Work Text:
Valk sighed as his work was now complete. Paperwork and paperwork that includes the planning for future events and Phestivals are now in order, piled up. He eventually drops his pen on the table to take a scratch on his arms, feeling relaxed after many stressful hours of seeing the words. He eventually got up and checked the mirror hanging on the wall, joined by a desk– it shows the reflection of himself.
His hair is messy and he doesn't wear his usual helmet, the clothes he is currently wearing are more messy than usual– it is a pajamas, yet it looks like Valk was sleeping for 50 hours . Valk has dark circles under his eyes, and he knows that he'll use makeup to hide it every time he goes to work with his brother.
Sighing, he turned around to face the bed.
It's the time to take a long-awaited rest.
He approached the bed, ready to lay limp. On the verge of laying down, he has groaned because a fucking phone has ringed. Thinking it was his brother or one of his managers, he picked it up only to be surprised.
On the screen, there is no name but the numbers. However, he has the feeling that it's a known number. It doesn't show the profile of the caller, and the idol hesitates to answer the call.
It's probably someone– a stalker.
The phone rings and vibrates in Valk’s hand. It doesn't stop. God, this caller is annoying as fuck.
Groaning, he pressed the green button and placed his phone to his ear– to be met with noisy volume and two recognizable voices. It was so loud that the poor idol had to pull the phone away to not end up with his ears bleeding for the next few days.
“Valk!” A recognizable voice yells, and the crash is presented. It has been high pitched and Valk knows what's coming next: a loud yell. “Holy fhhu– dude, stop throwing stuff!”
Sighing, he placed his phone back to his head. “Skateboard. What's happening?”
“Your fuckin’ lover is being childish! Please come the– BOOMBOX, DON’T FUCKING THROW THIS VASE!”
Valk's sleepy behavior halted, as he was on alert– he frowned, straightening himself. His other hand held the phone together with the main hand. He is worried. He wants to know what's happening to Boombox, and he doesn't want him to get hurt. Why is his lover acting crazy?
Remembering back in time, Boombox has never and will never be crazy around him. He has said it himself in front of the short idol during the talk at his home. And he knows. But here they are, their lives upon a crazy Boombox throwing stuff.
“Are you alright, Skateboard?” He begins, now walking in circles around his room. “What's happening with Boombox?”
A singular question.
“Okay,” There were weird noises such as voices cutting down, groans, and perhaps some mumbles. Valk doesn't understand what they are saying or doesn't know what's happening here. Maybe he should go to the Playground this instant. “Y'know, he's sick.”
His heart shattered.
“I've known him for so long, so ya’–” The skater yelled through the mic, and it was so loud and it sounded like he was in pain. “ Fuck! V-Valk, he wants you.”
“Can you give your phone to Boombox?”
There is a silence, showing the hesitancy of the skater. The idol had the feeling that the skater was looking at Boombox in silence. He then hears some movement through the air going to the caller’s phone mic, and he immediately hears the heavy breath from the caller.
Valk sighed. “My dear, are you alright?”
Another silence. Fuck. He doesn't like the silence from his lover.
“...yes. I n-need you,” the musician sighed. “ ‘m sorry, Skate. I-I shouldn't have…”
“Boom, you don't have to apologize,” Valk interrupts, his voice slowly rising. He is worried and serious about this situation, and he is going to fix it. “I'll help you, okay? Help your friend here and I'll be here in five minutes.”
“..p-please.”
And the call was cut.
Valk never felt so broken and more shattered for someone else.
Ready to help his lover, he went to the wardrobe to take his usual clothing– a pastel yellow suit alongside the pants. Running away from the bathroom (to change), Valk wished he could make this way faster than he could. After some minutes, he exited the bathroom– now wearing his usual clothing.
His helmet is sitting on the table in the corner. It looked shiny and clean– the short idol picked it and wore it.
The next thing is to drive.
And he is going to use his brother's vehicle. Fuck off , he doesn't care. He needs to keep his lover safe and all. Picking the keys from the same table (even the short idol doesn't know why it's there; he thought that Dom was in his room and somehow forgot it before leaving), he exited his room and went to dash out from his private apartment– not caring about the public.
