Disclaimer: These characters and their world are as not mine
as they could possibly get.
Summary: Feeling sick, Tatsuha practically invites himself
into his brother's place, looking for a little comfort.
Gift for Aimee
Yuki Eiri stepped out of his shower and reached for a towel. As
his hand closed around it, his nose twitched, and he sneezed suddenly, openly.
"ehKShh!" Glad no one was there to have seen
him, he was also glad he had been spared having to watch himself thanks to the
steamy mirror. He could not imagine that the sight of himself
sneezing was a particularly stunning one. He sniffed and rubbed a knuckle at
his nose.
According
to tradition, one sneeze was indicative of someone, somewhere talking about him
or missing him. As a well known author, he did not doubt this was the case, but
if he had to guess, he would have wagered it was Shuichi talking about him, not
one of his fans.
He pulled
the towel around himself to dry as droplets ran down his body to the soft,
thick bathmat. He pulled on a change of clothes- dark slacks and a maroon,
long-sleeved dress shirt. He pressed the back of his hand to his nose, scrubbing
the tip of his nose for a moment. For a moment, he had felt as though he might
sneeze again, but the sensation passed quickly. So he draped the towel over his
shoulders and headed out of the bathroom.
As he
headed out of the bathroom and down the hallway, towel-drying his hair, he
tried to remember what two sneezes was supposed to
mean. Nothing came to his mind, however, as he started across his living room.
"Hi Eiri."
He
practically jumped in surprise. He had not expected anyone to be there. Shuichi
had worked late and gone in early every day that week. And considering how much
further away Yuki's place was from the studio, he hadn't been over for days. Eiri had pretended not to mind, spending his time working
on his book, but he had sort of missed the company. The
distraction.
"Tatsuha,"
he said, sitting down on the side of his couch his brother was not currently
stretched out upon. "How did you get in here?"
"You gave
me a key, remember?" he asked, rolling from his back onto his stomach. He
pulled his arms under his body, propping himself up with his elbows against the
couch cushions. "To look after your place while you were off on that trip with
Shuichi."
Eiri nodded, remembering. "All right."
He finished drying his hair. "Then I suppose my question should have been: why are you--"
"ehhhhPShuhhhh! hahh'PHShhhhh!"
Eiri let out a slow, silent sigh. Then
asked his third question in as many minutes. "Are you sick?"
Tatsuha nodded,
his mouth hanging open. Then his head snapped down again. "ehhh-hahh-PHShhhh!"
Eiri cringed slightly. The bathroom mirrors might as well
have been clear for all the good it had done. Watching his brother was like
watching a dark haired version of himself. And watching Tatsuha sneeze was like
seeing himself. "Bless you."
Tatsuha
sniffled wetly, repeatedly. His chest inflated and his body rose a few inches
with each strong sniff. Eiri pulled the towel off his
shoulders and tossed it over. Sniffling, Tatsuha buried his face in the warm,
damp towel. "B'sorry," Tatsuha mumbled into the
towel. He looked, still sniffling. "Can I stay here? I won't be any trouble, I
promise."
Eiri raised his eyebrows. "You want me to look after you?"
Shaking his
head in reply, "No, I'd just feel better not being all alone when I'm sick. I
just want to crash."
"On the couch?" He couldn't have Tat sleep in his bed. Not
all sick and sniffly. It was late in the evening,
past dinner, and he had intended to work on his latest novel for a few hours
then go to bed.
"Of
course," Tatsuha nodded. "You don't need to do anything different. Just let me
stay here."
After
giving it a few moments of thought, Eiri shrugged. "Sure
you can stay. On the couch." He repeated it to
eliminate the possibility of confusion.
"Yes, on
the couch," Tatsuha echoed.
Eiri smiled. "Now, can I get you anything? Need some
tissues, maybe?"
"Please."
Tatsuha nodded and sniffled some more. He scrubbed the back of his hand against
his nose. "So sniffly."
Eiri popped into the bathroom, which was still warm and
damp from the shower. "Maybe you should take a shower," he called back to the
living room. "You would feel better, I think..."
"hehhh-EhKShhhh!" He sneezed, his head snapping down
again.
Eiri sighed again and pulled several tissues out of the
box. He sat down on the couch in front of Tatsuha this time and handed them
over. Tatsuha took them gratefully with one hand and rubbed his nose into them
roughly, sniffling and snuffling. Then he balled the used tissues up and pressed
them to his palm using his last two fingers. He reached over to the box in Eiri's lap and pulled out more tissues. He snuffled into
those as well. "Thags. Sniff! Sniff! Thanks. You were saying?"
