"Achoo!"
"Bless you," Chris giggled.
It had been a few months since the virus was destroyed, and everyone had long since met up in real life. Today, though, Chris was not visiting Lilly to persuade her to come with him and see the gang.
"Chris," Kizuna mumbled, "will you PLEASE leave the room? I'm not gonna be able to go to sleep with you here nagging me. And anyway, you're gonna catch my cold."
Chris- or, as he was more commonly called, Kirb- chuckled in disbelief.
"You," he said defiantly, "won't be able to go to sleep if you're busy working. And you can't pretend you aren't going to start working the moment I leave the room."
Kizuna groaned. "You know me so well it hurts," she admitted. Even though the Forbidden Power was no longer in question, Lilly was still a workaholic.
"Look," she said. "I'll make you a deal. Let me finish the paper I was working on and I'll promise to rest."
"Nope," Zetto responded, somewhat teasingly. "You'll find a loophole. I'm not leaving you until you go to sleep." He walked over to the heater and turned it on, noticing her slight shivering. Then he closed the blinds, concealing the heavy drops of rain behind the window. He turned around to see Lilly attempting to boot up her computer.
Noticing him walking over, she quickly closed the laptop. Chris pulled it from her hands.
"You," He said, enunciating each word, "are not doing ANY work until you get better. Now go to sleep." With that said, he took the laptop out of the room, an angry Kizuna too tired to follow.
It took another half-hour of protesting, but Lilly finally gave in and laid her head on the pillow. A few minutes later, Chris came back in to check on her.
"Hey," he said, very quietly. Lilly was too tired to speak, and by now, her throat was sore from arguing anyway.
"You awake?" He asked in a whisper. She was going to say 'yes,' but then she figured maybe if he thought she was asleep that she could sneak out and retrieve her laptop.
So she lay still, making as few movements as possible.
Suddenly, she felt Zetto's fingers brush against her cheek, sweeping a lock of hair behind her ear. She tried not to tremble. Did people blush in their sleep? She was definitely blushing...
Then- to her complete disbelief, she felt Chris bend down and kiss her gently on the cheek. "I love you," he whispered quietly, his voice almost sad.
Lilly's heart decided to wait until the door shut behind her to start beating again, but once it did, it started to race.
He... L-loves...?
Then Kizuna blacked out for real.
-Four Days Later-
"Achoo!"
"Chriiiiiis..."
Chris laughed. "I'm not sick."
"Says the boy shivering under the blanket sneezing his head off," Kizuna retorted. "Sit down."
He pouted, but did as he was asked. She laughed.
"Serves you right. No TOME until you're better," she said, using his voice from when SHE'D been sick.
He lay down on her couch, rolling his eyes up at her.
"And I'm not leaving the room until you go to sleep."
"Hmmph."
It took about ten minutes for Chris to finally conk out, his body curled into a fetal position. When he did, Kizuna made SURE that he was asleep (better than he had her) before hesitating a moment, then drawing a deep breath and burrowing under the covers with him.
You can't hide from your feelings forever, Kizuna. You can do this. You're strong.
She lay there for about 20 minutes, holding the sleeping boy in her arms, her heart pounding being in such close proximity to his.
When he finally awoke, the first thing he saw was her eyes.
"L-LILLY?!" He asked, startled.
"Hey," she said casually, barely keeping herself from stuttering.
"L-lilly! Wh-what-? Never mind! G-go back to your room! You'll get sick all over again!" He demanded, trying awkwardly to struggle out of her embrace.
"You know what?" She said, looking him eye. He stopped struggling for a moment.
"Y-yea?"
Summoning up all her courage, she said, "I don't really care."
And then she kissed him.
On the lips.
Hard.
"Wh-Mmmph!?" The boy went stiff on first contact, then felt his body start to melt into her arms. She wouldn't let him go, so he finally gave up resisting her and started to kiss her back.
She pulled away gently, looking into his shocked eyes with satisfaction.
"I love you, too, Chris," she said, holding his head gently in her palm.
His eyes widened even more. "Wait... Y-you were asleep then! You were-"
She laughed. "I thought if you believed I was asleep, maybe I could sneak in my laptop." She strokes his hair affectionately. "See, sometimes my work ethic leads to good things." She laughed again. She hadn't laughed this much in... Well, in ages.
Zetto looked up at her with more emotions than she could read, and suddenly pulled her down to his level.
"H-hey!" She said, a little surprised by the motion.
"You don't get to be above me," he teased. Then he nuzzled her affectionately, just a little.
"Well, if we get sick at the same time, we're done for," he joked.
And maybe they were. But at least if they were, they were together.