Title: By Fortune's Favor

Chapter 1: A Wedding Crash

After our favorite swim club boys finished college, Matsuoka gathered everyone up for a reunion. Everyone was eager to respond to Rin's invitation, he had sent an email with the details of the place. They picked a bar where they could meet and finally have a well-deserved talk about what was happening in their lives.

Nagisa was the first one to respond the email:

RIN-CHAN!~

I'm so glad we're doing this meeting, there's lots of stuff going on with our lives and it's been a while since we've had a get together. I'll meet you there, and of course I'm dragging Rei-chan with me hehe…

P.S. I'm bringing the booze, we are going to get SOOOOO WASTED!

See you!

Nagisa

The second one to respond was Sosuke:

Yo Rin! Long time!

Wouldn't miss it for anything! I'll bring the booze! Get ready for a party.

See you soon…

Yamazaki Sousuke

The last one to answer the message was Makoto:

Rin! I'm glad to hear from you!

Lately I'm really busy with work but I'll do my best to get there!

P.S. I think there's some leftover liquor at my house, I'll be sure to bring it.

Well, see you Rin!

And so the day came when the swimmers gathered at the bar. Rin had rented the whole place for his friends. Being recruited by Australia's swimming team had its perks, he had his share of good money over there. The redhead was setting up the bar seats until he heard the door. The tall man entered the door and looked at his shark-toothed friend.

"RIN!" The emerald eyed boy rushed to Matsuoka's side.

"Makoto!" He was already in the air when Makoto rushed to him to give him a hug and they shared a hearty laugh, the one young boys have when they don't see each other for almost 4 years.

They tightly hugged themselves in laughter and in a spark they let each other go.

"Soooo! Tell me what's been going on!" Makoto eagerly said with a smile stuck to his face.

"Well, you see-" Before he could finish, the tall boy interrupted.

"Wait! –he smiled

"Look what I brought!" He took out some bags he had left at the door before he came rushing to Rin. Laughing at this still, he took 3 bottles of liquor out of the bags.

"Whoa!" Rin was surprised at the big bottles of hard liquor Makoto pulled out.

"I'm confused" Said the redhead with a dumbfound look in his face.

"I thought you didn't like alcohol Makoto"

"Well… my parents left these on the kitchen shelves and I know you guys like to party hard so…" There was a silly grin on both boys, as if they were still captivated by seeing each other again after 4 years. But as Makoto explained to Rin, someone else entered the store.

"Who likes to party hard?" The tallest of the group entered the bar, hands on jacket's pockets, one earphone on his ear and the other one hanging by the jacket. His serious face quickly transformed into a cocky smile:

"FINALLY!" He shouted while letting his bags on the floor to go seal a handshake and hug with his redheaded best friend.

"SOSUKE!" Rin too showed a lot of happiness towards seeing his best friend again after so long. Makoto was just in the middle chuckling softly in a happy mood, after all, he didn't know Sosuke that well. The humble man scratched his head a bit and turned around but before he could finish:

"Yo! Tachibana!" Sosuke gave him a friendly smile as if he didn't want Makoto to feel excluded. He wasn't really the talkative type, or the friendly one for that matter but seeing his best friend again, and seeing him be happy for that matter, skyrocketed his emotions that rarely see the light of day.

"Y-Yamazaki-kun!" – He stuttered.

Makoto extended his hand to greet him but to his surprise Sosuke pulled him into a hug, which made him realize how much people can change. It's not like he was a bad person, but NOTHING like this- he thought-. Makoto was now a kindergarten teacher assistant while he planned to graduate and become more than an assistant. He loved to be around the little ones, he even went to give some swimming classes over at the regional pool as a side job on the weekends so he was really busy.

It was a brief hug but it was enough to catch Makoto's attention. After all, Yamazaki did have the same tough guy look, and those sad eyes he always carried around with him. Makoto was always trying to analyze people, choosing a career in education at younger stages he had to take a lot of psychology courses, but of course…. Sosuke was no kid.

Before he could make any other assumptions about the new Sosuke, the door blasted open.

"HAH! Come on Rei! Everyone's already here!" Nagisa came soaring through the door dragging Rei by the hand, poor Rei could barely fix the glasses to his face.

"Wow! Mako-chan! Rin-chan! Sou-chan! You're really all here!" The playful blond boy snooped around the bar looking at everyone.

"NAGISA-KUN!" Rei tried to stop him but he just kept getting dragged around by his shorter other half.

"Oi! Calm down guys!" Rin screamed with an annoyed tone. Everyone's eyes were on Rin now.

