This is one of the many small ficlets for my alternate universe: Dorks in the Future! Verse.

A brief summary: In the future, Haruka and Rin go pro, each swimming for their respective countries: Haru for Japan; Rin, Australia. Makoto is an elementary school teacher, part time swim coach, and the camera shy boyfriend of Nanase Haruka. Sousuke becomes Rin's new swim coach and manager; only when he has time is he the affectionate boyfriend of one Matsuoka Rin.
These ficlets cover any time between their high school days, college, and future. Basically, just another Future Fic AU.

The first time Rin notices something a bit off about Makoto it's during their first joint practice between Iwatobi and Samezuka.

Rin had taken a seat on a nearby bench, content for the time being to just watch his friends and teammates swim. His eyes never stray too far, flitting from one person to the next, but always seeming to draw back to the Iwatobi swimmers as though some force within couldn't help but to observe. Having his friends back is still something of a novelty for Rin. Watching them swim helps give Rin the cues and clues to what he's missed out on in his time in Australia, helps him find out what his pride is too unwilling to ask.

Which is why Rin notices it when he does.

Makoto is pulling himself out of the pool, nothing out of the ordinary, though Rin can't help but think it's a little fucked up that Haru never offers his best friend a hand, but whatever. It's not like Rin can judge, especially after his most recent stunt with the whole shunning his friends thing.

Makoto's transition from water to land is flawless, the ease of which he pulls himself up and out speaking of Makoto's experience as a swimmer. He still doesn't falter as he goes to stand which is why Rin almost misses it when Makoto freezes.

Rin sits up from his slouch on the bench, interest and concern piqued. Makoto is at his full height, expression neutral; in fact, nothing really gives away that something is amiss so Rin can't understand why he himself notices something is wrong.

Maybe it's the way his shoulders seem to hunch in on itself just slightly, not obviously so, but enough that Rin can see the tense outline of his back, how he seems to be holding himself so rigidly. When Makoto turns to face the pool Rin gets a glimpse of furrowed brows and a worried frown before, almost like magic, it's wiped clean from his face, expression clearing to something that closely resembles calm and ease.

Rin doesn't buy it for a second.

Makoto blinks once, twice, then in rapid succession that Rin suspects he may have gotten chlorine water in his eye. One of Rin's teammates, Uzomi maybe, Rin can't quite remember his name, taps Makoto on the shoulder, startling the poor boy.

If the placating hand gestures are anything to go by, Rin assumes his teammate is apologizing for scaring Iwatobi's captain, which, good. If anyone on the Samezuka team thinks they're going to get away with harassing his friends, they were going to be well acquainted with Rin's fist real fast.

After a bit more gesturing and pointing to the pool, Makoto laughs, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he steps to the side so the Samezuka swimmer can get through which, if Rin is reading this correctly, is what Rin's teammate had wanted originally when he'd tapped Makoto on the shoulder.

Once the other swimmer's back was turned, Makoto's pensive frown returned, green eyes darting around the pool but never quite focusing on one thing. What he's searching for, Rin doesn't know but he's about had enough of watching Makoto looking like a lost sheep and is about to go and help when he spots Haru finishing up his lap a couple lanes down from where Makoto is standing.

And without further prompting, Rin sits his ass right back down, having absolutely no scruples about watching how this was going to play out.

Rin is aware, like he is aware that the sky is blue, that Makoto, without fail, is always at the end of the lane to give Haru a helping hand. But with the Iwatobi captain rooted to the spot as he is, Rin doesn't see how Makoto's going to make it in time to offer Haru the obligatory hand up before his best friend's done shaking the water out of his hair.

He doesn't.

Haru's blue eyes blink in confusion as he stares at the spot where Makoto should be but obviously isn't. At this point, Makoto is wringing his hands nervously, a habit Rin had thought Makoto had grown out of. Haru spots Makoto about the same time Rin makes this observation and, Rin can't help it, he tenses up in anticipation of what's going to happen next.

