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Mafuyu was exhausted and in pain. He knew it wouldnt be long before his legs gave out, so he had to find somewhere quick. Somewhere where no one could see him or the condition he was in. He couldnt bear the thought of losing Uenoyama, and he knew that if anyone found out about this incident, he very well might.

Eventually, he found a patch of trees. Kind of like a mini forest. He walked into it and practically collapsed onto the ground; leaning on a tree as he sat down.

Once he sat there, he broke down. He broke down into soft sobs and covered his face with his hands. The experience of seeing Akio again was just too much for him. It brought him back to his worst memories and his most vulnerable times. After a little while, he decided he was done crying and stared blankly ahead of him; trying to block out the pain. This was something he did a lot without even realizing. He simply stared into nothingness and tried not to think.

It seemed like that method was only half working this time. He was almost completely detatched from his emotions, but the physical pain from all his scratches and bruises didnt go away. It was getting dark out now, so he tried laying down on the cold hard ground, hoping that sleep would claim him soon enough. It was freezing, and he forgot to grab his sweater before he left Akio's house, but he eventually drifted off to a mostly dreamless sleep.

Meanwhile, Uenoyama was starting to get concerned as he waiting on Sato's couch. He knew his boyfriend should have been home already, and just like earlier, he had an awful gut feeling about the whole situation.

After doing some thinking and a little more waiting, he decided it would be best to go look for Mafuyu. He let the boy's mother know, and hurriedly left, running off into the night to search. The first place he checked was Akio's house.

He knocked on the door, but got no answer. He knocked again, and still, no answer. It seemed no one was there. Or maybe whoever was there was taking a nap. Either way, he didn't think Mafuyu was there. Something about that made him even more worried. Shouldn't he be there? That was the only logical place he could have been, and since he wasnt there, where was he? And more importantly, why did he go there instead of home??

He started looking in areas around the house. Places like local parks, stores, and he even went door to door, showing a picture of his beloved on his phone to the residents of the neighborhood to try and figure out where he was last seen.

He'd been searching for almost two hours, and still had no luck. He felt like he might throw up from the stress  of it all, but he didn't give up hope. He knew Sato had to be somewhere. But there was only one more place he could think of.

A little forest.

But why would he be there? There was no way that was where he'd find him. That's why it was the last place Ritsuka was going to check. It was so unlikely that he would go to a place like that.

But when he checked...

He saw him. He saw his lover curled up on the ground; his body shivering in the cold and his hair crusted with dried blood.

"M-Mafuyu..!!" He exclaimed, rushing over to him and trying to shake him awake. "What the hell happened?! Oh my god... are you okay??" His eyes filled with tears, but he didn't let them fall. He needed to be strong.

"Nnhg..." Mafuyu groaned. Uenoyama was unintentionally aggravating his bruises. "S-stop... don't hurt me..." in his half awake state, he mistook Uenoyama for Akio. His voice sounded scratchy and weak. Slowly, he opened his heavy eyelids and looked up at the person shaking him.

Ritsuka, not wanting to hurt Mafuyu, immediately stopped touching when he was asked to. "I'm not gonna hurt you... okay? What happened to you??" He tried to remain calm, but it was really hard.

"Uenoyama-kun..?" Mafuyu looked up at him confusedly for a moment before remembering the situation. Suddenly, it dawned on him that he shouldnt be seeing him like this. He wasnt allowed to know what happened. "I'm fine..." he muttered, trying to keep himself awake. The blood loss was really getting to him, and everything felt only half real. "I tripped and fell on the way home..." hopefully that excuse was believable. He carefully tried to stand up, but faltered, falling back down to his knees.

"Hey, take it easy.." Uenoyama told him, softly lifting him up and helping him stand again. "Are you sure that's all that happened..? It had to have been one nasty fall... and is your head alright??" Honestly, he didn't know how much he bought the falling excuse. "Those scratches on your arms... how did you get those? And my god, you're freezing.." he hugged him and took off his jacket to put it on Sato, hoping it might make him feel a little better.

"I-..." how could he answer all those questions without giving anything away? "I don't know... I.. uhm..." he needed to make up a story, and it had to be believable. Though, it was pretty hard to do that seeing as he was actively falling back asleep as he stood. It was partly because he'd just woken up, but it was more prominently because of his blood loss and because all his adrenaline from the moments of action had worn off. He knew his body would crash at some point, but the timing was extremely inconvenient.

After a moment, he tried collecting himself and telling his fake story. "I dunno how I got any of the scratches... but I know I fell... I think I bashed my head and passed out... my head probably hit a tree or something, and I dont know the rest..." he leaned heavily against Uenoyama and rubbed his eyes. "We shouldn't let mom see... take me to your house..." his mom would probably see right through his lies.

Uenoyama held him up and caressed his back. He knew Mafuyu loved his back rubbed. "I can take you to my house." He said softly, willing to do anything that would make Sato feel better. "We dont want her to worry. So I'll call her and tell her you're okay." He decided to pick him up, holding him bridal style and starting to walk back to his house.

He walked silently for a while, listening to Mafuyu's breathing. Even he could tell that the breaths were sharp and way too shallow. After a while, he spoke. "Mafuyu... are you sure that's really what happened?"

Mafuyu, who had just fallen asleep, sprung awake with a scared yelp; expecting to be hurt in some way. But when he realized it was just his boyfriend, he calmed down again. "Yeah... I'm sure." And with that, Ritsuka walked them both back to his house.

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A/N: Surprise! You get two chapters today! The comments really motivated me lmao the interactions some of y'all have really make me laugh.

The next chapter will have loads of cute mafuyama stuff so you might just get a teeny tiny break from the angst!

Eli~

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