"This isn't the only reason I brought you all here" The redhead started smiling in his usual cocky self and went to the back door of the bar. The door cringed a bit while he opened it and a soft "They're here" was heard.

Haruka came out of the door holding hands with Rin but no one dared to say a thing. Instead, a heavy silence froze everyone on their tracks. Nanase was blushing a bit while Rin bluntly said:

"We're getting married"

"EEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Everyone in the room screamed.

Everyone on the Iwatobi and Samezuka swimming teams were invited to the wedding. The captain was getting married and there was no chance the team was going to miss it. Makoto and Sosuke were chosen as best men by Haru and Rin. It happened so fast from that day at the bar, 2 days to be exact but they all played their parts marvelously. The white tables kept the guests in the giant room, the floral arrangements made it a lovely place to be and the scent of lavender made Nanase's nerves calm down at the moment he accepted Rin as his man. As best men, Makoto and Sosuke were in charge of keeping the crowd and the party going after the main ceremony was over.

"I couldn't possibly be happier" Makoto was on the stage, microphone on hand and that captivating smile with him, sharing all sorts of experiences that unified his friendship with Haru. Tachibana had a tight tuxedo with a white shirt making a pattern in his adam's apple. He was very lovely as he was speaking his memories out in the open, but Yamazaki quickly interrupted his speech.

"It's not like it was that easy Makoto!" Said the man smirking at the olive haired man. His teal shirt matched his eyes and he had a shiny silver piercing on his left eyebrow.

"I mean, Nanase and I had some very rough encounters" – at this moment Haru looks to the side in discomfort but Rin quickly elbowed his arm and shared a smile.

"Daijoubu, Haru"

Sosuke was talking about how Haru came to be a professional swimmer too, even when he was so indecisive about his future. He also explained that they had a rough start but now he's happy that his best friend found someone to share his dreams with.

"That summer changed us all" He affirmed at the end of his little speech. Makoto smiled back at Sosuke and continued.

"I think it's time to slice that cake up!" Everyone on the crowd was in a good mood, some were talking to Rin and Haru who were sitting side by side, and others like Momotaro were harassing people. Gou, who was one of the dames of honor, was pissed off at the younger Seijuro who kept bringing her gifts like a cat that brings you dead mice for you to be proud of him.

"Oniiiiii-chan!" She whined.

Before Rin had to say anything Nitori appeared and pulled Momo out of the scene.

"I can't let my eyes off you can't I! Momo-kun!" Ai struggled with the little redhead boy.

To put it simple, everyone was having a great time, it was a great wedding with a great ambience and even greater friends. It wasn't long until chaos found its way to our beloved swimmers' lives. As Makoto approached the main table, where the cake with the figurines on top was being put, he saw a group of guests heading that way too.

"Oh, let me help you with that" He said with a charming tone. As he's cutting the cake he notices Yamazaki dancing with Gou and he got lost in thought. This was the first time he saw Sosuke dance and to be frank, he was doing a great job! He got mesmerized by how he moved and how his face showed all kinds of happy emotions that he never saw from that guy before. It wasn't long before Makoto was blushing all over, why? All kinds of ideas rushed to his mind but he was too shy to elaborate any of them.

"Could I even ask him out?" I couldn't! He's Rin's best friend!

"Could he be interested in me? If he was he would have approached me!

Everywhere he went in his mind he only found a low self-esteem. He wasn't paying attention to the strength he was putting into the cake until…

"SPLAT!"

The cake met the floor… and a random girl's dress for that matter.

The female guest started screaming at Makoto for dumping the cake into her and Makoto quickly apologized, all in vain because she made a scene about it.

"You imbecile!" She quickly turned herself away from the table and in the hurry she stepped on the tablecloth of a nearby table. The floral arrangement and its vase, as well as all the food in the table, fell on the floor. She quickly exited the room. Everyone was looking at Makoto who was full of cake and started laughing to ease the awkwardness and the embarrassment of the moment. The tall emerald eyed boy went outside for a moment and tried to calm down from what that woman just said to him. His face was all red from the embarrassment still and before he could go in and try to fix things inside, a loud noise echoed as the door opened. It was Sosuke.

"Oh, hi Sosuke, I was about to"– He grabbed Makoto by his shirt with a very angry expression.

"What is your problem Tachibana?" He didn't seem the least worried about the strength he was using to hold him in place. Makoto widened his look in surprise. All that was left was Sosuke's raging words…

"You ruined my best friend's wedding"