CH. 21 - Camping with the Tanaka's

A weekend in May. Sugawara sleeps in late as he does most weekends. His nose wiggles as a delightful smell enters his room. He slowly opens his eyes and sits up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he looks over to his open door. Groggily, he walks into the living room and sees Haru in the kitchen, cooking up breakfast for him. He notices and turns to look at Sugawara. 

“Ah, glad to see you’re up. Sorry if I woke you earlier than you would have liked.” Haru says considerately. Sugawara looks at the clock on the wall and it reads nine in the morning. He sleepily turns back to Haru.

“It is a little early for me, but I don’t mind.” Sugawara goes and sits at the dining table connected to the other side of a kitchen counter, still in his pajamas. Haru finishes up and plates their food.

“Don’t worry, I made your favorite! Egged toast wiiiiith~” He puts the plate down with one hand and pulls a can of whipped cream out from behind his back with the other. “A dab of whipped cream on top!”

He gives a nearly perfect swirl over the four slices of bread. Sugawara blushes and stares happily at the food, salivating a bit. He picks up his fork and takes a bite while Haru whips his own bread, sticking his tongue out excitedly, still in his apron. 

“What’s the occasion?” Sugawara asks before taking a large bite. Haru looks at him with a mouthful of food, confused. He swallows. 

“What? I need a reason to come and cook for my bestie??” He asks, almost betrayed by Sugawara’s question. Sugawara giggles at his reaction.

“Haha, I suppose not. Not that I’m complaining. I love when you cook for me.”

“Well, I’m happy to be appreciated. Someone’s gotta keep you fed, look how skinny you are!” Haru points at him with his fork. Sugawara points his fork back.

“Look who’s talking.” They both laugh a bit as they continue eating. Haru then speaks up with a smile on his face.

“But there is actually an occasion.” Sugawara looks intrigued by Haru’s comment. “My family wants to go camping this weekend and we’re leaving in a couple of hours. I wanted to know if you wanted to come too?”

Sugawara drops his fork from the surprise of the request. Haru blushes a tiny bit, but he is not embarrassed about his request.

“Uh, yes please? I would love to join you guys! It’d be nice to get to spend some real time with your family rather than in passing for once.” Sugawara answers, almost uncharacteristically enthusiastic.

“Wow, I didn’t expect you to be so excited.” Haru says, pleasantly surprised. Sugawara blushes from embarrassment for being overly excited. Haru takes the last bite of his food and then stands and puts the dishes in the sink to wash.

“Well, you better hurry up and get ready cause the Tanaka train is setting sail! Ha Ha Ha!”

“Those are two different means of transportation…” Haru laughs confidently, while Sugawara sweats at his silly comment.

A couple hours pass and Sugawara has his big bag on his back, all dressed and ready to go. As they walk over to Haru’s home next door, someone suddenly bonks Haru hard on the back of the head. The sudden smack frightens Sugawara. 

“What took you so long?! I had to put your stupid heavy bag in the car for you!”

“Ow! I’m sorry! I was helping Sugawara get ready!”

He rubs his head as Aki, Haru’s 12-year-old sister, leans over and looks at Sugawara. He sweats and pulls away slowly, slightly afraid of her hitting him. She gives him a mean glare for a moment before smiling widely and hugging him tightly.

“Why didn’t you say you were bringing him along?! Sugawara, I missed you! Why haven’t you come over?” She rubs her face into his as Sugawara blushes, embarrassed. 

“Uh- Ah- I’m not sure, I’m sorry.”

Haru’s dad, Natsu, a tall, well-built man with a goatee and short blonde hair slightly brighter than Haru’s, finishes putting a cooler in the back of their car and turns around pushing his back out in a stretch, looking at them.

“Good to have you aboard, Suga! She’s right though, you really should come over more often. It’s been a while since you did. Besides, it’s always nice having an extra face around. It’s been… lonely since Fuyu left us…” He turns away from them with a depressed look on his face. He pulls out a picture from his pocket of a beautiful white-haired woman smiling softly. “Oh Fuyu… Why did you have to leave us..?” He whispers to the picture. Aki and Haru get unamused looks on their faces.

