Chapter Text
For what it was worth, it was nice to somehow not have miraculously caught Akito’s sickness when he came down with a cold. Even more miraculous was how quickly Akito recovered from said cold, even though he looked awful when he was trying to practice.
That being said, it didn’t stop Toya from falling ill sometime afterward.
Luckily, the group didn’t have practice when Toya started feeling odd. He made his way over to school when he realized that he was already somewhat winded. This struck him as a red flag because although he’s not nearly as athletic as people like An or Akito who sub for their respective sports teams, he still was exercising with the group’s practice sessions. He could even feel his stamina allowing him to press on for much longer than he was able to years ago, back when he was only still with Akito.
He made his way over to Kamiyama’s entrance where he found Akito waiting for him with a smile. The smaller boy walked up to him and slung an arm over his shoulder, as if they weren’t even dating at all. Toya smiled as he slouched just a tiny bit for Akito to comfortably remain in his position, but Toya could tell the small little differences in Akito’s touches now that they were boyfriends.
Akito was holding onto Toya’s other shoulder instead of just letting his arm hang, and he felt Akito be much closer to him as well, basically pressing his side into Toya’s.
“Hey, Toya.” Akito greeted him with a soft smile.
Even though they started dating, Toya could tell Akito’s not really one for PDA. While he’s totally fine with being all over Toya when it’s just An and Kohane (and Tsukasa but Akito would never admit that nor did their senpai even know of their relationship yet), he wasn’t nearly as comfortable showing off their relationship to strangers, or even his acquaintances.
Toya thought back to their conversation about it. They were talking in their Sekai, in a booth secluded away from the others in the café.
“It’s not that I’m embarrassed, it’s just that… no one really needs to know, y’know?” Akito’s face flushed, but he also had a sad expression, like he was letting Toya down.
“Akito, I’m not upset. Not everyone is fine with showing off their relationship, it’s fine.” Toya made sure to smile for him.
Akito let out a sigh of relief and scooted closer to Toya, resting his head on the taller boy’s shoulder.
“I love you, Toya.”
“—ya? Yo, you there?”
Akito’s voice brought him back to reality, although it was probably him also shaking him a bit that really got his attention. He felt his face getting hot when he realized what he was just thinking about. This didn’t escape Akito’s notice, as the orange-haired boy leaned and whispered with a smirk:
“I didn’t even do anything yet, and you’re already that red?”
“T-That’s—!”
Akito let out a laugh. “Relax, I’m kidding. What’s got you so embarrassed?”
“I’m just… not feeling so great today.”
Akito’s face fell. “You alright?”
Toya started taking deep breaths, which is what his mother always told him to do when he started feeling nauseous. “I-I’m sure I’ll be fine after lunch.”
Akito winced. “Don’t tell me I got you sick…”
Toya wrapped an arm around Akito’s waist, making the smaller boy’s face burn. Toya quickly whispered, “don’t worry. I’ll be okay,” and let him go. What Toya didn’t expect was for Akito to stop walking dead in his tracks, his face a deep shade of crimson.
It seemed as if his vocabulary regressed into stutters and hums, because he couldn’t even get a sentence out before the boys were interrupted by An walking up to them.
“Looks like you did a real number on him, Toya.” An had a sly smile on her face as Akito walked up to the other two with an embarrassed frown.
Toya was about to say something, but instead he let out a sneeze. He made sure to cover his face with his elbow so as to not get anything onto An or Akito. That sneeze really did a number on his throat, as he could feel it burning.
Akito’s face returned back to its normal complexion. “Dude, you really don’t look so good.”
An sighed. “Don’t tell me you caught whatever Akito had the other day…” Akito sputtered.
Toya shook his head. “I think it would’ve gotten me way earlier if it really was because of Akito, right?”
An shrugged with an unimpressed look on her face. “I dunno, I’m not a doctor. But just in case something happens, just text us and we’ll call off practice in a few days, okay?”
Toya smiled. “Thank you, Shiraishi.”
An patted Toya’s back. “No problem.” She turned to Akito. “Better return the favor, Akito~”
“Hah? What’re you on about?”
An deadpanned. “You cannot be serious. He literally was ready to carry your sorryass back to your house before I called my dad to drive you two over to your house.”
Akito’s face flushed. “I-I don’t remember that.”
Toya shook his head. “It’s fine, Akito’s probably gonna be busy anyways—“
Akito interrupted Toya by grabbing his shoulder. “No. No I won’t.”
