Work Text:
today was the same as always, the crowd was around harua again, what did maki expect? maki sighed at the sight of the crowd, it was a little larger than yesterday. "i'm better off getting lunch." maki scoffed. he walked to the school's convenience store and purchased two wrapped kimbaps, both the flavour which harua liked. maki walked out of the store a smile wide on his face. "i'm so glad i have maths next~" maki whispered to himself. out of no where, something suddenly bashed into maki, causing both maki and the basher to fall. "i- i'm so sorry!" the other apologised. it seemed like he had just ran a marathon! "it's okay.." maki said quietly, picking up the two kimbaps from the rocky floor. maki looked up to take a glance at the other, but to his surprise it was harua. "h-harua?" maki gasped a little too loudly. "yes that's me!~" harua smiled widely. maki had never gotten this close to harua, this was waayy too close. "oh! you like that kimbap too? it's delicious isn't it?" harua exclaimed looking at the two wrapped kimbaps in maki's hands. maki didn't know how to tell harua he got it because of him, so he just agreed and went with whatever. "y-yeah! it's really tasty! d-do you want to have lunch with me?" wait... maki's body froze as he was NOT supposed to say that last bit. did he just ask THE harua, the pretty, bubbly, unintentionally cute boy to eat lunch with him? yes he did, and now he himself regretted ever even coming to this school. "really? i'd love to!" harua squealed, his face radiating rays of excitement. maki was probably the most confused person on earth right now, but he decided to keep calm and smiled back, leading harua to a beautiful spot under an old walnut tree. under the tree was a wooden bench and around it were flowers of all sorts, pansies, tulips, forget-me-nots, asters and even amaryllises! this spot was fairytale-like, the atmosphere and weather complemented both the tree and the bench. harua gasped at the sight, his eyes reflecting the joy he found in the beautiful spot. "it's so beautiful!" harua burst. "not as beautiful as you," maki thought to himself. "this is where i eat most of the days, no one really sits here, mostly because they don't know where this place is, so i take it as my own." maki added. "you wouldn't mind if i ate here often, would you?" harua asked. maki was shocked and answered "f-feel free to sit here whenever you want! i sit here a lot so if you want, i c-could switch spots somewhere else so you can eat here without me." harua looked at maki confused, he tilted his head to his side, trying to understand what maki meant. at that moment, harua made up his mind. he had enough of those simps so he decided this would be best. "hm? why would you move? i want to eat here with you! you're really really nice, i would love to eat here with you everyday!" harua beamed. maki was internally panicking, the amount of new information was too jaw-dropping. harua on the other hand was so excited to finally have someone that wasn't all so crazy over him, he could finally have a chat about something he liked, and never had to deal with hugs and sudden cheek kisses. "a-all right then, you can eat here with me. a-are we f-friends now?" maki asked. "yes! why would we not be friends now?" harua laughed. they both sat onto the wooden bench and maki passed a kimpbap to harua; harua took it gratefully and thanked maki more than twice. that day, maki did not take a break from staring at harua during maths, and harua did actually notice but all he'd do was smile back at maki and re-focused his eyes onto the chalkboard.
a few days had passed and maki and harua had been eating lunch together under the walnut tree sharing the wooden bench. they'd have small chats together and they'd talk about their everyday lives. "you know... i really hate physical affection." harua spilled. maki indeed did not know this and his head shot straight at the direction of harua. "really?! then how about all those people that crush on you?" maki asked, his expression so shocked it looked like he had just gotten informed that he failed school entirely, but of course he would never have failed as he was smart (well, not in maths of course). "don't they hug you and everything?" maki questioned. "yeah, they do, but i hate it so much. it's so uncomfy and i don't know how to tell them i hate it.." harua replied, taking a huge bite out of his kimbap. maki filled up with sympathy, he never knew his crush didn't like physical affection unlike him, who yearned every single day for at least a hug. maki managed to blurt something out and said "i- i'm sorry, feel free to come to me when you're feeling down or have a problem okay?" harua smiled softly. "thangk nyou.." harua said, his mouth still chewing on a large chunk of kimbap. "no problem!" maki giggled.
harua was feeling it. he was scared, but it seems like the time has come. he was in love. with who exactly? it was quite obvious by now and surely you would've guessed, and yes it is maki. harua looked forward to every break and funny enough, started staring at maki during maths. maki had kind of gotten used to harua being around as a friend and actually started paying attention in maths because harua told him to. not that maki actually told harua that he was staring at him for the whole period of maths, but that he wasn't able to concentrate and it was too confusing. "you should pay attention in maths!" harua told him. harua spotted maki under the walnut tree and ran over to him, gently pulling out the movie tickets from his pocket and hiding them behind his back. "maki~" harua sang. "hey harua!" maki exclaimed. "i got us a little something!" harua told maki, slowly revealing the two tickets to a horror movie. "we get to watch a movie together?!" maki jumped up and down while harua smiled, watching him from the bench. "it's on saturday night, so i'll see you there?" harua asked. "yup! i'll make sure to bring some snacks!" maki said cheerfully as he got up and packed his bag. "see you, i'll be heading off to class now!" "okay~!"
