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To be fair, it's Rin's idea.
Makoto's neutral on the whole situation, and prefers to let Rin hash it out himself (although he does think that Gou is more than capable of telling someone she's not interested in to back off) rather than get involved in the matter. He knows that Rin really doesn't like Captain Mikoshiba near his sister – practically everyone within a mile radius does – but he doesn't realize the extent of Rin's feelings until one afternoon, after a joined training session with Samezuka, when Rin asks for a word away from Makoto's teammates.
And really, he's more than happy to follow Rin; he's talked to him and hung out, sure, but it's usually around their other friends. That doesn't particularly bother Makoto, per say, but. He and Rin have hardly been around each other with just the two of them, and most of the information that Makoto has about Rin's life is passed down through Haru. Rin's one of his best friends, after all, and he wants to spend as much time with him as he does with Nagisa or Rei.
“What's up?” Makoto asks as Rin stops them towards the side, away from any wayward ears or wandering eyes.
Rin glances around, and Makoto can't help but feel a small thrill of anticipation at that. This has to be some kind of important secret, if he doesn't want anyone overhearing. Definitely not a conversation about swimming or times or what Haru is doing and if he's okay.
“I need your help,” is what Rin finally says, voice serious. He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “It's about Captain Mikoshiba.”
Makoto frowns a bit at that; he's never really spoken to the Samezuka captain before – except for one awkward conversation where the taller swimmer clapped his hand on Makoto's shoulder and may have bruised it. He doesn't really know what he has to do with it, but sometimes Rin does this thing where he'll just say something without explaining it very well – not until someone asks for clarification.
“What do you mean?” he asks, his curiosity growing as Rin straightens himself, gives him a hard stare, and finally says:
“I need you to pretend to be a girl.”
Makoto almost chokes at that; he's certain that, if he was in the pool, he'd have swallowed pool water and possibly would have had to go to the hospital to pump the chlorine out of his lungs.
“I'm-I'm sorry, what?” All he can think of is Rin forcing him into a dress and making him wear makeup, and, okay, maybe it wouldn't be so bad because he's sure he'd look nice and all – but.
“Look,” Rin says, looping an arm around his shoulders as he steers him towards the pool exit. “I know it sounds crazy, but I need someone to get him away from Gou. Haru's the farthest thing from romantic, Rei will probably crack and tell him that he did it, and Nagisa – come on. Nagisa will probably freak him out or something, who knows.”
Makoto frowns, giving him a sideways glance. “What do you want to even do?” he asks because, honestly, he's not going to agree to trick someone without even knowing what the goal is. He's probably not going to trick someone period.
Rin smirks then; a small laugh bubbles out of his mouth before he starts speaking again. “My kouhai, Nitori, found Captain Mikoshiba on one of those dating-chat-website things. It's him – the profile and picture matches and everything. I know it sounds like a shitty thing to do, but I need you to help me get him away from my sister-”
“-by creating a fake profile and tricking him into thinking I'm a girl?” Makoto finishes for him, eyes wide. That sounds so....wrong. And like it'll blow up in his face later on in life, when he's forty-three and probably forgotten about it all by then. “I don't like the sound of that, Rin.”
“Come on, Makoto!” Rin almost shouts, before he catches himself and looks around quickly. After assessing that it didn't catch anyone's attention, he fixes Makoto with an almost pleading look. “He'll never know it's you. You're just going to flirt with him a bit, make him start liking you, and when he stops thinking about Gou altogether, you'll delete it. Bam, it's done, and he'll never know that you and me were behind it.”
Makoto can already pinpoint the major holes in Rin's plan, the missed connections and the fact that that's just so mean to do to someone.
“I don't know. That sounds like it can go wrong very easily,” he says, shaking his head. “Why do you need me, anyway? Why can't you do it?”
Rin scowls. “I don't have the time,” he admits with a sigh. “And what if I'm chatting him up or something, and I forget to log out, and he just walks into my dorm room to see me doing it? And I can't ask Nitori to do it, even though he's twice as sappy as you, because he'll probably just run over to Mikoshiba's room and tell him everything after the first day.”
Makoto doesn't like this assessment that he's somehow less caring and sympathetic as everyone else – that he can do this without feeling guilty.
“Rin, it just...it seems like it's so mean. Playing with someones feelings like that isn't right.”
Rin sighs once again, although this time it's obviously much more dramatic than the previous ones. “Look, I just want him to stop messing with my sister. He ignores me whenever I hint for him to stop, and I need to get him away in the least violent way possible. I need your kindness and puppy-dog attitude, just for maybe a week, alright?”
And okay, even though Makoto knows that this plan is wrong and flawed and that he has the potential to maybe even go to jail for it (right? isn't this considered cyberbullying?), Rin is giving him those wide, innocent eyes and his bottom lip is trembling and Makoto just hates to make his friends upset. Even if it's not even his fault.
Makoto sags his shoulders, heaving out a big sigh. “Fine,” he mumbles, wincing as Rin whisper-yells a “ yes! ” in victory. “What do we do?”
