You what?! You're fucking hopeless, Sousuke. Hopeless.

Sousuke wanted to throw his phone to the nearest wall when he finished reading Rin's text message. He can picture Rin inside his head, laughing his ass off as he read Sousuke's hastily composed message, obviously panicking at the current situation. Great, Rin, what a good friend.

Sure he had many awkward moments, but Sousuke would like to think that he had things under control most of the time, looking cool and unconcerned. Apparently not, especially when it comes to Makoto Tachibana. The last thing Sousuke was expecting to happen is to knock the brunet out, in the library, and in the most embarrassing way possible.

You're not helping. I'm fucking panicking here! He's not waking up.

Try giving him a kiss? Isn't that how princes wake their princesses up?

Rin, shut the fuck up and listen here. Tachibana's been out cold for ten minutes. Can you at least be as fucking concerned as me?

Moron. Makoto'll be fine. You said he didn't really hit his head, he must've just fainted from the shock.

So? What do I do now? Sousuke huffed as he sent the text. Sometimes he didn't know why he even bothers speaking to Rin. Or how he even became his best friend.

You're on your own, big boy.

"Fuck you, Rin!" Sousuke groaned. Rin and his ideas aren't helping. Fine, he wanted to pounce on Makoto the moment he saw the brunet in front of him, with Makoto brushing his slightly damp hair away from his flushed face, a very obvious flustered look on display. Sousuke knew he was the reason Makoto was nervous, and he was secretly taking delight from Makoto's obvious fidgety behavior. He'd like to think he's the only one who can make the Iwatobi team captain feel that way.

He did think it was an amazing idea when Rin told him he'll be meeting Makoto and that they'll be alone. Moments like this rarely happen and Sousuke didn't want to know how Rin knew that he's got the hots for Makoto, but he was glad for the chance. Rin didn't need to tell him twice why he's ditching (obviously with Nanase, to Sousuke's chagrin) and what they will do (he still thinks Rin is too good for Nanase), as long as he'll be with Makoto. It was going just fine, Sousuke was flirting and Makoto looked like he wasn't pissed off with him, but he didn't expect the brunet to topple over his seat and pass out from the shock. Maybe Rin was right, he does suck.

Sousuke had the presence of mind to make Makoto feel comfortable lying there, whipping his jacket off his body and bundling it up as a makeshift pillow and carefully putting it under Makoto's head.

"Tachibana. Hey. Wake up." Sousuke tried poking Makoto in the cheek, the action giving him unexpected warm fuzzies and making him feel so pathetic when he found himself smiling and actually enjoying touching a guy passed out before him. He wouldn't, in ordinary circumstances, think of poking a guy as big as him in the cheek, but it was Makoto, and Makoto had a weird effect on Sousuke which he actually find pleasant. Very, very pleasant.

Next, he grabbed Makoto by the shoulder and tried to shake him awake gently, the action somewhat successful when he heard Makoto groan softly, but still the brunet didn't open his eyes. He tried running his hands on the sides of Makoto's body in hopes of tickling him awake, and Sousuke immediately stopped when he heard Makoto making a sound close to a low, sexy moan, which instantly made Sousuke feel hot. Not a good idea, considering where they were.

And with another audible sigh, Sousuke reconsidered Rin's ridiculous suggestion. It wouldn't hurt to try, right?

Sousuke couldn't help it, his hands automatically went up to trace the contours of Makoto's face, his strong nose, those dusty eyelashes, because damn him he's been wanting to do it ever since he first laid his eyes on the gentle, fragile, shy looking backstroke swimmer. Makoto was gorgeous, and he just didn't know how glad Sousuke was to find someone near his size, and it was someone with gorgeous green eyes in the form of the Iwatobi captain.

Leaning down, Sousuke ran his fingers on the sides of Makoto's mouth, gently tracing them. They're a lovely shade of pink and awfully soft to the touch, and the urge to kiss Makoto was so strong that Sousuke didn't need to convince himself further, swooping in and capturing Makoto's lips with his own.

Maybe it was his conscience (Rin popped up in his head, laughing his ass off while calling him a pervert, clearly taking advantage of the situation, but he could care less) but Sousuke's brain reasoned, at the very last minute, that he'd rather kiss a wide awake Makoto senseless than shove his tongue inside an unconscious Tachibana's mouth, so the kiss was brief and chaste, like a soft peck.

"Tachibana..." Sousuke breathed Makoto's name over and over as he placed a series of light, testing kisses on his slightly parted lips, which was mostly just Sousuke pressing his lips on Makoto's which was DAMN SOFT, it had to be repeated, softer than he had imagined them to be. They were wonderful and Sousuke was reveling to the feeling. But Sousuke wanted more, he wanted to taste more of these lips, of Makoto, to savor him, and with half a mind paying attention to their surroundings, Sousuke moved his lips and angled his head as he kissed Tachibana Makoto as gently as he could, his tongue dangerously tracing Makoto's lips.

He barely held a gasp as he felt Makoto's lips move beneath his.

"Y-yamazaki-kun?" Makoto's eyelids fluttered before they opened fully, with Sousuke sitting on his ass with a thud, like he was caught doing something bad (which technically was true), but he was able to compose his features before Makoto sat up, slowly at first, and Sousuke, seeing Makoto struggling, crawled to where Tachibana was.

