I couldn't leave poor Nitori in torment forever, so you guys get a quick update because poor Nitori baby ;A;
Also first chapter of that sidefic will be up shortly! It, uh... It's birthdaysmutforMakoto ahahaha... yeaaah. Anyway. Happy reading! Here are tissues if you end up needing them!

Chapter 14- Of Acceptance and Wounds
Haruka-senpai (Haru, he had to call him Haru) had apparently already been coming down the stairs when Rin had shouted and once he heard his boyfriend in distress he'd been at the base of the stairs in no time flat. Makoto had come clattering down about three seconds later, panicking, and they were both frozen at the sight of Rin stripping Nitori of his sodden bookbag.

"Nitori-kun..?" Makoto said softly.

The silver-haired boy flinched and looked sharply up. Haru's eyes widened drastically, Makoto's jaw dropped, and the brunette rushed over, fluttering over the teen with an inordinate amount of motherly concern.

"Good heavens, Aiichirou-kun, what happened?!"

Faced with Makoto's kindness and worry, and Rin's overwhelming protectiveness, the silver-haired boy burst into tears.

Makoto wrapped an arm around the younger teen's shoulders, shushing him gently. In between the comforting nonsense the brunette's big-brother mode kicked in. "Ah, Aiichirou-kun, come with me, let's go sit in the dining room for a few minutes... Haru, fetch me the first aid kit. Rin, something warm to wear and something frozen for his eye."

Makoto's lovers split off to perform their tasks and Makoto sat the sobbing boy on the tatami, still murmuring nonsensical things and the occasional "It's all right."

"Makoto, I'm really, really sorry about this, I'm so sorry, really..!"

The brunette drew the boy to his chest in a one-armed hug and hushed him. "We're not mad, Aiichirou-kun. We could never be mad if you need us. And you remembered that we said we'd always be here for you. I'm glad!" Makoto smiled his reassuring smile at the sniffling younger boy just as Haru came back with the kit.

"Makoto." The black-haired boy said simply as he handed it over.

"Thanks, Haru-chan."

"Mako, I'm borrowing an old pair of sweatpants and Haru, I took this sweater of yours." Rin hummed as he blitzed back into the room. "Ai, here, gimme your wet clothes."

Nitori shook his head wildly side to side, clutching at his sopping wet jacket. "Nonono! Please! I-I'll just keep it on."

"No way!" Rin growled. "Nitori, don't make me yank it off you personally!"

Pale blue eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and Haru snapped a warning when the redhead reached for his roommate's coat.

"No!" The redhead barked back. "Give me the fucking jacket, Nitori."

"Rin, you're being too rough with him right now!" Makoto growled.

"Nitori. Ai. The jacket. Give it to me."

Oddly the strange dynamic between the two proved strong enough that Nitori listened to his upperclassman.
Swallowing hard, the silver-haired boy slowly shrugged (with plenty of winces) out of his jacket, handing it over reluctantly, knowing his sore shoulders were a patchwork of black-and-blue.

No one took it from him and when he looked up he was startled by the starkly different kinds of frustration he could see in equally different colored eyes.

Rin's rage he was used to; fiery and unquenchable.

Haru's fury was strange; slippery and yet almost tangible.

Makoto's anger was visceral; cold and threatening.

Rin took the jacket with shaking hands. "Are there more."

"M-my... My back. My legs. My..." The young boy hiccuped loudly. "My butt."

Rin snarled some English curse at the top of his lungs and he looked about as unhinged as he had at regionals.

"Rin," Makoto said softly. "I still need something frozen."

Panting, crimson eyes roiling with murder, the redhead stalked into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..!" Nitori whispered, rocking back and forth.

"A belt?" Haruka asked.

"Haru," Makoto chided.

"Y-yeah." Nitori whimpered, feeling strangely comfortable with telling them. "He was really drunk and he came in and he found my phone with texts to and from Kenji and he-!"

Makoto rubbed the boy's back. "I'm sorry, Aiichirou-kun."

Rin came back and handed a bag of frozen peas to the brunette. "Ai, you're staying here tonight. You won't be going anywhere."

Light blue eyes widened. "B-but! Matsuoka-senpai! Rin!"

The redhead waved off his roommate's complaints. "Don't even. Here, though, let's get you in warmer clothes and out of the wet ones."

They let him go into the living room and change away from their eyes but he could hear them conversing in tense low tones and once again felt awful for bothering them. He was such a useless little burden, wasn't he? A worthless fag...

"Ai? You done?"

