Smack my ass and call me inspired I guess. Bless season 2. I was hoping to have this fic finished before it came out but obviously that didn't end up happening haha. Maybe by the time season 2 ends...

"Sorry about that." Makoto set down one of the many pieces of luggage Gou had brought into the room. "I mean about almost knocking you over."

"I should be the one apologizing to you," said Gou. "I mean if it weren't for you guys..." Well, better not to think about that. "Anyway, thank you for what you did."

Makoto smiled at her. He sighed and straightened, pressing his hands against the small of his back. Behind him Haru entered with the rest of Gou's luggage. Rei and Nagisa were absent, having gone over to check out their hotel room.

"Think you'll be alright here?"

"Y-yeah." Gou looked at the bed situated in the middle of the opposite wall. A very large, single bed. It looked awfully comfortable even from where she stood.

The room that had been intended for her and Seijuro to share and she was going to have it all to herself.

Shortly after Makoto had snagged Gou's key they had discussed how best to set up sleeping arrangements. Since the room Seijuro and Gou had been given only had the one bed they had decided to let Gou have it. Haru, Rei, and Nagisa were to take one of the bedrooms with double beds, and Makoto and Seijuro the other.

"I'll talk to Mikoshiba and explain the situation," said Makoto. The Samezuka captain was unaware of what they had decided, having been dealing with his own swim team whilst Iwatobi had been discussing their predicament. "I'm sure he'll understand."

"R-right." Gou bit her lip. She felt bad about getting the biggest room with the biggest bed. Once again Seijuro was getting the short end of the stick when it came to sleeping arrangements, not to mention how much she was inconveniencing the Iwatobi boys. Well, maybe not inconveniencing all that much. Nagisa was excited about sharing a room with Haru, loudly proclaiming he wanted to sleep in the same bed as Haru, causing Rei to mutter darkly, "You don't want to sleep with me?"

Weirdos.

Still she felt bad most of all for Makoto, Haru, and Seijuro. Makoto and Haru would surely have preferred to share a room together, not to mention Seijuro was stuck having to share a room with someone he didn't practically know that well.

If only Ama-chan had come along. Then Gou could have shared with her and Seijuro could have taken the single room. But the teacher had refused, citing how much she disliked reptiles.

"M-maybe," Gou swallowed. "Maybe I should tell my brother. I mean about the marriage."

Makoto raised an eyebrow. Even Haru stopped what he was doing to turn to her. "Are you…sure?" Makoto sounded doubtful. "You were always so against it before."

"I know…but." She fidgeted with her hands. "It's just…inconveniencing everyone so much. I hate to keep making you guys cover up for me just because I did something really stupid. It would just be easier for everyone if I got it over with and told him, right? That way we wouldn't have to worry anymore and-"

Haru rose from where he had been laying down her luggage. He walked over to her so suddenly she stopped speaking and nearly took an unconscious step back at how close he got to both her and Makoto.

"You worry too much," he said simply. Then without another word he turned and walked out the door.

"H-Haruka-senpai?" Gou's mouth was having a hard time forming words.

Makoto chuckled. "Even Haru thinks it would be best not to tell him," he said. "And besides, you want them to do well in the race, don't you? Rin and Mikoshiba both. If you tell them it would it could effect their performance."

"That's right!" In the doorway Rei and Nagisa now stood. Nagisa fisted both his hands. "If Rin-chan isn't able to give his best performance than Haru-chan will be sad!"

Well, sad might not be the right word. Disappointed and frustrated was more likely, especially after that conversation they had had after the training camp.

"Nagisa-kun is correct." Rei adjusted his glasses further onto his face. "If you tell Rin-san it will most surely effect their mental state and they will most surely not perform at their best, and we want to beat them at their best, don't we?"

Rei too? Gou couldn't believe it. After all he had said about telling her brother when she had first told him about the marriage and now he had done a complete one-eighty.

Makoto chuckled again. "See? Even Rei is excited to race them at their best."

