Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

  It was late evening, the sun was just setting over the horizon and everything surrounding the area was glinted with a strong warm orange and the shadows of trees and buildings took over the terrain.

  Two men stood away from a large building under a nearby tree. The shade from below it protected them from the heat of the sun, but orange lights still left holes on their bodies and the fabric of their clothes.

  “Thank you Makoto, you’ve done nothing but amazing things for Hayato” a strawberry blonde boy murmured gratefully.

  Everything about his body language despite the sincerity and calmness of his thanks was filled with energy, and the one whom he’d been talking to, Makoto, gave the boy a warm smile and looked at him with his trademarked soft eyes before replying,

  “It was my pleasure Kisumi, I’m glad he’s okay now.”

  Makoto had helped Kisumi's little brother, Hayato, overcome his fear of water during his volunteer work at the swim club. The boy had experienced a traumatizing drowning experience and was terrified going near any body of water. It seemed impossible to get him in the pool, let alone swim in it. But after much patience and gradual teaching from Makoto, the young boy was excited whenever he came to swimming practice and looked eager to try and new learn things. It was a tremendous change for the usually shy and quiet boy that left an impression of new found strength in his sibling.

  “It’s all thanks to you!” Kisumi suddenly beamed, “I would have never expected to see him so excited about getting in the water, I only wanted him to have a little experience so he could feel safe but,” Kisumi turned to look at Makoto with almost similar soft eyes to his, “He’s so much more confident now, I don’t think anyone could have done what you’ve done for him.”

  Makoto flushed, obviously a little overwhelmed

 “I-it wasn’t much really,” he laughed modestly, “I just taught him what helped me is all, it really was all him in the end.”

  Kisumi nodded, not arguing Makoto’s statement but was still smiling gratefully to him before glancing away to look up at the sky.

  “You know,” he mused, “I know this was just volunteer work, but you were really great, not just with Hayato, but with all the kids.”

  “Oh?”

  Kisumi turned and looked back at Makoto, “I watched you Makoto, you really made impacts.”

  There was a short silence before Kisumi continued,

  “I think…you should really consider doing something like this more often, you really are a natural!”

  Makoto stared at Kisumi with his round bright jade eyes, almost as if he had said something revolutionary.

  “You think so?” Makoto questioned with an unusual quiet hesitance that made Kisumi worry, but not worry enough to deter the confidence and enthusiasm in his reply,

  “Definitely! I know so!”

  Kisumi couldn’t be more sure his friend was wonderful working with kids, his gentleness, patience and natural admirable strength, all made him the perfect role-model for children.

  “Huh…” Makoto looked off to the side, his face had a smile but his eyes were filled with doubt, “I don’t know…”

  Kisumi reacted immediately, sensing him getting nervous, and grabbed both of Makoto’s hands,

  “Don’t worry so much Mako-chan, it’s just a suggestion!” laughing and grinning brightly to try break Makoto’s doubtful look he continued, “You’re an amazing person Makoto…you can do anything you set your mind to, I know it for a fact, so don’t underestimate yourself!”

  Kisumi noticed Makoto’s grip tighten in his palms and something inside of him shuddered.

  “I…” Makoto trailed off, Kisumi realized his friend looked doubtful, but his eyes gave off a little shine even turned away from him.

  “Thank you…Kisumi…” Makoto had looked up from the ground and was staring at Kisumi with those strong emerald eyes again as they lit up filled with so much gratitude.

  Those eyes always held so much emotion, and Kisumi had no idea what he did to deserve the look he was being given, but he became inevitably trapped in the glowing gaze and could only mirror his soft smile,

  “Of course,” Kisumi laughed with a sense of fondness he had not expected to escape his heart.

  He wanted Makoto to understand how amazing he was, how someone like him could follow whatever dreams he chose as long as they shone brightest for him. Kisumi knew in this moment he believed that if nothing else, in the end he wanted Makoto to hold no doubts for his future. He deserved to follow the path that would be most beautiful for him.

