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One thing about Rei, he knew how to hide it if he was hurt or sick.
Despite this, Kazuki could always figure out when Rei wasn’t physically at 100%. His tells were microscopically small, but Kazuki could read him like a book. A slight scrunch of the nose meant he had a cold, an eyebrow twitch meant he was in pain, clenching his jaw meant his stomach hurt, and so on.
However, thanks to a certain 4 year old ball of chaos, Kazuki hadn’t been paying as close attention as of late. He hadn’t noticed Rei sniffle a couple times at dinner. He hadn’t noticed how, for the past 24 hours, Rei had a cold sweat on his brow that didn’t go away. He hadn't noticed that his dark circles were a shade darker than normal.
He didn’t realize anything was wrong at all until their job.
The Target was the son of a prominent drug lord, and overall just a really crappy dude. Luckily for them, he was also an idiot, refusing any kind of security other than what was already provided by his lavish apartment building. He also had a bit of a shopping problem, and often ordered boxes and boxes of expensive wine and fancy clothing. That would be their way in. Kazuki would pose as a delivery person wheeling in a large box on a dolly. Once they made it up to the apartment, Rei would pop out of the box and do the deed. A quick, easy, simple hit. Rei would then leave via the emergency stairs, and Kazuki would go right back out the front door.
The plan went perfectly, except for one thing: It took Rei two shots to accomplish what he easily could have done with one.
Rei didn’t bring it up on the drive home, because of course he didn’t. Now that Kazuki was paying attention though, he knew exactly what happened. He noticed the way Rei’s cheeks were ever so slightly flushed. He heard the slight raspiness of Rei’s voice when he wondered if Miri was asleep yet. Rei was definitely sick.
“How’d it go?” Kyu met them in the hallway when they got home.
“It went perfectly, how’d it go with Miri?” Kazuki asked as he kicked off his shoes. Rei just gave Kyu a nod before brushing past him to go check on her.
“She showed me some of her drawings and then fell asleep watching a movie. She’s been out for about an hour already. Kyu said.
“Nice. Well thank you again for watching her, having you as a backup babysitter has been a lifesaver.
“If it means you guys get your work done on time, it’s worth it. Besides, she’s pleasant company.” Kyu said with a smirk. Kazuki was still surprised that Kyu was even okay with them taking care of her, let alone helping them. “I may have a scouting assignment for you, if you’re interested swing by Yadorigis soon and I’ll give you the details.”
“Will do, See you Kyu!” Kazuki said, seeing him out the front door.
Kazuki went out into the living room right as Rei was coming down the stairs. “She’s still asleep.” Rei said, heading towards the kitchen. Kazuki blocked the pantry that had all the snacks in it.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?” He demanded, putting his hands on his hips.
“Move, I’m hungry.”
“Rei, we both know you should have gotten that guy in one shot.” Rei ducked his head and looked to the side.
“It was dark in the box. It took my eyes a second to adjust.”
“Bullshit.”
“I’m fine.” Kazuki rolled his eyes and put the back of his hand on Rei’s forehead to check his temperature. His irritation immediately shifted to concern when he felt how hot Rei’s skin actually was.
“Jesus dude! You’re burning up!” In a flash Kazuki grabbed the thermometer they used to take Miri’s temperature every morning for daycare and swiped it across Rei’s forehead. “39.2 (102.6?!) Rei!!”
“I feel fine!” Now that Rei was talking, Kazuki could hear that he was congested and losing his voice. No wonder he had been quiet the past couple days.
“You’re taking medicine right now.” Kazuki left before Rei could protest and retrieved the strongest cold medicine they had from the bathroom.
When he came back out Rei was sitting on the couch, so Kazuki sat next to him and shoved the little cup of cherry red syrup onto Rei’s hand. “I’ve never needed cold medicine before” Rei grumbled.
“Well you do now.” Rei looked down at the cup for a moment before slowly taking a sip. His face scrunched up in disgust. He then proceeded to spit it back out into a bowl that Miri had left on the coffee table.
“What the hell?! That’s disgusting.” Rei said, furiously wiping the medicine from his lips with the sleeve of his dress shirt. Kazuki couldn’t help but laugh. Rei was kind of adorable when he was flustered.
“Pfft you’re worse than Miri. Come on, try again.” Kazuki said as he poured out another dose.
“No. It’s gross.”
“It’s this or the emergency room. Take your pick” Kazuki said, as if Rei actually had a choice. Rei still shook his head.
“I’ll take my chances” he grumbled.
“For fucks sake Rei will you just take it?” Rei crossed his arms and looked away from Kazuki. Kazuki knew it was a stupid idea to try and force one of the world's most deadly assassins to do anything, but Rei needed to get his fever down. Luckily, Kazuki had a plan, just like always.
“Fine…have it your way.” Kazuki let out a fake sigh of defeat and set the medicine on the table. Rei eyed him suspiciously for a moment, surprised that he had given up so easily. In order to sell the charade farther, Kazuki turned on the tv, flipping it to one of the cartoons they had accidentally gotten invested in because of Miri. After a few minutes of watching he could feel Rei finally relax next to him. Out of the corner of his eye he could see that Rei had pulled out his phone, probably to play a game. It was the perfect time to strike.