–
What they end up doing, actually, is walking through the neighboring town just a little before five in the afternoon. It took quite a bit for Makoto and Rin to deter the Iwatobi team and Nitori, but they managed to get away, with Rin telling them that Makoto had asked about a cat adoption center in town.
(And maybe Rin's promise of actually taking him to said cat adoption center was a good motivator for him to go along.)
Rin tells him to download the app onto his phone after they walk into the plaza, backing up this request with a: “Just because it's easier to hide this stuff on your phone than on a computer. And if Mikoshiba suspects anything, he won't find the history on my computer.”
After the app downloads, and Makoto taps on the heart icon in order to open it, Rin snatches the phone from his hand, clicking on “Sign Up” in order to start the process.
As Rin fumbles with the sign up process – something that takes about a half hour – Makoto stops to pet a stray cat beside a bench, Rin stopping to sit and murmuring something about “Do I like beaches or waterfalls more?”
“Give me a girls name,” Rin suddenly says, right as the cat is batting at Makoto's fingers and looking at him with wide amber eyes. “Anything. Quick.”
“Avaron. Chinatsu. Katsumi.” Makoto offers, glancing up at Rin from his position on the floor next to the bench.
Rin gives him a long, weird look. “I want a good name, not the name of an obaasan,” he tells him, and Makoto is just a little offended, because, really, they sounded like nice names to him.
Makoto pauses, smirking slightly as he ruffles the cats fur. “What about Rin?”
“Oh ha. Ha ha. Very funny, Tachibana.” Rin grumbles.
There's a few beats of silence between them, only broken by the hum of other people around them, each talking about their own lives, and the purring cat in front of Makoto.
“I'm going to go with Cho,” Rin finally says, shrugging. “It's short, nice, gets to the point. And that makes choosing the username a lot easier – how does butterflygirl9 sound?”
Makoto can't help but chuckle a little at the name. “Sounds good, Rei.” He jokes, taking a glance behind him to see the harsh glare Rin is burning into the back of his head.
“You know, you're a lot more snappy than people give you credit for,” Rin shakes his head. “I think I'm done, anyway. Get over here, stop playing with the cat. I need to find Mikoshiba's profile.”
And then the weight of what they're going to do comes back (they're about to trick someone and act like a girl online), and Makoto gulps, nodding. He gives the cat one final pat before crawling onto the bench, sitting beside Rin.
He watches over the bright glare of the sun as Rin types a username into the search bar; Rin grunts in disappointment as Makoto's phone takes it's time loading.
“Damn, your phone is kind of slow. The sign up process could've been like, ten minutes faster if you didn't have so many cat apps on here.”
Makoto glares at him, although there's really no coldness or anger to it. “I only have three, Rin. They're important.”
Rin gives him that weirded out stare again. “One of them is called Cat Noises . You don't need that taking up space on your phone.”
Makoto gives the phone a quick look – it's still loading and searching for names – and shakes his head at his friend. “ My phone app choices are weird? Come on, Rin, I remember when you let me borrow your phone and you had an app called The Brostache. Why do you need an app where you put your phone over your mouth and some simulated mouth with a mustache repeats what you're saying?”
Rin's face is red with embarrassment at that; he shakes his head. “Nagisa put that on my phone one day, alright? I just forgot to delete it.”
Finally, the search is complete; the profile of who he's guessing is Captain Mikoshiba appears, and Makoto only um-hum's in response to Rin's explanation.
“Alright,” Rin says after a second, handing Makoto the phone. “Moment of truth. Show me if you can swoon the pants off of him.”
Makoto's fingers are shaking just a little as he hovers over the keyboard; a chat between them is open now. He knows that Rin needs his help, and that he's really too gullible and kind for his own good, but he still feels like this is just....really, really wrong.
Makoto gulps; he types in something, deletes it, types something else, and then erases it once more. This process goes on for a few seconds, with Rin glaring over his shoulder, before Makoto feels like his fifteenth draft of the first message to start this mess is good enough:
hey!!
“Awesome,” Rin drawls, rolling his eyes.
Maybe it's because Makoto's phone is kind of slow, maybe it's because Mikoshiba isn't the fastest of typers, or maybe he's just not at his computer right now, but they wait for him to respond. Makoto can't help but feel something tugging at the pit of his stomach, because this just feels mean. But maybe Rin's right; maybe Mikoshiba will like this Cho and will forget about Gou, leave Rin's sister alone, and then Makoto can delete it and it'll all just be a funny story to tell at reunions.
He's hoping, at least.
Finally, after about five minutes of waiting, there's a response:
captain_sei: who are you??
Makoto looks at Rin, trying to get some support or some kind of answer or something , but Rin just looks back, as though the thought of the captain probably not wanting to talk to some stranger didn't process in his mind.
butterflygirl9: i go to ishikawa high school, and i saw you at a swim competition last year. hope it's okay that i messaged you.
Rin actually looks impressed; he gives Makoto a grin.
captain_sei: wow really??? yeah, it's no big deal. but i can't really talk right now, one of my teammates left campus and it's almost curfew. can i talk to you later? gotta deal with this.