"W-well." Rei's cheeks were tinted pink. "Y-yes, I suppose." He frowned a little. "Although I still think it would have been best if you had told Rin-san at the start."

Okay so maybe not a complete one-eighty.

Nagisa clutched onto the other boy's arm. "Hush, Rei-chan."

Gou sighed. They had her outnumbered. And not only that but what they said was true. Telling her brother so close to the competition would effect his performance negatively most definitely. That wouldn't be fair to Iwatobi or her brother. Nor Seijuro. "Alright," she acceded. "I won't say anything."

A little over a month. Just a little over a month and then they would be back in Japan. Back in Japan where she could get a divorce and forget about everything that had happened. Just a little over a month. She could get through it. Then everything could go back to the way it had been.

"Well, now that you're all settled in here." Makoto covered a yawn with his hand. "I think I'll head to bed myself. You'll be alright by yourself?"

"I'll be fine, thank you, b-but do you think Seijuro will be okay with it?"

"Maybe Sei-chan can stay in our room!" Nagisa suggested.

Rei was quick to protest said suggestion. "There are already too many people in there!"

"Sei-chan can sleep in the bed with Haru-chan and I."

"Just how many people are you trying to fit in one bed exactly?!" Rei's ears were turning red. "And why aren't I being included in this?" he added.

"I'll explain to Captain Mikoshiba what's going on." Makoto smiled at her. "I'm sure he'll understand considering the circumstances. Don't worry about it."

"A-are you sure?"

"Of course! It will be fine."

Well…The two of them were going to be sharing a room together. It might be best if Makoto talked to Seijuro instead, plus they were both captains besides. Seijuro might find it more appropriate for Makoto, the swim team captain, to discuss such things with him.

"Okay."

Makoto smiled at her once more then he turned and headed to the door with a slight wave, herding Nagisa and Rei out of the room with him. "Get some sleep. We have an early day tomorrow, don't we?"

Gou grunted in the affirmative. "It's a guided tour through the sawgrass park. A walking tour." She grimaced slightly. She wasn't looking forward to that. Walking through that needle like grass with all those alligators around…Wish I had some mace. Not that there was any guarantee that would even work on the large reptiles.

The three of them departed and once the door closed Gou turned towards the rest of the room with a slight frown. Being in such a large unfamiliar room made her feel small, not to mention lonely as she was there utterly by herself. It was not at all what she was used to, not after living with Seijuro for almost two months. Even if they didn't sleep in the same room she was used to him being in the near vicinity and having his presence so nearby in just the other room.

Although he still technically is. Their hotel rooms – well, the one he should be sharing with Makoto now anyway – was only one room down from hers. So technically he still was nearby. Only it wasn't the same.

She sighed and walked over to her luggage to try and root out her pajamas. The only thing for her to do really was to go to sleep. There wasn't anything else she could do by herself.

She paused suddenly at the thought. Rubbing her chin, she looked towards the TV.

Or is there…

"Sorry about this." Makoto sat on the edge of the bed, his hands clasped on his knees. "I mean for the trouble."

"It's alright." Seijuro shucked his shirt over his head. "It couldn't be helped."

Makoto had informed him shortly before about their new sleeping arrangements and truth be known Seijuro had been a little relieved by it. Even he had felt a slight panic at seeing Gou's initial hotel card. It wasn't like he didn't like her or was unattracted to her – quite the opposite – but sharing a bed with her would have been too much too fast. That wasn't what he wanted from her, not at this point in time at least and especially not in that context.

Sharing a room with a Samezuka member would have preferable, like Noro or Nakagawa for instance, but there was no way Seijuro would have been able to achieve that without having to indulge some sort of truth about the matter. If he wanted to keep the marriage a secret than rooming with someone from Iwatobi was the only option.

