She was sick. Not that she would ever say. He could tell by the way she was fidgeting and glancing at the clock. It wouldn't be obvious to most people, but she only ever did those two things when she was feeling uncomfortable and refused to go home early but desperately wanted to leave. That only came about when she was either sick or injured. In this case, he knew she hadn't been injured recently so he was banking on sick.
"Alright, Nanao-chan?" he asked cheerfully as he signed another form from the stack she'd put on his desk. He hadn't even put up too much of a fight when she'd asked him to make his signatures as she'd only asked once and when he'd whined just sort of shrugged him off. Yet another indicator she wasn't feeling well.
"Just fine, sir, keep signing," she snapped halfheartedly. Nanao shifted in her seat again and he saw the small wince it elicited. She must be getting a fever. Nanao tended to get achy when she got a fever.
"You could go home you know," he offered without much hope of it being accepted. "I'll finish these."
She snorted and ignored him completely. The next hour passed in relative silence until the clock struck five. "Well, Taicho, seeing as you did actually manage some work today I think I'll be headed home for the night. Do have a pleasant weekend."
"You know where to find me if you need me," he called happily after her as she made her way to the door. She didn't even bother to glare at him, just walked out and forgot to shut the door. Definitely sick, he thought with a sigh as he signed the last five forms. When she was injured and in pain she never missed an opportunity to glare and she often liked slamming doors. Oh well, there'd be nothing he could do until she got desperate. Even then she usually tried to tough it out, but if the fever got bad enough she'd eventually get to him. Somehow it always just worked out that way.
"You seem distracted," Jyuushiro commented as the waitress brought them their food.
"Oh, it's nothing," Shunsui said giving him a reassuring smile and bringing his attention back to his friend. "Nanao-chan is sick and I'm waiting on her call, but that's all."
"You think she's that sick?" Jyuushiro asked raising an eyebrow. He was well aware of the little Fukutaicho's propensity for winding up in his friend's care when she was at the end of her rope. Often enough she'd reach that point after the annual division audits. Not that he blamed her for it. Jyuushiro was half convinced Shunsui helped her so little during those times with the express purpose of letting her fall under the weather, just so he could nurse her after the fact.
"Dunno," Shunsui said with a shrug. "But she was showing all the signs. Poor thing. This time I had nothing to do with it. She's probably caught that flu that's going around."
"Let's hope not," Jyuushiro said honestly. "Retsu-san said it's taken half her division out already."
"Is it serious?" Shunsui asked now looking deeply concerned.
"No, most of them are back to work in a couple of days or so, but it doesn't sound like fun," Jyuushiro said with a shrug. "I had to have my last visit at home, because Retsu-san was worried I'd catch it at the 4th."
"Oh yeah?" Shunsui's mood instantly lifted and he raised his eyebrows at him. "You got a home visit? How'd that go?"
"Just like any other visit," Jyuushiro said glaring at him. Shunsui tended to like to tease about any woman in his life, but as Retsu was there the most her presence in his life always induced the most jokes.
"You should make a move," Shunsui advised. "You could at least be friends with benefits. Who wouldn't want to be friends with benefits with such a lovely lady? It'd be the perfect arrangement."
"You're an idiot," Jyuushiro said firmly.
"You know," Shunsui started and then stopped and got a faraway look in his eyes.
"What?"
"That's my cue," Shunsui said standing up from the table.
"Already?" Jyuushiro asked glancing at the clock. "It's only 9 o'clock. She usually holds out to some ungodly hour of the morning." In fact Nanao calling for help was one of the only things that could rouse his old friend out of bed that early.
"Must be the flu," Shunsui said shrugging. "See you later."
That said the man was gone in a flash of shunpo. Jyuushiro sighed looking down at their food. Guess he was footing the bill again.
Shunsui knocked on the door and didn't get a response. He knocked again to silence before he tried the door. It opened easily and he frowned making a mental note to berate her for not locking it once she was feeling better.
"Nanao-chan?" he called stepping into the dark apartment. He didn't bother with lights as he navigated her hallway. He'd been in the apartment enough to know the general layout. Not that he was often invited back into her bedroom. He nearly tripped over her in the hallway. She gave a groan and he felt himself panic a little bit. Was she even conscious? "Nanao-chan?" he asked squatting down next to her balled up form. "What are you doing in the hallway?"
