"Mako-chan, Haru-chan, let's go on a triple date!"
"Nagisa!"

Makoto once again wonders just how Rei can sound so exasperated and yet love Nagisa as much as he does. In fact, Makoto probably would have asked if he wasn't so afraid of finding out, because Nagisa tends to overshare quite a bit, and Rei in turn ends up talking about him with eyes and voice full of love.

"I don't…" This is not how Makoto had planned on starting his Friday at school. He was supposed to focus on school, keeping his mind from drifting to Sousuke and seeing him again for their joint practice.
Now… Now though, all Makoto can think of is Sousuke, of going on dates and kissing Sousuke, and…

There's a hand in front of his face, waving back and forth, attempting to gain his attention.

Makoto blinks, rapidly, then closes his mouth shut with an audible snap. Haru is looking at him, trying to convey his thoughts through looks rather than actual words, but Makoto is struggling to understand him.
He really isn't awake enough for this, having stayed up too late the previous night talking with Sousuke.

"What was the question again?"
"Let's go on a date tomorrow! Us, Rin-chan and Sou-chan!" Nagisa seems to be unconcerned with Makoto's lack of attention. "Haru-chan doesn't wanna go with us but I'm sure he will now that you're going!"
"Nagisa, I haven't…"
"You can tell Sou-chan about it at practice later today!"

Then the blond whirlwind grabs Rei's hand and drags him off to class before Makoto can reply, and so he is left to stare after them. Looking at Haru doesn't help; his friend just shrugs and walks off towards their classroom.

Focusing on school is hard.

Then lunchtime rolls around, and they get together with Gou on the roof to eat their lunch.
Nagisa starts throwing out ideas for the date, talking excitedly with Gou about what they can do and where they can go.
Makoto zones out, and Haru eats his mackerel in peace, as he does every other day, except Makoto more and more frequently sees Haru smile down at his phone from time to time, and it makes Makoto happy for him and Rin.

"Then it's settled!"
"What is?" Makoto asks, confused at Nagisa's delighted voice. Gou just looks at him until he feels the need to squirm under her gaze.
"The date?" Rei kind of, sort of asks, and he actually sounds worried for Makoto. Which, fine, he can understand. The day's barely half done and he doesn't quite act or feel like himself today.

"Oh. Good," he replies, smiling at his friends. He'll just have to ask Haru about the details after, if Haru even paid enough attention himself.

-

There are butterflies in Makoto's stomach, and the closer they get to Samezuka - the closer they get to Sousuke - the more the feeling intensifies.

It makes him feel like a lovesick fool.

They went on their first official date on Wednesday, which means it's barely been two days since they last saw one another, and they had spend the previous talking, so he has absolutely no reason to react like this.

And yet…

And yet, when they enter the locker room, Sousuke is there, already changed and dripping wet from his pre-pool shower and Makoto's mouth is watering at the sight.
He tries to tell himself that this is not the time for such thoughts, but when Sousuke looks over and their eyes meet, it makes it impossible.

Then, thankfully, Nagisa calls out to Sousuke and the spell is broken.

While Nagisa engages Sousuke, talking about their plans for Saturday night, Makoto gets changed before taking a - rather cold - shower.
By the time he is done, Sousuke looks just as confused as Makoto had felt earlier in the day, and he's oddly grateful that Nagisa had that effect on even someone as (outwardly) stoic as Sousuke.

"Uhm, did you catch any of that?" Makoto asks Sousuke. "Because I didn't at lunch and seeing as we're going tomorrow…"

He trails off as Sousuke just blinks at him in return, and Makoto can't help but laugh.

"I'll ask Rei for the details and let you know. But you should probably come join us before Rin has a reason to come looking for you." When Sousuke still doesn't react, Makoto takes him by the hand and pulls him into the pool area.

"Nagisa, I think you broke him," he tells his friend once Nagisa's made his way back over to them after talking with Rin - probably about the plans for the next night. When Nagisa at first glances back at Rin, Makoto can see that even Rin seems a bit out of it, he can't stop the laugh bubbling up. "Next time I think you should let Rei do the talking."
"Next time?"

Okay, maybe Makoto should have chosen his words more carefully, because now Nagisa seems to think this will become a regular occurrence and there is way too much glee in his voice.
Not really sure of what to say to that, Makoto instead drags Sousuke over to the side to warm up, as his boyfriend finally seems to be coming back to himself.

-

"I don't know what to wear!" Makoto shouts at Haru, who doesn't even flinch at the volume and lack of a proper greeting. How Haru can look this unphased, Makoto will never understand, but that's not what's important right now.
No, finding something to wear to their date is. Makoto wants to be casual, but still dress nicely. He doesn't want to dress too warmly as the bonfire will heat him up, but he still wants to wear enough he'll not catch a cold.

Makoto follows Haru into his own room, clothes strewn across the bed, desk and floor. Haru's only reaction to this is a slightly raised eyebrow as he looks over his shoulder at Makoto.

"You've been on a date before, right?"
"Well, yeah, but this is different somehow. I don't know why, it just is."

