Chapter Text
It starts with a mild ache in the back of his mouth.
Nothing Sakura can't handle. He takes some of the ibuprofen that Kotoha had forced into his first aid kit. He was skeptical at first. Any type of medication felt like a risk to his cognition. But this one doesn't make him drowsy and he didn't need a doctor to get it.
After another week, the pain becomes a throbbing sensation every time he opens his mouth. In the past, this would be something he dealt with by himself.
He knew how to handle pain, he doesn't remember a time before Makochi where he wasn't at least slightly injured. If he looked messed up his parents would hold off on any more ‘punishments’ in fear of other people’s opinions.
Now though, he has people that would be upset if he didn't tell them something was wrong. So, he makes his way up to the roof at the end of school Friday. Umemiya would be there with the Heavenly kings for a while before moving on to his garden.
During the week if he wasn't out with friends or on patrol, Sakura waited on the roof for Umemiya to be done with his responsibilities. Since it’s a Friday it takes a bit longer for everything to settle down.
He sits away from the crowd, just watching them interact. It's always funny to see his brother mobbed the same way he is in class 1-1.
Serves him right for all the teasing he puts me through.
He usually chats with Tsubiki. They come over to give him a hug and ask about his day. They had become a comforting presence over the last year, always ready to give him affection, very similar to Umemiya.
Sakura hopes they get together some day. It would be nice to have Tsubiki as an in-law. He doesn't understand why Umemiya keeps dragging his feet when it's obvious they both like each other.
But, it's none of his business. He doesn't want to jump into the middle of any relationship drama. He already has enough of that going on with Suo. No need to add anymore stress to his life.
It's late into the afternoon before everyone has gone home for the day. Tsubiki leaves with a hug and kiss to his cheek, and Hiragi gives him a smile and a wave.
Sakura moves to where Umemiya sits at the picnic table, settling down on the same bench so his brother can wrap an arm around his shoulders.
“You’ve been quiet today, didn't even come over to say hi. How sad, do you not love your big brother anymore?” The older boy asks with a fake pout.
Sakura elbows him, “you know that's not it. Not everyone wants to jump into your chaos at the end of the day.”
“Ahaha, you're right about that. They do tend to get a bit rowdy.” He nudges him a bit, “So what are your plans for the weekend?”
Sakura rubs the back of his neck. He really doesn't want to bother him with a simple tooth ache, but something tells him this might be a little more than that.
He hasn't been to the dentist in years. Doesn't even remember the last time he went, which when he thinks about it, is pretty bad. Sakura is sure you're supposed to go every year, and he only knew that because Anzai kept complaining about getting a cavity filled last week.
His vice-captians looked shocked when he asked what it was. They had to explain dental health and how teeth are supposed to be taken care of. It was definitely a learning experience.
Who knew there were doctors specifically for your mouth. He’s already dreading the possibility of having to go.
He looks down, “Well, I was talking to Neire and Suo, and they said you're supposed to get your teeth checked every year. I don't think I’ve ever been to the dentist, and my mouth started hurting.”
He chanced a glance up to Umemiya, and unsurprisingly the older boy looked just as shocked as his friends had been.
“Okay.” he nods, “Well that's definitely something we should have looked at. Can you tell me a little more about the pain you're feeling?”
“It's in the back of my jaw.” He points to the section that keeps throbbing in time with his heart beat. “It started last week but keeps getting worse.”
Sakura looks away with a flush, “I thought it was probably important to tell you.”
When he moves his gaze back to Umemiya’s face, he’s wearing a proud grin.
“Well I think you made the right choice in telling me. Have you ever heard of wisdom teeth?”
Sakura tilts his head in confusion, “wisdom what?”
—
Turns out wisdom teeth are pretty important. It took a significant amount of puppy dog eyes and Kotoha’s imploring looks before he agreed to go to the dentist.
Apparently they had been going to the same one in town for years and vouched that the staff there are different from a regular hospital. Sakura didn't really believe them, but they agreed to go with, so he reluctantly decided to trust them.
Now in the waiting room with Kotoha and Umemiya he’s regretting the decision to come. People are still wearing scrubs like they do at any hospital and he can't help but tense every time they walk by.
