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Haru’s eyes flutter open as he feels his shoulder begin to shake. His eyes wearily glance upwards at the culprit and he winces slightly as the sun makes contact with his pupils. Still, through his narrow slits, he makes out the figures of the entire swim team.
"Haru-chan, it’s time to go home," Nagisa chirps. He holds Haru’s bag in his hands and gestures towards his watch, emphasizing the time. Behind Nagisa, Haru sees Rei pushing his glasses up with the tip of his finger. They had sat atop the roof of the school after practice and, when Rei and Nagisa had become too loud, the raven-haired boy had dozed off in an effort to get some rest. It’s then that Haru realizes he isn’t sleeping on the floor.
"Makoto?" he mumbles questioningly, and the shift of a leg under him confirms his theory. Haru props his arms against the stone ground and pushes himself upright, blinking slowly at the boy.
Makoto allows a hesitant laugh to escape and raises his hand to rub the back of his neck. “Sorry. I didn’t want you to be uncomfortable.”
Haru arches a brow. “Were you uncomfortable? You probably couldn’t do anything.”
Immediately, he holds his arms up in front of his body, shaking them in denial. “No, of course not. I was just studying, anyway.”
Haru glances over to his right and indeed sees a textbook open next to Makoto, a pencil hidden within its crease. Makoto notices his gaze and a smile decorates his lips. He watches as Haru stands and takes his bag from Nagisa.
"Mako-chan, you weren’t really studying," Nagisa bellows animatedly.
"E-eh?" Makoto’s eyes stay locked on the younger boy’s but he clearly sees Haru look back at him.
"You were drawing."
"Oh! Oh." Makoto laughs sheepishly. "Well I did get tired of studying after a while."
At the answer, Haru opens up his bag and checks to see if the lunch he saved was still there. While reaching down to grab a hold of the food, the door to the roof gets thrown open and smacks into Haru’s hand. His bag falls on the floor and the contents of it gush out.
"Sorry!" Gou peeps, hands flying to her mouth. "I’ll help you!"
"It’s fine," Haru assures, getting down on his knees to gather all the materials. Makoto is instantly by his side to give a helping hand.
"What do you need, Gou-san?" Rei asks.
"Ah!" She remembers the reason she came to the roof. "The school is closing now. I thought I’d get you guys before you were forced to spend a night out here." Her eyes quickly lock with Nagisa’s as she mutters, "Another night here.”
Giggles escape Nagisa’s throat. “Ah but that was a fun night, wasn’t it, Gou-chan?”
"It was not! And call me Kou.”
"Gou."
"Kou!"
"Gou."
"Kou!"
"Kou."
"Gou!"
"Okay!"
"Agh!" A defeated sigh escapes the mouth of the younger Matsuoka. "Let’s just go already."
"Here you are, Haru-chan," Makoto says as he hands his friend the last of his things. Haru stuffs it into his bag with a quick, grateful mumble and gets to his feet once more. Makoto grabs the book next to him and follows Haru’s lead as the team leaves the roof.
~~~
Haru and Makoto wave goodbye to Nagisa, Rei, and Gou and watch as the train leaves the station. Makoto spins on his heels and begins to walk towards Haru’s home and the other follows without a word.
"You must’ve been tired," Makoto brings up, referring to the nap Haru had taken on the roof. Immediately, Haru looks to the right as a blush covers his cheeks. He huffs in response and Makoto laughs. "It’s okay, Haru."
Haru turns his head to the left upon those words and tilts it slightly, looking up at Makoto. “You didn’t have to do that.”
"I wanted to." Makoto knows what he’s talking about.
"Hm." The boys continue to tread down the sidewalk. "Why?"
"Why?" Makoto repeats. "Like I said, you looked uncomfortable. I suppose… I didn’t want you to rest uneasily. You were actually fumbling around a lot but when I put you on my lap, you looked very peaceful. You barely moved."
"Ah, well…" Haru clears his throat gently. "Thank you."
The words surprise Makoto. He always knew Haru was grateful for his actions but was never the type to voice them. His heart skips a beat in response, a smile stretching across his face.
Haru notices this and moves closer to Makoto. “You seem a little off today.”
"Off?"
Haru nods. “Did something happen while I was asleep?”
"Eh? Nothing happened," Makoto answers. His voice falters a bit.
"Alright then." They continue to walk along the side of the road but every once in a while, Haru gazes up at Makoto curiously.
~~~
"I’m home!" Makoto steps into his house and slides off his shoes, ducking his head to get past the door frame. Screams begin to bellow through the house and he watches as Ren and Ran round the corner and launch themselves at the older brother.
"Onii-chan! We missed you!" they echo, and the younger ones wrap their arms around Makoto’s legs. They giggle as Makoto lowers his hand and tickles them.
"We were waiting for you to come home!"
"Yeah! We want to play with you and Haru-chan!"
Makoto laughs gently and bends down to look his siblings in the eye. “Haru didn’t come with me today.”
"Aww, why not?" the twins whine in unison. Pouts begin to decorate their faces.
"He can’t come every day," Makoto reminds them, ruffling his hands through their hair. "Maybe tomorrow."
"Fine. But can you play with us, Onii-chan?" Ran asks. Her jumps began to shake the keys hanging by the door.
"Eh, not today. I need to do some stuff for school," he answers and begins to walk towards his room. Behind him, he hears the twins let out a long flurry of sighs but that quickly ends when they hear their favorite show play on the TV.
