2.

When he was 10 and thought he was unbeatable, Haru had taunted a group of twelve-year-olds into racing him. Makoto had been against it, of course, wishing that his friend would be a little less confrontational, but Haru completely ignored him and got into running position. The three boys he had challenged smirked at him like he was some kind of joke. Makoto told him to be careful. Haru tsked at all four of them.

In retrospect, Haru was sure he would have won. He was smaller, but he had natural long legs and a more fit body while the others looked like brutes that should be off having a wrestling match or something. He clearly was in the advantage here. Makoto even had started cheering him on. Then his foot slipped on some loose gravel and Haru went down just like that, his momentum dragging him across the concrete like some slip and slide. Makoto ran to him. The twelve-year-olds bolted.

The concrete had not been kind, gashing at his legs with some rather deep scratches that painted a good part of his legs red with his blood. It stung and was hurting within seconds after Haru pulled himself into a sitting position. Not even he had a strong enough will yet to keep the tears from trailing down his face.

Makoto had been panicked at first, shouting "Haru-chan are you okay!?" and "Haru-chan you're bleeding!" but the moment he had noticed that it had been enough to cause Haru to cry another instinct had seemed to kick in and it was Makoto telling him what to do and Makoto washing the blood off his legs and Makoto giving him a piggyback ride from the park back home. It was in his later years that Haru realized that this was some sort of parental mode Makoto had adapted from having younger siblings. Mamakoto he liked to call it. He thought the term was quite fitting.

"Haru-chan, you really should be more careful." Makoto had even decided that a lecture was necessary on the walk back. All Haru said in reply was for him the drop the –chan, which Makoto just laughed to. "I'm serious though! It's lucky that it wasn't worse." Haru was silent, deciding that burrowing his nose into the back of Makoto's neck and staring at the hairs there was better than a reply. He could almost feel Makoto biting his lip even if he couldn't see it. "…Do they still hurt?"

"Not as much now." Makoto stopped to readjust him on his back before crossing a street.

"I'm glad." This time he was sure Makoto was smiling. "I was worried."

"Don't be stupid." He closed his eyes. Makoto's back was warm and was making him sleepy. "They're just scratches. They'll heal."

"I suppose." He chuckled. They were making their way up the steps now. Makoto was careful to go up them slowly to not jog Haru on his back too much. "Are your mom and dad home?" Haru nodded.

"Mom should be." This proved true as when they walked in, sounds could be heard from the kitchen. She poked out a head to greet them, only to become frazzled at the sight of her son's legs. Makoto was told to drop Haru off in the living room while she went up the stairs for the first-aid kit.

"Do you want me to wait for your mom to come back?" Makoto asked, sliding Haru gently onto the couch as to not disturb his legs. Haru shook his head.

"No it's fine." Makoto smiled.

"Okay. Feel better than, Haru-chan!" he made to leave, yet was pulled to a stop as Haru reached out and grabbed his shirt to stop him. "Haru?" the boy in question had his head turned to the side to hide his expression.

"Thank you, Makoto." A pause. "I… appreciate it. Your help, I mean…" A wide smile spread across Makoto's face and made it glow.

"Haru-chan!" Haru felt a dip form on the couch and turned to see why when he suddenly felt warm arms wrap around him and his face was buried into a shoulder. Makoto was shaking his head. "It was no problem. It kind of liked it-" he then pushed Haru away by the shoulders abruptly so green could look into blue "Not you getting hurt of course! But-" Makoto couldn't help but regain his smile as he looked to the side, something he probably had picked up from Haru. "I liked taking care of you. It almost made me feel like I was taking care of my girlfriend or something." Makoto chuckled. Haru was pretty sure his cheeks had burst into flame that day.

"'Taking care of his girlfriend', huh?" Haru poked the dolphin sitting with him in the tub, watching as it bobbled. It had been eight years since that had happened, and while it had been buried and forgotten in his memory, it had suddenly re-appeared like an annoying weed. He figured it had something to do with the fact that Makoto's date was today.

Haru sighed, sinking into the water and blowing out bubbles. He didn't understand, but he had been feeling uneasy all day and it had affected him quite negatively. First he had botched an exam in class. Then his times at practice had been lower than they ever had been before, which earned him a scolding from his couch. Neither could compare, however, to missing the train he needed to take to get home and having to wait a whole other hour just so he could get back. No adult, child, or dog dared to stand next to him and the aura he emitted for a 30 foot radius.