Rin blanches at that; he glances at the corner of the screen where the time is visible.
“Shit!” Rin hisses, standing up. “Sorry to leave you, Makoto, but I gotta go before he gets to me first and makes me do clean up duty for a month.”
Makoto stares at Rin, then at the phone, shaking just a bit. “Wait, what am I supposed to do? I can't talk to him, I-”
But Rin's already jogging away, waving at him from behind and disappearing into a crowd.
Makoto decides that he really needs to learn how to be a bit more assertive.
–
Makoto has just finished putting his brother and sister to bed when he hears the ding! of his phone, signaling that he's just gotten a message. He already knows who and what it is before he gets there, but maybe he wants to be tricked for just a moment by the universe.
His heart sinks when he sees the icon of the dating app in his notifications, and the message that the captain sent him.
He's using his phone in order to do this, meaning he can't call Rin right now, so he gulps, shaking like crazy. Maybe he can just wait until tomorrow to answer, pretend that he was going to bed this whole time. But what teenage girl goes to bed at nine?
He trembles as his fingers hover over the keypad.
Think, Makoto, he looks up at the wall. What would a girl say to a guy? How do I make him like me?
And as Makoto begins to type in a response to Mikoshiba's sorry, i'm back! it suddenly sinks in that he has to flirt with someone, someone he's only talked to a few times and who he actually doesn't know that much about.
He's blushing now, he knows it; his face and neck are warm as he stares down at his phone.
butterflygirl9: it's okay! i heard from some of the swimmers on the team that you're a busy guy.
If Rin were here, he's certain that he'd thump the back of Makoto's head for how raunchy that sounded. He hopes that Captain Mikoshiba is dense.
captain_sei: so you hang around a swim team a lot? are you their manager?
Maybe swim team managers are his type?
butterflygirl9: i'm like an assistant to the manager.
captain_sei: really?
And, to be honest, Makoto gets a bit bored after that, because Captain Mikoshiba starts asking him – Cho, not him – what she knows about swimming and the stats of their team and just....it's about swimming.
Makoto is officially the worst teenage girl ever.
captain_sei: but enough about swimming for now. i think i just want to know a bit more about you.
Makoto has no idea whether to be relieved or anxious because now comes the hard part. Now comes the part about trying to make someone like him. Someone he doesn't really know, someone that could possibly beat him up for tricking him, someone who-
Okay. Okay. If he could walk into the abandoned swim club – which was pretty dark and scary, alright – he can do this.
But from there, the conversation is actually....really nice. It's not even that terrible, to be honest, and Makoto actually feels himself smiling and laughing along with some of the things Seijuurou – first name basis now? – is saying.
The conversation starts as tentative messages, with Makoto nervous about dumping too much information into his messages, because he's never really done this before (he's never really, actually flirted with someone before, to be honest). But soon, the hesitated and short answers come quicker and longer, and the conversation goes from saying their names and small facts about their high schools (Makoto may tie in a lot of the things he knows about Iwatobi into this high school that Cho goes to), to some funny stories about their childhoods and their friends.
And then somehow it just becomes...deeply personal.
Seijuurou tells him about how he had gotten into swimming as a kid because he has dyslexia and it was an easy and soothing sport for him to learn, and how he felt non pressured and could take his time while he was learning. How he struggles and struggles in school and because of it, he pours in as much work as he can into his swim team. Makoto in turn tells him about having a best friend that loves the water and who got him (Cho) into liking swimming, and how even though it's not as serious of a sport for him, he enjoys it because his friends do.
They share stories about being older siblings, surprisingly; Seijuurou talks about how he's the older brother to a younger sister and brother, but how he feels like they constantly have to take care of him and get him out of trouble with school and teachers. He talks about how he feels pressured to be the father figure to his younger siblings, due to their own father walking out on them all when Seijuurou was only ten – but how he feels like he just keeps coming up short on them all.
In turn, Makoto – as Cho – tells him about living in a happy family with two younger siblings, but how her father wasn't in the best of health (he has a heart disease), so she has to take on the role of a parent, just in case anything bad were to ever happen. About how she has a friend group where she's kind of the mother of them all, making sure they don't get into trouble, but she still feels out of place and like they're all paired off together while she's alone. Except, Makoto really hates lying anymore than he already has to, so it's not really made up.
They're about to delve into a discussion of their greatest fears – oh boy, does Makoto have a lot – when Makoto looks at the clock on the corner of his phone and widens his eyes at the time.
12:34
It's been almost four hours.
He frowns, glancing at the 27% on his battery meter too; he's definitely going to have finger cramps tomorrow.
butterflygirl9: it's really late!
captain_sei: shit, didn't even realize!
butterflygirl9: goodnight, seijuurou :)
captain_sei: night, cho ;)
Makoto backs out of the app before he can even process the fact that Seijuurou used a winky face.
He decides that this is a horrible, terrible idea.
–
“I can't believe you're making me do this to him,” Makoto tells Rin as they start to file into a joint practice. “This is so mean.”
Rin raises a brow. “You guys chatted then, huh?”
