a/n: part 3! it’ll be 4 parts but once uploaded to ao3 it’ll be in just three chapters.
Sousuke splashed water in his face, grabbing his towel and wiping off the excess water. He blinked as he stared in the mirror. He couldn’t believe that this was even happening. Going to the Amusement park with Makoto…he had honestly planned on giving the tickets away to someone else but the perfect opportunity had presented to himself. Soon enough, his phone vibrated to assure him that today was, in fact, a reality.
Makoto: Good Morning! Are you still picking me up?
Sousuke: Yes. I’ll be there in about an hour.
Makoto: okay, no rush! : )
Sousuke placed his phone back in his pocket and smiled a bit. Makoto was always so energetic in his texts and it reflected his personality. He would never be caught sending anything less than a small emoticon, but even those were rare.
He walked back to his room and stood in front of his drawers. Placing his hand on chin, he thought of what he should wear. He hadn’t really gone out in a while….just what was appropriate for a date to the amusement park.
Ten minutes later, he opened his drawers and settled on a grey long sleeve shirt, jeans, and his black leather jacket. He rolled up the bottoms of his jeans and put on his black tennis shoes. Once he finished, he took another look in the mirror. He smiled to himself. For not going out in a while, he didn’t seem too shabby.
Although, he had to remind himself that it wasn’t a date. He didn’t need to look good for Makoto but he also didn’t want to be the one who showed up looking a like a bum. Did he need cologne? No, that was way too much. He had taken a shower the night before.
Before he left, he made sure that he had the tickets and his wallet. He messaged Makoto that he was on his way and headed out the door.
Makoto brushed his teeth after he messaged Sousuke. Surprisingly, his excitement managed to quell his nerves a bit. Not only was it going to be his first time going to an amusement park in a while, but it was also going to be the first time he was going with Sousuke. Actually, they never really did much other than dinner before Makoto went off to college so this change of pace was new to him.
Once he washed up, he went and changed into his clothes. Putting on a plaid, red sleeve shirt, which he rolled up to his elbow. For pants, he just wore blue jeans with tennis shoes. He flopped down on his bed and looked at his phone, smiling when Sousuke said that he was on his way. As he switched his phone off, he brought to his mouth, a smile still on his face. Of course, he was aware it wasn’t a date but he felt special that the two of them were going together.
He heard a meow and then seconds later a cat jumped on his bed. Somehow, the twins had managed to get his parents to budge to buy a cat. It was a white with orange cats but they named it Kuro. He had no idea why. However, she was sweet and it was to please her. Makoto sat up and she climbed in his lap. The time flew by as he played with her and had the tv as background noise. Before he knew it, there was a knock on his door.
“A-ah, coming!”,He gently placed the cat back on his bed and made sure he had all of his stuff.
He ran to the door and opened it with a smile,”Hey Sousuke.”
“Hey Makoto, you ready?”, Sousuke said with a smile.
That smile of his always made Makoto’s heart skip a beat. He felt like it only belonged him because Sousuke rarely smiled for anyone. It could just be because they were closer than most though, he shouldn’t take it as anything more than that. This was just two friends going on a trip.
“Yea I am, thanks for picking me up,”he said as he walked out and shut the door.
Sousuke shook his head,”no problem, your house isn’t too far from fine.”
In order to get to the place, they had to take the train for about 45 minutes. Since it was a saturday, they were forced to stand, holding the handles. They were both standing next to each other but at least the train wasn’t too full. It also wasn’t much compared to their training.
Sousuke tried his best attempt at a conversation to try and make the time go faster. “How has your time back been so far?”, that seemed like a reasonable question to ask. He looked as Makoto responded,”its been great, the twins got a cat while I was a gone, im still unsure how they bribed my parents. Thats not even the best part, the cat is white and orange but they named it Kuro.”, he finished off with a chuckle.
Sousuke raised one eyebrow,”Kuro? That’s pretty odd…maybe they just liked the name. But at least you’re enjoying your time, I hope I didn’t take time from hanging out with your family.”
Makoto shook his head in disagreement,”the twins had some club and my parents had work today, I would have been left alone at the house, so thank you for this. Nagisa and the rest want to wait till I come back with Haru to do something like a dinner.”
Sousuke bounced off of that,”im sure they were excited to see you though and were glad you’re here. I am too. Glad you come back.” Sousuke caught himself nearing dangerous territory and he was glad he could stare at the window, rather than facing the embarrassment of his statement while looking into Makoto’s eyes.