Kotoha squeezes his hand. “Hey, it’s gonna be fine. None of these people are like the doctors you’ve seen in the past. All they are gonna look at are your teeth. Nothing else.”
Umemiya hums to his side. “We know most of the people here and we’ll stay with you during the entire appointment, okay?”
Sakura nods. If they are with him it will probably be fine. Umemiya didn't leave his side once when he had to stay in the hospital after the window incident, as it has been dubbed.
It’s then that a lady in blue scrubs calls his name and all three of them rise from their seats.
“Hi, My name is Suzuki and I’ll be your dental assistant today. Can you tell me your birthday?”
Gruffly he answers, “April 1st, 2003.”
“Good! So I heard you haven't been to the dentist in a while, so I’ll explain everything as we go, alright?” She says in a cheerful tone.
He only nods silently in response.
The room they are led to has a bed in the center, with a large light hovering above. It's surrounded by what looks like tools and a big camera to the right. He almost walks out right then, but a steady hand lands on his shoulder.
He looks up to Umemiya, who has a reassuring grin on his face. “It’s gonna be okay. We’ve got your back.”
Those words have his shoulders untensing, even more so after Kotoha gives his hand another squeeze and a smile.
Suzuki motions him towards the bed. “Go ahead and take a seat here.” She points to a small love seat in the corner of the room, luckily still in sight of the chair. “You two can sit over there”
Sakura lays back, twisting his hands nervously.
“So today we are going to look at your teeth and take some x-rays to assess what we will be working with, then the dentist will come in and let you know what he finds.”
“X-rays?” He asks.
She nods her head. “Yep, we are going to use that camera over there to take a couple pictures of your teeth, it will help us take a closer look.”
He looks over to his siblings, still sitting in the chair to the side. Umemiya gives him a thumbs up.
It really shouldn't be as comforting as it is.
He takes a deep breath before Suzuki starts. She asks him to open his mouth wide, moving his head side to side.
It’s quick as she explains what she finds, seemingly it's not too bad. He has been good about brushing his teeth when the resources were available to him.
There wasn't much of a chance to brush his teeth while living in the shed, but since coming to Makochi he became diligent in brushing them.
It felt like a luxury to use new hygiene products once he had control of his own money.
Everything’s fine until she asks Umemiya and Kotoha to exit the room while she does the x-rays. He sends them a panicked look.
Suzuki seems to pick up his discomfort and quickly adds, “I also won't be in the room besides a few seconds. No one can be here while the pictures are taken, but your friends can stand right outside the room.”
He takes a deep breath. That's not too bad. It's only a few seconds, he can handle that.
He nods to them and says, “It's alright, I'll be fine.”
They both nod with small smiles on their faces. Umemiya squeezed his shoulder on the way out with a “you got this!”
Suzuki was telling the truth, the x-rays took less than five minutes and then all three of them entered again,
“Okay! We got everything we needed. The doctor will come in once he’s done looking over the x-rays.”
With that Suzuki exits the room, leaving the three siblings alone.
They sit there quietly for a moment, Sakura taking a second to breathe.
It hadn't been as bad as he thought. He still has to deal with the doctor, but Kotoha was right. She didn't do anything more than look at his teeth. No invasive questions about his hair and eyes, or asking about his parents.
Umemiya breaks the silence first to ask, “how are you feeling?”
Sakura tilts his head side to side. “It wasn't bad. Different from when I've dealt with doctors in the past.”
With a small grin Kotoha says, “Good. The dentist will be the same.”
She pauses for a moment. “You should be prepared that if you need your wisdom teeth out they will need to give you a general anesthesia. It’s gonna make you loopy.”
Immediately Sakura tenses up again.
“What?” He feels a little faint. “Like I’ll be knocked out?
The anxiety must have been clear on his face because Umemiya immediately walks over to stand by his side and grabs his hand with a reassuring smile.
“Hey, it's gonna be okay. I’ll be in the room the entire time. I’ll keep you safe.”
That gives him a modicum of relief. He had stayed with him the entire time at the hospital, and kept his guard up when the doctors were around.
Sakura can trust his brother to watch over him.
