Nagisa and Rei were already in Makoto's room as Rin and Haruka reached them. Makoto was asleep and Rei was checking up on him at the moment.
"How is he?" Rin asked.
"His fever is rather high…" Rei said.
"Is Mako-chan dying?" Nagisa asked while looking up at Rei with teary eyes.
"I don't know. I don't even know what could've caused this," Rei answered truthfully. He turned back to Makoto and placed a cool cloth on his forehead.
"Could it just be the cold that we all caught?" Rin asked. "It doesn't seem unlikely."
"It's more than that," Rei said. "A cold normally wouldn't get this bad, and not so quickly either… unless he got sick before and just pretended to be fine to take care of us."
Haruka thought. "What about stress and overwork?" he asked.
All eyes turned to him. It seemed neither of the others had thought of this as something that could cause Makoto to get sick like this.
"Makoto has been working hard lately. When he comes home he shows signs of having been working hard and after we all got sick, his work didn't stop once he came home because he had to take care of us. Of course the cold also plays a part," Haruka explained.
"You think that could be it?" Rin asked, looking from Rei to Haruka.
"What do we do then?" Nagisa asked.
"What do we do about what?" Makoto asked in a tired voice. His eyes were only half open as he turned his head to look at his boys' worried expressions.
"How are you feeling, Makoto?" Rei asked.
"Tired," Makoto answered truthfully. "Don't worry. I'll be up in a bit," he said, smiling.
All the boys shook their heads and Rei looked at Makoto. "Stay in bed. We'll take care of you. You have a high fever," he explained.
Makoto smiled. "So that's what the worried looks are about." He turned to look at Haruka. "Should you be up already?" he asked.
Rin looked to Haruka as well. There was still a hint of a flush on his cheeks from the fever but it clearly wasn't as bad as it had been on the day before.
"You're still sick Haru, go back to bed!" Rin said.
"You were the one who got me out of bed in the first place," Haruka answered.
"You could've just said you wanted to stay in bed!" Rin yelled.
"If you wanted to give me a choice you shouldn't have said that-." Haruka was cut off by Nagisa stepping in between them.
"Stop it, Rin-chan, Haru-chan. Don't argue here!" he yelled at both of them.
Rin and Haruka looked from Nagisa, to Rei and Makoto and then to each other before they nodded. This wasn't the time or the place to start an argument, especially not while Makoto was there.
"I'll go make some tea," Haruka said.
"Are you going back to bed then?" Rin asked.
"Yeah," Haruka answered, knowing he would cause another argument to break out if he didn't. It was strange how he felt like he'd become more conscious of this. He had become a bit more aware of when it wasn't okay to start an argument with Rin and he felt like they had become better at making up too. He wondered if this would've happened anyways or if it was thanks to them being taken in by Makoto.
Haruka went out of the room and downstairs to prepare the tea while the others stayed back in Makoto's room. They had a bit more questions to ask him before he went back to sleep.
"What else should we do?" Rin asked, completely out of ideas of how to take action in this situation.
Makoto thought. "First off, call the hospital and tell them I'm sick," he said. "I'm not even sure I could get up if I wanted to." He smiled as he said this. "Then…" He thought some more before speaking again. "I don't want to worry too many people. This will be over soon anyways," he said. "Do you three think you can take care of the house just for today and perhaps tomorrow?" he asked.
Rei nodded. "But what about food?" he asked.
"The convenience store should be open," Rin said. "We could go there and buy meals?"
Makoto nodded. "There are also some leftovers in the fridge. Eat them first, and just come ask me if you need to know more of what to do."
All three nodded.
"Nagisa, we should go do whatever homework you have." For a change, it was Rin who suggested this. Normally it would be Rei who spoke of homework, but Rin figured that since he was the more mature one, he would have to be responsible for taking care of Makoto.
"If you say so, Rin-chan," Nagisa agreed before he and Rin headed out of the room. Rei followed shortly after.
"Rei," Makoto called before he could leave.
Rei stopped in the doorway and looked back at Makoto. "What is it? Do you need something?" he asked.
"Are you all okay, Haru's still sick but what about the rest of you?" Makoto asked.
"We're fine," Rei said. "Haruka's fever seems to have gone down and Rin, Nagisa and I have almost no traces of being sick left. You don't need to worry about us, just worry about getting better soon," he said.
Makoto smiled. "Thank you, all of you," he said before he closed his eyes to go back to sleep. Rei closed the door behind him.
Makoto was sick for two full days but when he called in on Friday morning to say that he would come to work, they told him to stay home for the rest of the week until he had rested up enough.
"They probably don't want to risk that I infect anyone," Makoto said, smiling as he hung up. "How long is school out anyways?" he asked.
"The plan is that we start up again on Monday," Rei said. They had received a letter from the school on that same morning.
"I think we were lucky," Rin said as he slowly dug into one of the convenience store meals he and Rei had been out buying on the day before.
"How so, Rin-chan?" Nagisa asked.
"I heard from one of my classmates that both he and his little sister have been sick for nearly a week now," Rin answered.
"Was that the one you were on the phone with last night?" Nagisa asked. "I thought it was your girlfriend," he smiled widely as he teased Rin.
"I'm 10 years old. I don't have a girlfriend!" Rin yelled.
"It'll be good once things can go back to normal," Makoto said while looking at Haruka. "I'm sure you miss swimming too. Don't you?" he asked.
Haruka felt like he'd been read like an open book but he said nothing. In truth, this had just been what he'd been thinking anyways. He really missed the water. It wasn't until this morning he'd been allowed to use the bathtub. Makoto and Rei had both been strict about it. The argument was that they didn't want him to get sick again. Haruka didn't want to get sick again either, but he didn't think the water would do that to him. The water liked him after all.
"Anyways," Makoto raised his voice as everyone could hear him. "Let's put some warm clothes on and go grocery shopping. I want to make something delicious tonight, seeing as we've all recovered." He smiled as he said this.
"I want mackerel," Haruka stated.
"Nobody else wants that!" Rin yelled. "I want a hot-pot!"
"Yay! Hot-pot!" Nagisa yelled happily.
"A hot-pot doesn't sound so bad considering how cold it has become outside," Rei answered with a gentle smile on his face.
Makoto nodded. "Then let's make a hot-pot," he said while sending Haruka an apologizing look. He knew that mackerel had become Haruka's favorite dish. But this was democracy after all and he was personally more up for the hot-pot too than the mackerel and he knew Haruka would go along with it if everyone else did.
So only five minutes later, they were all dressed in warm clothing and went down to get all the ingredients they would need for a hot-pot. And that night they celebrated that none of them were sick anymore.