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He doesn’t really remember exactly when this had all started out and how, after almost 6 years of it, he was still going to Haru’s house every Friday night to marathon horror movies with his childhood friend.
“I went with Nagisa to get some snacks along the way when we were heading back from practice,” Haru tells Makoto as he arranges the food and drinks on his coffee table. “He also gave me some movie recommendations when we were picking out which DVDs to rent.”
Hearing that, Makoto doesn’t really know whether he wants to laugh or cry at the whole situation, knowing just how much Nagisa was into the dark, paranormal stuff that Makoto could never stomach. While Haru’s choices were usually mild enough that he could manage them without screaming at every jump scare there was, Nagisa had a tendency to pick out the worst ones there were, a combination of blood, animation effects and deep, booming soundtracks that would permeate into Makoto’s inner being and leaving him paranoid of everything for the next couple of nights.
“T-That sounds wonderful,” Makoto says, lips twitching slightly as he thinks about just how much he’s going to regret going through all this. Haru, of course, doesn’t really notice Makoto’s potential pain as he takes out the DVDs from his school bag and lays out the five plastic covers in front of Makoto, asking him to choose what they should start with first.
Looking at them, Makoto idly wonders if this is how people feel when asked how they would like to die. While the titles are ranged and seem to be quite straightforward concerning its content, like ‘The Bloodied Lady’ or ‘The Monsters in the Dark’, Makoto has learnt that it is never wise to judge a book by its cover.
Looking up from his potential torture to take a quick glance at Haru who is just patiently staring back at him, Makoto sighs and looks back at them for a few more minutes before pointing to the cover with the least bloodied effects, hoping that he’s made the right choice. Haru says nothing as he inserts the DVD into the CD player situated beneath the television set - one time when Makoto had asked him why he didn’t just download and watch everything on his laptop, Haru had answered that watching horror movies on a laptop screen never felt right and he much preferred the old school method, right down to actually renting out old DVDs during their weekly sleepovers - and heads to the couch just as the anti-piracy ads play.
It’s a slightly tight squeeze, clearly not meant for two grown teens who had the physique beyond the average male but they had done it enough times that it had felt comfortable enough, blanket shared between them as Haru grabbed for a bag of chips on the table and Makoto’s legs came up with his knees close to his chin to ready himself for the night.
When they are almost 15 minutes in, Makoto wishes he could reverse time and stop Haru from pressing the play button, attempting not the scream at the killer clown that was running around rampantly and gutting all the carnival visitors along the way.
“Haru, um, should we change the movie?” Makoto suggests almost desperately, knuckles white as he clutched at his own knees as Haru just stares, expression unmoving as his eyes watch the actors move back and forth. “You don’t really look that interested in it.”
“But we’re only less than 30 minutes in,” Haru comments without so much as a flinch as the main character’s best friend’s head gets chopped off and Makoto lets out a high pitched whine to cover up the scream in his throat.
It’s a long night stretched out between the both of them and Makoto is pretty sure that Nagisa is well aware of that fact and silently laughing at him.
--
“Is Makoto-senpai alright? He looks quite tired today,” Rei comments during their break when they’re eating lunch together, Gou absent as she had decided that she would spend her lunch break in the canteen for once.
Makoto had hoped that the slightly darker shade beneath the rims of his eyes would remained unnoticed for the whole day, seeing as he couldn’t exactly fall asleep the last couple of days, bloodied scenes playing behind his eyelids the moment they started to close.
“It seems he’s been this way ever since he went back home from my place last Friday,” Haru comments in between bites of his rice and mackerel, eyes intent on his food. “Also Nagisa, your picks seemed to have a lot of CGI effects.”
Nagisa smiles, almost mischievously. “I’ve always liked the fact that they seem to look more realistic than the old stuff that comes out of the B-rated movies for the genre. What do you think, Mako-chan?”
Makoto tries to laugh, ignoring the way his hand shakes slightly as he recalls the gruesome images that he had barely watched in between the cracks of his fingers covering his face. “I don’t really have an opinion about things like this, since I usually just let Haru pick.”
“But it’s surprising,” Rei comments, expression thoughtful. “I thought that Makoto-senpai was bad with anything horror-related so why would he go to Haruka-senpai’s house just to watch horror movies with him?”
“That’s what I thought so too but apparently the two of them have been doing this for quite a few number of years already, when I asked Mako-chan’s mum about it the last time we went over,” Nagisa says over a mouthful of bread, jam and peanut butter, a generous gift by the cafeteria ladies when Nagisa had went to purchase his usual Iwatobi Bread Special. “Ah, but then again, this could be good training for Mako-chan to get over his fear of the paranormal! Maybe I should try giving out more recommendations to Haru-chan?”
Makoto wonders if the colour is draining from his face as Haru answered up, “Sure. It’ll save me time from having to look at all the back covers.”
“Um, Haruka-senpai, Makoto-senpai, if you don’t mind me asking, what actually started this?”
“Hmm?” Haru tilts his head sideways, putting a hand to his chin as he thinks about it for a couple of seconds. “I think the way that Makoto acts when he’s afraid is sort of endearing, from the way he tries to not scream or even tell me in a straightforward manner that he isn’t comfortable watching the movie at all.”
There is a few moments of silence, in which Rei looks thoughtful and Makoto is just blinking before his whole face turns red, right up to the tips of his ears as Nagisa just snickers.
“W-What are you saying, Haru?!” Makoto almost shouts, face buried in the palm of his hands. “Are you telling me you actually knew that I never wanted to watch any of the movies to begin with?”
“Mako-chan, you don’t really seem to have your priorities set straight now, do you?” Nagisa questions while Haru just continues to eat.
“What do you mean by that?”
Nagisa shrugs, eyes rolling to Haru almost knowingly. “Well, if you think about this, doesn’t it seem like Haru-chan just confessed what he feels about you?”
Makoto is almost a fumbling mess,” But Haru didn’t say anything about liking me or anything. I mean, that was just awkward phrasing a-and all that-”
“Really? Nagisa told me that being indirect with your feelings is how you confess to someone you like. It’s like what we read in that magazine,” Haru interjects. Sometimes, Makoto wishes that Haru’s default expression wasn’t his deadpan face so it would have been easier to read at the situation and comprehend the exact words that were coming out of the other’s mouth.
“Wait,” Makoto speaks up, holding out a hand to stop the rest of them from talking. “So you’re saying that you like me? That’s why we’ve been watching horror movies every Friday for almost 6 years straight?”
“Yup,” Haru answered.
“Oh. Oh, okay. Um, I just. Yeah.” Makoto is very sure that his skin has become a ridiculous shade of red right about now.
“Alright, so now Gou-chan owes me Iwatobi Bread Special for the next week,” Nagisa says, humming happily as he watches the awkwardness in between his two older swimming seniors.
“So, I still don’t get it,” Rei asks Nagisa, like the whole situation has just blown over his head. “What prompted them to watch horror movies every week?”
“Love, Rei-chan,” Nagisa tells him, patting his on his back. “It’s called the power of love.”
Effectively, Rei doesn’t get a proper answer until 3 months later, when Makoto stops blushing whenever he’s even in a 5 meter radius of Haru and Haru decides to invites the rest of the members one night to experience their weekly tradition.
(Needless to say, it might not have been the power of love but it was something that would have been close enough.)