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Usually Aki is the first to wake, shuffling around, cracking eggs for breakfast, and even ironing his button-ups. Aki always checks in to make sure that the both are cleaned and fed for their lengthy patrols. He often prides himself when getting all three of them before Makima’s feet at 8:30.
Denji knew having a good routine would allow him to get things done, but what was the point in ironing shirts? After battle they are always bloodied and or ripped up anyways. It’s such a hassle.
But Aki was always as right as rain, every sunday, he would wash all of his white button ups and clear the whole dining area to lay out his ironing board along with his pile of shirts.
The only reason Denji sticks around for this weekly event was to bother Aki, and take up space. But Denji got curious. And so, he had once asked ‘what’s the point?’ He points and waves in the general area of the ironing setup.
“I need to look professional, Denji.”
“To impress who?”
Aki props the iron off of the shirt, he shifts around the sleeve to make it more parallel. He looks up.
“Not impressing anybody, I have to keep up appearance. To show that I’m put together.”
He continues to iron, smoothing out all deformities to make it look alike to a blank canvas.
“Uh huh.” Denji scratches his head.
Denji never really thought of keeping up his own appearance, unless he’s around Makima of course. He subconsciously fixes his posture, or even straightens out his tie.
But still, living on streets didn't really grant him that level of comfort to look great. His number one concern was to fill up his and Pochita’s belly. Survival at its finest…
So you could say Denji was a bit worried this morning, Aki usually doesn't deviate from his routine. Waking up 10 minutes late, sure fine. 20? Ok getting worse, but seriously 40 minutes??
40 minutes of sitting and waiting at the table, they patiently waited for the first 10 minutes. But after that mark, their postures became more slumped. Eventually they both receded to laying.
Power was getting irritated, she kept clutching at her empty stomach and yelling at Denji.
“If topknot doesn’t come and create a dish, I will drink your blood Denji..!” She grumbles.
He deemed these to be empty threats… for now.
On the other hand, Denji kept glancing at Aki’s door frame. Hoping that any minute he would spill through, and be all ready to go. But it never happened.
After 5 more minutes of fidgeting and many curses on Denji’s bloodline, he had finally stood up, sighing.
“Come’on Power, les’ go wake up Aki.” He extended his palm out, Power latched on and launched herself back onto her feet. She was brimming with happiness with the thought of food arriving soon.
As they approached Aki’s door, Denji felt a tickling feeling in his stomach. Nervous for Aki… no, maybe? Worrying for topknot seemed like a dream.
He hadn’t even blinked when Aki went away for a solo mission. He didn’t even cringe at his new injuries… hm, ok maybe he did. Considering that he had to clean some of the cuts adorned on his back.
Aki said that he couldn’t reach them.. Apparently.
No response came from the other side of Aki’s door, even after knocking twice and calling out his name.
“Aki?”
Power nudged herself closer to Denji’s back, grabbing his shirt as if he was an anchor. He felt the heat of her body pressed against his shoulder.
“It smells odd.”
“Odd how?”
“Warm.”
“Hmm..” Denji knew that he wasn’t going to get any more info then that. So, he did the one thing he could only do, opening that damn door.
He doesn’t even care if he gets in trouble, Aki had cemented into his head that he must knock and await for a response before entering. But Denji was tired of waiting, and Power’s odd response led him to this decision.
Denji reaches out and grabs the door knob. He grabs it down and pushes it forward. The morning light illuminates Aki’s whole room, including Aki himself, snuggled into his futon. He looks blanched…
Denji tries again “Aki?” only a small groan came from him. Power grabs onto his shirt tighter.
“Wha’s wrong with topknot?” Power peaks over Denji’s shoulder.
Denji shuffles towards Aki with Power in tow, he drops to his knees beside the futon.
He definitely looks sick. He couldn’t even respond to the call of his name, that’s sad. Not sure what to do, Denji sits there and watches Aki’s uneven breathing.
Usually when Denji was sick, he would ride it out. Back then medicine was out of his tax bracket, but surely Aki had some, right?
He started nibbling at his nails, he can’t be nervous for Aki. This idiot only tolerated him. He didn’t even like him that much… oh his face looks worse by the second. Sweat beads around his forehead, he looks like he’s fighting off a nightmare- his face crumples up.
Denji watches as Aki shifts around trying to fight off his quilt. Denji gets more nervous by the minute, how can he handle this? He’s never taken care of a sickly person, he knows how to cauterize wounds and stitch someone up if necessary. Being sick is a whole ‘nother level.
