I came back from the dead. Hopefully this is to your liking, as I've had writer's block lately. Like severe writer's block. Like thinking you can see the light at the end of the tunnel but realize it's a torch and you're nowhere near the end or have any idea what you're doing. XP
Oh wells, without further ado, the story!
Disclaimer: I don't own Free! and I forgot to do this on another story, remind future me to fix it later.
Chapter 5
Day 2:
Makoto's eye twitched. He could feel the sun shining through, and not wanting to get up, he snuggled his pillow. He nuzzled his face into it. It was so warm... Then he realized that he was buried in what felt more like hair. The pillow he was holding was breathing.
The brunet looked down in horror to see Haruka, sleeping peacefully. He gaped and blushed, unsure of what to do. Should he go back to sleep and pass it off as an accident? He didn't want to wake up the merman, who looked so calm in his sleep. He leaned his head back, and sighed quietly.
He began slowly extricating himself from the boy when he felt the other pull him back down. Haruka groaned and opened one sleepy eye. "Ha-Haru-"
Before he could say anything more, Haruka pulled him down and wrapped his arms around his neck. The merman mumbled incoherently before moving himself closer to the brunet. This time, it was Haruka trapping Makoto. The raven had wrapped his arms around the other and rested his neck at the crook of his neck. He ended up tangling their legs as well, one pale leg placed above Makoto and another was caught in-between the brunet's thighs. The sleeping raven's soft breaths fluttered across his collarbone. The taller male was paralyzed with embarrassment.
The warmth wasn't just coming up to his face, Makoto realized. He turned even redder and tried again, more firmly, to pull away. God if Nagisa and Rei found him like this….As much as he kind of, sort of, maybe…liked this warmth, he needed to get away. "H-Haruka…" Makoto said, gently shaking the raven awake, "H-Haruka, please wake up…"
Then he heard the front door open and feet running excitedly across the floor. "Onii-san, we're hoooome!"
A girl's voice resounded with her brother's, "Good afternoon, Onii-chan! Ran saw things you'll never believe-"
Ren and Ran looked at their blushing sibling, in a tangled embrace with a pretty raven-haired boy. The two of them looked at each other, then back at their speechless older brother.
Makoto seemed to snap out of it. "I-I-It's not what this looks like!" he spluttered, trying to force the blush to go away.
"Eh? What's not what it looks like?" Oh no…Makoto paled when he heard the voice. The curvy redhead, Gou, came walking in. "Ren-kun, Ran-chan, what's wrong…." She trailed off when she saw the blushing brunet.
"Gou-chan, this is-"
The redhead squealed, ignoring the fact that she was called 'Gou', and whipped out her phone. "You should have told me you two got together!"
"W-what?!" Makoto struggled to get off the couch without hurting Haruka. The raven held on tighter the more the brunet moved. He managed to get the merman's arms off of him when the kids spoke up again.
Ren tugged at the hyperventilating female, "Ne, I thought that when people got together it was supposed to be between a lady and a guy?"
Gou waved her hand dismissively, "Gender doesn't matter, it's all about love, Ren-kun, love!" She stopped her photo shoot to grab the young brunet by the shoulders, "So if you have a guy that you really, really like then it's okay to be with him! Just make sure you let your big Onee-chan take pictures!"
Ren flinched at the fiery determination in her voice, "U-uh, sure thing Gou-onee-san."
His sister on the other hand began to whine, "But Ran wanted a big sister, Onii-chan!" She huffed and turned her head away.
With so much noise going on, Haruka finally woke up. He opened his eyes and stared sleepily at the squirming brunet he was hugging. "Mm…Good morning…" He pulled himself away from Makoto and sat up. The other teen got up quickly and pushed himself to the far side of the couch.
"S-sorry Haruka! I fell asleep and it must have been uncomfortable-"
Gou cut in, "He wasn't too rough with you, ne Haruka-san? I know first times can be a little difficult,"
"Gou-chan!"
"It's Kou!" she pouted, before continuing, "And what's wrong with a little comfort? Haruka must be so sore right now!"
Makoto spluttered, "I-It wasn't like that at all!"
As the brunet wailed while the redhead teased mercilessly, Ren and Ran leaned over the couch to get a better look at the sleepy merman. The boy spoke first, "Ne, Haruka is kind of a girly name right?"
