"Haruka-senpai!" cried Gou, running to the pool. "At least wait until I've finished before you jump in the pool! I'm not done talking about the prefecturals!"

"I don't care about winning anyway." said Haru, as ever, and Makoto made a smile cross his face as he stood at the side.

They were filming a scene in the studio at that moment, and Makoto was smiling, but he, for the most part, was sad inside. Every day, his crush on Haruka got bigger and harder to contain, and he was feeling the strain of it. He would keep reminding himself that if he told Haru, it would ruin their friendship, because obviously Haru didn't like him in that way, he probably didn't think of any boys like that. But still, Makoto kept smiling, because that's the person he was, and he wouldn't let his emotions affect anyone else.

Besides, I have the show, don't I? Even if it's not real, I can pretend, and that makes me happy.

Makoto took his cue and got into the water.

"I'm going to see if your times have improved." Gou exclaimed. "Makoto-senpai, you're up first! Three, two, one, GO!"

Makoto pushed himself backwards underneath the water, focusing on nothing but swimming as he made his way back up to the surface. He used his long arms to power himself, as he thought about whether Haruka was watching him...

Stop that train of thought right there.

Makoto hit the turn, and motored back to the starting blocks, where Gou was waiting with a stopwatch.

"Well done, Makoto-senpai, you beat your personal best! Now you, Haruka-senpai!"

"I don't want to." said Haru.

Makoto looked at him and said, "Please, Haru-chan?"

"Drop the -chan." grumbled Haru, but he got out of the water and stood on the starting block all the same.

"Three, two, one, GO!" Gou cried.

Makoto watched as Haru dived into the water, an obvious look of admiration on the former's face, but he wasn't just doing it for the audience.

Haru looks beautiful this way, he thought.

Before Makoto knew it, Haruka had finished, and Gou was congratulating him on a new personal best, saying, "why is everyone swimming so fast today?"

Haru shrugged, and matter-of-factly voiced exactly what the script had told him to.

"I did it because Makoto wanted me to."

Makoto visibly blushed; he knew it was just an act, but he allowed himself to pretend, just this once, that what they were not doing was not fabricated, but real life.

After having finished their scene, Makoto walked into the changing room, looking for Haruka, and found Nagisa sat on Rei's lap, kissing him passionately.

Makoto turned right round again and got the hell out of there.

As he walked up a corridor, he heard Gou's voice.

"You see, Haruka-san (at least Gou doesn't call us senpai in real life like Rei does, Makoto thought),I've had a crush on you for about a month."

Makoto's heart sank. He's going to say yes, he thought.

"It took me a while to find the courage to tell you, and you don't have to give an answer just yet-"

Then Haru spoke.

"I'm sorry Gou-san, but I can't go out with you."

Makoto's heart went back to its proper place.

"You see, I already like somebody else."

Then Makoto turned and walked away as fast as he could, blindly wiping the tears from his eyes.

HARU POV

"Haruka-san, who is it that you like then?" Gou asked.

Haru weighed up the pros and cons of telling her, but decided to just do it.

After all, what harm could it do?

"Haruka-san-"

"It's Makoto." Haru said, turning away to find the object of his affections, inspired by Gou's courage, and mentally preparing himself to do the same thing.

A.N- I was really stuck on what to write for this chapter, and... I just kind of ended up writing this.

Should I end the story next chapter, or hold it off for another chapter or so?

Again, your reviews give me reason to continue this. Thank you so much for the lovely things you've written, it really makes my day.

Feel free to correct me on any errors made!