Rei might have been Seijuro's first choice for a roommate out of Iwatobi simply due to the fact he knew the boy a little better than the other members, but Seijuro knew better to think there was any way Rei would room with anyone else other than Nagisa. Not now when they had whatever it was they had going on between the two of them. And he certainly didn't want to share a room with the two of them if they were going to be sleeping in the same bed. No thanks.

So it had ended up being he was to share a room with Makoto. A boy he didn't really know all that well besides the fact he was Iwatobi's captain and Gou was fairly close to him. Well, that and he was scared of loud noises and wild zoo animals. And he had a grip that would put most wrestlers anyway.

Seijuro flexed his arm at the memory. "Thanks for resolving the situation anyway." He sat down on the opposite bed. "I owe you one, captain."

"Oh you don't have to call me that." Makoto waved away the title. "Captain can be…a little uncomfortable to me. I don't really do much. Overall I mean." He rubbed the back of his neck. His smile was a little painful for some reason. "I'm not a great captain like you."

Seijuro raised his eyebrows at the comment. If he said he wasn't flattered he would be lying, although he was also a little bewildered. Makoto's dealings as captain he knew extremely little about, but what he had seen Tachibana had to be one of the nicest and most understanding people he had met. Seijuro dealt with his own fair share of nutters in his swim team but knowing the very varied personalities that existed in Iwatobi, Makoto had to have the patience of a saint.

He's not giving himself enough credit.

"There are plenty of different kinds of captains," he said, unwittingly adopting his captain's tone. "A captain who is strict, his teammates will want to do well so as not to disappoint him. A captain who is respected, his teammates will want to do well in order to impress him. A captain who is loved, his teammates will want to do well to make him happy. None of those one better than the other. No single style is superior to the others. In my opinion so long as the team is happy and doing well it shouldn't matter what sort of captain you are. So long as you get the job done."

"I'm not really sure that's how it works. Besides we have no accomplishments to speak of." Makoto's chuckle was almost painfully fake. Still, he relented. "I suppose it's just the fact that I don't do much. I don't have to do much."

Seijuro grunted. "Not a bad thing." He stretched his arms over his head. "If you don't need to do much then that means things are running smoothly. When you have to do too much, that's when you're in trouble." He got up to head towards his bag laying in the corner.

"I suppose," Makoto said doubtfully. "Goro, Ama-chan, and Gou do help out a lot. Especially Gou. She tends to take care of everything so we can focus on swimming."

Seijuro couldn't suppress his grin. Of course she did. Organized, dedicated Gou. When she found something to focus on she really did give it her all. In that regard she was a lot like her brother. "How did Gou end up joining the swim team anyway?"

Makoto's gaze remained on the wall above Seijuro's bed. "She asked to join."

"She did?" Seijuro was unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. Gou really didn't seem like the type who liked swimming all that much. If she did he would have figured she'd join the girls' swim team rather than the boys with zero accomplishments.

"She joined for Rin."

"Rin? You mean Matsuoka?"

Makoto nodded. He didn't say anything further however and Seijuro knew he was skating along territory he was not welcome in. Something to do with the Matsuoka siblings or maybe Matsuoka and those in the Iwatobi swim team. Seijuro had his suspicions but what exactly it was he was uncertain.

Well, I'm sure they have their reasons. He bent down to dig through his bag for his toiletries.

"If you don't mind me asking," Makoto spoke from behind him, "and I know this is a little intrusive, but why did you and Gou get married?"

It was intrusive but Seijuro couldn't fault him for it. The Iwatobi captain was close to Gou and protective besides. Like a big brother, he would want to know what Seijuro's intentions had been when they had gotten married.

"I don't remember," he admitted. "Just a stupid drunken decision."

The other boy's forehead creased. "It doesn't make any sense to get married for no reason."

"Who knows." Seijuro shrugged. "I don't know why I got married."

"At all?"

"At all. I don't remember anything outside of the bar."

"The bar." Makoto hummed in his throat. "You two did seem awfully close that night."

That they had. The parts Seijuro could remember anyway.

