Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Jupiter shuffled the last of the papers on his desk into a neat pile and clipped them together with a binder clip before sliding the stack into his bag. He’d probably spend most of tomorrow grading the papers he’d collected over the day at home since he didn’t have any classes to teach on Fridays nor any meetings with the department that would require his presence. It had been too long since he’d just had a day of grading papers in his pajamas that he welcomed the monotonous task with open arms.

​

It was unfortunate that Saturn would be at another one of his all-day photoshoots tomorrow but at least Jupiter would be able to send him off on his way with a belly full of homemade breakfast. Stars knew that Saturn had a terrible habit of skipping meals when he had a shoot later in the day, said it made him look bloated–as if Jupiter had ever accepted that as an excuse. All it had ever done was make him double down, much to the blonde’s annoyance, but at least he never made a big fuss of it.

​

A breakfast together would be nice, just the three of them. The beginning of the week had been so hectic that they hadn’t had nearly enough time to spend with each other. Their primary mode of communication had become text messages, which Uranus was terrible at responding to on the best of days, but now that he was preparing for his upcoming gallery show on Sunday, they were lucky if he even picked up his phone long enough to even read their messages. Jupiter knew better than to take it personally. Uranus could have a very one-track mind when he wanted to and this show had taken all of his attention ever since he’d been invited to participate.

​

Maybe tomorrow he’d be able to convince the other to take a short break and they could have some time to cuddle on the couch and watch an episode or two of Parks & Rec like they used to. Jupiter smiled at the thought.

​

He zipped up his bag and slung it over his shoulder before giving his desk on last glance to make sure he had everything he needed for the weekend. He’d hate to come back to the campus just because he forgot some papers. Sliding his hand over the switch, he flicked off the lights to his lecture hall and shut the door behind him, letting the door handle lock automatically with a click! Students and teachers were still milling about the hallways, lingering like no one wanted to leave just yet. Jupiter didn’t have the same reservations; he wanted to get back home and relax.

​

The walk out to the car was uneventful–though he did stop to talk with one of his fellow professors about the upcoming district meeting next week–and the drive back home even more so.

​

He pulled into the driveway behind Uranus’s white car (it wasn’t like he’d be going anywhere with all the preparations he still needed to get done) and parked it. Regardless, Uranus could just take Jupiter’s car anyway. They were all on the same insurance, so they would occasionally borrow each other’s cars when there was a blockage in the driveway, though Saturn certainly had a preference for his own SUV over either his or Uranus’s car. If they ever moved again, they’d definitely be looking at houses with a three-car garage but they were still a few years out from making a decision like that. They were perfectly happy with the house they had, though maybe the location could be better–but Jupiter digressed.

​

He grabbed his bag from the floorboard and stepped out of the car, locking it with a click of a button before heading into the house through the garage door. The house was unusually quiet and the atmosphere that lingered throughout was tense like something had happened that he wasn’t aware of. Normally, Saturn would already be rushing to greet him just from hearing the door open but the blonde was nowhere to be seen.

​

Jupiter hooked his bag onto the coat rack in front of the door with a frown, “I’m home!”

​

He was met with silence.

​

Jupiter walked further into the house, through the kitchen and down the long hallway that connected to their bedroom before he heard the first sounds of life. Tiny sniffles, muffled by the closed door, came from inside of their bedroom. His chest constricted with worry at the sound. He stood there for a second, listening while he tried to decipher who he was hearing before he gave up and twisted the doorknob open.

​

The sniffles instantly stopped as the door swung open. Jupiter walked into the room to see Saturn perched on the end of the bed, huddled into a ball. His golden eyes were red-rimmed and holding back tears. His demeanor was small and timid, so unlike the Saturn that Jupiter had come to know over the years. Jupiter stopped in front of the other, hands cupping his face. He used his thumbs to rub some of the tension out of his trembling jaw. He noticed with displeasure that it looked like Saturn had been crying for a while, his tanned cheeks streaked with faint red tear tracks.

​

“Hey,” Jupiter said gently, “What’s wrong, honey?”

​

“It’s,” Saturn interrupted himself with an involuntary sniffle, “Nothing.”

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“You crying alone in our bedroom isn’t nothing, Saturn. What happened?”

​

“Nothing, nothing… You know me, Jupiter, I can get emotional over the-the smallest of things. Really, it’s nothing.”

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Jupiter rose a brow, “Saturn, be honest with me. I know you and I know this isn’t nothing.”

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“I got home early from the shoot today and I brought some food for Uranus and I but… When I asked him to take a break, Uranus just snapped. He was yelling at me and saying that I didn’t understand and I—I’ve never seen him look so angry before, especially not at me. I started crying and I’ve been in here ever since,” the blonde finished, tears already gathering on his waterline once more.

​

“That… doesn’t sound like him,” Jupiter said, toying with his lip between his teeth as he thought back to the last time he’d interacted with Uranus earlier that morning, and hadn’t sensed any of the hostility Saturn was describing from the other.

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“I promise I’m not making this up,” Saturn said like he was begging for Jupiter to believe him, “I’ve never seen him like that and I can tell something is wrong but-but he wouldn’t talk to me, Jupiter. He just kept yelling and yelling until I finally left him alone.”

​

The man responded at first by wrapping the other into a firm hug, rubbing up and down his back as he sobbed, before he said in a low voice, “Hey, I believe you. I promise. I’m just worried because this sounds very unusual for Uranus.”

​

“I’m worried too, b-but I didn’t know how to handle it myself,” he could feel the other’s tears on his neck which only further added to his concern.

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“You don’t have to, Saturn. I’m glad you didn’t let things escalate. You did the right thing by waiting for me to get home,” Jupiter comforted, “How about I change into some house clothes and we can go check on him again together?”

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Saturn pulled away from the embrace to wipe his face, sniffling softly, “I don’t want him to see me like this. I don’t want him to feel guilty or like it’s a confrontation about having made me cry. I cry so easily and you know how he gets…”

​

And Jupiter did know so he just nodded, “That’s okay. Let me change real quick and then I’ll go see how he’s doing.”

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Saturn wiped his eyes one last time, already looking more at ease, “I’ll be in the bathroom. I need to wash my face so I don’t have a breakout before my photoshoot tomorrow.”

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Jupiter placed a kiss on his forehead, “Sounds good.”

​

He stepped back, fingers already loosening the striped tie around his neck and lazily placing it around the bedpost along with the various other ties he’d left there over the course of the week. Saturn stood and wandered into the connected bathroom, his presence already seeming much lighter now that he’d talked over what upset him. Jupiter lifted his sweater vest over his head and set it to the side before he unbuttoned his shirt with practiced ease.

​

His thoughts were overtaken with concern. It’s true that Uranus had been a little more… intense recently,  but Jupiter had simply chalked it up to nerves. This gallery show was a big deal. He’d been invited to collaborate with several other artists who he looked up to as an artist. To Uranus, this was his chance to prove himself.

​

His stress, though, had manifested into social avoidance. He didn’t spend as much time outside of his studio with them as he used to, instead preferring to stay cooped up with the paint fumes than coming out for breaks. The three of them hadn’t had a simple dinner together in almost a week, much to Saturn’s dismay. While the blonde knew that Uranus needed more space and alone time than other people, he drew the line at two days without a meal together. This time, he’d let it go only because Uranus was truly behind in terms of preparing for the show.

​

Now, Jupiter was beginning to think that maybe they should’ve been a little more insistent.