He jumped. "Ah! Y-yes! I'm coming, Rin-senpai!"

The sweater smelled like fish and chlorine. Nanase-senpai's- Haru's- smell. The sweatpants were way too long and had to be rolled up about six times. He was glad they were the drawstring type or else they'd never have clung to his tiny hips.
Makoto had him sit and gently rubbed at his soaking wet hair, making a few cautious swipes over his aching face and patting his swollen eye dry so they could apply the frozen bag to it.

"Does he know you left?" Haru asked.

"I d-don't know," Nitori replied through a sniffle. "I don't really- really care. I had to get away."

Suddenly a fresh wave of tears rocked the small boy and Rin dropped to his knees and tugged him into a hug.

"He broke my phone!" Nitori wailed. "And- and he called me-"

The threesome winced simultaneously, more than able to imagine the names, and Rin pressed an uncharacteristically sympathetic kiss to the top of his roommate's head.

"Hey, Aiichirou-kun, if you keep that up the ice pack will get frozen to your eye. What matters for now is that you're safe. Please calm down."

"You're only going to give yourself a bigger headache," the redhead murmured against damp silver hair. "I would know."

"Because you're a crybaby," Haruka deadpanned.

"Why you-!"

"If you're going to fight, do it over something productive, like making Haru-chan's bed for our guest." Makoto snapped.

"Lay off the -chan." Haru, cowed, grumbled back. But he tugged on the strap of Rin's tank top and the two left.

Watching his lovers leave with an expression of fond exasperation Makoto cracked open the first aid kit and set to work.
A few bandages and applications of antiseptic cream later Nitori gathered the courage to speak his mind about something that had bothered him for a while.

"...Makoto, can I tell you something that may be a little weird?"

Makoto nodded but his eyes didn't leave the careful work he was doing: wrapping a length of bandage around the bruised boy's arm.

"The way you look at Haru and Rin."

Now green eyes flickered up, curious.

"I really like it. I can see how much you love them just with that look. It's just... How your expression softens and you smile. It's really nice."

Speechless, the brunette could only stare at the silver-haired boy. Then he beamed. "Thank you, Ai."

Nitori found himself grinning back, not even minding the switch from his first name to the nickname. "I-It's nothing!"

"Sugimura-kun looks at you that way, you know," Makoto said off-handedly.

The Samezuka student's eyes flew wide. "Eh?! H-he does? I-I-I've never noticed!"

"He only does it when he thinks you aren't looking." A snip of the scissors and the bandage was done and taped. "He really cares about you, Aiichirou-kun. And I know you really love him. So, if you'll forgive me for being presumptuous, in my opinion... I think you should call Kenji-kun, and tell him what's happened." Makoto admitted honestly.

"I don't want him to see me like this," Nitori sniffled, hiding his face in his knees. "I'm so embarrassed, and I don't want him to hate my dad, my dad is only mean when he's drunk..."

"Does he drink often?" The brunette asked quietly.

"N-no, not really."

"Well, that's... a little better. But Aiichirou-kun..." Pale blue hesitantly met deep emerald. "I do believe you should tell Sugimura-kun what's happened. If something were to happen to Rin or Haru and they didn't trust me enough to tell me, that would be worse than if they did tell me something awful. And you could really use someone who loves you with you at this hard time."

Nitori glanced down and noticed the small white-orange-black-furred body coming his way and with a cautious smile shifted to crossing his legs. Akiha came to him and crawled right up into his lap, putting a paw on the younger boy's chest and lifting herself to sniff his chin.

"Hi, Akiha-chan." Nitori croaked.

The kitten mewled and curled up in the silver-haired boy's lap with a content purr that made a lump rise into his throat.

"H-hi Aki- Aki-chan." He sobbed, big tears dripping into the cat's fur.

"Makoto!" He cried abruptly, head jerking up to meet startled green eyes. "Kenji... Kenji makes me so- so happy!" He sniffled and wiped his cheeks. "So happy! I love him so much! So why..." One large hand came out and the big brunette was kindly rubbing his back. "Why can't that be okay? Why is it bad that I love him?"

"Oh, Ai, it's so hard to say. Rin and I were very lucky our parents understand us. A lot of people don't like our kind of love... They think it's unnatural, and perverse. But that doesn't make them- doesn't make what happened to you tonight- right."

"The way I feel about Kenji can't be wrong, can it? I feel so happy around him! Sometimes, when he smiles, I feel like- like- like I could fly! My heart just..! I don't want to ever give that up, but how can I live without my parents? But I- I would rather be with Kenji than with my dad..." He sobbed, wiping his cheeks fervently again. "What do I do? What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, Makoto?"

