A/N: Here's the 7th and final chapter, hope you like it. While writing this chapter I had it a little difficult, a few tears fell. If there are any mistakes (grammar/spelling), let me know. Please read and review.
Thanks to Angel From Above Is Here for proofreading.
Time passed and things changed. The time immediately after Makoto's death was a blur for Sousuke. That time he had been so sad, had felt such pain and had felt so alone that he couldn't quite remember the days from the day Makoto had died until a few weeks after the funeral.
The funeral was something, for the little parts he could remember, he had hoped to never experience. Everyone had come to pay Makoto their respects and to mourn. His family, his friends, everyone was there and the amount of tears and sadness was something he hoped to never see again.
Makoto's parents, especially his mother, were sad. Throughout the entire ceremony she had cried and her husband let a few tears fall from his eyes even though he tried to remain strong for his family, including Sousuke, his son-in-law. The twins were devastated. Just like their mother they cried throughout the whole thing, clinging onto each other.
And it was just the same story for his friends. Nagisa and Rei had cried while trying to support one another. Haru seemed like he was still in shock and still couldn't believe that his best friend wouldn't come back. He just stared at the coffin with a few tears sliding down his cheeks from time to time. Apart from the few tears, the only other sign that showed that he was upset was that he had Rin's arm in his grasp as if it was the only thing that kept him standing. Rin, though trying to be strong, let his tears fall. This time he just couldn't manage to keep them from falling or keep from crying out loud just like he had done in the hospital.
Then, there was Sousuke. Just like Haru he looked at the coffin. The only difference was that he didn't cry. He was too upset, too hurt and just too sad to cry. Even though he wanted to cry and yell and do anything to try and get his husband back, he couldn't. He had no strength left. The past few days had drained him from every drop of energy he had. So he just looked and waited, wanting all of this to be over, hoping it would turn out to be a very bad dream, a cruel nightmare. But it wasn't. It was reality and he felt lost.
The years passed and first Sousuke wasn't his normal self. He fell into depression. It was his shoulder all over again, only worse. He took a few days off from work only to realise that everything in the house reminded him of Makoto and how he wasn't there anymore. Changing tactics, he went back to work and made himself so busy he was seldom at home.
He pushed his friends away, even Rin. When they would contact him to ask how he was doing or when they would ask to meet up, he always gave the same answer, "I'm busy with work. Maybe another time." However, everyone knew that that last statement was a lie.
After months of this Rin took the matter in his own hands and dragged Sousuke away from work to just do something, anything. He started to do this more often and Sousuke, very slowly, started to lessen his workload and meet up with Rin on a regular basis.
Ever so slowly Sousuke became more and more like the person he was before Makoto had died, though he would never be exactly the same. And as the years passed he made a decision: he transferred from his job in Tokyo to the district in Iwatobi, deciding to move back there, permanently.
In Iwatobi he visited his family-in-law more. They were there for each other when needed and he couldn't be happier with the family he could call his own. During the years he witnessed the weddings of both twins, was there when they started families of their own and so on. When his nieces and nephews grew older they would visit him more and he would take them swimming or would take them to the beach. All this made him look forward for his workday to end. It was a feeling he hadn't had in years, not since Makoto.
However with the happy events also came sad events. Such a sad event was the dead of both his parents-in-law. His father-in-law had died in his sleep and his mother-in-law died not much later due to sadness. The sadness of losing her husband and the lingering sadness of losing her eldest son all those years ago.
As he grew older and saw everyone growing up, he had this feeling growing in him. A feeling like something was about to happen, something good and it made him feel at ease.
Sousuke didn't see Rin as much as he used to, seeing as he had moved back to Iwatobi while Rin had stayed in Tokyo. However, once in a while they managed to meet up and went for a drink. This had been such a night. A night drinking with Rin, talking about everyday things, reminiscing about the past, …
Rin, who had come down to Iwatobi to meet, wasn't in a state to go back to Tokyo that same night so, as they had done more often than not, he would stay the night with Sousuke so he could go back to Tokyo the next day. Being older meant that they couldn't quite hold their liquor like they used to, so they would just stay over at each other's place while waiting for the alcohol to leave their system and go back home the next day.
That night when Sousuke had laid out the futon and Rin had gone to sleep he, too, went to bed. As every night, he would look at the empty side of the bed, knowing that if Makoto had been alive he would be laying there. And every day when he did this he would feel a sting of pain flow right through him. However, tonight it felt different. It felt like Makoto wasn't all that far away. Instead Sousuke thought that he could almost feel Makoto's presence. His lips tugging up in a small smile, he laughed at himself for thinking such a childish thing. And with that smile Sousuke fell asleep.
Sousuke woke up to find that the place next to him was empty. It was a sight that he had gotten used to seeing in the last years of his life, however, it never became any less painful. He made his way downstairs and expected to find Rin still fast asleep. However, Rin wasn't there and the futon, too, was gone. Hearing noise coming from the kitchen, Sousuke made his way, albeit with a little surprise, towards the kitchen.
Just before entering the kitchen, he started speaking, "Wow, Rin. I still expected you to be asleep and now you're even making breakfast for me. To what do I owe the surpri –" His sentence was cut off when he saw who was standing behind the stove. It wasn't Rin who was standing there. It was Makoto.
"Rin?" Makoto asked. "Why would he be here, making you breakfast?"
Sousuke just dropped to his knees, one hand against the wall to have some kind of support.
Hearing a loud noise, Makoto looked up towards the door to see what had happened, only to see Sousuke on his knees. Worried, he made his way towards his husband and asked while kneeling down, "Sousuke, what's wrong? Are you alright?"
Sousuke, ever so slowly, raised his hand and touched Makoto's cheek. He could touch Makoto. This wasn't a dream. Realizing this, the tears just came rolling down.
The first thing he did was pull Makoto in a hug so tight, you might think that there was a chance of suffocation. And while he cried he said, "I thought I'd lost you. You died. How are you here? How is this possible?"
Returning the hug, Makoto answered, "True, I died. But I never stopped thinking about you. All these years I've watched over you."
"So how is this possible?"
"Sousuke, listen carefully, okay?" Makoto asked in a soft voice and waited until he felt Sousuke nod against his shoulder. "You died in your sleep last night."
Sousuke, shocked, pulled back a little and looked at his husband. "Really?" he asked, not knowing what else to say.
"Yeah, really." Makoto said with a small reassuring smile on his face.
After a few short moments, Sousuke pulled Makoto back into the hug.
"I've missed you so much." he said through his tears.
"I've missed you too. All these years I've kept an eye out for you, you know?" Makoto answered with a small laugh. "Now, what do you think about that present that I promised you?"
"I'd like that. But let me stay like this for just a little longer."
"Of course, whatever you want. We got all the time in the world." Makoto said in a soft, sweet and loving voice while drawing circles on Sousuke's back.
And while Sousuke and Makoto where happy that they were reunited once again, Rin woke up the next day to find that Sousuke was still in bed. This was a little surprising, seeing that Sousuke always woke up before him, this had been the case ever since high school. Trying to wake him up and not succeeding, Rin got an anxious feeling in his chest. Checking Sousuke's pulse, Rin noticed that he hadn't one. Finally, Rin called the ambulance and watched as his best friend was being taken away.
And while Rin and the rest of Sousuke's friends and family cried over his loss, Sousuke was smiling like never before and feeling happier than ever because he finally got to be together again with his husband.
