Work Text:
It was all so sudden for anyone to realize what was happening. When the meteors came crashing to Earth and the virus carried on them began to infect the world's populace, nobody was prepared to handle it. They had no idea that the meteor shower would stop after a month, but that was the least of humanity's problems.
With the permission of the world leaders, Hope's Peak Academy selected sixteen of its most elite students that were immune to the virus, sending them off into space and thereby preserving the most talented of humanity. As for the billions left behind, they began to succumb to the secondary effect of the virus.
The virus could be passed through blood, saliva, or other bodily fluids, but getting scratched by an infected was treatable if the wound was disinfected and bandaged up. The virus targeted the brain of the infected and made them simplistic and more instinctual, though a curious side effect was that they retained their knowledge and some semblance of their former selves. The virus slowly began to shut down various parts of the body as well - some organs, vocal cords, and nerves - making them effectively dead and kept upright only by the virus in their mind.
The virus had been compared more to a zombie apocalypse due to the animalistic state the infected were left in, and scientists were locked in their buildings and made to search for a cure as the infected attacked the non-infected and spread the virus.
Teruya Otori had fled to the countryside with his work partner, Mikado Sannoji, to escape the conflicts in the streets. He had invited Rei Mekaru and Tsurugi Kinjo to join him, but both had declined for different reasons. Rei had another escape route planned, while Tsurugi was planning to accept his fate.
The house they were living in was a cottage that his late papa built long ago, and he and Teruya did their best to keep it in good quality through the years. After Kojiro Otori passed away, his son continued his work and the maintenance of the cottage. This proved to pay off when the virus came.
"At least we can grow our own food here, plus the food in the cellar. That should keep us fed," Teruya smiled as he watered some tomatoes and cucumbers. "We really need to get ahold of water and medical supplies though, just in case."
"I can take a truck and go get them," Mikado offered with a shrug. "I'll be quick, there and back. No one will see me."
"No, it's too dangerous for you. You're not as strong as I am." Teruya sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I'll go and get them tomorrow. It's almost night, we should go to sleep. I'll head out to get the supplies tomorrow."
Teruya knew that Mikado would opposed this, and refused to back down or cave on his stance, even if the blonde looked at him in confused disbelief. Mikado finally relented and told him, "Yes, evening isn't an opportune time to collect supplies, it's much better with only real day or real night. Let's go to bed."
The merchant watched the other walk by him, wearing a sad smile as he knew that Mikado was definitely unhappy about this decision. But he knew that if he let Mikado go, he would end up taking longer and could get injured. He made sure to lock all of the doors and windows, turning off all the lights before following Mikado to his own bedroom while the blonde took his papa's old room.
***
Teruya woke up the next day and changed out of his pyjamas, expecting that he's have to open up a can of preserved food to split with Mikado as breakfast. He and the blonde would have to reduce their diet to outlast the virus, and they would need a combat plan in case anyone infected happened to attack the cottage.
When he exited his room, he noticed that Mikado's bedroom door was open. This wasn't unusual, he knew that the blonde man liked to wake up at the break of dawn to prepare any meals. He would have to discuss meals with Mikado first and foremost.
But when he went to the living room to look for him, he saw Mikado with a bunch of supplies beside him as he was using disinfectant on his scrapes. "What the-?! What happened here?!" Teruya exclaimed out of worry as he hurried over to the blonde. "Where did those come from?!"
"Where do you think? Didn't I tell you before?" Mikado calmly answered. "I did say that evening was an inopportune time to collect resources, so I waited until night to go out. I only got a couple scrapes-" he motioned to the wounds he was disinfecting, "-but they weren't from those zombies out there. I had a bit of difficulty getting heavy boxes onto the truck as fast as I could."
Teruya grabbed Mikado by his shirt collar and pulled him forward. "What the hell were you thinking?! You could have gotten caught by those things, and I wouldn't have been able to come help you!" he scolded, the corners of his eyes tearing up. "What would you have done then?!"
