Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Ay, Akito!” An dashed towards him, pushing through students stalling in the hallway before classes started, “How’ve- Jesus! You look like shit..” 

Aktio sniffled, “Thanks.” 

He had woken up with a 38.4 degree fever, but due to his spotty attendance, any more tardies and he would start getting reprimanded. 

“What happened to you? You look like you’ve just ran a marathon with the black plague or something.”

He scoffed, “It’s not that bad, I have a mild fever.” 

“ Mild.” An repeated, “Are you sure it’s mild?” 

Akito just nodded, his throat burning too bad to put through the task of speaking again. 

The bell rang above them, “Ah! Gotta go, catch you at lunch! Don’t drop dead while I’m gone.” An patted him on the shoulder before running off to her first class. 

God, not dying during class was easier said than done. Akito’s throat burned like he had been snacking on cheese graters in his sleep, he felt like he could barely breathe with how his lungs stopped at a certain point, his head was muddled, and his vision was spinning. 

He forced himself towards his class, promising himself that if he chose the seat closest to the bell could sleep during class since it would wake him up. 

Then the bell didn’t wake him up so he was forced to run to his second class, barely making it on time. He felt like his lungs were made of steel at this point, as they barely allowed themselves to fill with air. 

He managed to shuffle himself into his chair, folding his arms so he could rest his head once again. 

He had lunch in two periods, he could probably make it till then. 

Until his vision began spinning so badly he started getting nauseous, he felt like he was on a ship - Hell, maybe an inflatable pool toy would be more akin to how he was feeling -  in the middle of a storm. Akito excused himself to the bathroom, waiting till he was out of sight of all the classrooms to slump against a locker. 

He let out a shaky breath, trying to collect himself enough to stand up again. 

His vision was starting to grow blurry around the edges, a black just barely starting to close in. 

He took notice of his legs shaking under him, threatening to drop him onto the cold floor. 

Going home didn’t count as an absence if he still showed up for a bit of the day, right? 

He heard someone chatting, down the hallway. Crap Crap Crap- “ Ah! Akito?” He heard footsteps rush towards him, barely registering them. They put a cold hand on his back, he flinched away from it. 

“You can continue dropping off the boxes, I’ll be a moment.” They- He? Waved another person along. 

“Hey,” He gently ran his hand up and down his back, “Can you hear me, Akito?” 

He peaked up through his bangs at him, Toya. He brought up a shaky thumbs up. 

“Are you okay..?” He flipped his thumb downwards. 

“...Are you sick?” He flipped it back upwards, “I think.” He said, his voice weaker than he thought it would be.

Toya set a hand on Akito’s forehead, and god was it refreshing. He leaned into it, it felt like his boiling skin had been calmed. Despite the boiling temperature of his body, he still occasionally shook, triggering his ever growing nausea. 

“Goodness, Akito, you feel like a fireplace.” Toya retracted his hand, Akito held back a whine at the loss of contact. 

“I’m bringing you home, you can’t come to school like this.” Akito quickly looked up, his vision getting spotty due to the sudden change of head elevation, “No, no,” Akito coughed into his arm, “I’ve missed too many days. Can’t.” His voice was shaky, but he tried to straighten it out as best as possible. 

“That doesn’t matter, you look awful. What if you make someone else sick?” Toya gently started moving his hand in circles. 

Akito responded after several moments, “I won’t.” 

“What makes you so sure?” Toya questioned. 

“‘S not bad enough.” His throat was really starting to hurt now. 

Toya sighed, “If you’re coughing then it can spread. If you don’t rest today then you might be sick tomorrow, and I don’t suppose you’re getting much work done like this, so you’ll waste two days feeling awful.” 

Akito hummed, but it more or less sounded like a strangled bird trying to squawk for help, “You’re so smart..” Akito leaned a bit forward, his head hitting Toya’s shoulder. 

Akito let out another shaky breath, Toya flinching at the feeling of it fanning across his neck. 

