Chapter four


Feeling strong, familiar arms tighten around his waist, Makoto shifted in bed with a soft groan.

"Good morning, gorgeous." Seijuurou said, voice still heavy with sleep, placing gentle kisses on Makoto's bare shoulder. "Sleep good?"

"Wonderful." His cheeks turned pink, recalling last night's activities. "You excited? Today's the big day."

"I'm nervous as hell." The redhead sighed. "But, you're here, so that makes all the difference. What time is it...?"

Makoto laughed, being careful to be quiet and not wake up Aikawa who was still peacefully sleeping only mere few feet away. He squinted his eyes at the clock on the wall, taking a moment for his vision to adjust.

"...a bit past eight. But we should get up soon, I have to meet the others at the station in almost two hours so that I can bring them to the center so that they can see you swim, too." He turned over, now facing Seijuurou, smiling back at the swimmer at his messy bedhead. "Ah, but I wouldn't mind staying here for a little while longer where it's nice and warm and comfortable until we really have to get up and get ready."

"Sounds perfect to me." Seijuurou pulled Makoto closer, pressing their lips together. He closed his eyes, letting his thumbs make circles on the faint bruises on his boyfriend's hips from last night (making a mental apology to Makoto for possibly being too rough) and continued to kiss him, slowly becoming more eager with the soft, pleased sounds coming from Makoto's throat.

Moments passed and Seijuurou moving to rest on top of Makoto, lips still locked as the brunette linked his arms around Seijuurou's neck, gasping when Seijuurou moved his head down to add more red marks to Makoto's neck and chest.

"S-Sei..." Makoto gasped, tangling his fingers in red hair as his boyfriend continued trailing kisses along his outstretched neck and pressing their hips together. "Ah!"

"As much as I think you two are enjoying yourself..." Seijuurou lifted his head, eyes moving over to look at Aikawa who was sitting upright in bed, awkwardly scratching the nape of his neck. "I am right here, after all."

"Ah, sorry!" Makoto apologized, hiding his burning red face with Seijuurou's pillow. "Sorry, oh my god!"

Seijuurou brought the comforter up more, covering himself and Makoto the best as he could. "Sorry, man...guess I got a bit carried away..."

The other freshman laughed, standing up and heading for the bathroom. "I'll take my shower first. That gives you some time for some...more privacy." The bathroom door clicked shut and Seijuurou sighed, glancing back down at Makoto who still had his face covered with the pillow.

"Mako." He said, placing his hands on top of Makoto's, that were still digging in to the object. "Hey...he's not in the room anymore, and I want to see your cute face..."

With a sigh, Makoto lowered the pillow halfway, so that he could look at Seijuurou leaning over him. The redhead smiled, resting their foreheads together so that he could gaze into dark green, letting his fingers trace over Makoto's sides.

"You want some help?" He whispered, feeling his boyfriend's erection through the thin sheet between them.

Makoto only nodded, not moving the pillow, as Seijuurou moved his hand downward, slipping past the thin material and hearing the brunette's pleased sigh and watched as his beautiful green eyes drifted shut.


Thankfully, Makoto was right on time and showed up at the station minutes before the train had arrived.

"Lead the way, Mako-chan!"

Makoto smiled, seeing his Iwatobi friends accompanied by Rin and Nitori. Seijuurou's meet started in less than an hour, and with Makoto's phone buzzing every few minutes with a new message from the redhead, he knew that his boyfriend was getting more and more nervous as the competition grew closer.

The night before and before he left to the station, Seijuurou made sure to give Makoto the directions to the swim center, knowing that the brunette might forget due to his own excitement. He was already running a bit late due to the train schedule and staying in bed most of the morning, and he didn't want Makoto or their friends to miss his first competition. Even with his honesty, Makoto frowned and claimed that he didn't need to be told twice on where to go, but Seijuurou just laughed and kissed Makoto in apology.

"Just wait until you guys see the pool, it's amazing!" Makoto said, Haruka at his left side and Nagisa hanging from his right arm, leaving Rei, Gou, Rin and Nitori following close behind. They weren't all that far from their destination, it being a bit farther than the dorms. "Isn't it, Haru?"

"You've only showed me pictures." He huffed and crossed his arms. "Pictures aren't as good as seeing it for yourself."

"And remember our promise! That's the most important thing you need to remember for today."

Haruka sighed. "Right...no trying to sneak into the pool..."

"And?"

"...and trying to convince someone to let me swim in it because we'll get kicked out and Mikoshiba will get in trouble." He recited, earning a pat on the back from Makoto.

"That's our Mako-chan, always a few steps ahead of our hydrophile!" Nagisa cheered, and looked up once the group approached a large building. "Oh, look! Is this it, Mako-chan?"

The Iwatobi captain just laughed, reaching into his pocket to pull out their tickets that Seijuurou had gotten for them, handing them to the woman at the booth outside. The redhead made sure to get their seats near his team's section, obviously, and he had already told his captain of the seating arrangements, just in case. Makoto smiled when he heard his friends gasp in awe of seeing the bustling center, just like seeing their first pool at their first competition the previous year.

"Sei gets to swim in this?" Rei pushed his glasses up, amazed by the size.

"It's huge!" Gou's eyes widened.

