"Nooo! Rei-chaan!" Nagisa whined, arms stretched downwards, hands forming fists. "You know I don't particularly like fish, so why order me a fish burger?" Rei simply sat down, looking at Nagisa indifferently.

"You're getting fatter, anyway."

"Am not!"

"Oh really? Who's the one who couldn't fit into his swim pants and had to buy a new one two sizes bigger at the store, I wonder?"

"REI-CHAN! That's a secret!"

The two continued their fruitless quarrel, the noise getting louder and louder as the seconds ticked by. Or should I say Nagisa was the one who relentlessly increased volume, spitting out arguements in Rei's face. (Rei kept having to wipe the flecks of spit off his face and spectacles; so, yes, quite literally.) Haruka and Kou could only sigh as they faced away from the bickering pair, sipping their drinks quietly. The hanging silence between the two peaceful ones was getting unbearable and felt like a weight on their shoulders. Kou was the first one to speak up, taking her hands off her cold, droplet-covered milk cup and wiping the moisture off her hands on her skirt.

"So, Haruka-senpai," Haruka turned to face her. "You seemed a little..distracted just now. Anything the matter?" Kou had sincere concern shining off her face.

"...I'm fine, I just-"

Haruka's vocal chords stopped functioning for a while. His eyes simply widened when he saw a group of people, around his age, wearing black and red jackets, walking in. Samezuka swim team. His fists clenched. He knew too many people there than he was comfortable with, and they either envied him or completely despised him for constantly being the one preventing their swimmers from progressing in a competition. And yet there they were, in an enormous group of about 50 swimmers, waiting to be seated. Kou, noticing Haruka's glare behind her, turned around to find the source of her senpai's annoyance. She gasped, then started smiling. Her eyes quickly searched through the heads of Samezuka, and she found the one she was looking for. A cherry-red head, to be particular. She stood up, and that head caught sight of her. A smile spread over their faces.

"Onii-chan!" Kou chirped, running to her brother's side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder protectively, looking at her with soft eyes. Haruka huffed and rolled his eyes.

Thanks for taking my venting machine away, stupid Rin.

Kou and Rin started talking; Rin's sharp, white teeth occasionally glinting. Haruka sipped away at his chocolate milkshake, observing the rest of the Samezuka team with a certain level of interest.

There's Nitori Ai, Rin's roommate; wow, he's really grown since I last saw him. Is he taller than Rin? Oh, no, they're the same height..And there's Yosuke Kinoiyori, the little bastard that never stops trying to flirt with every girl he meets. Wait, did he just wink at m—ah forget it, must've been my imagination. Oh and of course the Furuami twins, Yoshimitsu and Yoshitaka, would be there. Their speed's really gotten better over the years. Did they win in the medley relay? I think so. Whoa, hold up, who's tha-"

For the thousandth time today, Haruka's usually fast-paced train of thoughts stopped dead in its tracks. He blinked fervently a few times. Was that..Makoto?

Really? Whoa. He's a part of Samezuka, the most prestigious swim school in town? Whoaa. That would explain the incredible muscles he sported.

And indeed it was Makoto, sporting the Samezuka jacket proudly. His attention was on his friends, so he didn't realize Haruka looking at him. In fact, he didn't realize that the entire Iwatobi swim club was there at all. Makoto continued chatting, his broad grin making Haruka wonder why his lips didn't split from the width. Eventually, Kou mentioned her swim team to her brother, and Rin looked up and caught sight of Haruka. He grinned at Haruka, who raised his eyebrows in playful disinterest. Haruka couldn't stop the curl on his lips. Rin and Kou walked over.

"Yo, Haru. You did great as usual on today's competition. I got through too, though, so we get to race at regionals." Haruka's eyes glinted at the thought of racing Rin again.

"That's great, just don't cry if you lose." Rin laughed good-naturedly, his razor sharp teeth arranged neatly in a beaming smile.

"I'm not a kid anymore. Anyway, don't worry, I won't." Rin assured confidently, to which Haruka gave a curt nod before turning away to hide his smile. Rin reached out his slender hands and pulled at Haruka's cheeks, making him open his eyes wide and struggle to get out of Rin's tight grasp. Rin simply grinned wider and tugged harder ("S-staup iht, youh idiret!"), which made Kou laugh and Rei and Nagisa to stop their little feud. All of them ended up laughing; even Haruka, despite his hate for being tussled around, and they made quite a commotion in the fast-food restaurant. The entire Samezuka team looked at them, chuckling to themselves. Makoto included. He recognized Haruka the moment he set eyes on him; it was hard to miss such pale, perfect white skin and ink-black hair on someone, and even harder to forget.