Makoto drew the boy into a tight hug. "That's a hard question and I can't answer it for you, Ai. But know that Rin and Haru and I will be here for you no matter what."

"He's right," someone said softly.

Looking up from the brunette's shoulder Nitori blushed- Haru and Rin were both regarding him from the doorway- but Rin came in and patted his underclassman's shoulder.

"We're behind you all the way."

"And I think you should call Sugimura-kun too... But perhaps in the morning. Come on, Ai, go to sleep and we can talk more tomorrow." Haru held out a hand and Nitori gladly took it.

Swaddled in clothes too big for him and made comfortable in Haru's old bedroom, Nitori had never felt quite so... at home... before.

"Thank you so much... Makoto, Rin, Haru..."

"Anytime, Ai." Rin said softly.

"Sleep well!" Makoto added gently.

"Breakfast will be mackerel."

The pair rolled their eyes at their lover but it made the silver-haired boy giggle- they were so comfortable with each other.

"Good night."

"Good night," the threesome replied.

Nitori blundered down the stairs in the morning, only half-aware of his surroundings, and flinched as he tried to rub his bruised and painful eye.

"Not doing much better yet, huh?"

He blinked and looking beyond the too-long sleeve caught sight of Rin at the stove and Makoto leaning against the counter with a gentle gaze.

"I-it's fine." He said. "Thank you again for... all of this."

The brunette put a hand on the first year's shoulder. "Any time."

Nitori looked around. "Where's Nan- Haru?"

"Bath," the older boys responded simultaneously.

"He'll be there for a while, he just got in." Makoto explained.

"That's our hydrophile for you."

Something brushed his leg and Nitori jumped.
"Oh!" He chirped. "Akiha-chan!" He bent down and scooped up the kitten, who mewed and pawed at his nose. "Thank you for coming and sleeping with me last night!" He told the little Bobtail. "It made me feel a lot better!"

"So that's where she went."

Makoto didn't sound upset and if he looked past the orange ear in his face (Akiha nuzzled against his nose) Nitori could see the brunette wearing a smile.

"Yeah. Um, sorry..."

Rin waved his spatula idly, flipping over what looked like the top of an omelette. "Don't worry about it. Ever since Rei spoiled her with that pet bed she hardly sleeps with us anyway. I think she caught on to the fact that she could potentially be smushed between three guys. Rice omelette?"

Nitori nodded. "Yes please!"

"Would you like any painkillers? Haru probably has some stashed around the house somewhere. If not I can just run down to my house real quick."

Nitori started to bow but the throbbing behind his left temple was too much. "Yes! Makoto! That would be... very appreciated."

The brunette smiled as he left. Rin finished the current omelette and came to Nitori's side with a plate of food and forced the boy to sit on the couch.

"Oh! Th-thank you, Rin-senp-" the plate was shoved at him with a warning glare. "Thank you very much, Rin." Nitori corrected.

A mischievous shark-toothed grin, same as the one he'd seen when Rin stood on the diving block in Rei-kun's place at regionals, graced the redhead's face before he ruffled short gray hair.
The older boy went back to the small kitchenette and back to cooking. Akiha sat at his feet, big blue-green eyes begging for food, but the first year ignored her. He'd had better puppy-dog eyes from actual dogs. Nitori started to eat, surprised to realize how hungry he truly was, but then remembered he'd vomited the night previous and technically hadn't had anything to eat since lunch the day before. As the silver-haired boy devoured his food he noticed Makoto come back from the corner of his eye. The taller teen smiled at him- Nitori really liked Makoto's smile, it was really calming- then snuck up on Rin, which Nitori thought was pretty impressive for a guy his size.
Makoto grabbed Rin around the waist and planted a kiss on startled lips before he let the irate younger boy go. In return Rin spat a curse he didn't mean with his lips curving up like that. The brunette came his way, pelted halfway into the room by a piece of what looked to be ham, and handed him two pills.
Akiha's attention zoomed in on the piece of meat on the floor and she pounced on it, picking it up and trotting over to Nitori's feet to eat it.

"I have more if you need any," Makoto told him. "Just let me know."

Nitori beamed up at the kindly older boy. "Thank you, Makoto."

Rin handed another omelette to his boyfriend a few minutes later and sat down with one of his own, wedging between his friend and his lover on the couch. He nudged Makoto until the brunette laughed and agreed to turn on the television and then he just melted back into his cushion and ate slowly.

