Let's Play! (Alternatively known as 'Backseat Gamer')
A Lovely Complex Fanfiction
By i need sleep

Summary:

Koizumi Risa is bummed out about being sick, so Otani comes over and offers to take care of her.

It felt to her as if her sneeze caused a little concentrated earthquake. Sniffling pathetically, Koizumi Risa grabbed some fresh tissues from the box left on her bedside by her distressed mother ('Come back to the land of the healthy, Risa!') and flicked through her messages with her free hand, wiping the snot the tried to flow down.

'I heard you're sick?' the message from Nobu-chan read, followed by a ':('

Risa's thumb danced all over the keypad.

'How did u know?' she asked.

'Darling!' came the reply a minute later. 'Is Otani-kun taking care of u?'

Another sneeze shook through her, and she shook her head, feeling shaken. Wrapping her cardigan tightly around her, she replied.

'No?' she said, before following her message up with, 'I don't want him to get sick!'

'Ok, hold on.'

She placed her phone down on the bed next to her, before lying on her belly and slowly inching towards her gaming console. She continued sniffling, extending her arm out to grab her controller. I feel so weak, she thought, fingers barely reaching the power button. She was trying to fight off a fever, and she knew she should really be sleeping, but it was boring!

Her phone sounded from next to her, and she glanced at the screen quickly to find a mysterious message from Nobuka.

'Sorted.'

Confused, she replied with 'What?' before turning her attention back to the screen. A new platformer – something her brother had recommended. Booting the game, Risa grabbed the blanket and wrapped it snugly around her, throwing part of it over her head. Her ears were getting cold.

The door to her bedroom slammed wide open, and her flustered looking boyfriend came in. "Koizumi!" he said, "You're sick?"

She snivelled in reply.

Immediately, the auburn haired male slung his bag off and placed it carefully on the floor. Unzipping the shoulder sling, he pulled out a small bag of oranges. "Here!" he said, shoving it near her face. "Do you need anything?" he asked, sounding irritated but looking at everything but her.

"Otani," Risa called, her voice muffled. His eyes immediately whipped towards her. "Why are you here?"

"You idiot!" he said, "Why didn't you tell me you were sick?" he blushed slightly red. "You sound horrible, you freaking titan! I'm… Do you want me to get you anything?"

She placed her controller on the bed. "I'm fine, Otani," she tried to sound reassuring, but she could hear the failure in her voice. "Really, I'm okay."

"You don't sound okay to me," he muttered under his breath. Looking over to her bedside table – he blushed a deeper red when he noticed their photo from their beach trip from a while back closest to her, next to photos of their group and her and her friends – he grabbed the newly empty water bottle and said, "I'm going to refill this!"

"Thanks," she muttered, reaching for her controller again. Otani grabbed the controller away from her and placed it back on the table, "Hey, shrimp!"

He pushed her gently down, "Go rest, you dumb giant," he said, undoubtedly trying to sound tough. His voice was soft, though, and so it just sounded slightly endearing to her.

Or, maybe, I'm imagining things.

"But I want to play…" she moaned, slightly childish but wanting to get her way. "Please?"

He ignored her and tucked her in, hurriedly but gently, wrapping her in her spotted blanket like a little burrito. "I'll be right back," he said, before turning away and running off to the kitchen. "Koizumi-san," she heard him call out, "would you mind if I cooked something?"

Risa felt her eyes go heavy. That's funny, she thought; it came so suddenly, as if Otani was the sandman. Before she fell asleep, she heard her phone bleep next to her, and she hurriedly threw it open onto the pillow to read it before her eyes fell shut.

'So, did he come?'

When she opened her eyes again, she felt a little lighter but warmer. Looking to her left, she saw Otani slumped next to her bed, reading a book and eating chips. She tried to say hello and ask him why he came and how he found out, but all that came from her was a strangled cough.

Otani dropped the book immediately, and twisted around to look at her. "Ah! Amazon," he said, grinning at her. "You were snoring."