“Yes!” Makoto exclaims, running a hand through his bangs. “We did, and it's wrong, and why can't you just tell him to back off of Gou in person-”
Rin slaps a hand over his mouth, narrowing his eyes at him. “C'mon, man, stop that. Look, I know it's not the nicest thing to do, but at least you're not asking for nudes or anything. When you guys showed up, and Gou walked in, he didn't barrel her over and start talking to her a mile a minute. It's just been one night and it's actually working.”
Makoto frowns, pulling Rin's hand off of his mouth – because people are actually starting to stare a bit – and sighs. “Okay, but still. I don't want to hurt him like that. It's not fair.”
Rin sighs. “Look, I'll take over for a night, alright? Even if it does blow up in our faces, I'll take the blame and he can make me scrub the grime off of the shower floors, or something.”
Makoto blinks, feeling his heart swell at Rin's words. “Aw, Rin-chan,” he laughs, giving his friend a warm smile. “You really are nice!”
Rin glares. “No, I'm-”
But Makoto cuts him off with a loud hum, rocking back and forth on his heels; Rin just shakes his head, mumbling underneath his breath with a small flush of embarrassment on his cheeks.
–
Makoto's about ready to start his homework when he hears a vibrate; he looks over to his phone, frowning as Rin's name flashes on the screen. He answers it, about to ask what's wrong, when Rin beats him to it.
“What did you do to him?!” Rin practically screeches, and Makoto has to take the phone away from his ear for a moment because wow that was loud. He hopes the dorms at Samezuka are sound proof and that Nitori was wearing noise-canceling headphones. “As soon as I go on the site on my laptop, he's messaging me and telling me that he's been thinking of me all day!”
“I didn't do anything! I just did what you wanted – I talked to him!” And even though he feels just a bit of shame over it, he still can't help but feel a small blush creep onto his face. Seijuurou was thinking about me?
Well, about Cho. But, still.
“Yeah, I'm scrolling through your messages from last night. Seriously man, you guys talked for hours.”
Makoto puts a hand on his face, praying that Rin isn't actually reading them. They're just a bit too personal – on both he and Seijuurou's parts.
Thankfully, Rin only clicks his tongue. “Don't worry, I'm not reading them. I don't want to know about the sappy shit you two were talking about. And besides, if I were to try and read all of these, I'd be here all night.”
Makoto sighs into the phone, pinching the bridge of his nose. “You're talking to him, right?”
“Yeah, but I don't have a clue what I'm doing. I thought I knew how to flirt with people, but I think me knowing him and the fact that he irritates the hell out of me is what's keeping me from being romantic.”
There's a few ideas on the tip of Makoto's tongue; he's about to tell Rin to talk about shiba inu's or about a game show he and Seijuurou both admitted to watching when he decides to keep silent, realizing that he shouldn't already know how to capture the heart of a guy he's never talked to in real life.
Rin tells Makoto that he thinks everything is going smoothly after a few minutes, murmuring some words and questions to himself, and then they both opt to hang up the phone.
–
The next week, on one of their joint sessions, Makoto watches as Seijuurou hardly says anything besides a hello to Gou (he doesn't miss how relieved she looks at that and, well, small victories, he guesses)
But once he's spotted him, Makoto honestly can't help but....stare – in a non creepy way – at him. He's never really noticed the Samezuka captain before; he usually came for Rin, and although he's forged a small friendship with Nitori, he doesn't really know most of the Samezuka team.
Seijuurou is attractive, and he's taller than Makoto too, more muscular. Makoto turns away when he feels like he's exceeded the amount of seconds that it took before a stare became creepy.
–
The thing is, Makoto still feels really bad about it. He's not sure what the time limit is before it's alright to delete the profile and disappear from Seijuurou's life forever, but he's starting to realize that it's going to be really difficult to do it.
Its's while Makoto watches a cat video that Seijuurou sent him the link to one night, and he can't help but laugh out loud, writing a quick response to it.
….maybe it's not even because deleting the profile would mean hurting someone, but maybe it's because it'll hurt Makoto to do it. Makoto has friends, of course, and he loves them dearly, but he can honestly say that he's told more about his personal feelings to Seijuurou than he can remembering saying to them – even Haru.
As Rin would say, he is utterly fucked.
–
At the end of practice, when he's leaving, Seijuurou murmurs a “Nice job, Captain.” and claps him on the back.
Makoto squeaks and runs out of the room.
–
It takes him about four days of messaging with Seijuurou for Makoto to decide that maybe this has gone too far. Maybe this isn't okay anymore – not that it ever was in the first place – and that he should probably try to ease Seijuurou out of this attraction.
He's not sure how psychology works, but Makoto prays that, if he pretends to be annoying or horrible or just a nasty and rude girl, maybe Seijuurou will back off on his own, and that the time he spent not liking Gou will bring him away from his crush on her.
He hopes, anyway.
Makoto goes into the app with the full intention of scaring Seijuurou out of this....whatever it is, by any means necessary.
Fate, however, seems to have other plans.
captain_sei: if you could do one thing before the world ends, what would it be?