“Come on, I’m bringing you home, okay?” Toya secured two arms around Akito. 

“Mmh..What about you? School?” He whispered, his voice starting to fail him. 

“It’ll be fine.” 

“‘S Monday. Library lunch, today.” Akito’s vision was really starting to go black now, he let his eyes fall closed. 

“I can tell them something important came up. Stop stalling, can you walk?” Toya gently poked at Akito’s back. 

Akito didn’t say anything. 

“Akito?” 

…

“Are you awake?” 

…

Toya sighed. He hooked an arm under Akito’s legs, hoisting him into his arms. 

He attempted to stand up, taking in the fact he was indeed, still quite weak. And once he finally did manage to stand up, he stumbled forwards, catching himself and narrowly avoiding not only squashing Akito but also faceplating onto the dirty floor. 

“Hello?” Ena swung open the door. “Oh- Toya! And..Akito. Is he asleep..?” Ena poked at Akito’s head with a cutely decorated nail, “What’re you two doing here in the middle of the day?” 

“Ah, Akito wasn’t feeling well. I think he passed out, I signed the two of us out for today.” 

Ena backed up so Toya could come in and take off his shoes. 

“Well, I guess the house is all yours. I was just about to go to sleep so you caught me at a good time.” Ena yawned, “Have fun taking care of your boyfriend.” Ena groggily walked up the stairs. 

Toya sputtered, they were not boyfriends. Or in love. Not in the slightest. 

He sat Akito’s unconscious form on a small bench in the doorway, Akito ragdolling forwards. 

He took his shoes off, placing them beside his own. 

Toya picked Akito back up, his arms feeling thoroughly abused after packing Akito around for the past 10 minutes. 

He just barely managed up the stairs, almost tilting a bit too far back and falling right down. He set Akito down on his bed, exasperatedly panting as he fell face first onto the bed beside Akito.  

Akito woke up. At least he thinks he did. He felt like he had been dragged to hell and then thrown in a pit of fire or something. His brain was moving so slow he was starting to get angry with himself, and his jittery limbs were just poking at his nausea. His eyes weren’t opening no matter how hard he tried, and he was sweating buckets under the pile of blankets that seemed to have been thrown on him. 

His throat did feel better though. He thinks, he couldn’t tell if it just paled in comparison to how the rest of his body felt though. 

He tried moving his head, resulting in a horrific explosion of pain in the back of his head. He felt like he had just gotten impaled straight through the skull. 

He tried gasping in pain, but all it did was hurt his throat, the cold air assaulting his torn throat. 

He squeezed his eyes closed tighter, even with them closed the black darkness was spinning around him, mocking him in his misery. 

“Akito?” A hand set itself on his head, just above where the pain in his skull originated. And God, the hand was absolutely frigid. It calmed his head a bit, cooling his overheated mess of a brain. 

“Akito?” They asked again, “Have you woken up?” They slipped a few fingers into his hair, helping him cool off even further. 

“ Mfgh.” He mumbled into the air, muffled by fabric pressing against his face. 

“I got you some medicine.” Something was placed down beside him, as the person stretched over to reach for what was probably the aforementioned medicine. 

They gently tapped his head, “Do you think you could sit up?” 

Akito did not think he could, but, he didn’t want to disappoint them, “Yeah.” His voice sounded like a broken record, scratchy and broken in all the wrong ways. He barely recognized his own voice. 

The hand left his hair as he tried to figure out where his arms were, preparing himself to attempt sitting up. He finally managed to flex his fingers, which meant that he could try his best in bending them under himself. 

He pushed up with all his strength, the entire world spinning as he cracked his eyes open to the blinding light. 

He caught a glimpse of blue, “Toya?” 

“Hm? Do you need help?” 

Toya was directly in front of him, but he was just laying down and it didn’t look like Toya was standing? Akito noticed the ground under his arms tense a bit, getting hit with the realization he had been supporting his entire weight on Toya’s legs. He glanced down, eyes still not working enough to see anything, “Sorry.” He mumbled, trying to move his arms to a spot that looked more flat. 

