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As it happened, and to their fortune, there had been an infirmary set up on Ritou prior to the start of the event, so Thoma and the members of the Arataki gang that had chosen to meander the event were able to swiftly find the Oni a bed with an exceptional experience. Though had it not been for his lack of research, they wouldn’t have even needed to rush the man into the building and worry the nurses only hours ago. And they were still wary even at present time.
“This is all my fault,” Thoma sighed softly, rubbing his face and then cradling his brow with his elbows pressing into his knees. They’d been waiting outside of Arataki’s room for some time, a couple of hours having dragged by. He should have known. It was public knowledge, right? And he swore that even the traveller had explained it one or more... maybe... He might not have been listening, but then, he was a fantastic ear for nattering with anyone, especially the traveller. Maybe he’d been having an off day when it was mentioned? Or did he read it in a book?
“Thoma!” the blonde flinched violently and straightened his posture to see Paimon hovering in front of him. Both she and the traveller seemed to have been watching him, or maybe they’d been talking to him? If so... he, unfortunately, hadn’t been listening...
“I’m... I’m sorry. Was I being spoken to?” he inquired with a sad smile, clearly forced and very visible, if the two flat stares were anything to go by, “I was,” he slouched against the wall behind him. His mind was so frazzled due to having caused the Oni’s predicament, “I’m sorry,” he apologized again.
“It’s okay,” Aether smiled, Thoma, lowering his gaze a moment later in resignation. He didn’t deserve the leniency just yet. He only lifted his gaze at the sound of soft footsteps and then the bench rocking a fraction under the extra weight as the traveller sat beside him, “If it makes you feel any better, we threw beans at him before. It was our first impression,” he chuckled, Paimon joining in with her own snorted upon being reminded.
“We felt bad, but not after he made us do all that work to repay him,” she chuckled, but paused, “Oh no, he might work you to death after you got the drinks for-,” she was swiftly shut up by the Travellers stare, even Thoma could see that, especially with the guilty flinch she gave in return.
“It’s okay. I’ll offer him my services as soon as he’s conscious, I’ll have to inform the Commissioner too,” towards the end, he returned to rubbing his face. He’d really messed up this time, “I don’t suppose a Soy-free variation of the drink would be a good idea?” he asked in general, thinking that it could be the start to his apology. It couldn’t hurt...
With that in mind, the blonde got up and headed over to the members of the gang, seeming far more sheepish and apologetic as he faced them.
“I really am sorry about this, I didn’t know he couldn’t drink soy products,” he lowered his head respectfully, “I’ll go and get him a Soy-free version of the drink and... Once he’s awake, I hope to help during his recovery,” he offered, still keeping his head low with his apology.
“He’d prob’ly like that... the drink, I mean. As for your help, you’ll have to talk to him about it,” the one called ‘Akira’ replied, sounding a tad tense and he wouldn’t be surprised if it was due to his presence.
“He’s gonna work you to the bone, just a warning,” ‘Genta’ added shortly after. If he was perfectly honest, Thoma wouldn’t ask for anything less due to this issue he’d caused. He’d willingly agree to anything if it meant that he’d pleased the Oni and aided in making him well again. Though he wasn’t sure of how long it took the man to recover from these bean episodes.
“It’s no problem at all. I’ll go and inform my Commissioner and get the drink,” the housekeeper swiftly turned away and headed towards the building's foyer, passing by the traveller and Paimon who instantly got up to follow.
“We can go and tell Kamisato Ayato if you’d like,” Paimon offered sincerely and Thoma had almost taken her up on the offer, but he needed to explain it for himself and ask for a week free to tend to the Oni.
“It’s okay. I can do it and the drink. Hopefully, Itto’s awake when I come back,” he rubbed the back of his head as he and the Traveller left the building. It shouldn’t take too long and he hoped that he’d obtain that free time. He didn’t want to stress over a large workload while trying to nurse the man back to health. Maybe a few of the guards could be assigned his current duties at the festival. He felt bad about it, but he wouldn’t be there to oversee and moderate. Then again, he couldn’t feel worse about what he’d done to Itto-.