"Took a bath," she said pitifully. "I was too tired to make it to the bed so I just took a nap here."
He then realized she was wrapped up in a big towel and her hair was damp and tangled on the carpet beneath her. "Well do you want to go to your bed now?"
"Can't, too far," she whined.
"Come on," he said scooping her into his arms. Her skin was hot to the touch and she groaned painfully as he adjusted her. She leaned her wet head against his chest and kept her eyes squeezed shut. "You're going to get sicker lying sopping wet on the floor."
"I feel awful," she admitted quietly.
"I told you to go home earlier," he said shaking his head and pushing her bedroom door open. "We'll get you dressed and take you to the 4th."
"Oh, please no," she begged looking up at him with big watery eyes. The look was doubly hard to defend against since she didn't have her glasses on. "I hate going to the 4th. Please don't make me. I though if I called for you, you could just give me some soup or something and we'd be fine."
"Nanao-chan, you probably have the flu that's going around," he said in a placating tone as he settled her on the bed and glanced around for her sleeping yukuta.
"And does the 4th have a cure?"
He thought it over for a minute and then assumed not since half of the 4th was out with it. "No, I don't think so."
"Then why make me go?" she asked, "Just make me soup and be on your way."
"So you can end up going to the bathroom and wind up sleeping in the hallway again?" he responded with a snort finally locating the piece of clothing and bringing it back to the bed.
"Towel is fine," she said sleepily already curled up into the fetal position again.
"Nanao-chan," he said sweetly. "You either change or I'll take great pleasure in sliding that towel off of you and dressing you myself."
"You wouldn't," she said cracking one eye open to look at him.
He leaned down and kissed her bare shoulder and then flicked his gaze up to meet hers. "I most certainly would and you know it."
"Turn around," she said in a huff, groaning as she pushed herself back up. There was the sound of rustling fabric and a few moments later she said, "Done."
He turned around with a smile. "See, that wasn't so bad."
"I'm exhausted," she cried miserably. "And it hurts all over, and I can't get comfortable, and I'm cold. I hate being sick."
"It'll pass," he comforted with a small chuckle. "Get under the covers." He picked the discarded towel up while she followed instructions and threw it over the back of a chair. When he glanced back she was curled up under the blankets with a stuffed rabbit at her side. Oh, she was well and truly sick if the rabbit had made an appearance. Usually she denied even owning it. He'd won it for her at a festival years and years ago and it only ever saw the light of day when she was too sick to care if he knew she still had it or not. "Mr. Flufferton already, Nanao-chan?"
"Don't judge me," she said sharply. "And her name is not Mr. Flufferton. What a perfectly idiotic name for a rabbit."
"Oh, and what is her name?" He tried to fight the grin that was trying to work its way on to his face if only so she would answer.
"None of your business," she said rolling over. He moved to the bed and ran a kido warmed hand through her damp locks trying to dry them out as much as possible so she didn't get even sicker by sleeping with wet hair.
"What an interesting name for a rabbit to have. You know, you aren't very nice to the man you expect to take care of you," Shunsui commented.
"I don't expect you to take care of me." Nanao glared at him over her blanket-covered shoulder. "I expect you to make me soup, and that isn't crazy at all considering how many times I've had to help you sober up."
"Yare, yare, Nanao-chan," he said smiling. "I'll go make some soup. Get some rest." He retreated to her kitchen and quickly faced his next major dilemma. The woman had nothing in her house. No wonder she got sick, she couldn't possibly be taking care of herself with only water, saltines, and packs of instant ramen in her kitchen. He sighed and made his decision quickly. Hopefully she'd be too ill to yell too loudly. Marching back into her bedroom, he tucked her glasses into a pocket, and went about scooping her up blankets, stuffed rabbit and all.
"What are you doing?" she demanded trying to sound pissed off, but sounding more adorably muddled than anything.
"You have nothing in your house," he said making his way to her front door. "You can't stay here sick." It was a bit of a jumble keeping her up, snagging her keys, and slipping back into his shoes, but he managed.
