Disclaimer: Free! Iwatobi Swim Club isn't mind yet. YET.
A/N: So I have no time. Time? What are that? Is it nice? It sounds nice. But anyway, I was up at God's hour in the morning the other night with a fellow struggling animator and I needed to cheer her up so I wrote this on the spot and I was promptly told to share it. So here you go. FLUFF OF THE FLUFFIEST KIND.
Warnings: Yaoi, shmoop, fluff, sap, ridiculous cute.
Dedicated to Emily because this was literally writte for her so yeah.
••∞• Mawwiage •∞••
"—do we do next?"
Makoto pauses where he's taking the last step on the staircase, and he cocks his head as he stills, listening to Haru's voice quietly drift down the hallway of the second floor. He waits, hand on the banister, uncertain where it's coming from – because it's too close to be all the way down the hall in his room, but it doesn't seem like it's coming from behind him, downstairs.
"Now we gotta get the ring boy."
"I'm not the ring boy, I'm the pastor!" comes the expected protest.
Makoto's face softens into a pleasant smile, and he does his best to hold back a chuckle as he slowly, stealthily makes his way down the hall to the twins' room, stopping just outside the door, and peering in where it's slightly ajar.
Sure enough, Haru's cross-legged on the floor, calmly letting Ran twist bows into messy chunks of his hair.
"I'm the flower girl and the bridesmaid," she explains matter of factly, "you can play both, too."
Makoto's hand flies up to cover his mouth as a giggle threatens to spill out when his little sister runs off to their toy chest to rummage though her things, before triumphantly flourishing a tiara with pride, strolling back over to his best friend with purpose to carefully settle the ages 4 and up crown into his dark hair.
Haru blinks calmly back at her as he steps back and hums, her little brow furrowed in concentration.
"He needs a veil, dummy," Ren points out helpfully, doing his best to look begrudging where he's fiddling with his clip on bowtie, but he's looking at the costume box up on the highest shelf too forlornly for Makoto to take it any longer.
"I'll get the bride his veil," Makoto offers helpfully, cutting off his sister's enraged I'm not a dummy, you are! and crossing the room in a few, easy strides to reach for the box in its safe haven away far, far out of reach from tiny, grasping hands. "And I'll be the ring boy if you want, Ren."
"No you can't!" the twins say in that charmingly eerie stereo all twins seem to have a knack for. The vehemence of their protests is enough to make Makoto twitch in surprise and blink rapidly, and he chuckles as he sets the box down between them like a peace offering and raises his hands.
"Alright, alright—I'm sorry I asked," he grins, not looking sorry at all as he glances to his boyfriend, who looks perfectly at ease in the midst of the brightly colored explosion of the twins' floor-bows, pigtails, tiara and all. He crouches down to sit before Haru, reaching out to straighten his crown. "So I see between snack time and that last load of laundry I did, you got reeled in to play marriage?" he smiles, tucking a stray hair back behind Haru's ear.
"We're not playing marriage," Ran says, as if the very notion of a pretend marriage were ridiculous, "we're marrying you and Haru."
Makoto chokes out an "excuse me?" but Haru looks pretty resigned to their fate, grabbing a plush whale and examining it with mild interest.
"See?" Ran says excitedly, rummaging eagerly through her pockets while Ren looks through his – and then they're brandishing a matching pair of plastic rings from the machines outside the convenience shoppe by their school, plastic tubes and all.
"We used our pocket money from mama to get them," Ren says seriously, "because they had dolphins and whales, and we played it again and again til we got the right ones."
Sure enough, when Ran shoves hers into his hands, and he pops the capsule open, there's a smiling orca crested on the ring. Haru examines the dolphin on his after Ren plucks the plushie from his hands to replace it with his own prize, looking quite pleased with himself.
"So," Makoto says, and then pauses, because he really isn't all that sure how he wants to phrase his question, and he really doesn't want to throw a wrench into his younger siblings' plans, as crazy as they are, because they really did go out of their way to plan all this. "Why are you marrying me and Haru?"
On the contrary, Makoto needn't have worried, because the twins look fit to burst with glee. "You watched us when Mama and Papa went to anniversary dinner the other night," Ren boasts proudly, "and they say they celebrate it because they've been married forever."
"And you guys have been together forever," Ran cuts in, "so you should be married."
"Then you can celebrate your anniversary," Ren adds on helpfully, "and you won't have to stay home and watch us anymore. We'll be really good," he promises solemnly, nodding along frantically with his words.
Makoto tries to bite back the stupid grin that's threatening to split across his face—he really does, but under the sheer amount of cuteness their hopeful faces are exuding, he doesn't think he ever stood a very good chance.
"Well, Haru-chan?" Makoto tries not to laugh, glancing to his boyfriend with eyes bright with mirth, "ready to get married?"
Haru shrugs lightly, eyes still fixed on the happy looking dolphin on his ring. "It was always going to happen anyways," he sighs softly, but his mouth is soft, and if his words hadn't caught him off-guard, the relaxed smile on his lips makes Makoto's breath hitch softly.
"Haru," he starts, startled, but Ran is clapping her hands gleefully, and pushing Makoto forward a little, urging him closer to Haru even as Ren reaches up to clumsily clip his other bowtie to his brother's shirt.