Makoto frowns, staring down at the message. Where did that come from, why... Well. He supposes the polite thing to do is to answer, isn't it?
butterflygirl9: i think i'd spend it at the beach with my friends and family, and watch the last sunset, probably.
captain_sei: i figured. you're kind of a sap lol
butterflygirl9: hey!
Makoto is actually terrible. He doesn't even stop there, he continues to talk to him as usual – still nice and open and kind.
Maybe tomorrow?
–
Tomorrow comes, and, as per usual, he goes into the chat. And he tries to be mean, maybe insult swimming or ask Seijuurou how big the pile of empty hair dye boxes in the dumpster outside of his house is, but Seijuurou is incredibly nice and very funny and just...so different from what Makoto ever expected.
He expected someone who only talked about his abs or about body spray or shoes – maybe he's relying a bit on straight guy stereotypes – but he's just very open and honest, and Makoto can find himself identifying and agreeing with a lot of the things Seijuurou tells him.
Like when Seijuurou mentions that he's afraid of the future, that he's afraid to go into pro swimming in college because he's afraid of being a first year again, of seeing all these older people and feeling out of place, Makoto really does understand where he's coming from. Although Makoto has a year left until he feels the brunt of that fear, still. It's something that he can't help but feel.
Makoto can't help but mention a few of his own worries, and although he knows Seijuurou doesn't really get some of them, Makoto can't help but feel a small flutter in his chest at the fact that he tries . Like when Makoto talks about his dad and how he's scared of losing him, Seijuurou tries to help appease his worries – even if he lost his father years ago and it was his father's choice to step out of his life.
All in all, he thinks that this is just a messed up situation. For both of him – Seijuurou because he's being tricked, and for himself because he really, really enjoys talking to the other captain. He's certain that if he wasn't pretending to be some girl, he'd look forward to these chat messages a lot more.
He decides that he's going to write Rin a strongly worded letter or maybe steal his favorite pen, or something.
–
captain was singing this morning. Rin texts him at nine in the morning, and Makoto practically spits out the tea he's drinking. you should give classes on how to win a guy, tbh. you'd make a lot of money.
He really hopes Rin loses his left shoe.
–
It's been almost two weeks, and to be honest, this is kind of torture.
He really needs to end this, before it turns out to be really bad for both of them.
–
For some reason, joint training sessions have started to become about three times a week opposed to once or twice a week, and it's probably not what he's thinking – that's improbable, really, but-
“Captain Mikoshiba keeps requesting practices with us,” Gou tells him one morning in passing, shrugging. “I'm not sure why, but at least I get to see my brother and those muscles, yeah?”
Makoto tries to laugh a bit at it, but there's a cold lump in his throat that's choking him, and he leaves the changing room before anyone else in order to clear his head.
–
Makoto is helping Haru out of the pool, smiling and laughing with his best friend, when he suddenly has that feeling – that one where you can just tell that someone's eyes are on you.
He turns, nearly jumping out his skin when he makes eye contact with Seijuurou, turning back around just as quickly and waving off Haru's raised brow and puzzled stare.
It's not even just that, either; he can feel the other swimmer's eyes on him all the time, despite that he's never done anything – in person – that'd cause him to stare at Makoto like that.
Maybe Makoto is just over thinking it, he tries telling himself as he walks with Nagisa and Rei around the pool to where the starting blocks are. Maybe he has a pimple on his back or maybe Seijuurou just feels a telekinetic pull to him because they're both tall people. He really hopes it's the latter.
Except Seijuurou just keeps staring – with that mildly curious gaze that Makoto doesn't find himself being brave enough to hold.
–
“I'm going to delete it soon,” Makoto tells him as he and Rin are drying their hair off, sighing. “He's not bothering Gou anymore and I can't keep doing this.”
Rin glances at him, raising a brow. He looks like he's about to counter Makoto's plea – probably having another but my sister! complaint ready, but Makoto beats him to it.
“Rin, please. I know that you want to keep Gou safe, or whatever, but I just...this has gone too far, alright?” he continues, sighing. “I can't just delete it, either. That's too mean, to just disappear like that one day.”
Rin looks like he's pondering on it for just a moment, but then he nods – a quick jerk of the head – and gives Makoto another glare. “You're right, he has been leaving my sister alone,” he agrees. His eyes narrow, though, and he looks almost...worried, for a moment. “You can do it, right?” He sounds actually very concerned for Makoto. “Do you want me to do it? Just...tell him goodbye, and end it right there?”
Makoto finds himself smiling at Rin's offer; even though Rin did screw him over and everything, he's still trying to pull his weight.
Makoto thinks about it; it does sound nice, to be able to step away from what's bound to be a painful experience and to let Rin deal with the blow of it – this was Rin's stupid idea, anyway – but. He thinks on it, really thinks, and he realizes that Rin isn't really the gentlest of souls in this matter. He's loyal and he can be an extremely good friend, yes, but he hates Seijuurou. He's not going to be compassionate or anything towards him.
