Chapter 13

It was time yet again for a movie night at Haruka's, and it was also the first time that Seijuurou would be seeing everyone together since the incident and fighting with Makoto. The redhead was nervous that they, being mainly Nagisa because Rei was more reserved and polite than the blonde, would ask questions about what had happened, why Makoto was so down and didn't mention him for that long, and he nor Makoto didn't want to tell the others the truth.

"But should we really lie about it?" Makoto frowned, on the walk from the train station to Haruka's home. "Maybe it would be easier if we just told them the truth, or just...you know, part of it? Because just going all out to lie about it when Rin and Haruka will be there, and since they're the only ones that know what happened..."

Even after they had made up, Haruka and Rin kept their mouths shut in regards to the situation. Before Makoto or Seijuurou had thought about asking them to just pretend like this whole ordeal never even happened, Haruka was the one to tell Makoto that he had nothing to worry about and it was no big deal. When Makoto had told Seijuurou about it, the redhead was more than relieved and wanted to show his thanks for his boyfriend's two closest friends, which brought on the decision of buying Haruka a month's supply of fresh mackerel and getting Rin brand new sneakers for his morning runs.

"Well..." Seijuurou sighed. "Let's just do it this way. If they ask, we could be vague? Because the only two people in that room that know what happened, and the truth at that, is Haruka and Rin. The only person that we have to worry about all the questions is Nagisa."

"So, the deal is that we act completely normal, and if Nagisa asks, we just say that there was an issue that is no longer relevant because we patched it up?" Makoto shrugged. "Foolproof? Or should I say Hazuki proof?"

"Sounds good to me? Other than that, it's just happy times and focusing on movies and having fun. Kisses, close cuddling, and eating snacks and smiling is all mandatory. Even for a second that I don't see a smile on your face, that's just an invitation for me to be able to kiss or tickle you to make that smile creep right back up on that pretty face of yours." The redhead poked Makoto in the side, grinning.

"Deal." Makoto hooked his pointer finger with Seijuurou's, swinging his arm slightly as they walked down the street to Haruka's. "At least we aren't watching anything scary this time. Instead, we're back to animated movies that are way better than scary ones and everyone promised that we can watch The Cat Returns first since it was my choice and everyone felt bad that I did get scared that one time..."

"Well I wouldn't say entirely better, but...it's nice to watch something refreshing once in awhile." Seijuurou let out a laugh. "And could you imagine if we ever got our hands on a cat themed horror movie? You'll be sleepless for days."

"Hey! I had nightmares for almost a week the last time we watched them!" Makoto sulked. "And please don't! Please!"

"Oh I know, you called me at three in the morning when it happened wanting me to come over, and when I said 'no, it's three in the morning Makoto and I'm hours away', and so I suggested that we just talk until you fell back asleep. If you started crying about how you think that Tama or any other cat was out to get you because it all of a sudden turned crazy and could kill people, oh boy..."

Makoto's cheeks grew pink, slightly nudging Seijuurou's shoulder. "One of these days you're going to be scared by something too, and you'll call me at three in the morning and I'll be the best boyfriend ever with calming you down."

"That's impossible, Mako."

"Why is that?"

The two stopped outside of the steps to Haruka's home, Seijuurou tilting Makoto's head up to press their lips together, parting with a smile on both of their faces.

"Because you're already the best boyfriend ever."

"Oi, lovebirds!" Makoto and Seijuurou turned towards the stone steps, seeing Rin and Nagisa standing; Nagisa with his eyes bright and smile wide, and Rin looking annoyed. "Hurry up and get inside!"

Two movies later and eagerly wanting to start the third ("Rei chooses Lion King!" Nagisa had said, sliding off of the couch to change discs), the group had taken a small stretch break and also took the chance to get rid of any spare garbage, and to refill the snack bowls.

Seijuurou and Makoto were relieved that so far, no awkward questions were asked about why Seijuurou came that day during practice to talk to Makoto, and why after Makoto was acting strange. Instead, seeming perfectly fine because that's how they felt, was the best cover-up to the worst days that they ever had. And maybe, the blonde had thought about respecting personal matters and even though that no matter how much he wanted to know what happened, he would let it go and would restrain himself from asking.

Or that Rei had told him that it might not be a good idea to ask.

Getting settled in again to start the movie and to end the looping title screen, there was a quiet knock at the door and Nagisa sprang to his feet.

"Pizza's here!"

In an instant Rin got up, beating the blonde to the door. The group exchanged glances and looks as they heard the two quietly bickering and Rin trying to contain himself as Nagisa kept on asking why he was acting so strange. A moment later Nagisa came back into the room and shrugged, sitting down next to Rei as they waited for Rin to come back to tell them what was going on.

