Hello, all! Welcome to a new story. It'll be a short one this time, only five chapters or so. I actually started this one way back when I wrote Unrequited, literally years ago now. Unrequited was this long one-shot about Makoto coming to terms with Haru not returning his feelings… Dry Run is a little more personal to me. I kind of wanted to finish and upload it for Asexual Awareness Week… That is in October. You'll notice it's February now. *shrugs* It's actually going to be very light on the romantic orientation/sexuality talk. (I'm not sure it's ever addressed by name throughout the entire story.) It's just something to keep in mind, as I absolutely wrote this from the perspective of Haru being ace and definitely demi-aro or gray-aro also.

Now that my introduction speech is out of the way…

Dry Run

Chapter One: Open Secrets

Haruka Nanase liked to keep things simple. He had never seen the point in small talk or going out of his way to be polite. How important could those things be, really, if they didn't affect his ability to get the message across?

He liked knowing where he stood with people, and maybe that was why he'd always been content with just a small group of friends.

Haru had never been a particularly curious person. There were plenty of things he didn't need to know.

And he was not a fan of change. Even little changes could make him question everything else he knew to be true, and rarely were those changes anything but uncomfortable and disruptive. Complicating. But soon, with just one sentence, Haru was about to change everything. And his life would never be the same.

…

It started with Kisumi. Because of course it did. Kisumi Shigino was the most disruptive person he knew, and Haru had never been particularly fond of him. He had certainly never given the other boy a reason to latch onto him the way he did. But Makoto seemed to enjoy his company, so Haru learned to deal with it. Makoto had this stunning ability to set Haru's world back on its orbit when someone like Kisumi jumped in to throw him off-balance. And he never asked for anything in return, so Haru would give him what he could. Makoto seemed to understand that expressing gratitude was not one of his strengths.

It was the strangest time of year. The swim season had just come to an end, and this time, Haru would be graduating before the next season's start. He had finally ironed out his future plans—there was still a school willing to work with him, so he would be going to Tokyo with Makoto—but still, his routine was interrupted. So Haru would have felt a little discombobulated anyway. Even without Kisumi being… Kisumi.

But Kisumi, it turned out, was feeling the strangeness in the atmosphere too and had shown up at Iwatobi to walk home with them. For old time's sake, he'd said. Because there was no telling what the future held for the three of them. And he was headed that way anyway, to meet his little brother at the swim club—and Makoto had smoothly cut him off, (over the sound of Haru's sigh) assuring him that it was fine if he wanted to walk with them. And so Haru had spent most of the journey home with his eyes turned to the waves, only keeping half a mind to Kisumi's chatter.

"It's just such a strange time, you know? Like, I feel like I'm just starting to realize how predictable my life's been all these years."

Makoto nodded. "I know. And now it's like we've all been set free to go our separate ways. The weight of all the possibilities is a little intimidating, if you think about it."

Kisumi nodded eagerly, though Haru doubted he'd ever been intimidated by anything in his whole life. "Yeah. But, hey, speaking of plans for the future, did you hear Sousuke asked Rin out? Like, on an actual date?!"

Makoto smiled. "I did know that. He said he wanted to try and make the long-distance thing work this time."

Haru remembered this too. Honestly, it had not really meant anything to him one way or the other that the two were now dating. Well, Sousuke had made an attempt to be more cordial to him and he'd been scolded by Makoto for brushing it off. But for the most part, the romantic happenings of his friend and rival felt very distant to anything going on in his own life.

Only one detail had stood out to him about that meeting. Rin and Sousuke's hands had remained latched together the entire time, like they were now, physically, a single unit. Haru's eyes had focused there almost before he could stop himself. He couldn't help thinking that this changed things somehow… But neither Rin nor Sousuke had been acting drastically different since this new arrangement, so he hadn't exactly puzzled out the how yet.

"Huh," Kisumi replied cheerfully. "Who would have thought."

"Actually, I had an idea…"

Their friend laughed. "Yeah, I guess you would."

Haru's focus sharpened a bit at Makoto's response. His best friend's voice was decidedly… off. Careful. "What do you mean?"

Kisumi was unfazed. "Oh, you know, what with your own experience with a hopeless crush. Honestly, when we were in middle school, I kinda felt like a third wheel around you guys. But then I realized Haru wasn't interested and it was just kinda… sad. But you must've gotten over it by now, right?"

Very suddenly, Haru stopped. Because Makoto had stopped. Kisumi's words had never lost their bright air. And he'd always been cheerfully blunt like this. Haru doubted he'd even realized yet that his words had actually hurt. Because what Haru read on Makoto's face now was pain. Unmasked horror, a hint of embarrassment or shame, and real pain. And Haru felt time freeze for a moment.

Was it some big secret that Makoto harbored certain, not-so-platonic… feelings for him? No. Haru had deduced this years ago. And for a while, Haru had watched and waited with a rare spark of curiosity, wondering what this meant for them.

