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(5)
It’s Makoto’s first birthday party ever – or at least, one that doesn’t involve his relatives, one that’s actually for his friends, and Makoto is so excited that he wakes up at five in the morning, stumbles to his parents’ bedroom, and asks when they’re going to start baking his cake.
His mother mumbles sleepily later, Makoto-chan, but later isn’t good enough for Makoto, and so instead he walks to the kitchen, reaches for a bag of flour that’s lying on the kitchen counter – he’s just tall enough to reach it if he stands on his toes and stretches a bit – and ends up spilling it all over the floor and over himself instead.
His parents find him later, his hair and face blanketed in white, the only colour on his face his green eyes, blinking innocently up at them, and they can’t help it. They laugh.
Eventually his mother has to make to make an early-morning trip to the grocery store to get a new bag of flour, and it’s with explicit instructions not to go into the kitchen that she starts to bake the cake. Makoto watches from just outside the kitchen door, staring with wide eyes as his mother breaks a bar of chocolate into pieces and places them into a pan, then heats the whole thing up, and though Makoto can’t quite see what’s happening to the chocolate from his angle, it smells great, and that’s good enough for him.
The cake is done in about an hour, and Makoto wants to head straight for it immediately, but his mother stops him by bending down and rubbing his head fondly.
She smiles kindly at him and says, “It’s for later, when all your friends come, okay? If you be a good boy and wait, you’ll get to have the biggest slice of all later!”
Makoto looks up over her shoulder at the cake that’s sitting on the counter, then back at his mother’s smiling face, and he nods obediently.
The wait for all his friends (or rather, essentially his entire kindergarten class) to arrive is painful, and Makoto sits staring at the clock, bouncing up and down on the sofa in his new clothes, not really because he’s anxious to see them – not that he doesn’t want to see them, of course he does, especially his best friend Haruka – but rather, it’s mostly because of his mother’s promise that his friends have to arrive before he can eat his cake. And he really wants to eat that cake. Chocolate is his favorite, and he loves his mother’s homemade cakes too, so both of them together would be twice as good, right?
Eventually, finally, the classmates start trickling in carrying presents, and in the end Makoto winds up forgetting about the cake when Haruka walks through the door carrying a box that’s neatly wrapped with a bow stuck on top, and Makoto’s eyes light up straightaway.
“Haruka-chan!” he calls out happily, and Haruka presses the box into Makoto’s hands shyly in lieu of a reply.
They play musical chairs and other games, but eventually Haruka drifts away from the group and Makoto joins him, which, all in all, is pretty ironic, Makoto’s mother thinks wryly to herself – this is supposed to be Makoto’s birthday party, and instead she’s ended up entertaining a whole bunch of his classmates while he just sits with Haruka quietly in a corner making paper crafts.
Although, she thinks, smiling a little to herself in spite of herself, I suppose that was to be expected.
She looks over at where Makoto is chatting animatedly to Haruka, while the smaller boy continues colouring with a crayon silently, and she wonders if maybe a quieter party just for the two of them and their families would be a better plan in the future.
The party officially ends when Makoto cuts his cake, and Makoto’s mother makes sure to fulfill her promise of giving Makoto the biggest slice. When everyone is full and contented their classmates start to leave one by one, slowly trickling out their front door, until only Makoto and Haruka are left. Haruka’s mother comes to pick him up, but when she sees how absorbed they are in Haruka’s artwork, she decides to let him stay a little bit longer.
“They’re very close, aren’t they?” Haruka’s mother remarks, and Makoto’s mother nods in agreement.
“How nice,” she says, smiling a little, looking at where Makoto is beaming at Haruka, and Haruka – for all his stoicism – hesitantly smiles back.
*
(12)
Makoto really doesn’t expect it when he walks into the locker room of the swim club, only to be met by a chorus of three separate voices shouting in unison:
“Happy birthday, Makoto!”
Except, not quite in unison, because the last word breaks off into two distinct cries of Makoto (one voice audibly a lot more unenthusiastic than the other) and one lone wolf yelling out a willful Mako-chan! instead.
