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Suguru has his bag at the ready before he even knocks on Satoru’s door, because like this it’ll be faster. He can oversee Satoru pack his own bag, instead of trusting him to do it and then they can leave in ten minutes instead of the forty it would otherwise take.
By now Suguru knows Satoru and he knows how best to work with him to get things done faster.
“Get ready, we’re going swimming,” Suguru announces as he steps into Satoru’s room and he almost chokes on his laugh when he sees the pose Satoru has pretzeled himself into. “What are you doing?” he gets out and Satoru only glares at him.
“How is that even possible?” he asks, pointing at the entirety of Satoru, because he’s pretty sure no human body is supposed to bend that way, but then again, this is Satoru. Of course he can do everything.
“What do you want?” Satoru bites out instead of answering Suguru’s question and Suguru raises his bag in answer.
“We’re going swimming. Up you go,” he cheerfully says and watches how Satoru un-pretzels himself into a human shape again.
“Fine, let’s go,” he sighs out but Suguru frowns at him.
“Like this?” he wants to know, pointing out the lack of anything swimming related on Satoru but he only shrugs.
“Like this.”
“Satoru, this is not how you go swimming,” Suguru informs him because maybe Satoru simply doesn’t know that.
“It is for me, because I’m not going to swim,” he shoots back and Suguru drops his bag with a sigh.
“Why not? It’ll be fun,” Suguru tries but he knows he won’t have much luck when Satoru’s face closes off.
“Maybe,” he still stays, “but I’m not going to swim.”
Suguru regards him for a moment before he hazards a guess.
“Is it because of the scar?” he whispers out, acutely aware of the huge scar bisecting Satoru from neck to hip.
Satoru isn’t shy to run around shirtless with Suguru and they’ve showered together in the communal showers, too, so it doesn’t seem as if Satoru minds it much, but maybe other people are different.
“No. I could just heal it if it really bothers me,” Satoru mutters, a hand darting under his shirt to no doubt trace over the scar and Suguru decides to let it go for now because if he inquires right now why Satoru doesn’t heal the scar in the first place it would probably open another can of worms, and Suguru really just wanted to relax today.
“What then?”
“Suguru, can you just—I just don’t want to, okay? I’ll go with you but I’m not going to swim,” Satoru says, more harshly than Suguru expected and he deflates, because there’s no way he’s going to drag Satoru out of here to do something he so clearly hates.
“Okay,” he agrees and kicks his bag into a corner of the room. “Counterproposal then. We go to the fair and then get something to eat.”
It’s going to be stupid hot and over-crowded but at least that would get them out of school for a little while and Suguru does not miss the excited glint in Satoru’s eyes at hearing his proposal.
It only lasts a second before it dims again.
“But you wanted to go swimming.”
“I wanted to go swimming with you. I wanted to do something fun with you, but if you’re just going to stay on the shore, then that’s hardly fun, is it? I’d rather we do something we both enjoy, if it’s all the same to you.”
“I didn’t mean to spoil your fun,” Satoru mutters and Suguru walks over to him so he can smack him over the head.
“I want to do whatever with you. I don’t care if we go swimming or hiking or to the fair. I just considered the weather and picked the option that’s least likely to grill us alive but I’m totally down for the fair, too. You know I wanted to check it out anyway.”
It’s not even a lie; Suguru is not stupid enough to lie to Satoru like that. He has mentioned the fair before and they had vague plans to go there eventually, he just bumped these vague plans up now.
“Okay, if you’re sure,” Satoru gets out and Suguru affectionately flicks his forehead.
“I am. Now come on, you grouch, let’s go have some fun!”
~*~*~
Suguru watches how Satoru crashes into the lake, disappearing under the water almost immediately. He doesn’t think about it further, because then the curse is gunning for him and he doubts that Satoru has been hurt enough to keep him down.
He’ll be up in a moment, Suguru is certain of it.
But Suguru subdues the curse, turning it into an orb to swallow it later, and still Satoru hasn’t come out yet.
