Chapter 2 – The Boys and Their Unrequited Love


You don't have to do anything to cheer me up, just your presence is enough (Tachibana Makoto)


"Oi, Rin."

"Hm?" Rin stopped walking when he had heard someone called his name. Judging from the low and deep voice, he knew it was Sousuke.

He made no move, though he did turn his head to see his best friend fast walking towards him. "What, Sousuke."

"You don't seem pleased to see me." The taller man said as a small amusing smile made its way to his lips. "Don't you have club activities today, Rin?"

"No, we don't. The coach got sick so the pool is closed for a week."

"And? Why are you in a bad mood?" asked Sousuke. He paused for a moment, and a small grin appeared on his face. "Ah, could it be that you're sad because you can't get in the pool? What are you, Nanase?"

"No fucking way." Rin denied immediately.

"Then what? You're in your period?"

"Sousuke." Said Rin warningly.

"Okay, fine. I won't tease you anymore, so why don't you tell me?"

Rin sighed heavily. "Fine. Come to my apartment. I will tell you."

—*.*—

Rin had opened his apartment door and made his way inside whilst Sousuke politely murmured a soft, "Sorry for intruding." It was more like a habit actually, since he often came to Rin's house back in their childhood days.

"Yeah." Rin responded shortly to Sousuke — of course, he responded out of habit, too — and said, "Just come in and close the door."

Sousuke did as he was told and closed the door. He had left his shoes neatly in the genkan and followed his friend to his living room.

It wasn't the first time Sousuke had come to Rin's apartment, but he was thrilled all the same when Rin had invited him to his house.

Rin tossed his bag to the sofa and sat beside it. He popped his shirt's buttons while Sousuke grew panic by the seconds — though he didn't let it show on his face — and casually said, "Why are you stripping, Rin?"

"Huh?" The red haired man continued to pop his shirt buttons and remove the said shirt, revealing his favorite black tank tops. He looked up to see his friend's face and laughed softly. "What, Sousuke. You're disappointed that I wear tank tops under the shirt?"

"Well, I kinda miss seeing your topless body." Said Sousuke with a smirk on his face, totally masking the panic in his mind.

"You pervert."

"Only for you."

Rin laughed hard at that. "That's too gay, Sousuke."

Sousuke shrugged nonchalantly and said, "Well, you started it." He sat on the couch beside Rin's bag and removed his jacket. "So? What is troubling you?"

"Ah, yeah, about that…" Rin trailed off and sighed softly.

"What?"

Again, the maroon head sighed again. "Well… you see… it's just that… Gou told me that someone had confessed to her…"

"Pfftt!"

Rin turned his head and glared at his best friend.

Sensing the other's glare, Sousuke immediately put on an innocent face and said, "Ah. Sorry about that. Don't mind me. Please go on."

"Like hell I can after you just laughed at me!" Rin yelled loudly as he stood up and kicked Sousuke's leg.

"Ouch, Rin. Stop being so violent."

The red head rolled his eyes. "What was that for?!"

Again, the raven haired boy broke into another small chuckle.

"Sousuke!"

"No, I'm sorry, I just thought that… pfftt… What are you, her dad? Hahaha!"

"I'm just worried about her, dammit!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. It's just plain funny how you're worrying over things like this. Normally an older brother won't even bother about his sister's life you know."

"Well, Gou is cute —"

'So are you.' Thought Sousuke.

"— so I'm worried if she picks a bad guy as her boyfriend."

'And I'm worried if you feel grossed out once you know my feelings.'

"Rin, Gou is old enough to pick her own boyfriend. And she's a smart girl, so you don't have to worry that much, okay?"

"You just emphasized on the 'that much', didn't you?"

"I did."

"What. You find me annoying that I worry about her that much?"

"I do." Replied Sousuke with a big smirk.

"You jerk!" Rin kicked Sousuke's leg again. "I definitely won't let Gou date you."