​

He stepped into the walk-in closet and fully finished stripping out of his work clothes before dressing in a black Star Wars shirt with a cracked retro graphic of the Millennium Falcon and a pair of plaid pajama pants. When he walked back into the room, he could hear the running water of the bathroom sink on the other side of the wall and wish as the gentle humming that Saturn often filled the air with when he was bothered by something–something being the situation with Uranus, no doubt. Jupiter opened his mouth to announce that he was leaving before closing it again with a shake of his head. Saturn would know where he went.

​

He padded back into the hallway, backtracking to the room a couple doors down. He leaned in, nearly pressing his ear against the wood in an attempt to listen for the soft music that Uranus normally played while painting but was met with almost unnerving silence.

​

“Uranus?” He slowly clicked the door open and poked his head in.

​

The light blue-haired man was standing hunched in front of a wooden easel, a long, thin paintbrush gripped in hand. The canvas–from what he could tell at the awkward angle–depicted a nearly finished landscape portrait of a glassy mountain lake surrounded by vibrantly colored wildflowers. Forgetting his worries just for a moment, Jupiter’s heart swelled with pride for his partner’s talents. It was no wonder that he’d been asked to take part in the gallery show when he could create such beautiful paintings that seemed to come alive the longer he looked on.

​

But that pride was squashed by the memory of what brought him here when Uranus turned to him, face set in a weird grimace that didn’t quite match his clouded eyes. He was horribly pale with a shiny sheen on his forehead and over his cheeks from sweat. His braid was unkempt and several strands had fallen out, framing his face in a messy halo of light blue. He looked small in his dirtied apron which was cinched too tight at the waist.

​

Jupiter could tell he was unwell the second he laid eyes on him.

​

“Hello, dear, are you feeling alright?” he said, pushing down his worry as best he could despite knowing it probably showed all over his face–yes, he was terrible at poker.

​

“Just,” the responding voice was strained, like Uranus was barely holding himself together, “Stressed, mate.”

​

“Maybe a break would help you relax a little,” he offered but Uranus was shaking his head before Jupiter could even finish his sentence.

​

“I don’t have time for that right now. I’m-I’m almost finished with this painting… and then I have one more to get through for the gallery. I’m almost done. I just need—” He cut himself off with a grimace and put a hand to his forehead.

​

“Uranus, you need food and rest.”

​

“I don’t have time,” he stressed again, eyes narrowing defiantly, “I don’t need you and Saturn on my case, right now. This show is too important.”

​

Jupiter would probably regret using this method but he didn’t know how else to get through to Uranus because it was clear that enough was enough. If he left him here to work any longer, he would surely collapse.

​

“Important enough that you needed to yell at Saturn?”

​

Guilt flashed across his face before it settled into something akin to bitter annoyance, “He told you—Of course. You’re here to-to yell at me now, aren’t you? Well, get it over with, mate. I don’t have time!”

​

That… didn’t quite get the reaction he’d been hoping for. He’d expected the slight dig to snap some sense into him, make him realize how out of the norm he was acting but it only seemed to irritate him further.

​

“No, Uranus, I am not here to yell at you,” Jupiter backtracked cautiously with his hands raised like he was soothing a wild dog, “I’m here because I’m worried about you, dear. I know this show means a lot to you, but you need to take a break. You look like you’ve been running on paint fumes for the past few days.”

​

And that probably wasn’t far from the truth, knowing Uranus.

​

Then, Uranus’s face grew almost desperate like he was rapidly losing the will to fight, “I’m-I’m almost done with these paintings and then—”

​

“The paintings will be here tomorrow, dear,” he said in a tone that left no room for argument, “Let’s go get some food in you and we can retire early tonight. How does that sound?”

​

“I’m…” Uranus trailed off, suddenly looking very confused, “What?”

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“Let’s go eat and then we can go to bed,” Jupiter steadied his shoulders to keep him from swaying, “Hey, are you okay?”

​

He settled the back of his hand on the other’s forehead, noting how it felt cold and clammy. Uranus almost seemed to lean into the touch, lids fluttering shut for a second before snapping open once again revealing the glassy sheen over his pale blue eyes. He looked like he was seconds from falling over.

​

“’m okay, jus’… Bed?” he mumbled, eyelids lightly fluttering.

​

He nodded. Maybe going to bed first wasn't such a bad idea. They could always bring food into their bedroom for him later.

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“Yeah,” Jupiter agreed softly, “Can I help you clean up?”

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Uranus looked lost, eyes flickering around the room like he’d never seen it before, “I-I thought we were going to bed?”

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The man furrowed his brow as he looked past the other to the mess that had accumulated in the studio, “Don’t you need to clean your brushes first?”

​

Uranus turned back to the easel, to the array of brushes and paint tubes that were littered around his work space, and just stared like his hands didn’t know where to start. Jupiter stepped beside him and braced one hand along his upper back. The smaller man stood there for a second, before he slowly reached forward and started shoving paint brushes into the bucket of murky paint water beneath his easel, bristles pointed down, with shaking hands.

​

Jupiter had never seen him treat his brushes with such a careless attitude before, though he was quick the chalk it up to whatever illness had taken hold of the other. He looked to the canvas again and wondered how Uranus could produce such a wonderful piece while obviously feeling so out of it. It must be another indication of his talent to be able to pull off such a feat.

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After all the brushes had been gathered and deposited into bucket, Uranus turned back to him, “There, mate. Can we… Bed?”

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“You’re just going to leave them in water overnight?” Jupiter asked with a frown.

​

“Mate,” the tone bordered on pleading.

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“Ok, ok, I’m sorry. I just—Well, it doesn’t matter,” his voice, low and gentle, petered off into silence as he reached behind Uranus and plucked one of the ends of the messy bow he’d tied his apron with and pulled until the knot came loose.

​

He carefully lifted the neck loop over the other’s head and set it off to the side, one hand still bracing his wobbling form. Wordlessly, Jupiter led the smaller man, who followed the guiding pressure, out of the room and back down the hall into their bedroom. Each step forward was shaky and unsure, like he was seconds from tumbling to the ground. Jupiter had half the mind to scoop him up and carry him right to bed himself but he had no way to tell how Uranus would react to that. He didn’t want to risk upsetting the other while he was so… unpredictable.

​

Saturn was still in the adjacent bathroom, religiously applying and reapplying his numerous skincare products to the area beneath his eyes and still humming just as he’d been before Jupiter left. The man made eye contact with gold eyes for a moment in the small sliver of mirror he could see from the cracked door of the bathroom and grimaced, already knowing it would convey what he felt: this isn’t good. The blonde nodded in the reflection, but made no move to join them, content to let Uranus readjust before they acknowledged each other after the light blue-haired man’s heated outburst earlier.

​

Jupiter turned his attention toward Uranus again, “Let’s get you changed out of those clothes.”

​

A miserable look had settled over his face, “I feel… bad.”

​

He guided Uranus into the walk-in closet with the hand that hadn’t left the space between his shoulders since they left the studio, “Bad?”

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“I think ‘m just-just tired.”

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Jupiter hummed as he plucked one of his t-shirts off the hanger and handed it to Uranus, “You can wear this. Do you want pajama pants too?”

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Uranus took the shirt with a confused expression, “But this is yours?”

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“I don’t mind if you wear it,” Jupiter responded, brows furrowed, “But if you would rather wear one of yours, that’s okay, too.”

