4Just a little fic I wrote in my spare time. I recently became a huge fan of Yowamushi Pedal, so I wanted to contribute something to the fandom~ I hope you enjoy reading, and please let me know what you think! ^^
UNRELATED NOTE: To those who are still waiting for my Persona fic, "Forgotten Memories", to update, I'm so sorry it's taking so long. I was busy with school so I had no motivation to write, but I will say that I have not given up on the story. I actually have part of the next chapter already written, so hopefully I'll update it soon c:
WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS
Being in a long-distance relationship was tough, but it was worth it. Makishima had left Japan right after their last Interhigh as 3rd years, to attend some nice university in England. Meanwhile, Toudou had stayed in Japan to attend university, while assisting the new members of Hakone Academy's cycling club in his free time. But despite the distance between them, somehow they managed to make it work.
They began secretly dating not long after their destined climbing race to take the mountain checkpoint, during their first day of Interhigh. Well, it would have been a secret, if Toudou didn't make it so obvious with his constant calling and referring to Makishima as 'his Maki-chan' on more than one occasion. But that was fine...while Makishima didn't like the attention, so long as the relationship worked, that was all that mattered.
They've been dating for a little more than a year now. Makishima was still in England, getting a degree in something he never specified to Toudou, while Toudou...was going crazy. It was around seven o'clock in the evening for him, meaning it was around eleven o'clock in the morning for Makishima. They normally video chatted around noon for Makishima, so he had one hour to get done with something that he'd been planning for a while. Toudou would surprise his boyfriend, with a surprise visit to England. And he had a specific plan in mind; right next to him, sitting on his bed, was a small box and a ring. Just looking at it made him nervous beyond belief, and his heart would pound uncontrollably. Keep it together, Jinpachi! He thought to himself as he looked at the list of flights leaving Japan and heading to London, England. He had been saving up enough money for a plane ticket both to and from England, although the motivation of proposing to his boyfriend wasn't originally the reason behind it. After going through the listed flights, he booked the most convenient one for him and closed his browser. Looking at the clock, he realized it was almost time for their daily video chat. Logging onto Skype, he saw that Makishima was already online. Clicking on the 'call' button, their chat began.
"Maki-chan!" He yelled as he saw Makishima's face appear on the screen. The other male seemed tired and uninterested, as usual. Nonetheless, there was some happiness underneath that face.
"Jinpachi, calm down...you yell every time we do this." Makishima brushed some strands of hair away from his face.
"Sorry, I'm just so happy to see you. Uhh...how are you?"
"Mm...fine. Studying, mostly, so nothing too exciting."
"You're such a good student. I've been helping the current Hakogaku cycling club train, while attending some classes at university. They're gonna beat Sohoku this year, I can feel it!"
"Hah! Worry about the other teams, not just Sohoku...unless you want to be defeated."
"I trained the climbers personally. Manami is as strong as ever, and the new climbers are just as great!" Toudou boasted. "Shinkai's younger brother is a new climber, and even the new ace is a climber! His name is Ashikiba Takuto, and he beat Fukutomi in the prelim races!" He was really proud of how far the cycling club had come.
Meanwhile, Makishima was reading a book.
"Maki-chan, have you been listening to me?!"
He looked up at the screen. "Oh, you're done?"
"You're so mean, Maki-chan..." He feigned sadness and looked like he was going to cry.
"Well...I'm glad to see you're doing okay, Jinpachi."
That brought a smile to Toudou's face. "I'm always okay...you make my life even better, Maki-chan."
Blushing, Makishima looked away. "Don't say stupid things like that."
They began talking about the things they normally talked about during their chats. From the weather, to more cycling, to Makishima's eating habits. It was really fun for both of them, even if only one of them showed it on their face. Toudou lost track of time halfway through their chat, when Makishima all of a sudden looked surprised. "Oh...I need to get to my first class for today, but...I guess you'll probably call or text me later?"
Toudou was sad that their conversation would have to end so soon, but he didn't complain. "You can count on that! Oh, and...umm..." He just realized that he would have to find out what Makishima's school looked like. He already figured out his boyfriend's schedule, but catching him as he left school would be challenging. "D-Do you mind if you send me some pictures of your school? I want to see what it looks like!"
