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Mitsuzane was stubborn. That was something everyone knew. He wasn't one to ask for help. He always tried to handle things on his own.
In part, that was due to his upbringing. It was ingrained in him to not seek help. That he should be strong enough to handle whatever got thrown his way. He hadn't ever leaned into those teachings until he was a teenager, but now he was unable to stop.
He was trying to get better at seeking help. He knew the consequences of what could happen if he kept things bottled up again. Didn't mean it was easy, though.
It was such a small thing too. He had come down with a cold. And yet his stubborn ass was refusing to let anyone know something was wrong. He just put on a facade and went about his day as usual.
It was easy at first. Got up, got ready for the day, greeted his brother, ate breakfast, and then went out to meet up with his friends. That had been the easy stuff. But now things started falling apart.
Mitsuzane had noticed he was seeming a bit out of breath as he arrived for dance practice. Some anxiety started filling up inside of him. Would he be able to handle dancing in his condition? If he made up an excuse to leave, would it be good enough? Wouldn't everyone get on him and try to help him?
Mitsuzane took a deep breath and entered. He was one of the first people to arrive. He greeted the few that were there and got himself ready for the day. Maybe he would be fine. As long as he could rest enough between things no one should be able to catch on to anything.
That was what he hoped, at least.
Slowly everyone else arrived. It wasn't long before practice began. Mitsuzane had still only returned to the group a month or two ago. He was struggling to catch up to speed with everything that was going on. He had a lot of things to learn. And not a whole lot of time before they wanted to perform for the public.
Practice started off relatively smoothly. They started by stretching. That was pretty easy. Mitsuzane did easier warm-ups than normal. It eased the strain he normally put his body through. Hopefully nobody would notice he was taking it a bit easy right now.
Even the gentler stretches made his body ache. He was starting to feel awfully cold. His head was getting a dull pounding sensation as well.
Maybe he should just admit he didn't feel the best and go home? But then everyone would worry about him and he hated that. He could handle this. It couldn't be that hard.
Before much longer, they all began running through a dance. Mitsuzane did his best to act normal. His illness was getting worse the more he moved around.
After what felt like ages, they concluded the first dance. Everyone took a five minute break. Mitsuzane slid onto the ground. The world around him was blurry. His headache was getting worse. He was so out of breath.
He tried to do some breathing exercises to get his breath back, but it only seemed to make it worse. He had barely recovered from the first dance when it was time to start the second one.
Mitsuzane struggled to his feet and got back in formation. No one seemed to notice his issue. That was good. He didn't need anyone to know about this.
Somehow he managed to survive another dance and not die. But he felt even worse now. He was barely managing to take in any air. His head was pounding intensely. His vision was spinning.
He tried to go and sit down again, but didn't make it. He didn't really recall what happened. The pain in his head just got too much and everything faded away.
...
Mitsuzane blinked open his eyes. He didn't know where he was or what had happened. Everything was blank. He tried to remember but it just made his headache worse. All he could recall was that he had finished a dance set and had tried to sit down. How he ended up blacking out was beyond him.
He let out a pained sigh. His body ached. He felt horrible. Just what had happened though? Had he hit the ground hard when he collapsed? Was that why he hurt so much? How long had it even been since that happened?
"Mitsuzane." A voice spoke, breaking through the deafening silence of the room.
"Nii-san...?" Mitsuzane turned his head to look toward the source of the noise. "Where am I...?"
"The hospital. According to your friends, you just collapsed on them." Takatora got up from where he had been sitting and moved to kneel beside the bed. "The doctor said you're running a high fever."
Mitsuzane looked away in shame. He had tried to deal with everything himself and now look where it had gotten him. He had been too prideful to even admit that he was sick. Now he had just made everyone even more worried about him.
"How are you feeling?" Takatora asked, placed a hand on Mitsuzane head. "You don't feel as warm as before. They did give you some medicine. It seems to be doing its job."
"Awful... everything aches. I'm cold." Mitsuzane mumbled. "I wanna go home..."
"They're probably not going to discharge you for a while."
Mitsuzane rolled onto his side. He felt like crying. He didn't know why. Was everything getting too much for him?
Takatora placed a hand on his shoulder and pressed a kiss to his head. Mitsuzane shied away and pulled the thin blanket over top of him. He didn't deserve compassion for his stupid mistake.
...
It wasn't until the next day that he was discharged from the hospital. He had been given very clear instructions to remain in bed until he was better. They didn't need a repeat of what had happened.
When they got home, Mitsuzane wanted to just curl up in bed and sleep. Takatora insisted he should eat something since he hadn't since last night. Mitsuzane didn't feel hungry, but eventually was talked into it.
After eating a bit, he did feel a bit better. Mitsuzane shyly admitted so when asked.
"Can I go to bed now?" Mitsuzane asked quietly. He still just wanted to sleep.
"If you want. I thought you'd want to take a bath or something first, but that's your choice." Takatora replied. "I'll be in my office doing some work if you need me."
"Nii-san... when... you were told I was in the hospital... did I cause you any problems...?" Mitsuzane questioned quietly. That had been eating at him for a little while now.
"I had to leave a meeting early, but that's fine. You come before anything else." Takatora replied.
Mitsuzane nodded. He went off to his room. He fell onto his bed and buried himself under the covers.
...