She glared at him, and his face immediately softened. "I can't help it," she whined, crossing her arms under her blanket. "I can barely breathe!"

He shook her off. "It's nothing new," he sat up and knelt at her bedside. "Are you hurting anywhere?"

"No," she said, smiling. "I'm feeling a little better!"

"Liar."

"Who're you calling liar, shortstack?" she said. "I'm feeling better!"

His eyes were half-lidded, and he looked at her with pure disbelief. "You developed a fever while you were sleeping." Getting up off the floor, he reached for a thermos at her bedside. "Here," he handed it over after uncapping it and pouring some delicious smelling soup in to the cup.

Risa mumbled thanks and took a sip of the concoction before humming in appreciation. "Delicious!" she said, grinning. "Did you make this?"

His cheeks betrayed him. "No!" he replied, much too quickly. "But you should keep drinking that. Here," he grabbed an orange from the bag next to the water bottle and started peeling it.

"Thank you, Otani," she said softly. He strained his ears to hear. "How did you know?"

He glared at her. "Nobuka-san sent me a message and blasted me for it. But why didn't you tell me you're sick?"

"I don't want you to get sick!"

"Well, I'm trying to help you get better!"

"I don't need help, shrimp!"

"Fine, amazon, if you didn't then why are you getting worse!"

There was a pregnant silence between them, and Otani continued peeling angrily, holding his hand out to give her the first orange he had peeled. "Eat it."

"Thank you," she said. "I'm feeling a little better now that you're here."

"You're welcome," he said. "I hate seeing you so…" he scrutinized her appearance. "Lifeless." He paused and watched her eat the orange. Feeling irritated, he placed the orange he was working on onto the bedside table and sat himself on her bed, taking the peeled oranges from her hand. "Open!" he ordered, slightly softly. Gently, he began feeding her.

She was bright red, but as to why she didn't know. Was it her fever or was it just embarrassment? Or was it because of the proximity between them, and how she noticed how he smelled faintly of perfume and his eyes had lighter brown specks that formed a beautiful pattern? She began feeling conscious about her current state – unwashed, having been sick for two days now, smelly, and with oily hair that was haphazardly thrown up in a bun making her a couple of centimeters taller. If it were Kanzaki or Mimi-chan they would probably still look cute, or fabulous. I probably just look like a giant eroded marble statue made by some unskilled sculptor.

"You should've told me you were coming, I would've cleaned up."

He gave her an odd look. "You can barely walk."

"But still!" she insisted, swallowing a piece of orange. "I look horrible!"

"Koizumi, you look okay. You look fine for a sick person."

Chewing the orange thoughtfully, he asked her what she wanted to do. She said, "Do you play many video games?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "Yeah?"

"Let's play together!" she croaked, before turning away and coughing violently. Turning back to her boyfriend, who had a terrified look on his face and a whole wad of tissues in his hand, she took a deep breath. "What time is it?"

"It's 7."

"Oh, so late!"

His gaze shifted from her to his bag. "I brought some clothes," he said, turning red-faced. "I can stay the night to take care of you, I asked your parents."

"So let's play together?" she offered again, reaching for the waterbottle.

"Can you even stay conscious long enough to play?"

She tried to reach for the controller, but she fell straight back down. Her head was swimming and she moaned in pain.

"Oi, Koizumi!" panicked the auburn-haired male. "Are you still alive? Should I call your parents? Should we take you to the hospital?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine; don't worry." She sat up with his help. "I guess I can't play anything, huh?"

He felt bad for her – she looked bored to death. "Well," he looked over to her gaming cabinet. "I guess I can play something and you can watch until you fall asleep. What time do you have to take medication?"

"I don't have to take any until 9," she replied, wiggling around to be able to lie horizontally across the bed so she would be able to watch the TV with no difficulties. "Get playing!"