And then Makoto thinks back onto one of his old conversations with Seijuurou, one night when they had been talking about their relationships with their friends. One of the messages that Seijuurou sent to him just really stood out:
captain_sei: idk it's like...sometimes i feel like people have this expectation of me where they think i'm like the biggest douche in the room or something. i remember someone telling me that the reason girls are intimidated by me is because they think i'm the kind of guy that'll get them pregnant and leave them, or something. it's like people don't think i have feelings or that i don't get upset or something, idk.
Makoto looks back at Rin, sighing. “I think I can do it,” he tells him. He really wishes that he sounded more confident.
Rin looks skeptical; he raises a brow at him again, before turning back to his locker. “We'll do it together, alright? You can stay for a little while longer after practice, come to my dorm, and we'll just tell him then.”
Makoto feels a pull in his chest; he doesn't really want Rin to see what's bound to be a personal and emotional conversation, but. He also really needs the support.
“Okay.”
–
“This'll be like ripping off a band aid,” Rin tells him as he opens up his internet browser, giving him a quick glance. “You just have to do it.”
Makoto thinks that that's pretty easy for Rin to say – seeing as he only talked to Seijuurou on this website only once and didn't talk about some pretty personal things.
Seijuurou's already online, and there's a small, jumping line of three dots that signals he's writing a message right now, at this moment. He's just across the hall, sitting in his room on his computer, and even though there's a door and a hallway separating them, Makoto can't help but feel like he's being closed in a small space. Is it hot in here?
“Alright,” Rin says as he lifts his hands, crackling his knuckles. “Here we go.”
Makoto squirms at the noise, bringing his knees to his chest and rocking back and forth on Rin's bed. “ Ew. That was nasty, Rin.”
Rin waves him off, before turning to the laptop with rapt attention.
The conversation between Rin and Seijuurou is pretty standard, although Makoto feels like Rin's sentences are really...stiff and a bit awkward. Some of the things he's saying seem to be a bit more aggressive than anything Makoto ever said; he's relieved that Seijuurou continued to talk to him after that night that he and Rin talked.
And then, it starts to happen – Rin starts the process that'll end this.
butterflygirl9: i don't think i can keep doing this anymore.
Rin glances at him. “Do you want a chance to mourn your relationship or something, before I keep going?”
Makoto gives him a small glare; he doesn't really think that that's funny. It does feel like the end of something personal and intimate, even if it happened under a false persona.
captain_sei: huh?
Here it comes. The part where Makoto watches someone's heart break on screen.
butterflygirl9: it's been fun, but idk i just can't keep going online every day and talking for hours. i need to move on.
“Very dramatic,” Makoto comments weakly, giving Rin a strange look. Did Rin get that line from a Western soap oprea or-?
Makoto looks away from the computer screen, thumbing the fabric of Rin's sheets. He can't look anymore; although there's a sense of relief of not having to worry about this anymore, that he can finally be done with tricking someone, still.
He's lost in thought; he's remembering their conversations, the videos that Seijuurou linked to him and the discussions they'd have that'd span late into the night, most of the time even when there was school the next day for both of them.
Makoto is so focused that he almost doesn't hear Rin's sharp intake of breath – almost.
He looks over at Rin, just in time to feel Rin give a small jab to his side. He glares at him, rubbing at the sore spot.
“What?”
Rin's eyes are wide, his hand is over his mouth, and he's staring at the screen – stiff. Makoto frowns, leaning toward him and glancing over at the chat. He's really hoping – he's praying – that Seijuurou didn't make some proclamation of love or that he didn't curse Rin out or something-
captain_sei: does that mean you don't want to have joint practices anymore, tachibana?
Makoto's mouth falls open; both him and Rin slowly lift their gazes from the computer screen to look at each other, both as shocked as the other.
“You didn't tell-” Rin starts, and Makoto shakes his head violently.
“N-no! Of course I didn't, why-”
ding!
Both he and Rin snap their gazes back to the computer screen so fast that Makoto is almost positive he felt a crack in his neck.
captain_sei: yeah, got you. come on out of matsuoka's room so we can talk in person.
Holy crap.
Makoto feels himself shaking; Seijuurou knows . Holy crap, he knows that Makoto's been messaging him. How long did he know? Why did he keep up with it if he knew?
He looks at Rin. “W-what do I do?” He glances around Rin's dorm frantically, digging his fingers into the mattress. “How big is your window, again? Can I-”
There's a gentle rap on the door; Rin slams his laptop shut, bringing his feet onto his bed and scooting backwards on his bunk until his back hits the wall. Makoto squeaks, scrambling after Rin and grabbing his sleeve.
“Please tell me Nitori came back from cleaning duty early,” Makoto pleads, shaking the sleeve of Rin's shirt. “Right? It doesn't take that long to-”
Rin tugs his arm out of Makoto's grasp. “He wants to talk to you, man, go out there-”
“Seriously? It was your idea!”
“He's going to kill me and put my body in the showers so the first years can find it, or something! I'm not dying for you!”
“Tachibana?” The rough voice comes from the other side of the door; Makoto squeaks again, once more getting hold of Rin's sleeve and staring with wide, nervous eyes toward the door.
“That's you,” Rin says anxiously, poking at his shoulder. “Gonna get the door?”
