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Banri is so fucked.
He thought he could Super Ultra Easy Mode his way out of his university finals but the universe is determined to prove him wrong in all levels. Dark clouds are starting to form and it’s exactly the day when Banri is doomed with his final requirements.
"Setzer, are you sure this is everything you need for the following week?" Kazunari gaped at the long list of requirements that Banri handed to him as they were walking back to the dormitory.
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Banri asks exasperatedly as he snatches back the list from him before glaring at it again.
Kazunari sighs and holds onto the back of Banri's collar to guide him through the obstacle course in their way and to rush him before the rain catches them. "You could complain about it after dinner, maybe your severe annoyance is caused by the lack of food in your stomach."
"Actually," Banri's stomach growled just in time, "yeah, I haven't eaten since lunch."
"Izumi-chan and Omimi are going to scold the hell out of you." Kazunari laughs as he pushes Banri toward the front door. "Now go before the rain catches up!"
Banri rolls his eyes playfully before opening the door, the loud laughter and conversation immediately greets them as they walk through the door. He removes his shoes and replaces them with comfortable slippers.
"Welcome home Banri, Kazunari!" Izumi greets them while wearing an apron and carrying a pot of, you guessed it, curry.
"Hi Izumi-chan!" Kazunari greets back with a smile before running towards her to help her set the table.
"Thanks, Izumi-san." Banri is drawn to the commotion in the living room where Itaru is teaching Taichi, Muku, and Tenma how to play a racing game that he just bought.
"So we can just crash into other cars?" Taichi asks as he takes the controller from Itaru.
"Knock yourself out." Itaru waves his hand with a grin. "As long as you're having fun then who cares about the rules?"
"I don't think that's a great way to put it but I guess that works," Banri chimes in their conversation, leaning against the back of the sofa.
"Oh, you're back," Itaru greets with a small smile. "I'm just teaching the kids a fun game to hopefully kick start their gaming addiction."
"STOP SAYING IT LIKE THAT!" Tenma shouts as he's holding another controller, his body swaying to the same direction the car is going. "This is just to chill after our tutoring session!"
"Doesn't sound like you're chilling," Yuki snorts as he passes by, which earned him a glare from Tenma.
"I wanted to watch while they play," Muku's soft voice added as he smiled.
Banri nodded before nudging Itaru's head with his hand repeatedly. "Wanna play after this round? I'll beat your ass on my first try."
Itaru swats his hand away before glaring at him. "Keep running your mouth like that and I'm sure to wipe the floor with you."
"HA! Says the person whose highscore I beat AND I even put a 10,000 margin between our scores." Banri gloats, enjoying the way Itaru's face contorts to an annoyed expression.
"Whatever, I still have to help them study after this so I'll pass with your challenge in the meantime." Itaru shrugs him off, watching Taichi's car spin around before finally hitting Tenma's who was just shy of the finish line.
"Are you KIDDING ME!?" Tenma shouts as he stands up in shock at what happened. His eyes went from the television to Taichi who was grinning like an idiot.
"DID YOU SEE THAT ITARU-SAN?" Taichi excitedly asks him, flailing his hands and the controller around.
Muku ducks to avoid getting hit by Taichi before clapping. "Congratulations Taichi!"
"Is that allowed?" Tenma asks but it falls on deaf ears. Everyone in the living room was congratulating Taichi while Tenma was left alone to deal with his defeat.
Banri was about to offer some words of comfort to his fellow leader but the sound of the door opening caught his attention instead.
There stands Juza, soaking wet from head to toe, holding his mostly dry bag in front of him. His teeth were chattering loudly and his steps were wobbly.
Banri stands up and cautiously walks towards him to help him but his brain had other plans, "you look like shit."
Juza glares at him before sneezing into his arm. "Fuck off Settsu, I'm not in the mood."
"Who would be if they were in your situation?" Banri snickers before taking Juza's arm, leading him to their room. "Hurry up so you don't drip all over the fucking floor."
Juza didn't say anything, letting Banri drag him back to their room. They both missed the pointed stares the members in the living room were giving each other.
The short walk to their shared room is tense, despite Juza being cold from the rain the sliver of skin meeting with Banri's is burning him.
Once their dorm room was open, Banri immediately turned on the heater in their room and threw a clean towel at Juza's head. "Get changed before you ruin the floor, asshole."
"Didn't give you permission to order me around." Juza took off the towel from his face to look at Banri but all that's left of his presence was the slipper marks on the edge of the carpet. He just groaned before placing his bag down on his desk and looked for a comfortable spare change of clothes.
