Friday, September 25th; Lumoise Hospital; 1:33p.m.

Paul sat patiently, shaking his legs in anticipation, waiting for Reggie to be discharged today.

During the past two weeks, Reggie had been shifted from the ICU to the general ward, where he was assessed if he had any physical, sensory or communication problems. The only noticeable problems he had was his speech, memory and walking. The healthcare team was currently organizing a copy of his discharge summary.

Fifteen minutes had passed by excruciatingly and Paul caught sight of Dr. Francis walking towards him with a clipboard in his hand. "Paul Shinji, correct?" Paul nodded. "I just want to go through some cautionary measures for when you take Reggie home today. Ensure that the environment around him is a friendly one and try to be with him at all times. Take care of him, okay?" Paul nodded in response. "Also, just be aware that his memory is shaky at times; he doesn't remember minimal things, but he seems fine with recalling major things. This is his prescription," he said, handing a small note towards the plum-haired male.

"Thank you," said Paul after accepting the note and Dr. Francis nodded, walking away.

A few minutes later, Dr. Francis was seen walking towards Paul with Reggie beside him. Paul could notice he still had a bit of trouble walking, as he held tightly onto Francis's shoulders. Despite that, Paul probably had the most uncharacteristic smile on his face. He had been anticipating this moment for six months and to see his older brother finally able to return home was extremely satisfying.

Paul stood up, watching Reggie as his older brother brought up a weak smile.

"Take good care of him, Paul," Dr. Francis said, patting him lightly on his shoulder. Paul nodded again, and the doctor left the two boys.

"So…how have you been?" Reggie asked. Paul chuckled slightly before he reached out and hugged him tightly.


Paul's residence; 2:04p.m.

Paul helped Reggie to get comfortable around the house again. He ended up having little to no memory of where certain things were, such as where the bathroom or bedroom was, but Paul was able to fix that.

He and Reggie didn't speak much, as he knew that Reggie was extremely fatigued, so he let his older brother sleep for some time.

It felt so reassuring that Reggie was back. He couldn't wait for things to get back to normal. He smiled, reminiscing all the pointless arguments the two would have prior to the coma. Plus, after six months of being alone in his abode, it was refreshing to have his sibling keep him company.

After Reggie had woken up from a two-hour nap, Paul walked into his room with a cup of hot chocolate. He remembered Reggie having a fond for the drink. "Drink this," he advised, setting the hot beverage on the coffee table beside the bed.

Reggie smiled in response as he took the cup in his hands and took a sip. "Thanks," he said. "Wow, hot chocolate. It's been a while since I've had this. I've been eating nothing but hospital food these past few weeks and it's gotten a bit stale."

"Understandable," said Paul.

"Let me guess…you still prefer black coffee," he said, and Paul raised his brows, surprised. His memory seemed to sharp, despite the doctor saying otherwise. "You do? You're as the same as ever," he laughed. "Anyways, what's up, Paul? How have you been these past…months?"

Paul shrugged. "I've been fine for the most part. Been keeping two jobs and managing schoolwork at the same time."

Reggie nodded, taking another sip. "Made any friends? Or do you still have trouble with that?"

"I guess I made a few friends," he said, after hesitating a bit, thinking of Drew and Dawn. He and Dawn had been texting for quite a bit and honestly, he enjoyed speaking with her. He also had gotten Drew's number and he'd been texting him as well.

Reggie grinned. "That's great! You're making progress now." Paul rolled his eyes. "What about that girl who visited me before? What was her name again?"

"Dawn," was Paul's reply. Reggie nodded. "What about her?"

"How's she been?"

Paul escaped a long sigh. "Well, when her mom died, she wasn't doing so well. But she had a funeral for her just a few weeks ago and now she's doing pretty well." Paul noticed a slight smirk on his older brother's lips. "What?" he asked, slightly annoyed.

"Nothing," he said, continuing to smirk. "I'm just glad that you're being more open to people."

"Whatever."


May's Residence; 6:13p.m.

Dawn was in the living room, staring at the TV, but her mind was pre-occupied. She kept fumbling with the bracelet in her wrist and began to ponder about what was in store for her. She asked herself several questions. Where was she to go from here? What was she supposed to do now? Would she stay here at May's place forever?

Max entered the living room and sat down on one of the couches and noticed Dawn's eyes wavering a bit. "Dawn?"

"Huh?" she blinked. "Oh, hey Max, when did you get here?"

"I've been here for twenty minutes. I can't believe you didn't notice me," he said playfully. The blunette widened her eyes a bit. "Relax, I'm kidding. I just got here." Max eyed for the remote and grabbed it from the table. "You mind?" he asked but then he noticed she kept losing track of what he was saying. "Dawn!" he exclaimed.

