We're All Fighting Growing Old

The light leaked through the window a lighting the world in a rainbow that spread across the room beautifully. Well it would have been beautiful, had Haruka not been so determined to hide from the world outside his house. He grabbed his blanket tightly in his hand and threw it over his head as he curled into a ball trying to hide himself from the world. He heard birds outside his window as he could see their shadows perch on his window as they sang their songs. Haruka had no intention of getting up today not when he could hide like this in the comfort of his own bed where the world couldn’t touch him. He was unfortunately getting hot under his fluffy blanket and with heat came uncomfort. Haruka hated being hot, especially when he could easily get up and walk to his bathroom and lounge in his bathtub to cool off but that would be conceding to the world and getting out of his bed and he was too stubborn to let the world win at this yet so he remained in his bed curled under his hot blanket. He didn’t know how long it had been since he had woken up he thought as he squirmed in his bed shifting his position so he was on his back. He was curious to what the time was but he didn’t have a clock in his line of vision so he’d have to go on not knowing. He sat up and stared around his room his eyes finding the clock it read; 9:02 AM, he mentally groaned as he realized he had already been up for an hour. He didn’t want to get up still but he also knew in thirty minutes Makoto would come and expect to find him in his bathtub so he dragged himself up to get ready. He had decided to sleep in his boxers last night to let his swimsuit dry out so when he stood up he was practically naked. He grabbed his bathing suit and began to get ready. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth with his dolphin toothbrush, picked out his clothes for the day, prepared and ate breakfast, and then finally at 9:22 AM he went to take a leisure bath to relax himself. He had been in the bath for 10 minutes before Makoto finally came to find the bored Haruka playing with his dolphin toy in the bath. Makoto smiled down at his friend and held out his hand to him, Haruka took it and pulled himself up and then walked off to get dressed. After having gotten dressed Haruka walked into his living room to find Nagisa and Rei were both sitting there waiting for him. He waved at them half heartedly staring at his wall blankly thinking about how much he already hated this day. Nagisa and Rei were talking about something unimportant to Haruka so he drowned it out as he noticed Makoto was staring at him again. Makoto was always staring for some reason and it was normally at him and not anyone else, Haruka had learned to ignore it because if he didn’t it could get kind of creepy. Makoto always smiled too so that only added to the creepy factor plus the way his eyes always seemed full of a creepy obsessive kind of love, Haruka shivered slightly at the thought of his slightly creepy friend. Haruka silently hoped that Makoto hadn’t noticed the shiver.
“What’s wrong Haru?” Makoto asked Haruka mentally cursed himself for allowing himself to shiver but he sighed and looked over Makoto.
“Cold.” Haruka said simply which of course a lie he wasn’t cold the opposite in fact he was pretty hot.
“Do you want a blanket or something?” Makoto asked as he reached his hand over to check Haruka’s forehead for fever. Haruka only shook his head as a reply to Makoto’s question. Makoto sighed and pulled away his hand and gave Haruka a motherly smile. Nagisa bounced on Haruka happily beaming at him as cutely as the small blonde could manage.
“Haru-chan I hope you’re not sick on your birthday!” He said his cute smile planted on his face so naturally.
“Haruka-senpai perhaps it’d be best if we left you be today?” Rei asked and in truth Haruka would have preferred that to actually acknowledging his existence on this horrible day but they were already here and he was already up so all plans to hide in his bed were thrown out the window.
“No I’m fine.” He said softly giving Rei a glance before he stood up. Nagisa was forced to let go of his neck and fall on his face. Makoto laughed at Nagisa before staring up at Haruka lovingly Haruka forced himself to ignore the loving stare as he walked to the door. The rest followed and soon they were out and heading toward to the larger town just a train ride over where they would all go shopping for obscure things that Haruka found no interest in but that was what Nagisa and Rei had planned for his accursed 18th birthday so he would follow along with Makoto.
