DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters.

Please R&R^^


As soon as Lucille had a somewhat proper dinner finished, he carried two plates back to the bedroom. It was still early, but this way he'd be done with helping Kohaku to eat, by the time that Eles would come home. The girl would feel more worried if she'd have to watch Kohaku like this, and Lucille didn't want her to have to eat alone. The violinist would have to sleep anyway, so it wouldn't be a problem if Lucille would be in the kitchen with Eles to keep here company while she ate.

"Kohaku?" he asked softly, while putting both of the plates on his nightstand. "Are you awake?" No response, as he as expected. The violinist still lay slumped against the pillows, his eyes closed and his face pale. At least his breathing sounded less labored, but that was probably only because he didn't feel the pain in his lungs while he slept so deeply. It almost made Lucille feel guilty about waking him up, but the violinist had to eat. Gently shaking at Kohaku's shoulder, he called his name again.

"Mmh? L-Lucille?" Slowly, the dark-haired man blinked a few times, before looking up to the blonde wearily. Those pale green eyes were somewhat unfocused, probably due to the high fever, but at least he seemed a bit more coherent than the last time that he had been awake. Now, he actually seemed fully awake. "Hey, how's your headache?"

"Eh?" Now that his friend mentioned it, he indeed still felt a slight headache. "It's almost gone, I guess the distraction worked."

A faint chuckle. "Well, glad to be of use."

"Next time, though, try a different method of distracting me. One that doesn't involve you passing out, and me having to call a doctor."

"Sorry, babe." He coughed softly. "Ouch."

"Do you feel good enough to eat a bit? I made dinner."

"What did you make?"

"Hamburgers, with some tomatoes."

"Nice." It didn't sound completely sincere.

"You're not hungry at all, are you?" Lucille sighed, gently starting to caress Kohaku's cheek. "Are you feeling sick or anything?"

"Not really. Just… I don't feel good over-all. And breathing really hurts, as does swallowing." Giving the singer an apologetic smile, he turned his face a bit closer against the soft touch. "At least you know that if I don't eat much, it isn't because of how you cook."

"I'd be happier if that were the reason. I'd rather prove to be a lousy cook, than to have you so ill." Keeping his hand on Kohaku's cheek, afraid that the violinist would fall back to sleep if he'd let go, he turned a bit and picked up one of the plates. "Do you need help?"

"I think I'll manage," was the response. So Lucille carefully put down the plate on Kohaku's lap, before turning again to pick up his own plate. While he slowly ate his hamburger, a bit surprised himself about how good it tasted, he watched Kohaku somewhat amusedly. The dark-haired man was currently trying to eat without dropping anything, but he trembled too badly to manage that. Still, he obviously refused to ask for help.

"Honey, I'll need to refresh the bed's sheets if you go on like that." It earned the blonde a faint glare. Okay, he probably had deserved that. "Seriously, just let me help. It'll make it easier to eat enough, right?"

For a short moment, Kohaku just stared at his plate, then he finally looked back at Lucille. "Yeah. I guess."

"Okay then." Immediately, he put down his own hamburger and started feeding Kohaku his. The violinist didn't really seem to eager to eat, but he compliantly bit a piece off the hamburger. "Don't hurry yourself, you'll only get nauseous."

"I'm not a child, babe." It came out as a chuckle. "Besides, you're in control of how quickly you feed me."

"True, my sweet vulnerable pet," Lucille grinned widely, jokingly patting Kohaku's head. In response, the violinist glared weakly at him, but couldn't hide a soft chuckle.

After half an hour, both were done eating. Silently, Lucille wrapped his arms around Kohaku's shoulders, allowing the violinist to relax against him. "If you need anything from me, just wake me." It came out as a tired mumble, and Lucille merely smiled in response. No way that he'd wake up Kohaku any sooner than tomorrow at breakfast-time. His friend probably knew that, but Lucille wouldn't say it out loud if that would cause his friend concern. Instead, he tenderly kissed Kohaku's forehead and waited patiently until the violinist had fallen asleep.

He didn't need to have much patience, as his friend drifted off to sleep within mere minutes. Carefully, he let go of him and put the blanket around him as warmly as possible. "Don't get any bad dreams, okay?" he whispered inaudibly, while quietly standing up and walking out of the room. As soon as he had reached the kitchen, he practically collapsed onto the nearest chair and sighed. "Geez…" If just one day of taking care of Kohaku would exhaust him like this, then it wouldn't be easy to keep up for days, possibly a week. Well, at least he didn't expect to encounter one of the queen's dogs every day, let alone having to suffer through what the bastard from this noon had done to him.

