Fills the femslash february trope square Sick Fic.
Title from the evia song My 약.
Rio doesn't exactly live her life to fullest, but she does try to go along with her friends when they want to do things; she doesn't stay at home unless there's literally nothing going on in Ikebukuro, which isn't often. She doesn't quite feel human again after her meeting with Nakura and the Headless Rider, but she's trying, and maybe trying too hard, but that's for her to work out later. Until something gives she's determined to at least try to feel for the moment, throwing herself at every little social interaction that comes her way.
There's a cold going around and of course she catches it, suffering through the fever and stuffiness so she can go out another few nights after classes. By the third evening she's had to break out the blush to cover over her pallor complexion in a dingy bathroom of a cheap music venue.
When Rio rejoins her friends to watch a local band she's not really into (and doesn't understand how anyone could be so fixated on them, even if the frontman is wearing an open vest – they just suck so much) she finds herself clasping her cold glass to her cheek every time she sips at it.
Ten minutes later Non takes pity and tells her to go home. Rio doesn't argue and simply picks up her bag and shuffles away from the sharp vocals and missed notes.
The air outside is almost fresh compared to what she just escaped from, the chill in it a relief to the fever she's been carrying since the karaoke bar a few nights ago. The cool breeze doesn't help for long as her body becomes wracked with chills, and she wishes she just stayed at the venue with its confusingly bad music so her friends could have at least guided her most of the way home.
Less than three blocks of slow walking and she feels the need to stop, to lean against a wall for support and press her forehead into the cool brick even as she's hugging herself for warmth. Her frame begins to shake as her breath comes heavily, and suddenly she can't remember what street she's down or how far it will be before she's home. A small part of Rio savours the shred of fear she feels for herself as the vertigo takes her.
There's a hand on her shoulder an inscrutable time later, her legs feel scrapped where they've collapsed against pavement and there's black around her vision as she blinks at the figure leaning over her. Rio can make out a yellow motorcycle helmet with cat-eared attachments to which she thinks, "Oh, they're a nice person," before passing out.
When Rio comes to she's not even sure she's awake – the Headless Rider is in her sightline and that sort of image seems rather delirium-induced enough for Rio to question her lucidity. She doesn't have time to do anything besides marvel before the Rider's helmet is turned towards her in an inquisitive way, fingers tapping at a PDA Rio doesn't recall being in their hands a moment before.
"Are you alright? I found you in an alley down by Sunshine."
Rio slowly reads the screen and nods. "I think so. I've been sick, and I probably shouldn't have gone out tonight," she explains.
The Rider nods as well and types, "You need to take care of yourself." The statement is loaded with meaning to Rio; a reference to their previous encounters and weighed by her continued existence afterwards.
Rio thinks that she should be insulted by the instruction but the affront doesn't come; she just feels guilty. It floods over her as her eyes pass from the screen to the stoic yellow helmet watching her. This person has saved her twice now (three times if Nakura's staged kidnapping counts, which it might as well) and all Rio can think is that she seems to mess up the opportunities handed to her.
Instead of trying to justify her poor excuses for constantly needing a hero Rio just says, "Thank you," like she should have the first two times they met.
And then she says it again, and again, and all of a sudden there are tears pooling in her eyes and the Rider looks uncomfortable and Rio's apologizing now, her face hot and chest too warm and she wants to shut up because she's just embarrassing them both. Words eventually fail her and she starts crying, and even that feels like she's doing it weakly, like under the influence of sickness and lack of energy to carry it out properly.
Arms come up around her and she all but throws herself into them, face buried in a shoulder, and the small corner of her mind that is still rational files away the new knowledge that the Headless Rider is female and feels like a pillow through her jumpsuit.
Neither of them move until Rio's sobs have subsided, though when the Rider does pull away she keeps an arm wrapped firmly around Rio.
"Feeling better?"
"I am," which comes out a lot more honest then Rio expected it to. "I guess I needed that."
"It's good to cry sometimes. Like a reset for your emotions.
"Stay as long as you need to here. You've had a rough night.
"I'm Celty Sturluson, by the way."
"I'm Rio Kamichika," she says after the string of texts is shown to her.
"My roommate is a doctor. If he comes home at a reasonable time I'd like him to check on you before you leave."
"Okay." Her mom wanted her to see a doctor anyway. Rio couldn't argue with a checkup after her peculiar behaviour tonight.
"Would you like some tea? I can heat up some leftovers if you're feeling up to eating."
"Tea would be fine, thanks."
As Celty peels herself away from the girl Rio ponders if the rumours are true about the Rider, but she quickly realizes that she doesn't care either way. As silly as it sounds in her mind, it doesn't matter whether or not her saviour has a head under her helmet.
