Title: He caught a cold
Author: Sissy

Warnings: Slight seme/uke ero? And a bit of OOC for Ray, Atsuki, and possibly Liu. Also, Sissy is bored (meaning writer's block) and recently discovered that you can now reply to reviews directly. Plus the fact that an APH fanfic is being written in the background doesn't help…

"(achoo) … Aah, that's right sensei. I'm sorry, but I can't make it to school today. … Yes, I'll be resting for the day. … Then, I'll speak with you tomorrow." Atsuki Saijo hung up the phone and sighed deeply. 'I should go back to bed. I already spoke to Nöla as well, so…' Walking wobbly to his room, he stopped when he heard the doorbell ring.

Going back to the front door, he unlocked it and was surprised when the door opened by itself and Natsuki Venefskuja tackled him to the floor, screaming, "Oh, Atsuki darling! I heard you had a cold so I dashed over to see you! Don't worry, I, Natsuki, shall take care of you with my heart and love!"

As Atsuki paled, Natsuki looked curiously at him. "What's wrong Atsuki? Oh, don't be shy now!" Natsuki was having fun, but Atsuki responded in stutters, "N-no… Natsuki, b-behind you…"

"Behind me?" Natsuki was confused and turned around to face Liu Yee. She nearly screamed as he bent down to her level. Smiling coldly, he spoke, "So, I see you ran off from Fort."

"I-I-I-I-I came to see Atsuki and to monitor his condition! He needs nourishment and he can't make food if he's sick, right?" Natsuki tried to make a good comment but Liu simply kept smiling.

"Atsuki-nii-san!" The young voice of Nami Kamishiro could be heard from the hallway as she ran towards the apartment and stopped at the entrance. "I heard you were sick! Oh my! You can't be on the floor like that! You'll just get worse!" She passed by Liu without making a fuss about the position of all three Fort members. "Are you okay? You're really pale! Now get up and go to bed! Help me out here." She spoke to Natsuki, who nodded and quickly retreated Atsuki to his room.

…

"Before we begin class, I'm afraid Saijo-kun is out sick today." Aoi Matsumura spoke, failing to notice the look on six of her students who all thought at the same time:

'CHANCE!'

"So, class rep, could you take notes and bring them to Saijo-kun in the afternoon?" Aoi went to look over at Sayuri Makino, but those six students all got up to say, "I'll do it sensei!"

"O-oh…" Feeling surprised, Aoi smiled, "Such wonderful friendship, but you mustn't all go at the same time. Saijo-kun needs his rest after all. And don't go skipping class to check up on him either. I'll be punishing anyone who does so in an excruciating way."

'That's not friendship sensei. Look at the lust in their eyes…" Sayuri looked sad at this fact as the six students thought of a way to visit Atsuki first.

…

While Nami made some easy to digest food for Atsuki, the other two waited inside Atsuki's room.

"Ah, Liu, what's that you brought?" Atsuki asked, trying to liven up the mood.

"Oh, some food I made in case you got hungry. Do you want some now?" Liu opened the top of Tupperware he was carrying to show some weird-looking food that surprised Atsuki and Natsuki. Their train of thought went quickly in this direction:

Liu Yee has "Σ erase" → "Σ erase" = eating someone's mind → mind = brain → Therefore…

"You both just thought something strange, didn't you?" Liu asked with a cold smile, scaring them both.

"N-no! Not at all! Absolutely not!" Both of them said at the same time, paling at the same rate.

"Food's done!" Nami came back to the room, carrying the food for Atsuki. Noticing their faces, Nami looked curiously at them as Liu suddenly stood in front of her and pushed her back out of the room with a smile. "Sorry, ojou-chan, could you wait outside for a few seconds?" He asked, closing the door and Nami noticed Natsuki retreat onto Atsuki's bed as they both held onto each other for support.

A few seconds later, Nami heard a gruesome pair of screams, then silence before the door was opened again. Liu was the one who opened it and Nami noticed Natsuki sitting back on the floor again, slouched down, while Atsuki was almost knocked out on his bed.

