Cough Drops Are Candy
TITLE: Cough Drops Are Candy
CHARACTERS: Ryo, Shige
WORD COUNT: 1,292
NOTES: Whore!verse. Kind of short, but only because I'm working on something so amazingly epic right now.
It’s 6:45am and Shige doesn’t have class today, but he’s awake. Ryo’s alarm is going off, but he’s not turning it off. Shige’s waiting. Once it’s off, he’ll go back to sleep.
But Ryo doesn’t turn it off, he just keeps laying there. After 10 minutes, Shige’s had enough, and he crawls over Ryo to turn it off.
He shakes Ryo’s arm. “Wake up.”
Ryo groans and rolls over, towards Shige.
“You’re going to be late. Get up.”
Ryo groans again, but halfway through it turns into a violent hacking cough and Shige winces at hearing it and pats Ryo on the back. Ryo mutters something, but doesn’t seem too concerned about Shige not understanding it. He buries himself further under the covers and Shige knows how his next few days are going to be. He gets up to make tea and search Ryo’s bathroom cabinets for medicine, but he doesn’t find any. Shige takes the tea to Ryo, but he doesn’t want to drink it, so it ends up on the bedside table, cooling to the point where it’s lost its usefulness. At 7:50am, Ryo’s phone starts ringing. Shige’s sitting next to Ryo on the bed, debating on whether he should pick it up. But Ryo sticks his hand out of the blankets, pointing to it and Shige does.
“Hello?”
“…Ryo-chan?”
Shige doesn’t recognize the voice, but he figured he wouldn’t. “He’s sick. It’s pretty bad…”
“And you are?”
Shige looks down at the lump of covers that is Ryo’s head. “A friend.”
“Oh.” The caller seems to understand. “Well… Don’t let him stress himself. There’s been something going around the agency lately. It should run its course in two or three days. Please take care of him.”
“Um, okay. Yeah.”
They both hang up and Ryo starts coughing again.
Ryo sleeps off and on most of the day and Shige stays close by in case he needs anything, but Ryo doesn’t ever ask. He refuses everything - water, tea, food, medicine - and gets irritated if Shige asks about it too much or leaves to get something. Shige learns that Ryo doesn’t like to take any kind of medicine unless absolutely necessary. All he wants is to stay in bed, with Shige close at hand.
On the second day, Shige forces Ryo to eat some rice porridge. But he complains that it’s too soggy and fusses about it until Shige makes three more batches, finally getting an acceptable consistency on the last. Ryo is still hacking up bits of lung every few minutes and it worries Shige.
On the third day, Ryo’s well enough to get out of bed and stumble (with Shige’s help) into the living room where the TV is. He lies down on the couch, but complains that it’s uncomfortable, and makes Shige sits at the one end, so Ryo can use his lap as a pillow.
On the fourth day, Ryo is doing much better, so Shige goes to class while Ryo is napping. On his way out of class, Shige checks his messages and finds he has several that are just coughing, occasionally interrupted by Ryo’s bitching. Shige hurries back, but finds Ryo is basically alright, and the coughing was mostly faked.
On the fifth day, Ryo has to go to work because the manager said he didn’t sound sick enough to get another day off. Ryo bundles up (Shige thinks it’s more for effect than need) and leaves several complaining messages over the course of the day. Shige takes some pity on Ryo and makes hotpot for dinner.
On the sixth day, Ryo’s completely better, except for the rare cough. He’s on TV that day and tells the talk show host that while he was sick recently, no one came to visit him. They all have a good laugh over it.
“So, there was no one taking care of you?”
“Well, I wasn’t alone most of the time. But I stayed in bed, so I needed company more than care.”
“Ryo-chan’s even meaner when he’s sick,” Yasuda says from the back. “You try to help him, but he just gets angry and nags.”
Ryo frowns. “It’s not my fault you’re bad company.”
Every one laughs again and in the middle of his lunch, Shige sneezes.
-- -- --
Shige sniffles (again) and his study-buddy turns to him.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay? You look a little pale.”
“I’m fine.” Shige’s voice is hoarse. “It’s just allergies.”
The study-buddy doesn’t mention that it’s not the season for pollen allergies.
For the first time in nearly two weeks, Shige goes back to his apartment. He throws his stuff on the floor, right when he steps in and pulls the futon out of the corner. He curls up under the covers and sleeps. He’s restless and wakes up a lot because he can’t breathe. His phone rings once, but it’s over by the door, and he’s too tired to get up. But once the ring tone is over, there’s an incessant knocking at the door and a voice shouting, “I heard the phone! I know you’re in there!” - Ryo, like it could be any one else. He keeps knocking and Shige wants to sleep, but he knows how stubborn Ryo is, so he crawls his way over to the door and doesn’t even stand up to open it.
