Thank you for leaving your review, chicken vulpes vulpes. I enjoyed reading your comment. Here's another chapter, a longer one. I hope it will be an enjoyment for you.

Rated M for language and sexual content.

Disclaimer: Free! and Free! Eternal Summer belong to KyoAni

CHAPTER 2

A Promise and a Beginning

:-:

"He's like a puppy, who will happily and innocently overjoy when his master comes home."

—Sousuke's thought about Makoto

:-:

"Your performance is getting worse, Tachibana."

Makoto's eyelids droop, half-opened bright emerald eyes focused on the floor. "I'm sorry."

"I'll give you one more chance to make up with that horrible singing of yours." A grunt, deep and annoyed, echoes from behind the glass.

A smile cracks automatically on Makoto's lips. "Thank you."

Makoto's hands hold onto the headphones covering his ears. As the music starts, he closes his eyes for a brief second before his mouth approaches the microphone hanging in front of him. Taking a breath, Makoto begins to sing.

The song begins with the refrain first before it starts the verse part. When Makoto almost reaches the verse, the record producer in front of him lifts his hand, asking him to stop.

He stops and releases the headphones from his ears.

"Just... terrible. We can't do this. This is Sunshine Season! But what I heard from you are all your mellows and you don't even put any strength and joyfulness in the music! For goodness' sake, you're simply terrible. If I am to listen to your soulless music, I will rather listen to that vocaloid thingy."

"Um..." Makoto really doesn't know how to respond, except by expressing his apology. "I'm so sorry."

"I don't need your 'sorry'. You're wasting my time and my money, Tachibana." The man let out a deep sigh, "I'm being kind to you. Forget about today. We'll try again next week, and that better be good, or our contract is done."

Makoto grimaces.

"O...okay." He walks out of the recording room. Gathering his stuffs, he does a polite bow before walking through the corridor. Halfway to the exit, someone is standing in front of him, his back facing the wall.

"Yo, Makoto." The man grins at him. His name is Mamoru. The name means 'protector'. He's a rock singer, and also Makoto's one and only friend in his career environment. He and Makoto are very close in age. Makoto is twenty-one years old, and Mamoru has just celebrated his twenty-second birthday. He has milk-brown eyes, blond hair (dyed, his natural hair was light brown) and almost as tall as Makoto.

"Mamoru." When he's near Mamoru, Makoto feels safer. True to his name, Mamoru is a type of guy who's protective of him, but there's no romantic attraction between them. Mamoru is like a big brother to him, although Makoto is just a bit taller.

"That's fast. Was it going well or bad?" His eyes look at Makoto in concern.

"Bad." Makoto forces a smile, "But I'm fine. I still have a chance to make up next week."

"Good luck. Are you going home?"

"Uh-huh." Makoto pulls out his cell phone, "I'm going to send an email to Haru. He's free in this hour, so I'm going to visit him." He navigates his phone to his email inbox and frowns. Haruka has already sent him an email. He opens the message.

'Makoto. I'm coming to your place. Don't go without me.'

It was sent twenty three minutes ago. Makoto quickly replies.

'Great timing. I'm done with my work today, Haru.'

"Haru is probably waiting for me outside, so I'll see you again next time, Mamoru." Makoto shows his amiable smile to the blonde. Mamoru chuckles before patting Makoto's head gently.

"See you next time, and don't forget to sing rock with me again. Your rock voice is gold. "

Makoto blushes, clearly flattered. "That's... an exaggeration." He nervously scratches his chin, but he doesn't hide his happiness at the words. "Thank you."

Just after Makoto makes his turn to the corridor, Mamoru's guitarist comes, and the two are engaged in conversations. Makoto stops walking, resting his back on the wall of the corridor, closing his eyes as he listens to their conversations.

"You're still hanging around with that guy?" The guitarist asks.

"Well, I have to." Mamoru counters, "I have no choice. That guy has more money than us. I can't believe that shit he's singing sells well." His voice is low, but Makoto can hear every single word.

"Tch. I don't care about money, although you used him quite well." The guitarist speaks again, "He seems attached to you."

"You're giving me goosebumps. Good thing he looks good. Damn. All he has is his appearance. People buy his music for his face, really."

A laugh. "You do know that Kisumi wants to fuck him, right? Perhaps you can persuade him to fuck with Kisumi. Who knows if he's some sort of a slut?"

