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“Well, Nanase-kun. It seems like everyone who swims with you suffers in one way or another, hm…?”
Haruka stood there, Hiyori’s words echoing in his mind over and over. The poolside was now dead silent, the light from the moon shining in on them.
“Haru…” Makoto said quietly, looking at him with concern and sadness in his eyes.
Suffers, huh…
“It’s fine, Makoto. It doesn’t bother me.” Haruka said, putting on his usual facade of indifference. All the while, his mind was replaying the incidents in which both him and Rin suffered, while Rin was away in Australia, and his ongoing rivalry while they were at Samezuka and Iwatobi.
“I’m going to go now. It’s getting late.” Haruka says, beginning to walk away, feeling tears coming.
“Haru, wait!” Makoto yells after him. “Makoto, it’s getting late, I need to practice tomorrow and you have class--”
Makoto wouldn’t have any of it.
He ran after Haruka, and pulled him into the locker room, onto the bench.
“What do you want, Makoto--” Haruka said, avoiding any and all eye contact.
“Haruka.” Makoto said, his green eyes staring at him. “Please, look at me. Please.” Makoto begged him, his voice firm yet comforting.
Haruka looked at him, his eyes becoming misty with tears.
“I make everyone I swim with suffer,” Haruka said, laughing sadly before tears began blurring his vision and fell from his eyes. “He’s not wrong.” He continued, the tears continuing to fall.
“Haruka, you have never once made me suffer--” Makoto began, but got cut off.
“What about Rin, Makoto?! Do you know how horrible that was? Do you know how painful it was to be treated that way, to have him despise me? To have Sousuke try to keep him away from me? And now, Ikuya? I couldn’t even keep my promise to him. And to have Hiyori do the same damn thing as Sousuke it’s just...too cruel...it’s too much…” Haruka said, before he fully collapsed into Makoto’s arms and began sobbing.
Makoto held him tight to his chest, running his hand through his hair and rubbing his back in an attempt to soothe him.
He felt Haruka cling to him closely, as if his life depended on it, and felt his tears stain his chest, but he just continued to hold him as close as he could. He couldn’t believe someone could hurt Haruka this badly, the boy he loves, it hurt him more than anything to see him like this…
Soon, Haruka’s crying finally calmed down, and he became tired, clinging to Makoto in a gentler way.
“Haruka?” Makoto asked, gently but also with a bit of anxiety, not wanting to overstep his bounds by talking at a moment like this.
“Hm…?” Haruka hummed quietly into his chest, too exhausted for any words at this point.
“I love you,” he began. “I love you, Haruka Nanase. You have never made me suffer, actually, quite the opposite. I loved coming to your house every morning to get you out of the bathtub wearing your swimsuit and to walk to school together, starting the swim club together, your love for water, your passion for swimming, the fire in your eyes when you talk about it and actually do it. I love you, and I always have. I wanted to confess to you after you saved me from drowning but I didn’t think it was the time or place, but here I am now confessing to you. You bring me joy, you always have and always will.” Makoto finally finished, taking a deep breath.
There was a moment of silence.
“I’m sorry, Haru--”
“Shut up, Makoto.”
Haruka whispered as he lifted himself up from Makoto’s chest, intertwining one hand into his hair and settling the other gently on his cheek, pulling him into a deep kiss.
Makoto kissed him back, and they both never wanted it to end. Haruka eventually broke the kiss, them both needing air.
“I love you too, Makoto. Thank you for everything.”
He leaned back in, intertwining their hands together, Makoto meeting him halfway, closing the distance between them with a smile.