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The world is cold and dark for Toya Aoyagi.
That's what he thought, as he coughed for what had to have been the 100th time since he woke up half an hour ago. He was never really one for hugs, but he found himself desperately wishing there was someone around to give him one.
Or maybe just someone around at all. He sneezed twice in quick succession, and a wave of lightheadedness hit him. He squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds until his bed stopped feeling like an extremely unpleasant theme park ride. When he opened them again, he truly absorbed the sorry sight that was his room for the first time that morning. There was light streaming through his window, even though before he slept he had specifically made sure to let the curtains down, in case he had a headache like the one he went to bed with. His father had probably drawn them when he tried to wake him up.
Toya winced at the light, but he supposed it could be worse. He could be at school right now, like he was yesterday, despite being just as sick then as he was now. Maybe his mother had talked some sense into his father, or maybe his father had simply decided it wasn't worth the fight. Toya didn't particularly care either way.
He turned his head slightly to the side to read his alarm clock. It read 3:30 in the afternoon, and the built-in thermostat said it was 17.2°C in his room. No wonder his teeth were chattering. His room, theoretically, should never get this cold, but his room door had probably been shut since his father came in several hours ago, and the ventilation directly to his room had never been very good. Most of the heat came from being connected to the rest of the house, and right now he was about as cut off from it as he could be without being physically outside. Generally, his father didn't care if he left his room door open, but that wasn't the case when he was sick. When he was sick, his coughs and wheezes ripped through the whole house, disrupting the otherwise silent environment and bothering his father immensely. Yesterday, after Toya came home from school, Toya's father had walked by and shut the door three times while Toya attempted (and failed) to get schoolwork done.
He shivered, both from the cold and the memory of the previous night. All he could think about was how cold he was and how much pain he was in. He sat there for a minute and attempted to collect his thoughts. It kind of worked, because he managed to produce one coherent thought in his brain: I need to go take pain medicine.
Toya swung his legs over the side of his bed and stood up slowly, swaying slightly on his feet. He stumbled to the door of his room and opened it. Instantly, he was struck by just how much warmer it was in the main area of the house. As soon as the warm air hit his lungs, he began to cough, starting with one fairly quiet cough, and suddenly doubling over as the second wave of much more violent coughs assaulted his senses.
Somewhere between a minute and a year passed before Toya was done coughing. He finally regained control of his upper body, coming to with his back against the wall and tears in his eyes (caused by how hard he was coughing), and a distinctly sharper pain in his head than before. He wasn't even aware he fell back against the wall when it was happening. He sucked in a breath and straightened his back against the wall, knees still slightly bent.
Vaguely, he registered the sound of a door loudly shutting. He guessed that was his father, doing the middle-aged-man equivalent of throwing a hissy fit. Toya took a few more deep breaths in before he eventually decided his legs were holding him well enough to walk down the staircase. The whole time, he gripped the railing like his life depended on it.
Once Toya got to the bottom of the staircase, navigating to the medicine cabinet wasn't hard. His feet brought him there on autopilot, which he was incredibly grateful for, considering he was barely managing to string a thought together as it was. He opened it and pulled out the cough syrup, the decongestant, and the pain medicine. He took the cough syrup and decongestant quickly, opting to take them together instead of searching for a drink. He struggled with the top of the pain medicine bottle for a moment. His thoughts raced, he didn't have a drink for the pain medicine, but luckily that didn't matter because they were pretty small pills-
-the lid popped open to reveal an empty bottle. Toya blinked several times, and then squinted, as if it would reveal that there was pain medicine hidden in a secret compartment inside the tiny bottle if he scrutinized it hard enough. He set the empty bottle down and looked back in the medicine cabinet. Several different types of multivitamin, antacids, other medicines for specific ailments. Absolutely no general pain medicine.
He groaned. Of course, on the day his head felt like it was about to crack open like an egg, there was no pain medicine. He brought his hands up to his temples on instinct, even though the pain wasn't really centralized.