Toya remained silent.
An chuckled. “Alright well, you two should get to class. Make sure to go to the nurse if you feel any worse, alright?”
Toya nodded and Akito huddled close to him as they walked off, letting An continue her hall monitor duties. As the pair arrived at their classrooms, Akito hugged Toya, surprising him.
“Feel better, alright? I’ll see you at lunch.” Akito patted Toya's arm and gave him a warm smile as he walked off in the opposite direction, leaving Toya standing there dumbfounded.
For not being okay with PDA, he was surprisingly touchy today.
~
Toya couldn’t really focus in class today. The longer the morning went, the harder it was getting to even concentrate on the teacher’s lecture. There were several times where he was beginning to feel nauseous like he was at the entrance, and the more he began to feel that way, the less effective deep breathing became.
However, the bell then rang for lunch, and Toya couldn’t take it anymore. He skipped breakfast as he was in a rush to get to school on time (also because he really wanted to see Akito before having to go to class), so maybe all this nausea was coming from hunger.
He exited the classroom and promptly met up with Akito in his classroom, who gave him a nervous frown.
“Dude, you look way worse.”
Toya sat down at the desk in front of Akito. “I’m just gonna try to eat lunch… maybe I’ll feel better then…”
“O-Okay…” Akito clearly was not convinced that a simple meal would bring Toya back to 100%, but he went with the idea anyway. Leaving his boyfriend to not eat at all for the entire morning didn’t seem like a much better alternative.
They pulled out their lunches and began eating, but it didn’t take a genius to realize that Toya was eating much slower than normal. Although Toya was never a glutton, he definitely wasn’t picky, either. Akito kept studying Toya, but then he put down his chopsticks.
“I-I don’t think this is just hunger…”
Akito immediately stood up and put a hand on Toya’s back. “Do you wanna go to the nurse?”
Toya merely nodded. It wasn’t worth continuing to try playing a tough guy when his body was clearly fighting him. The boys stood up as they made their way to the nurse’s office.
Akito was holding Toya’s hand with his other hand on his back. “Do you want me to skip to take care of you?” He whispered.
Toya shook his head. “Focus on your studies, Akito. I’ll be fine at home.”
“But you’re more important…”
Toya smiled sincerely at his boyfriend. “I’ll be okay. Please, don’t worry. Come after school, okay?”
“…Okay.”
The boys made it to the nurse’s office, but Akito was told to go back to lunch and to leave Toya there with the nurse. He was very much not okay with doing so, but figured that fighting another person today wasn’t worth the effort. Before he left the office, Toya made sure to mouth the words ‘love you’ at Akito, which made the smaller boy smile warmly at him.
~
Toya was allowed to go home for the day as his temperature was steadily increasing above the average, but Akito was left to handle the rest of his school day alone. The day couldn’t have gone any slower for him, as his urge to skip was getting stronger and stronger.
Akito’s attendance wasn’t perfect, but it was much better than what’d you expect with how he acted and how he scored on exams.
With the final bell approaching, he decided to pull out his phone to text Toya about some things he’d need to get better.
Akito
do you have medicine and stuff for whatever it is youre coming down with
Toya
I think we do. I’m alone at home but I think I found some flu medicine in our medicine cabinet.
Of course he’d be home alone. His parents definitely know that he’s sick because they had to have been called by the school, but they’re still away from the house.
Akito
do you want me to bring soup or something
Toya
If it’s not too much trouble.
Akito
youre never too much trouble
Toya
🧡
Akito
💙
Akito smiled at his phone as the final dismissal bell rang. He thought it’d be a straight shot to the store for a quick bowl of soup, but he was interrupted by Tsukasa.
“Akito! How strange that Toya isn’t with you today! Do you have an idea of where he might be?”
Tsukasa’s loud volume always permeated through Akito’s ears, which was always enough to make his face morph into a frown. He’s already aware that Tsukasa is not a bad person by any means, but he’s still too much to handle for him.
He groaned. “Toya’s sick. I was on my way to the store to—“
“He’s what?! Why didn’t someone tell me sooner?!” Tsukasa’s eyes widened.
Akito flinched at his somehow already loud voice getting even louder. “He went home early today. You’re not late or anything.” Akito walked past his senpai in an attempt to shake him off, but Tsukasa kept walking next to him, matching his speed. “I was on my way to the store to get soup for him.”
“Do you think I could come with you? Please, I’ll even pay for the soup!”
