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Aoyagi Toya and Rui Kamishiro sit on the planters for lunch, the sun beaming down on them like they were in an oven. That's how Toya felt anyway, sweat dripped down his back due to the irregular temperature of his body, a migraine attacking his head. He felt horrible, but he didn't think Rui had noticed yet. "Toya, are you alright?" Or maybe he has.
Toya looks up and nods, not even being able to push a reply out of his dry mouth. Rui reaches over to feel his cheek, his eyes widening at the temperature. "You're burning up. Why didn't you stay home today?" Toya shook his head. "I wanted to see you." He mumbles, making Rui's gaze soften. He puts his lunch away and wraps an arm around Toya’s torso, getting ready to take him to the nurse's office.
Toya didn't complain much on the way there, but he did protest weakly when the nurse told him and Rui that he should be taken home and that he should rest for the remainder of the day. "But I have practice today." He croaks, squinting at Rui as if he were asking for backup. Rui shakes his head. "I'm sure Shinonome-kun won't be impressed if you show up to practice like this." He says, looking at Toya with pity in his eyes. Toya sighs and lays back down on the bed in frustration. Rui smiles at him fondly and takes his hand. "I'll take you home, alright?"
Unfortunately, the nurse had something to say about that. "Kamishiro-san, you should be going back to class. I'm sure your teacher will be stressed about your absence." Rui glares at her before picking Toya up off the bed defiantly, kicking the door to the nurse's office open. "I'll let Tsukasa-kun know of the reason for my absence, he will let my teacher know for me." Toya admired the way that Rui didn't let anything discourage him, when Toya thought about it being about him, his face began to burn up. Today was gonna be a long day for him.
☆
Toya doesn't remember much about the commute to Rui's house, or when he disappeared from his room after putting him in bed. But when he woke up, he saw a small robot on Rui's bedside table, one that looked like Toya. Toya blinks curiously at it, watching it blink back at him before extending it's arms forth to take the cloth from his forehead and scuttle away.
Toya sits up in the bed, already feeling better than before, and looks around the room he was in. Toya had been to Rui's house many times before, but this room was unfamiliar to him. The bed was a bit small, just large enough for Toya to avoid falling off but definitely not large enough for Rui to lay in comfortably. The covers had little moons and rocket ships on them, it seemed like it was a child's bed. The bedside table was covered in dust, and the small rocket ship light on the table was scuffed up, as if it had been taken apart and put back together a thousand times before. There was also an old scrappy picture frame on the table, but it was laying down so that Toya couldn't see the picture in the frame.
There were a bunch of little whirring things in the room, everything seeming either handmade or taken apart a million times. But there was dust everywhere, it seemed like this room hadn't been used in a while. Boxes were in the corners of the room, filled with old props that had either been destroyed or abandoned. The closet was closed and even had an old pipe holding it shut, as if someone was afraid that a monster would come out of the closet in the night.
Toya's curiosity made him look back at the frame. This wasn't the only picture frame this way, the only ones that were upright were ones that had people other than Rui in them. Toya's impulses get the best of him and he peaks under the frame, seeing four figures in the picture. It looked like they were at a science fair, and one of the figures was definitely a robot. At the sides were two taller figures, a black haired woman with blue streaks and golden eyes like Rui's that Toya knew to be Rui's mother, and a purple haired man with darker purple eyes that must've been Rui's father.
The final figure was someone Toya didn't recognize, a little girl that had the same features as Rui. She looked so young, proudly holding a first place prize for her robot. Her hair went just past her shoulders, but it was tied up messily as if it bothered her. Toya's eyebrows furrowed, did Rui have a biological sister that he never told Toya about?
"Toya! I got a notification that you were awake, how are you-" Rui stops in his tracks as he sees Toya with the picture frame, slowly walking into the room and closing the door behind him. Toya just watches as Rui walks over to him and sits down next to the bed, waiting for Toya to say something. "Was this your sister's room?" Toya asks, Rui's eyes widening with confusion. "Sister?" He asks. Toya nods. "The girl in the picture." Toya tries to show Rui who he was talking about but Rui looks away from the photo as if he was scared of it.
"It's not my sister." He says, taking the photo and putting it back face down on the bedside table. Toya's eyes widened with realization. "Oh." He says softly. Rui apologizes and gets up to leave, but Toya stops him with a weak tug of his hand. "I didn't recognize you, but I think you've really grown into yourself." He says with a fond look. Rui sighs with a soft thanks, but Toya hadn't let go yet. "I'm trans too." He admits, getting Rui to sit down again. "You are?" He asks. Toya nods, giving Rui a reassuring smile. "I thought you would like to know." Rui laughs and looks at the ground. "Yeah, that's really nice to know."