Makoto shoots him a glare, before sighing.
It's time to face the music, he supposes. Own up to his problem before Seijuurou decided to break down the door, or something.
He's certain that, if Seijuurou were absolutely livid at the situation, he would've done something earlier on. If he's known for a day or two, he would've done something during practice today, or when it was just Makoto and Rin in the locker room. No way would he have waited this long, right?
Giving one final look to Rin, whose still pressed against the back of his bed, Makoto gets up from the bunk, and moves toward the door. The four or five steps he takes there feel like the longest of his life; he's certain he's spent less time doing laps around the pool.
His hand shakes as it reaches the doorknob, and he takes one final breath before slowly opening it.
Seijuurou is standing there, obviously, still adorned in his Samezuka jacket. He looks over Makoto's shoulder, giving a sharp glare towards Rin, before meeting Makoto's gaze.
He doesn't look angry. He looks...neutral, really. Seijuurou gives Makoto a quick, weak smile – just a small upturn of his lips.
Makoto gulps, looking away from his eyes and trying to find something interesting to look at in the patterns of Seijuurou's jacket.
“So,” Seijuurou says after another moment, clearing his throat. “Let's talk, yeah?”
Makoto looks up, then looks back down, and nods sheepishly. He's blushing like mad, and way too nervous and anxious to make conversation or to pretend like it really wasn't him pretending to be Cho.
Seijuurou's room door is open; the captain holds out his arm, gesturing for Makoto to go in first. While Makoto crosses the hallway, head still down in shame and embarrassment, he thinks he hears a quick I'll deal with you later from behind him.
Makoto enters Seijuurou's room, and it's a bit like he expected; not as tidy as his own, or even Rin's (well, Rin's side of the room), but it's not as hectic or cramped as Nagisa's. It's somewhere in the middle, and it's so like Seijuurou that Makoto almost finds himself smiling at the familiarity of it. Almost.
“Soo...” He hears Seijuurou start as soon as the door clicks shut; Makoto turns, almost sinking down as he watches him cross his arms over his chest. He really hopes that Seijuurou's not going to crack him in the skull – he's not sure how he can explain to everyone how it happened.
“I pretended to be a girl on the internet to make someone leave a friend of mine alone and he punched me in the face when he found out.” It's not like that doesn't sound creepy or trashy on his part at all.
Makoto nibbles on the inside of his cheek for a moment before finally meeting Seijuurou's gaze.
“How's it going, Cho?” Seijuurou asks, raising a brow.
Makoto sighs, wringing his hands together. “Sei- Mikoshiba-san,” He doesn't know how Seijuurou would feel about him using his first name, to be honest. “I am so sorry that that happened the way it did. Rin just didn't like you going after Gou all the time, and he asked me to help him out and-”
“Woah, woah, slow down, Tachibana!” Seijuurou laughs, shaking his head and holding up his hands.
Wait, he's laughing ? Makoto thinks, eyes widening.
“I'm not mad at you,” he clarifies. “If anything, I'm more mad at Matsuoka than you. It was his idea after all; he just made you go along with it. I'll probably just make him clean out the showers and do...maybe a hundred laps around the pool? I don't know, I'm still thinking about his punishment.”
Makoto looks over at the wall, trying to keep the blush off of his face. He's not mad at him?
Instead of asking, though, Makoto nods. “Yeah,” he agrees, weakly, shrugging. “But...um, can I just ask...how did you know it was me and Rin?”
Seijuurou shrugs again. “I thought it was Matsuoka at first. I asked “Cho” about swimming and what style she liked the most on the second night I started talking to her, and Matsuoka just went on and on about freestyle and he slipped in some stuff about Nanase-kun. So...I figured out he was behind it pretty fast.”
Then Seijuurou looks at him meaningfully; Makoto thinks that he's just imagining the softness in the captain's golden gaze, that Seijuurou isn't looking at him with any amount of affection. “I knew that Matsuoka couldn't be the only one behind Cho; he was out cleaning that first night, and there was no way he was that nice and easy to talk to all the other times if he was the only one messaging me.”
Seijuurou smirks. “I didn't think anyone else from either of our teams could be it, except maybe you or Nitori-kun. When I asked Nitori about his family, he gave me a completely different response – but then I remembered hearing you and Hazuki-kun talking about your younger twin siblings and it all seemed to fit. So...yeah, I figured out that you were “Cho” pretty fast.”
Makoto blinks. “How fast?”
“Uh...,” Seijuurou blushes then, scratching at the back of his neck. “...after the first night we talked. When we talked that second time – me and you, not me and Matsuoka – I had already figured out it was you.”
Makoto knows that his blush is down to his toes right now; his eyes are probably wider than saucers at this moment. Seijuurou knew this entire time that it was him....and he kept up with it, and still was intimately personal and kind to him, even though he knew that Makoto was fooling him.
