Things got a little easier after that.

On the Monday after the party, Haruka and Makoto were bombarded with questions as soon as they walked into their classroom. Thanks to a sneaky video of the Spin the Bottle game, Nagisa's loud mouth, and general student curiosity, news of the "gay swimmers kissing" had spread like wildfire. They had been stared at all the way to their classroom, and the second they walked into their home room they'd been mobbed by their (Makoto's) friends, each with a thousand questions. Haru had had little patience with them.

"So wait, you two are actually dating?" Shinji had asked, still disbelieving.

"Yes." Haru had said bluntly. Makoto snorted.

"So does that mean you're gay?" someone else piped up.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" he said sarcastically.

"So you're straight? Then-"

"Yes I'm fucking gay you dense tw-"

"Haru!" Makoto scolded, cutting him off. Haru pouted and dragged Makoto by the wrist to their seats.

"This is going to last a while, isn't it?" Makoto sighed.

"What, the questions, me being rude, or the class being totally silent so they can listen to us right now?" Haru asked. The room then quickly filled with nervous chatter and the two boys were left alone.

By Wednesday, everyone knew, and by the following Tuesday things were starting to calm down and gossip levels returning to normal. On Thursday Shinji and Hikari had been late leaving school and decided to pay a visit to Makoto and Haru at their swim practice. They'd seen Haru yank Makoto into the water, and by the time the splash fell back into the pool, they were making out. Shinji had wolf-whistled, grinning as he watched them both turn scarlet, and Hikari had swatted him and laughed.

"Caught in the act, my homosexual friends!"

They didn't let them live it down for a week.

But after all that things really did get easier. They could link their hands as they walked, go on little dates down the ramen shop without worrying about meeting classmates, and nobody questioned how platonic their relationship was, anymore.

It was absolutely not "just platonic."

There were some assholes of course, a few people who'd call them faggots and queers, but most people didn't actually care. Most people did not include "fujoshi" girls who'd seemingly started up a little fan-ring for the two. Makoto and Haru did not know, and did not want to know how it started up.

However right now, Makoto was not kissing Haru in the park or on a date to the ramen shop, however much he'd like to be. He wasn't even holding Haru's hand. Instead he was being forced to listen to Gou Matsuoka talking about swimming and he was far too tired for this shit. Gou wasn't droning on; droning was not something her cheery voice could do, but she was certainly dragging out this meeting.

"Haru-senpai has already caught a cold, it's not warm enough for us to keep swimming outside. At the same time, we can't stop training just because it's cold. So I've come up with a solution!" she said brightly. Makoto lifted his head from his hand and looked interested, despite his soul-deep-boredom.

"We're going to arrange joint practices with brother's school!" she said.

Four heads slumped into laps.

"What?" she asked.

"It's not that we don't like Samezuka or anything…" Nagisa began.

"It's just that Captain Mikoshiba is very…" Rei said.

"Enthusiastic." Haru finished. Makoto nodded.

"I think I still have bruises from his last hearty clap on the back." Nagisa said. Makoto nodded again, catching Gou's attention. She frowned at him, and he frowned back.

"What is it?" he asked, perplexed.
"You have told Rin about you and Haruka-senpai, yes?" she said. Both boys blushed and turned away.

"No." he mumbled.

"What?"

"I said no!" he said, clearer. "It's kind of… slipped my mind? I haven't had an opportunity, he doesn't exactly answer his phone very often." Makoto said sheepishly.

"There was that one time that he picked up and answered in English." Nagisa said, and giggled. Haruka snorted but Gou just frowned at them all.

"That's irrelevant." she began, but laughed. "It's funny though. I'll have to make sure to tease him about that."

"But yes." she said. "You'll have to tell him after practice. It's arranged for Thursday after school. Change here, don't miss it." Gou said, in a no-nonsense tone. The four boys nodded, and Nagisa gave a mock salute.

"No fucking in the changing rooms beforehand or after, either!" Nagisa said cheerily. Makoto began to splutter like a fish. Haruka leapt back into the pool, shooting him a glare.

Haru's arms sheared through the water, seeming effortless to an onlooker, but Haru felt the pull at his muscles. He powered forwards, swimming lap after lap to train, and to clear his head to think.

Gou had a point. Rin needed to be told about their relationship - it wasn't fair to keep him out of the loop, and there was a high chance he'd find out anyway - but Haru had no idea how he'd react, or if he cared at all. Rin was warmer since regionals, but he could still be icy if he wanted.

Speaking of icy…

Haruka jumped out of the pool, shivering.

"Gou was right, then. Even Haru can't stand how cold the outdoor pool is!" Makoto chuckled. He wrapped Haru in a towel and then snaked his arms around his waist. Haru looked at him quizzically.