​

Uranus tightened his grip on the shirt as he seemingly stumbled over nothing, swaying forward slightly before overcorrecting and slamming backward into the rack that held Saturn’s numerous amounts of luxury clothing. The sound that escaped from his lips could only be described as a pitiful whine. It made Jupiter’s heart clench with fear as his hands shot out to steady him once more.

​

“I need,” Uranus was practically panting out the words, “to sit.”

​

“I’ve got you,” Jupiter was quick to pull the other against his chest to give him something to lean against as he bent down to hook his arm underneath his shaking knees and lift him into a bridal carry.

​

He carried the light blue-haired man out of the closet, careful not to knock his head or legs against the doorframe, and set him on the end of the bed in the same place Saturn had been perched before. Uranus was as white as a sheet of paper and his face was tinted with a borderline greenish hue. Jupiter wondered if he was about to get sick, eyes darting around for the small trash can they kept in the room before realizing he couldn’t grab it without leaving the other’s side. He didn’t want to test if the other could support himself without toppling off the bed onto the floor.

​

“Uranus?”

​

Blue eyes blinked slowly.

​

Jupiter swallowed down his gut reaction to panic, “Uranus? Are you okay?”

​

“Mmm,” finally came the pitiful response as his eyes fluttered shut and he leaned forward against Jupiter’s chest as best he could while being seated.

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“Is everything alright?” Saturn appeared in the doorway of the bathroom, fingers idly playing with a crisp white hand towel.

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“I think Uranus is sick,” Jupiter said carefully as he brushed the loose strands of light blue hair from the other’s forehead, “Very sick.”

​

Saturn abandoned the towel in the bathroom and walked closer, eyes fixated on Uranus’s pallid face which was still half buried in his chest, “He doesn’t look good, Jupi. Should we bring him to the hospital?”

​

“I don’t know,” he admitted uncertainly, and he hated that feeling more than anything. “I think he just needs rest and if he doesn’t look better in the morning we can take him to an urgent care clinic. Hopefully he can just sleep it off.”

​

“Saturn?” Uranus croaked breathlessly.

​

“I’m here, darling,” the blonde grabbed one of his sweaty hands and squeezed gently, eyes swimming with guilt, “I didn’t realize you were feeling so bad, Uranus. I would’ve made you rest earlier if I had known.”

​

“Saturn,” he said again, “I’m-I’m sorry—”

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Saturn swooped in closer to press a kiss against his temple, “Oh, it’s alright. I know now it’s just because you were feeling sick.”

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“I just,” Uranus swallowed hard, lip trembling, “I don’t know.”

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“It’s okay, Uranus, we are going to take care of you, now. Can I help you change into this sleep shirt?” Jupiter asked while gesturing to his shirt which was still clenched in Uranus’s other hand.

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Uranus groaned pitifully, “‘m tired.”

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“We can go to sleep right after this, okay?” Jupiter said as he helped ease his beige sweater off and replaced it with his shirt which was much too big on him. “There. Get settled in, dear.”

​

Luckily, he was still wearing a pair of sweatpants so Jupiter didn’t bother trying to put him in something else. Those would be comfortable enough for tonight. Stars, Uranus looked so tired he could've probably fallen asleep in a tuxedo.

​

The light blue-haired man didn’t wait for any further prompting as he crawled further into the bed and unceremoniously flopped himself in the middle of the mattress, tucking himself beneath the duvet. Jupiter slid in on his right, followed by Saturn on his left. The smaller man nuzzled into him like he was searching for warmth until he was practically lying on top of him. Jupiter held him close but passed a worried glance to Saturn who seemed to be having the same thought, if his confused expression was anything to go by.

​

Uranus notoriously hated sleeping in the middle, usually preferring to sleep on either of the ends while Jupiter and Saturn would trade who got the other end. The fact that he’d willingly settled into the middle without losing some sort of bet or falling victim to Saturn’s begging only attested to how bad he must be feeling. Jupiter cupped the back of his head, idly scrapping his fingernails across Uranus’s scalp until his breathing evened and the tension melted out of his body.

​

After a few minutes of silence, Saturn spoke in a soft voice, “He really looks sick, Jupiter.”

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“I know,” Jupiter exhaled through his nose, “He nearly fainted in the closet. I’m beyond a little concerned for him but I do think he will feel better after some food and rest. Did he eat anything earlier?”

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Saturn’s expression soured with the fresh memory of his earlier interaction with Uranus, “Not with me. I don’t know if he ate before I got home.”

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“I texted him a reminder to eat lunch, but he never even read it.”

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“We’ll need to make sure he eats a very nutritious breakfast before he does anything else, then,” the blonde reached out and grabbed ahold of Uranus’s braid so he could slide the elastic hair tie off the end and let the strands unravel, “I do hope he feels better in the morning.”

​

“Me too, honey,” Jupiter said quietly.

​

It was hard to see one of his partners looking so ill. Normally, it was Saturn who got sick, with all the traveling he had to do for his modeling agency or even Jupiter himself with all the students he came into contact with on a near-daily basis. Uranus rarely got sick without first catching it from one of them, and as far as Jupiter knew, both of them were perfectly healthy. So how had he…?

​

Well, he was even more thankful now that he wouldn’t be needing to leave the house tomorrow. He could just grade papers in bed beside Uranus while he recovered from whatever illness he’d come down with and if needed, he’d be able to take the other to the doctor in the morning, though hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. He just needed some rest.

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And then, as if the universe wanted to prove him wrong, Uranus’s body tensed unnaturally against his chest as a strangled groan left his lips, sending the ends of his hair sticking up straight. Jupiter rushed to steady him with his hands, feeling the definition of his hardened muscles even through his sleep shirt and frowning.

​

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Jupiter asked urgently as he carefully rolled Uranus’s frighteningly tense body off of him so he could get a better look at his face, “Uranus?”

​

His back was arched off the mattress unnaturally, face frozen still with his wide, unseeing eyes looking up and to the right. He didn’t even look like he was alive; he was so motionless.

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Saturn gasped and scrambled out of the bed, “Oh my god! Wh-What’s wrong with him?!”

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Jupiter carefully cupped his face, “Uranus? Uranus, can you hear me?”

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Uranus made no indication of being aware, just continued looking off into the distance like he was stuck. Jupiter gasped when he realized his pale lips had taken on a starkly inhuman bluish tone. He flew upright and threw the blanket as far off of them as he could.

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“He’s not breathing,” Jupiter said suddenly, body sliding off the bed but remaining close enough that he was still within arms' reach of Uranus’s stiffened body. “He’s not breathing.”

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“What?!” Saturn wailed, already crying. “Oh my god, is he dying?! I-I knew something was wrong but I–I just–Oh my god!”

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Then, as if the puppet strings holding him up had been cut, his body dropped. Jupiter’s heart seized with fear and he watched Uranus’s limbs begin to curl up and jerk around wildly. His head spasmed to the side, twisting so that his head nuzzled into the pillow. Pale blue eyes were rolled into the back of his head and his eyelids were fluttering rapidly. His bluish-purple lips were pulled back to show off his clenched teeth, foamy spit sitting in the corners of his mouth. It looked like something straight out of a graphic horror film.

​

But this wasn’t a horror film.

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This was real life playing out in front of him and Jupiter could do nothing but stand there and watch as Uranus moved like he was fighting against some invisible force. Distantly, he knew what was happening. He’d seen this kind of thing in his first aid trainings, he just–he just couldn’t think of anything other than what should I do? He couldn’t focus on anything other than the way Uranus’s teeth were grinding against each other–not Saturn’s distressed cries, or even the way his own breathing had sped up in panic.

