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Takaya winced when he heard Ren retch into the bucket at his bedside for what had to be the tenth time that day. He wasn’t even sure how Ren could have possibly had anything left in him to vomit up.
When his sort-of-kind-of-boyfriend-but-not-really sat up, face pallid as he dashed away the latent moisture lingering on his lips, Takaya had a glass of water ready for him. “Down the hatch.”
Ren accepted the cup with shaking hands, but he did as instructed and drank it all. He gave Takaya a pained smile in response. “Thank you, Abe-kun.”
Rolling his eyes, Takaya sighed. “How many times do I have to tell ya, you can call me by my name.”
“But I —” Ren ducked his chin and wrapped his arms around his knees. “What if you get tired of it?”
After two years plus of learning everything he could about the enigma that was Ren’s thought process, Takaya heard the question that was truly lingering in that crazy head of his: What if you get tired of me?
Takaya reached out and ruffled Ren’s already wild hair. “If I was tired of you, do ya think I’d stick around to listen to ya barfing all day?” He chuckled when Ren blushed. “Aw, c’mon, it’s not that bad. You shoulda seen it when I was ten and I drank a whole pot of coffee. I think I shit out everything I’d ever eaten in my life.”
Ren stifled a giggle, and something fluttered in Takaya’s belly. “That’s better. Now let me go get you something to eat. At least you’ll actually have something to throw up.”
After a quick round to the Mihashis’ kitchen, Takaya managed to scrounge together some bread and a couple of protein bars. When he returned, he could almost hear Ren overthinking from the doorway. “All right, spit it out. What kind of bolts are rattling around that weird head of yours?”
Ren swallowed hard, his hands knotting in his lap. “Y-you don’t have to waste your time taking care of me.
Takaya had had a lot of practice fighting off the urge to shake Ren when he got like this, but this one wasn’t a struggle at all. “If I wanted to waste time, I’d stay at home worrying about you since I know you’re home alone for a week. I’d rather know you’re okay.”
“But I —”
“Ah, knock it off.” He pressed a kiss to Ren’s clammy forehead. “Since when do I ever do anything I don’t wanna do?”
Biting his lip, Ren fixed his gaze over Takaya’s shoulder — a common practice when he wanted to look Takaya in the eye but couldn’t make it the whole way. “You don’t.”
“That’s right, I don’t.” Takaya crossed his arms and raised a brow. “Now get better so we can study for our trig test next week. We’re both way too stupid not to.”
That coaxed a laugh out of Ren, even when he blanched to empty his stomach yet again over the opposite side of the bed.
It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t always peaceful, but it was them and Takaya looked forward to a whole lot more.