  He truly hoped - as quick and short as their meeting had been - that this experience had been as significant to Makoto just as much as it had been to his little brother.

  The thought made his heart beat a little faster, and he soon realized with surprise something had somehow managed to find a way to impact him as well.

Chapter Text

  “Dammit”

  The late evening sun shone through the blinds of Kisumi’s apartment window leaving lines of light glimmering into the room. He was sat back on his bed face towards the ceiling as he watched the fan circle slowly around above his head.

  “Goddammit”

  He had an irritated flush of red fill his face that could easily pass off as a result of the heat from outside, but the harsh reality of his old rekindling infatuation for his grade school friend was alive more than ever.

  Again.

  It was summer now, swimming lessons were popular again and Hayato spent no second making it known about how much he wanted to swim again. It had been a year since he learned now, and everything about the experience had been an improvement. Kisumi had never seen his shy little brother so excited at the prospect of getting in the water, he’d even convinced their parents to pay for the lessons year round and he came to Kisumi bursting with all kinds of new energy and confidence that he’d never had before, and he had Makoto Tachibana to thank for it.

  Kisumi had something of a crush for him in grade school admittedly, but after that and they separated to different schools, naturally he had gotten over it. He’d had actual relationships with guys and girls alike, nothing ever too serious just casual get together’s that ultimately ended in eventual but mutual break up’s, and it was fine. Kisumi never needed a serious relationship; he was content living as he was especially considering how he kept close friendly contact with most of his ex’s regardless. Nothing ever ended on a bad note, he was able to jump-in and jump-out and he was happy, but ever since he ran into Makoto again the year prior, the guy had been not only invading his thoughts but his relationships everyday.

  Relationships started becoming more irritating to be in, not only would he become bored and disinterested quickly, he found himself comparing everything and anything his partners did to Tachibana.

  “Makoto would never say something like that,” “Would Makoto have liked this?” “How would Makoto have reacted?” ”Would Makoto think this is okay?” “What would Makoto do?”

  Kisumi hated to admit it, but he began having standards and it was all unusual and foreign to him.

  So now here he lay, steaming over his recent breakup with a boyfriend that ended on a similar note to how most of his past relationships the year course of the year have ended – over how he “never gave them enough attention” and he sighed.

  Kisumi really wondered if things would ever go back to the way they were.

  He lifted his phone above his face and scrolled to Makoto’s name, which he had kissing emojis surrounding, in the past as a joke with him but now he was beginning to wonder if it somehow the cheap smiley’s held secret meaning.

  Sometimes he wishes he could bring himself to just talk to him, even shoot a quick text, but then most times he also thinks ‘Shigino that’s a dumb idea’ and pushes the thought away.

  While Kisumi was usually upfront and forward with his affection to just about anyone, recently just the idea of Makoto, let alone talking to him, made him nervous and uneasy.

  Something had to be fixed.

  A soft knocking at the door interrupted his thoughts, and even though it didn’t necessarily surprise him his phone fell directly on his face.

  “Ow…”

  “Oni-chan!” his little brother’s voice called from behind the door.

  “Hayato!” Kisumi shot up immediately to go and answer, but remembering the door was already unlocked, he reconsidered, “Augh…” he moaned before collapsing back on the bed, “I’m so lazy Hayato…I can’t…move…”

  Hayato knocked on the door a little harder.

  “Oniii-chan!” he screamed playfully irritated.

  “I can’t Hayato…I have to…open the door with my magic powers…it might take awhile…”

  Hayato groaned but Kisumi could hear him laughing quietly from the other side.

  “Alright at the count of three the door will be unlocked,” Kisumi started, “1…2…2 ½….” There was another groan from the other side of the door, “ 2_2/3… 3! Open sesame! You may enter!”

  The door swung open and Hayato ran towards his older brother arms wide and laughing before jumping onto the bed.

  “Welcome home!” Kisumi laughed hugging his brother tightly and sitting him on the edge of the bed next to him, the smaller boy’s face was beaming and Kisumi knew right away what he wanted to talk about, “How was swimming practice today?”