“Alright, alright. You don’t have to pay for anything, I was already planning on paying for it.”
“Thank you, Akito! You’re such a good friend!”
“We’re not—!”
“Well, we’re off to the convenience store for some soup for my little brother! He probably needs chicken noodle soup, but maybe a vegetable soup will be better for him… I remember when Saki was sick she always—“
Akito groaned. As much as he didn’t want to bring Tsukasa along, he knew that Toya would be happy to see him.
‘This is all for Toya, Akito. Bear with it for him.’ He thought to himself.
~
The boys made it to Toya’s house with the bowl of soup, although Tsukasa also made sure to buy “get well” balloons and a card, much to Akito’s embarrassment. The house was just as grand as Akito (unfortunately) remembers it being, and it made him shudder. It was almost as if it was too fancy for him, and he was sticking out like a sore thumb even standing at the front door. It wasn’t like Tsukasa was any better, due to him wearing the same uniform as Akito, although he at least gets a pass because his parents like Tsukasa. It’s not the same for Akito.
Akito made sure to text Toya beforehand that he was arriving, and he nodded towards the potted plant to the side of the front door, which had the spare key to the front door. Tsukasa knew of the key too, which is how he completely understood what Akito meant.
‘He’s known Toya for longer than me. ‘Course he knows that.’ Akito thought to himself.
Tsukasa unlocked the door and pushed it open, and just like Toya said, no one was home. Looking around, Toya didn’t seem to be around, either. He was probably already in his room.
Tsukasa walked to the stairs and made his way up to Toya’s room, with Akito following behind him. It pained him to admit, but he hasn’t been around Toya’s house nearly as much as Tsukasa. The peach-haired boy stepped aside for Akito to open the door, which he did so slowly.
“Hey…” Akito greeted Toya quietly as soon as he saw him. Toya was laying down similarly to how Akito was when he was sick, with a cold compress on his head and wrapped in blankets.
“Akito…!” Toya perked up slightly at the sight of his boyfriend, which made Akito feel a heavenly warmth pulse throughout his chest. He stepped a bit forward into Toya’s room, as Tsukasa stepped into the room right behind him.
“Toya! I heard you were sick from Akito so I came with him!”
Toya’s eyes sparkled at the sight of Tsukasa. “T-Tsukasa-senpai! You didn’t have to come, really!” He was happy to see him, but it seems like he overexerted himself a bit, as he started coughing after greeting his senpai.
“Woah… easy.” Akito put the soup on Toya’s nightstand and sat on the bed with Toya.
“I’m okay.” Toya smiled warmly at his boyfriend. He slowly hoisted himself up with his elbows to sit upright next to Akito, balancing the compress on his forehead to be on his scalp instead. Akito was about to ask on whether or not that’d be as beneficial, but he stopped himself.
“How’d you come down with this, Toya?” Tsukasa asked, as he placed his ‘get better soon’ balloons at the foot of Toya’s bed.
“I’m not sure. I felt something coming up yesterday, but today is when it got bad…” Akito opened his mouth to comment, but Toya quickly added, “I doubt it’s from you, Akito.”
“Hm? Did Akito get sick too?”
“Ah, yeah. Toya took care of me. He keeps saying I didn’t pass anything onto him, but…”
“Even if it was from you, it’s fine. Although, I wouldn’t want either of you to catch something from me…”
“I’m only here to see how you’re doing. I have rehearsals today at the Wonder Stage, so I can’t stay for long!” Tsukasa puffed his chest. “A future star doesn’t skip rehearsal!”
His extrovertedness made Akito stare him down unenthusiastically, but Toya was clearly mesmerized. “Of course. Thank you for checking up on me, Tsukasa-senpai.”
“Of course, Toya! Brothers look out for each other! I’ll be going now, see you later!”
“See ya.” Akito waved, with Toya waving as well.
Tsukasa walked out of the room and closed the door behind him, leaving the two boys alone. As they heard Tsukasa’s footsteps get further away down the stairs and the front door open and close, Toya giggled.
“What’s so funny?” Akito asked, scooting closer to him.
“You had jealousy written all over your face when he was here, Akito.”
Akito sputtered as his face flushed. “I-I did not!”
Toya smiled, knowing he was lying. “Every time he talked, you had this weird look on your face. It was more apparent now than it ever was.” Toya scooted closer to Akito to meet him halfway. “Akito, I’m dating you, not Tsukasa-senpai.”
