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By the end of the school day, Akito felt like absolute shit.
His head feels as though it is held up by a weak twig, ready to snap off before falling onto the floor and exploding. If it would, he hopes the building would come down with it and merge with the ground.
He had eight hours of straight studying today, with minimal breaks only to be filled with more never ending memorization of tenses for the upcoming English test.
Like what in the world is past perfect continuous and why does he have to know it?
Either way, the last bell finally rings its presence. The sound of freedom is like a hit of a hammer into his head, which is only good as it makes him get up. Akito snatches all his notebooks from the desk with one swift encircle of his arm before they all fall into his soggy backpack.
He groans seeing as everybody has already left, An and Toya waiting by the classroom’s entrance. The backpack’s strap is barely on his arm when he gathers every strength in his body to stand up and walk up to his friends.
“Dude you’re really beat up, eh?” An laughs as she pats the redhead on the shoulder, a casual yet meaningful show of support towards the boy.
Akito groans in return, rolling his eyes. The motion seems to pain him further, a small wince escaping his lips. “Why does Friday have to be the worst day with our classes?” he avoids agreeing to An’s question knowing she already has the answer. “I actually can’t believe it’s over”
They begin troding through the hallway, the path to the exit engraved in their minds almost too well.
After a minute of silent walking, an unusual event between the three, they approach the stairs down leading to Heaven’s Gates, the front yard of Kamiyama High.
“D’you think you have the energy for some practice now or..?” Toya chimes in, whatever’s in his bag rattling like crazy.
“No”
The blue haired girl quirks an eyebrow at him, a playful smirk painted on her face. “You’re just pretending, man” her voice is, as always, sparked with a tinge of sarcasm. “You’re always up for singing, come on–!” The strands of hair blow with the wind, getting into her mouth. “Eugh–” she blurps.
Akito huffs as he watches An struggle, hands trying to pull the blue strands away. “Good luck,” he says, offering up to no help towards the girl.
“Asshole” she mutters back once she gets all her hair in place.
They walk down the first flight of stairs, squeezing in between the students in their way. The sound of sneakers tapping against the hard concrete is a repeatable rhythm that the redhead greatly appreciates. All three pairs of shoes are in sync as though a ticking metronome.
Every road leads to Rome: Every sound he hears leads to music.
Toya, more on the quieter side, speaks up once more. “Akito, I think someone’s waiting for you” despite his usual stern and calm voice, there is a tingle of teasing in it.
The redhead in question raises his head upwards, confused by the other’s statement. He scans the environment before him with squinted eyes, lips pursed in concentration on trying to find anything.
A moment of awkward silence passes between the three students, An clicking her tongue as she stares off to the same direction as Toya. The blue haired boy looks back and forth from Akito forward before sighing.
“Minori’s waiting for you, right there” His pale hand points to right outside the gate, despite his abnormal calm, Akito knows he’s mildly annoyed.
An laughs. “You’re such a mole, Akito” she grins happily, her hands set on her hips as she watches Minori furiously type on her phone.
When Akito finally spots the girl, his green eyes widen.
She’s standing by the iron gates, her lips puckered as her fingers tap on the screen of her Kiritani Haruka covered phone. Her light brown hair shines in the Sun, the beams falling on it reflect part of the strands in a bright orange contrast to her soft, creamy skin.
There is a white bag hanging off her arm, weighed down with whatever’s inside it, its wrinkles shuffle around as hands move with the pattern of finger pads against the screen.
The only thing she’s missing in order to become an angel on earth is a pair of white wings. The halo’s practically there, faintly underlined by the bright star shining above.
Akito’s mesmerised, the hopeless romantic that has lingered in his heart for long quietly creeping around, pushing forward to jump through his ribcage and thrive.
Ever since he’s started dating Minori, his life has experienced a 180 degree turn.
Well, not entirely, but it has changed significantly.
Having a person that legitimately cares for him, in her clumsy yet loving way, feels as though he’s on cloud nine. She’s not like his classmates, not even like his best friends. She’s different in all the best ways. It’s not like he’s discarding the years of friendship with An, Toya and Kohane but such a pretty addition to his life is an addicting change that he finds himself wanting to spend so much time with the girl.
Minori’s high voice, fidgeting and giggling makes his heartbeat spike to dangerous levels.