“I-I,” Makoto starts; he looks down at his feet in embarrassment. “I'm still really sorry. I didn't want to trick you or hurt your feelings – I just thought I was doing Rin a favor. It was just a stupid idea and a really mean joke-”
“Hey,” Seijuurou says, cutting him off. Makoto looks up at him, slowly, tilting his head at the intense and warm stare the taller swimmer is giving him. “That... It wasn't really a joke, at least not to me,” Seijuurou is the one who looks down at his feet at that moment; his blush is heavier, more red. “I really liked talking to you, Makoto. I don't know, it was just...really easy talking to you. And fun. I don't know – I guess we just sort of clicked.”
Makoto feels his heart thudding in his chest at that. He's never really clicked with someone before but, as Seijuurou says it, he really can find himself agreeing with that statement. They just...fitted with each other and got to know each other, all from online conversations and a fake persona.
He used my first name, too, Makoto thinks, brushing a bit of his hair back from his eyes.
“I....,” Makoto smiles softly. “I really liked talking to you, too. Even if I was pretending to be a girl, and some of the stuff – like that high school and the names of my friends and family – were all fake, I want you to know that none of the stuff that I said to you were. That was the real me, not “Cho”.”
Seijuurou nods. “Yeah,” he tells him, exhaling softly. “To be honest, I really liked your version of Cho – not Matsuoka's. I don't really think I've ever talked to someone that's been that nice to me, or who really understands me as much as her- well, you. ”
Makoto's mouth is dry at that. “I..,” he hesitates, trying to find what he wants to say. “I'm glad you like me.”
There's a comfortable beat of silence between them after that; Seijuurou clears his throat, standing just a little taller.
“So,” he starts, smiling down at Makoto. “How about when you get home, you text me instead and we can keep talking – just me and you, no fake profiles allowed. What do you say?”
Makoto blinks, tilting his head and frowning. “I don't have your number, though,” he says, wondering when Seijuurou forgot that fact.
Seijuurou runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah, I know,” he tells him, turning away to his bed to pick up his phone. “That's why I need to give it to you.”
Makoto digs into his pocket. “O-oh, right. Yeah, I knew that.”
Seijuurou is blushing beet red as he slowly tugs Makoto's phone out of his hand and replaces it with his own. “Sure, sap.”
Makoto rolls his eyes, laughing nervously. “I am not a sap,” he murmurs back, shaking his head.
Once he puts in the number, and gives the phone back to Seijuurou; he shivers a little at the brush of their hands together.
Seijuurou clears his throat again, and he fixes Makoto with a hopeful look. “So, tonight? Or when you're on the train? Do you need me to walk you there?”
Makoto smiles, nodding. “I- I mean, yeah, if you want to. It's dark outside, after all.”
–
Makoto stops by Rin's room before leaving to pick up his house keys, with Seijuurou promising to wait for him by the school gates.
As soon as he opens the door, Rin picks up his laptop and puts it in front of him like a shield. “If you're about to kill me, Captain, just know that I already texted Haru and told him that if I disappear tomorrow to look at you, so-”
“It's just me, Rin,” Makoto says with a sigh, smiling at his friend.
“Oh,” Rin sighs in relief, setting his laptop now and nodding. “Right.”
As Makoto crosses to grab his keys, Rin fixes him with a worried look. “How did it go? I didn't hear any yelling, but-”
“He's not mad at me,” Makoto tells him with a shake of his head. “He's pretty okay with it all, actually,” Makoto pauses, glancing over at Rin. “Well, he's okay with me.”
Rin stares at him with wide eyes. “W-what did he say about me? What's my punishment, did he-?”
Makoto smirks, putting on his jacket and starting to walk out the door. “Sorry, captain-to-captain confidentiality!”
Rin narrows his eyes, looking like he's starting to bolt after him. “ Makoto, you-! ”
Makoto closes the door behind him with a small laugh, jogging down the hallway and towards the school gates to meet Seijuurou.
–
“It was nice talking to you in the flesh,” Seijuurou tells him with a grin. “Better then on a dating website, anyway.”
Makoto hums his agreement; he smiles up at him as they near the train station.
A cold breeze passes; Makoto shivers, silently cursing at the fact that he left his Iwatobi jacket in the locker room.
“Cold?” Seijuurou asks with a concerned glance.
Makoto nods. “Yeah, but-”
Before he can even ask, Seijuurou is shrugging off his Samezuka jacket, glancing over at Makoto before he tentatively drapes it over Makoto's shoulders.
Makoto jolts, bringing a hand up to touch the silky sleeve of the jacket against his bicep; he looks to Seijuurou with a wide stare.
Seijuurou is staring at the floor of the train station, his blush returning heavily. “Just- um. Keep it, until the next joint practice or something. Think of it as a gift.”
Makoto nods, smiling widely. He slips on the jacket, hugging it to himself. “Thank you.”
Makoto's train arrives just then; it slides up to the platform, and Makoto can't help but feel his heart sink just a little at the fact that it came maybe just a little too early. He smiles at Seijuurou – although a bit nervously. He's not sure whether they should shake, or just say goodbye, or-
But Seijuurou is the one who decides; he holds out his arms, encasing Makoto in a tight hug.
(Before Makoto steps away and onto his train, waving a heartfelt goodbye towards him, he can't help but feel like Seijuurou held on for a little too long.)