​

Then, after what felt like hours but could have been more than a minute or two, Uranus’s body fell still. Jupiter was crawling onto the bed again in an instant, something in his body having finally kick-started. He used the hem of his shirt to wipe away the drool that had gathered and leaked from the corners of Uranus’s half-open mouth as he rolled him onto his side, allowing more saliva to flow out of his airways and out onto the mattress. Jupiter didn’t care about the mattress, not when–

​

“Uranus?!” Jupiter’s voice was tight.

​

There was no response.

​

“We—We need to take him to the hospital!” Saturn was still crying, snot and tears dripping down his face, “Sh-Should we c-call an ambulance?”

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“I think it’s–it’d be better if we drive,” Jupiter said, more reasoning with himself than responding to Saturn, “It’s about the same wait time anyway and it’ll be cheaper in the long run. If–When he regains consciousness, I’ll carry him to the car and you can sit with him in the back.”

​

“But what if–”

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He was interrupted by a low moan followed by the sound of a choked gag coming from the other. Jupiter placed his hand on Uranus’s back and began rubbing up and down, trying his best to soothe away some of the tension that had gathered in the tight muscles. Pale blue eyes fluttered open, though there was a lack of awareness within them. He looked about as close to being dead as Jupiter could imagine a living person being and that thought alone terrified him.

​

“Uranus?”

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Another gag, this time followed by a string of bile escaping his lips and pooling beneath his mouth on the mattress. Jupiter readjusted the smaller’s head so that the vomit wasn’t getting trapped in his airway, shushing gently at the responding whimpers and trying desperately to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach. He had to keep it together for both Uranus and Saturn.  

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Then, finally, the light blue-haired responded in a quiet, broken voice, “J-Jupes?”

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Saturn finally seemed to get his wits about him and crawled onto the bed as well at the sound of Uranus’s sweet voice, though his words were still tinged with hysteria, “You’re alive! Uranus, oh my god, you’re okay! Don’t ever do that again, baby. Please, don’t do that again.”

​

Jupiter should probably work on calming Saturn down but he was too busy soaking in the relief of hearing Uranus say his name. His eyes burned with the need to cry–no, sob. He wanted to pull the smaller man into his arms and never let go, as if that could protect him from his own body going haywire in a spastic form of self-sabotage.

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“D-do wha…?”

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He breathed a sigh of relief that Uranus didn’t know what had happened because that meant he probably hadn’t been conscious during the… what was it? The shaking and jerking, Jupiter knew he’d seen it before but–well, none of that mattered right now.

​

He set a hand on Saturn’s upper arm, silencing whatever response the blonde was about to give, and said, “We’re going to the hospital. Is it alright if I carry you to the car?”

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Big glassy eyes blinked up at him, “Hos–pital?”

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Even though it wasn’t really an answer, he took it as one anyway. Uranus needed a doctor and he needed one now. Jupiter gathered the smaller’s body within his arms and lifted him off the bed. He made a sound but offered no protest, probably too confused to even register what a hospital even was. He was lighter than he should’ve been and still just as clammy as before. His head flopped against Jupiter’s shoulder with each hurried step towards the front door.

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“Saturn, can you run ahead and grab my keys from my bag hanging on the rack by the garage door?” Jupiter asked as he turned into the foyer and toed on a pair of slippers that felt too tight around his feet; they probably weren’t even his but he didn’t want to set Uranus down just to find his own.

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Saturn, who was following close behind, had stopped crying, though he still let out a pitiful sniffle every once in a while, “O-Of course!”

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The blonde made a dash through the house, disappearing and reappearing with the keys in hand in less than a minute. He slipped around Jupiter and opened the front door, aiming the key fob at the car in the driveway and unlocking it by pressing the button more times than was probably necessary.

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“Ok,” Saturn said, breathing hard, already rushing out of the door, “Let’s go!”

​

Jupiter quickly carried Uranus down the path to the driveway, using muscle memory to guide him through the dark. Night had settled over the town much faster than he’d anticipated, but maybe that meant there would be fewer people on the road now that the sun’s orange glow had nearly disappeared beneath the horizon.

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Saturn was already by the car, opening the door for them by the time Jupiter had made it down to the driveway with Uranus in tow.

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“Get in first so you’ll be able to help support him,” Jupiter nodded toward the backseat. “I’ll hand him to you.”

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With a wordless nod, Saturn slid into the middle seat before gesturing for him to place Uranus in the seat next to him. Jupiter stooped down low, careful of Uranus’s head, and set him down in the backseat, leaning him over onto Saturn so he wouldn’t tilt back out of the car. Saturn quickly adjusted the seatbelt over his practically limp body before adjusting his head to lie on his shoulder. Jupiter quickly shut the car door before circling around the driver’s side and fastening himself into his own seat.

​

He powered on the car with a click of the ignition button and quickly backed out of the driveway, driving much faster than he should on residential roads to speed up the drive to the hospital. As he drove, he would spare a glance at the two in the rear-view mirror every so often to silently reassure himself that they were still alive. Uranus had begun softly crying onto Saturn’s shoulder, babbling incoherently while the blonde shushed him through his own tears.

​

Jupiter had to tune them out for his own sanity. He couldn’t listen and pay attention to the road at the same time, even if usually his multitasking skills were pretty good.

​

Just focus on the road, Jupiter, he told himself. Go faster!

​

But he also wasn’t going to endanger them anymore by listening to his internal desires to put the pedal to the metal. All he had to do was get them to the ER as quickly and as safely as he possibly could… and if he honked his horn a couple of times, well, who was counting?

​

Just as he turned onto the same road the hospital was on, he heard a sharp inhale come from the backseat, followed by the return of Saturn’s wails, “Jupiter! He’s-He’s–It’s happening again!”

​

Jupiter looked into the rear-view mirror to see Uranus with his eyes rolled in the back of his head, arms ramrod straight just as they’d been before. And then, within seconds, he began spasming against his seatbelt, body leaping off of Saturn’s and slamming directly into the car door hard enough that he would surely end up with several bruises. It took a great amount of strength to remain composed as Jupiter redirected his eyes back onto the road, foot pressing a hair harder onto the gas pedal.

​

“We’re almost there, honey. It’s going to be okay. Just keep him from hurting himself if you can. Protect his head from hitting against anything hard. It’s okay. It’s okay,” and he didn’t know who he was trying to reassure more at that point, himself or Saturn.

​

All Jupiter could hear was the sound of rustling fabric, and the choked cries of Saturn as he rushed down the road, frantically changing lanes and maneuvering around the countless cars that were just going too slow. It took everything within him not to start sobbing with relief when he saw the hospital complex come into view just past the trees lining the rod. He reached over and flicked on his hazard lights, speeding up even faster as he followed the sign pointing toward the ER drop-off area.

​

His hands jerked the wheel involuntarily as he heard the sound of skin-on-skin contact followed by a pained cry from Saturn, “What?! What happened?!”

​

“His-his arm flew out and hit me!” Saturn sobbed, “Oh my god! Jupiter, what do we do?!”

​

Jupiter didn’t even bother responding as he whipped the car into the drop-off area, already unbuckling his seatbelt before he’d even stopped the car, and screeched to a halt as close to the door as he could get. He turned back towards the other two, cursing loudly when he saw that Uranus was now slumped over, still shaking against Saturn’s thighs while the other cradled as much of him as he could without risking another hit to the face but the force of his movements seemed to be slowing down just as they had before.

