The first time Makoto complimented Rei was shortly after Rei joined the swim club. Rei had been training hard to find his 'style' of swimming, but so far none of the styles had worked for him. He had read plenty of books, he had analyzed everything and still he sunk like a stone when he got in the water. Makoto had gently put his hand onto the dark haired boy's shoulder and given him a bright smile. Rei hadn't been able to look at his kind face, he felt like a failure, all he did right now was dragging everyone with him.
"I'm sorry I'm such a bother..." He had mumbled lowly, his head hanging. Rei waited for his senior to agree with him, or scold him or anything in that direction, but instead Makoto had just tilted his head slightly,
"Don't worry Rei! We just haven't found your right type of swimming yet. You're doing good so far, just keep trying! You're working very hard." The brunette's encouraging words spread trough Rei's chest like a wild fire. He couldn't help but smile back at Makoto,
"Thank you, Makoto-senpai! I'll work hard!"
That day Rei stayed longer than usual to train in the pool.
The second time was when the whole team was out eating lunch together. Haruka hadn't been that intrested since there was no mackerel on the menu, but he bought a milkshake and stayed nonetheless.
Nagisa had at one point during their lunch snatched Rei's red glasses off his nose while he was taking a bite of his food. He put them on his own face,
"Eeh? Rei-chan you really don't have good eyesight!"
"I-I know that, please give them back!" Nagisa jumped up from his chair and dramatically spun around, not caring about the looks the other guest's gave him.
"Haru-chan, what do you think? Do I look good in glasses?" Nagisa turned to Haruka with a big grin, the raven haired boy didn't reply to him, only looking at him silently, sipping at his drink.
"Nagi-" Rei started, reaching out a hand to the blond, but getting completely ignored,
"Okay, what about you Mako-chan, what do you think?" Makoto looked a little unsure, but still smiled a little,
"Ah, you look pretty good in them, but I really think you should return them, Rei does look the best in them after all." Rei felt his cheeks heat a little, he was too embarrassed to look at any of the others around him. When he finally got his glasses back, he put them on and quietly finished his meal. 'Makoto-senpai is really kind' he thought to himself.
The third time was about a month after Rei had found his swim style, he still had a lot of training to do to make his technique better, but he had the basics down. The members of the Iwatobi High School Swimming Club have had a long and hard training day, all but Makoto and Rei had finished changing and gone home. The brunette had walked over to Rei while he was cleaning his glasses in the changing room.
"Nice work today Rei." He said with his usual kind smile. The dark haired boy almost dropped his galsses from suprise, but was able to keep them in his hands with great effort.
"T-thank you Makoto-senpai, you too." He hadn't been sure why he stutterd and why the big changing room suddently started to feel so small and warm.
"You really are amazing Rei, you have gotten so good at swimming in such a short time" Makoto's big hands stroked his back gently, and Rei felt his cheeks heating up.
That evening Makoto had offerd Rei dinner at his place, he thanked and agreed to come.
The fourth time Rei was the one to compliment Makoto. Rei had mustered up the courage to ask Makoto out. The brunette had been a little surprised at first, but accepted. Rei had been scared, he had realized his feelings for his senior a week before, it had hit him like a stone. When he asked him out he was nervous, he stuttered, face red and he had been close to fainting at the end. But he was glad he managed to ask, and even happier now when they were out walking together. It was rather late and they was at the moment in a small park, no one else was even close, this park wasn't that popular to begin with. Which was more than okay for the boy with the glasses, since he felt awkward enough with only Makoto here. His mouth opend,
"Makoto," The said boy turned around and looked back, offering his full attention. "I-I-" Rei tried to get his word right, he wanted to be understood. "You're b-beautiful!" His voice came out louder than he had planned and his ears turend pink. He wanted to say much more but his voice didn't want to work the way it should and he couldn't make words come out. He glanced towards Makoto, feeling very embarassed. His mouth was open slightly and his eyes a little wider than usual. But slowly his mouth moved, turning into a smile,
"Thank you, Rei" He moved closer and kissed the smaller boy on the cheek, "You too are beautiful."
...
Aah, I really find these two cute, and since the new season on free! started I felt like writing this! Let's hope for more Makoto/Rei moments, shall we?
And sorry for any mistakes there might be in here.
-Miranda