“W-Well…”
Toya let out a hoarse cough, which prompted Akito to lay him back down.
“Come on, you gotta rest.”
“What’re you gonna do?” Toya asked as he was slowly laying back down on his bed.
Akito made sure to stay above him. The question made him chuckle. “Stay here? What kinda question is that?”
“Even when my dad comes home?”
Akito clicked his tongue. After a bit of thought, he shrugged. “I mean, what else am I gonna do, leave you alone?”
Toya whined. He didn’t wanna know what his dad would do if he found Akito in his room, nor would he have any idea about what he would do if Akito fell asleep on Toya’s bed with him. Out of all the people Toya wouldn’t want to be told about his relationship with Akito, it was his father.
Akito probably sensed that Toya was worried about his dad walking in. “I can… hide in the closet when he comes upstairs?”
Toya sighed. “He barely comes to check on me, but I’m sure hiding in the closet wouldn’t work.” He chuckled at the ridiculous idea.
“Come onnn, I just wanna sleep with you.”
Toya chuckled again. “Upset that I’m not as clingy as you are when I’m sick?”
Akito flushed again. “Stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Flirting like that…”
“Akito, I’m not doing anything.”
Akito groaned. “Did you even take your medicine yet?”
Toya winced. “Oh, uh… no.”
His boyfriend sighed. “Alright, sit up, come on.”
Toya whined and groaned as he made himself sit up again. Akito apologized for making him exert himself to sit up again after he just made his boyfriend lay down, but Toya simply nodded his head. It made Toya’s chest feel warm to know that Akito was keeping track of whether or not he was actually taking care of himself or not. As Akito gave him a serving of the cold medicine (which looked to be the same medicine that Akito took when he was sick), Toya drank it and then laid back down on the bed.
“Okay, now you gotta have your soup.” Akito reminded him that he brought soup to make him feel better. As he handed the bowl of soup over to Toya, the blue-haired boy smiled while looking down onto the food. The sight made Akito chuckle. “What’s up?”
“I was just thinking how sweet you are for getting this for me.”
Akito flushed and looked away from his boyfriend. “You took care of me when I was sick, so…”
“Again, it was mostly just me following what Ena told me to do.”
“Agh, shut up and eat your soup.”
Toya chuckled as he slowly started to drink his soup and eat the vegetables mixed in with it, as his appetite still wasn’t very big. The lingering taste of the bitter cold medicine didn’t do any favors for him, as it made the soup even harder to actually enjoy, but he had to power through it so he’d feel better quicker. Akito pulled out his phone to scroll through some social media as he waited for Toya to finish his food.
Shortly after, Toya put the empty bowl aside on his nightstand and lifted the covers of his bed, prompting Akito to lay down with him.
“Are you sure, Toya? You sure your dad won’t get mad?” Akito asked, even though he was already laying down and making space for himself in Toya’s arms.
“I’ll deal with it if it happens.”
He smiled. “Weird, you’re not usually one to procrastinate.”
Toya lightly smacked Akito’s arm, making the smaller boy feign being hurt. “Just go to sleep.”
Akito complied, hugging Toya close. The two boys began to fall asleep in comfortable silence.
~
That was, until they were woken up a few hours later when Toya’s dad arrived at home.
Toya is a rather light sleeper compared to Akito, so he was woken up when he heard what he thought was a car parking on their driveway, but he really was alert when he heard the front door’s lock being fiddled with. Quickly, he started to shake Akito awake.
“Akito. Akito, wake up.” Toya whispered to Akito, but in a rather urgent tone.
The smaller boy stirred, rubbing his eye. “What time is it…”
“I don’t know, but my dad’s here.”
That alone really woke Akito up. “Ah, shit.”
The boys looked around for a possible way out of the situation, and Akito’s eyes settled on the window that was facing a rather large tree that covered most of the view the window gave Toya in his room. Akito got a better look as he got up, and realized that the window was right above part of the roof of the lower floor, so he could easily jump to the branch if he positioned himself right on the roof. The problem wasn’t him, it was Toya. He’d probably freak out if he saw that if he missed the jump (it was already going to be hard for him to make the jump), he’d be probably suffering an injury to his legs that his mind was probably overdramatizing.
“Akito, just go. I’ll meet up with you later.” Toya urged him on while coughing into his arm. It didn’t seem like he was perfectly healthy just yet.
Akito hesitated, but opened the window anyway, before turning to Toya. “I’ll text you, okay?”