"You looked cold." Makoto said. Haru smirked and went off to get changed.

Samezuka was huge. The Iwatobi swim club forgot this every time, and always gawped at the size of their school-stroke-sports complex every time they arrived in their shitty red school minibus. The five boys, Kou, and Miss Amakata dropped out of the bus one by one, and were led through excessively winding corridors through to the swimming pool, by a charming yet shy boy called Nitori.

"I'm Rin's roommate." he chirped to Gou. "We've shared for about a year now. Has he mentioned me at all?" he asked, when she had no idea who he was, or even that Rin had a roommate at all.

"He, er… actually, he hasn't mentioned you once." she said awkwardly. Nitori's face fell and he blushed furiously."We've seen you hanging around him but we didn't know who you were. He doesn't really talk to us much."

"He doesn't talk to me much, either." Nitori assured her, though still looking slightly put-out. "Mostly he just says things like 'Oi, Nitori, where's the toothpaste?'" he growled in an accurate imitation of Rin's voice. Everyone chuckled at that. "Anyway, here we are! You'll be changing with the team, hope that's no problem."

Haruka stripped down and leapt into the pool immediately; the others chuckled and proceeded to the changing rooms. Some of the Samezuka members were already swimming, and waved from the water.

Nagisa took a few seconds to survey Nitori. Definitely had a crush on Rin.

Yup.

Inside the changing room, the team greeted them with cheerful 'hey!'s. most of them were already changing or pulling swimsuits from bags.

"Tachibana!" Captain Mikoshiba greeted the other captain. "How are you guys? We haven't seen you for a few weeks!" he chuckled, smacking Makoto on the back exuberantly.

"Ouch! Ah, I'm doing good! Good!" he said. He rubbed at the back of his neck and found himself an empty space to change in, gesturing to his team to come and change too. They made cheery conversation with the other team members, catching up with each other until someone eventually noticed the absence of Haruka.

"Hey, Tachibana! Where did your boyfriend go?" he asked.

"Oh, he's just outside. He got in the pool already." Makoto replied absently. There was a beat of silence, in which Makoto's face turned scarlet.

"Wait."

"Oh come on," someone said. "Don't act like you DIDN'T see that coming."

"Kaoru, who won the bet?" another boy, Noriyaki, called out.

"Nitori did!"

"That little fucker!" Noriyaki cursed. "So how long have you been dating?"

He didn't get an answer - Seijuurou yelled at his team to get in the pool. The Iwatobi team followed suit, and Makoto had to splash the cold pool water on his face in order to get the blush to recede.

Aside from that, practice went almost entirely without a hitch. Rin and Haru had their usual angry race and beat both their personal bests, Nitori and Nagisa got along like a house on fire, and Kaoru, the boy who organised the bet, produced a substantial amount of money and handed it to a smug Nitori. Rei failed to dive.

Practice was winding down now. Seijuurou called his team to get out of the pool and go over next week's practice schedule, and Makoto was coaxing Haru out of the pool.

"Haru, come on." he said, extending a hand. Haru blew bubbles aggressively and splashed water into Makoto's face.

"Haru, for God's sa- FUCK!" Makoto yelped. Haruka had grabbed his hand and yanked him into the pool. Everyone else turned to watch (and snigger) as Makoto shook water out of his hair. He caught Haru by the ankle and practically dragged him out of the pool by the scruff of his neck.

Haru stood on the edge of the pool, pouting and dripping wet. Makoto grabbed some towels and handed him one, but Haru, being a little shit, used the towel to trap Makoto against him and kiss him rather than dry himself.

Most people turned away, feeling a little intrusive. A few cat-called, but nobody reacted quite like Rin Matsuoka.

"What the fuck?" he yelled.

The boys froze and broke apart. Rin looked enraged.

(A/N)
GUYS HOLY HECK IM SO SORRY. I do actually have an excuse though.

Basically since I last updated, I've had a lot of tests. (German oral, German listening, Maths, Chemistry, Art etc.) I then had Christmas break and did nothing because I was stressing over said tests. Specifically, German oral exam. I got an A so it was all for nothing. Fantastic.

On a more positive note I have actually updated! Here it is! This has been in drafts for a while now, I've been adding to it over the last month or so, so I apologise for any continuity shake-ups. I re-read my entire fic last night to check for some, and I found a few. But they're in already-published chapters. Dang.

Anyway! Gay boys, and Rin is pissed. Why is he pissed? We shall find out in the next chapter! dundundun.

I promise it won't take as long as this one did 3 I tried to give you guys some cute stuff as well as plot to try and make up for my horrific procrastination.

(also huge thanks to the guest reviewer Bean! You're awesome, your reviews are really helpful!)