“Nagisa! I told you, the plan was to say Makoto, not Mako-chan! It’s meant to be the same!” Rin roars, pointing at Nagisa while Nagisa, on his part, tries his best to look shamefaced. “And you!” Rin turns around to point at Haru instead (no longer Haruka anymore, it’s just Haru now), and Haru, unlike Nagisa, doesn’t even bother trying to look embarrassed. “I told you to yell! Put some energy into—”
“Makoto’s right there,” Haru says, his usual bored voice a stark contrast to Rin’s shouting, and Rin’s face colors immediately as he whirls around to look at Makoto, who’s staring at the three of them with wide eyes.
“O—oh right, my bad, sorry…” Rin clears his throat and straightens up, and it only takes a second before a winning smile is fixed on his face again.
“Surprise, Makoto!” he says, grinning broadly. “Happy birthday!”
“You guys…” Makoto doesn’t quite know what to say. He’s still very, very surprised, and also very happy, and he can’t seem to find a way to convey that feeling into words.
“Nagisa!” Rin calls again, and Nagisa disappears behind a row of lockers before scurrying back to press a box into Makoto’s hands.
“It’s your gift,” Nagisa says, smiling sweetly, and if Makoto was having difficulty trying to formulate a coherent sentence before, he’s completely speechless now.
He opens the box, and inside is a collection of cards and a brand new pair of swim goggles, still in its casing.
“Haru said you got glasses recently, although you don’t need them most of the time, so I thought,” Rin explains, putting a little too much emphasis on the I, quite obviously feeling rather proud of himself for coming up with the gift idea, “we should get you goggles with a degree in them, so you can see everything super clearly when you’re swimming!”
Rin finishes his speech with his hands on his hips and looks at Makoto, smiling expectantly.
Finally, Makoto regains his voice enough to croak out, “T-thanks guys...”
He switches to his new pair of goggles for swim practice today, and decides not to tell his friends that the goggles they got are too high a degree, and he winds up with a pounding headache by the end of practice.
Still, seeing their smiling faces (or rather, just Rin and Nagisa’s smiling faces) is enough for Makoto, and he wonders if maybe he can get his mom to bring him to the same store where they got the goggles to buy the same design with a smaller degree so that his friends won’t know the difference.
That’s what he’s thinking as he makes the journey home with Haru, and when Haru turns to look at him he knows he’s been found out.
“You shouldn’t have kept it on the whole day if it’s the wrong degree,” he tells Makoto, frowning, and then softer, under his breath, he adds, “Stupid Rin.”
“I just didn’t want to disappoint Rin and Nagisa,” Makoto explains, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “…and you too,” he adds, as an afterthought, and Haru’s frown deepens at that.
“Don’t be an idiot,” is all he says, but Makoto just smiles in response.
“Sorry,” he says cheerfully, and the rest of the walk home is spent in a comfortable silence.
*
(15)
Makoto’s fifteenth birthday is a quiet affair.
“Do you want to invite your classmates over, Makoto?” his mother had asked a few days before, but Makoto just shook his head and smiled.
“Just Haru,” he’d said.
His mother had given him A Look in response, but chose not to comment, which Makoto supposes is for the better.
It’s not that he’s a loner in school, which is probably what his mother thinks. He isn’t, in fact – he’s pretty popular in the classroom, the guy that nobody would hesitate to talk to or ask for help for an assignment (not like he’d be of any help though, really) – but it’s just that the only real friend he has is Haru.
He doesn’t mind, though. He wonders if he should mind.
Haru comes over in the afternoon, and he exchanges polite conversation with Makoto’s mother before Makoto swoops in to rescue him and escorts him away from the barrage of questions to the safety of his room.
Haru’s been over countless times since their childhood, which is only to be expected when they’re both next-door neighbors and best friends. They used to visit each other’s houses with equal frequency, but ever since Haru’s parents left for the city he’s been coming over to Makoto’s more often. Not that anyone minds, because Makoto’s siblings love Haru, and Makoto’s mother is always saying how he should come over more often and eat more of her cooking and fatten up a little bit, so the arrangement works out perfectly fine for everyone.
He’s not here for dinner today, though. It’s Makoto’s birthday, and so he’s here to celebrate – although, Makoto knows it’s going to be more of them just lying around playing video games like how they always do whenever Haru comes over rather than actually consciously celebrating. But again, Makoto doesn't mind.