Denji calm yourself. What would Aki do?
“Power.”
“Huh?”
“Take the quilt off of him, make sure to open one of his windows too. He’s getting too warm. I think he has a fever.”
To confirm, Denji cups Aki’s forehead. Yikes… maybe there’s a thermometer somewhere? As soon as Denji stands, Power gets to work by airing out Aki’s room.
He needs to call Makima. Yes, she’ll know what to do, he needs to call them out of patrol today anyways. Better to tell her why and ask for help as well.
He heads into the kitchen and grabs the receiver, he dials in her number with a couple of clicks, a buzz rings, and a click is heard.
“Hello, this is Makima speaking.”
“Makima!”
“Hi, Denji. You’re late. I presume something happened?”
Denji freezes, what time is it? Crap, it must be past their patrol check-in time.
“Uh.. yes. Sorry. Can you tell me what time it is?”
“It is currently 9:04.”
Denji mentally slaps his face.
“What seems to be the problem Denji?”
“Miss Makima, Aki’s ill. He hasa’ fever and won’t respond to his name. Like at all.”
Denji whips his head to look through Aki’s door frame. He sees Power petting Aki’s bangs aside. She’s whispering something, but he can’t make it out over Makima’s ‘tsk, tsk tsk’.
“Aki did look a bit pale yesterday. He told me he could handle it. It appears he couldn’t.”
Denji shifts his feet nervously. Now that Makima had mentioned it. He did notice Aki’s strange behavior from yesterday. Many times he noticed that Aki used the walls as support, even taking a couple steps left him heaving for air. After watching him struggle, Denji offered to help Aki, but he just shoved him off and said ‘leave me alone’. Really bummer that guy is. And so, Denji just didn’t care, Aki said could take care of himself. He said so. Why would he lie?
“Denji?”
“Yes?”
“I asked what you’ve done for him so far?”
“Huh yes uhm. Just pulled back his quilt and opened a couple of windows. It was a bit stuffy in there. I was planning on checking his temperature too. I just need your help for the next bit, what should I do next?”
Makima hums, he can imagine her nodding as he was ranting.
“Opening the windows was a good step, the thermometer too. Can you go check his temperature for me? I will wait on the line as you go do that.”
“Ok!” Denji sets the receiver on its side.
Thermometer… where would he put the thermometer… their bathroom.. Yes ok probably in one of the drawers.
It wasn’t in the first drawer, not even the second, but after scrambling around in the third. He finally found it. He held it up like he’d just found a diamond in a pile of dirt. He quickly went back into Aki’s room and found Power curled up under his arm.
She seems to be fast asleep… somehow. Denji hates cuddling with her at night because she always ran so warm, and it seems Aki has figured that out too. The left side of his body twitches as Power keeps nuzzling against him, his face scrunches up in displeasure.
“Power! Come’on you're making Aki warmer.”
“Huh?” She rolls off of the futon, making way for Denji.
“If you're sleepy you can go to bed. I told Miss Makima we won’t be coming to patrol today. You can even sleep on my futon if you want.”
She grabs at her stomach once more “Ugh but Denjiiiii, I need sustenance! I cannot sleep until then.”
Denji grumbles.
“I’ll buy your favorite bento from that restaurant a couple blocks down-”
“Deal! Deal! Off to bed I go!!! But if the deal isn’t fulfilled.. Your neck is next in line. Just as palatable.”
Before Denji can respond, a grin spreads across her face as she dashes out of the room, he can hear a faint thud in the background.
Now face to face with Aki, he pries open his slack jaw and sticks the red bit under his tongue. After a faint ‘beep’. He takes the thermometer out and slowly closes Aki’s jaw. He has some decency, ok?
Denji pulls back and flops back onto the futon. He squints at the numbers, he reads…
“39! Oh shoot.”
His feet slip as he failing to catch a grip, darn these wooden floors.
Denji’s back at the receiver.
“I’m back-”
He gives a little pant.
“-the thermometer reads that his fever is 39.”
“Oh my.”
Denji cringes at Makima’s response, if she deems it to be bad, oh man. A shiver crawls up his spine, he isn’t qualified for this. He can barely take care of himself, how is he gonna take care of Aki?
Denji rarely gets sick now (thanks to Pochita!), but on the off hand that he does, it’s usually Aki nursing him. Not full on coddling him, but minimal things like: giving him medicine or handing him a glass of water, or even wetting a towel for his forehead. His actions are so well oiled, it made Denji feel cared for. Even if they are considered simple gestures.