Whatever situation Haru is seeing must be different from the one Rin is seeing because contrary to what Rin believed, the world did not, in fact, stop functioning when Makoto failed to pull Haru out of the pool. A knowing and, dare Rin say it, concerned look briefly flickers across Haru's face before the usual impassiveness returns. Rin almost thinks he imagined the whole thing.

"Makoto."

Haru's voice, soft and quiet as it is, carries over and Makoto snaps to attention so fast Rin feels like he's cricked his own neck just watching.

"Haru?" Makoto sounds so relieved that Rin feels something akin to guilt worming it's way up his throat. Guilt over what, Rin doesn't have a fucking clue. The not-guilt continues to eat at him as he watches. Makoto takes a few halting steps towards Haru before stopping, hesitating.

"Over here," Haru says, voice pitched slightly louder than before. Like a loyal puppy, Makoto follows. His steps gain confidence the closer he gets until he's finally standing above Haru, hand outstretched and an easy smile on his face.

They clasp hands and Makoto helps his friend out of the water, their fingers lingering a moment more before Makoto's goes to rub the back of his head sheepishly. When Haru does nothing but give Makoto an exasperated glare, Makoto hurries to explain, "I'm sorry, Haru! It's just - I'm not used to the Samezuka pool yet."

And that, well, that just confuses Rin even more.

Before Rin can even try to piece together what Makoto is trying to say, Haru's next comment throws whatever progress Rin had made down the proverbial drain.

"Stay close to me next time," is all he says, like it's normal, like this conversation is even making any sense, which it isn't.

Rin hisses under his breath, watching the two under narrowed eyes as his brain tries to figure out what the fuck is going on.

Without warning, something black and red invades his vision, close enough that Rin recoils back, surprised.

"Is everything okay, Rin-senpai?" Nitori asks, extending Rin's SHARK towel toward him like a peace offering. Nitori squeaks when Rin snatches the towel back, sputtering when Rin very gently moves Nitori to the side so he won't miss Haru and Makoto and whatever mind game they're playing with him.

He doesn't know whether to feel annoyed or relieved when he sees them walking away, Haru leading with Makoto trailing close behind, like he's scared he'll lose sight of his best friend again if he doesn't follow within shoulder brushing distance.

Rin knows the answer is within reach, the clues already given, but for the life of him he just can't figure out what he's looking for.

With one last glance at their retreating backs, Rin sighs, getting up from the bench and scruffing Nitori's hair affectionately in one smooth motion.

"R-Rin -senpai?"

"It's nothing. Let's get back to practice."

Bruises.

Those are bruises on Makoto's arms and legs. There are so many that Rin actually could not help but to notice. Some are older, fading yellow and green, while others are obviously much more recent, a darkening purple ringed with blue.

Rin is concerned.

His initial instinct is to confront Makoto, demand to know who gave him those bruises and who Rin should beat up first. But, knowing Makoto, he'd be a fucking martyr about it, would probably insist that it wasn't anyone's fault and somehow take the blame himself.

So he goes with his next best option.

"Why don't you ask Makoto yourself?" Is the first thing out of Haru's mouth when Rin asks.

Rin sputters, "W-well, it's not that- I don't-" Rin huffs, glancing away in irritation. "If I ask Makoto, I know he'll give me some bullshit answer. Since you're his best friend and all, I thought you'd know."

Haru levels him an unimpressed look, "Why do you care all of the sudden?"

"Makoto's my friend! Friend's care about each other, right?"

"Would you have cared last year?"

And, yeah, that kind of hurt. But Rin isn't going to be a pissbaby about it. He'd been a dick and he deserves every drop of resentment they still harbored for him.

But Haru is looking contrite and Rin's feeling about ten different levels of guilty. Rin's just about to tell Haru to forget it, that he'll just ask Makoto himself, when Haru says, "Makoto hurts himself a lot."