"And you seem closer now," Makoto continued.

"I suppose."

"Awfully close."

"…I suppose."

"You've been spending a lot of time with her lately."

Seijuro frowned a little.

"And you seem to have been going out of your way to sit by her."

Had he? He hadn't even really realized it.

"Funny how one would marry someone they're not interested in," Makoto finished and Seijuro closed his eyes.

Ah, so this is it. He wasn't foolish enough to think Makoto's sudden line of observations and questions didn't have a reasoning behind them and now he understood what that reasoning was. He was almost unable to suppress his chuckle. You're craftier than you realize, Tachibana.

He rose to face the other boy. "You already know how I feel, don't you?" He kept his gaze trained on the other. "After reading a person like Nanase-kun for so long reading a person like me must be like reading writing on a wall I'd imagine."

He was well aware he wasn't exactly a closed book. A lack of expressiveness was certainly not a facet of his personality and for someone like Makoto, who had spent almost the entirety of his life around someone as inscrutable as Nanase, Seijuro's emotions may as well be a giant exclamation mark. He simply could not believe otherwise when it came to the other captain.

When Makoto smiled at him it was tinged with amusement. "Yeah," he admitted. "I already knew." His smile widened further. "I just wanted to hear you say it."

Gou stood in the hotel room in front of the TV. The remote was in her hand and the black screen of the TV loomed back at her. She couldn't tell if it was inviting or forbidding, that black screen. Maybe a bit of both. She clutched the remote harder, trying to psyche herself up for what she had been planning for nearly two hours now.

She had showered, gotten into her pajamas, and prepared for bed, using those things as a way to kill time whilst waiting for the boys to go to sleep.

She glanced over her shoulder at the clock. Was it safe now? It was rather late. Surely the boys were asleep. She had been listening carefully but she hadn't heard a peep in a while from the room next to hers that contained Rei, Nagisa, and Haru. They had to be asleep.

I can't wait any longer. It was already late and she had to be up early. She couldn't put it off any longer if she was going to do it.

Hesitantly she lifted the remote. She hit the power button and stood there on pins and needles as the sound blared out while the visual took several seconds to generate. Quickly she lowered the volume to a barely audible level. It was unlikely the boys next door would be able to hear the TV at all through the wall but she didn't want to risk it. The last thing she wanted was for them to hear anything and then come over to investigate.

Because Gou was in pursuit of some less than wholesome programming. Porn to be exact.

Tonight was the perfect opportunity. It had dawned on her when after she had realized she was going to be all alone by herself in that big hotel room. All alone in a private place where no one would know what she was up to.

If I'm careful anyway. That's why she had killed time to allow the boys to go to sleep. If she was discreet and kept the volume down then no one would know. No better opportunity would present itself outside of tonight. She had to take advantage of it while she could!

So long as the hotel offers those sort of channels. But surely they had to. It was a hotel and this was a room that was designed for a couple to be in. Surely they would offer that kind of stuff.

She flicked through the guide. It was a good sign that there was a channel guide rather than just manual scrolling like their channels back at the house and after a moment of consideration she tried the higher channels in the hopes that was where the more X rated channels existed.

She stared in awe at the lines of blue. So many. There are so many of them. At least fifteen or twenty stations of nothing but triple X rated material. It was almost unbelievable.

She sat down on the edge of the bed as she began to scroll through the many offerings, reading the descriptions for each one. She wanted something with a bit of a plot, something that was more than just a pizza guy or a police officer randomly showing up and the girl being unable to pay for her pizza or her traffic ticket or whatever. Gou had never seen that personally but she had heard the general rumors about that. You couldn't go to high school without hearing about that sort of stuff.

She raised her eyebrow at some of the names. Womb Raider. Batman in Robin. How Stella Got Her Tube Packed. Free My Willy. The list went on and on.

After a few moments of flicking through she finally settled on one. She pushed the select button and a blue box flashed up onto the screen. It was a warning of additional charges and Gou's jaw dropped.

