Well, I suppose I dragged it on long enough. This is it, you guys. For those of you who made it this far, thanks! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. There will be more stuff to come, in general. But as for this story, we've reached the end!
It was natural, walking through the school halls with their fingers intertwined. They were taken in by several eyes, but none of them seemed surprised. One boy from Class 3 even clapped his hands when he saw them walking past. Makoto blushed, but Haru felt a little swell of pride that he would never admit to.
He liked this. This felt right. And it was no wonder why the consolidation of their relationship was being applauded. This had taken much too long to happen, and Haru fully acknowledged that. Most everyone seemed to fully acknowledge that. Even their teacher glanced at their hands when they entered the classroom together and then turned away with a smile. Nothing was said directly to them, but there was a general wave of whispers wherever they went, mostly accompanied by grins, though there were maybe one or two girls who looked disappointed.
There was one girl, for instance, who hissed out a curse when she saw them taking their seats, and then her friends all giggled hysterically. Both Haru and Makoto glanced over. The one girl was hiding her face in her hands, but the others winked and all gave them a thumbs-up.
Haru looked away unfazed. Makoto chuckled half-heartedly and massaged his temples as he stared down at his desk, ears bright red. Haru smiled at him, because he thought it adorable. He was glad most people were keeping their comments to themselves though, otherwise poor Makoto wouldn't last the day.
Haru picked up his desk and scooted it close enough to brush Makoto with his elbow. Those green eyes glanced over, most of him still hunched over his desk as though trying to disappear. Haru cocked his head and blinked.
Makoto sighed. "I'm not embarrassed. I'd just rather not be the center of attention … Did you know all of these people knew?" he added under a whisper, thoroughly perplexed.
Haru thought of what Nagisa had said before the relay at nationals and stuffed down his amusement. Turns out, when Nagisa said everybody, he meant everybody. Haru shrugged.
"What does it matter?"
"I feel like we were the last ones to catch on."
Haru lifted a small grin. "No … We were just the last ones to admit it to ourselves."
Makoto exhaled through his nose, glancing to the side thoughtfully, then nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that's true."
Haru lifted a hand, gesturing for Makoto to come close as though to tell him a secret. Makoto leaned in with his ear and Haru kissed his temple. A loud, chorused squeal made Makoto jump. They looked over their shoulders at the two girls sitting directly behind them, both of whom hid the bottom halves of their faces with their hands and giggled with glittering eyes. Makoto moaned and dropped his forehead to his desk. Haru smiled again. He ran his fingers through Makoto's hair. This didn't exactly quiet the peanut gallery, but Makoto seemed comforted by it.
Haru was excited for lunch, but then he remembered that they shared the rooftop with other people. He and Makoto weren't holding hands when Rei and Nagisa joined them, but they were sitting closer to each other than usual, shoulders leaning into one another. Nagisa and Rei, being the two people who spent the most time around them, were supposed to have been used to this, but Nagisa immediately became skeptical, and he watched them with narrowed eyes for the whole first ten minutes of lunch, in which nothing was said about it.
The rest of them acted normal, minus the once or twice when Haru shot Nagisa a look. Rei and Makoto were the ones being chatty Cathys today, discussing the results of nationals for a while, bringing up the names of other teams, agreeing that, yes, there was still plenty of time to get some good use out of the school pool.
"We should have a barbeque," Nagisa perked up suddenly, finally taking his attention away from Haru and Makoto for a second.
"Where would we do that?" Rei asked.
"By the pool, of course."
"We're not allowed to start fires on school campus!"
"It would be in the grill though."
"That's still the same. Where are you going to get a grill, and how would you even get it here anyway?"
"Well, Rei-chan …"
Haru lost interest already. He turned to Makoto, who was still amused, and patted his knee. Makoto glanced up, reading Haru's gaze, then looked down and noticed that Haru had run out of mackerel to eat. He sighed, amused, and shook his head. He picked up a piece from his own lunch that Haru knew he'd had his mom add to his bento box just for Haru to eat. Makoto lifted his chopsticks and placed the bite of fish into Haru's open mouth.
The blue-eyed boy chewed it happily, and the other gave him a look that said, You do this on purpose. Haru didn't deny it.
"… will not be expelled just because you want to have a barbeque," Rei was still going on.
Nagisa's eyes had left him though, the moment Makoto had lifted his hand, and he watched with thorough interest as Makoto cheerfully fed Haru two more bites of fish. Makoto then said something to Rei, and as he did, Haru caught a sly smile creeping across Nagisa's face.
"We never finished our game," he announced, rocking back on his tailbone, legs crossed.
"What game?" Rei said.
"Never Have I Ever, the one we were playing at Haru's party."
"That was a party?" Haru mumbled.
"So what?" Rei shrugged, glancing to Nagisa as he took a bite of his lunch.
"So, let's finish it."
"Why?"
"Because we didn't finish before."
"Why do we need to finish it?"
Nagisa lifted his chin. "Rei-chan," he said suggestively, winking his eye multiple times. "We need to finish the game."
Rei wrinkled his nose. "Why are you winking?"
Nagisa scoffed. "Rei-chan …"
"What?"
Nagisa tossed his head in Haru and Makoto's direction, but none except Haru knew what he was getting at. Even Makoto furrowed his brow in confusion.
"Nagisa, are you having a heat stroke?" he asked, half-serious.
Rei snickered.
Nagisa ignored this and threw his arm up over his head, sticking up two fingers. "We're playing, starting now. Do you remember how many fingers you had?"
"Do you?" Rei said. "You were half awake when we were playing this. We never finished because you were delusional and you fell asleep."
"Well, Rei-chan, I happen to have the memory of a gopher."
"I don't think you have your animals right."