He tried his hardest to think through the unbearable pain and the haze that had settled over his brain since yesterday. With a headache like this, going back to bed was out of the question. So, he had to get more medicine, one way or another. Toya briefly ran through the list of people he could ask to buy some more for him.
His father? He would absolutely say no, it was a fruitless endeavor to even ask. Plus, he was up the stairs, and Toya wasn't sure he could climb those again. His mother? She was probably busy, and she'd put it off so long that he might as well get it himself.
I might as well get it myself... The words echoed around Toya's skull. Obviously, it was not a good idea to go out into the snowy weather when he was already sick. But... it was only snowing lightly. And the corner store was just a few minutes away. A short walk that would save him hours of pain. Toya thought that was a decent trade.
The next few minutes were a blur, as he put on a coat and gloves that were near the door. These weren't the clothes he normally used for snow, but those were upstairs. He grabbed a beanie and slipped out the door without so much as a word to his parents. Normally, he would tell them, but his throat was in no condition to yell. He knew he'd be back before they noticed, anyways.
He shut the door behind him, and was immediately faced with more stairs. Only three, though, so they seemed much less daunting. Toya grabbed the side railing and stepped down the first one, but must have forgotten about the ice, because he slipped and fell down the remaining two stairs. He hit his head hard on the pavement, leaving a small red blotch on the ground.
With much difficulty, he raised himself back up to a vaguely upright position, before he used the railing to pull himself up all the way. He clutched onto it for several more minutes than necessary, as the world around him spun violently. When his surroundings had settled to only slightly wobbly, Toya let go of the railing and started to walk.
Everything hurt so much more viscerally now. Toya guessed that was because of the fall earlier, but being sick certainly did not help. The injured spot on his forehead, which was normally covered by his bangs, was now fully exposed to the elements, and every time so much as a snowflake fell on it, he winced. His knees ached, both on a surface level and in his bones, the kind of ache that he got when he was sick like this. His shins and shoulders both also hurt from the fall, since his arms weren't fast enough to catch him. Every step he took, it felt like someone was sticking needles into him.
Regardless, he trudged on. And on. It seemed like he'd been walking for hours, a far cry from the "short walk" he remembered. It was miserable, but at least he wasn't that cold. His face was a little cold, but for some reason, he didn't feel cold at all. If anything, he felt hot. Almost unbearably so. He briefly considered taking off his jacket, before he decided against it, if only because he would get wet from the snow.
Finally, after what felt like a year, Toya arrived at the store. He pulled open the door, and was met by an extreme temperature change (again). But, the medicine must have begun to work, because he only coughed lightly a few times before he took a deep breath and fully walked inside the store.
He didn't remember the store being this... blurry? The lights were so bright, and the aisles all looked like grey, vaguely-aisle shaped blobs. He blinked hard, which helped him slightly. He walked past several aisles, before he finally found what he was decently sure was the medicine aisle. There was only one person in the aisle. She was faced away from the medicine and towards whatever was on the other half of the aisle. When he walked into the aisle, she turned.
"Aoyagi?"
Toya recognized that voice. He didn't really feel like talking, but he didn't want to be impolite.
"Hello, Kusanagi." His voice came out scratchy, and like he was out of breath. Kusanagi, much like Toya, was not one for small talk. Hopefully, she would leave things at that.
But of course it couldn't be that simple. "Are you... feeling alright? You sound..." She trailed off. In his peripherals, Toya saw her walk to his side, probably examining his face.
"I'm... just a little sick right now. Nothing to-" he stumbled, a random dizzy spell hitting him while he wasn't even moving, "-worry about."
Unconvinced, Nene got closer. "You look really pale. And you're sweating, even though it's cold in here. Are you sure you'll be alright? How ᶠᵃʳ ᵃʷᵃʸ ᶦˢ ʸᵒᵘʳ ʰᵒᵘˢ⁻"
Suddenly, Nene's voice felt impossibly far away. All at once, the lights got both brighter and dimmer, and he blinked only once before his eyes shut as he collapsed, Nene barely catching him before he hit the ground.