After many painful minutes of finding the vehicle, he has found one. Opening the front rear door, he sat and immediately ran the car (and closed the door), and drove all his way to the Playground.
I hope Valk thinks while driving, you're alright. I don't want you to get hurt. Be alright.
The idol has arrived at the apartment all by himself. He knocked on the door, and the door was instantly opened and he immediately got dragged in using the hand of a skater.
His eyes widened at the sight.
Usually, Boombox's apartment with his roommate, Skateboard, is as clean as ever as both of them agreed to never make a mess and always clean it under the landlord’s rule, but what was unexpected was that there was a lot of mess. A lot of mess, he sees a broken vase that has been shattered in pieces on the ground, broken plates– even they somehow managed to break a glass table. The sight of an actual nightmare of a mess is pretty scary and Valk would never want to clean this and instead quit renting this apartment if they were him. The short idol noticed that the portraits had been thrown to the ground, and it hurt him.
“Holy shit ,” Valk curses. “What the hell happened, Skateboard?”
Skateboard manages to shush him, and places his finger on Valk’s face, shutting him up., and looks behind. He eventually turned back to face the idol, whispering.
“Boom’s sleepin’,” The short idol internally sighed, but the sight of the mess was killing him. “You can do anythin’ and whatever, I gotta help my friend Slingshot on doing something, okay?”
Valk nodded, as his mouth was free from the skater’s finger. “O-okay. You're cleaning it?”
Skateboard shrugged. “ ‘m bad at cleaning. I'll try when I go back.”
Fuck you Skateboard. You're old and you're able to bring yourself into battles, yet you still don't know how to clean.
“Fine,” the idol nods once again, now walking carefully as he avoids the pieces scattered on the ground. “Don't be an asshole and answer my call whenever I need you, Skateboard.”
“Got it!” And– Skateboard is left in an instant.
Focusing on his lover, he went his way to Boombox’s room, avoiding more pieces that were larger or smaller, so he wouldn't hurt himself. The room wasn't far away and Valk is very thankful for it. He didn't expect this mess, and he's going to clean it. For Boombox’s sake, he couldn't make his condition worse.
When he went to the musician's room, he found the sight of Boombox sleeping on his bed, covered by the mattress. Valk is in relief, but he has to help his lover at any time. Looking around, his room is as messy as the main one. Thrown vases, broken glasses that used to form a cup, empty bottles scattered on the ground– there is a desk with a turned-off computer and a lot of accessories accompanying the PC. Focusing back on Boombox, he has noticed that his visor is missing.
Gosh , the idol thinks, I'm in a living nightmare.
Carefully, he took some silent steps to approach the sleeping musician, he had to shake him slightly. It took him two tries until Boombox awoke from his slumber.
“Urgh,” God, his voice is raspier than usual– Valk could hear the weakness in his voice, and it hurt him. He wanted to help. “V-Valk?” The musician blinked to get a better view of his love, and he abruptly smiled. “Valk!” Boombox used his body and power to raise himself from the bed.
“My dear,” he calls. “I'm here, I'm here, okay? Lay down.” He didn't mean to order him, and Boombox sighed in defeat as he lay off on his bed.
Then, he sat beside him. He covered his lover with the mattress and gently patted his legs.
On the first point, Valk doesn't know how to care for a sick person. He does know, sure, but it was only Dom– plus, both of them are almost impossible to get sick due to both of them being semi-gods, being connected with Firebrand as his grandpa. Nevertheless, either Valk or Dom rarely gets sick. But here we are, Valk is trying to figure out how to help and take care of Boombox.
He tried to remember his old times; when he was a kid, he had to take care of his brother since his parents didn't care about them, and mostly they got into fights. Valk had to stay with his brother, the fights scared him.
“Valk,” Boombox cuts his thoughts off, as the latter flinches slightly and turns his head to look at the musician who's concerned. Valk should be concerned, not him. “Are y'alright?”