His depth perception was off, so it took a moment of desperately trying to focus, but he forced his shaky arms to beside Toya’s legs. 

“What’re you apologizing for..?” Toya asked, holding a glass of water in his hands Akito just now noticed, “Your legs..” 

Toya titled his head a bit, “What’s there to apologize about concerning my legs?” 

Akito didn’t want to say, his brain was boiled and his voice was getting weaker as his throat burnt harder with each word. 

He forgot what he was apologizing for. 

“I…Dunno.” He confessed. 

Toya hummed, “Do you think you could take some medicine now…?” He offered the glass to Akito, who realized he would have to hold it himself. 

He forced his legs forward so he could sit down instead of supporting himself on his arms. 

He took the glass from Toya with shaky hands, resulting in Toya securing one of his own hands around the glass as well. 

Toya leaned over and grabbed a pill from what Akito could assume was his bedside table. 

He tapped the pill on Akito’s lips, motioning for him to open his mouth. 

Akito let the pill fall into his mouth, bringing the water up to his mouth to swallow, and god did it hurt. He could feel the pill drag down his throat, the water doing nothing except soothing the dryness in his mouth. 

Toya took the glass from Akito, setting it back on the table and letting his hand return to Akitos head, “You’ll feel better in a bit, okay?” He promised. 

“‘Kay..” Akito let his eyes fall closed.

“Can I take your temperature before you go back to bed?” Toya asked. 

Akito gave a meek thumbs up, Toya twisting to grab another object off the table. 

“Open your mouth and keep the thermometer under your tongue, when it beeps I’ll take it out for you.” Akito nodded, opening his mouth as instructed. 

“There, now just wait for a moment.” Toya moved something on the bed, only indicated by the rustling noise of sheets being scrunched up. 

A beep startled Akito back from his micro-nap, Toya removing the thermometer from his mouth. 

Toya grimaced, “39.2..” he read off the small beeping device.

Akito weakly coughed, “Is that bad?” 

“Fairly…that's a pretty high fever.”

Akito fell forward onto Toya’s shoulder, his entire world spinning with the vertigo the action brought. Toya put down the thermometer, his hand returning to Akito’s hair. 

“Do you think you could get up to eat something? The medicine will work better if you do.” 

Akito shook his head, his face uncomfortably rubbing against Toya's now wrinkled uniform. 

“I just wanna go to sleep..” Akito murmed.

“That's alright, sleeping will help. Good night, Akito.” He switched hands, putting his left up to Akito’s head so that he could lean on his arm while napping, and so Toya could get back to reading. 

He had found a few books scattered across Akito's room, most notably one of Dostoevsky's classics. It was a bit strange for Akito to have, but it was enough for Toya not to get bored. 

He supposed reading was similar to him as to how Akito had said watching videos while bored was, just a way to pass the time, and you might learn something along the way. 

Akito didn't wake up for a while. Toya had already finished three quarters of the book by the time Akito rolled over, pressing against his arm, and then sitting up slowly. “Morning.” Toya set the book back down on Akito’s bed. 

“What time s’it?” Akito rubbed at his eyes , setting one hand on Toya's shoulder so he wouldn't fall. 

Toya glanced at his watch, “Around three. School's out in a couple minutes.” 

Akito hummed, “My throat feels better. What medicine was it that you gave me earlier..?” 

“I just asked Ena for something that would help with a sore throat, she didn't give me a bottle, just a single pill.” 

Toya thought for a second, “I think Ena’s asleep right now, actually. I heard her announce she was going to sleep through the wall awhile ago.” 

Akito pulled back a bit further from Toya, shuffling off his legs and onto the mattress, “Sounds like her. I don't think she could get back on a good sleep schedule even if she had a month.” 

Akito yawned, “Are you hungry..? I haven't been the best of hosts, so I might as well serve you something.” 

