Free! fic; Haruka's cold

[Mei]

I am...de-lurking. Awkwaaaaard. I would like to be validated so I can have access to the whole site, but I'm not quite sure how that process works. I thought contributing something might help? Maybe? So I wrote my first fetish-y fanfic. It was something of trial-and-error, and I only cringed once or twice, so I'm feeling pretty proud for leaving my comfort zone. Anyway, FREE! Because it is awesome and episode three was, like, whoa. SPOILERS for that episode, which is only really that Haru was silly and jumped in a pool in early spring and caught a cold. This fic is based on a few things. 1) Haru always sneezed openly in the episode 2) They didn't have much build-up and seemed to catch him off-guard 3) Makoto has this adorable habit of knowing exactly what Haru's thinking and occasionally voicing those thoughts himself. Also, light Makoto/Haruka because, well, it's Makoto and Haruka. Um...here?

“…uht!...”

Makoto glanced over with a raised eyebrow.

“Ukshuu!”

“Haru…”

No response. Makoto was left with nothing but the back of his friend’s head, Haru refusing to take his gaze from the ocean. Makoto sighed.

“Haru-chan.”

“…don’t use ‘chan’”, came the sulky (somewhat stuffy) reply.

Pleased that he at least managed to get an answer out of him, Makoto moved closer. “You could have stayed home from school today.” Haru had been sniffling and thick-voiced through all their classes, smothering coughs into his sleeve. For someone so quiet, Makoto could imagine how annoying it must have been for Haru to have those constant noises dragged out of him.

When he didn’t get another response, Makoto pitched his voice low and murmured “But if I didn’t go to school, I wouldn’t be able to see our pool. And anyway, I’m not sick; people just won’t stop talking about me.”

Haru finally turned his head to glare at him. Makoto chuckled. “That’s what you were thinking, right?”

Haru stuck his chin in the air, clearly snubbing him, as walked faster. Makoto smiled again, eyes crinkling up. Haru was always so cute.

“Hmph. Why does that guy always manage to guess what I’m thinking?”

“Shut up.”

“Ah, my nose itches, I’m going to sneeze again.”

“Shut u…utsh!”

###

Makoto insisted on walking the rest of the way with Haru to his house. He always worried about Haru feeling lonely in that family home by himself, and he certainly didn’t want to leave his friend alone when he wasn’t feeling well. Haru accepted his presence silently, which was as good as an invitation from someone else.

When they had gotten settled and Haru started moving towards the kitchen, Makoto grasped his arm and steered him gently to the living room.

“You wait here” he said, sitting Haru down at the low table. “I can cook for us this once.”

Haru sniffled sharply, rubbing a crooked forefinger under his nose. “Mackerel.”

“Yes, yes, mackerel.” Makoto smiled. Taking off his school jacket, he left it tantalizingly close to Haru and went into the kitchen.

The mackerel came out…not too dark, although Makoto might have misjudged the ginger. Anyway, there were already some pickled vegetables in the refrigerator he could use, and anybody could cook rice. Peering around the wall to the living room, he grinned in satisfaction to see Haru layered up in his jacket, flipping through a magazine. Nodding to himself, Makoto turned back to make some miso soup.

When he brought the first dishes out, Haru was hunched over, jacket-covered wrist pressed tightly to his mouth as he muffled sharp, scratchy coughs into the fabric. Makoto frowned, pressing a large, warm hand to Haru’s back and reaching for a teacup.

“Here, try drinking something- slowly, it’s still hot.”

Bleary blue eyes focused on the cup, and Makoto steadied Haru as he picked it up and took several sips to soothe his throat.

The coughing fit soothed, Makoto set out the remaining plates. Haru didn’t comment on the slightly-burned fish, but set down his empty teacup and started drinking his miso while it was still hot. Makoto tried a bite of the mackerel, and winced slightly. Well…at least Haru liked ginger.

