Haru defends Sousuke's honour (so to speak) and ended up with Makoto down his neck.

This is something that has been in my head for a while, I just didn't know whether to post it. It doesn't revolve around Haru and Sousuke as much. But it's about them. Well it's too late now.

Haru was waiting patiently for Makoto who texted him rather abruptly that he'd be a few minutes late. The freestyle swimmer stood in silence at the bus station as two males his own age, wearing Samezuka uniforms spoke rather loudly to one another clearly not caring who overheard.

"Yeah, she was so dripping."

"You must have got it good."

"Yeah, well I would of." The cocky blonde boy grumbled. "If stupid Yamazaki hadn't dropped by."

"Yo, you had it in with Sousuke?"

"He can't even throw a punch. Such a pussy."

Haruka rose a brow, these boys knew Sousuke and clearly had a bitter resentment against him. Haru had seen Sousuke interact with others and it was so sickly sweet, he was sure that this grudge was a one-sided relationship.

"The way he sucks up to that Rin kid makes me sick."

"Oh please, they are so getting it on."

"Vomit worthy."

"I bet his parents are proud. Gay and injured beyond repair."

"You're wrong."

The two boys silenced at the sudden interruption before turning rather heatedly to find Haruka staring right at them, a slight determination in his eye.

"What did you say?"

"I said you're wrong."

"And who asked you, pretty boy?" The blonde one spoke, eyeing Haruka dangerously. "Back off before I ruin that face of yours, it's the only thing you got going for you."

"As is yours." Haru countered smirking as the blonde growled and turned his full attention to the ravenette.

"Who you waiting for? Your mommy?" The Samezuka student mocked, causing his friend to laugh.

"What about you? You waiting for a personality?"

The blonde's boys friend let out a low whistle and rose a brow in amusement at the back and forth dispute between the two.

"You think you're so smart. You won't feel that way when I pound you into the ground."

"Sorry, not my type." Haru waved his hand in rejection, watching in hilarity at the angry tic emerging on the blonde's forehead.

"You shouldn't have said that." He growled out low.

Sousuke was on his daily jog when he heard the loud scuffle and shouts, he increased his pace before halting as he rounded the corner. Mouth dropping and eyes widening as he witnessed Haruka straddling a blonde boy who was attempting to remove the surprisingly heavy freestyle swimmer off his body. Sousuke watched Haru and the boy fight for several seconds, both attempting to get the upper hand. A punch to Haru's eyes had him backing up while a blow to the blonde's nose had him clutching at it in agony.

"You broke my nose!"

He went to lunge at Haruka, his arm coming to a stop as someone gripped it painfully. The blonde glanced up to see narrowed teal eyes and froze for a moment.

"Get off of me." The blonde boy snatched his hand from the tight grip and backed away, his attention on the panting ravenette. "I'll get you for this."

The two watched as the blonde ran away with his friend in tow as he rounded the corner out of sight. Sousuke turned to Haruka who softly pushed at his eye and cringed in pain.

"You'll need ice for that."

Haru glanced briefly at him with indifference before turning away, swaying slightly. Sousuke quickly reacted coming to Haru's side letting theravenette use him as a leaning post. Sousuke demanded to take Haruka home only to meet Makoto half way, leaving Haru in the hands of the boys best friend Sousuke waited for the two to disappear in the distance before letting astonishment grace his features at what he just previously witnessed.

Haruka woke that morning, a terrible aching thud behind his eye, glancing in the mirror, Haru sighed at the large purple bruise that covered his face. He lightly touched it flinching at the puffiness of his skin. Haruka ran a temperate bath and let his body soak attempting to dull the thumping in his head. A knock on his front door had Haru murmuring in annoyance and waited for Makoto to appear at his door.

"Haru, I'm coming in."

Haruka turned to face the teen as Makoto entered knowing he couldn't hide the rather obvious bruise covering half his face. The green eyed teen gasped in horror and concern rushing to the bath side, grasping Haru's face, gently caressing his eye.

"Haru, your eye."

"It's nothing." Haruka turned away, roughly removing his head from Makoto's grip.

"What happened? Sousuke just said you felt faint, but you've been fighting."

"I'm fine. Just drop it." Haruka rose from the bath not bothering to dry himself and headed to the kitchen ignoring Makoto as he began to scold him.

School didn't turn out much better, teachers expressed concern, fellow students Haru walked past asked what happened. He ignored them at first, completely blanking out the repeated questions.

"Whoa, Haruka, your eye. You got into a fight! With who?"

"Nice Haruka, Who'd you fight?"

"Who was it?"

"A boy from Samezuka, okay?!" Haruka finally announced rather loudly, cracking under the annoyance of the constant questioning. To Haru's luck, Makoto overheard and the freestyle swimmer was suddenly drowned in continuous questions from the green-eyed giant. Lunch had Rei and Nagisa listening to Makoto talk heatedly with Haruka, worried for their senpai's friendship the two boys whispered to one another watching the irritation show clear on Haru's features. A small outburst from Haru had all three of them silence immediately.

"No, it wasn't Yamazaki! Now, will you just stop asking!"

"Well, it's just he was with you and-"

"-MAKOTO!" Haruka snapped, his arm slicing through the air. "Stop."

To Haru's despair, Makoto wouldn't let the topic go. They arrived at Samezuka's swim club with Nagisa and Rei heading inside to inform Rin of the best friends conflict, leaving Makoto to stop Haru in his tracks. Makoto turned the boy around, stern and concerned eyes stilled the ravenette.

"Tell me what happened."

"Nothing, Makoto. I asked you to drop it."

