Chapter Text
It didn't take a genius to see when Chishiya was acting differently; Arisu knew his capabilities and he knew his boyfriend, this was a fact. There were different occasions in which he would pull different faces (if he had thought of a grand scheme or idea, if he was thinking what to eat for breakfast, etc.) or even if he would be paused mid-action, struck by some lightning bolt of a thought.
And yet…there was always some aspect of unpredictability in this equation.
It had started one morning as they were getting up, when Arisu had climbed out of bed and walked in the bathroom to find Chishiya leaning on the counter. He could see Chishiya's expression in the mirror, mouth twisted as if a horrific curse was about to fly out of his mouth.
"Shiya?" Arisu opened the door all the way and stepped into the room. Chishiya straightened immediately, backing up as if nothing had happened.
"I didn't know you were the sort to barge into a bathroom unannounced, Arisu."
"I'm choosing to ignore that." Arisu washed his hands, taking the time to look over Chishiya's face in the mirror. "You were making a weird face."
Chishiya held a hand to his heart. "And now you're insulting my greatest feature, all before my first cup of coffee. What has the world come to?"
Arisu snorted, looked at the other man and said plainly, "You and I both know that is not true. And you're avoiding the question."
Chishiya rolled his eyes. "You never asked a question to begin with, you know." He punched Arisu's arm playfully. "What do you think this is, reverse Jeopardy?"
"Fine I'll ask then: why were you making that face?" Arisu made sure the pointed nature of his question was emphasised. "You looked like you were in pain…did you hurt yourself?"
"So what if I did? I'm grown, I can take care of myself."
"Sure, sure, my special patient Chsihiya." Arisu teased, not seeing how the other man tensed up and avoided his gaze. Despite looking like he was composed, Chishiya's ears turned a light pink at this accusation.
"You missed a spot on your hands." He huffed and walked out of the bathroom. Arisu looked at the door as it shut, confused, and shoved down any worries that were forming.
Arisu tried to forget that strange interaction as he went about his day, working through some large orders at the fulfillment center and signing off on some new products. However, his "Chishiya" senses started to go haywire as noon passed and he had still recieved no text message from the other that said he had arrived at work. It wasn't as if Arisu needed a paragraph, sometimes the only thing that was sent was a simple, "work". But nothing was much more anxiety-inducing; Arisu waited until 2pm before his nerves broke and he called Chishiya, palms sweaty. Two rings, then,
"Hello?" Chishiya sounded irritated, moreso than usual. There was also a waver in his voice that was almost undetectable, but Arisu caught it.
"Are you at work?"
"Of course I am." Chishiya stated flatly. "It's 2pm on a Thursday. Where on earth else would I be?"
"It's just…" All of a sudden, Arisu felt silly, overbearing even. "You didn't send your usual message. I got worried."
"I went in early, must have slipped my mind." Chishiya's voice was clipped at first, but softened ever so slightly as he said, "I forget that you worry about me out of love. I'll let you know when I leave, but it'll be late tonight."
"Okay-" Arisu barely got that out before the line disconnected. The worry that had been shoved down was now fresh and painful; something was wrong for sure.
That night came slower than molasses. Arisu had thrown together something that resembled dinner and was practically pacing the room when Chishiya came through the door (late, like he'd said). Arisu had to hold back an audible gasp at how awful Chishiya looked. Arisyu could see the dark circles on his face from where he stood, the way the other man walked like he was weighed down by a thousand pounds. Chishiya said nothing to him, but simply walked him to the medicine cabinet, took two painkillers and swallowed them. Only then did he turn to Arisu and say quietly, "You shouldn't have waited up for me."
Arisu tried to calm the flames inside him at that statement, and onlu replied, "You said late, just not HOW late. Shiya, you're working too hard when you're not feeling well-"
"I'm FINE." Chishiya grimaced at that word. "You don't have to baby me, Arisu, just let me be." He didn't even let Arisu get another word in before he stumbled to the bedroom and shut the door. Arisu slept on the couch that night but got no sleep. The constant sound of the toilet flushing was enough to make his mind run wild.
Things didn't get better after that. Chishiya continued to decline; working so hard for the next day and a half that he would simply come home and fall asleep on the couch; not eating despite Arisu pushing him to, yet pushing over-the-counter pain meds so often that Arisu's head would spin. The pair barely spoke, as every time Arisu approached the topic, Chishiya would shy away (and Arisu noticed the grab of his stomach every time).
Enough was ENOUGH.
Arisu was no doctor; leave that world to Chishiya, thank you very much. But he DID know how to look things up on the internet, even if it meant WebMD, and dammit, he would try anything for the man he loved. So Arisu (carefully) took to the internet, artfully avoiding anything that was too clickbaity-y or out of control. He typed in the symptoms he had seen, and looked down the page. Everything seemed to point at some kind of…stomachy thing. But at some point in his search, everything clicked into place: it could be appendicitis. Something was very wrong, and if Chishiya was't helped soon, it would be disastrous. Arisu shut his computer, called into work to let them know he wouldn't be coming and went to the bedroom to grab his shoes. However, just as he had finished tying his laces, a notification from his phone made him jump; it was Chishiya. And all it said was,
"come quick."
The ride to the hospital was agonizing. The minute the cab stopped in front of the hospital, Arisu threw himself out of the door, tripped over the curb and ran inside. In his haze he remembered where Chishiya's office was, on the fourth floor and to the right of the vending machines. Left, left, right, and-
BANG
The door to Chishiya's office slammed open as Arisu had turned the corner, as a stretcher and a horde of emergency techs rushed past him…with Chishiya being tended to on the stretcher itself. One person (who he later remembered worked under Chishiya) stopped and looked at Arisu, gave a brief look of recognition and said, "You're family right? They found him in his office passed out. His appendix burst, he could be septic. You'd better come with us."
Arisu felt like he was being pulled underwater faster than he could swim. Walking and trying to keep up with the group felt impossible as they wove through the halls of the hospital, but he did the best he could. Then all of a sudden, he was stopped abruptly by a swinging door and a tech who coldly said, "He's going to surgery now, you can wait out there and we'll give you updates."
And wait he did. Arisu couldn't sit for long, so he paced the waiting room so much he swore he made tracks in the vinyl floor. One hour turned to three, the waiting room slowly emptied itself and somehow Arisu was still there. Now he sat, head in his hands, trying to feel anything else but dread. He wouldn't cry, he wouldn't cry, he wouldn't-
The click of a door on the other end of the room made him almost jump into the ceiling. Someone in scrubs came out and scanned the room before settling on Arisu's face. "You're the visitor for the VIP, right?"
Arisu made a confused noise. "VIP? You mean Chishiya?"
"Yes." The strained smile on the woman's face spoke more words than she was saying. "He is out of surgery, recovering well."
"I need to see him." There was a waver in Arisu's voice he couldn't keep out, yet he balled his fists and tried like hell to stay calm.
"Only immediate family is allowed to that floor so you will have to come back another time, when he's allowing visitors." As quickly as she came in the door, the woman in scrubs left where she came from, leaving Arisu alone once more. The slam of the door fell just as the first tear he was able to shed all day hit his cheek.