Banri is leaning outside the door of their room, he silently curses himself before walking back to the living room once he hears Juza's footsteps near the door.
He kept mumbling to himself absentmindedly until he bumps into Itaru who was just standing up from the couch. "Are you okay-"
"He looked so pretty."
Banri froze and looked at Itaru with wide eyes. Without thinking, he pushed him back to the couch and ran to the storage room to get a mop to clean the water droplets on the floor.
"I HEARD THAT!" Itaru shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at the still running Banri before being pushed off the couch by a coughing Tenma who was squished between Itaru and the couch.
"What did I do to deserve this?" Tenma groans before massaging his back. Itaru also groaned, face down on the floor but somehow no one heard him.
Coincidentally, Yuki enters the living room with a shit eating grin on his face. "You deserved that for being a trashy actor."
"You-!" Tenma stands up and walks to Yuki but, unfortunately, Banri is still nowhere to be seen with the mop. One wrong step and he slips on the wet floor, sending Yuki into a fit of laughter.
When Banri returns with a bucket and a mop, Tenma is being helped by Muku up from the floor, Yuki is near death by laughter, Taichi is running to the kitchen, and Itaru is recording with his phone.
"Dude, you could've just told me you wanted to mop the floor on your own." Banri's voice drips with sarcasm before helping Tenma up with Muku, gently patting his back. "You good?"
"Perfectly fine!" Tenma says through gritted teeth before leaning on Muku who was struggling to keep him steady. "I'm not dying but Yuki probably is."
"I would pay all of my allowance to see that again!" Yuki blurts out before running to the kitchen. "I'm telling Tsuzuru to add something like that for our next play!"
Sakyo emerges from the kitchen with Taichi who was holding a pack of ice. "Banri, what the fuck did you do?"
"I'M MOPPING THE FLOOR?" Banri gestures to the mop and the wet floor. "Stop accusing me of bad things!"
Taichi hands over the pack of ice to Muku and Tenma while watching the room explode into a fit argument. "This isn't going to end well."
"I'm sure they'll find a way to sort things out," Muku says with a smile as he gently places the ice pack on Tenma's knee.
Tenma hissed in pain, already seeing the forming bruise on his knee. At this point everyone is talking over someone.
"CAN EVERYONE SHUT UP!" Izumi shouts with a megaphone in hand, it's a mystery where she got it but it's really handy when you have a very noisy troupe. "Thank you!"
Everyone stares at her as she clears her throat and smiles sweetly, momentarily subduing the monster that screamed earlier. "I just wanted to say that dinner is ready and today is special curry day made with-"
Whatever she was about to say didn't reach anyone's ear as several footsteps ran to the dining room, even Tenma who was sort of limping with Muku and Taichi's help.
"OH COME ON!"
-
Dinner in the Mankai Company dorm is surprisingly quiet sometimes, probably because everyone is busy stuffing their mouth with food that there's no time left in between chews to let out even a single word.
But the dinner table is quiet except for Juza's sniffling and sneezing. He's aware of everyone's eyes on him so he shrinks in on himself, not bothering to meet their eyes. "'M fine."
"Nii-chan, your food is almost half saliva because you keep sneezing!" Kumon points out with a frown. "Are you sure you don't want to head to bed yet?"
Juza shakes his head before shoving a spoonful of rice and curry in his mouth. He chews for a bit before swallowing them. "It's disrespectful for Izumi-san, who cooked our food, if I just left without finishing it."
Izumi tried to stop her tears of joy from flowing so she just decided to grip Sakyo's arm discreetly. Unfortunately for Sakyo, Izumi has a strong grip so he had to pretend that he's doing fine, it’s acting practice!
“I’m sure Izumi won’t mind if you don’t finish it. It’s obvious that you need to drink medicine and get some sleep,” Omi gently pats Juza’s shoulder, the tension in his body slowly leaving him from the warmth in everyone’s voice.
“Guess so,” Juza mumbles before looking at Izumi and bowing. “Thank you for the food.”
Izumi nods and quickly smiles, “it’s all good Juza. Now please get some rest, let us know if you need to excuse yourself from training and classes tomorrow.”
Juza nods before standing up, however, his legs give out under him so he’s back on his seat. Several members of the troupe stand up to help him to his room but a hand smacking on the table catches their attention, especially Juza who was surprised to see Banri standing up, with an unexplainable expression on his face, as if he was going to pick a fight with him again.
“Banri, this isn’t the time to pick a fight with him.” Tasuku raises a hand to stop Banri from approaching Juza but Banri pushes past him and the other troupe members.
