Tetsu woke with his mouth full of fur. Sometime after Taiga had finally gone to sleep, Dad had urged him to go home and get some rest. "You've been here for more than twenty-four hours," he said. His voice was firm, but his eyes were pleading. "I know you haven't slept much, and all you've had is convenience food. Go. Have a meal. Take a bath. Come back in the morning."

"You haven't been any better off," Tetsu argued. "You think I can't see the rings around your eyes? International flights are awful. If you can stand it, so can I."

But then Aniki and Mura-nii ganged up on him, too, saying that they knew he hadn't been sleeping well in that chair. Even Mura-nii regretfully said that snacks were not enough. So in the end, he'd agreed to go and rest for a few hours.

He didn't go home, though. Somehow, he didn't think he would be able to stand those empty rooms, usually so full of light and life. Aomine had taken Nigou home with him sometime in the middle of the day and sent Tetsu a text letting him know that Aomine's house would be open to him anytime he wanted to come. Tetsu took him up on the offer.

He did feel bad about waking up Aomine's mom when he got there. But she welcomed him kindly, and in moments Aomine was at the door, too, eyes wide, hair sleep-tousled. He barely waited for Tetsu to hang up his jacket before he wrapped him up in a big, warm hug and asked him if he was okay.

Tetsu held still for a moment, startled into silence. Aomine had grown much warmer since the bad old days, but this was still a shock. Then he remembered that he had sent Aomine alone, late at night and with no information, to his dark apartment where only Nigou was waiting. Nigou, and a bloody cloth in the kitchen sink. When he remembered that, it made sense.

"I'm okay, Aomine-kun," he murmured, and he put his arms around him in return. "Taiga-nii is okay, too. Dad's with him now. We're all okay."

Then Nigou had come rushing down the hallway, his nails clattering on the floor, and almost bowled them both over.

Aomine was clearly bursting with questions, but Tetsu was too tired to talk much. Aomine bullied him through a quick bath and some heated-up leftovers, then forced him into his own bed while Aomine took a futon on the floor. Tetsu was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. He was only vaguely aware, in the last moments before sleep took him, of Nigou's heavy body climbing up on the bed to lay half alongside and half on top of him.

So of course he woke up with a mouth full of fur. In the night, Nigou had migrated further onto Tetsu's body and halfway up his chest, and now Tetsu was trapped. In addition, air was becoming something of a precious commodity.

"Nigou..." He shoved at the furry bulk as much as he could with one arm pinned and the other at a bad angle. It was not very effective. Nigou snuffled and might have actually shifted even closer to his head, then went still again. Tetsu sighed and fell limp. He would have to call Aomine to rescue him.

He stared up at the ceiling. Light was creeping across it, so the sun was up. On a normal day he would be in the kitchen by now, eating natto and rice while Taiga shoveled cornflakes into his mouth as fast as he could. Dad would already be gone for his long commute across half of Tokyo, or if it was a day when he could work at home, he would be pulling the bento boxes from the fridge for them. Nigou would be tramping happily around the kitchen, bumping into everyone's legs and begging for handouts. Sometimes Taiga let him lap up the leftover cornflake milk when he was done, which was a bad habit. Nigou always had the worst farts later. Taiga thought it was funny. Tetsu and Dad, not so much.

All of a sudden, Tetsu was blinking back tears. The longing for this to be a normal day flooded his chest, holding him down much, much more heavily than Nigou's soft weight. He hadn't cried, he hadn't... All through that long night, and the long day, and the long evening, he'd held it in. He'd been strong for Taiga, for himself, for his father rushing to meet them both. He hadn't even cried when Dad hugged him the hall, though he had thought for a moment that he would, especially when he'd heard him sniffling right against his ear.

A quiet sound split the silence, and Tetsu realized that it must have been what woke him in the first place. It was the text notification on his phone. He looked around, completely unable to remember what he'd done with the phone last night. Had he left it in his pocket, piled on the floor with his dirty clothes? If so, he would never be able to reach it with Nigou draped over him like this...

No. He'd kept it close at hand. Of course. He had been anxious for any news from the hospital. The phone was on the bed beside his pillow, half-hidden in the bedding. Tetsu reached over with his free hand and scooped it up, then held it to his face.

From: Akashi
I'm sorry you've all been so worried about the little boy.
I have good news. Midorima and Takao found him last night.
He has been badly mistreated, but he's safe now. His name is Joji.
We can bring him to visit when you're ready. And when he's ready.
In the meantime, you can show your brother this.

The last text was a photo. It showed Midorima sitting in the windowseat at Akashi's apartment, his face serene. In his arms was a sleeping child, head resting peacefully on Midorima's chest. Tetsu's breath released in a gasp of relief and joy.

It was okay. Everything was okay. The little boy was okay. They hadn't been lying to Taiga last night. Tetsu hugged his phone to his chest for a moment, completely overcome.

"Joji," he murmured to himself. "His name is Joji."

Akashi said he'd been mistreated. Tetsu lifted the phone again and stared at the photo. What had happened to that little child? It was a good sign that he was already so trusting of Midorima, though. And Tetsu was sure that Akashi and Takao had taken good care of him, too. Still, he couldn't stop staring at the picture.

"Tetsu?"

