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“Tenshouin-kun?”
The sound of coughing is unmistakable as Rei enters the dark room, nothing but a sliver of light filling the room with a midnight haze. There’s a hollow silence in the air as the coughing stops like a halted breath, but as the floor creaks with his step, Rei can hear the soft muffled catch of air from the bed in the corner. Even in the shadowed corner of the room, caught in a place light cannot touch at such an hour, Rei can make out the trembling outline of a figure.
“...Eichi?” He calls this time, earning an audible hitch of the other boy’s breath, followed by a loud gulp of air as Eichi weakly turns over to face him. Even from the entrance of the room, Rei isn’t able to miss the faint glimmer of Eichi’s tear-filled eyes as they catch in the shifting moonlight.
“Sakuma-san...It’s rather late, you know. Has Shiratori-kun caused you any trouble? I know he’s often up this late-” Eichi begins, his voice shaking with the strained aftermath of his coughing session.
“You’re sick again, aren’t you?” Rei’s quick to cut him off, even quicker to make his way over to the bed as he sits beside Eichi, a hand moving to rest on Eichi’s head. It’s no secret of the former Emperor’s failing health, and it’s even less of a secret about its worsening state. Eichi sighs, before raising his head the best he can as to meet Rei’s gaze.
“Observant as ever, it seems. It’s only a cold, so you shouldn’t trouble yourself too much, dear Sakuma-san. Such things shouldn’t take more than a week or so to recover. No reason to worry yourself to death over such things...You act as if you were my lover, fretting so much about me even at this hour. I’ll keep myself as quiet as possible if I’ve disturbed your sleep~” The worn blond tries his best to feign a reassuring smile at Rei. Rei doesn’t reply, only letting out a soft sigh as he lays more onto the bed, the mattress dipping with his weight. Some part of Eichi wants to grab onto Rei, holding on as if it were his last lifeline, but he has appearances to upkeep. Even in such a state…
The other boy brings a hand to rest upon Eichi’s head, long fingers gently combing through Eichi’s hair. He won’t say anything, only humming some soft melody as Eichi watches him bite his bottom lip, watches how his red eyes swirl with some unreadable emotion. Reasonably, the two should hate each other. Reasonably, Rei should walk out of the room and leave Eichi, muttering about how it was none of his business anyways or threatening to lock the boy out if he couldn’t keep his fits down. Reasonably, they should have remained rivals and nothing more, only batting at each other’s throats with insult and injury galore.
But then again, reason was never abundant in human nature. They could hardly call themselves rivals now, not when they found themselves so deeply bound to one another, as if leaving the other would doom them to tragedy. It was like the myth of the poet and his lover, each one afraid to turn to meet the other’s eye, to call out and beg for them to stay. To beg for love...and yet, it was within each of their hearts. Rei needed Eichi as much as Eichi needed Rei.
“Other people do not dance with death from mere colds, Tenshouin-kun. I’ll call upon Wataru to inform him you’ll be absent for unit work for the next days. For now, it’s best that you try to rest. The idol world would be troubled if you were to die...Emperor.” Rei’s tone is a mix of teasing and worry as he finally speaks, his hands moving to Eichi’s shoulders as he guides the boy into sitting up. Eichi nearly makes a comment about the move (“It’s rather hard to rest sitting up, Sakuma-san~”), but as another fit of coughs comes about him, he’s grateful for the support.
“You…” Eichi tries to reply with a rebuttal of his own, but he nearly chokes upon his own breath as a painful cough sends him hunched over himself, hands digging into the sheets as his eyes fill with tears once more. A hand falls upon his back, rubbing reassuring circles into Eichi’s shirt as Rei fumbles for his phone in his pocket. Having a brother of his own, Rei had clear history in caring for one who was sick. Of course, it was never to such an extreme as Eichi, but he knew his way about medicines and remedies and how to comfort one in their worst state. The pit of Eichi’s stomach swirls with a pang of jealousy; how ever had someone been able to care so much? Where had such a person been in all Eichi’s life.
Perhaps that was part of what drew them to each other so deeply. Eichi sought out the love Rei was able to give--the love that seeped out through loving insults and childish teasing, or their own fantasies about a world of their own. Rei wished to be able to care for others the best he could, but he needed one to restrain him in the way only Eichi could, keeping him from wrecking himself in his pursuit of glory. It was the story of the sun and the moon, of love in which all you wish is for the ability to shine it so fondly upon each other, to soak it up. A love unspoken, and yet so all-consuming.
Rei bit his lip with the tip of his fang at the sudden resounding of that hidden feeling within his heart, wincing as he brought his tongue to try and stop whatever blood may flow out before Eichi could notice. If the blond were to take note, then Eichi would surely send him out, pushing him off the bed or threatening him whatever way he could. It’d taken all their years together to reach such a state, in which Eichi felt himself comfortable enough to show even just the slightest bit of weakness to the boy. Should Rei show any hesitation...Eichi would run.
His hand halted on the back of Eichi’s back for a second as he pondered such a thing; a life without Eichi. As much as he’d once wished for nothing more than victory over the other, now he only wished to keep the fallen emperor within his life, as if he were a treasure to be held tightly. Rei didn’t wish to let go of such a thing unless he had to. As ugly as this...whatever was the word? It was never possessive, for such a word was too cruel and inhumane for the feelings that swirled within Rei’s heart. Protection?
That was it.
