Work Text:
Ryoko should have reached out sooner. And as she jogged to and from the monorail station, trying to dodge the dozens of puddles that littered the streets but still managing to step in half of them, she wished she would have.
She hadn’t heard from Minako for a few days, but she hadn’t suspected anything of it at first. School had been canceled due to the typhoon, so they hadn’t seen each other in person, and Minako had a bad habit of sleeping all afternoon on days they didn’t have school. It was unfortunate, sure, but she tried not to think about it too much. Minako was her own person, after all, and she could make her own decisions about what to do with her time.
So, she didn’t question it for a while. But after the third day in a row without hearing a word from her, she had reached out to Junpei out of concern.
> u didntn know?????
> shes like suuuper sick dude she got caut in th typhoon wheni t startedf
> shes kinda stuck in hr room rn weve kidna been trhing not 2 bother her cept for food nd medicine
> kinda sick of hwr not 2 tel her gf
> but ig she probs cant use herphone rn to tel u ROFL
> oops wait i thimk i was supposed to tell u
> my bad homie
The second those messages reached her, Ryoko was running to Minako’s dorm as fast as her legs could carry her.
Why would she keep standing outside when she knew a typhoon was coming? She wondered with a mixture of worry and annoyance, trying to avoid the puddles on the sidewalk. She’s way too reckless sometimes. She’s going to get herself hurt.
Maybe she shouldn’t just show up announced like this, Ryoko realized as her hands lingered on the front door. She admittedly didn’t know the residents very well apart from Minako and Junpei, and she could see how inviting herself in like this could be seen as rude.
That thought only lasted for a few seconds. She didn’t care if she was perceived as ‘rude’ for wanting to see her girlfriend who was apparently so sick she apparently couldn’t leave her room. She pushed the door open and looked around the lounge, wanting to at least let someone be aware of her presence, but when she didn’t see anyone within a few seconds, she decided to walk upstairs to Minako’s room anyway. If she got in trouble for it, she could deal with that later. Minako was what was important right now.
The three-floor climb up to her room never got any easier, no matter how many times Ryoko made the trek. It was obviously worth it, though her legs might have disagreed with her. She knocked gently on her door, not wanting to disturb her with any loud noises, but all she got was an annoyed groan in response.
“Mina?” She asked, trying to keep her voice as quiet as she could while still being able to be heard through the door. “It’s me. Can I come in?” A few seconds passed without an answer, but she eventually got an okay in the form of a very exhausted-sounding, “Mhm.” Ryoko turned the knob gently and pushed open the door, and her eyes immediately widened in shock.
Minako looked… rough, even from a distance. Her hair was stuck to her forehead, the bags under her eyes were even worse than normal, and her face was a sickly pale color that made her look almost lifeless. She was still beautiful, of course—the sky was blue, after all—but Ryoko felt her heart sink at the sight of her like this. She had been like this for days, and she hadn’t even known. She wished she could have been there for her sooner. Ryoko walked over to her bed and knelt down next to it, running a finger through her hair in the same way she always did to comfort her. It was rough and tangled rather than being soft and smooth like it usually was, but Ryoko didn’t mind. As long as it could provide her the same comfort.
“Sorry,” Minako mumbled out with a sniffle, as if she had absolutely anything to apologize for. Ryoko frowned. Always worried about other people, even now. She was too kind.
“Don’t you dare apologize for anything right now,” she whispered, moving her hand from Minako’s hair to her forehead. Unsurprisingly, she was burning up, but her temperature was even warmer than Ryoko expected it to be. Her frown grew. Poor girl. “If anything, I’m sorry for not being here sooner. Junpei just told me what happened about an hour ago.”
“An hour ago?” Minako’s brows furrowed. “I told him to tell you yesterday.” Oh. Well, at least that made her feel less guilty for being so late. “Also told him to tell you not to come. But I guess he didn’t do that either.” Ryoko sighed softly, slowly retracting her hand. She’d expected Minako to tell her something like that eventually, but not right after she walked in.
