ILL

"I'm ill."

I was waiting for Aomine at the park only for him to call me this morning. He was later than usual but I received no phonecall or text message until then. Aomine was ill? A barrage of worrying thoughts invaded my mind. "What's wrong?" I had asked; he did sound poorly over the phone. I was worried considering he was fine yesterday.

"I dunno, just feel sick and shit." He grumbled, "Just go without me."

"Is your mom at home? Do you want me to come over?"

"Che, you don't have to. Just drop by when you're finished or somethin'."

"Okay... take care of yourself."

"I will. See ya." Following that was a massive coughing fit. I hung up, shivering slightly.

I guess I'll pop by Aomine's house after school today.

And on a completely unrelated topic...I never did find my panties. I wonder where they disappeared off to. Hmm...

...

Later.

School was different without Aomine around. I didn't have anyone to talk to during lunch except from Mei or Momoi so I guessed this was how my school life was before I met him. It was really boring.

I couldn't wait for the day to finish, and just as I was about to leave, those boys from before tried to hassle me again as they brought more guys to harass me, so there was maybe about 5 or 6 of them, but to my utmost surprise, Wakamatsu and Sakurai came to my rescue and I thanked them both with a really polite bow and a smile and Wakamatsu's face went really red and he was scratching the back of his head saying I didn't have to thank them whilst Sakurai as usual, was a stuttering mess the entire time (but I knew he meant well). Then I saw Momoi who heard that Aomine was ill and she was going to go visit him but when she found out that I was going to visit him, she smiled really widely and told me to pass on a message (which was just telling him to get well soon). She also handed me some of her homemade cooking for him so I tucked that safely into my bag.

Anyway I was really, really excited to see Aomine after the bell rang but before I went to his house, I dropped by my home first to quickly bring some microwaveable congee, took some of my mom's healthy homemade soup and poured it into a flask, then packed in some snacks for myself just in case. I quickly texted him saying I was coming over and he seemed rather dull about it. Hm, usually he'd be always trying some way or another to get me to go to his house again...

When I arrived at his door, I only rang once and a few seconds later, the door opened and a scruffy-looking, exhausted Aomine was at the doorway in a ragged dark blue hoodie with holes and gray shorts. Even though he was usually so tanned, he seemed a little pale.

"Aomine!" I exclaimed. He looked awful.

"Nana..." He literally took one step towards me and stumbled forwards on the spot. I had to grab him and hoist him up before he collapsed.

"Aomine?! Are you okay? It's even worse than I thought!"

I heard him grumbling sourly under his breath, "Tch...this is pathetic..."

"Baka...that's why I'm here; I'll take good care of you today." I cooed, ruffling his hair but all I got was another grumble as his head landed smack-bang on my nape. I could feel the heat emanating from his forehead; he was burning up. "Alright, big guy...let's go back in... or else you'll get even worse."

"...Mmngh..." He mumbled incomprehensively, eyebrows furrowing; I supported him with one arm around the shoulder and helped him into the lounge where I saw a makeshift blanket on the sofa and a pillow where he must've spent the day dozing. The TV was on, showing a repeat of an old basketball game.

I lay Aomine down over the sofa and pulled the blanket over him. He opened his eyes wearily and he was watching me as I carefully tucked him in as neatly as I could. It was a shame he was too tall because his feet stuck out and I was worried he'd get cold but then he closed his eyes again and seemingly drifted back to sleep.

"Aomine?"

"...Nngh..."

"Are you okay?"

"Mmm..."

I left his side and went to the kitchen, plopping my bag of goodies down on the counter. He'll probably need to eat these later... I opened his fridge to see that there were some leftovers for him but he hadn't touched them. Since he was feverish, I quickly found a clean cloth from the bathroom and soaked it in cold water from the tap, squeezed it of excess water and returned to the kitchen. Glancing around, I realized the house was empty. I wonder where his mom was... maybe she was at work?

As soon as I went to the lounge, I plopped myself down on the floor at the foot of the sofa, near where Aomine was and draped the cold cloth over his forehead; then I lowered the volume of the TV so he could rest. A few minutes later and I felt his big hand searching for me, touching me on the head and hair and I turned round.

"Aomine, what is it?"

He grumbled something under his breath and opened his eyes. "Nana..."

I sat up and turned to face him, sitting on my knees. "Yes?"

"You didn't have to come."

"Don't be stupid, you're not well. Of course I had to come see you."

"...I might pass it onto you."

"I'll be fine."

"Damn it...I didn't want you to see me like this."

"Stop beating yourself up. Everyone gets ill at some point. Get some rest." I reassured, and he found my hand and held it tightly in his, and I noticed that his hand was cold. I gave his hand an affectionate squeeze but Aomine leaned over and hauled me out of my spot and lifted me on top of him on the blanket, wrapping his arms around me tightly. "What are you doing?"

"Be my pillow." He muttered, closing his eyes.

I struggled slightly but when he wouldn't budge, I sighed and relented. Alright, Aomine, you can have it your way for once...

...

It must've been a few hours later because I woke up feeling stuffy and hot and I was still wrapped up in Aomine's arms. The TV was still on but the curtains weren't drawn and the living room was dark. Looks like Aomine's mom still wasn't home yet from her work.