When the woman returns Rio questions if it would be inappropriate for her to lean into Celty's hugs again, and after drinking half of the weak tea offered she put the cup aside and does exactly that. First she pulls her hair out of the sloppy pigtails, shaking the kinks out, which makes it too easy to let her body fall to the side against Celty as a wave of dizziness comes over her. The Rider is probably surprised by this but does not seem annoyed since a black-clad arm comes around her and braces Rio steady.
They watch some weird show about aliens that Celty starts texting someone partway through. She idly looks around the tidy flat when Celty's attention is pulled away, and part of Rio wishes she was brave enough to do something more with Celty then cry and swoon, but the rest of her is still working on the fact that she has some serious hero worship to work through. There's also the total lack of logic in trying to start something when Rio can barely sit up without help.
Eventually Rio falls asleep, and sometime after the documentary is replaced by a familiar drama she wakes up to Celty and a bespectacled man in a lab coat standing over her. Celty notices her first and waves a "Welcome back to the waking world" greeting at her while the doctor turns his attention on her.
"Hi Rio, my name is Shinra. My friend here tells me you aren't feeling well."
Rio slightly shakes her head, weary of the last time she made any sudden movement.
"Is it okay if I give you a little checkup?"
Rio looks at Celty, unconcerned and confident, and gives her assent.
"Great! I'll try to be quick."
He must had come straight from whatever office he works at because Shinra has a plastic-wrapped tongue depressant in his coat's breast pocket. The examination doesn't take long, ending with an uncomfortable press of his fingers in the sides of her throat. He asks her a few questions about her general health and the guilt seeps back as she answers him truthfully.
Neither of the roommates chide Rio for her reckless attitude towards her wellbeing, though when he's done Shinra says, "I'm giving you a prescription for plenty of rest and liquids. If this doesn't clear up in a few more days you should see your family doctor."
However, Shinra does not recommend that she goes anywhere else tonight, his eyes showing a concern that might not just be for Rio's health as he slides his gaze to Celty.
"Where do you live, Rio?" Celty asks through her screen, and Rio lists off her address.
Celty and Shinra share a silent conversation between each other which ends with the doctor shaking his head with a sigh.
"You should stay here tonight," Celty suggests, clearing Rio's confusion. "If that's alright with you."
"Can I call my parents first?"
"Sure."
She calls them, like the responsible child she's been trying to be since she stumbled through her mess with Nakura, telling her mom the majority of the truth without using the Headless Rider's name. Exhaustion weighs her body into a slump on the sofa when she's finished, her eyes closing briefly.
Shinra lays a tray of food in front of her that she didn't hear him make, and he retreats with words concerning paperwork and a reminder that Rio shouldn't be up much longer. Celty returns from somewhere down the hallway with a set of pajama's perfectly folded in her hands, held out to her silent in offering. Rio gets into them and washes up, Celty guiding her to and from the washroom, carefully helping her back onto the couch so Rio could pick at her food as the woman wanders around the apartment behind her.
She wants to say something over the laugh tracks and light dialogue in the background, but she can't figure out the words through the bubble of nervousness swelling in her chest. There's half a thought formed in her mind that no matter what silly or stupid thing she says or does it'll be blamed on her cold. Another thought drifts over that one – she shouldn't do anything she'll regret in her current condition. Save the bad decisions for when she can savour the consequences.
Celty comes back from wherever she took Rio's clothes and sits beside her, still wearing the tight suit and cat-eared helmet. Rio's body makes a compromise for her conflicted mind, leaning towards the Rider like a magnet. Celty doesn't move during this, allowing Rio to move close to her side again, arms wrapped around the taut abdomen, head at her shoulder. When Rio stops shifting for the best position Celty finally touches back, a gloved hand paused on her spine before reaching for the blanket Rio had almost entirely lost in her fidgeting, pulling it up like a cloak around the girl.
Rio dozes like this, wrapped in softness and smoky warmth, and sometime later she wakes to a shuddering motion under her. She looks up to see Celty's helmet turned towards the TV but the angle is wrong and after a minute she realizes why – Rio's laying on top of Celty, the Rider reclined back on the arm of the couch with Rio and the blanket half-draped over her chest.
Of course Celty notices her right away, the helmet tilted to the side in a feline-like display of curiosity. A limb recedes from Rio's back and makes a sharp gesture, the PDA popping out of seemingly nowhere into Celty's hand, but before the woman can begin typing in earnest Rio reaches out for it, palm closing loosely over the screen and effectively silencing anything Celty was trying to say. Then Rio pulls away and relaxes against the lithe form under her, half-considering the idea of pressing her lips against whatever skin she can find.
There's a shift from one side to the other as Celty settles back under her and Rio's softly jostled out of the idea, though she saves it for another time when her body isn't horribly sick and weak, holding out for a better time. Besides, knowing the way of Ikebukuro they will probably run into each other before too long anyway, and if Rio feels the same then as she does now then she'll let things run their course.