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The warmth of the sun peered through the sky, bathing the landscape in rays of light reflecting off sweats. Summer had finally come around, making students change from regular uniform to summer ones and enabling the WonderlandXShowtime group to practice more due to its elongated daytime.
Though contrasting to his teammates, Tsukasa didn't took the warmth of the sun with open arms or by complaining. Instead he rubbed his forearms, shivering at the slightest wind that brushed his skin.
The headache from this morning still hasn't die down and kept pounding on his head the harder he tries to remember his script. Tsukasa isn't one to get sick easily. And even if he does -on occasions- supports a fever, he usually act as regular until the fever cools down itself. But today seem like the fever is fighting back on him.
He sighs lightly as the Rui signals the end of the discusion, which was mostly Rui and Emu exchanging insane concepts -not that he even notice what concept it was, with his head spinning and his body shivering- but finally, he can rest. Before Emu could pull him away to any of the parks attractions, he plans to take a nap for a while, surely his fever would cool after that. So he makes himself comfortable on one of the benches -a little further from the stage where the machinary of Rui's inventions can be disturbing- laying his head on a bag he doesn't even care whose as he let the sunray closes his eyes.
“Tsukasa-kun?” Emu's high pitched voice came from above him, he could see a shadow tower over him as he opens his eyes. He isn't sure how long had he been asleep for but it was definitely not enough as his own hot breath warms his face and sweat causes his clothes to cling to his skin. “Are you okay? You look kind of pale and usually you would be like pam-pam with poses and fuush-fu-” Tsukasa can't process anymore of what Emu says as she takes a sit on the empty bench in front of him. The world feels like a blur as Tsukasa quickly sits up, cursing internally as the force shook his head enough to insensify the headache by 12000%.
“Hey? Did you hear me?” the voice barely registered in Tsukasa’s mind. He tries his best to stay awake and aware but the pounding in his head sounds louder in his ear. “Tsukasa!” Emu's voice sounds further now, as if she is calling someone from afar. it reminds Tsukasa of the time they all tried to wake Luka-
“Tsukasa-kun!” a harsher voice pierced through his mind. he can feel hands on his shoulder now. Whose- oh right, Emu. Shit, the sun is too bright, he can't seem to look up to emu. Since when was Emu so tall?
Tsukasa let his head drop, looking at the ground as he hold Emu's hand on his shoulder -it wasnt even a hold, he barely layed his hand there, feeling the cold contrast of his and Emu's temperature- “I'm- I'm fine” he croacked, his voiced sounded slow, too slow even to himself, “no need to worry about me”. At this point, Tsukasa let muscle memory took over, this isn't new to him at least, “I can take care of myself”.
As quick as Emu’s tackles on him, he can feel his head being forced up by someone. On instict, he open his eyes to be greeted with three pair of worried eyes and -is there a hand on his forehead? the sun is too bright for his eyes, can he just close them… “Tsukasa, you're burning!” Emu's voice snap him back to reality. His warm yellow eyes soon met Emu's pink. “Why didnt you tell us anything?” her tone softens to a worried one. Tsukasa hates it. It means that he was unable to take care of himself and now has to trouble someone else.
The hand on his forehead soon leaves and his head lolls downwards again, this time because he wasnt able to look at Emu in the eyes anymore, he knows that if he looked into her eyes again, he would've rather melted into her arms instaed of playing strong. But he can't trouble them with this. “I told you, I'm fine” Tsukasa doesn't like how he could feel his voice shake “It's no big deal, can we not fuss over this?” he's not sure if they can hear him anymore over anything else, his voice was too slow to even be heard by him.
“Tsukasa-kun… you're not okay” a soft finger brushes his cheek, did he cry? Surely he would be overeacting to cry to a fever, he didn't when he was 7 and he won't when he is 18 “Rui,” Nene's voice mixed into the worried state all three of them are in. “Right, Tsukasa-kun, let's take you home shall we?” The small hand on his shoulder was soon replaced by a bigger one on his forearms, pulling him up from the bench and closer to Rui. He tried to stand but his legs just felt like jelly, “Tsukasa-kun, I need you to try walking with me” Rui tell him, probably because they won't reach his house if he kept leaning on Rui like this. but he can't, his vision blurs around the edges, pulling him into a darkness that felt so comfortable- “Tsu-ka-sa!” small, soft and cold hands smacks themselves onto his cheeks, keeping him awake with a sting. Emu's bright eyes stares right into his, as if channeling some of her endless energy to him. “Please keep yourselves awake.” Nene’s voice can be heard from underneath him, seeing she is also hoisting him up alongside Rui.