Makoto can't take more than that. He quickly makes his way to the exit, footsteps light enough not to get heard or noticed. When he reaches the exit, Haruka isn't there like he's hoped. He waits for another fifteen minutes before his best friend arrives.

Haruka is wearing his casual clothes. His beautiful ocean blue eyes widen when he sees Makoto. Haruka knows there's something wrong with his best friend. Makoto doesn't cry, but he looks obviously hurt and sad.

"Makoto?"

"I'm okay." Makoto approaches Haruka, "Let's go."

Haruka stares at him. "Let's eat some chocolate cake, Makoto."

Warmth fluttering in his heart, Makoto flashes him a grateful smile. "I can't wait."

:-:

It's been five days since the last time Sousuke kept in touch with Makoto, which was also their first meeting under the rain. Sousuke knows he should ask for Makoto's number, but he was too prideful to do that. He wants to ask Rin, but he's 99% sure Rin will tease him, which is annoying.

Since their first meeting (in which Sousuke has been idiotic enough to ogle inappropriately rather than listening to the brunet), he has listened to more and more songs from Makoto's album he's borrowing from Rin without the redhead's knowledge. He has read more and more articles about Makoto he found in the internet, some of which he doesn't want to believe. After all, not all gossips or rumors spread in the internet are true. For Sousuke, most of them are bullshits.

Like, one rumor that says about Makoto having mental illness; sometimes throwing a fit, talking nonsense, burst out crying or laughing without reasons. Even with some provided articles, Sousuke refuses to believe that.

Sousuke is sitting in one of the offices in Samezuka Police Station, a cup of his favorite steamy black coffee sat on the saucer on his desk. He has nothing to do at the moment. Reading various articles about politics and murders on his newspaper are starting to get overwhelming for Sousuke.

"Sou...su...ke." Someone suddenly lurks behind him.

The teal-eyed man immediately turns around and throws his fist, which instantly connects to Rin's face.

"Fuck! For love's sake, Sousuke!" Rin is behind him, one hand over his pained nose and mouth.

"Rin." Sousuke's eyes widen in surprise. His fist falls to his side, "You startled me."

"You don't need to punch me in the face like that! We're in the station!" Rin gritted his teeth in frustration.

"You don't need to ambush me from behind like that." Sousuke argues, "Remember our physical training, dumbass. Our bodies are made to fight." He runs his hand over his knuckle.

Now that it happens, Sousuke remembers that he had wanted to punch Rin in the face for leaving him and Makoto alone five days ago, in front of the coffee shop, under the pouring rain. A small laugh escapes his lips. "Hmph. Just like what I've wanted to do."

"What?" Rin bares his teeth, his own hands clench to form knuckles.

The room is suddenly barged opened from the outside. A man with uniform comes in. A Corporal. "Officers. One of you is required to assist us in interrogation room."

Rin and Sousuke look at each other before they lift their fists, seemingly ready to punch each other.

The Corporal looks over them in confusion. "Officers—"

Sousuke's fist stops in front of Rin, his index and middle fingers stretch out like scissors.

Rin's fist stops in front of Sousuke, all his fingers stretch out like paper.

"I win." Sousuke's mouth hung open in disbelief, "I finally win."

Rin looks disappointed. "I will never forget that punch, Sousuke!" Rin straightens up as he approaches the Corporal. "I will go, Corporal."

The Corporal clenches his jaw. "This is not the time for playing jan-ken-pon, Officer Matsuoka. Next time you do this again, I will have this reported."

"The hell? Me and Sousuke have to do this—"

"Watch your mouth, Officer!"

Rin shuts up. Sousuke feels guilty. He will have to apologize to Rin soon. He just hopes Rin won't cry later. His best friend is a crybaby and Sousuke hates seeing Rin cry. After Rin has left, Sousuke wonders why Rin approached him in the first place. He can ask Rin about that later.

Ten minutes later with nothing to do, Sousuke makes his way to the locker room. He fetches his cell phone and checks for emails.

Instead of an email, a text message is there, from a number he doesn't recognize. Sousuke immediately opens the message.

'Yamazaki-kun? I'm Tachibana Makoto. Do you still remember me?'