Twenty dollars?! She let out her breath like she had been punched in the stomach. So expensive! Why was it so expensive?!

She grit her teeth. She wasn't going to get a better opportunity than this. Once they got back from this trip she would be back in the house with Seijuro or at Iwatobi's place. Seeking out porn there was a big no-no and even if nobody was there the cable they had there didn't get these channels anyway. If she was going to do it then it had to be tonight.

Grumbling she hit the accept button. There was no getting out of it. She would just have to be careful with the rest of her money for the remainder of their time here or think up a good excuse to ask her mother to send more.

The title screen came on and Gou did her best to not read the less than wholesome title. It was certainly more…blunt than the others she had looked at.

The scene changed to what looked like a room in a castle and on a giant bed taking center screen a woman lounged in a gown that was so see through she might as well not have been wearing it. At least she has underwear on. If that scrape of cloth could be called underwear anyway. It was more revealing than the speedo Rei and Nagisa had bought during their shopping trip a while back.

This was the one she had picked. Some story about a princess being courted by two different princes and being torn between them. How romantic.

Only she hadn't anticipated the show originally having been filmed in the country's native language and then dubbed over in Japanese. The dub voices were…less than stellar. And they didn't match up with their moving mouths either. She waited several minutes as one of the 'princes' and 'princess' gabbed away at each other, something about forbidden love or other, and tried to ignore their mismatching mouth movements.

This is taking way too long. She pushed the fast forward button. The scenes whizzed by on the screen, the princess and her consorts talking, talking, talking, some old guy who had to be the king came and went, some young women doting on the princess wearing dresses that dipped way too low to be considered appropriate. When she finally reached a scene where they was some kissing action going on she pushed play.

For some inconceivable reason one of the prince's was making out with one of the princess's buxom handmaidens in a laundry area. He had her pressed up against the wall, the inappropriate dress hanging so low and tight it looked like her breasts were going to pop out any minute, his nearly see through tights leaving very little to the imagination as he kissed up and down her neck.

That seems a little counterproductive if you're trying to get with the princess. Maybe he was no longer interested in the princess? Gou frowned. Maybe I shouldn't have skipped the entire plot.

She watched in fascination as the two made out heavily. She had seen such kissing before, in movies and whatnot, but this was different, more exciting and charged, like the breath before the plunge. Maybe because she knew where this kiss was going to end up leading to. Although all the tongue play was a little disturbing, like two dogs with peanut butter stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

She straightened as hands started to go underneath clothes. The guy had slipped his hand up underneath the girl's skirt. The handmaiden started to moan like crazy. Flushing, Gou hastily lowered the volume some more, mashing the button like her life depended on it. While it was highly unlikely the three boys next door would be able to hear anything through the wall and while they might not think she was doing what she was actually doing it sure wouldn't bode well for her if they heard a woman's moans coming from her room. They might think it was her moans.

Good thing Makoto isn't in that room. He would absolutely die if he thought she was doing something to herself to cause that or someone else doing it to her.

The two on the screen were delving into heavier petting. The woman's breasts were completely exposed and the prince had hiked up her dress to around her waist. His hand was between her legs and since it was a porno the camera was giving a direct shot of her crotch of course. The guy had his fingers up inside her. First he slipped in one and then a second, and he had begun moving them in and out of her.

Gou stared with wide eyes. They had never shown this in the movies before. It sort of looked rather…enjoyable. The handmaiden sure sounded like she was enjoying it.

Gou moved her legs almost restlessly. An ache was developing in her nether regions. An ache that was nearly painful, like an over stimulation without a release. She pressed her thighs together in an effort to relieve the throbbing.

Watching something like this, she couldn't but wonder what would it be like to be touched like that. The thought was strangely exciting. She had never experienced anything remotely close to what was occurring on screen and she had never pursued anything like it either, but it wasn't like the idea had never crossed her mind before. They always been fleeting thoughts, little flashes of curiosity that had entered her mind and then been excused just as quickly. Never before had she dwelled on it but now that it was practically in front of her face she couldn't help but really, truly wonder what it would be like to experience such a thing.

