I've officially finished writing out the rest of this story—it will be just five chapters—so it should be typed up and posted within another week or two. (This is kind of a momentous occasion. Do you know how many of my stories have been put up, start to finish, in a timely manner? This may well be the first.)

**Kindly forgive the little blip at the end of the text. *Deep breaths* Fanfiction is being difficult and not allowing either a heart symbol OR the 'less than' symbol with the 3, so we're working with what we've got here. It's supposed to look like a heart. ...Can we all just pretend?

Chapter Three: Adjustments

The end of the year brought about a change in the air throughout the school that he'd never really been able to appreciate before. He'd had little interest in the seniors and their heightened emotions about being sent out into the real world. He'd tried to ignore his own impending future as long as possible.

But now it was his classmates getting all jittery in the face of graduation. And he could no longer avoid the firsthand effects of this as their third-period course came to an end, and a girl from his homeroom slipped into the room. She was doing her best to be inconspicuous, but the teenagers who had yet to disperse for lunch practically snapped to attention. They could smell the gossip about to emerge. And they weren't disappointed.

The girl—Mayu, he thought?—slipped up to his desk, hands clasped in front of her. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Makoto open his mouth to greet her, but she paid him no mind. A pink flush slid across her cheeks, her eyes demurely downcast as she finally spoke. "Um… Haru? I was wondering… if maybe you'd like to see a movie with me this weekend? You know, like a date?"

The words died on Makoto's tongue, his mouth falling open in surprise. Around them, giggles and whispers started up, but Mayu stood her ground, waiting for his answer.

Haru blinked; it took a moment for her question to sink in. All the while, he could feel Makoto's eyes on him. As if he didn't know what Haru's answer was going to be. A surge of annoyance went through him at that, but he kept his tone neutral as he replied, "Sorry. I'm taken."

"Oh!" The girl's blush became even more apparent, and the whispers surged in volume until they were almost at regular-conversation level. "I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" she squeaked out before fleeing the classroom.

At the door, he could see one of her friends waiting for her, and they both dashed out of sight. Haru still had not moved from his desk. He turned to Makoto, who swallowed, trying to school his dumbstruck expression. "Wow. That was… uh…"

Haru narrowed his eyes, frowning. "What?"

"I just… wasn't expecting that. I mean, I think I've seen her at some of our swim meets. I guess she was watching you…"

Haru shrugged. "Well, I've never talked to her. I'm not sure I even know her name."

"Haru!" Makoto hissed, immediately reaching over to slap a hand over his mouth, just a second too late to stop anything. "That's… mean."

Haru gave him a look, not needing any words. Makoto's face was close, his wearied expression terribly familiar. He finally removed his hand with a sigh, and Haru shrugged. "It's not like she was still around to hear it."

Makoto just shook his head, and the two boys finally began gathering up their things. And it was actually kind of… nice. The first time, he realized, that Makoto had touched him in any casual manner since the shock of the previous afternoon. It finally felt comfortable again. Enough so that they forgot they'd had an audience until they were out in the hallway and realized just how quickly those whispers traveled.

"Hey, did you hear?"

"I mean, I'm not surprised he turned her down… Nanase doesn't really strike me as the last-minute-fling type…"

"I don't know… They say the quiet ones…"

"Pretty smooth lie, though… Didn't think he had it in him."

"How do you know it was a lie?"

"Pfft. Come on. Nanase?"

Makoto heard them first, stiffening up and ducking his head. (Not that this had ever helped him be inconspicuous. He was still a good head taller than most of their peers.) Only the tips of his ears were red right now, but Haru knew it would spread. He prodded him in the side. Not too hard, just enough to get him moving at a normal pace. And the whispers faded to nothing as they climbed the stairs to the roof.

The door clicked shut behind them, blocking out the rest of the sound. But not for long. Rei and Nagisa were already there, waiting for them. And the whispers had clearly reached their ears as well. The younger boys' eyes locked onto them immediately, the questions out in the air before they'd given them voice. But that was coming too.

