Long time no see, huh? I've spent the last couple of months revising this fic and posting it to AO3. Now that I'm caught up on that I'm going to be finishing it up (this isn't the final chapter though). You'll notice a slight change in style- I've changed from referring to Haru as Haru in the narrative and calling him Haruka. It just fits better to me so that's how it'll be from now on. For those of you who have stuck with me these last couple of years, thank you for everything, and I hope I can give you all an ending you'll be satisfied with.

"I love you!" Those words echoed in Haruka's ears. At that time, Ran came in to announce that dinner was ready, and he didn't have a chance to reply. It was now just two days before he started his new job, and not a single day had gone by that he didn't think about how he would have responded, and how he would respond now. Ren hadn't brought it up; he never asked for a reply. And he hadn't said it again since. Haruka wondered if Ren was afraid to know the answer.

But, in the time since, Haruka had reached a conclusion. His feelings for Ren... he truly felt that he loved him. He had always had a certain familial type of love for him, but not this. This was different. This was the ache in his chest when Ren was at school all day. This was the pounding of his heart when they kissed in the hall as soon as he came home. This was a longing for these days of togetherness to last forever. This was...

"Haru!" Ren called, bursting through the door. It was Saturday, and he had just returned from club activities.

Haruka stood up from the couch and quickly went to Ren, his heart fluttering before he kissed him tenderly. "Welcome home," he smiled.

"Aww, no fair," Ran grumbled. "I want to be greeted like that when I come home!"

"Too bad for you, Momoka-chan doesn't live here," Ren teased. His words hadn't hurt Ran, but his face fell and he regretted them almost instantly.

"What's wrong with you?" Ran asked.

"Haru won't be living here much longer," he replied, his voice so quiet and sorrowful that Haruka instinctively put his arms around him.

"Don't cry," he begged.

"I-I'm not crying!" Ren insisted. "I mean, you don't have an official move-out date yet, so..."

Haruka sighed. "Makoto and I are going to look at apartments tomorrow," he told him gently. "That's not a guarantee that we'll find one we can afford, but, it's something." It had been decided days ago, but Haruka hadn't had it in him to tell Ren because he knew how it would make him feel.

"Haru," now Ren really did seem to be fighting back tears. "I was hoping we could spend your last day before your job going out together!"

"I'm sorry," Haruka apologized. "We'll go out another time. After I start getting paid, maybe I can afford to take you better places."

"I don't care about that," Ren sniffled. "I just want to spend time with you."

"Hey, cheer up," Ran put her hand on her brother's shoulder. "Once Haru-chan and Onii-chan get an apartment together, Haru-chan should have his own bedroom, and you two might finally have some privacy!"

"Ran!" Ren grumbled. "Don't be so embarrassing!" It may have been an embarrassing thing for her to say, but it had irritated Ren enough that he stopped crying.

"What?" Ran asked innocently. "I know you're just dying to have some alone time with Haru-chan."

"Shut up!" Ren blushed. "Haru, don't listen to her, I'm fine going at the pace we've been going!"

Haruka replied with a kiss, silencing Ren and calming him down again.

"Alright, I'm out of here," Ran announced, sliding her feet into her slippers and making for her bedroom. "Have fun making out among the shoes."

Haruka ignored her and took Ren by the hand. "Are you hungry?" He asked softly.

Ren intertwined their fingers and shook his head. "Not really," he mumbled, walking slowly beside his boyfriend in the general direction of the kitchen. "I just want to be near you."

Haruka's cheeks tinged pink. He wanted to be near Ren, too. But he knew Ren was usually hungry around this time, so it surprised him that he wasn't today. "Are you feeling well?"

"As well as I can be, when all I can think about is how you and Onii-chan will be leaving soon," Ren sniffled.

Stopping, Haruka brought his eyes up to meet Ren's. "Ren," he murmured. "Is it really bothering you that much?"

"I'm gonna miss you so much," Ren replied through quivering lips.

"It's not like we're breaking up when I move out," Haruka assured him. "Don't let your health suffer just because we won't get to see each other every day."

"Haru," Ren squeezed his hand before letting it go. "Realistically, what are the odds that we'll stay together long-term?"

Haruka stared, his mind trying to process the words he'd just heard. "Wha..?"

"Once we're not together all the time," Ren choked, his voice cracking. "What do we have to keep us a couple?"

"I don't think I understand." Haruka reached for Ren's hand again, hoping to comfort him, but Ren drew his arm to his side and closed his hand into a fist. "Ren..." His behavior was baffling to Haruka, whose mind was racing to think of something- anything- to say to assure him, but all he could do was stare and listen.

"I'm just entering high school while you're off starting your real life," Ren cried. "We're in two totally different parts of our lives. I don't swim and you don't like TV, and we don't share any main interests, so what's going to keep us together?"

It was a good question, and one Haruka had never asked himself before. He had never needed to. He knew that he liked Ren, and he wanted to be around him, and be with him, and those feelings grew into love. What more reason did he need to stay with him? Whether those feelings would last forever, he couldn't foresee, but he knew that, now, he was happiest with Ren. He wanted to put these thoughts and feelings into words, but lacked the ability to do so. All he could do was stare helplessly as his boyfriend fell apart in front of him.

