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Ryu stood in the middle of the street, sweaty and confused and alone.
How had he gotten here?
In the fog and misting rain, he gasped for air, his chest rising and falling out of exertion, which made him think that he ran the whole way to Kano's, but he didn't have the mental capacity to check for his bike to prove himself otherwise. In his hand, his cellphone waited with her name on the screen, one touch away from calling her. But he hesitated.
The ambulance in her driveway made his blood run cold.
Something was wrong, and he knew that. They fell asleep together at the kitchen table at Ryu's, studying for their first test of the new semester as it rained gently outside; he hadn't heard her phone ring, but when he woke, Kano was gone. At first, Ryu thought she was just in the bathroom or something, but after a cursory glance around the apartment, he realized she really left. She called a few minutes later, her voice torn to bits between sobs, and she couldn't even make it through a whole sentence to say what happened. Ryu's heart jumped to the worst conclusion possible, and he just went.
Every thud of his sneakers on the slick pavement woke him up a little more, reminded him of the steady beat in his chest, the fear forcing his blood to run cold. With every second that passed, he worried more.
The front door to Kano's house opened—yanking him back to the present—and out came a parade of paramedics, a stretcher rolling between them. He couldn't bear to look at the person on the gurney. Ryu was too afraid it was Kano.
The paramedics pulled up their hoods and continued down the short driveway and into the waiting ambulance. Squinting through the mist, Kano's Aunt Nagisa trailed behind, climbing in after them, too. He'd never seen her face so serious before, not even at the spring interhigh qualifiers when the girls fell out of the bracket.
As the ambulance lights flickered on, Ryu clenched his dripping fists, everything in his heart saying, "That's Kano, that's Kano, that's Kano!" But his mind knew he was jumping to conclusions, fabricating answers without real questions.
But at the end of the procession of people filing out of the Abe household's front door, Kano appeared in the doorway, unscathed. She wore one of his sweatshirts, the same one she'd 'borrowed' from him earlier in the evening. Her hand covered her mouth, as if physically holding the tears back, forcing them to stay inside; black rivulets of mascara and eyeliner betrayed her, the evidence of her emotions all over her face. But... she looked okay.
Ryu watched the ambulance tear away into the night, shooting down the road and off toward the hospital; the tail lights left red streaks on the pavement like a trail of bloody breadcrumbs. When he looked back at the house, Kano was sobbing, her hands now covering her face to hide the pain.
Ryu followed his feet, which seemed to know what to do. "Babe?" he yelled, almost as if to verify that it was really her standing on the porch.
Kano's head popped up from her hands, tears streaming down her cheeks, and it took a moment before the realization settled into her wide eyes. "Ryu," she breathed, her pained expression softening. Barefoot, she ran toward him, and the two of them collided in the driveway.
The first thing Ryu noticed was Kano's shaking hands. She gripped the back of his neck for dear life, burying her face into the crook of his shoulder. Now her tears fell freely, hot as they seeped into his already-soaked t-shirt. "I-I'm so sorry that I-I-I left without telling you," she sobbed, the despair clear in her voice, "I should've told you o-o-or woke you or something—"
Ryu smoothed over Kano's messy hair, his heart shredding in his chest. He'd never seen her like this before... and he never wanted to again. "Babe, it was an emergency. I'm not mad at you about anything," he said softly, kissing the side of her face within reach. "Come on, it's freezing out here... let's go inside."
She sniffled and nodded, wiping her eyes with the sleeves of his sweatshirt. "Yeah.... Yeah, okay." With her hand in his, Kano led Ryu into the house, closing and locking the front door behind him.
They stood in the foyer for a moment in silence, unsure of what to do first. The longer they waited, the harder the realization dawned on Ryu that they were unsupervised and adult-less in Kano's home.
Luckily, it didn't take long before Kano shook out of her daze and smiled softly at Ryu. "I'm going to grab you some dry clothes, and I'll be right back to make us some hot chocolate, okay?"
Ryu hadn't noticed his own shivering, but once Kano pointed it out, dry clothes sounded amazing. "Okay," he nodded, pointing toward the kitchen with a raised eyebrow. Kano nodded, so he went.
Upstairs, Kano opened the door to her brothers' room, finding them all awake and playing video games. They paused the moment Kano poked her head in through the door. "Are you guys okay?" she asked softly.
One by one, they nodded hesitantly. Then, Yoshi piped up. "Is mom gonna be okay?"
Kano's heart broke at the sound of his ragged voice, and now that she looked more closely, it was obvious that the three of them had been crying. She stepped further into the room and beckoned them close. The boys folded themselves into her embrace. "Mom's going to be just fine," Kano said, not knowing if she was telling the truth or not. She squeezed the boys, patting their heads and pulling them close. "Auntie Nagisa went with her to the hospital, and she said she'd keep us updated. In the meantime, I'm here and so is Ryu—"
"Your boyfriend is here? Without adults?" Yasuo asked, a shit-eating grin spreading across his face even as he sniffled and wiped away a stray tear from his cheek. "Wait until I text Auntie, you're gonna be in so much trouble!"
"Yasuo, I'm in charge right now. If you keep up this nonsense, then you're not getting hot chocolate," Kano said, switching to her no-nonsense big sister mode.
Yukio looked up from his lingering hug with Kano, his eyes brightening. "Hot chocolate?"
Kano smiled and kissed each one of them on the head—earning her an exaggerated "ew" from Yasuo—before turning back to the door. "Give me ten minutes. Then come down to the living room. We'll watch a movie."