“Thooooooma!” again, the blonde snapped out of his racing thoughts to Paimon hovering backwards while facing him.
“Uh-, sorry,” he pouted, slouching again and sighing, “I just... I’m just trying to think of ways to make my duties work at the festival and tend to Itto,” the housekeeper stopped short of the building's doors, looking guilty for having been spacing out.
“We can do your job for you. It’s no problem at all and you can give him your full attention,” Aether offered, the taller blonde growing soft and resigning to the offer. It took so much weight off of his shoulders to hear those words. There was no way anything could go wrong with those two taking over the job. He’d have to find a way to repay him and the little fairy.
“I can’t thank you enough,” he smiled genuinely this time, still looking a tad stressed, but the smile was real this time and he hoped that the two could see it, “C’mon. I’ll talk to the Commissioner and he can explain what I was doing.... Thank you,” he sighed softly.
After an hour or so of trying to find the Yashiro Commissioner, explaining the situation and obtaining not only one drink, but ‘four’, minus the soy in one of them, Thoma was finally re-entering the temporary infirmary, but without the Traveller. It’d been a success in explaining everything to Kamisato Ayato and giving Aether and Paimon Thoma’s jobs and then giving Thoma the time off to make sure that a guest was recovering in his care.
He just hoped that Itto wouldn’t mind either relocating to the blonde's home or having the blonde invade the Oni’s home, depending on what place was preferred in his recovery. Either way, Thoma would be there to aid him if his offer to help was accepted.
Turning down one of the halls, he saw that the gang wasn’t waiting outside at that point and his brow furrowed, his pace slowing down. Once he was near the room, the blonde peeked through the small glass window, seeing the group inside. Fortunately, Itto seemed to be awake, though he looked as though he was ready to puke, which drew a small frown to his features. He still felt so guilty.
“You can do this,” he sighed to himself, taking a curt breath and steeling his nerves before reaching out and knocking on the door. He didn’t dare just walk in and planned to wait for a reply, but instead, Genta opened the door, a smile reaching his face.
“Hey, you’re back. What took you so long?” he chuckled, seeming perfectly happy despite the situation.
“It took a while to find the Commissioner and to get these since there wasn’t much of it left,” Thoma lifted the Cupholder with the four drinks, seeing the smile spread further across the man's face, “Oh, don’t worry, I made sure that that one doesn’t have any soy in it. No beans whatsoever,” he tried to smile and glanced around to the bed to see the Oni sitting up and looking excited about something. Could it have been the drinks? He ‘was’ eyeing them.
“Thoma, dude, bro, amigo~, you went through the trouble of talking to your boss and getting us those?” Itto asked with a quirked brow. Despite the casual and Itto’like attitude, the blonde could tell that he was straining to keep it up, putting on the brave face that his men usually saw on a day to day basis.
“It’s the least I could do after...” Thoma cleared his throat softly and gradually stepped into the room, “How are you feeling?” again, that guilty expression almost resurfaced while he was trying to keep his own smile present, but it just looked forced, like before.
“Better. I was out through the worst of it,” the man shrugged, “So~, you said one doesn’t have beans?” the larger man smirked, reminding Thoma.
“Ah! Yes. One’s bean-free,” the man set the holder down and tugged the soyless drink from it before heading around the bed. He heard the others taking one each from the tray, leaving it empty as they started sipping at their drinks. He was glad that it seemed to bring some joy as the Oni started smiling and took the first big sip of it. Of course, he seemed wary at first after the first experience being... Yeah.
