Samezuka's swim team showed up promptly to practice in twos and threes, very few of the boys ever arriving without a friend or teammate. It generally made set up pretty noisy. Many of the members saw each other infrequently outside of practice, so there were stories to be traded and complaints about schoolwork to be shared. Luckily the team knew what was expected of it, and their captain had no need to raise his voice over them unnecessarily.

Standing with his back to the wall, Rin had his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he observed his team. Even the first years had caught on quickly to what was needed to get practice underway, although it helped to have the senior students around. Sousuke was handing out kickboards and floats for some of the newer members' strength training exercises with a fairly neutral look, while Ai was dashing around directing people cheerfully or fretfully depending on who he was talking to.

Rin immediately checked the vicinity for a certain exuberant redhead, wary of an affectionate surprise tackle. However Momo was not on that side of the pool, and after a careful inspection of the area Rin realized the Momo wasn't in sight at all. Curious, the captain went to the change rooms to see if he was there, and just in case Rin even checked the waiting areas. No one he asked had seen the younger boy.

So, thoroughly confused, Rin went back to the pool to find Ai. Sousuke strolled over to Rin as soon as he saw him, but the redhead shook his head while mouthing "in a minute". The taller boy's eyebrows immediately drew together, and he followed behind Rin without a word.

"Ai," Rin called when he got closer to his former roommate, "have you seen Momo?"

"Eh? M-Momo?" Ai asked, glancing toward the door and then looking anywhere but at Rin. He looked nervous, although considering how easily flustered he was it might not mean anything.

"Yeah, Momo. Where is he?"

Now Ai definitely looked nervous, and he fiddled with the hem of his jacket for a couple seconds before he spoke.

"He said he'd be down later, and I should go without him."

"What?" Rin frowned and, unbeknownst to him, Sousuke did too.

A first year team member called out a question to Ai, who excused himself to the older boys and took off. Rin sighed, and not for the first time wondered why the elder Mikoshiba had decided to give him all the responsibility of looking after the team.

"This happened yesterday too." Sousuke said after Rin's sigh, watching his friend impassively.

"I know." Rin shrugged, and pulled his goggles down out of his hair so they hung loosely around his neck. "I'm going to go see what the hell is going on."

"I'll start practice then."

Rin nodded his thanks, and then ducked into the change room. He zipped up his jacket, pulled on a pair of sweat pants, and jammed his feet into his sneakers without bothering to put on socks. It was just a quick trip.

He kept up a light jog as he headed toward the dorms, not wanting to waste too much time warming up when he got back to practice. The weather was still fairly warm though, and Rin was starting to sweat by the time he got to room 210. He took a brief moment to catch his breath, and then knocked on the door.

"Hey, I'm coming in." He said impatiently, opening the door after only a moment.

Momo was sitting on the floor, already dressed in his swimsuit and team jacket, shoes and jeans carelessly piled beside him.

"R-Rin!" the younger boy yelped, "I was just heading down hehe, sorry I'm late!"

"You're beyond late, what's going on?" Rin frowned, and he noticed that Momo's hair was damp and he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why did you shower in the dorms instead of at the pool?"

Without waiting for an answer, Rin reached down and grabbed Momo's hand to pull him up. His teammate's hand was clammy, and Rin realized with a shock that Momo was damp from sweat.

"Shit. You're sick."

"No no no!" Momo insisted, "I'm fine, I'm just tired! I just forgot about time that's all and mmf!"

Rin crouched down and put one hand over the younger boy's mouth, the other against his forehead. The kid was burning up, and being so close Rin could also see how over-bright Momo's eyes were.

Scowling, the redhead got up and went to the dresser, ignoring the other boy's chattering. Rin grabbed a tshirt, socks, shorts and underwear and folded them into a rough bundle. He snagged Momo's towel off of the side of the bed and then gripped his teammate by the bicep.

"Stand." He ordered, pulling gently as he did.

Momo scrambled upright, going a shade paler when he straightened up. But he kept the bright smile in place even as he wobbled.

"Are we going to practice now?"

"No." Firmly, Rin steered the boy out the door. "We're going to the washroom so you can clean up and get changed."

The shared washrooms were thankfully empty, and Rin stuck the plug into one of the sinks and cranked on the hot water. He hooked one of the small stools with his foot and dragged it over next to the sink, and gently pressed Momo down onto it. Rin took one of the washcloths and after soaking it in the hot water, wrung it out and wiped the younger boy's face. He grinned when the boy squirmed and whined like his normal self, and set the cloth back into the sink.

"What do you have to drink in your room, Momo?"

"Drink?" The yellow eyes blinked a few times, "Oh! Just some cola."

"You'll never get better drinking that much sugar." Rin groused, and stood up. "Look, I'm going to get something proper to hydrate you. You think you can handle getting yourself changed and back to your room?"

Once he got an affirmation out of Momo, Rin went straight back to the pool. Sousuke was leading the team in their drills, following the same pattern that they usually did for a practice that wasn't before any sort of meet or group practice with Iwatobi. Once he had grabbed his bag, Rin stood by the door just out of sight from most of the pool and waited until Sousuke noticed him. It didn't take long, and the tall boy said something to Ai before wandering over to Rin.

"So?"

"I need you to finish running practice for me."

"What?" Sousuke almost looked concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Of course I'm alright, dumbass. It's Momo, he's got a cold."

The concern immediately cleared, replaced by Souskue's normal slight frown. He crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, blocking anyone who might be trying to eavesdrop.

