After dropping off Aiichirou, Aki and Sousuke, Makoto drove to the hospital. Rin and Haruka were still asleep on the back seat. Nobody had wanted to disturb them it seemed. This left Makoto with the heavy task of waking them up.
"Rin, Haru," he said softly while shaking them.
Both woke up immediately. They looked at Makoto and at their surroundings and realized what was going on. They were holding outside the hospital. Makoto wanted Haruka's stomach checked out before they went home.
Both Rin and Haruka got out the car and they all went inside the building. Makoto left Rin and Haruka in the waiting area for a couple of minutes while he went and talked to a co-worker.
"Is it possible that I can have a scanning performed within the next half an hour?" Makoto asked, setting a decent time limit for both parties.
The woman, whom he worked with, checked the system. "I'm sorry, Tachibana-sensei, but no doctor is free at the moment," she said.
"Then, can I do it?" Makoto asked.
The woman shook her head. "You're off your shift, besides, it is the hospitals policy to not have someone work with someone they know from their personal life," she said. "You know that rule, Tachibana-sensei,"
Makoto nodded, letting out a heavy sigh. "Then… Isn't there someone on break?" he asked.
"I'm afraid not, everyone is occupied," the woman said.
"Tachibana?" Another doctor came over. "I found some kids in the waiting area who weren't registered. They said they were with you?"
"Ah, Serizawa-sensei," Makoto turned to another doctor whom he got along with very well. "Yes, I just came to have one of them scanned because he has been punched in the stomach a lot," Makoto explained. "You're still working?"
"Just got off break," Serizawa answered.
"Serizawa-sensei, there is a-" the woman started but Serizawa cut her off by raising a hand.
"I'll take a look at him then," he told Makoto. "I owe you one anyway,"
"Do you?" Makoto asked confused.
"Well, there was that time last year when you took my shift as I could make it to my friend's wedding," Serizawa said while laughing. "And a couple of more times too… I think just about everyone owes you one by now,"
Makoto smiled. "Thanks, Serizawa-sensei. I really appreciate it,"
"Go get them," Serizawa answered to this. He then turned to the woman. "Whatever you have to say, I'm sure it can wait just a couple of minutes, the scan has to be done before he eats anything, in case an organ has taken damage,"
The woman sighed and nodded, before leaving Serizawa to his own business.
Makoto went and got Rin and Haruka and they were led into a room by Serizawa. He had Haruka lay down and it only took a couple of minutes before he was scanned. Serizawa turned to Makoto with a deadly serious expression.
"Does he need hospitalization?" Makoto asked worriedly.
Serizawa smiled at him and shook his head. "You're so easy to fool, Tachibana," he said. "No, despite the ugly bruise, nothing has taken damage, at least nothing I can see. I would still be careful though,"
"What does that mean?" Rin asked.
Serizawa looked at him. "Meaning, he'll have to eat stuff that is easy to digest for the next week or so, just to be sure nothing goes wrong. Also, no sport allowed,"
Rin eyed Haruka. "Then you better train extra hard next week," he said. "Or you might never be able to catch up,"
Haruka just sent Rin a glare in response to that.
Makoto thanked Serizawa and then they were dismissed. He led the way out to the car and Rin and Haruka sat in the backseat again. It wasn't long before they fell asleep once more. The sun was setting now as Makoto drove all the way home, wondering if he could actually wake them up a second time.
Rin and Haruka hadn't been the only ones taking an afternoon nap. When they, along with Makoto, entered the apartment, they found Nagisa and Rei sitting in the couch, leaned against each other, both sound asleep. Judging from the wet stains on Nagisa's cheeks, they could tell he had been crying.
"When did they get home?" Haruka asked.
"Saturday morning," Rin said. "Gou returned here late on Friday saying Nagisa was somewhere in Osaka, completely out of money. They had spent the last money on Gou's ticket to Tokyo,"
"I see," Haruka said while watching the two.
As if he could feel Haruka's gaze through his sleep, Nagisa's eyes opened in just that instant and the first person his gaze landed on, was Haruka.
"Rei-chan!" he exclaimed while shaking the older boy harshly. "Rei-chan, wake up!" he yelled. "I'm hallucinating!"
Rei's eyes opened a bit slower than Nagisa's. "Hallucinating? What do you mean?" he asked tiredly.
"Haru-chan's back home!" Nagisa said.
Rin laughed. "He sure is," He wrapped an arm around Haruka.
Nagisa sat up straight and before anyone could even think to blink, he was jumping at Haruka, clinging to him like a koala bear to its mother. "Haru-chan is home!" he kept on yelling.
"I've told you to lay off with the –chan," Haruka muttered halfheartedly.
"Are you okay, Haruka? You seem fine…" Rei said while studying Haruka's body for anything out of the ordinary.
Haruka just nodded and Rei smiled gratefully in response.
Nagisa suddenly interrupted himself when he heard an odd sound coming from Haruka's stomach. "Have you eaten anything, Haru-chan?" he asked concerned, still clinging to Haruka.
Haruka looked away. "I ate water…" he said.
"That's not eating!" Rin yelled. "That's what common people call drinking water!"
"For how long haven't you eaten?" Makoto asked concerned.
Haruka said nothing at first, then it came quietly. "…Since Friday,"
Makoto sighed. "I see. Then… this diet might be a bit difficult,"
"Haru-chan's on a diet?" Nagisa asked.
"You could say that," Rin answered.
"Why?" Nagisa asked. "What happened? Did Haru-chan gain weight?"
Rin fought an inner battle to contain the laughter that was threatening to burst out. "No," he said. "He just received a beating from an asshole,"
"You weren't the one beating me up," Haruka commented.
"Are you saying I'm an asshole?" Rin yelled.
"Calm down in there!" Makoto yelled. "Rin, go take a bath,"
"Why me? Haru stinks more," Rin complained.
Makoto smiled at that statement. It was true, but he had a reason for this, and Rin knew it well enough. "Because if he gets to bath now, then you'll be the one to drag him out when I'm done preparing food in 10 minutes time," he said.
Rin sighed, getting Makoto's point. Then he went to take a quick shower instead of a bath.
"Yay! I can stick to Haru-chan!" Nagisa exclaimed while clinging even more to Haruka.
"Nagisa… maybe we should let Haruka sit down…." Rei said carefully. He moved a bit on the couch to make sure there was enough room for Haruka to sit down, even with a clingy Nagisa wrapped around him.
"It's good you're getting along," Haruka said as he sat down next to Rei, forcing Nagisa to let go of him.
Rei nodded. "And it's good to have you back," he answered. "But it won't be long before I move out," he said while refusing to look at Haruka and Nagisa. In return, both Haruka's and Nagisa's heads turned to face him with surprised expressions. None of them knew how to respond to Rei's last comment.
A small correction. For the AN last chapter, of course I meant chapter 38. I just really don't get along with numbers. It isn't really a secret that math is my worst subject at school.