They ate in silence for a while, Haru sniffing stuffily every so often. Since Haru would be angry if he noticed Makoto watching him, Makoto kept his eyes on his own food until he heard Haru coughing lightly again. Looking up, he saw Haru rubbing at the bridge of his nose with the sleeve of Makoto’s jacket, eyebrows furrowed.

“Do you need more tea?”

“Nnnn.” Haru rubbed harder, and inhaled with a thick, weak sound. “’s fine.”

“Ugh, my nose is so stuffy, I can’t breathe. I can’t eat mackerel like this.”

Haru glared at him, then snipped off a large piece of fish with his chopsticks and shoved it in his mouth. Makoto, chin resting on his hand, smiled gently as he watched him, green eyes warm.

“I’m never letting Makoto cook again, there’s too much ginger in this.” He mocked lightly.

Haru chewed resolutely.

“It’s so strong, my nose is tickling again.”

Haru swallowed, staring Makoto down, mouth tight.

“It tickles so badly; I wish he’d stop staring at me.”

Haru’s nostrils twitched.

“It tickles…I’m going to-”

“Akshuu!”

Makoto laughed.

“ht!...hu-uht- aksh! AKsh! UKSHu!”

Makoto’s grin slipped away to be replaced by a look of concern. “Haru?”

“AKSHU!” The table rattled when Haru’s knee bumped it. Haru coughed a few times, wheezing. “Can’t…breaHI- breathe- utSHUU!”

“Oh, Haru…” Makoto cooed, scooting closer. Grabbing a few tissues from the table, Makoto slipped a hand into the soft black hair at the back of Haru’s head, and gently cupped the tissues around his friend’s mouth and pink, trembling nose. “Two more…”

“hut-AKsh!”

“And again.”

“ukSHUU!”

“Now blow.”

Haru made a pathetic attempt to move some air out of his congested sinuses, while Makoto scratched his nails soothingly through Haru’s scalp. After a moment, Haru made as if to grab the tissues from Makoto, mumbling “I can do that myself.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.” Makoto stroked under his nose before balling up the tissues and throwing them in the trash can. “Because Haru’s always been horrible at catching his own sneezes.” Getting a fresh tissue, Makoto tapped Haru’s nose with it, smirking. “I guess we can say you sneeze like you swim?” Before Haru could growl at him, Makoto wrapped the tissue around his nose. “Try again.”

Haru flushed, but seemed too exhausted to take offense. He obediently pressed the tip of his nose into Makoto’s palm and blew. But his nose was still clogged, and he ended up coughing against Makoto’s hand instead. Makoto shushed him and steadied him until it stopped. “That’s no good. We’ll have to try a bath. I’ll put dinner away, so go get ready.”

Haru stood up, wobbling, and began stripping off right there in the living room, dropping his and Makoto’s jackets to the floor before walking to the bathroom, clothes trailing behind him. Makoto shook his head before covering the food to save for later.

He found Haru in the bathroom wearing his swimsuit, shivering against the cold floor tiles, and pushed past him to adjust the knobs, saying exasperatedly “A HOT bath, Haru, not a cold one!”

“Cold baths feel nicer-”

“Not when you’re sick, they don’t! Only hot baths until your cold is gone.”

Haru looked to the side and mumbled something about rumors. Makoto pushed a hand up under his bangs to check his temperature, staring pointedly at his glazed eyes, flushed cheeks, and pink, chapped nose. Haru stared back at him sulkily until he shivered again.

Makoto showered him down quickly and dumped him in the tub after that, ignoring his hissing and protestations against the water’s heat. When he got Haru settled down, Makoto rolled up his shirtsleeves and began gently scrubbing Haru’s back with a sponge.

Haru was quiet, dripping bangs covering his face as he leaned forward. Glancing at him, Makoto said “I called my mom earlier and told her I was sleeping over.”

One blue eye peered at him through black hair, wavering slightly. Haru sniffled loudly again, and Makoto pressed a hand to his chest and pushed gently. “Here, lean this way and tilt your head back.” When Haru was reclined, Makoto switched to moving the sponge in lazy circles over Haru’s neck and chest.

