Hey there! I found this week's prompt call out to me somehow in my Appmon server so I decided to do a short one-shot. I had a lot of fun with this one as a Psychology student and you guys will probably see why once you read it – it deals with closure and is pretty sappy actually but I feel a lot of people wouldn't view Haru/Yuujin's reunion in this way but I'm unorthodox in some matters even if I'm predictable in others.

Somehow, Haru had felt that after Yuujin coming back, everything would be alright. That as long as they were together, the rest could be put into place and they could figure out where they wanted to go for there. But as Haru's eyes met with his best friend's before Yuujin quickly tore his gaze away, a tense silence filled the room, the silence so thick that a knife could cut through it. He wanted to break the silence, run forward and envelop the other in a hug, sobbing at how happy he was to have him back. But for some reason, he didn't move like something was physically holding him back from doing what he wanted.

Yuujin opened his mouth to say something too but immediately shut it. It didn't feel like only one year had passed since everything. It felt like decades had gone by between the two of them and like they were two strangers meeting for the first time.

Things have never been like this between us. There was a time when all we needed was to be together and everything would fall into place. Everything would be alright. Have things really changed this much?

"Haru," Yuujin's voice was barely above a whisper but somehow Haru managed to hear it despite how soft it was. "I'm so sorry. I hurt you so much." His voice cracked as he said that, a lone tear rolling down his cheek.

Haru opened his mouth to tell Yuujin it was alright, to tell him that it was okay and that they were together now but the words didn't come out no matter how much he tried to push them out. Flashes of Yuujin telling him that their friendship wasn't real and it was all part of Leviathan's plan filled his mind. No, no! That wasn't the real Yuujin. The real Yuujin had always been there, he had always existed, had called out to him when he was sinking in depression about what was real and what wasn't. The real Yuujin was the one who felt Leviathan's choice would be too hard on him and had made the choice for him instead. The conflicting thoughts whirling in his mind made his head pound.

"Why did things have to become so complicated?" Haru said softly, talking more out loud than really to Yuujin in particular, but he did then look up and trying to lock eyes with Yuujin who still wouldn't look back at him, heart thudding slightly. "Remember when all we needed was one another. What happened to us? How did our path get filled with so much pain, so much heartbreak?"

"It's my fault," Yuujin said, voice filled with regret. "I never deserved you. None of that was real."

"You called out to me, Yuujin," Haru said, voice slowly becoming more firm. Somehow, he didn't want to hear apologies or self-loathing. "When I had fallen down, when I had given up all hope, you called out to me. Not YJ-14, but my best friend, the one I trusted, the one I grew up with. If none of that was real, then why? Why did you call out to me? Why did you make a choice that was too painful for me?" A part of him didn't even understand why he was asking these questions. His head pounded and something in him screamed that he was being too blunt, that Yuujin had finally come back to him and he should just be happy, focus on comforting Yuujin after all he had been through. But another part of him wanted answers, wanted to understand these feelings even through the hurt – even if the answers weren't what he wanted to hear.

"I-I don't know," Yuujin managed to stammer out. "I don't understand a lot of this, Haru but I only know one thing. I wanted you to save me when I called out for you, I wanted my best friend. I…I begged Mother to let me go, to take away the control and stop me from hurting you further but she said weapons didn't have a will." The words sounded hollow even to him, like he was trying to gain some sort of sympathy from his best friend but Haru was looking at him so intensely that he had to continue somehow. "I wanted to argue because I didn't want to hurt you. I wanted to fight back against her and against Leviathan but I wasn't strong enough to. But when Leviathan asked you to make the choice between letting me die to save the world or letting me live and ensure his victory, I already knew what you would choose. It's you. You'd never sacrifice the whole world for your own happiness, for your own feelings no matter how much it hurt me. But it's when you actually made the choice, that I fought as much as I could. I fought to try and gain back control somehow. I didn't want you to make that choice – a choice that I don't know if you could forgive yourself for. I didn't understand how I still felt those feelings but I wanted to protect you from that kind of decision. I wanted to make that choice for you. I couldn't see the emotional turmoil on your face."

Haru didn't interrupt Yuujin, watching him intensely as he spoke and he felt something inside him, a tightness in his body that had been holding him back from just moving forward and embracing his best friend begin to ease the more the other spoke. He always had a feeling that Yuujin's friendship, his feelings, the memories they shared with one another were completely real and Yuujin's actions back then – calling out to him and then making that choice for Haru spoke louder than any words but there had always been a part of him that longed to hear it from Yuujin. A part of him that wanted the reassurance that his best friend cared about him, that it wasn't just something he was programmed but that the real Yuujin, the one he had worked to bring back for one whole year was his best friend, was the person he had grown up with. As Yuujin finished speaking, he realised he no longer felt the hesitation and his body had eased up enough to allow him to move forward and embrace his best friend.

Haru pulled Yuujin closer in his arms, the tears beginning to fall and he began to sob, clinging tightly to the other as if he would disappear all over again. "T-thank you, Yuujin. Thank you for answering my questions."

Yuujin's arms wrapped around him and he could feel that the other was crying as well. "H-Haru. Will we be okay?"

Haru hugged the other tighter but managed a shaky smile through his tears. "You're here, Yuujin. We already are. The rest we can work out as long as we're here, together."

Yuujin seemed to accept this, burying his own face in Haru's shoulder. "I love you, Haru."

Haru felt more tears fall down his cheeks at the other's words. "I love you too, Yuujin. Thank you for coming home to me."