What would it be like if Seijuro touched her like that? Her eyebrows lowered in consideration. Looking at her in that way of his when he caught sight of her for the first time in a while, like she was the only thing in the world that mattered. What if he kissed her again, breath hot and heavy, his voice rumbling in her ear using in that tone of his when he used his captain's voice, the one that was slow and measured and heavy. Hands on her thighs, grazing upwards. Muscles pressed against her that she was able to touch rather than just stare at.

The remote slipped from her grasp. It clattered to the floor and the sudden noise made Gou start. Flustered, she bent down to retrieve the device, her face growing hot at the realization of what exactly she had been thinking about.

Imagining Seijuro in such a way…She almost couldn't believe herself. She had never thought of him like that before. She had never even imagined them kissing before and certainly never anything so intimate as she had just imagined. She had thought he would kiss her again, thought about the time they had kissed, but fantasizing about it was an entirely different animal. Much less the notion that she would want him to do such a thing. From him especially.

So then what the heck had that been? Gou clutched the remote between her hands, gaze locked on the carpet in front of her, her thoughts and emotions tumbling over themselves as she tried to sort them out. It was like a tangled knot she simply had no idea where to start in order to undo it and thinking about it only left her more confused.

Some strange slurping sounds coming from the TV pulled at her attention and she turned back to the porn she had forgotten was still going. Her mouth dropped open. Things had certainly progressed while she had been wrapped up in her introspection. The prince had lost his pants and the girl was on her knees before him. His cock was out and the girl was…

She's putting it in her mouth?! Gou covered her face with her hands, the remote clattering once more to the floor. Oh my god! So gross! Why would anyone do that? Putting that in your mouth? Why?!

She peeked out between her fingers, her eyes wide as dinner plates. The guy had placed his hand on the back of her girl's head and she was bobbing back and forth like one of those drinking birds. Oh my god! That wasn't meant to go there!

She dove for the remote and mashed at the power button. She spent a few moments breathing heavily as the TV shut down, bathing the room into utter blackness, regaining her bearings as her face heated to the point she felt like she was sweating. Even if she had paid twenty dollars for the porno and hadn't even gotten to the sex part yet she wasn't ready for that sort of thing. Maybe later. A few months from now. A year. Ten years. Maybe never.

She shuddered. Ugh. I think I've had enough of porn for a bit.

She tossed the remote onto the bedspread with a shaky sigh. Still, the other parts had been interesting and fun to watch if she was completely honest. Exciting even.

She shook her head in an effort to dislodge that thought. They had to be up early tomorrow for the sawgrass walk and she had already stayed up way too late already. It was time to put the porn away and go to bed.

Not that that stopped her mind from wandering once she had pulled back the coverlet and settled in, her brain returning once more to that fantasy it had conjured. What would it be like if Seijuro did touch her like that? All he had ever done, or even tried for that matter, was kiss her that one time. He had not attempted a single thing since then.

"You still liked the kiss, didn't you?" Hana's voice.

She bit her lip. Did she want him to kiss her again? Did she want him to try? She bit her lip harder. Did he even want to for that matter?

She turned over and tried to put it out of her mind, but sleep was still a long time coming.

The next morning Gou stood in the lobby of the hotel, yawning expansively and blinking sluggishly. The sun was shining harshly through the windows, making Gou squint, and she stepped to the side to avoid its glaring rays. For some insane reason their check out time had been scheduled for nine AM and so she had gotten up at eight.

Having to wake up early again, she was more than tired. Two nights of not that much sleep and getting up early. She was ready to crawl into bed, preferably Seijuro's, and sleep forever. Too bad that wasn't in the cards today.

Because today was donated to yet another hosted event. A day that was going to be spent outside in the hot sun walking through that sawgrass world. Gou wasn't really looking forward.

