A Co-Captain's Doubts

Accepting Help

When Suga had plunged his hand beneath the surface to cover himself, he could feel bathwater leak into the plastic hair cap Daichi put over his bandages. With his concussion and the disorientation that came with waking abruptly, his mind was struggling to compute the situation before him. All he could do was stammer while blood rushed to his face. Kokoro stared back at him paralyzed, her eyes wide and her hands pressed firmly to her mouth. Suga wasn't sure, but he thought she'd stopped breathing.

After a few agonizing seconds of their awkward stare down, he managed to choke out, "O-Occupied-"

Her eyes grew impossibly wider and then she dropped into a full bow as she practically screamed her response. "P-PARDON ME!"

With that, Kokoro spun around to flee the bathroom, her long brown hair trailing behind her until she collided with Daichi in the doorway. The captain grunted with the impact but otherwise stayed standing while Kokoro bounced off and fell to her butt on the tiled floor.

Confusion was evident on Daichi's face, and he looked between his sister and his friend while he tried to figure out what was going on. "Kokoro? What are you doing in here?"

"Get out of the way!"

Scrambling to her feet, she shoved past her brother and out of the bathroom. Seconds later, the sound of a door banging shut echoed back to them. Suga watched as Daichi leaned out the door to look down the hallway, then shook his head as he shut it behind him. He turned back to Suga confused as ever.

"What was that about?"

Still shaking off the shock, Suga cleared his scratchy throat and abruptly fixed his eyes on the sudsy bath water, his face aflame. "I...Um—I think it may have been my fault..."

Daichi raised a dark brow, "What was?"

Suga lifted his hands from the water to rub over his red face, only to wince and pull them away again. He looked up to Daichi with a sheepish hunch to his shoulders "Uh, it wasn't intentional... I— I fell asleep and didn't hear her knocking... When I opened my eyes, she was coming in. I swear I didn't realize what was happening, my head feels like someone slammed it in a car door." His voice was low with shame, his cheeks still burning. "I know that's not an excuse, I'm sorry—I"

"Suga, hey- Calm down, it's alright."

His eyes darted to the bathwater as Daichi came to the side of the tub and sat down on the edge. He must look like such a creep. He should be showing his gratitude for them taking him into their care, how had he messed things up so quickly?"

"Hey, I told you to chill out," Daichi said. He leaned over to get into Suga's line of sight.

"Stop spiraling. No one's mad at you for falling asleep, I know you don't feel well, and I also know you sleep like the dead. Accidents happen, I should have told Kokoro you were in here, I didn't realize she was home already." He patted Suga on the shoulder a couple of times. "Sorry about that, hope you're not too embarrassed."

Suga looked at Daichi from the corner of his eye, deadpanning. "Your 15-year-old sister walked in on me sitting naked in the tub. I'm mortified."

He chuckled, "Yeah, I would be too."

"Where are my clothes, I'm walking home."

He braced himself on the edge of the tub to stand but Daichi pushed him back down as he continued to laugh at his friend's misfortune. "No you don't, we went through all the trouble of getting you here, you're not leaving any time soon."

"This is kidnapping you know; you're holding me against my will." Suga slumped back down in the water, lacking the energy to fight back, his thick grey brows drawn down.