Makoto slips into his room and closes the door behind him. The sound of the lock clicking into place draws out a sigh as he drops onto the bed and covers his face with his pillow.
"Absolutely not!" Rei had grumbled. His arms crossed over his chest. "I will not wear another speedo!"
"Aww, but Rei-chan!" Nagisa whined, throwing his arms up into the air. "You looked so good in it."
A baffled sound escaped Rei’s throat. He fumbled for the right words as his cheeks began to color themselves red. “What a- Nagisa-kun! Don’t say such things! It’s… It’s not beautiful!”
"But you’re beautiful, Rei-chan!"
"Nagisa-kun!"
Makoto laughed, his head tilting to the right. “Nagisa, you should just leave Rei alone. He’s uncomfortable with the suggestion.”
"Thank you, Makoto-senpai!"
"But Mako-chan!" Nagisa pouted and turned to face him, but his eyes widened when he glanced at the figure sleeping behind him. He walked forward to get a better look. "Ne, Mako-chan, speaking of uncomfortable, Haru-chan doesn’t look too good."
"Huh?" Makoto turned around and saw that Nagisa was right. Haru was wiggling around on the floor behind them, small groans escaping his mouth as his brows furrowed. As if on instinct, Makoto slid over to where Haru was and lifted his head, placing them on his legs. He scooted back until his back hit the wall and he grabbed for Haru’s tie, loosening it from around his neck. Haru’s body and shoulders relaxed in an instant and he dug himself further into Makoto’s legs and stayed there until his breaths became shallow.
"Ah, now he looks happy…" Rei mumbled.
"I’ll stay like this then. Nagisa, can you hand me my bag? I’ll just study until Haru wakes up."
Nagisa nodded and grabbed Makoto’s bag, setting it in front of him. He watched as Makoto opened it up and took a History book from inside, laying it out in front of him and opening it up to the cover page. Nagisa then retreated and went back to trying to convince Rei to wear another speedo, but he kept glancing back at Makoto, who now had a pencil in his hand and was doodling something on the front page. He craned his head to get a better look.
Makoto, unknowing of Nagisa’s watchful eyes, continued to draw. At first he wasn’t paying attention, but he soon realized what he had done: he’d made a cluster of different shapes but in the center was “I love Haru.”
His cheeks flushed. Had he just written that? He glanced at his words once more before sneaking a peek at his sleeping friend, a smile tugging at the edge of his lips when he picked up on his soft breaths.
Yeah, he did love Haru. He’d known this for a while now.
"Mako-chan, what are you doing?"
"Huh?!" Makoto was snapped out of his thoughts and he flipped to a random page in his book, looking up at Nagisa with a sheepish smile. "Ah, n-nothing."
Nagisa blinked but a grin found its way onto his face. “Okay!” he chirped, heading back to Rei.
Makoto’s sighs muffled into his pillow. He is certain Nagisa saw.
"Maybe I should study a bit," Makoto grumbles as he pushes himself off the bed, grabbing his bag from the corner of his room. He pulls out his textbook, the same one from earlier, and opens it up to the front page. At first he notices nothing, but the emptiness of the paper soon catches his attention. "Uh-oh…"
The drawing from earlier wasn’t there. Makoto searches the book in case he placed it on another page but doesn’t find it. His heart now pounds against his chest at the realization that Haru had probably taken it by accident when his books had fallen out.
"Well, Haru doesn’t study much, anyway. He won’t see it," Makoto says in an attempt to reassure himself. Suddenly, he isn’t in the mood to study. He places the book back inside his bag and collapses once more onto his bed, closing his eyes and descending into sleep.
~~~
Makoto watches as Haru walks to the back of the classroom where he is already waiting. He takes his place and sets his bag onto the floor, cupping his chin and glancing out the window with weary eyes.
Makoto clears his throat and Haru turns his head towards him as a result. “Haru, did you study last night?”
He blinks. “No. Was I supposed to?”
A forced laugh escapes Makoto’s throat and causes Haru to raise a brow. “No, no. I was just wondering. By the way…”
"Wait." Haru opens his bag and reaches into it, pulling out Makoto’s textbook. He thrusts it in Makoto’s direction and turns his head slightly, avoiding eye contact. "I saw this when I got home, when getting my lunch. It didn’t have a rip in the front so I knew it wasn’t mine…"
"O-Oh! I was about to tell you the same thing." Makoto takes Haru’s textbook and sets it in front of him, grabbing his own out of Haru’s hands. "I noticed I had yours."
Haru nods, placing the book inside of his bag. He zips it up and turns around once more to look out the window.
Makoto tilts his head to the side in confusion. Haru seemed more distant than usual.
He brushes it off, though, when the teacher enters the class. From the corner of his eyes, Makoto spots Haru turn around and look towards the board. He always pays attention the first 10 minutes; it was after that that the raven-haired boy began to grow restless.
Makoto opens up the front page of his textbook when the teacher begins to speak and breathes a sigh of relief when he sees his doodle from yesterday. He’s about to close the book when something else catches his attention. He squints his eyes then widens them, sharply turning his head to look at Haru. His friend just sits there, eyes on the board.
Haru, however, notices Makoto looking at him.
A blush covers his cheeks, one the brunet doesn’t see.
Makoto looks back down at his book, staring at the new words written under his.
I love you, too.