"Um…food?" Nami asked with a worried tone and Atsuki slowly lifted his hand in response.

"Please…" He nodded to her, hoping the food would help him.

As Nami entered the room, Liu left it to throw the empty Tupperware in the trash can with an empty smile. Natsuki was silently crying as she hoped Liu would leave the apartment soon. Though unfortunately for her, he had other plans.

…

"I'll go visit him! There's no need for everyone to go!" Rui Yamase argued with her friends during lunch. They were trying to decide who should be the one to visit Atsuki.

"Why do you need to be the one? He needs cheering up! So I'll go and tell him stories as well." Mika Nozaki debated with a pout.

"He needs rest, not be active! A good book will help him! And I live next door to him!" Ryo Unami made half a good point.

"Well I work near his place as well!" Rui stuck out her tongue at him, failing to notice that Shinji Naruse was exiting the room.

"Ah! Naruse! Don't you dare run off!" Akira Mido grabbed hold of the escaping hacker.

"Let go! I can take any of Aoi's punishments!" Shinji replied with anger, trying to escape Akira's hold.

"Oh, really?" Aoi came into the classroom, a cold smile on her face. All six teens stopped everything that they were doing. Yayoi Kamishiro didn't even get a chance to make any point.

'Baaaka.' Sayuri thought to herself in a very nonchalant way.

…

"I said NO! Stop being so stubborn Liu!" Even though Atsuki had managed to go to sleep, these two idiots were still fighting it out in his living room. They were causing enough noise to wake up anyone within three blocks.

"You already saw him, right? You're the one who's being stubborn! You need to go back!" Liu yelled back, trying to pull her away from the couch, but she just wouldn't budge!

"Heh heh." Nami silently laughed at them. They were very funny people.

"I said NO! I won't leave until Atsuki's feeling better!" Natsuki was holding onto that couch for dear life.

Letting go of the girl, Liu lifted his hand and gazed coldly at her. "Then would you like a demonstration of my work?" He asked her with a serious tone.

Before the stubborn Natsuki could answer, the door to Atsuki's room opened wildly from his kick. Going over to them, he looked menacingly at them. "You two…are being an annoyance to the neighbors… (achoo)(sniff) Out. NOW." His voice was serious and Liu grabbed Natsuki, who held onto Liu for dear life, as he promptly exited the apartment. "Stupid idiots… They're like an old married couple." Atsuki grumbled and went back to bed.

"Hehehe." Nami went into a giggle fit once Atsuki was in his room, but quickly calmed herself. After getting permission, she let Melody into the house and they both sat down to watch some television. She wanted to wait just in case Atsuki needed something and she figured someone might be over once classes ended.

…

The moment the bell rang, all six grabbed their bags and ran off in a dash. Each tried to beat the other to Atsuki's apartment and once they reached the entrance, they all exhaustedly tried to ring the door bell at the same time, causing a bunch of noises in the entrance.

"Once is enough!" The voice surprised them as Nami opened the door to Atsuki's apartment. "Sheesh! Can't any of you get along?! Atsuki-nii-san is sleeping right now!" She scolded them all as Atsuki came out of his room, a groggy look on his face.

"Who is it now?" He asked, a tone of frustration in his voice and all six felt their heart stop.

'K-kawaii…' Their thoughts jumped out, but Atsuki was too sick to notice.

"Ah! You need rest! Stop getting out of bed!" Nami went back in and pushed Atsuki back into his room and all six managed to be civil enough to enter quietly and in order.

"How are you feeling Saijo?" Mika was the first to speak once they entered Atsuki's room.

'Ahh, it's Atsuki's room…' And, still, Atsuki was too sick to notice anything.

"Much better thanks to Nami's cooking." Atsuki said softly, sitting on his bed as Nami read the thermometer with a smile. "Good! It's not high at all!"

As the girls sat down on the floor, along with Shinji and Ryo, Akira was left standing against the wall. Nami was about to leave the room when she turned around and asked, "Oh, yeah! You all brought today's class notes, right?"