Toya looks Rui up and down and starts speaking again. "You pass really well, I never would've guessed." Rui blushes slightly, but Toya doesn't notice. "And you're the most handsome boy at Kamiyama, I was sure that the whole school had a crush on you last year." Rui stands up abruptly, his face and ears all red from Toya's comments. "Alright, that's enough of that." He says with a shaky smile, looking down at Toya to try and combat his flustered state. Toya was being sincere, he always was, but that was what made Rui fluster the most.
Toya laughs slightly before coughing, making Rui's eyes widen. "I'll be right back, I made you something." Rui speeds his way out of the room, coming back a minute later with a bowl of soup in his hands. Toya perks up at the nice aroma, he wasn’t aware that Rui could cook. He smiles down at Toya kindly. "Tsukasa-kun guided me through the making of the soup over the phone, so there's no need to worry about me poisoning you." He jokes, sitting down next to Toya and putting the soup down on the bedside table.
Toya sits up straight on the bed and looks at Rui expectantly, waiting for him to pick up the spoon and feed him. "What's wrong?" Rui asks nervously, maybe Toya was afraid to try his soup. "Weren't you going to feed it to me?" Toya asks blankly, making Rui blush. "I mean if that's what you would like." He picks up the soup and spoon, feeding Toya a spoonful of the soup. Toya's eyebrows raise at the taste, it was delicious. His impatience got the best of him and took the spoon from Rui's hand, practically inhaling the soup on his own.
Rui laughs as Toya finishes it, looking at the satisfied look on his face. "Did you like it?" He asks, Toya nodding frantically. "I should get sick more often, this is delicious." Toya replies, his voice much less raspy than before. He looks up at Rui, lowering the bowl to his lap as he licks his lips.
"But there were vegetables in it, wasn't there?" Toya asks, making Rui frown and look away. "Don't remind me." He grumbles, turning his nose up at the thought of the disgusting green leafery. Toya's eyes seem to sparkle with fondness for the other. "You handled the thing you hate the most for me?" He asks, his eyes wide as saucers. Rui blushes with embarrassment. "My love for you overpowers my hatred for vegetables, so it felt necessary." Rui explains logically, making Toya's eyes water cartoonishly.
Rui looks at him with shock. "Ah- I apologize, what happened?" He asks frantically, Toya shaking his head. "I love you." He says bluntly. Rui sighs with relief. "Ah, I love you too." He smiles, kissing Toya's forehead as the blue haired boy yawns. "I'll let you get some rest." Toya's vision becomes hazy as his eyes close, the last thing he hears being the click of the door being shut.
☆
Toya wakes up again much later in the day, the sun already set as rain batters at the window, leaving the room quite dark. Toya frowns as thunder strikes in the distance, worrying about his bandmates getting stuck in the rain. "Rui?" He calls, his voice more clear than when he was last awake. No reply. He looks at Toyarobo, which was back on the bedside table. "Do you mind telling Rui that I'm awake again?" Toyarobo beeps affirmatively before scurrying away, leaving Toya alone again.
Moments later, Rui returns, his stance nervous. "Toya, you're awake. Was there anything you needed?" He asks, standing restlessly at the doorway. Toya frowns, waving to Rui to get him to come closer. Rui walks over cautiously, sitting down next to the bed so that he is at eye level with Toya. "I just wanted to check on you." Toya replies, getting Rui to stand up and shake his head. "You're the one who's sick, why are you-" A flash of light enters the room, getting both boys to look up. Toya looks over at Rui to see him sitting back on the floor, hands covering his ears as if he were bracing himself.
The thunder echoes throughout the room, causing Rui to shudder and curl in on himself. Toya sighs at the sight, his hand landing on Rui's hand to get him to let go of his head. Rui looks up slowly and takes his hands off of his ears, looking at Toya with embarrassment. "You're afraid of thunder?" Toya asks slowly. Rui shakes his head. "It's not that, I just don't like abrupt loud sounds. I usually listen to music, but I lost my earbuds and-" another flash, Rui hides in the corner of the mattress.
The thunder passes and Rui looks back up at Toya, a shaky smile on his face. "I apologize, I've been nothing but a burden to you today and-" Toya interrupts him. "You can get the headphones from my bag and lay in bed with me if you think it'll help." Rui's eyes widen, but he obeys, putting on the headphones and smiling at the loss of the noise around him. Toya smiles back at him, waving him back over. Rui takes off his shoes and sweater, getting in bed next to Toya and letting the other boy wrap his limbs around him.
A flash of lightning, Rui becomes stiff as a board. Toya, already half asleep, notices and begins to massage his back, trying to relieve the tension in his shoulders. Rui felt his eyelids become heavy, the darkness and the silence were fighting against his desire to stay awake. Toya's kiss on his cheek was the final blow, sending Rui into a peaceful slumber.
☆
Rui woke up the next day, his throat sore and his head throbbing. He frowns in annoyance, he surely hoped that Toya wouldn't feed him the vegetable soup he made the other day, or he'd be sick forever.