"...?" Makishima looked confused. "I guess I could..."
"Great!" He cut him off. "Thanks Maki-chan! Love you!"
"...Yeah. Love you, too." And Makishima left the chat.
Smiling like an idiot, Toudou looked at the clock on his desk and realized they had been talking for almost two hours. It was still too early to sleep, but lying in bed and read couldn't hurt. Lying down on his bed and staring at the ceiling, he smiled again. "In four days...I'll be with you once again, Maki-chan."
...
The flight to London was peaceful for the most part. During the whole flight, Toudou wrote down the many ideas of how he should go about proposing to Makishima. From the cliché getting down on one knee in the middle of a crowd, to the idea of shouting at the top of his lungs through a megahorn- No, he immediately scratched that one out. He could just imagine Makishima slapping him until he lost consciousness if he did something as crazy as that. Sighing, he settled on the cliché.
Once the plane landed, he got off and claimed his luggage...including his road racer he decided to take with him. It would probably get him places faster than a taxi, he figured. Thankfully, the place he was staying at was within a reasonable walking distance from the airport, so that's where he headed first, aiming on getting a good night's sleep.
...
He looked at the ring in the small box. Today was the day. Come on, Jinpachi, get it together. What you're about to do will change your life forever. Closing the box, he had a determined look on his face as he put on some fashionable clothes...nothing too fancy like a suit, just a solid color long-sleeved tee, skinny jeans with boots, and a jacket on top. He knew Makishima would immediately think something was up if he dressed fancy, and he wanted the proposal to be as unexpected as possible. Putting the box in his pants pocket, he went downstairs to the lobby of the hotel and out the door, where his road racer was chained to a nearby bike rack. He unlatched the chain, and set off towards his destination.
...
According to the pictures Makishima sent him, this was the place. He looked up at the huge building at the front, surrounded by a brick wall and fence. Toudou could only have a look of awe on his face as he couldn't believe the sheer size and elegance of the buildings. Now he understood why Makishima rarely visited Japan; going to a school like this, he himself probably wouldn't want to leave, either.
He stood to the side of the main entrance, leaning on the wall surrounding the university. This is it...the moment Maki-chan comes out of the school, I will make my move. This can potentially make or break our relationship... He could feel his heart pounding again as he patted his pocket to make sure the box was still there, and then clutched his he calmed himself down, he took out his phone.
[Text to: Maki-chan]: Maki-chan! Are you out of class yet? I hope I didn't text you while you were busy?
After a few minutes, Toudou got a reply.
[Text to: Jinpachi]: Yeah. Just collecting my stuff and heading out now.
[Text to: Maki-chan]: Oh, good then! So you're heading towards the entrance of your school, right?
[Text to: Jinpachi]: Yes...?
He breathed a sigh of relief. One final thing to make Makishima run out faster. Here goes nothing...
[Text to: Maki-chan]: I wanted to send you a picture of a new outfit I got! Hang on...
He took a picture of himself posing by the wall, making sure to get the gold plaque that had the name of the school in the background. Attaching the image to the text, he clicked on the send button.
Sending image...Image sent.
And now, he just had to wait. He hadn't received a message from Makishima after that, and for a moment he wondered if he received the image of not. It wasn't until he heard footsteps getting closer, and at a rapid pace. Turning his head to face the entrance, he was face to face with a very surprised Makishima, holding onto his phone and book bag. Smiling, he walked up to his boyfriend. "Hey, aren't you going to say anything? Is there any place in this city that's good to eat at? I'm starving!"
That seemed to break Makishima out of his shock. "Hah? I come out of my campus and see you of all people, someone who should be halfway across the world, and that's the first thing you say to me?" He looked really annoyed.
Chuckling, he grinned brightly. "I managed to get you out of your shocked state though, right?" He then pulled Makishima into a tight embrace. "I missed you so much, Maki-chan..."