"Haru-chan! Is it true?!"

"Haruka senpai, we heard… well…"

They began at the same time, the jumbled mess of their words actually coming through pretty clearly. Makoto took Haru's lead, taking a seat and taking out their lunches as if nothing had been said. There was a single beat of silence before Nagisa's patience ran out.

"Well?! Are you dating someone or not?!"

"Yes," he answered simply, continuing to eat.

"…Who?" Rei asked after Nagisa sent him a wild, searching look.

"Makoto," he answered just as simply. The boy in question took a deep breath and tried not to react too dramatically. The two younger boys more than picked up the slack.

"Whaaaat?!" they screamed in unison, mouths falling open.

Makoto winced. "Okay, okay…" His own voice was overly soft in contrast. "If you keep shouting, someone'll come running."

But Nagisa had already moved on, his eyes sparkling. "Ha! I knew it! Next time you see Rin, tell him he owes me 50 yen."

Makoto's mouth fell open, looking a little horrified. His chopsticks had frozen in midair. "You what?! And wait, Rin too?"

Rei nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, that does seem a little hypocritical, doesn't it?"

Makoto's head swung his way. "That's not what I—"

His sputtering was drowned out by Nagisa's laughter. And then that, too, lapsed easily back into their usual conversation. It was starting to surprise Haru how normal his life still seemed. It felt like very little had changed.

…But was that because they weren't acting like enough of a couple?

He almost wanted to groan. Like he needed one more thing to worry about.

…

They were back at Haru's house that afternoon, their books laid out in front of them. Like always these days. (Not having a designated time for swimming was starting to wear on him.) His lack of enthusiasm must have been clearer than usual, because Makoto paused and gave him a pointed look, that patient smile in place.

"Done already?"

The lilt to his words definitely signified a joke, a probe to get back to work. But Haru stared back, dead serious. "Yes. Let's watch TV instead."

Makoto's pause went on. He'd caught him off-guard enough to have his full attention. Good.

"You never watch TV."

True enough. Sometimes Makoto would turn on the news when he came over in the morning. On the days when Haru really couldn't be rushed. But Haru himself tended to turn it on only to then get lost in his own thoughts. So he'd gradually started to just skip that first step.

Makoto was surprised enough to nod slowly and get to his feet. Haru followed him around the low table to the couch. Makoto had grabbed the remote on his way, and the television clicked on across the room. (Sure enough, the last channel it had been on was the news station, and they left it there.) The volume was so low, they would have had to strain to hear it. It said enough on its own that neither of them moved to turn it up. It remained as nothing more than a soft buzz around them.

Makoto sat down on the couch, looking a little stiffer than usual. Haru took up a spot beside him… much closer than usual. They hovered awkwardly at an impasse for a moment, until Haru leaned the rest of the way over, letting Makoto support his weight.

Even as long as they'd known each other, he could count quite easily the number of times they'd been this close. Exuberant, spur-of-the-moment team hugs after victorious swim meets. Waking up after sleepovers to find one of them had rolled in the other's direction during the night. And then, of course, their barely-there kiss the night before. Every example that popped to mind was marked by its brevity. The moment never went on long enough to be worth mentioning. They'd always separated again before it had time to get awkward. As they'd gotten older, even their various haunted house excursions had shifted—now that he thought about it, Makoto had gone from gripping his arm to just grabbing the back of his shirt as Haru led them fearlessly through.

This was decidedly different. Touching for the sake of touching. Exactly the sort of thing Haru had stubbornly warded off for most of his life.

It was distracting. He didn't think he would have been able to focus on the TV even if that had been the objective. It was hard to think about anything but the feel of Makoto's arm pressed up against his own. And damn, he'd always known the softhearted boy was built like a brick wall, but he'd never truly appreciated it before. Was it this sturdiness that made Kou go all starry-eyed when they walked around without their shirts? He wasn't sure he got it, exactly, but he supposed he preferred this more than someone else leaning up against him.

