Secrets

The Word

A small blonde haired boy with a bright personality ran across the parking lot to the high school. The boy was in 8th grade and attended school at Iwatobi middle. The middle and high school are attached in the same lot. He ran to his friends class room.
"Haru-chan!" He yelled as he crashed into his old friend.
"N-Nagisa?!" Haru asked in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"I was wondering if you and Mako-chan wanted to come over to my friends house with me, he has his own pool!" Nagisa said excitedly.
"Nagisa, I don't know..."
"Oh come on! Pleeeaaase Haru-chan? We can practice and get back into shape! I need to show you how much I've improved on my breast stroke." Nagisa babbled on with a smile.
Haru sighed before agreeing to go with Nagisa. Nagisa and Haru knew each other from the old Iwatobi Swim Club. They even one a relay together with Makoto and.. Rin. Rin moved away after that. He wanted to be an Olympic swimmer so he set off to Australia, but not before saying that he quit. The teammates hadn't heard from Rin in years.
"Phhhfttt" some boy laughed from across the room. "You're such a faggot" he continued.
"What did you just say to me?" Haru scolded.
"Only faggots swim. Waltzing around in tight speedos and checking out your teammates-" he didn't get a chance to finish because before he knew it he was on the floor with a pain in his cheek.
Haru had punched the boy in the face before he could finish his insult.
"You're going to regret that!" The boy yelled before leaving the room.

Makoto approached Haru at lunch. He didn't look happy, but he wasn't mad either. His expression was unreadable.
"Is it true?" Makoto asked as soon as he reached his friend.
"Is what true?" Haru asked in return.
"Did you punch Yuki?"
"Yuki, that was his name." Haru said more to himself that to Makoto.
"I'll take that as a yes." Makoto muttered. "Why did you do it?"
"He just said something that upset me, it's no big deal."
"Haru, you never resort to violence. And usually if someone gets on your nerves, you ignore them or give them a snarky comeback."
"Look, he called me a name because I swim." Haru explained.
That wasn't good enough for Makoto though. "What did he call you?"
"I'll tell you as long as you promise me something." Haru started. Makoto nodded to continue. "I'll tell you as long as you promise that you won't confront Yuki. Just leave it be."
"Fine. I promise." Makoto sighed.
"He called me a faggot. He said that only faggots swim and they do it so they can stare at their teammates...bodies...." Haru didn't want to say they word that Yuki was about to say, so he resorted to bodies instead. Haru looked down at his feet.
"I'm sorry that he said that." Makoto said quietly. "Y-you're not a... you know."
"You can say they word you know." Haru said.
"I know, I just don't like that word, that's all." Makoto explained.
"Is there a specific reason you don't like the word faggot?" Haru asked trying to comfort his friend.
"It's just a mean slur. It's not nice."
"Are you sure that's all?"
"That's all." Makoto reassured his friend.
"Anyway, are you up for going to swim at Nagisa's friends house?"
"Yeah, that would be great!" Makoto smiled.
"Okay, I'll see you after school" Haru said with a rare smile.
Makoto felt his sparkling emerald eyes widen in shock as he saw his best friends smile.
"I love it when he smiles at me." Makoto thinks to himself.