The path to Makoto's house was a series of steps, brick walkways and more steps. Makoto could hear the ever-so-soft mewing of the fluffball, accompanied shortly after by quiet hushing from the ink-haired boy, all accompanied with the sound of leaves rustling in the chilly breeze.

The sight was like a thread tugging at the corners of Makoto's lips — his smile kept twitching at the edges, hidden from sight from the other boy by the wisps of olive hair in his face, to Haruka's utmost displeasure. His cerulean eyes continually flickered back and forth from the purring feline in his clutch to the gorgeous human walking leisurely next to him, unsure of which was the more worthy candidate of his sight.

(The words It's obvious, Harukakept ringing in his head, and the voice was projected a bit too similar to a certain cherry-red head's voice, to the point where he gave his head a little shake to tell his brain to Cut it out, I know.)

"We're here!" Makoto announced, turning to face Haruka , who was in the middle of an argument with his brain — You'd better say his name to doubly confirm that youknow!

"Makoto!" Haruka huffed out loud by accident, retorting in an adorably grumpy tone to the Rin voice in his head. A split second later, his eyes focused on the owner of the name he had just uttered, and he realized that they were making eye contact. The temperature of Haruka's cheeks immediately started spiking, all while he tried hiding his face behind his hair.

Harsh realization hit him — he had uttered Makoto's name by accident, while the olive-haired boy was focusing on him. Makoto tilted his head questioningly to the side — making Haruka's heart skip a beat — and smiled warmly. He seemed to be waiting for an explanation, so Haruka swallowed inaudibly and started his swift train of thoughts again, although it was moving as slow as a snail under Makoto's awareness.

In the small frame of silence that ensued, the kitten in Haruka's arms gave several loud meows, almost as if to fill the pause in the conversation.

"Ah — I wasn't calling you or anything," Haruka said, his voice quivering ever so slightly at the end from being caught off guard.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but he couldn't think of an excuse to give for randomly uttering Makoto's name, other than Oh I was just thinking of you, don't worry it's no biggy, I do it 24/7— which wasn't something he really wanted to let Makoto know, so he kept silent, closed his mouth and bit his lip, hoping the other boy would brush it off as nothing.

"Oh, I wasn't asking for details," Makoto said in an unruffled voice, placing his hand behind his head and taking a small step back, "I was just admiring how endearing you can be." He completed his statement with a wink, before whirling around and facing away from Haruka-

..only to instantly replace his charming look with a blush accompanied by a set of wide eyes.

Makoto wasn't exactly an expert in flirting — in fact, he never did quite flirt with anyone.

Besides, Haruka was essentially the first and only person that had ever left such an impression on him at first sight, and recurrently peaked his interest like this before. But he felt like Haruka's cuteness needed to be expressed, and he wasn't going to do it stuttering and blushing like an idiot.

Being suave wasn't a particularly strong trait of Makoto's, however, so he simply couldn't hide his shyness for long. He started pacing, quite too fast to be casual, towards the front door of his house, knocking politely.

Haruka, on the other hand, had iced up on the spot. He felt like every part of his body was at a complete stand-still, except for his heart, which was pumping with vigor, almost as if supplying extra blood through his pulmonary system in a vain (coughs vein) attempt to try and revive his unmoving body parts.

An effort purely gone to waste, however. Haruka stood there, watching Makoto tread briskly to his front door, gears in his mind slowly turning.

Did he just-

The word was hard for Haruka to even reproduce (heh.) in his mind. He inhaled deeply, even though he was saying none of this out loud and had entirely no need for an extra breath.

..flirt with me?

Haruka wasn't looking down on Makoto in the slightest. He just didn't fathom the olive-haired boy to blatantly flirt with him like that; it just didn't seem like it was in his character to be like that.

In between all the strings of confusion and astonishment getting knotted up in his mind, there was also one of happiness. Although shocked, he was complimented.

You could also say it was a surprise, yes, but a pleasant surprise.

Haruka smiled, his limbs loosening themselves up as his heart beat slowed considerably. He was aware of the squirming kitten in his arms that seemed to be asking to be placed down, so he bent down and let the kitten out of his grasp. It meowed delightedly and followed Haruka closely by the ankle.

