Work Text:
When he opened the door that night, the sight behind it was definitely not what he had expected.
Honestly, he didn't even expect anything in particular. All of the Port Mafia members knew better than to disturb the boss at such a late hour if it was not an emergency.
A weak knock on the door exactly five minutes after midnight. Mori is sitting at his desk, flipping over some papers, when the sudden sound startles him and almost makes him drop his pen. It is definitely not an emergency — in that case, someone would already barge through the door and yell, and everything would be rash, loud and disorganized. Exactly the way he hates.
The disruption in the middle of work is annoying for sure, but the man gets up slowly. His stiff limbs welcome the movement with gratitude, albeit a little unpleasant at first.
The walk to the door is short, but his steps are the only sound, which makes the overall impression a little creepy. It is the middle of the night, after all, and he's wearing his white button-up shirt, but the collar is undone, his tie long left on a nearby couch, leaving some space to breathe. The nights tend to be cold, so he also has his cloak hanging on the chair, just in case. Everything is prepared so he doesn't have to leave the office if he needs something.
Opening the door is the other sound that appears when his steps wither away, but the sight awaiting is a little too unusual for him just to glance over it with the same indifference as always.
Short, ragged breaths of one of his executives are a little too much to ignore.
Normally, he probably would, but it's Kouyou, of all people. She never goes as far as to suddenly invade his office at night, even if she's very persistent in convincing him to get more rest.
And she doesn't look well, not to mention that her hair is down and messy, the only thing she's wearing is a thin nightgown whose sleeves reach up to her elbows and it's usually pretty cold inside the headquarters. She's not wearing any shoes either, not to mention makeup. It's weird. Completely unlike her.
However, when she looks at him, it's finally clear. Her beautiful, cherry red eyes are alarmingly glossy. She's trembling as well.
Mori, on top of it all, is a doctor, so he knows without further inspection.
"I'm sorry," she whispers in a weak voice and he can see that she has trouble breathing. "I… didn't know where else to go."
She's probably not thinking clearly right now, as most of the mafia members would probably go straight to the infirmary. He's not irritated by it, though. He would be, if it were anyone else.
Then he notices that she's leaning on the doorframe and her grip, which was probably becoming weaker and weaker with each second, finally loosens.
He steps forward to catch her, before she falls to the ground and the burning heat he feels through the material of his shirt after touching her body is a sign that no doctor should ever ignore.
His office has a bedroom that he doesn't use anyway, so it is his first thought. Of course, he could just take her to the infirmary, but the feeling of Kouyou’s dangerously warm skin against his is a factor convincing enough to stay here. Fevers aren't usually that hard to deal with, but if it's severe, he might have to seek assistance.
He carries her to the bedroom, which turns out to be a bit challenging, but possible with enough motivation and this, is more than enough.
The bed is large so he puts her close to the edge, just so he could sit on a chair nearby, and covers the trembling body with a blanket. From this distance he can see that her lips are chapped and she's holding onto the sheets tightly, eyes closed.
She's dehydrated.
"You'll have to drink something. You're dehydrated and you have a high fever" he says softly, surprised with his own tone while putting a palm on her forehead just to check the temperature, even though it is unnecessary. He doesn't have to touch her to feel that she's burning up, but his fingers also wander elsewhere against his will and brush her hair out of her face gently. "Did you take something for the fever?"
"No," she replies weakly, opening her eyes with difficulty to look at him. They're still beautiful, even when dangerously glossy. "I just… woke up like that, and it was so cold… I'm cold."
"You'll be fine. You need to drink something" he repeats, once again, too softly for his own liking and gets up to get a glass of water and a pill. He doesn't want to leave her alone, but thankfully he has some water right behind the wall, in case he gets thirsty during work hours.
He comes back to the sight of Kouyou resting her back against the pillows, still shaking because of the chills, but trying to stay alert despite her awful state. Mori comes closer and hands her the water glass and one pill. He hopes it's not too little, keeping in mind how severe the fever looks, but it's better to start off with a small dose. She looks at him with gratitude and something he can't really recognize and then swallows the pill, drinking the water with small sips.
"Thank you" she says quietly, when he takes back the glass and sets it on a nightstand. "I'm sorry for disturbing you. I can go back to my apartment now" she proposes, still looking worn-out by the illness.
Mori really tries to convince himself that this is the reason that he shakes his head. He could let her go, probably. He simply didn't want to.
"No" he protests, looking anywhere but at her face. "There's a risk you'll need further medical assistance."
She smiles, weakly, but she does.
"Ougai, it's just a fever. It's probably… nothing serious."
She's denying her previous state when she wasn't even able to stand straight, but the mention of his name easily helps him miss out on that fact for a moment.
"I'm the doctor. You listen to me" he manages to stutter, so Kouyou responds with another slight smile and lowers herself on the mattress, so that she can lay down comfortably, covered by the blanket. "Goodnight, Kouyou."
"Goodnight" she whispers back, closing her eyes, the same slight smirk still present on her lips.
After a few minutes, he notices a significant change. She's not as feverish as she was and her breath has evened, meaning the medicine has helped.
The man quietly opens the drawer of the nightstand, pulls out an unused lip balm and carefully smooths it over the pad of his finger to apply it on her chapped lips gently.
It's a medical procedure. They'd crack and bleed in the morning, he repeats to himself, trying not to pay too much attention to the sight of her, sound asleep in his bed, with her bright red hair sprawled around the pillow. It's truly captivating.
Not thinking much, he kisses her gently on the forehead, backing off instantly after realizing what he has just done.
Kouyou is still a bit warm, but it doesn't take much time for another satisfied smirk to appear on her seemingly sleeping face.