"What?" she blinked, coming out of her thinking space.

Max chuckled. "Why do you look so lost? Is something wrong?"

Dawn contemplated sharing her feelings with a fourteen-year-old teen. Then again, Max did seem intelligent for his age. "I'm just thinking about my life and what to do from this point 'ya know? Now that my mom's gone, I just seem a bit lost. This is also my last year of high school which means next year I'm off to college. 'Course that means I'm not gonna stay here forever and I didn't plan to anyways…my point is, I don't know where to go from here."

Max raised his eyebrow, seeming a little overwhelmed. "You do know I'm fourteen, right? I'm in freshman year, Dawn! I know nothing about life yet."

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Well, you asked!" she retorted.

"I didn't know it was going to be a philosophy lesson," Max countered. Dawn sighed. "I'm probably not the best person you should go to advice for. But maybe one of your friends can help. Or maybe even May, though she might not be the best person either," he said, scratching his hair sheepishly.

"What was that?" May asked, appearing into the living room with a hand on her hip. "I go into the kitchen for five minutes and you guys are talking behind my back?"

Dawn shook her head while Max smugly replied, "Please, you're not that interesting enough to talk about," he said.

"Just ignore him, May. And don't worry it's nothing really to worry about," Dawn said, assuring her. May smiled, believing Dawn and just narrowed her eyes at Max before she walked back into the kitchen.

Despite Max not giving any solid advice, Dawn began to think of what he said. Who did she know that would give her advice regarding-

And that's when it struck her.


Paul's Residence; 6:28p.m.

The two brothers had just finished having dinner after they had been done catching up on life. It felt satisfying to see someone at the dinner table for once than eating alone. It felt like a breath of fresh air for Paul.

Paul was doing the dishes when he heard Reggie call for him. "Paul?" he turned off the faucet and dried off his hands and approached him. He raised his eyebrow, but then he noticed a canvas in his hand. "Did you make this?" Reggie asked, pointing to the canvas.

Paul gave a light smile. "Yeah." He saw him stare at his painting of himself in awe and a bit of a shock. "Do you like it?"

"Like it? Man, this is awesome. I didn't know you could paint so well, Paul," he said, grinning. "It's amazing. I'm really impressed and flattered." Paul gave a small thanks before he said, "What other secret talents have you developed?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at his younger brother, resulting in Paul rolling his eyes.

Before he could come up with a smart-ass retort, Paul's cell phone rang. "Wait…you have a phone now?" Reggie asked, his eyes wide as dinner plates. "And an I-phone too?" he said, looking at the handheld device. "Talk about-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Paul said, cutting him off, looking at the caller ID. Dawn. He looked Reggie and he seemed curious as to who would call him. Wanting a bit of privacy, he walked to his room, closing the door behind him.

"Hello?"

"Hey, if you have a couple minutes, I really need your advice about something," Dawn said across the phone.

Paul raised his brow, curious. "I mean I would, but I was spending the day with Reggie…" he said, though his curiosity got the best of him. And the next words that uttered from his mouth surprised Dawn and even himself. "You could come over if you want," he said.

There was a brief silence on the line. "Are you sure?" he heard her ask as if he said something bizarre.

"Yes," he said, after hesitating a bit.

"Okay…I'll be there in ten," she said.

Paul hung up and immediately he began to feel anxious of the thought of Dawn coming over. It was such a rare feeling for him. Other than Reggie, he never had anticipatory feelings for anyone. He was surprised at his own actions.

He exited out of his room and found Reggie crossing his arms at the dinner table. "What kinda private conversation are you having behind my back, Paul?" he said in a teasing manner.

Paul sighed, knowing his brother wouldn't give him the end of the day. "It was Dawn; she's coming over. She wants to talk to me about something."

Reggie was flabbergasted. He grinned excitedly at the thought of how much Paul had changed in his eyes. "I swear if I'm still in that coma then don't wake me up," he joked. Paul groaned internally. Reggie noticed his frustrated look. "Hey," he said walking up to him and patting his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with inviting a friend over. You said you're making friends and that's good for someone like you. It's not always good to be alone."

Paul had been alone for majority of his life. It was the major reason he was an introvert and a loner. He said nothing as he just kept his hands in his pockets and sighed.


There was a light knocking on the door after a few minutes and the two were currently sitting on the couch. The younger plume haired male walked towards the door and opened it, revealing the blunette.