"What does that have to do with you not coming back to practice?"

"Huh?" Rin rubbed the side of his neck absentmindedly. "I'm going to get him some decent stuff to drink, he can't get better if all he has is cola and water."

"So wait until after practice." Clearly unimpressed, Sousuke turned to go back to the pool. "Or get Nitori to do it."

"What? I'm not going to make Ai skip practice, or wait until later." Rin shouldered his bag, raising an eyebrow at his friend. "Look, I'll make it up to you."

Sousuke sighed, and after about a minute of studying Rin, he shrugged. "Alright."

"Thanks."

It took longer than Rin expected to find a vending machine that had any drinks that would be helpful, and by the time he made it back to the dorms he felt he had gotten a good enough workout to make up for missing practice. He went up the stairs two at a time anyway though, his bag bumping into his leg with each step.

He opened the door to the dorm room without knocking, in case Momo had fallen asleep, only to find it empty. His heart rate spiked immediately, and Rin tossed his bag into the corner and bolted for the washroom.

Momo was still sitting where Rin had left him, although he had at least managed to get himself changed. Rin breathed a huge sigh of relief, and he smiled at the younger redhead dozing peacefully. He felt bad that he had to wake the boy up, but the washroom was hardly a good place to rest.

"Hey. Wake up."

There was an assorted range of mumbles and whines from Momo for a few seconds before he opened his eyes, and rubbed them sleepily. He had some colour back in his face, but he still looked dazed. Rin crouched next too him and put the discarded jacket and swimsuit into the younger redhead's lap.

"Oi, Momo. Put your arms around my neck."

Momo automatically complied, wrapping his arms around Rin tightly. Glad that Momo wasn't the size of Seijuro, Rin took a deep breath and carefully picked his teammate up. Momo immediately tightened his hold on Rin, and made a noise somewhere between a squeak and a cough that Rin had to laugh at.

While Momo wasn't huge, he wasn't exactly light either, and Rin could feel the strain in his arms when he finally got back to the dorm room. As hyper-active as the younger boy was, he still worked hard and had the muscle mass to prove it. Opening the door with his foor, Rin skirted the random things on the floor and unceremoniously dumped Momo onto the lower bunk.

"We'll have to apologise to Ai later." Rin said as he moved the pillows to the floor and grabbed the ones from the top bunk to replace them. "But I'm not letting you sleep up there when you can barely walk."

Climbing up the ladder a couple steps, Rin grabbed the blanket off the top bunk as well. He stepped down, and scowled at Momo who was still sitting up on the bed and looking puzzled.

"Hey! Get in bed already before I call your brother."

The threat worked just as Rin had hoped, and Momo scrambled to get under the blankets. Rin arranged the extra blanket on top, and firmly tucked it in around Momo's feet. Satisfied that the younger boy couldn't throw off all the covers in his sleep, even if he tossed and turned, Rin went to his bag and pulled out the drinks he had purchased. One was a sports drink, which he handed to Momo first.

Rin arranged the other three bottles next to the bed where they were in easy reach, and then pulled out his phone. He deliberated for about a minute before sending a quick text to Ai and Sousuke, and picked up his bag and dropped it onto one of the desk chairs.

"Shouldn't you go back to practice?" Momo asked, holding the half-finished sports drink loosely in his lap.

"Nah, I got Sousuke to cover for me. And no more talking until you finish drinking that!"

Grumbling about difficult brats, Rin grabbed his change of clothes from his bag and his towel.

"I'll be back in just a minute."

In record time, Rin had a quick shower and changed clothes. Towelling his hair dry as he walked back, he checked the time. Practice probably wouldn't finish for another half hour or so. There was no way he could have waited until later to look after Momo.

The empty drink bottle was on the floor, and Momo was curled up with his eyes closed when Rin got back. He assumed the younger boy had simply fallen asleep. So He turned the lights off, locked the door behind him, and hung his towel out to dry. With far greater care than he usually would take, Rin pulled off his shoes and placed them neatly. He almost held his breath as he inched his way up to the top bunk, trying to make absolutely zero noise. Luckily it was warm enough where the single sheet was all he needed, and he stretched out comfortably.

"Oh damn.' He muttered. He'd forgotten the pillows on the floor.

So cursing inwardly he climbed back down as quietly as he could, grabbed the pillows, and got back to the top bunk. He set his phone on silent just in case anyone messaged him, and put it to the side so he could at least see the screen if it lit up.

"…Rin?"

"Jeez, I thought you were asleep, Momo. You nearly gave me a heart attack."

"I was. I kind of just heard you when you climbed up, and I thought it didn't sound like Nitori and then you came back down and I saw it was you. Why are you still here?"

Even sick Momo could still talk a mile a minute. Rin laughed quietly to himself, and then rolled over so he could look over the edge of the bunk. Momo was looking up at him, so Rin gave him a reassuring grin.

"I told Ai to take my bed for tonight, so I could stay here with you."

The look of complete and utter adoration that Momo gave him was so unexpected that Rin blushed instantly. He could actually feel the heat in his cheeks and he quickly turned onto his back, glad it was dark. Staring up at the ceiling, he cleared his throat as casually as he could.

"I've already been exposed to your germs, after all. Just makes sense I should be here."

(Okay, I think I have all the ideas for this pairing out of my system now. And it's almost midnight again. It's like the fic-ing hour or something xD Anyway! Thanks for reading)