the goodbye

"I'll call when I'm done here," he says to them, giving them both a small smile.

Haru just nods in reply.

They stand there for a minute longer before Natsu decides to grab his suitcase and head out. He gives one last goodbye to his mother, who hugs him tightly before letting him go. She watches as he walks down the hall with his sister.

Then they leave and Haru starts packing everything again. Once he's finished, he gets a piece of paper and writes a quick letter telling her about everything he needs from her house.

Afterwards he sends it. It takes a long time to reach her house, he's worried she'll be asleep or busy and hasn't read it yet. When he arrives at her front door, there's a note on it that says she'd love to see him when he comes over tomorrow morning.

With that he turns to go home.

When he walks inside, he sees his dad sitting on the couch playing some game on his phone. He looks up when he hears footsteps.

"Where's your brother?" He asks.

Haru shrugs, "Somewhere."

His father raises an eyebrow but says nothing more After putting his suitcase away, he goes upstairs and changes into pajamas.

He falls asleep thinking about the letter he wrote.

Haru wakes up early the next morning and goes downstairs.

Natsu is in the kitchen making pancakes, while he's wearing his pajamas. He looks up when Haru enters the room. What are you doing awake?" He asks, looking at his brother curiously.

"Couldn't sleep," He replies.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Natsu says, "I thought you were already gone. Breakfast is almost ready."

Before Haru goes back upstairs, he grabs his backpack from his bedroom and then heads towards the kitchen. Is everything alright?" He asks, setting down his phone.

Haru nods and sits down at the table.

After they finish eating, they both put their dishes away and then head back up to Haru's room.

Once he sits down on his bed, Natsu turns to him. "So, I wanted to ask if you want to play a game later."

A game? Haru doesn't remember having any plans today so he shakes his head.

"Well..." Natsu thinks for a moment, "How about some games like Overwatch? Or maybe Mario Kart."

Haru considers it. He likes those games better than Monopoly. But Natsu might want to do those instead so he declines.

Natsu frowns and turns away.

Haru feels bad about rejecting the offer. He tries to think of another idea that Natsu won't mind.

But it's been awhile since he played any video games and he doesn' t really want to anymore. So his only other option is a game that involves both players. But he still hasn't played that in ages and the memory is fuzzy so maybe that won't work?

He sighs, he should give it a shot.

"Okay," Natsu says and smiles happily, "Do you want to hangout today? We could watch movies or something."

He nods, smiling slightly. If Natsu is willing to play games with him then that's good enough for him.

Natsu smiles wider and stands up, grabbing his bag.

As soon as Natsu leaves, Haru grabs his own bag and puts his jacket and shoes on.

He then follows him outside of the house.

They walk along the street together, chatting about their days.

Natsu has soccer practice every Tuesday and Thursday so he has to get going, but Haru isn't going either so that makes things easier.

After a few minutes, they arrive at the arcade and Haru gets in line behind Natsu.

While he waits, he stares around the arcade. There are a lot of kids running around, some are even playing games. Haru's favorite thing to do is to play games so he finds himself staring at all the different characters on the screen.

He'll have to try these games sometime. Maybe when he gets older.

After waiting for a little bit, they start moving and Haru moves forward so they can pay for their tickets.

When they enter, the place is loud, lots of people, noise, and games.

People keep walking past them, bumping into Haru and Natsu. They move forward, trying to stay focused on where they're going, which is very difficult when everyone keeps walking by and bumping into them.

Haru is used to this though and doesn't make any trouble, although it does get annoying sometimes.

Finally, they make it to the machines. Haru doesn't like games that require him to move and he's too tall to fit into most of them anyway.

Natsu is taller than Haru, but he fits in pretty well so he doesn't feel too awkward.

Natsu places the tokens into the machine and presses play. As it plays, Haru stands next to him, watching.

Soon enough, a game starts and Haru doesn't hesitate to press the button.

The game loads quickly and Haru hits each button with excitement. He's been itching to try new games lately.

When the game finishes, Haru goes over to the register to pay.

They head towards the back of the arcade