"You okay?" Sousuke touched the back of Makoto's head as gently as he could, with Sousuke frantically starting to search for any injuries or a bump in the head, shoving memories of the kiss at the back of his mind.

Well I'll be damned. Rin, you fucker, it worked. Sousuke grudgingly thought as Makoto slowly regained consciousness.

"Yeah. Sorry, Yamazaki-kun. I was a bit careless there." Makoto tried smiling, but then Sousuke's other hand touched his elbow and Makoto visibly winced.

"Stop apologizing, it was clearly my fault." Sousuke huffed, his other hand now busy rubbing the area near Makoto's sore elbow. "I think the clinic at Samezuka's still open. Let's get your head checked. Your elbow too."

"But-"

"No buts, Tachibana. You gotta take care of yourself too." Sousuke huffed, trying to sound a little less pissed off because in the few times they've met, Makoto always tend to be like this, keeping everything in and not wanting to be a burden to anybody even when he clearly needs help. Sousuke will have none of that attitude when Makoto's with him.

Mercifully, the rain stopped and no one spotted both swimmers as Sousuke deposited Makoto in front of the school doctor, who was looking at Sousuke weirdly but didn't say anything as she examined Makoto's head.

"Are you sure, sensei?" Sousuke asked, and the sensei had the audacity to laugh at him. Sousuke scowled.

"I told you he's fine, Yamazaki-kun. Just a little shaken up but Tachibana-kun didn't bump his head. As for his elbow." The doctor pointed at Makoto's neatly bandaged arm. "Rest that for a day. No strenuous activity." Whatever does that mean?

"Can you manage to write?" Sousuke was done listening to the doctor, who just huffed before she left the keys to the clinic and asked both of them to lock up. Makoto thanked her and Sousuke grunted as a form of thanks.

"I'm okay, Yamazaki-kun." Makoto smiled, and Sousuke thought the world got a little brighter. "We both need to study anyway, and I think I can hold a pen and write, so there really is no need to worry."

"It's fine if we cancel this group study." Sousuke said, feeling a little guilty.

"N-no." Did Makoto really said no? Sousuke raised an eyebrow, his teal eyes meeting emerald ones and Makoto cleared his throat. "If... if you don't mind, I still would like to solve for that x earlier."

Sousuke couldn't help it, he laughed. It was so like Makoto, doing a favor and seeing it to the end no matter what happened. And hearing Makoto's gentle laughter following after distracted Sousuke so much, the way his cheeks had this lovely tinge of red that makes him way more cuter than necessary, the way his eyes crinkle as the laughter died down to a smile exchanged between them.

He was so distracted by Makoto Tachibana that the next words that were out of Sousuke's mouth were both a blessing and a curse.

"The library's closing early today, so if you want to study, you should just come to my room." Sousuke's eyes widened at the way he phrased that. "I mean, Rin's and my room. There'll be less distraction that way."

"Alright." Makoto rubbed his bandaged elbow before he started looking for his things. "And if it's okay with you, maybe you can help me with English too." And again, with that gorgeous smile that was starting to make Sousuke feel weak in the knees.

There are three things wrong with what Sousuke said. One, who was Sousuke kidding? If anything else, there will be MORE distractions while they're there, mostly Sousuke's thoughts and Makoto's presence, yeah, and a whole lot of other things. Rin can walk in on them anytime and bring that blasted Nanase, or Momo can pester them. Two, him and Makoto ALONE in his dorm room spells DISASTER because Sousuke is a healthy teenage boy, and the object of his affection being in close proximity is very dangerous. He was around 110% sure he will jump Makoto for real if he flashed another one of his killer smiles. And three, Sousuke wasn't interested in teaching Makoto anything else, other than things that'll make the Iwatobi captain blush, squirm and moan.

Wrong, wrong move Sousuke. So wrong.

"Yamazaki-kun?" Makoto's voice pierced through Sousuke's messy thoughts and the impact of those wide, innocent green eyes looking at him expectantly made Sousuke feel hotter. He cleared his throat as he nodded, not trusting his own voice, and they locked the clinic up.

Sousuke was lost in his own thoughts once more before he turned around and noticed Makoto wasn't with him. Sighing loudly, hand rubbing the back of his neck, Sousuke rounded back to the corner after the clinic and found Makoto standing there, looking at the two hallways branching in front of him. The way his eyebrows were drawn together looked like he was trying hard to think and pick which hallway to take and it looked so cute Sousuke found himself grinning, watching Makoto for a few more seconds. Sousuke took off down the hall behind Makoto after they got out of the clinic, and now he was staring at the Iwatobi swimmer's impressive back, unconsciously reaching out and grasping Makoto's hand, tugging on it until Makoto turned to look at him.

"Where are you going, Tachibana? It's this way." Sousuke said as they made their way towards the Samezuka dorms, praying they wouldn't run into Nitori or worse, Momo, in the process.

Sousuke whipped out his phone, texting Rin and telling him to stay the hell away from their dorm room for a bit because he and Makoto will be studying there (Rin immediately replied with an emoticon of a sneering face and Sousuke texted back with a few choice curse words). He didn't notice how Makoto looked down and stared at their joined hands. He didn't even notice how Makoto laced his fingers on his.

All that Sousuke knows is that it's going to be a long day, one way or another.