​

He threw open the door, and rushed into the Emergency Room lobby, startling the woman behind the desk with his sudden appearance, “We-We need help! My partner is-is–I don’t know! He’s unconscious and shaking!”

​

The woman quickly regained her composure and brought a walkie-talkie to her mouth, “I think we’ve got a seizure in drop-off. Can I get some nurses out here?”

​

She waited for some kind of affirmation before setting the device back onto her desk. Within seconds, a team of three rolled into the lobby with an empty gurney, headed straight for the car he’d haphazardly parked halfway onto the curb. He sent the woman a grateful nod before rushing to flank the team on their way out into the drop-off zone. Jupiter rushed ahead and opened the back door, revealing Uranus who was fully sprawled across Saturn’s lap, twitching painfully though the movements were nothing compared to what they had been at the start of it. The blonde was back in hysterics, hands fisted into the shirt Jupiter had let Uranus borrow like it was a lifeline. A purple, puffy bruise was beginning to form right beneath his left eye where the smaller man had presumably struck him.

​

“Jupiter!” Saturn cried like he couldn’t contain himself any longer, “Oh! Thank god!”

​

One of the nurses nudged Jupiter to the side to allow her a better view of the situation. She nodded back at the other two who were already setting up the gurney, “We got convulsions. Looks like the tail end of it. Does he have a type of seizure disorder or diabetes, sir?”

​

“No. No to both. Th-This is the second one today. We started driving directly after he gained consciousness from the first one and the second came in the car,” Jupiter responded, doing his best to keep his voice even. “I have no idea what triggered them. He seemed really confused and irritable and-and sick. I thought he was sick.”

​

“Can you help him?” Saturn’s face was dripping with tears, staining his cheeks with faint red lines.

​

“We got ‘im,” She said with an air of confidence that had him relaxing unconsciously, “The seizure appears to be over so we are going to load him onto the gurney and take him in to get some vitals.”

​

Another man approached the open car door, “I’ll grab his head and shoulders, you get his legs.”

​

The two assumed a position that looked like they’d done it a million times before, “1, 2, 3, lift!”

​

And just like that, they were loading Uranus onto the gurney. Several handing hands were stabilizing him onto his side, tilting his head to allow for a clear airway. Jupiter watched his eyes blink open once again, listened as he whined high and shrill, and stood still as the team of nurses rolled him back into the ER.

​

…

​

To Be Continued

Chapter Text

They were instructed to wait in the near-empty lobby while a valet driver parked the car in an actual parking spot. It had been about fifteen minutes since Uranus had been rolled out of sight and Jupiter’s heart still hadn’t calmed in the slightest. He’d already filled out all the paperwork with the secretary at the front desk, as well as handed over their health insurance information which thankfully went through without a problem–the last thing they needed right now was to fight with the insurance company.

In the rush to get to the hospital, he had left his phone at home–probably in the pocket of his work pants. Saturn, thankfully, had the foresight to grab his own before they left, which Jupiter used to message Neptune and inform him of what happened while also asking if he had any more insight on Uranus’s medical history. The other had called him nearly the second his text went through. Neptune was already halfway through leaving his apartment when Jupiter accepted the call but was quickly talked out of making the trek to the hospital when he reminded him that visiting hours were definitely over at this hour and he probably wouldn’t be let in. The call ended shortly after that after Neptune confirmed that he had no other additional information–he’d never seen or heard about Uranus having a seizure prior to this–to offer. He made Jupiter promise to keep him updated, to which the man easily agreed and they exchanged quiet goodbyes before disconnecting the call.

Since then, Jupiter had nothing to do other than sit in one of the uncomfortable chairs that lined the walls of the waiting area and stress himself out with what-ifs. The waiting was driving him insane. Every second away from Uranus passed by torturously slow and the minutes dragged on like hours. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take without an update on the other’s condition. He’d never had a problem with being patient until today, though he’d argue he was valid in his impatience. He just wanted answers. 

Saturn, who sat so close he was nearly in his lap, was an absolute wreck. He’d long since run out of actual tears but dry sobs still wracked his body periodically. His voice was so torn from the force of his wailing that he hardly even sounded like himself. A nurse had stopped by with an ice pack for him to put on his growing black eye which he kept plastered over the bruise to reduce the rapid swelling, though it didn’t look like it was doing that much. 

Jupiter kept an arm slung over the blonde’s shoulder, occasionally rubbing his bicep in a soothing gesture. It was all he could do to provide comfort, words having long lost all meaning to Saturn the moment he had been blocked from following after the gurney (he’d nearly lost it and fell to the floor). He couldn’t even muster up an it’s going to be okay because what if it wasn’t? What would they do if Uranus didn’t recover? How would they live with themselves? There were just too many unknown factors and Jupiter–despite never having been superstitious before this–wasn’t going to risk jinxing this. 

Uranus is strong. He’ll push through this, Jupiter tried to remind himself as his anxiety grabbed a hold on him, the doctor will come in any second now and say that he made a turn-around and he was doing just fine. 

But when the doctor–a man who introduced himself as Dr. Asclepius–came into the lobby, the look on his face was grave in a way that made Jupiter’s heart drop to the floor. He barely held himself back from grabbing the doctor and shaking him back and forth while demanding answers. 

“If you’ll follow me back to his room,” the man said after he shook both their hands, “We can discuss Mr. Uranus’s condition on the way.”

He led them through the same two doors that Uranus had disappeared behind, revealing a long hallway lined with doors. Nurses dressed in dark blue scrubs walked from room to room carrying various supplies with them. Another team of three wheeled by them with a gurney, holding a pregnant woman who looked like she was going into labor but quickly redirected his attention to the doctor when he finally began speaking. 

“We have identified what I believe to be the cause of the seizures and are actively working on treating the issue right now,” Dr. Asclepius said as he flipped through the clipboard in his hand. “His vitals are within the expected range for his condition.”

“Which is?” Jupiter prompted impatiently.

“Ah, well, he appears to be suffering from severe hypoglycemia which is to say that his blood sugar levels are critically low. After identifying the issue, we began treatment with a glucagon injection because he was too disoriented and nauseous to eat,” he flipped the page and made a grumbling noise. “But he didn’t respond to the first round of it so we had to administer a second dose.”

“So is he alri–ght then?!” Saturn’s voice cracked so pitifully that Jupiter wanted to scoop him up right then and there just so he could kiss away the other’s despair. “Is he okay?!”

“He, thankfully, responded to the second dose within a few minutes and is already regaining some of his strength. He’s conscious but very confused, which isn’t out of the norm for this situation. His blood sugar levels are still low, but not low enough to warrant more glucagon especially now that his consciousness is stable. We will begin the next step of treatment by feeding him simple carbohydrates to continue raising his blood sugar back to a normal level and routinely monitor his vitals about every 15 minutes or so to see if we need to make any other adjustments.”

“So he just… n-needed to eat?” Jupiter asked, stunned that the solution was so simple.

“Correct.”

“B-But I tried to get him to eat and he wouldn’t!” Saturn cried, throwing his hands up in frustration as a fresh round of wet tears bubbled up in his eyes.

The doctor flipped back to the first page and nodded to himself, “I was told you reported that he had been irritable before this?”

“Right,” Jupiter affirmed, “He had a very uncharacteristic outburst earlier today before I got home from work.”