Haru sighs (the sigh that Makoto knows is accompanied by a roll of his eyes) as he turns away to look at the clothes covering almost every surface. Then he points towards a green cardigan and a blue t-shirt with white stripes.

It seems Haru thinks the crisis is averted, so he turns around to leave but stops as he reaches the threshold.

"You're not the only one nervous about tonight," Haru says, reluctantly, as though it pains him to talk about it. "Rin texted me, saying Yamazaki's acting the same way you are." And with that he's gone, leaving Makoto stunned, surrounded by what looks like a battlefield compared to the usual tidiness of his room.

-

The doorbell rings, but before Makoto can reach it, the twins have already opened the door.

"Haru!" They chorus, throwing themselves at him, completely ignoring the other two who arrived with him.

Because Haru is like an honorary brother to them, he hugs them back.
Makoto looks at Sousuke, noticing the flash of surprise at the display but it's gone when Sousuke looks back at him, replaced by a smile that warms Makoto and leaves him unable not to smile in return.

The twins seems to finally have notices Haru's not alone, asking him who they are and what they're doing here and if they can't hang out pretty please?

Haru ruffles their hair, then introduces Rin first, telling them they went to school together for a short time before Rin moved to Australia to get better at swimming (which makes the twins look at him in awe), and there's a warmth in his voice as he speaks, which is usually only reserved for water and mackerel. When it comes to introducing Sousuke, he simply says he is a friend of Rin's who recently moved here, and the warmth is once again gone from his voice.

Makoto, Sousuke and Rin picks up on the change, but luckily the twins don't.

"Whoa! You're as tall as onii-chan," Ren says.
"I bet he is taller," Ran retorts, and then before Makoto knows what's happened, he is standing back to back with Sousuke, while the twins stare at them, trying to figure out which one of them is tallest - which isn't easy from their vantage point, even when they're standing on their tiptoes.

It's only when his mom enters the room, gently shooing the twins away to return to their card game that Makoto realises that Sousuke is meeting his family, and they don't even know he is Makoto's boyfriend.
He thinks his parents knows that he's gay (he remembers having The Talk with his parents and them not using any gendered pronouns, and he used to be rather clingy when it came to Haru when they were younger), but it's never been brought up.

His mother has met Rin after he came back, remembered him from way back when, so she immediately guesses correctly when it comes to Sousuke.

"Good to see you again Rin! Makoto tells me you're the captain now! I'm sure you're wonderful at it." Then she turns to Sousuke. "And you must be the one who steals my boy for the weekends."

Sousuke can do nothing but gape at her for a moment, until Rin elbows him in the side.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs. Tachibana. Makoto talks about all of you a lot."
"Oh, Makoto talks about you almost all the time, I feel like I know you already!" His mother beams at Sousuke, while Makoto just wants to find a hole to vanish into. Maybe he can convince Nagisa to dig a hole for him at the beach - if he even makes it that far without combusting from embarrassment.

And then his father enters the room as well, wondering why his wife hasn't returned to play cards, and Makoto considers just making a run for it.

So introductions are made for the third time in mere minutes, and Rin is now openly sniggering at Sousuke's look of mortification over meeting his boyfriend's parents without them knowing while also trying to act like this is a perfectly normal situation.
The saving grace comes in form of Haru, which makes Makoto relieved and also a bit surprised as Haru usually makes it clear he's no fan of Sousuke.

"I'm sorry, but we need to get going. Rei and Nagisa are waiting for us. It was nice seeing you again."

Ren and Ran comes running into the room at that, telling Haru they wish he'd come over more often and that he should come over for dinner again soon. Then they add that they've become better at playing Go Fish and that they will definitely beat him the next time.

"I'll hold you to it," Haru says, laughter in his voice as he once again ruffles their hair.

Makoto puts on his shoes and grabs the cooler he was responsible for and then they're out the door, his family telling them to have fun and be careful.

"We hope to see you again Sousuke," his mom calls out, and Makoto hopes there's enough of a distance between them so that she won't see their matching blushes.

Since Rin and Haru actually knows where they're meeting up, Sousuke and Makoto ends up walking behind them through the narrow streets and paths, so Makoto sneaks a kiss from him.

"Hey you," he whispers. "I hope it wasn't too embarrassing for you. Meeting them like that, I mean. If I'd known…"
"Makoto, it's okay. It'll only make it easier the next time, right?"
"Next time?"
"Well, we're dating aren't we? Which means I'll get to come over to your place, and then - when you're ready - be properly introduced to them."

Looking around, he sees the streets are almost deserted, which gives Makoto the courage to reach out and hold his hand. In return, Sousuke squeezes it and it fills Makoto with a sense of belonging.

"Besides, I don't think your mom will forgive you if you don't bring me back again."

When they (finally) make it to the beach, they easily spot Rein and Nagisa, as they already have a fire going.

They waste no time unpacking their coolers so they can get started on grilling their food. To no one's surprise, Haru's cooler is filled with nothing but mackerel. Nagisa and Rei's is filled with hotdogs and corn-on-the-cob, while Makoto made sure to be a bit more inventive, bringing skewers with marinated chicken and veggies.