He softly chuckles. “Of course, I am,” he doesn't know if he lied or not. “I'm here to take care of you, okay? Take some rest… and… do you have medicines to take?”
“I think I do,” the musician shrugged off. “It's in the fridge. Paracetamol.”
What the hell is a paracetamol?
“Okay,” he gives more gentle pats to his lover. “You'll be drinking soup today, and I will tell your friend to do soup afterward until you're feeling better, is that alright?”
The musician nodded.
“Good,” the idol gave Boombox a small refreshing smile. “Take some rest, I'll be back sooner.”
It's the time to put everything into the work. Firstly, Valk will need to find the medicine Boombox stated earlier– so it has to be in the fridge. The short demon went after it (by being careful and not stepping on the sharp pieces on the ground, going on his way to the kitchen), and he opened it.
The fridge is almost empty. But, Valk has found the medicine Boombox has said. Picking it up, he read the name of the medicine.
‘Paracetamol’
Seriously, is this going to work? He hasn't figured out about Boombox's sickness– a fever? Some headaches? The short idol thinks he's very terrible at taking care of others. Maybe he should make it the old-fashioned way.
Taking the paracetamol, he prepared a cup of water (somehow, there was a single clean glass cup on the sink) and went on his way to Boombox's room.
When he returns, he is presented with the sight of a sleeping musician. Sighing, he went to shake his lover slightly, to wake him up.
“My dear,” he calls in a whisper. “Wake up. I've found you a medicine– I should check you first.”
There is a slight movement. Nevertheless, the musician has been awoken. Putting the cup and the pill bottle on the desk beside the bed, he let the musician move to get comfortable, as the idol Sal again placed his hand on the forehead.
His forehead is the fucking embodiment of Firebrand's hand.
“Gosh,” It hurts him. It did. “It’s hot. Let's get you to drink the pill and I'll get you a small cold towel for you.” The idol picked the bottle first, opened it, and took the pill. Later, he picked up the cup of water with the pill on the other hand. He lends the items to Boombox, who looks very sleepy.
“Take it.”
Boombox stared at it. After some hesitation, he took these. He put this pill in his mouth to quickly gulp it with the help of the water. He almost choked– he hated the feeling of gulping a pill. “I hated that.”
“You do?”
That's the worst question ever Valk has asked. He hoped that his grandpa’s sister, Windforce, wouldn't go after him over this stupid question.
Boombox chuckles. “Yeah! Not my thing to eat, hm?” He sighed– and the next thing that happened in an instant was the musician pulling Valk to just hug him.
“B-Boom!” Valk shrieks at the sudden movement, as he is being in under Boombox’s arms, panicking. Meanwhile, he wouldn't mind, the idol fears that he might get sick. It sounds funny, yes, but he should be careful.
The musician laughs, as he looks at the idol with emerald-colored eyes – so did Valk. Staring at each other, they smiled and laughed.
Valk and Boombox never got the time to cuddle each other, so that'll be a perfect time for both of them. The short demon used his arms to wrap the musician, as his head was under Boombox's chin. The next thing Valk heard was the humming, and he could recognize some of the songs. It's either his or his lover. The musician wrapped tightly around Valk as if they wouldn't want to leave him alone–according to Boombox, if he did, his heart would be shattered–.
“I love you,” Boombox mumbled weakly. Mainly because of his sickness. “I love you.” He repeats, again and again.
Valk giggled at the affection, as he hovered his hand to play with Boombox’s chin by poking at it or caressing it. “I love you too, please let me take care of you.”
“No,” The musician moved his head to stare at him. “Let me cuddle you. We haven't cuddled for so long.” Valk felt the musician’s hands tighten around him, and he smiled.
But he has to help Boombox.
“My dear, please let me help you, okay?” He had to raise his head to state at his lover, which the latter stared back– and left a nod. He smiled. “Thank you. I promise when we are done, we'll cuddle.”
Pulling away from the cuddles, he has to clean the mess now. Maybe he needs help from someone, but it has been instantly closed as everyone he knows is busy currently.
Oh well, here it goes nothing.
Valk finished cleaning.