“You didn’t want me to come because you didn’t want me to get sick too, right?” Minako nodded weakly.
“Because you’re stupid,” she replied in the same affectionate way she always used those sorts of insults towards her. Even now, when her voice was low and raspy, Ryoko could still hear it clearly in the way she spoke. A slight smile rose to her face. “You’ll get too close, and then you’ll get sick.”
“I never get sick, Mina.” …But even if she did, that wouldn’t have stopped her. She could have known for a fact that she would have gotten as dangerously ill as Minako was right now, and she still would have rushed to her room the second she heard what had happened.
Hm. Maybe she was a little hypocritical for calling Minako reckless.
“You don’t—” she abruptly cut herself with a coughing fit that was painful even to listen to. Ryoko’s eyes frantically darted around the room looking for something to help, lingering on Minako’s cluttered nightstand. Did she need water? Cough drops? Cold medicine? Or maybe some— “…Know that for sure,” she finished as if nothing had happened, and Ryoko let out a sigh of relief.
“Hey, hey, easy,” she warned, reaching her hand out to grab onto Minako’s. “Don’t use up all your energy talking to me. We don’t need you feeling even worse.”
“But you—” another coughing fit, and, though it was thankfully less severe this time, it proved her point perfectly. For the very first time in her life, Ryoko wished that Minako would stop talking, though she knew better than to assume she would listen to that request. “You came all the way here. Don’t wanna make you sit in silence.”
“I’m not the important one here.” Minako already looked ready to fight her on that, so she continued. “But if you’re really that concerned about how I’m feeling, then…” Ryoko trailed off with a growing smile on her face, and placed a gentle kiss to the top of her forehead. “I’m worried about you.” Minako didn’t have a response for a few seconds other than a smile she was too ill to hide, and Ryoko knew that meant she had won.
“…Don’t kiss me right now. I’m gross,” she mumbled out after a few more seconds of silence, squirming slightly in place as her smile slowly turned to a frown. Ryoko’s expression mirrored hers, as anyone would have upon hearing the most beautiful girl in the world put herself down like that. Even now, with her tired eyes and unwashed hair, her voice hoarse and quiet, Ryoko truly held the belief that Minako was the prettiest girl she had ever laid eyes on, inside and out. She was so unimaginably lucky to have her, and she only wished that she could see it herself. She had been getting a little better about her self-image recently, though Ryoko supposed she couldn’t blame her for feeling a bit self-conscious right now. She would have felt the same way if their roles were reversed, despite not normally being a nervous or self-critical person. She knew Minako wouldn’t care about something so trivial, though, which didn’t seem to be true vice versa.
“Don’t say that,” she scolded gently, squeezing Minako’s hand. “You’re—”
“The prettiest girl in the world,” Minako finished, a smile still prevalent on her face despite her exhausted expression. The bright pink tint on her cheeks was especially noticeable due to the unusual paleness of her face. Ryoko smiled to herself. “I know. You’ve told me.”
“Then—”
“I’m still wearing my school uniform,” she said, as if that was supposed to suddenly make her disgusted. Instead, Ryoko only felt her heart sink with sympathy. It was really that bad? Poor girl. She wished she would have been here for her sooner.
“Okay, and?” She leaned in for another kiss before reluctantly pulling back. She knew better than to disrespect one of her boundaries, even if she thought it was an unnecessary one. She could always kiss her until her lips bled once she recovered, after all. “You should let your voice rest instead of trying to argue about this.” Minako’s tired eyes beamed up into hers, and with a deep breath, she gave a slight nod.
“Fine.” She seemed reluctant, though that may have just been the roughness of her voice. Either way, Ryoko was relieved that she finally agreed to let her voice rest rather than hurting herself trying to keep her entertained. “Tell me about your day, then.”
