They are back. With more force, more impact and imagery more disturbing than before. They are back and this time Haru is sure he will not be able to escape. The moment he closes his eyes night terrors attack him just like they did a year ago before probably one of the most anticipated swims of his life, which he undoubtedly failed. Now it all has rushed back, the date of a new opportunity new swim in front of the scouts already tomorrow. Nightmares have attacked him for weeks with no escape. He wants to sleep, he wants to rest, to stop thinking and chase the severe anxiety away, but the moment he slips into sleep his back hits the water and he starts drowning.

Wet, slimy hands grab him and hold his body under water, everything muddy and algae filled around him. Green moss on the tiles as if the pool he has dived in hasn’t been cleaned for years, and yet he is now struggling against the almost dark green water to swim up. The feeling is similar to on trying to grab onto a slippery edge or walk on ice - each move with his hand and feet as if slides off the water and he stays motionless despite doing all he possibly can to move. Unbelievably, he feels like he’s sweating under water from all the effort, yet as he focuses on his arms trying to split a passage through the green slime, he sees his own arms slowly covered in brown and disgusting algae.

Last bits of air escape his lungs as he gasp in shock and now his vision gets cloudy. The less he struggles, his body slowly sinking lower, the weaker the grasp of the slimy hands holding him gets and with last strength, his vision nearly going black he launches up. He can feel the hands trying to grab his ankle, but he reaches the surface, his head piercing through the stagnant rug of green that was covering the water.

Haru’s eyes come in contact with dusty, heavy light coming from half fallen lamps. The walls around the pool are faded, paint peeling off them. The bleachers are broken and turned upside down in places. It takes a second to recognize the old Iwatobi swimming pool that was torn down. It’s like a ghostly wreck of the past now, haunting Haru in his sleep, bringing nothing but horror from a place where he once shared the best moments of his childhood.

He moves through the stagnant water to the edge of the pool. His arms feel heavy, still covered in green and brown - algae growing on him like he’s laying on the bottom of this pool for years - yet he grabs onto the rusty bars of the stairs and tries to pull up. His hands slip off the rough surface and with a splash he falls back. He tries again and again and again, yet he falls back every time. As his arms start to ache, alge spreading from his forearms to his fingers more and more as he remains in the water, he moves to this side of the pool and places his hands on the edge, trying to pull up, however he falls back again.

“I can’t do this,” his eyes are full of terror and despair and he walks around the already muddy pool, trying each edge and all the stairs yet with no success. He needs help, he needs it now or else the pool will consume him - he will drown in this green mud.

His lips move as he tries to call out for someone, yet no sound comes out. He wants to call out for Nagisa, who would be ready to jump in and push Haru out. He wants reach out for Rei, whose level headed mind would find a solution in no time. He wants to yell out to Rin, who would pull him out no matter what, but he can’t. It’s as if he has lost the ability to speak, as if he has swallowed a lump of the nasty gunks of algae floating around and it’s not nestled in his throat. No, he couldn’t give up.

He tries once, he tries twice and more and more until he finally gets the word over his lips. “Makoto!” he screams as loudly as the lump in his throat allows. “Makoto!” he repeats and looks around desperately. Only now he notices the water, if it can even be called like that, starts rising and is already up to his chin, or maybe he is just starting to sink again, but he doesn’t stop.

“Makoto!” he yells one more time. If anyone could pull him out, save him or in worst case be with him, stay with him as he becomes the green slime on the bottom of the pool it was Makoto. It was selfish, it was unacceptable to ask Makoto to stay with him as he rots under water, but wasn’t Haru always like that when taking everything from the tall, green-eyed male?

“Mako…” the green mass almost flows into Haru’s mouth as he tries to call out on more time, his hand desperately clenching on the edge of the pool and he has already accepted defeat when a strong hand grabs his.

“Haru!” he hears voice more familiar than any other, “Haru! Wake up!” it calls out again and like a lifeless doll Haru allows himself to be dragged out of the slimy mess he was stuck in, where he is greeted with an embrace despite his body being a mucky mess. Too much of the green nothing is blocking his air-pipes and he can barely breathe, gasping for air. His eyes seem to be covered with the green sludge as well as he can’t see clearly, everything above him blurry. It’s almost painful to move his hands, yet he grabs onto the fabric of the shirt his rescuer is wearing and focuses his dazed gaze to two, warm and green lights shining through the fog of this nightmare.

Softly, a pair of lips presses against his and he can feel air filling his lungs again. The weight from his arms is gone, the disgusting feeling of slime melts away and Haru knows he is awake now. Slowly he opens his eyes, meeting the two beautiful green one’s looking at him gently. “Finally,”the light-haired male smiles in relief and pecks Haru’s lips once more before pulling the shorter of two closer, to which Haru doesn’t resist. Instead he hides deeper in the embrace, his hands clenching tighter on the pale blue shirt other was wearing, as he listens to the steady heartbeat and tries to sync his own rushing one with it.

“This one was bad,” fingers go through Haru’s tousled hair in soothing, rhythmical pattern and a kiss is pressed on his forehead. “Worse than the others this week,” he continues and Haru just nods. “Do you want to tell me?” comes a question to which Haru first shakes his head and then nods.

“I was drowning. I couldn’t get out of the water no matter how hard I tried. It wasn’t even water - is was just mud and slime and I wanted to get out so bad, but I couldn’t,” he murmurs against others chest, but he knows he is being heard and understood. “I tried to call for someone, to help but I couldn’t speak. Somehow I managed to call out for you and…” he finally looks up at the man holding him, “and you heard me. I called your name and you came”

“I will always hear you and be there when you need me,” Makoto smiles softly, placing another kiss on Haru’s forehead.