"Put me back to bed right now," she demanded wiggling half-heartedly.
"I'm going to," he said with a shrug kicking her door shut and locking it quickly. "It just happens to be my bed I'm putting you back into."
"Taicho, this is highly inappropriate," she argued weakly while burying herself into the blankets and his chest to fight off the chill in the air.
"Hang on to Mr. Flufferton," Shunsui said with a chuckle. "Don't want to lose him in the shunpo over."
"Her name is not Mr. Flufferton," Nanao pouted before he shot off and raced over the rooftops forcing her to bury her face in his shoulder to get away from the wind.
"Home sweet home," he sing songed as he moved down his own hallway and back to his room.
"I shouldn't be here," Nanao said shortly.
"You're sick, where else should you be? Besides the 4th which you refuse to go to?" he asked good-naturedly setting her down on his bed and tugging her stolen blankets away from her tiny form.
"You don't bring any other division members back to your house when they're sick," she chastised as she bolted to bury herself under the covers on his bed. He'd figured the cold would drive her into it. He let her get situated before draping her blankets over his own as an extra layer for her.
"None of the other division members send such pitiful reiatsu messages to me when they're sick," he answered pointedly, reminding her that it was her that had begun this whole thing. He hated to do it for fear of discouraging her from doing so in the future, but at the end of the day she was the one who had chosen to invite him into the situation. She got pathetic when she was sick and always ended up calling for him eventually. He really didn't mind taking care of her. In fact he rather enjoyed it when she didn't feel well enough to maintain the professional space between them and instead treated him like the friends they were, but he hated when she decided to pretend it never happened or had been his idea once she was well again.
"There's no one else," she admitted quietly.
"Huh?" He frowned at her as he laid a hand across her forehead to see how bad the fever was getting.
"There's no one else for me to ask for help," Nanao clarified glaring at him. "You don't ask work friends and shopping buddies to help you when you're sick, and I don't have any other kind of friends. I just have you."
He laughed at the clear disgust in her tone. "Well, glad I rate so highly."
"It's your fault too," she sniffed curling further into his pillows. She really did get cranky when she was sick.
"How's that?" He wondered silently if he should run over to the 4th for some kind of tonic for her. She'd probably be all right for the half hour or so it would take.
"Always with those stupid loud flirtations. Everyone thinks we're screwing," she said frankly and he had enough attention in the conversation to be surprised. Nanao generally didn't like to talk about what other people thought of their relationship. "I got seriously asked if I was pregnant the other day, and before that I had a girl ask me if your parents were ok with us never getting married. Do you know that the only dates I've ever been on were with random men in the Rukongai who didn't know who I was? I lost my virginity to some guy in the back of a bar in the 5th district, mainly because by that point everyone in the Seireitei knew I was off limits. Let me tell you it isn't easy living in a barracks full of people who are routinely humping each other when no one will come within five feet of you. It gives you all sorts of self-doubt. So who gives a crap if I'm here when I'm sick? Everyone thinks it's happening anyway regardless of whether or not I take advantage of it."
Shunsui tried to think of something clever to say, but really his brain was still trying to process the idea of Nanao, his morally upstanding Nanao-chan, having sex with a near stranger in the back of some god-awful bar. "Nanao-chan is being rather honest tonight."
"Yeah, well Nanao-chan is tired of getting all sorts of flack for sleeping with her Taicho when she's not even getting the benefits of regular sex," she said with a huff. "I'd honestly decided just to break down and sleep with you, and then I had to go and catch the stupid flu and now I feel like I'm going to die. That's what I get for making such a stupid decision. Karma comes back and slaps me with a fever."
He again grasped for something, anything, to say, but was long stuck on the part where she'd said she'd planned to sleep with him. "I think we ought to take you to the 4th," he said feeling slightly woozy himself.
"If you take me to the 4th, I swear when I'm better I'll burn all your sake," Nanao said simply. "I'm sick and you are taking care of me until I'm better. There's no getting out of it."
"I wasn't trying to get out of it," he argued. "You just have to be really sick to be talking the way you are."
