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Seventy thousand needles feel like they’re piercing through different points of your body, at least five thousand in each joint, weighing down all your existing joints.
All these points are burning up, but at the same time, they’re so frigid cold. It’s so cold that your skin feels numb. But if you put a blanket on, your body starts to burn up like hell. Bloody hell. It’s just your body temperature being wonky, but it sure sapped every single drop of your energy, if there was any in the first place.
Not to mention the pulverizing headache that’s beating every single brain cell out of your head. Even your stomach decided to join the bandwagon, stinging and hurting from all the puking the night before. You need to lay down and rest, yet every time you lay your head on your pillow, the world starts spinning just like a merry-go-round at full speed. Amazing.
All these sensations have been pummeling you since yesterday, but there’s nothing you could do; you barely have the energy to even toss and turn, let alone get yourself a warm meal and proper hydration.
Is this even flu? You gave up on thinking right after it popped up. You decided that it would be a better idea to get a glass of water instead of thinking about what is happening.
Slowly, but surely, you drag your half-dead body to the kitchen. Oh dear, your arms barely want to cooperate. Neither do your legs, as you make your wobbly journey to the kitchen. It feels as if you’re setting on a journey to look for enlightenment all the way to the West, yet the truth is that the distance between your fridge and room is hardly ten steps.
In your defense, you’re dying right now.
Honestly, you really wish you could just not exist at this point. Your whole body feels like shit, your mood is shit, and your attendance in class was probably marked absent. You couldn’t even get your phone just to email the university that you’re dying alone today. Where even is your phone at?
Oh dear, no one ever told you living alone was going to be this hard.
Propping yourself on the cold kitchen counter, you could feel your skin cooling down oh so nicely. God, you had to fight the urge of sticking on it just like a starfish. Grabbing your favorite mug, you slowly laid it under the water dispenser and watched the water level rise. Ugh, your head is pounding again. Why can't you just drink warm water and everything is fine?
You grumbled while sipping on your dihydrogen monoxide, limping yourself to open the cooler. Oops, there's nothing but cold air inside. Oh, at least there's a bottle of cold water at the back of the cooler. You set down your mug and took the cold bottle, immediately sticking it to your cheeks. It's simply bliss, the heat of your skin decimated by the bottle's low temperature. You sighed contently, propping yourself on the counter again after closing the cooler.
You looked around your empty apartment. It's quiet. Very quiet. The silence feels much more evident now. Before, you're enjoying your life alone, no one to nag at you and no one to bother you when you want to be alone.
At the same time, no one will nurse you back to health when you fall sick.
Great.
Sitting yourself down on the sofa, you were basically cuddling the cold water bottle. At this point, you don’t know if you’ll survi-
Your front door clinking with sounds alerted you.
Who is that?
No one has your keys!
You gulped your water and took the cold water bottle with you, inching yourself closer to your front door and hiding behind a wall. Okay, deep breaths. You could throw the relatively heavy bottle and shock the perpetrator, then throw your body on them and you could escape. Escaping is your main priority now. What if they have a knife-
The door creaked open and shone sunlight into the room slowly.
A silhouette could be seen in the opening, making your heart beats much faster.
Oh, damn all this! Let’s just hope they don’t have a gun!
You screamed vigorously, surprising the silhouette. Good, they flinched.
The cold water bottle was thrown, distracting the silhouette’s attention to catch the object. With all the remaining strength you have, you throw yourself to the silhouette’s abdomen, earning a pained groan from the silhouette.
Oh no, you forgot you were sick. Now you have no energy left to get up and run! You tried pulling your knees, but nothing would move. Oh no, your life is flashing before your eyes–
Wait, why does the abdomen you’re hugging feel familiar?
The firmness of the muscles, the warmth, and this comforting scent…
“Ow, ow, ugh– Babe, why did you tackle me?”
Babe?? Wait-
A cool hand felt up your forehead and then to your cheeks. You still couldn’t focus your sight, only seeing a part of brown hair with some white highlights and… A pair of familiar aqua blue eyes.
Oh, right. You forgot you had a boyfriend.
And he has a key to your place. Right.
So, you just-
You just threw yourself on your boyfriend, Gorou.
“Earth to my love? Hello?” Unconsciously you spaced out and got lost in his eyes, oops.
He pecked your forehead, and then your cheeks.
“Why did you throw yourself on me? You could’ve gotten hurt..” His brows were creased and you could clearly tell he was very worried. He slowly sits you up and caressed your cheek lovingly. Oh my God, you are so in love.
“And you’re burning, you should’ve stayed in bed.” He starts to pout childishly, trying to sound mad despite looking very cute. Your hand moved voluntarily, pinching Gorou’s squishy cheek and caressing it. You then leaned forward and slotted your head in between Gorou’s neck. His scent of orange and soil comforted your haywire senses so easily.
