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“Shachi, can you poke Law again before his breakfast gets cold?” Penguin asks as he plates eggs for everyone.
Shachi nods and starts heading back up to their room. Law was hardly a morning person on a good day but usually the smell of breakfast lured him out of the room. Or more specifically, the smell of coffee. Shachi glances at the calendar on the wall by the fridge on his way out of the kitchen-Law was scheduled for work today at the clinic so he should definitely be awake by now.
“Oi, Law! Breakfast is getting cold! You know cold eggs taste like shit.” He calls out as he approaches the room.
Law is still in bed. The gangly teenager is twisted around his sheets with a thick layer of sweat coating his forehead and a flush of pink across his cheeks. Shachi pauses before tentatively placing a hand on Law’s shoulder to jostle him. The heat coming off his skin is so wrong.
Oh, and the usually faded patches that dot his skin are now several shades brighter.
Shachi runs back to the kitchen. The panic on his face tells Penguin and Bepo everything.
~~~~~~~~~~~
“Given that it’s flu season and we’ve been getting a lot of flu patients, it’s probably Law’s immune system producing a very strong reaction to the influenza virus.”
The town doctor got there as quickly as possible. Penguin and Bepo had reluctantly left for work, leaving Shachi to care for Law on his day off. The doctor was currently examining the teenager, still in bed and only vaguely conscious while Shachi leaned against the doorway resisting the urge to chew on his nail.
The doctor frowned at the thermometer reading. “His current temperature is 102, please monitor that and call me immediately if it gets above 104.”
“Law, can you take these two tablets for me?” The doctor holds out a couple pills for Law.
Law stares at him. He blinks a few times and looks down at the pills for a few seconds before his brain finally registers the doctor’s request. He downs a couple generous sips of water and visibly winces when he swallows. Law takes one last unfocused look at the world before crawling back under the covers. The slight shiver as he tries to get comfortable is the icing on the cake.
The doctor places a bottle of medication on the nightstand and turns to Shachi. “After 12 hours, give him another dose. If his fever isn’t gone within three days, give me a call. I’ll take him off the schedule for the rest of this week so he has time to recover.”
“Is there anything else you recommend?” Shachi asks as the doctor scribbles down notes.
“Let him rest for the most part and try placing a cold washcloth on his forehead to alleviate some discomfort from the fever.” The doctor rises from the bed and approaches Shachi. “I know for a fact Law had his flu vaccine so he should be okay.”
The doctor hands Shachi his note of instructions and pauses at the top of the steps. “I’m happy to do a home call for my apprentice, don’t worry about paying me. He’s lucky to have such a good older brother to look out for him.”
“We’re actually just friends but I appreciate your comment.” Shachi laughs awkwardly.
This isn’t the first time people have referred to the group as brothers (how would that even work with a human, two half-Fishmen, and a Mink?). Shachi doesn’t mind people referring to Penguin as his brother because the two have been joined at the hip for as long as he could remember, but Law? Law is a deeply weird but well-meaning teenager who doesn’t always know how to interact with people but his heart’s in the right place (even if he insists that it’s “on a whim”).
The doctor chuckles. “My apologies-I just assumed because you live together. I hope Law gets well soon.” He waves and continues down the stairs to exit the house.
Shachi doesn’t move from his position against the doorframe. He shifts his gaze from the door back to Law, whose face is twisted with discomfort. Shachi retrieves a washcloth from the shared bathroom upstairs and runs it under some cold water. He wrings it out and returns to their room, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. He gently dabs Law’s cheeks with the cold cloth before placing it on his forehead. The creases on Law’s face smooth out and his facial features relax.
“I’ll let you get some sleep for now but I’ll be back with lunch in a few hours.” Shachi promises. Law responds by settling his head into his pillow a little more.
Shachi crosses the room and draws the shades closed, plunging the room into semi-darkness. He grabs the latest edition of Sora: Warrior of the Sea from his own nightstand and heads down to the living room.
~~~~~
As promised, Shachi returns to the room a few hours later with a glass of cold water and a small bowl of homemade miso soup in hand. The room is still dark and Law is still asleep. Shachi sets the food on the nightstand and takes a seat on the edge of the bed.
“Law? I know you feel like shit but I really need you to eat something since you missed breakfast.” Shachi carefully shakes Law’s shoulder. “You’re too much of a beanpole to skip meals.”
Law groans in response and rolls over so his back is facing Shachi.
Shachi notes the darkness of the room, lit by only a stream of sunlight from the hallway and takes off his glasses. He places them on the bed and gently massages his brow as he feels Law shift again.
“Lami?”
Shachi’s head whips to Law. Law slowly sits up, only half awake but never taking his unfocused eyes off Shachi.