Out of pure attraction slash animalistic instinct, Makoto laughed louder than everyone else, hoping he would get Haruka's attention.

Haruka was too busy trying to wrestle Rin off him, however—and he wouldn't have recognized Makoto's laugh, anyway. They hadn't even had a proper conversation yet, for crying out loud.

When the laughter finally died down and Rin shot a grin of triumph at an exhausted Haruka, he then proceeded to clamber off Haruka's lap, shooting a playful smile at Kou and went to his team mates, talking to a few of them jovially. The Iwatobi members chattered a bit, before helping themselves to the food, chomping down on their greasy meals. Haruka, still feeling the adrenaline rush from laughing, had quite forgotten about the presence of Makoto, who was watching him intensely from a nearby table.

"Yo, Tachibana!"

Makoto blinked, before looking at Rin, who had called him. The cherry haired male was grinning at him; the curl of his lips were friendly as always, but laced with slight mock. Makoto couldn't help but feel just the slightest bit condescended. Nonetheless, he smiled back.

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing, I just kind of caught you staring at my best friend's ass—his ass, to be exact, so I was actually going to question your sexuality." Rin said, grinning wider. Makoto raised his eyebrows and after processing what his teammate had just said, he panicked a bit. There were so many incorrect things in that sentence that he wanted—no, needed to correct, but his thoughts were racing in his head faster than he could keep up with them.

After a moment of arranging his scattered thoughts, Makoto finally pieced together a coherent answer. Or coherent enough—at least, it sounded fine in his head, but his head had the annoying habit of making sentences sound better than they actually did when he said them out loud. Still, he had made Rin wait long enough; he was going to chance it.

"I-I wasn't staring at his ass—I mean, why would you even think that- I just happened to be looking that way..a-and even if I was staring at him I would just be admiring him; not in a sexual kind of way..I just- I just like his swimming, a-and," Makoto stammered, his mouth seemingly unresponsive to his brain commands. Rin couldn't take it anymore, and burst into a fit of laughter. He pinched his nose bridge with his index finger and thumb as he looked at Makoto's bewildered face; to which he only laughed harder.

"Relax, Tachibana," Rin said, his laughter slowly dying down into chortles, "I'm not gonna report your sexuality to the news, so chill." Rin winked.

Makoto exhaled a quiet sigh of relief. The news definitely wasn't the first thing in his mind—but it wasn't the last—and he simply didn't want anyone to know because honestly he didn't need to have anyone breathing down his neck about his sexuality. He was gay, so what?

"However," Rin said, with a smirk on his face that made Makoto feel uneasy all over again. "I'm not gonna let you have a stupid crush on Haruka, not when you guys haven't even talked. In fact, you know what? C'mere."

Out of the blue, Rin grabbed Makoto by the arm, pulling him up to his feet ("M-Matsuoka?") and dragging him to where four people wearing blue and white jackets were sitting. AKA the Iwatobi swim club. AKA Nanase Haruka's swim team. Makoto was speechless as he was pulled closer and closer to Haruka.

When they reached the table, Rin cheekily pushed Makoto towards Haruka, where the olive-haired boy stumbled and had to teeter on his tip-toes to stop himself from crashing onto the other, no matter how much he really, really wanted to, because god forbid; Haruka's silky black hair was making his hands scream let us touch it—now! Haruka looked at Makoto, his eyes wide and his mouth stuffed with some fish patty, lettuce, mayo and bun. Makoto stared into his eyes, mesmerized for a few seconds, before realizing that there was a bunch of people around him and hurriedly straightening his body, messing with his bangs out of embarrassment. Rin, who was watching with amusement, chuckled. Makoto heard the chuckle and shot him a death glare between his bangs. The rest of the Iwatobi team simply watched, a little confused.

"Guys, I present to you...Tachibana Makoto!" Rin cheered, slapping his hand on Makoto's back. Makoto jerked forward a bit much from the unexpected assault, but just as quickly as it happened he regained his composure. Kou, Nagisa and Rei were confused at the sudden introduction, but smiled and greeted him anyway. Makoto gave them a sheepish grin, secretly swearing that he was going to poison Rin in his sleep that night. Haruka looked at the blushing Makoto bemusedly.