“She’s not dead dad, she’s just on a business trip...” Aki says.

“Yeah, and what about us? Are we not good enough for you?” Haru asks. He quickly puts the picture back in his pocket and turns around with a big smile on his face.

“Of course you are! Now, if we’re all set to go!” He grabs Sugawara’s bag by the top with one hand and lifts it up to put it in the car, only to find Sugawara still attached. 

“Oops. Sorry there Suga. Almost threw you in the luggage haha!” He puts him down then takes the bag. “Let’s get her moving!” He almost shouts with an excited smile.

The trip is not too long to the campsite. Roughly an hour by car. Once they make it through the gate, they pull up to a drop off area before the parking lot. There are a few other cars there, but not many. 

“Alright, everyone out. Grab your stuff and head up trail eight. I’ll be right behind ya!” Natsu says. They do as they’re told and grab their bags, leaving his bags and the few extra things for the camp. He then takes the car to find a place to keep it for the night. They turn to the trail entrance and Aki immediately pouts.

“I hate this part…” She begins marching up the trail with frustrated body language. Haru looks at Sugawara and smiles before following behind. Sugawara sees the map on the way in and notices the trail to the campsite is roughly three miles in. His eyes widen for a single moment.

“It’s a good thing I dressed for a hike. I didn’t know we’d have to trek there.” He says to Haru.

“Haha, yeah, sorry about that. I like the activity, so I forget some people don’t as much.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. I mean, what else would I be doing? I could use the exercise. Haha!” They laugh as they follow right behind Aki.

A bit into the hike, they stop for a quick granola bar and water. As they‘re taking their break, they look back down the trail and notice someone approaching fairly fast. Sugawara squints and realizes it’s Natsu.

He has his pack on his back, two tents in one hand, the cooler under the other arm and another pack in hand. Sugawara’s jaw drops at the amount he is carrying and the speed at which he is accomplishing the hike. Once he comes closer, he even realizes that he isn’t even breaking a sweat in the hot weather. 

“Oh come on guys, I thought you’d be farther by now! Come on, gotta keep moving!” He says with a big smile while he marches past them. Aki looks back and Haru shrugs so they grab their packs and get going again, attempting to keep pace with Natsu. 

“I never realized your dad was so strong.”

“Haha, yeah, he’s always been very strong. We’re not sure how, though. I mean, he works out a few days of the week, but nothing extensive.”

“A-are you as strong as him?” Sugawara stutters with an awkward smile, a flustered look spreading across his face. The bad thoughts enter his mind. Not noticing his look, Haru answers slightly sad.

“I… I don’t know.” Sugawara stops smiling at his response. “I’ve always hoped one day I would become as strong as him, but at this point, I doubt it. We all know Aki takes after our mom, but I’m a different story.”

Sugawara notices Haru’s serious look and kind of feels bad for thinking the thoughts he did while Haru is talking seriously.

“Oh. Well, don’t worry about it. I’m sure if you try hard enough, you’ll be just as strong as him.” Sugawara says while looking ahead, trying to be supportive. Haru looks at Sugawara, and he looks back at him before blushing and getting embarrassed about his comment. “A-ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound straight out of a manga..”

“No, no! It’s nice hearing that from you. Thanks!” He gives him a big, reassuring smile and Sugawara smiles back, still blushing. 

Eventually, they make it to the campsite without a problem. Aki seems quite beat from the trip and immediately puts her bag down on some dirt and folds to her knees. Sugawara too seems out of breath. He puts his bag down and looks up at Haru.

“Need any help, dad?” Haru asks. Sugawara sees that Haru is sweating and is slightly winded, but still offers to help his dad with a smile on his face. Sugawara blushes, thinking about how attractive Haru is, before shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

“Nah, I got it already. It took you guys so long to catch up, I’m already done setting up the entire camp! Haha!” He says as he proudly stabs in the last stake on the second tent that’s on the other side of the camp from the first. 