Mikado looked stunned by the merchant's outburst, and the shocked expression on his normally-impassive face made Teruya slowly release his collar. "Sorry for yelling. Please don't go off on your own again."
The blonde noticed that the taller man was shaking slightly, and he changed the topic to calm the merchant. "We should be putting the supplies away," he suggested, and Teruya nodded.
"Yeah, we should. We also need to talk about how to conserve food and how to fight the infected if any attack the cottage." Teruya and Mikado discussed plans and strategies, which began to calm the merchant slightly.
After they put the supplies away and talked their plans through, Mikado noticed that Teruya was still shaking as they sat on the couch in the living room. He patted the merchant's back, making Teruya curl up a little with his knees to his chest. The two of them stayed there for a while beside each other.
***
But one day, as Teruya came back from a supply run at the city, he saw blood trailing around the cottage and immediately jumped out of his truck with an axe in hand. He looked around the area until he found the remains of a dead man, and Teruya guessed that he was an infected that was killed in self-defence.
That would have calmed Teruya down if it wasn't for the sight of the blood trailing into the cottage. The merchant went inside with his trusty axe and followed the trail to Mikado's bedroom. Opening the door showed him the blonde laying lazily on the bed with blood around him.
"Oh no, no no, no..." Teruya muttered as he rushed over and looked over Mikado, grabbing his hands. The blonde's pretty face was stained with blood and his hands were too cold. There was a large gash in his arm and in one of his legs.
Mikado looked at him in bed with half-glazed eyes letting out an incoherent murmur and trying to sit up. Teruya knew that it was too late to save him, and he pushed the blonde back down with one hand. Despite the force being used, Mikado didn't seem that he was going to attack at all.
"Oh god, no..." the merchant looked between the axe he held and the passive infected laying in front of him, but he couldn't find it in himself to bring the axe up and put the other man out of his misery.
...He couldn't bring himself to kill Mikado, not in this state. But if he couldn't do that, then he could at least restrain Mikado and prevent him from attacking. With his eyes full of tears, he left the room and brought back a first aid kit, some rope, and a dog muzzle that Teruya ended up keeping after his neighbour's dog died.
He first put the cage over Mikado's mouth to prevent any bites from occurring, and then tied his wrists behind his back to prevent him from trying to scratch or get his muzzle off. When Mikado was properly restrained, Teruya began disinfecting and bandaging the wounds on his arm and leg to prevent his body from further deteriorating.
Once the wounds were all dressed up, Teruya stood back and looked over the infected Mikado with a sorrowful look. "I...I'm sorry. This is my fault, I left you alone for too long..." The merchant then broke down into tears and fell onto his knees, crying into Mikado while hugging his midsection. "I-I told you to be careful! I fortified the cottage, I told you to not go outside! Why did you do this...?"
While he wept, he felt Mikado wiggle a little under him and nudge his shoulder to the best of his ability. Teruya looked up to see Mikado rubbing his cheek against him, but more akin to a cat nuzzling than any attempt to get the muzzle off. When he made the comparison, Teruya came to a slow realization.
"You're not trying to escape, and this is a comfort action...are you able to communicate?" he questioned, his excitement growing as he tried to wipe the tears from his cheeks. "Are you still there? Your mind isn't gone yet?!"
Once again, Mikado tried to nuzzle him to cheer him up, and Teruya carefully hugged him while being mindful to not nudge the cage around his mouth. "Maybe...maybe you don't have to die. If communication is possible and you're not a threat, I won't need to kill you..." Teruya decided. "But I have to keep you in one place, for your own sake."
***
Teruya ended up remodelling Mikado's room, formerly Kojiro's room, into a cage to keep the infected blonde contained within. But even with his hands tied behind him, Mikado was still crafty and found new ways to escape his cage and follow Teruya around. And every time Mikado escaped, Teruya put him right back and tried to find the way he got out to fix it.
