-identical eyes-

-And start their game.


【私の心の涙は乾いてしまった。 】

【The tears of my heart have gone dry. 】

"...Jan." A firm step forward, "...-ken," faces turned upwards, "..pon-!"

Their choices being revealed, the two siblings throw their hands out, and then;

The result of the match is… !

.

.

.

Both hands turn out to be an identical show of scissors.

Meaning…

The outcome is a tie.

Enter loud, excited gasping and commentary on the battle (thank you, Nagisa. Please get out, Nagisa), clamorous fanboying and roaring supporting Gou from a certain admirer (the sea-otter thing), sudden overly-detailed lecturing on the best strategies, theories, and I-told-you-so's (from the one and only Ryuugazaki Rei), and shyer and quieter- but definitely noticeable cheering for Rin (not you too, Nitori, please).

And some more excitement and peppyness, because they're all hopeless high school boys in the height of their teenage years, Haru narrates to himself in the corner solemnly.

Could they just play rock-paper-scissors like normal people please, Haru wants to cry, but settles sulkily for watching the exchange solemnly behind his pillow.

After a few moments of tense sparking in the room (with the electrifying gazes of Rin and Gou still lighting up), everyone else cowers a little at the intensity of their glares.

(They still haven't settled their disagreement about Gou staying over yet).

"Two out of three," The pretty younger sister suggests, and following the tense silence- the Matsuoka siblings nod together.

"Aiko desho!" Both of them rehearse at the same time (declaring the tie), and they continue again in rapid-fire succession.

"Janken-pon!"

Next result; also a tie, both had picked paper.

..And the result after that; it was a tie again, both picked scissors again.

They do it six more times after that… but each and every single time turns out to be a tie, a draw, and… a standstill.

What even was this, Haru wants to complain, this is impossible.

He's not the only one who thinks so. Rei starts to flail about in the corner, saying something about 'the chances of getting the same answer while playing rock-paper-scissors is exactly one-third, thirty-three point three percent, so it's not implausible to get this answer, however, hypothetically…!'

As Nagisa claps, being awed and amazed by Rei's revelation ("Nagisa-kun, you have to be an idiot not to know how to divide simple math?! It's just one divided by three?!"), Rei simply continues on. 'The probability of getting a tie six times in a row is below positive numbers, it's simply impossible.'

Here, Makoto jumps in and hastily comes up with an easy solution since neither has won-

"How about you compromise? Gou can stay here until ten o'clock, and then maybe she could go home? So she can stay here for a few hours, she just can't… sleep over."


【いつか、どこか高いに導かれるでしょう。 】

【Someday, I'll be guided to somewhere higher. 】

Everyone was so dense.

How had they not thought of that solution.


【今でも、それは私の心に輝くだ。 】

【Even now, it's glittering in my heart. 】

Even though it was blatantly evident that both siblings were against the pacificying-like sentiment (they didn't like losing apparently), Makoto simply ushers Gou down into sitting on the floor with the rest of them with a nervous laugh.

Gou balks a little at this, pouting, but she follows along with it anyway, probably assuming that Rin would make her go home at some point during the night. Which really wouldn't surprise anyone, he was likely to even drag her away /himself/ if he had too.

Hm. This wasn't too bad of a compromise for Gou.

Rin, on the other hand, glares at both Makoto and his little sister for a few moments, but unfolds his arms in a sign of passive-aggression. Huh. Apparently, he's done pressing the matter now as well.

Whew, Gou, Makoto, and Momotarou breathe out all at once- in relief, because for one, their debate is put on a standstill, for another, she gets to stay at the sleepover longer without getting harassed, and the last one is exhilarated that the love of his life isn't being chased off ("Don't worry though, Gou-san, I would follow you to the ends of the earth!")

("...Please don't follow me home, Mikoshiba-kun.")