With no warning Kazuki jumped on him, Rei’s phone clattered to the floor as he instinctively tried to block him. “What the hell are you doing?!”
“I told you. You’re taking that fucking medicine.”
“Stop!” Rei hissed, trying to kick and push Kazuki off. Kazuki managed to wrestle him into a horizontal position on the couch.
“It’s…for your own…good!!” Kazuki grunted. Normally Rei would put up much more of a fight, but he was weak and sluggish. Even still, it took all of Kazuki’s strength to get him pinned to the couch.
He straddled Rei’s legs and sat on them to get him to stop his furious kicking. Then Kazuki leaned forward to put the rest of his body weight on Rei’s torso. Even though Rei could still sort of move his arms, there wasn’t much he could do other than smack Kazuki on the back and tug at his shirt. Kazuki grabbed the medicine and, miraculously, was able to pour it in Rei’s mouth without spilling. He let the cup fall to the floor and quickly placed a hand over Rei’s mouth before he could spit the medicine in Kazuki’s face. Once Kazuki finally felt Rei swallow, he sighed with relief and sat up. “There…Was that so hard?” He asked. Rei glared at him.
“You realize I could have stabbed you right?”
“But you didn’t! You know you love me!” Kazuki said with a cocky grin on his face. Rei rolled his eyes and looked away again.
Kazuki was suddenly very aware of the position they were in. He was still sitting on Rei’s legs looking down at him. Rei was red in the face and panting from the struggle. His shirt had come untucked, exposing the bottom of his abs, and his normally neat ponytail was now disheveled and messy. Feeling his own face turning red at the sight, Kazuki scrambled off of Rei’s lap and picked up the medicine cup off the floor. That’s gonna be a hard image to forget.
“Gonna take a shower” Rei mumbled as he got up off the couch. He made his way to the bathroom he typically didn’t sleep in as Kazuki took the medicine cup to the sink and washed it out. He felt kind of guilty for forcing himself on Rei like that, but he genuinely wasn’t trying to make it sexual or try anything, he just needed Rei to take the damn medicine.
Though, knowing Rei, he probably didn’t read it like that anyway. He was probably just pouting that Kazuki had won that particular fight. Besides, he was right, he totally could have stabbed Kazuki or otherwise hurt him if he really wanted to, but Kazuki knew Rei would never intentionally harm him or Miri.
He remembered Rei saying he was hungry, so as a peace offering after that whole fiasco Kazuki decided to make him Miso Ramen. It was easy and quick to make from scratch, and one of Rei’s favorites.
He had just finished prepping the broth when Rei stumbled back down the stairs. Thankfully, he no longer seemed annoyed. “Hey. I’m making you some ramen. Should be ready in about 5 minutes.” Kazuki turned away to start chopping the tofu and scallions, expecting Rei to go to the couch and play video games.
He nearly cut off the tip of his finger when Rei instead wrapped his arms around Kazuki’s waist and hugged from behind.
“Uh…whatcha doing?” Kazuki said with a nervous laugh. Rei rested his chin on Kazuki’s back and looked over his shoulder.
“I wanna watch” A shiver went down Kazuki’s spine as he felt Rei speak the words into his skin.
“You can sit down if you want, you’ll probably be able to see better.” Kazuki suggested, grateful that Rei was behind him so that he couldn’t see how hard he was blushing. This only made Rei shake his head and grip Kazuki tighter. What the hell has gotten into him? Is this payback for earlier? “Fine, just no sudden moves. I’m not trying to lose a finger.”
“Okay!” Rei said happily. Kazuki took a deep breath and focused back down on the cutting board. It wasn’t that he minded what Rei was doing, quite the opposite. He liked it too much. He liked the almost too sweet vanilla smell of Rei’s shampoo. He liked the feeling of his strong arms holding him. He liked feeling Rei’s warm breath against his neck and the way his entire body was pressed up against his back. He tried to keep his hands from shaking as he diced the tofu into cubes. He narrowly managed to not cut himself, though it looked more like Miri diced the tofu rather than Kazuki.
“I gotta stir this into the soup.” This time, Rei seemed to take the hint and reluctantly let go of Kazuki. As he left the kitchen to move over to the couch, Kazuki noticed that Rei’s movements were clumsy, and that he swayed a bit as he walked, almost like he was drunk.
I’ve never needed cold medicine before
Kazuki remembered Rei said that before his first attempt at taking the medicine. To Kazuki’s knowledge, Rei never allowed himself to get drunk, and had a high enough tolerance where he could have a couple beers and not get tipsy. If this really was his first time taking cold medicine, he was probably feeling loopy from it, especially since Kazuki had given him the extra strength one to try and bring his fever down quickly.
The timer on the stove went off, indicating that the noodles were done cooking. He turned the stove off and brought a bowl of the soup over to the couch for Rei.