  “It was so great!” Hayato exclaimed immediately, “Today I got 3^rd place in a race against the others!”

  “Wow! That’s amazing Hayato! You’ll be swimming for the biggest swim teams in the area at this rate,”

  Kisumi began imitating a microphone in his hands and deepened his voice to sound like an announcer, “Hayato Shigino…takes the lead! He’s going…he’s going…he going...! And the crowd goes WILD,”

  He grabbed Hayato’s hand and held it up in the air.

  “The winner! Shigino by a landslide! His devilishly handsome older brother Kisumi is in the stands crying tears of joy!”

   Hayato started pushing away at Kisumi’s face, “Stop being weird!”

  Kisumi could see his brother was smiling but let go of his hand and apologized anyways,

  “Sorry, sorry,” he laughed, “Im really proud of you though Hayato, that’s really big for you!”

  Hayato’s eyes shone as he looked at Kisumi excitedly, “Do you really think so?”

  “Of course I do!” Kisumi grunted giving Hayato a light noogie, “You’re only going to get better and better from here if you keep working hard.”

  “Yeah!”

  Hayato was really getting more and more into this. Kisumi couldn’t get over how much happier he was, how most of the fear and hesitance that his brother once had was almost completely gone. Children are so impressionable, he was happy his brother was in the right hands at the swim club.

  “Also! Also guess what!” Hayato continued excitedly, breaking Kisumi’s thoughts.

  “What is it?”

  Hayato spent no hesitation and leaned a little closer to his older brother while replying.

  “Tachibana-san is back!”

  Kisumi flinched.

  “And he’s going to be here all summer!”

  Kisumi flinched again.

  Oh no.

  “T-that’s great Hayato!” Kisumi replied with a force positive disposition.

  Not that he didn’t think Makoto’s being here was a good thing, heck it was an amazing thing, above even a great thing, but his deep rooted unresolved feelings for the boy was something left to be desired, and nothing he was ready to confront as he inevitably would have to eventually.

  “He saw me today and told me to tell you that you should come visit!”

  Really, it was inevitable.

  Kisumi relaxed, sighed and nodded, “Hmm..since you’re sleeping over today I’ll go with you to practice tomorrow, how does that sound?”

  “Really?!” Hayato exclaimed.

  “Mhm!” his brother’s excitement was enough to web away most of his worries, “that way I can visit Makoto, and see how much you’ve improved with your times!”

  Hayato bounced off of Kisumi’s bed with a sudden intense energy,

  “Yeah! And I’ll show you how much faster I’ve gotten!”

  “I’m looking forward to it,” Kisumi laughed, “now hurry along, go shower and I’ll make a quick dinner before it gets dark.”

  Hayato nodded and bounded across to bathroom in the next hall right of Kisumi’s bed. He got up from his mattress, grabbed a pillow and a blanket, and set up a makeshift bed on the couch for himself when night hit before heading to the kitchen.

  He wasn’t at all surprised Makoto was back at Iwatobi for the summer break, but was a little more surprised he came back and chose to volunteer at the club again.

  And this time, all summer it seemed.

  Kisumi agreed without thought about going to go see him. He could have said anything else. ‘Maybe another time’ or ‘perhaps sometime next week’ would have sufficed, but now he placed himself in a situation where he would have to confront his friend without any preparation. He was less afraid of seeing Makoto as much as he was afraid of how would he deal with it.

  When he thinks back to his grade school years, he wasn’t ever exactly the best at being subtle around him. And last year was when everything resurfaced, he hadn’t had a chance to really consider his feelings for the boy, was it just another long lasting phase or was he beginning to develop a sense of something more?

  He looked out the window to see the last of the sun disappearing and the dark purple in the sky becoming darker as thin black clouds began to take over, Kisumi guessed tomorrow he’d have no choice but to find out.

Chapter Text

 “Ahhaa! It’s so nice outside!” Hayato ran down the hill of the sidewalk with his arms wide open to embrace the early morning breeze.

 “Now be careful Hayato, don’t fall over,” Kisumi warned with a laugh.