"He pushed you out of the way?" Rei raised an eyebrow, looking at Nagisa as he put a piece of spare chocolate in his mouth. "Seriously?"

Nagisa chewed what was in his mouth and swallowed before answering. "Yeah. He pushed me and braced himself against the door and said 'It's not for you, go sit back down! This is important!' and we went back and forth a bit before he agreed to pay for the pizza when it got here to make me finally go away and that's it."

"Wonder what that was all about, though."

"Whatever, I still get a free pizza. So it's all fine, I guess. No hard feelings!"

Rin cleaned his throat and the group looked up, seeing Nitori next to Rin, the two with their faces tinted red and looking as if they were wanting to confess something that they've been hiding for a long time. No one dared to speak for the longest time (which in reality was about half a minute) before Rin sighed.

"So...we have something to tell you guys." He glanced over to Nitori before nudging his arm against his, letting their fingers brush against each other before lacing together and giving a slight squeeze. "We're...well, dating now. Have been for about...what, a week and a half now?" Nitori nodded in confirmation, face getting redder.

"We felt like telling you now would be the best!" Nitori added. "Instead of having to tell each of you guys seperate or having to find out from hearing it from someone else, we decided that today with you all here was the perfect opportunity!"

The only action given was Makoto outstretching his hand to Seijuurou with a slight smile, which made the redhead sigh and shift to take out his wallet from his back pocket, grumbling about how he was going to use that money for Makoto anyways, but not like this. The action also made Nagisa pull out a few bills of his own to give to Makoto, the Iwatobi captain having an obvious 'I told you so' look on his face as he put the given money in his own wallet.

"Wha...you guys bet on this?!" Rin sputtered, sitting down next to Nitori on the floor and staring wide-eyed at his friends. "Why the hell-"

"Oh we all knew it was coming." Makoto smiled down at Rin. "The bet was actually to see how long it was until it happened. And I won, with before graduation. Those two, however..." He gestured towards Seijuurou and Nagisa. "They decided on something together. Rei and Haru only discussed it, but didn't place any bets."

"Man, I was on Nagisa'a side in hoping that there was going to be a movie style confession and everything once Rin was outta Samezuka." Seijuurou and Nagisa glanced at each other before letting the dramatics bubble up and Seijuurou let his arm reach out for Nagisa over Makoto's chest and barely brushing against Rei's shoulder and he threw his head back and batted his eyelashes. "Oh Ai, I'm stupid and know that you're the best thing in my life, date me already! I swear I won't bite!"

"Oh senpai, I've been wishing that this would happen for months, of course I'll date you! You just made me the happiest kohai alive!" Nagisa did similar actions and he two laughed, earning a sigh from Rin.

"But how did it really happen?" Haruka raised an eyebrow. "Please tell me that's not how it actually happened-"

"Oh no, not at all, Haruka!" Nitori smiled. "We just...got to talking about it and then one thing lead to another, and it just sort of...happened and here we are. And I'm really happy, too! We're going on our second date tomorrow afternoon!"

"Rin, this kid is in your care now." Seijuurou nudged Rin's back with his foot. "I trust that you'll make him happy, right?"

Rin nodded, smiling slightly when Nitori squeezed his hand. Red eyes glanced over to look at Haruka, a grin spreading on his face. "I guess that means that we all have to play matchmaker for Haru now, don't we?"

"Please don't."

"Oh come on, I know some people that might be perfect for you-"

"Rin I said no-"

"I know some guys from Samezuka or there's some of my sister's friends if you're not too picky..."

"Rin!"

"Haru's blushing!" Nagisa laughed. "Cute!"

"What if we set up Haru with Aikawa?" Seijuurou leaned over slightly to whisper into Makoto's ear as his friends quarreled. "I know that he's having trouble finding someone and we could always say that your friend Haruka is perfectly single..."

"That seems mean though!" Makoto frowned. "He would act like everyone else in thinking that Haru is a girl and when he finds out that he's a guy..."

Seijuurou shrugged, trying to picture his roommate and Haruka together. "What would they even do together? I don't think that they really have anything in common..."

"Don't worry, if we have to find someone for him or he does it on his own, I know that he'll find the perfect person to make him happy."

"...He has to go through you first along with everyone else, huh?"

"You got it."

Seijuurou looked over at Makoto, holding out his free hand and grinned. "New bet? Nanase finds someone to date within a year? We'll smooth out the details later."

