Work Text:
To: Matsuoka Rin
From: Tachibana Makoto
Time sent: 7:09PM
[Hey Rin? I'm sorry to bother you, but would you talk to Haru? Please?
...I don't think I can get through to him anymore.]
----
To: Matsuoka Rin
From: Hazuki Nagisa
Time sent: 8:34PM
[Rin-chan! Did Mako-chan contact you!? We're at the festival and Rei-chan and I can't find him! He went to follow Haru-chan and I think they had a fight because I saw Haru-chan run back to his house!]
To: Hazuki Nagisa
From: Matsuoka Rin
Time Sent: 8:46PM
[Relax, I think I know where he is. I'll text you when I find him.]
----
"Tch," Rin clicked his tongue, "Those two..."
"Something wrong?" Sousuke asked.
The two of them were on the train heading towards Rin and Sousuke's hometown, their bags next to them. It wasn't full as commuters rarely take the train at this late at night.
"Sorry Sousuke, I won't be going with you back to Sano. Makoto's hiding and Nagisa and Rei can't find him."
"Tachibana?" Sousuke raised an eyebrow, he wouldn't have thought the Iwatobi Captain to hide from his friends.
"Yeah," Rin ran a frustrated hand through his hair, messing up the small ponytail at the back of his head. "Geez, one thing after another..."
"The next station is Iwatobi. The next station is Iwatobi."
Hearing the train announcement, Rin grabbed his bag and turned his body to wave Sousuke goodbye but stopped as the other also stood up.
"You don't have to come." Rin said.
"Two people are better if you want to find a person." Sousuke countered.
Sousuke would be lying if he said it was the only reason why he was joining Rin to find their rival team's captain. He was intrigued by Makoto, how a tall giant like him was so patient with everyone and always smiling, yet contained a bit of taunt in him. He didn't miss the remark he made back at Momo before the relay. Also, he felt like he owed the other for how he helped him in the shower room, when the brunet found Sousuke at his lowest. He didn't pry, he didn't fuss, he simply respected his wishes and gave him advice with Rin.
Sousuke followed Rin out of the train station. He came to Iwatobi several times for his doctor appointments, but besides the route to the hospital he was clueless on where to search for Makoto.
"Where do you think Tachibana would hide?"
"Knowing Makoto, I can only think of one place." Rin said mysteriously, already moving to the destination only he knew.
The two walked silently, the lights from the fireworks illuminating the way in various colours. They slipped through the crowds leaving the festival and climbed up stone stairs that looked liked it needed care, cracks and moss growing on it showing the lack of maintenance on it.
"This is...a shrine?" Sousuke asked, seeing at the top the faded torii gates.
"Yeah, the other shrine got more popular because of a rumour that if you prayed there you'll do well in life," Rin explained, "So this one just declined gradually, more so after the couple that ran this shrine passed away. Makoto used to be friends with that couple, he likes to come here and think when we were younger."
Reaching the top, Rin and Sousuke found Makoto in front of the shrine, leaning against the side of the building that would give one the view of the fireworks. Rin reached into his pocket, sending a quick text to Nagisa to let the other know he found Makoto, and walked towards the quiet brunet.
"Yo." Rin said nonchalantly, taking a seat next to Makoto. Sousuke joined the pair, settling down next to Rin.
"Rin, Yamazaki-kun." Makoto greeted back, his smile like fragile glass.
"Idiot," Rin insulted but his tone was anything but that. He gently brought down Makoto's head to his shoulder and ruffled the brown locks. "Don't try to act like nothing's wrong."
Makoto laughed wetly. Sousuke couldn't see, but he could hear the sniffles Makoto let out as the three sat in silence, only broken when fireworks still exploded in the air.
"I'm going to Tokyo for university," Makoto spoke up.
Rin hummed, "Not swimming?"
The brunet smiled, "Rin, you said before that at my level scouts should've come to me, it...it made me really happy when you said that. But I'm not at the level like you or Haru, this is my limit."
Makoto shifted, wringing his hands. "I told Haru and he...didn't take it well. I talked to him about finding his own dreams, because not having a dream is...scary. If Haru was truly happy living without one, I wouldn't have said anything. But you, Nagisa, Rei and I know Haru isn't. He wants to find one but he's scared. I must've been the one person he didn't want to hear that talk from."
"On the contrary, I think he needed to hear that from you." Rin argued. "Makoto, you know you're basically Haru's touchstone? You're a constant, like math constant. You're always there for him, you never changed and if you wanted Haru to move his ass and find something, he needed to hear it from you."
"I wonder..." Makoto whispered. "He said I meddled too much..."
"You give people space to think for themselves and then you 'meddle' to help us out." Rin said, doing the air quotations with one hand.
"I wonder if that's actually helping." Sousuke commented. "Sometimes, people get worse if they aren't confronted earlier and leaving them alone sucks more than talking it out."
"Sousuke..." Rin muttered guiltily. Sousuke nudged his shoulder playfully, his smile reassured Rin that all was forgiven.
"You're right," Makoto glanced at Sousuke in gratitude. "I should've talked to Haru earlier about this."
"Well, don't worry Makoto." Rin grinned, the kind that showed all of this teeth. "I'll smack Haru some sense when I bring him back."
"Bring him back?"
"Yeah, we're going to Australia!"
"Eh!?"
Sousuke sighed, "So that's your plan."
Makoto laughed genuinely this time, "Thank you Rin, Yamazaki-kun."
"Sousuke's fine." The words left Sousuke's mouth before he could stop, but he found that he didn't mind when Makoto gave him a shy, but full of gratitude smile.
"Thank you, Sousuke-kun."