【そして、私たちはそれのために憧れているので壊れにくいものがあります。 】

【And then there's something unbreakable because we're yearning for it. 】

The others start chatting among themselves excitedly, but Rin simply goes over to sit on the bed…

...Next to Haru.

Who is currently sprawled out on the bed stomach-down, still holding onto his pillow, and wearing a don't-bother-me expression on his face.

You would think that Rin could take a hint, but no.

Turning around to look at Rin, his midnight-blue eyes meeting amaranth-red ones (Rin's eyes are different shades of red, and when the light catches in them, he can see different-colored flecks in them, and they're really pretty….), Haru feels a strange (but irritatingly pleasant) jolt run down his spine as their gazes fixate on each other.

… It's kind of scary. If it were anyone else, he'd look away disinterestedly, being bored, but Haru feels like he's -caught- right now. He doesn't want to look away because it's electrifying, but also comfortable (not awkward at all), and all kinds of nice things he can't describe, really, since he's not eloquent or fancy with words, unfortunately.

Like…regularly, he's impassive about everything not pertaining to water, so it's exceptionally hard for him to get excited about anything. Whenever he's with Rin, though- for some reason, he can't help but get get caught up in Rin's pace, his energy, his being, so to speak. Throwing his rhythm off, messing up his sync. …. It 's constantly surprising him.

Though by now, he should be used to it.

(All Rin did was snap at him and say one sassy sentence, but it's enough to throw him off. How sad.)

Haruka simply gives Rin an unamused look with his usual indifferent face (though his heart might have decided to start running in his chest, maybe, with how close they are. why is it doing that?), that speaks volumes of did you really have to do that.

Referring to his over-dramatic debate with Gou. His childhood friend only responds by snapping his fingers in front of Haru's face (rude), shrugging nonchalantly. "Didn't see you making me stop, Nanase."

Hmph. Two can play at this game, and Rin is being quite too confident for his liking.

Time to fix that. With all the works included, of course.

Haru scoots forward a bit. "It wasn't that I wasn't able to, you're just not worth my time, Matsuoka."

Oh snap. Satisfied, Haru (without realizing it) lets out a sound close to a purr, and questioningly throws his head towards his left side, smoothly baring his neck in a delicate come at me motion, a challenge laced and written all over his movements.

(It … has the intended effect; Rin seems to sputter for a few moments, speechless. A tinge of satisfaction passes through Haru before Rin manages to piece his composure back together, donning his usual cool, relaxed demeanor again with some effort. Ha.)

"Last-name basis, huh. Niice. But please. I'd be worth anyone's time," Rin says lightly, jokingly. His lips are pursed in a half-playful look while he rolls his eyes. "Get over yourself."

(…Then for once, Haru doesn't have a snappy, witty answer to give back to him.)

… It's innocent. It's so innocent. It's obviously not meant to be suggestive, but at the word 'anyone,' Haruka vaguely imagines thin, soft feminine girls or slender, attractive boys being drawn in by Matsuoka Rin, and something in him suddenly churns uncomfortably (where has his mind gone), and Nanase Haruka finds himself bristling.

.

.

.

Only a few minutes have passed since the end of the rock-paper-scissors match occurred, and the others (Makoto, Gou, Nagisa, Rei,, annoying otter-thing) are all excitedly talking around them in the room, and in the worst possible way, place, time, and circumstances—

-Does Nanase Haruka realize that he might be more attached to Matsuoka Rin than he should be.

【それは、私たちが取り残されていたものを手放すていることを知らせるために大丈夫だ。 】

【It's alright to inform that we're letting go of something we had left behind.】


In other words, Haru doesn't know that he like likes Rin yet. He's just possessive of him and he's realized that but he's not close to even thinking of the boyfriend-level yet..maybe.

I opened and worked on this doc every day (minus Sundays) to work on it since the last update, and I almost quit, because it was hard to get out… man. It's a struggle, but I'm trying /sobs. I'msorry.

Thank you so much for reading, loves.

Ko-Sensei, out!