Work Text:
Isagani, being a law student, understands more or less his med-student boyfriend.
But that doesn't make him feel better about how little Basilio has been eating, or sleeping, or doing absolutely anything other than stare at his laptop until his brain goes numb, or bury himself in books upon books upon papers. Because quite frankly, it was worrying— not to mention the way his posture has been declining, the slouch on his back was almost comparable to Juanito's.
So, on a regular Sunday in the middle of July, the he's kind of done watching the other man's health degrade for the sake of his future— at this rate, the way he's treating himself, who even knows if he'll live to see his future?
"Basilio, it's Sunday," Isagani says. "At least go to mass with me?"
"You go ahead," Basilio waves him off. "I'm kind of behind in my reviewing? And I know your tiyo wants you going to church every week, and you always like helping around however you can after the mass, and I don't know if I can afford to slack off for a few hours because my mind's already kind of working on low power mode, and I don't know, I'm really not cut out for this shit because I'm kind of losing my mind—"
Isagani wants to roll his eyes, but he holds them steady on Basilio. "Come on, take a break at least."
Basilio looks up at him for about half a second, and he almost thinks he's won this time— but Basilio looks back down onto the clutter on his desk, reaches his left hand for something that the writer can't make out until it hits him in the face. Literally. It was a KitKat. "Ha-ha," Isagani deadpans, "very funny."
He opens it anyway. He's surprised to find it in tact.
Isagani breaks the chocolate in two, puts one in his mouth as he leans over the table. He instructs Basilio to open his mouth, practically shoves the other half into his face. (But the chocolate is slightly melted, and Basilio decides to be a smartass about it and licks at Isagani's fingers before returning his attention to his studying.)
The writer is left slightly flustered as he wipes down his hand on his pants. He huffs defiantly, pulls out the book Basilio has been reading (blankly staring at?) for the last half hour, and runs out the room as he holds it above his head.
Basilio yells half-heartedly at him, begrudgingly standing up to retrieve his book.
They kind of stare each other down for a moment. And then—
"Basilio— Ow— What are you—?!"
The med-student has his feet around the writer's hips, knees tucked into either side of Isagani. He's reaching out for his book, grunts through the strange arrangement he's put them in— but Isagani has angled it away from him. He sighs, unable to get it back.
"Basilio?" Isagani discards the book onto the floor. "Get off me?"
And yet, Isagani wraps his arms around Basilio to keep him— them— stable. Basilio doesn't care that his stomach is pressed against Isagani's collar bone, goes to rest an arm on his head. He half-laughs before letting out another sigh, this time more content. (He's kind of really tired, and his boyfriend is kind of really comfortable.)
"The floor is lava?" Basilio jokes.
Isagani feigns offense. "So you're doing to let melt into the ground?"
"Your sacrifice was noble, Gani," Basilio nods solemnly. He shifts, pats at the writer's head. "I'll never forget you."
Isagani kind of just takes in everything for a while. Then he can't help but laugh out, "Your book is swimming in lava."
Basilio scrambles to get off him— Isagani keeps laughing— and they end up tumbling onto the floor. He climbs on top of Isagani after retrieving his textbook, hits Isagani lightly with it. ("Behave next time, I'm going to fail because of you." "You were already chosen to give the big speech for your graduation, Basilio.")
He ends up not studying for the rest of the day, and maybe it's not so bad— he ends up napping with Isagani underneath him, ends up going to church with Isagani right beside him, ends up eating more of those KitKats with Isagani. With Isagani.
He has a half-smile playing on his face when he wakes up the next morning.
His brain doesn't feel so numb, so dumb anymore.