Because he's is a bitchy child who needs love. Also, this chapter is influenced by Tokyo Ghoul Fluff Week.

Minor Warning: Urie has a potty mouth and an even worse internal dialogue.

Amnesiac

Quit Whining

This was absolutely the shittiest day since falling under Sasaki's command. All he wanted was to go on a jog to clear his sinuses and work on the case, but nope. Instead, the fairy trying to a spoonful of cough syrup in his mouth while Shirazu laughs just behind her. Absolutely stupid.

"Open up!" Saiko grinned, nudging the spoon at his lips, but the boy only glared. Shove off.

Shirazu cackled. "Such a child."

"Fuc-" In the middle of his insult, Saiko took her chance and shoved the spoon of syrup in his mouth nearly gagging him. He coughed and sputtered and tried to shove her off, but the idiot wouldn't move. Dear god, this was his life. "Saiko, knock it-" Once more Urie never finished as a series of coughs shook his frame, but at least Saiko took that as clue.

The other only cackled. "Not so tough when you got a "wittle" cough!" Shirazu mocked. He'd been waiting for this moment for so long. For months, since working beneath Urie while the guy was still squad leader who rolled his eyes and did everything himself. Now the tables were turned. He grinned to Mutsuki, who stood off the side wringing his fingers and admiring the few art pieces lent against the wall on one side of the room. Before they had barged in to the room, Mutsuki had said this was an invasion of privacy but had gone along with them. Silent, but not planning to leave.

"Y'know," Mutsuki started, not standing a fine distance away from the canvases, "these a really pretty."

Urie rolled his eyes and snarled, his voice husky, "Did I say you can snoop? Why the hell won't you leave?" Though usually threatening, his voice gave at then end, and Mutsuki continued glancing about at his painting.

"'Cause Kuki is sick," Saiko grinned as she laid at the end of his bed kicking her feet. "We couldn't just leave you here at a time like this."

"This is the best time to be alone. Now leave."

"Hmm..."

"I hate all of you."

"Screw you - you love us!" Shirazu snorted. "You just won't admit it."

God, now was not the time. His head pounded and his body trembled uncontrollably. His ears rang louder with each passing second - in spite of the medicine - and all he wanted to do then was curl in to a ball in a dozen and dream of their deaths because, really, one mom was bad enough. But a fairy, an over self-conscious teen, and an ass? No one deserved that. He could manage, Urie told himself. It's been two years since the squad's formation, and he didn't survive this long by submitting to their squishy, familial personalities - not at all. Honestly, the only reason the Quinx program is still going on is because he pulled more than twice of Saiko's weight, working overtime on cases in his room while everyone else slacked off. If he could manage a team of middle school girls and exceed the CCG's expectation, he could handle a twenty-four hour sickness with them while shaking like a chihuahua.

Right?

Not at this rate no. Now with his head feeling like it would split at any moment. And why the hell is Saiko taking up all his legroom. He wanted to yell at Mutsuki for going through his crap without asking, but raising his voice hurt his throat.

"Kill me."

"Too easy. You gotta at least be standing when I kick your ass."

"Fuck off?"

"Not gonna happen."

Urie groaned, laying back in his bed.

"Saiko, you got the movies?"

Movies? The said girl pulled out a tablet. "Done."

"Pillows and blankets, Mutsuki?"

"On it."

"And I got the goldfish. Scoot over."

"Hell no."

"Too bad." Before he knew it, the three people he deals with everyday, who cannot understand the concept of a sick day, are laying on his bed watching who the hell knows when he could be researching classic ghoul cases - it seems the recent Black Widow case may be another copy cat - while wrapped in blankets or doing anything more productive than this.

A grumbled and cursed, and he nudged, trying to shove them off. And nothing he did could make them move. Perfect. Just perfect. He sat back in bed and watched the flashing colors on the screen, giving up.

He guessed this was how Haise usually felt, being unable to pull the reigns on these three. Urie hated it, this lack of control. He couldn't yell, his threats only made Saiko laugh, and his sick body could only exert so much force to get them off his bed. The shift in light and colors from the screen wasn't helping. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore Shirazu nudging him every time he stuck his hand in the carton of goldfish. Since when did they even sell in that size?

This movie had too much singing. That's probably why he hardly watched movies as a kid, and the accents didn't help. Something about St. Petersburg and stories of winter. It wasn't until the music slowed that the pounding in ears dulled. About time the medicine kicked in. Urie couldn't even pinpoint the last time he had been sick - or his father, for that matter. In this line of work, there's no time to be sick. Plus, with a half-ghoul body, Urie had thought his strengthened immune system would protect him from colds and flus.

Did Sasaki ever get sick?

At least he wasn't shivering anymore. This was nice, to be warm.

He must have dozed off because the next thing he knew, his room was empty, and a damp cloth laid over his forehead. His throat was still dry but could once again breath through his nose.

A soft knock came at the door, kinder on his ears than when the squad had barged into his room.

But it still wasn't welcomed. "Leave me alone." His throat still hurt, and god, why didn't he remember to get a glass of water?

The door opened anyway because obviously no one in the house understood privacy.

"I said-" and again, Urie never finished his statement. "What do you want, Sasaki?" This always annoyed his mentor, using his last name when it was only them.

"How are you feeling?" Gradually, the residents of the chateau had learnt not to indulge in Urie's questions.

"Shitty."

"With good reason."

And here comes the talk. Urie had waited for this for more than a month. Of course Sasaki would pounce when Urie couldn't run.

"You've been running yourself ragged for weeks now."

