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kusumii ^^ : i won’t be going to school today, i’m still sick and i can’t pass the virus to everyone so i’ll be staying home! (˶˃ ᵕ ˂˶) .ᐟ.ᐟ
kaji blinked at the text on his phone, then another ping caught his attention and it was the same message but sent to their class group chat in line.
sick, huh? this is kusumi’s first. often times, it was either enomoto or kaji who’s down.
a series of text flooded their group chat consisting of “get well soon”s and mostly the class saying they’ll wait for kusumi to get better.
kaji receives another line message, this time from enomoto.
enomoto: i’m gonna drop by kusumi’s later, wanna come?
: let’s do it after patrol.
enomoto: i live across their home, we need to be earlier. aunt ririka’s currently overseas, i’m pretty sure he’s living off of take outs and junk food again.
huh.
that’s news to kaji. while he knew that enomoto and kusumi are familiar with each other during their first year in furin, he chalked it up to the two being either classmates or schoolmates in middle school.
kaji raised his head to look at enomoto, who he caught looking at him. enomoto raised his eyebrow. the class 2-1 leader looked back at his phone to another message from his vice captain.
enomoto: well?
: okay. i’ll tell hiiragi-san we’ll leave early for kusumi.
—
it was late afternoon and kaji asks his classmates to cover for him and enomoto for now. he also updated hiragi about the matter, and the tamon leader gave him a go-sign.
they went to the nearest konbini first to get something for kusumi to eat, some fluids, cold medicine and something that can be preheated at least. as they walk around kusumi’s neighborhood, kaji blinked when enomoto leaves him alone in front of kusumi’s house.
“you can knock or just head in, i’m picking up his food at my house.” enomoto said, heading straight to the house across kusumi’s.
kaji decided to head straight to kusumi’s, and the front door was slightly ajar. without removing his shoes, he immediately went inside in worry. although kusumi can protect himself, he is currently sick and might not be capable of taking care of even just one person right now. especially when he opted out of a school day.
but before kaji could even head in completely, he finds kusumi sitting, and leaning on the wall near the entrance to the living room. frantically placing the plastic bag of food on the floor, kaji crouched to check kusumi.
his cold hands touching kusumi’s warm forehead.
“mhm,” soft brown eyes meeting his’ kaji sighs. removing his lollipop with his other hand. “are you hurt?” kusumi slightly shook his head in disagreement, wincing slightly after.
“let’s get you to your room,” kaji bites onto his lollipop before putting the candy-less stick onto his pocket. he gently wrapped an arm around kusumi’s small torso, holding him firmly, and the other arm under his legs.
kaji decided to head in on the nearest room with the door slightly open as well. he figures that kusumi might’ve also left it open and he was right. his lover, and vice captain can be that scatterbrained when sick after all.
after putting kusumi down on the mattress, he pulls the blanket over him to keep him from being cold. kaji lightly runs his fingers on kusumi’s hair, moving them away from his face. a small smile tugs on kaji’s lips.
the brunette seems to be asleep, so when kaji moves up to get the food they bought— he stopped when he felt kusumi was firmly grasping a part of his jacket.
kaji bit his lip, flustered. he’s so sure his face is warming up in the same temperature that kusumi has and he wasn’t even the sick one!
“kaji, are you inside?” he hears enomoto’s loud voice calling out to him.
immediately pulling out his phone in panic he typed his words in as fast as he could.
: he’s asleep
: we’re in his room
: he’s holding my jacket
: i can’t move.
it’s a good thing that he had his phone on silent because he had accidentally sent the messages to their class group chat. now his phone is blowing up with messages from his classmates. some are asking about how kusumi is, and majority were just teasing. he sighs. he’ll deal with them all tomorrow.
enomoto enters the room with a bowl of porridge on his hand, and medium bottled water on the other. he meets kaji’s eyes and chuckled at the sight of his captain kneeling beside kusumi’s bed.
“he finally had you too.” enomoto said in a much quiter voice, placing the food and water on the night stand. he searched for his pockets for the medicine and places it down as well.
“you guys are friends, from middle school?” kaji suddenly blurted out. an actual response unfounded. he never really was the type to ask as often as they did. most if the times in conversations, other people often tells him everything. kaji always ends up being the listener, and not really much of an inquirer either.
“huh? oh, i guess you could say that. but it’s more accurate to say that we’re childhood friends.” enomoto left the room to seemingly get something so kaji moves to sit beside kusumi. he tries to pry the sick brunette’s hand from his jacket, but finds warm hands holding his’. kaji’s face burns red in turn.
enomoto came back with a small basin with water and a hand towel in it. “hey, kaji, mind putting this on his forehead—“ enomoto stops at the door, raised an eyebrow looking at whatever has happened after he was gone. kaji looks away, turning redder as time passes. then enomoto almost cackled but kept it in.
silently laughing to himself, enomoto went to kusumi’s other side, across from kaji. slightly wringing the towel to release a large amount of water, before placing the neatly folded wet towel on kusumi’s forehead.
“you know, he used to talk about you.” enomoto suddenly said. kaji turns to him in confusion. “kusumi, i mean. that guy really liked you in middle school. said you used to save him from bullies before.”
“i did?”