"Hahaha! How mean!"

'Rest assured, Rin. You're the one I'm interested in. Not that you ever know that.'

—*.*—

Kisumi eyed the whole classroom silently.

The teacher had given them a surprise quiz that day, and the whole class were struggling to think about the answers. Some students were waiting for the perfect moment to cheat. Some were thinking that it was too much trouble to think about the answer they didn't know while trying to cheat were impossible since the teacher kept her eyes keenly on the student. Kisumi and Haruka were one of those latter students, while Rin and Makoto was the type to think about anything they remembered about the lecture that could led them to the answers.

The pink haired boy glanced at Sousuke. 'Ah, he's writing something on the paper.' He glanced at his own answer sheet and sighed. 'Well it's Sousuke. That guy is smart.'

'This is stupid. Should I just hand my paper?' Kisumi stare at the still white sheet on his desk and smiled bitterly. 'I practically only wrote my name on the paper.'

He sighed quietly. 'Let's wait for someone to hand their paper first.'

His eyes traveled around the classroom again. And like always, his eyes landed on Makoto who sat in the first row. 'Ah~ isn't he working hard… I can totally see it even from the back like this.'

He continued to gaze on the brunette dreamily until his eyes met with the teacher's. Kisumi averted his gaze awkwardly and opted to stare at the question on the white board instead.

After quite some time, Kisumi glanced again at the teacher and sighed in relief when she was looking at the other direction. 'Woah, this is bad… She might think that I was eyeing her to check if I can cheat…'

But like a kid who couldn't learn from experience, Kisumi's eyes once again traveled around the classroom. He avoided the front row this time, since he knew that his gaze might meet with the teacher's again. He couldn't land his eyes on Makoto again, so this time his gaze landed on Sousuke, his only friend who didn't sit in the front row.

'Ah, he's done answering the quiz? Oh, he's watching someone.' Thought Kisumi as he focused his gaze on the taller raven haired man. He followed Sousuke's gaze and he realized that the other's gaze fell upon a red haired man. 'I see. He's eyeing Rin. Again.' A small smile made its way on Kisumi's face. 'Really, that Sousuke. If you continue to stare at Rin with that intense gaze, he might realize your feelings sooner, you know…'

'Then again, Rin is pretty dense when it comes to himself. If I remember correctly, there was this girl back in our school who liked Rin, but he didn't realize it until he moved to Iwatobi.'

'And Sousuke, don't stare at Rin so openly like that. Be more discreet. Aren't you afraid that someone might realize? Well, I realize it already, but what if others realize it too? Geez, that Sousuke.'

'But well, I might be staring at Makoto like that, too.'

Kisumi sighed quietly and gazed on the window blankly. 'I have to move on. Yeah, I know. Just… how?'

—*.*—

"Ah, I think I might flunked that quiz…" Makoto said dejectedly after the teacher had collected the answer sheet.

"Me too." Haru replied shortly. "Don't worry about it, Makoto." Well, he couldn't care less about the quiz since he can graduate just fine as long as he continue to bring good swimming records to the university.

"Geez, Haru… You might be okay with failing one or two subjects, but I can't afford that!" Makoto whined as he dragged his feet out of the classroom.

Haru tailed after the brunette as he watched his friend's shoulder slumped slightly. 'Ah, he's sad. What can I say to make him feel better?'

"Makoto." He called the other's name, hoping to get his attention, but then he realized something.

'What? What did I want to say?'

Makoto paused his steps after he had heard Haru calling his name. He waited for the other's next words, but when nothing came, he turned around and saw the raven haired boy stared down on the floor with his bangs covered his eyes. Makoto couldn't read his expression.

"Haru?" Makoto grew concerned. "You okay?"

Haru bit his bottom lip and looked up. He opened his mouth to say something, but then he paused and turned away his head.

'Ah, that expression… It's the expression he wore when he had come back from Australia with Rin.' Makoto's eyes widen in realization, and then a genuine smile made its way onto his face. 'I see. He wants to cheer me up, huh?'

