"You need to stay home."

"No."

"Nezumi."

Before anything else can be said, the smaller boy is planted firmly in front of the door out of the house; butcher knife in one hand. Nezumi stopped dead in his tracks; red eyes swollen with a bad cold.

"Shion I have to work." His voice is congested as if he is plugging his nose shut, and his face is flushed.

"Nezumi. You're sick."

"I'm fi-" Nezumi sneezes loudly and unsteadily wipes his nose on his sleeve. Shion grimaces at the germ display and carefully turns the taller boy around to go back into their bedroom. "Fine. I'm fine."

Shion set the knife in the kitchen as he passed, while Nezumi continued to slump towards the destination. "No. You're resting and not going anywhere until I say you are better."

"I gotta work."

"You're an actor." Shion deadpanned. "You aren't dearly needed."

Nezumi made a whining noise and gave one last struggle against Shion's small hands on his shoulders. "You're so mean..."

Shion rolled his eyes and shoved Nezumi into the room. The half dead actor fell face first onto the bed and fell asleep almost instantly. The small boy sighed and shut the door; giving it a lock to prevent the rebellious man from escaping while he cooked.

It was silent for several hours; until finally Shion heard an audible moaning from down the hall. Curious, he sat down the vegetables and cutting utensils and wiped his hands on a rag before going toward the sound. Outside the door to his and Nezumi's room he placed his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow at the fingers sprawled out under it- clawing at the air as though it were going to save him. "Nezumi... What are you doing?" Shion asked, slowly as though he were addressing a two year old.

"Trying to escape." He gasped dryly. "Come on Shion, I gotta pee."

"Thanks for telling me."

Nezumi whimpered. It was a pitiful noise and Shion groaned in response. "Why can't I tell you I need to piss? You've had worse come out of me-"

"OOOOKAY." Shion laughed sarcastically and then smacked his foot against the door. "No. No. I thought we weren't talking about that."

"Why not? We both know you liked it."

Shion kicked the door again. "You did too!"

No answer.

For a moment Shion was worried he had killed Nezumi and then the fingers retracted and he heard shuffling going away from the door. Slowly he opened it and sat down on the edge of the bed where Nezumi was laying again. His eyes were a little distant; but still sick and tired looking. Shion sighed.

"Alright sorry. But you need to rest. We can talk about... That later."

Nezumi sighed overdramaticly. "If only I had an adorable lover to give me a goodnight kiss and bring me soup when I wake up..."

Shion stood and stooped over his taller companion. "Yeah well looks like you're stuck with me instead."

Nezumi smiled. "Silly. I don't want anyone else."

The white haired boy kissed him, and then patted his cheek. "Get better, silly rat."

A smile appeared on the sick man's lips as he settled into the blankets. "Love you too, you little snake."