“I... I’d... like to offer my services while you recover,” he finally proposed, crossing his arms over his chest, mostly out of a self-conscious tick of his, “I feel horrible about all of this and your men told me how bad it can get after you eat beans and... Had I not offered the drink as a reward or if I’d looked more in-depth at Oni or even asked the traveller, then maybe I could have-,”
“Yo, blondie,” Thoma stopped, swallowing thickly with his worry. His gaze lifted to the larger man again, trying to hide his guilt for a moment along with his apology from the stare he was being given, “If I knew it had soy in it, I wouldn’t have even ‘wanted’ the drink,”
“But you... you didn’t know,” he furrowed his brow with a slight pout. That still didn’t make it any better. Thoma was the one to give him the chance to-.
“Exactly. Neither did you about the whole beans thing,” he shrugged with a flat tone and stare, “Don’t be so hard on yourself. Beans and Oni don’t mix, not everyone knows that,” he waved him off, Thoma’s gaze dropping some. He still felt so guilty about it, “Besides, I still got to taste it ‘twice’, even if I had a bad reaction. I got the real deal with soy and this awesome, special beanless one made for me,”
He eyed him, seeing the little smirk he was being given. It definitely brought his mood up a little to see that he was trying to make ‘Thoma’ feel better, though it made him feel bad too, just a little. Thoma was meant to be making him feel better... And about the drink...
“I... actually wrote down the steps on how to make it too, so... if you want the recipe...” he smiled some, pausing when he saw the shock and saw him almost choke on the gulp he’d taken.
“You MADE this? ‘You’ made it?” he was legitimately surprised, Thoma too to see that reaction to his comment.
“Y-...yeah. It wasn’t that hard to replace the bean ingredients with dairy and some flavouring,” Thoma hesitantly reached into his pocket, pulling out the piece of paper with the steps on it, “You can have it and maybe I can make more recipes for you? I’m a pretty good cook,”
“No doubt here,” the Oni eyed him, still pretty surprised as he was given the piece of paper. It made the blonde feel a bit better that maybe he’d tempted him enough to allow him to hang around and help him. He felt as though this wasn’t enough to equal the situation.
“If it’s not too much trouble, I’d still like to help in your recovery,” Thoma repeated from a short minute ago, trying to hide his worry. He seemed okay, but he could still see how weak he was from the reaction. His men might not have seen it, but he’d always had a good eye for posture and body movement.
“Only if you sit down and share this with me,” Itto’s smirk grew and Thoma gawked, eyes growing wide, “Yeah, I know the kinda guy you are. I’m willing to bet that you only had a sip before cupping this heavens’ juice and running your way over here to babysit,” the blonde swallowed, not wanting to admit that almost all of that was... right.
“I didn’t run, I didn’t wanna tip the drinks... I speed-walked,” he corrected quietly, averting his gaze with some minor embarrassment, “I... took more than a little sip... I took two. I wanted to be sure that it was on par with the real thing,”
“Thoma, sweetheart-,” Thoma tried hard to hide his blush at being called that! “-To me, ‘this’ is the real thing,” he gestured to the drink, “And I’m almost tempted to ask you to marry me,”
“No, no, no, no, no!” Thoma panicked, waving his hands in a little rush, “I’m not thinking of marriage. I’ve never even dated anyone before and I’ve got too much work to-,” he cut himself off, his panic easing when he saw the struggling grin on the Oni’s face.
“You’re so easy to wind up,” he snorted. The smile was real, fortunately, and it warmed the blonde's chest to think that maybe his presence was helping somehow. He hoped it was him and personally, being wound distracted him at least... He was starting to think that maybe Itto had seen his nerves and chose to ease HIM instead of taking care of himself.
“That was mean,” Thoma smiled a little, lowering his gaze.
“Yeah, but it lightened the mood~. Who knows, maybe after you’ve nursed me to full health, you’ll be in love with me enough to accept my heartfelt confession~,” the Oni played, using a dramatically soft tone and sigh to mess with him.
“So you’re accepting my services?” Thoma’s smile grew, the blonde feeling so much relief from hearing it and the man’s nod only confirmed it. He breathed deeply, glad that he could help.
“So... should we leave and give you the room, or what?” one of the others in the room asked rhetorically, deadpanned while he stared at them.