“Annoying.”

Makoto looked up at Haru’s pink cheeks and huffed a soft laugh. Haru was always so cute. “As your best friend, I reserve the right to know what you’re thinking.” Giving into impulse (it was best to take advantages with Haru when you could), he leaned over to press a kiss to that hot, wet cheek. “It’s not like you don’t always know what I’m thinking.”

Haru eyeballed him, but didn’t protest the kiss. “But you can always tell when I’m going to…when I can’t even…”

“Well, that’s because Haru is Haru.”

“That’s not an answer-”

“Ah! It tickles!”

“akshu!”

[Ciuty80]

awwww this was so adorable!!!

the way makoto know how haru is going to react...when he needs to sneeze and how often is a wonderful idea!

i liked it very much! :drool:

thanks for sharing!

and of course thank you for "de-lurking"

[EmeraldThread]

WOW. Um. This is SO GOOD. Dude, please, continue to de-lurk, I LOVE this!! You have their characters down so well, and I love the cuteness between the two of them - how Mako knowing what he's thinking is like a theme here, and always before Haru sneezes (right down to knowing how many times he'll sneeze, too). xD Also, the sneezing while talking parts? That's adorable. And I don't know how many variations of 'cute' exist, but I want to use them all for this story.

And Mako's caretaking! He's so good at it, and it's perfect for Haru the way he does it. Plus, I'm under the impression that Mako's probably not very good at cooking, so I'm glad you included that here with the mackerel. X3 Seriously, there are just so many things I love about this. Thank you for posting it!!

[SapphireSong]

Waaah OMG this absolutely lovely!!!! Thank you for de-lurking, welcome to the party xDD I love this fic soso much~~ Free! is my latest obsession, and you write the guys so well!! hahaha, all the things you based the fic on are things that I have noticed and love about Haru and Mako, so I'm pleased to no end that you put them in here. Seriously, I adore everything about this -- from Mako's awesome caretaking to Haru's sulky cuteness to how Mako knows what he's thinking to the connection with the episode.... *happy sigh* Oh, and Haru's fit. THAT was fantastic And I love how Mako comes to his rescue with the tissues.. xDD

Oh, and I'm with EoG about the cooking. xDD I feel like Mako can cook, but not super well, and he doesn't particularly like cooking fish. xD;;; So I love that you included that little detail~

Finally, this line?

“I guess we can say you sneeze like you swim?”

BEST LINE EVER. xDDDD LOLOL, I'd not even thought about it, but it's so true!!!!!

Ahhh.... so yeah, thank you soso much for posting this!! I enjoyed it a lot. I hope to see more from you in the future~!!

[Meala]

this is sooooooooooooooo goooooooooood! and its so funny how everyone who replied here has a banner of Free except me XDDDD

[NameTaken]

this is sooooooooooooooo goooooooooood! and its so funny how everyone who replied here has a banner of Free except me XDDDD

haha I was thinking this! :') Free is really popular right now, huh? I've only seen 2 episodes, and it was nice enough....I guess I'll try and watch more

But anyway, this story was adorable! Totally agreeing with Ciuty, love how makoto can predict haru's sneezes. Such a sweet fic

[Vongola Undicesimo]

Freeeeee!! I love this series, and this fic, and MakoHaru, and ahhhhhh!

[LeapYearKisses]

Wow, this is amazing! I love your characterization, and UGH, the way Mako takes care of him is so cuuuute. And it's really sexy how he can tell when Haru is going to sneeze. >=<

Welcome to the forum!

[SterlingSilver]

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEE~~!

The fluff here is just SO.... CUTE.... GWAHHHH~

Fantastic job with the characterization and pacing~! <3

[Flufferdust]

So cute! *7* The characterization was spot on, that was amazing! Great job, please keep writing! <3

[Nicolias312]

Thank you for this it make me melt a little from adorableness.