He is insufferable when she’s around, his face heats up and his brain’s functionality immediately drops down, often unable to craft proper sentences. The way she not–so–casually grabs his hand, embraces him or climbs on her tip toes to kiss his cheek are few of many examples of her everyday affection that Akito, for a lack of better wording, absolutely adores.
“Earth to Akitooo” An pokes him in the head, successfully snapping the taller student from his haze. He doesn’t stop staring at his girlfriend, the brunette still stares at her phone, her food impatiently tapping against the ground in an adorable way. “You’re such a sap for her, I swear”
Toya, on the other hand, lightly pushes Akito a step farther “Go up to her, Akito, she’ll leave soon thinking you’ve already left” he suspects, his thoughts motivating the redhead to gather the courage.
He’s done it so many times already, why is it so hard now?
Akito takes a weary step, his eyes still heavily fixated on the girl illuminated so stunningly in the light of a late afternoon.
“Just go!” An suddenly pushes him, the shove sending him closer to Minori yet he’s still moderately far away.
He groans, tumbling with the sudden motion before he’s steady on his feet. “Wish me luck,” he mutters under his breath in a sarcastic, barely audible way.
“You’re literally her boyfriend, you won’t need it!” An yells as she waves him off happily.
She and Toya stand behind Akito as the student walks closer to Minori who is endlessly typing on her phone and has been the past few minutes of Akito’s brain-porridge of thoughts.
The sun highlights her face like a renaissance painting that Akito is willing to steal from any secure Museum. The Louvre, per se.
He approaches her in the most nonchalant, completely cool and boyfriend–like way. It’s not like he’s a scaredy cat. Nope. He’s not going to be flustered at all.
“Hey, Mino” he calls her with a calm voice, his head tilted to the side to look down on the short girl.
“Aah–”
Minori jumps suddenly, her shoulders tensing up, grey eyes wide as the ocean. She almost drops her phone, luckily, her grip on it is way too right for it to fall.
“Aki!” she exclaims happily, her tone pitching up. “I was waiting for you” she pockets her phone into the bag hanging by the hip, decorated with merch of Kiritani. She steps closer to the ginger boy, embracing him in a tight hug.
Akito enjoys the newfound warmth, the softness of Minori’s light brown hair and the big woolen scarf wrapped around her neck. His hands wrap around her back, their height difference a little awkward.
Yet it makes teasing his girlfriend easier.
He kisses her on the hair, any other part of her body currently squished to his own. The strands are incredibly smooth, untangled unlike his. The orange clip on her head is threatening to fall off. Akito quickly takes care of the issue and reattaches it to her hair with the metal clip.
“I’m glad you’re here” he chuckles by her, a reassuring squeeze added to his words.
Minori squeals in embarrassment. After nearly 5 months of dating her giddyness hasn’t faded and Akito has not stopped adoring it.
She lets go slowly, letting her hands fall to her sides, the white, plastic bag still gripped tight. “Oh I…” the girl pulls it up, a small smirk on her face evolving into a grin. “I got us some food, by the way” she happily brings it closer to her chest, the two styrofoam boxes now visible to Akito, whose hands have let go as well.
He gasps. “Really?” his head tilts again, a habit he acquired the second he started dating Minori. “Good thing I’m absolutely starving” his hand scratches the back of his neck shyly, admitting to the constant rumble of his stomach throughout classes.
“Well then, shall we go to mine?” She smirks, her hair almost bouncing up as she climbs on her tip toes.
“Smooth.” The boy chuckles, his hand ruffling Minori’s hair playfully. “Of course, let’s go”
Minori’s smile never fades, just expands further up her face to turn into an ear–to–ear smile. Her body as a whole beaming with energy. “Yay!” she whoos, dropping back to her feet and extending a hand for Akito to take.
He proudly does so, feeling Minori’s silken hands against his.
As they begin walking, Minori enters her usual blabbering about school and MORE MORE JUMP. Akito’s enthralled, as always, not only with the idol group itself but how the girl seems to step by his side without a care in the world. A beacon of light in the ugliness of January, a warm street lamp surrounded by eerie pine trees. An angel sent down to Earth.
He doesn’t want to exaggerate but how could he not? Yes, Minori might be just a human being, but she's been there, by his side, supporting him ever since they’ve met. He wouldn’t let that pass even if the world forces him to.
˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗
“The food’s probably cold by now” Minori whines, sighing dramatically as she reaches into her over the shoulder bag to get the keys. “This weather sucks” she pouts her lips, reaching to the keyhole with her pale hands. The joints have red spots on them, probably from the cold they have experienced.
“It’s alright” Akito shrugs as he listens to the sound of locks moving in the door. “We will just heat the stuff up in a microwave, yeah?”
The girl hums in response, a sad, little hum that leaves her boyfriend puzzled. “I guess…” she prolongs. The sound of the door finally unlocking makes her eyes look up.
The plastic bag is currently in Akito’s hands after he suggested taking it from the brunette during their walk. It ruffles as the two of them walk through the doorframe, a warm, domestic air of Minori’s home hits Akito suddenly and unannounced. However, he finds it incredibly pleasant.
What breaks him out of the haze is the distinct, ever loudening noise of soft steps across the floor. They’re sharp, paw–like and definitely heading towards them.
“Samo!” exclaims Minori as the white ball of fluff trots closer, its tail energetically wagging behind him. “I missed you so much you cloudy little monster” she giggles, crouching down to be on the same eye level as the beast. It tries to lick her face yet she giddily backs away, trying to push it off her.
White the chaos ensues, Akito backs away. His back hits the wall behind him as his body stills.
He’s not afraid of dogs anymore– it’s been years since the accident.
Of course he’s not.
“Mino..” he whispers, gulping down the rock that has formed in his throat. Whenever he was at Minori’s house, Samo would be out in the backyard, away from Akito. Just to be sure, the boy looks out towards the backdoor to see it wide open, a trail of dirty pawprints on the floor.
“Hm, what’s up?” she queries, turning her head from the white pet while her hands still try to remain in place.
The dog is growling steadily at her. A playful kind of groan, Akito tries to tell himself. A groan dogs do when they’re extremely happy and joyful and nice and unharmful.
By the time she asks the question, Akito’s back has morphed with the wall. He doesn’t know how to describe his issue with Samo verbally so he does what is easier than doing so. Pointing.
His finger politely points at the dog, who perks its head up at the gesture. Its paws traverse closer to the ginger haired boy while he uses his unsteady feet to take a great step to the side.
“Oh gosh, Aki,” she squeaks, seeing what state he’s in. “I completely forgot” her shoulders fall, eyes widen as Samo trots ever closer to the boy, his nose twitching with every sniff. “Samo! Samo come here!” she calls. Minori patts the floor below her, trying to get the samoyed to take a u-turn and get away from her boyfriend.
Luckily, the dog isn’t much of a menace and runs back at Minori, nearly crushing her with its weight. “Samo,” she giggles as the dog finally manages to lick her face. “I have to feed your cute little face, come on” her voice is high pitched, as though anyone’s when they’re talking to their pet.
“You’re a life saver,” Akito sighs as the brunette girl walks towards the kitchen, the dog right by her side. It takes him a few minutes to regulate his breath. A whole sixty seconds of uneven breathing and an ever growing headache. Right now, all he’d like to do is eat what Minori has bought, sit with her on her bed and hopefully watch some shitty cooking show.
Minori chuckles, “Thank–you!” She sing-songs melodically while the dog food dribbles down onto the metal of Samo’s bowl. “Come on Samo, you’re eating in solitude today! Luxurious calm atmosphere just for you!” the girl cheers, swirling over to place the bowl down to the ground.
While the dog’s occupied, Akito steps to his girlfriend, placing the bag onto the counter. “You’re amazing” he breathes out unknowingly as he dives his hands in to grab the styrofoam boxes.
The boy doesn’t notice Minori’s incredibly red face and speechlessness as he puts the food on the counter and opens the containers one by one.
“You got okonomiyaki? Really?” he exclaims with joy, a smile impossible to hide.
“Yeah..” Minori stutters trying to get over the nearly passed by compliment. “And I got takoyaki as well” she points to the brown dough balls. “The choice is yours, Aki”
Without hesitation, Akito grabs the savoury pancake with a soft smile on his face. Almost innocent, yet not quite.
The girl chuckles when she looks at him as she takes the other dish along with Akito’s hand over to the microwave. A plethora of clicks and pings later, the food is steaming and ready to be eaten.