But will Aki feel the same if he tries? Probably not, but Denji can try.
“Since his fever is running a bit high, I recommended a luke-warm bath. Some wet towels for afterwards. And administer some medicine. You got it Denji? Need me to repeat it for you?”
“Ah no, I think I got it all Makima. Bath, towels, medicine. Right?”
“Yes. If you have further questions, please contact me. I hope Hayakawa makes a speedy recovery. Tell him I said ‘hi’”
“Bye, and thank you!”
“Always a pleasure.”
The receiver gives a ‘click’ as he puts it back on the stand.
Alright, step 1: bath. Setting up the bath was easy. He’s done this a million times. Turn a couple of knobs, add some warm water, put in a little cold. After attaining the perfect temperature, he waves his hands through the surface of the water, giving a small splash at nothing.
He then adds a couple of towels nearby for crowd control, and voila. Denji takes a step back, he admires all the step-up he’s done, now he just has to actually bring Aki here to rid him of his fever-sweats.
Now back in Aki’s room, Denji collects all of Aki’s limbs and makes way to the bathing room. He’s surprisingly light, did he lose weight recently? He did skip out on dinner yesterday. Denji pouts.
Maybe his sickness is playing into this. Some soup would do him some good. While he’s out for Power’s bento, he can go get some, perhaps that’ll bring his energy back up. Denji mentally pats himself on the back. Why did he even worry? He’s got this.
Once in the bathroom, Aki has regained some consciousness, so stripping him of his pajamas shouldn't be hard, right?. Wrong.
After taking off his shirt, Aki’s voice of reasoning starts to kick in.
“I don’t need your help. Just-just leave me in my room. I’ll take care of myself.”
Aki attempts to push Denji away. Denji only sneers at him. Even his words are slurring together, great.
“Seriously? You can’t let me help, just this once.” He sticks up his pointer finger for emphasis.
“You couldn’t even walk here, I had to carry you.” He pokes Aki in his clavicle, he wavers back onto the wall for support.
“Hmm.” Aki huffs. And after some waiting, and some foot tapping- he extends his arms out.
“Jus’ get this over with.” His eyelids droop low out of embarrassment.
~
“Jus’ be quick.” Denji mumbles as he sags into Aki. “Yeah, yeah, got it.” Aki grunts out.
He’s barely conscious at this point, he can make a few steps of his own. Aki had to lead his feet for a while. Though nobody sported any serious injuries, Denji particularly lost about a pint of blood. Not very favorable for his brain. He acts all loopy and drained till he can get a fix.
They managed the staircase surprisingly well, and even the hallways, but doors are becoming increasingly more annoying. And all because Power refuses to help, she stands all pretty and waits for Aki (whom is basically carrying Denji) to open the door. Great. After fumbling for the house keys, the door clicks open.
Blood dribbles off of Denji’s clothes and it makes a trail in the hallway. Leaving little dots of red, alike to a trail of bread crumbs. That’s gonna be such a pain to clean… and the house is gonna smell like bleach for a whole week. Last time it was Power’s fault.
“Power! Close the door for me? And come in too, you need a bath.”
A door clicks shut. Thanks Power…
“Neva’! I can merely lick myself clean, extra blood consumption!” She cackles.
Aki grumbles underneath his breath.
He shoulders the door, somehow managing to open it with minimal blood prints spread across it. He slumps Denji onto a wooden stool, quickly peeling off all articles of clothing (even the ones that aren’t dripped in blood). Aki claims he’ll clean it later, but he always asks for replacements almost immediately.
The clothes give a wet thump as a new article gets added, the blood seeps out from underneath, weaving through the grout within the tiles.
Aki gives a look over, checking for any injuries that may have spawned in between. It’s a habit he keeps, just to be safe. And even if he did have one it'd be an easy fix regardless. He doesn’t need to worry too much.
He lets the tap run as he gathers some towels, soap, and a cup. Each time he enters the room with a new item, he spares Denji a glance. He just wants him to be ok.
~
It’s only been about 30 minutes and Aki already wants out. But he had also wanted out 20, and also 10 minutes ago. So Denji didn’t really take his word till now. The reason? He had begun shivering, violently. That caused Denji to jump up immediately to take action.
He stands parallel to the bath, holding out both hands, awaiting Aki to reciprocate the position back. But all he does is give Denji a mean mug.
“I thought you were gonna comply? I-I just need to dry you off. You can clothes yourself if you want.”
Aki leans and clasps his hands together with Denji. That was an easy compromise… No complaints though.
