Reintegration

Summary: What if Makoto is more than what meets the eye? And, what if this peaceloving boy who treasured his friends more than anything tried to help Rin get back into their circle step by step, and to remove the walls Rin built for self-denfense? AND, what if he decided to monopolize Rin in the end? :D MakoRin is strong in this one.

Making a manipulative side to Makoto has been fun, and I've tried my best to capture his inner thoughts. Hope you guys like it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Free! and sadly, none of the cute Free! boys.

Makoto wasn't only good at reading Haruka.

Makoto read everybody. Which is why he chose to hang out with Haruka the most. Haru seemed complex to others, but in truth, he was the simplest and purest one out of all of them. Everyone else was twisted in one way or another, but not Haru. Haru lived on like a dolphin, having simple purposes like loving to eat mackerel, like wanting to be in the water forever. But Makoto was there to prevent him from rotting in the water from sitting in too long.

Behind his kind smile, Makoto was always thinking. Makoto was too empathetic. He felt too deeply from what was reflected from other people. Thus, he was extremely glad when he found Haru. Haru had simple feelingS of joy, satisfaction and irritation. And afterwards, he had found the Iwatobi swim club, and the joy of the people around him bounced off into him and made him smile all the brighter. He liked that.

He especially enjoyed Rin's presence from the start. Once the boy came, everything seemed to brighten with the boy's carefree smile, his enthusiasm and love for swimming. He had brought spontaneity to their quiet lives, always full of suggestions for fun, pulling them along to his pace. He had won Makoto over once he introduced himself, saying he had a girly name, but "I'm a boy!" and ending it with a cheery smile. Since then, days of quiet lunches changed, from Makoto's almost one-sided talk with Haru to an rapid exchange as Rin burst forth excitedly with conversation. He knew Rin was interested in Haru, and he was glad he had been with Haru, because Haru didn't really talk, so Rin talked to Makoto when he wanted responses.

So Makoto knew. At that cherry blossom tree, the innocence and brightness in Rin was slowly getting affected by something darker as he said he was going to leave. And he saw Haru's uncharacteristic show of emotion. Makoto didn't like it. He knew it was the start of something bad.

So after he knew that Haru met Rin without his knowledge that faithful winter, he knew what was going on immediately.

Poor Haru. But even more than that, poor poor Rin.

The door opened, and Makoto broke out of his introspection, looking up to see a messily dressed Rin.

"Makoto, what are you doing-"

Makoto merely walked into Rin's dorm room with a smile. "Well, I was thinking we should have a hotpot!"

"What? Are you out of your mind? It's summer! Are...Are the rest coming? What makes you think it's alright to throw a party in my room?" Rin shot out in a fluster. He was sweating hard even in his black tank top and red shorts, with his hair loosely tied back.

Makoto smiled his understanding, knowing smile, ushering Rin to sit down. "No, I'm the only one. They don't know anything about this. And I've tried this with the rest, it's really good!"

Rin sat down with a frown, listening to Makoto anyway, watching warily as Makoto set up the feast. Red eyes shone with what Makoto knew was envy. Makoto looked up to catch the boy staring, and smiled brightly to disarm suspicion right before Rin opened his mouth to give a biting remark, making Rin snap his mouth shut.

Number one: Rin was weak against sincerity. Makoto knew that especially since he saw the relationship Rin shared with his roommate. Too bad Haru didn't know how to speak out.

"You know, I'm a bit hurt that you only went to see Haru back then," Makoto said manipulatively while looking down, pretending to be seriously upset.

Rin spit out the water he was drinking from, staring at Makoto with a mix of disbelief and concern.

"I thought we were friends," Makoto continued, gripping onto the fabric on his pant leg.

"I- I..." Rin stammered, wiping at the water he spewed, unsure of what to do. "Uh, Makoto? Are you crying?"

"It seems I was the only one thinking that way..." Makoto hiccuped.

"Er! The hotpot! The hotpot is boiling! So let's eat, okay? Hey, Mako?" Rin said hurriedly, taking a plate and grabbing food for Makoto, putting it in front of the boy, before biting his lip and waiting for a response. It was a reaction so much like the younger Rin Makoto knew that he almost broke his cover, surpressing a smile at the awkward attempt.

Number two: Rin was weak against tears and guilt tripping.

"Ah...okay," Makoto pretended to wipe at tears, picking up the plate and starting to chew on the food slowly, continuing to guilt trip Rin. Poor Rin. But this was a necessary process.

"This... this is really tasty!" Rin tried again with a voice with some fake joy. It was so hilarious and obvious that Makoto burst out laughing, dissolving the tense atmosphere. Rin gave a relieved smile in return.

"I want your number," Makoto demanded immediately, monopolizing the moment.

Startled, Rin merely stared at him with a piece of meat dangling from his mouth. Makoto gave a winning smile. "It's alright isn't it? We're friends, aren't we?" And, he proceeded to steal Rin's phone from the desk to input his number and got Rin's number, doing it as quickly as he can before Rin recovered from his shock to protest.

Rin sucked the meat into his mouth. "I-"

Makoto proceeded to use chopsticks to pick up another piece and stuffed it into Rin's mouth with a wide smile, leaving no room for arguments. Rin chewed on the meat with an embarrassed frown.

Number 3: If you stop Rin's stubborn mouth, you can get your way.

Makoto continued to chat idly about school, while Rin tried to pretend he wasn't interested. But behind that annoyed grimace, were sparkling red eyes absorbing every detail. So Rin was indeed curious about what they did without him. He told Rin about every experience Rin missed out in the past few years, and saw that quiet jealousy again, coming on especially strongly when he mentioned Rei. Makoto knew he was right in his assumptions then.

So Rin did miss them, and felt replaced by Rei, making him even more bitter and jealous towards Haru.

"You know, you should buy a gaming system here so we can play!" Makoto gushed excitedly. "Like, you know, xbox, or wii..."

Rin hesitated.

"I would come here every week! It'd be awesome, Haru doesn't play games, Rei is busy studying, and well, maybe Nagisa might play, but I want to play with you, Rin," Makoto grinned.

Strike, Makoto said quietly in his head.

"Well, I guess it's be alright..." Rin's voice sounded rather dubious, but Makoto immediately gave a delighted smile to prevent Rin from thinking too deeply about it, and before Rin could take back his words. Rin probably decided to throw caution to the wind then, because he gave a little side smile back.

Number 4: Rin can be won over by smiles.

"Well, I'll be going back then!" Makoto started to keep the tools, making Rin glance up at the clock, flinching with shock that the hours flew by as Makoto talked, and he didn't notice. He looked at Makoto with eyes that spoke volumes.

He didn't want Makoto to leave.

"I'll be back!" Makoto promised instantly, and took the opportunity to hug Rin tightly. "I missed you so much... Let's talk more next time okay?" He grinned at the look on Rin's face, and left quickly.

Rin was gaping with wide eyes and pink cheeks.

XP: Hope you guys liked this as much as I did :P