[peppercat]

Well, hello

I wish I had the talent to write something so amazingly wonderful; alas, I'm afraid my fetish-y writings equate to nothing.

This was FABULOUS. O.O Please write more Mako/Haru in the future?

[funinthesun]

that was so awesome i can't even

[Mei]

*crawls out from under Lurker Rock* Hi. I'm back. Thank you so much for all the encouraging reviews! Have some more? I saw the last episode a while ago (and was THAT a roller-coaster of Feels), and I had to get Haru-chan and Mako-chan out of my brain again. And the fantastic people who let me know they enjoyed my maiden voyage into fetish fiction made me want to try again and take a few more steps past my comfort level. This is set after the events of episode 6, so VERY VAGUE POSSIBLE SPOILERS for that episode. You can still read it without knowing what happened or ruining the episode (let's just say that by anime rules, SOMEONE should have gotten sick, so I fixed that), but if you haven't seen it yet, you should definitely go watch it so you can scream at your computer screen at 3 in the morning like the rest of us did. Um...yeah. This anime gives me feelings. I put a lot of them in here. Sorry about that. *crawls back under Lurker Rock*

Makoto shifted uncomfortably, glancing sideways and quickly looking away again. Haru hadn’t once stopped staring during the entire boat ride, not even when Rei’s nausea and Nagisa’s attempts at “helping” got exceptionally loud. It wouldn’t normally bother him, but he had a touch of headache and Haru’s sharp gaze wasn’t helping any more than the flashes of sunlight off the waves. He rubbed his throat unconsciously, feeling thirsty, and winced as Kou sprinted by, the metal of the boat reverberating with her footfalls.

It was a relief to get on dry land, especially as his headache was getting worse. He managed to smile through the congratulations on the completion of the training camp and the subsequent goodbyes, but his smile faltered as it landed on the two huge sacks of camping equipment. He took a step towards them before Haru’s backpack was dropped in front of his feet.

Makoto looked up. “Haru?”

The other boy was already swinging the sacks onto his shoulders. “Strength training.”

Makoto blinked, coughed. “Huh?”

But Haru was already walking, and Makoto had nothing to do but scoop up the backpack and follow him.

Their neighborhood wasn’t very far from the harbor, luckily, because even with the backpack Makoto’s energy was already sagging, and his throat was definitely swollen. Pressing a thumb between his eyebrows to relieve the pressure, Makoto geared himself up to greet his family without worrying them. Coming to the point when they separated, Makoto began to turn right, saying “Well, I’ll see you la-” before he was abruptly cut off by Haru’s hand clasping his wrist and pulling him up the stairs.

“Wha- Haru?” Makoto stumbled, but Haru’s hand tugged him upright and continued towing him along.

“I’ll call Auntie later and let her know you’re staying with me tonight.” Haru said, without facing him.

“But I should…” The raspy quality of his voice surprised Makoto, and he fell silent.

“You won’t get any rest if you go home now. The twins can wait until tomorrow to see you.”

“They’re expecting me.” Makoto protested to the back of his friend’s head. “Come on, Haru, I’m fine.”

Haru stopped and turned to face him, and Makoto quailed a little under the extremely unimpressed expression. The “Who do you think you’re talking to?” was implied, and Makoto drooped and gave up. He was too tired to argue.

By the time they got to Haru’s house, Makoto was wheezing lightly, air being forced through the constriction in his throat. Haru didn’t release his wrist until they had reached the living room, where he pushed Makoto down onto one of the seat cushions. He disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a water bottle, which Makoto drank gratefully as Haru busied himself putting their luggage away.

Even after emptying the bottle, his throat still felt raw, and Makoto rubbed it again before touching his nose lightly, annoyed at the faint buzzing that had settled in the back of it.

He was distracted by Haru appearing before him again. “Would you like a bath?”

Makoto smiled and shook his head. “Maybe later.”

Haru frowned briefly (probably at the idea of someone not wanting a bath), before holding out a change of clothes. “Here.”