Dawn gave him a light smile while pushing her short blue strands behind her hair. "Hey," she said, eyeing at Paul who just nodded choosing not to say anything. She entered Paul's abode for the second time and her eyes lit up when she saw Reggie on the couch. "Reggie!" she exclaimed.

Reggie stood up giving her a grin. "Dawn!" he exclaimed in excitement and reached out to hug her. "So nice to finally meet you out of the hospital," he said, resulting in Dawn giggling.

"And you certainly look a lot better too!" Dawn said. "I'm glad."

Reggie nodded. "So what brings you here, Dawn?" he asked.

Dawn had completely forgotten why she came here until Reggie brought it up. "Oh, I'm here to talk to Paul about something," she said, glancing towards him. "It's kind of important," she added.

"I see," Reggie said. The two remained quiet and he interpreted that to be a sign to leave. "Well, I'll leave so you guys can talk," he announced before walking away into what Dawn assumed to be his room.

Dawn looked at Paul remarkably. "I still can't believe that Reggie is your brother. You and he are so different, like polar opposites," she said.

Paul raised an eyebrow. "You came here just to deny the fact that he's my brother?" he said flatly as Dawn rolled her eyes in response and shook her head.

Dawn sat down on the couch and the plum haired male sat next to her. "I'm at a point in life where I don't know where to go. I feel lost, especially without my mom around," she started after escaping a sigh. "I think I was so dependent on my mom that I feel like I can't do anything without her. Right now, I'm living with May fortunately, but what about after that? I can't live with them forever. I just…I just don't know what to do right now," she confessed, pressing two fingers to her forehead.

Paul knew exactly how she was feeling. She probably had no idea how much he related to this topic. He looked at her. "I understand," he said. "When Reggie was sick, I felt at crossroads multiple times. I felt confused and undecisive of where to head from there. But at that time, I learned to be independent, or at least I tried to," he explained.

Dawn raised her eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I got a job," Paul said. "I knew that if I had to live out on my own, I had to make money, so I could pay rent, have a decent meal and do schoolwork all at the same time. And I still plan to," he said.

Dawn never realized how tough life had been for Paul. Sure, she may have lost her mother, but she had so many support for her along the way that she never had a chance to feel alone. And even when she felt depressed, her friends were always there to rekindle her spirits. However, Paul had to struggle alone during his tough days. "So what do you think I should do? Get a job?"

Paul contemplated for a bit. "You honestly don't need one, given you're living with your friend. But if you ever wanna step out of that household then I would suggest getting a decent paying job. It'll help you get started on your feet."

Dawn smiled. "Yeah. Plus, I could save up for college." She added.

Paul nodded. "Let me guess, you're going to major in fashion or something," he said, narrowing his eyes.

Dawn laughed. "I actually don't know what I'm going to major. I don't even know what college I'm going to. I'll do some thinking though," she said, and Paul nodded in response.

After a few minutes of comfortable silence, Dawn awkwardly got up and said, "Well, I should be going now," she said, but stopped walking when her wrist was caught. She looked back at Paul in slight shock and he had a similar expression on his face as well.

Paul stood up, not letting go of her wrist as Dawn watched silently confused. He cleared his throat. "You don't have to leave…I mean, if…if you don't want to," he said. He felt nervous for some reason but anticipated for her to say something.

Dawn's slightly shocked expression finally relaxed, and she formed a small light smile. "Sure, I guess I could stay," she said.


The three of them sat silently on the couch as the movie played on the screen. There was a bowl of popcorn at the table that was half-empty and a few opened cans of sodas.

Never would have Dawn imagined to be sitting next to Paul and his brother watching a movie at their place. Paul had really surprised her when he told her to stay for a few more hours. It gave Dawn a great feeling of how much he cared about her. To think when they first met, she loathed him but after getting to know him a little more, she understood and related to him on a whole new level.

She didn't realize she was staring at Paul until he glanced in her direction, causing her to look away, her cheeks reddening in the process. Unbeknownst to both Paul and Dawn, Reggie watched the two with a small smile on his face.

The movie played for about twenty minutes and Dawn began to feel drowsy. Her eyes kept closing and despite her efforts to stay awake, her fatigue took over and her eyes shut.

Paul's eyes widened slightly when the blunette's head fell over his shoulder. Paul was about to do something when he noticed she started snoring slightly. Despite the obnoxious sounds, he couldn't help but to notice how peaceful and innocent she looked.

Reggie looked at Paul. "Oh, poor thing, she must be tired," he said, noticing Dawn on his shoulder.

"Should I wake her?"

Reggie looked at Paul with deadpanned eyes. "No, obviously not. Why don't you just carefully lie her down on the sofa without waking her up?" he suggested.