He takes a deep breath and nods, not able to answer him with words. Kotoha also gets up to come closer.
“I’ll be waiting for you with tasty food.” She smiles, “Though you won't be able to have omurice for a while.”
He pouts a little at that, which pulls a laugh out of both of them.
A moment later the door opens again. “Hi! I'm Satoru, I’ll be your dentist for today.”
The man has light brown hair, and is a little older than Umemiya. He’s wearing a white lab coat over a pair of scrubs, and sits on a rolling chair in front of the computer.
“I took a look at your x-rays, and it seems you have quite a bit of work that needs to be done.” He turns the screen towards them.
“I see a couple cavities here.” He points to a couple spots, “and it does seem like you need your wisdom teeth taken out.”
Sakura takes a deep breath.
Umemiya, as reliable as always, asks, “Can it all be done at the same time?”
The doctor nods, “Yes, I would actually recommend we do it that way.” He looks at Sakura. “You will need to be under anesthesia, and you’ll be pretty loopy afterwards. Someone will need to take you home.”
“That will be me.” his brother says with a smile. “I’m going to stay in the room during the operation.”
He says it with finality. Luckily Satoru nods again. “Yep, that's alright.”
—
Three days later both Sakura and Umemiya are back at the dentist. Both of them had taken the day off of school.
Umemiya had handed his responsibilities to Hiragi for the day, hoping to avoid any interruptions while he took care of Sakura.
Besides him, his little brother is tense and obviously trying to use the breathing exercise the upperclassman had shown him a while back.
He has made so much progress over the last year. This is another step in recovery, and something that needed to happen. Umemiya can't help but be proud of how far he’s come.
He grabs the boy's hand. “It's gonna be okay. I’ll be there the whole time, promise!”
Sakura gazes at him skeptically before taking a deep breath. He seems to gather himself before looking back. “You're right. I’ve got this.”
Umemiya beams, and ruffles his hair. “Thats the spirit!”
He swats his hand away as he blushes. “Hey! Don't do that! You’ll mess up my hair and Tsubiki just showed me how to do it right.”
His heart melts at that. He wipes away an imaginary tear.
Ah, they grow up so fast!
He’s laughing when Sakura’s name is called. Immediately the boy becomes tense again. But this time instead of the nervous energy he had been displaying earlier, his shoulders are squared in determination.
He looks like he’s walking into a war zone instead of the dentist office. Which, in this case, might actually be true. This is a fear he wants to conquer.
It’s partly because it's a medical setting. Umemiya doesn't know what he went through to become so averse to medical care, but it must have been bad to have traumatized him to this extent.
The other part is most definitely being put under anesthesia. Not having control of his body, and trusting Umemiya to keep him safe.
He fully plans to deliver on that promise.
They make their way back to the operating room. Sakura sits on the chair in the middle of the room. Umemiya gives his shoulder one last squeeze and a smile before making his way to the loveseat in the corner of the room.
The doctor walks them through what they are going to be doing and the aftercare, the later directed more at himself. He nods along and files all the information away for later. The procedure should take about two hours, which is fine with him.
When its time for Sakura to put on the mask, he panics. Fists going up in defense, his gaze flying to Umemiya.
He quickly gets up to stand in front of the boy, hands raised slightly.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay. We talked about this right?” His tone is gentle and he looks Sakura straight in the eye. “I’m going to be here the entire time. I’ll keep you safe. Do you trust me?”
The boy looks at him for another moment before lowering his fists with a nod. Umemiya moves to clasp his hand, and smiles reassuringly.
“That’s what brothers are for right?” He asks cheekily and that seems to startle Sakura into a laugh.
“Yeah, you better do a good job. Ya hear?” It's Umemiya's turn to laugh then, and the doctor comes back into view with the mask. He doesn't let go of the Sakura’s hand while it's placed on his face and he’s asked to count backward. Then the boy is out.
Umemiya sits back down in his chair with a sigh.
Time to wait.
—
Two hours later the doctor steps back to remove his gloves and looks at Umemiya.
“We’re done and everything went well. He should start waking up in a couple minutes. Take your time getting out of here, theres no rush.” He says with a smile and leaves the room.