From the door, Makoto sneaked a peek over his shoulder to check on Haruka's reaction. The ink-haired boy looked up directly into Makoto's eyes.

Haruka recognized the blush on Makoto's cheeks and the uncertainty in his beautiful green eyes. Understanding dawning on him, Haruka smiled the biggest smile Makoto had ever seen etched on his face before.

No teeth — it was uncharacteristic of Haruka to ever show his teeth — just a beautiful curve of his lips.

Makoto couldn't help but smile back, beaming at Haruka with his signature toothy grin. They were stuck in a moment together for a few seconds, before it was interrupted by the abrupt opening of the front door.

Both of them shifted their focus immediately to the kindly-looking woman standing at the door. In front of her were two young children carrying duffel bags, a boy and a girl, Makoto's younger siblings. They came running into Makoto's arms, wrapping their tiny arms around his lower waist. He laughed and bent down to hug them, his large arms easily enveloping them in a warm embrace.

Haruka twitched slightly, not out of jealousy but out of envy. Ren and Ran glanced at Haruka with big, curious eyes — and just as quickly as they had turned to look at him, they whipped their little heads around to face Makoto, who had started talking to them. Haruka swallowed the tiny smile he had been trying to give them, shifting his feet. Mrs. Tachibana said something in a gentle voice to Makoto and the two jumping children at his feet, before her gaze shifted to Haruka. She was smiling kindly at him, and had the same soft expression and droopy doe eyes as Makoto — Although Makoto's looked even more endearing, Haruka thought.

Makoto gestured Haruka to come closer, since he was still stuck at the path leading to Makoto's house. The ink-haired boy stepped forward and eventually stopped next to Makoto, who glanced at him with an almost loving look. Haruka responded with a twinkle in his eye.

Mrs. Tachibana caught sight of the look in her eldest son's eyes, and raised an eyebrow. As if somebody had flipped a switch, Haruka and Makoto both turned at the same time to glance at her, bright blue eyes and warm green eyes greeting her at the same time.

"Okaa-san, this is Haru-ch-," Makoto's mouth hung open for a moment, eyes darting to see Haruka's look of disapproval, while his mind rearranged the words into a more suitable formation, before he cleared his throat and corrected himself, "Haruka-kun."

Haruka allowed himself one more glance at Makoto, before returning his tender eyes to and giving a small bow of respect and acknowledgement. Her smile widened at his politeness.

"Ah yes, Haruka-kun," Mrs. Tachibana said, nodding. "The person you can never seem to stop talking about," She gave Makoto a playful smile, to which he responded by chuckling faintly, rubbing the back of his neck. Haruka raised an eyebrow, curious yet happy to hear that he was apparently a constant topic in the Tachibana household.

"But really, mom, you should see him swim; he's blazing fast. And there's just something about the way he swims — he makes it look completely effortless. He's so good he earned the nickname Dolphin among our swim team."

Anyone rambling about Haruka like that would usually annoy the ink-haired boy, who really didn't appreciate extra attention, but something about hearing Makoto speak highly about him was strangely flattering. His mind was distracted by a newfound feeling of pride he had never really experienced before, which most likely let to the slip of his tongue.

"Pfft, talk about yourself first," Haruka shrugged modestly. "It's nice to meet you, Okaa-sa-"

Haruka's heart leaped to his throat. Makoto simply widened his eyes and shot him a teasing look, accompanied by a smirk.

"I-I mean!" Haruka stammered, blushing slightly.

Mrs Tachibana chuckled, wiping her damp hands off on her apron. She proceeded to put her hand on Haruka's shoulder, giving it a friendly shake, and lowered her head to meet Haruka's gaze once again.

"Don't be shy," she said, her voice taking on a mischievous tone, "I guess I'll have to start getting used to that — who knows, maybe someday you'll really have to call me that." She winked at Makoto, who was slightly taken aback by his mother's words, although he smiled nonetheless. Haruka stayed silent, blushing at his shoes, pleased that he was accepted in a way, but also mortified by his mistake.

Way to make lasting first impressions, Haru.