“Again, that’s to be expected for this situation. He was most likely already suffering from moderate hypoglycemia which can cause behavioral changes like irritability, confusion and mood swings. It’s possible that he just wasn’t registering that he needed to eat, which can sometimes happen with prolonged hunger. Eventually, the brain stops sending the signals to eat after being ignored for so long. His outburst and overall condition was most likely due to a combination of these factors.”

“So-So, if I had just pushed him harder to eat,” Saturn’s bottom lip trembled, “None of this would’ve happened?!”

“Saturn,” Jupiter jumped in before the other could get lost down that train of thought, “Please, don’t blame yourself for this, honey. Nobody is at fault. We-We couldn’t have known.”

“He’s right,” Dr. Asclepius said as they came to a stop in front of a closed wooden door and turned to them, face coated in sympathy, “Unfortunately, these things can just happen sometimes. You two were able to get him to us before his condition could worsen even more and now, he is already on the path to recovery. Blaming yourself for something that no one could’ve predicted won’t help him get better, that I can assure you.”

Saturn pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes (while still being careful of the purple bruise under his left), sniffling for a moment before nodding and dropping his hands back down to his sides, “Okay, okay. Can we see him now?”

Dr. Asclepius nodded and opened the door into a small, private room, “Right in here.”

Jupiter stepped into the room, eyes instantly locking onto the figure in the hospital bed. A nurse was at his bedside, fiddling with the wires that connected the other to the numerous beeping machines against the wall. 

Uranus looked so small with his legs swathed in a thin blue blanket that pooled around his hips. He was dressed in a hospital gown that only made his skin look sort of gray. Around the wrist on his right was the hospital bracelet. On the other side, there was an IV needle taped into the back of his left hand. 

The bed was in an upright position, with just enough tilt for him to comfortably lean back into for support. His head was tilted to one side, as it often did unconsciously when he got tired. His eyes, half-lidded and clearly disoriented, were staring down in his lap where he was picking at a stray thread on the blanket‘s hem. 

As Jupiter walked closer, he looked up and his expression lit up minutely with recognition, “Hey… how are you feeling?”

“Jupes,” the voice was so small and weak, it made his heart clench, “Wh-Where’s S’turn?”

Jupiter stepped further into the room, closer to the man he thought he was going to watch die barely an hour ago, “He’s right behind me, dear.”

Saturn quickly side-stepped him and rushed to Uranus’s bedside, “Uranus! Oh, baby, are you alright?!”

Jupiter tuned him out momentarily in favor of acknowledging the nurse who was standing to the side, still fiddling with the slowly beeping machines, “Thank you for taking care of him.”

The woman startled briefly before a kind smile settled over her round face, “It’s no problem at all, sir.”

Then, Dr Asclepius walked to the end of the bed and deposited the clipboard he was holding into the pocket, “I’ll have his nurse go grab him some food shortly and we will start monitoring his blood sugar every fifteen minutes and assess from there. Any questions”

Jupiter raised his hand slightly, “Do you think he’s at risk of having another s-seizure?” 

“Now that we have identified the most likely cause of the seizures and are actively working on raising his blood sugar to a normal level, another seizure is unlikely. Because we are reasonably certain these seizures were caused by severely low blood sugar, we aren’t going to do electroencephalogram testing unless he does have another seizure, which again, is unlikely at this point. Right now, we just want to focus on replenishing his blood sugar.”

“I’ll go grab the food now,” the nurse jumped in. “Does he have any food allergies?”

Jupiter shook his head, “No food allergies.”

“Perfect,” the nurse smiled, eyes crinkling, “I’ll be back with something for him to eat, then.”

“If you need anything from me, ask one of the nurses to call for me. I have a few other patients I need to check on,” Dr. Asclepius said as he followed the nurse out into the hallway. 

The door shut behind them with a quiet click. Jupiter exhaled silently as he turned back to where Saturn was still worriedly hovering at Uranus’s side. 

“—Don’t ever do that again!” 

There was still a confused look on his face like he didn’t quite know what was happening, “Did’n’ wanna…”

“Oh, I know, baby. I bet you were just as scared as we were,” Saturn kissed the side of his head once—with probably a tad more force than necessary—and then a second time just for good measure, “It’s okay now. We’ll take good care of you, Uranus.”

Jupiter pulled a chair from where it was lined up against that wall and positioned it behind Saturn’s legs, “Here you are, Saturn. I have a chair for you to sit in.”

The blonde tossed him a smile over his shoulder, “Oh, thank you, Jupi.”

Saturn took a seat while Jupiter pulled another chair to Uranus other side—the one that was currently hooked into the several beeping machines beside the bed including the IV bag that was dripping into his blood stream and probably replenishing him with the nutrients and vitamins he’d neglected to consume over the past few days. Jupiter sighed with dismay as he thought back to all of Uranus’s obviously disorganized eating habits and realized just how little the man had eaten ever since he’d gotten invited as a participant in the gallery show. How could they have let that go on? How could they have let it get to this point?

He lightly grabbed Uranus’s hand—careful of the IV taped onto the back of it—and frowned at how pale it was compared to his, how clammy it was, how it could only weakly squeeze him back. He’d never thought of Uranus as fragile until now, when he was scared that breathing too hard in his direction might shatter the smaller man into a billion pieces. 

There was nothing they could do about it now aside from make sure Uranus was being more careful with his eating in the future and hope to the stars above that he never had another seizure ever again. Jupiter didn’t think he’d be able to keep it together a third time. 

A knock sounded at the door before the same nurse from before entered the room holding a tray of steaming food and a carton of juice with a red label, “Mr. Uranus, I brought you some food that should be easy on your stomach and will help raise your blood sugar. Just some mashed potatoes and some apple juice. Does that sound alright?”

Uranus perked his head up, “Juice?”

The nurse handed off the tray to Jupiter with a grateful nod as she continued speaking, “Yes, I have juice for you. And you can have as much as you want until we get your blood sugar back up, okay?”

Uranus nodded weakly, already reaching for the juice with the hand that wasn’t still intertwined with his own, “’kay.”

Jupiter locked eyes with the nurse as she turned to leave the room and did his best to project as much gratitude as he could in his voice, “Thank you.”

“Not a problem at all, sir. It’s possible that he won’t be very hungry but please try to get him to eat as much as possible. Use the call button if you need me for anything else. I’ll be back in about 15 minutes to start checking his blood sugar levels.”

With that, the woman stepped out of the room. Jupiter looked down at the tray which held a small bowl of mashed potatoes, a metal spoon set on top of a napkin, and two small packets of salt and pepper as well as the carton of apple juice that Uranus was still reaching for. Jupiter laughed, released his hand and gave him the juice carton, watching as he struggled to open it with the way his fingers refused to cooperate.

“Let me help before you spill it all over yourself, baby,” Saturn said, plucking the juice out of his fingers and gently pulling the top open before handing it back with a wide smile that looked out of place on a face that was still crusted with dried tears, one eye puffy and swollen. “Drink up!”

Uranus wasted no time in following the instructions as he tipped his head back and downed the carton in nearly one gulp. He licked the last remnants of the juice from his top lip with a satisfied hum that had Jupiter chuckling like they weren’t in a hospital room. He could finally feel the tension within him beginning to unwind for the first time since, well, since Uranus had tensed up on top of him probably. He sighed quietly through his nose and watched his partners talk between themselves—though it had mostly devolved into I love you’s and worried begging from Saturn while the other just made noises of general confusion, the empty juice carton still fisted in hand.

“Ease up, Saturn,” Jupiter grabbed the spoon and scooped up a small bite of the potatoes. “He’s going to be okay. We just need to get some food in him.”