"Once you're gone it's only a matter of time, isn't it?" Tears were streaming down Ren's face. "I mean, you'll start making important connections, and what would they think if they found out you were not only dating a guy, but a high schooler?"

"I don't care what others think," Haruka muttered, clenching his fist. "I like you for you, Ren, not just because we live together, but because it's you. All of this... everything we've done together, all of our dates and affection... just what do you think that all was?"

"I don't know," Ren croaked, his voice hoarse. "I guess I just thought, maybe someday you'd wake up and realize that you don't need me, or you'd meet someone else and find something with them that you don't have with me. I guess I thought, maybe I was just convenient."

"You know I would never date you just because it was convenient," Haruka said sharply. "You know that I would have ended it by now if I wasn't taking this relationship seriously."

Ren couldn't meet Haruka's eyes. He looked at the ground, shrinking back from Haruka's words.

"What put those ideas in your head?" Haruka asked, his tone softening. "You've never once talked this way before."

"I know," Ren mumbled. "I'm sorry. It's just something I started to think about recently, and I let my mind run wild with those thoughts."

"Ren," Haruka took the young man's head in his hands. "Look at me."

Ren turned his tear-filled eyes to him. "Sorry," he said again.

"Ren," Haruka kissed him softly. "I love you."

As he rode the train with Makoto, Haruka's mind replayed his confession over and over. He had hoped to make it a little more romantic, but in the moment, it seemed like the best thing to do. He closed his eyes and watched in his mind the expression Ren made just before he collapsed into his arms, his eyes wet with tears, crying, "I love you, too, Haru!"

"It sounds like we'll be looking at three apartments today," Makoto told him, looking at an email on his phone. "It looks like the more convenient they are to our jobs, the farther they are from home, though."

"That's to be expected," Haruka sighed. He braced himself as the train came to a stop.

"Well, here we are," Makoto smiled. "The agent is supposed to be picking us up here. I hope it's not too difficult to find her."

Haruka stepped out onto the platform and looked across to the faces waiting near the back of the crowd. "Found her," he said, walking over without hesitation.

"Eh? How can you be sure?" Makoto asked. He followed Haruka up to the young woman and received his answer- she was holding a sign with her company logo on it.

The first apartment she showed them was perfect for what they needed and the most conveniently located, but it was way out of their price range. The second apartment was quickly shot down when Haruka found out that there wasn't a bathtub and that he'd have to use the nearby public bath. The third apartment, while small, did have two bedrooms, a bath, and a kitchen, though it was a little out of the way. Still, as Haruka and Makoto sat down to dinner, the discussion of it left them both with a positive feeling.

Though it was late when they returned home, Ran and Ren were both still up waiting for them. "Welcome home!" They called in unison, rushing to greet the two as they came in the door.

"Well, how'd it go?" Ran questioned, not even allowing them time to catch a breath before demanding the details.

"Did you find a place..?" Ren asked.

"Maybe," Makoto replied. "There is one place that stood out. We're still deciding, though."

"Oh, really?" Ran pouted. "Somehow, it feels more real now."

Ren nodded his agreement. "Too real."

"C'mon now, don't be like that," Makoto fretted. "Haru and I have done a lot today, and we both have work tomorrow. Don't make us go to bed feeling guilty about it."

"I'm going for a bath," Haruka announced. He stopped in front of Ren and left him with a goodnight kiss before he went.

Work was… exceedingly boring. Since it was still just a little too early for swimming at the resort, Haruka's job was to take additional training sponsored by his new employer. That would be his first week, then in his second he'd be brought to the resort for orientation and finally, on the weekend, the resort would open and he would start his real job.

Every day after work, Haruka would pass the commute time texting Ren. Since they didn't see much of each other now, it was the best way to keep up with each other. He learned that Ren's grades were improving, and that his favorite show was wrapping up its third season this week, and how the cherry blossoms at school were almost all gone from a big rain storm. And he told Ren about work, and the city, and how the resort was. The one thing he couldn't tell him over text was that he and Makoto decided to take the apartment, and had already signed the lease.

"I'm home," he called, walking in and taking off his jacket. He wondered as he took off his shoes if that was really the right thing to say. How long had he been saying it?

"Welcome back!" Ren grinned at him. "Onii-chan just got out of the bath if you wanted to use it."

Haruka and Makoto's schedules didn't exactly match up- usually Makoto had to leave earlier than Haruka, and Haruka would come back later than Makoto. "Thanks," he said, his arms slipping around the high school student. As he pulled him in close, he whispered in his ear, "I need to tell you something."

"What is it?" Ren asked, his head resting on Haruka's shoulder.

"Makoto and I signed the lease for that apartment." He felt Ren's grip on him tighten. "We can move in in a couple of weeks."

"So soon?" Ren asked.

Haruka allowed him to pull away. "We actually signed it a while ago, I just," he hesitated. "I couldn't find the right time to tell you. I didn't want to just say it over text."

"Oh."

"I know it's not what you want to hear, but-"

"N-no, it's fine," Ren shook his head. "I know this is a good thing for you and Onii-chan. I'm just being selfish, wanting you to stay here. Just… just promise me you'll come visit, and that I can come stay with you sometimes, okay?"

"Of course," Haruka smiled. He ruffled Ren's hair before taking his head in his hands and leaving a series of little pecks on his lips. "You'll be welcome any time."