Ran nodded, "And you're too pretty to be a guy!" She smiled brightly, "Then you can be Ran's onee-chan!" And she reached over to hug the startled raven. The merman looked down at the girl clinging to him, and awkwardly patted her one the head.
"So when are you getting married, Onii-chan?" Ran asked excitedly, still clinging to the raven.
Ren chimed in, "Are you gonna propose soon? Tell me you at least told Okaa-chan and Otou-san about your wife."
Gou laughed, "Then I guess it's up to me plan your wedding! Do you think Haruka-san would look good in a dress Ran-chan?"
"Yes, yes!" Ran agreed excitedly.
Makoto groaned, "Why me?" And he rolled up in a ball in embarrassment. Leaving the rest of them to laugh and plan his imaginary wedding w-with H-Haruka…Now that he thought about it, he could imagine the raven looking really cute in a dress….Perverted thoughts! He smacked himself and groaned loudly again, much to the confusion of everyone else. Why me? Makoto wailed silently, as Ren patted him on the back.
"Women, am I right Onii-san?"
Haruka ended up helping Gou make breakfast for everyone, as Makoto's offer of cooking was enough to dampen the mood. And as soon as Gou realized that Haruka wanted to help and could actually make a decent meal, the redhead flashed a bright smile and grinned conspiratorially at Makoto. She mouthed, 'Good housewife' and trotted in to the kitchen with a bright smile on her face.
Makoto sighed as he sat at the dinner table between his two bickering siblings.
"Onee-chan is going to play with me first!"
"No way! Haruka-san is playing with me!" Ren then added, "And it's Onii-san not Onee-chan! Haruka-san is a boy!"
"No, he's going to be my big Onee-chan and girls should play with other girls!"
"Didn't I just say he was a boy? Idiot Ran!"
"Shut up!"
Makoto put his head on the table. Why did it come to this? He wasn't even involved in that way with Haruka, but everyone seemed to insist that they were together. Sure, he couldn't deny that he was attracted to the beautiful merman, but they belonged to two entirely different worlds. And besides…Haruka was in love with someone else. The thought of it made his heart tighten a bit. He blamed this all on hormones.
"Haruka's just a friend…"
"Oh? You don't sound too sure about that, Mako-chan." The brunet jumped when Gou placed a plate of onigiri on the table. "Sorry, but that was all we could make! You don't have a lot of stuff in your fridge."
"No, it's fine!" Makoto said quickly, "Um, thanks for taking Ren and Ran home. I'm sorry you had to go out of your way to do it, I shouldn't have left my phone on vibrate…"
"Aww, it's no problem at all Mako-chaaan! After all you were a little…preoccupied weren't you?" she said, nudging him playfully. Makoto blushed and turned his head away.
"I-It's not like that at all!" he said, but still eyeing the door for a certain raven-haired boy.
Upon entering the room, Haruka gently put down a plate for each of the twins. "Here you go," he said softly.
"Itadakimasu!" they said enthusiastically, shining brightly at Haruka, who shifted awkwardly at the thank you. After the twins spouted their thanks, the merman sat himself down in front of Makoto. Gou on the other hand, said she need to go somewhere (*wink wink*) and that she would leave them alone. A quick peck on each of the twins' heads and she was off.
"Nee-chan, will you play with me after we eat?" the young brunette asked.
"No way, let's go to the park and then you can play with me!" her counterpart said through a mouthful of rice.
"Hey, don't talk with your mouth full," Makoto admonished lightly, "You'll choke if you keep talking so fast."
"Park?" the merman said, cocking his head to the side.
"Oh, um, well you know, a place where there's a bunch of trees and stuff and people go there to pass the time outside I guess…" the brunet explained awkwardly. "Do you want to go later?"
The twins answered for him, "Of course we do!"
"W-what, you guys I was asking Haruka!"
"It doesn't matter, we were going to go anyways!"
"Ran wants to teach Nee-chan about the park too! Does Nee-chan not live in a place with parks?"
Haruka silently shook his head. "Then Ran will take good care of Nee-chan!"
Ren cut in, "No, I'm going to! Ran, you mess up everything anyway!"
"Ran does not!"
"Yeah you do!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
Makoto sighed exasperatedly before looking at the quiet merman. He had been avoiding the raven's gaze after the incident this morning, too embarrassed to really say anything. But he was glad he looked, because he would have missed the small smile that happened to grace Haruka's face. It was shy and slow, but it was there.