"It's just work."

"Work shouldn't be killing you."

Urie rolled his eyes and said before thinking, "You would know."

Shit. Out of the corner of his eye, Sasaki flinched, balling his fist in his lap. It wasn't a time any of them wanted to remember, when Sasaki saw through them and his gaze was like a snake watching its mouse - predatorial, devoid of emotion. Urie shivered at the thought of his mentor, or rival - whatever you want to call him- straddling the ghoul Chopper with his kagune piercing each one of the ghoul's limbs as it counted down. What would have happened if it reached zero? Start over? Sasaki serve the final strike?

Then moments later, Haise was the wounded animal in the corner, like when Azuma came around headquarters or after a moment of lossed control. Haise would lock himself in his room during these times, only showing his masked face for meetings and training. There were darker moments even, like when Haise had his first episode in front of them, clutching his ears, screaming for them to get it out. . .

And Haise especially did not want to remember. Urie may not have stuck around to talk about the little secret Shirazu found in the closet, but it obviously connected with their mentor's mood for the past several months. Now that it was settled, Haise had calmed tremendously. And based off of Akira's attitude, she knew nothing of the whole ordeal, nor did Arima. But that didn't mean nobody noticed.

Nonetheless, after Urie's careless words, Haise exhaled and responded calmly, something the younger envied. "Which is why I'm taking more day offs, taking time for myself so that none of you have to see that again."

"I'm not having a . . . " Mental breakdown. He bit his tongue. "I'm not breaking."

". . . No, but you're not sleeping. You're not giving your mind or body time to relax, and it shows. Even Arima commented, and it takes a lot to get Arima to express his worry verbally."

Ah, that would explain why Ui spoke with Urie a while back, saying something similar to Sasaki's words. "You do know I'm just sick? Everyone gets sick once in awhile and I'll be up by tomorrow."

"Not ghouls," Sasaki added dryly. "Not ghouls outside of Cochlea."

"Last time I checked, I was having goldfish shoved down my throat."

"What?"

"Just the bastard Shirazu."

Haise shook his head and continued. "You, Shirazu, and the others haven't been sick in over two years since I've met you. Your immune systems are higher than any humans. You shouldn't get the common cold or flu."

There were moments like these when the lecture voice came on, and Urie felt much like Shirazu where he had to force himself to focus, especially now when he's been holding in a cough for several minutes. But who was Sasaki to be commenting on his health? "And so. . . "

"The only reason you would be sick is because of far too much stress."

The dull ache near his temples came back. "Listen, Sasaki, I'm doing my job at a hundred and ten percent like I should be."

"To get in to S3," Haise concluded, as if Urie didn't emphasize this point every time they take on a case. Who knew trying to have a civil conversation with the guy could be so absolutely frustrating?

"Exactly. So I'm not going to 'take it easy' and waste time relaxing when I could be working."

"You should be, though."

"You're not my dad," Urie scoffed then paused. What a childish, overused phrase that could say nothing or far too much between the lines. And of course, the bookworm Sasaki would start psycho-analyzing him like the annoying asshole he was. This is why Urie chooses not to talk if unnecessary.

Haise noticed the change in atmosphere, and his gaze softened. "I know. And I know I can't fix everything, but my job is to get you, Ginshi, Saiko, and Tooru through the day, and if I can't even do that? Then what am I even doing?" He paused like he usually does when he's about to request or make a promise, and Urie braced for it. "Don't put yourself through the ground, okay? I don't want to see that day." Funny how Haise always described himself as much older, even though he only had Urie by a few years. Still, Urie saw it in his mentor's eyes. Sure, they say he doesn't remember, but that "intuition?" That's from experience. It carried over much like the memory of riding a bicycle. Some things stuck in spite of everything.

How annoying that Haise used those glazed, grey eyes on him, looking like he might cry. Who is even cold enough to say no to those eyes without half of Japan threatening the person's demise? Fucking hell. "Fu-Fine."

And at that, a grin crossed Sasaki's face. "Thank you." His mentor then headed towards the door and opened it once more. Faintly, but surely, Urie heard the murmur of that bastard humming to himself and saying, "He's all yours."

Then came Saiko holding a tub of ice cream with the other two behind her, Shirazu carrying a flat screen and Mutsuki the DVD player.

. . . Goddammit.

Our favorite asshole, everyone.

So, I noticed something with my college friends, that they honestly spend all their free time getting together to watch disney movies and eat goldfish. I've even been told my Christmas present from one of them will be goldfish and a DVD of Anastasia (which I'm not complaining about). But, anyway, I could totally see the Quinx doing the same thing Friday nights or on sick days, just pretending to be kids since they never really got to be kids.

So. . . . With the latest chapters of TG:Re . . . my obsession with "Dream" by Imagine Dragons is fitting better and better. Just sayin'.

Question (because I don't remember this being mentioned in TG): Can ghouls take drugs and vitamin supplements? I was thinking while writing this that if ghouls can drink coffee (which coffee beans consist of fats, carbs, and proteins), and then get all other nutrition from flesh, is it just a matter that the ghoul body can't digest anything out of these sources, or could they? When we think that the human body is made up of water, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, and smaller traces of potassium, sulfur, sodium, chlorine, and magnesium . . . we still have to think of hormone secretion. For example, melatonin is hormone that induces sleep, but it is also found in food and can be bought as a supplement. So, can ghouls take these supplements? . . . . So yah, I've thought way too hard on how a fictional species' eats and thrives. . . .

Please leave a comment/review, and hopefully I'll update over winter break!