"What the...?" Sousuke can't believe his eyes. Makoto is texting him. He doesn't remember about giving his number to Makoto. There's only one logical conclusion for this. Rin has given Sousuke's number to Makoto. Without so much thinking, he immediately types his reply.

'Yeah, I still remember. How do you get my number?'

Sousuke is going to spend his time quite long in this locker room.

'Rin gave me your number. I hope you don't mind?'

Figured. What he wants to know now is whether Rin was giving the number because Makoto asked for it.

'No, I don't.'

He has to keep his messages short and simple to appear nonchalant. A simple words of 'what's up?' don't even enter Sousuke's mind.

'Am I bothering you? Are you off-duty?'

'No.'

Sousuke hopes he has typed more than a simple 'no'. His answer creates ambiguity.

'I will assume that I'm not bothering you and you're not off-duty. Is it really okay? Using your phone like this in your working time? Putting that aside, remember my promise to you?'

Promise? What promise? Sousuke is trying hard to remember their conversations five days ago. He remembers those dark and long eyelashes, those soft lips, those beautiful green eyes, those attractive gestures. He remembers nothing about their conversation except for an odd question coming from Makoto about talking raindrops or whatever. Sousuke wants to bang his head to his locker.

After digging his brain, he remembers talking about Haru. Makoto had said that Haru is his best friend and he loves Haru so much. Then... what? Haru being a chef... that's it. Makoto has once promised to take Rin and Sousuke to a restaurant where Haru works.

'I remember. Your promise about taking me and Rin to a restaurant?'

'I'm happy you remember! I won't break my promise, so I want to invite you to Haru's restaurant tonight. I have emailed Rin about this. He said you guys are available. Rin knows the place. I will meet you guys there at 6 P.M.'

So that's what Rin was trying to tell him. Sousuke heaves a sigh. He reads the message once again, his heart excitedly pounding.

'Sure.' Sousuke replies. He can't wait for tonight.

:-:

Makoto is smiling a little too brightly over his phone. Plates of delicious-looking chocolate cakes and pastries are on the table in front of him. As Makoto puts his phone on the table, he grabs a fork and munches happily on his cake.

"Makoto." Haruka is watching him, "You eat... you eat too much." He knows Makoto always likes sweet foods, but today, his portion is overwhelming.

"No worries, Haru. These are all delicious." Makoto looks at Haruka's unfinished cake in front of him. "You don't want that? Here, give it to me." He takes Haruka's remaining cake next to his own.

"Makoto, you will gain weight." Haruka takes two plates of cakes. "I will return these."

"Haruuu, give them to me. I need more sugar." Makoto drops his fork and reaches for the plates, but Haruka stands up and walks away, returning the cakes on the table. When Haruka comes back, Makoto is pouting, mouth still munching on his cake.

"You will gain weight." Haruka repeats, his ocean blue eyes stared deep at his best friend.

"So be it. I will gain so much weight until I can't walk properly. I also want to shave my head, color my hair, pierce my ears and lips, wear ripped clothes, growl to the microphone." Makoto lifts his chin up, looking annoyed. Arms folded in front of his chest. Chocolate cream leaving stains at the tip of his lips.

Haruka is shivering at the thought of overweight Makoto growling at the microphone and dressing like punks. He closes his eyes. "Ugh... stop it."

When he opens his eyes again, Makoto is eating with accelerated speed. Haruka's heart jumps in alarm. "Makoto. You need to stop. I don't want you to get diagnosed with diabetes."

"So be it." Makoto swallows his cake nonchalantly, "I will just die sooner. The sooner the better."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Haruka stands up, taking another plates of cakes and pastries, intending to return them.

"Nonsense? Why are you calling that nonsense? If I get diagnosed with diabetes, I will die sooner. What's so wrong about that? You need to stop worrying, Haru. Death is a part of life, too. If I have to die today, so be it."

Haruka's eyes widen. This isn't the usual Makoto. It's like someone else has kidnapped and replaced his best friend. This Makoto is a stranger to him. "Makoto, what's wrong with you?"

Makoto stops eating and he puts his fork on the table. He looks down, silent.

"Makoto...?"

"I'm sorry, Haru. Forget I said anything." Makoto stands up, lifting some plates of cakes. His usual, amiable smile is visible on his lips. His head tilts to the side. "You're right. I'm eating too much. Let's return these."

Once they have returned the plates, there are only two plates left for Makoto to consume. The two of them are silent as Makoto eats his cake.

