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Kaoru never really minded waking up to the feeling of his boyfriend’s soft, warm breathing on his skin. If anything, he welcomed it— any sign of him still being there pressed up against him when he woke up felt reassuring. He always thought it was a pleasant thing to wake up to.
However, that day, Kaoru found Kanata’s breathing a little too warm. No— his entire body felt warmer than usual. He couldn’t help but notice how the latter shivered in his sleep, either. Pensively observing the way Kanata slightly frowned as he slept, Kaoru gently brushed away the hair on his forehead to lightly thump his own against it.
“So warm,” Kaoru sighed as he slowly untangled himself from Kanata under the covers, sitting up to thoughtlessly grab a thermometer from inside the bedside drawer.
Kaoru disappointedly sighed at the bright red numbers indicating his boyfriend’s current temperature.
Putting the thermometer aside, he pressed a kiss on Kanata’s warm forehead. “No work for both of us today, I guess.”
“Kaoru…?”
Not looking away from the soup he was currently stirring, Kaoru sighed. “Morning, Kanata-kun— Wait, no, go back to bed.”
“I woke up feeling ‘strange,’ Kaoru. I came in here to tell you.” Kanata said right before choking out a few coughs. Kaoru heard the obvious hoarseness in his voice.
Turning off the pot of soup’s heat on the stove, he finally turned around— finding the sight in front of him quite pitiful. Kanata was leaning against the kitchen’s doorframe as he covered his mouth with both sleeves of his (Kaoru’s) oversized gray sweater, eyes red and teary from irritation.
“I checked your temperature this morning, Kanata-kun. You’re really sick,” Kaoru softly told him as he reached out to gently card his fingers through Kanata’s soft hair, the latter immediately leaning into the touch. “How are you feeling?”
“…not good,” Kanata replied as he reached up to hold the hand that was gently touching him, slotting their fingers together. “Please come back to ‘bed,’ Kaoru.”
“I’m still making your breakfast, though?” Kaoru lightly chuckled, firmly squeezing Kanata’s warm (too warm…) hand before letting it go. “You’re the one who needs to get back to bed. I’ll bring you back some soup in a while, alright? And I don’t want you walking around the house today, you need to rest properly.”
Kanata pouted at that, his cheeks puffing out almost comically. “Okay…” he replied defeatedly, before letting his lips curl into a beaming grin.
“Thank you, Kaoru. I ‘love’ you.”
Before Kanata could watch his face burn into a brighter red than it already was, Kaoru had already started shooing him back into their bedroom.
“Y-yeah, yeah. Love you too.”
“Kaoru,” Kanata began after swallowing the paracetamol tablet Kaoru had given him, “Are you not ‘working’ today?”
“I called work when you were asleep and said I’d stay at home until you got better,” Kaoru replied, slipping under their bed’s comforter next to Kanata. “I have a schedule with UNDEAD about three days from now, though. Think you’d be good by then?”
“I believe I would get ‘better’ even before that,” a cough, “…since Kaoru is taking care of me so well.”
Willing himself not to get flustered (and failing), Kaoru cleared his throat. “Saying things like that…” he grumbled, giving Kanata a peck on the lips. “Go get some sleep, Kanata-kun. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Kanata only giggled as he snuggled into Kaoru closer, lightly nosing his neck playfully. “You smell ‘good,’ Kaoru. Did you use my ‘soap’ again?”
“W-we literally use the same soap! I— Kanata-kun, go to sleep…!”
Kaoru didn’t really have it in him to push his supposedly sick boyfriend away, especially when he was currently pressing a flurry of light, warm kisses on his neck.
“Kao~ru~”
“I’m starting to doubt the fact that you’re actually sick,” Kaoru grumbled as he wrapped his arms around Kanata’s waist, resting his chin on the crown of his head. “Get some rest for real now, alright?”
“Hmm, I will,” Kanata hummed, hugging Kaoru back just as tight. “I really ‘like’ Kaoru’s hugs. They make me feel better…”
Kaoru felt the other boy’s breathing finally even out, indicating that he finally fell asleep.
Pulling him just a little closer, Kaoru sighed contentedly.
“You make me feel better too, Kanata-kun,” he whispered into his hair. “A lot better.”
“Kanata-kun. Kanata-kun.”
Kanata stirred, blearily opening his eyes to see Kaoru beside him, holding a… tray?
“Ngh… Kaoru…?”
“We kind of slept until noon. I woke up a little earlier and figured it was time for lunch,” Kaoru replied, slowly setting the tray of food on Kanata’s lap. “That’s the sushi we had in the freezer. And before you ask, yes, I’ve already drowned it all in soy sauce.”
Kaoru knew sushi really isn’t what you’d usually give a sick person, but what he also knew was that Kanata would more than appreciate it.
Kanata’s eyes brightened, all previous traces of sleep or grogginess suddenly nowhere to be found. “Kaoru is the ‘best’. Good boy, good boy~ Here, I will ‘feed’ you.”
“Ah, wait, Kanata-kun—!” Kaoru tried to protest until a piece of soy sauce-drowned sushi was shoved into his mouth.
“Is it ‘good,’ Kaoru?” Kanata asked with a bright grin before taking a bite of his own.
Huh. Copious amounts of soy sauce… actually isn’t that bad. I think. “Yeah. Yeah, it is,” Kaoru replied, lips breaking into a smile. “It’s good.”
“I’m ‘glad’,” Kanata beamed. “I always ‘love’ eating with Kaoru.”