Makoto freed his own hand from between Seijuurou's back and the couch, shaking Seijuurou's hand firmly with a similar grin on his face. "Deal."

Rin and Nitori were the ones to leave first, having to get back to Samezuka before curfew was up and to get enough rest for their practice in the morning. Soon after Nagisa and Rei left, the two having to hurry with the last train of the night leaving within minutes, leaving Seijuurou and Makoto to help Haruka clean up. Seijuurou and Haruka were in the kitchen cleaning the counters and other things, while Makoto straightened up the living room.

"Surprised that Nagisa didn't say anything?" Haruka said, putting the cups in the sink. "With as much sugar he consumed today in just that sitting, I'm surprised that he was fairly...tolerable in terms of speaking."

"Kinda, yeah." Seijuurou scratched the back of his neck, leaning against the counter. "He looked over at me and Mako a few times, and I felt that he wanted to say something."

Haruka shrugged. "I have a feeling that he might say something to Makoto one on one, because I'm sure he doesn't have your number so this was one of his chances to say something to at least you. Maybe he'll even come to me, but who knows. Maybe we're all just over thinking all of this."

"I remember he almost got my number, though. Apparently he tried to get it from Nitori a week or so after Makoto and I started dating." The redhead chuckled, taking the bag of trash out of the trashcan and replaced it with a new bag. "But it's fine. Really. I'm starting to like that kid, aside from his loud personality. And voice. That'll take more time."

"Don't you feel bad keeping it from those two, though? Nagisa and Rei, I mean. Even Gou, because only two people, well...three, actually because of your roommate, know the nitty gritty details of it all."

"Well..." Tying the bag off, he rested it against the can and stepped towards the sink to wash his hands. "I don't know Nagisa or Rei all that well, yet. Unlike you, or Makoto. And Aikawa is so laid back and a nice guy and well, my roommate so I do see him quite frequently and he's someone to talk to and is understanding and all. Makoto and I talked and we agreed that if one of them does ask that we'll tell them, just not the whole story."

"What, like just that something happened, you two fought, and then made up?"

"Simple as that." Seijuurou's eyes were focused on the blue towel drying his hands. "I just want to forget that I was stupid enough to do that and everything else that happened, and Makoto feels the same."

Haruka was silent for a moment, mouth twitching slightly as if he wanted to say something but instead wanted to keep it in, until finally with a sigh, he turned to look at Seijuurou.

"Makoto really loves you, you know."

Seijuurou opened his mouth to speak, but Haruka beat him to it.

"It...helps that I've known him for most of my life. But just the way his eyes light up whenever he talks to you, or the genuine smile on his face when he tells me about the last time he and you went on a date or you did something that he liked." Haruka paused. "And when that...incident happened, he was crushed, and I knew it. He changed, even though he didn't think he was showing it. But as soon as you two made up, those little things that I've noticed changed too."

"Haru-"

"Not in a bad way, Seijuurou. He's happier, I can tell. Because he thought that he was really going to lose you, but instead it all worked out for the better."

The redhead breathed in relief, and Haruka continued.

"I'm his best friend, and all I want is him to be happy and to have the best. I can only do so much, and so can Rin. Or Nagisa and Rei. Or even his own family." Haruka glanced up and smiled at the older boy. "And I know that you can make him the happiest. To he honest, I'm more than glad that you two made up, because I don't even want to imagine how he would be without you in his life."

A wide grin spread on Seijuurou's face and he outstretched his arms to pull Haruka for a hug, trying his best not to squeeze the young swimmer as hard as he could. But enough to get his point and happiness across.

"Thank you, Haruka. It means a lot to me, it really does."

"Just don't do anything stupid again, okay?" Haruka was muffled by Seijuurou's shoulder.

"I won't. I promise, for both Makoto and you."

A small laugh made its way to Seijuurou and Haruka's ears and they both turned their heads to see a smiling Makoto standing in the doorway, arms crossed and head cocked slightly.

"I never thought that I would ever see this for quite a while, really. But I'm glad you two are getting along so well."

Seijuurou detached himself from Haruka, muttering a 'sorry' and a shrug from the smaller boy. Makoto walked over, wrapping his arms around Haruka to give his best friend a hug as well, but a brief one.

"How much did you hear?" Haruka asked, busying himself with putting the clean dishes away.

Makoto only kept on smiling, leaning against Seijuurou's chest. "I heard enough to know that I still have the best boyfriend and best best friend in the entire world, and I'm incredibly lucky and extremely happy."

Author's note: wow okay I need to stop writing the majority of chapters late at night and rolling with it fffs.