Chapter Three

Monday. It was the one day Makoto did not have to be anywhere and it was the day he was going to do nothing. He was planning to be a lump in his bed and only surface from it when he needed to use the bathroom or make something eat. He was going to study from his bed, eat from his bed and generally relax and do everything for one day from his bed.

It was something that would've been impossible if he'd lived at home still. As his twin siblings, Ren and Ran would have ensured that even if Makoto had wanted to have a lazy day, it would not have been possible. They probably would've come and jumped on him, effectively preventing him from sleeping or relaxing. Plus his mother wouldn't let him eat in bed. Crumbs in the sheets or something.

So he intended to continue to bury himself in the mound of blankets, nuzzle his face into the warmth of his pillow and relax unlike he seemed to do in his daily life.

Last night had been a late shift at the club and it had been busy – weekends always were – and Makoto hadn't even had a break. Too busy for that and he'd served drinks all night, making a variety of multi-coloured cocktails and delivering them to his tables with a smile even when the customers were rude.

Makoto gave those rude people leeway, just apologising for any mistakes and refilling drinks with a smile. He knew people had busy stressful lives, like he did, and he wanted their evening out to be good. People often told him he was too nice, too forgiving, too easily used and spit out. But Makoto wasn't going to think about that. Instead he was going to lie in his bed and forget about the world, huddled in blankets and relax for the one time in the week where he could.

Or he was. He'd planned to and he deserved it but instead of saying safely in his cocoon of blankets, sleepily revelling in the comfort, Makoto was abruptly disturbed. At first, he ignored his phone. Completely. He was intending to just let it buzz to itself as he tried to fall back asleep. It was morning and he'd cracked one eye open experimentally to see the light filtering into his room and decided that, no, Makoto was not getting out of his bed.

But then it buzzed again. And Makoto thought he better check who was calling him otherwise he could potentially worry his family… He'd missed a few calls from his mother before and when he'd called back she'd been panicking and nearly packing Ren and Ran up so they could travel to Tokyo and confirm that Makoto was not dead in the middle of a busy street somewhere. He had calmed her down but Makoto didn't want that situation again.

But instead of being his family, it was an unfamiliar number and Makoto frowned at it before putting it back down to ignore it again, thinking that after two attempts whoever it was would give up. It seemed not.

Finally, giving up on his blissful morning of relaxing, stretching his long limbs in his bed, Makoto reached for his cell and answered.

"Hello?"

"It's in!"

Makoto held the phone away from his ear as those words were shouted, echoing around his sleepy skull and Makoto needed to moment to figure out what was "in" and who was talking to him. As he couldn't remember who he'd given his number to and then he realised…

"Nagisa?"

He wasn't perturbed by Makoto's obvious confusion and was talking at the speed of light, repeating how it was "in" and how "it" was romantic and it dawned on Makoto suddenly, him sitting bolt upright in his bed as that meant his Rush Hour Crush had been published. His relaxing day had suddenly gone out of the window as his face heated up, his cheeks blushing as even though he had put the "crush" in, Makoto hadn't expected it to be published and now that it was he needed to see a copy and see how embarrassing it was.

"I need to see it," he said as he hopped out of his bed, tripping over the covers as they got tangled in his legs and falling onto the floor. Thankfully, he landed on a pile of laundry he'd intended to do later and it wasn't as painful as it could've been but his phone slipped out of his hand and he could hear Nagisa's excited chatter despite the fact his ear wasn't anywhere near the receiver.

As he was scrabbling around for his phone, the door to his room opened and Haru stood there, his face in a line of mild concern at seeing Makoto sprawled and grabbing for his cell, entrapped by his blankets.

Haru raised one eyebrow, arms folded across his chest as he was dressed in fish patterned boxers and a white t-shirt. "You okay?"

"Yeah," he answered somewhat strained and Haru nodded and huffed before leaving, maybe slightly annoyed that he'd been woken too.

Getting his phone, Makoto finally figured that Nagisa had realised he'd not been answering him and so was repeatedly saying variations of the line "Makoto, are you there?"

"Sorry… I uh… never mind," Makoto mumbled as he didn't need to describe in detail to Nagisa his inelegant fall into his own pile of laundry. "I'm going to grab a copy once I'm-"

Makoto was going to elaborate that he needed to be dressed but he found himself interrupted by Nagisa who suggested meeting for coffee or something and then looking at the page together and Makoto tried to say no but failed. Though he did check if he could bring back up. Haru didn't get out enough and Nagisa was far too much for Makoto this early in the morning.