Five of the six visitors froze and Nami frowned. "You can't be serious? How can you make a visit when you don't have a good excuse?" She seemed mad about something else entirely.

"I brought them. You can give the back tomorrow, Saijo-kun." Yayoi smiled, handing the notebooks to Atsuki, who seemed aloofly glad.

"That's my big sis! Always responsible!" Nami cheered and left to make some tea, followed by Ryo, who thought the girl might need some help.

"Your little sister is cruel. Can't we visit because we're worried?" Mika asked, receiving agreement nods from Rui and Shinji.

"By the way, how long has Nami been here today?" Yayoi quickly asked Atsuki, not wanting to touch a delicate subject.

"Since this morning. (achoo) She's been a big help with my other visitors." Atsuki told them and their minds started screaming.

'This morning?!'
'She cut classes then?'
'Visitors?'

"Ah, headache." Atsuki definitely felt a shock there, since they were all in his room, and they all moved forward to help him out, but no one touched him.

"You need to rest!" Rui scolded him and she managed to move closer to push him down on the bed. "Just stay there quietly!"

"I brought tea and snacks." Nami came back with Ryo and helped distribute the tea and snacks. "So, since you all came here in a hurry, I imagine no one brought a get well present?" What she asked surprised them all.

"Oh! That's right! I was going to get a book for Atsuki. I'll be right back." Ryo said and left the room without taking his bag.

'One down.' A mischievous thought floated around.

"Ah, do you want to hear what happened today at school, Atsuki?" Rui decided to make some conversation, hoping to move away the silence. She seemed to have realized something.

"Oh, that's right! We have to tell you what Takano-sensei did today!" Shinji laughed at the memory.

"Yeah, yeah. He was so…" Mika was about to speak when her phone rang, as did Rui's.

Both girls answered their respective phones and talked for a few seconds. Once they hung up, the rest saw Mika's trembling sad face and clearly heard Rui's sad sigh.

"I'm sorry Saijo! I'll come visit next time, I got called at work! Oh, there's a scoop waiting for me!" Although Mika looked excited, her tone of voice betrayed her. Leaving with an apology, she hurried out of the apartment.

'That's two.' The mischievous thought seemed happy.

"Ah, that was Ryo. Seems he got caught at work and won't be able to leave. He says he'll come around next time with a book." Rui told them with another sigh. She figured that might happen.

"So, keep telling him about what happened today." Akira managed to speak and got closer to the others, sitting down next to Shinji.

"I wanna know too!" Nami was curious but still left the room for a while to put away the abandoned tea cups in the kitchen sink.

As the mood got lively, they were suddenly interrupted by another phone ringing. This time, it was Shinji's phone. Shinji apologized as he picked up the phone and left the room, knowing it couldn't be anything good. After a short discussion, where he could be heard screaming at the person on the other side of the phone call, Shinji returned with a defeated look.

"Sorry. I need to go. That idiot Yuzi basically destroyed three computers in one go. I need to fix them and knowing Yuzi's mayhems, it'll take me a while. I'll see you at school Saijo." Shinji left the room a bit slumped.

'Three for three.' The mischievous thought smiled again.

"Oh, Rui, are you okay with not minding the shop?" Atsuki suddenly asked once he looked at the clock.

"The shop? The shop!" Noticing the time, Rui looked at her phone and saw that she had a lot of voice messages. Groaning loudly, she stood up in a hurry. "I'm treating you tomorrow for lunch as an apology! Get well soon Saijo!" Rui winked at him and left with a wave, but not before taking Ryo's abandoned bag with her.

'That fourth one went fast.' The mischievous thought seemed surprised.

"Ah, I've got some messages as well." Akira looked gloom once he saw his phone and went out of the room for a while to respond to his messages. Once Akira was out of the room, they heard Melody's bark in the distance.

"Oh. Melody wants to go out. She's been cooped up all day." Nami giggled, remembering that all they did was watch television today. "I'll go take these to the kitchen first." Nami stood up and grabbed the tea cups beofre leaving the room.

