damned_institute | Day 45: Breakfast

Mori woke with a start. He lay on the bed for a moment, staring up at the ceiling and sighed quietly. Another day, another round of shifts and people and-- Wait a minute. Breathing in carefully, Mori's brow knit together as he realized that his ribs were no longer broken. After testing his collarbone, he found that it, too, was healing faster than it should have. Not that he was complaining, but there was something odd about broken bones setting so quickly. Pushing himself up out of bed, the teen shook his head, knowing that he'd have another day or two of the sling and then he'd be free from it.

But more important than that was finding out how Mitsukuni was doing. The last thing he remembered was the bathroom and gathering metal. Since they were together at the end of the night, Mori was certain that Mitsukuni would be fine, but...well, he still liked to confirm such things with his own eyes. With the twins gone and Tamaki still missing, Mori didn't want to take any chances anymore. Especially not with the strange announcements this morning.

As usual, his nurse came to collect him and helped him into his sling. Then he followed her quietly into the cafeteria, taking notice of the unusually empty bulletin board. They really were cracking down on it already. Weird. Even weirder? For once, he was the first into the room. Picking up a tray, he pointed out what he wanted, making sure to take double of the pancakes (asking to keep them away from the sausages for now), double of the strawberry jam and biscuits, and an extra helping of fruit. To top it off? Milk. It'd help his bones mend. Hopefully.

Going to a nearby seat, Mori took a look around the empty room and shivered. Kind of eerie in here without anyone else but the nurses. Someone was certain to come sooner or later though, right? He hoped so at least.

[for Chihaya]

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Mori seemed sad. See? Chihaya had already brought the mood down. If he didn't have happy thoughts soon...well...he wasn't going to cry, but he'd sure come close!

Chihaya looked when the jam was passed to him and smiled again. Mori was being sweet once more and, well, Chihaya was curious.

"Hm, I bet you must have someone you really love? You're good at taking care of people, but I hope they look after you too?" Chihaya hoped so. Everybody needed a little give and take. That's why he and Kagetsuya got on, even when they were arguing...

There was a smile. Mori returned a small one of his own and pulled his hand back, ready to go back to eating when Chihaya had to go and say something like that. Someone he loved? Sure, he had a lot of people he loved - his family, his friends, but...he'd heard that line before. Well, he heard it pretty much every Valentine's Day. 'There's someone else you treasure, isn't there.' It was a little embarrassing, actually, but he couldn't very well deny it.

Nor could he very well say yes though. Instead, Mori inclined his head to the side a little and then patted Chihaya on the head again. Cute kid, even if he wasn't really a kid. Come to think of it...how old was Chihaya? He might very well be patting the head of someone far older than him. Greeeeeat, yeah, Mitsukuni would give him a hard time about that one. Rather than reply, Mori picked up his extra bit of pancakes (carefully separated away from the sausage) and held it out to the boy with a questioning look. He was going to hide the strawberries away in his pocket again later for Mitsukuni, but pancakes and jam were a bit more difficult so he might as well give them to someone who would enjoy them. "They do."

Hmm, he was being very quiet about this, but he didn't seem upset so... it must be okay. You know, okay to pry. Not that Chihaya was nosy or anything. Just....really, really curious?

Also, he liked being patted on the head. Did he pat his girlfriend on the head a lot too? Sometime when people did it to Chihaya, it made him feel like he wasn't being taken seriously. But Mori had such a good way about him that it was nice.

Chihaya looked at the pancake.

"Hm, shouldn't you eat it? I don't want your girlfriend getting mad at me for letting you skip breakfast."

Eat it? Mori shook his head and indicated his own plate, where his helping of sausages separated from pancakes, eggs, fruit and tater tots sat. He had more than he could probably eat on his own here and--

Wait.

Girlfriend? Girlfriend?!

"...!!" Mori furiously shook his head, waving one hand as if it would translate his panic. He didn't have a girlfriend! Or a boyfriend. He wasn't gay! Or...not. What the-- Ugh. His head. He stopped shaking it and held it in one hand, trying to make the world stop spinning. "...not...like that..."

Oh! oh no! Chihaya had put his foot right in it! He felt so stupid and inconsiderate and.... he never usually assumed things, Mori was just being so cute and...why was he so defensive about it?!

"T-there's nothing wrong with love. Of any kind. I just- I assumed- It..." Chihaya grabbed the pancake and turned to his plate. Why was Mori so... Chihaya took a deep breath and looked back, smiling. "Whatever it's like... I'm happy for you," he said, gently.

Maybe it was a boy. Maybe Mori was ashamed...

"And...I suppose if you ever want to talk about anything..."

Oh God, he was still talking about it! He wasn't in love! Not that way at least! He liked people, they were his friends, and Mitsukuni was family, so yeah, he loved him, but in a nice platonic not-at-all-kissing-cousins way and oh hell. "...family," Mori said, sounding defeated. "My family."

Maybe that would explain it? Maybe then he could stop feeling like he was going to keel over at the table. "And friends." Right. Not just family, but friends, too. Chihaya was being very kind about it all, but this was a terrible misunderstanding. Mori had a duty to protect and serve Mitsukuni, but they were best friends, not...other things. Not that he had a problem with that! But...yeah. Not his thing.

But that would be the second person since coming here to mistake him for...that. First, Sai and now Chihaya. And then once back home, Tamaki had even asked him that same thing. Have you ever thought of kissing Honey-senpai? He'd answered with a very firm negative, but that had been a lie and then Tamaki had fallen ill and it was all his fault and-- crap.

"...Just my friends and family." Sometimes lies weren't so bad, right? And it wasn't like it was a real lie. It wasn't like he was dating his cousin. They were just friends and why didn't anyone ever just take things at face value?

He'd overreacted just because it was friends and family? Hmm.

"Mori.... how old are you?" Chihaya asked, curiously. Not that he was exactly mature at his age or anything. But Mori's reaction just... seemed out of place or maybe just very, very young. Chihaya tended to overreact a lot, sure. But, oddly enough, not over these things so much. And the confusions had, well, far bigger consequences. Mori was probably free to love whoever he wanted. He should cherish that. Anyway, it wasn't that sort of love.

How old was he? Didn't he look his age? He thought he did, but then again not too many teenagers were his height and... Alright, so Chihaya's question was probably pretty valid. He wasn't wearing his school uniform after all, and that always did make things a bit difficult. "Eighteen."

And what of Chihaya? Mori raised an eyebrow and motioned to the other boy, wondering if maybe he wasn't a boy and more like an adult now. Considering the way Chihaya was acting now, it was entirely possible and-- wow that would be embarrassing if he was right.

"Ah," Chihaya nodded. Not that it meant much. He supposed 18 was just on the cusp of becoming a young adult. Not that it mattered, Chihaya had always been rather emotional, so reactions couldn't always be contained to age. But it was nice to see such a pleasant young man. Definitely a plus, even Kagetsuya would have had to agree.

"Me? I'm twenty one," he smiled. Still incredibly young for his kind.

Day 45: Breakfast

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