NO, THAT'S WRONG! ~~Naegami~~

Chapter 13: In the Name of my Family

***

Why would Togami want to go to the pool this late? And did Makoto have any right to follow him there? His brain told him no, but his gut told him yes. And, as such, Makoto waited for about ten minutes before going in after him. The locker room was empty, bar Togami's clothes neatly folded and hanging up in the far corner of the room. So he had wanted to swim. But why? Makoto breathes deeply: he could smell Togami's cologne hanging in the air. It was a nice smell. No, Makoto, that's really creepy.
But what to do now? He couldn't really ask Togami what was up now, could he? That being said, his curiosity was only growing. Why, why, why? was all that he could think. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if he went back now. Fine then, he'd talk to Togami in the pool. What an incredibly strange turn of events.

~~~

Togami's form was almost a blur as Makoto watched from the doorway, what with him swimming so quickly. He allowed himself a moment to admire how the light glinted off of Togami's slender body, shiny from the water. Now that Makoto had fully accepted his feelings, they made themselves known at the absolute worst times and all the more frequently. Whilst he was watching Togami swim, he also heard the boy mumbling to himself.
"Hey, Naegi, I've only been avoiding you for weeks because.... shit, what's a good excuse? My family told me to? Yeah, that might work, if he's a complete imbecile." Makoto couldn't believe his ears. Togami was still planning to lie to him about it? What an absolute prick, he thought, studying the blonde's face in the water. He then registered how creepy he was being, and decided to finally reveal himself.
"I had no idea you were so good at swimming, Togami." Immediately, the blonde turned around so quickly he ended up swallowing a mouthful of chlorinated water. He began coughing and spluttering.
"Oh shit, sorry Togami!" Makoto yelped, then hurried over to help the boy to the side of the pool. When Togami hd fully recovered, he whirled around, furious.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Naegi?" he spat.
"Uh, following you?" the brunette said sheepishly.
"I had gathered that, you imbecile. Why I'm God's name would you be following me?"
"Because you left your room in the middle of the night after lying to me? I was gonna ask you about it in the morning, but this seemed like a better opportunity, y'know? Less people around."
"Wait, you've been following me from my room? How the hell did I not see you?"
"Maybe I'm just really sneaky." Makoto teased.
"I suppose that the 'how' of this situation isn't important anymore. So what was so important that you woke up in the middle of the night to pester me for?"
"Hey, don't flatter yourself, blondie. I was awake for a completely different reason, I just happened to hear you leaving and seized the opportunity."
"Excuse me? Blondie?" Togami said incredulously.
"Got a problem with it?" Makoto asked with a laugh.
"Several." the blonde responded, frowning. "But you still haven't answered my question."
"I was going to ask you why you've been avoiding me for weeks. And don't try to lie to me this time." Togami ran his hand down his face in frustration.
"You're really not going to let this go, are you?"
"Not a chance. Now, spill."
"I don't know what makes me obliged to explain."
"Can you fucking get over yourself for five bloody minutes? After this, you can go back to believing you're better than the rest of us." Makoto was trying everything to get Togami to talk to him, and he was almost about to give up.
"Fine. If it'll make you shut up, then I will. The truth is, I've been told to stop talking to you. I made the mistake of telling my father that I was friends with someone who didn't have a talent-"
"Hey! I have a talent! Sort of..." Makoto piped up.
"Stop talking." Togami said, and continued. "My father needs to present a certain image of me to the public, and someone who associates with the 99% isn't the image he wants. He ordered me to cut off all contact with you immediately. I'm sorry." The blonde had tears in his eyes, but still Makoto knew he was lying.
"You know you could have just told me that, Togami."
"I know, and I'm sorry, I just-" Togami stopped in the middle of his sentence. "Fuck it," he said, "I can't keep lying to you."
"I already knew you were lying. You're really bad at it, you know. Are you going to finally tell me the truth now?"
"... Yes." The blonde furrowed his brow, but continued. "Fuck, this is difficult to do."
"It's ok, Togami," Makoto said gently, "you know I won't judge you."