He had the sudden urge to touch that sweet face, to make that smile grow but he held himself back. In his trance, the onigiri he was holding missed his mouth and hit his chin instead. The twins laughed at him while he blushed madly in embarrassment.
"Onii-chan, you're so funny!"
"Yeah, the food goes into your mouth, not your chin!"
Makoto sighed at the laughing children and turned his attention to Haruka, whose eyes were alight with amusement. "Not you too Haruka!"
The raven put a hand to his mouth, presumably to hide his beautiful smile, before leaning forward to pluck a piece of rice on the brunet's chin. Makoto blushed even harder when he saw Haruka pop the piece of rice into his mouth. Stupid hormones. It seemed today was the make fun of Makoto day. He found that he didn't really mind if it made the merman smile.
The park was an…interesting experience. To say the least. Haruka, of course, looked and tried to touch everything. Ren and Ran did little to stop him because they pretty much joined him in his "touch everything you see game". If not for Makoto hold him back, he's pretty sure that Haruka and his siblings would be off touching that police officer they passed by and get arrested for sure.
The park wasn't too crowded today, thankfully. There was the occasional old man feeding the birds on a bench and of course, other children were running around the fountain and splashing everything in sight. Couples were walking arm in arm with dogs or were whispering sweet nothings to each other under the various trees that grew in bunches around the park.
The park, unlike the rest of the city, managed to keep somewhat cool. There was a nice lake that sat at the park's center. At the edge of the lake, farthest from the fountain and picnic area that everyone flocks to was a large weeping willow. Makoto had always loved this place, aside from the beach that he and his friends would always go to. It was quieter there and the branches were low enough and wide enough to climb as easily as a kid on the playground.
"Ren, please be careful! It's too high, can you come down pleeeasse?" Makoto wailed, climbing after the active boy.
"I'll come down in just a sec!" Ren called back distractedly. Where was it? He knew they were here somewhere…
"No, Ren! It's dangerous, just come down!" Makoto yelled again, this time with the best authoritative voice he could muster. The leaves rustled furiously and the brunet feared that his younger brother had perhaps missed a step and fallen. He climbed the tree faster and nearly fell off when he saw his younger brother pop his head out of the foliage above.
"Okay, I'm done," Ren said matter-of-factly, "Can you move, Onii-san? It's dangerous if you get in the way and I could fall you know."
The older male's eye twitched, "That's what I've been saying the entire time….ugh nevermind I'll move out of the way then."
He climbed down, making sure to keep a close eye on his younger brother. Thankfully, they both got down safely. Okay, so maybe as a kid he was able to climb this tree no problem but it was different if his little brother was climbing it! He didn't want his precious little brother to get hurt after all. Getting down he noticed Haruka was blushing as Ran was attaching a blue hana kanzashi to his hair.
"What are you doing with Haruka, Ran?"
Ran turned around and smiled brightly at him, "Ran is putting on her pin for Nee-chan because Ran remembered that she had a pretty blue hana kanzashi! Doesn't Nee-chan look pretty in it?"
Makoto flushed a bit when Haruka looked at him. A large blue blossom was placed delicately into his raven hair and his face was framed by the cascade of smaller blue flowers. The color really brought out his eyes and the brunet couldn't help but wonder how the raven would look in a proper kimono. That was when his thoughts went into the gutters and he promptly slapped himself.
"It…you look nice, Haruka," the brunet said finally.
Haruka blushed, which only make him seem even prettier. Darn hormones. That was surely the problem. That must have surely been the reason why he couldn't seem to take his eyes of the merman and why he couldn't seem to form coherent sentences and why there was this strange fluttering in his chest. They stared at each other for a little longer before Ran broke the odd silence. "So? Nee-chan looks really pretty right? Do you like it Nee-chan?" the girl asked excitedly, looking at him with expectant eyes.
Haruka looked unsure of what to say and opted for patting her gently on the head. "Thank you," he whispered quietly. An ecstatic smile came onto the girl's face and she hugged the merman tightly.
"Ran is so happy Nee-chan likes it. Ran likes Nee-chan a lot and wants Nee-chan to know that she approves of you and wants you to be Onii-chan's wife!"