It occurs to him that he doesn’t mind anything that involves Haru, actually.
The realization hits him while they’re in the middle of a game of Mario Kart, and the surprise that comes with it makes Makoto forget to turn and end up falling off Rainbow Road. Eventually Haru gets first place and Makoto ends up sixth.
Haru’s already gearing up for the next match, but Makoto sets his controller down instead and turns to look at Haru.
Haru pauses and turns to face Makoto too, and Makoto can tell from the quirk of his lips that he’s annoyed, anxious to start the next match, but Makoto has to tell Haru about his realization, except he doesn’t know how to, and he ends up stuttering and stumbling over the words, and eventually what leaves his mouth is:
“You’re my best friend, Haru.”
Which isn’t what he meant at all, not quite, but Haru’s face colors in a way that tells Makoto that Haru understands him anyway.
“…pick a race track,” Haru mumbles instead, turning back towards the television, and Makoto smiles contentedly.
“Okay.”
*
(17)
It feels a little like déjà vu when Makoto steps through Haru’s front door only to be met by a chorus of voices, just like all those years back in sixth grade – except the voices are deeper now, and joined by a new fourth member.
“Happy birthday, Makoto!”
He stands in Haru’s living room, the door still slightly ajar, and in front of him are four familiar faces gathered around a table – Rin, smiling broadly, his shark teeth bared for the world to see, Nagisa, with wide eyes and a close-mouthed smile, Rei who looks in equal parts nervous and excited.
And Haru. He’s sitting at the side of the table, and in comparison to the nervous energy that is the rest of his friends, Haru is calm and peaceful.
He looks at Makoto and smiles faintly, and looking at the rare smile gracing Haru’s lips, Makoto can’t help but to smile back in kind.
It spreads over his face slowly, like the first rays of sunlight in the morning, and his eyes crinkle at the corner as he fondly regards his friends.
“Thanks, guys,” he says, and his voice sounds suspiciously like he’s going to cry, so he looks away a bit to make sure his eyes are completely dry before he goes to join them around the table.
The room is well decorated with streamers and party hats and even a banner that reads Happy birthday, Makoto-senpai! in neat penmanship (probably Kou-chan’s calligraphy, Makoto thinks) hanging proudly on the wall. But the stinger really is the cake that’s sitting on the table in all its chocolate glory.
Chocolate, because it’s his favorite.
The cake is decorated with little figures of all their respective animal mascots, and Makoto really has to struggle to make sure he’s dry-eyed as he fondly regards the shark, butterfly, penguin, dolphin and orca that sits on top of the cake.
“D…did you make this, Haru?” he asks, tearing his gaze away from the cake long enough to look at Haru, and the way that Haru looks away is answer enough to his question.
“He did!” Nagisa pipes up in Haru’s stead, because with the way he’s pressing his lips together tightly, it’s obvious Haru isn’t going to say anything. “It’s great, isn’t it! Haru-chan really put in a lot of time and effort into this!” Nagisa grins, and out of the corner of his eye Makoto watches Haru’s ears turn pink.
“You better appreciate it, Mako-chan!” Nagisa adds, and though Makoto knows he’s just joking, he decides to respond seriously anyway.
“I do. I really do.” He turns to look at Haru, who’s still looking away, and smiles.
“Thank you, Haru.”
“…it’s no big deal,” he murmurs, and finally he turns his head just the slightest bit to look at Makoto. “I wanted to,” he says, his voice dropping in volume so that that last remark is barely audible, but Makoto catches it anyway.
He doesn’t say anything in respond to that, but he doesn’t have to. Haru turns to look at Makoto fully, and there’s a look in his eyes that makes Makoto’s heart squeeze almost painfully in his chest.
“Well, let’s cut the cake then,” Makoto says, and when he picks the little animal decorations off the top of the cake it occurs to him that from another angle, it almost looks as if the dolphin and the orca are kissing.
Makoto’s face suddenly feels far too hot, and he sets his and Haru’s animal mascots a respectable distance away from each other when he lays them on the table.
.