Makoto's eyes were glued to the television program they weren't watching. Haru was pretty sure he was literally holding his breath. He tried to counter this by breathing deeply himself. All this touching didn't come naturally to him, but he tried to relax his own muscles even further.

And Makoto couldn't continue with these shallow breaths forever. Haru could feel the exact moment he tried to relax as well. Makoto shifted, moving his arm to slip around Haru's back instead. Somehow it was more awkward to be positioned against his side—sort of laying up against his chest, sort of holding himself up at a weird angle.

This was… less nice. Thankfully, Makoto had not lost his ability to read Haru's silences completely. They slid down in their seats until Haru was essentially laying on top of him. This was… better. He could feel every breath and movement Makoto took or made. Which was again distracting at first… but he grew used to it.

Haru had never been big on hugs. He never thought he'd enjoy cuddling… But this was nice. It didn't feel obligatory, like he was waiting for it to end. It was comfortable. Enough so that his mind was soothed out of the past, of constantly lingering on how things with Makoto had changed.

He could almost fall asleep like this…

"I should probably get back before Ren or Ran come up to see what's keeping me." Makoto's voice was soft. The only reason it could compete with the hum of the news anchor was because he was so close. Haru could feel the words vibrate through his chest as he spoke them. It took another second for their meaning to cut through his drowsiness.

He pushed himself up, a little reluctantly, and noted that it was a bit later than Makoto usually stayed. All Haru voiced in return was a short little hum that could have meant anything at all. But this was nothing new to Makoto. He smiled fondly at Haru—one of the old smiles that he'd stopped noticing until recently—and began gathering up his things. Haru left his own mess where it was. He would actually have to do the rest of his homework at some point tonight. No sense in putting his books away just to have to pull them back out later.

"Are you coming over again tonight?" Makoto asked. Their cuddling session had broken down some sort of wall. The invitation didn't seem to make him nervous this time. There was a serene look that hadn't left Makoto's face yet.

Haru glanced at his books and unfinished essay again and sighed. "Not tonight."

Haru's smile quirked up a bit at the edges. That look he got when Haru was being responsible of his own accord. It usually made Haru want to roll his eyes, but today it had a different effect. Something nudged around his insides. Pleasure? Pride? It sort of made Haru want to smile back.

"All right. See you in the morning then." Makoto left then. It only occurred to Haru afterwards that perhaps he was meant to walk him to the door now.

His own dinner was modest and quick. And he did manage to get some of his work done. But Haru turned in early that night… only to lay awake for a while after.

The only thing swimming these days was his head, trying to keep up with all the adjustments he'd been making to his life. He had never done well with change. It was hard to keep track of when he was supposed to treat Makoto differently and when things could continue on like they always had. It was getting harder to tell whether these adjustments were a nuisance or if he was starting to enjoy them. But that should be a good thing, right? He'd initiated this change himself. He wanted Makoto to continue to smile. And it had begun to feel important that he was reason behind those smiles.

Under the covers, his fingers twitched. On impulse, he reached out and grabbed his cell phone off the bedside table. (Considering he used it about as often as the TV, it was a miracle it was charged.) He had very few contacts and found Makoto's name easily. After deliberating for just another second, he sent two simple words: Good night.

He received no response for what felt like a very long time. Makoto always had an ear out for his phone—just in case—so he was sure he'd seen it. But for some reason, this lack of an answer didn't worry or irritate him. He could all too easily picture the smile that popped onto Makoto's face when he saw such an unnecessary text from Haru—something he wouldn't have bothered with in the past. He could imagine him taking all this time to try and find a perfect response. And in the end, he did find it.

Good night {3

It was the little heart, he bet, that had caused the delay. It made Haru smile as well. He set his phone back down and drifted off to sleep quite easily this time.