All of them brough at least one bag of marshmallows each (Nagisa brough three just for himself), and as a bonus fun treat, Nagisa got them all sparklers.

As mackerel fillets aren't exactly easy to grill over a bonfire, Haru has also made sure to bring a couple disposable grills, which he quickly light up so he can get started on his own food, as no one else is keen on eating it.
Not that Haru minds, because it'll only mean more food for him, but Makoto suspects Rin will sneak pieces off of his plate later on.

The rest of them take turns around the fire, eating when their food his hot, then taking over while the others eat and it doesn't take long before all the food is gone.

Sousuke and Rin were in charge of beverage, and it had - luckily - been decided early on that they'd not have any alcohol, so their coolers are filled to the brim with water and a various array of sodas.

Because they all knew they'd be having dinner together, it's been some hours since they'd last eaten, so it's no wonder the food's gone as soon as it's been cooked through, and the bags of marshmallows are quickly torn open to be devoured straight out of the bags as well as hot and sticky.

While they eat, they stay silent, but once they're done, Nagisa starts insisting they play Spin the Bottle, only to quickly find out (to Makoto's obvious relief) that spinning a bottle on the sand is far from easy.
But then Rei brings up the time they got stranded on the island during practice the year before and Makoto visibly stiffens.
Luckily both Sousuke and Haru notices, and it seems a split-second decision is made between them.

"How about a game of tag?" Sousuke asks as he gets to his feet, pulling Makoto up with him.

Nagisa lets out a whoop, smacks Rei on the ass, shouts "you're it!" and then he is off like the little whirlwind he is, kicking up sand in his wake.
They all scatter at once, flying off in various directions and Rei shoots after Nagisa at once.

The beach is filled with the sounds of laughter overlapping the waves and the cries of gulls.

Rei is the fastest, but Rin and Makoto makes up for it in stamina, and Nagisa seems to have no limits to his energy. Haru manages to avoid being caught as he keeps himself in the water, the sea lapping at his knees. No one else ventures into the sea, for fear of catching a cold should they fall in.

When it's Sousuke's turn, he quickly singles out Makoto, managing to catch his ankle as he throws himself forward, making Makoto go down with him. They grin at one another, then Sousuke quickly moves so he's straddling him, looking into Makoto's eyes for confirmation before kissing him deeply.
Makoto forgets everything and everyone else around him, hands moving to cradle Sousuke's face as the kiss deepens. Kissing Sousuke feels so good, and he can't help but let out a moan.

Then sand hits Sousuke's back, trailing down onto Makoto and they look up to see Rin looking down at them, faux disgust on his face but laughter makes his eyes shine.

Sousuke reaches out to smack Rin, and ends up grabbing his ankle, pulling his feet away from under him. Then he quickly jumps to his feet, pulling Makoto up after Makoto claps Rin on his knee in order to tag him.

In the end, Rin's had enough of Haru taking the easy way out, so he tackles him into the ocean, sharp teeth glinting behind his wide grin.
It's easy to see Haru hadn't expected him to do it, his eyes go wide as Rin's body collide with his and they go under.

When they emerge, Haru is laughing and Rin can't resist kissing him.
They join the others around the bonfire, shivering and Rin quickly gets his backpack.

"I brought towels," he shrugs when Sousuke looks at him. "Precaution of going near the ocean with Haru."
"Tell me about it," Makoto says dryly and holds up his own bag. Everyone burst out laughing at this, and even Haru can't help but join in.

Rin and Haru huddle up beneath three layers of towels while the others light up some sparklers.
Nagisa is still full of energy, so he starts running around with two in each hand, waving them about, drawing fading patterns against the backdrop of the starlit sky.

They end up taking turn on drawing patterns, leaving it up to the other part of their couple to guess what they're drawing. Some are easy (like Haru's mackerel), while others (Nagisa's rockhopper penguin) leaves them confused.

It winds down after that, and they just sit around the dying bonfire, talking amongst themselves.

Makoto feels himself growing cold, but he is having too much fun with his friends to speak up about it, because that would mean going home. He tries to suppress a shiver, but it's unsuccessful.

"Are you cold?" Sousuke whispers into his ear, coming up behind him and sending shivers down his back for entirely different reasons, warming him up inside for a moment, before it all rushes south.
"Not if you keep that up," he whispers in return, watching a faint shade of pink colour Sousuke's face. "But yes, a bit. I forgot my jacket at home."
"Here," Sousuke says, removing his Samezuka jacket and draping it over Makoto's shoulder.

Makoto looks at him in stunned silence for a while, before speaking up again.

"Won't you be cold then?"
"I'll be fine; I can just snuggle up to you," Sousuke retorts with a wink, and Makoto can feel a blush creep up on his own face, so he hides it in Sousuke's shoulder, breathing in the scent of smoke, saltwater and something undeniably Sousuke.

As he leans in to kiss Sousuke, Makoto thinks he's never been this happy in his life.