Nothing out of the ordinary, as it turned out. Makoto had remained very much the same and Haru, who was not well-versed in the realm of crushes, considered that maybe they weren't such serious business after all.

He realized now what a grave miscalculation he'd made. Makoto's eyes flickered to him, and in them, Haru read true fear. It was true that they'd never discussed this development in their friendship—Haru figured if there was anything that needed discussing, Makoto would have brought it up—but now he saw that their open secret was not so open after all. Makoto was genuinely frightened of his reaction to this news, and Haru thought he saw tears beginning to well in his eyes—perhaps just from the shock of being outed so suddenly—as his best friend hurriedly turned away.

And this sight made something snap inside of him. Makoto shouldn't ever look that way, and the person responsible for that despairing expression needed to be put in his place.

Haru was not good with words. Never had been. But he trusted his instincts. So he didn't hesitate to act on the first plan that came to mind.

Haru grabbed Makoto's hand—something he hadn't willingly initiated since they were children—and fixed a stunned Kisumi with a glare. "Makoto is not hopeless. Don't talk about my boyfriend that way."

And then he pulled his dumbfounded best friend along behind him, leaving their rude, annoying, not-friend staring speechlessly after them.

They were not far from their homes, and Haru did not release his grip on Makoto's hand, pulling him right up to his own house. He was still in a questionable mindset, and Haru didn't want to leave him to the mercy of Ren and Ran's questions. But the sense of urgency dissipated now that the threat had been left behind them. He slowed to a more leisurely pace as they walked up the steps, frowning at Makoto's prolonged silence, the way he was not quite gripping his hand back.

Haru only turned to face him once they were inside the house, having let go of Makoto's hand to take off his shoes. Makoto had mimicked his movements but remained rooted in the entryway.

He finally looked up when it became apparent that Haru was waiting for him to make the next move. His movements were slow, his eyes rising from the floor last of all. The persisting nervousness in his eyes made Haru uneasy. Makoto had never been the bravest person around. But it had always been Haru's job to get rid of that fearful expression. Now he was suddenly the cause of it, and Haru was having a hard time wrapping his head around this development.

"You didn't have to do that," he said at last, very quietly. "Tell him you were my… you know."

Haru shrugged, indicating that it wasn't a big deal, but he frowned when his friend still didn't perk up. Makoto knew his cues as well as Haru did. When Haru was botching, or just plain incapable of, a conversation, it was Makoto's job to take over, smooth things out. But there was no attempt at that now.

"Makoto," he said softly when the other's eyes began drifting back to the floor.

The sound of his name seemed to make something snap back into place, but awkwardly. As if the edges had been reshaped.

"I mean, I know you're not, of course…" Makoto's hurried attempt to patch things up fell flat. Was it the word that scared him, Haru wondered? Makoto couldn't seem to bring himself to say it.

"Do you want me to be?" he asked in his own usual blunt way.

Makoto's eyes widened impossibly further. "W-what?"

"Your boyfriend." Haru frowned. This was Makoto he was talking to. He shouldn't need to clarify. And if it had been anyone else, he wouldn't have bothered, because he knew full well that Makoto knew exactly what he was referring to. But he supposed his best friend was entitled to certain privileges that the rest of the world could do without. And perhaps he deserved to be given a break. After all, apparently Haru's misunderstanding of their 'open' secret had caused a lot of heartbreak on Makoto's part. He felt suddenly foolish for assuming that the reason Makoto hadn't spoken up was because it was unimportant.

And now the pressure of that secret had built up until his best friend was reduced to a spluttering mess in his entryway. "W-w-uh, um, I-I mean, but you're… You're not… gay… are you?"

Haru frowned at Makoto's wince once he finally got the words out. Was he regretting speaking at all? Afraid of sounding too hopeful? Makoto only seemed more distressed at Haru's shrug. What could he say? Haru had never felt that way about anyone before. It wasn't something he'd ever really given much thought to.

But it was clear that this was one topic Makoto had thought about a lot. And the fact that Haru hadn't seemed to be enough in his mind. He supposed he could see the logic behind this line of thinking. Haru wasn't stupid. He was aware of what was considered 'normal' or socially acceptable; he had just never felt much pressure to adhere to those standards himself. He knew that being gay was still a big deal in their world, and it made sense that the average person would have some trouble coming to terms with those feelings.

But the thought of Makoto laying awake at night, fretting over this attraction, maybe even hating himself for it, was enough to turn his stomach. Because… Makoto was… Makoto. And kindness like Makoto's didn't come out of nowhere. How could he possibly worry his family and friends wouldn't support him?

But Haru was starting to realize that there was no way to communicate all of this through shrugs.

"Do you want me to be?" he asked again. Haru rarely bothered to repeat himself. There was a firmness to his question this time around that would let anyone know he meant business. A hardness to his eyes.

But Makoto didn't need all the cues. He seemed to have come back to himself. He was once again the person who could read Haru like a book without even looking at him. So he held his best friend's gaze, swallowed, and took a deep breath.

"Yes."