Ryo looks down at him, confused. “What are you doing?”
“I feel awful.” And he sounds awful too.
Ryo steps around Shige, closes and door and sits next to him on the floor. “Do you want to go back to sleep?”
Shige nods, because he doesn’t trust his voice.
Ryo helps him up and half-carries him back to the futon.
“Where are your extra blankets?”
“I don’t have any.”
Ryo frowns.
“Will you get me the tissues from the bathroom?”
Ryo brings them over and puts them next to Shige. He drags the little garbage can in the corner closer too.
“You should go.” Shige’s talking into the blankets. “You’ll get sick if you stay.”
Ryo shrugs and doesn’t leave.
Sometime in the night, Shige gets worse. He’s freezing one minute, and the next he’s too hot. The congestion is worse too, and he has to take heaving breaths. Shige’s miserable and feels awful, but he can stand it, because through it all, Ryo’s next to him, wiping the sweat of his brow and giving him water.
Ryo has to leave in the morning - he can’t take off work to care for some one else. Shige feels even worse with Ryo gone, and he can’t really do anything but stay in bed and hope Ryo doesn’t have to work late.
In the late afternoon, the front door opens and Shige calls out to Ryo, but it just comes out as a croaking noise. Ryo laughs and drops several blankets on Shige. He straightens them all out and then goes to make tea. Ryo fills the silence by clinking things together in the small kitchen and talking about his day.
At night, Shige’s restless again. He’s too hot and tries to kick the blankets off, but Ryo lies down next to him, so Shige has to be still, since he’d have to kick Ryo along with the blankets. Shige whines and Ryo tells him to be patient.
“Just a little longer, Shige. Your fever will break soon.”
He’s right - by the time Ryo is leaving for work in the morning, the fever has broken and Shige’s sitting up.
“You’re coming over tonight, right?”
“I’m still a little sick, so I probably shouldn’t.”
“I’ll be back around 7. Don’t eat without me - I’ll pick something up.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I’m sti-“
“See you later.” And Ryo closes the front door.
CHARACTERS: Ryo, Shige
WORD COUNT: 1,292
NOTES: Whore!verse. Kind of short, but only because I'm working on something so amazingly epic right now.
It’s 6:45am and Shige doesn’t have class today, but he’s awake. Ryo’s alarm is going off, but he’s not turning it off. Shige’s waiting. Once it’s off, he’ll go back to sleep.
But Ryo doesn’t turn it off, he just keeps laying there. After 10 minutes, Shige’s had enough, and he crawls over Ryo to turn it off.
He shakes Ryo’s arm. “Wake up.”
Ryo groans and rolls over, towards Shige.
“You’re going to be late. Get up.”
Ryo groans again, but halfway through it turns into a violent hacking cough and Shige winces at hearing it and pats Ryo on the back. Ryo mutters something, but doesn’t seem too concerned about Shige not understanding it. He buries himself further under the covers and Shige knows how his next few days are going to be. He gets up to make tea and search Ryo’s bathroom cabinets for medicine, but he doesn’t find any. Shige takes the tea to Ryo, but he doesn’t want to drink it, so it ends up on the bedside table, cooling to the point where it’s lost its usefulness. At 7:50am, Ryo’s phone starts ringing. Shige’s sitting next to Ryo on the bed, debating on whether he should pick it up. But Ryo sticks his hand out of the blankets, pointing to it and Shige does.
“Hello?”
“…Ryo-chan?”
Shige doesn’t recognize the voice, but he figured he wouldn’t. “He’s sick. It’s pretty bad…”
“And you are?”
Shige looks down at the lump of covers that is Ryo’s head. “A friend.”
“Oh.” The caller seems to understand. “Well… Don’t let him stress himself. There’s been something going around the agency lately. It should run its course in two or three days. Please take care of him.”
“Um, okay. Yeah.”
They both hang up and Ryo starts coughing again.
Ryo sleeps off and on most of the day and Shige stays close by in case he needs anything, but Ryo doesn’t ever ask. He refuses everything - water, tea, food, medicine - and gets irritated if Shige asks about it too much or leaves to get something. Shige learns that Ryo doesn’t like to take any kind of medicine unless absolutely necessary. All he wants is to stay in bed, with Shige close at hand.