Hopefully, Kohaku would get well soon, at least enough to not need help with everything. Not that Lucille minded it to have to take care of his friend, especially not while he knew how his friend had taken care of him first, but there still was reality. He was still weakened, he still didn't have the energy to walk around all day. And if he'd push himself too far, he wouldn't just exhaust himself, instead he'd cause himself a migraine attack or he'd simply collapse. Damn, if he could just force his body to heal faster… Shaking his head, he sighed again. It was of no use to think that way. Fact was, his body needed time to get back to full health, and he'd make himself crazy if he'd try to quicken that process while he knew that wasn't possible.

To make it worse, his head was starting to throb again. Not as badly as it had been before he had slept, but still enough to make him uncomfortable. Maybe he'd better just go back to bed, after Eles would be done eating. Hopefully she'd lie her hamburger, even though it'd probably be a bit cooled down by now. Ah well, he knew she wouldn't mind it, seeing the circumstances. Although he wouldn't tell her that one of those bastards from the queen's army had attacked him in such a low way. She'd only get worried, which was unnecessary in his opinion. Besides that, she was still a child and didn't need to be exposed to such things.

"Hello, I'm home!" Eles voice startled him from his thoughts. Quickly, he greeted back. "How is Kohaku doing?"

"I had to call the doctor for him, since that idiot didn't want to admit how bad he felt. Anyhow, he'll be fine in a week or maybe two." Pointing at the hamburger on the table, he added; "I hope you like hamburgers. I had to feed him, so we ate already, but I can keep you company if you want to."

"Okay," she replied, sitting down next to him and starting to eat. "So, apart from Kohaku, how was your day?"

Memories of what had happened in the forest shot through him. "Well… I went to the village to buy some groceries and medications. Then, when I finally got back home, I gave Kohaku some medicine and then slept for a while. When I woke up, he was feeling worse and I had to call the doctor." Hoping not to worry her too much, he didn't go into any details. "Then I made dinner, and he managed to finish his hamburger. And then you came home."

"Sounds like you should be sleeping right now," she responded with her mouth full of hamburger.

"Probably, but I can't go a day without spending time with you," he grinned teasingly, successfully lightening the mood. "And how was your day?"

"It was fun, it was pretty busy but all costumers were nice and we sold a lot," she replied happily. "Even only for a few weeks, it's a pretty nice job. Still, it'll be great when we can go back to being an orchestra. I guess I've gotten used to traveling all the time, it's getting boring to be in one place for so long."

"In a few weeks, I'm sure we're back to our job again," Lucille replied, hoping he was right. Kohaku would've recovered in less than two weeks, no matter what. He wasn't as sure, though, about himself. Although he'd gladly go back to work right now, it was simply too dangerous to fight guignols as long as he was still weakened. Almost two months ago, he wouldn't have cared about it at all, but with how things had evolved from the moment that he and Kohaku had been sent to that ship, he didn't want to risk getting killed so easily. Sure, the danger would always be there. But fighting guignols with his body still at this point in recovering, would be close to suicide.

"Don't hurry yourself," Eles remarked, probably guessing what he was thinking right now. "It's kinda… cute, how vulnerable and cuddly you are now."

"'Cuddly'?" he repeated afoul.

"Yup, cuddly." Those large blue eyes twinkled almost childishly. "Like a cute puppet."

"You're starting to scare me," the singer grinned, watching her eat the last bit of her dinner. Then, she quickly moved towards him and wrapped her arms around him before he could even make a move. To his own surprise, he felt himself returning the embrace and practically collapsing against her. "G-geez…"

"I was right, you are cuddly," he heard Eles giggle. "Now, go to bed, I'll clean up the plates and stuff."

"You sure?" he asked, a bit reluctant to leave her to clean up after dinner alone.

"I don't mind, you know that. Kohaku's is too ill to help, and you seem exhausted. Either you go to bed by yourself, or I'll grab a frying pan and knock you out by force."

Lucille couldn't help but to laugh at that. "Geez, you really care about my health, don't you?"

"Enough to hurt you for it," she grinned, before suddenly giving him a kiss onto his cheek. "Now go to bed, then I'll check up on you and Kohaku before I go to bed too."

"Thanks." Gently, he gave her a kiss onto her forehead. "Goodnight, then."

"Goodnight."

Less than ten minutes later, he had undressed and crawled in bed next to Kohaku. The violinist hadn't woken up until now, but when he felt the touch against his skin, he slowly opened his eyes a bit. "Hey, honey. I was just planning on going to sleep," Lucille said softly, unsure whether his friend was even awake enough to understand what he was saying, or if he was still half-asleep. After staring at the blonde for a bit longer, Kohaku sighed shallowly and leaned against Lucille, not closing his eyes until the smaller man had wrapped his arms around him. 'Hm, still half asleep,' Lucille realized. "Sleep well, honey," he whispered anyway. "I love you."

"Mmh… Love you… too." It wasn't more than a sleepy whisper, but it made a happy smile appear on Lucille's face anyway.


I'll update soon, school is just pretty busy at the moment ^^'