They were gathered near the back of the lobby, waiting for the Samezuka members to come down. Seijuro had departed to rouse his own team members before Makoto had come to gather her so Gou had yet to see him this morning. They were taking a while. Gou yawned into her hand again.

"You look tired," Makoto observed. "Did you not sleep well?"

"Erk." Gou stiffened. "Uhhh." She scrambled for an excuse. "Bad pillows," she said after a moment. "W-what about you?" She looked up at him. "Did last night go well?"

For some reason a strange smile crossed Makoto's face. "Yeah," he said. "I would say it did."

Gou blinked but didn't get a chance to pursue the conversation as the elevator dinged and a torrent of Samezuka members burst through the doors like water breaking through a dam. Seijuro was there and Gou's heart sped up at seeing him. She could already feel the blood rushing to her face despite the fact he hadn't even said anything to her and she turned to squint out the window.

Not that it mattered. The host approached a moment later, asking them all to line up and had in their hotel cards. Wisely Iwatobi hung back and waited for Samezuka to go first, the other boys almost tripping over each other to get in line first.

Except someone else had the same idea.

Gou clutched her room card a little tighter than necessary. Seijuro had waited, allowing his teammates to go before him and, once they were all finished, he slid in to the line behind her.

"Morning, Gou-kun!"

She was so flustered she didn't even think to correct him on her name. She tried to avoid looking at him. "G-good morning." She swallowed. This wasn't like the last two times when she had felt awkward around him. She wasn't uncomfortable or wary. It was more like he was some kind of foreign wildlife she had no idea what to do with anymore.

"Did you sleep alright?"

"G-great!" Her face reddened slightly at how loud that had been. She fought to get her brain back in working condition. "D-did you? I mean sorry about that situation..."

"Oh I slept fine, don't worry about it." He shrugged. "It isn't your fault."

Gou's brow furrowed. That wasn't entirely true though. Half of it was her fault. Her name was on that marriage certificate too after all. She shared half of the blame. Just like her mother had said.

Only Seijuro seemed to be the only one getting stuck with crummy sleeping arrangements while she was making out like a bandit. Surely nobody would be happy about getting kicked out of their nice large bed onto a couch nor having to give up a sweet hotel room with a large bed to a tiny bed in a shared room with someone they didn't know so well, but whenever she offered to sleep on the couch he refused. Maybe she'd try again later.

Gou handed her room card to the hotel employee. She stepped away to let Seijuro check out and dug through her purse for her chap stick. With the sun blazing as it was and being stuck in it all day it was sure to dry out her lips. Good thing I packed all this stuff just in case.

Seijuro finished just as quickly as she and stepped away to walk out together when the clerk suddenly called out.

"Excuse me, Mr. Mikoshiba, sir." She waved a paper in the air to grab his attention. "I apologize, sir, but there was a charge on your room that needs to be settled. A movie charge."

Gou nearly stumbled into the glass doors in front of her. She had completely forgotten! Oh, no. No, no, no. She whirled around.

"A charge?" Seijuro stepped back to the counter. He picked up the receipt the desk clerk had set down. His brow's furrowed. "Girl's who scream—"

"Bloody murder!" Gou flung herself so hard at the paper she nearly collided with the counter. She smacked it back down and covered it with her hands. "It was a horror movie!" Her voice was incredibly loud in the hotel lobby and Seijuro looked a bit aback by her sudden intensity. "I'll take care of it!" She dug into her pocket and practically flung her money at the poor clerk. "Here you go! All taken care of!" She turned and pushed on Seijuro. "B-best to get going! We don't have any time to waste! Lots to do and see today! Haha!"

He allowed her to push him along with little resistance, a good thing too considering the fact she wouldn't have succeeded in moving him an inch otherwise, and only gave her an odd look over his shoulder. Outside the lobby Gou dropped her hands from his back – his very muscular back – and over her heart as she took a deep breath. That had been close. Too close. If he had realized what she had been watching…Oh god. She would have wanted to die on the spot.

