Day three: protector

When Rin had transferred to Haruka and Makoto's school when they were kids, he suggested when they became friends that they should go to the beach. Makoto was quick to decline, leaving the classroom quickly.

"Is...he okay?" Rin asked, glancing over at Haruka, chopsticks still in his mouth and surprised at Makoto actually leaving the room. "Did I say something wrong?"

The dark haired boy sighed and motioned for Rin to get closer.

"Makoto's...afraid of the ocean." And Rin got his briefing before Makoto returned, the two acting like nothing happened or had been discussed.

All through the rest of the class, Rin would occasionally glance at Makoto, now knowing his deepest fear and felt incredibly terrible that he suggested the beach trip in the first place. He got caught staring at him twice, making both boys blush and made Haruka glare at Rin. After class, Rin and Haruka were stuck with cleaning duty, and Makoto happily agreed to wait for them to finish so that they could go to swim practice together.

"I'm going to use the restroom, be right back!" Makoto excused himself, leaving his two friends to continue their work.

"Should I apologize to Mako?" Rin brought up after a moment, cleaning the chalkboard erasers.

"You could? He might be upset that I told you, but I think he would be happy if you say you're sorry and it was just a misunderstanding."

Rin nodded, setting down the erasers. Soon enough he and Haruka were finally done, and when Haruka opened the door they expected to see Makoto's smiling face, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Maybe he's still in the bathroom...?" Rin questioned, and Haruka nodded. Walking down the long hall they finally reached their destination, and the sound of all-too familiar sobs and other voices reached their ears, making the boys run in immediately.

Inside they saw two of their classmates standing and laughing, empty bottles of water in their hands. And then there was Makoto, hair and clothes drenched and sitting in a corner, hands covering his face and crying.

"Hey!" Haruka shouted, pushing the kids aside to get to Makoto. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Mako's afraid of water, how dumb is that?" one of them laughed. "You should've seen him, the second we threw some on him he immediately started crying! What a baby! We didn't even know until we heard Haru here say something about it to you, Rin!"

"How would you like it if someone did that to you, jerks!" Rin yelled and shoved them away. "Now go on, get out of here!"

"Hey, Matsuoka, what-" the other was silenced as Rin's little fist collided with his face, making him cry out and stumble away with his other friend.

Rin watched as they dissapeared out of the bathroom (and then most likely down the hall to tell the principal), and turned his attention back to Haruka holding a still-crying, wet Makoto.

"You...you told?" Makoto mumbled, looking up at Haruka with watery green eyes.

"I'm sorry, but Rin was worried with how you reacted with the whole beach thing..." Haruka sighed. "So I told him."

"I should be the one who's sorry," Rin kneeled down by Makoto. "I didn't know and I feel awful about bringing it up and now you're going to have jerks teasing you about it for awhile."

"It's...okay," Makoto rubbed at his eyes, and looked at Rin and gave a small smile. "Maybe they know now not to mess with me because you're my friends."

A big grin appeared on Rin's face and he huged Makoto, not caring that he was getting wet as well. How much water did they throw on him, anyways? "Thank you, Makoto."

"Come on, we're going to be late for practice." Haruka said, slightly irritated because everyone had gone home by now.

"Mako, I think this would look good on you," Rin said, holding up a navy blue shirt.

"Yeah?" Makoto looked at it, and smiled, taking it from Rin. "I'll go try it on then."

"Maybe you should quit swimming and get in the fashion industry instead," said Haruka, looking through piles of jeans.

"Yeah, maybe. But then I'd be surrounded by attractive models all day and it'd make Haru and Mako allll jealous," Rin teased and yelped when Haruka pinched him. "Ow! See?"

"Idiot...hey, Rin?"

"What, mackerel boy?"

"Shut up! Look across the street, isn't that the kid you punched in grade school, one of the ones that made Makoto cry?"

Rin looked to where Haruka was pointing, and sure enough, it was the same kid. "Yeah...sure looks like him, all right. He had a mole on his chin in that exact spot. Plus I'd recognize his stupid-ass face from anywhere."

"How do I look?" Makoto came back, wearing the shirt Rin had picked out and his expression changed when he saw his two lovers staring out the window, with an irritated look on Rin's face and his eyes narrowed. "Hey...what are you two looking at?"

"N-nothing," Rin mumbled, unclenching his jaw, looking away from the windows and then up at Makoto. "You look good, really good."

Makoto frowned, knowing something was wrong. "Is there something-"

"Everything's okay," Haruka chirped in, discreetly kicking Rin. "I think I'm all ready, so I'll go pay for my things." The dark haired boy walked away towards the registers, leaving just Rin and Makoto.

"Come on, let's get you outta that shirt so we can go and get some ice cream," Rin smiled and winked, trying to assure that he was fine to Makoto even though the only thing on his mind was to try not to run across the street to confront a certain person.

"...alright, Rin." Makoto returned a smile. Rin following him to the changing rooms, payed for their things and met with Haruka who was standing by the door, bags in hand.

The trio went down the street to the small and popular ice cream shop, Rin insisting he would pay but Makoto said that he didn't have to. With a quick kiss and not being able to keep his hands to himself in public, Rin told a flustered Makoto that he would be the one to pay and the tallest nodded, a heavy blush on his cheeks.

When they had gotten home and settled in, Makoto reading in bed, Haruka fresh out of the bath and Rin resting his head on Makoto's thigh, he sighed to break the unbearable silence.

"You...remember when we were kids? And those two assholes threw water on you and made you cry?"

Makoto set his book down, running his fingers through red hair. "Yeah, and you punched one, got suspended for a day, and no one bothered me ever since about it...why do you bring this up?"

"Haru and I...kinda saw the one that I punched when you were trying on clothes."

The tallest was quiet, before letting out a sigh and a soft laugh. "You didn't punch him again, did you?"

Both Rin and Haruka weren't expecting Makoto to respond that way.

"Y-you're not mad?"

"No, not really..." Makoto shrugged. "It happened years ago, and-"

"They made you upset." Haruka put in.

"Yes, but at least it was just for that one time. It's okay," he pulled his lovers close to him, a slight smile on his face along with a growing blush. "And I'm, ah, kinda flattered you two are still really overprotective of me."

"That's because we love the hell outta you," Rin answered, kissing his jaw. "And you're one big softie and need the both of us to protect you and shower you with love and affection."

"And the stray cats outside." Haruka added.

Makoto's smile grew even bigger, kissing Haruka then Rin.

"Thank you, both. I love you."

Author's note: wasn't exactly sure when exactly Rin found out about Makoto's ocean fear, but...eh.

ALSO, warning y'all now, next chapter is for most certainly, definitely M-rated. And since I changed things, like usual, it miiiiight take awhile to re-write and make it so it isn't completely awful. I'm trying, though!