He really didn't want to trouble his teammates like this. Tsukasa force his legs to work as Nene and Rui hold up his body weight. Emu trails in front of them carring their bags that overflows her, making her look so much smaller than she really is. Occasionally, she would turn around, making sure Tsukasa is conscious but who wouldn't be? After being a burden to other people -especially the people he cares about-, Tsukasa can't bring himself to welcome the comfort of darkness that taps onto his vision every few steps.
Soon enough, they reaches the Tenma’s residence. Emu ruffles around Tsukasa’s bag, searching for a key -he assumes Saki told her what the key looks like as she didn't waste time to ask him where he put his keys- before pulling out a key attached to a phenny keychain and unlocks the door. “Is Saki-kun not home?” Rui asks as he puts Tsukasa down on the couch, finally breathing easy. “Nope, Saki-chan has band practice today” the pink haired girl answer as she clicks on the switches to turn on the lights. “Very well, we shall be the ones to care for you now then, Tsukasa-kun” the familiar tease is still laced in every word Rui says but somehow, in this one he also felt warmth.
“Umm… Rui, we need to go” on the edge of the couch, Tsukasa can make out Nene, chest still heaving from carrying him earlier, she rests her palm onto Tsukasa's cheek, feeling his temperature with a frown. Rui looks at Nene for a second before the realisation finally dawned on him -seemingly from the way his expression fell- “Oh dear, how could I forget. I'm sorry Tsukasa-kun, we might have to leave a little earlier than I hoped”. Tsukasa forces the air from his lungs to exit his mouth in a raspy voice, “no need to worry about me… I can manage” he pulls away from Nene's touch, resting his head on the headrest with his forearm covering his face. He doesn't need them to take care of him. Though the attempt of reassuring his teammates seemingly resulted in them worrying more. Rui shifts in his place, thinking. "Maybe we can tell them that we can't make it?" he asks Nene. "No can do. They were way too excited for tonight, you know we can't say no." Nene has a defeated tone in her voice dispite being sure of her statement. "Do you two have plans tonight?" Emu asks, interested, oh and somehow she got a blanket from somewhere to drape over a shivering Tsukasa. The soft and heavy blanket is situated to cover him perfectly, with a soft sigh, Tsukasa rests comfortably under it.
"Yeah... our parents planned to have dinner together tonight. And I'm afraid we can't miss it" Rui answers, he's probably feeling guilty to leave Tsukasa alone while being sick. The thought made Tsukasa feel sicker. “And we sort of need to get going now” Nene addresses, peeling herself off the soft couch to stand beside Emu, “I'm really sorry to have to leave you with him all by yourself” she continues. “Oh! No worries, Saki-chan will be back soon anyway. I already told her about Tsukasa-kun” Emu beams, her smile contagious to the ones around her, Tsukasa just hopes he could muster up the strength to be so. With a heavy smile, Rui and Nene makes their way to the door, but not before making sure Tsukasa was comfortable enough on the couch. Both of them rested their hands around his face and neck to feel for his temperature but it just made them frown as they gives Emu advice on how take care of a sick one before eventually leaving.
Emu came back from the front door, settling beside Tsukasa by facing him. “Now, Tsukasa-kun, we need to take your temperature for real now. So, can you tell me where is the thermometer?” her voice calmer than usual, weirdly soothing as Tsukasa mentally leans onto it. “The top drawer in the kitchen” he said, the image of the thermometer vivid in his mind at the place he mentioned as he remembered all of the times he had to fetch it so that their parents can use it on Saki. He doesn't usually use it on himself though.
Without really noticing when she left, Emu comes back from the kitchen with a small dark blue box. She sits back in the place she sat before as she slid the thermometer out, and places the empty box on the table across them -she looks like she's handling something fragile, Tsukasa notes. “Does this go into your mouth?” Emu asks, analysing the thermometer for some kind of instruction. Tsukasa would've laughed at how confused she looks if it wasn't for how dry his throat feels. “Do you want some water, Tsukasa-kun?” when he peels away his eyes from her fingers to her face, pink ones had already been looking across his face, worry all over her soft features. He nods, words stuck in his throat not because of the sickness for once.
“Alright, can you take your temperature for me while I get you a glass of water?” she tells him to and the soft tone of her voice calms the bang in his head the more he listens to it, but in another way, he hates to be relying so much on her like this. “You don't have to do this, you know?” Tsukasa licks his lips, the chapped skin softens slightly. “I can do this on my own, I can't trouble you like this” he tells her, eyes locked onto hers as if trying to let her look into the window of his soul, to let her see that he is fine under all this shivering and paleness.