"You might want to hold off on saying that, Naegi. The truth is, you were my first proper friend here. The closest I had ever gotten to that before was with my butler, which- I'm sure you'll agree- doesn't really count. So I thought that the rush of warmth I got whenever I spoke to you, fuck, whenever I saw you, was just because of that. I thought that everyone felt that way about their friends. I mean, how would I know any different? But then I made other friends, and realised that- whilst I value them deeply- I didn't get that same feeling that you gave me." Makoto thought he was dreaming. This couldn't be what he thought it was, could it?
"Hang on, is this-"
"Please don't interrupt me, Makoto. I don't know how many times I have to tell you this. Can I continued?" Makoto nodded. "Good. I think you might have figured out what I'm trying to say here, but please let me finish, ok? Over time, I realised that I really had developed... feelings for you. But I didn't know whether you felt the same, or if the possibility of us could even exist. And I worried that this development could hurt our friendship irreparably. So I did the next best thing: I distanced myself from you. And I didn't want to make it a big thing, because then you'd want an explanation, which I wouldn't be able to give to you because- as you so crudely pointed out- lying isn't really my forte. So I tried to do it subtly, which ended up a catastrophic failure. And that brings us up to speed, essentially. You don't have to look so adorably shocked, you know."
But try as he might, Makoto couldn't close his mouth from where it hind agape. He felt lightheaded and untethered from the ground, almost like he might start floating up into the air.
"Byakuya, I-"
"It's ok, Naegi. You don't have to answer. I knew it was a long shot."
"Hey, maybe let me speak for myself? Not a huge fan of you trying to answer for me, I've got to say."
"Do you really have to? It's not going to help at all."
"You might want to hold off on saying that, Byakuya." Makoto said, mimicking the blonde from earlier. "I genuinely can't believe you. You really thought you could be that annoyingly hot and not attract me? You absolute idiot."
"This is a rather rude way of confessing, Makoto."
"Shut up, blondie. My point stands. You're bloody hard to resist, you know."
And then Makoto did something that surprised even him. He leaned over, cupped Byakuya's wet cheek in his hand, and pressed his lips onto the other's. The blonde stiffened in surprise, but quickly relaxed into it, and began kissing back. It was a soft kiss, almost featherlight, and it was perfect. Too soon, far too soon, Byakuya broke off the kiss for air. Makoto smiled, and moved back in, but was surprised to find he was pushed back by the blonde's hand. He looked up, confused. The Affluent Progeny was redder that Makoto had ever seen him.
"That was... unexpected," the blonde said in surprise, "but surprisingly adequate."
"Oh shut up, you idiot. It was amazing, and you know it."
"You are, oddly enough, accurate. However, this can't happen again."
"What are you talking about? Oh God, did I do something wrong?" Makoto began to panic.
"No, it's not that. If anything, it was me. I really like you, Makoto, but this cannot continue under any circumstances."
"Why not? I don't understand." Makoto felt a pricking in his eyes, and realised he was crying.
"I hate seeing you like this, Makoto, and it's not you at all. It's me. More specifically, my family. It isn't right for the head of the family to be seen with someone like you."
"Someone like me? That makes me feel really great about myself, thanks."
"I know, I know, and I hate it, but it's not my decision to make. A Togami man can't date another man. It's not the image my father wants."
"Well screw your family! They're homophobic assholes! And they have no way of knowing if we keep it a secret."
"Makoto. I wish I could, but I just can't sneak around with you. My family is more important than anything else. In the name of my family, I can't let anything happen between us. I hope you can one day understand." With that, Byakuya got up and left, leaving Makoto sitting with his feet in the water, as his world crashed down around him.

Word count without A/N: 2701

A/N: ooooohhhhh this one was really long, bloody hellllll. Sorry about that, but hey, I wrote this on a plane, so I had to fill the time somehow. This chapter was in my head from before I even started writing this fic, so I hope i did it justicceee... probably notttt tbh, but I tried and that's all I could do. Whoo boy, writing this was a rollercoaster of emotions, but I hope it turned out well enoughhh. oh and I know I saiddd that i wouldn't be updating for a week, but I genuinely couldn't stop thinking about this fic for the past couple days. I realllyyyyy wanted to write this chapter, so I didddd. That's pretty much all I can say about this chapterrr without adding an extra 1000 words to the word countttttt. Alr peace.
—Winter