Work Text:
It wasn't particularly rare for Kei to get sick.
If anything, he felt off pretty regularly. He had headaches at least once every few days. Usually, however, it wasn't as bad as this. He had only woken up with a slight headache today which was nothing out of the ordinary. It wasn't until a few hours later that he started to realise it was much worse than he had initially thought.
He had been in his room composing for hours on end as usual before he was suddenly struck with a wave of nausea, accompanying his already worsening migraine. The cold light radiating from his laptop strained his eyes and the melodic sounds drifting out of it were becoming insufferable. It all felt so sickening. He couldn't help but think that maybe God was angry at him.
Closing the laptop, Kei traced his finger along the numerous scratches and marks the back had accumulated over the years as he contemplated what to do. They had run out of ibuprofen last week and were yet to go out shopping again.
The consolation match was coming up and he needed to produce a song, but if he continued working he would be risking his condition getting worse. Making up his mind, Kei sighed, opening the laptop again and continuing to work. He couldn't just abandon the song because of a migraine. He rubbed his forehead, gently applying some pressure in a futile attempt to ease the growing discomfort while he continued staring at the blinding screen in front of him.
Beginning his second attempt to continue composing the song, Kei felt nausea beginning to rise into the back of his throat. He swallowed thickly, opting to ignore it in favour of working.
- ̗̀✦ ̖́-
"Okay! I'll come by again to bend more things next time!" Rokuta smiled as Ryu's eyes lit up.
"Oh-oh! Ryu-kun wants Rokuta to bend the umbrellas next!"
"Um... Ryu-kun, we need those. It's... It's been raining a lot recently and master wouldn't be too happy..." Shiki stammered.
"Ehehe... Well, anyhow! I'll see you both next time, bye-bye~!" Rokuta said his goodbyes in his typical chipper singsong tone as he crouched down to pet Kurobuchi one last time before giving Shiki a soft peck on the cheek and leaving the bar, beginning his journey home.
Rokuta had been hanging out at Bar 4/7 a lot more as of late, and sometimes Hokusai would be there too. Rokuta had grown closer to all of them recently, probably because of their mutual appreciation for cats and other such similarities. It just made sense, he supposed. Getting lost in thoughts like this, the trip home passed by before too long.
Upon taking out his keys and entering his home, Rokuta was met with an unusual silence. Usually, Kei or Itsuki would greet him and ask him about his day, like where he went or what he was doing, but today, no such interaction occurred. Listening carefully, rather than complete silence, Rokuta could make out faint noises coming from the kitchen. He decided to satiate his curiosity and check.
"Itsuki-nii? Whatcha doing?" Rokuta poked his head around the kitchen doorway.
"Making lunch. Kei doesn't seem to be feeling well today, so I'm making soup. The vitamins will aid his recovery if he's ill, and if his throat is sore, the sodium may relieve it to some extent."
"Oh, nice! ...Wait, Kei-chan's sick?"
"Mm... it's unclear. He didn't say he was, but he seems to be more pale than usual today. I found him sleeping at his desk earlier, I thought that was particularly unusual. When I felt his forehead to check his temperature, he was oddly warm."
Wrapping up their exchange, Rokuta decided it would be a good idea to check on Kei again, just in case. Running upstairs on all fours in typical Rokuta fashion, he made it to Kei's room fairly quickly. He called out to him, but there was no response.
"Kei-chan...?" Rokuta called out again. Knocking on Kei's bedroom door, he called out to him a third and final time. Silence. Even after waiting for a few moments, nothing happened. This was especially unusual... It was kind of worrying.
Rokuta opened the door. Kei was... still asleep at his desk? He wasn't sure how long had passed since Itsuki had checked on him but surely sleeping in such a position, hunched over at his desk, couldn't be healthy. Of all people, Rokuta knew all too well, due to his tendency to fall asleep in all kinds of places and at all sorts of ridiculous times, only to wake up sore, with aching bones and mild headaches later.