"I said I'll see you later!" Akira's scream was heard just as Nami got out of the room, nearly causing her to drop the cups. Once he hung up the phone, Akira returned and sat down next to Yayoi. He seemed really angry and Yayoi sighed.

"Don't get so angry. You'll worry Saijo-kun and that won't be good for his cold, now will it?" Yayoi scolded him and Akira frowned.

Looking over at Atsuki, who was smiling slightly, Akira lowered his head in embarrassment. "Sorry Saijo. I got carried away."

"It's alright. There weren't any problems at home, right?" At that, Akira remembered his talk with his father and got angry again. But before he could say anything, Nami returned.

"Okay, I'm done! Yayoi-nee-chan, let's go!" Nami went over to pull on Yayoi's arm.

"Eh? But I want to stay a little longer, Nami." Yayoi told her but Nami shook her head.

"It's been a while since you took a walk with me and Melody! Staying cooped in your room drawing is not good for your health!" Nami was adamant and energetic. She seemed to be in high spirits for some reason.

"But…" Yayoi seemed worried about Atsuki.

"It's okay Kamishiro. I'll just end up sleeping soon, so I'll be okay. Thanks for all your work today Nami." Atsuki smiled softly at the girl, who seemed ecstatic.

"No problem big bro!" Nami managed to pull up Yayoi and started pulling her to the door.

"Then, take care of yourself Saijo-kun." Yayoi smiled tenderly to Atsuki and was pushed away by Nami.

'I'm taking the fifth wheel, so good luck.' The mischievous thought inside Nami winked at Atsuki and soon enough both sisters and dog were out of the apartment.

"…" Atsuki lifted his left hand and motioned Akira to get closer. Once the boy got close enough, Atsuki started petting his head. "Don't fight with your dad so much. I'm too sick today to be of help to anyone, so calm down, alright?" Atsuki gave the embarrassed Akira a soft smile.

"Agh!" Akira buried his head on the mattress, trying to hide his blush. Atsuki, who still had his hand on top of Akira's head, looked worriedly at the boy.

"What's wrong?" Atsuki asked, tilting his head a little. As he realized his hand was still on top of Akira's head, he began to retreat it when Akira grabbed hold of it.

"You're making me go crazy." Akira confessed with a blush. "I know you don't mean anything by it when you do stuff like that, but you're creating misunderstandings!"

"Misunderstandings?" Atsuki was confused. He wasn't sure what the boy was talking about.

Akira only groaned in response and got up, letting go of Atsuki's hand. "I'm saying that you're making me want to do something you might regret if you keep being so innocent!" He yelled and started walking away but stopped when he heard a loud thud.

Looking back, he saw Atsuki planted face down on the floor. Surprised, he went back to help the sick boy up. "Don't get out of bed so suddenly! You're only making your cold worse if you keep moving around!"

"…" Atsuki glared at Akira, surprising the male. "So says the person who was thinking of doing something that might have made it worse." He told him, looking away angrily.

"Ah?!" Akira blushed, wondering when Atsuki figured out something like that.

"…Baka." Atsuki flicked Akira's forehead, surprising the male yet again. As Akira tried to organize his thoughts he failed to realize that Atsuki's face kept coming closer and closer until their lips met.

As Akira's mind tried to understand what exactly was going on, Atsuki intensified the kiss and pushed Akira down on the floor. When Akira fully realized what was happening, he put a hand on the back of Atsuki's head while wrapping his arm around Atsuki's waist to make sure he firmly held the boy. Once he made his point, Atsuki slowly retreated and shyly looked at Akira.

"Wow." Was all Akira could say. Atsuki began to tremble and burrowed his face on Akira's chest. "Why are you trembling? Are you regre-?" Before he could finish the question, Atsuki looked back up at him.

"I don't regret anything!" Atsuki yelled and lowered his head again. "It was too much stimuli." He confessed in mumbles and Akira noticed the blush creeping all over Atsuki. Smiling, he tightly hugged Atsuki. Once the boy managed to calm down, Akira sat up and placed the sick boy on top of his crossed legs.