"Oh that's not sickness, that's exhaustion," she said shrugging. "If I'm going to get called a Taicho screwing hussy I might as well not have to sneak into the Rukongai to have some ill thought out one-night stand only to wake up in some seedy hotel and want to go home and shower my skin off. Plus your house is closer to the 8th. It's more convenient for everyone involved. Unless you've finally decided you don't want to have sex with me?"
"Nanao," he started and then wasn't sure where he was going. "We'll talk about this when you feel better."
"When I feel better, I doubt very much I'm going to want to talk," she said simply, and he wasn't sure if it meant because she wouldn't want to revisit the topic or because she'd be putting the plan into action and no talking would be required. He pushed that thought away. "I'm going to go to sleep now."
"Right, didn't you want soup?"
"I feel too sick to eat," she said almost disappearing below the blankets.
"Right," he repeated dumbly. Who could really blame him if his brain wasn't functioning properly? "Sleep tight, let me know if you need anything." Then he flipped off the light and stumbled out of the room. He successfully made it to a chair in the living room before he sat down hard.
He wasn't entirely sure he could process what had just happened. Nanao had just admitted to sleeping with various nameless men. Not that he'd thought she was a blushing virgin, but he hadn't known she was going out to the Rukongai for random hookups. He'd have thought something like that would get back to him. Then again who was going to tell him? If Nanao didn't want to get caught she was intelligent enough to not get caught. And now she wanted to sleep with him. It had to be the fever talking, all of it.
Shunsui spent the next couple hours trying to read unsuccessfully. Most of his thoughts would just roll around to the fact that there were men out there somewhere that had made her feel like trash and he wanted to hurt them all. Shunsui didn't have anything against one-night stands. He'd had plenty of them, but that didn't mean you didn't treat that woman with respect and dignity, and you sure as hell didn't take her to some flea-infested hotel in the lower districts. And what the hell was wrong with the men in the Seireitei? Yes, he flirted with her, yes people assumed they were together, but there wasn't one man brave enough to risk it when she clearly stated they weren't? Cowards. Most people thought he was a lazy drunk anyway, what did they have to fear? If she'd chosen to go to someone else he would have never taken that away from her no matter how much he was attracted to her.
"Taicho?" he heard weakly from down the hall and was on his feet in an instant.
"Nanao-chan?" he asked sticking his head into the room. She was still a lump under all the covers. "What do you need?"
"Nothing, I just feel awful," she whined. "And I can't sleep because every position hurts."
He stepped into the room and felt her forehead. She was burning up. "I'm going to get you some of Jyuu's fever medication I have left over," he said softly. "Then do you want me to read to you?"
"Uh huh," she said pathetically snuggling her face down into the stuffed rabbit. He smiled and left the room again. Whatever else was going on, right now he just needed to make sure she got better. He'd deal with the other surprises she'd just dumped on him after that.
Shunsui woke up hours later to Nanao struggling fiercely to get out of bed. He must have dozed off next to her while reading. He reached over to help jerk the blankets free from her and made a quick shunpo move to keep her from toppling out of the bed.
"Bathroom," she croaked desperately. He had her there a split second later and tugged her hair back from her face as she heaved. It racked her whole body and he was suddenly seriously doubted his decision not to take her to the 4th. He waited until she was done and then helped her lean back exhausted against the side of the tub. She arched away from it as the cool surface made contact with her skin and he waited a moment to make sure she didn't topple forward. Grabbing a cup he had left in the bathroom he quickly filled it up with water and passed it over to her. She washed it around her mouth before spitting it back out in the toilet, hitting the flusher, and then taking another feeble sip.
"I'm taking you to the 4th."
"Well, I'm not going," she answered simply, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. "I hate being in the 4th, and you said yourself they can't help me."
"We don't know that for a fact."
"They couldn't help Abari-san when he caught this last week so I don't see why they'd have made any advancement now."
"Still they could give you fluids or something," he defended weakly.
She snorted and finally looked up at him. "If I'm going to be sick and miserable, with nothing for it except rest and waiting, I'm going to do it in my own home." She paused and glanced around. "Well your home I suppose. Do you mind if I take a bath? I can't seem to get warm."
He sighed and realized she'd already decided the battle of wills was won in her favor as far as not going to the 4th. "You'll fall asleep and drown. Come on. We'll get you back under the blankets and you'll be fine."
