Chapter Text
Hinawa is sick. That’s all Shinra understands at this time of the morning. The Captain said something specific; a name Shinra’s sleepy brain can’t process before breakfast. They are all in the kitchen minus the lieutenant, the captain is serving breakfast while explaining the situation and all Shinra can process is the smell of miso soup and the recurring question his mind offers nonstop: since when does Arthur snore? Shinra slept terribly because of this, maybe Arthur is sick, maybe he is the one who passed whatever the lieutenant has on to him, maybe Shinra shouldn’t be sleeping in the same room with someone who might be infected.
He’s not sure if he said all that aloud or if he’s just so in tune with his superior that his captain offers the same idea. Apparently, as precaution for any highly infectious disease, the captain is going to set up empty rooms for each and every one, so if someone else already has it the virus won’t keep on spreading. Just for the night, he says, to be sure no one develops any symptoms like the lieutenant did, and then gives them facemasks to use until they can be re-accommodated for the day. Obi asks them to take their breakfast somewhere preferably alone and they leave the kitchen one by one.
Shinra ends up outside, looking at the world from the same rooftop Maki kicked both his and Arthur’s asses during that first training and many times after. When he finishes he waits for further instructions until Obi shows up and asks him if he could stay in one of the rooms they usually use for storage, since Arthur went back to theirs for breakfast and he rather they don’t cross each other right now. The boy agrees without any issues, except of course the off-hand comment about not wanting to share a room with the blond ever, especially now that he’s sure the self-appointed knight could be sick.
The next day Shinra wakes up feeling awful. His head is about to explode, his body is trembling and he can hardly swallow. He assumes this is what the captain was trying to prevent, and knows the following instructions are to wait until his superior shows up to avoid any contact with anyone else around the cathedral. Once Obi sees him he is sure he has whatever Hinawa has, still, Obi tells him to wait until he can bring the physician to be sure is nothing else, who is apparently already in the building. Obi tells him the man was checking on Arthur just a minute ago. Ironically, once the doctor confirms he is infected with the virus, he finds out what Arthur has is just the common cold.
For the rest of the day Shinra feels awful and remembers little. At some point Obi moves him somewhere else, a better room for him he says, somewhere where he can sleep better and where the captain can check on him regularly and easy. He didn’t presume anything in particular, but he surely didn’t expect to find a bed in the lieutenant’s room.
The place looks perfectly tidy and clean, as Shinra would have expected from his superior, but still feels kind of cluttered with a second bed that clearly does not belong there and an extra chair full of books and clothes that the boy recognizes as his own.
“Shinra” Hinawa greets him from his bed, interrupting whatever he’s writing to welcome him; he looks a little pale and his voice sounds tired and hoarse “I’m sorry I infected you, I hope you’re as comfortable as you can here, please take this room as your own for the time being.”
There is a second where Shinra is sure about to object, he doesn’t mind staying in the storage room, he doesn’t want to bother his superior, to impose in this room. There is no need for all these, he can stay isolated and sleep it off or whatever he has to do.
He doesn’t have any chance to voice any of these, for when he opens his mouth again Obi has already softly pushed him into his new bed and told him to ask for anything he might need. He also voices casually that Arthur gave him some of his stuff but if he needs anything else he can say so. He’s so tired he doesn’t even have the strength to react to that comment, his eyes are heavy once again when the captain smiles and promises to come back to check on them later with food and water. The last he vaguely registers is the man taking the papers from Hinawa’s hands; apparently work isn’t much allowed when you have to rest. Even half asleep it doesn’t seem to Shinra like that is going to stop the Lieutenant though.
