- 35 -

"I want you to come with me to see my Nana."

Marui was completely taken off guard by Niou's comment. At least now he knew why Niou insisted on going into town instead of going to his house to study. What surprised Marui, though, was not that Niou tricked him again, but that Niou was going to see his grandmother.

"Sure," Marui said, popping a green bubble. "Is she okay?"

Niou shrugged. "Don't know. She's in the hospital – apparently having a heart attack is bad at her age, so they decided to move her into the old fart area."

"Is there seriously a place like that in the hospital?" Marui asked, laughing.

Niou shrugged again. He didn't respond, so Marui decided to shut up.

.

Niou didn't like hospitals. Period. He didn't even get why he was at one, let alone to see his grandmother. It wasn't like he hated his grandmother, he loved her to death, it's just that, well, she reminded him that everyone dies. He didn't like thinking about that.

Niou grabbed Marui's hand as he led him down the hospitals, though the trickster wasn't sure how much tighter his grip could get. He prayed mentally that there wasn't a doctor in his grandmother's room and that Marui didn't complain about his death grip on his hand, because Niou would probably lose it if he had to let go of Marui's hand.

"Excuse me," Niou said, going up to the nurse's station. "I'm looking for Niou Akira's room…"

"Right down the hall to your right," the young woman said, smiling.

Niou nodded and yanked on Marui's arm, practically dragging his boyfriend down the hall. Niou looked at the charts on the wall and got to the last one: Niou Akira. He froze and his grip on Marui's hand loosened.

"Okay, let's go," Niou said, turning on his heels.

Marui didn't let go of Niou's hand and tugged the boy back in front of the door. "No! You dragged me all the way here and I want to meet her, so get your ass in there."

"I don't know why I'm here," Niou said, his eyes frantic. "I was sitting in last mod, thought, 'I should visit Nana,' and then dragged you along! I hate random decisions, you know that."

Marui pointed to the door. Niou groaned.

"Please," he begged. "I'll let you call me Ni-ni. I'll –I'll introduce you to my family. Please, anything but –"

Marui reached around Niou and opened the door. "You'll thank me later," Marui said, shoving Niou in.

"Fuc –" Niou cut off his word as he stumbled into the room. He was still on his feet, though, and his eyes landed right on the old woman in the corner. She had something on her nose (oxygen?, he wondered) and was paler than a ghost.

"Masaharu?" She smiled when he nodded. "Masaharu! Come give your Nana a hug!"

Marui shoved Niou in farther, closing the door behind him. Marui leaned up against the door and shook his head when Niou turned around.

"Please," Niou begged.

Marui didn't budge.

Niou sighed and walked over to the bed, wrapping his arms around the frail old woman. She patted his back, then let go. "I'm not going to break, you know," she said, moving her legs so he could sit down.

"I'll stand," Niou said nervously.

"Sit."

Marui laughed mentally – he knew where Niou got his spunk, his grandmother.

Niou sat down while Marui just stood at the door, listening to the two talk about nothing. Nana did most of the talking, though, but when she mentioned school, Niou went off like a rocket. Math this and math that – Nana kept smiling, and when Niou smiled, Marui smiled, too.

Nana asked how Riko and Kenji were doing, and Niou told them they were fine. She did look at Marui at one point and say, "He's cute," before completely dropping the subject to talk about some fire that broke out down at the fire station. Apparently, Niou got his ironic, oddly cruel, sense of humor from his grandmother, too.

"Are you eating? You seem thin," she commented, grabbing his arm.

"Are you having heart attacks? You seem thin," he said, grabbing her arm.

"I'm old. I'm allowed to be a bitchy, semi-senile woman. You're young, you don't have an excuse."

Niou rolled his eyes, and then the two completely dropped the subject and went back to talking about something else.

After what seemed like only two minutes, but was actually forty, a nurse came in to tell them visiting hours were over. Before they left, Niou kissed his Nana on the cheek and promised they would be back tomorrow.

"Was that so hard?" Marui asked as they left the room. Niou punched him, keeping his head low enough. "Are you crying?" Marui asked, hunching over to see under Niou's bangs.

"I haven't seen her in years because I've been afraid she'll be this sick, weak woman." Niou rolled is shoulders and picked his head up –he wasn't crying, he was smiling. "She's still the same."

Marui kissed Niou's temple, not caring if they were in public. His boyfriend deserved an award for his courage; not many people can face their fears, even if that fear is an old woman.

A/N: I'm kind of wishing I never did that whole break-up thing. It's kind of making me feel like I need a plot. Do I need a plot? I don't want a plot. I'm not going to make a plot.

Also, thanks for all the ideas :)

Also, I posted a Hiyoshi/Mukahi one-shot, which is basically just them getting rid of their oh-so obvious unresolved sexual tension (UST rocks, doesn't it?). Yes, I totally pimp my fics in my other fics. Don't judge me.