Oh hello! I know I haven't posted in forever and I'm sorry...but this here is my new Free! fic. I think it's my first time posting Free! fan fiction? Except for the fact that I have already posted this on the AO3. But I thought maybe I could get the word out by posting on here? So here's the first chapter. Thank you very much for reading!

I. Summer 2008

the summer where he was gone

nanase haruka

dear god of mine

please hold back time

stop it for me

there's a summer day i don't want to see

i don't want summer to come

even if only for a day

please let him stay

i don't want it to come;

the summer where he was gone

there's a day in summer

that i can't bear to see

and when that day comes

it will be the end of me

just a short day will do

if to have just 24 hours more with you

i don't want it to arrive

the summer where i had to say goodbye

when that august day dawns

in the summer where he was gone

.

god, oh god

let everything happen by its own way

but by the stars and the moon

let this boy stay

he's leaving soon

and your own shining stars

are taking him far

so far away

please, please let him stay

god, oh god, please don't take him away.

"Haru, please don't cry," Makoto whispered gently. "Haru..."

Haru looked up at Makoto, eyes puffy and watering. It was the first time he had cried in a while; the first time in eight years. He had only ever cried as a baby. "I don't want you to leave, Makoto," Haru's voice came out feeble, much unlike his usual, taciturn self.

His friend embraced him tightly, small hands gripping hard onto the fabric of Haru's navy blue and white striped polo shirt. "I'm sorry Haru," Makoto said. Haru could feel warm tears drip onto his shoulder, and the hands clutching his shirt balled into even tighter fists. "Haru, I'm sorry," Makoto blubbered, his cries crescendoing into something awful and primal and heart-wrenching, "Haru, I'm so sorry! Please...I'm sorry."

Haru's tears dried on his own face, and he fell limp into Makoto, who kept sobbing, cries of pain only muffled by the soaked, wrinkled polo. "Makoto, it's okay. I'm going with you."

The boy looked up, giving Haru a despondent smile. "Oh, Haru...Haru..."

Haru indignantly shook his head. "No, if you can't stay, then I'm going with you," he said confidently.

"But you can't," Makoto hoarsely whispered.

"Why not?" Haru huffed, but all of a sudden, his tears were returning and his words came out more as a pained sob than anything.

"I don't know, but you need to stay here and wait for me," Makoto murmured. "Promise me, Haru, that you'll stay here and wait for me to come back."

Haru nodded, throwing himself into Makoto's arms again. "I promise."

Haru also promised himself he would never cry again. He kept that promise for a long time.

Thank you very much for reading, and I hope you'll continue! Support and constructive criticism is always appreciated. Please feel free to review, fav, and follow! Thanks xx