Awa'altu High: ATWOW highschool au!!

Rotxo

The three of them sat in the hallway, trying to sleep. Rotxo hated hospitals. They reminded him of his childhood, of the bad parts. He hated the smell, the lighting, the beep of monitors. It was different this time. They were supposed to be sleeping. The three of them had been banished from the delivery room. None of them had any complaints about that. They sat on an uncomfortably sterile sofa in the hall. Tsireya had her head on the armrest with her legs across Rotxo and Ao'nung's laps. She was snoring softly. Ao'nung was also asleep, with his head on Rotxo's shoulder. He was talking in his sleep, mumbling about pita bread and snow and birds. Rotxo knew he would be too nervous in a hospital to sleep, but sitting here with the two of them was good enough. He checked his phone, careful not to disturb either of them. It was 2:54 am. Rotxo was worried about Ronal. It had been a very long time since they had gotten to the hospital. Granted, he didn't know much about pregnancy, but he knew giving birth hurt. He hoped they were taking good care of her. He scoffed to himself. She works here. Of course they would take good care of her.

They were seated a good distance away from Ronal's room, but for the first time all night, Rotxo could hear her screaming. He hated it. He hated it, and it terrified him. He hated it. It brought back far too many memories that he had worked far too hard to suppress. He shook Ao'nung awake gently. "Hmm... what?" He blinked for a few moments, gathering his bearings. His eyes cleared and he looked down at Rotxo, a worried look in his eyes. "You've been awake, haven't you?" Rotxo nodded. "I'm sorry, man. You could have woken me up, I would have stayed awake." Rotxo forced a smile. "It's okay," he murmured, nodding softly. "Is she- what time is it?" "3:02 am. She's been- I woke you up because I think it's coming soon." He felt rude addressing his unborn sibling as an "it", but no one knew the gender yet. "How do you know?" Rotxo hesitated. "She's been screaming," he mumbled, looking down at his hands. He had been white-knuckling his phone. He hadn't even noticed. "Oh, dude, you should have woken me up sooner," Ao'nung whispered, putting his arm around his friend's shoulders. "I'm fine, man, really," Rotxo reassured him, shaking his arm off. "Yeah, well... what do we do now? Do we go see her?" "Probably not, no." Ao'nung looked over at his sister. "She's drooling," he whispered, pointing.

A nurse came to collect them at 3:18 am. The sound of Ronal's screaming had been replaced by that of a much smaller voice. Tsireya was already giddy as they made their way down the halls to her mother's room. "I hope it's a girl," she whispered, looking up at her brothers. Rotxo just hoped it liked him. He kept that thought to himself. The nurse turned the door handle with a click and slowly opened it. Tsireya peeked her head around the corner and nearly ran inside. Ao'nung followed, grabbing the back of her shirt to keep her from hugging their mother too tightly. Rotxo lingered in the doorway, not wanting to intrude on their family moment. Ronal was holding her baby close to her chest. Tonowari knelt beside her, with one hand rubbing Ronal's forehead gently and one hand under the baby's head. Rotxo could tell by the soft pink cloud of blankets that wrapped the baby that Reya had gotten her wish. A small pink and white striped hat was on the baby's head. Even with it, Rotxo could see her dark curls poking out from the edges. Rotxo grinned. He didn't know babies could be born with a full head of hair. "Her name is Iolana Anahera," Ronal whispered. "Soaring angel." Rotxo thought he heard Ao'nung choke out a sob. Ronal looked at Tsireya and Ao'nung with tear filled eyes. "Wait. We're missing one." Her head whipped around to face Rotxo. His eyes widened in fear. "Come here," Tonowari whispered, waving him over. "Me?" Rotxo mouthed, pointing to himself. Ronal nodded, smiling softly. Rotxo folded his hands behind his back and walked over slowly, kneeling beside Ao'nug. From here, he could get a good look at her. Her eyes were big and blue, like her father's.  Like Ao'nung's. She opened them briefly as Rotxo knelt, but she closed them soon after. Her small face was wrinkled and pink, with a soft little nub of a nose and small lips. Rotxo felt a lump forming in the back of his throat.