Chapter Text
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“Um, Mikoshiba-san?” Makoto Tachibana called out shyly and smiled as he waved at the taller (ex)captain, heading through the crowd in the mall. The green-haired teen excused himself from his parents, who had brought him to Kyoto to visit some Universities he might be interested in applying for.
Said person halted in his steps and turned around, face breaking into a wide grin as he saw who it was. He waved back enthusiastically and excused himself from his group of friends (Kenma and Shun, fellow dorm mates at the university he now attended), making his way over to the eldest Tachibana.
“Hey, Tachibana! How’s life? It’s been a while since I last saw you!” Seijuurou laughed boisterously and thumped the green-eyed boy on the back, making the latter cough. “Everything’s been pretty good so far! I'm attending Meijou now.” He smiled, fiddling with the strap of his backpack.
As the two continued their conversation, Seijuurou's roommates Kenma Fujiwara and Shun Yamamoto watched, a kind of peaceful silence descended upon them as they observed the duo. Kenma was a homosexual famous for his purple-styled mini-mohawk on campus, with the temper of a bull. Shun was a handsome and indifferent asshole who went through women like he did water.
They weren't choice roommates, but Seijuurou would have to make do.
“Oi, Shun,” Kenma said, his eyes focused on Makoto. “The kid’s kinda cute, huh?”
“Stop it, you horny homo,” Shun replied with disdain, yet his blue eyes never left the backstroke swimmer. “He can’t be that young, why’d you call him a kid?”
“I dunno.”
They continued to watch.
Afterwards, Seijuurou and Makoto exchanged their pleasantries and farewells and the redhead returned to their group, a big grin on his face. He was considerably more refreshed than before, his aura returning to a humming, positive vibe when he first arrived at the dorms before it was all dimmed by continuous deadlines and assignments (accompanied by all-nighters and over-caffeinated drinks which tasted like hot crap).
“Man, that was nice! It’s good to know he’s doing well,” He chirped happily to his friends but blinked as he saw their gazes still directed in Makoto’s direction.
He turned around, and raised his eyebrows as he traced their gaze towards the brunet’s ass, hugged nicely by the well-fitted jeans he wore. Damn, that's a nice ass... WAIT A MINUTE.
“Oh my god, seriously?” He groaned and swatted at their heads (they skillfully dodged). “Not you guys too!”
Immediately their attention was back on the redhead.
“What d’you mean us too?” Kenma demanded, his puffy mohawk (Seijuurou didn’t know how he managed to keep it looking so alive with the little time they had to care for personal grooming, he even let his hair down sometimes, not bothering to gel it up) complimenting his bewildered expression.
“Well, the kid’s kinda hot, not like we didn’t notice,” Shun said, and before Kenma could debate back, he raised his hand. “I’m still straight though. I’m straight but I’m not blind, it’s obvious he’s good-looking. But maybe not handsome like me.” He couldn't help but add.
“Yeah. Tachibana used to attract all sorts of attention from some of the... uh,” He glanced at Kenma, trying not to come off offensive. “Different guys in school.”
“I feel so attacked right now.”
“Shut up, you dumbass,” Shun said, his trademark lazy smirk appearing as he found the situation somewhat funny. “So? Did anything happen? Somebody tried to cop a feel?”
“Nah, but the number of spectators watching us during the joint practices increased as the months went by. By the time I graduated, he practically had his own fan club staring at him from the railings.” Seijuurou chuckled, remembering the time one of them tried to approach the brunet, only to be hauled and thrown out by Rin afterwards.
“Did you ever try to hit on him though? Ask him out on a date or something?” Kenma asked, and nudged his friends to the direction of the supermarket, where they had intended to get groceries before they ran into Makoto.
It was no secret between the three of them that Seijuurou swung both ways, Kenma was gay, and Shun was strictly straight. They were also known as the ‘gay-bi-hetero’ trio on campus, famous for their shenanigans at parties and mixers.
“Well, um, uh, maybe?” Seijuurou blurted, his face flushed a brilliant pink. “It didn’t go so well though. We were at the supply shop when his friend began stripping and he had to stop him before he dove into a large fish tank.”
“… Seriously?” Shun demanded. Kenma just roared with laughter, with no volume control and even lesser fucks to give.
They ignored the stares they got from passersby, already used to it.
“Well, that sucks!” Shun wheezed, wiping a tear from his eye. Seijuurou flipped him off, clearly not understanding what he found so funny. “I think you’d have a chance, y’know. I mean, the way he was staring at you kinda reminds me of desperate women when they're drunk and horny.”
“What an awful choice of words!” Kenma chided, scowling.
Seijuurou couldn’t agree more, tuning out his friends when Kenma began lecturing Shun about respecting women, the trio heading back to the Hidaka campus for class.
>
“Momotarou-kun, are you even serious about the swim team?” Nitori asked abruptly.
“Huh!?” Was the younger Mikoshiba’s offended reply. The two were in Tokyo with Sousuke, visiting old friends for the long weekend. Sousuke was with them, wanting to see Rin, who had flown in from Australia to attend the Samezuka reunion as well. It would take place this Sunday at Hidaka U, one of the old members having booked a space for the event.
“Well, you’d better get serious. That ex-Iwatobi backstroker's still got you beat in terms of speed. Doesn’t that make you feel embarrassed?” Sousuke teased, unable to control his inner bitch, being competitive and all. Nitori covered his mouth, trying to contain his giggles while Momotarou began to wail about how he’d definitely improve next time and he was going to practice till he puked!