Denji brings Aki back to his feet, and helps him step over the rim of the tub. Water starts trailing down his legs, leaving a puddle underneath his feet. Denji grabs one of the pristine white towels and begins to get to work. First drying off his hair, then arms, back, chest, waist, legs, and feet. He leaves the soaked one on the floor and grabs another. Denji wraps Aki up with the new towel and leads him back to his room.
“Ok uhm, get changed? Ima’ bring some medicine. I’ll be there soon.”
Aki barely acknowledges. Denji takes note of that but leaves anyway. He clicks the door behind him as he leaves.
Denji sporadically jumps around from the kitchen to the bathroom to the dining room. He cleans up a bit of the bathroom by draining the tub, wiping away the water puddles, and eventually shelving the towels away in the laundry basket.
Aki has had to become a teacher for Denji about a variety of chores, but he always takes full responsibility for laundry. So it’s not his problem for now… Aki will do it later.
In the midst of searching for a cold medicine, Aki emerges from his bedroom. Leaning against the frame of the bedroom. Face sunken in and everything, even his fever sweats came back after only a couple of minutes.
Dang. That bath didn’t damage the fever at all.
“Wha’ I thought I said I was gonna come to you.”
Aki hums.
“I called for you.” He croaks.
Denji’s face flushes. Shoot. He was too focused on taking care of Aki but not actually taking care of him.
He takes the thermometer off the tray- that contains the cold medicine and some cold water- and approaches Aki and waves it around his face.
“Temperature time!” He shakes his hands happily.
Aki rolls his eyes but complies, he creaks open his jaw a little bit. Once again the stick lays under his tongue again, they both squirm a bit till the beep sounds. Denji takes it and squints.
“38! It went down, the bath helped.”
“How much did it go down by?”
“By 1.”
Aki sighs, he shoulders the wall as he shuffles back to bed.
“Wait! Whatcha’ call me for?”
“Nothing, can I get some medicine so I can sleep a bit?”
“Hm Ok.”
With the help of Aki reading the label- Denji specified that he’d read it aloud -, Denji spills out two pills from the bottle and cups it into Aki’s hands along with a glass of water to chase it down.
“You hungry? Was gonna go get Power some breakfast, more like lunch but you get what I mean.” He screws the medicine cap back on.
“I don’t feel very hungry.” Aki’s hand hovers over his stomach, as if he was trying to assess his condition again.
“I’ll get you something anyways.” He pats Aki’s back.
~
Denji can’t even relax one step into the door, both hands holding a bag containing all of their meals. He hears Power yelling for him. I guess she heard him unlocking the door.
“Denji! Denji!”
“Yeah, yeah one sec! Still taking off my shoes.”
He mumbles the last part. He sticks his shoes onto the rack and quickly unloads the bags on the kitchen counter. He doesn’t even need to guess what had happened because as he came closer, a bitter aroma spiked his nose.
He walks to the first door on the hallway and finds them cramped up in the bathroom. Aki hunched over the toilet and Power there acting as a pillar. It seems like Denji had missed all of the puking action- small blessings in Denji’s book- due to the fact that Aki was simply slumped over into Power’s arms.
“What happened?” Denji threw up his arms.
Power shrunk and began to cling onto Aki even more. “I didn’t do anything! Please I didn’t!”
“Yeah, I know Power. But can you tell me how you guys got here?”
“Hmm ok, well Aki yelled for me. Said he didn’t feel good.. and he told me to take him to the bathroom. Well, he puked a lot. So much water.”
Denji nods.
“That means more bedtime for him, let’s take him back to the futon, come’on.”
They all spill out of the bathroom, both holding up Aki on each side. As they enter his room he gives a groan of consciousness, his eyes flutter a bit too. They lay him back onto the futon with the quilt resting on his hips. Power leaves and dashes to the kitchen immediately, the sounds of ruffles and munching can be heard.
Now Denji is getting really worried, the medicine is gone, his fever barely improved, he doesn’t want to eat. How could this get any worse? He doesn’t wanna bother Makima any further…
He doesn’t know what to do anymore.
He followed Makima’s orders but still failed somehow. He shouldn’t have left the house. That was the biggest mistake, he left Aki vulnerable with Power. She doesn’t know a wink about human illness.
Denji continues to stare off into space, just in his peripheral he can see Aki moving around.
“Denji.” Aki whispers, he takes a deep breath for his next sentence, practically panting at this point. “Just go.”
“What?”
Aki flops back down and starts gulping for breath. He turns his head away.
Denji gives him a pity look before leaving.