“Can’t stand?” Banri sneers as he looks down at Juza’s fuming expression. His fists were balled up on his lap and his face was slowly turning red that just made Banri angrier.
“Setzer, that’s taking it too far, man,” Kazunari says as he walks towards them but he is stopped by Itaru with a small shake of his head.
“Banri cut it out, Juza’s been working hard at school, give him a break.” Tsuzuru puts a hand on Banri’s shoulder to prevent him from escalating things for the worse but he immediately removes it when Banri glares at him.
“Come on, Hyodo. I’m pretty sure you can get up for awhile,” Banri’s voice was still rough, but to those who were listening intently there’s a certain softness to it. He holds a hand out for him, gesturing to him with a nod towards it.
Juza clicks his tongue in annoyance before taking Banri’s hand. Everyone in the room is holding their breath as the scene unfolds before them. Banri, with all the gentleness that they didn’t expect him to possess, loops Juza’s arm around his neck and carries most of his body weight.
“Are you sure you don’t want any of us to carry him?” Azuma asks as he eyes the slightly wobbly duo.
“No, I can do this, this is easy.” Banri takes a successful step forward with Juza leaning on him, closer than he initially thought. Juza’s warm skin is distracting Banri for two reasons: first, it’s Juza, and second he might be running a fever already. “You get on with your dinner.”
“If possible,” Azami interjects, holding onto Kumon’s shirt as the latter is halfway on top the dinner table with a death stare towards Banri, “move faster before this demon dog jumps you.”
“Yep, will do.” Banri walks towards their shared room, albeit a little unstable, but still successful.
The members left at the dinner table were quiet, reflecting on the recent events. Well, except for Kumon who was still held in place by Azami. “HE’S TOUCHING MY BROTHER!”
“Of course he needs to bring them to their room,” Azami deadpans as he eats with his free hand. Everyone then started to continue with their dinner, slowly falling into casual conversation with the occasional groaning from Kumon.
-
Banri looks at their bunk beds in annoyance.
He could bring Juza back to their room, but he didn’t have enough strength to carry him to his bed. Juza’s head was limping side to side so Banri had no choice but to dump him, gently, on his chair to retrieve their futons from their bed.
While arranging their sleeping space, he steals quick glances at Juza, just in case the idiot decides to dive down the floor or something. Definitely not because Juza looks peaceful while sleeping, although his eyebrows are knitted together especially in his sleep, he’s still endearing to look at.
“I really need to stop lying to myself,” Banri whispers to himself as he places the last pillow on their futon. He stretches his arms before walking over to Juza, regretfully, he needs to wake him up so he can sleep better on the futon instead of the hardwood chair. “Oi, Hyodo. Wake up ‘cause I ain’t carrying your fatass.”
Juza stirs in his sleep with a soft ‘huh?’, squinting at the light in their room. Wow, okay, Banri definitely didn’t need that added cuteness to his perception about Juza. He sighs before looping Juza’s arm around his neck once more, leading him to the futon on the floor. “Okay, here we gOOO-!”
When he was laying Juza down, he decided to take Banri down with him. So Banri’s current predicament is that he’s laying down on the futon with Juza holding onto his arm like it was a stuffed animal of some sort. “Hyodo, can you please let go?”
Look, Banri is an asshole sometimes, but he’s not going to hit a sick person to get them away from him. He rolls his eyes in annoyance and tries to replace his strangled arm with a pillow. “I need to get you medicine before you sleep!”
“Banri, warm,” Juza mumbles as he snuggles closer to Banri.
At this point, someone should bury Banri as soon as possible because he can physically feel his heart beating out of his chest. If he could see himself he’s probably growing redder the longer Juza is within his vicinity. But the care overrides his panic and gently smooths over Juza’s hair then places his palm on his forehead. “I’ll be back, then let me take care of you?”
It’s weird seeing Juza smile, especially when he’s asleep. But the warmth from seeing that smile spreads from Banri’s chest to his cheeks and he immediately removes his arm from Juza’s loosening grip. He remembers to put a blanket over Juza and switches the lights to dim before leaving the room.
As soon as he opens the door, he is met with Itaru and Omi holding a tray with medicine, wet towels, and water on it. Banri sighs in relief before gesturing to the room. “Juza’s currently asleep but I’d appreciate it Omi-san if you could get him to drink medicine.”
Itaru looks at him with a pointed stare but Omi only nods before entering their now dim room. Banri immediately takes Itaru’s hand and places it on his forehead. “I think I’m also sick.”
