Author's Note: I finally finished this chapter after (almost) a year! Sorry it took so long but it took me this much time to adjust to adulthood and a new job and just... life. *sigh* Anyway, I know it's been a while since the Free! fever died down, but I do hope there are still some fans out there who, like me, are always on the lookout for SeiGou fics. Lmao.

Warning(s): Slight OOC Haru. And out-of-the-blue kissing.

Gou's Dilemma

Chapter Two

By Z's Athena

The day of the joint training finally arrived and Gou was a nervous wreck. Other than a vague "Leave everything to us!", Gou had no clue on what to expect from their proffered assistance.

Right on time, the Samezuka swim team piled in donning their signature jackets while carrying matching duffel bags. The sheer number of them would have made them seem intimidating had it not been for their cheerful banter and excited faces. Rounding up the herd were three familiar faces, one of which caused Gou to blush tenfold.

A reassuring pat on her shoulder from Makoto was just what she needed to bring her back down to earth and he gestured over to where Seijuurou stood looking around for something—or rather, someone. With a deep breath, Gou followed Makoto to greet the other team's captain, as well as her dear brother.

As soon as pleasantries were exchanged, however, Makoto immediately herded Rin away, making sure to be inconspicuous as he did so. Fortunately, the older Matsuoka followed along without suspecting a thing; unfortunately, the same could be said for his younger sister.

Unbeknownst to Gou, the Iwatobi team's plan to give her an opening to talk to Seijuurou had commenced at that point but so engrossed was she in going over the activities of the day with the captain that before she could even think about confessing, Rin was calling out to Seijuurou to talk about something.

"I'll talk to you more later," Seijuurou promised with a grin that was obviously flirtatious to everyone but Gou. When he was out of earshot, Rei began reprimanding Gou for letting their effort to distract Rin go to waste though she argued that she was not even aware that such an opportunity had arisen—she was the team's manager, after all, and she had her duties, too.

Unable to argue with her logic, Rei merely went back to training while hoping that the others' plans would work. Needless to say, their first attempt at getting Gou to talk to Seijuurou was a failure.

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For their second try, Makoto took the lead and asked Gou to retrieve something from the storeroom. And since Seijuurou was conveniently standing right next to her (in reality, he was being a dork and was trying to get close to her as much as he could), the Iwatobi captain requested that he accompany her since the item might be too heavy for her to carry.

This time, Gou was aware that a plan was underway. From the corner of her eye, she spotted the Iwatobi team distracting Rin as she and Seijuurou started making their way to the storeroom.

Silence plagued their journey as the two were filled with nervousness, more so with Gou as she played out how she planned on confessing in her head.

When they finally reached their destination, however, and before Gou could even open her mouth to initiate a conversation, Seijuurou went about looking under every nook and cranny in a very robotic manner, not realizing he didn't even know what he was looking for.

Flushing with embarrassment at how he wouldn't even look her in the eye and suddenly having lost all the courage she had been building up, Gou merely gave a sigh of defeat and dejectedly told him that whatever item they were looking for wasn't there and went back to the pool area with her head and spirits down, much to the Iwatobi boys' chagrin.

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"So, what's your next plan?" Gou asked Nagisa dubiously. She eventually realized that the four boys were taking turns initiating their own plans and doubted whether anyone else's would work after the previous attempt which happened to be Makoto's idea; she figured that if Makoto couldn't do it, no one else probably could.

Not that she was giving up. She was just… concerned for her well-being since it was Nagisa's turn now.

All of a sudden, Nagisa started laughing really loudly and proceeded to slap her arm, too.

"Ouch! What're you doing?! That hurts!"

"Oh, Gou-chan, you're so funny! Ha! Ha! Ha!" Then, as he saw the perfect timing, Nagisa pushed Gou backwards into the muscular arms of the Mikoshiba who just happened to be standing right behind her.

Thankfully, he caught her before she could topple backwards but when she looked up and saw how close his face was to hers, she got flustered and, unfortunately, passed out.

Rin ran right over to help her out and she soon regained consciousness but by this time, the moment was already gone and she couldn't muster up the courage to say anything other than a meek 'thank you' to her concerned savior.

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This time was Haru's turn and Gou was really curious as to what he had in store— that is, if he had planned for anything at all.

Gou was standing over by the pool in deep contemplation, preoccupied by speculations of what would happen next that she failed to notice said male sidling over next to her and, without warning, promptly pushing her into the deep end of the swimming pool.

Naturally, because she couldn't swim, Gou started flailing as she fought to stay afloat and not a second later, just as Haru expected, a red-and-tan blur sped over to where he was and dove right into the pool without any hesitation.

Rin, who had seen the entire exchange from a few feet away, stomped over to Haru and angrily shoved him back.

"What the hell, Haru?! What the fuck was that for?"

With the emotionless face Haru had mastered over the years, he innocently replied, "The water just wanted to help out."

"What the hell is that supposed to even mean?"

Just then, Makoto stepped in to placate an angry Rin and prevent him from being violent with his friend—who had pushed his sister who couldn't swim into the pool for some wildly unknown reason—but his friend nonetheless. "I'm sure Haru didn't mean it. Right, Haru?"

Whispering so only the dark-haired male could hear, Makoto continued, "Haru, I don't know how that was supposed to help Gou out in confessing to Mikoshiba-buchou, but next time, let's avoid pushing people who can't swim into the pool, okay?"

Haru turned away, pouting like a kid that got caught stealing cookies. "...The water just wanted to help out."

Meanwhile, Sei managed to haul Gou out of the pool with the help of his other teammates and covered her up with his jacket before rubbing soothing circles on her back. Rin then came in and helped her up to take her to the locker room where she could change back into her uniform. Gou, unable to do much else, looked back at him with what she hoped was a grateful smile before she let Rin take her away.