“Lami, is that you?” Law asks again, his eyes hazy. Despite the fever, there’s a smile on his face.
Shachi’s voice is caught in his throat. Clearly the fever is causing some kind of hallucination but Shachi can’t bring himself to correct a name that’s making Law smile with a pure joy he’s never seen before.
“Lami, I’ve missed you so much.” Law pulls Shachi into a tight hug and holds him close. The feverish heat radiating off Law’s skin and his glazed-over eyes make the situation that much more surreal.
A sob escapes Law’s throat and Shachi’s heart skips a beat. Law tightens his grip on Shachi as another sob reaches his ears. It isn’t long before Law is absolutely bawling into Shachi’s shoulder, gripping the older boy for dear life the whole time.
“Lami, I’m so sorry for lying to you. I was…only trying to keep you safe,” Law manages to choke out.
Oh fuck.
Oh fuck.
Oh fuck.
All Shachi wants to do is shove Law back into bed but he’s absolutely frozen as Law continues to cry. He’s too afraid to even reciprocate Law’s tight grip, afraid to break up whatever emotional moment is playing out in Law’s head via a hallucination.
“I promise…I won’t lie to you ever again, you deserve so much better…” Law’s nuzzles Shachi’s shoulder still, in the throes of a fever dream.
Shachi has to gulp back a sob. He finally returns the hug and he can feel some of the tension start to ease in Law’s body. The sobs continue for a few more moments before they taper off and Law’s grip becomes limp. Shachi keeps Law in his arms until he’s fully asleep again before carefully laying him down on the bed again. Law wriggles a little bit in his sleep but settles down once the blanket has been tucked in around him.
As soon as Law is fast asleep again, Shachi runs to the bathroom. He splashes some cold water on his face and forces himself to breathe deeply. In…two, three…out…two, three. Repeat. Shachi stays where he is, just breathing and focusing on how the water drips off his face for what feels like hours.
Keeping his eyes off Law, he returns to the room and grabs his glasses and the untouched bowl of soup. He takes a seat at the kitchen table downstairs and eats in silence. Shachi had seen Law wake up terrified and gasping for breath after some particularly nasty night terrors but watching Law swing from pure unbridled joy to guilt and despair in the span of minutes was a special kind of unsettling.
Shachi finishes the bowl of soup and packs the rest on the stovetop into the fridge for dinner later. Dinner…something complicated is probably his best bet for distraction. He needs to do something with his hands before he tears out his own hair from fidgeting with it too much.
~~~~~~
“Did you seriously make curry roux from scratch?” Penguin takes another bite of seafood curry.
“Yeah, I just…really needed something to keep my hands busy.” Shachi picks at his dinner.
Bepo munches on the curry happily but his face drops after a couple moments of silence. Shachi can feel the Mink’s eyes on him as he picks at his rice. It doesn’t take long for Penguin to notice Shachi’s uncharacteristic silence.
“Are you okay Shachi?” Bepo finally asks.
“Yeah, you’ve been quieter than usual since we got home. Was everything okay with Law today?” Penguin puts down his spoon and leans into his palm.
Shachi sighs deeply. “Um, yeah-Law’s been okay, mostly sleeping. I just had to deal with one of his nightmares on my own.” Okay, it wasn’t a total lie but a voice kept nagging Shachi to talk to Law about this first before Penguin and Bepo.
Bepo grimaces. “Sorry, that sounds like it was really hard.”
Penguin rubs Shachi’s shoulder. “Yeah, I’m sorry you had to deal with that on your own.”
Bepo’s ears perk up and his nose twitches. He straightens up in his chair. “I think Law’s awake.”
Sure enough, the boy slowly walks into the kitchen holding the empty glass in one hand and clutching a blanket around his neck in the other hand, his usual hat absent. His skin is still slightly flushed and the white patches are brighter and more defined than usual but at least he’s awake and conscious.
“Did I smell miso soup earlier or was that a dream?” He asks, his voice scratchy from disuse.
“No, I made some earlier but you were still too sleepy to eat. Want me to warm you up some?” Shachi offers, already out of his seat and heading towards the fridge.
“That sounds great, thank you.” Law rubs his eyes and looks at the clock.
“How do you feel, Law? You looked like absolute shit this morning.” Shachi says bluntly as he starts warming up a small amount of the miso soup over the stove.
“I feel slightly less like absolute shit than I did this morning. I started feeling feverish around midnight last night and passed out at like two in the morning while in the middle of a Sora binge. I vaguely remember the doctor being here and saying something about the flu but I was too fatigued to really understand what was going on.” Law yawned. “Sleeping for nearly 16 hours straight seems to have considerably helped.”