“Will you be there tomorrow? For the swim?” Haru asks and instantly feels selfish. He knows well enough that Makoto has an exam tomorrow and it doesn’t end more than 20 minutes before the scouting even begins. He was asking for something almost impossible, yet he couldn’t take the question back and he had to admit he needed Makoto there.

“Of course, I will. I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” comes a bright and reassuring smile filled answer and Haru instantly believes it. He snuggles closer to the strong chest, the steady heartbeat being the perfect lullaby, and let’s go of Makoto’s shirt and wraps his arms around the taller one’s waist instead. The nightmares don’t come back as if the closeness of Makoto chased them away and Haru sleeps peacefully until the alarm goes off.

The morning is rushed, the alarm being set too late and it’s toasts and orange juice scattered on the kitchen table, clothes throw around the bedroom, but they manage to get out relatively on time, Makoto’s bus minutes away. “I will be there for the swim,” Makoto yells as he rushes to the bus opposite the direction Haru needs to take and waves sloppily and all Haru can do is wave back. He hopes, he prays Makoto will make it but this day already started in a bad way and to his anxious mind it can only go downhill from there.

There’s a cheerful message from Rei and Nagisa - a goofy picture of them and the new swim club members, wishing Haru luck. There’s a “Good luck! ” from Rin and Haru wishes to get a message from Makoto too, but he knows he is mid exam. He saw him few hours ago and he did promise to be here, but the stress is getting the best of Haru and he is not able to stop it.

He has a wild guess that getting older in realm of sport where age plays a big roles is what keeps him constantly anxious. The more scoutings he fails, the less time to gain professional success he has. That should be the reason why nothing is as simple and fun as swimming with his friends anymore, as every move he makes in water carries importance over his whole life. He might blame the anxiety on the fact that his friends are not physically there to support him, that he doesn’t have anyone to rival with and laugh about it afterwards. He could blame it on all that, but it’s too obvious for himself, the problem hides in fear of being a disappointment - for himself, for his friends and above all for Makoto.

“Nananse Haruka?” an unfamiliar voice speaks and Haru looks up. “You are swimming in the next round,” the middle aged man with an organizer badge around his neck says and Haru nods. He puts his phone away and then quickly takes it again, checking if there’s really no messages from Makoto, but as he sees nothing he places it down and follows the organizer to the pool.

The scores on the leaderboard are menacing. Each new group is better than the previous, the current leader changing each time, beating personal records in second. Suddenly he feels small and vulnerable and running away seems like a good idea. The clear blue water flashes disgustingly green before his eyes and he takes a step away from his spot. In absolute panic he looks around the audience, looking for a way to escape, but instead he finds a reason to stay.

Makoto is standing on the stairs mid seats, breathing heavily, his hands resting on his knees. His shirt is drenched with sweat, his bangs stuck to his forehead and droplets of sweat rolling down his face. It is absolutely obvious he has run to get here, yet there is a big, bright smile on his face and he straightens out, waving at Haru. He’s here. He made it like he promised. No, Haru couldn’t back out now.

Haru takes one last look at Makoto before putting his goggles one and taking his position on the diving platform. He hears the shot and jumps straight in, despite the green mush from the nightmare flashing before his eyes again. He feels the slimy hands grabbing onto him again, trying to pull him back, but even through the splashing water he hears a voice more familiar than any else calling his name, cheering for him. The past cheers of all those who have stuck with him ring in his head, one being louder than others, one being there since he first stepped into a pool and still remaining unchangingly by his side till this very moment. The voice that has showed him way to this dreams, that has kept them alive and brought them closer.

Haru kicks off from the opposite end of the pool, his heart beating strongly and steadily in a rhythm he tried to grasp night after night, nightmare after nightmare. It’s literally matter of heartbeats until his hand hits the edge of the pool and he finally dives up properly. There are loud cheers around the seats and yet Haru’s eyes find Makoto instantly. There’s so much joy, so much pride written on his face, it might be too far but there might be tears in his eyes, so Haru looks at the scoreboard with disbelief.

Number one. Personal best. The green numbers not translating to him at all. He sways a little as he gets out of the pool and makes his way to the locker room, the green of the water in his nightmare switched to the green of the numbers. He is still in daze during the award ceremony and as he accepts business cards of trainers, quietly saying ‘thank you’ and bowing. There are a dozen of offers and he is not sure how he will choose, but he had never even imagined this moment would come true.

He remains in the the dizzy state until he leaves the sports center. The fog wrapped around his head lifts as he sees a more than familiar form sitting on the bench near by. He doesn’t care that there are people around, he doesn’t care about anything at this point and sets off running to the man waiting. He almost jumps into Makoto’s arms, making the taller male sway a little.

“Easy, Haru. I’m still sweaty and gross,” Makoto laughs as his fingers tangle in Haru’s hair in a familiar fashion. “You were phenomenal. I am so happy I made it,” he ads and despite his first statement pulls Haru closer.

“Thank you,” the latter murmurs against others shoulder.

“For what?” come a very simple question in return.

“For everything,” Haru replies and looks up, meeting his favorite shade of green. The man holding him was like a dream catcher. He made all the nightmares disappear and kept all dreams, all aspirations around until they were fulfilled. Through thick and thin, through misunderstandings and confessions he was still here, since day one being the dream catcher storing Haru’s dreams and protecting them for him, protecting Haru himself.

“I love you,” he says clearly, his eyes locked with Makoto’s. There’s a small moment of silence before Makoto gently presses his lips against Haru’s - just a short peck as they are in public, but it’s more than enough.

“I love you too,” is Makoto’s simplest, yet most sincere answer before he takes Haru’s hand in his, leading both of them home.