Haru was only semi-reluctant to be dragged out as when he explained why – his "crush" had been published, Haru seemed to have a morbid curiosity.

"Why don't you look it up on your phone?" Haru asked sensibly when Makoto told him he was tagging along, stripping off his boxers in front of Makoto with absolutely no shame as he grabbed another pair from his neatly packed drawers.

Makoto had blushed and looked away from his completely naked roommate and his ability to not be bothered with his nudity in company and answered while looking at the ceiling.

"Because I need to see how it looks in print."

It was a stupid reason as Makoto could look at it on his phone but then he doubted tall, dark and tattooed would ever think to check the website, and it was totally unlikely he'd see the small paragraph in Tracks so Makoto just needed to confirm, see his attempt with his own eyes and see it was a stupid idea. Haru had just shook his head and Makoto had left to get his own clothes on, scowling at his own inability to do laundry. Since he was up, he'd do it later. His relaxing day had after all been destroyed.

He supposed, when he stepped outside, that it was a beautiful day, autumn and that chill in the air that felt cold but the sun was out so maybe it was a good thing he'd been dragged out of bed. Even if he hadn't intended to leave the safety of his blankets.

The coffee shop Nagisa had suggested was just around the corner and when they arrived, Makoto was not surprised to see that there was another guy next to him who he'd seen a few times around the club. They tended to work different shifts so Makoto had only nodded at him – unusual coloured hair and bright coloured glasses but he knew him by sight and figured that he was wrapped around Nagisa's little finger.

"Makoto!" Nagisa said, a clear tone of delight in his voice through a mouthful of food, some pastry covered in sugar and filled with cream.

"Not with your mouth full!" the other man chided and Nagisa swallowed, nearly choking on the large bite and he was promptly slapped on his back to keep him breathing and alive.

"This is Rei… he works the early shift," Nagisa introduced, his eyes then levelling on Haru, "and this is…?"

Nagisa's head was cocked on angle, curiosity and sugar on his face and Makoto didn't need to speak as Haru swiftly answered.

"Haru."

"He's my roommate," Makoto said as way of an explanation.

Makoto and Haru went to order, paying for expensive coffees and some pastries before they returned to their table and Makoto noticed not one copy of Tracks but multiple ones laid out.

"Did you get every copy at a station?" Makoto exclaimed.

Rei sighed loudly and pushed his glasses more securely on his nose. "Not all. I stopped him."

The response to that was an elbow in his gut and Makoto tried not to laugh as the move had been clearly painful. Nagisa may be small but he was not a pushover.

Makoto hesitated for a moment, three pairs of eyes staring at him as he looked at the paper. It had usually seemed so innocuous. It usually wasn't something cared about or thought about, picking up a copy but now it seemed entirely different. Carefully, he picked it up and flicked through the pages, ignoring the news until he got to the page.

It was always coloured with reds and pinks – he guessed colours of passion and romance, small hearts decorating around the edge and Makoto had never noticed how sickly sweet it appeared until he saw his own "crush" on the page, a small block of writing surrounded by those colours. He almost didn't want to read it but then he had to, he supposed, to check it was all right and his words hadn't been mangled by some writer. They hadn't been. It was exactly as he'd intended.

And that made him feel too sick to even look at his pastry.

"You okay?" Haru asked as if he saw that Makoto looked as green as he felt.

"Yeah…" Makoto answered, looking again as his "crush" and trying not to cringe. "It's out there now. Nothing I can do, right?"

He offered a smile, cocking his head and trying to disguise how he felt but he sensed Haru's blue eyed stare sizing him up and figuring out it was a façade.

After some more teasing and Nagisa guessing Mr. Tall, Dark and Tattooed's name – each choice more ridiculous than the last – Makoto and Haru excused themselves and walked back to their apartment, Makoto intending on sorting his laundry and finally doing it.

"Do you want him to answer or not?" Haru asked as they walked and the question took Makoto's breath out of his lungs, his stride pausing.

Haru realised Makoto was no longer directly beside him and looked back, his expression blank and confused. Makoto caught up and shrugged his shoulders.

As he didn't know exactly what he wanted. He felt nervous about the idea of him seeing it but also sad about the idea of him not. What if he saw it and never got in touch? All of those things made Makoto want to blush and curse himself for doing the "crush" in the first place but then when he thought about him – well, he had to try.

"I want him to answer," Makoto said finally, his voice firm as though to convince himself that he did.

"Hmm," was the noise Haru answered with and Makoto shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans as they walked back the rest of the way.

As right now, Makoto was hopeful that he would answer and all he had to do was wait. And pick up every days copy of Tracks until he gave up hope.