"What do you mean?" Rin asks, baffled. He seriously doubts playing with the neighborhood cats would result in bruises like the ones Makoto is sporting.

"Makoto is clumsy," Haru says by way of explanation. Almost as if on cue, there's a large bang that reverberates throughout the indoor pool, making Haru and Rin turn toward the source of the noise.

There, in all his six foot glory, stands a sheepish Makoto, flapping his hand as if trying to wave away the attention.

"S-sorry, everyone!" Why Makoto feels the need to apologize for hurting himself, Rin doesn't know. But once they deem that no threat is present, the other swimmers return to what they were doing before, much to Makoto's obvious relief.

"Makoto-senpai, are you alright?" Rei asks, using the lane dividers as a way to keep slightly afloat. "That sounded really painful."

"Ah, everything's fine!" Makoto replies, smiling a bit self-consciously. "I wasn't looking where I was going. I'll be more careful next time."

From the corner of his eye, Rin can see Haru giving him a "I-told-you-so" look. Rin sighs, rubbing the back of his neck in exasperation. Honestly.

"And you say he does this often?" Rin asks, just to clarify that Makoto, in fact, did not get beat up on a regular basis. He doubts anyone would try their luck against a giant like Makoto, but he'd feel better hearing this from a trusted source, like Haru.

Haru nods, eyes drifting back to Makoto as the Iwatobi captain attempted to discreetly rub his shins; Rin briefly wonders if another bruise is forming or if he just smarted an already pre-existing bruise.

"He hurts himself more when he doesn't have…" Haru trails off, making a vague gesture to his own face. Rin hums, starting to understand. Without Haru there to watch out for him, Makoto would probably trip over his own feet.

"Now that you mention it, Makoto really did get tall after junior high," Rin says. Haru shoots him a bewildered glance and Rin feels himself flush a bit. It's rather obvious now that Rin thinks about it. Growing that much in such a short amount of time - Rin can't blame Makoto for lacking coordination. Rin wonders how Sousuke does it.

"Is that all you wanted to ask?" Haru asks, impatient.

Figuring he's kept Haru from the pool long enough, Rin nods, pulling his goggles up in a familiar gesture that Haru zeroes in on. Rin smirks, pulling the strap of his goggles taut before letting go with a satisfying snap.

"Hey, Haru. Want to race?"

Really, at this point, Rin should have figured it out.

The stumbling, the general clumsiness, the goddamn squinting - all of it pointing to one thing, one very obvious thing.

But Rin remained oblivious, and when he boarded the plane to Australia, to his future, he was still very much clueless.

Everything comes to light when Sousuke and Rin are Skyping one night.

It's become a habit of theirs to Skype every Tuesday and Thursday evening, the only time their schedules seem to coincide with one another. Rin enjoys these conversations, always in a happier mood throughout the day in anticipation for them.

But despite the brief time slot for these much anticipated talks, it doesn't change the fact that Rin is almost always exhausted by this time of night.

Which is how he finds himself too exhausted to even really dress properly when Sousuke's incoming request for a connection comes in, body too sore and too tired to move, much less dress himself.

Still, this isn't a porno and Rin does have some sense of decency, thank you very much. He grabs a pair of briefs from his drawer, putting them on as quickly as his sluggish limbs will move before accepting Sousuke's call.

A few seconds of buffering later and Sousuke's face appears on Rin's screen, his cheek pressed against a loose fist as he waits calmly for Rin's visage to appear on his own screen.

Rin knows the exact moment Sousuke can see him on his end; it isn't anything obvious, just a slight tensing of Sousuke's shoulders and an almost miniscule widening of his blue eyes.

Despite how bone deep tired Rin is, he can't help but tease his friend a little; putting on his most rakish grin, he leans back in his chair, baring his neck a bit, "Like what you see?"

That seems to snap Sousuke out of it. Rin watches as Sousuke smirks, his gaze deliberately raking up and down Rin's half naked form.