Goddamn, he was handsome.

Makoto caught Haruka's stare, and he looked back with a smile in his eyes. Haruka smiled graciously back. The others who were watching kept switching their gaze between Makoto and Haruka because they were equally puzzled about both of them. First off, why the heck did Rin introduce Makoto randomly into their group and secondly, what in Heaven's name was Haruka doing; smiling so wide at a stranger. Did they know each other?

"Weeeell, this is nice." Rin spoke up. Everyone looked at him since they didn't know what to say. "Let's eat together with them, Tachibana. You could use some, well, friends," and as Rin brushed past Makoto he whispered "..with benefits." in his ear with a cheeky wink at Makoto, who rolled his eyes.

They seated themselves down comfortably, and soon settled down. Rin had squished himself between Kou and Nagisa, which only left some space for Makoto next to Haruka and Rei. At first, Makoto had perched himself at the very edge of the seat, afraid to touch Haruka and/or possibly disgust him—for our poor Makoto had vast imagination and he treated his reputation like a sheet of fresh paper he was afraid to crinkle. Eventually, Haruka told him to scoot closer and he did, subtly pressing his body against Haruka's.

Makoto felt his breath catch in his throat at how warm and soft Haruka felt against him. When he shifted just the slightest, he could feel just how silky smooth Haruka's skin was against his and it sent delicious shivers down his back. Haruka was looking down at his plate, picking at the sesame seeds on his hamburger bun, also feeling the rigid muscles on Makoto's body press against him. Makoto had a delightfully crisp smell on him; probably the scent of some cologne but it wasn't too strong or overwhelming, and Haruka inhaled deeper breaths than usual without realizing it. The pair sat quietly, reveling in each other's touch and smell while the rest watched them sub-consciously. Rin sat there watching his teammate and best friend with a strange sense of pride; it was his plan, after all, and it had worked stupendously. It would be perfect if they started dating. They might even get married and have cute little children running around. Gosh.

After the last bits of food were gone from their plates, they decided that it was time to head back home. The Samezuka team was taking a long time and they weren't done as quickly, so Makoto and Rin had to stay back, reluctant as they were to have to part with their friends/family/cru- romantic interest. Just as they were leaving, Makoto caught Haruka's eye. Makoto saw the twinkle in his eye before Haruka turned and promptly left the restaurant with a whirlwind of emotions trapped in his chest. Makoto stared after him, before taking a seat on an empty table. Suddenly, several realities dawned on him all at once and he was overwhelmed by a great number of regrets.

Regret number one that circled his brain like a hawk was I could have asked him for his freaking number.

Regret number two was oh my God I could have talked to him more.

Regret number three was I now have to face the wrath of Matsuoka Rin, and I can't poison him in his sleep like I wanted to or else I'll probably never get any more chances to speak to Haruka ever again—gah!

Regret after regret started to pile up in his head, and the weight of his thoughts made him cup his head in his hands, groaning under his breath. Rin was watching. The cherry-haired boy took the initiative to sit down in front of a grousing Makoto and look at him with amusement dancing in his eyes. Makoto shot his gaze up slightly to see Rin; making him glare at Rin by accident, but Makoto definitely wasn't going to express his apology. Rin simply chuckled, before leaning over the table to whisper into Makoto's ear. Makoto tensed up slightly when he felt Rin's warm breath against his cheek, but he didn't shrink back.

"Step one—meeting Haruka, has been accomplished." Rin said in a low, raspy voice. "You ready for step two, buddy?"

Makoto nodded, a bit too hastily to seem casual. He immediately regretted it when he heard Rin snicker, but he swallowed his pride down and obediently stayed still.

"So..exactly what is step two?"

A classic Rin smirk.

"Intimacy."

xxx

Thank you so much for the favorites, follows and reviews, guys! It's what encourages me to continue writing more chapters :) I'm really, really happy people are actually reading my fanfiction xD

(Then again, you're probably just obsessed with FREE! lol)

About the last part, I'm not entirely sure if I'll make it intimate or not ;) I'd appreciate your opinions! As a fellow avid fanfiction reader and loyal fangirl myself, I also have my own (well, usually unspoken) thoughts about how I want some fanfictions to end, so I'd like to hear what you guys think.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the next chapter ^^ I'll try and get it up asap :DD

~LeiiYou