“Alright, you boys, get that tent right there and Aki and I will share this one.”

Aki looks shocked and upset at his words.

“Aw, but dad! I’m not a kid anymore! I wanna sleep in my own tent.”

Natsu sighs as he stands up.

“Yeah, I knew this day was coming. So I took the liberty of packing an extra one person tent for you.” He goes over to the small pile of equipment and pulls out a smaller tent. Aki gets excited.

“Wow, really?! Thank you!” She grabs it and runs off to set it up.

“But keep it in a six-foot radius from my tent!” Natsu shouts.

“I will!” She shouts back as she obviously goes past that. Natsu shakes his head and looks at Haru.

“Your mom warned me she’d be getting to the independent age about now. But how much you wanna bet the noises of the night will freak her out, anyway?” He laughs to himself as Haru laughs with him. Haru turns to look at Sugawara.

“Shall we?” He motions towards the tent. Sugawara nods happily. They both put their bags down inside and lay their stuff out accordingly. 

“I’ll have dinner ready in a few hours so get your exploring done now cause after that, you’re to stay within the camp perimeter, ya hear?!” He calls out as they stick their heads out and nod. 

“Got it!” She shouts from her tent placed on the other side of the camp, as far away as she could get it while still being in camp. The boys decide to hangout in their tent and rest up for a bit before heading out on an adventure of their own.

Haru leads the way out of the campsite and down a thin trail. They eventually make it to a stream nearby, so they follow it up. As they walk, Haru picks up a stick he thinks is cool and shows it off to Sugawara, who happily entertains him but isn’t very interested in sticks. After a bit, Haru suddenly stops. This surprises Sugawara.

“Aki, why are you following us?” Haru says into the woods.

“What?? Oof!” She pokes her head out from behind a bush and then falls onto the ground from losing her balance. She suddenly shoots up to her feet. “How did you know I was there?” She asks with a pouty look.

“I knew since we left camp. I’m your big brother, after all.” He rubs her head, and she smiles. “Now go back and hangout with dad. You know he might catch himself on fire if left unsupervised.”

Suddenly, a small boom and a cloud of smoke rises from the camp, followed by a cry in pain. Both Haru and Aki let out a sigh. 

“Okay, well, don’t do anything weird to little Suga, got it?”

“I won’t, I won’t.” He puts his hands up defensively as Aki points an intense finger at him, giving him a glare, before running back. Sugawara blushes as his thoughts start racing.

‘Haru is trying to get us alone?? Is he?.. No, no, no! No way!’ He blushes intensely at his thoughts before Haru takes his hand. Sugawara blushes even more at the surprise attack.

“Come on, let’s go a bit more and if we don’t find anything cool we’ll just turn around ‘kay?”

Sugawara nods shyly as they continue up this path that runs alongside the stream. As they go, the stream gets larger and larger until they eventually reach a fairly large pond area that has a small waterfall streaming into it. It is quite a beautiful sight. 

“Wow… Look at that.” Haru says.

“It’s beautiful…” Sugawara awes. They admire the beauty as they continue up the makeshift path leading to the waterfall. Haru looks at the large pool.

“Yeah, but that pool looks pretty deep. The waterfall must’ve really punished those rocks below, haha.”

Sugawara nods and stares into the pool with a slightly concerned look. Haru notices and then looks at the waterfall. He nudges Sugawara.

“Think there’s some hidden treasure behind the waterfall?” He points his thumb in its direction. They make their way through the now very thin trail that leads up the hillside and under the rocks to directly behind the waterfall. The rocks they are stepping on now are more slippery because of the water and moss growing, but nothing too intense, still quite stable. Haru leads and looks around.

