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Sakura sighed as he counted the heads of his classmates. A nasty bug had been making its way around Furin, taking out at least a couple students from each class. While he wasn’t the best at mental maths, Sakura could already tell that today’s patrol groups would have to be smaller in order to cover enough ground.
“Okay,” he sighed, grabbing the chalk and beginning to write on the blackboard, “we’ll have to do groups of two. Pair off with whoever, then I’ll assign your route.”
He turned back to the class, who were already organising themselves into pairs. His gaze drifted over to the window, eyes narrowing when he spotted his closest friend. Nirei, to his surprise, was staring off at the horizon, not at all listening or engaging.
Sakura frowned, putting down the chalk and approaching the blonde. “Nirei?”
Said boy blinked rapidly at the address, eyes widening, “S-Sakura-san? Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Sakura fought to conceal the worry in his voice, “patrol’s groups of two. You’re with me,” he stated simply, leaving no room for argument.
Unsurprisingly, Nirei made no attempt to disagree, bouncing up from his chair and gathering his things, “great! Let’s get going then!”
A small smile spread across Sakura’s face at his friend’s enthusiasm. He waited by the door as Nirei threw all his belongings into his bag and scurried over.
The patrol itself was quiet. Aside from helping change a bulb in the butchers, it felt more like the two teens were taking a leisurely stroll, not helping defend the town. Small bits of conversation bounced between the two, but Sakura couldn’t ignore the niggling feeling at the back of his mind every time Nirei’s gaze drifted off or his steps slowed.
Twenty minutes into their walk, a thud caught Sakura’s attention. He spun around to the source, only to see Nirei leaning heavily against a wall, his bag’s contents spilled at his feet.
“S-sorry! My grip suddenly slipped,” the blonde quickly excused, crouching down and starting to gather his belongings.
A fond sigh escaped th bi-coloured boy as he joined in, “you should zip up your bag.”
“I forgot,” Nirei replied sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.
Once they’d gathered everything, including his one, two, three, four- he carries seven notebooks around??? Sakura stood, offering a hand. Nirei smiled in response, securing his bag over his shoulder before allowing himself to be pulled upwards. Sakura didn’t plan on maintaining the contact for too long, but when Nirei’s knees suddenly buckled beneath him, his other hand quickly darted out to catch him.
“Woah! You good?”
The shorter stumbled back, laughing awkwardly, “yeah, just… got a little dizzy. You know when you stand up too quickly? Haha…”
Sakura raised a brow, arms still outstretched to catch the other, “then why are you flushed?”
“I am?” The other stuttered, bringing his hands to his cheeks, “o-oh, huh…”
Sakura watched, frozen, as Nirei’s face suddenly paled, all colour draining from his cheeks. His hands dropped, body quickly following, and Sakura barely had the time to rush forward and make sure his friend didn’t face plant the ground.
Nirei was a dead weight in his arms, breaths heavy and body warm. A sharp spike of fear shot up the teen’s spine as he watched for a few moments, making sure Nirei wasn’t dying. Once his heart began to slow, he carefully shifted the body in his arms, laying Nirei’s head in his lap as he reached for the once-again-discarded school bag.
He located Nirei’s wallet, pulling out the little contact card and reading the address. He’s pretty sure he knows that street… maybe. How does that app on his phone work again?
After far too much trial and error, Sakura managed to type Nirei’s address into the map and a robotic voice began spouting directions. He flailed momentarily, zipping up the bag and getting his friend on his back before hurrying down the road.
Thankfully, the house wasn’t very far. Sakura carefully read each name-plate, breathing out a sigh of relief when he found the Nirei household. He once again invited himself into Nirei’s bag, pulling out a set of keys with far too many keychains and unlocking the door.
The house was quiet as he slipped off his shoes, padding upstairs. At the end of the hallway, an unassuming door had a colourful plaque, “Akihiko” scrawled on it in a child’s handwriting. He readjusted his hold, pushing open the door with his foot and freezing at the sight before him.