"A horror movie?" Seijuro was looking at her with one eyebrow raised.

Oh god. Gou swallowed to try and control the heat creeping up her neck and face. "Uhhh, yes. It was about a…monster…that was…eating people." Well, that wasn't that far from the truth anyway. She shuddered.

Seijuro seemed to consider this for a brief moment. His face brightened. "You didn't tell me you like horror movies!" His eyes were alight in delight. "I love horror movies! Let's check that one out when we get back so I can watch it too!"

Gou made a sound like an animal dying.

Seijuro moved off to shout out commands to his swim team members and Gou placed a hand to her forehead. She could already feel a headache forming. The lack of sleep and…everything else. The sun was only going to make it that much worse.

Taking a deep breath she started forward

This is going to be a long day…

Everyone was exhausted by the time they started the long bus ride back home. Spending the day hiking in the hot sun through the sawgrass, trudging through water, swamp, and marsh alike had drained any and all of them. Even energy filled Nagisa resembled a wilted flower once everything was over and they were marching onto the bus, and Seijuro ached all over. He was looking forward to getting back home and collapsing on the couch. It may not be a bed nor the most comfortable but the mere thought of it sounded so good.

The sun was setting and the bus became quieter and quieter as darkness filled it until only silence reigned, the occupants steadily nodding off one by one. By the time an hour had passed most of the swimmers had descended into slumber, slouched and sprawled in their bus seats or leaning against each other. Some particularly brave ones had lain down in their seats with their heads in their seating partners lap. Like Nagisa. Lucky guy was small enough he could do such a thing.

Some weren't so lucky. Seijuro stretched, extending his legs into the aisle to try and stretch out completely. He had given up on trying to sleep or more accurately hadn't bothered trying. He had learned his lesson from when he had attempted to do so whilst riding to the sawgrass park. Anytime he had managed to get even halfway asleep the bus had jerked or swayed and he would nearly face plant into the driver's seat in front of him. So sleep wasn't in the cards for him. However…

Next to him Gou was leaning her head against the window in an attempt to sleep. Inevitably, after her breath had become soft and even with slumber, the bus would sway and her head would bang into the window, jerking her back awake. When this occurred she would blink confusedly as if she didn't understand what had happened, then would lean her head against the window again in an attempt to sleep once more, only for the same thing to repeat all over again.

After the fifth time of watching this, Seijuro sighed. There was no helping it. He'd rather risk getting yelled out and freaking her out then watching her give herself a concussion.

He reached out to pull her to lean against him. If he was lucky she was tired enough that she wouldn't even realize. If he was unlucky she would wake up and likely call him a pervert. Or slap him. Both would be pretty humiliating.

What he didn't expect was for her, at his slight pulling, to twist in her seat towards him and proceed to burrow into his side. Her arms slid under his jacket to the warmth of his t-shirt underneath, one limb snaking across his midsection while the other she tucked against her chest near his side. She lay her head on his chest and let out an exhale that sounded deep and contented.

Seijuro almost couldn't move; he was so bowled over. His brain was having a rough time processing this was reality and this was actually happening. How was he supposed to move now? Should he put his arm around her? What was he supposed to do in this situation?

The unmistakable feeling of eyes on him made him look up. Across the aisle from him he saw Makoto. The other boy noticed Seijuro's gaze. He smiled.

Crafty guy. Seijuro smiled back.

And now he understood just a little bit better what all those questions had been about.

I haven't written any sort of smut in I dunno like ten years? How to porn?

This chapter was both insanely fun and mortifying to write. Especially while trying to hide it from my roommates as I sweat buckets. Let's agree to never talk about it again.

Thank you to everyone who was reviewed, favorited, and followed! It's late so I can't do individual responds but please know I do read every single review and I appreciate you guys so much for sticking with this ungodly long fic!