"Now then…" Akira began as Atsuki looked at him curiously. Smiling at Atsuki, Akira began to undo the sick boy's pajama buttons. Jumping from surprise, Atsuki tried to get away but Akira held on tightly to Atsuki.

"Do you WANT to catch my cold as well?!" Atsuki cried out but Akira pouted.

"I wouldn't mind." Akira said, still smiling as he gave Atsuki a soft kiss.

'Baka, baka, baka, baka...' Atsuki was thinking that but still succumbed to Akira's warm touch.

…

The next day in class, Aoi came in with a very angry face. The students looked curiously at her, as did Reiji Takano. Turning to Reiji, she spoke, "First, let me apologize for barging into your class." Once Reiji nodded in acceptance, she turned to look at the students and directed her gaze to Atsuki. "Second, let me express my relief that Saijo-kun is feeling better."

"Thank you for worrying." Atsuki slightly bowed from his seat, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Third," And this time she addressed the whole class, "let me warn each and every one of you that a cold is not something to be taken lightly. Because Mido-kun selfishly decided to stay behind at Saijo-kun's place yesterday, he caught his cold, so now he has to stay at home. Next time any of you decide to visit a friend, let me just say that the thought is wonderful, but don't stay over and go play afterwards! You're only going to get sick faster that way!"

Before Aoi managed to spend more time on scolding the students, Sayuri decided, as a neutral party, to stop her and remind her that she was not in her class. Feeling embarrassed over that, she excused herself and quickly left. Atsuki, on the other hand, hid his blushing face with his hand, hoping no one would notice. But the one who did, Rui, tried not to scream out in a giggle fit as she hid her own embarrassment at having figured out what had happened.

And let's just say, Reiji had a bit of a difficult time in regaining his class's attention.

OWARI?

But seeing as I don't want to end it there, a bit of a mention. While Atsuki was visited by Natsuki and Liu, Nöla Döbereiner could only watch her boss with a sigh.

"Ray, I don't think it'll matter. Natsuki already escaped and you can't leave us like that so suddenly." She told Ray Platière with a sad look.

"But we must wish Atsuki a safe recovery!" Ray tried defending his belief and showed her a frog figurine that was dressed in a Hawaiian outfit. "Does this look like a good get well present?" He asked her with a smile.

"Why can't you just send him a basket of fruit? It'll be a lot better." Nöla sighed, going back to work. With a boss like this, she sometimes wondered how anything got done.

Final OWARI?

No. Once Akira got better, Atsuki treated him to some ramen. After finding a good ramen place and ordering, they began to eat their food. Akira remembered something funny he saw yesterday and decided to tell Atsuki about it.

"I looked out the window yesterday and saw Inagaki-san outside the house. He seemed to want to knock on the door but quickly left after seeing someone. I wonder if he confused the house with the shop?" Akira laughed at the memory and Atsuki dropped most of the food in his mouth back on the plate while Akira spoke.

Looking at Akira, who was still laughing at the memory, Atsuki thought to himself, 'You still haven't noticed?! How much of a scatterbrain can you be?!'

For once in his life, Atsuki felt fearful for the human race.

OWARI!

Sissy: Nyahaha! I wanted to do that last one as a four koma somewhere. Something like that does happen in the game though. Akira tells Inagaki to hand the ringtone to Akira's father himself and he gets nervous, blatantly obvious that he feels something for Akira's dad.
Kody: Nobody should be that dumb.
Sissy: Though I'm sometimes equally of a scatterbrain.
Aoi: True, true!
Sissy: I must say that I was this close to calling Rui as Lui as the Japanese website calls her. I was using that one so I didn't get the names wrong.
Aoi: Inagaka's name was also written differently, right?
Sissy: I noticed that too. It's written as Syunichi.
Kody: (ahem) Reviews are welcomed by anyone, and please remember that nothing except the punch line of the fanfic belongs to Sissy.
Sissy: And even THAT might be debated, but meh. All I care is about the enjoyment of the readers.
Aoi: 'Till next time!
Kody: Hopefully, none of your usual readers will notice this fic.
Sissy: (cowering) That's true…