And now worry grips Suguru’s heart.
He runs over to the lake, jumps on his manta ray to let it carry him into the middle of it, where he’d seen Satoru fall and then he jumps without a second thought.
Satoru hasn’t come up yet, so of course he needs help.
The lake is absolutely freezing even though it’s barely autumn and the temperature is a shock to his system that makes it hard to concentrate for a second. But Suguru gets himself under control again and he dives deep and deeper still, desperately looking out for a mop of white hair, for something human shaped.
He sends out a few of his curses as well, has them help him search but in the end it’s him who finds Satoru first. He’s sinking, completely still, not even trying to get back to the surface anymore and when Suguru runs cold this time it’s not because of the temperature.
Suguru directs his curses, has one of them catch Satoru and bring him back up to the surface, while he is not that far behind and by the time his curse lets him down at the shore Suguru feels as if he’s going to die.
Satoru is too still. He’s never this still.
Suguru is at his side a second later, shaking hands reaching out for his pulse, but there’s nothing. Suguru faintly hears Shoko tell him that it can be difficult to detect a weak pulse in an emergency, so he leans over, puts his cheek against Satoru’s face, but there’s no breath to detect either.
“Fuck,” Suguru whispers out as he springs into action, tilting Satoru’s head back, before he opens his mouth and slots his own over it. He breathes into him a few times before he pulls back but there’s still no reaction from Satoru.
He moves to Satoru’s chest, his CPR training finally kicking in for real and he tries to get Satoru’s heart to pump on his own, before he goes back to trying to breathe life into him again.
“This isn’t how this was supposed to go,” Suguru despairingly thinks as he slots his lips over Satoru’s again and he breathes and breathes and breathes, before he goes back to pumping.
“Breathe, damn you!” he yells when Satoru still doesn’t make any motion to do absolutely necessary, life-preserving stuff on his own and then he’s back to breathing.
He’s just about to move back to his chest, but Satoru finally, finally, starts to cough and Suguru immediately helps him lean over to the side so he can dispel the water he no doubt has in his lungs.
“You’re okay, you’re fine,” Suguru mutters out, his own voice shaky with panic and Satoru doesn’t even do anything besides flop over, his breath still coming in short and ragged and Suguru feels tears prick at his eyes. “Fuck, you scared me,” he mutters, sitting down next to Satoru, just for a moment, to catch his own breath.
Satoru doesn’t move, doesn’t do anything besides trying to regulate his breathing and Suguru takes one moment longer before he gets up.
“We have to see Shoko,” he decides, because Satoru was dead there for longer than Suguru cares to think about.
Satoru only grunts at that, and Suguru doesn’t even expect him to get up on his own, so he bends down, sliding his arms under Suguru’s knees and behind his back and then he’s hefting him off the ground, clutching him tight to his chest. He thinks he’ll probably have a hard time letting go of Satoru for a while now, but that will come later.
For now he has to get Satoru to Shoko so she can check him out and make sure that he’s actually going to stay alive.
With a plan in mind, Suguru gets them back on the manta ray, before he has it take off towards the school.
~*~*~
Suguru is slumped against the side of Satoru’s bed, his hand clutched around Satoru’s wrist, fingers pressed to his pulse-point, while Satoru sleeps off the shock of drowning.
Satoru drowned. Satoru drowned and he was down in the water for so long and Suguru’s breath is coming a little bit faster just remembering it.
Shoko assured him that Satoru would be fine, and by the time they came back to school he was aware enough to rule out any potential brain damage, and yet Suguru still can’t bring himself to let go of Satoru.
“Suguru,” Satoru eventually slurs out, turning to his side and moving his hand so he can tangle his fingers with Suguru’s.
“Satoru,” Suguru breathes out, scrambling up and sitting down at the edge of the bed now. “How are you feeling?” he asks and pushes some hair out of Satoru’s face.
“Tired. Sore,” Satoru mutters out and Shoko told him to expect that, so Suguru isn’t quite panicking anymore.