Uranus looked at the spoon being held up to his pale pink lips with barely any recognition in his eyes. He furrowed his brows worriedly as he waited for him to recognize the cue to open his mouth. After another second of confused hesitation, Uranus accepted the bite and swallowed. He expected a little slowness from the other—he’d just been through two major medical events after all—but this? This just seemed a little excessive. Uranus looked so confused that he wouldn’t be able to solve 2 + 2 = ? without counting on his fingers. Was that normal? Should he call the doctor back in here to do a test or something?

Just feed him, Jupiter thought to himself. He just needs to eat.

Before Jupiter could scoop up another bite, the man leaned his head back against the bed, “‘m not hungry.”

The nurse did say he probably wouldn’t have a large appetite after all he’d been through that evening… but the thought of watching him go through another seizure now that they knew the cause was too much for Jupiter to bear. 

“I know, dear, but your blood sugar is very low right now. This will help you feel better,” Jupiter lifted the spoon to his mouth once more, “Please eat.”

Uranus whined, long and low, “Ju-pi-ter.”

“Uranus, I’m not going anywhere until this bowl is empty,” Jupiter’s voice suddenly went hard, “You had two seizures because you haven’t been eating enough. You need to eat and I’m going to make sure you do.”

The light blue-haired man accepted the bite with a guilty look on his face, “S’rry.”

“We aren’t mad at you, darling,” Saturn squeezed his other hand gently, eyes already shining again with unshed tears, “But you scared us more than you can imagine.”

Uranus’s eyes flickered over to the blonde—to the black eye, and his expression crumbled even more as he repeated again, “S’turn, I’m s’rry.”

“Oh sweetheart, I know. You can make it up to me by getting better,” Saturn leaned forward over the hospital bed and kissed his forehead, “I’m not going anywhere either, darling. Neither of us are. I promise. Just let us take care of you, now.”

Uranus took the next bite of mashed potatoes without complaint, as if he had accepted his fate. Jupiter breathed a sigh of relief that he wouldn’t have to battle the smaller man over eating the entire time. 

Slowly, they worked through the bowl with light chatter in between bites which mostly consisted of Jupiter and Saturn talking at him while he stared at them in confusion. By the end of it, the - bit of the color had begun to return to Uranus’s face and the haze in his eyes started to clear back into the icy blue that Jupiter had grown used to. 

When the nurse came back, she was holding a small handheld device and a thin strip of paper. Jupiter had to let go of Uranus’s hand for a moment while the nurse positioned the machine over the other’s finger.

“You’ll feel a prick on your finger in, 3, 2, 1,” she counted down until the machine made a sharp click!

Uranus flinched with a small yelp, hand flying to his chest as his face spasmed with pain. The nurse apologized as she reached for the hand and blotted the bleeding tip of his finger onto the thin strip of paper, staining it red with his blood. She then fed it into the machine and waited for a few seconds until the screen flickered to life with the results. 

She hummed approvingly as she quickly wrapped a bandaid around his finger, “His blood sugar is bouncing back fast, now. It’s still lower than I’d like but I think after another round of food, he’ll be—“

“More?!” Uranus whined, squirming in place. “I don’ wan’ more, mate!”

“Juice!” Saturn said suddenly, “How about some more juice, darling?”

Uranus looked down at the empty carton still in his hand, eyes filled with wonder and hope, and raised it toward the nurse, “Juice?”

It took everything in Jupiter to not burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. Sure, Uranus liked juice before, but never quite this much. Maybe it was his body’s unconscious craving for something sugary and sweet that was making him want juice so badly, or maybe Jupiter had simply underestimated how much Uranus liked juice. Either way, he’d never seen anything like this from him before, and honestly it was kind of endearing.

“Do you want another carton of apple juice again?” the nurse asked, taking the odd behavior in stride. “We also have orange juice and cranberry if you’d prefer.”

“Cr’nberry?” He parroted, mouth not quite forming the word correctly.

“Yes, I can go grab that for you, sir,” the nurse then turned to Jupiter, “I think his blood sugar is within a safe enough range that just the juice would be fine for now. I can tell the second wave of fatigue is setting in, and we will want to stabilize his blood sugar before he conks out.”

Jupiter nodded, “I trust your judgment.”

“Then I’ll be right back with some juice!” She said before exiting the room once more.

“J-Juice?” Uranus asked, though he was beginning to sound like a broken record.

“Oh,” Saturn reached out to gently pinch his cheek as he cooed, “How can you be so adorable after all that, darling?”

“Mate!” He squeaked weakly, as he tried to swat away the other’s hand though he lacked the coordination and ended up swatting the empty air.

This time, Jupiter did laugh, unable to contain himself at the familiar sight of Saturn pestering the smaller man, “Don’t rile him up, honey.”

The blonde sat back in his chair with a playful pout on his lips, “Oh, alright. You’re no fun, Jupi.”

“I think we’ve all had more than enough fun for tonight,” Jupiter said, grabbing Uranus’s hand once more.

Saturn seemed to remember where they were and what had brought them there in the first place as a gloomy look passed over his face, “I suppose that’s one way to put it.”

Uranus just looked between them with half-lidded eyes, “Hmm?”

Jupiter lifted the other’s hand to his lips and placed a kiss on his knuckles, “Nothing, dear.”

Uranus accepted the answer easily enough, sinking back further into the hospital bed without another word. Jupiter could tell he was getting more and more sluggish as the minutes passed by. Saturn had pulled Uranus's hair to the side and over his shoulder like where his usual braid would normally sit.

A minute later, the nurse appeared in the doorway again with two cartons of juice—this time with a deep fuschia label, “I brought two for you this time, Mr. Uranus.”

His eyes lit up once more, “Juice?” 

The nurse looked amused as she set one of the cartons into Uranus’s outstretched hand and handed the other off to Saturn, “Yes, sir. I’ll be back in about 15 more minutes to check your blood sugar again. Try to drink both of these if you can.”

Uranus nodded eagerly—or as eagerly as he could with the rapid fatigue settling over him—and ripped apart the seam of the carton before once again struggling to push the lip fully open. Saturn clicked his tongue as he grabbed the carton from the other’s weak grasp and completed the task that Uranus had failed to do himself with a single motion. This time, Uranus only took a long sip instead of downing the cranberry juice in one go, sighing happily into the carton with a slow blink.

It wasn’t long before the first carton was empty, replaced quickly with the other—already opened by courtesy of Saturn. This one was much slower to be drained but Uranus still drank it all before the nurse returned once more with the same little device and a fresh thin strip of paper in hand.

The light blue-haired man warily stuck his finger into the machine, biting his lip in anticipation of the sharp prick that would come. He yelped again when the click came, but kept his hand in place this time. The nurse dabbed up the blood from the fresh prick and slotted it into the machine, waiting a few seconds before it beeped with the results once more. 

“It looks like he’s back at a safe blood sugar level,” she said to Jupiter as she wrapped the tip of the smaller man’s finger in another bandaid. “The best thing for him now is to sleep and give his brain time to recalibrate and recover. We will run a few short tests in the morning just to make sure everything looks good, but unless he has another seizure in the night, we can most likely discharge him before midday tomorrow.”

“But that won’t happen, right?” Saturn cut in with a worried frown. “He’s not going to have another one of those sei-seizures again, is he!?”

