"Aniki." Ryousuke paused, hand hovering above his drink selection. "Can I talk to you?"

Dispensing the drink of his choice, the elder Kominato pulled it out and turned to his little brother. "I'm surprised okaa-san and otou-san let you come. It was hard enough for them to let me come here."

Shifting slightly, Haruichi absently rubbed at his chest. "It wasn't easy." Eyes darting around, he tilted his head slightly. "Is there somewhere private we can talk?"

Ryousuke raised an eyebrow. "We can't talk here?"

Haruichi didn't want to have this conversation where anyone could overhear. He also knew his brother would keep playing this game until he either said it out in the open, or got fed up and tried again later. Biting his lip and staring at the ground, he felt his cheeks heat up. "Please onii-chan." He grimaced lightly. He wasn't fond of using this tactic, but as far as he knew it was the fastest way to get his brother to shut up and listen to what he had to say.

Feeling a hand on his, he followed Ryousuke to the third year's room where the elder teen proceeded to kick out his roommates and lock the door. "What's wrong?"

At least there wasn't hesitation. Rubbing his hands lightly, Haruichi looked everywhere but at his brother. "Okaa-san and otou-san only let me come here on the promise I'd tell the coach and you what was going on." The elder teen stayed silent, gesturing him to go on.

Gripping the hem of his shirt, Haruichi swallowed and quickly pulled it off. He kept his head down, waiting for his brother to say something. A minute or two went by in silence before fingers lightly touched the skin where the ICD protruded slightly.

"Explain."

Looking up through his lashes, the younger Kominato put a hand over his heart. "It's called Long QT Syndrome, and it's a variation of arrhythmia. Basically my heart has trouble beating normally, and is at a higher risk of going into cardiac arrest. This," He traced the small box implanted into his chest, "Is an ICD – an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. It send shocks to my heart to keep it beating at a normal rhythm."

He glanced up at Ryousuke, before his eyes trailed back down to the floor. "I told the coach the day I got here."

The elder teen didn't say anything for a while, his fingers just lightly tracing the small box before he touched the scar from the surgery. "It looks old."

Now for the hard part. "I got it the end of my first year of middle school." Haruichi licked his lips. "I'd fainted and okaa-san couldn't wake me up, so she called an ambulance. Tajima-sensei asked me some questions when I did wake up, and ran a few tests, before declaring it Long QT Syndrome. He told okaa-san and otou-san the options and they decided the ICD would be the best."

He flinced when his brother put one hand under his chin, forcing him to look up, and raked his bangs back with the other. It was the first time Haruichi had seen his brother's eyes open in a long time, and he gulped slightly. "Why didn't you tell me?"

As much as he wanted to look away, he couldn't. "I…You were near finals. I-I didn't want to bother you b-because you were b-busy."

"Do you think I'd care? You, okaa-san, and otou-san waited two years to finally tell me? What if you'd had a serious problem or died? Would anyone bother to tell me about it then?" Haruichi flinched. "And what about those times I was home for break? Why couldn't you have told me then?"

"I…I-It didn't c-come up." His brother looked so hurt, and guilt was swelling up inside Haruichi.

"These things don't just come up." Clenching his teeth, Ryousuke sighed and closed his eyes once more, letting Haruichi's head go and pulling him into a hug. The younger teen ignored the stinging in his eyes, and hugged his brother back.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know how to tell you."

Hearing and feeling the third year take a deep breath, Haruichi was slightly disappointed when the hug was broken. "Tell me now then." Ryousuke sat on his bed, patting the spot next to him. "Tell me everything about what's been happening, and what I need to know about this Long QT Syndrome."

Picking up his shirt and pulling it back over his head, Haruichi sat next to his brother. "I have to go meet the cardiologist every month, so they can do a check up and make sure everything's alright both with my heart and with the ICD. Other than that, I have to sit or lay down if I'm feeling tired or dizzy. And I can't have electronics around the ICD too long, or it might malfunction."

Kicking off his shoes, he scooted back so he was leaning against the headboard. "After I got it, I had to stay in the hospital for a night, and then couldn't do a lot of exercise or heavy lifting for a month afterwards. Okaa-san kept me from practicing baseball for another week after that though. She also wanted me to quit playing, even though Tajima-sensei said I'd be fine if I was careful.

"Which reminds me, I can't slide headfirst, or come into physical contact during the games or I might damage it. Since I'm not playing a position that's really physical, it should be fine." Tilting his head back, he tried to remember if there was anything else. "Oh yeah, okaa-san wanted me to tell you to call home more." Grinning, he said, "She made me promise to call home once a week because of you. She's afraid I'll be like you have been and not call much at all."

Shaking his head, Haruichi finished, "That's basically everything that happened. Nothing else out of the ordinary besides that." Leaning his head against his older brother's shoulder, he asked, "What's it been like here? You never really said anything about it."

Ryousuke hummed and absentmindedly ran his fingers through Haruichi's hair. "There's not much to say. Practice is hard, we're forced to eat three bowls of rice a day, and classes are what you'd expect."

Huffing, the younger Kominato asked, "What was your first year here like?"

"Well, the uniform they gave me didn't fit, so it was really baggy." Haruichi laughed at the image. "The upperclassmen tried to make fun of me for it, but it backfired on them." The grin on Ryousuke's face told Haruichi he probably didn't want to know. "We were actually told – the other first years and I – that we had no talent and would never be regulars on the team. Jokes on them because now we are."

The younger Kominato was surprised. His brother was one of the best players he knew! How could they tell him he had no talent? Tokyo was weird. "We all had to work hard to get those regular spots though. And we've trained hard these past two years to get to Koshien. This year, we're going to make it."

As Haruichi listened to his older brother tell stores of his past two years here, his eyes started to slide shut. It had been a long day, and sitting next to his brother like this, listening to him talk, was so comfortable. Curling a little closer, he let himself drift off to sleep.

Ok, so, not gonna lie. I have the next, like, 6 chapters written out for this. Honestly, I just keep forgetting to update. I hope you all are liking the story even though it's taking a while to play out! Let me know what you thought!