The light brunette hums happily as she opens the machine's door with a press of a button. She picks out both the boxes standing on her toes and pulls them down alongside her own feet. While at it, she grabs two pairs of chopsticks for the both of them. A dreamy sigh escapes her rosy lips before she turns around and faces her boyfriend.
“My room?”
With neither hesitation nor a verbal answer, Akito heads to the familiar space after offering Minori a pleasured smile. He pulls on the handle and opens the wooden door wide to let his girlfriend pass through. “Ladies first” he whispers under his breath, quietly hoping Minori hears it.
He’s not sure if she does yet he follows her in either way. Admiring her everyday room and its coziness. At this time of year, as it gets chillier every day, her place has been no more than a hoard of blankets with a sprinkle of Haruka merch posters and the desk. Of different colours, patterns and textures, they obligate every inch of the bed and sprawl out to the floor, making the bedroom look like a giant, fallen–over pillow castle.
Her face blooms red at the sight. “I forgot to tidy up” she quietly admits, embarrassment clear as day on her face. She halts in place, strands of hair falling over her eyes. “Sorry”
Akito almost skips over to the bed, plomping on it with a grin. He doesn’t care how intensively his stomach flipped at the motion, how his head almost fell down like a ragdoll’s. “No big deal, as long as they’re space to sit” he shrugs it off and sweeps a bunch of blankets from the mattress to clear space for the girl to sit on.
She steps over to him, embarrassment clear on her face as she sits down on the bed. “Gah, this place is a mess” she quietly reminds herself. It’s not timid enough for Akito not to hear.
“It’s not like you’re the only one with a messy room” The redhead chuckles, moving to sit against the headboard, patting the space beside him. “Most times Ena doesn’t dare to step foot in my bedroom” he smirks, tilting his head to the side.
His girlfriend lets out a noise between a sigh and a yawn, shuffling to lean her head on Akito’s arm, which he moved to lay on the pillow set behind Minori. The soft brown strands of her hair tangled as they set aside. Akito grabs a corner of the duvet to set it over the both of them, meanwhile looking at the girl and how her eyelids fell, hiding the shining gray of her iris.
It’s majestic, as though the moon disappearing, letting the Sun steal the limelight. In this case, the mix of green and yellow of Akito’s eyes. He smiled at the thought. Corny, yet sweet; They were the Sun and the Moon, however with the opposite signs of each.
Minori, forever cheerful, hopeful, beaming with light and ambition – her eyes of dust and dark clouds.
Akito, angry, determined, mean – his eyes of the raging blaze of the sun, enlightening the calm dimness of Minori’s.
An internal chuckle escapes his lungs, which makes Minori raise her head with a confused hum only to be met with Akito’s flustered smile.
It’s all a mess of emotion, thoughts and feelings. Despite how much fury lay within him, this is much better.
“Want to watch Madoka Magica while we eat?” Akito suggests, a knowing smile on his face as he watches Minori light up.
“Yep!” She grins in response, putting the dishes on the bedside table.
The next thing, Minori leaves Akito’s soft embrace to crawl up to her desk. It’s occupied with textbooks, paper scraps and uncapped pens, yet most important, her laptop. She huffs quietly and grabs it. Once by Akito again, the girl opens the device and searches up the cartoon.
As the colorful opening comes on, they both slide the lid off the styrofoam boxes and inhale the smell of the fried food. With the device on one of each student's legs, their eyes focus on the screen while their hands, chopsticks naturally in place, dig into the food.
It's not long before Minori dozes off despite her previous enthusiasm. With numb eyes, she sets the now empty containers off on her bedside table.
Akito notices that at first. Her quiet happy chuckles while watching. Then, she nuzzled closer to him, leaning her head to his neck. Her blinking became more rapid, soft eyelashes clashing against each other as though they were feathers until they closed together. He knew it was coming too, whenever Minori is covered by heavy, warm blankets or duvets, not even an energy drink could get her to stay up.
That’s why once the red haired boy notices his girlfriend’s breath slowing, light in and exhales of air coming out her pink lips. he turned off the anime, not wanting to be ahead of Minori with watching (not that he knew that it's her eleventh time rewatching)
He set the device closer to his legs in order for Minori’s not to be crushed by the weight before wrapping his hand around her waist. He gently kisses her hair, a reminder that he’s actually here, in this moment he is beside her, the warmth of her kindness, love and hope seethes into his skin.