Eyeing the pajama pants and sweater (both his; he left stuff at Haru’s place all the time), Makoto argued that the clothes he was wearing were fine, but when Haru’s eyes narrowed he shut up and accepted them.

He was starting to pull on the sweater when the buzzing in his nose grew stronger. He pressed his open hand against it, squinting.

“Makoto?”

“I’m okay, ha- Haru, just- hih!” Makoto’s breath caught again, and he pressed a little bit harder. “I’m…haHAH…huuuhHIH!” His bare shoulders jerked with every gasp, and his eyes snapped shut as he buried his face in his hands. “hihiHITsshu!”

Sniffling, he pulled his hands down far enough so he could peer over them, just in time to catch Haru reaching towards his nose with a tissue. “H- Haru!” He squeaked, blushing. Makoto intercepted and claimed the tissue with one hand, the other still nervously hiding his face. “You don’t need to do tha-ha…” Groaning faintly and shutting his eyes again, Makoto ducked behind his hands again, panting. “hihhihhih…hih-HAHhaa…” The buzz in his nose died down just enough that the sneeze never came, and Makoto carefully turned away from Haru to blow his nose quietly.

He turned back, wiping the irritated tears away from his eyes, to see Haru looking upset.

“You should have let me.”

Makoto finished pulling the sweater on, touching his nose lightly and sniffing again. “Haru, there’s no need for you to do stuff like that.”

“You do it for me.”

“That’s…” Makoto hesitated. ‘Different’ probably wouldn’t go down well with Haru, but judging by the expression in his friend’s eyes, Haru already knew what he was going to say and wasn’t happy about it.

The other boy turned and headed for the stairs silently, and Makoto, at a loss, sunk back onto the floor cushion. He pressed his fingers against his temples, scrunching up his face and whimpering slightly now that Haru wasn’t around to hear. His head hurt, and he wanted to go somewhere where he could just let himself feel bad without worrying other people. Admittedly Haru was right, it would be worse if he was home right now whether or not they knew he was sick (Ran and Ren’s previous attempts at ‘playing doctor’ with him flashed through his head), but Haru shouldn’t be bothered with this, especially not after the trouble he had put him through just a few days ago.

Thumping noises interrupted his morose thoughts, and Makoto looked up and balked to see Haru carrying an entire futon down the stairs. “Haru?” Makoto scrambled out of the way as Haru dumped it on the floor, and began arranging blankets and pillows on top of it. “Haru, what on earth…?”

Blue eyes glanced up at him. “You can nap down here for now.” Makoto heard the unspoken ‘So I can keep an eye on you’, and immediately felt guilty.

“Haru, it’s- it’s too much.” Makoto bit his lip. “You’re exhausted from the camp, too, you don’t need to be doing all of this for me right now. I think I should ju-huh… just go hih!” Cursing silently as the itch in his nose flared up again, Makoto spun around, hiding his face behind his hands. “hih…hihih…huhHI-” His head throbbed with each sharp inhale, and he wished he could just sneeze. “hahhahHAH…hiHIIIITshu! hihiHATsh!” Pain flashed in his right temple with the second sneeze, and he half-sat, half-fell to the floor, a small, pained sound escaping him.

“Makoto?”

He heard Haru move towards him, and he hunched into himself. “Please don’t.”

Haru stopped, and Makoto pressed his face further into his hands, pushing his fingers into his forehead and breathing through the ache. “I’ll be okay in a second, Haru, I promise, just- just give me a second.”

There was silence, and then…“Idiot.”

“Eh?” Makoto looked up in surprise, but Haru had already left the room. A second later the front door opened and shut.