Though Emu might've seen into a different house. Because instead of backing away or even believing what he said, Emu frowns. She hesitates for a split second before diving under the blanket and pulls his hand out from under it. "My sister says that someones palm could tell you a little about a person's personality" she turns it palms up before tracing the lines on it, her much colder skin glides against his hot, clammy one and softly -as if the whole house quieted down as she hend his hand in hers- she speaks “Tsukasa-kun, you dont have to be strong all the time, you know?" her digits grazes the callouses on his palm, the writer's bump on his middle finger, the small scar on his pinkie from burning his skin when he was 10 while trying to make soup for dinner, "Just like what you told me on the ferris wheel, you try so hard to take care of everyone and everything but who takes care of you?” the finger that was circling his fingertips stops “rely on us, Tsukasa-kun. Let other people make you smile as bright as you make other people smile.” She intertwines her hand with his and she smiles as she looks at their jointed hands “let me make you smile just like what you did for me” she whispers slow enough to barely register into Tsukasa’s brain.
Her hand seem to fit perfectly in his, the soothing rubbing of her thumb, the way her fingers looks shorter to compare to his, her gentle voice, Tsukasa wants to dove into her presence so badly. To hold her in his arms forever as he takes all of her suffering away from her, but her features are now contorted by worry and sadness just by looking at the state he's in -he doesn't even remember when was the last time someone looks at him with such care. In the deepest, most selfish part of his heart, Tsukasa doesn't want her to leave. He doesn't want her to leave him alone in this house to sort things out all by himself again. To just give him a text saying that they are sorry for not being able to be there for him due to another sicker, smaller person.
Seeing how he zoned out, Emu reaches her other hand towards Tsukasa's face, brushing away strands of hair that has stuck to his skin due to sweat. "Let me be here for you, okay?" she whispers, as if anything louder might chase him away. But she could've chase him back if he were to ran, he knows that of Emu. "Okay" he leans onto her touch, hands still intertwined. "Okay, now let me get you a glass of water" she gives his hand a gentle squeeze before letting go, heading towards the kitchen. Tsukasa watches her silhouette, he admires how important other people are to her. How she could've dropped everything to be there for another person -he just hopes that she isn't doing this out of pity-. No, even pity is fine. As long as she doesn't leaves him.
With a full glass of warm water in hand, Emu makes her way back to the couch. Tsukasa takes the water from her and slowly drinks the liquid, the burning in his throat sizzled out with every sip. "Can we take your temperature now?" Emu asks as he finishes the glass of water. She takes the glass out of his hand to put on the table, neatly beside the blue box. Tsukasa just nods at her question, opening his mouth as she carefully places the thermometer on his tongue. He closes his mouth around the device as Emu shifts a little in her seat. "Do you want to lay in your bed?" Emu takes his hand back into hers, going back to tracing paterns on it. Looking at the invisible lines Emu's drawing on his palm, Tsukasa just shook his head, she wouldn't have been able to help him up the stairs if he does. So sparring her the trouble, he would rather sit on the couch with her at his side. The thermometer in his mouth finally beeps, he takes it out with his free hand, searching for the temperature screen as it shows a 38°C. "That's not good" she peers over to look at the screen, then at him. She pressses a hand onto his neck, rubbing her thumb on his jaw, "you're burning up, do you want to lay down?".
With her face closer, he sees little details on her face he hasn't notice before. Maybe it's the fever talking but seeing her this close -even far away- she looks beautiful. The softness of her eyes, her plump lips and her squishy cheeks. “Tsukasa-kun” the resonance he was looking at tilted, her eyebrows curve upwards in a worry-curious way. Tsukasa clears up his throat before speaking -barely- “No, I want to sit with you” if he were to lay down on the couch, Emu wouldn't have space to sit. And being this close to her brings more comfort than any other position could have.
He watches as her eyebrows relaxes and a smile creep up onto her mouth, “okay” she simply answers before sitting back properly beside him. He feels her move a little before he feels a weight pressed on his side. Emu has lean on his arm. She put his hand she was playing with on her lap, drawing nonsense on it again. Tsukasa feels warmth blossom from his body that had nothing to do with the fever. He feels his face warm up but it didn't feel hot and the pounding headache quieted down somewhere along her caring for him.
He wants her to stay with him and he is so thankful that she didn't listen to his complaints of her being there for him. There is no reason anymore as to why he would've ask her to leave, any thoughts of being an independent older brother fell short at the tips of the fingers grazing across his palm. He leans on top of her head, letting the warm presence of her lolls him into sleep.
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"I'm hooommmeeee" Saki burst into the house, carrying her keyboard with her. Emu had told her that Tsukasa had gotten sick and that she would be taking care of him so Saki doesn't have to worry about getting back early, though she's still worried for her brother, Saki knows Emu would've done anything to get Tsukasa up and smiling again. So when she sees two of her favourite people sleeping on the couch, leaning onto each other and holding hands, all she could do was take a picture before going to wake Emu up.