In Sickness and In Health

"You don't have to stay." No sooner had En said those words, a coughing fit seized him and he pulled the blanket over his mouth, huddling closer to the wall as his body shook.

Atsushi said nothing, only sat down at the edge of the bed and soothingly pat his friend's back, waiting for the fit to pass.

"Don't be ridiculous," his hand settled on the back of En's burning neck, gently massaging it with his thumb. "I'm not going anywhere." He straightened out the blanket so that only En's head poked out, and gave him a warm comforting smile, though it faded as soon as En looked away.

Though En was never the pinnacle of energy, the fever left him more lethargic than ever, and Atsushi didn't realize how much that nerved him. It was nothing short of alarming, how ill he'd gotten so quickly. He seemed fine the day before, looking forward to spending the next day together as they always did. Atsushi never even had any reason to suspect something was wrong. He came over to En's house around noon as he always did, let himself in as he always did, got started on making lunch as he always did, and only then went up to wake En…as he always did.

It was only when he'd opened the door, and found En coughing harshly into his blanket, nightshirt tossed haphazardly onto the floor, and the room smelling harshly of sweat and sickness, that he even realized something was off.

He'd been left with questions. Had En heard him come in? Did he call to him, and Atsushi failed to hear? Did his parents know he was like this? No, even before asking for a confirmation, Atsushi was sure they didn't. En always went to bed early and woke up late, so they wouldn't have had any reason to check in on him that morning. If they had, Atsushi didn't think they would have left him alone like that. At the very least, they would have called him, and he would have been over much earlier.

Despite En's feeble protests, Atsushi immediately took charge, helping him to the bathroom to wash up, opening the window to air out the room a bit, and setting up a pharmacy on En's table—having brought up all of the medicine he could find around the house.

En, as far as patients went, was actually pretty cooperative, which only told Atsushi just how poorly he felt. He'd gotten En to take some medicine and go back to bed easily enough. En didn't protest (or didn't have the strength to protest) Atsushi rubbing his body with a cool wet cloth either.

He refused to eat though.

"Are you sure you don't want some rice porridge?" Atsushi asked.

"No food," En squeezed his eyes shut, "I can't even think about that right now."

"The medicine wasn't really meant to be taken on an empty stomach though. How about some crackers or something at least?"

"I'll take my chances." He cleared his throat painfully. Atsushi felt bad about forcing a conversation, but he had to know.

"How long were you like this?"

En shifted under the covers. "Dunno. Last night?" he rasped, "Had a headache so I went to bed a bit earlier, woke up in the middle of the night sick to my stomach, threw up in the bathroom… I was kinda in and out of it since then."

"And no one… noticed?"

"Guess not? It doesn't matter. My parents have to work anyway; it's better this way."

"Of course it matters!" Atsushi snapped, "No one wants to be alone when they're sick." Then in a softer voice he added, "I'll stay with you, alright."

"You really don't have to," he said again, sounding even more distressed this time, "You'll catch this."

"Then you can pay me a sick visit next," Atsushi reassured him.

"You'll be miserable."

"You'll cheer me up. You always do."

"But—

"No buts," Atsushi told him curtly, "Just try to get comfortable and go to sleep. And if there's anything you want, tell me."

"You're spoiling me."

"Don't I always?" Atsushi rubbed his arm through the blanket, "Sleep, alright? I'll be here when you wake up."

En's face was already flushed, but somehow it still seemed to get redder.

"Thanks Atsushi," he muttered and closed his eyes, "You're always taking care of me."

Atsushi smiled, and continued to sit on the bed, rubbing En's arm in a deliberate manner until his hoarse breathing finally settled into a steady rhythm.

Making sure En was snuggly tucked in at all sides, Atsushi picked out a book from the pile by En's bed and moved to the chair in front of the desk.

"You're always taking care of me too, En-chan," he whispered, "Pleasant dreams."

AN: Thanks for reading. This was written as a response to the prompt "You don't have to stay" (Enatsu) from Wildelectrictype on Tumblr. Thank you :)