"What's going on today, Makoto?" Haruka's eyes are watching the cake. When Haruka came to pick Makoto up, something is definitely wrong. He thought that if Makoto doesn't want to talk about it, he won't push him.

Makoto shakes his head, facing his best friend with a warm smile. "It doesn't matter anymore, Haru, because you're here with me."

Those words mean so much for Haruka, but Haruka isn't going to drop it. At least, not for long. He will dig it up later, without Makoto's knowledge.

"You're going to work in the restaurant tonight, right, Haru?" Makoto suddenly asks, "I just invited Rin and his friend there tonight. Reserve a table for us, okay? I will introduce you to someone... um... quite special." There are very slight hints of blushes on Makoto's cheeks.

Haruka is staring blankly at him. For some reason, this doesn't feel like a good sign for him.

:-:

When Sousuke is doing his patrol, he notices someone is standing in front of a nice-looking house. The house isn't big, but it looks... homey. The house looks so welcoming to him, like Sousuke can go there and calls it home. Before he can describe more details about the house, he's aware of the person who's now suspiciously loitering around it.

It's nightfall already. He can't see the person's face clearly. When he's about to stop the person to frisk him or her, a familiar voice is heard.

"Oh, hi! What are you doing here?" It's Makoto's voice, but it's not addressed to Sousuke. He can see Makoto there, talking to the suspicious person. The person seems to be replying, but Sousuke strangely can't decipher the words, or even the voice.

"Come inside. I don't mind." Makoto smiles innocently at the person with all his friendliness. Sousuke doesn't like it. He wants to step in, but something is holding him in place. He feels like his body is paralyzed, unable to move a single inch.

Sousuke watches helplessly as they enter the house. When he's suddenly able to move, a scream is heard from the house.

Releasing a series of curses, Sousuke runs frantically to the front of the house, his hand ready on his gun holster. The door is locked from the inside. Sousuke slams his body as hard as he can, barging the door opened. When he's finally inside, the house is empty.

Then he hears sobbing, coming from a door at the far side of the house. Sousuke carefully sneaks along the way until he reaches the door. He has grabbed his gun when he stands in front of the door. The sobbing continues.

"H-help... Help me, Haru..."

Even though Makoto isn't calling him, Sousuke can't get more determined to kick the door open and kill the bastard who dares to make Makoto cry. Sousuke takes a step back and kicks the door with all his might. It slams opened and Sousuke runs inside, pointing his gun threateningly.

"Freeze!" He shouts.

He's in a bedroom. Makoto is struggling on the bed as the suspicious person pins him down, pushing both Makoto's wrists above his head, securing them with handcuffs. Makoto is already half-naked, fresh tears flowing out from his beautiful green eyes.

"Bastard! Let him go!" Sousuke is ready to pull the trigger, but his body froze when the suspicious person turns to look at him.

The same droopy teal eyes. The same dark hair. The same face.

Sousuke is looking at himself. He's wearing the exact same police officer uniform. That Sousuke is now smiling at him. "You're finally here." He said, "Come, myself. Isn't this what you've always wanted?"

"W-what are you...talking about?" Sousuke hasn't lowered his gun, but he's hesitating to pull the trigger now.

"Fuck him." The other Sousuke smirks, "You always want his body, right? I'm giving him to you—to us. Let's share."

"Y-Yamazaki-kun...?" Makoto is looking at him, eyes widen in fear.

Sousuke's heart breaks at the sight. He feels his fingers tremble. "T-Tachibana doesn't want this..."

"Seriously? We don't give a shit about him. We only want to satisfy our lust, right... Sousuke?" His other self rests his head on Makoto's exposed stomach.

"I'm... I..." Sousuke hardens his grip on his gun. When Sousuke sees droplets of tears trailing down from Makoto's eyes, he burns up with new determination. "Get off him." He orders, "Or I'm going to seriously kill you." Or kill himself.

"You're lying to yourself." His other self finally lifts his head up from Makoto, "There's no way you're going to love this mentally unstable freak."

Those words about Makoto offend him so bad that Sousuke is pulling the trigger.

:-:

"Sou—what the hell, man!? Wake up!"

"Bam..." Sousuke is mumbling, his consciousness hasn't fully come back. When Sousuke is finally awake, his lower hand is positioned up toward the ceiling, thumb and index finger pointed like a gun. His upper arm rests beside his torso.