 It really was gorgeous outside, small white clouds we’re making its appearance in the sky, and the early morning sun shone with a soft heat and a bright light that only the dawn of another good day could provide.

 Kisumi followed from behind his younger brother with a smile on his face, watching him occasionally balance on the bricks of flower beds or the curbs of sidewalks, and every now and then kicking a rock in his way down the path before it would get caught in long grass, and he would being skipping his way towards their destination again; Hayato was so filled with life compared to last year.

 He remembered the first day he took his little brother to the swim club.

 Hayato had taken heavy and slow steps side by side with Kisumi with his head down and face scrunched up with dark eyes. Kisumi had slowed his pace to match his and the entire way there talked in attempt to wear away Hayato’s fears,

 “It’s fine, it’s fine Hayato! It’ll be fun!” Kisumi had pressed, “I had friends who went here y’know? Right around your age too! Man they were crazy about the water – they still are! And they had loads of fun along the way!”

 Hayato, unconvinced and still apprehensive, had simply listed to his older brother ramble, dragging his feet and keeping a strict silence about him.

 During that time, Kisumi had felt burning guilt inside him. He felt like he was sending his brother to a doomed sentence. He feared what he was doing was only going to make Hayato’s phobia worst.

 “Would this really help him?” he’d wondered, “Am I making a good decision?”

 But those worries disappeared gradually as time went on, and now today he watched silently as his brother ran excitedly towards the doors of Iwatobi SC Returns as it appeared in the distance.

 “Hurry up Nii-chan! You’re walking too slow!”

 “I’m coming I’m coming,” Kisumi laughed again.

 His brother’s face twisted into a pout.

 “If you don’t hurry we’ll be late!”

 “I’m sure we’re right on time, Hayato.”

 Kisumi made his way down towards the door where his brother was already standing ready to open it for him.

 “You go in first!” he demanded.

 “Yes sir!” Kisumi obliged.

 Kisumi had been in this building a few times when he was younger to come watch relays or meet up with Makoto and the gang to go out, and while it wasn’t as sentimental to him, he still got a sense of how much time had passed ever since they’d all been here. Everything was so much smaller and the renovations to the building we’re all moderate but noticeably new.

 He stepped into the building a little stiffly and scanned around looking for any signs of his brunette friend.

 “Ah! Kisumi!” a voice called from his right, but it was a deep, loud and bulky voice that held none of the grace or softness of Makoto’s.

 “Ah, hello Coach Sasabe!” Kisumi replied happily-toned.

 Kisumi wasn’t super friendly with the older man, but they became acquainted after their equal concern for Hayato. Despite his age he was still visibly fit, and his broad shoulders flexed as he crossed his arms and gave a large booming laugh.

 “Hello, Mr. Shigino!” he started, “it’s been quite awhile! Where’s the little one?”

 “Right here! Right here!” Hayato squeezed past from behind his brother to get to his coach excitedly, “good morning Sasabe-san!”

 “Haha! There’s my favorite Clownfish! Good morning to you!”

 “Clownfish?” Kisumi questioned, while his brother laughed as Sasabe gave him a friendly noogie on the head.

 “Yup! That’s the nickname the kids gave ‘im, your little brother’s really making his mark!”

 “Is that so?”

 Kisumi’s heart swelled, Hayato was making new friends and getting nicknames now!

 “I’m going to go get changed!” Hayato suddenly announced before breaking away from the two men to run towards the locker rooms.

 “I’ll say your brother sure has a lot of potential,” the coach observed, “in any case, it’s nice to see you today, Mr. Shigino! Here‘ta watch Hayato again?”

 Kisumi only occasionally visited every now and then, he stopped visiting Hayato everyday once his college work started taking up most of his time but always came for relays or bigger events to watch his brother shine. His visiting was a bit unusual but not unexpected.

 “Ah yeah, it’s summer now so I have the time, and also er…” Kisumi tripped over his voice slightly, “I hear Makoto is coaching here all summer now, is he around?”