Makoto was frozen for a few seconds, before he sniffled and started looking slowly for the tissues. He wasn’t quite sure what he had done wrong, but Haru was definitely mad. Depressed, he wondered if he should just leave and go home, but the thought of the stairs right now was daunting, and…the futon looked really comfy. Haru had already gone through the trouble of bringing it downstairs, so…

He crawled over and climbed under the blankets, reaching over to grab the tissue box and blow his nose. Snuggling into it, he had to admit that the clothes Haru had made him change into were a lot softer and warmer than his street clothes, and lying down seemed to make his head hurt less. Turning his face into the pillow, he realized it smelled like Haru, and he rubbed his cheek against it.

Makoto fell into a doze, where the pounding in his head became thunder claps and choppy waves. He started sinking into black depths, instinctively holding his breath, knowing that he couldn’t breathe underwater, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t…breathe-

Something soft tickled his chin, and Makoto’s eyes shot open.

“Mrrr?”

Makoto stared at the white kitten on his chest. Green eyes stared back. His new bedmate sniffed his chin again, before trying to wiggle into the dip between his neck and shoulder. Makoto made a sudden, high-pitched noise at the ticklish sensation, sitting up and scooping the kitten with him.

Noises from the kitchen drew his gaze to Haru walking in with a small shopping bag, another water bottle, and a plate. The other boy seemed utterly unsurprised to see the fuzzy creature trying to chew on Makoto’s fingers, and settled himself next to the futon.

Makoto turned wide eyes back to the cat. “Haru…” he said slowly. “Did you…bring me a kitten?”

Haru stared intently into the bag as he sifted through it silently, while his ears turned red.

“Mrrrr.”

Makoto drew in a breath, and then burst out laughing. He hunched over his legs, shaking with the outburst. The kitten jumped off him and padded its way across the futon, and Makoto laughed and laughed until he realized there were tears running down his face, and now he was crying instead.

Warm hands tugged him into an equally warm chest, and Makoto gripped the sides of Haru’s shirt and buried his face in his neck, trembling with his sobs.

“Haru.” He moaned wetly. “I feel terrible.”

Haru stroked the back of his head. “Idiot.”

Makoto chuckled, nuzzling his face against Haru’s shoulder. He sniffled, and then his breath hitched. “Hih!” He pressed his itchy nose harder against Haru, hoping it would stop, but- “hih! hihiHA-” Pushing away from Haru, he covered his face; shoulders jerking like he was crying again. “hihihihHIHI- hahHI…haaa…”

Nothing. Makoto flopped back against the futon, whimpering quietly and pressing two fingers under his nose. Haru shifted, and Makoto blinked open his eyes to see his friend crawling on top of him with a tissue and a determined expression.

“Haru?!” Makoto yelped, flailing a little while Haru dropped onto him and pinned him down. He tried to cover his face again, but Haru glared so fiercely that Makoto’s hands dropped meekly to his sides.

Haru cupped the tissue around his nose. “Blow.”

Makoto’s face burned red. “Haru…”

Haru stared.

Makoto scrunched his eyes shut against the embarrassment and blew. Haru brushed the tissue gently along his nose, before balling it up and throwing it away. Sitting up so he was straddling Makoto’s lap, Haru reached for the bag he had brought in earlier. He dropped a few pills into Makoto’s hand, and passed him the water bottle.

Makoto obediently swallowed the medicine, glancing at the bag. “…You went out to get medicine?”

“Headache medicine and cold medicine. Groceries too.” Haru pulled the plate over, and picked up one of the apple slices on it. He held it to Makoto’s lips expectantly.

It was cut into a bunny shape.

“Pfffffft!” Makoto’s head dropped as he giggled, and he laughed harder when he raised it again to see Haru pouting.

Sometimes Haru was so adorable, he couldn’t stand it.

Makoto let Haru feed him a few slices as an apology for laughing, and they set the rest out of the way to keep the kitten from getting to it. Makoto lay back down, watching the tiny thing as it tried to figure out how to climb the chest of drawers. “So…the kitten?”

Haru settled himself on top of him, head resting on his folded hands. “It followed me.”

Makoto grinned, but didn’t call Haru out on the lie. Haru still believed that no one knew he fed the neighborhood cats every night. He didn’t want to admit that he liked cute animals, especially ones that hated water.