“Remember the first time we ate together?” Kaoru said, taking in another bite of sushi. “Back in high school, I mean.”
“You were a lot ‘lonelier’ during those days, Kaoru,” Kanata replied wistfully, looking out the window. “I could feel it. I could somewhat tell that we were the ‘same’.”
Kanata was looking at him now, smiling with his eyes. “Things are different now. Kaoru and I have ‘grown up,’ and I am really glad I ‘met’ Kaoru.”
Kaoru could only sigh in contentment, reaching out to pick a stray rice grain under Kanata’s pink lips. “I’m glad I met you too, dummy.”
Before Kaoru could pull his hand back, Kanata had caught it— proceeding to plant kisses all over it.
“Fufu… your face has turned ‘red’ again.”
“Kanata-kun. You’re supposed to be eating the food, not my hand.”
“I think you are far more ‘delicious,’ though.”
“… Please stop talking.”
“Sit still, Kanata-kun.”
Kaoru continued to towel-dry Kanata’s hair for a few more minutes before finally deeming it dry enough. “There we go.”
Kanata hummed, moving from his spot on the floor to sit beside Kaoru on the bed. “Thank you, Kaoru~ It has been quite a ‘while’ since you showered with me…”
Kaoru only rolled his eyes. “You make it sound like it’s been ages. I showered with you two days ago.”
“…That is still a ‘while’.”
“Right,” Kaoru snorted, reaching over to get the plain white shirt he left laying behind him on the bed, until a hand firmly caught his wrist.
“What—”
Kaoru could barely register the fact that a pair of lips had started to press against his own, that Kanata was suddenly straddling him with his arms loosely locked around his neck, and that he was still very shirtless.
“Nnn— Wait— Kana—”
Kaoru had then given up on speaking when he felt Kanata’s tongue slip into his mouth, choosing to kiss back instead with the same vigor. Kaoru’s arms found their way around Kanata’s lithe waist, pulling him closer, savoring his delicious warmth—
Wait.
Warm. Kanata-kun is warm. Very warm.
Kaoru’s eyes immediately snapped open, effectively breaking the kiss by immediately pulling away.
“Wait, Kanata-kun, hold on— you’re sick!”
Kanata, still pink-faced and dazed out from their kissing, only tilted his head in response.
“I’m serious.” Kaoru asserted, trying not to get distracted. “We— we can’t do anything. Not until you’re better.”
Kanata frowned, only pouting in response. “Kaoru.”
“Kanata-kun.”
“Kaoru.”
“Kanata-ku—”
Kaoru was once again interrupted, but by Kanata suddenly grinding his hips against Kaoru, using his position on Kaoru’s lap to his advantage.
“Yes, Kaoru?”
Kaoru’s eyes widened, biting down a groan as he hid his face down Kanata’s shoulder.
“Don’t… ngh... do that,” Kaoru protested weakly, getting slightly irritated at how much fun Kanata was getting out of this.
“Kaoru… nnh, please…?” Kanata whimpered (He whimpered! The absolute audacity, Kaoru thought) before grinding down on him harder, riling Kaoru up even more.
The last of Kaoru’s (withering) patience had finally snapped as he easily flipped their positions, effectively pinning a smug, triumphant Kanata to the bed.
Kanata felt Kaoru’s sharp eyes pierce through him directly; it made him feel as if he was about to be devoured alive— and he liked it.
“You should really learn to not provoke me like that, Kanata-kun.”
Kanata only grinned cheerfully, basking in the triumph of finally getting what he wanted.
“Do your worst, Kaoru~”
“Ugh.”
Kaoru reached blindly for his loudly ringing and violently vibrating cellphone on the bedside table (which effectively woke him up earlier). Kaoru glanced at the person next to him in envy; still managing to sleep through his phone’s incessant ringing.
Not bothering to check the caller ID, he picked up. “Ugh… Hello?”
“My, my, Kaoru-kun. You sound like you’ve been run over by a truck.”
Kaoru groaned in response. “Rei-kun, what the hell do you want?”
“Kuku, what is with you today? Has taking care of poor Shinkai-kun finally taken a toll on you after only one day?”
“No, it’s just that there’s this annoying vampire disturbing me this early in the morning, when I should really be peacefully sleeping.”
“An annoying vampire bothering you, you say? Shall I go over there and have a talk with them myself?”
Kaoru could already feel his soul leaving his body. “Cut the crap, dude.”
“And you are aware that it isn’t exactly early morning as you claim for it to be, right?” a pause. “It is 3 in the afternoon.”
“…What.” Kaoru glanced at the clock on the wall across him. It was indeed, 3 in the afternoon.
“What’s with you, Kaoru-kun? I only called to ask how Shinkai-kun is doing,” Rei replied. “Oh, and you as well, of course,” He added playfully.
Before Kaoru could even reply, he let out an embarrassingly loud sneeze, along with a series coughs.
Eyes wide, Kaoru immediately felt up his own sweaty forehead with his palm. “I—Uh— Fuck.”
“Kaoru-kun… Are you also sick?”
Silence.
“…Rei-kun. I’ll call you back later, promise.”
Shutting his phone, he set it back on the bedside table, only realizing now how feverish he actually felt. Like shit, Kaoru mournfully concluded. I feel like shit.
With a sigh, he looked back at Kanata still fast asleep beside him, grazing his hands through his hair with a firm goal in mind.
I am never, ever letting Kanata-kun get sick. Ever again.