Unexpected

"Pulse"

Sora pulled the blanket tighter around himself, inhaling deeply, for that musky scent was still there. It was comforting.

He didn't want to get up yet. This was his last week before his classes started, and dadgummit he was going to be lazy as hell. So he breathed in deeply again and closed his eyes against the broken sunlight streaming in through the window.

He dozed the morning away, enjoying his half-conscious state of comfortableness. He didn't have to worry about anything. He just had to relax.

It was nearing late morning when his phone finally chimed with the tone Sora knew all too well. It was just about time for Zack to text him.

His hand slowly crept out from underneath the blanket and grabbed his phone, and with bleary eyes, he checked the message Zack had left him. It wasn't quite what he expected.

I feel sick.

Brow furrowing and mind becoming clearer, he typed, 'What? Why?' and sent the message on its way.

For nearly ten minutes, Sora laid there, fighting away any lethargy that threatened to send him back to sleep. No reply came in that time. Sora thought about sending another message to see if Zack was okay, but knew that when Zack didn't feel well, he slept. Like a log.

So Sora rolled over onto his other side, closed his eyes, and let himself drift away back to sleep.

--

Sora managed to drag himself out of bed not too long after noon. Groggy as he was, he couldn't help but notice he still had no message from Zack. Shrugging this off – Zack was probably still asleep – he threw himself in a hot shower and went about getting ready for the rest of the day.

It was around three in the afternoon that Sora really began to worry. It had been over five hours since Zack's message and no word yet. The teen picked up his phone and stared at it hard, and after a moment he flipped it open and tapped out a hasty message: 'You okay?'

Relief coursed through him when he received a reply.

Sorry, babe, I was sleeping.

He responded with a short 'I love you' and shut his phone. He hated when Zack was sick.

--

Sora talked to Zack briefly that day, and even then the man sounded tired. It was only after a few minutes of conversation that he left again to get some more sleep.

It was not the best day for either one of them. Sora fidgeted his time away while Zack slept, for the boy just couldn't think of a time where Zack had been this sick. Sure, he'd been feeling a bit under the weather recently, sore and tired a lot. But he did have a lot of stress, and Sora supposed that was the cause.

The sun fell from the sky, and Sora hadn't heard any other word from his boyfriend, but he wouldn't text or call in fear of waking him. Zack would be okay; he was just having an icky day.

Sora jumped to attention when in the early evening his phone rang – Zack's ringtone. He snatched it up immediately and flipped it open.

"Hey," he said, almost laughing with relief.

"Sora." The voice was not Zack's, but Leon's.

"…Leon? What's…"

"There's a problem. Something's seriously wrong with Zack."

Sora felt his breath catch in his chest and heard his blood rush in his ears. His chest constricted almost painfully, and his hands shook with the shock of the news.

But his entire body went numb at Leon's next words.

"There's something wrong with his heart."

-end-

Sassy: Uh… ja?

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