I own nothing
Kisa sighed after he hung up the phone.
'I hope he'll be ok,' he thought.
Then, he put the papers back on Onodera's desk before continuing with his own work. It was half an hour later before Takano entered the office. He saw that Onodera wasn't there.
"Where's Onodera?" Takano asked Kisa.
Kisa froze.
'Oh no!' he thought, panicking slightly. 'What do I do?!'
The editor settled for shrugging his shoulders.
"Not sure," he answered, keeping his voice steady. "All I know is he's going to be late."
Takano frowned.
"How late?"
Kisa shrugged again.
"Not sure."
Takano's frown deepened but he didn't say anything. Instead, he went over to his desk, sat down and began to work on some papers.
Kisa quietly sighed but continued on his own work, thankful that Takano didn't figure out he was lying.
But that was short lived.
An hour later, the Editor-In-Chief walked back over to him.
"Where's Onodera?"
Kisa froze again. He looked up at Takano.
"I don't know," he answered, his voice sounding meek.
Takano glared at him.
"You're lying," Takano stated.
Kisa gulped.
"N-No I'm not," he stuttered out.
"Yes you are," said Takano with anger and concern in his tone. "Where's Onodera? Is he alright?"
The editor sighed.
"Ritsu called in sick a while ago," Kisa admitted. "And he had me fax a manuscript to his home. He also ask me to cover for him."
He muttered the last sentence, hoping that Takano didn't hear him.
No such luck.
"You knew that he was sick and you still covered for him?!" Takano exclaimed angrily.
The black haired editor jumped back.
"I'm sorry!" Kisa cried. "He told me to because he didn't want to worry you!"
Takano growled at him.
"Get back to work," he snapped at him. "We'll talk about this later."
Kisa jumped again and immediately went back to typing on his laptop while Takano went over to his desk and picked up the phone, dialing Ritsu's number with worry.
A coughing fit stopped Ritsu once more.
For the past hour and a half, Ritsu has been trying to work on editing the latest manuscript but his cough was causing him to take frequent breaks.
"Stupid cough," he muttered when the coughing fit subsided.
He leaned back, breathing heavily.
"I guess I'll take another break," he sighed.
Ritsu got up and went to his fridge, opening it up. He was looking at the contents, trying to decide what to grab, when his phone rang. He grabbed a bottle of water and went over to his phone, opening the bottle of water as he walked. He took a sip before opening the phone and accepting the call.
"Hello," he answered.
"Onodera!" a voice shouted.
Ritsu pulled the phone away from his ear, noting the voice was his boss'.
"Yes, Takano?" said the light brown haired man in a tired tone, sitting down on the couch.
"Why didn't you call me and tell me you were sick?!" Takano shouted.
Ritsu froze.
'Crap!' he thought. 'He knows! But I do have commend Kisa for covering up for this long.'
"I called you but you didn't answer," Ritsu lied smoothly. "So I let someone else know."
"Ritsu Onodera," Takano warned.
The editor winced, knowing he can't lie to him and he sighed, trying to hold back a cough.
"It's not that big of deal," he said after a moment of silence.
"Not a big deal?!" exclaimed the taller man. "Ritsu, your health is a very big deal!"
Then, he began to lecture the younger man about the importance of taking care of himself which Ritsu tuned out. His boss talked on for a while before he decided to intervene.
"Takano, it's just a little cold," he told him. "It's nothing I can't hand..."
Then, Ritsu began to cough. His coughing fit lasted a bit before it finally stopped.
"Sorry about that," he muttered hoarsely.
The other side of the phone was quiet.
"Ritsu, have you taken any medicine?" Takano asked in a calm, worried tone after some silence.
The sick man thought about lying to him again but thought better of it.
"No," Ritsu answered, leaning back against the couch.
"Have you been resting?"
Ritsu winced, looking over at the manuscript papers all over the coffee table.
"Kinda?" came the answer. "What can be defined as resting?"
It was quiet on the other end for a little bit again. The light brown haired man thought that maybe Takano hung up and was about to before he heard his voice again.
"What's your temperature?"
Ritsu's eyes widened. He hadn't really thought about his fever since he had first checked his temperature earlier that morning.
"I think it was 38.5 the last time I checked," answered Ritsu after thinking about it for a little bit.
"Go check it now," Takano ordered. "And stay on the phone while you do."
He sighed but decided to not argue with his boss and got up from his couch to go get the thermometer. He coughed a couple of times before turning on the thermometer and sticking it under his tongue. While he waited for the device to go off, he felt awkward just standing there in silence while waiting for the reading. Soon, it did go off and he took it out.
"What's it at?" Takano asked.
"38.7°C," Ritsu answered.
He heard sigh on the other side.
"Go back to bed and get some rest," Takano ordered once more. "I'll be there in a bit."
Ritsu spluttered.
"But Takano..." he started.
"Now, Ritsu," said the other before hanging up.
Ritsu sighed.
"Great," he muttered. "Just great."
Then, he had another coughing fit. Once it stopped, Ritsu decided to do what he was ordered to do and went back to bed. He didn't realize how tired he was until he crawled under the covers.
He was asleep in seconds.