“What do you want?” Asked a dark haired woman smiling down at them her eyes trained on Makoto. She probably found him handsome; lots of people did not at all to Haruka’s surprise after all his friend had grown to be a handsome young man. Haruka realized where he was as he stared up at her, he was in a restaurant that Nagisa had decided and he was now being told to order a meal. Haruka’s eyes glanced at the menu as he looked over it trying to decide what he wanted. Mackerel caught his eyes and he blurted the word out before he could even think. The woman wrote the order down and turned to one of the others. Haruka went back to his thoughts on that cute kitten Makoto had been giving his cute kitty look to and how he kind of wanted to buy it for Makoto just to make him smile, but that was a reckless decision and he wouldn’t do that. The thought of making Makoto happy sounded nice even if he always gave Haruka odd looks. Haruka sighed and took a sip of water as he felt his thoughts of Makoto overwhelm him until he heard two words he had been dreading;
“Happy Birthday!” apparently it was a tradition of the restaurant to have the entire staff sing happy birthday to anyone who went there on their birthday. The sound of their singing annoyed Haruka to death and he let his head fall as he clutched his ears in embarrassment and hate. He had been dreading this all day he didn’t want to acknowledge that he was 18 yet. He had the urge to hide in his bed again curled up with that cute cat from earlier under his blankets hiding from the inevitable truth that he was an adult now.
“How old are you now little boy?” asked the waitress from earlier Haruka looked up at her and gave a small snarl he couldn’t help himself after all. The woman jumped back and stared at him in terror she looked like she was about to cry. In the back of his mind Haruka felt guilty for scaring the poor woman who had done nothing to hurt him. Currently however Haruka stood up and forced himself past them all as he headed toward the bathroom. He stood in front of the large mirror on the wall and cried to himself silently. He was scared again so much so he was trembling, he splashed his face with cold water as he tried to control himself.
“Hold it together Haru…” he told himself as he stared at his own face which seemed so foreign to him with its large scared blue eyes and messy black hair. Forgotten to brush his hair this morning hadn’t he? It was odd how hollow he felt but his face expressed so much emotion. Fear mostly, he thought as he touched his cheek not really making the connection in his head that the person in the mirror also touching their cheek was the same person as him. He felt so disconnected from the world right now he felt so hollow and scared and he watched tears roll down his cheeks. He felt the tears on his fingers but still no matter how he looked the face in the mirror wasn’t him was it? It was someone else, someone scared and crying, someone who was also 18 today… The door opened and surprised the crying Haruka his head shot to the door to see Makoto standing there giving him a concerned look.
“Haru… Are you ok?” He asked his voice so soft and kind like always. Haruka couldn’t stop himself he lunged at Makoto hugging the taller man tightly by the waist as he cried into his chest. It was uncharacteristic of him he knew that full well but he couldn’t stop himself he wanted to be held by someone who would certainly comfort him. Makoto patted his head and held him tightly to his chest whispering a soft shhh to him. They stayed like that for far longer than Haruka would like to admit while he calmed himself down from his little freak out. When they were done they walked back to the table together Makoto holding his friend’s hand in a reassuring way.
It was dark out now and Haruka was tired. All day he had, had brutal reminders that he was 18 years old now. But now he was sitting with Makoto watching The Little Mermaid and holding Ran in his lap as he leaned against Makoto who was holding Ren. They were going to have a sleepover according to Ran and Ren, Makoto had tried to explain that people their age didn’t have sleepovers but neither of his siblings would listen to him. Haruka didn’t really mind in fact having a sleepover with Makoto was a nice idea it was like they were still young what with the cuddling together and the Disney moving playing on the screen. Haruka was happy with this, yes this was a good birthday. The best he had, had in a long, long, long time it was nice to feel young like this. He still got a sick feeling in his stomach when anyone brought up his age but for right now the world was in perfect harmony as he felt Makoto’s head fall onto his own. He could feel Ran falling asleep in his lap and he himself was starting to feel his eyes close wearily.
The credits of the movie were rolling but by now Makoto had taken Ran and Ren to bed and he was getting ready to get into bed himself. He stared wistfully at Haru who had also fallen asleep during the movie and was curled into a ball on the bed. In Makoto’s eyes he looked like a cat the way he would so cutely curl up and snuggle with Makoto’s pillow. Makoto pulled the pillow cautiously from Haruka’s arms as he put it underneath their heads and pulled Haruka close to him. Makoto kissed Haruka’s forehead and whispered;
“Night my little mermaid.”