For the first few naps – he’s not sure those are 24hs apart to call them days –Shinra wakes up expecting everything to be a dream; he feels a little out of place every time it isn’t, even if his roommate never makes any ill comment about his presence there. Sharing a room with his superior is kind of unsettling… Or so he believes at the beginning, but it is mostly just very new. Through what Shinra thinks it’s around their third day together sharing a room becomes sort of silently captivating for him. It’s like he suddenly has access to a whole new side of the man. Granted, the lieutenant is very much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get kind of person, he can completely confirm that now, but it is still somewhat new for him, to have this particular point of view. Sick and all, Hinawa still looks like he could shoot you, maybe even more so now that he looks particularly tired, like anything could be the last drop, yet he mostly minds his own business. He sleeps, he reads, he asks Shinra how he is doing or if he needs anything, then he writes; Shinra suspects it’s some sort of paperwork, informing of the situation, even if Obi told him he didn’t have to and he also tells everything to the captain when he shows up. Maybe this is his way of coping, of getting something to do while trapped here. Shinra might start writing too any second now. Actually, Shinra is not sure how does he have the strength, but to be fair he isn’t so sure those papers actually make any sense either.
Through fits of fever and body pain he finds out Obi already had this virus long ago and is immune now, this is why only him is allow to check on them. He also learns that the captain either has some medical knowledge from his days as a fire fighter or has learned a lot for this particular situation. Both are very possible and when he asks Obi answers him, he just can’t retain the information enough to process it, so he has asked more than once, and Obi has actually answered every time. He still isn’t sure which one it is, but he complies with whatever the captain asks because he trusts him and knows he knows what he’s doing. Or at least he usually does most of the time.
This particular point of view also gives him a new perspective of his captain. Somehow both men only confirm what he already knew about them, but it is still kind of fascinating to watch them interact, both between them and with Shinra himself. Maybe most of this sudden fascination is fever induced, but it doesn’t make it any less interesting in Shinra’s mind. He feels a bit guilty, not only because they have to take care of him but because sometimes it’s like he’s intruding; not that they ever make him feel like that, but there are moments just like now, when the captain is softly asking the lieutenant if he feels better, with both hands under his jaw gently touching the junction with his neck, asking questions Shinra either can’t hear or just can’t process, finishing his medical inspection with his lips gently pressed on the other’s forehead. He never doubted his superiors’ closeness, from the outside they were always perfectly in sync, just like people working together for long ago, sharing a space like the cathedral, it was obvious they understood each other, there is no difference between the two men that meet him for work and meals every day and the two inside the room with him, but there is something, some depth, some softness, like the slow revelation of something unsurprising and natural.
“Shinra?” the calm voice of his captain already sitting in a chair next to his bed brings him back to reality, a second ago the man was next to the other bed and Shinra wonders how much time did he just tuned out “I have to check on your fever and your throat, did you see how I just did to Hinawa?” he asks and Shinra looks at his hands waiting in the air for the permission.
He wonders if he had asked Hinawa too before moving through the motions, this is not the first time this happens and yet he doesn’t remember hearing him do so, but how could that be any assurance. Was he even awake when Obi entered the room? He doesn’t ask though, any of it, they probably just had that kind of trust in each other, instead he nods and the gesture repeats itself like a well-practiced routine.
“How do you feel?” Obi asks following the same steps he just did “Are there any changes or new symptoms?”
Shinra is shivering and his teeth are chattering but he still shakes his head softly not to bother the faint pressure on either side of his neck.
“Your fever is still quite high, for both of you, that’s a bit concerning” The Captain concludes after pressing the back of his hand against Shinra’s forehead “We’ll have to lower it a bit before you go back to sleep” he looks at him and then he turns back to Hinawa, his face slightly more serious, somewhat calm but worried, and Shinra feels Obi shouldn’t have to divide his time between the two of them when he could concentrate on his lieutenant.
For a second Shinra feels two set of eyes looking at him surprised but when he looks at them again they are both sort of smiling. Hinawa’s is weak and clearly worn by his present condition, Obi’s is relaxed, almost even amused maybe. That next second Shinra wonders if he, not for the first time, said what he thought aloud.
“Well I do have some good news to share…” he says, lips stretching even more “I checked the records and we do have three more immune members who will be helping. So Maki is keeping an eye on the girls for now, they don’t have any symptoms but just to be sure, and Viktor self-appointed himself as the resident doctor if your fever or any other symptoms get out of control…” he makes a pause “Don’t worry, I’m not letting him experiment on you to find a cure that already exists: A few pills and lots of rest will be enough for this. So, lucky for us we still have one more potential nurse willing to hel-”
“Nurse! The Knight-healer is ready for duty!”