“Like the doctor was saying, we don’t anticipate it now that we’ve treated the most likely cause but… seizures can be finicky. We’ll keep a close eye on him tonight just in case, of course. You two are free to leave whenever—“

“Leave?” The blonde asked incredulously, eyes narrowed into a displeased expression, “There must be some confusion because we are not just leaving him here after he nearly d-died in my arms!”

Uranus made a high sound followed by an unintelligible string of words. Jupiter wondered just how much of this situation he actually understood. Did he know what happened? Did he understand how close he had been to dying? Was anything registering at all in his brain or would he forget this all come the morning time?

The woman looked so frightened at the blonde’s sudden hostility that Jupiter felt bad for her. She’d been nothing but nice to all three of them and now Saturn was gearing up for a fight at the suggestion of leaving Uranus here (not that Jupiter could really find it in himself to blame the other for that gut reaction—he felt the same way). But still, she didn’t deserve that kind of treatment.

“Saturn, it’s alright,” he said soothingly before addressing the woman with a much calmer tone, “I’m sorry about that. It’s been a rough night.”

“I-I understand! I’d react the same way if I was in your situation,” she laughed awkwardly, a hand coming up to rub at the back of her neck in a sheepish motion. “I understand not wanting to leave, but… these chairs surely aren’t comfortable enough to sleep in…”

“Then we’ll have to make do,” Saturn said resolutely, as if challenging her to fight him on it. “We aren’t leaving.”

“Saturn,” Jupiter sighed with exasperation. “She is just doing her job, honey.”

The nurse shifted awkwardly in place, “W-Would you like some extra blankets then? If you’re staying the night?”

Jupiter smiled gratefully, thankful that she hadn’t taken Saturn’s reaction personally, “If it’s not too much trouble, ma’am.”

“Not at all!” she headed towards the door again. “I’ll be right back with those. You can adjust his bed into a lying position with the remote while I’m gone.”

And then they were alone in the room once more.

Jupiter shot an unamused look to Saturn, who very obviously was busying himself with adjusting the controls to the bed to avoid returning his gaze. The man sighed. There was no point in reprimanding him, now. Or ever. Jupiter didn’t blame him at all. His gaze shifted to Uranus’s worn out face, head tipped over to the side once more. His tired eyes weren’t more than slits of pale blue as Saturn slowly reclined his bed until it was parallel with the floor.

The thought of leaving him when he was like this didn’t set well with Jupiter either.

The nurse stopped by with two more blankets which she set in a folded stack on the end of the bed.  She gave them a quiet goodnight, before flicking off the lights to the small room and stepping back out into the hallway, door clicking shut behind her. 

Saturn stood from his seat and grabbed a blanket from the pile. Jupiter watched with confusion as the other circled around the bed to where he was seated. He let the thin blue blanket unfold in his hands before swooping in close and wrapping it around Jupiter’s shoulders in a warm hug. Saturn captured his lips in a kiss for several moments before he pulled back. It was too dark to see his face, but the faint light of the moon from the window reflected the tears in his eyes. 

“Thank you, darling,” he whispered, voice thick with emotion. “I don’t think… I… I couldn’t have handled any of that by myself. I’m sorry I wasn’t much help.”

“Saturn…” Jupiter murmured, “You did the best you could, honey.”

“It wasn’t enough.”

“Don’t say that,” Jupiter grabbed his hand and squeezed, noting how the  lack of rings around his fingers made his hand seem so much smaller than his own. “I couldn’t have gotten him here in time without you.”

“I just…” Saturn looked off to the side.

“We saved him, Saturn. We got him here so the doctor could help him in time. Together.”

The blonde blinked away a single tear as he nodded wordlessly and released his hand. He circled around to the other side of the bed once more, sniffling quietly as he went. 

Then, to Jupiter’s surprise, Saturn hoisted himself into the hospital bed and settled up against Uranus’s side. The smaller man instantly nuzzled into the blonde’s chest, though his range of motion was limited by the numerous wires and IV lines still connected to his body.

“I’m here now. I won’t let anything happen to you, baby,” Saturn whispered to Uranus, eliciting a tired hum.

Jupiter pulled the blanket tighter around him as he scooted the chair closer to the side of the bed. He could just barely make out in the low light as Uranus’s eyes snapped open. The heart monitor sped up by just a few beats per second. His hand flailed around in search of Jupiter’s much larger one, calming only marginally when they finally intertwined with each other.

“Jupes… You…” he broke off into a whine so pitiful Jupiter was instantly on edge.

“What’s wrong, dear?”

“The-The bed is… too sm’ll. How w-will you sleep?”

A warm feeling settled over his heart. He certainly wished the bed was big enough for all three of them as well, but since it wasn’t, he was content to let Saturn have the spot and just admire them from his chair. 

Jupiter swiped his thumb over the other’s knuckles in a soothing gesture, urging him silently to calm down, “It’s okay, Uranus. This chair is comfy enough for tonight.”

“But—“

“Shhh,” Saturn carded his long, slender fingers through Uranus’s loose hair, nails scratching lightly at his scalp in light circular motions, “Jupi’s okay. He’ll be alright for tonight, baby, just go to sleep.”

Uranus whined again, “Mate—“

Whatever he was going to say was interrupted once again by Saturn abruptly clearing his throat before his voice shifted into a delicate tune, “Au clair de la lune, mon ami Pierrot."

Uranus quieted as the blonde began singing the French lullaby, accent rolling off the tongue like a native speaker’s would. Jupiter knew Saturn had taken French for all of high school and for their first two years of college and spoke quite fluently during that time, but he hadn’t expected him to still be able to sing in French after so many years. But then again, Jupiter also knew plenty of children’s songs from his time studying German despite not having spoken it in quite sometime so maybe it was the same for Saturn. Either way, he found himself relaxing into the chair as the man continued to sing. His voice was still rough around the edges from his crying, but overall was very pleasant to listen to. 

“Prête-moi ta plume,” Saturn continued carding his hand through the smaller’s silky hair,  “Pour écrire un mot.”

Uranus’s mouth fell open into a long, silent yawn.

“Ma chandelle est morte, je n'ai plus de feu.”

His blinks got heavier, and the seconds between each one dragged on longer than the last, until finally they stopped altogether. The heart monitor steadied out into a steady rhythm of beeps.

“Ouvre-moi ta porte,” Saturn placed a tender kiss to Uranus’s temple, “Pour l'amour de Dieu…”

Uranus was already asleep after the first verse, but Saturn kept going until he’d sung the entire song, never once stopping his hand as it smoothed down the smaller man’s silky light blue roots in gentle motions. 

“Mais je sais qu'la porte, sur eux se ferma…”  his voice trailed off into the peaceful silence, hand falling to cradle Uranus’s cheek where it was pressed into his chest.

Jupiter watched as Saturn’s golden eyes slipped closed, breath evening out with a final airy sigh that sounded like an, “I love you.”

It felt like, for a moment, the world had fallen peacefully still around him. He mindlessly counted the beeps that filled the room, as one might do if they were counting sheep before bed. His thoughts smoothed over with every increment of ten that he counted past. The adrenaline rush he’d been riding on for the last few hours was finally beginning to crash now that he could see right in front of him, that his two loves were safely sleeping. 

He leaned over the bed’s guard rail, pillowing himself with his folded arms, and assumed the most comfortable position he could while keeping his view of Saturn and Uranus clear. He didn’t know how long he stared at them, or even when his eyes had closed, just that he was much too tired to fight off the encroaching urge to fall asleep. The heavy weight of all that had happened lifted just long enough for him to slip away into a dreamless slumber.