Rin raised his eyebrows, finally looking up from his phone, and turned to his best friend.
“Oi. Why’d you call Makoto that?”
“What? What did I call him?”
“... Makoto Tachibana. You’ve talked to him before, haven’t you? During that stupid water gun fight too."
"Yeah, but I don't know him that well," Sousuke shrugged. "What's your point?"
"Uh, yeah you do. You used to be obsessed with finding him, after that shit race when we were kids, remember?"
There was a slight pause as Sousuke processed the sentence, Momotarou’s angry ranting in the background.
Sousuke remembered a cute, gentle boy who had comforted him after he had cried at the back of the old Sano swim club, after failing to win even third place. The boy had gentle green eyes like the forest and had held Sousuke's shaking hands gently in his, telling him that he was amazing and he shouldn't cry, because he knew Sousuke had so much potential.
It had annoyed him for years that the boy had mysteriously vanished after that one time, never to be seen in Sano Elementary again.
Never did it occur to Sousuke that the boy hadn't been from their school at all.
“Wait, what? You knew who he was and didn't tell me?”
Rin grimaced.
“I was sworn to secrecy."
"By who?"
"Let's just say... you're better off not knowing."
“You're a dick,” Sousuke stated and the redhead growled, trying to control his temper. “I can’t believe how much he’s grown! He used to be so girly and small.”
“Says the one who grew the most,” Rin huffed, secretly wishing he had a little more height on him.
“Does he have LINE?” Sousuke asked as they entered a trendy cafe at the end of the street, buzzing with people. “A LINE account, Rin. Does he? Have one?”
Flopping carelessly into a seat by the window, Rin snarled, his infamous shark-teeth pearly white and glinting in the sunlight, sending an involuntary chill down Sousuke's back.
“… What do you want it for?”
“I just wanna add him, that’s all. I’m not going to do anything,” Sousuke lied smoothly; like how he used to lie to his Mom about going to study when he’d just go to the swimming complex and train. Little, white lies that didn't hurt anybody.
Rin sighed and grudgingly gave him the contact name.
The rest of their teatime was spent uneventfully gossiping about the guys Nitori and Momotarou didn’t like in school and the shops Rin wanted to hit before heading to the hotel for check-in.
>
Later that night, both Seijuurou Mikoshiba and Sousuke Yamazaki lay awake as they contemplated contacting the green-eyed angel.
>
“I don’t even know him that well,” Seijuurou pondered out loud to himself, debating on whether to send the text message. He had gotten Makoto’s number the previous year thanks to their many joint practices, how they needed to organise the practice times and sometimes even joint barbecue parties. “What should I even say?”
He stared dumbly at the words on his screen, wondering if he should hit send.
“To send or not to send?” He mused loudly, leaping up onto his bed, the springs creaking. “TO SEND OR NOT TO SEND?” He yelled, jumping onto the floor, collapsing onto the carpet, and rolling around, still singing (screaming) at the top of his voice. “To send or not to send~ To sing or not to sing~ I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING—”
“SHUT THE HELL UP, YOU FUCKING WEIRDO!!!” The door to his room exploded open and Kenma flew in, tackling the captain and restraining him in a chokehold. “YOU’RE TOO FUCKING LOUD!!!”
Shun yawned as he walked in the room, over to his two companions who were still tangled on the floor. He realised that Seijuurou’s phone had fallen out of his hand, and so he picked it up in case it got crushed by their flailing—
“Uh, Sei, I think you sent something to the Makoto kid, you might wanna check—”
hey tachibana!!!
you wanna meet up sometime to go watch that new blockbuster
sounds good right?
[11:30 PM]
dkdjwieiieSADSDSF
[11:31 PM]
“FUCK!”
>
Sousuke had a similar problem of contemplating whether or not to contact the one he knew now was Makoto Tachibana, otherwise known in his brain as the sweet green-eyed angel who'd saved him from despair when he had been nothing but a weak shrimp.
He already had his finger on the send button.
Hello, Makoto.
I understand from Rin that you're now studying in Tokyo?
I’d like to take the chance, while I’m still in town, to catch up with you.
Would you like to watch the new blockbuster with me this weekend?
I think it’d be a good chance for us to get to know each other better, ass friends.
[11:30 PM]
Sousuke sighed.
And then he sighed again.
His finger lingered on the button.
Should he do it?
“What are you doing,” Rin snarled, leaning over Sousuke's shoulder.
Sousuke flinched and hit the send button by accident, nearly flinging a fist towards Rin's face in reflex. “WHAT?” He demanded (not so) calmly as possible, hitting Rin in the face with a pillow and earning a disgruntled snort from the redhead.
“Just go to sleep already, your stupid screen's lighting up the whole room!” Rin barked, leaning over to peep at Sousuke’s phone. “Oi, you sent something to Makoto?! I knew you were up to something!”
Sousuke realised with a start that he'd sent the message and scanned it for a few moments, taking everything in. And when he got to the end - the same time as Rin, who was also reading it over his shoulder - they both let out a collective sigh (Sousuke’s being much louder).
“Ass friends, huh…” Rin deadpanned (he supposed this was punishment enough for Sousuke sneaking Makoto's contact info).
“I’m going to bed.” Sousuke groaned, covering his face with his hands.
>
A sleeping Makoto Tachibana did not notice his phone alert him of the new messages he'd received at the exact same time, happily dreaming away in his comfortable bed, not knowing of the chaos that would soon follow.