"E-eh? Don't say such weird things, Ran! Ahahaha…" Makoto tried to laugh off the awkward statement and pried the girl off of the poor, flustered merman. "Sorry, Haruka, it's been a little crazy so far today huh?"
Haruka tilted his head, the pink still not off his face, and nodded slightly. 'It's okay,' his eyes seemed to say. He turned to look at Ran, who had run off to bother Ren. The boy was holding something behind his back and whispering something to his counterpart before the two seemed to nod in agreement about something. Whatever it was, it probably wasn't any good for Makoto.
"Onii-san! We're going to pick some daisies, okay?" Ren called out.
"Okay, but stay where I can see you!" the older brother replied and they ran off into a nearby field, picking random bits of vegetation on the way. They could still here the twins' bickering from here.
The brunet sighed and Haruka spoke up, "They're interesting."
"Yeah, they are aren't they? A little overbearing sometimes, and they love to go out of their way to embarrass me sometimes, but that's what siblings are for right? Honestly, sometimes I wonder if they'll ever stop fighting," he smiled to himself. "I remember when they were completely glued to each other. Once, they refused to go to the different rooms at the bathhouse because they wanted to be together. We got scolded a lot by the manager because the kids kept wailing."
He turned to the merman, the warm smile still on his face, "Do you have any siblings Haruka?"
The raven looked down at his hands, "No. I don't have anyone…"
Makoto sat up a little straighter, "What do you mean? Don't you have parents? Family? Friends?"
Haruka frowned, the bright light in his eyes disappeared and became dull, sad. "No. No one…" he trailed off, turning away to look pointedly at a nearby rock.
The taller male reached out to the other, "Haruka…" He placed a comforting hand on the other's shoulder and turned the merman towards him. "Haruka I-" He was cut off when he felt something hit him in the back of the head. He was pushed forward, and before he knew it, his lips were on Haruka's. The raven's eyes were open, wide in surprise, mirroring Makoto's own expression. They must have looked ridiculous, lips touching and eyes wide open with neither able to move away or move on…
Makoto immediately pulled away, "I-I'm sorry Haruka! I didn't mean to, I just got hit by something…" He turned around and saw a little boy running up to them.
"Sorry mister, I didn't mean to hit you!" the boy said, although not really looking contrite, "Um, can I have my ball back mister?"
"S-sure, but please be more careful where you kick next time, okay?" the older teen admonished gently, rubbing the lump that was forming on his head.
"Sure thing. Sorry about ruining your date mister!" the boy said before running off with his ball.
"We're not on a date…" he said, but gave up as the boy had already run off and it seemed the world was determined to see the two of them together. Not that Makoto minded. But he was sure Haruka did. "Ugh, I'm sorry Haruka, I didn't mean for that to happen." He rubbed the lump on his head, "Ah…That's going to hurt in the morning…"
He felt gentle fingers pry away his hand and massage his head soothingly. Makoto sighed and leaned into the touch before snapping his eyes open and realizing that a certain merman was holding him in such an intimate way. "I-I," he started but Haruka pulled on his head so he ended up lying down on the other's lap.
"Stay still," Haruka commanded in that gentle voice of his. He said it softly, but the 'don't you dare disobey me' tone was unmistakable.
"B-but," he started again, but the raven flicked him on the forehead.
"Stay still." How could he say no? Makoto ended up relenting and shifted so he was more comfortable. Or as comfortable as he could be, here lying on the ground and trying to keep the warmth down as the ridiculously attractive boy gently massaged his head. Haruka's expression seemed almost tender, touching the brunet's face as delicately as possible. Before long, the merman looked up and began to hum. A soft, gentle tune that reminded him of his childhood, it sounded so familiar and yet foreign at the same time. As he was still feeling awkward, the injured male spoke up.
"A-about what I was saying earlier, Haruka," the brunet said hesitantly. The raven turned his attention to him, those blue orbs looking at him attentively. "Uh, what I wanted to say was…if you don't have anyone at home, Haruka, if you don't have anyone to go to…I'll be here for you. I'll definitely be here to help you and support you whenever you need it. I won't let you be alone anymore, so please, don't ever frown like that ever again. You look prettier when you smile…I mean-! Uh, I mean you should be happy and not sad and stuff…" He turned away, unable to finish what he said after the slip.