~~-~~
Nene's eyes widened. As she caught Toya, she realized he was burning up. From this angle, she could see the left half of his face, which harbored a large gash. Nene gasped. This was bad. Really bad. She didn't sign up for this, all she wanted was to get snacks for the troupe and now she had to figure out how to help someone who was obviously very sick. She stood there, paralyzed, for a few moments before a booming voice broke her from her thoughts.
"NENE! WHERE ARE YOU, I HAVE FINISHED COLLECTING THE DRINKS!" Tsukasa's body followed his voice, and for once, Nene was incredibly grateful for seeing his blond hair come into her vision in a public place.
"Um, a little help here?" Nene audibly struggled with holding up Toya for so long, and Tsukasa rushed over to her, his face much more serious than ten seconds ago.
"What happened?" He lifted Toya off of Nene as best as he could with the drinks in his hands, holding him in the same awkward position she caught him in.
"I- I don't know, he just passed out and- he said he was sick but-" Nene stuttered, panicking.
"Hey. Nene. Calm down. It's all going to be okay." Tsukasa's voice was uncharacteristically soft, and his tone gentle. His eyes darted around, something he often did when figuring out a plan.
He motioned for Nene to grab the drinks, and she did. "You take these back to Rui and Emu, and tell them that I got caught up in something. I'll take Toya to my house and make sure he's alright."
"But... are you sure you'll be alright?"
Tsukasa laughed. It sounded mostly like his normal laugh, except it was much quieter than usual. "Of course I'll be alright! You have nothing to worry about, Toya is in good hands." Tsukasa shifted how he was holding Toya, to hold him over his shoulder. Reluctantly, Nene paid for her items and left Tsukasa in the store, still worrying about Toya.
~~-~~
Toya woke up in a bed that wasn't his own, his head pounding. He didn't even remember falling asleep. How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was... walking down the stairs of his house, looking for medicine... trying to think past that made his head hurt. How did he get from his own house to... this house? He looked around, and came to the realization that "this house" was the Tenma house. But how did he get here? And why would he fall asleep? Toya rarely fell asleep at the Tenmas', and when he did, it was beside Saki and Tsukasa for sleepovers. Neither of them were beside him, and there was no sign that they were sleeping here either. What was going on? Toya moved his left leg, with the intention of getting out of bed, but didn't move more than an inch before the pain became unbearable. He winced, curling into himself on instinct and then wincing again at the movement. Why did he hurt so bad? Vaguely, he remembered... falling...
"Oh, Toya! You're awake!" Tsukasa poked his head in through the room door, and the rest of him followed. "How do you feel?" he asked, worried.
Toya grimaced. "Bad," he grumbled. Tsukasa frowned.
"Yeah... I'm not surprised. You had a bad fever an hour ago, but it's gone down since then. And... you're hurt in a few places. Do you remember how that happened?" His tone was laced with concern. Toya guessed he was trying to figure out how to treat his wounds.
"Fell, I think."
"What do you mean, 'you think?'" His tone was genuine, not accusatory.
Toya was absolutely not in the mood to talk right now, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could talk at all based on how awful his throat felt. Instead, he signed the words for "no" and "remember" weakly. Tsukasa, despite not using his sign language for several years since Toya usually just texted him when he went non-verbal now, understood him.
Tsukasa was silent for a few seconds. "Ah, well that's not really an issue. You don't have to think about it too hard if it hurts you. I brought some medicine for you and I need you to take it for me, alright? Afterwards you can go back to resting."
Toya nodded slightly, and took the medicine slowly. It hurt to swallow, but he didn't care. He laid back down immediately after he took it.
"Sleep well," Tsukasa flipped the lights back off and shut the door as quietly as he could behind him.
Two hours later, Toya woke up again. He wasn't nearly as disconcerted this time, instead getting his bearings almost instantly. A lot of the pain had subsided, his head was only throbbing mildly and his legs only hurt where he scraped them.
Where he scraped them... Hazily, Toya remembered falling down the stairs leading up to his house. He reached up to touch the spot on his forehead that he wounded, and was met by a cotton bandage. The bandage was significantly larger than he remembered the wound being. Had he really fallen that hard?