Tatsuha
looked more than simply sniffly. He looked tired,
weary, and achy. Eiri had to wonder how long his
brother had been sick before seeking out his company. "Nothing," Eiri said. "Just try to relax."
His nose
twitching, Tatsuha reached out with one hand for more tissues. He pressed them
to his nose as his shoulders raised and body tensed. "ehhh... hehhhPShhhh!"
His arm slipped and he lay flat upon the couch, snuffling into the tissues. "ehhhh-HEHShhh! ehhhKShhh!"
As Tatsuha
blew his nose, Eiri reached out and took a handful of
the rich brown hair. It was messier than usual, and he ran his fingers through
it. Then he began petting gently, soothingly. "Do you need anything else?"
Tatsuha
shook his head. He rolled onto his side and curled up a bit, sniffling more
into his growing handful of tissues. "I don't want to be any trouble. I'll be
all right."
Eiri narrowed his eyes. His brother would not be all right. And it wasn't like Tat
to be so quiet and passive. He ruffled Tatsuha's
hair, then bent and kissed his forehead. "Let me get you a blanket at least.
You look cold."
"I am
cold."
"Well, then
you need a blanket." He pushed off the couch and headed to his bedroom as a
determined older brother. He took the blanket at the bottom of his bed and
brought it back. He draped it over Tatsuha. "Any better?"
Tatsuha
nodded and sniffled again. He pulled the box of tissues under the blanket with
him. Eiri pulled over one of the couch cushions and
slid it beneath Tatsuha's head. He patted Tatsuha's head again and got up, heading for his desk on
the far side of the room.
He jotted
down a few notes that had come to him during the shower and was just bringing
up the document containing his most recent novel chapter when he heard his
brother start to cough. The coughing was harsh and strong and as soon as it
stopped, it started again.
Eiri glanced over his shoulder at the blanket-covered
brother on his couch. "Are you sure you don't need anything?" Tatsuha's head shook back and forth, though that was
difficult to discern amidst the coughing. "How about some
water, Tat?" Tatsuha waiting for a pause in his coughing,
then nodded ardently, making sure that the meaning was understood.
So Eiri went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. His bare
feet slapped against the tile floor as he walked from cupboard to fridge. He
added a few ice cubes to the glass first before filling it with filtered water
from the pitcher in his fridge. He really could not taste a difference between
it and tap water, but Shuichi said it was better for his throat so Eiri didn't mind.
He brought
the glass over to Tatsuha and held it while the man sat up. Tatsuha drank
eagerly for a while, and the coughs subsided almost immediately. When he was
through, he smiled. "Thank you. But I really didn't want to be a bother."
"That took
me all of, what, a minute and a half?" He chuckled. Seeing Tatsuha smiling and
not coughing was well worth the time and effort. And he hadn't really been in
the middle of his work yet, anyway, so it had hardly been a distraction. "Look,
Tat, if you need something, if you want something, just let me know. All right?" Tatsuha nodded and Eiri
kissed him again before heading back to his desk to work. He wasn't going to
sit there fussing over every sneeze, but he wasn't going to ignore his younger
brother's needs, either.
He settled
in his chair again and propped both feet up on his desk, legs crossed. He
pulled his laptop onto his lap and scrolled through his last few paragraphs
he'd written earlier in the day. They weren't bad, but they weren't anything
special, either. His editor would probably recommend he cut it out if it did
not further the plot here. But he resisted the urge to delete it all and start
from scratch. If he concentrated hard enough, it could be fixed. At least, he
hoped it could.
"hihhPShhhh! hehhhTChhhh!
Ehhh... ehhhPShuhhh!"
Eiri glanced over to see Tatsuha sniffling into more
tissues. Then he turned his attention back to his work in progress. He could
almost picture the women reading these paragraphs and rolling their eyes or
just skipping over these paragraphs altogether. Or both.
It would save so much effort in the end if he just deleted them now. But he
wasn't quite sure what to put in their place. There needed to be more added to
the rising action. There needed to be more development.
"ehhhh... IHShuhhh!" He blew his
nose.
If he got
rid of this portion, however, the whole flow would be off. Even without
contributing to the plot or the characterization, it seemed necessary. It fit. And,
for some reason, he would miss it were it not there.
"hih... hih-EHShhhh!"
But he also
knew he could not allow himself to get so attached to his work. Shuichi did
that with his songs, and it always turned out badly. Such emotions were painfully
amateurish, and Yuki Eiri had passed that point in
his career long ago.
"hahh-hah-PpiShhhhh!"
Eiri sighed in frustration. "Can't you go to sleep or
something?" he called over his shoulder. This constant sneezing was starting to
irritate him.
