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This wasn’t amazing, this was actually really bothersome. He was getting tired too easily, yesterday he knew he was a little slower than normal but assumed he was just being lazy, being lukewarm. He knew Sae would laugh at his face if he saw such an awful performance. His shots went in but not in the exact way he was thinking, they would be off by a little, that throughly pissed him off. This made him try harder, push harder, he kept shooting, dribbling, running. He didn’t accept anything but perfection for himself, he wouldn’t let anything less happen.
He was still off, he could scream, he was about to till a certain jet black haired boy walked in. His eyes snapped, he was panting, sweat dripped off of him as his attention changed. “Woah-“ startled, why did he look so startled. “How long you’ve been here?” Isagi walked in the training centre, “You’re soaked in sweat, have you even bothered to wipe yourself off?” He grabbed the towel off his shoulder and put it against Rins’s forehead and neck, Rin leaned into the coolness. “I don’t need your help.” He mumbled. Pushing away the cloth even though it felt amazing. “Why are you still so stubborn?” Isagi simply sighed, “Go eat, it’s dinner time.” Rin thought about it and decided he just wanted sleep. Skipping his evening everything due to his body being annoying and tired.
When he woke up he felt much worse, rubbing his head didn’t stop the immense pain that came over the night. His body ached, he was so cold, shivering. His back felt like it was broken by how much it hurt. Shit- he had a match this morning. Pushing himself up, this was nothing, he’s fine, he’s fine, he’s..so fine.
Walking as steady as he can, he got to the stadium they were playing in. The lights burned his eyes, wincing in pain as he instantly shut his eyes. He struggled to open his eyes again, the people in the stadium were so loud. Why wouldn’t they stop talking. He heard every small sound, tussle of grass, feedback from the speaker, buzzing of the shitty lights. Suddenly he felt a hand grab him and pull him. His body collapsed and fell with the hand.
“Rin! You weren’t answering me.” Huh? Who is that? He couldn’t see that well, when did his eyes get so blurry. He couldn’t hear whoever it was very well either. They kept speaking but he couldn’t hear them, their body was warm, too warm. He tried to fuss away but that made the person grab on harder. “Rin!” He heard him clearer that time, oh. It was isagi.
“Why…’re you..here..” that’s what he tried to say but he couldn’t hear himself say it that well, it was too loud and echoed too much in his head. He felt himself get sleepy, Isagi was very comfortable. Only now did he realize he went to the wrong stadium, he saw the number at the top..that wasn’t 3 but 1. “Rin! Can you hear me?!” He was being too loud, he slowly lifted a weak hand to his mouth. “Loud..shh..” isagi startled at his hand on his mouth. Isagi easily moved the hand, lowering his tone. “Rin are you alright? Why are you so spacey?” Rin didn’t know how to answer so he tried to mutter the smallest amount of words that could get his point across. “Stadium 3.” Isagi oh’d. “Are you okay Rin?” Putting a hand to his head he hissed and pulled away.
“Jesus Rin! You’re burning!” He grabbed him and dragged his weak body to the med bay. “‘Sagi..” he mumbled, the other turned to him, stopping his movements. “Yeah?” He didn’t know what he wanted to say, he was too out of it to think properly. Once he got to the med bay the doctor got him in a bed, the doctor left to go notify Ego. Isagi was going to leave but Rin grabbed his hand, using the rest of his strength to pull him close. “Don’t go..” isagi startled. “Hm? What did you say?” He must’ve mumbled. “Stay.” He pushed his mouth to make the sounds he could to come off a little coherent. “I have a game Rin, you came to my stadium, I have to go play like now, now.” Rin wanted to fuss but he couldn’t, Isagi bent down and gave him a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll come back after the game Rin-Rin.” He then waved bye, Rin must’ve passed out after that.