 “Makoto? Ah yeah! He’ll be helping out with coaching here for the next few months, but he’s not here right now,” Kisumi felt a little relieved but also equally disappointed, “he gets here around the time class starts, you two are just a tad bit early!”

 “Ah figures,” Kisumi mused, a little reassured at the fact that Makoto would be here, “thank you for letting me know! I look forward to seeing Hayato swim, I’ll be watching from the stands.”

 Kisumi waved a farewell to the coach before walking towards the entrance stairs to the stands.

 He wouldn’t have to confront Makoto face to face right away – he had time to brace himself – he would be able to talk to Makoto after the practice.

 The thought made his heart flutter and he felt a little more confident about finally seeing his friend after a long year.

 About fifteen minutes of time passed after Kisumi had dropped Hayato off. He was now sitting in the stands comfortably by himself. Usually the parents came closer to the end to pick up their kids, so he had the whole area to himself until then.

 From below the kids were smaller and huddled in circles talking amongst themselves. Kisumi spotted Hayato in one of the groups laughing with one of the bigger circles and Kisumi felt his heart swell once again.

 “Alright! Attention!” came the loud voice of Coach Sasabe, which effectively echoed around the entire building.

 The kids, laughing, instinctively separated from their circles and huddled into a small mass faced towards their coach who stood in front of the pool – but Makoto was still nowhere in sight.

 “Alright kids!” Sasabe had began with an authoritive tone, “I have news to share with all of you! Tod-“

 He was interrupted by the sound of quick coming footsteps.

 “Ah!! Wait, wait!” came a voice from the exit behind the kids.

 Kisumi turned curiously to look at what the commotion was and his heartbeat froze.

 There he was.

 Makoto ran in, He was in uniform and prepared with his Iwatobi SC outfit and green goggles hanging off his neck, but his face looked stressed and disoriented as he breathed heavily from running.

 “Tachibana, you’re late!” Sasabe scolded.

 “Sorry! Sorry! I slept in a little late.” He apologized quickly, catching his breath.

 “What kind of example is that to show to the kids? Geez…” The kids could be heard giggling at their coach quietly, “Well hurry over here already!”

 “Yes!”

 Kisumi tried to hold in his own slight laughter, his friend hadn’t changed a bit. Makoto had never been to great at being on time from what he could recall in middle school, and Kisumi could imagine now with his time in university, he’d grown apt to taking in as much rest as he could.

 “Alright now as I was saying,” the coach sighed irritably, “the news! I came here today to let you all know that today I will be going on a vacation for the month.”

 The kids eyes widened and you could hear their curiosity echo in the gym.

 “Why do you need a vacation?” a child asked, innocently but with a slight unintended condescending tone.

 “Because I work hard dammit!” Sasabe responded matter-of-factly with a slight hint of irritation, “I’m too old, even us adults have to go out and enjoy life sometimes!”

 When no one responded he continued,

 “That’s why after today, Coach Tachibana will be doing me a favor and taking care of you kids individually!”

 “Mhm! I look forward to it,” Makoto responded.

 The kids all started laughing and cheering at the prospect of Makoto being with them alone for the whole month and Coach Sasabe looked slightly downtrodden,

 “Don’t get too excited now…” he muttered to himself bitterly, but Makoto heard and gave a soft laugh.

 “I expect you all to behave and not give him a hard time!” Sasabe started again regaining his previous confidence, “Coach Tachibana says he has a lot of surprises in store, so be prepared!”

 “Yes, Coach Sasabe!” all the kids responded in unison.

 After scanning each kid for a second, Sasabe turned and placed a hand on Makoto’s shoulder,

 “Thanks for doing this for me Makoto, I trust you to watch over them,”

 “Of course, you can count on me,” Makoto responded, the coach walked away from him and headed towards the exit sealing the deal, “enjoy your time off!”

 “Oh ho, you know I will!” the old coach laughed before waving off to Makoto and the kids and finally leaving.

