Tachibana Makoto Birthday Fanworks Exchange

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

And this is it, the final 2013 Spotlight post!
 

FEATURED THIS WEEK
August 17, 2014

Warm – by randomity (Makoto, Tachibana family, Haru, Nagisa, Rei, Rin)

Oh. So that’s why he felt light-headed.

After several prescriptions and ‘nurse’s orders!’, Makoto was about to make his way back to the classroom as he opened the infirmary’s door when he saw Haru leaning on the wall opposite of the door.

“Haru-chan!” He was surprised to see him here, although not at the “Don’t add –chan to my name,” that came after. Makoto closed the door and leaned beside Haru. He was starting to feel dizzy again. The shorter male tiptoed a bit to reach his forehead to the other male’s own, which took Makoto to step back a bit. The black-haired teen stared at his friend. “You were sick,” his expression told him.

The only thing that Makoto could do was to laugh lightly and muttered an “I found that out just now.”

Haru shot a surveying look at the taller male, making the latter look away while scratching the back of his neck. Heaving out a sigh, “I’ll take you home,” he said as he made his way to the classroom to pick up his and Makoto’s book bags. Makoto’s eyes widened a bit and weakly flailed his hands disapprovingly.

“You don’t have to! I’ll get there fine on my own.” Regardless, Haruka walked pass him and all he could do was to follow him back to their room.

[read the full piece here]

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

FEATURED THIS WEEK
August 3, 2014

Yellow Polka Dot Bikini – by MG (Makoto/Gou)

Of course, ever collected, Nagisa was first to greet them.

“Gou-chan, you look so cute!” He grabbed her shoulders and turned her to face Makoto. “Mako-chan, what do you think?”

 “I like it,” he replied automatically, without thinking, and catching Rin’s irritated look, immediately blushed. “I mean, you look very cute, Gou.”

Gou looked at her feet, and Makoto swallowed the lump in his throat. When she raised her head to look at him again, he thought he saw a faint trace of disappointment in her eyes. It was soon replaced by a sunny smile.

“I’m glad you like it,” she said softly, and Makoto was suddenly unsure of what to do with his hands. He felt he should say something else, anything else, but Rei called out to her and Rin in greeting and the moment was gone. Gou shot him a smile over her shoulder as she went to help with the towels.  

Nagisa crossed his arms. “I don’t think that’s what Gou-chan wanted you to say,” he observed thoughtfully. Makoto looked at his shorter friend.

“What do you mean? She looks cute!”

“But maybe she doesn’t want to look cute!” Nagisa shot back. “Maybe she was trying to use her sex appeal. You know Gou-chan has lots of it!”

“Don’t I ever,” Makoto muttered to himself.

[read the full piece here]

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

FEATURED THIS WEEK
July 20, 2014

The Curious Feeling of Falling – by LC (Makoto/Haru)

Only Haru will ever remember this.

He’s running up a slope to catch the train back home. The canvas under his arm slows him down, though he makes it just in time for the doors to close.

From the window, he sees rain starting to pelt down. He walks over to a seat, though he’s not paying attention to where he’s going. He’s staring at everything outside, the rain, and the lights from the city.

He stands still, realizing that there are no more vacant seats and that he has to stand up for the whole trip.

“Nice weather today, ne?” comes a voice, and he turns to see a tall man wearing big circle glasses looking out the window, just as Haru was a few moments ago.

Haru nods. “Yeah,” he says, before he looks away.

For the rest of the trip, they stand side-by-side, in silence and in awe of the rain. They get off at the same stop, and Haru loses him among a small crowd of people.

This is how they first met, though it’s not how everything starts.

[read the full piece here]

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

FEATURED THIS WEEK
July 6, 2014

One Thousand and One – by Risotto (Makoto/Rin)

Except things have changed in his absence.

It’s his father who updates him on the changes. The good and the bad. Everything. Why the Hazuki sisters have gone. Why the bazaar, once lively and bustling, has dwindled to small sullen crowds and hushed curses. Why Ran is unable to sleep just days before she is of age to marry.

The Sultan has been executing his consorts. Rumors as to why float like smoke over the towns and villages under his rule. Some say it's because his heart was broken, others say he's simply gone mad. Or both. It's difficult to say, as no one's lived to tell the tale and the guards have been sworn to secrecy under pain of death.

The only certainty in this mass of confusion and despair is that the grand vizier picks, at random or with prior notice, a consort of marriageable age and stature and summons them to the Sultan's chambers. Come dawn, the consorts are never heard from again.

“Father, I have a request to ask of you,” Makoto says one day in the courtyard of their home after a long day of peddling wares to morose faces and thinking, maybe, he ought to do something of it. “Will you grant it to me?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Allow me to marry the Sultan.”

[read the full piece here]

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

FEATURED THIS WEEK
June 22, 2014

Occupational Hazard of Dating A Matsuoka – by isumiilde (Makoto/Rin, Kou/Seijuuro)

In retrospect, Makoto shouldn’t have responded positively when Rin suggested the double date. But then again, refusing Rin has proven to be a very challenging deed, considering there are kisses and teasing touches to distract him from remembering common sense.