Damn it what was he saying? Haruka liked Rin! He just couldn't…
The merman tapped him gently on the cheek to get his attention. When Makoto looked back up at the raven he was smiling. Or as much as one could smile with a poker face like his, but the light, the spark was there. And that's all that the brunet needed to know that the other male had acknowledged his words. The teen stuck out his pinky to him. "Promise?"
A little taken aback and still lost in those deep blue eyes, the injured teen blurted out, "Aren't pinky promises for kids?"
Haruka turned pink and pouted (it was still really cute though). "Promise?" he said insistently.
The brunet stuck out his own pinky and curled it around the other's pinky, "I promise." The contact lingered longer than was necessary. It left Makoto feeling a little giddy inside and when he let go, he pushed himself up. He forced himself to look the merman in the eye and ask the question that'd been bothering him all day. "Haruka, are you-"
"Onii-chan!" Ran came up to them with a panting Ren coming up. "Onii-chan, Nee-chan, look!" She held up a small bouquet of white daisies. "Ran found these out there. Will Nee-chan hold these for Ran?" Before he could say anything, the excited 9-year-old shoved the bouquet in the merman's hands. "Hurry up Ren!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" he panted, holding up his shirt to carry…bunches of flowers and petals. When he got to them, he was out of breath, "You run too fast Ran! I'm the one carrying everything here!"
"Stop complaining! You're just too slow!" She pulled out a few rocks from her brother's shirt and placed them in a circle around the two teenagers.
"Um, what are you doing Ran?" Makoto asked, wondering what the enthusiastic girl was up to this time. The girl put a finger to her lips and told him to 'shhh' and continued to make her rock circle with admirable concentration. When she was done, she wiped her brow and leaned over to Ren.
"Since Ran is feeling nice today, Ran will let you do the sermon and Ran will throw the petals," she whispered to her twin and he nodded. She grabbed a fistful of petals and began throwing them around the two sitting teens.
Ren cleared his throat, and turned to Haruka, "Do you take our Onii-san to be your husband?"
Makoto interrupted him, "What are you doing, Ren?!" He was completely red now, "We're just friends, don't-"
"I do." The brunet choked when he heard that and coughed several times before realizing what the raven had said.
"W-what?" the green-eyed male said between coughs.
"I do?" Haruka said quizzically, his expression was confused, "Isn't this a game?"
Ran, getting impatient, rushed them along, "It's a practice ceremony yes! Now hurry up already Onii-chan!"
Ren continued, "Do you take Haruka-san (Nee-chan!) to be your wife?"
"I-I-" Makoto stuttered. Haruka and Ran looked at him expectantly, "I do."
Ren clapped his hands, "Then you may kiss the bride!" Ran jumped and hummed the wedding bells song while she furiously threw even more petals around the pretend newlyweds.
"Kiss, kiss!" Ran chanted, skipping around the blushing teenagers. Ren joined her. "Kiss the bride, kiss the bride!"
The elder sibling, deciding he had had enough, rose his voice, "Guys, stop it please? Haruka's is just-" He was cut off again. He seemed to be getting interrupted a lot lately. The world really never seemed to listen when he said that they were just friends. Not like he could complain as Haruka's lips pulled away from the cheek he had kissed last time.
The twins whooped in celebration. "W-why?" the taller male asked, his mind was reeling. Wasn't Haruka in love with Rin? So why…?
"They said to kiss the bride," the merman said bluntly.
"Eh?" Wait a second, so he was the bride now? This was all too confusing. So, the raven had kissed him twice, confided in him, stayed with him…does this mean they really are in a relationship? Makoto stared at the other teen, "So we're…?"
"Onii-chan is so slow!"
"Onii-san you need to get with the program already."
Haruka sighed and flicked him on the forehead, "Stupid."
The brunet could do nothing but gape as they all began to laugh, but it was the merman that he focused on. He laughed out loud, a soft, sweet sound. The smile on Haruka's face was priceless and Makoto wished he had his camera, to capture that brightness so he could treasure it forever. But for now, he supposed, he would have to simply commit it to memory. And he laughed along, basking in the warmth of his crush's sweet smile. He'd admit it, he was falling pretty hard. Maybe he should have been more careful, but he could care less at the moment. For once, everything seemed just perfect.
I don't know, but next chapter I have a better idea of where it's headed. Halfway done actually, so look forward to it! Drop a review on your way out please. And thanks again to those who reviewed/favorited/followed. I heart you.