"Never thought I'd live to see the day Matsuoka Rin didn't dress himself properly," he drawls, eyes finally fixing themselves onto Rin's own embarrassed red ones.

Rin feels himself flush, looking away so he won't have to see the amusement dancing in his friend's eyes. The fact that he knows exactly how Sousuke is looking at him just makes him blush even more, and Rin knows a losing battle when he sees one.

"Fine!" He snaps as he pushes away from the desk, sending his office chair rolling away with a loud clatter. Rin's ears are burning red hot and he just knows they're as red as his hair but he can't bring himself to look. "When did you become such a prude? It's not like you haven't seen me half naked before."

Rin hears Sousuke give a noncommittal hum as he turns around, and that only serves to make Rin even more pissed off. He doesn't spend long rummaging around in his drawer, just pulls out a pair of worn out gray sweats and a black t-shirt before pushing his drawer closed. His back muscles twinge a bit when he bends down to put on his sweats, and his arms definitely protest when he raises them to put on his shirt.

Once the whole, semi-painful ordeal is over, Rin pulls his chair back to the desk where it's rolled away, plopping back down with an exasperated sigh, "Happy?"

Sousuke remains silent, and his piercing gaze only serves to make Rin even more agitated. He considers ending the call since Sousuke obviously isn't contributing anything helpful to their conversation.

"What, do you want me to brush my hair too?"

"You look tired," is what Sousuke settles on and yeah, Rin is really close to hanging up now.

"Gee, you sure know how to charm a guy," Rin spits out. "Look, if you're just going to sit there and insult me, I've got better things to do-"

"No it's not that." Sousuke sits up a bit straighter, mouth quirked into a tiny frown. "You seem tense. You haven't been overtraining, have you?"

And just like that, all the fight drains out of Rin.

Rin slumps back into his seat, head lolling as he rubs his eyes tiredly. There was no lying to Sousuke after all.

"I got a new coach," Rin admits, letting his hand fall away as he stares at the ceiling blankly. "She's a firm believer in training until you throw up, which…" Rin trails off, shrugging.

Sousuke looks alarmed, "That's not healthy, Rin. Why isn't anyone stopping her? Who is she? Have you said something?"

Feeling harassed, Rin finally faces Sousuke, scrubbing a hand through the back of his hair in agitation, "She's a graduate student, alright? She's still learning. The supervisors haven't said anything so she must be doing something right. I don't really have much say."

"You should have a say. It's your body."

"Look, if the supervisors don't intervene in a couple days I'll say something, okay? Stop worrying." When Sousuke only gives him a disapproving look, Rin throws up his hands in defeat. "I'll say something next practice then! God, when did I inherit another worrywart Makoto, huh?"

Sousuke seems appeased, though now something else seems to be bothering him.

"What now?"

"Tachibana…" Sousuke mutters. He's looking offscreen, a distracted frown pulling at his lips. Rin's about to ask when Sousuke suddenly gets up like he's been electrocuted, throwing a quick "be right back" before hurrying off, the sound of a door opening the only indication that Sousuke has left the room.

"Geez," Rin sighs, leaning his cheek against his palm as he slowly watches the seconds tick by. He's in the middle of solitaire when Sousuke returns, a small, black object held loosely in his hand.

"I'm back," Sousuke adds a bit unnecessarily but Rin only has eyes for the thing in Sousuke's hand.

Rin points, "What's that?"

"This?" Sousuke brings it up to the camera, opening his hand so Rin can see it better. Rin squints, waiting for the camera to adjust.

"Glasses?" He says, tilting his head in confusion. Sousuke didn't own glasses. "Those aren't yours, are they?"

"No. They're Tachibana's," Sousuke says as he pulls them away from the screen, setting it aside on the desk next to a stack of papers. "He left them here when we were studying last night. I was suppose to give it back today but I forgot. I'll leave them here so I can bring it back tomorrow morning."

"But Makoto doesn't wear glasses," Rin blurts out. Sousuke gives him a strange look.

