Note: I had this idea independently of Makoto and Nitori bonding, and then I saw this prompt on the Fuck-Yeah-Mako-Haru Tumblr and I could not resist.
Makoto sat by the side of the pool, idly kicking his feet, heedless of the water lapping at his calves. He was watching someone, always. Haruka.
He watched Haruka dive into the pool, Rin egging him on from the adjacent lane, and they took off like porpoises for the opposite end.
Today was joint swim practice with Samezuka on Iwatobi's campus. At first Makoto had liked these joint practices, but Rin always ended up stealing the show-stealing Haruka's attention. Haruka would stop focusing on the water and start focusing on Rin. He would always challenge him to a race, and because Rin was his rival, Haruka always accepted.
No doubt about it, Rin ignited a spark within Haruka that Makoto knew he couldn't.
He was a little jealous. He was sure he would be more jealous if Rin hadn't also been his childhood friend, if he didn't have so much respect for him. But there was an ache there all the same.
As he contemplated the scene with his sad eyes, he felt someone approach, settle down next to him by the side of the pool.
"Makoto-senpai?" came a tentative voice. "Captain of Iwatobi's swimming team, right? I was just thinking, we've never really had a chance to talk much..."
Makoto turned his head. He was surprised to see Aiichirou Nitori's slim figure sitting there. Makoto realized he didn't know much more about him that the basics. Though he was only a year behind him, his childish bowl-cut made him seem even younger than that. He seemed like a shadow, always in the background, especially when Rin was concerned. Nitori was right; they never really had gotten the chance to talk.
"Nitori-kun, right?" Makoto smiled. "You're Rin's room-mate, aren't you?"
"That's right."
With nothing else to talk about, their eyes drifted in the same direction: toward the private match between Rin and Haruka. A loud slap echoed across to them. Two hands slapped against the wet tile. Haruka and Rin had finished the race, and it was a tie.
"Again!" Rin bellowed. "I'm not going to lose to you!"
"Rin and Haruka are really close, aren't they?" Nitori said.
"Yes," Makoto agreed, "they've been rivals since childhood."
"You were all in the same club in elementary school, weren't you?"
"That's right..." Makoto was sure he'd mention the championship, but to his surprise, he didn't.
"Haruka must be really close to you, too."
The light dimmed from Makoto's eyes. He couldn't really pretend his gloom away anymore, not while Rin and Haruka were racing each other so fervently. Perhaps he could pretend enough to fool Nitori.
"We've lived next door to each other since we were both very small. So, I guess you could say that. We are pretty close."
Nitori was silent for a few moments. Makoto stole a glance at his face and saw a similar gleam in his eyes. Sadness. Longing. He watched Rin carefully, the way Makoto watched Haruka.
"I wish I could call Rin-senpai my childhood friend," he said wistfully, "but we're only room-mates."
A less sensitive person might have scoffed at his vulnerability, but Makoto felt nothing but sympathy.
"You don't have to know someone their entire lives to become close to them," Makoto offered. "Don't worry about it so much."
But Nitori didn't seem all that cheered up by his words.
"Makoto-senpai... " he said suddenly. "Can you keep a secret?"
Makoto's eyes widened. Nitori looked so sad, so desperate, and Makoto got the feeling if he said no, Nitori wouldn't be able to tell anyone.
He nodded. "Sure."
Nitori looked down. "...I like Rin-senpai."
The blunt confession made Makoto blush a little and strangely itchy. He turned his head away, scratching the back of his neck. "Ah... Well, that sort of makes sense..."
"You could tell?"
"Mm... Well, not really, but..." Makoto couldn't explain it. It wasn't as if Nitori threw himself at Rin the way Nagisa was always all over Rei, but he had a certain dogged devotion, the way he never left his side if he could help it. Something that went beyond friendship. "It just makes sense."
The gray-haired boy continued looking glum. "Do you think he's noticed?"
Makoto couldn't answer that. "I really can't speak for Rin-kun... Do you want him to?"
Instead of answering the question, Nitori shifted his gaze back to Rin and Haruka. They were now hanging onto the side of the pool, panting, resting between bouts.
"Makoto-senpai, how do you feel about Haruka-senpai?"
Makoto was caught off-guard.
"Wh...what do you mean?" What does this have to do with you and Rin-kun?
"I mean... don't you feel left out when you see them together?"
It was like a knife plunged into his heart.
"Well, Rin-kun has been his rival since childhood..." He found himself repeating his earlier excuse, but they both knew he was grasping at straws.
"You can't join them when they're like that, can you? I feel the same way." Nitori's voice was soft. "There's something they have together that can't be touched... It's like a storm. Even if I tried to get close, I'd just get pushed away." Nitori hugged his knees to his chest, looking at the water. "Even so... Even though it's selfish of me... I think I do want him to notice me, a little. But I'm scared... What if he doesn't like me back?"
What if he doesn't like me back?
Makoto couldn't imagine telling Haruka. Even if they were seemingly able to read each other's minds at times-this scenario, he could not predict. What if Haruka laughed at him? Or would he just keep his indifferent poker face, turn away?
What if his answer was "Sorry, but I like Rin"?
"If only there was a way to tell..."
The two of them sat together for a moment of silence, brooding over the possibility of rejection. Makoto had devoted so much of his life to Haruka. If Haruka said no, who would be there to take his place? He realized that was what exactly Nitori had meant when he'd said, I feel the same way.
Sudddenly Nitori's eyes lit up. "I know! Makoto-senpai!" Nitori was smiling at him now. "I have an idea. Will you help me?"