To try and relieve this quite unnecessary tension he had opted to take a bath, which in hindsight had been a good idea. Baths were great in calming him down since it immersed him in the thing he loved most. What he hadn't counted on, however, was to suddenly reclaim that memory and stupid young Makoto's statement. Now his stomach was acting weird again, like it had gained density or something. Haru couldn't even fathom an idea why. It was stupid. It was annoying. It needed to stop. What did that memory have to do with anything? Sure, at the time he had been embarrassed but now he didn't care whatsoever. Makoto always said weird stuff, so why did that one matter?

"Bothersome." Haru spoke out loud to the water, the sound converting to bubbles. This wasn't even his problem. Makoto could get a girlfriend if he wanted. It wasn't like he was going to stop him. He didn't care. He decided to place the blame on remembering purely on the fact that a commonality between today and then was the word 'girlfriend' and nothing more. It was the logical thing to assume in the situation presented to him. Now as for why his stomach was in knots, he was clueless.

Haru hadn't heard the ring on the first call. It was to be expected. After all he had been underwater and his mind had been full of thoughts that led him nowhere. As he did finally surface he caught the ringing of the second call, to which he just shook his head to rid himself of the water droplets and let it ring. Who would be calling him? He had no idea. He had no reason to be called. Haru sighed a heavy sigh. He got out of the tub, reaching for a towel as he did so.

Along with his other school stuff he had placed his phone on the counter in the kitchen, so that was where he headed as the tone died. When he reached it and finally picked up the device, he had two missed calls and a text message. All of them were from Makoto. He decided to open the text first.

Haru pick up I'm having a crisis (/T.T)/

A crisis? Haru couldn't help but wonder what it could be. He decided guessing was a useless effort and just hit redial on one of the missed calls. It rang twice before a very relieved Makoto answered.

"Haru-chan you answered!"

"Drop the –chan or I'll just hang up."

"What? No sorry! Don't hang up please I need your help!" Makoto begged. He sounded pretty desperate.

"What's wrong?" he asked. There was a pause.

"I-I… I don't know what to wear!" Haru blinked. He could have expected many things to be the reason for the call. There was a spider in his shower, for instance. Not like it hadn't happened before. Or perhaps he forgot about a project he needed to do and now he had to cancel the date. Honestly a fashion crisis was not one of them.

"… and you're calling me?" Haru asked bluntly.

"I don't have anybody else to ask…!" Haru could pretty much hear him pout over the phone. "Please, could you maybe come over and help me?" Haru looked at the time. 4:12. Makoto's date was in 3 hours. The poor bastard.

"Okay." Haru sighed. "I'm on my way."

"Oh thank you Haru! I really appreciate this! I promise to treat you to some mackerel for dinner sometime!" Just a bit Haru's eyes sparkled.

"I'll be there in forty." He hung up the phone.

Because of the trains delay, it was closer to an hour before Haru was standing on Makoto's doorstep. He didn't even get a chance to knock, however, before the door opened and Makoto was pulling him by the wrists inside.

"Haru, thank you so much! Sorry for just springing this on you." Haru just nodded, kicking off his shoes and putting his bag down at the entrance like he usually did. He noticed the frazzled look in Makoto's clothes and the dismay of his hair. Obviously he had been working on this for a while already.

"Don't worry about it. Do you at least have something narrowed down?" Makoto nodded, leading the way to his bedroom. Haru always enjoyed Makoto's room the most, secretly finding pleasure in how Makoto had taken up a collage of pictures around the walls. It was nice to see smiling faces of those he knew and missed once and a while. Walking in, he habitually found the picture of last year's national's race with Rei and Nagisa. It was his favorite picture amongst them all.

"I'm between these." He pointed to the piles of clothes on his bed, an assortment of about five outfits in total. They had quite the interesting range, starting from really casual to a formal vest and tie. He stared at the vest with an amused expression.

"Where exactly are you taking her?" he asked. "Prom?"

"Well, I don't know how formal you're supposed to be on dates!" Makoto protested. His flailing could have rivaled Nagisa's. "What if we go to a fancy place or something!? I don't want to look off. And she might have high tastes and expect me to dress the part!" Haru stared at him.