“hiih…” Ohhh, not again. Makoto’s eyes closed, his chest shaking with each gasp under Haru. “hih hih…hahhih…HAHhihih…hahaHAhih” His nose tickled unbearably from the stuck sneeze, and Makoto’s hands were lifting to his face, when something light brushed the bridge of his nose, and Haru’s voice said “Let me.” His watery eyes squinted open to see Haru’s look of concentration, inches away from him, as he brushed a nail lightly down towards one side (“hih!”), and then the other (“hiHIH!”), and then against the soft underside. Makoto’s nose twitched against Haru’s finger; once, twice-

“hihiHAAATshuu!”

He sneezed loudly, jerking upwards (jostling Haru) and falling back. “Nnnn.” Makoto cracked his eyes open to find Haru had pressed a tissue to his face to catch the sneeze, expression triumphant.

Makoto blew into the tissue without being asked. Haru stroked his nose clean, and then carefully wiped the tears away from his eyes.

“I guess it’s only fair for you to help me with my sneezes.” Makoto remarked with a little smile.

Haru nestled back into his perch on top of his friend, cat-like, looking pleased with himself. “It’s not hard. Makoto always takes so long to sneeze.”

Makoto realized his head hadn’t hurt as much that time, and he wondered if the medicine worked that fast, or if it was just Haru.

“Haru.”

Haru turned blue eyes to him expectantly.

“I’m sick.”

“Yes.”

“And an idiot.”

“You are.”

“Thank you for everything.”

“Mm.”

“I’m sorry for being so much trouble.”

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry for scaring you.”

Haru frowned, turning his eyes to the kitten, who was butting his head against his arm and purring. Picking it up and depositing it next to them, he rubbed its head absentmindedly as he looked back to Makoto.

“If you’re sick, tell me.”

“Okay.”

“If you’re scared, tell me.”

“Okay.”

“If you don’t like something, tell me.”

“Okay.”

“If you need my help, tell me.”

“Okay.”

Haru turned his head, resting his ear against Makoto’s heartbeat and closing his eyes. Makoto pulled a hand free from the blankets so he could rest it across Haru’s waist. The kitted mewed and started kneading Haru’s shirt.

Makoto was almost falling asleep when he heard the soft, “Don’t do that again.”

“…Okay.”

[LeapYearKisses]

UGH is it really allowed for you to be this perfect?! You've managed to get them both down so well again and I love your Mako sneeze headcanons and Haru is a precious baby and uggggh. =____= Thank you so much for sharing!

[SapphireSong]

WAH. MEI. You wonderously talented de-lurker, you! *squeals in delight* Um. Umm. How do I feedback?

hahahaha, pardon my incoherence. xD;;; This oneshot is FANTASTIC. YOU WROTE MAKO-CHAN!~!!!!!!!! Once again, you wrote both of them PERFECTLY. (and I agree, he should definitely have ended up sick after ep 6.... y'know, I'm just gonna say this fic of yours totally definitely happened, 'kay? X3 ) Like... like... I don't even know what to say, I loved EVERY SINGLE BIT OF THIS. Seriously, from.. from Haru's taking the camping equipment for Mako and letting him stay over because the twins would pester him (you know they totally would ^^;;; ) to Mako's misery and like... trying not to make Haru worry and failing spectacularly xD;;; to the way he takes a while to sneeze (your buildups, GUH ) and and and I can't even. :'D I LOVE Haru's caretaking, everything he does for Mako... and how upset he was about the episode incident (the conversation at the end!!!!! *dies of feels* ) And then like.... when Mako laughs and then cries and Haru hugs him. That. I can't... like... words. Mako admitting he feels terrible... just.... asdfghfkgjsfkgljkl!!! And like... your detail. All the little things you did really bring out their characters, their quirks, their relationship, everything. They're so very them, I love it. I'm definitely gonna be reading and rereading this... just.... yes. =w=

Thank you so much for posting this!!! I hope to read more stuff from you, your writing is awesome.