Though Rei never really showed much of a reaction to Kazuki’s cooking, his eyes lit up when he saw the food . “Careful, it’s hot.” Rei nodded enthusiastically and blew on the spoonful of broth before bringing it to his lips. “How is it?”
“It’s good! Thank you!” He said with one of the biggest grins Kazuki had ever seen from him. “Much better than instant.”
“You’re…you’re welcome!” Kazuki stammered, not used to Rei enjoying his food with such gusto. Needing a break from just how stupidly endearing Rei was being right now, Kazuki put the rest of the soup away and ran upstairs to change into pajamas. He took an extra moment to compose himself before heading back down to keep an eye on Rei.
Kazuki went back downstairs and sat down next to him on the couch, actually paying attention to the cartoon this time. After watching the show in a comfortable silence for several minutes, Rei put the empty bowl on the coffee table and swung his legs over the couch to rest his head in Kazuki’s lap.
Kazuki had figured out fairly early into their friendship that Rei was very touch starved and actually did enjoy physical contact from people he trusted (which exclusively meant Kazuki and Miri), but he never initiated it. Now though, he was doing it like it was nothing, not that Kazuki was complaining.
“How are you feeling?” Kazuki asked.
“My head kinda feels…floaty?” He looked up at Kazuki and scrunched up his eyebrows, like he was having trouble focusing on Kazuki’s face. “It’s not bad…just weird.”
“Yeah. Cold medicine can do that sometimes.” Kazuki assured him. He pressed the back of his hand to Rei’s cheek, smiling as Rei not so subtly leaned into his touch. “It feels like your fevers going down, that’s good.” He still definitely had a fever, but his skin was much cooler than it was before. Kazuki then began using his hands to comb through the knots and tangled in Rei’s slightly damp hair. As he did, Rei made a small, happy sound that cut straight to Kazuki’s core.
“I like when you do that.” He hummed.
“Do what?”
“Play with my hair. Feels good.” Rei mumbled, sounding like he was on the verge of passing out right there in Kazuki’s lap. Kazuki had never seen him look so relaxed. If he was a cat he’d be purring right now.
Rei’s eyes seemed to finally focus on Kazuki when he took his hand away. He began laughing…no…giggling. Kazuki didn’t even know Rei could giggle. “What’s so funny?” He asked, laughing along with him.
“I dunno.” Rei said coyly.
“Come on, tell me!” Kazuki pressed. God he’s adorable.
“I’m just…happy.” Rei reached up and poked Kazuki in the cheek. “You make me happy.”
“I do?” Kazuki’s breath hitched.
“Mmhmm.” His giggling was cut off by a yawn. He closed his eyes, a peaceful smile on his face. “Really happy.” He murmured. Kazuki chuckled fondly and began running his fingers through Rei’s hair, which was still slightly damp from the shower.
“I like playing with your hair.” Kazuki admitted. He always looked forward to giving Rei his monthly haircuts for that reason.
Unsurprisingly, Rei began snoring not even a minute later. Kazuki continued to use his fingers to slowly and gently brush the tangles out of Rei’s hair. Kazuki loved him so much, and when he thought of how hard of a life the man sleeping peacefully in his lap had until now, it broke his heart. Kazuki wanted to make things easier for Rei. He wanted to take care of him when he was sick, make him smile and laugh, make him feel safe and loved because he deserved that.
Kazuki could have stayed like that all night, but he knew if he slept sitting up his back would hurt like hell in the morning. So once he had taken his time brushing out every single tangle and knot he moved as slowly as possible to get his legs out from under Rei’s head. Once he was free, he maneuvered his arms under Rei and lifted him up. Rei curled up into him, the same way he had when the two of them had first met, when Kazuki had to carry him back to his apartment after Rei had passed out from hunger and exhaustion.
He brought Rei up the stairs to the bed he usually refused to use. He needed to rest properly, so no bathtubs for him tonight. Once he was safely tucked in, Kazuki made his way to his own bedroom.
He had been asleep for a little while when he heard the creaking of his door open. Miri must have had a nightmare, His sleep deprived brain registered. Kazuki wordlessly scooted over in bed and lifted up the comforter for her to climb in with him. However, it quickly became apparent that the person climbing into his bed was way to big to be a 4 year old.
“Rei?” Kazuki croaked, half opening his eyes. Sure enough, it was Rei. “You okay?”
“Can I sleep here with you?” He whispered. “My room is too cold.” Kazuki could feel the heat radiating off of him. Rei was probably getting chills from his fever.
“Sure. Need anything?” Kazuki asked, too tired to freak out about how the man he was desperately in love with just asked to sleep with him.
“Just you” Rei mumbled. Kazuki turned on his side and pulled Rei into his chest to help him warm up, not understanding the gravity of those words through the fog of sleep.
“Better?” He asked, absentmindedly tracing his fingertips up and down Rei’s back. Rei nodded and scooted further into Kazuki’s arms.
“You make me happy too.” Kazuki said into Rei’s hair. He fell asleep breathing in the closeness and warmth of Rei, content and happy and entirely too comfortable to care about any potential awkwardness in the morning. That night, Kazuki got the best night of sleep he had gotten in a long time.