“Ah, just a bit. And don't worry, I could cook for you!” 

“No.”

Toya faltered, “You're sick, why not?” 

“Because,” Akito swung his legs out from under him, letting his feet rest on the floor, “your cooking could count as radioactive.” 

“Ah?-” Toya visibly deflated, “It's not… radioactive , I just need to take some time learning a bit more.”

Akito scoffed, playing with putting pressure on his feet that had probably gone numb, “A duck could learn how to cook better than you, if you were both given the same amount of time.” 

“Mean…” 

Akito finally managed to stand, motioning for Toya to come join him. 

Akito led Toya downstairs to the kitchen, albeit slowly and carefully. He almost fell down the stairs a couple of times, Toya grabbing his hand and forcing it back on the railing each time. 

Akito treated himself to the exceptionally healthy slice of cheesecake in the fridge, letting Toya toy with the coffee machine while he quickly shoveled the cake into his mouth. 

“Why do you guys even have a coffee machine in the first place? Who in your family drinks coffee?” Toya leaned against the counter, facing the small table Akito was seated at. 

“I think Ena wanted to try some, and my dad said it'd be a better purchase than a kettle, since it's quicker. I guess you also came into it a bit, since that's when you were starting to come around a lot more.” Akito looked anywhere but Toya for the last part, obviously a bit embarrassed.

The machine made a weird whirring noise, Toya jumping and twisting backwards to figure out what in the world it was complaining about. 

They chatted over food, before heading back up to Akito's room where Akito promptly fell over onto his bed and immediately fell back asleep.

Toya was sat at Akito's desk, playing with a pen. 

A loud knock sounded from the door, Toya heading down to open it. 

“Akito!” An swung the door open the rest of the way as soon as Toya cracked it open, flinging him directly into An, the two colliding, sending both to the ground. 

“Ow…Toya!” An pushed herself up, Toya trying to dust himself off. 

“What are you doing here?” Toya questioned.

“I have the same question!” 

“Akito was feeling sick so I brought him home, Ena fell asleep so I just stayed with him.” 

An hummed, “Roundabout way of saying you wanted to play doctor for a day,” she murmured, “But! That's why Akito wasn't at school? I saw him before classes then poof, both of you disappeared! Kohane said she saw Akito with you when you went to drop off supplies for the art club, right?”

“Yeah, that's when I took him home. His fever was pretty bad.” Toya stood up, reaching out his hand to pull An up as well. 

“Well, since both of you decided that phone's were useless, are either of you coming to practice today?” Toyas eyes widened, “Oh! I thought I was forgetting something, I don't think we will. Akito still looks pretty pale, he's sleeping at the moment.” 

“Hn. Kay, guess it'll just be me and Kohane then! I'll go tell her, nice talkin’ with you, Toya!” An spun around, dashing off in what Toya assumed was wherever she came from, as he shut the door. 

When Akito woke up this time, he did feel a tiny bit better. He just felt groggy , his body hurt a bit, and his head was all spun up. 

He also noticed that he felt really hot. Extremely so. 

He could feel beads of sweat on all his limbs which, admittedly, was gross. All round, he felt sticky. 

He shifted a bit, trying to figure out if moving hurt as much as it seemed it would. 

“Akito?” Toya asked from across the room, dropping his phone onto Akito’s desk, “Are you awake?” 

Akito was on his back, so he just shoved himself up against the headrest of the bed, “Yeah,” He paused, “Why’re you still here?” 

“Ah, you’re sick, why wouldn’t I stay?” 

Akito hummed, Toya grabbing his phone to glance at again, quickly typing something. 

...

“Hey, dude?” Toya looked up, “Could I go take a shower or something? I feel kinda gross like this..” 

“Oh! Yeah, call if you need anything though.” Akito nodded, swinging his feet towards the edge of the bed and attempting to stand up, though immediately falling backwards. His stomach churned, his head going all fuzzy again. 