"Okay, now you gotta put on each other's rings," Ran says matter-of-factly, before turning to Ren and whispering loudly. "Tell them to put on the rings."
Ren makes a show of grabbing both rings from the couple, and he clears his throat before speaking loudly and clearly. "Onii-chan, will you put the thing on Haru-nii-chan-Haru-nii-chan, will you put your ring on Onii-chan," he says importantly, forgetting that he didn't want to be the ring bearer five minutes ago and holding them out proudly to both teens.
Makoto helplessly lets Ren drop his ring into his palm, and watches Haru gingerly take his ring from Ren with a solemn nod of thanks.
"Shall we?" he asks weakly, a little breathless (which is how stupid? he berates himself, because it's his freaking little siblings playing house for god's sake, why is he trying so hard not to blush?) and Haru nods and extends his finger expectantly, wiggling it a little and making Makoto laugh aloud before he gently slips it on.
His eyes dart up to Haru's, and his breath rushes out a little when he sees Haru staring straight back at him, grasping his own hand without looking and easily sliding the dolphin-encrusted ring onto Makoto's ring finger.
It's an unfamiliar weight, but one that Makoto feels scarily like he could get used to.
"Now, do you take Haru-nii-chan to be you law full wedding wife?" Ren asks seriously when Ran nudges him to talk.
"It's 'lawfully wedded wife,'" Makoto corrects gently, unable to tear his eyes away from Haru's and too far gone to realize how ridiculous he sounds calling Haru his wife. Ren scrunches his nose a little, but repeats the correction carefully. Ran doesn't even notice the slip-up and pounce on her brother's mistake like she normally would, too wrapped up in the impending marriage, seated beside them and looking on with hands clasped and wide, bright eyes.
"I do," Makoto smiles, and it widens at the way Haru's ears go the slightest bit pink.
"And do you, Haru-nii-chan, take Onii-chan to be your, your law—lawfully wedded husband?" Ren says, looking pleased at the barely-there slip up.
"I do," Haru deadpans, but his eyes are soft in a way Makoto isn't used to seeing when they're not completely alone together.
"Then you can kiss!" Ran says giddily, clapping eagerly, and Makoto shoots her a slightly exasperated look at her excitement, because she knows they keep the kissing to a bare minimum around them—but then Haru's hand is grasping the material of his shirt and tugging him in a for a kiss that has him making a startled sound into before he slowly, shyly kisses back.
It lingers a few seconds longer than it really ought to, by any stretch, especially in front of the kids, but then they part with a soft, wet sound, and Makoto can barely hear his siblings cheering with his heart pounding in his ears.
Because Haru might look ridiculous with Ran's special ribbons in his hair, and a crooked, plastic gem-stone studded tiara on his head, but Makoto doesn't think Haru could look any more beautiful than he does as his "husband."
Haru smiles at the face he's making, and Makoto struggles to try and coax it into something a little less stupid than the gawking stare he must be making, and he grins at his brother and sister; a little flustered, a lot embarrassed. "Alright, so now we're married. How about naptime, now?" he pleads with them, and to his surprise they get ready for their nap without argument, and though he thinks they're far too wired to fall asleep any time soon, what with the way they throw their clothes off and wrestle their pajamas on, they practically pass out when they hit the pillows to Makoto's immense relief.
"So, that was an adventure," Makoto says at last with a chuckle once they've made their way downstairs to the kitchen, Haru sitting on a stool as Makoto stands behind him and meticulously untangles the bows from Haru's dark, silky locks, taking more time than strictly necessary to coax the tangles out with his fingers.
Haru shakes his head when the last ribbon is out, and he lightly bats Makoto's hand away so he can comb his fingers through his own hair with a heavy sigh. "They're a handful," is all he says, but his fond, gentle smile tells Makoto all he needs to know.
He'll never be able to express his gratitude enough that Haru loves his little sister and brother so dearly, but he figures the gentle kiss he presses to the corner of Haru's lips and the mouthed thank you against his mouth when he turns into it to kiss him back properly is as good a start as any.
"You know, you don't have to wear that if you don't want to," Makoto laughs a few minutes later, after he's gone back to folding laundry, when he notices Haru staring at the ring on his hand from the corner of his eye. "I really don't think the twins will mind. You can say it's too small or some-"
"I'm not taking it off," Haru says, a little more forcefully than Makoto was expecting, and he sets the shirt down he was folding in surprise, glancing over to his boyfriend in mild confusion.
Haru looks back at him seriously before his eyes drop back down to his ring, cheeks growingly faintly red. "You can't take yours off either," is all he offers in a hasty mumble, before awkwardly adding, "We're married."
Makoto doesn't think he's ever smiled so hard in his life.
••∞•Owari•∞••
A/N: So this was super short, but I hope it makes up for my ridiculous absence by being super sweet. I hope I can make you smile~ That's the whole purpose of this fluffy thing. I've got my fingers in a few pots right now (aka I have so many started and unfinished fics on my plate) so there really should be more stuff soon, but I'm really sorry about my lack of spammage. I hope you're doing well!
Please read and review~