He sat up in the bed. His phone was on the side table, and it displayed a few notifications and text messages from two people.
He read the ones from Nene first:
Kusanagi Nene
hey
you passed out on me at the store today
text me back when you see this, i wanna make sure ur not dead
(Sent at 5:09 pm)
He thought for a moment, before texting her back:
sorry about that.
no need to worry, I don't think I'll be passing out again any time soon.
(Read at 7:03 pm)
Nene, almost as soon as he had sent the message, read and reacted with a thumbs-up emoji. Toya tapped the back arrow and tapped on Tsukasa's contact.
kasa 🌟
HELLO!
I recovered your phone from your house and got you permission to stay the night! HURRAH!!
If you need more time, I could probably bargain with your father for tomorrow too.
DON'T HESITATE TO TEXT IF YOU NEED ANYTHING!!!
-Tenma Tsukasa, World Future Star ✨
(Sent at 4:48 pm)
Toya found himself smiling as soon as he started reading the message. It was goofy, but that was how Tsukasa was. A warm feeling spread through his chest, but not the uncomfortable heat from earlier. A soft, gentle warmth, which started in his chest and bloomed out to his fingertips. He sat and stared at the text message for a few moments before a sharp pain broke him out of his sentimentality.
The pain was coming from his stomach. Suddenly, it struck Toya that he hadn't eaten all day. He texted Tsukasa back before he could let the guilt about bothering him sink in.
hey.
could i maybe get some food?
(Read at 7:06 pm)
Tsukasa was typing before Toya had even sent the second message.
OF COURSE!! I'll bring some up right now!
(Sent at 7:06 pm)
Not even two minutes later, Tsukasa knocked on the door as a courtesy before coming in anyways.
"HELLO!!" he boomed, before seemingly he remembered that Toya was sick and lowered his volume, "Here's some of what we made for dinner! If it's not to your liking, I can-"
Toya shook his head, an action which didn't hurt him for the first time today. "No, it's fine. Thank you for the food."
Tsukasa chuckled. "Of course! Anything for my little brother!" He struck a pose, and Toya giggled quietly. "Do you want me to sit with you while you eat?"
Toya nodded. "Could you tell me about your day?"
Tsukasa sat down on a plush stool and begun to rant about his day. Toya was invested in what he said, but he also asked him about his day because it was easier for him to eat with noise. Noise helped to cut through the static of his brain, and once Tsukasa started talking, it was akin to a log rolling down a hill, in that there was very little that could stop him until he reached the end of his thought.
"-and then Rui was like, "But Tsukasa, you're technically an accomplice now," and I said, "I'm still not going to hide with you in a maintenance closet! People are gonna think we-" and then Rui dragged me in there anyways! It was so embarrassing when the teachers- oh, you're finished with your food." Tsukasa took a very deep breath in, after ranting until he was out of breath and slightly red in the face. Toya had actually been done with his food for several minutes, but he hadn't said anything, instead opting to enjoy Tsukasa's story. Tsukasa could make even mundane things sound interesting, but luckily his school days tended to be far from boring.
"You can keep talking if you want. It was an interesting story."
Tsukasa shook his head, seemingly trying to avoid talking any more about whatever happened with Rui. "No, we should do something you want to." Tsukasa looked around the room. "We couuuuuuld... Oh! We could play a board game!"
Toya tilted his head slightly. "Just the two of us?"
Tsukasa bit his lip.
Toya backtracked. "Oh, I didn't mean... I know Saki can't play because it would put her in danger, I wasn't trying to-"
Tsukasa snapped his fingers and his face lit up. "I've got it! I'll be right back!" He practically jumped up from the stool and ran out the door. Toya just sat there, wondering what Tsukasa was up to now.
A few minutes later, Tsukasa came back, with a laptop in his arms. Toya raised an eyebrow, but stayed silent as Tsukasa did... whatever he was doing. Tsukasa moved two stools next to the one he was sitting on earlier right next to Toya's bedside, and then dragged a third one farther away, presumably for him to sit on. He set the laptop down on one of the close stools, and opened it up. He fiddled with it for a few seconds before it made a musical noise and he spun it around.