"Makoto. It's the first date. Relax." Haru tugged at a shirt, noticed the orange and yellow shirt he was used to wearing, and threw it on the pillows and away from those being considered. "You said you were going to the movies and then getting dinner, right?" Makoto nodded sheepishly.

"I suggest wearing something casual." Haru pulled up a green shirt and tan pants before going to Makoto's closet to pull out his blue jacket. "You look the best in that sort of thing. You want to impress her, right?"

"I- uh yeah." He nodded, catching the clothes as Haru tossed them at him.

"Try that on." Despite having seen Makoto change countless times in his life, Haru still gave him the decency of looking away and finding interest in a basic fold on the comforter.

"How does it look?" when Haru looked back over Makoto was smoothing down the green shirt self-consciously. Haru looked at him thoughtfully. His best friend wasn't exactly unattractive in the first place, not if his muscles, kind face, and fluffy hair had anything to say about it. No, how he looked wasn't really the issue. Walking over to him, Haru motioned for him to turn around as he took all of him in.

"You look fine. But it might be a little too informal. Take the shirt off. We'll try something else." Haru looked back to the bed and moved a couple aside before he picked up a blue and white striped sweater. It might be a little warm, but the sleeves were elbow-cut, so he figured Makoto would be fine.

"How about this?" he lifted it in the others direction, watching as Makoto flung the previous shirt onto the floor. "Your mother would be disappointed." Makoto grinned.

"I'm a free man now, Haru. I make my own rules! Earlier today, I didn't use a coaster. It left a ring and everything."

"Woah there wild man. Don't be taking too many risks your mom won't be able to take it. Now put this on." Haru threw it rather hard, making sure to hit him in the face. He smirked as Makoto stuck his tongue out at him. For someone who claimed to be a man, his response was quite childish and so incredibly Makoto. Of course, Haru responded with equal maturity. He threw another shirt at his face. "Change, idiot. You're date will be here in an hour."

A look of realization took over and Makoto was quickly pulling the shirt Haru picked out over his head and smoothing it down his shoulders. He spun at Haru's request.

"I think that looks good." Haru nodded. "Though your hair…" he stared at the messed up ends sticking out in various directions. "It looks like you haven't brushed it in days." Makoto started brushing it with his fingers to try and smooth it out.

"Better?" Haru shook his head, Makoto's effort having done absolutely nothing. He took a step closer.

"Here." Going up on his tiptoes he started running his fingers through the brunette's hair, straightening little clumps at a time and placing them where they were supposed to be. "This would be a lot easier if you weren't so damn tall." He mumbled, trying to get at the back and leaning even closer. He didn't even realize how close his and Makoto's face had gotten until he was done fixing it and he looked back at him, only to be in a sudden field of green. Had Makoto's eyes always been this bright and big and pretty? Whether or not they always had, Haru was quite aware now and his mind was comparing them to emeralds. Except he was sure that even the gem couldn't compare to the shine Makoto's had. It would be better to compare them to the sun. How could they be that naturally beautiful?

But this was quickly forgotten now as Makoto was suddenly exhaling and he could feel warm breath on his lips and now Haru's heart was pounding, pounding like a drum. Distance became as much as a requirement as breathing and he slid off his tiptoes and back a step as gracefully as a swimmer like he could muster. "T-there." He stammered, playing with his shirt sleeve so he would have an excuse to deliberately not look at Makoto. He willed his heart to calm itself because what the hell was it even doing? "You should be all ready. Wear your dark sneakers with this."

"Mmm." Makoto nodded, studying him. "Thanks a lot for your help, Haru. I really do owe you." Haru knew he was smiling and so looked up to take in the reality of it.

"I already said it's fine." As long as mackerel was still part of the plan, of course. "I probably should get going." He added.

"O-okay." Makoto nodded, his face falling a little bit. "Unless, you um… want to meet her. I wouldn't mind." Haru took note of the hope in Makoto's voice and decided that it won over the pressure in his stomach.

"Okay." And so Haru stayed to meet Hiromi.

She was way too beautiful to be real. This girl could not be a real person. Haru was sure of it. He had half a mind to tell Makoto that she must be a robot and to grab him and just get the hell out of there lest they want to be enslaved by the mechanic race. Yet, Makoto seemed convinced that his date was a living human being, and Haru supposed he should rely on his friend's judgment at least some of the time. Where to swim, of course, was always the exception. The answer was everywhere. Always.