When was the last time you saw your boyfriend again?
This illness feels like the early stage of dementia now.
“My love, are you okay?” Gorou asked softly, slowly patting along your spine and nuzzling into your neck too, peppering small kisses in hopes of distracting you from the pain. You just hummed, savoring this moment and hoping for it to never end.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t come faster. The professors were being fussy about your absence.” He explained while rubbing circles on your back.
“...I have no energy.” You mumbled in his ear, knowing he’ll know what to do. He then removed himself and got up, closed your apartment’s door, picked up the bag of stuff he bought, and took off his shoes before facing you again. He picked you up in his arms so easily despite his height. He has always been way stronger than he looks, and that’s also one of the reasons you love him.
You locked your arms around his neck for support, silently admiring his handsome side profile. A chiseled jawline, soft fluffy hair, and a burning gaze that you fell in love with. Not to mention his goofy smiles and excitement, his serious expressions when executing his tasks, and his lovestruck expression he doesn’t hide in front of a new variant of a cake, often remind you of a dog. A really lovely dog that you would die for.
He seemed to notice you staring, as he glanced and locked eyes with you before breaking into a big soft smile. You suddenly could see an imaginary tail wagging behind him. “Why, is there something on my face?” He chuckled. You just smiled back and leaned forward to kiss his cheek, earning a content chuckle from him.
He carried you all the way back to your bed, laying you down gently and tucking the blankets in. Of course, you retaliated. It was way too hot, after all.
“Gorouuu, stop tucking the blanket innnn. It’s too hoooot!” You whined while pushing away the blanket he put on you. You both kept going back and forth until Gorou was just looking at you puffing your cheeks.
He finally got an idea. He moved to tuck you in again, “Alright, I will kiss you if you behave under the blanket until I finish making you food.” You whined once more, but obeyed and proceeded to just put your arms outside of it. A kiss? Such a generous offer you would not miss from your lover.
Ah, it’s quiet again. It’s just you and your room, but this silence does not feel that bad.
You could hear the pans and pots clattering, water being poured, the knife hitting the cutting board, and Gorou casually humming Honeypie by JAWNY. You chuckled, knowing that the song will always be his favorite, and it was the first song you both danced to together.
Laying your head down on your pillow doesn’t make you hurl that much anymore. Is this just because Gorou is here? Well, whatever it is, you could rest your head now.
You’re not alone anymore.
Suddenly you couldn’t hold your smile, just stupidly smiling because of that one thought. It reminds you of the feeling you got when Gorou first kissed you.
You both were watching a movie in his place and he casually leaned on your shoulder. You thought it was just him being friendly, so you pushed away romantic thoughts and calmed down your heart rate. It took you a lot to not just stare at him and place a kiss on his head. Little did you know, the moment you glanced at him, he was also glancing at you.
You both locked eyes and Gorou inched in experimentally, seeing if you were going to avoid his lips. Not seeing any resistance, he inched in closer not expecting you to meet him in the middle; both of you kissing each other with equal force. The movie was then forgotten, both of you just started making out on his couch before finally confessing each other’s feelings.
A deep chuckle pulled you back to your senses. Gorou had come back with a tray of soup and porridge, as well as tea. “What’s got you smiling so big like that?” He teased while setting down the tray on the bedside table.
“You. Only you, honey.” You smirked at him, making him slightly flustered from your comeback. He just rolled his eyes from your antiques and handed you the tea.
“I was thinking of how lucky I am to have you.” You confessed, sipping away the tea. Your boyfriend just smiled giddily, but you can see the tips of his ears turning red.
“That was the best thing I have heard today.” He admitted sweetly. “Me too, I’m also lucky to have you by my side.”
Oh, and the tea. The warmth of the tea eased some of the sore throats you’ve been having. It’s so damn good. You could taste the burning ginger, the fragrant jasmine, and a tinge of sweetness in the aftertaste. You hummed happily as you already feel better from the tea alone.
Gorou took the bowl of porridge in his hands and was ready to feed you. “I made you some porridge since you said your stomach is ripping you apart.”
Hm?... You were pretty sure you were puking in the dawn.
Did you ever text him?
Slightly pushing away the spoon of porridge he’s offering you, you asked, “Wait, when did I ever tell you my stomach hurts? I don’t even remember telling you I’m sick..”
He furrowed his brows and reached for his phone, “What do you mean? You called me at five in the morning with such a horrible voice saying you missed me? You even said that your stomach is being ‘bitchy’.” He quoted while showing a dial log at five in the morning.
“Huh? I don’t remember at all. I just remember feeling like I’m gonna die– I don’t even know where my phone is.” You were absolutely confused. You had zero recollection whatsoever of the call. Wait, does that mean you called Gorou in a trance?
A loud sound of your muffled ringtone resonates through the air, coming very loudly from under your pillow.