-
Rin woke up alone, his eyes panicked as they darted across the room. He couldn’t see very well still, the world was spinning and his frantic search wasn’t helping. He recognized it now, he was at home. It was quiet, his parents weren’t home. He wanted his mom, she was barely there but he wanted her care. He hates how quiet the house is, he hated it as a kid and he hated it now. Sae used to take care of him, he missed Sae, he hated that he moved away, he hated that he gave up on his dreams but still he would drop everything for Sae if he asked. Anything for his older brother that he adored so much. Why couldn’t his brother adore him the same way he did. Was he truly just a stepping stone of this success or did everything he do mean it.
Did their mother force Sae to take care of Rin when he fell ill? Did he hate it? Did he really want nothing to do with him this whole time? Sae was good at taking care of him, could that care be fake? You can’t just fake caring can you? He hates this, why now does he drown himself in these awful thoughts. Why now does he remember how Sae would fall asleep next to Rin after tending to him, getting himself sick in the process. Why does he remember Sae touching his head and lecturing him as he put a cold pack on his forehead, he hates this.
Rin wanted his brother, Rin wanted his mother, dammit he just wanted someone. He wanted someone to come here and help him, he couldn’t do this alone. He had fought so long alone, pretended he was strong when he was nothing but a weak boy. He wanted to lift his hand but he was too tired, he tried to speak but his voice wasn’t strong enough. He wanted to cry, well he got that. He hated being alone, hated the way his ears rung. Hated everything.
He was suddenly shook awake. He wasn’t in his room anymore, a dream? He saw Isagi, his face was panicked, why was he so panicked? That expression didn’t match him very well. Rin went to touch his face, letting his hand rest there as an attempt to calm him down. Only then could he properly zone in and hear him. “You keep scaring me today.” He sighs, shaking his head. “I was so worried I probably preformed like shit in that match.” Isagi was worried about him? “You need to take better care of yourself, the doctor said it was from overworking.” Did he overwork himself? He couldn’t remember anything anymore. Suddenly Isagi morphed to Sae. Sae has the same face, he felt his eyes water, he felt like he had already cried by the wet feeling on his cheek but he dismissed that.
“Why are you crying Rin..” he didn’t sound like Sae, blinking, it was Isagi. Rin wanted to cry for his brother but, he felt happy to see Isagi. “Isagi.” His voice was weak, dry and rough from the lack of any water and lack of use. “You’re..here.” He spoke slow, Isagi nodded. “I told you I’d be back didn’t I?” Rin couldn’t believe he actually came back. “Thank you.” He felt himself cry more, he was pathetic but too ill to truly care. He felt safer around Isagi, their relationship was different now, they’re close, they kissed and hugged and spent lots of time together. No one could’ve predicted it though, the tension between them wasn’t just aggressive in the end.
His body still hurt to all hell, moving was truly a pain in the ass, he thought about all he would miss, how far behind he would be, he would be even farther to Sae, that freaked him out, jolting up and then hissing in pain, fuck that hurt. “Jesus Rin what are you doing?” Isagi tried to ease him back down but he had a panic spread all through his body, giving him the strength to fight the touch. “No..must..train.” He panted, he was so exhausted from barely moving. “Must..catch up..to Sae.” He tried to fight but Isagi was stronger. “You can do that later Rin.” He gently touched his forehead, pulling off the cooling pack and replacing it. Isagi was caring for him.
Isagi. Was. Caring. For. Him. He must’ve had a look to himself because Isagi smiled at him. “I forget how young you are with how you act.” Isagi fixed his hair, gently drying the sweat off his face and neck. “Isagi..” he sniffed, Isagi snapped his head, “What’s wrong? Can I help?” Isagi was caring for him. He wasn’t alone in his house rotting away in his bed unable to get up. Isagi was caring for him. “You’re..tired aren’t you..? You can go.” Please don’t go. He was scared this was a awful dream.