He reached for her and she shifted away subtly. He knew she didn't mean it as an offence though. She hated being touched when she was ill because she got achey and every touch was agony. "I woke up cold before I had to throw up."
"Then I'll get more blankets," he offered.
"I want a hot bath," she complained.
"You just had one a few hours ago," he pointed out.
"It's not about being clean. The hot water always makes me feel better."
"Well, how do you propose we go about doing it then as I'm not letting you take one on your own and drown."
"I am not bathing with you," she said sharply while trying to form a proper glare.
"But Nanao-chan, didn't you so calmly inform me not a few hours ago that you'd planned on sleeping with me anyway?" he teased glad to see she was as prude as ever. Maybe he could write the whole incident off to fever-induced ramblings. In fact they'd be great fodder for teasing her once she was well and back to normal.
"That's different," she said with a shrug. "Sex is just sex. Taking a bath together is different."
He felt his mouth drop open again at her words and tried to collect his thoughts which she so easily sent scattering. "Nanao-chan is more embarrassed to have me sit next to her facing the other way while she's bathing than to sleep with me?"
"Well you didn't exactly imply you wouldn't be in the bath with me," she clarified. "But it's still weird."
"Not weirder than us suddenly having sex," he argued patiently.
"Of course it is," she argued. "With sex you're too busy with the act to really care who it is with and then you can leave once you're done. Bathing together, that's something you do with a lover."
"But you don't have sex with a lover?" he asked cocking his head to the side curiously. Nanao had never been so frank about her ideas on intimate relationships before and he found himself fascinated. She never did cease to surprise him with all those mysterious thoughts running through that big brain of hers. He also wanted to know how much damage her past relationships had inflicted on her. She obviously had not been having the right kind of sex if this was her idea of it.
"It gets messy with a lover." She shivered reminding him she was sick and sitting on the cold tile of his bathroom. "So much time and energy for so little return."
He sighed and helped her to her feet, knowing she wouldn't let him carry her if she could walk all right. She leaned against him heavily though, and he wrapped an arm around her waist. "Bed or bath?" he asked.
"Bed, if you're going to be so weird about the bath," she answered with a soft shrug and he could tell she was almost asleep standing up. She burrowed deeper into his side and he moved with her slowly back to the bed. He tucked her in and climbed into the bed beside her. If she argued it he would leave, but he really wanted to be closer in case she needed something.
He was surprised when he felt her snuggle up to his side and wrap her limbs around him. Her head came to rest on his shoulder and he felt her fever heated body overtake him. Kami, he'd dreamed of that long leg wrapped around his own so many times before. Given he'd never expected there to be a stuffed rabbit squeezed between them. He reached up a hand to stroke her loose hair and she murmured a happy little noise into his shoulder.
"I won't be able to sleep with you, you know."
"Huh?" she asked groggily.
"At least not the way you want," he corrected. "I'll want you as a lover, not as a fuck buddy who will leave the moment the physical need is satiated."
She gave a small huff of laughter. "Don't be such a girl about it. You've had casual sex with loads of people."
"Loads of people who were not you Nanao-chan," he said firmly. "I haven't been joking all these years. I want you in my bed, in my home, in my life."
"You'll settle for sex," she said yawning. "They always do. I don't need you to be noble about it. I'm not some blushing girl. I don't want any of your false promises or love that turns stale."
"You deserve better than a quickie in a disgusting hotel room," he said feeling the anger rise up in him again.
She laughed sleepily. "And that's why you'll do it the way I want it done," she said simply snuggling in tighter. "If only to stop me from going to strangers."
She had him there. He'd rather her in his bed walking away from him each time than out with unknown men who couldn't be counted on to treat her with dignity and respect. He'd give her anything if she only asked; he'd just always hoped she would ask for more.
"Goodnight, Shunsui," she said softly and the sound of his name broke him completely. She'd get what she wanted. He'd just have to convince her that she wanted it all.
A/N: So I'm finally writing a lemon. It was supposed to be a PWP one-shot, but became multi-chapter with the smut a few chapters in because I have no self-control. Hopefully it's not terrible, but I make no guarantees. Let me know what you think!