“Thank you for everything, Akito.”
“I—“
Akito felt like he had an essay to tell Toya, but he heard footsteps going up the stairs, so he quickly opened the window and jumped through to stand on the roof, then closed the window behind him. He quickly stepped away from the window’s view and looked around to see if there was a good spot to jump from and make a good landing. Just as he was about to make the jump, he saw An and Kohane walking by on the opposite side of the road to Toya’s house. He couldn’t hear what they were really talking about, but it made him chuckle to see An suddenly stop walking and stare at Akito with a horrified expression on her face. Kohane turned to see what An was looking at, and also paled. The boy chuckled and put a finger on his lips to keep them quiet, as he jumped from the roof, landing a bit sloppily on the ground. He was gonna feel that one later.
An and Kohane quickly crossed the street and ran over to where Akito was now sitting.
“Dude! What’re you doing jumping from Toya’s roof like that?!” An loudly whispered to him.
“Oh come on, is this really a surprise? What are you two doing here, anyways?”
“We were on our way here to check on Aoyagi, because An-chan told me he wasn’t feeling well…”
The thought made Akito smile as he slowly stood up. He patted his legs and his back, trying to swipe the dirt off of his clothes. “Glad you guys care about him. But he’ll be fine. He has it a bit worse than I did, but he’ll be fine if he just rests.”
“Can’t we actually see him?” An asked, still not convinced until she sees him for herself.
Akito grimaced. “I’m sure he’d love to see you guys but his dad literally just got home. It’s why I jumped from… well, y’know.”
An clicked her tongue and Kohane frowned. Seeing his two bandmates so down made him groan. “Alright, I can just call him and you two can check up on him then. With a video call.”
At that, the girls’ eyes sparkled and they nodded their heads.
~
The day after, Akito wasn’t surprised to see Toya missing from school. He already texted his boyfriend and he was notified that Toya was still not feeling all that well, so he’d be missing classes today. What Akito hated about Toya not being in school is that he doesn’t have anyone to eat lunch with anymore.
Speaking of which, the bell for lunch finally rang, so Akito took to the rooftop, which is where Toya and him usually ate together. Although he might run into Rui and Tsukasa sometimes when he comes up here, the pairs usually are apart and don’t interact much together when they’re eating lunch. Looking around now, it seemed that Rui and Tsukasa weren’t here.
Akito sat down with his lunch and pulled out his phone, dialing Toya’s number for a video call. The line was beeping a few times until Akito finally saw Toya’s smile light up his phone. He still looked tired, but not as bad as he did the day before.
“Hey. How’s my partner doin’?” Akito asked, with the same gentle voice he always uses when checking up on Toya.
“Your partner still feels like wet paper.” Toya closed his eyes and rested the back of his hand on his forehead. Although he was sick, something made Akito feel like he was being a bit dramatic.
“Odd way to put it, but you look better than you did yesterday. Did you take your medicine?”
“Yes Akito, I made sure to take it. Don’t worry.”
“You know I’ll never stop worrying about you.”
Toya chuckled. “That makes it seem like I’m the rowdier one out of us two.”
“Oi!”
The boys both laughed at each other cracking jokes, until Toya gave Akito a sincere smile.
“Thanks for checking in on me yesterday, Akito. It means a lot.”
Akito warmly smiled back. “You’re my boyfriend. It’s the least I can do.”
“Oh, and tell Tsukasa that I appreciate him coming by, too.”
“Yeah yeah, I’ll do that if I see him today.”
“No backing out of it, okay?”
“I heard ya, I heard ya.”
With a small cough, Toya continued. “And really, thank you. You’re the reason I keep smiling nowadays, even though Tsukasa, Shiraishi, and Azusawa are also responsible for it, you’re the main reason. You’re my partner, and I appreciate and love you dearly, Akito.” At the end of his little speech, Toya had to stop to catch his breath a little, while Akito stared at the screen in surprise. “I don’t know how you did this when you were still recovering. You probably have lungs the size of a car engine…”
“I-I…”
“Hm?”
Akito wiped his eyes, although that didn’t stop a tear from flowing down his cheek as he smiled back at the camera. “I love you too, Toya. Really.”
“I’m glad I can make you feel the same way you made me feel when we had that heart-to-heart when you were sick.”
Akito hid his face in the crook of his arm. “You’re so cheesy.”
“You did it first.”
“I love you, Toya.”
“I love you too, Akito.”