“I can’t leave you like this, plus you keep crying.” He simply shakes his head. “I can’t leave my boyfriend so distraught all alone.” He sits back down, Isagi will never know the effect of those words. Rin moved his body, it hurt but he had a goal. He then collapsed into Isagi, snuggling into him. “Gah- you could’ve told me you wanted a hug, I would’ve gotten up.” Rin didn’t answer, burring his face into his chest. “Not saying you should get sick more but you’re acting so cute.” Rin tried to ignore that comment, his face heating up, but not from the fever. “Mph.” Rin felt himself get sleepy. Too much activity for his ill body. He let his eyes get heavy, shutting the world out. Isagi moved him to the bed, falling asleep on the bed’s mattress that wasn’t taken up by Rin.
-
When Isagi woke up he noticed Rin was still out cold, he took off the old cooling pad and touched his head. The fever had gone down a little bit but it was still strong. Isagi realized he forgot to give Rin the medicine the doctor told him to give Rin when he woke up. Probably why he was still fighting the fever. It was hard to remember when Rin looked so cute, so young. It was hard to remember he was younger, when he acted the way he did all the time. Rin was softer with Isagi but it was moments where he would randomly break down and cry or stare at Isagi with big curious eyes that he really was reminded. He gently shook Rin, he stirred, waking up almost instantly this time which was an improvement from the 10 minute struggle he had earlier in the day.
“Wake up Rin, you need to take medicine.” Rin opened his eyes, processed he needed medicine and turned his body facing his back to Isagi. Isagi rolled his eyes and pulled him onto his back. “Be a big boy and take your medicine Rin.” Rin stared at Isagi for a minute and then shoved the pill into his mouth, he drank a little water, he then looked relieved, chugging the bottle. He was probably a bit dehydrated- Isagi wasn’t very good at taking care of his poor sick boyfriend. “Sorry- I’m not used to taking care of people. I’ve probably done a miserable job.” When he looked to Rin he was only met with a shocked face. “This is your worse?” That face, he looked cute again. “Yea- sorry.” Rin blinked a couple times, he seemed to fight with how to articulate himself here.
“You’ve done a really good job Yoi” Isagi wasn’t expecting the first name drop. Rin still called him Isagi most of the time. He on rare days where he was either sad about something or extra cuddly would he say Yoi or Yoichi. “I don’t need you to over compensate-“
He shook his head, “No I mean it. It matters a lot.” Isagi gently put a hand on rins head, tugging lightly at his hair, even though it was dirty from the sweat it was still soft. “After you get a little better you should take a bath.” Rin huffed, “Calling me dirty now?” Isagi smiled, “Only a little.” Rin leaned to the touch, letting Isagi play with his hair.
“How are you feeling?” Rin hummed, “Head hurts a lot less, the world isn’t spinning anymore,, I can hear you a lot clearer.” Is that why he was relatively unresponsive? “What time is it?” Isagi shrugged, no phone, no windows. Does awful things to your time sense. The nap didn’t help his bodies sleep timer. “Not sure..” he leaned back and looked at the clock. He realized whatever the time was, regardless Rin would try and get up and try to train. He needed rest so Isagi looked at it and kept it to himself. “You need to rest to get better. The doctor said 3 days.” Rin’s eyes widened. “I can’t wait that long! I’ll fall behind.” Isagi patted his head. “I know damn well you’ll beat out everyone the second you’re back.” Rin still had protest in his eyes but he took his defeat. (A true rarity.)
—
Isagi was very correct, Rin had easily caught up to everyone after a day of training his body again. He was feeling a lot better, he could move his body without aches, his head would sometimes spin if he moved too fast but that would heal with time. This was the best being sick of his life. Isagi basically took care of him the entire time he was sick which he liked more than he ever wanted to admit. Being babied honestly wasn’t that all bad if you sacrificed your pride.
He felt better by Isagi’s side, less lonely, he didn’t spend this time sobbing in his room till he passed out and somehow got better. He had Isagi. He made sure in his head to make a mental note to do the same for Isagi when he got sick.
When Isagi got out of practice Rin grabbed his hand and dragged him off, Isagi pestered Rin on why he was dragging him but Rin didn’t answer. When he got to Isagi’s room he kissed him and mumbled against his lip. “Thank you gift.”