Toya had jumped up and came over to him, he noticed when a hand gently slipped under his bangs onto his forehead. He tried to lean away from it, his hair was all gross from sweating buckets. 

“You feel like you’re burning up again…Are you sure you wanna take a shower right now?” 

“It’ll be fine, I only fell cause I was just sleeping.” Toya’s hand finally left his head, making him relax a bit knowing Toya wouldn’t be so close to him, God, he probably stank too didn’t he… 

“Here..” Toya reached out a hand for Akito to grab onto, lifting him up. 

Akito’s legs were unsteady under him, threatening to drop him directly onto the ground. 

He also couldn’t see well, the curtains were open but it was already dark out, and Toya had decided all the light he needed was his phone. 

“Sorry- I’m all gross from the fever right now, you don’t have to grab onto me…” Akito tried to break away from Toya. “You look like you’re about to faint at any moment.” Toya commented. 

Akito kept trying to keep his distance, “I’m fine man, you don’t have to worry so badly.” 

Toya caved and let go of Akito, which left Akito even more unsteady. Maybe Toya had a point, but it was embarrassing. 

“I'm gonna go shower, mind moving outta the way so I could get my clothes?” Toya mumbled an oh and moved out of the way, allowing Akito the rifle through his messy dresser, pulling out a pair of shorts and a baggy T-shirt. The air was a bit awkward as Akito shakily walked out the door, heading past Ena's room and setting his clothes down on the bathroom counter. He closed the door, attempting to lock it, forgetting their lock had been broken after Akito accidently fell directly onto the door while it was locked during one of Ena's 3 hour long showers. 

He sighed, undressing and hopping in the shower, trying to figure out a setting that wasn't freezing cold but wasn't boiling hot.

He never found a balance, so he continued on just a tiny bit too cold. He reached for the shampoo (and conditioner. And body wash. Why would anyone need to buy them separately anyways?). 

His vision snapped to black, his panicked stumble sending him tumbling down, wet fingers sliding against already slippery surfaces now covered in water as he tried grappling for something to hold. 

He fell against the bottom of the tub, the way he fell making his head bang against the wall. 

He could hear rushed footsteps and quickly tried reaching out to grab a towel, managing to throw it over him before Toya burst in, “Akito! Are you okay?...” Toyas hand ghosted over the shower curtain, Akito pulling it a bit further open as his vision began fading back oin. 

“Yeah, I'm fine. Just tripped.” 

Toya sighed, “It's only been a minute at the latest, could I please do something to help? You look all pale again.”

“What?- I think it's the lighting, I don't think I feel bad enough to be pale.” 

“You look bad nonetheless,” Toya reached over to flick the shower off, the bathroom falling silent, “maybe I could run you a bath? Then you're sitting.” 

Akito grumbled under his breath, “Fine I guess, if it makes you happy, man.” 

Toya helped Akito up, Akito fully wrapping the towel around him as he stood about dripping water behind Toya waiting for him to finish toying with his bath. 

“Akito,” Toya looked over at him, “you can get in now, I can close my eyes.” Toya switched the water off, the static noise of water falling turning to occasional drips from the tap. 

“Alright.” Toya put his palm on his eyes, stepping a bit to the side so his lanky legs were against the toilet, giving Akito room to step into the bath. 

Akito swung his foot over into the water, quickly unwrapping his towel and throwing it on Toya’s head. Toya made a slight noise of surprise, but other than that stood put until Akito noted he was in the tub. 

Akito was more red than usual, Toya feared his fever was even worse than before.

“Which shampoo is yours?” Toya grabbed a small rag off the cabinet, then crouched down to Akito's level. 

“Oh,” Akito turned and pointed at a sleek gray bottle with green accents, “that one.” 

Toya glanced up, “That is a 3 in 1.” 

“Yeah?”

Toya sat up and reached over Akito, grabbing one of Ena's cutsey floral purple bottles and setting it on the floor beside him. 

“Dude, I don't wanna smell like lavender or anything, my regular stuff works just as well.” Akito complained. 