"D'no," Tatsuha replied stuffily. The only sound in the
large apartment was that of his almost constant sniffling.
"Why don't
you turn on the television?" Eiri suggested, hoping a
little noise would drown out at least the sound of the sniffles. "Put in one of
Shuichi's tapes. Maybe if you get your mind off your cold you won't feel so
bad."
It was
certainly worth a shot. Eiri looked over his shoulder
to see his brother trying to extricate himself from the blanket in order to get
up and get a tape. But Tatsuha looked tired and unsteady, and was moving too
slowly. Eiri sighed and headed over for him. "Never mind. Just stay there and tell me which one you want.
I'll do it for you."
Tatsuha pointed
and Eiri put in the indicated video. In a matter of
seconds, the Nettle Grasper concert began. He looked over at Tatsuha to see the
man smiling boyishly and curling up more under the blankets. His eyes looked
bright and he looked relaxed. Apparently this had been a good solution. He
turned off all the lamps in the room, leaving it lighted by just the television
screen and the glow of his laptop screen. "There. Now try to get some rest." Tatsuha
smiled and nodded, though he also reached for more tissues.
When he
returned to his novel, the room was filled with the noise of the concert,
cheers and shouts and music. But it was a noise he was used to, considering
Shuichi was forever playing these things when he was trying to work. And, as he
had hoped, he heard no more sniffles or sneezes for the rest the time he was at
his computer.
When his
own sleepiness took over, he set the laptop back on the desk and powered it
down. Then he got up to go to bed. The reason Tatsuha had not been sneezing was
because the man had fallen asleep. He was snoring very softly, but looked
peaceful while asleep. Squatting down, Eiri brushed
his brother's hair from his face. Softly, he kissed the slightly open lips,
then the slightly warm forehead. "Sleep well," he whispered. He stayed there
for a few minutes more to make sure Tatsuha would stay asleep. Then he headed
to the hallway and his bedroom.
It took
only a few minutes to prepare for bed, and he was soon lying on his stomach and
pulling blankets over himself. He reached up and hugged his pillow with both
arms, moonlight reflecting off his upper back. Briefly, before falling asleep,
he hoped Tatsuha would feel better in the morning.
Eiri was not sure for how long he had been asleep when he
woke to a poke in his side. It could have been a few hours, or even just a few
minutes, but he woke and lifted his head. He found Tatsuha standing beside the
bed, the blanket wrapped around himself. "I'm sorry,"
he whispered. "But you did say that if I needed anything..."
Eiri nodded. He had said that. "So after repeatedly being
passive and not wanting to bother me, you choose the middle of the night to
break out of that?" His brother shrugged and nodded. "All
right. What do you need, then?"
"I want to
sleep in bed with you?" He phrased it as a statement but presented it as a
question. "I know we agreed on the couch but I'm so cold and sih... and sick... hehh-EHShhhh! hehPShhhh!"
The tissue box was under his arm, and he pulled a few tissues out and wearily
rubbed at his nose with them. "Please, Eiri?"
With a
sigh, Eiri lifted his arm, and with it the covers. "All right. Get in, you."
Tatsuha
practically jumped into bed, burrowing beneath the covers. He shivered as Eiri pulled the blankets up to his chin, then
wrapped an arm around him. Tatsuha smiled and snuggled up to Eiri. "Mmm," he muttered, closing
his eyes. "I forgot how you like to sleep in the nude."
"Don't
mind, do you?" Eiri asked somewhat playfully, and
somewhat concernedly.
In answer,
Tatsuha snuggled closer. He pressed himself right up against Eiri's front, and Eiri affectionately
hugged him close.
Eiri pressed his lips to Tatsuha's
forehead and rubbed his hand up and down the man's back. "Good. Then unless you
need something else..." Tatsuha shook his head and chuckled. "Get some sleep.
I'll look after you." He eased the tissues out of his brother's hand and held
onto them just in case. "That's why you came, isn't it?"
Tatsuha
nodded and smiled sheepishly. He sniffled a little, and Eiri
rubbed his nose for him.
"Going to
sneeze?"
Tatsuha shook
his head.
"Going to
be able to fall asleep without that Ryuichi singing?"
Tatsuha
nodded again and yawned. He snuggled closer, nuzzling his face into Eiri's shoulder and nape of his neck. "Yeah.
I have you."
Eiri chuckled. "Yes you do. Now get some sleep." Tatsuha's dark hair tickled his chin as the man relaxed
against him. Eiri hugged him until Tatsuha's body grew heavy and limp, then
he fell asleep as well.