"You had five fingers, me and Makoto had two, and Haru had one. Everyone put your fingers up," Nagisa instructed, taking Rei's wrist and raising his hand for him.
Makoto slapped the back of Haru's hand when he tried to raise his middle finger again. Nagisa bounced his gaze around the circle to make sure they were all set, and smiled, wiggling his shoulders and straightening his back readily. His eyes rested on Haru, sparkling with joy, and his smiled widened.
"Haru-chan only has one finger left, so if he gets out, then Rei-chan, we'll say you won. I believe it was my turn, no?"
No one disagreed, so he cleared his throat.
"Never have I ever kissed anyone."
His eyes were incessant, watching Haru carefully, nearly levitating out of his seated position because he already knew. Haru, this whole time, met his gaze calmly, and now silently closed his fist and dropped his hand into his lap. Nagisa beamed, switching his gaze immediately to Makoto, who was having a harder time of it. His skin had already changed colors.
"Why that?" he moaned, unaware that Haru had already given them away.
"Because I've never done it," Nagisa said.
"B-But what happened to petting tigers?"
"Petting tigers?"
"I told you you were delusional," Rei said.
"Mako-chan," Nagisa insisted strictly.
Makoto flinched, eyes wide and mortified. "What?" he whined.
"Never have I ever kissed anyone."
"Nagisa …" Makoto moaned like a stubborn toddler and dropped his face into his palm, the back of his neck bright red.
Haru rolled his eyes and elbowed him. "Makoto."
The lamenting brunet heaved a giant sigh and put a finger down.
Nagisa leapt to his feet. "Ha! I knew it! I knew it!"
He took off across the rooftop, leaping and whooping, his voice probably echoing out across the entirety of the school grounds. Rei lifted a hand to his mouth, whether to hide a smile or his shock, Haru couldn't tell, but he was blushing too.
"Makoto-senpai," he said behind his fingers, his voice trembling.
Makoto lifted a hand to silence him, face still buried. He shook his head, so Rei turned his eyes to Haru instead.
"Haruka-senpai?"
Haru met Rei's gaze, read the silent question, and dipped his head in a small nod.
Rei giggled a youthful, unfiltered giggle that Haru had never heard come out of him before. His eyes teared up and he took his glasses off to wipe them. He tried to calm himself, but that only seemed to make it worse. His shoulders shook.
"Why are you laughing?" Makoto whined, finally lifting his head.
Rei gasped, trying to catch his breath. "I'm sorry," he squeaked. "I … don't know. It's just … so beautiful."
"So you laugh?"
This, again, just made it worse. Nagisa was still dancing around in the background, singing about how he "knew it" underneath the trills of Rei's laughter.
"You guys don't have to make such a big deal of it," Makoto said frailly, neither one of them were listening though.
Haru gave him a look and Makoto dropped his shoulder when he caught it.
"I am not embarrassed," he insisted.
"Then why are you blushing so hard?"
"Haruka … Don't make me drown you in the pool."
Haru pursed his lips. "I think I like it when you threaten me."
Makoto swatted at his shoulder. "Stop it," he hissed. Somehow the blush got deeper. "This is not the place."
Nagisa finally ran back to where they were sitting and threw one of his shoes at Haru. It landed in his lap.
"You were supposed to call me, Haru-chan," he chided breathlessly, hands on his hips.
Haru kept a straight face. "I was busy."
Makoto hit him again. Rei was so weak with laughter that he now rolled over on his side, holding his stomach. Nagisa tossed his curls back.
"When did it happen?"
"After you left my house," Haru answered unashamed.
"Was it before or after your conversation?"
"During."
"Have you two talked about this?" Makoto exclaimed.
"Yes," they answered in unison.
Makoto groaned and looked away from them. Nagisa was back to beaming like the sun. It was almost too vivid to look at directly, so Haru understood why Makoto was having trouble meeting his smile. He plopped back down, holding his feet, shoulders leaning eagerly in Haru's direction.
"Was it everything you imagined?"
"Better," Haru answered honestly.
Makoto popped Haru on the leg this time, still with his face turned away. Nagisa squealed with giddiness, fingers curled underneath his chin like a middle school girl.
"So you're official now, right?"
Haru turned his eyes to his partner and poked his shoulder. "Hey, are we official?"
Makoto's shoulders sank with a sigh. Haru knew he was embarrassed, no matter how much he denied it, but he was loving this in all honesty. He liked that Makoto blushed because of him and got all flustered and nervous. It was proof that all of the deep down feelings he'd been harboring had now successfully made it all the way up to the surface of his being where Haru could reach them. And he wanted to reach them. For the rest of his life, he wanted to reach them.
"You're so cruel," Makoto said, his voice thin.
"You said you weren't embarrassed," Haru said coolly. "Stop acting like it."
Nagisa giggled. His hand reflexively reached down to fluff up Rei's hair. The bespectacled teen was now just laying on the pavement, soaking in the conversation.
"I'm happy it finally happened," Nagisa said with a satisfied sigh. "Though, you know, there are a number of girls that have hinted about having a crush on Mako-chan. I'm sure they're not going to be to happy to know they've lost their chances."
"That's too bad," Haru sniffed indignantly, thinking about the girl in their class who had clearly been disappointed to find that they were together. He slipped a possessive arm around Makoto's waist. "He's mine now."
Nagisa squealed again. Rei let out another giggle.
Makoto finally looked back. Haru was already prepared to meet his gaze. The blush wasn't as harsh anymore, but instead had dimmed down to a soft rosiness, something that was full of tenderness and gratefully accepted Haru's stuffy pride for keeping Makoto to himself. Makoto's lips lifted into a gentle smile. Haru leaned in and kissed them.
Rei and Nagisa exploded.