“Okay. That’s good, that’s really good,” he gives back, aware that he’s rambling like he usually never is but Satoru is aware enough to realise it because his gaze slides over to Suguru.
“I’m okay,” Satoru tells him and now that makes Suguru huff out a laugh.
“You were dead, Satoru,” he corrects him because that thought hasn’t left his mind all the time and he thought he’d never have to go through that after the mess with Toji.
“But then I came back to you,” Satoru confidently says and Suguru lumps forward, until he can rest their foreheads together.
“I was so scared, Satoru, never do that to me again,” he gets out and Satoru pats his head.
“Sorry,” he mutters.
“What even happened? Did the curse get to you? Did it hurt you? Shoko couldn’t find any injuries,” Suguru asks and Satoru sighs, before he moves away from Suguru, avoiding his gaze suddenly.
“Nothing happened. It didn’t. I have Infinity.”
He says it as if it should explain anything but in all honesty it just raises more questions.
“Then what went wrong? You weren’t coming back up, did you lose consciousness when you hit the water?”
“I—” Satoru worries his lip before he drags himself into a sitting position, still avoiding Suguru’s gaze. “I can’t swim,” Satoru finally admits and it’s so not what Suguru expected that he needs a moment to process his words.
“You can’t swim,” he repeats as if that would make it make more sense and Satoru only presses his lips together.
“If you laugh I’ll kill you,” Satoru mutters and Suguru can do nothing but stare at him.
“Why would I laugh?” he eventually gets out, because that really is not something he even thought about doing. “Why can’t you swim?”
It’s probably still insensitive to ask this, especially with the way Satoru curls into himself, but Suguru doesn’t understand why this is even something Satoru was trying to hide from him.
Satoru clicks his tongue and glares at Suguru.
“I have Infinity. My parents always knew that once I figured out my techniques, I’d be able to float. So what use was there in teaching me how to swim?”
Suguru has to admit that he still has a hard time wrapping his head around this. Satoru is powerful enough to be able to level the entire city with one attack but he can’t swim.
It doesn’t sound real.
“You never learned?” Suguru asks for confirmation again and Satoru shrugs, but he doesn’t say anything else.
Suguru remembers the one time he asked Satoru to come swimming with him, how he was so adamant on not going and now that finally makes sense. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go, but that he knew he couldn’t join Suguru in the water.
“You could have just said,” Suguru mutters, reaching out to take Satoru’s hand back in his. “You really think I would have judged you for it?”
“But it’s so stupid, isn’t it?” Satoru rushes out. “Everyone can swim and everyone expects everyone else to be able to do it, too. It’s just—no one ever took the time to teach me and now it’s way too late.”
“It’s never too late,” Suguru whispers and moves so he can sit next to Satoru on the bed. “I can teach you. If you want to, of course. It’s no big deal if you can’t swim, but it could have spared us all a lot of worry and pain if you had mentioned it before. I could have gotten you out sooner. I prioritised the curse because I thought you could get yourself out. I just—I need to know stuff like that, Satoru.”
“I’m sorry,” Satoru mutters, tightening his grip on Suguru’s hand. “I probably should have told you, I just—”
He was ashamed, Suguru fills in but he doesn’t actually say it. There’s no need to talk about this anymore today, because it’s done and now Suguru knows but it sure shaved off a few years of his life.
“It’s fine. I’m just glad you’re okay. I was scared out of my mind,” he admits, because he’s not too ashamed to admit that.
“Sorry,” Satoru says again and drops his head to Suguru’s shoulder.
Suguru turns his head to press a kiss to Satoru’s forehead and he lingers there for longer than he probably should. But Satoru’s skin is warm and his body is a pleasant weight against Suguru and he can finally, finally convince himself that Satoru is safe and sound and not slipping through his fingers at any given moment now.
“As long as you’re here,” Suguru gives back and Satoru melts even more against him.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he promises and Suguru decides to believe it for now.
Right now, he just wants to enjoy this moment with Satoru, so he closes his eyes and he breathes together with Satoru until they fall asleep just like that.