The apartment looked shiny, especially on the tables. The floor. Hell, even the kitchen and the fridge. It took the idol many many hours to keep the house clean, especially in the Boombox and Skateboard's rooms. They're such a literal embodiment of a nightmare in terms of ‘messy’– but now Valk has cleaned every singular piece of this apartment.
He is now sweaty, using his hand to take the sweat off from his forehead.
He better get paid.
Valk went on his way to check on Boombox. Again, he was sleeping. He smiled at the sight, as he likes to think; he's okay, he's alright, he's well.
Meanwhile waiting for his lover, he should prepare a soup for him. He went to the kitchen and opened the fridge, checking the ingredients that were possible for the soup. There are some, but unfortunately there aren't.
He sighed in defeat. He couldn't leave his dearest person ever hungry or sick for long. Maybe he should call for delivery and–
No. That's not a good idea, maybe. Boombox doesn't want his address leaked to some random deliveries, and Valk understands well. Obviously, it was to respect his privacy. He checked his phone to see any available contacts, scrolling up until he met with the sight of Dom.
He pressed on the contact and clicked the call button.
…
…
“Hello?” A scratchy voice speaks through the phone's microphone.
“Heeeeey!” He chuckled nervously, now leaning on his wall.
“ Microphone.” He calls his name, and Valk feels uneasiness from his brother's voice. Ominous but scary one. “ Where were you?”
Shoot. Of course, it's him that he forgets every time his brother would be back to his home before he could. Dom is the type to leave the house early and comes back before Valk could. It is a routine. Valk will never forget the fact Dom tries to act mature in a way to pretend he's the old brother, but he's not mature enough. From the yellow idol's perspective, Dom is like a child.
“Sorry,” he reluctantly apologizes. “Had to help my, err, lover, ya’ know, Mega.”
There was a sigh going through the phone's mic. “This felt like the fifth time, but you should've told me beforehand, especially when you're leaving home, idiot.”
“Sure, sure,” he dismisses the warning. “But I need your help, if you don't mind, brother?”
“What is it?”
Dom has arrived at Boombox’s apartment with four bags in his hand. That sight of his brother grabbing an excessive amount of items on his hands makes Valk laugh. He loved that. “Is this necessary? Wasting our money?”
He shrugged, now helping his brother by taking some of the bags and placing them on a kitchen counter. “My lover needed food. He got nothing in his fridge.”
Dom joins him, as well– though his voice slightly switched to a surprise, as Valk felt the brow rise from him. “Really?”
The brothers eventually take the items from the bags one by one, as they continue conversing with each other. Valk and Dom are usually the types of active people who fulfill their needs and they get their free time later. However, at certain times, they're busy. In general, the Flipside brothers are always busy, as they had to continue working on their projects to amaze the crowd to this very day.
Valk is really glad to have free time this day, otherwise, he could've suffered seeing Boombox sick and unavailable to see him in the PHIGHTS.
The short idol cuts the thought, as he nods. “Yeah. I guess they're short on the money.”
“Hm. After all, Boombox is a known performer in the Playground,” he states, unamused. Valk had to glare at him as if he was wishing for death. “And, yet, he wasted all his money.”
“Hey! C'mon, maybe we can teach him how to save money?”
“And lose our time? No way.”
“Fine. I'm letting him use your money and buy whatever he wants.” Valk jokes, smirking as he puts the products on Boombox’s fridge. He giggled in the most secretive way.
“Go ahead— wait.” Dom glares at Valk. “What?”
“Nothing!”
In the meantime, the brothers have finished unpacking and sliding the products into the fridge. Valk had to kick Dom from the apartment, with a wave and a push. The tall brother had to warn him again– “If you don't come back by 11 o'clock, I'm finding you and locking you.” – but he dismissed the warning as he should focus on his boyfriend.
When he kicked Dom out of the apartment, he was met with the sight of a messy and sleepy musician, rubbing his eyes with his fingers and blinking to get a better vision. Even if he rubbed and blinked, it's still blurry and will need a visor.