“Oh, okay!” Ryoko may have been just a little too excited for that request. She usually found herself telling Minako every little detail about how her day had gone whenever she saw her, for the main reason that she wasn’t a big talker herself. She got to tell whatever little stories she wanted to, and Minako got to listen in with eager eyes and gentle touches to show she was listening. It was perfect, really, and now she had two extra days of stories to catch her up on. “Well, I didn’t do much the first day of the typhoon. I… fell asleep right after getting back to my dorm, I think. I don’t really remember.” Minako let out a quiet, “Mhm.” “Then yesterday I got bored and took the monorail down to Paulownia because I wanted to try the new lemonade they started serving. It was… okay? It tasted pretty watered down. I also almost accidentally went on a date with a guy there because I didn’t realize that’s what he was asking for.” Ryoko frowned at the memory. Why did asking someone to dinner have to be romantic? She had thought it would have been a good opportunity to get to know someone new, until he started flirting with her. No matter how much it happened, that was something Ryoko didn’t think she would ever understand.
“How many times has that happened now?” Minako laughed weakly. The first time she had told her something along those lines, she had seemed to be a bit jealous, though she hadn’t actually admitted it aloud. Ryoko remembered it clearly, because Minako never seemed to be a jealous person in the slightest, and it made her worried that her own obliviousness to social customs might cause problems in their relationship. Every time after that, though, she seemed to find it amusing rather than upsetting. Seems Minako realized that she didn’t have any competition.
“I think five?” Saying that out loud made Ryoko wince. She really had to start thinking before she went around accepting random ‘hangout’ offers. “I tried to let him down gently once I realized, but he called me a bunch of words I didn’t understand and don’t think I should repeat.”
“I’d be happy to tell you.” Minako seemed a little too excited to offer her that.
“I’m... good, thanks.” If they were in a different situation Ryoko would have considered it, but she really didn’t want Minako hurting her throat by explaining the meaning of a bunch of different swear words to her. “We should go out to dinner sometime, Mina. Since it’s apparently such a romantic thing.” If she would have realized it was that easy to ask someone out romantically, she would have just asked Minako out to dinner rather than spending weeks stressing out over the perfect way to confess her feelings. It would have been a lot easier that way. “But I guess people might realize we’re dating. And I don’t want anyone to target you.”
“That sounds nice.” There was something about the sparkle in Minako’s eyes that drove Ryoko’s heart wild. She was so sick, so exhausted, so miserable, and yet her eyes still lit up brighter than the stars at the prospect of going out to dinner with her. It was beautiful, and she felt her heart beat faster and faster with every second she looked at her. She was so lucky. So, so lucky. “And we’ll be fine. Girls go out to dinner as friends all the time, so no one will suspect anything.” Ryoko sighed. Yep, she would never understand all of this. She supposed it was a silver lining, though—It would have been a huge mess if everyone knew her and Minako were dating.
“I’ll never understand the customs here.”
“Was it different where you’re from?” Ryoko’s brows furrowed. Was it? She assumed it had to have been, but she couldn’t remember any specifics. She tried her hardest to recall even a tiny piece of what social norms were like back home, but her brain filled with the same thick fog that always formed when she tried thinking about her past too much.
“Yeah,” she lied, because she didn’t need Minako getting concerned, especially not right now. Maybe she’d tell her some day. “But again, you should really rest your voice. If I’m distracting you, I can lea—”
“Please don’t,” Minako replied instantly, her voice almost a beg as she flashed Ryoko a pair of (likely unintentional) puppy-dog eyes. As if she needed any more persuasion.
“Alright,” she replied, and Minako looked like a massive weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Such a stark contrast from mere minutes ago, when she had told her she hadn’t wanted her to come at all. Ryoko interlocked her fingers with Minako’s, reveling in the warmth of her touch. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you,” she said with a cough, her voice so full of love and adoration that Ryoko’s chest tightened. It was rare to see Minako this openly affectionate, and it felt like seeing a shooting star lighting up the night sky. She made a wish that she could help Minako feel at least a bit better just through her presence, though she had a feeling that wish had already been granted. “Can you—” She cut herself off, her voice even quieter than it already was, and Ryoko raised an eyebrow. She was usually pretty good at telling what Minako was thinking even without her spelling it out, but even she was clueless when it came to something as vague as that.
