Chapter Text
Makoto is going to host a party.
The start of school isn't really anything to be excited about. The fact that this will be their final year of high school is actually the only reason to combine festivities with that utterly dreadful feeling of back-to-school. It feels like it's been a long time since the month of Kyouko's disappearance. Memories of what had happened come and go like the long-since dulled pain in his ankle, gentle reminders of what had been. Closure is a stranger to Makoto, but the funeral had been enough to sever the tie between himself and the ever-painful misery that came from his journey through summer hell. He'd done his best to get back in his place, to remain that friendly boy everyone knew him as. The others, his friends, seemed cautious at first, uncharacteristically calm and quiet. But He’d assured them all that he was still himself, they needn’t act like he was someone to be cautious around. He had to get back to who he was before... Before it all.
He relearned how to have genuine, relaxed fun. He’d forgotten how nice that felt.
Nothing but fond support had been thrown his way by his friends, the friends who were still here, the ones who needed him to take control of his life again. Even people like Mondo Oowada, whose name now carried a sour taste and sometimes revived the throb to his head and the constrict to his heart, had given him a less-hard-than-usual clap on the shoulder and told him to take it easy. That unending support, it helped him to stand on his feet again.
“Are you sure you want to do this?”
That’s what Byakuya had asked him.
He’d been at his boyfriend's house when he’d decided that he would push forward and make something out of the rest of this summer. He’d managed to run into a group of kids from their graduating class one afternoon, and rather than staring at him in pity, they’d gathered around him and treated him like they always had, like he hadn't been locked up in his house all June.
They're good friends, and Makoto can't help but gush that he just, 'loves them with all his heart'.
For himself and Byakuya, things had been able to move forward on their own. They’d only grown closer since the funeral, rather than apart like Makoto had feared. He’d been leaning on the sleek hood of the midnight-black car, having arrived at Byakuya’s house after being picked up from his own. His ankle felt better, but his bike had been long since abandoned. He hadn't figured that his injury would lead to free car rides whenever the other boy was available.
He’d responded to Byakuya’s question smoothly, “I am. I won’t turn into a hermit because of this. I still have my friends, I plan on keeping them.”
“But no one expects you to bounce back, Makoto.”
“I know,” He’d smiled and turned to face the other boy, who’d come to lean on the car beside him, “But I’m ready.”
He was ready, he felt. He could have all of his friends, and they’d all come here, to his home, and they’d have a party. Makoto never much cared for parties, and certainly not back-to-school, for that matter, but it was a step he needed to take. If only to prove that he was alright, he was okay.
They’d have fun.
Now, Makoto, he's the kind who's always accepting and laid-back, he allows people to do whatever they want to. He doesn’t control anyone, and he doesn’t feel the need to. But he's adamant, as he'd stated to Byakuya during the planning of said party, that alcohol was the quickest way to disaster. He’d been proved right once, he wouldn’t have it happen again. It'd only taken that one night, those few cans of beer, to make Makoto swear off the substance for good. There would be absolutely no drinking tonight.
But in the here and now, snapped back to reality, he stands with Byakuya in his own living room. His little house is clean and tidy, as is his room, thanks to Byakuya’s stern orders of cleanliness. His family, on another note, had been excited, glad to see him enthusiastic about something. He’d spent all of June locked away, but now he stands with bright eyes from before, happy and upbeat... Though a little wiser, a little older.
Aoi comes bounding in the front door, bouncing and laughing. She’s even more excited than he is, ecstatic at the prospect of a party, less so at the idea of heading back to school.
“Hey! I’m really glad we’re doing this!”
Byakuya shifts his weight next to Makoto and crosses his arms, “You did bring the rest of the supplies, correct?”
Aoi laughs, flicking her wrist at him nonchalantly, “Of course!”
And Makoto laughs along with her, the sound brilliant and fulfilling.
Byakuya allows himself a small smile, his cerulean eyes fixated on the bright smile that Makoto offers. It feels like years ago to the older boy, when Kyouko had gone missing at the party. Byakuya had only shown up at Hagakure’s in hopes of seeing Makoto, of course. He’d had feelings for the boy for as long as he can remember. Of course, he feels as though Makoto doesn't need to know that; It's a bit embarrassing, after all. It does make him feel a warmth he hadn’t known previously, when he sees Makoto with shimmering hazels and a toothy grin. It makes him fall only harder, only further in his, dare he call it 'love', for him.
Makoto turns that heart-lifting smile to Byakuya as he looks up at him, leaning into the warmth of his arm as he instinctively wraps it around the shorter boy’s waist.
“People are gonna start showing up!” Aoi teases them in her singsong voice, pointing at their joined figures. Byakuya frowns, his face flushing a light pink, but Makoto only laughs and leans in closer, shifting to press his forehead into the crook of the other's neck. It doesn’t bother him for the others to know, they probably already knew anyways. That was fine with him.
Aoi hops away, sprints like lightning to the front door to peek out into the driveway. She calls to someone that the boys can’t see, and she waves to them, beckoning them closer. She runs out the door and jumps down the porch steps, running out into the front yard like an excited child. Makoto chuckles, but he hesitates to follow. He's not ready to move, not yet. And Byakuya doesn’t usher him, his hand steady on the other’s waist.
He sighs in a way that says he's content. Sighs out all of the negative emotions that could potentially crash his good mood. He’d wished it’d been him instead, to be taken instead of his best friend. And there's part of him that would still be okay with that, the part that would always love Kyouko, but then he knows there’s no sense in wishing to change things, not now. He’d been told, by his friends, by his boyfriend, and even by schoolmates he didn’t know, that they were glad he was alright. They needed him here, he was important to them. And though he misses her a great deal, he doesn't want to leave anymore. He wants nothing more than to stay forever in the light of support and comfort that his friends bring.
He finally understands. What he thought was only felt by him, that strong sense of devotion to his best friend, to Kyouko. His friends feel that same thing for him, and there's no way he'd ever cause them the pain he'd felt before. No, he's here to stay.
He smiles, squaring his shoulders and pulling his form to stand at full stature. He was ready, ready for the party he's to have with his friends. He makes a move to stand on tiptoe, pressing a chaste kiss to Byakuya’s cheek as he takes the boy’s hand, pulling him out the door to follow Aoi. To greet whoever had shown up.
This was his new start, he’d be sure to make the best of it.