"Yes he does. These are his." Sousuke holds up the glasses again as though to prove that they were indeed Makoto's.

Rin glances between Sousuke and the offending object in confusion, "You're lying. I've never seen Makoto wear glasses in my life. Are you sure he wasn't holding on to them for a friend?"

"Tachibana wears contacts," Sousuke says slowly and Rin feels like he's been sucker punched. "He doesn't wear his glasses very often. Usually only when he has a headache or didn't have time to put in his contacts." Sousuke pauses, cocking his head as he seems to consider something. "Have you never seen him wear them?"

"No!" Rin cries, feeling betrayed.

Sousuke is staring at Rin, incredulous. "You mean in all eight years that you've known him, you didn't know Tachibana wore glasses?"

"Obviously not," Rin snaps, but despite his deep sense of betrayal for not knowing this fact, everything seems to click into place like a worn out puzzle.

The pool, the squinting, his lack of coordination, the hesitation to walk around without Haru close by - everything fit.

Rin feels like a first class idiot.

"I'm such a shitty friend," Rin whispers, burying his face in his hands as he stews in his self-loathing. "You've known him for eight months; I've known him for eight years. This isn't fair."

"Tachibana doesn't seem like the type to get upset over this kind of thing," Sousuke says. This doesn't really make Rin feel better.

"It'd almost be better if he got mad," Rin says.

"You feel that strongly about this?" Sousuke asks. "It's just glasses, Rin. Don't beat yourself up over it." Rin remains silent, content to wallow in his self-hatred. Rin hears Sousuke sigh from his end of the line, "I'm sure you can make it up to him somehow."

"How?" Rin asks, despairing.

He can practically hear Sousuke shrug, "Something will come up. I'm sure of it."

Rin peeks at Sousuke from between his fingers, eyes narrowing at the unbothered look Sousuke is giving him. Voice muffled, he asks, feeling a bit like a little kid needing reassurance as he does so, "How do you know for sure?"

Sousuke smirks, "I just do."

Apparently, the time for Rin to redeem himself comes at five-thirty in the morning a couple months later.

Rin spends a good second glaring at his phone, wondering who would be crazy enough to call someone at such ungodly hours. When he realizes the ringing isn't going to stop, Rin snatches the phone from the nightstand and thumbs over the answer button with more aggression than is probably warranted.

It takes Rin a delayed moment to register that he's accepted a FaceTime request, not a regular phone call. Rin wants to punch something.

The call goes through and Makoto's smiling face appears a second later. His smile fades when he sees that Rin isn't quite so thrilled about this call as Makoto apparently is.

"Rin?" Makoto asks, hesitant. "I-is this a bad time?"

"Makoto. It's five-thirty in the morning."

"I-I know, but Sousuke said it'd be okay…"

Of course Sousuke would be behind this, that bastard. He probably thought it'd be funny to interrupt Rin's precious sleep with the one person he couldn't really be mad at.

"Did he answer?" That was Sousuke, his voice unmistakable even through the phone.

Makoto angles his head back, green eyes darting between Rin and Sousuke, "Yes, but I think he was sleeping. I thought you said it'd be okay?"

"Here, give me the phone."

Rin watches as the camera shakes, the screen going black for a couple seconds as the phone is presumably passed from Makoto to Sousuke. Sousuke's unimpressed face appears a moment later and Rin knows his own expression is identical.

"What do you guys want? I was sleeping," Rin growls, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"We're glasses shopping," Sousuke says. He says it like it's something important, like Rin should know what Sousuke is leaving unsaid.

"...And why are you two glasses shopping?" Rin asks, sitting up with his back propped up on his pillow since it was becoming increasingly apparent that sleep would not be coming anytime soon.

Apparently, he hasn't quite picked up on what Sousuke is trying to say because he's doing that head shake thing they use to do as kids when they were trying to communicate without words. It's a subtle movement of the neck, moving his head subtly to signify that Rin hasn't gotten it quite right and to guess again.