“And you think this would be a good idea,” Mikoshiba whispers in accusation when they meet up on the bus stop. He shows up in a sleeveless tight shirt that accentuates the lines of his abs and hips neatly, with a color that matches Gou’s summer dress, which means it’s probably Gou’s idea. The two of them standing side by side is the very definition of a stylish, good-looking couple, attracting the eyes of every single living being that passes by. It’s probably why the girl who just passed them trips on her own feet and lands face first on the ground.

Makoto, on the other hand, shows up in his school uniform because he just got off from the prefectural swim teams captain meeting. Rin doesn’t say anything about it, but Makoto did catch him rolling his eyes at Mikoshiba and Gou’s appearance. Gou’s smile looks very smug.

Makoto throws Mikoshiba an apologetic look above Gou’s head, and tells himself to be more positive.

After all what’s the worst that could happen in an aquarium, right?

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

FEATURED THIS WEEK
March 23, 2014

my heart tied in a knot, and my stomach in a whirl – by Bonnie (Makoto/Rei)

“I received a Valentine’s day card,” Rei says seriously. “And I need to know who sent it.”

“Whaat, Rei-chan got a card?” Nagisa asks. Rei hands the card to him, now that Nagisa is no longer lunging for it. He doesn’t want this beautiful card to get damaged.

Haruka shrugs, glancing at it briefly, before going back to his lunch. It’s not mackerel today which Rei is very glad about. He doesn’t want his card to smell like fish.

“Can I see it, Rei?” Makoto says.

Rei goes quiet briefly, because all he wants is for it be from Makoto, but--then Nagisa is handing Makoto the card and he doesn’t have to answer.

“You make my heart flutter, valentine!” Makoto reads from the card. “Wow, Rei! This person must really like you!”

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

FEATURED THIS WEEK
February 8, 2014

if i were the ocean, would you be the sky? – by mydarlingnever (Makoto/Haru)

Makoto kisses him. He kisses his nose and kisses his cheeks and kisses his mouth, again and again.

And then he starts to fade.

It’s in sheer white, sparkling white, blinding white. In the scales of a dragon, the petals of a flower he bursts, into nothing but shimmers in the last white-gold drops of sunlight.

Haru stands, with drummer boys in his chest and fairies in his feet, and calls out the window, “Goodbye, Makoto.”

A breeze ruffles his hair, right then. It touches his face, holds it gently, and dries the tears Haru didn’t even know were there. It smells like salt and brine and, so quietly he might have imagined it, he can almost hear,

“Goodbye, Haru.”

[read the full piece here]

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

FEATURED THIS WEEK
January 19, 2014

The silence breaks when Makoto takes a deeper breath. "You saw me on the bus, huh?"

Rin looks over but Makoto is still looking at the stars. He nods, takes a breath of his own to speak, but he doesn't know what to say and lets it out to rejoin the night air.

Makoto sighs, too. "Sorry, Rin."

Rin's brow furrows. He starts to reach for Makoto, to make Makoto turn to him, but only ends up closing his hand on the air and dropping his empty fist to his side. "What are you apologizing for?"

"I didn't want you to see me like that." Makoto looks down from the sky, smiling as he turns to Rin.

[read the full piece here]

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

FEATURED THIS WEEK
December 29, 2013

His tone is suggestive and he can hear the heat rushing up to his boyfriend’s face. “Rin.”

They make it to the top of the flight when Makoto squeezes his elbow just so and tells him, “Watch your step.”

“Very funny,” Rin snorts. They make it without any trips, walk a few meters, and then there’s the drone of a door opening before a cool and empty draft hits them.

“Okay, take it off,” Makoto says then immediately regrets it when Rin’s sharp teeth are bared in a wide grin. “The blindfold, Rin. The blindfold.”

Rin’s subsequent snickering dies in an instant once the offending cloth is lifted from over his eyes. They’re standing in the middle of an unfurnished apartment. Coincidentally, it’s one of the ugliest places Rin has ever seen.

“So?” Makoto moves beyond the genkan to stand in the middle of it with his arms held out, and with his broad shoulders and long limbs, the apartment manages to somehow look even smaller. “What do you think?”

“What the hell is this?” Rin, meanwhile, is looking at the unfamiliar space like he’s unsure if he should make his escape by leaping out of the nearest window or bolting down the stairs.

“It’s our new place!”

[read the full piece here]

Makoto's birthday inspired so much great fanart and fanfic throughout the free!dom, it was hard to keep up with it all! If you missed any of the seriously excellent fanworks created as part of the 2013 Makoto Birthday Exchange, fear not: we'll be highlighting two works every week until each piece of art, comic, and fic has been in the spotlight.

FEATURED THIS WEEK

2 Spooky – by Njk (Makoto, Nagisa)

[view the full piece here]
 

And Dance With Me to Neverland – by isumiilde (Makoto/Rin)

“Eh?” Makoto blinks. Well, that comes as a surprise. Makoto’s pretty good in the water, but he’s pretty sure he’d make a spectacle of himself if he tries to get on ice. He is physically huge, and nothing about him is graceful. Not even his swimming. “Uh, I’m—Rin, I’m not sure it’s a good idea—“

The heat spreads on Makoto’s face so fast, he isn’t sure if it’s from embarrassment or disapproval. His tone turns defensive. “Well, I don’t do it a lot. None of my family like it, and the last time I went was back in grade school…”

[read the full piece here]

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