All in all, the day goes well. They wind up playing truth or dare at some point, which kind of turns into dare or dare instead, and there’s a lot of friendly banter on Rin’s part, because he’s Rin, and obviously he has to feel obligated to remind them every five minutes that he’s going to kick all their asses at next year’s swimming competitions, and Makoto laughs and jokes along with the rest of his friends, feeling very much grateful to be spending the day with them.
Eventually, though, the sun starts to set, and slowly Nagisa, Rei and Rin leave together, waving goodbye to Makoto at the doorway and making a spectacle of themselves, calling his name all the way until they’re too far away to be heard, and finally it’s just Haru and Makoto left, alone.
“I’ll help you clean up,” Makoto offers, and he reaches for the mess that was once an actual chocolate cake first.
Haru’s hand on his arm stops him.
“Haru…?” Makoto barely has time to say Haru’s name before he turns around and is met by the warmth of Haru’s lips instead.
It’s just a brief kiss, can’t have lasted for more than a few seconds, but when Haru pulls away Makoto feels like he’s just been kissed without getting air for a full five minutes.
“Oh,” he says stupidly, because it feels like his brain short-circuits the moment he looks at Haru’s wet lips and watches as he runs his tongue over the bottom lip, so casually that it could only be painfully deliberate.
“…happy birthday?” Haru says, but the corners of his lips are twitching, like he wants to smile but is deliberately trying not to, and Makoto knows he’s joking.
“Happy birthday indeed,” Makoto agrees, before leaning in for another kiss.
*
(25)
Sunlight filters in through the gap in the curtains from where Makoto didn’t quite close them fully last night, hitting Makoto squarely in the face and making him squint as he blinks awake.
He turns to the side, but the space next to him is empty – which is strange, because Haru is usually the one to wake up later between the two of them. Today, though, the sheets are already cold, which means Haru’s been awake for hours now. The strangeness of the situation is enough to wipe the remaining vestiges of sleep from Makoto’s eyes, and he gets out of bed, pulling on the boxers that had been discarded to the floor last night in their haste to make it to the bed, and he stumbles out of their bedroom to look for Haru.
It’s a tiny apartment, the best thing that two guys fresh out of university and just starting their respective jobs could afford, but it’s home, and more importantly, it’s the home he shares with Haru, and frankly, even if they lived in the most run down apartment in all of Japan, Makoto probably could not have cared less.
The smell of something cooking alerts Makoto of Haru’s presence in the kitchen, and he makes his way there, creeping into the room and behind Haru as silently as possible.
Haru realizes Makoto’s there, of course, but before Haru can say anything about it Makoto presses up behind Haru from where he’s standing in front of the grill and wraps his arms around Haru’s waist.
“Good morning,” he says, smiling. “What’s for breakfast? Mackerel?”
“No,” Haru replies. Makoto leans down to peer at what’s in the pan just as Haru continues speaking. “Pancakes.”
“What’s the occasion?” Makoto hums, one hand slipping underneath Haru’s apron to reach the bare skin underneath, slowly tracing circles over Haru’s stomach, and Haru shivers slightly at the touch.
“It’s your birthday,” Haru says, and he turns his head a little to look at Makoto. “Did you forget?”
“Oh,” Makoto says. His hand stills, and he blinks. “Oh, you’re right. It’s my birthday. I completely forgot.”
Haru snorts and turns back to breakfast. “Happy birthday anyway.”
Makoto presses his lips to Haru’s shoulder and smiles contentedly.
“Thank you, Haru."
.
The pancakes end up burnt because Makoto insists on kissing Haru stupid in the middle of Haru’s cooking, so they really do end up having mackerel instead (even though Haru could have just made another batch of pancakes, but he’s Haru, so Makoto lets it go).
It’s the first birthday that Makoto has spent in this new apartment, in this new phase of his life living together with Haru, and they essentially end up spending the day playing video games and making out in between matches and visiting the small family restaurant just a few blocks away for dinner. Haru buys Makoto a tiny chocolate cupcake, and there aren't any candles, but it’s okay, because Makoto doesn’t really feel like he has anything to wish for, not when he already has everything he could possibly want.
They make the slow walk home after dinner together, hand in hand, and when Makoto finally falls asleep at night, it’s with a faint smile on his face.