So that’s where it was.
Your boyfriend laughed while turning off the call. You were just shamefully picking up your phone from under your pillow.
“It’s not my fault I was dying, okay?!” You defended to your partner who is holding his stomach. It’s so embarrassing. You finally decided to just quietly sip your tea while waiting for Gorou to calm down.
Wheezing, your damn boyfriend finally decides to calm down and gives you kisses as you were pouting at his behavior. “Baby, ahaha- So sorry.” He pecked your cheek.
“It’s just funny that you were panicking about your phone while it’s been there all along.” A peck near your lips.
“Not to mention, I have been texting you to make sure you’re alive and you never replied. I was so worried. Now that I know what’s going on- Pft-” He stifled a chuckle while going to peck your cheek again. Annoyed, you playfully push him away and he just chuckled.
“Just feed me the goddamn porridge, please.” You protested at your cackling boyfriend.
“Affirmative, your highness.” He said while smiling oh so beautifully. God damn it, your boyfriend is very cute.
Every single spoon he fed you, he made sure the porridge is not too hot and not too cold. He also made sure you finish your previous bite before getting another one. It’s just so adorable, the way he’s so focused on blowing at the bite of porridge and the way his expression turned into a soft one when he feeds you.
“Oh, you have some porridge on your lips.” He notified. You tried licking your way through it, but Gorou properly grabbed a napkin and gently wiped off the residue. “You know you can’t lick your way through some stuff, right?” He smiled. You just scoffed and continued eating the bite he’s offering in front of your lips.
You finally finished your bowl of porridge and gulped down the soup. “This was a really good porridge, I was never a fan of porridge but I would eat this even when I’m not sick.” You praised him, earning you a delighted and happy Gorou. Now, you can clearly see the wagging tail and the standing ears as your boyfriend beams happily at you.
“But you don’t prefer porridge? I’ll take notes of that.” He mentally noted while picking up the utensils. Such an attentive boyfriend. What did you do to deserve someone like him?
He was about to leave with the dishes, and your hand reflexively held on to the edge of his t-shirt. Is he going to leave after feeding you? Well, you didn’t want that. It would be quiet, again. Gorou immediately noticed this and put down the utensils. He took your hand, kneeled to get into eye level with you, and placed a kiss on your hand. He locked eyes with you and placed a gentle kiss on your forehead.
“Don’t worry. I’m going to come back after washing the dishes. I won’t just leave after this, okay?” He reassured you, stroking your fingers tenderly. You just nodded and he got up to wash the dishes.
Just like he promised, he didn’t leave. He came back with your medicine and laid down next to you. Luckily, you changed your bed into a slightly bigger one when you started dating Gorou because he always crashes in your place randomly.
“Alright, now rest.” He demanded while having an arm over your waist. He’s so close. You could admire his reddish eye makeup, upturned eyes, as well as his short but thick lashes. His button nose, and his soft lips.
“So when am I getting that kiss?” You asked giddily. Wait, wouldn’t it be a bad idea to kiss right now? He could get infected, no?
Your lover who was busy admiring you was now inching in closer.
Oh well, you wouldn’t pass on a kiss with your lover.
Lips pressed together, you unknowingly sighed happily into the kiss. It feels like it’s been forever since you last kissed him.
Your hand went to his hair, stroking the soft brown locks he kept so diligently. You swiped your tongue across his bottom lip, teasing him to open his mouth. The simple kiss slowly turned into a make-out session, with his hands comfortingly stroking your shoulder, waist, and neck while your hands were combing through his hair and caressing his cheek.
After a while, you both pulled away. Gorou pecked your cheek once more, “Enough kissing. Now go to sleep. I will be here when you wake up.” he assured as he gives you a comforting stroke on your waist.
His temperature is so comfortable, you just hope he doesn’t find your high temperature annoying… As you drifted off to sleep curling in your lover’s arms.
❀ ❀ ❀ ❀ ❀
The tool in your hand beeped, showing a relatively high number for a body temperature. Your boyfriend is in bed, just frowning in acquiesce.
“So you’re telling me we both forgot that flu infects others easily, especially through body fluids?” You asked your slumping boyfriend. You could easily imagine a droopy dog-ear on him right now. You, my dear, have recovered perfectly. But your boyfriend seemed to have caught the flu a few days later, which ended up in this situation.
“Well, I did know!” He defended. He then averted his eyes, “It’s just that, we haven’t seen each other in some time, I got carried away.” He mumbled shyly. The tips of his ears are so red despite you not being able to see his expression. You snickered at his remark, you honestly also missed him too.
“Aww, don’t be sad hun, I can take care of you now, okay?” You pecked his red ear which flustered him and made him glare at you. Of course, your boyfriend is such a cutie sometimes.
I guess it’s your turn to take care of him now.