The first thing Haru noticed was how blue her eyes were. They were deep and expansive, much like the ocean, and pretty too, just like her face. Her eyes were not like most, which often held pigments of other colors. No, instead they were one solid shade of blue. Their depth was mesmerizing to the point of maddening. Together with her rich black hair, pulled back and curled to incredible perfection, she was vibrant and stuck out like a rose amongst wildflowers.

And them legs. This girl knew she had a figure. Knew what to wear to show it off, too. The skirt she wore was short, pleated, and black, hugging her tightly while in contrast her shirt was ruffled, loose, and lilac. Over her shoulders hung a velvety black fabric that looked like it was supposed to be used to keep her warm, though Haru doubted it could do much to help her. Maybe it was just decoration.

"Hiromi-chan!" Makoto smiled, his eyes lighting up as he stepped aside for her to walk into his apartment. Haru stood off to the side, doing his best to stay out of the way. "You look very cute today!" she waved her hand in the air, pushing aside the complement like it was nothing.

"Thank you, Makoto-kun." Hiromi smiled, displaying perfect teeth. "You look very handsome yourself!" Haru was starting to wish he could melt into the walls. He just felt so awkward being there.

"Ah!" A blush formed on Makoto's cheeks. "Thank you! But I had help from Haru, so I can't take much credit there." He chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

"'Haru'?" she said his name with a question, finally just noticing that Haru was even in the room. Her eyes danced across every feature, taking in all of him at once. It made him ungodly uncomfortable, and he immediately looked in another direction and away from those massive eyes. His heart was pounding.

"Ah! I forgot!" Makoto sounded embarrassed, waving his hands in the air. He rushed over and set a warm hand on Haru's shoulder. "Hiromi-chan, this is my best friend, Haruka Nanase. We grew up together."

"Haruka?" a smile burst across her face, and Haru could immediately tell she was trying hard not to laugh. "So you have a girly name too?" Haru puffed a breath of air at his bangs. "Sorry, sorry!" she apologized, still trying to stifle it by pressing fingers to her delicate lips painted by gloss. "I'm just- I thought Makoto-kun was a girl the first day of classes too so I'm just a bit surprised as all."

"Well, he does need a haircut." Haru reached up and yanked on a clump of Makoto's hair for effect. "It's bound to happen."

"Haruuuuuuu-" Makoto whined, trying to shake off his hand. "That's mean…" meanwhile Hiromi was straightening herself and bowed her head slightly towards Haru.

"Sorry, Haruka-kun, I really didn't mean to laugh." She offered a pleasant smile and a hand. "It really is great to meet you, especially if you are a close friend of Makoto-kun." Haru stared at the offered hand with a pause, contemplating whether or not to take it before deciding that since Makoto was right there, he better.

"Yeah." Her grip was strong and warm, all in all very friendly. And yet Haru got an uneasy feeling from their conjoined hands and broke the shake quickly. It really felt like his heartbeat didn't know the meaning of calm anymore. Makoto looked at the clock on the television.

"We better get going if the movie is at 7:30." He pulled his hand off Haru's shoulder and led the way to the door, opening it so Hiromi could pass through. "Are you going to leave with us or stay over for a little bit?" Haru grabbed his stuff off from a chair he had left it on, shaking his head.

"I have homework to do." An expression of guilt crossed over Makoto's face for a moment before hiding it, instead giving a nod.

"Okay."

Haru followed behind them, the two walking side by side in front, and found himself looking over the railing instead as they made their way down the stairs. He couldn't watch as her hand twitched beside Makoto, obviously wanting to grab it, nor could he look at Makoto and see how he was smiling at her and not have his stomach twisting into knots. He hated this uneasiness and the coldness that crept and the pounding of blood and never in his life had he ever looked forward to saying goodbye to Makoto as he did now.

"Bye Haru!"

"See you."

"Nice meeting you, Haruka-kun!" As they turned left towards the theater, he turned right towards the station. He was about halfway down the block when he turned to look back for no reason that he could explain with words. The two of them were holding hands, fingers locked and all. It was at that moment that Haru's heart stopped and everything burned.

Fuck.