"Haru." The brunette called his friend's name gently. "You don't have to do anything to cheer me up, just your presence is enough."

The raven haired boy's cheek tinted with a very faint blush – nevertheless, his best friend still saw through it. "Stop joking. Stupid Makoto."

Makoto laughed softly. His worry about the test had gone away.

'I wasn't joking though, Haru.'

—*.*—

"Ma-ko-to!" Kisumi hugged Makoto from behind suddenly.

The brunette staggered for a bit due to the impact, but he managed to steady himself before he sighed. "Kisumi, don't scare me like that!"

"Yo, Haru!" Kisumi greeted Haru next without paying any attention to what the brunette had said before.

"Wait, did you just ignore me?!" Makoto sighed again. "And anyway, let go of me already!"

"Eh? Don't wanna!"

"Kisumi! Come on, this is embarrassing!"

"Eh… But onii-chan, I like hugging you!" replied Kisumi as he pressed his body closer to the taller man's back and whispered the word onii-chan to the other's ear with a low voice.

"Gah Kisumi! Don't copy my siblings!" said Makoto as a faint blush formed on his face.

Haru glanced towards his two friends and sighed inwardly. "Kisumi."

"Yes, Haru?"

"Let go of Makoto already."

"Eh? Don't wanna!" the pink haired guy whined again childishly. "Oh could it be that… you're jealous, Haru?"

"Huh?" The raven haired man knitted his eyebrows together upon hearing the word jealous.

"You know, Makoto's back is really, really comfortable. Wanna try? Oh, have you tried it before?"

"Ki – Kisumi! Don't say such embarrassing things!" Makoto struggled out of Kisumi's grab, but it proved to be quite hard since Kisumi linked his arms tightly around his neck.

"Just… let go of him already, Kisumi." Said Haru with a stern voice.

"Alright, alright!" the pink haired man finally stopped clinging to the brunette's back. "Ah, that's right Makoto, play basketball with me sometimes!"

"Eh? Ah, sure."

"You should come and watch too, Haru! Makoto is really good at it!" said Kisumi as he bumped shoulders with Haru.

The quiet guy glared shortly at Kisumi. 'You're too close!' Displeasure was evident on his face. But since he didn't voice it out loud, of course the other guy didn't understand.

"What are you talking about, Kisumi? You're better at it!" said Makoto as he scratched his cheek.

"Eh… But you know Makoto, when you play basketball and you get all sweaty, you look really sexy. You know, since you have great muscles and all. And when the sweat trickled down on your face as you're panting to regulate your breath…" The pink haired guy paused for a moment and sighed erotically. "It's totally sexy."

"Wh – what…" A deep hue of red spread across Makoto's cheek.

"Oh, you look adorable too when you blush like that!"

"Wha – Kisumi!" Sensing the growing heat on his face, Makoto covered his blushing face using his hand. "Geez, stop teasing me already!"

And Kisumi only laughed as he watched Makoto got flustered because of him, while Haru was only watching them with a blank face.

—*.*—

Kisumi groaned softly when his phone alarm rang loudly. His right hand reached over to the small table beside the bed, trying to grab the rude phone for waking him up. When he found it, he slid the phone to snooze it and went back to sleep.

Five minutes later, the phone rang again, forcing its owner to wake up. But Kisumi didn't want to wake up yet. He only slid the phone again and ignore it.

'One more snooze…'

Little did he know that he just turned off the alarm when his finger pressed on the stop button accidentally.

The pink haired guy woke up several minutes later when he felt something wrong.

'Why is it not ringing again?'

He grabbed his phone and glanced briefly at the digital clock on the screen. His eyes went wide with shock. "Shit, I'm late!"

He got up from the bed, grabbed some random shirt and a black pant and quickly changed his clothes.