“Can I what?” She asked, and Minako only looked away. “Hey, c’mon, there’s no need to be shy.” Ryoko squeezed her hand in hopes it would help her say whatever was on her mind, but it only caused her to avert her gaze even further. Her brows furrowed; what was it that she had meant to say? “Do you need something? Water? Food? Oh, is there something in my teeth?” She rattled off a list of different things Minako could have possibly been asking for, but every item she listed only resulted in her seeming to get more and more embarrassed.
“No. I’m fine,” she eventually cut her off with, and Ryoko frowned. Before she could push further, though, Minako mumbled out, “Can you come closer?” Oh. Her frown immediately grew into a bright, giddy smile.
“Of course.” She felt her face burn embarrassingly hot at Minako’s request. It was a simple one, and something that probably shouldn’t be making her so flustered after they had been dating for so long already, but she didn’t care. She had been so adamant for her to keep her distance mere minutes ago, but now she was asking her to come closer? How was she supposed to accept that without her heart doing backflips in her chest? Ryoko stood up and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of her forehead again, which didn’t earn her any protest this time. “Do you want me to lay with you?”
“If that’s okay.” As if it would ever be anything but okay. Ryoko’s smile only grew as she gently picked Minako up in her arms—she didn’t want her sitting up and moving over on her own right now—and placed her on the other side of the bed. She then crawled into bed beside her, careful not to be too loud when doing so.
“Is this alright?” She asked to verify, and Minako weakly nodded.
“Mhm.” She fidgeted with her hands momentarily, then, with a soft yet determined voice, said, “I love you.”
“I love you too.” Ryoko’s response was like clockwork. She didn’t feel that was enough, though, so she added, “So much. I hope you feel better soon.”
“Thank you.” Minako coughed roughly, and before Ryoko could lecture her for the thousandth time about wasting her energy, she softly asked, “So, what did you do after you went to the café?” There was a genuine curiosity in her expression, which made Ryoko’s heart skip a beat. She was always so interested to hear about her day, even when it was bland and simple. God, she loved her so much. She hoped she knew it.
“Oh! Well, the monorail didn’t take off for another couple minutes, so I walked over to the music store and…” She continued to tell Minako everything about how her last three days had been, even down to the mundane details that only she seemed to care about, and for a moment, they both seemed to forget that she was sick at all. They talked and laughed and smiled like it was any normal conversation on the way home from school, and it was only the occasional cough or sneeze that reminded Ryoko why she was here in the first place. Minako always seemed to have that effect on her. Making her forget where she was and why, clouding her mind with warm, fuzzy feelings whenever she was around. Not that she would ever complain about that, of course; It was one of the millions of reasons she has fallen in love with her in the first place.
“What did you do this morning?” She asked after Ryoko had finally finished telling her every detail about how yesterday had gone, and, almost on impulse, she placed yet another kiss to the top of Minako’s forehead.
“I’m glad you asked,” she laughed quietly, and interlocked their fingers together. “This might take a while.”
“That’s fine. I’m intrigued.” Minako’s tone was genuine, her eyes shining with curiosity, and who was Ryoko to deny her what she wanted? Before she could say anything, though, Minako leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek. Her lips parted in surprise, and she noticed Minako smile out of the corner of her eye. How mean of her, catching her off-guard like that. Though, like always, that wasn’t something she would complain about.
“S-So, I, um, went back to the music store this morning…” she stumbled out, her heart racing in her chest like it was the first time Minako had ever kissed her; with the way it felt, it very well may have been. And when Minako’s face lit up bright red afterwards, it truly was a coin toss whether it was from her illness or not.