Halfway through their breakfast something smacked into Rin's shoulder and he yelped, clutching the wounded arm.
"What the fuck..? Haru, the hell was that about?!"

"It wouldn't shut up so I turned it off. You have messages."
His curt piece said Nitori watched Haru walk into the kitchen without a backwards glance. Grumbling next to him, Rin unearthed his phone from between his hip and his roommate's and turned it on.

After a moment Rin hissed a curse.

Makoto was instantly on alert, his huge frame tensing, and he looked to his boyfriend. "Rin? What's wrong?"

Nitori's eyes were drawn unabashedly to the hand the brunette had placed on his lover's thigh and was struck once again by the comfortable simplicity of their movements, every little thing that made them a couple, a threesome.

"We forgot," Rin grumbled. "Today is Nagisa's movie party. The one we agreed to hold here."

Nitori slowly dropped his fork to his plate. He'd forgotten too, the contents of the messages he'd been exchanging with his boyfriend overlooked in favor of endlessly hearing the crunch of plastic under his father's heel and the snap of his belt.
He couldn't even remember the noise his phone made to signal a new text, and that had become his favorite sound in the world in the last few weeks.
He couldn't remember the sound of his boyfriend's voice and suddenly he could feel tears running down his cheeks.
The careful hand on his shoulder was familiar.

"Ai? What's wrong?"

"I want to call Kenji," he sobbed.

Haru had come in and taken his hand, leading him to the house phone, and with shaky hands he dialed the number he had learned by heart.

"Hello? Who is this?"

Relief flooded through Nitori at the sound of his boyfriend's voice. The soothing low timbre calmed his shaking hands and reminded his pained heart to beat.
"Kenji?"

A sigh of relief and joy. "Ai, it's you. What happened to your cell phone?"

"Are you still coming to Nanase-senpai's today?"

"Yeah, I was going to pick you up in a little while. Ai, what's wrong? Please tell me. You sound upset."

Fear gripped his chest. "You can't go to my house, Kenji! Promise me!"

"Aiichirou..?"

"Ken please. Please just don't."

His voice cracked and he heard Kenji breathe in sharply. "Ai, something is wrong. Why shouldn't I go to your place? What's wrong?"

"Just go straight to Nanase-senpai's. I'll... meet you there."

Kenji wasn't like Rin- hotheaded and prone to destructive bouts of temper- but Kenji had money and lawyers and that may have been a worse option.

"A- okay. Okay, Ai, I'll trust you. I'm headed out now."

Nitori gave a quiet reprimand but the line had already gone dead.

He shuffled back to the living room and interrupted what looked like a very heated kiss between Makoto and Rin.

Haru, though, immediately looked up at the silver-haired boy. "We can cancel today if you want to."

Nitori shook his head and smiled brightly. "No! Please have this movie marathon. It'll be good for everybody and I want Kenji to see... me... firsthand."

Nagisa was texted a warning not to freak out when he arrived and Makoto calmly fielded every panicked text following that. Haru handed over some of his older clothes for the silver-haired boy, which certainly fit better than Makoto's sweatpants. Akiha followed Nitori around like a splotchy shadow and it made the teen laugh.

He had given in and was giggling, tickling Akiha's belly with a feather wand, when the loud whine reverberated through the house.
"Haru-chaaaaaan!"

Rin looked heavenward and rolled off the couch. "I'll fetch the demon and his ineffectual handler."

Nagisa's next whine cut off in an excited squeal. "Haru-chaaa- Rin-chan!"

"Just come in, brat."

"So what was-"

"Nagisa-kun! Wait, Rin-senpai! H-hold the door!"

The silver-haired boy froze, his heart pounding at the familiar voice.
Kenji's arrived.

"Sugimura-kun, a moment alone, please?"
Haru.

Nitori set the cat toy down and twisted his hands in his lap. He swallowed hard and jumped at the hand that came down to rub his back, glancing over his shoulder and smiling in the face of the brunette's reassuring grin.

"It'll be okay, Aiichirou-kun."

The silver-haired boy nodded. "Yes! It will. I trust Kenji."

Rin herded the Iwatobi first years off toward the kitchen, muttering something against the rising tide of Nagisa's complaints, and Nitori drew his shoulders up as he heard two sets of footsteps coming his way.

"But, Haruka-senpai, what's going- Ai?"

He sounded astonished and upset and worried and it made Nitori bite his lip. "Um, I... Kenji, I have something to tell you and you'll probably be really mad! But I agreed with Makoto last night that you need to know, and-"

"Why won't you turn around?"