That doesn’t stop the growing feeling in his stomach. It's as though an uncomfortable rumbling, a faint pain that travels in his guts. Akito clears his throat in hope to lower that sensation, yet it lingers inside him like a bad memory. A groan comes out of his lips, fatigued and exhausted.
He tries to fall asleep, close his heavening eyelids, steading his breath. Minori beside him is like a radiator, helping him fall into slumber faster than ever. He’s never had the easiest time sleeping, awoken by any sound, rustle, whisper. Yet with the girl, it has been as though he was a newborn sleeping sound. It’s effortless to sit by her, embrace her and let himself rest.
Next thing he knows– well, he doesn’t, he’s asleep.
˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗
When Akito wakes up, he certainly wishes he didn’t.
The queer ache in his stomach hasn’t stopped in the few hours he had slept. It only intensified, leaving him with limited movement as his stomach felt as though stabbed with multiple knives at a time.
It feels awful, to say the least. Akito wants to bury himself 6 feet under at the very thought of leaving Minori to sleep alone. When he peeks at her, at the relaxed, calm face, fallen eyelashes, thin eyebrows, it's everything he could ever need and more. He sighs having seen that she’s clung to him through the night, her hand embracing his arm.
But he has to leave– splash a liter of cold water on his face, take a few deep breaths, figure out what’s wrong with him. The air in the bedroom is humid, warm and suddenly unbearable. Yet whenever his eyes focus on his girlfriend, the muscles in his body stop and Akito can’t move. Minori looks so abnormally gorgeous, covered by the covers, a stuffed bunny by her side, her brown hair tousled around as if she’s just escaped a wind turbine. She’s a piece of art, Akito thinks. And he knows he’s right, it never fails to amaze him how the girl, haunted by bad luck, having been through mountains of struggles, oceans of hate, still stands up, brave and strong, unbeatable, ambitious. He crumpled under one comment from Arata; she’s failed 50 auditions before creating her idol group.
Akito would go on if not for the sudden shot of pain in his abdomen. He has to go drink some water, find a painkiller – whatever to stop the chaos his immunity system cannot handle.
He carefully removes Minori’s hand from around his arm, guilt eating him from the inside as he hears her quiet mumble, sees the squint of her eyes. A wince escapes his lips as he stands on the cold floor, turning around to replace him with the huge plush rabbit. He smiles sweetly as Minori hugs the fluffy stuffed animal.
It’s not long before he’s in the bathroom, panting heavily while staring at himself in the mirror. He’s disoriented, overwhelmed with the cold and hot battling with each other inside him. They both hit him at the same time, creating a feeling of dizziness that he can’t exactly brush off.
His face is wet with cold water, droplets dripping down into the sink. He feels awful, absolutely horrendous staring at the reflection. It screams go back to her! She’ll be disappointed however, his legs are short of falling apart, trembling under the weight above them. It is as though the second his feet touched the ground, everything took a landslide and now he’s nothing but a wreck. She will forgive him, Akito insists in his brain, not short of odd cuts of consciousness. His eyes hurt, they burn under the sickening, fluorescent light of the bathroom. The air freshener forcefully enters his nostrils, creating further discomfort in his lungs.
He coughs to relieve the tension only to feel something much worse.
Akito feels puke come up his throat and immediately hunches forward in shock. He puffs his cheeks instinctively and dashes to the toilet bowl, opening it and pouring out the undigested food from his stomach down.
The white seat above him falls to punch his head. The boy moves a shaky hand upwards to stop the plate from hurting him. He’s out of breath, shook by the moment with tears prickling at his eyes. ‘So much for a good night’ he complains internally before his throat lets out a gag, right after another wave of vomit. It splashes to his face and hair, the smell an intoxicating mix with the blossoming flowers air freshener.
He feels numb as another portion drops down the toilet bowl, a gross hill of undigested mush staring back at his wide open, green eyes. He squeezes them shut at the sight, coughing the remains stuck to his tongue.
The breath escapes from his lungs, leaving the ginger boy a complete mess of oxygen and carbon dioxide racing back and forth from his mouth. The pants grow completely indivisible, one after another draining him of any ounce of energy he’s possessed before this.
‘F- Fuck’ he whimpers quietly, his whole body trembling with exhaustion as he feels his stomach churning, ready to ruin his night further. It comes right after his complaint, decorating both the bowl and him with the gross mixture.