Nirei’s room was… very him…
Sakura couldn’t help his wandering eyes as he deposited the blonde on his bed. To think one person could own so many things. He was a little impressed.
A groan from the bed pulled Sakura from his musings. He turned and sat on the edge of the mattress, observing Nirei. He hadn’t woken up, but he was tossing and turning as if he were in pain.
It then hit Sakura.
He didn’t know what to do.
He’d never taken care of a sick person before. Never been close enough to anyone for the need to arise. But, he couldn’t just leave.
Sure, he usually dealt with colds by sleeping them off. But that was him! Not Nirei! He had to at least deal with the worst of it but… what does that entail? Running a hand through his hair, the boy carefully stood so as to not jolt the bed, and moved to locate the bathroom. He was pretty sure people usually kept medicines there.
There was a cabinet with a mirror on the door above the sink. He cautiously opened it, feeling a little bad about how readily he was exploring this unknown home, and looked at the first box he saw.
Hay fever tablets. They wouldn’t help.
He put the box back, rummaging further. Near the back of the shelf was a small bottle, the label old and peeling. Sakura could just make out the word “fever” as he pulled it out, a new hope sparking in his chest… only to see the date on the cap. They’d gone out of date two years ago.
The bi-coloured teen let out a frustrated groan, dropping the bottle into the nearest bin. Who kept expired medication around? A hand dragged across his face as he tried to think. Medicine would be the best way to help, but he’d need to leave Nirei alone to buy some, and he didn't want to do that.
Just as he was going to return to the bedroom, a face towel hanging on the edge of the bath caught his eye. Oh!
He grabbed the towel, soaking it under the cold tap and wringing out the excess, before hurrying back to Nirei. The boy was still asleep on the bed, face scrunched and a noticeable red burning his cheeks.
Sakura brushed back the hair stuck to Nirei’s forehead and carefully laid the towel down. His shoulders slumped in relief when Nirei’s expression finally relaxed, and Sakura found himself sinking to the floor next to the bed.
He let his eyes wander again, now that the immediate issue was resolved. A pile of manga under the bed caught his eye, and without thinking, he flipped open the first volume.
The room gradually got darker as Sakura read and Nirei slept. By the time the sun was kissing the horizon, the younger teen was several volumes in and thoroughly invested. It was only a muffled groan that ripped him away from reading. His head spun around, only to come nose to nose with Nirei’s mortified face.
Sakura stumbled back, pushing away from the bed and trying not to scream at the unexpected proximity.
“Y-you’re awake!?”
“You read… you read those!?”
They both yelled at the same time. There was a sudden stalemate as the two looked at each other, eyes wide for different reasons. It was only broken by Nirei leaning too far off the bed and crumpling on the floor.
Sakura jumped forwards, embarrassment forgotten, “you okay-”
“Don’t tell anyone!”
Sakura paused, hand outstretched awkwardly as he looked at his friend, tangled in his blankets, face flushed and eyes almost… frightened.
“Tell them what?” He replied, utterly bemused.
Nirei’s mouth opened and closed several times and Sakura was starting to fear that the fever had fried his brain, when the blonde’s eyes roamed towards the discarded manga, “you read them… you don’t think they’re strange?”
Sakura thought for a moment. He hadn’t read much manga in his childhood, never having the money to do so. But the few he had caught glimpses of were usually action packed stories with lots of intense fights. This was his first time encountering a romantic story… especially one between two boys. Was that the problem?
“Why would they be strange? I a-actually kinda liked it… the black haired one was nice…” he mumbled, words trailing off the more Nirei stared, “w-what?”
“I also like him!” Nirei exclaimed, “he’s why I picked up the series. I saw a poster years ago and thought he was super pretty-” Nirei once again floundered, slapping a hand over his mouth.
Sakura could feel himself growing frustrated at the boy's behaviour. He shuffled on the carpet, sitting cross-legged and planting his hands on his knees, “what? What’s wrong?”