 So that was it, Kisumi had decided Makoto was probably here to cover for Sasabe’s vacation. But even then when he thought about it, that still wouldn’t explain why he was here the entire summer. Kisumi knew he enjoyed being with the kids though, so maybe the real reason he was here for a part time job to get some extra money until school started.

 Yeah that’s definitely it.

 Kisumi leaned back in his chair to relax, content he had figured out that mystery on his own without confronting Makoto. Now all he had to do was wait until practice to go say ‘hi’ to the boy in another ~faithful~ and ~coincidental~ encounter and finally see if he could put a close this long-lasting infatuation.

 This was going easier than he thought.

 Was.

 He spotted Hayato talking to Makoto from below.

 His younger brother was pointing above in Kisumi’s direction to point him out to Makoto in the stands and he jumped at the realization -- his face suddenly flushing a slight red.

 Kisumi’s natural instinct was to hide but he shot straight up as Makoto looked in his general direction and their eyes finally met.

 Those eyes, even from above the stands where they were harder to see, those soft jade eyes contained so much emotion and beauty that managed to erase every thought in his mind and fought its way into Kisumi’s heart every time.

 Kisumi had to catch himself and realize he couldn’t stare that long, and keeping his composure he gave a soft wave to Makoto, his face beaming as it usually did.

 Makoto smiled back and gave a bit of a larger wave back so Kisumi could see it.

 Hayato grabbed Makoto’s hand and started tugging him towards the pool – he was obviously taking too long for his patience and was being dragged away by his little brother.

 Makoto gave a look over his shoulder that indicated he would talk to Kisumi later, and when he finally turned around to focus on the kids, Kisumi slipped back into his seat with an exasperated sigh. His heart was now beating a little quicker and he was overwhelmed.

 He wasn’t going to survive after practice.

Chapter Text

  Splashing and the excited cries of children echoed all around the building, and Kisumi was watching from above intently. It’d been perhaps a little less than an hour since practice begun, yet he continued to keep his focus consistently shifting from his brother’s swimming and Makoto’s coaching.

  Kisumi started remembering the year prior again and how Makoto had been with the kids at the time – slightly apprehensive but happy and refreshed, he had been visibly attentive, but experimental to the new experience.

  But now, something had changed.

  Makoto’s voice, usually quiet and soft, was now appropriately volumed and could be heard even over the echoes of the kids, and whereas before Makoto had kept the children grouped together in one place to avoid losing track of them, he now seemed more migrant and moved from place to place, giving kids directions and then quickly shifting to another group allowing the other ones to work individually. And in the past, the cry of a kid who was struggling would have caused him to jump and rush messily over the one in need - now the calls of kids seemed less frightening to him - and while he moved urgently to assist, little of the nervousness from the original coaching experience existed. Kisumi didn’t have to be down there to feel the new amount of assurance emanating from his friend. This was nothing like the casual part-time work from before, Makoto really knew what he was doing, almost like a real coach. It was admittedly a little flooring to observe – watching his modest friend enjoying himself but being clearly serious about this work.

  Regardless, Kisumi shook his head deciding not to focus too much on Makoto and keeping his half of the promise to watch Hayato. He was in the water in a floating position, looking content as he casually backstroked at his side of the pool and his friends around him as well practicing their individual strokes, stopping occasionally to splash each other and goof around. Kisumi giggled to himself, amused after Hayato got caught in the middle of the splashing fight and quickly shot up to take revenge. His brother, who had once seemed so uncomfortable and terrified in the water, now made the environment look like it came naturally to him. The months he’d spent swimming all this time had made a tremendous difference.

  “Hey, hey!” a strict voice called from the other side of the pool.

  The kids paused their splashing immediately and jumped, turning to the direction of Makoto with a guilty look. Makoto was hold a scared little girl’s hand, clearly busy helping her swim across the water – but despite being preoccupied on her he looked irritably at Hayato’s group.

  “What did I ask you all to do?” Makoto scolded with an annoyed tone.

  “Practice our kicks…,” the group replied in unison guiltily.

  “And what are you not doing?”

  There was a pause and the other kids around the building could be heard snickering at Hayato’s group. The boys being scolded looked embarrassingly around the room before lowering their heads to look at the ground and avoid eye contact with Makoto.