He stirred some time later. His senses were all jumbled and he could barely tell what was left from right. It took a few minutes for his body to get with the program.
Mitsuzane glanced at the time. It had been three hours. He didn't feel like he had slept at all though. He sat up and let out a sigh. This sucked.
There was a quiet knock on his door. It opened before he had the chance to reply.
"You're awake. Feeling any better? Or worse?" Takatora entered the room and took a seat on the edge of the bed.
"The same." Mitsuzane replied.
"Do you need anything?"
Mitsuzane pondered for a moment. Did he need anything? He probably shouldn't get up and try to do too much on his own. That would just get him scolded.
"Water."
"I'll bring some up then. Is there anything else?"
There was one other thing. However, Mitsuzane was embarrassed to ask for it. He hesitated answering. Did he just force it out or say there was nothing else he needed?
Mitsuzane nervously stared at the bed. "I... will you stay with me... for a bit...?"
He didn't like asking for something so childish. But, he didn't want to be alone. He wanted someone with me. He didn't want to keep suffering through this by himself right now.
"Give me half-an-hour and then I'll join you for as long as you want." Takatora replied.
Mitsuzane nodded, though he was certain that answer meant he wasn't getting what he wanted. Takatora wouldn't be back. He'd just leave him alone.
...
Mitsuzane didn't know what to do to occupy himself. Takatora had returned with some water, but then had to go finish some work before they could hang out. Mitsuzane still doubted he would come back for a while.
He had tried to just go back to sleep, but his body wouldn't get comfortable no matter what he did. He was tossing and turning every minute or so. It was making him upset. It was such a stupid thing and yet he was ready to cry over it. This cold was messing with him too much.
Mitsuzane threw off his covers in a fit of rage. Tears were stinging at the corners of his eyes. He just wanted to sleep. Why couldn't he at least have that?
He got up. His steps were a little unsteady as he left the room. He made his way down to Takatora. Instead of being in his office, he had relocated to the living room.
"Nii-san..." Mitsuzane said quietly as he walked over.
Takatora paused from what he was doing. "Do you need something?"
Mitsuzane sat down next to him and pressed himself against his side. Takatora wrapped an arm around him and pulled him in closer.
"Can't sleep..." Mitsuzane mumbled.
"I wish there was more I could do to help you." Takatora replied.
"Can I stay here...?"
"Of course."
Mitsuzane watched as Takatora continued with his work. His eyes were too unfocused to read anything on the screen. He opted to close them and bury his face against Takatora's neck. Takatora didn't say a word.
"Are you going to scold me for what happened...?" Mitsuzane asked quietly. That was another thing that had been eating at him.
"When you feel better I might say something. I'm not going to yell at you when you're this sick." Takatora responded.
"Are you mad at me?"
"No. Disappointed, yes."
"Sorry..."
"It's okay. You learned your lesson."
"I'm cold..." Mitsuzane complained, wanting to get off of the topic now.
"You're like a heater on me right now." Takatora said.
Despite his words, he grabbed the blanket that was nearby and wrapped it around the younger boy. Mitsuzane shifted closer to Takatora. His shivering was less prominent, but still there.
"The doctor said you can take more medicine before you go to bed." Takatora said. "Until then, you do unfortunately just have to bear with it."
Mitsuzane mumbled an incoherent complaint. Takatora reached over with his free hand and ruffled his hair slightly.
"You're such a troublesome kid, Mitsuzane."
Mitsuzane let out an angry grumble. Takatora chuckled at the response.
"I don't think I'd want it any other way, though."
"Don't you have work to be doing, nii-san." Mitsuzane huffed.
"It's not dire. It can wait."
"Be quiet... my head hurts." Mitsuzane complained.
"Alright. Try and get some rest. Maybe now you'll be able to sleep."
They fell back into silence. Mitsuzane tried to go back to sleep. He did feel a bit more relaxed now. The only noise there was was Takatora typing away on his laptop. It easily faded into background noise.
"Love you... Nii-san..." Mitsuzane mumbled.
"I love you too."
"How much longer are you gonna work for?"
"Depends. Do you need something of me?"
Mitsuzane went silent for a while. He didn't know how to say what he wanted. Would Takatora be okay with it?
"I... cuddle?"
Takatora let out a fond sigh. "You want to cuddle?"
"Maybe...?"
"Fine."
Mitsuzane opened his eyes and looked as he heard the sound of a laptop closing. Takatora met his gaze.
"How exactly do you want to do this?"
"Can we... lay down together?"
"You want to lay on top of me?"
Mitsuzane nervously nodded. Takatora sighed.
"Fine. If that's what you want."
"If... if you don't-"
"It's fine. I'll live. Come on."
Takatora laid down on the couch. Mitsuzane was brought along with him. Mitsuzane cautiously shifted around until he was comfortable. He relaxed and closed his eyes. This was better. He liked this position more than sitting up.
"You're cooking me alive." Takatora mumbled.
"Then-"
"Like I said. I'll live. Get some rest."
Mitsuzane stopped complaining. If Takatora didn't care that he was having to put up with this, then he should be grateful. He could make it up to him when he felt better. Do something nice as a thanks for putting up with his shenanigans.
"Thank you..." Mitsuzane whispered.
"Anything for you."
Mitsuzane cracked a smile. He was lucky to have Takatora around. He couldn't ask for a better older brother despite everything that had happened.
"Sleep well, Mitsuzane."