She shut the door behind them as the boys settled into their game once more, arguing over whether or not they could possibly finish in time for fresh hot chocolate. Kano smiled to herself and went to her room. Luckily, she amassed quite the collection of Ryu's clothes over the last few months and had plenty of clean, dry outfits for him to choose from. Using her best judgment, she chose a pair of gray sweatpants and a black-and-neon-orange hoodie for him before heading downstairs.
In the kitchen, Kano found Ryu prepping the mugs for hot chocolate; he dutifully poured the powder mix into each cup, grabbed whipped cream from the fridge, and, when Kano walked in, he was busy searching for marshmallows in their cupboard. The kettle warmed on the stovetop. Her heart warmed from the inside out at his thoughtfulness, not surprised, but rather appreciative.
"One to the left," Kano said, leaning in the doorway.
Ryu peeked over his shoulder and gave her a cheeky smile, scooting a step to the side and almost instantly finding the bag of unopened marshmallows. "Thanks, babe," he said, blowing her a kiss. "Thought I'd get started, if that's okay?"
"It's great," Kano said, stepping into the kitchen to stand beside him, examining his hard work. Leaning her head on his shoulder, she let Ryu sprinkle a handful of marshmallows into each mug before she said, "I brought you a change of clothes."
On command, Ryu started by stripping his damp shirt off in the middle of the kitchen.
Kano shoved him gently, laughing. "My brothers are here, you dork. Keep your clothes on. Or rather, put your clothes back on."
She handed over the sweatshirt first, which Ryu slipped into before sniffing at the hoodie collar. "This looks familiar, but... it smells like you now," he said, his voice trailing off and his cheeks flushing as he finished his thought.
"I think you'll find that's a running theme," Kano said, handing over the sweatpants.
If at all possible, Ryu's cheeks burned even brighter. "Uh, I'd love to take my pants off for you, babe, but it might not be the best for your brothers to see?"
"Right," Kano said, feeling like an idiot. "The bathroom is just down the hall, and the laundry machines are in the hall. If you need help, just holler. I'll finish up in here."
Not wanting to push his luck, Ryu nodded and headed down the hall with his dry sweatpants in hand and his wet shirt hanging over his arm. He found the bathroom easily, but got distracted as he changed pants, finding his phone flooded with texts from Saeko.
He forgot to tell her where he was going.
"Where the fuck are you, you little shit?" Saeko screeched into the phone a few seconds later.
Ryu flinched at the uncharacteristically angry tone in his sister's voice. "I'm at Kano's," he admitted, "There was an emergency."
A deep sigh came from the other end of the line. "That's all I needed to know. I'm glad you're safe... Is she okay?"
"Her mom had to go to the hospital," he said, yanking his dry pants on.
"So...?" Saeko said, "Who's supervising?"
"Kano is," he said quietly.
Another deep sigh. "Ryu, you need to be careful. Keep it in your pants, yeah?"
"Her little brothers are here," Ryu hissed into the phone, his cheeks burning with embarrassment again. "I wouldn't do anything—"
"Okay, well, you're both horny teenagers, so I just—"
A knock came from the door. "Ryu? Y'okay in there?" Kano asked softly.
With one hand over the receiver, Ryu screwed up his face and took the sass out of his voice. "I'm great, babe! Just updating Saeko!" he said back, forcing a laugh.
"Oh! Okay. Tell her I say 'hi'," Kano said back. "Hot chocolate is done... We're going to be choosing a movie in the living room."
"Okay! Be right there!"
He waited until he heard her footsteps retreating, and turned back to his phone. "Saeko, I swear I won't do anything stupid. I'm just here to support Kano."
"She probably needs it after the stupid qualifiers last weekend," Saeko said.
Ryu rolled his eyes. "Duh."
"Did you just—?"
"Okay, I love you, bye!" Ryu blurted, hanging up on his sister.
Hopefully that wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass later. Ryu picked his wet clothes up from the floor and found the washing machine with no issues. After a bit of investigating, he figured out how to start his clothes, and padded down the hall in his house slippers, finding Kano and her brothers arguing over which movie to watch.
From her spot kneeling in front of the DVD player, she brightened when she saw him, sending his stomach into cartwheels. "Ryu! Perfect timing. Those two knuckleheads want to watch Jurassic Park, while Yukio and I, the only sane people in this house, want to watch Spirited Away. You're the tie-breaker. Which do we choose?"
As much as he wanted to choose Jurassic Park—because hello, what a classic—he really wanted something soft and gentle so Kano could relax. "Spirited Away, obviously," he grinned.
Kano wiggled with glee at his answer, and slipped the movie into the device before running and launching herself onto the couch. She left a space beside her, patting it for Ryu to join. Ryu tiptoed around her brothers, who were all sprawled out across the floor with their comforters burrito-wrapped around them, and plopped onto the couch beside his girlfriend.
"Your cocoa is there," Kano said, pointing at a spare mug piled high with marshmallows and whipped cream. She held her own mug in her hands, sipping carefully.
Before he could answer, Yasuo complained. "This movie is so boooring."
"Good, maybe you'll fall asleep and quit ruining it for the rest of us," Kano fired back, scooting a little bit closer to Ryu until they were shoulder-to-shoulder.
The beginning music began to play, and Kano found herself relaxing. She sipped her cocoa and rested her head on Ryu's shoulder, her cheeks warming when he smoothly wrapped his arm around her shoulders. But sooner or later, her eyelids grew droopy and her body grew heavy... and Kano fell asleep.
Of course, Ryu noticed. He noticed when her siblings drifted off too. But he let the movie keep playing until it was over and stuck playing the menu on a loop. The music soothed his nerves, and gradually he found himself relaxing into the couch, his head resting on Kano's.
Maybe a sleepover wouldn't hurt anyone.