Rei wished to protect Eichi the best he could. To keep the blond’s eyes upon him so Rei could watch out into the world beyond, keeping Eichi from any trouble that had sought him out. Look upon me, and I shall keep you safe.
It was the mindset of only a foolish ideologist, but Rei devoured such things as if they were all he may ever taste. To soak up every bit of praise from Eichi, to have the boy’s eyes upon him once more, watching in awe.
Eichi shoots him a troubled glare, afraid Rei may run off as his hand stops between the blades of his shoulders. It’s silent in the room, save for the rhythmatic heaving of Eichi’s chest, begging to keep itself filled with air. Rei won’t meet his eyes, won’t look upon him. Was this the boundary of rivals--no, friends--they had found themselves entangled in? Would it be so bad of Eichi to beg Rei to cross the line, to look into his own gaze and look at him ?
And then, Rei does.
He looks at Eichi, his hand squeezing at the thing fabric of Eichi’s night shirt as his eyes tremble with the faint outline of tears. He looks at Eichi, and it is as if the world has frozen about them, only the night’s chill tucking them into their own world. Rei looks into Eichi’s eyes, and his heart nearly stops as he feels the tears escape his eyes. To see Eichi so sick...so weak…
“I’ll call for a doctor,” He whispers, voice shaking. Eichi looks so tired, so worn. In this moment, all he wishes is to hold the blond tight, to blow away the pain with his usual reassuring praises and songs of comfort, as if it were but petals in the wind. To heal his love...oh, how wonderful a thing would be. It’s all he could ever want as he looks into Eichi’s eyes. To cross that line--
“Stay with me.” It’s a quiet sort of request, as if Eichi is asking a promise from Rei he isn’t sure he’ll get. His own hand reaches out to Rei’s leg, fingers shaking as they touch the warm velvet of Rei’s nightclothes. All he wants now is for Rei to stay.
Please. Stay with me.
Rei’s breath hitches, and then he nods, moving to pull himself beside Eichi, arms wrapping around the other’s waist as he pulls the boy’s head against his shoulder, holding him as if he were the only thing in the world. For now, that’s the truth. Eichi is all he needs now, and Rei is all Eichi could ever want in this moment.
“You must promise to keep from trying to assassinate me while I rest? It’d be cruel of you to betray me so, even from one like you, Tenshouin-kun. Who else should tenderly nurse you back to health, fufu?” Rei teases lightly, his arms squeezing Eichi gently as he tucks his chin against the soft mess of Eichi’s hair.
“I make no promises, Sakuma-san. Perhaps this was all a ploy to catch you at your most vulnerable? I’ll steal your life for my own immortality~” Eichi jokes back, his own arms wrapping around Rei’s back as he tucks his head gently against Rei’s chest. He’d scold the boy come morning for choosing to sleep so close when he’d caught a cold, but for now, Eichi couldn’t seem to care about such things. All he wanted was to hold Rei for as long as this moment permitted, so selfishlessly drinking up this care.
“My, could it be you wish to become a vampire as well?” A soft laugh. “You’d have the most horrid tasting blood, dear Tenshouin-kun~”
“As if I’d let myself be bitten by one such as you. I’d rather your brother over you...I’m afraid I fear you may drink me dry if you could.”
“Now, let us not bring dear Ritsu into such things. He’d kill you if he ever heard such comparisons from his ‘Ecchan’. Ritsu’s rather...fickle about comparisons to me, is he not? Rather, I feel betrayed that even after such a time together, you’d believe I’d be able to stomach so much of your blood? Ah, how highly you still see yourself, Eichi.”
The sound of his name makes Eichi’s hear skip a beat as his grip tightens around Rei’s shirt, the faintest of smiles rising on his pale face.
“Go to bed, Sakuma. You’re spouting nonsense again. I shouldn’t be able to sleep if you only talk and keep me awake~.”
“My plans to exhaust you have failed, it seems. I should get my revenge another day, so you be best to prepare with all your might, Eichi. UNDEAD is still growing, is it not? When that day comes, it should be I to bring you to your knees.”
They both know Rei’s promises are empty. Now, the thought of hurting one another seems to eat away at the both of them. How horrible at rivalry they are.
But, this was not a moment for rivals to share, but rather something akin to an expression of love. It was never best to dwell upon such things at such a late hour, and so these feelings should go unspoken. When morning came, it’d be back to as it was, routine putting to rest the dance of the sun and moon about each other, or the hollowed calls of Orpheus and his lover. For now though, they would let themselves rest in such a moment. What the sunrise may bring was a topic for the time in which dawn escaped into the room, blooming upon the walls and floors as if it were a spouting garden. What came next would wait until they’d both awoken, and perhaps it could wait for a little bit more.
For now, this moment was enough.
A soft cough nearly startles Rei out of his calm as he eyes Eichi nervously, but Eichi dismisses it with the shake of his head and a hum.
“I’ll be alright. Goodnight...Rei.” The ravanette looks upon Eichi, moving to press a soft kiss to his forehead before closing his own eyes with a soft exhale of his breath, chest rising and falling softly.
“Goodnight, Eichi. Rest well.”
Silence falls quickly about them, both falling easily asleep in the embrace. Two hearts pulled together for such a moment, and for now, such was enough. It was a promise unspoken, yet so present in that calming night.
I shall stay with you as long as I may. Through all these years...my eyes only fall upon you. Only you, my dearest. And so, should the sun rise and the lovers’ call fade, my heart should only seek out yours, in life and death, in dawn and dusk.
I promise you this, my dear Eichi.
I promise you the same, Rei.