[Ciuty80]

HOOOOLLLLYYYYY!!!!!

you wrote MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

this is definitely as cute as the first part!

sick!makoto is also so adorable! :drool:

following conversation and action just made my melt

“Let me.” His watery eyes squinted open to see Haru’s look of concentration, inches away from him, as he brushed a nail lightly down towards one side (“hih!”), and then the other (“hiHIH!”), and then against the soft underside. Makoto’s nose twitched against Haru’s finger; once, twice-

“hihiHAAATshuu!”

He sneezed loudly, jerking upwards (jostling Haru) and falling back. “Nnnn.” Makoto cracked his eyes open to find Haru had pressed a tissue to his face to catch the sneeze, expression triumphant.

Makoto blew into the tissue without being asked. Haru stroked his nose clean, and then carefully wiped the tears away from his eyes.

“I guess it’s only fair for you to help me with my sneezes.” Makoto remarked with a little smile.

Haru nestled back into his perch on top of his friend, cat-like, looking pleased with himself. “It’s not hard. Makoto always takes so long to sneeze.”

this was a fantastic second part!!!

is there hope for another update???

i would LOVE to read more!!!

[EmeraldThread]

This....this....uwaaah~!!!! Keep delurking, I LOVE these fics!!! I'm actually having trouble writing a coherent comment and forming real thoughts because I'm just so caught up in how awesome this is and how awesome you are for writing it. I totally agree that someone should've gotten sick after that episode, and I'm really glad you made it Mako (because, really, it's only fitting). X3 The forum needs more Mako fics...and y'know, you can never have too many Free! fics anyway. xD

But anyway, there's so much here...first, the way you wrote the two of them, it's wonderful. And the caretaking~~ Haru is so perfect for him...I don't even know how to go in order here of what I loved most because I kept saying things in my head like "Wah~ Haru cut the apples into bunnies~!!" and it just fits so much for him because of his artistic side and just...making Mako comfortable. X3

Where Haru tells Mako he's staying over because he wouldn't get any rest at home...that was the first thing I jumped on, because it's...so them. Haru noticing and just doing things for Mako without having to ask him what he wants? I love how you included that. And Haru hugging him!! X3 That was adorable - the whole thing with them both here is adorable, actually. It just...you write them so well, and I've kept coming back to read the first fic with Haru, and then saw this today, I was like laskdfjlasdakjfalsdkfjdsTHERE'SMORE. It was kind of an incoherent mind babbling. xD;;;

But that sort of brings me to the last thing - spellings. Dude. I hadn't thought of it before, but I can totally see Mako having buildups like that, and you wrote those just...beautifully. The sneezes themselves, too, and how Haru helps on the last one? Excellent. Just yes.

Basically, everything you wrote is awesome. I would quote parts I loved, but that would involve quoting the entire thing, so...yeah. Here's some incoherent rambling, and please please keep delurking!!!

[peppercat]

I... I... I...

*head blowing up emoticon that I am unable to do because I am technologically challenged*

How do you write so WELL?! No more lurker rock for you. MORE PLEASE.

[Maus_17]

Oh my goodness! This is great. I actually imagined something like this happening, and OH MY GOSH when I saw you'd written this...I exploded. This is amazing!

[RemedyBane]

love this

[Kushami Suki Da!]

How have I not seen this sooner! Thank you very much for de-lurking!

[AllergicWolf]

MOAR!!!!!! WRITE MOAR NOW!!! *ovaries exploding* *thud* Now I'm dead. Thank you very much. And I totally agree with you on the last episode. I was sitting there staring at my tablet like: wait! It can't end NOW! MY OTP HASN'T EVEN KISSED YET!! But yeah. Oh, and about Mako-chan's long buildups... HEADCANON ACCEPTED

[BlueFur101]

That was just.... Awesome! I have no other words to add!

[SilverFox]

This is adorable!