I shuffled slightly to check if Aomine was still sleeping – he was still fast asleep, I could tell from the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest and the quiet snoring, heavy breathing- I took this rare opportunity to observe him a few moments where he wasn't staring at my butt or chest or smirking or doing anything stupid or trying to feel me up or playing basketball (the list can go on and on but I'll stop here) and I was relatively surprised to see that he was quite...serene. Okay, that was probably a poor choice of word to describe him but honestly he looked so tranquil and calm... I was too scared to wake him up.

Therefore I carefully peeled his arms off me and slid off the sofa and onto the floor. Dusting down at myself, I tiptoed to the fridge and pulled out the microwaveable congee I had brought with me and the soup along with Momoi's home cooking. To my dismay it seemed to have turned a foul green color and was giving off a weird smell. I put it to the side for the time being then popped the contents of the congee packet into the microwave when –

"Nana...?" came a sleepy voice, before it was replaced with a rather frantic shout of: "Nana!"

Aomine was calling from the living room.

"Nana, you still here?" His voice was thick with exhaustion.

"I'm in the kitchen." I said, and I heard the blanket being tossed to the floor and Aomine shuffled inside the kitchen in his flip flops, looking disheveled and weary and with bed hair.

"I thought you left."

"Nope, still here."

"What are you doing?"

The microwave pinged off and I grinned at him. "I brought some food for you. You've not eaten anything, have you?"

"There's nothing to eat..." He grunted.

"Momoi-chan brought you some food too."

"Don't want Satsuki's food."

"Why not?"

"Her cooking is shit. I want yours. What did you make for me?" He drawled lazily.

I couldn't help but smile at him awkwardly. Yikes, Momoi better not find out about this. "Just this. Uh...I just microwaved it to be honest." I pulled open the lid and showed him the steaming tub of congee I'd made. "...Do you want it?"

"Yeah. Give it here."

With the congee bowl in one hand, I grabbed a spoon from the cupboard and dumped it in, then with my free hand, I took Aomine by the wrist and led him to the living room.

Aomine flipped the lights on and settled back into the sofa; he looked comfy, sprawling over it entirely but making some room for me so I could sit between his legs. I put the bowl down and used my hand to feel his forehead. It seemed he was cooling down. That was a good sign. Aomine watched me curiously for a few minutes before he swatted my hand away, his cheeks going pink. "Stop that. It's embarrassing."

"How else will I know your temperature?"

He shrugged. "It's still embarrassing."

"Shut up, I know you're secretly enjoying this."

With that, Aomine grunted his breath but said nothing more. Hah! I knew it...

I glanced at the bowl of congee, then to him. "Think you can manage?"

"Feed me." He muttered, but I could tell he was genuinely exhausted.

"Okay." I dunked the spoon inside and lifted it up to him for his taking but he seemed reluctant. "Is it too hot?"

"Yeah." He grunted, so I blew on it a little and Aomine was watching me the entire time as if he was transfixed or something until I inched the spoon for him once more. Finally, he bit down and swallowed and turned away from me, his face was a little red. "Why are you so good at this?"

"Good at what?"

"...Being a girlfriend."

I laughed. "I told you: it's easy. I guess I'm just...naturally caring as a person?"

"Heh." He chuckled, as I fed him another spoonful. "I like it."

His comment caused me to laugh again. "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"That's good. You need to be big and strong for your upcoming match. You have another one in a few days, right?" I murmured, and he nodded; I continued feeding him until the bowl was empty. "Ooh, you ate everything. I'm so glad."

"I wanna sleep." He said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand before he emitted a loud yawn.

"You just ate; you need to let it settle down for at least a few minutes."

"Fine." Aomine grabbed the remote and switched the TV back on, changing it from the sports channel to some random nature documentary where a fox was chasing after a rabbit on a grassy plain.

"Oh no, don't watch that." I complained, as the fox caught the rabbit and grabbed it by its ears. The rabbit flailed helplessly as the fox bit down and snapped its neck. "...The poor rabbit."

"Fine," He said again, sounding annoyed, "Let's watch somethin' else..."

He was being co-operative with me and he wasn't teasing me or anything. Strange. He flicked the TV to a random action movie and turned to me. I nodded, indicating my answer. He proceeded to let out a groan and nestled himself into the couch comfortably, snaking his muscular arms around me and pulling me against his chest. Pressing on a random button of another remote control, Aomine switched off the lights and we were bathed in darkness, the only light coming from the TV. The volume was quite low, so I could hear his shallow breathing and the occasional sigh of content. I snuggled into him, wrapping my arms around his waist.

"Hm?" He made a noise, swerving his glance to me.

I looked up with a smile. "Hm." I made a noise in response and placed my head over his chest.

"Tired?"

"...Yeah, looking after you is exhausting." I said, grinning. He pulled at my cheek, pinching it. Honestly, I was just kidding...

"Then get some rest. I don't mind." He murmured as he proceeded to wrap his arms around my shoulders tightly; Aomine was inviting me to take a nap...

"Okay." I closed my eyes, trying to get comfortable.

I heard him shuffle and shift around a lot, the steady thump of his heart beating against his ribs. We lay together on the couch for a long time and it was so comfortable being with him that I was slowly drifting off. It was moments like these when I wished time would stop.

Notes

This chapter didn't have much plot, it was just to write some more fluff so very filler-ish but I also couldn't really think of anything for the time being lol. Hope you enjoyed.