With these thoughts in mind, Rokuta decided to carry Kei back to the latter's bed. It's not like it would be hard for him, being as strong as he was, which was more than considerably so. Without struggle, he pulled the unconscious form of Kei Miyama out of the stiff, squeaky chair and as gently as an 182cm, unnaturally heavy-handed teenager could, carried him across the room to the soft bed behind them.
After pulling the covers over him and tucking him into bed, Rokuta kneeled beside it to contemplate what to do next. Glancing at Kei's face, it looked strained.
His eyebrows were knitted with some kind of worry and tears were prickling at the corners of his eyes, spilling over the edges slightly, dampening his eyelashes. To be honest, Rokuta didn't think he'd ever seen Kei in such a state, not for a long time, at least? He didn't like it. This wasn't the first time this had happened, but it still hurt to see and usually, Itsuki took care of him whenever something like this happened, so Rokuta didn't know what to do.
He quickly dug through his pockets, took out his phone and disconnected the portable charger from it to make a quick search.
The first result said to keep distance from others to avoid spreading the sickness, but if he did that then Kei still wouldn't feel any better. Ignoring the first option entirely, Rokuta proceeded to follow the rest of the instructions, opening the windows for ventilation, wetting down a cloth to rest on Kei's forehead and getting a glass of water for him in case he feels dehydrated when he wakes up.
Checking Kei's expression again, he seemed a little better. But only a little. Rokuta pondered what else he could do. After thinking for a while, he recalled a time not too long ago when he had been suffering from recurring nightmares. Back then he felt like no matter how much he slept, he was never fully rested, when that happened, he was taught a trick.
"If you hold hands while sleeping, you'll share the same dream." Kei had told him. Rokuta could be naive sometimes, but he technically wasn't a child anymore. He was aware that it most likely wasn't true, but the concept was a sweet one, comforting enough that the nightmares had actually gone away for the time being.
He hoped that maybe it could work for Kei too.
Reaching under the bed sheets slightly, Rokuta took hold of his hand. Pulling it closer, he clasped it tightly before loosening his grip a little in a moment of mild worry that he was going to hurt him by squeezing too tightly. Silently, he shifted to get comfortable, leaning slightly onto the mattress to rest his head next to Kei and their intertwined hands. He merely laid there for a while, thinking.
He wondered if they held hands like this before everything. Before he was taken away. Before his childhood was stolen from him. Rokuta imagined a tiny Kei taking his even tinier hand and leading him somewhere. He wasn't sure where, but it didn't matter because it was Kei. His older brother. The one person he had trusted as a matter of course since he had been brought into the unscrupulous world they lived in. The only person who had remained by his side the whole time. The only person left to raise him, trying his best despite his own lack of guidance.
The image of it hurt. It hurt a lot like he was rubbing salt into a fresh, open wound.
They had been so young and they were trying so hard to just live a normal life. Rokuta couldn't remember anything from back then, but he had the distressing feeling he couldn't even begin to imagine how scared Kei was, just a small child, vulnerable and alone, unable to find his missing little brother. He probably couldn't even imagine how hurt Kei felt even now, finally finding his precious little brother, just for him to not be able to acknowledge him as his big brother. Not even after the countless days, months, and years he spent trying so, so hard to find him, trying desperately over and over again searching for the tiniest remnants of information he could find, just so he could maintain his faith in the slim, unrealistic hope he clung so tightly to, that maybe, just maybe, Minori would be okay.
Absently, Rokuta began to trace easy, consoling circles into the back of Kei's hand. He vaguely came to the realisation that he had forgotten to eat again, noticing the sudden lack of energy he was feeling. As if on cue, his eyes gently began to close. Lacking the buoyancy to fight it, his snores soon became part of the peaceful ambience as he drifted into a still tranquillity.
He hoped that soon, Kei could live peacefully. He deserved it. He deserved it so ridiculously much.
- ̗̀✦ ̖́-
When Kei awoke, the first thing he noticed was that his headache had calmed down a little. It was no longer as vicious as it was while he was working earlier. The second thing he noticed was that he was, in fact, no longer working at his desk.