"Sousuke—are you seriously asleep? And on my bed, too? Damn it!" It's Rin's voice, echoing in the room.

"Rin, you're noisy..." Sousuke grunts in annoyance. So that was a dream...?

"Noisy? Noisy? We have an appointment with Makoto, remember? I was stuck with some criminal cases that I came home late—I thought you're with Makoto so you can explain my situation but what the hell man? I came home and you're fuckin' sleeping!"

Rin's series of words slowly seep to his brain. After they are fully registered, Sousuke's teal eyes can't get more wide.

Shit.

He quickly sits up on Rin's bed and grabs his cell phone. There are some missed calls from Makoto's number and some text messages. The time shows him that it's already 8.54 P.M.

"Oh my goodness..." Sousuke nervously opens his text messages.

'Yamazaki-kun, I'm already here at the restaurant. Where are you? (6.12 P.M.)'

'Yamazaki-kun? Rin hasn't replied to my emails, too. Is something going on? (7.08 P.M.)'

'Um... It's okay. I'm still waiting. I hope you guys are doing okay. (8.17 P.M.)'

"Oh shit." Sousuke looks at both Rin and himself. They're still dressed in police officer uniforms. Rin pulls him out of his bed.

"Stop cursing and we'll go right now. "

:-:

When they arrive at the restaurant at 9.48 P.M., it's already free of customers. The restaurant looks like they're closing pretty soon. Sousuke thought that they won't find Makoto inside, but he's wrong. The brunet is sitting near the table by the window, his cheek rests on his palm, sleepy green eyes gazing outside, watching the starlit sky.

"Tachibana?"

At the sound of his name, Makoto looks up. His sleepy eyes are opened wider, and his lips form a friendly, happy smile. "Yamazaki-kun. Rin." He tilts his head, smiling so brightly, "I know you two will come."

He's like a puppy, Sousuke thought, a puppy who won't get angry even when he's abandoned for days or even months by his master. A puppy who will happily and innocently overjoy when his master comes home.

"Makoto. We're terribly sorry." Rin sits in front of him, leaving a space for Sousuke beside him. Sousuke follows after, looking extremely guilty.

"I'm sorry, Tachibana."

"It's okay! You're here now. Are you guys okay? I was worried about you." Makoto looks them over, brows furrow in concern and worry.

"I was stuck with some criminal cases. Sousuke fell asleep." Rin rubs his temple, "Forgive us, Makoto. Wait, I know you have already forgiven us. You're that nice."

"Huh? Me? I'm not..." Makoto blushes, but he smiles shyly anyway, enjoying Rin's little praise.

"Don't blame me if your foods are cold." A new voice is heard. Sousuke turns his head and finds a man dressing like a chef. His hair is really dark, but it still looks a little blue. What captivates Sousuke more are his eyes. Those ocean blue eyes are exceptionally beautiful, even though he still likes Makoto's green eyes much more.

When the man puts some plates of foods on their table, Makoto smiles so happily, like an enthusiastic puppy. "Yamazaki-kun, this is Haru-chan."

"Drop the '-chan'." The blue-eyed man responds with raised voice.

"Nanase Haruka." Makoto continues, "You may call him Haru—"

"Call me by my last name. We're acquainted just now." Haruka is glaring at Sousuke coldly, his ocean blue eyes suddenly turn icy.

What's with this man? Why is he looking at Sousuke like that?

"Haru, this is Yamazaki Sousuke." Makoto goes on, completely oblivious of the tension.

"Yamazaki." Haruka says his name slowly, "I will remember that."

Despite the warm, cheery, sunny atmosphere radiating from Makoto, Sousuke can still sense an icy cold aura and silent rejection emanating from Haruka.

With Makoto and Haruka, Sousuke has gotten himself involved in a really serious business.

Notes:

As you may have seen in this chapter, Makoto is dealing with some issues going on inside his train of thought, but it's not highlighted...yet. This fic will be focused more on Sousuke's POV, but Makoto's POV will have its own portion, too.

Writing in present tense is something new to me. I used to write in past tense, so this is the first fic I've ever written in present tense, and I'm going to keep it that way. Comments, suggestions, and reviews are very much appreciated. See you again on the next chapter!