Makoto wasn’t prepared for that at all and a slight blush crept on his face,”I’m glad I could see you too. Rather than through just the phone. I’m still getting used to being away from home. Its nice to see familiar faces.” One of those familiar faces being Sousuke. He looked down, the conversation staying silent, but the air wasn’t awkward. Makoto felt nice being close to Sousuke and his presence soothed him.
Suddenly, the train made quite an abrupt stop, causing Makoto to lose his balance because he was spacing out. However, Sousuke had wrapped one hand around his waist to support him,”are you okay?”, he asked. Makoto sprung back up quickly, a smile on his face,”a-ah yeah, I spaced out” Sousuke just looked at him then responded,”be more careful.”
Makoto’s hand tightened on the handle as he looked down. He wish he could place his hand on his beating heart to get it to calm down but that would be way too obvious. The touch of his hand around his waist did more than what Makoto seemed it would do….was he falling too hard for the man?
Sousuke was thinking the same thing. After Makoto moved away from him, there was a part in his heart that regretted it. A part of his heart that wished he could hold onto Makoto longer. He also didn’t think that he had fallen that hard for the other man but the heart never lies.
Eventually, they arrived at their destination. Makoto had attempted more small talk, asking about how Sousuke was, before Sousuke reprimanded him,”I said there’s no worrying today and im fine, so dont think about things like that.” It wasn’t helpful at in trying keep Makoto from falling even more. People had worried about him, of course, but never in the way Sousuke had.
Makoto was so used to being the protector that being the protected was a weird, yet very comforting feeling. It made his heart warm that there was a person out there that they worried so much about how he was. His friends worried, of course. However, Makoto was very good at hiding his feelings. It was only Haru that could usually tell something was up but he didn’t try to do that too much. Haru had other things to worry about, especially with Ikuya.
Makoto was snapped out of his thoughts walking out of the train. Sousuke had hit him on the head,”oi, did you listen to what I say?” Makoto looked at him in surprise,”ah-um I-”, he stopped speaking as Sousuke placed a finger on his forehead,”each time it seems like you’re thinking about something troubling I’ll do that, got it?” Makoto could only nod his head in response.
Sousuke knew Makoto was probably worrying about that Ikuya situation too much and it kind of frustrated him. The only thing Makoto should be thinking about was the park and him, anything that wasn’t sad or would make him worry again. This was why he hit him. Once Makoto agreed to his statement,Sousuke smiled as he pulled away,”now come on, these rides will make you forget about all of that.”
“Hmmm, what ride do you want try to first,”Sousuke said as he looked down at the map unfolded in front of him. Makoto looked and answered,”I feel like we shouldn’t just start off with a rollercoaster, maybe something lighter, like the teacups.” “Makoto I dont know what your memory of teacups were but all I remember is endless smooshing.”, Sousuke said, which led Makoto to chuckle.
“I was always the tallest so I was the one doing the smooshing, ah then maybe the pirate’s ship?”, he suggested. Sousuke smiled,”of course you were and yea lets go.”
The pair walked and talked, Sousuke starting it off,”I really haven’t been here in a while. I didn’t have much time when my swimming took off.”
“Ah same here, maybe more because of the twins, but swimming became our main focus.I always loved it though.”, Makoto said, his eyes scanning the tons of smiles and laughter around him. It was a nice change of atmosphere.
The place wasn’t that far but they were interrupted before they could continue by one of the staff that worked there, a camera in his hand,”feel free to get your picture taken, if you feel like you want at the end of the day you just need a ticket!” They decided there was no harm in just taking and agreed.
The photographer was about to take it but put her camera down,”oh get closer closer, you two must at least be friends, black hair place your hand around his shoulder.”
Sousuke gulped but did just that. This was…already alot of physical contact he didn’t expect to have with Makoto that day.
“1..2..3..smile!~”
Sousuke managed to smile and Makoto did as well, putting a peace sign in the air. The lady gave them their ticket, thanking them, and then moved onto her next victims.
“That was unexpected”, Sousuke said. Makoto smiled,”it was but maybe we do need a photo. I’d like to remember this day.” Sousuke’s heart skipped a beat at the simple words that came out of Makoto’s mouth. He really shouldn’t be this but, oh God, he was.
soumako central 