"Haru I'm not an idiot, clearly something happened. You have a huge bruise on your face."

"Well I broke the other guy's nose, so I guess we're even," Haruka muttered, his brow narrowed at Makoto's sigh of disappointment.

"Haru, you've never been in a fight before. What happened? You're not like that."

"I've been in fights before." Haruka huffed. "You were just never there."

"Haru..." Hurt seeped through Makoto's voice and Haruka suddenly had had enough with Makoto's biased opinion of him.

"I fought because they were mouthing off about Yamazaki. Okay?!" Haru announced bitterly, watching as Makoto's face contorted into many expressions, astonished to find out that his best friend defended the last person he'd expect.

"They did?" The two boys rounded in surprise to see both swim clubs staring in astonishment at them. Rin who had spoken rose a brow and Sousuke who was behind him stared in bewilderment at Haruka.

"Yes." Haru crossed his arms uncomfortable with the sudden attention. "I'm going home."

Haru didn't wait for a reply, swiftly removing himself from a confrontation he stormed away, disappearing around the school gates. The dull ache became a thudding nuisance and Haruka gently covered his eye hoping the foolish gesture would stop the pain. His non-bruised eye caught a group of five boys up ahead, suddenly slowing to a stop and realising who was mingled into the group Haru's heart stopped. With a taped up bruised nose was the blonde boy from yesterday, his friend beside him pointing to the ravenette himself. The three young men around them were slightly bigger than the two, their scowls rivalling even Sousuke's. Haruka spun around and began to flee not wanting to be confronted and officially be beaten. The five boys were gaining in distance and Haru glanced to his bag and sighed, he let it slide from his shoulder as his ran and dropped it to the ground. With the Samezuka's gate in sight, Haru didn't glance to see the five boys stop and begin to destroy his belongings as he slammed open the pool doors and slid down the wood after they closed. Haruka breathed deeply, hiding his head between his wobbling knees, fingers flexing in anticipation. A few minutes passed as his heart slowed to a normal pace, his breathing was still slightly ragged as Haru closed his eyes. His mouth had a slight quirk to it at the thought of the blonde at the hospital mouthing him off. A rather loud thump against the door had Haruka jumping out of his skin in fright and scrambled to his feet, hand to his chest as he backed away until his back hit something solid but soft. Haru let out a frightened gasp and leapt away not calming when he found he had backed into Sousuke.

"Nanase? Are you okay?"

"Fine," Haru spoke rather breathlessly, actually glad to see the butterfly swimmer.

"What was the thud?" Sousuke asked, his eyes roaming the small foyer noticing Haru glancing to the front door. Sousuke walked over peering through the glass windows to see several boys running away into the distance. "What were they doing here?"

"You know, hunting me down to get revenge then probably laugh about it right after." Haruka shrugged and watched as Sousuke clearly hadn't heard him or ignored his statement and walked to the door, disappearing outside. Wanting to know where Sousuke was going Haruka quietly stepped outside, body still behind the door his head popped to the side and his whole body lacked movement. Sousuke was holding and sorting through the remanents of his swim bag. It was torn to pieces, his books ripped and tattered, thousands of dollars worth of textbooks destroyed and his Iwatobi jacket that he had removed after he left was scattered on the floor in pieces.

Sousuke glanced behind him to find Haruka in full view seeming lost and confused. His face showing rare emotion that made Sousuke's heart wrench, it was clear Haruka didn't know what he'd done wrong. He had risen above, defended Sousuke's honour, the boy who hated his guts and this happens? Haruka noticed Sousuke gently picking up a piece of his jacket and Haru gulped, he couldn't do this, not here, not now. Haru stormed over gathering his belongings quickly shoving them in his bag. He gave Sousuke the cold shoulder and rushed away, not caring that his papers were sliding out of the many holes made in his bag and fluttering to the floor.

Sousuke watched the boy retreat in worry and guilt, this all happened because of him. For reasons, Sousuke was still unaware of, he knew the boys that Haru had fought and they were in his opinion 'right dicks'. He spoke very little to the two and when he did it was mere greetings. Now they were mouthing off about him and getting into fights with a student from another school, a student who he himself had a grudge against, who without even stuttering put them in their place. Who despite their personal feud put it aside and defended him without considering the consequences. Sousuke still hadn't thanked the ravenette and glanced at the trail of paper leading away from the school.

When Haruka heard the knock, grudgingly opening the door knowing he was going to find Makoto, his tear stained cheeks flushed red when he found not his best friend but Sousuke Yamazaki himself standing at his door.

"Hey, why are you crying?" Sousuke seemed alarmed.

"I do cry you know." Haruka wiped his eye, smiling slightly in amusement at the man's flabbergasted look.

"Well stop." Sousuke furrowed his brow. "It's weird."

Haru snorted, well more sniffled in amusement and motioned for Sousuke to come inside. The bigger male hesitated at first unsure whether he was welcome considering their situation then told himself to ignore his conscience and followed the ravenette. Sousuke sat awkwardly as Haruka prepared tea and nodded in thanks as he took the cup from Haru's offering hands.

"I know you didn't have to but thank you," Sousuke spoke noticing Haru's ripped bag in the corner.

"It's just tea,"

"I don't mean the tea." Sousuke locked eyes with the ravenette, the bruise taking Sousuke's concentration.

"Oh." Haru glanced down to his tea. "You're welcome."

"How's your eye?"

"It's okay." Haru pressed at it lightly. "I'd do it again if I had to."

Sousuke's eyes widened slightly before smiling a little sipping from his mug, perhaps Haruka wasn't as bad as Sousuke thought he was.