Sighing, he muttered under his breath. "I'm not some sort of an entertainer," she heard him say, "I need my All-Kyojin." Otani turned the TV on and booted the console. "What game?"

"There's already a game in there," she said. "It's really simple – it's just a platformer."

"Okay." Resting over next to her bed, he felt her push herself slightly up, and felt the top of her head rest on his shoulder.

The cheerful music started playing as the main menu graphics unfolded in front of them. Starting a quick game, Otani zoomed through the first few levels with no problems. Risa watched him quietly, appreciating the company.

He got to level fifteen before he started encountering problems. There was an obstacle he couldn't get through, and he was starting to feel frustrated. "Go there, go there!" he heard the ill woman cheer from next to his head.

"Easier said than done," he said, as his character respawned, only to fall down just as quickly. "Damn it!"

"If you go there, you can double jump and land on the platform," she said, looking at the stage laid out sideways to her. "You should time it before you jump though – wait until the platform's been gone for, like, a minute before you do it."

He dumped the controller on the space in front of her and crossed his arms. "Why don't you do it, then?" he challenged, before taking it back in a flash. She didn't even get the chance to lay her hand on it.

"But I thought—"

"You're sick!" he answered back. "Just rest up."

He followed her instructions with care, however it still took him some time to get through the level. With a grin, she cheered from the sidelines, and bragged about how he wouldn't have gotten though without her. Otani waved her off, and continued to speak about his platforming prowess.

Moving on to the next level, he got through with minimal problems. Risa watched him intently, and offered no advice. When he finished traversing the level, he preened again, and she entertained him by cheering. More determined than ever, he carried on.

"Don't go there," she said suddenly, some three levels later, "You'll fall off once the block vanishes, and the swinging wrecking ball will hit you if you jump just before… You should try going up there instead, then just down as the ball swings by!"

"Yeah, yeah, no, that won't work!"

"Why don't you try it first?"

He tried. "No," he said, after his character fell again, for the fifth time, trying to reach the top platform Risa was talking about. "It doesn't work!"

"Try going from that platform instead!"

Much arguing ensued, until a couple of tries later Otani had timed himself well enough that he leapt through the obstacles and reached the ending castle. Risa lay next to his ear preening, and he conceded, saying, "Fine, fine, you can take credit for that one, Koizumi, but that's only one level out of the thirty I've done so far!"

She grinned. I'm not going to take this victory away from you, don't worry. "Alright, alright," she said. "Let's go!"

"You should be resting," Otani told his girlfriend, before turning back to the screen. "I can handle this just fine!"

"If you say so."

They sat together in silence, save for the blips and beeps that came from the game. The shorter of the two continued through with relatively few problems. At level fifty-three, though, he hit a block and found himself slumping forward.

"Hey, Koizumi, what do you thi-?" He'd paused when he noticed his girlfriend's sleeping face. Peaceful and sound asleep, her chest and back rising and falling at a steady pace. She didn't look like she was in pain, and there was a phantom smile on her lips as well, as if she'd fallen asleep secretly laughing at him.

But she was folded over to fit sideways on her bed, and he imagined it wasn't that comfortable. He cradled her head and took her pillow from underneath, throwing it over to the head of the bed. Carefully, Otani shifted his girlfriend around with a few grunts and swears. She was soon sleeping the right way around – head at one end and feet threatening to go past the bottom of the bed – and wrapped in a blanket.

After turning the console off, he pulled out his sleeping bag and laid it on the floor close to her bed. Just in case she needs him, he thinks. Snuggling into his little cocoon, he said, "Goodnight, Risa. Get better soon, All-Kyojin. I love you."

Author's Notes:

Inspirations for this story include Achievement Hunter's Cloudberry Kingdom Let's Plays and Yahtzee's distraction methods – "To confuse my opponents, I slowly lean over and kiss them." That's me paraphrasing, because I don't remember the quote by heart.

After marathoning Cardcaptor Sakura for three days, I'm back to rewatching Lovely Complex!