“Call me if you need me.”
He closes the door.
After that he tried to relax, he did a couple laps around the house, opened the fridge, turned on the TV, attempted to even read the newspaper- he gave up once he got to a hard word - and even tried to read his manga.
But none of it worked. He just felt an overwhelming squirming feeling in his stomach. Nothing would fulfill his anxiousness. Maybe going on patrol would work. Killing is a great way to release some energy.
If he had asked Power, she’d jump to it immediately. If it meant getting blood she’d always say ‘yes’. But they had called off today. Denji planked onto his futon groaning. Aki was the only thing he could think about.
He has one other option, it’s the only one that could work right?
He quickly scrambles off of his futon and skids into the kitchen. He walks up to the phone, dials her number.
“This is Himeno speaking.”
~
For the remainder of the day, Himeno nursed Aki the whole time. She did shed a few tears at his feeble condition but got straight to work by barking orders at Denji and Power.
Denji swapped out the sheets for the futon, Power gathered towels, and Himeno coddled Aki.
Himeno did kick him out of the room once she realized she didn’t need his help anymore. Once in a while he would see her wandering out grabbing items or even a new towel, but soon after would retreat to Aki’s room.
Denji couldn’t decide whether or not calling Himeno over was a good idea, Himeno has known Aki for a long time, and has probably seen him ill before. His muscles unwind a bit more, he lays into Power a bit more.
She fortunately fell into a food coma.
The sunset creeps into the windows, splaying orange highlights across the room. Maybe he just needs to relax a bit more too, today’s events were just back to back to back. He deserves it.
Sleep starts to tug at his eyelids, his wrists grow faint as his manga flops to the side.
-===-
“Aki? Aki!”
Denji’s running.. From something or for something. But. He’s in a wheat field, all of the stalks stand just a bit taller than Denji. It completely covers his visions further. Sweat dribbles down his neck. He needs to get there faster, needs to move faster.
With new motivation, Denji weaves through the field, changing up the direction every handful of steps. His arm grows weary, there are no paths here. So, he has to brush away and block any wheat that brushes against him.
Faster Denji, come on.
The endless yellow makes him dizzy, but just as he stops to take a breathier, hands on his knees. Gulping for air.. He hears,
“DENJI!”
A jolt straightens his posture out. He can feel the layer of sweat rub against his shirt.
“Who?” He whispers
“Denji! Help me!”
He needs to go, he needs to continue. He needs to help them. He.. he is so tired. But he needs to keep running to find this person. They keep yelling, it allows Denji to keep following the sound.
“Denji!”
The voice is so clear now. It seems like it’s right in front of him. He reaches out with both hands, all of his fingers contracting in and out.
“Where are you?” Denji yells.
Is it raining?
He falls forward onto his knees, he feels droplets coat his hands. The wheat is gone, he’s no longer in the field… but in front of a door. He’s looking at his sliced up hands atop of a wooden paneled floor, and parallel from him, a bare white door…
He can feel a warm body beside him, clutching at his clothes- Whispering and mumbling.
“Don’t open the door, Denji.”
He doesn’t open the door.
-===-
Power was no longer beside him when he awoke, neither was Meowy. He could smell the aroma of cooked eggs sneaking through under his door and the clattering of dishes.
“Go sit down, Aki! You’re still ill, you’ll make it even worse.”
“But Himeno, please. I need some autonomy."
“I can cook up a mean egg too, y’know!”
Aki grumbles.
“Let me finish this? I greatly appreciated your company yesterday, but I do mean it when I said I feel better.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hurry up and go sit down with Power.”
A little more clatters ensue.
“Topknot!!!”
“Hi, Power.”
“Glad you’re well enough to speak, you were only groaning and moaning the other day. Ugh you acted like I'd drank all of your blood. Thank me for being alive cus i’m the one who called Himeno.”
Denji can hear Himeno snort.
“She did not-”
“Nuh-uh I sure did!”
“Denji was the one to call me. Sounded like he was on the brink of insanity. Came as soon as I could, he didn’t exaggerate too much. You looked like hell passed you over.”
“Thanks for caring for me Himeno, I apologize for inconveniencing you. I would’ve handled it.”
“Reallyyy?” Himeno drags out the ‘y’ sound. “Would’ve you just let yourself rot and eventually choke on your own vomit?”
“I already said thanks.” Aki coughs out.
Himeno giggles, Power joins in a step later with a couple of cackles.
Denji feels a wiggling warmness flowing through him, or maybe that’s his blood. He can’t really tell.