saturday. maki woke up at 11 am, his brain trying to remember the special occasion set for today. "oh god i haven't even picked out an outfit..." maki face palmed himself and rushed over to his closet, pulling out all his clothes insanely. "should i wear this? no.. it looks too ugly.. oh how about this? no... this one is... okay?" maki groaned in frustration. just then his eyes caught attention to this one piece of bright clothing laying at the corner of his closet. he walked up to grab it and stared at it in awe, he never even knew this existed in his closet. so he wore it. it was a bright colourful hoodie, each sleeve was coloured a different pastel colour and so were the hood and the large pocket at the front. the base of the hoodie was white and maki paired it with tight ripped jeans and his favourite pair of black high cut converse. he smiled happily at the mirror, fixed his hair, grabbed his keys and wallet and journeyed off to the city. it was about 12:30 by now and maki hadn't eaten yet, so he decided to buy food at the closest café near him. he walked in, the smell of coffee instantly hitting his nose. the atmosphere was so calming and aesthetic, the walls were painted in a light brown paint and the ceiling lights that hung down lit the whole room in a slightly yellow tinted light. "i should bring harua here one day.." maki thought and quickly bought some food and ate it. maki finished eating and looked at a clock on the left wall. it displayed 2:00, so maki quickly got up and left, deciding that he'd go to the arcade near to the café he was in. when he entered the arcade, it was full of bright, flashy lights. his eyes immediately went to the claw machine where he spotted a beautiful cat plush. it looked just like harua, so maki knew he had to get it. maki knew very well these claw machines were most likely rigged yet he didn't give up on trying to win the cat plush. he had probably spent more than ₩10,000 (about €11) and finally won the cat plush. he checked his phone. 4:00, maki had been here for 2 hours straight trying to win a cat plush. maki laughed to himself and exited the arcade. he realised he had to go buy snacks too, so he hurriedly ran to a store and purchased over 4 bags of crisps and 5 different sweet packets. then he made his way to the cinema. he spotted harua right away and quickly ran over to him and they both signed up and walked over to their designated seats. maki handed the cat plush he won at the arcade to harua. harua's face lit up, he has always gotten presents from those random lover students who he'd never seen before. but this was different. it was something maki had given to him and it will be something harua will treasure forever. "thank you maki! i love it! haura smiled. "i'm happy you do!" maki said back. maki had also totally forgotten to mention how cute harua looked today. harua was wearing the cutest crop top maki had ever seen and maki's face was as red as a tomato. they looked for their seats and sat down, both sitting next to each other. "that's a lot of snacks," harua laughed. they were one hour in and the movie was horrifying. maki was chill, he was used to this stuff because he watched things like these as a kid. meanwhile harua was mortified. he jumped every jumpscare and clutched onto maki's arm every time he sensed a scary scene. maki laughed at harua's behaviour and hugged him back when he was scared. both of their hearts were beating fast when they hugged, especially harua's as the fear of the movie and maki's warmth made his heart beat intensely. he had never enjoyed physical affection, but why now?
"thank god it's over!" harua sighed. maki laughed and said "i didn't know you were such a scaredy cat!" "i'm not!" harua mumbled. "yes you are~" maki giggled. harua gave in and they both walked home together, parting at a road with a split, each boy living on either side of the split. "i didn't know you lived close to here!" harua smiled. "i'm glad we do." maki smiled back.
it was monday again and everyone hated mondays, especially maki. on mondays he had to do football (which he hates) because his parents forced him to do it. the football boys were really mean and scary so he tended to stay away from them. "great." he said sarcastically. after he had finished football training, he walked out of the pitch (it was surprisingly close to the school) until he was suddenly stopped by a random teammate from his football team. his teammate was with a bunch of other team members. "hey loser~" his teammate called out. "what 'ya doing with harua huh?" maki was confused. how would he know they were hanging out together? "w-what do you mean hanging out w-with harua..? i never did.." maki tried to say convincingly. his teammate laughed and so did all his other teammates. "you don't think i don't know? harua has been cancelling all his plans with some of us and he's nowhere to be seen during break! you don't think i don't know?!" his teammate yelled. maki was scared. he didn't know what to say. his teammate pushed him harshly and maki tripped, falling backwards. "stay. away. from. harua. got it?" his teammate shouted and kicked maki in the stomach. maki groaned in pain as he shielded his stomach with his arm. "weakling." the teammate spat and threw a punch at maki's face, leaving a long cut at least 4 cm onto his cheek. maki hissed at the pain. his teammate and the others laughed and before another punch was thrown, a voice called out. "maki? m-maki?! s-stop doing that you jerks!" "h-harua..?" maki whispered softly. maki's teammates ran away like cowards, too scared to face the harua they all crushed on. "maki!" harua cried out. "wh-what happened? oh my goodness.." harua glided his thumb underneath maki's fresh wound and maki winced back. "i-i'm so sorry maki... this is all because of me.." harua cried. maki shook his head side to side slowly. "i-its.. n-not..." maki managed to say, his stomach and head were pounding and it hurt to say a word. harua engulfed maki into a hug, caressing his silky black hair while tears streamed down his face. maki was shocked because harua hated physical affection, but he hugged back anyway. harua was so sorry. he believed everything was his fault. he'd rather all the memories of him and maki and them meeting to disappear rather than coming to the conclusion where maki gets hurt because of harua. harua placed a small kiss on maki's head and maki closed his eyes. maki was tired. during the past few weeks, it had been a blast going out with harua. he had so much fun that the next day his face would hurt because he smiled too much the day before. maki did not regret asking harua to eat with him for lunch. he did not regret watching a movie with him. he did not regret getting beat up if it meant he could be with harua. the day harua bumped into him was a privilege only maki could get. so, out of all places, he decided to let his heart out, as now is not too late. "h-harua..?" maki spoke softly. "what is it?" harua said, still sniffling. "i... i l-love you." maki's words echoed throughout harua's brain and it took a while for him to take it in. "i'm assuming you don't like me back and that's okay.." maki assured harua. "no! i love you too!" harua shot out. "i l-love you so much t-that i feel so safe when you're around! my love f-for you is like the stars, t-they'll never disappear, even when they seem like they have!" harua confessed. maki smiled widely at harua's heartfelt response. this was it, maki thought. this was a dream come true, and all maki had to do was to accept it. "i'll always love you, harua."