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“I know how you are with training, #58, however letting you work in your condition puts the both of us at risk. We will postpone our fight until you are feeling better.” Samon said as he turned to leave Cell 8. Uoa weakly huffed angrily, “I’m not even that sick,” he said to himself. Salmon paused at the cell door, Upa thought the supervisor heard him for a split second. However, his concerns were washed away when Samon began speaking again. “I’ll have #71 look after you,” he paused, “It’s not like he’ll do his training anyways, plus he’s a doctor” Samon turned to look at the boys, “Let’s go #02”. Liang nodded and headed for the door, “Yessir”.
Upa turned to look at the older, “Why do I have to be stuck with filth all day? I’m in perfect health to train”. Qi rolled his eyes and nudged the other in the direction of their couch, “Go lay down, you’re sick, whether you accept that or not,” Upas huffed and refused to lay down, that was until he felt lightheaded, deciding it was better to just sit as a compromise. He let the taller guide him to the sofa, glaring at him the whole way. “I didn’t need your help.” he said sternly. “Mhm”, Qi dismissed, “I’ll make you a cure-all, but it might not help completely for various reasons” He began walking away.
Soon, Qi returned with a vile of bright teal-green liquid. “Here, kid, drink up” he demanded kindly. Upa groaned and took it from the other, Qi’s medicine usually tasted like shit. He sighed and gulped it down, regardless, wincing at the awful taste. “Pretty bad, huh?” Qi joked, “I’ll get you some water” He began walking away again. “Hurry up, trash,” Upa called after him. Once he came back with a small glass of water, Upa slammed it, riding his mouth of the taste. He sighed and put the glass down on the table next to their couch. “Good, now lay down and try not to move much, you need to conserve energy to get better quickly” Qi stated, standing over the teen. Upa rolled his eyes but did so nonetheless, internally cringing because he did what Qi, of all people, told him to do. But he wanted to get better quickly, he was already itching to train. Reluctantly, Upa listened. However, when he was about to lie down and throw a snide remark about taking orders from trash, his throat burned and he was sent into a coughing fit. Shooting back up into sitting, holding his burning and scratching his throat more than before.
As his fit died down, he felt someone, who he recognized as Qi, comfortingly rubbing smalls circle over his spine. Upa noticed the significant dip in the couch next to him, “Why are you sitting next to me?”, his voice was hoarse. “Because you’re clearly ill. Anyone could tell that easily enough, kid”. Qi leaned back into the couch, putting his arms up on the backrest. Upa internally groaned, once again, as his eyes felt heavy. This was awful, he’s not even supposed to get sick! He hesitantly leaned back into the plush couch, slowly sinking into the soft material. Sighing quietly, content with his rare and newfound relaxation, Upa glanced up at the older. Qi wasn’t sleeping or reading like he usually was. Instead, he was awake but had his eyes closed, humming ever so quietly. The teen looked back to his hands that were resting on his lap. He enjoyed the admittedly comfortable atmosphere, silence broken by only the ticking of a faraway clock and Qi humming. His eyes fluttered closed as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Upa groggily opened his eyes, squinting at the light of their cell. He tried to rub the sleep out of his eyes before opening them all the way. He looked around, regaining his surroundings. Embarrassed, Upa realized he had fallen asleep on the couch. He was immediately on high alert as he shot up. “We’re in our cell, you don’t have to be on guard here,” Upa spun his head around quickly, catching sight of Qi. He was standing next to their bookshelf, flipping through books. Qi snapped a book shut, tucking it under his arm, and turned to head towards their shared couch. “How long was I asleep?” Upa demanded, following Qi carefully with his eyes. The taller paused in front of the couch, looking up as if in deep thought, “Only a little while”. He sat close to Upa, not close enough to be uncomfortable, but enough that it was noticeable. He began once again after opening his new book, “You definitely needed it though, don’t think I haven’t noticed your dark circles”. Upa looked away, embarrassed at being read oh so easily, but spoken about so nonchalantly. Qi placed a hand on his head, “It’s alright, kid, you gotta be less hard on yourself”. Qi ruffled his hair as his hat had been taken off while he slept. Upa folded his arms over his stomach, “Don’t touch me”, he said but made no effort to get Qi off of him. The doctor had only given a small, amused, and gentle hum in response.
Upa leaned into Qi, hiding his embarrassed face by looking in the opposite direction. He expected Qi to push him off, but he didn’t. Instead, he leaned into the smaller as well, not taking his eyes off his book once. “Don’t tell anyone about this” Upa said sternly, “Of course” Qi chuckled softly, glancing away from his book for a split second.
Eventually, Kokoriki and Rokuriki stopped by to deliver them lunch. Qi shushed them both quietly as Upa had fallen asleep again, on him, this time. The twins nodded in unison, setting their food down, as quietly as possible, on the small table in front of them. Qi finished his book and left it to the side, opting to lean back and fall into slumber as well.