Work Text:
“Lee, you’re hopeless.”
Lee grinned lopsidedly, bruised face sticky with blood and saliva. Shikamaru gingerly dabbed his face with a damp rag.
“This mission was supposed to be romantic, dummy,” Shikamaru lightheartedly chastised as he kissed Lee’s forehead.
Ninja tended to dodge missions from this particular lord, as he tended to take a long time with the paperwork, keeping ninjas there for extra unnecessary days or even weeks. But the location wasn’t so bad, and Shikamaru and Lee planned to use the long processing time as an excuse for a little gay getaway.
And here Lee was, bloody and bruised with no medical nin around. Lee was confident though that this would only be a minor wrench in their plans. Shikamaru was good at tending to wounds, despite not being able to perform medical jutsu.
Unfortunately, the wrench turned into a sledgehammer when Lee woke up panting and in pain.
He felt hot and frozen at the same time, and his body trembled uncontrollably. It was uncomfortable to breathe and it felt like there was a boulder on his chest. His whole body hurt so bad. Lee was gonna die. He was gonna die, he was sure of it. Tears burned in his eyes as he panicked, body heavy and in so much pain.
Lee felt something cold on his forehead, grounding him a little. He looked up, seeing his beloved with a worried expression.
“You’ve got a fever,” Shikamaru quietly told him, peeling back the blankets to check in on Lee. Lee had sweat through his clothes, causing Shikamaru to suck in on his teeth. Oh boy.
“Your immune system must be down after you got brutalized yesterday.” Shikamaru got right to work on analyzing Lee’s symptoms, asking him questions until he got a good enough grasp on what the problem was.
Lee was heavy, but Shikamaru managed to drag him to the bathtub. He peeled the sticky jumpsuit off his sick boyfriend, then hefted him into the tub. “There we go, big guy..”
Shikamaru was methodical, efficient. He bathed Lee, wiping off the sweat. He dried him off and tucked him into his sheets, fetching a damp rag to keep on Lee’s forehead and over his eyes. Shikamaru procured a simple meal and fed it to Lee, so very serious the whole time. Lee would have made a joke about it if he did not feel so miserable.
Shikamaru stayed by Lee’s side the whole day, doing his best to keep him comfortable while using his supplies to mix medicines. Nara weren’t known for medical jutsu, but their skills for making medicine were widely renowned in the village. Slowly, Lee began to feel better.
Lee napped for most the day, but near dinner he felt good enough to chat. Shikamaru was able to relax a little as Lee improved.
“So much for our vacation,” Lee joked tiredly as Shikamaru gave him dinner.
It sucked that they couldn’t enjoy this mission, but this… this made Lee fall in love even more. Lee could tell how much Shikamaru cared with every little detail. The gentle way he wiped the sweat off Lee’s face, the way he fussed over the blankets being just the right way, the way he hesitated to leave Lee even for a moment. Through sickness and in health, huh…
By the end of the second day, Lee was feeling much closer to his usual spry self. Thanks to his own youthful energy and from Shikamaru’s powerful medicines, he was able to quickly overcome the illness. Lee wasn’t quite back to full health, but his excitement for the chance to go out with his beloved perked him right up.
That was, until, he watched his beloved sigh in relief and promptly collapse.
“Shikamaru!” Lee rushed over, frantically looking over the Nara. Deep bags under the eyes, weak trembling hands… had Shikamaru skipped sleep? Had he eaten enough? In fact, Lee couldn’t remember Shikamaru eating anything at all while taking care of him!
Lee groaned. For someone considered a genius, his boyfriend sure was a fool!