As if on cue – a terrible cue – Arthur enters the room with a bucket full of iced water and a bunch of what looks like towels. Shinra groans trying to bury himself deeper into his pillow.
“Don’t complain demon! The Captain is doing everything to prevent your peril, he even asked for my help and skills to save you!”
“Please, I’m too sick for this” he mumbles but not even Obi hears him, chuckling as he is at Arthur’s usual antics.
The blond boy grabs the chair where the man was sitting seconds ago and sits himself, looking around and ignoring Shinra completely. Then he stands up and puts the chair exactly in the middle between both beds, puts the bucket on it and throws most of the washcloths in. Shinra looks at him curious, maybe even mesmerized, like he wants to understand what’s going on before interrupting. From the bunch of cloths still on his hands he gives half to the captain and then he sits against Shinra’s hip. That breaks the spell.
The black haired boy is about to complain for the invasion when one of the other boy’s hands goes behind his neck, the other into his upper back, and suddenly he’s being moved against the blond’s chest. He’s already half seated by the time the hands grab him so he doesn’t change much when the hand at his back lets go of him to accommodate something else, then he goes down almost completely into the bed and feels the soft feeling of a fluffy towel folded over under his head.
“Sorry” the boy-knight mumbles looking at him in the eyes for one fleeting second, moving to grab his wrists and putting small folded towel under them.
Did he just apologize? What for? Sitting on his bed? Touching him? Or has the fever taken the last of his conscious mind and he is dreaming this? He looks to his side to find another answer, to look for whatever might explain what is going on, to observe something that isn’t Arthur’s concentration face. On the other side of the room, Hinawa is comfortably laying his head over a towel; Obi is putting two other towels under his wrists just like Arthur did.
An excruciating cold brings him back to his own side. He hisses and stares down at the boy with a glare that he can only wish it could be as icy.
“Sorry.” the boy mumbles again, this time he doesn’t stop to look at him, he’s putting one last washcloth on his left wrist, opposite to where he’s sitting “It’s for the fever. Didn’t your mother ever lower your fever like this?”
“I don’t remember” he answers sharply looking away once again, this time to the wall, avoiding any possible look.
In reality, he does remember, he just doesn’t want to think of that. He truly never thought he was ever going to feel what was like to being taken care like this ever again.
“Sorry.” He hears the other boy say again, third time in only minutes. Then there’s a pause, Shinra cannot tell how long it is, only that is long enough for the boy to change the now warm washcloths for others “If it’s good for something I barely remember myself.”
“Sorry” Shinra mumbles back this time.
The rest of the hour – or what Shinra assumes is at least an hour – is spent almost in silence. Sometimes Shinra hisses, if he keeps quiet he can hear the lieutenant’s deep breaths, sometimes there’s even the soft rumble of Obi’s lowest voice, maybe if he can trust his ears even a chuckle. Arthur waits every change without a word and Shinra hasn’t look back at him once. He doesn’t know how to stablish a semi civil conversation with a person he usually fights with more than talks to but that is now trying to nurse him back to health. Part of him wants to look back to his superiors, to ask them how they do it, the easy going companionship even in the weirdest situations. He doesn’t, turning back to them means his eyes would have to travel through where the other boy is and he wouldn’t know what to do if he was to confirm the stare he feels on himself.
When Obi deems it time, both him and Arthur gather everything again and wish them good night. Shinra thinks he might be feeling better but somehow even more tired; he glances at the other patient to see they might agree.
Hinawa nods and thanks them both for their time and Shinra agrees hurriedly. Obi smiles like he couldn’t think of a better activity than taking care of his squad, Arthur only makes a grunt, but he nods back and looks away, almost embarrassed.
When they are alone again and Hinawa asks him if he should turn off the lights, Shinra nods already half snoozing. The fever is not completely gone but he’s tired enough to sleep through what is left.
“We are lucky.” He hears the lieutenant say, for a moment he wonders if he knows he’s speaking out loud of if he even expects an answer “To have people in our life to care that much about us.”
Shinra acts like he’s already asleep just so he won’t have to agree.