“Oh wow! There is a secret room back here! Like in the games!” Haru pokes his head around but then takes a step back, realizing it's just a small indent in the rock wall, probably due to natural erosion. He looks disappointed. “Aw man, no treasure. What a bust. What do you think?” He looks over to Sugawara right behind him. Sugawara was caught up in admiring Haru, thinking about how cute he was being so interested in the area and his sense of adventure. Blushing, Sugawara gets an overwhelming emotion build up in his chest that just pushes him forward without restraint or hesitation. He just acts.

‘That’s it. I’m just gonna do it. If he hates me for it, oh well. I can’t hide it anymore! I have to tell him how I feel!’ “Haru, I-” Sugawara takes a step toward him. “I-” He takes another step, but before he can say anything to him, his foot slips off the side of the rocks. He begins to fall off into the waterfall’s direction with an expression that says he hasn’t quite processed what’s happening yet, but before he can go too far, Haru quickly grabs his hand. Sugawara looks up at him with an intense look while Haru’s face is blank.

There was no thought in his action, he simply reacted and grabbed him just in time. After a moment, they both realize the situation they’re in and Haru begins to sweat stressfully but smiles in an attempt to keep the situation calm as possible.

“Ah, see? I told you. Adventure awaits..” He tries to smile while holding onto the rock wall and pull him up. Sugawara sweats, being very scared by the situation, but takes comfort in Haru’s comment. As he almost has Sugawara up back up to proper footing, the rock face he was using as leverage suddenly cracks. Haru shoots his head over for a moment to look at the crack before it completely gives and sends them both falling down the waterfall.

Fortunately, the waterfall was not very big and they both splash down into the pool at the bottom. Haru makes his way to the surface first. He splashes around for a moment, coughing and trying to get his bearings. After a moment, he gains his composure and begins treading the water. He then frantically looks around.

“Sugawara! Sugawara, are you alright? Where are you?” He can’t find him anywhere. Suddenly, he comes splashing out from below, a bit away from Haru. He quickly notices and makes his way towards him. While swimming over, he realizes that Sugawara is splashing and struggling to stay afloat. It wasn’t long until Sugawara began to sink back under.

‘He can’t swim!’

Realizing this, he quickly begins diving and swimming towards Sugawara. He grabs him from the bottom of the pool that’s just deep enough to confidently completely submerge Haru, let alone Sugawara, then quickly lifts him up above the surface.

Sugawara gasps for air and still panics before realizing he is okay and is dragged closer to land by Haru. Once they get close enough, they both take to their feet and stand for a moment, trying to catch their breath.

“Woah… that was way more adventure than I would’ve liked, haha!.. It’s a good thing I got to you just in time, huh?” As he is saying this, Sugawara stands up straight from the bent over position he was in with his back turned towards Haru. Haru begins to laugh awkwardly after his comment before Sugawara suddenly turns around and slams himself into his arms. He wraps his arms around Haru the best he can and pushes his head into his chest.

“That.. was so scary…” He says with a sniffle as he cries a bit. Haru, who was surprised by the sudden hug, slowly puts his arms around Sugawara too, still standing in the pool. Not long passes as they are now sitting on the dirt by the pool. Haru with his feet close to the water’s edge and Sugawara with his knees pulled up to his chest. 

“Sugawara… Why didn’t you tell me you couldn’t swim? Especially when we were at the beach. Did you tell anyone?” Haru asks with a concerned look. Sugawara looks away, kind of embarrassed.

“... No… I didn’t want you guys thinking that I was weak or incapable of taking care of myself… I just… I don’t want to give you any reason not to like me…” He sniffles and looks away, trying to hide tears forming once again. Haru gives him a saddened look. He scooches a little closer to him and puts his hand on his back.

“Suga. There’s nothing that could make me not like you. I’m sorry I didn’t make that clear enough for you.” He smiles at him softly and Sugawara begins to cry again. He falls over into Haru as he embraces him.

“It’s just… all my life I’ve been alone and… now I found you guys. You’re all so nice and kind to me… I don’t want to mess it up…”

“You won’t mess it up. I promise.” They hold each other for a little bit before heading back soaking wet.