A long silence followed that question, but Sakura didn’t mind. Hell, Sakura didn’t care if Nirei dropped the topic all together, as long as he stopped walking on eggshells. He watched as the blonde also moved to sit more comfortably, back against his bedside table as he wrapped his blanket over his shoulders.
“I started reading that series when I was thirteen,” he began quietly, “I’ve always liked romance. But this was the first time I read a BL.”
Sakura raised a brow at the term and Nirei laughed.
“It means “boys love.” When a romance features two men,” he wrapped the blanket tighter around himself, “I took it into school one day and, um, when I was getting picked on it fell out of my bag. Needless to say my bullies got a good laugh out of it, and soon enough the whole school knew. It was… really humiliating.”
Nirei buried his face in his knees as he finished the sentence, shoulders shaking slightly, “that manga helped me realise I like boys. It means so much to me, and I could never bring myself to throw it away despite the torment,” he chuckled lightly, raising his head again, “I had actually forgotten they were there.”
“Nirei,” Sakura began, hands clenched in the fabric of his pants, “you know Furin’s not like that. They won’t care what kinda books you read, and nobody cares that Tsubaki is gay.”
Nirei nodded before looking away, “yeah. It’s just hard to picture it turning out any differently.”
In a moment of unexpected boldness, Sakura scooted across the carpet and sat shoulder to shoulder with Nirei, “well, regardless, thanks for tellin’ me, I know that’s kinda a big deal.”
A deep crimson coloured Nirei’s cheeks, clearly not the work of the fever, and he looked away, “thank you, too. I’m glad you know…”
As the room grew darker and darker, the two continued to sit in a comfortable silence. Sakura barely noticed the warm hand sliding over his own, until their fingers were interlocked. Despite the heat rising up from his neck, his heart felt surprisingly calm as he turned to look at Nirei’s honey brown eyes.
“My mum won’t be home tonight. She had to travel somewhere for work… so, um. Well-“ Nirei stumbled over his words for a few moments, before a squeeze to their joined hands grounded him, “do you wanna stay over?”
Sakura didn’t even think twice before nodding, “do you have a futon somewhere?”
“Oh,” Nirei sweatdropped, looking away, “we don’t. Oh crap, Nevermind then, you can go-“
“You’re still sick,” Sakura huffed, pressing a hand to Nirei’s forehead and grimacing, “get in the bed. I’ll just sleep on the floor.”
“No! I can’t make you do that.”
“Why not? I’ve slept in worse places.”
Sakura immediately realised he shouldn’t have said that when Nirei’s eyes suddenly grew glossy. The shorter boy furrowed his brows, standing suddenly and pulling the younger up with him until they were both splayed across the bed.
“N-Nirei-“
“We can put pillows between us, just… you’re sleeping in the bed.”
Sakura rolled his eyes, giving in to the blonde’s puppy dog eyes and allowing himself to lie back against a pillow, “we don’t need to do that.”
Nirei only smiled in response, pulling the blanket over the both of them and inching slightly closer.
Sakura swallowed, a strange pulsing making itself known in his chest, “we’re still in our uniforms…” he said weakly, his voice shockingly quiet.
“So?” Nirei whispered back, "tomorrow's Saturday, we don’t need them.”
Sakura huffed out a laugh at that, rolling on his side and facing the other. Their faces were inches apart, hands even closer. A pinkie finger wrapped around his own, and he found himself embracing the contact, however small.
“Thank’s for looking after me. And just… for everything else,” Nirei whispered.
“Yeah, s’no problem,” Sakura mumbled back, but Nirei only shook his head, smiling gently.
“I don’t just mean today. I mean everyday, since we first met. I really like you Sakura-san.”
The bi-coloured teen only stared dumbly as Nirei spoke those last few words through a yawn, before he finally gave into his exhaustion and dozed off. He “really liked” him? Like how friend’s “really like” each other?
Sakura’s heart skipped a beat.