The silver-haired boy started shaking, squeezing his hands together, and took in a shuddery breath. Makoto flashed him an encouraging grin and Haru trailed a hand lightly over his shoulders as he went to his lover's side.

"Please don't be mad." Nitori whispered... and turned around.

Sugimura's jaw dropped. In the space of a second he darted across the distance between them and drew the older boy into his arms.

"Oh my god, Aiichirou, what happened? What-" and after a second he asked with real venom, "Does this have to do with your dad? You didn't want me to go to your house, is that-"

Nitori couldn't speak. For the first time since the night previous he felt truly safe.

His knees gave out and he dissolved into tears against his boyfriend's chest.

Above his head Makoto and Haruka told Sugimura about the whole incident as they knew it and the Samezuka first year was trembling with ill-concealed fury. Despite his anger he ran his fingers through short gray hair, knowing the gesture soothed his boyfriend, and hummed a song Nitori didn't know under his breath.

Nagisa shrieked the second he saw the still-sniffling silver-haired boy, who'd finally gathered the courage to face the rest of his friends.

"Ai-chan! What happened?! Oh no oh no!"

Despite his tears Nitori had to laugh at his friend's overwhelming personality. "I-it's okay, Nagisa-kun. I'm... I'm doing much better. Last night was... Anyway! It's okay. Let's just watch some movies!"

Nagisa's bright pink eyes narrowed, dancing a fine line between anger and sadness, but he heaved a sigh that sounded like disappointment and said "Fiiiine."
He spilled out the contents of his backpack, much to Rei's disgust, and started rattling off titles.
The first was picked- Spirited Away- and Haru was entranced the second he first saw water. Makoto and Rin had boxed their boyfriend between them, leaning on his arms once they realized he had been subconsciously undoing his shirt buttons.
Akiha, purring up a storm, lay on her back on Rei's crossed legs. The blonde and the blue-haired boy entertained her with little wiggles of their fingers and a spare crinkling ball.
Between movies- next was still being debated- Rei cast a worried look at him from the corner of his eye and pushed up his glasses.

"Forgive my asking, Aiichirou-kun, but... What do you plan to do about going home?"

Nitori bit his lip and twisted his borrowed sweater in his lap. "I don't want to yet... but I can't live on Haru and Makoto and Rin's hospitality forever."

"You're welcome here as long as you like," Rin said, accurately judging and translating Haru's troubled expression.

Nitori shook his head. "No, I couldn't possibly."

"But you're not going back there!" Nagisa yelped.

Sugimura's smile was like stone. "Ai can come home with me until things clear up. My house is huge."

Nagisa nodded and while his face and demeanor read a more playful side of seriousness his friends could tell he was truly seething because Hazuki Nagisa kept all his negative emotions under an average of three layers of deflection. "I think that's best. Ken-chan has a huge house, doesn't he?"

"Yeah. My parents are rich and so we have a big house on the outskirts of Iwatobi. Ai can stay with me."

"K-Kenji, I don't want to be a nuisance-"

Golden eyes were warm when Nitori met them. "You're no nuisance to me, Aiichirou."

Light blue eyes started to well with tears and Rin laughed, hooking an arm around the silver-haired boy's neck and dragging his underclassman to his side. "Stop crying! Be happy already, would you? Nagi, for shit's sake, pick a good movie."

"Right!" The blonde cheered, pumping a fist in the air.

A scramble and quiet argument between Rei and Nagisa had the blue-haired boy emerging victorious holding Howl's Moving Castle and Akiha running for Makoto's embrace. Nagisa whined that he wanted Wolf Children but he was overruled as Rei inserted the disk.

"Boooo," the blonde whined, flopping heavily across Rei's lap. "Rin-chan told me to pick it!"

"It was one of your movies anyway, Nagisa."

"Yeah, but..."

Rin and Haru rolled their eyes at the Reigisa pair and Rin sighed, shoving Haru into Makoto's side and pillowing his head on Haru's thigh. The black-haired teen sighed tiredly at the rough treatment- Rin was prone to force when he was sleepy and wanted something- but his hands still found their way into soft red hair.

All three- and Nitori- had passed out before Howl showed Sophie the garden.

So there you go~ Ah, poor little Nitori... (Seriously, ya damn shota, when did you become one of my favorites? It's because I gave you a boyfriend... *grumbles*) Don't worry, everyone, he gets an extremely fluffy chapter of the sidefic all to himself and his precious little boyfriend~