  “Sorry, Coach Tachibana…” they apologized in unison again before immediately turning to continue their practice and Makoto sighed, exasperated.

  “Jeez…”

  The kids seemed to respect Makoto’s authority and feared beratings from him, but Kisumi couldn’t suppress his own smile. From the stories Kisumi heard, Makoto could barely restrain his own friends from goofing around recklessly, it was amusing to see him chastise the kids without a seconds hesitation and garner a response.

  Naturally as requested, the boys grabbed on to the edge of the pool and resumed kicking their feet and they look slightly irritated, including Hayato.

  Clearly this exercise was too easy for them.

  After about ten more minutes of watching Hayato and his group do their kicking exercise, Kisumi got a little bored himself.

  No wonder they hated it, he would have done the same thing they did.

   Stretching, he stood up and removed some of his stiffness from sitting so long and looked back down on the kids. He figured they may be doing that routine for a while longer, so a bathroom break seemed appropriate.

  Water streamed from the faucet and into the crevices of his fingers, cleansing the soapsuds from Kisumi’s hands. When it had finally all washed off, he turned the knob of the sink, which gave a slight creaking sound at being shut off, and headed to the napkin dispenser to dry his hands.

  The day had been peaceful so far, it was getting a little closer to the afternoon by now and the kids were closer to being done with practice. And the closer it came to practice ending, the closer Kisumi was getting to finally speaking with Makoto. He started making mental notes to himself: From asking Makoto about today’s coaching, to asking him about university life, perhaps even asking how his friends were and if he’d heard from them – just creating a barrage of questions to be prepared in his mind the minute he was face to face with the brunette.

  Despite Kisumi’s original worries, he looked most forward to having the chance to talk normally with Makoto again and find out how he was doing since last year. He still felt bad for intentionally not talking to him for so long when he could have been keeping up, but he was going to make up for lost time.

  Kisumi heard the doors to the entrance of the bathroom open and he took the sound as a cue to head out. Balling up his paper towel he casually tossed it over his shoulder into the garbage and headed towards the door.

  The footsteps of the newcomer entered the room but then stopped in place.

  “..Kisumi?” a voice questioned slightly echoing against the bathroom walls.

  Kisumi froze and stiffened inside.

  The all too familiar voice that until now he has been seeking but listening to from a distance was speaking to him. He widened his eyes in surprise and the voice matched with face as lo-behold, Makoto stood right in front of him with a slightly off-guard expression.

  “Mako…?” Kisumi started in a confused reply, as if his being here was that much of a shock. His chest felt frozen for some reason for that fleeting moment, but when Makoto gave a soft laugh and a smile at Kisumi’s surprised expression, it all melted away – and every worry Kisumi had was thrown out the window.

  “Aha! Mako-chan it is you!” he beamed, losing his prior stiffness and shock, “you really scared me there whew, jeez…what, you just sneak up on people now?”

  Both of them laughed, the air of intensity Kisumi had before suddenly became soft, and his words began flowing naturally.

  “Haha sorry, sorry my bad – but to be fair, you scared me too,” Makoto groaned humorously, “I really did think you were still in the stands.”

  “Hey, what? You can’t blame me for that…” Kisumi pouted, “I’m a guest! The teacher is expected to be with his students at all times – you’re the one out of order Tachibana-san.”

  Makoto raised his hands in surrender with a poorly hidden smile in attempt to look defeated.

  “Alright, you got me, sorry for startling you so badly.”

  Makoto was clearly teasing back and Kisumi tried to look irritated but he couldn’t remove the delight from his eyes.

  But his mind started trying to piece the situation together, what was Makoto doing away from the kids?

  “Why are you around here anyways?” Kisumi scolded but with a tone that still held some of its playfulness, “don’t you have a small army to be watching?”

  “Ah that,” Makoto started, having recovered from their slight spiel and ready to explain properly, “they’re all on break, practice is about half an hour from being done so everyone has time to rest,” he scratched the back of his head and laughed, continuing, “I figured this would be a good time to take a break of my own.”