Tetsu couldn't see Aomine over the bulk of the dog, but he looked up anyway. "Aomine-kun. Thank you for taking care of me."

"Yeah, sure." Aomine moved further into the room, kicking through the futon and blankets left on the floor, and reached the head of the bed so he could grin down at Tetsu. Then he frowned when he saw the way Tetsu was clutching his phone. "Is everything okay? Did you get bad news?"

Tetsu shook his head and smiled. "The opposite. It's good news. Very good news."

He held out his phone for Aomine to look at the photo. Aomine took it carefully from his fingers and stared at it without blinking for several moments, his face blank, before he just as carefully gave it back. "I don't get it. Midorima has a little cousin or something? Why is that great news?"

Tetsu smiled widened. "Not quite." He shoved at Nigou again, trying to push his way out, but gave up again after only a few seconds. "Here, help me get up, and I'll tell you everything."

Aomine laughed, warm and low and rich, and snapped his fingers near Nigou's face. "Come on, Nigou," he said. "Come along, puppy. Don't you want some breakfast?"

Nigou knew that word. His ears popped up at once, and he lifted his head, then decamped from his perch atop Tetsu's body with heavy grace. On the floor, he danced from foot to foot while Aomine rubbed his head with both hands, still laughing. Tetsu sat up in bed, Aomine's enormous t-shirt sliding off one shoulder, and yawned so hard he felt his jaw crack.

He looked around for his dirty clothes, though he was not looking forward to putting them on again. They were probably so stiff with dried sweat and desperation that they could stand up on their own. But he didn't find them, just piles of Aomine's magazines and junk food wrappers and old jerseys. "Oi, where are my clothes?"

"Ma is laundering them for you." Before Tetsu could protest, Aomine raised a hand to cut him off. "She wanted to do it. We all feel bad about Kagami being hurt, and we all want to do what we can for you and your family. So just accept it, okay? C'mon, let's go eat breakfast. There's rice and miso and grilled fish. You can smell it from here."

Tetsu could only nod meekly. Breakfast was very good, eaten in Aomine's small, cramped kitchen with Nigou pressing up against them and trying to sneak under the table to beg for scraps, which was impossible since Nigou was huge and the space under the table was almost nonexistent. He had gotten a bowl of the kibble Aomine had taken from the Kagami apartment, but he was much more interested in the fish. Aomine just laughed at him and called him puppy, and Tetsu was amused at first, then annoyed, especially when Nigou shoved at his chair hard enough to push it several centimers across the floor, jamming Tetsu's abdomen into the table before he could stop it.

He didn't blame Nigou for being clingy, though. It had been cruel of him to leave him alone in that dark apartment, rushing away to the hospital and abandoning the poor dog with Taiga's blood still crusting in his fur. Tetsu was more grateful than he could express for Aomine going there and taking care of Nigou and Aomine had done it without a question, without a murmur. Tetsu really had very good friends, and he was grateful for all of them.

Aomine wasn't even questioning him now, just sitting amiably beside him and eating his way through as much food as he could get his hands on. Tetsu watched him with a small smile for a moment, just glad to be here. Then he finally opened his mouth. "About the little boy..."

Aomine looked at him, raising his eyebrows expectantly. His mouth was still full of food.

Tetsu smiled and told him everything, as promised. When he finished, Aomine stared at him solemnly. He'd stopped eating several minutes ago and just sat there in silence, listening. "You should text your dad that picture right away, so he can show Kagami," he said.

"I did." Tetsu smiled. "While you were getting your first plate of food. I texted Akashi, too, to thank him."

"Can I see it again?"

Tetsu handed over the phone. Aomine stared at the picture again, with much more comprehension this time, then nodded and gave it back. "This is bad," he said. "That poor little tyke... What happened to him? It's a good thing your brother was there to save him, whatever was going on."

Tetsu sighed and nodded. He had some guesses about what had happened when Taiga was stabbed, but he would have to wait for confirmation until he was back with his brother. Or, perhaps, until Akashi brought Joji for a visit. One or the other of the two would surely be able to tell the tale, now. And then they could have the person responsible arrested, and they could all breathe a sigh of relief.

"I'm glad he's with Midorima and Akashi, anyway," Aomine said. "They're probably the most responsible of any of us. Joji-chan is in good hands."

"And Takao," Tetsu said. He stared at the photo some more, too. He remembered the way Takao's hands had been shaking on that Sunday so long ago in the Kagami apartment, the way his voice had been too high-pitched, his face tight with stress. And he hadn't even known Tetsu all that well at that time, mostly just from basketball, and that as opponents. How must he have felt when he and Midorima found this small, mistreated boy? "I have a feeling he's been taking good care of Joji-chan, too."

Aomine hummed. He sat still for a moment longer, then pushed back from the table and ruffled Nigou's ears as he stood. "I'm gonna go check on your clothes. I think we should get you back to the hospital as soon as possible."

Tetsu looked up at him. "Don't you have to go to school?" He knew Momoi was very proud of how infrequently Aomine had skipped this year. It would be a shame to break that streak.

Aomine shook his head. "I already skipped yesterday. What's another day?" He grinned at Tetsu's disapproving frown, then ruffled his hair, too. "Don't look so severe, Tetsu. It's a family emergency. The school will understand."

Once again, Tetsu's objections were answered before he voiced them. He could only nod in acceptance.