Umemiya watches as Sakura slowly comes back to awareness, making sure to grab his hand gently.
The boy’s gaze is cloudy as he blinks up at him, then he slowly smiles.
“Onii-chan, you're here.”
He’s surprised his heart doesn't explode from affection right then and there.
Umemiya beams before responding. “Yep! I stayed the entire time. How are you feeling?”
Sakura looks around for a moment before tilting his head to the side like he’s thinking deeply. With the gauze in his mouth he looks like a curious chipmunk.
“Fuzzy.” He answers, “Like I'm in the clouds.”
He has to hold back a laugh at that. Something tells him this is going to be more fun than traumatic. He had been worried about how Sakura would react once he woke up. This is definitely the better outcome.
“Oh yeah? Do you remember where you're at?”
He shakes his head, tilting it to the side again.
“We’re at the dentist. We are gonna go see Kotoha at Pothos. Does that sound good?”
Sakura lights up. “We’re gonna see Onee-chan?”
Ah how he wishes he could have recorded that. His little brother is so cute!
Umemiya smiles. “Yep we are gonna go see your Onee-chan. Do you want to ride on my back?”
Usually that would get him a flustered protest, but now Sakura just nods his head excitedly.
With that, Umemiya maneuvers all of Sakura’s limbs to hold onto his back. He makes his way out of the office, thanking the staff with a smile as he goes.
He feels Sakura lay his head down on his shoulder, humming to himself quietly. He thinks he recognizes one of the songs from Tsubiki’s dance playlist. They had been spending a lot of time together recently.
Sakura has been increasingly interested in experimenting with fashion and Tsubiki was all too happy to help. Umemiya knows they have gone shopping together a couple times already. Tsubiki spoils the boy as if he were their own little brother.
As they get closer, some of the early opening shop owners wave at them with warm smiles. From the looks on their faces, he has to guess that Sakura looks adorable.
Everyone in Makochi seems to have a soft spot for him, but the shop owners around main street especially seem to adore the boy. He knows they talk with him in the mornings when he goes to Pothos for breakfast.
A couple of them wave to say hello and he smiles back. It doesnt take long for them to arrive at the restaurant. Kotoha greets them at the door, holding it open for him to walk through.
“Look at you, you're like a chipmunk.” She greets with a wide grin.
Umemiya laughs, “That's what I thought too!”
Sakura pouts, and he can feel a bit of drool drip onto his shoulder. He slowly moves the boy off his back into one of the chairs at their favorite booth.
By the time his little brother is sitting he seems to have forgotten the slight. Instead looking up at Kotoha with a small smile.
“Onee-chan, you're here.”
Her face freezes for a moment, then turns incredibly soft. “Yep, just to see you otōto.”
That seems to please him, as he leans against Umemiya’s shoulder with a look of contentment.
Kotoha turns to look at him. “So I take it everything went well?”
“Yep! Doc said he should be loopy for a while though. He’s been very cute.” He squeezes the boy’s cheek lightly.
That earns him a pout and mumbled, “’m not cute.”
“U-huh, whatever you say buddy.” he responds and looks back to his sister. “I think we’ll wait here for a little bit before I take him back to his place.”
She nods. “Good, are you still going to spend the night there?”
“Thats the plan!” he says cheerfully.
He’s actually pretty excited. A sleepover with his cute little brother. He’s stayed the night at Sakura’s place a couple times, and it's always fun.
Kotoha takes a seat across from them and hands Umemiya a towel to put underneath Sakura’s cheek. He’s starting to drool past the bloody cotton in his mouth. They are gonna need to change that out soon.
The boy looks up to Kotoha with what can only be described as puppy dog eyes. “Can I have omurice?”
An arrow of affection spears through Umemiya’s chest at how adorable his little brother looks. He’s never seen him act this cute before!
Kotoha looks just as affected, but her impressive resolve wins out. “Not today, but I promise I'll make it again for you soon.” She smiles, “I have some tasty pudding for you to take home.”
That perks him up from his pout, and he nods. “Okay. Pudding sounds good, thank you.”
Umemiya and Kotoha share a look, Ah our little brother is so cute!