  Suddenly at that statement, Kisumi looked around at the white walls and the stalls becoming dreadfully aware of the unusual environment and sighed in amusement. This was not the place to hold a conversation.

  “Hah clearly, I can tell,” Kisumi replied goofily, “If that’s the case then I won’t keep you too long.”

  Makoto moved a little to the side to give Kisumi room to exit the door.

  “I’ll be able to talk to you later right?” Kisumi questioned before walking out of the bathroom.

  “Definitely!” Makoto replied with that trademarked smile.

  “Ah, wonderful!” Kisumi gleamed as a finally began taking steps out the door and turned around to give a final wave, “Then I’ll catch you later~”

  “See you!” Makoto waved over his shoulder as the door began closing.

  How great! Makoto promised to talked to him later, it was like a weight was lifted off for some reason… then suddenly, another weight as quick as the last one had been lifted dropped right back onto Kisumi’s shoulder, and he quickly whipped around.

  “Wait wait!” Kisumi suddenly requested, and Makoto hearing the other boy stopped the door before it closed and peaked at him from the crack of it.

  “Huh?”

  “A-after practice?” Kisumi fumbled over his words slightly, “ I’ll talk to you then right? After practice? That’s when I’ll be able to see you later? You’re good with that?”

  Kisumi had to know for sure, the promise of talking to him later was too ambiguous. "Later" could mean when he got home, "later" could mean weeks ahead, "later" could mean months away if he wasn't careful.

  “What?” Makoto replied confused but with an amused undertone, “Of course, when else?”

  The question struck Kisumi in the heart. He realized he may have become too greedy with the confirmation and promise of "talking later" directly from the boy himself, not from a third party, and he suddenly felt a little ridiculous.

  “Just making sure,” Kisumi recovered with a rough smile, “I’ll hold you up to it!”

  Kisumi immediately whisked back around so his red face was hidden from Makoto’s view. From behind, Makoto was shaking his head with a lasting grin as he watched his weird friend go and he closed the door.

  That had begun so smoothly and Kisumi almost ruined it entirely. How was it possible for a situation to be so convenient and inconvenient at the same time? Kisumi had been capable of dealing with that surprise interaction well, but he wasn’t prepared. It had been so sudden… so quick... so... awkward.

  Awkward?

  Kisumi cursed himself he can’t believe that word even had to come to mind to describe what just occurred. Shigino Kisumi shouldn’t even be able to define awkwardness. He very well should be the one to destroy that air of unfamiliarity no matter what circumstance! No matter the environment! No matter the time even! Hell, before last year he hadn’t seen Makoto since grade school and he hadn’t fumbled at poorly as he did just then.

  Everything was happening so quickly, every time Kisumi thought he had his approach planned something would catch him off guard. This shouldn’t be happening... maybe he’s losing his touch? Maybe he’s just not meant to figure this out? Maybe he’s destined to let this all go and ignore it entirely, let it all consume him until he finally got over it without ever really knowing where it could all go.

  …Or maybe he was just being a little hard on himself.

  Passing through the doors that led to the stairs of the stands he sighed.

  It’s fine, you’re good. He told himself in attempt to still his now quickly beating heart. He had to relax.

  Just from that entire scene, Kisumi realized he’d have no problem talking to Makoto like he worried, his instincts would take over and it would all come naturally.

  But part of Kisumi realized, there was something else he was afraid of.

  He couldn't exactly pinpoint what the fear was, but if he let that part of him take over he would never be able to properly get his emotions settled. This boy was already causing him to act in ways he typically didn’t and they hadn’t even spoken for 30 seconds. If Kisumi didn’t get a grip, he feared things might only get worse for him somehow.

  Reaching the stands, he saw parents had already been appearing in the last minutes of practice to pick up their kid and were seated in scatters. Kisumi took his typical seat, giving an exhale of breath and crossing legs calmly.

  These last minutes were all he had to prepare his heart, and he was going to be ready for anything.