“It's not as good for you, you'll be balding by 20.” Toya scooped a bit of water from the tub, pouring some on the top of Akito's head. 

“Hey!” Akito batted Toya's hand away, grumbling and turning around, then tilting his head up so Toya has a far smaller chance of getting more water in his eyes. 

Toya poured more water onto Akito's scalp, putting his hand against his hairline everytime Akito jerked forward to cough, keeping water from spilling onto his face. 

Once Toya deemed Akito's hair wet enough he poured a sizable amount of the translucent purple shampoo onto his palm, then massaging it into Akito's hair.

They went on in silence like that for awhile, Akito too embarrassed to open his mouth as Toya gently washed the conditioner from his now silky hair.

“Your hair is very pretty.” Toya commented, scooping up more water to Akito's scalp. 

“...Thank you.” Akito flushed a deeper shade of red, god, perhaps his fever was really getting worse. It was really hot in here. 

“Turn to face me, please?” Akito turned to face Toya, averting his eyes everytime Toya caught him staring a bit too intensely at him. 

Toya scrubbed the soapy cloth against Akito's skin, washing the sweat from his fever down into the water, leaving him feeling much cleaner. 

“I'm done,” Toya grabbed Akito's towel from before, setting it on the edge of the tub, “I can close my eyes again if you want.” 

Akito nodded, pulling the plug on the tub, Toya stepping back so he was flush against the door. 

Toya covered his eyes once more, letting Akito step out of the tub and begin drying himself off. 

“I'm dry now, mind stepping to the side so I can grab my clothes?” Toya stepped to the side, almost tripping on his own foot while staying true to not looking. 

Akito grabbed his clothing from the counter, quickly dressing himself. 

“All done.” Toya let his hands fall back to his sides, “Are you feeling a bit better, Akito?” He opened the door for the two of them, letting Akito support a bit of his weight on him. 

“Yeah, cleaner.” 

Toya carefully sat Akito on his bed, walking around to sit on the side beside him.

“That’s good…do you think you need some more medicine before bed?” 

Akito fell backwards, wincing at the way his stomach churned in result, “I should be alright.” It was embarrassing enough having already been so vulnerable in front of Toya, he didn't want him to think he was even weaker at the moment.

Toya smiled, just slightly. 

Akito thought he looked quite cute when he smiled. 

And that was the last thing he thought, not even getting a chance to realize how sleepy he was before immediately drifting off. He barely caught Toya’s short “ I’m glad.” 

“Akito!” An smacked his back, “I thought you actually succumbed to death! Toya was watching over you like a damn hawk!” 

Akito grumbled, “I'm fine. And he wasn't, he was just being a good friend. Plus he spent most of his time playing with my coffee maker.” 

An snickered, “I bet he's the only reason you feel better, knowing your track record you would've been sick another 3 days without him there to mother you!” 

“He was not!” Akito flushed cherry red, ah, red, it reminded him of Toya's lips.  

“HA! HA! HA!” Tsukasa’s booming voice echoed down the hallway, chaos trailing behind him as he ran at lightning speeds directly towards the wall. 

“Tsukasa-kun!-” 

BANG! 

Aaand, weirdo number 2 was plastered against the wall as An doubled over in laughter.

Confetti exploded around the Tsukasa coloured splat on the wall, just in time for a very petrified Toya to come into view. 

“Tsukasa…” He poked at the yellow mark on the wall Rui joined in making sure Tsukasa was still at least somewhat breathing. 

An had her claws embedded in Akito's shoulder as she leaned on him for support during her laughing fit. 

“An, your claws have made their way through my skin to inside my bone, get off me.” 

“Stop being a drama queen!” An gasped out. 

“Hmph.” Akito grumbled.

“Ah! Akito!” Toya came running towards Akito, “Please help me and Kamishiro transport Tsukasa senpai to the infirmary!” 

A very un-enthusiastic Akito was roped into another shenanigan, but at least he was back at school with Toya to experience it.