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1.
The first time they're children and the usual crew is spending the afternoon at their house. Gou hides in her room with her action figures and dolls until Nagisa drags her into Rin's room with the boys.
Gou likes her brother's friends. Nagisa and Rei are both in her class and Haruka is the only one besides her mom who says her name the right way. Sousuke is basically her second brother but Makoto is the problem.
Makoto who smiles at her just so. Makoto who calls her cute. Makoto who makes her cheeks heat up and her stomach flip-flop.
Sousuke's not there for her to hide behind (having been dragged to the dentist by his parents) so Gou finds herself squeezed between Nagisa and her brother while they talk about what they want to be when they grow up. Gou tries equally hard to stare at Makoto and not look at him at all. When it's her turn, Nagisa jumps in before she can say a word.
“Gou-chan is going to be a bride,” he shouts, scrambling for crayons to draw it on the paper laid out on the floor.
Gou frowns. She's not going to just be someone's bride. She opens her mouth to tell him.
“Ah,” Makoto exclaims, “you'd make a perfect bride, Gou-chan!”
Gou chokes on her words as she locks eyes with Makoto. He gives her that same sweet smile and Gou feels her ears heat up.
She spends the rest of the time silently doodling and helping her brother color in his police car.
And thinking about a future as Tachibana Gou.
2.
The second time they're in middle school and the teacher's errand takes Gou right past the open doors of the gym.
The squeaking of sneakers on the wood floor draw her attention from her task and her feet take over to the doors before she even realizes what's going on.
It's her brother's class. She sees Rin sitting on the bench saying something to a frowning Haruka. Gou stifles a giggle.
There's a commotion out on the floor where the rest of the class is playing basketball. Gou looks up just in time to see Makoto's tall form lining up for a shot from center court. His face is closed off in concentration as he lets the ball fly. A hush falls over the room as everyone tracks the ball's arc. The whoosh as the ball slips thorough the net sounds like a shout in the silence.
Cheers erupt from all over the gym. Makoto laughs sheepishly as his teammates and opponents alike rush over to congratulate him. Gou looks on in awe until someone clears their throat just beside her.
“Shouldn't you be in your own class, Matsuoka?” Coach Izumi looms over her.
Gou's silence earns her her first detention.
She thinks it's totally worth it.
3.
The third time is on his graduation day and Gou feels cute and grown-up in her prettiest outfit with her hair artfully pinned and curled.
She, Rei, and Nagisa put together to buy gifts for their four favorite upperclassmen. A rigged round of drawing straws later (Gou's 90% sure Nagisa knows what she's up to the whole time) and Gou rushes off to present Sousuke and Makoto with their gifts.
Sousuke has an image to uphold so he stares at her before he takes the gift in one hand and pulls her into a suffocating hug with the other. Laughing she squirms out of his reach just as she catches sight of Makoto.
The other boy is laughing with some of his other classmates when she reaches him. His eyes and smile widen as she presses the carefully wrapped box into his hands.
“Congratulations, Makoto-kun,” she grins back.
Makoto laughs again, sweeps her into his arms, and presses a kiss to her forehead. He lets her go just as quickly, face crimson as he mutters apologies. Gou manages to shake her head before Rin bursts onto the scene to defend his baby sister's honor. Gou's forehead tingles where Makoto pressed his lips. She touches her fingers to the spot.
That night her cheeks ache from smiling.
4.
The fourth time she's in grad school and Makoto's not even there.
Chigusa sends a care package the week of Gou's dissertation defense and Gou makes the mistake of opening it during a prep session with Nagisa and Rei. The “Hot Firemen of Iwatobi” calendar is already flipped to Mr. December when Gou pulls it out of the box.
Makoto, clad in a Santa hat and black-framed glasses, lounges across the top page. Low-slung fireman's pants give a tantalizing view of his obliques and his biceps flex as he touches noses with a white kitten wearing a big red bow.
Rei calls her name five times but she doesn't notice until Nagisa tips her backwards out of her chair.
Nagisa laughs about it for the rest of the night.
5.
The fifth time she's working at a clinic and supposed to be professional.
She's only been a member of Kawada-sensei's practice for six months but takes it as a good sign that he's starting to pass more of his patients off to her. Sousuke's the first patient to come to her directly.
She helps him work his way back to active duty after he takes a bullet to the shoulder stopping a robbery. He in turn spreads her name like wildfire through the department until she's the physical therapist of choice for the Iwatobi PD. Gou knows it's only a matter of time before she sees someone from the fire department but she's still not ready when he comes in.
She spends so much time checking his chart after she reads his name at the top that Nurse Abe passes her three times in the hall. Gou finally feels prepared to handle this session and walks into the exam room.
A shirtless Makoto sits facing away from her on the exam table. He rolls his shoulders, sending the muscles of his back (which Gou always felt was the best feature in a pretty magnificent package) rippling. Her mouth goes dry and she barely keeps hold of his chart. She walks back out.
She ends up standing outside for another five minutes before she can actually get in and do her job.
1.
The doors open and time seems to simultaneously crawl by and speed past as Rin walks her down the aisle. Too soon, Rin kisses her on the forehead and places her hands in Makoto's.
Gou grins and looks up into the face of her soon-to-be husband.
“Hi,” she says and squeezes his hands for her own comfort.
Makoto just stares back at her, mouth agape.
And he can't say a thing.