"TOYAAAAAA!!!!!!!" Saki's face was clearly displayed on the monitor, and it looked like she tried to hug her computer before realizing that she couldn't actually hug him. "I'm so happy I can see you!! You look better than a few hours ago," she commented, a wide smile on her face.
Toya chuckled quietly. "Yeah, I feel better than a few hours ago."
Saki beamed. "That's good!!!! If your throat hurts from all the coughing, tea with honey is super good to soothe it!"
Toya smiled softly. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for the tip."
"No prob!"
Toya looked to the side of the laptop. While Saki and him were talking, Tsukasa had set up a board game. It was a game based off of Phoenix Wonderland, where the players threw dice to move and whoever reached the end first won. The three of them played it quite a lot as kids.
"Wait, but how will Saki play if the board is in here?" As much as Toya wanted to spend time with her, he didn't want her to not have any fun just because of him.
Saki smiled through the computer and held an identical game board up to the camera. "We have two of this game! We bought a second game because we thought we had lost the first one, but it turns out I just left it at Ichi's house."
Toya furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "I don't mean to be rude, but how are we supposed to play on two separate boards?"
"Don't worry! I'll just say whatever I rolled, and then I'll move my character on this board and Tsukasa will move me on that board! And I'll do the same for both of you!"
Toya blinked in confusion. He had never imagined something like that, but he supposed it could work.
"Okay! I'll go first, since I'm the oldest!" Tsukasa struck a pose. Saki laughed. Toya smiled, and remembered how earlier today, he had wished so badly for a hug. This was better than that. It was like a pleasantly warm blanket was wrapped around him, as Tsukasa rolled a one and groaned, and Saki giggled again. Toya cherished every moment he had with the Tenmas- no, his siblings- but on a day like this, which started so awful and got even worse, he couldn't appreciate them more. It was as if time stopped in this moment, allowing Toya to bask in this moment that he would never forget.
They played for about half an hour. Saki won, with Toya coming in a close second, and Tsukasa barely halfway through the board.
Tsukasa put both his hands on his head. "HOW could this HAPPEN?!" Saki snickered. Tsukasa continued to rant for a few minutes about his "perfect strategy" failing him (it was a dice game- there was no strategy) before Toya looked at the clock on the wall.
"Oh, it's getting kind of late."
Tsukasa nodded. "If you're tired, we can stop."
Saki made a thinking noise for a moment before she spoke again. "Oh! You know what we should do? We should watch a movie, like we used to do when we would have sleepovers as kids! Only if you're up for it though, Toya."
Tsukasa and Saki both turned to look at him. "I'm fine with that. That sounds fun, actually."
"Yay! Tsukasa, you set it up, and me and Toya will decide on a movie."
Tsukasa nodded, and Saki begun to rattle off movie ideas to Toya. He didn't particularly care what they watched, but eventually they settled on a family movie, deciding it was the best middle ground between what Saki and Tsukasa liked.
Tsukasa turned the lights off in the room, shifted Saki's laptop toward the movie screen, and pressed play. Instead of sitting on the stool, he shifted to have his back against it while sitting on the floor. Toya, meanwhile, had shifted from sitting up to half-laying down, his shoulders and upper back against the headboard and pillows. All three of them had seen this movie before, but they all liked it so much that it didn't matter. Tsukasa practically had the script memorized, and spouted off lines throughout the first half of the movie repeatedly.
As the movie went on, Tsukasa and Saki progressively got quieter. Three quarters of the way through, Toya looked over to his side to see both of them fast asleep. Tsukasa was snoring slightly. Toya smiled gently and shifted so he was lying down. The warm feeling spread across him again, and this time he had a name for it. Love. Toya hadn't felt loved in... actually, he couldn't remember the last time. But the way Tsukasa dropped everything to care for him, the way Saki was ecstatic to see him, even through a computer screen. This sort of compassion was not something Toya saw often, but it made him feel fuzzy inside. Toya's thoughts devolved into just feelings as he drifted off into a peaceful sleep, his brother and sister beside him.