He wasn’t so much as afraid until he heard the familiar sound. The methodical, repeating sound of trotting. It’s slow and quite weary, interrupted by soft swooshes of fur against the wall.
Samo.
As the dog turns the corner, Akito knows it’s way too close to comfort. Any dog, wherever it is, is always too close for comfort. He remembers the time he met Ishihara and his four–legged partner, Max, but that was one time, and his trauma hadn’t faded since. It’s when every time he flinches near a dog that the memory comes back. The playground, the big white dog, the shouts of its owner, the bite.
It’s not the best circumstance that Samo looks almost identical to the dog from when Akito was a child.
The samoyed traverses the floor over to the bathroom, where he pushes past the door opened ajar and happily greets Akito with a polite wag of its tail. It’s woken up earlier, full of energy as it approaches closer, the sounds of its sniffing audible in the whole space.
Akito doesn’t even blink by the time Minori’s pet is beside his face, pulling out its tongue to lick the bowl. First off, Akito can’t imagine how gross that is. Secondly, he freezes in place, stops breathing and squeezes his eyes shut.
He can feel the soft fur against his cheek. It’s like spikes poking his skin, he cannot bear it. “Samo, get off” he commands weakly, trying to push the dog away with his hand yet it’s so drained of energy that it falls straight down from its grip on the toilet bowl.
There is a feeling in his soul. He feels absolutely awful, puke on his face, in his hair, in front of him, he can’t help but throw up once more at the very thought. There is no way out of this, he realizes. Except for doing what will embarrass him for life, leave him with such guilt boiling in his chest he’s sure not even any praise from Ken could overcome it.
“Mino!” He calls, voice broken and hoarse as he turns his head. “Minori!”
Now, all he has to do is wait. Wait while the one animal species he’s scared of is no less than a centimeter away from him.
He spits out the slimy balls of saliva that crawl up his throat. It makes the tears in his eyes break tension and fall saltily to his cheeks. He coughs quietly so as not to disturb Samo, who has not stopped licking him. He’s positive the bacteria is not a safe one but it doesn’t matter right now as the panic rises to an abnormal level. Met with exhaustion and shock, it generates a feeling of wanting to fall apart, melt into the floor, never having arrived at his girlfriend’s place.
How is he going to explain this? The idol will think it was the food she bought that got him food poisoning. How does he tell her he’s felt like being run over by a truck the whole day? Then she’ll feel bad about not noticing and fall into another Minori-like spiral of worry.
“Babe?” a voice asks, quiet as a mouse, soft as silk. Akito doesn’t dare to look up, Samo licking his cheek with its rugged tongue makes him nearly unable to move a muscle.
Minori stares at the scene before her for long before snapping. “Oh! Oh Samo– Samo get out!” she panics, her whole body tense before she quickly gets closer and grabs the dog by the collar. Akito knows she’s gentle with it, not wanting to hurt the dog, yet she quickly shoos her pet from the bathroom and shuts the door. Akito can hear the sound of clipped claws against the floor fading away before everything turns silent.
“Oh gosh, Akito…” Minori slowly steps over to him, crouching down when she’s at his side. “What happened?”
As much as he wants to answer, he can’t. His breathing is fast and uncontrolled, halting with hiccups, yet no sound of words.
“Did you–” She looks down on him, his tangled hair getting in the way of his face. “You threw up, Aki?”
He responds with a nod, unable to push out a single affirmation.
Minori raises a hand to grab a paper towel, removing the stains from the toilet bowl before throwing the dirty piece into it and grabbing more. The textured paper touches Akito’s skin as she cleans his face from the excess puke. Her palm cupping his cheek, she can see his shallow eyes as her hand around his jaw and chin.
They stay silent for a while, the air reeking of grossness, sweat and worry. Akito tries to relax into her warm touch but he’s so shellshocked it's impossible to do so. His exhales come out as small whimpers, chest slowing down as he doesn’t feel like gagging, or worse, vomiting again.
A few more paper towels later, Minori speaks up again. “You’re so pale” she admits, “and cold”
Her boyfriend hums emotionlessly in response, feeling weak as a twig once his eyes face Minori’s worried expression. She looks tired despite the emotions flowing through the bathroom, her fingers caress his cheeks delicately. Despite the dizziness, Akito blushes seeing her, tries his best to smile reassuringly. “It’s fine” he croaks out.