Paul nodded as he slowly and slightly gripped Dawn's shoulders and proceeded to get up, careful not to wake her up. Her head was removed from his shoulder and was now on the couch with her legs propped up on the couch as she came into a lying position.

Reggie took the bowl of popcorn in his hands. "I'll get her a blanket…where do you keep those again?" he asked.

"I'll get it," Paul decided before Reggie could retort as the young plum haired male walked away.


The petrifying thundering on the rooftop made the blunette jump awake. She escaped several large breaths before she looked around, realizing she was still at Paul's place. Slightly stressed, she looked at her phone and when she realized it was almost three in the morning, she cursed to herself. She also had a couple of messages from May asking about her whereabouts.

She removed herself from the blanket and stood up, briefly wondering if she could go home. She saw a window across from the living room and looked outside briefly. It was raining heavily, and lightning flashed right before her eyes.

"Dawn?"

The blunette turned around, as the lights were turned on, revealing Reggie. "I bet the thunder woke you up didn't it?" he asked. Dawn nodded. "You fell asleep so we just decided to let you be and bail the movie."

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I wasn't supposed to be here all night. I should have gone home when I had the chance."

Reggie waved her a hand of dismissal. "Don't worry. I don't think you can go home in this weather anyway. You might as well just stay the night."

Dawn was a bit sceptical. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Positive. In fact, you can sleep in the guest room…wait, on second thought, I don't think we have a guest room. And sleeping on the couch is terrible."

"I can make do with the couch; no need to worry," Dawn said.

"Hell no!" Reggie exclaimed. "You know what? I'll sleep on the couch and you can sleep in my room." He suggested.

"Like hell you are," Paul said approaching the two from behind. "You literally got out of the hospital today. I can't risk you having back problems in the morning."

Reggie turned to face him. "Okay well what about Dawn? Where is she going to sleep?"

Dawn felt like she was intruding. "Guys, I said it before. I'm fine with sleeping on the couch," she repeated.

Paul looked at her suspiciously. "No you aren't," he said decisively. Dawn scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. "Since there are only two rooms in this house, I'll let you sleep in my room while I sleep in Reggie's room."

Dawn's jaw dropped slightly. She wasn't sure she would like to be in Paul's room and she was a bit surprised he made that offer. "But-"

"Perfect!" Reggie exclaimed. "Then no one will have to sleep on the couch," he said, as he escaped a yawn. "Well, goodnight, Dawn," he said before leaving the living room.

Dawn bit her lip, nervous of the idea of sleeping in someone's room, especially Paul's. To anyone else, it would not have been a big deal, but the thought of her just intruding someone's privacy was a bit disrespectful in her opinion.

"Paul you don't have to-"

"Must you argue with everything I say?" Paul cut her off. "If you think I'm letting you sleep on the couch…" he trailed off, not knowing how to finish the sentence. Dawn stayed silent. Paul turned his back against her and said, "I hope you don't take ages to come to the room," he said flatly before walking to his room.

Dawn sighed, accepting defeat.


Paul's room was not what Dawn had expected.

It seemed a bit colourful than she anticipated. There were framed pictures of Reggie on the wall, along with what she assumed to be their parents. A dark brown coffee table was sitting beside the small bed. Light violet drapes were placed on the wall in front of the window. There was also a bookshelf stacked with books across from the foot of the bed, probably filled with Paul's favourite books.

Paul looked at her. "Try not to destroy the room," he said, a light smirk on his lips.

Dawn rolled her eyes and then she realized she needed sleeping wear. "I don't have anything to wear," she said. "You think you have something I could borrow?" she asked a bit shyly.

Paul walked to his closet and rummaged through it, doubting he would have anything. All he had were sweater vests, shirts and pants. He glanced at Dawn and figured a long shirt would do for now. "Here," he said, handing the shirt to her.

She looked at it as if it was trash. "I'm not wearing that!" she exclaimed.

"Well excuse me for not having a girly dress or something," Paul retorted.

Dawn shook her head. "I didn't mean it like that. I mean…that's your shirt. Would that even fit me?" she asked and as a result, she found Paul eyeing her up and down. Of course, he probably didn't mean to check her out, but that didn't mean she didn't blush.

"It'll fit like a nightgown. Just wear it. And don't worry, I'll burn it afterwards," he smirked as he tossed the shirt towards her as she caught it quickly.

Dawn pressed her lips into a thin line and sighed. "Okay," she said.

Paul turned his back against her and was about to leave his room.

"Thanks, Paul," she said.

"Goodnight," was Paul's reply before he shut the door behind him.


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