It took a moment, but Makishima returned the embrace. "I missed you too...Jinpachi." He could smell the slight scent of vanilla in Toudou's hair. He really missed that scent. Toudou was just like how he before he left Japan. That ugly white headband in his hair that added some personality, the same bright attitude...how much he longed to see him again, even though he refused to admit it out loud.
Once they broke the embrace, Toudou began to fidget uneasily. He got so into the moment of their reunion, that he completely forgot the other reason he was there. It definitely earned a confused expression from Makishima. "S-So, uhh..." He scratched his head. "M-Mind if you show me the campus? I would love to see..." Wait, no that wasn't what he wanted to do. It was too late, however, as Makishima just shrugged. "Sure, I could show you..." The other male sounded both worried and confused, but nonetheless made his way back into the university. "Are you coming?" Makishima frowned. Dammit, things were already not going according to plan. Toudou followed Makishima, and while doing so he realized that he could no longer keep it in. He grabbed hold of Makishima's arm and stopped in his tracks. The sudden jolt naturally shocked the other male.
"Jinpachi-"
"MAKI-CHAN, WILL YOU MARRY ME?!"
...
...
What did he just do? He was more nervous than he originally thought, because without even kneeling down or setting up the question, he just shouted it in the middle of the courtyard, where numerous amounts of students were walking. That certainly caught the attention of every person passing by them, and when Toudou opened his eyes in horror and what he had done, he saw that Makishima was silent and his eyes were wide. Toudou held his head down after seeing that, expecting a rejection. He knew Makishima hated being the center of attention, and that sudden outburst made everyone in the vicinity look at them as if they were crazy.
A few minutes had passed, and still not a word from either male. Toudou wanted to cry at that moment, or hide under a rock and never see the light of day again. Bringing up the courage, he looked up at Makishima who still had the same look on his face. "I-If you don't want to, I understand..." He bit his lip. "Let's just...forget this ever happened, o-"
He was cut off. In that moment, Makishima pulled him into a firm kiss, which shocked Toudou. Before now, Makishima never initiated any form of affection unless it was a simple hug. Even more shocking was that they were still in public and Makishima hated PDA.
Once the kiss was broken, Makishima blushed and looked to the side. "...I...I wouldn't mind, marrying you...I guess."
"M-Maki-chan..." Toudou couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are you saying...?"
Scratching his head, he looked at Toudou and nodded. "...Yeah."
The biggest grin made its way onto Toudou's face, and he gave Makishima a tight hug, before remembering what was in his pocket. "Ah, one moment!" He reached into his pocket to pull out the box. Blushing, he opened it and took out the ring. "I-I hope you like it. I didn't have enough money to get you a really nice one, but I swear that I will save up the money to get you the ring my Maki-chan deserves."
Speechless, Makishima just shook his head. "Anything is fine, as long as I'm with you, that's all that matters." He couldn't believe he was saying this stuff...but he was only speaking the truth.
Tearing up, Toudou nodded and placed the ring on Makishima's left ring finger, before kissing his boyfriend passionately. He could hear a few awwww's from some college girls who were spectating, but his attention was completely on his Maki-chan.
It was barely setting in that he was now engaged to the man that he loved. His lifetime rival, and now his soon-to-be lifetime lover. They broke the kiss, stared at each other for a moment, before Toudou just broke out in excitement.
"I'M MARRYING MAKI-CHAN!" He shouted towards the sky. "My greatest rival, and the love of my life!" He couldn't have been happier. "I'm so happy!"
Makishima, in the meantime, was irritated and wanted to punch Toudou for the outbursts. "Dammit, Jinpachi...shut up!" He knew better than anyone, however, that just telling Toudou to shut up wouldn't work. Toudou wasn't even paying attention to him at this point...but it no longer mattered. Makishima sighed, and let his boyfriend...no, his fiancé, let out his happiness as he smiled and watched.
Hey, Jinpachi. I wonder what you must be feeling right now...I have an idea, but I think I've got you beat. My heart longed to be with you, and now that I'm with you at last, it's soaring. Right now...I feel like the happiest person in the world, and you made that happen.
I love you...Toudou Jinpachi.