Camping Trip 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! French 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 confused with a mouthful of food. 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 in 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 hill side 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-"