"Seriously, how do you keep escaping each time? It's been more than a week, seriously!" the merchant questioned as he carried Mikado over his shoulder back to his room. "I guess that cunning brain of yours never went away, even if your speech and stuff did."
Teruya put Mikado back onto the bed and sighed with a smile. "Really, I wish I still had your intelligence to help me. I know I'm not smart, I really needed your help." He shook his head as his smile turned sad. "I can't do this without you, I still need your help..."
His smile turned into a frown. "...And you need food, don't you? I know that whatever's infected you controls your body now, but if you don't eat, I really will lose you..." Teruya didn't want to think about what he could do to feed Mikado, so he got him some canned beef and put it on a plate, leaving it in Mikado's room. He quickly took the muzzle off him and quickly left the room, locking the door behind him.
As Teruya heard the sounds of Mikado dragging himself over to the raw meat and eating it greedily, he wondered how he was going to handle their ration problem with Mikado in this state. If the blonde were human, he would come up with a plan, but Teruya knew that he wasn't smart enough to do it on his own now.
The merchant went outside and resumed his work on his vegetable garden, which he continued on until he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to see Mikado coming back to him and beginning to rub against him affectionately again. "That was quicker this time..." Teruya sighed as he shook his head.
The next few months continued, and Teruya switched to a vegetarian diet while he gave all of the meat to Mikado to sate the infection in his head. The merchant tried to keep himself updated with any news to see if a cure would be made soon, but he soon gave up hope and resigned himself to living like this as long as possible.
***
One day, a small band of stragglers ended up coming to the cottage while Teruya was away on a supply run, unaware that the cottage was being habited. Teruya came back with his truck to see the door wide open. The merchant initially sighed, assuming that Mikado got out again, and prepared to look for him.
Once he went inside, he heard voices shouting and a gunshot. He raced in the direction of the sounds and burst into Mikado's room, seeing a group of four standing over a fallen Mikado. A smoking gunshot was next to the blonde, but Teruya assumed that it had hit him.
"What the fuck!?" he exclaimed, looking from the unmoving infected to the group of four. "Why are you in my house, why the hell did you-!?"
"Why are you keeping an infected in your house then?!" one of the stragglers shouted back, and an argument broke out between Teruya and the group of four. It ended abruptly with one of their guns going off, and Teruya fell down with a bullet wound in his side.
The stragglers ended up leaving, but to Teruya's shock, Mikado got up and grabbed himself over. He had broken free from his bonds and removed the muzzle, appearing unharmed before the merchant. Teruya looked over at the spot where Mikado was, seeing no blood and the bullet hole, realizing that the gunshot missed and Mikado was playing dead.
Teruya tried to sit up, but with the pain overwhelming him and his body weak from the bleeding, he fell back down. Mikado tried nuzzling him and then pushing him, but Teruya couldn't sit up. The merchant thought that he was going to die here, bleeding out from his wounds.
He suddenly felt a painful and tingly sensation from his wound, and he looked down and felt his heart spike when he saw Mikado licking at his wound. He wondered in fearful confusion if Mikado was tasting the blood to eat him, but he suddenly remembered how the virus was transferred. The infected can pass the virus on through saliva, blood, and bodily fluids; Mikado was smart enough that he knew he didn't even need to bite Teruya.
As it dawned on Teruya that he would join the infected soon, Mikado nuzzled into him and laid on top of him, making sure that he wasn't alone as the pain ebbed in him. Even if the blonde's skin was cold and weak, Teruya hugged him close and began taking deep breaths to calm himself.
It felt like forever as they cuddled together, and the pain began to recede. His mind was starting to get feverish and foggy as his temperature dropped, and Teruya looked over at Mikado with his eyes in a haze. The infection spread fast and was taking Teruya over quickly.
Mikado pressed closer to Teruya and sealed their lips in a kiss, and the newly-made infected drew the blonde in closer in his embrace. As the sun began to set on another day, the two of them began shambling out of the cottage to go to the city, leaving behind their humanity to spend their hazy eternity in a moment together.