At that, Minori’s face suddenly darkens. “No, it’s not, you’re pale as a ghost and you sound awful!” she squeaks, her hands sliding down to his shoulders. “Come on, I’ll get you water and some warm tea”
Minori grabs him from under his shoulders, careless of the sweat that has accumulated because of Akito’s stress before trying to lift him. It’s significantly easier because of his ragdoll state, yet her skinny arms struggle with bringing him up.
It’s true, sometimes Akito has one too many pancakes, yet he does work out like a bull. Especially after Haruka’s training and the competition. He keeps his muscles intact, so does his weight, so it's no surprise Minori falters after a few tries. “Sorry..” she stutters.
“I’m good,” Akito replies, gripping the toilet bowl with his hand to push himself up. What he doesn’t take into consideration is the trembling of his legs. He almost crumbles down onto the floor again yet his girlfriend catches him in the nick of time.
“Are you okay?” she gasps, having snapped closer to hold him upright. He sways around for a second, his vision blurring, colorful specs dancing around.
“Mhm” he mumbles, leaning his body weight on his hand against the wall. “I– I need to lay down”
˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗
Akito spends the next fifteen minutes calming his breath again, leaning against a huge pillow that Minori’s brought from her parent’s room over to the couch. Leading him to the living room proved to be quite the challenge, Minori being flustered, weak and panicked while him being foggy–brained, stumbling and exhausted. It took a few trips, apologies and another trip to the bathroom and back to the hallway for the girl to settle Akito on the couch at once.
Now he sits under a thin blanket, his hands gripping the cream orange phenny as tight as he possibly can to calm the stoic in his limbs.
The idol is in the kitchen diving in each cabinet in hopes of finding medicine. The faint buzzing of the electric kettle boiling the water is comforting for his overwhelmed brain, yet it doesn’t stop the tears from prickling in his eyes again. The feeling of being looked after so carefully, it’s wonderful. Akito can’t wish for nothing more than Minori’s comforting voice, touch, care.
After a fair share of minutes she steps towards her boyfriend with a cup of black tea in one hand and a glass of water alongside a pill in the other. She sets the items on the long, wooden coffee table she moved to the couch before. “Here you go, Aki” she sighs softly.
The boy lets go of the penguin plush toy to grab the tablets and water. He swallows the medicine with the liquid before grabbing hold of the mug and bringing it closer to his chest to warm the cold he feels.
“Thanks, Mino,” he says quietly, moving the ceramic to his lips in order to taste the tea.
Minori moves to sit down on the carpet by the couch, leaning her head next to Akito. “No worries, I’m…glad to help” she admits.
They sit in silence, Akito slowly but surely getting over the shellshock of puking. He moves on to admire his girlfriend, how the slowly rising sun falls on her face, lights her eyelashes as she closes her eyes, leaning her chin on her knees.
No sooner had Akito finished his tea that he leaned his head back to the fluffy pillow and closed his eyes. The exhaustion caught up with him so it’s no accident for him to fall into slumber easier than ever before.
˗ˋˏ ♡ ˎˊ˗
The sound of the front door yanking open is what makes Minori wake. She snaps her head up and to the side to see her best friend and idol group member, Airi, in the doorway. The brown haired girl tries saying hi but cannot since her pink haired friend interrupts her.
“Did you forget about our morning practice at the MORE MORE HOUSE today, Minori?!” She yells, dramatic yet intimidating as ever as her hands fling up. “We have a show in two days, we can't afford to lose even a minute of practice!”
She storms into the house, her aura spreading into every corner. “And you’ve missed all our calls! Haruka and Shizuku were so worried that you were ran over—” she takes a sudden halt, freezing in place. Her voice pauses, deep and puzzled. “What the..” she smirks widely.
Minori doesn’t answer but her face shows everything. A deep crimson blush on her face.
Akito is on her couch, wrapped up in a pink blanket, her phenny in his arms, a dirty mug and glasses on the coffee table, Minori sitting on the floor beside him, their heads inches apart.
Airi pulls out her phone faster than lightning and snaps a picture. It leaves Minori speechless.
“Well, now we know what our sweet, innocent Minori was doing instead of showing up at practice!” she giggles, tapping on her phone.
She knows the next day, the teasing will not come to an end.
But it’s going to be even worse on Akito’s side, since Airi won’t stutter in sending the photo to Ena.