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1
Honey coughs and coughs, curling up on his side and his lungs seem to burn. Whilst the coughing fit wracks his body, a large hand rests on his back, rubbing circles.
“Takeshi!” he whines between coughs, voice gravelly. “I feel like—”
Honey cuts himself off with a spluttering sob, and soon he sobs through the coughs. The coughing finally ends, and Honey hacks up a disgusting amount of phlegm. He grimaces at the foul taste, and finds a tissue right in front of his mouth.
“Spit into this,” Mori says, and Honey does as he says. Mori wipes his lips clean of spit and mucus, and throws the tissue into the trash. “Do you feel any better now?”
“A bit,” Honey whispers, wriggling to burrow his face into Mori’s neck. “But… I still feel so…”
“I know,” Mori says, stroking his hair as Honey’s tears trickle down his face. “Poor Mitsukuni.”
Honey sniffs, closing his eyes. He’s had this chest infection for three days now, and even his family’s private doctor’s antibiotics can’t get rid of the cough. The doctor said he’ll be better in a few days, but a few days is too long. He’s too sick to go to school. And the constant coughing leaves him exhausted.
But at least he has Mori. His boyfriend insisted on staying at Honey’s house to look after him, even though that means he’s missed three days of school. Mori spends all day in bed with him, caring for the sick Honey and cuddling him close.
And even though he feels so awful, this helps in a way he can’t really explain.
2
Usa-chan is Honey’s favourite plushie; everyone who has met him knows that. He adores Usa-chan, a gift given to him by his late grandmother, and carries the toy everywhere. And Usa-chan is more than just an accessory for Honey’s youthful act at the Host Club; Usa-chan is a companion, something he can’t bear to be apart from.
So when something happens to Usa-chan, Honey falls apart.
One day in the Host Club room, Mori is alerted to a sound that always scares him: Honey wailing. He dashes across the room and finds Honey hunched on the floor, Usa-chan on his lap.
“Mitsukuni?” he says.
Honey looks up at him, tears sparkling in his eyes. “Takeshi, it’s… look at Usa-chan!”
As he bursts out sobbing again, tears running down his face, Honey thrusts Usa-chan at Mori and burrows his head in his hands. Something twisting in his stomach, Mori takes Usa-chan and stares.
Usa-chan has a tear along the seam of his leg, stuffing poking out. Honey’s favourite plushie is damaged.
Mori lets out a sigh, and picks Honey up. He hugs his boyfriend close, and Honey’s tears soak into his shirt.
“Mitsukuni,” he says. “We can fix him.”
“Promise?” Honey mumbles, voice wobbling.
“Promise.”
3
When you do martial arts, you expect to get hurt. Even people as skilled as Honey and Mori know that. But they never take it any easier when the other gets injured.
One day, Honey sits in the stands at Mori’s kendo championship, watching his boyfriend with wide eyes, entranced by his skill. But then… Mori overbalances during a kick, and falls.
He falls.
“Takeshi!” Honey yelps, standing up and staring down, staring to tremble.
Mori landed funny, and it takes him several seconds to get to his feet. But when he does, he holds his arm awkwardly, his face tense and…
He’s hurt.
“Takeshi!” Honey yells, tears in his eyes.
Mori looks up at him, and stumbles on his feet.
And as Honey breaks down crying, the medical officer comes to assess Mori and tells him to go and get his arm iced.
Honey races through the building and eventually finds his boyfriend, sitting in the first aid room with an ice pack on his elbow.
“Oh, Takeshi…” he whispers, more tears spilling down his face.
“A sprain,” Mori says. “Nothing serious. Don’t cry.”
But even as he gets onto the bed beside Mori and clings to his good arms, he can’t get the tears to stop.
4
You can cut the tension in the Host Club room with a knife. The guests are yet to arrive, and everyone sits in silence. Well, silence except for Honey’s sobs.
Not for the first time, Haru-chan and Taka-chan had an argument. From what he heard, it was about the date they went on last night, a date that went badly wrong. The twins broke up the argument, but Haru has stormed off whilst Taka-chan sulks in the corner. And Honey cries, hating conflict between his friends.
Right now, he sits on Mori’s lap, sobbing into his boyfriend’s chest.
“They’ll make up, Mitsukuni,” Mori says, rubbing his back.
“I, I know, but…”
He doesn’t know how to explain it, but… he just hates conflict so much.
“I understand,” Mori whispers, as though he can read Honey’s mind, and he gives him a kiss.
+1
Mori lies flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Well, his eyes are open, but he doesn’t look at anything, too spaced out to notice his surroundings. Honey sits beside him, adjusting the wet flannel on Mori’s forehead, and wishes his boyfriend’s fever would go down. He’s reaching the point where he might get delirious, and he can’t bear to think what might happen if his fever just keeps rising.
Just like every time he and Mori get the flu or something similar, their families pay for private doctors to come and treat them. But there is only so much a doctor can do, so Mori’s family has been left nursing him whilst the illness runs its course. And, of course, Honey volunteered for the job.
But… this is so hard. His poor Takeshi is so sick, constantly coughing and sneezing and running a fever, exhausted and sweaty and too weak to even sit up in bed. more than once, just looking at his sick boyfriend has brought Honey to tears.
“Takeshi?” he whispers, giving Mori’s cheek a gentle tap.
Mori’s eyelids flicker, and he looks at him. “Mitsukuni?”
Honey smiles, sniffing. “You’re not spaced out anymore! How are you f-feeling?”
Mori takes in jagged breaths through his mouth, and sniffs. “M-Mitsukuni. I…”
He blinks, and a single tear leaks from his eye and rolls down his temple.
Honey gasps. “Takeshi. Why’re you crying?”
“I… feel dreadful,” Mori mumbles, and Honey flings his arms around him, hugging him close.
“It’s okay.”