On the second day, Shige forces Ryo to eat some rice porridge. But he complains that it’s too soggy and fusses about it until Shige makes three more batches, finally getting an acceptable consistency on the last. Ryo is still hacking up bits of lung every few minutes and it worries Shige.
On the third day, Ryo’s well enough to get out of bed and stumble (with Shige’s help) into the living room where the TV is. He lies down on the couch, but complains that it’s uncomfortable, and makes Shige sits at the one end, so Ryo can use his lap as a pillow.
On the fourth day, Ryo is doing much better, so Shige goes to class while Ryo is napping. On his way out of class, Shige checks his messages and finds he has several that are just coughing, occasionally interrupted by Ryo’s bitching. Shige hurries back, but finds Ryo is basically alright, and the coughing was mostly faked.
On the fifth day, Ryo has to go to work because the manager said he didn’t sound sick enough to get another day off. Ryo bundles up (Shige thinks it’s more for effect than need) and leaves several complaining messages over the course of the day. Shige takes some pity on Ryo and makes hotpot for dinner.
On the sixth day, Ryo’s completely better, except for the rare cough. He’s on TV that day and tells the talk show host that while he was sick recently, no one came to visit him. They all have a good laugh over it.
“So, there was no one taking care of you?”
“Well, I wasn’t alone most of the time. But I stayed in bed, so I needed company more than care.”
“Ryo-chan’s even meaner when he’s sick,” Yasuda says from the back. “You try to help him, but he just gets angry and nags.”
Ryo frowns. “It’s not my fault you’re bad company.”
Every one laughs again and in the middle of his lunch, Shige sneezes.
-- -- --
Shige sniffles (again) and his study-buddy turns to him.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay? You look a little pale.”
“I’m fine.” Shige’s voice is hoarse. “It’s just allergies.”
The study-buddy doesn’t mention that it’s not the season for pollen allergies.
For the first time in nearly two weeks, Shige goes back to his apartment. He throws his stuff on the floor, right when he steps in and pulls the futon out of the corner. He curls up under the covers and sleeps. He’s restless and wakes up a lot because he can’t breathe. His phone rings once, but it’s over by the door, and he’s too tired to get up. But once the ring tone is over, there’s an incessant knocking at the door and a voice shouting, “I heard the phone! I know you’re in there!” - Ryo, like it could be any one else. He keeps knocking and Shige wants to sleep, but he knows how stubborn Ryo is, so he crawls his way over to the door and doesn’t even stand up to open it.
Ryo looks down at him, confused. “What are you doing?”
“I feel awful.” And he sounds awful too.
Ryo steps around Shige, closes and door and sits next to him on the floor. “Do you want to go back to sleep?”
Shige nods, because he doesn’t trust his voice.
Ryo helps him up and half-carries him back to the futon.
“Where are your extra blankets?”
“I don’t have any.”
Ryo frowns.
“Will you get me the tissues from the bathroom?”
Ryo brings them over and puts them next to Shige. He drags the little garbage can in the corner closer too.
“You should go.” Shige’s talking into the blankets. “You’ll get sick if you stay.”
Ryo shrugs and doesn’t leave.
Sometime in the night, Shige gets worse. He’s freezing one minute, and the next he’s too hot. The congestion is worse too, and he has to take heaving breaths. Shige’s miserable and feels awful, but he can stand it, because through it all, Ryo’s next to him, wiping the sweat of his brow and giving him water.
Ryo has to leave in the morning - he can’t take off work to care for some one else. Shige feels even worse with Ryo gone, and he can’t really do anything but stay in bed and hope Ryo doesn’t have to work late.
In the late afternoon, the front door opens and Shige calls out to Ryo, but it just comes out as a croaking noise. Ryo laughs and drops several blankets on Shige. He straightens them all out and then goes to make tea. Ryo fills the silence by clinking things together in the small kitchen and talking about his day.
At night, Shige’s restless again. He’s too hot and tries to kick the blankets off, but Ryo lies down next to him, so Shige has to be still, since he’d have to kick Ryo along with the blankets. Shige whines and Ryo tells him to be patient.
“Just a little longer, Shige. Your fever will break soon.”
He’s right - by the time Ryo is leaving for work in the morning, the fever has broken and Shige’s sitting up.
“You’re coming over tonight, right?”
“I’m still a little sick, so I probably shouldn’t.”
“I’ll be back around 7. Don’t eat without me - I’ll pick something up.”
“Didn’t you hear me? I’m sti-“
“See you later.” And Ryo closes the front door.