Mr. Madsen gave a final wave before he left the nurses office, his heavy boots ringing throughout the office.

"You said that the boy had punched you in the side? May I take a look to be sure nothing is broken?" The nurse asked. "Oh, yeah. Of course." Warren said, lifting his shirt gingerly. The nurse looked over the bruise that was starting to form, pressing lightly. Warren hissed sharply, wincing away from her hand. Warren could feel Nathan's eyes on him, but he did his best to ignore it.

"Your rib may be bruised. There's really nothing we can do about it except ice it at least 3-4 times a day, take some anti inflammatory medication, and stay away from any physical activity. Are you in any sports?" Warren looked over at Nathan again. They both had swim. Well, Nathan never really showed up, but he was on the team. "Swim." Warren said finally. The nurse nodded, looking in between Warren and Nathan.

"Okay, well, you're going to need to rest here for a little bit before I let you go, okay? Lay back and I'll get you some ice." The nurse said before she rolled over to the mini fridge on the other side of the room to get ice for Warren. Warren winced as he tried his best to lie down without hurting himself. Nathan almost rushed to help, but he restrained himself as he watched Warren settle back on the bed's pillow.

"Mr. Prescott, you don't need to stick around anymore. I assure you, Warren is perfectly fine under my care." The nurse said politely as she returned to Warren with the ice. Nathan shoved his hands in his pocket awkwardly, "Uh… yeah. See ya..." He said as he turned to leave.

"Wait! I mean, uh, can you stay?" Warren asked, trying to sit up. "Here, let me adjust this." The nurse said, handing him the ice. Warren placed the ice against his ribs as she reached underneath the bed and it slowly adjusted so Warren was sitting up, staring into Nathan's eyes. Nathan thought about it. He probably shouldn't stick around… "Please…" Warren practically begged, looking to the nurse to help.

She saw the pleading in his eyes and realized the situation between the two, "U-Uh, yeah! You should stay. I need to make up a note for the Swim coach and call his mother, so I won't be able to watch him constantly to make sure he stays awake. You know, with his concussion and all. It'd help me out a lot if you could help me watch him." She said, winking at Warren.

He smiled, but stopped smiling at the sight of Nathan's blank expression. Nathan looked between the nurse and Warren, and then sighed. "Fine…" Warren bit his tongue to keep from smiling in triumph. "You can sit here while I got fill out the paper work, Hun." She said as she stood from the stool, and motioned to it. He sat down and she smiled at him. "You two have fun." She winked as she left the room.

The two were left in silence as the nurse closed the door to the room. "Are y—

"Thank you, for getting Mr. Madsen. That last punch really shook me." Warren realized he had cut Nathan off and apologized immediately. "I'm sorry. What were you going to say?" Nathan rethought his words. "Are you stupid?" Nathan asked finally. He seemed angry, but his expression was concerned, which threw Warren off. "What do y—

"Seriously, are you fucking retarded!? Why would you go through all of that for me…?" Nathan's yell slowly morphed into a whisper. Warren furrowed his eyebrows. "Well if I didn't, then who would? You clearly needed help—

"I did not need help! I had it all under control..." It was Warren's turn to scoff. "If things were so under control, would that guy have grabbed you the way he did!? Those guys were both clearly larger than you; did you really think you were going to be able to walk out of that?" Warren asked, clearly upset that Nathan was trying to seem tough now of all times.

Nathan had his eyes on the floor, he felt like he was getting scolded and he didn't like it. Silence fell between the two once again. Nathan knew that when he saw Warren in the hallway, he was silently hoping he would help him, but not like this... He didn't want him to get hurt or anything… "Thank you, Warren… I-I was scared, a-and you helped me… I…" Nathan struggled with his words.

Warren could tell he was visibly uncomfortable. Nathan didn't seem like he was good at showing any emotion aside from anger. Warren reached over and softly put his hand on Nathan's shoulder. Nathan looked up at him, his eyes were watery.

"Forget about it." Warren smiled. "I'll take it as karma. I had it coming for what I did to you before." Warren joked. Nathan couldn't help the smile that slowly took over his features after looking at Warren. "You look good when you smile." Warren randomly blurted out. His eyes widened when he realized he had said out loud what he was thinking. Nathan looked shocked, a slight blush on his cheek. Warren slowly took his hand back and cleared his throat.

"S-So… Do you like manga?" Warren said as he tried to change the subject. He reached into his satchel and pulled out Naruto Volume 3. "I just started reading this one. It's an anime too, but I thought the whole 'The book is better than the show.' Thing might apply so I wanted to read a few of these before I watched it." Warren said as he offered the book to Nathan.

Nathan took the book, looking at the back of it confused. There were only ads. "Oh, the Japanese read from right to left so the book's front is actually on the opposite side…" Warren informed as he flipped the book over in Nathan's hands. Nathan seemed intrigued as he read the cover. "What's it about?" he asked as he opened it.

"Well there's this kid named Naruto, and he lives in this village that teaches children how to become ninjas. It's pretty cool, but I'm not too into reading, I'm more of a movie guy. I'm thinking about just ditching the books and watching it instead."Warren said as he laid back into the bed. "I think I've heard of this one. I've never read any of these… but I've seen a few Studio Ghibli movies. Is all anime like that?" Nathan asked as he glanced over the pages. Warren closed his eyes. "Hmmm… I guess. But some art styles are different."

This was the first conversation the two had ever shared and it honestly felt pretty good. It was like the bad things from before never even happened. He was finally looking at Nathan like he was a person and not some figure that everyone talked about. Nathan seemed like he liked movies, his huge collection practically calling out to Warren. They should watch a movie together or something. Warren smiled at the thought of the two of them watching some cheesy movie, as he rested his head back against his pillow.

Nathan noticed that Warren was being a little too silent and looked up to see him with his eyes closed. "Warren!" He shouted, accidentally dropping the book on the floor as he moved to shake Warren's shoulder. Warren's eyes shot open, his body suddenly being jerked around. "O-Ow. Shit. You've got a strong grip." Warren commented rubbing shoulder after Nathan let go of it. Nathan looked distressed as he bent over to pick the book back up.

"Talk more. It keeps you awake." Nathan instructed as he watched Warren intently. Warren didn't argue. He could talk for hours. "Do you like the book?" he asked, pointing to the book that found its way back into Nathan's hands. Nathan nodded. "The art is cool." He admitted, shrugging to stay cool. Warren smirked. He wished he was that cool. Nathan was way nerdier than he'd like to admit, and Warren could tell. It would be awesome if the two could hang out.

Fuck it. Might as well...