"Good thing I already packed my notebooks yesterday." Kisumi grumbled as he grabbed his phone and shoved it in his bag. Without even bothering to fix himself up, he quickly went out of the door and locked it hurriedly.

Since his apartment was close to the campus, he managed to arrive at his class 15 minutes later with a ragged breath. The professor glared at him silently when he entered the classroom late and with a bed hair on top of that. He smiled apologetically at the professor and then quickly sat on the furthest row, right beside Sousuke.

"You just made it to his blacklist, Kisumi." Sousuke snickered as the other settled beside him. "Congratulations."

"You jerk." Said Kisumi as he was still trying to regulate his breath properly. "Damn Sousuke. You only nice to Rin."

Sousuke only scoffed as a reply.

"Alright, clear up your table." The professor said with a loud voice from the front of the class with a terrifying face. "Leave only a blank sheet and a pen on your table. I decided to give a small test."

The whole class bustled with a soft grumble and whispering. Some of them, no, most of the class glared at Kisumi silently since he was definitely the cause of the sudden test. Once the professor got in a bad mood, he would give the students a test out of nowhere.

"Now you bring down the whole class with you." Sousuke sighed as he cleared his table. "Nice move, Kisumi."

"Well… sorry?" The pink haired guy ripped a single sheet from his book. "It's not like I plan to be late."

"Yeah, right." Said Sousuke with a sarcastic tone as he rolled his eyes. "Don't come to the class when you're already one hour late!"

—*.*—

The one thing Kisumi always did whenever he gave up on answering the test was: looking around. Instead of leaving the classroom early, he would wait for someone to submit their answer sheet before he handed his and leave the class. Usually his eyes would fall on Tachibana Makoto immediately, but no, not today. The guy always sat in the front row, near the teacher's desk, and honestly he had had enough of the professor today, with him being late and all. He wouldn't want to suddenly meet eyes with the professor's while he was searching for Makoto's back, wouldn't he?

So he directed his gaze at the nearest person who sat beside him: Yamazaki Sousuke.

'Ah, he's staring at someone again. Rin?' thought Kisumi as he watched Sousuke intently. Seconds after, a small smile formed on his lips. 'Yeah, he's watching Rin. What, is he done with the test already?'

The pink haired guy peeked briefly at the other's answer sheet and his eyes widen in disbelief. 'Holy shit, his answer sheet is full with scribbles!' He glanced at his own paper and sighed. 'I can only answer two from ten questions while the guy beside me answered it all in such a short time. What is he, a study maniac?'

He chuckled at his own thought. 'From butterfly swimmer to a genius, huh? Or was he always this smart?' He backtracked for a moment, recalling again his elementary days with Sousuke and Rin. 'Hmm… maybe? I didn't pay too much attention about his academic at that time…

'Oh but, his obsession with Rin remains the same, huh? Even after all these years, the only one he calls best friend is only Rin, although that guy had left him for… what, three times? Doesn't it hurt being left behind so many times? What is he, a masochist?'

Kisumi glanced again at Sousuke with a blank face plastered on his face. 'Now Sousuke, if you don't stop staring at Rin with that intense gaze of yours, he's gonna find out, you know?'

Sousuke blinked once, twice, and then he turned his head and glared at Kisumi. "Huh?"

"Huh?" Kisumi replied stupidly.

"What did you mean?"

"What?" Kisumi answered with a small voice. "And anyway Sousuke, you should keep down your voice."

"What did you mean by that, Kisumi?!"

"What's going on over there?!" the professor raised his voice as he strode over to us.

"Um, no prof – "

"Nothing is wrong." Said Sousuke with a cold voice as he stood up and gave his answer sheet to the professor before he left the classroom with a scary look on his face.

'Did I just voiced my thought out loud? …Ah, I did, didn't I?'


—*.*—


To be continued...

A/N: Hey all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Well I know it's late, but whatever :)

Anyway, please follow and give me a feedback! It'll motivate me more :D