"Almost every day, yeah." Makoto smiled. "Big difference, huh?"

"Jealous, Haru?" Rin threw his arm around the mesmerized freestyler, a grin spreading on his face. "I bet you're just itching to dive right in."

"...shut up." Haruka scoffed, removing Rin's arm from his shoulder. "I...promised."

"Boys, boys...our seats are right over here." Makoto lead the group past the rows of seats, seeing the other sections roped off and specified for the other teams, finally reaching the reserved several seats as 'Kyoto guests'. Glancing down at his watch and the seeing more of the other athletes disappear into the locker rooms and a dozen come out to stand in front of their lanes, it was close for the first race to begin.

The bench-warmers and team supporters were happy to see Makoto, shaking hands and hugging the tall captain, saying that they were glad he was here and brought friends along to help cheer on Seijuurou and their team. They also said that Seijuurou's race would be the third heat.

"I've never seen someone so excited and nervous before." A member of the swim team said, leaning in to talk to Makoto due to the loud cheers coming from the spectators. "But if it's anything like he practices, it'll be a damn good race for sure."

Makoto took his seat on the border between their saved seats and Seijuurou's team, first row, next to Haruka. Green eyes scanned the area as time passed, also making sure Haruka didn't try to sneak away with Rin's help, looking for an all-too familiar redhead to emerge from somewhere, anywhere, as soon as the first heat began.

"Mikoshiba's going to do fine, Makoto." Haruka said, snapping Makoto out of his worry trance. "You know he will."

"Ah, right..." Makoto perked up when he saw Seijuurou walk out with the other competetors of his heat, getting ready to swim. The redhead glanced over at his teams section, eyes widening and a grin immediately spreading on his face as soon as he saw Makoto.

'You'll do great' He mouthed, winking at the swimmer down by the pool, earning a blown kiss in return as Seijuurou adjusted his goggles.


His race had ended moments ago, and Makoto knew that by the way his boyfriend got out of the pool, he was upset. Makoto, with permission from Seijuurou's team and excusing himself from his group of friends, he followed the redhead into the locker room. When he opened the door Seijuurou was already in the showers, and patiently waited until he was finished. Seijuurou was more than surprised when he saw his boyfriend sitting on a bench, and Makoto patted the empty space next to him with a small warm smile, and with a sigh he sat down next to the backstroke swimmer.

"Seijuurou Mikoshiba, stop sulking." Makoto whispered, tilting his head to try to look into golden eyes but dripping wet red hair blocked his view. "Hey, look at me...you did amazing, really. It was a close race, it'll be okay."

"I got second."

"That's still fantastic, though." The brunette smiled, taking the slightly larger hands in his and gave a reassuring squeeze. "You still did your best and your teammates think you did great, and everyone else thinks you were amazing. I think you're amazing. Everyone who showed up thought you did amazing, too, and we all cheered our lungs out just for you."

"Makoto..." Seijuurou sighed, but stopped when he saw green eyes full of nothing but...love. Adoration. "...I just feel awful because I said I'd get first, for you and the team, after weeks of constantly saying it."

"Second is good, too. And it was only by like...two seconds." Makoto's finger traced over where Seijuurou knicked himself with his razor that morning, sliding down to rest at his shoulders. "You could have gotten last and I still would have been proud of you. And there's always next time, there's plenty of more races coming up. And I don't stop when I get second, or third, or any other placing, do I? It's perfectly fine."

The redhead scoffed. "Now that's just-" The younger captain just rolled his eyes and pressed his lips to Seijuurou's to stop him from speaking any more self-doubt.

"That's just what?" Seijuurou just smiled, shaking his wet hair towards Makoto making the brunette yelp and laugh, wiping the droplets from his face. "H-hey, no fair!"

"...Thanks, Makoto. You always say the right things when I'm feeling like this. You're completely right."

"Now come on, get changed because everyone wants to see you. And then after everything is done we can get something to eat, okay?" Makoto patted Seijuurou's damp back, running a finger up the redhead's spine. He watched his boyfriend get up with a groan, heading to his nearby locker to retrieve his sweatpants and team jacket and put them on with ease. Once he was dressed, Makoto stood up to drape a towel around Seijuurou's neck, pecking the swimmer's cheek. "Ready?"

Seijuurou laced his fingers with Makoto's, swinging his arm slightly.

"Ready."

Seijuurou's teammates were estatic when the two returned to their section, congratulating the redhead on his placing and also thanking Makoto for bringing the swimmer back to his senses. And of course, Makoto's friends were happy for the redhead as well, amazed that he did so well for the first race of the season.

...All while keeping an eye on Haruka, who didn't take his gaze from the pool even once.


"You feel better?"

Makoto and Seijuurou were back in the freshman's dorm after walking their friends to the station. Dinner was...surely eventful, deciding on a place downtown, and luckily it was at a place that it was alright for them to be loud at such a late hour.

The redhead just smiled at Makoto's head in his lap, absentmindedly letting his fingers run through soft brown hair and melting from the adorable giggles coming from Makoto as it tickled his skin.

"Definitely better, because I have you."


Author's note: SURPRISE EARLY UPDATE WITH HASTE-EDITING YEAH (aka something I do all too much)