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Because it was nearing the end of practice when it happened, training ultimately ended without any more accidents. Rin eventually left Gou to herself after she assured him multiple times that she was fine but Seijuurou opted to stay back to check up on her. When Gou finally exited the locker room, she found him casually leaning against the wall while waiting for her. Nervously, she walked over to him, his jacket draped across her forearm, while he stepped forward to meet her halfway.

"Gou-kun! Are you alright now?" His voice was so full of worry that Gou couldn't help feeling touched and giddy that such concern was directed towards her.

"Yes, I am. Thank you for saving me, Mikoshiba-buchou."

"Of course! Anything for you, Gou-kun!"

"Please don't use 'Gou' and 'kun' together," she spouted before she could stop herself.

This caused his enthusiastic grin to falter slightly and an apology was at the tip of his tongue but when he saw the blush staining her cheeks and heard the awkward laughter that came from her, he merely chuckled and promised to remember that next time.

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Meanwhile, a few meters away, the four Iwatobi boys were eavesdropping on their conversation and eagerly watching the scene playing out in front of them. Makoto, although guilty about invading their privacy, looked on keenly; Rei was filled with feels about the beauty of confessing one's love; Nagisa was practically vibrating from trying to hold himself back from disrupting their peace; and Haru, not really caring one bit about the two redheads, simply gazed longingly at the water which he found to be much more interesting.

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Around the corner, the two lovebirds stood there in awkward silence and Gou, looking for a topic to break the ice, remembered the jacket she still held on to. "Ah, I'll wash your jacket before returning it to you! I can get nii-chan to pass it along. Thanks for lending it to me."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're alright."

It's now or never, she thought to herself. "Um... actually, Mikoshiba-buchou, I have something to say to you."

"Oh? What is it, Gou-kun?" He tilted his head to one side and she briefly thought how he couldn't look more adorable.

With firm resolve, she took a deep breath and then, "The truth is, I... I like you!"

It took a few seconds for her words to process; Seijuurou was stunned speechless at this revelation. He didn't know what to say so he merely stared at her. However, his lack of response prompted Gou to think of it as a rejection.

Hastily, she tried to remedy the situation. "I-I'm sorry. I know this is sudden. You probably don't think of me that way. You can just forget about it—"

But Sei cut her off before she could say anything more and pulled her in for a kiss. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up so he didn't have to stoop so low, and it didn't take long before she rested hands against his broad chest and kissed him back.

In the background, the Iwatobi boys blushed at the scene that was playing out before them. They didn't think that they'd go that far, but Gou wrapped her arms around Seijuurou's neck to deepen the kiss and somehow, they couldn't tear their eyes away.

"Oi. What are you guys looking at?" came an eerily familiar voice from behind them.

Four—well, three, actually—heads whipped around and gaped at the looming form of their other friend. "Rin-chan!" came Nagisa's nervous acknowledgment of his presence.

"R-Rin! What are you doing here? I thought you already headed back!" Makoto stuttering on top of Nagisa acting suspicious only fueled his curiosity of what it was they were up to.

"I was waiting for Gou. Have you guys seen—" he replied at the same time he peered around to corner and saw, before anyone could cover his eyes, his sister engaged in passionate lip-lock with his swim team captain.

"WHAT THE— Buchou! What the hell are you doing to my sister?"

"M-Matsuoka!" / "Nii-chan!" the two exclaimed simultaneously as they separated with wide eyes directed toward the livid redhead.

Rin then stormed over and yanked Gou away from Seijuurou, but before they could get too far, the latter yelled happily at them, waving giddily.

"Gou-kun! I like you, too! Will you go out with me?"

"Shut up! Stay away from my sister, you pervert!"

"O-okay! I'll call you later!"

"Like hell you are! I'm telling mom!" Rin threatened, then turned towards his friends and yelled to them, "Traitors! All of you!" before proceeding to stomp further away with a blushing Gou in tow.

Not minding the angry outburst from Rin, Seijuurou continued waving absentmindedly with sparkles in the background before turning to leave as well in the same state but with an added spring in his step, too dazed to notice the Iwatobi boys as he passed them by.

As they watched the happy Samezuka captain walk away, Rei exhaled a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad it went well for Kou-san."

"We should totally do this again! Gou-chan might need our help when she goes on dates with the buchou!" Nagisa quipped excitedly, forgetting how close he was to death a few moments earlier care of Rin.

Makoto, however, had not forgotten yet and was quick to put a stop to any more unneeded shenanigans. "Let's wait for Kou-chan to approach us before we decide on anything, okay? For now, let's just head home."

"Okaaaay!" Nagisa accepted the suggestion (for now) and that was all Makoto could hope for.

He then turned to Haru and noticed the small smile on his friend's face. "Haru-chan, you look happy."

"It was all thanks to the water," he quietly replied.

Makoto blinked owlishly at his friend but conceded to his statement. "Yes, I suppose it was." He chuckled before adding, "But remember what I told you, okay? Next time, try not to drown anybody."

Haru pouted but didn't refuse, and once again, that was all Makoto could hope for.

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That evening at the Matsuoka household, Gou started replaying the day's events in her head up to when her over-protective brother agreed, albeit reluctantly and with a threat to maim Seijuurou should he so much as make her cry, to her dating him when an idea hit her. She wouldn't have had the guts and the opportunity to confess if it hadn't been for the Iwatobi boys; she thought that perhaps she ought to return the favor—

Her train of thought was abruptly disrupted by the buzzing of her cellphone. Getting up to check on it, she wasn't surprised to see that it was Nagisa with a childish message intended to tease her for what had transpired earlier that afternoon.

—and she knew just whom to start with.