"Well then! Makoto," Mrs Tachibana turned to face her eldest son, patting his shoulder, "It's about time for you to bring Ren and Ran to swim school now. Is Haruka-kun following you?"

Unconsciously, Haruka and Makoto both nodded in sync.

"Okay, be off then! And Haruka," She gave a sincere look at said boy. "You're always welcome to come over and have tea whenever you like."

Haruka smiled through his embarrassment, slowly warming up to her.

"Thank you for the offer-"

Haruka stopped and took a full two seconds to process his next word cautiously in order to avoid further awkwardness.

"Mrs. Tachibana," Haruka said carefully, causing a small chuckle to erupt from Makoto. The ink-haired boy shot a brief, deadly glare at his reaction, before continuing, "I'll come over when I can, I live close by."

Mrs. Tachibana waved goodbye as they walked down the path they came, with two bouncing children and a small white kitten following them closely. She breathed a satisfied sigh, before stepping back into the house and closing the door with a gentle click.

Haruka, who was still recovering from his slip-up, breathed a slow sigh of relief once he was safely out of Mrs. Tachibana's earshot. Makoto waved goodbye one last time, before taking a hand from each of his siblings and leading them away.

The swimming academy was a short 10-minute walk from their home. In that brief amount of time, Ren and Ran had somehow managed to recap all their day's events to their big brother, who listened to all their complaints and news, exclaimed at anything surprising and hummed to agree when necessary. Haruka walked alongside the three of them, keeping his ears open but his mouth shut, smiling into his jacket at how adorable Makoto's siblings were. In fact, he was so absorbed in their story-telling that when Ren was telling Makoto about something along the lines of school and a humiliated teacher, he guffawed into his jacket.

It was an arguably silent laugh, but when Haruka opened his eyes and looked at them, they were all staring at him with amusement and raised eyebrows. Haruka's eyes swept across Ren and Ran's faces, and stopped when he met Makoto's eyes. Makoto grinned at him teasingly upon eye contact, and to his utmost surprise, Haruka smiled back — effectively taking Makoto's breath away. Ren and Ran looked back and forth — from their big brother's surprised face to his new friend's smile. Haruka felt eyes on him and glanced down at them, blushing slightly once he realized that he was being observed. He cleared his throat politely and looked forward, breaking eye contact with them. Ren and Ran couldn't take their eyes off him, though. This mysterious new friend that made their brother blush. As if by telepathy, they exchanged looks with one another, sharing a voiceless conversation on the matter.

Haruka was surprised at himself for being almost sad when they had arrived at the swimming academy. He stopped a few feet away from the entrance, watching Makoto as he bent down and talked to Ren and Ran lovingly. He rubbed his arms and stuck them into his pocket, realizing that it had begun to get colder. He looked down at his feet, playing with little stones under his shoes, when he suddenly saw two little shadows cast in front of him. He looked up, and saw Ren and Ran standing there smiling at him, Makoto closely behind them. His eyes darted from Makoto's eyes to Ren's and Ran's, waiting for someone to say something.

"It's been nice to meet you, Nanase-senpai," Ren said, with a respectful tone. Haruka was taken aback slightly by the formality, proven by the twitch of his eyebrow, which made Makoto chuckle.

Should I? Haruka sighed internally. I've made this mistake once today already, am I gonna do it again?

It didn't take very long for him to make up his mind.

"Call me Haru-chan."

MY BBY HARU IS OPENING UP

guys also I realized something

I started this story when I was 13. Now I'm 16. WHEEE I'M OBVIOUSLY GOOD AT HANDLING RESPONSIBILITIES

I apologize profusely for the super long overdue update. This is a good story and I should put more effort into at least completing it lol.

Thank you to anyone who reads this story! I really hope you like it.

I know the Free! anime phase has sorta died down and everyone's more into KNB and Haikyuu! now (I'm guilty *raises arm*) but I hope there are some late bloomer fans out there (or really loyal fans!) who will enjoy this story! I'm back and with a wider vocabulary than ever! Hopefully that means better updates for you guyss

I promise I'll try to update the next time my busy schedule permits me! Much love