As he began to get up, he was suddenly tugged back. The force combined with the light-headedness that he had already been experiencing made him lose his balance, falling back softly onto the pillows. He lay there for a few seconds, silently wishing he could just go back to sleep for a little longer. Only now processing that something pulled him back, Kei quickly turned to see what it was, head spinning as he did.
He turned his gaze toward the now open doorway before looking down slightly. There he saw Rokuta leaning into the mattress, deep into dreamland. His chest was slowly rising and falling at a steady pace. He was safe. Unable to suppress a soft smile forming on his face, he laid back down on his side, merely watching over his brother for a while, just like when they were children. His eyelids began to feel heavy as he gave Rokuta's hand a weak squeeze.
After some time, a third person came through the door. Itsuki couldn't help his face twisting into a gentle smile at the sight of the siblings, even if it was just for an ephemeral moment. Placing a tray on Kei's desk, Itsuki tried to wake them up. He knew that Rokuta would be the harder of the two to wake up, so he tried to wake Kei first. He stayed mindful about Kei potentially being sick, making sure to softly shake him, easing him into consciousness.
Gradually, Kei began to stir. He didn't want their peaceful moment to end, he really didn't. For the first time since their reunion, he felt like he truly had his precious little brother back. Pushing this thought aside, he reluctantly let go of Rokuta's hand. This time there was almost no resistance, his grip on Kei's hand had loosened at some point during their miniature-dozing session.
"Kei, wake up. Soup."
As Kei began to slowly sit up he tried to speak, however, his voice barely came out, only presenting itself as a hoarse, hushed whisper in contrast to its usual clarity. He could only make a small noise as a substitute for 'thank you'.
"Mm." He couldn't help but smile at Itsuki's gesture.
Shifting to rest against the headboard of the bed, he noticed Itsuki was struggling to wake Rokuta up. It was, in all honesty, mildly amusing to him, but he decided to help anyway. Ever since they were children, Rokuta had always been sensitive to light while trying to sleep. Keeping this in mind, Kei tugged on the edge of the curtain before sliding a hand beneath Rokuta's chin, lifting his head and turning it toward the window.
Almost instantly Rokuta's face scrunched up in a comedic manner. At this, Kei couldn't help but let out a faint chuckle, but he received his due karma and immediately took off into a coughing fit. This made Rokuta wake up much faster, sleepily patting Kei's back, lifting the glass of water off the bedside table and giving it to him, accidentally spilling just a little bit on the blankets in his haste.
Sipping his water, Kei's coughs started to cease. His smile, however, didn't. Putting the glass of water back down onto the bedside table, he tried his best to apologise.
"Sorry. Itsuki made soup." The older whispered.
"Oh yeah! I forgot..." Rokuta turned to Itsuki "What kind did you make?" He hadn't thought to ask earlier when he bumped into Itsuki in the kitchen, being distracted by Kei's wellbeing.
"Chicken. I know you wanted Karaage but Kei didn't seem to be feeling well so I thought soup would be better. Chicken soup was the closest compromise I could think of."
"It's okay! I like both anyway." Rokuta beamed. Kei was obviously more important than Karaage to him too and he was a little touched that Itsuki took both of them into consideration and tried to compromise.
The trio took their bowls from the tray Itsuki had left on the bedside table. Waking everyone up took a while which left the soup time to cool down to a perfect temperature. The remaining heat of the bowl warmed Kei's typically cold hands.
As they were eating their soups in complete serenity, Kei couldn't help but feel slightly stunned. He didn't expect Itsuki or Rokuta to notice he was sick, or to care as much as they did. Of course he knew they cared about him, it was just the kind of people they were, but it felt new to Kei. He didn't have this kind of friendship when he was growing up, making it all the more precious to him now. Overwhelmed by gratitude, he made a promise to himself. He would protect this peace they created for themselves for as long as God allowed. Maybe even longer than that if he could help it. He smiled to himself as they continued drinking their soups, illuminated by the setting sun, all settled in Kei's room. Its usual monochrome shades were painted over by the sky's light, the soothing twilit hues of evening reflecting the gentle warmth Kei had recieved.