“mhm, way before you started blacking out.” kaji was shocked. he thinks to be sure of remembering people he used to “save”, but he knew that he probably forgot about them after he started blacking out. that’s when he started avoiding people after all.
“you saved him again, before you met hiragi-san. actually.” enomoto stated, placing the basin on the floor.
“he was trying to protect some of his friends, but was out numbered. you helped him, though you also beat him up.”
“what??” he did?
“yeah, that’s why i was so mad at you in our first year. kusumi didn’t really know what to tell me, though i assume aunt ririka knew with how close they are.” that checks out. kaji thought.
the thing is, the two of them just got together. though kaji had immediately met ririka during the first week of them dating and she has warmly accepted him. now they’re already together for two months, and hopefully more.
that information was new to him however, he can’t help but feel a ball of anxiety in his stomach.
“hey, it’s nothing to him. even as your lover or not, he understands what really has been happening with you during your black outs. we all do.” kaji felt enomoto’s hand on his shoulder, as he just stares at kusumi’s peaceful sleeping face.
though he jolted as realizes, “wait, you knew we’re together?”
enomoto raised an eyebrow, but sighed, “kusumi didn’t tell me outright, i kinda caught him. i tried to tease him and said ‘are y’all finally dating?’ and he was caught off guard.” enomoto said with a shrug.
“that friend of mine is real secretive when he wants to, but he can’t lie when caught off guard.” that can be true.
enomoto left once he finished fixing the food in the kitchen, leaving kaji and kusumi alone. he told kaji to just stay and give him a call, or his mom from the other house if he needs it.
he was told that kusumi’s fever is in its stage of dying down, though it makes the brunette a bit more groggy. the price of getting better it seems.
enomoto smirked at the thought of leaving kaji without telling him that kusumi gets bratty and whiny at this stage. aside from his clinginess, in a literal sense. well, it was up to kaji to know it all by himself.
every now and then kaji would soak the towel so it would be cold against kusumi’s skin. it was around early evening when kusumi woke up.
“mhm,” his eyelids flutter open, as if waking up from a dream. kaji gently removed the towel from kusumi’s forehead, as the brunette slowly rose from the bed to sit. he then handed him the opened bottle of water.
“you should eat and take your medicine,” kaji said, taking the bowl by hand to give it to kusumi who’s now sitting. kusumi slightly shook his head, head leaning on his bed’s head board.
“are you still dizzy?” without a word, kusumi just nods and kaji places his free hand under his boyfriend’s bangs, directly on his forehead. still a bit warm, but they might make a mess if kusumi’s feeling weak.
“kusumi, let me feed you. i preheated this porridge that enomoto brought before you woke up. it’s still a bit warm.” kaji held the spoon with his hand, stirring the porridge slightly before he began feeding kusumi.
his sickly boyfriend weakly rested his back and head on the wall behind him, smiling a little at kaji’s gesture. they sat quietly, enjoying the comfortable silence as kusumi continues being fed by kaji.
it was a common occurrence for both of them to do things for each other. most times in furin, it was just small things. holding kaji’s headphones for him, kaji speaking out for him when he needs it, keeping some lollipops that kaji likes for him when he runs out, so on and so forth. outside furin, when it’s just the two if them together; they were a bit more open. holding hands, fixing each other’s hair, head leaning on shoulders while watching movies in theaters, kissing his cheeks after being walked back home—the likes.
their love is not loud, you can even call it subtle. but it’s understood, and reciprocated. it’s something deeply treasured by the two of them.
“get better soon, the others are asking so much about you.” kaji said, placing the bowl on the night stand. he reached for the medicine to open and give to kusumi, along with the half finished bottle of water.
their parents were aware of their relationship status and who’s dating who when they got together. it wasn’t necessarily hidden, but their parents noticed the extended time spent together— put two and two together and found out. it wasn’t really bad, in both their perspectives.
“if people noticed, it’s fine. if people asked, we’ll tell them about us. i don’t like people prying into my personal life; but i also don’t like keeping who you are to me, from them either.” was what kaji said when they officially got together.
and it was one of the best things that kusumi was told in his whole life. aside from how much he was loved by his boyfriend, who also never fails to make him feel it.
after taking his meds, and being helped by kaji to be in and out of bath— he was wearing a robe on both accounts and no, he was not blushing from his face down to his neck when kaji teased him about bathing together! definitely not!
“i cleaned lightly, ate and washed the dishes we used. should i stay here?” kaji ask, looking at his boyfriend who’s tucking himself to bed, blanket spread over half his body and the mattress.
smiling, kusumi quietly spoke “stay here,” patting the space beside him. kaji gladly accepts his invitation, and laid down with his boyfriend. he would tell kusumi about the messages, but it’s not like it’ll matter. those guys may be strong enough for a fight but they’re huge cowards when asking about personal matters. aside enomoto, that is.
kaji then felt an arm snaking on the top of his torso, and as he turns to his partner, he felt a kiss on his lips. it happened promptly, a bit to fast for his liking, but he chuckled hearing kusumi’s giggle.
“you seem to be feeling better, you little minx.” he mumbled fondly, his arm also finding it’s way to kusumi. holding him close.
“mhm. thank you, kaji.” kusumi whispered, little less energetic. but kaji figured it was the medicine kicking in.
“good night, kusumi.”