"Seriously, Maki-chan, where are you? I've been looking for you for hours. Are you running late again? Trying to make a fashionable entrance, is that it?"
Makishima's voice crackles with almost-static over the phone pressed to Toudou's ear; Toudou stops dead, backs up a step in case he's losing reception as he paces around the Hakone tent, and almost misses the other boy's response. "We're on our way."
"You've been saying that this whole time," Toudou complains. "I'm tired of waiting, Maki-chan, I want to catch up with you before the race tomorrow and I can't miss my beauty sleep."
"You'll see me tomorrow," Makishima points out. He sounds nothing like as upset as Toudou feels he ought to.
"I want to see you now." Toudou hisses into the phone. "It's been months since our last race, don't you care about catching up? Don't you miss me?"
"Calm down." There's an odd resonance under Makishima's voice, like the line is going echoey; Toudou backs up another step, tries to pinpoint the best reception for his phone, but the echo stays. "It's just one more day."
Toudou whines in protest. "That's not what I want, Maki-chan." He draws the nickname long and whining, just for the huff of exasperation this gets from the other end of the line. "Don't you dare hang up on me again, at least keep talking to me if you're going to pretend you don't want to see my beautiful face."
"Toudou," Makishima sighs, but there's no click. That echo is still there, though, and it's getting worse.
"Are you going through the hills?" Toudou asks, shifting his feet. "You sound weird, can you hear me?"
"I can hear you." The words are perfectly clear, more clear than they usually sound through the static of the phone; Toudou's forehead creases in confusion for a moment. Then he's turning, understanding hitting his body before it sinks into his brain, so he's just starting to say "You jerk," as he completes his turn to see Makishima standing behind him.
The other boy is smirking, his chin tipped down like he can somehow hide how much his mouth is curving as he watches surprise and irritation and delight chase each other across Toudou's face. Toudou had forgotten how sharp Makishima's mouth looks when he smiles, how shadowed his eyes are when he angles his head like that. He had forgotten the way the mole just along Makishima's eyes always makes him want to touch it, or kiss it, or lick it, maybe. What he hasn't forgotten is Makishima's hair - it's the one thing he's very clear on, the way the red shine catches on the green color in the sunlight like Makishima is some bright jewel.
He's just not expecting to see so much of it. It's well past the other boy's shoulders now, long enough that it's curling, Toudou didn't have any idea Makishima's hair curled naturally, it's a waterfall of color around his shoulders and curtaining his face and Toudou can't breathe. His throat makes some sort of noise of protest, a whimper or a gasp or a sob, and the phone in his fingers drops entirely to the ground.
Makishima's smirk goes wider, threatening the edge of an actual smile instead of a grin, but before he can speak Toudou is stepping forward, leaving his phone utterly forgotten behind him so he can reach out to run his fingers over the hair spilling over Makishima's shoulders.
"That is not fair." His voice is jumping higher than he intends, turning petulant in his mouth, and he can't stop it any more than he can pull his fingers away from the other's hair. "Maki-chan, I'm supposed to be the pretty one."
The other boy's laughter is as sharp as his smile, startled as Makishima's laughter always is. "I'm sorry to intrude."
He's being sarcastic. Toudou drags his gaze up to Makishima's face - the motion is more difficult than it ought to be - and glares at him. "I'm not kidding, Maki-chan, have you seen a mirror recently? I can get you one if you need it, this is ridiculous."
"I suppose you'd know," Makishima offers. He still sounds like he's being ironic - it's hard to tell, with Makishima - but he's reaching out to touch Toudou's headband, and his fingers drift down from there to the other boy's cheek, so that's okay.
Toudou still forces himself to frown, reaches out to grab a handful of...pink sweater? Someone has let Makishima dress himself again, that's going to have to come off as soon as possible. He makes a fist so he can shake the other boy - ostensibly he's angry, but the motion draws Makishima in closer to him and he never quite completes the push back away. Makishima's smirk is drawing Toudou's gaze and his eyes are going soft at the edges, that odd self-conscious shyness that always pulls the air from Toudou's lungs.
"You're gorgeous, Maki-chan, why didn't you tell me," Toudou demands. His mouth is inches from Makishima's but neither of them move, either towards or away from each other.
Makishima laughs, gently enough to match the look in his eyes. He looks like he's about to cry and Toudou shakes him again, gently.
"You're beautiful," he says. "You always have been, I don't understand how you can't see that. At least I know I'm pretty."
Makishima's mouth twitches, like he's about to laugh or maybe about to cry or just bite his lip to hold back whatever reaction he's going to have, and Toudou is done with waiting. So he leans in and covers the shake in Makishima's lips with his own, curls his fingers into green hair and pulls gently until the tension seeps out of Makishima's shoulders and the other boy relaxes into him. Words can only go so far, Toudou has found, and while he hasn't yet been able to kiss Makishima into agreeing with him he is willing to keep trying until he succeeds.