[rl with tamaki] tamaki-senpai, it's just a wrist

[aliceinouran]

Haruhi stood in her small, cramped kitchen, waiting for the kettle to whistle. She leant back against the counter and listened for the sound of the doorbell. Why had she agreed to let him come over again? At least she'd convinced her Dad to go to work instead of staying home with her...

A thought occured and she groaned out loud. Oh God, I hope he

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[roseandsparkle]

Tamaki rang the doorbell, shifting his weight from one foot to the other; he had been feeling jittery ever since he found out about Haruhi's injury during a quick lunch period trip to the computer lab, and for the rest of the day his imagination had uncontrollably been thinking up more and more tragic images of Haruhi's condition, to the point where he wasn't sure if she'd even be able to get up out of bed to open the door.

[aliceinouran]

She heard the doorbell just as the kettle started to shriek and took it off to cool, almost dropping it with her less-used hand.

"Coming, Tamaki-senpai," she called, and ran over to open the door, not really knowing what to expect after the previous visit he'd given her. She fumbled with the handle a bit, and finally managed to get the door open. "You know, you really didn't need to come over."

[roseandsparkle]

Tamaki stepped inside the door and took off his shoes. "Of course I did. What sort of horrible person would I be if I sat in club having fun while you were miserable and in pain?" Not that she looked particularly miserable, he thought, at least compared to what he had been expecting, which was suffering around the level of a plague victim. He looked down at the girl's wrist. "Is that your cast? I've never had one before, what's it like?"

[aliceinouran]

Haruhi gave him a flat stare. "You'd be a normal person. I'd have been back to school soon anyway."

She looked down at the cast too and scratched absent-mindedly at it. "Yeah. It's kind of annoying. It gets itchy, and since we can't afford a water-proof one, I have to put a plastic bag around it to stop it from getting wet."

Heading back over to the kitchen, she asked over her shoulder, "Did you bring the homework? If you did, you can just put it on the table there."

[roseandsparkle]

"Ah-- right." Tamaki, quailing a bit under her stare, dug through his bag until he found the folder that Kaoru had given him, and put it where Haruhi had indicated.

He then trailed behind her into the kitchen. "Like I said, Kyouya could definitely help with hospital bills! I'm sure he'd be happy to! Or anyone else would be, too. The only reason they're not here too is that I figured the twins would be too loud for you in your weakened state."

[aliceinouran]

"No. It's fine," she said, trying with some difficulty to manage the kettle with her non-dominant hand. Damn, why had she chosen to make ramen? Just don't spill it on yourself, Haruhi. Or Tamaki-senpai. "I wouldn't want to bother Kyouya-senpai like that."

"Ah." She nodded towards the mobile phone that the twins had given her, resting on the countertop. The flashing, bright screen read that she had a new message. "They've been sending me messages all day. I have a feeling they'll come over tomorrow anyway."

[roseandsparkle]

"Here, let me--" Tamaki reached over her shoulder from behind to take the kettle from her; the process of tugging it out of her grasp caused him to brush his hand against the hot metal, and he winced before asking, "Where do you want me to pour it? Are you making tea?"

[aliceinouran]

Haruhi was definitely surprised by the action and stepped back to let him take the kettle from her--if she argued otherwise, she'd probably end up burning both of them. She saw his hand touch the metal and flinched along with him. "Uh. Ramen, Tamaki-senpai. Seeing as you came to visit me, I guessed it'd be like a proper host to make you something." She grabbed the two cups of instant ramen and set them in front of him, looking at his hand while she did so.

"You might want to run that under cold water for a minute," she noted, seeing the slightly blistered skin.

[roseandsparkle]

"Thanks, Haruhi! I think I remember I really liked this brand when I tried it before," Tamaki said, pulling the paper lids off the cups and pouring in the water. "And don't worry about me, it doesn't really...well, maybe a little..." As the delayed pain reaction common to burns set in, he let the kettle clatter back onto its place on the stove as he ran for the sink. "OW!"

[aliceinouran]

Haruhi walked over to Tamaki and stuck a fork in each of the cups on her way past. She stood on her toes and peered over his shoulder at the reddened skin. "Are you alright, Tamaki-senpai?" She kept her cast back a bit, not wanting to get it wet. "Sorry. That was probably my fault."

Edging in next to him in the tight space, she took hold of his wrist with her uninjured hand and checked it over. "It doesn't look too bad..."

[roseandsparkle]

His stomach lurched as she touched him. "Oh no! It's absolutely not your fault at all! A-and it sort of hurts kind of a lot but the water's making it feel better! Ahahaha..."

I'm a horrible pervert, he thought to himself. Daughters touch their fathers all the time! Nothing strange about that at all...

[aliceinouran]

"Are you sure?" she asked, splaying out his fingers and checking his hand over thoroughly, mercifully oblivious to his inner torment. She ran it under the water again and touched the burn gently with her thumb. "I probably have some bandages around here, and there's some ice in the fridge. It was kind of my fault, really. You were helping me out."

[roseandsparkle]

"Ice! Ice would help," exclaimed Tamaki, seizing the chance to back out of the small area in front of the sink since the way his heart was beating, Haruhi was bound to hear it if he stayed there any longer. A terrible, horrible pervert. "I'll get it myself," he said, rummaging around in the freezer, "it wouldn't be fair to make you take care of me when you were hurt first!"

[aliceinouran]

She blinked a few times, confused by his sudden and violent reaction. "... Alright." Brushing it off, she turned off the running water and went to pick up the ramen. Belatedly, she realized that she couldn't with the cast and took her own for now, planning to come back for Tamaki's after she'd placed it on the table. "Do you want anything to drink, Tamaki-senpai?"

[roseandsparkle]

Having found the ice, Tamaki turned around again, pressing it to his hand. "Ah..." he ran through a list of his favorite drinks in his head. Not wanting to embarrass her by asking for something she couldn't afford and yet not exactly sure what the cutoff price was, he said, "Anything sweet would be nice, since ramen is so salty."

[aliceinouran]

"Sure." Having taken both their cups down to the table already, she edged past Tamaki and knelt beside him to rifle through the fridge. "Nothing in particular? Dad bought a lot of soft drink the other day."

She paused for a minute and tried to think of a good topic for conversation. "Ah. Tamaki-senpai, have you made many new friends on the community?"