"I broke his old pair by accident. Since I bent the frames, I offered to pay for his new ones. We're looking at some glasses right now and I suggested he call you since you know more about this stuff than I do." Sousuke is giving Rin a pointed look, as though Rin should've picked up on Sousuke's hidden message by now.

Rin just stares back, mystified.

"I don't really know much about-," and then it clicks. Rin's eyes widen as he stares back at Sousuke's own smug ones. Oh. So that's what Sousuke was trying to tell him.

Rin doesn't know whether to be grateful or embarrassed that Sousuke would think of him at a time like this. On one hand, he's glad that Sousuke's given him the opportunity to redeem himself despite the fact that Makoto never knew that Rin never knew Makoto wore glasses. On the other hand, he can't quite believe that Sousuke would remember their conversation from two months ago where Rin had made the startling discovery that Makoto indeed wore corrective lenses. It makes something in Rin's chest tighten, the feeling taking root and spreading out until his whole body is warm and tingly with it. He can't help but to give Sousuke a small smile, a wordless "thank you" he isn't able to say out loud.

Sousuke returns an almost imperceptible nod, a fond smile tugging at his lips before he hands the phone back to an obviously flustered Makoto, his brown hair a disarray as though he'd been running his fingers through it nervously while he and Sousuke had talked.

"Rin? I'm sorry! We didn't mean to wake you. We'll let you get back to sleep since I'm sure you're tired from all that training-"

"It's fine," Rin interrupts, chuckling a bit when Makoto gapes at him, surprised.

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to keep you…," Makoto says, worried.

"Nah, I needed to be up anyway," Rin lies, eyes tracking the way Sousuke is browsing the shelves in the background with such a serious expression. Rin contemplates telling him that he's looking at the wrong section, that he's looking at the women's section, but decides to let Sousuke figure that out for himself.

"I-If you're sure," Makoto says, his smile returning when Rin gives him a reassuring smile of his own. Suddenly eager, Makoto takes Rin to one of the shelves at the store, turning his phone so Rin can browse with him.

They spend the next few minutes picking several frames out for Makoto to try, slowly narrowing down their choices. Every once in a while, Sousuke would pop his head in, dangling one of the women's frames for Makoto to try on. It became increasingly obvious that Sousuke was dicking around with them when he would keep returning with more ridiculous frames for Makoto to wear; Makoto bore it all with good grace but Rin couldn't help but to wonder if Sousuke knew which glasses he was browsing all along, or if he was trying to cover up the fact that he'd been looking around the wrong section for the first half of their session.

In the end, they all settle on a simple black pair, similar to his old ones but frame Makoto's face much better in Rin's opinion. Rin and Makoto make small talk while Sousuke pays, catching up on all the things Rin is missing out on while he's training in Australia.

Once Sousuke's done paying and they're exiting the building, Sousuke bids them a hasty farewell, saying something about "doctor's appointment" and "running late". He tells Rin he'll talk to him soon before he's hurrying off, Rin waving to his retreating back.

"Ah, I guess I should let you go now, huh?" Makoto says, sheepish. "I've kept you up long enough. Thanks for all your help, Rin!"

"Y-yeah, it's no problem," he replies, stifling a yawn behind his hand.

Makoto gives him a warm smile, "I'll talk to you later. We should call each other more often! I don't hear from you enough. It's nice to catch up."

Rin nods, grinning, "Yeah, this was nice. I'll talk to you soon, Makoto."

"Good night, Rin!"

"Later, Makoto." The phone goes black, signalling the end of the call. Sighing, Rin sets his phone back on the nightstand as he curls into his blankets and stares at nothing in particular, his eyelids getting heavier with each slow blink.

When he finally drops off, it's with a smile on his lips.

Thanks so much for reading!

This is one of many small ficlets in the Dorks in the Future! Verse. I always appreciate feedback, and prompts/ideas are always welcome!

See you next water time!