"Let's make a bet Maki-chaaaannn!" Toudou sidled up to Makishima with a shit-eating grin.
"No." Makishima knew how Toudou's bets went. He's the reason why Izumida had purple hair for two weeks, and purple is NOT Makishima's color.
"But Maki-chaaaaannnnnnnn! It'll be fun! The stakes for our rival race will be even higher!" The score was tied at 5-5 and Toudou was more excited than ever for this race. Even more reason to turn him down.
"No. I know how stupid your bets get. There's no way I'm agreeing to this one." Makishima turned away and started walking his bike. Toudou followed, on his face the most pitiful pout he could muster.
"B-but…" His lip wobbled, "Maki-chan…" His eyes were wide with tears.
Makishima gave up. "Fine. No changing my hair color! I like my green the way it is." If he left Toudou in that state he's never shut up.
"Yes!" Toudou jumped up and down in excitement, "Winner has to wear women's panties in the next race!"
Makishima stopped walking. "Wait Toudou there's no way-"
"Gottagolineup byeeee!" Toudou ran off before Makishima could change his mind. He knew better than to stay around so Makishima could overthink things. All he needed to do was keep out of sight until the real race began at the slope.
It's strange to have a rival/friend/crush who knows everything about you, Makishima thought as he slowly walked his bike to the start, good for the friend, bad for the rival, and terrifying for the crush. Makishima realized in his second year he liked Toudou more than he let on, and as more than a friend not too long after. He was fairly good at hiding his emotions, but he had to be careful to not let anything slip
Hard to do around Jinpachi… Toudou always speaks his mind with emotions leading the way. Having Toudou around influenced Makishima to become more outgoing, he even had an entire conversation about anime with Onoda without running away, but sometimes the direct contact lets out too much. He's never dreamed he'd be calling Toudou "Jinpachi" out loud, but without fail it slips out at the peak of every race. Toudou pushed Makishima farther than he ever thought he would go, in racing and socializing, but this was one bit of personal information Toudou could never ever know. Makishima would melt into the floor out of pure embarrassment. Tadokoro already calls Toudou his girlfriend, the truth may lead to something even more embarrassing.
Makishima finally reached the start and craned his neck for a white headband. Nothing. He turned back to the front. Toudou will show up when he feels like it's the best moment to show off. Then I make him take back that stupid bet. Climbing can be uncomfortable for the underwear anyway, but with the way Makishima climbs, it's sometimes almost unbearable.
He started the race without a hitch, letting the sprinters take their short flat before the slope started. Most of them treated it as a chance to scope out sprinters on other teams and usually dropped out or finished with high numbers. As he began to overtake the sprinters, he searched again for his rival's trademark headband. Still nowhere in sight. Makishima sped up as the slope increased, still watching for Toudou's grand break off from the pack. He was beginning to get impatient.
"Maki-chaaaaaaaaaaaannnn!" There he is. "You didn't forget about me Maki-chan? Of course not!" Toudou answered his own question as usual, "I'm your number one and only best rival! You could never forget me!" He sped up to Makishima, almost to close to his right side.
"How could I with all the calls and messages?" Makishima flipped his hair over his eye to hide his start of a blush.
"I have to keep checking your condition! It's important whether we have a race or not! I am not letting my rival slack off under any circumstances!" Toudou grinned.
Makishima sighed, "About the bet. There is no way we're betting on wearing…" Makishima struggled with the word, "panties. We have to chang-"
"Oops look Maki-chan the slope is increasing! Time to go win a race byeeee!" Toudou sped up before Makishima had the chance to respond.
Makishima sighed again. He took a deep breath and prepared to really climb. "Jinpachiii!"
Panting hard, the boys fell to the ground the second they were out of the way.
"See Maki-chan? I told you it would help us have a more intense race!" In spite of losing, Toudou turned and smiled, "It might have been our best ever!"
"Yeah. Now you have to wear panties. Possibly the worst piece of clothing to even think about wearing in a road race." Makishima sat up. "You're not getting out of it now. You're the one who avoided cancelling it, you deal with your punishment."
Toudou jumped to his feet. "Why Maki-chan I would never dream of doing something like that!" He put his hand to his chest in mock surprise.
Makishima stood, albeit much more slowly, "Fine, whatever. Let's get our ribbons idiot." He picked up his bike and started wheeling it toward the podium.
Toudou picked up his bike as well and followed, chattering away, "You just wait Maki-chan! I'll pick out the absolute cutest pair of panties I can find! Just for our next race!"
"Sh-shut up. People can hear you," Makishima choked. They continued their walk to the podium with Toudou talking nonstop about which colors complimented him as Makishima's face turned closer and closer to the color of his highlights.