“Boom!” He rushes to hug his lover, the latter flinching at the rushed movement, but eventually hugs him back. “How are you feeling, dear?”
“Feelin’ better. What are you…”
Firstly, he had to let his jaw drop. Boombox had to see the absolute sight of his apartment being clean as hell. “SFOTH…” The musician mumbled in amazement, as he had to walk and look around the complex. Every. Single. Piece. Is. Clean.
Valk smiled at the reaction. He loved seeing that. “Liking that? It's all thanks to me.” He felt way more prouder than he should be. After all, his hard work paid well.
Before the idol could continue, a warm embrace was presented. Boombox hugged behind his lover, and Valk could swear at the gods he heard the sobs coming from the green phighter. He had to adjust himself to check on Boombox, and he was right.
He's crying.
“Wait, wait, don't cry!” Valk had to put his hands on Boombox’s cheeks, using his finger to take the tears off from the musician's eyes. “Don't cry, okay?”
“I'm not cryiiiiiiing…”
Valk hugged Boombox in a tight embrace. “It's alright. Okay? It's alright. Don't cry, shhh, shhh. ”
“It's o-okay,” the musician sniffled. Pulling from the embrace, he took a glance at the short idol's worried face and smiled. “I'm very surprised and appreciated, ya know!”
Boombox used his usual grin which made Valk smile.
“It's alright,” he points at the sofa. “Take a seat. I'm going to cook, dear.”
The musician nodded as he went on his way to sit and relax on the sofa, yet there was more to do . Meanwhile, Valk has been preparing to cook soup for the musician.
It's a super long day.
The idol has finished cooking a soup as he had to use the gloves (he was afraid that the bowl would burn his hand) and places the soup on a small (and fixed) table in front of Boombox. It is still steaming, filled with vegetables and some chicken and it's warm. Perfect for the musician to heal up from the sickness for the next few days.
The next thing was Valk brought a small towel from the bathroom– and wet it with cold water to later twist it on the sink as the water continuously dropped from it. When it stops, he eventually places it on Boombox's forehead. Generally, the idol has forgotten to put the wet towel on a fridge, but he hoped that a recently made cold towel would help his lover heal faster.
Lastly, he sat with Boombox, pulling the table slowly and carefully to grab a spoonful of soup, now hovering to feed the musician. The process repeats for a long time until it's empty.
It's night currently, and Valk doesn't want to leave his musician alone with the Skateboard– in his opinion, the skater is always one who makes many messes, based on his experiences on the PHIGHTS.
He decided to stay up.
Eventually, both went for Boombox's bed, covered themselves with a warm mattress, and cuddled together. The musician is still wearing the pajamas while Valk is in his usual suit. It sounds ridiculous, but the idol had no clothes to change and he was dismissed when Boombox offered to give him his extra clothes.
Valk used his hands to scratch on Boombox’s head, through strands of hair. Softly. Slowly. It has made the musician melt in any second.
“Feel better, okay?” Valk whispered, so his voice wouldn't make his lover's headache get worse– it's what he thought.
Boombox chuckled. “I will, my pretty dear.”
The duo shared the glances– eyes meeting with others. Valk's wings slowly flap. In an instant, Boombox placed his hand on the short demon's cheek, rubbing in circles as he pulled him– his lip meeting the idol's, making a passionate kiss.
It took them for a short period, as they pulled from the kiss. After a minute of taking a breath, Valk smiled as he went for another kiss– this time it was longer.
Valk doesn't care if he gets sick. All he needed was Boombox and this kiss. He, even, doesn't care if Dom is calling him on the phone, and he dismisses it for the next day.
It's been a long time since both of them kissed due to a tight schedule. After all, they longed for it.
Both of them pulled out from the kiss, staring at each other. Then, the short idol hovered his arm around the green musician, cuddling him. Boombox followed it, hugging him. They're a perfect couple.
Valk doesn't care about his needs, he needs Boombox.
Boombox doesn't care about his needs, he needs Valk.
On a night with a full moon, the couple has slept together, with the light off and the calming piano music playing from Boombox's gear.
For the next two days, Valk was already sick.