“Yeah, even your fucky sleep schedule needs a reset every now and again.” Penguin jabs. Law flips him off in return but doesn’t say anything.
“The doctor left some medication on your nightstand-take two tablets with a lot of water at about midnight and please have some soup and rice-you’re way too skinny to go almost a full day without eating.” Shachi grabbed a small bowl and filled it with rice from the center of the table.
“In my defense, I’ve been sleeping off a fever all day.” Law retorts.
“Point still stands.” Penguin chimes in.
“Speaking of which, Penguin and Shachi could you two sleep on the couch and recliner for the next couple nights until my symptoms clear up? If this is influenza, you two are the most susceptible to catching it and I don’t want to infect the entire house while Wolf is gone.” Law states. “Bepo can stay in the room-Minks and humans have different immune responses and human influenza shouldn’t cause harm to Bepo.”
Bepo claps excitedly but his mood suddenly drops. “Sorry…”
“DIBSONTHERECLINER!” Shachi calls out, serving Law a bowl of soup.
“Fuck you, I wanted the recliner!” Penguin shouts back.
“Too slow!”
Law laughs from under his blanket hood before coughing roughly into his elbow. “I’m going to eat dinner in my room.”
“Glad to see you’re looking somewhat human again!” Penguin cheerily calls out.
“I’ll help bring your dinner up so you don’t have to drag the blanket.” Shachi offers, holding the rice and soup.
Law nods and Shachi follows him back to the room. Shachi decides not to say anything about the dream or Law crying out for whoever Lami is. For now, at least.
~~~~~~~
A few days later, Shachi is washing his face in the bathroom when Law joins him to brush his teeth. The white patches were mostly faded on his skin again and Penguin and Shachi were allowed back into the room. Law’s fever had broken by the afternoon of the second day when Bepo took on caring for Law after Shachi went back to work. Bepo hadn’t said anything about Law having another fever dream so Shachi assumed he was just an unlucky witness to what was undoubtedly one of the more gruesome parts of Law’s past.
Shachi still can’t quite bring himself to look Law in the eyes since the incident. Law has been very business as usual but to be fair, he wasn’t the one on the receiving end of “traumatic fever dream mistaking you for someone who’s probably dead”. Shachi tries to mind his own damn business but curiosity is killing him.
“Thanks for looking after me that first day when my fever was still pretty high.” Law says as he cuts a piece of floss.
Shachi snaps out of his thoughts. “Yeah, no problem. I had a day off anyway,” He says before taking a breath.
Here goes.
“By the way,” Shachi treads carefully and shuts the bathroom door with his foot. Law raises an eyebrow.
“Who’s Lami?”
The eyebrow raise is now replaced with a look Shachi can only describe as being kicked in the gut. The piece of floss Law was using slowly falls from his hands, his expression an absolutely heartbreaking twist of confusion, sadness, and….guilt?
He is definitely going to get shambled into the nearest snowdrift for this.
“How do you know that name?” Law asks quietly after what feels like hours.
Shachi gulped. “You mistook me for them when you were sick that first day. You were crying for their forgiveness and apologizing.” He tenses.
Law doesn’t take his eyes off Shachi for a while. He bites his lip and looks down. He takes a deep breath. His eyes are glassy. Shachi is waiting for the blue tint of the Room to encompass them.
It never does.
“Lami was my younger sister.” Law finally says.
Oh.
Oh, shit.
Law told his friends himself what happened to Flevance shortly after they all moved in. Shachi can only imagine what Law said to Lami to try and keep her calm during those final days. He can remember Penguin telling absolutely ludicrous lies about the sea kings bowling being the cause of thunder that terrified him as a child but where do you even start a lie to calm a child when the World Government is actively trying to burn your home country to the ground?
Shachi can’t bring himself to look at Law. “I’m so sorry…”
Law sighs deeply. “Your hair is slightly more red than hers was. Were you wearing your glasses when I called you by her name?” Law asks.
“No, it was dark enough in your room that the light wouldn’t bother my eyes.” The more Law interrogates the more guilty Shachi feels for bringing it up.
Another pause. “I can see how a fever dream would make me think you were her.” The lack of affect in Law’s voice only makes Shachi feel even more guilty.
Law looks at his feet and shuts his eyes. “I’m…not ready to talk about her yet.”
Shachi nods. “You don’t have to-I can guess what happened.”
Law gulps. “I’m…really sorry you had to hear that…Please don’t tell Bepo or Penguin about this?”
“My lips are sealed.” Shachi nods and gives Law’s shoulder a squeeze.
Law squeezes his wrist in return and rests his head on Shachi’s hand for a while. Neither of them says anything for a few moments. Law closes his eyes and sighs deeply.
“Thank you.”