“Sick in the head probably,” Itaru laughs before ruffling Banri’s hair. “Just kidding, you’re probably love sick.”
Banri smacks his hand away as looks around for the other troupe members before leaning close to Itaru and whispering, “am I really?”
“You literally said that he’s pretty, earlier when you bumped into me.” Itaru rolls his eyes before holding up a hand and counting with them. “Your eyes turn into hearts for Juza, you turn red when he’s around, you literally argue with him for his attention, and what’s up with that scene earlier? If I didn’t know any better I’d think you were acting an etude with him.”
Banri shut up with every reason that Itaru pointed out. “In my defense-”
“You still want to defend yourself after all those things?” Itaru laughs before waving his hand. “You’re here, taking care of him when you didn’t even visit me once when I got struck with the flu for days!”
“It’s because you don’t clean your room and a messy room with your germs isn’t something I’m willing to risk myself with.” Banri shakes his head while tsk-ing Itaru. “Also who else will be my rival if Juza dies or something?”
“Whipped as hell. That’s just another sentence for how will I live when he’s not beside me,” Itaru groans before checking his phone. He sighs before flicking Banri’s forehead. “Dude, get your act together. Pushing him away will keep him away.”
“Fuck, you’re right.” Banri winces and smacks Itaru’s hand before he leans against the wall, flipping Itaru off. “I fucking hate it when you’re right.”
“I’m just helping a kouhai out.” Itaru shrugs before deciding to retreat back to his room probably to play games again. “Good luck!”
Banri sighs before heading to the shower room to cool himself down.
-
Juza is now sleeping soundly under two blankets.
Their room is now cool enough to need the blankets but it’s still comfortable enough to not have them in his sleep.
Banri carefully settles beside Juza, with an arm’s distance between them since sleeping together is just a precaution in case Banri needed to fetch more medicine, towels, or water for him. It’d be a pain if he were to go up and down his bunk bed just to get Juza anything he needed.
He huffs as he feels Juza’s hand grasp the sleeve of his shirt. “You’re still awake, Hyodo?”
Juza only grumbles and tries pulling Banri closer. Even if his attempts were futile because of his temporarily weak demeanor, Banri moves closer to him. “You’re warm.”
He’s really weak and smitten for Juza, anyone with eyes can see that.
So he rolls over and readjusts the blankets so it covers both of them. He also wraps an arm around Juza, keeping the both of them close to each other. Sparks prick the edges of Banri’s fingers as he drums them gently on Juza’s back to occupy him. “Go to sleep, Hyodo.”
“Can’t sleep when you’re doing that,” Juza mumbles softly, if Banri wasn’t listening intently then he might’ve missed the slight giggle that left the other.
“Sorry,” Banri apologizes before letting his arm go limp around Juza’s waist. He cranes his neck a little bit upward to look at Juza. “You look peaceful when you’re resting.”
“That’s ‘cause I don’t see your annoying face.” Juza smiles, this bastard knows what he is saying with the way his arm wraps around Banri’s shoulders before pulling him close to his chest, as if purposely hiding his face. “There, all better.”
“Asshole.” Banri’s tone holds no malice nor venom, but there’s still a certain bite to it. “Do you remember things when you’re sick?”
“‘Course I don’t,” Juza answers, his voice slightly slurring from sleepiness. “Did you want to talk ‘bout something?”
“I guess,” Banri tries to muffle his voice by hiding his face deeper into Juza’s face. “I think I like you, Hyodo.”
Juza hums, nothing short of any answer Banri was expecting. His hand making its way to comb Banri’s hair out of face.
“Idiot, you’re an idiot.” Banri doesn’t know if he was talking about Juza or himself.
Once he feels softness and warmth on his forehead, he freezes.
Juza just kissed him on the forehead.
Juza kissed him.
Juza.
Kiss.
It took everything in Banri not to scream in the middle of the night.
“W-what?” Banri croaked out in a broken voice, trying to get anything out of Juza aside from his usual grunts.
“Go to sleep, let’s talk tomorrow.”
And sleep they did, despite Banri’s racing heart, Juza’s warmth helped him relax. The thought of things going his way again, especially with keeping Juza close, brought a smile to his face.
It didn’t take too long for the troupe members to catch on when the following morning Banri also got sick but he was noticeably nicer and happier than yesterday.
They didn’t mention Juza and Banri’s intertwined hands when they were eating breakfast or the laughter and giggles coming from their room when they were both put to bed rest by Izumi and the rest of the troupe.