Fever + Dream
Chapter Two
By the time Akutsu had made it out to the park, sitting uncomfortably on the bench with his coat now zipped up around him and his head leaning miserably back, he was sure of two things: people talked way the fuck too loud, and he was going to die.
First place he'd gone had been a restaurant--he didn't have much money, but he figured he could order like the smallest thing they had and drink water until they kicked him out. It was afternoon, before the dinner rush. You'd be surprised at how dead those restaurants were sometimes; even if the managers gave you nasty looks they wouldn't be real adamant about getting you out of there if there weren't better customers waiting for the table.
But jesus, as soon as he'd sat down and pretended there was anything on the menu he could afford, this group of girls sat down in the booth right next to him and started talking and squealing and blabbing their asses off. Akutsu had shut his eyes tight, taken a long sip of the ice water he'd had the waiter bring, thought to himself that if only he was at his full strength he could have shut those girls up but good, but he wasn't feeling too well and they just kept on blabbing. Finally he'd admitted defeat. He'd thrown the menu down on the table and skulked out.
So he got the idea he'd go sit in a coffeehouse that wasn't too far from the restaurant, but they wouldn't even give you a glass of water unless you got a real drink, and he couldn't afford that. There was a bookstore not too far from where he was--he definitely wasn't up to walking a long ways, walking made him feel like he was going to black out--but when he was almost in the front door he saw the manager who'd been on duty last time he'd helped himself to a few of their finer magazines and gave it a second thought. He figured the manager'd be on the phone to the cops the second he saw him and while a jail cell, he supposed, would be comparatively quiet and peaceful, his mom would come to get him out of there sooner or later, and what would that leave? More yelling. Loud yelling. His mom's yelling--the most annoying sound in the fucking world.
And so he had come full circle. The only other thing left was the park.
Hell, it was quiet; you could find a place to sit where no one would bother you. His mom was always telling him he wouldn't get so many colds and shit if he got more sunlight, so it had to do something for whatever he'd come down with. Getting away from people and--oh fuck--screaming children meant a pretty long walk over a couple of hills, but he supposed it was probably worth it. He'd come and sat down and was thinking over the second thing he'd realized.
Dying...yeah. Probably so. It wasn't a huge deal or anything, but he probably wasn't going to make it through the night. He hoped if he expired right there on the bench some kid would find his sorry corpse and be all freaked out--the thought almost made him smile.
Little shit better not poke him with a stick or anything. He'd kick his fucking ass.
Hell, that made no sense. The fever was eating at his fucking brain.
Akutsu closed his eyes and tried to rest, but you knew you were sick as hell when even resting hurt. Plus, he felt all weird--freezing cold, he'd been cold all day, but when the sun hit him at the right angle or for the right amount of time he'd get hot all of a sudden, and shift his position, and then be freezing again and want the sunlight back.
Man, it sucked. He'd never heard of some disease where every sound pounded into your head and each one made you sicker. Getting chills from a fever was common enough, he guessed, but he didn't think he'd ever been so cold in his whole life. And just when he fucking finally got comfortable on the bench he started getting thirsty and had to shift to try and see if he had enough coins to go to the vending machine and get a soda or something, and then he wasn't comfortable anymore.
Fuck it anyway. Even the effort of jingling through what little money he had in his pocket was too much. He pulled his hand out and tried to lean back exactly like he had been before but couldn't quite find the right position. And when he'd settled for second best and finally gotten to where he could doze a little bit there was a voice behind him.
"Akutsu?"
He was so groggy at first he thought it was his mom, but it was a guy's voice--a voice he knew, sounding all surprised and concerned and annoying as hell.
"You okay?"
Akutsu knew who it was before he managed to pry his eyes open again.
Kawamura.
And sure enough there he was, standing there in his school uniform with his bike to his side. He'd leaned his head down to get a better look at him and was staring at Akutsu like he was an alien from freaking outer space.
"What is it," Akutsu said, voice scratchy.
"You okay?" Kawamura asked again.
"Yeah," Akutsu said. "I'm fine." He closed his eyes again. Hopefully even Kawamura could get the hint that he wanted to die in peace.
"How come--uh," Kawamura hesitated. Guy couldn't finish a sentence without interrupting himself fifty thousand times, but at least he wasn't screaming at him like everyone else had been. Akutsu slitted his eyes open.
"How come what?"
"Aren't you hot in your coat?"
"Nah," Akutsu replied. Guess Kawamura couldn't get the hint no matter how obvious it was he didn't want to talk. Guy always was asking him questions, saying hello, pestering him every time he saw him about tennis and telling him what was going on at his school as if Akutsu gave a fuck. Akutsu sure as hell would have popped him one at some point if they hadn't been friends--hell not friends, acquaintances, or whatever, since they were kids.
"Are you sick? You look sick."
"Little cold," Akutsu grunted. "Headcold or something. It doesn't matter."
"You look terri--uh, how come you're sitting in the park? It's not too hot with what all you're wearing?"
What the hell was this, the Spanish Inquisition? He would have said that if talking wasn't such fucking agony. As it was he just said "Nah" and closed his eyes pointedly for the ten thousandth fucking time.
"You probably shouldn't be sitting outside if you're all sick," Kawamura said. He pushed his bike up against the side of the bench and came to sit next to him. He actually had the nerve to bother him that much. "Did you lose your key or something?"
Akutsu was always losing his keys as a kid. Hell, he was always losing them now, but leave it to Kawamura to actually remember something like that.
Through eyes barely opened he could see Kawamura looking at him all concerned, but the second he saw that Akutsu was watching him he averted his eyes and played with the sleeve of his school uniform.
"I ain't going home," Akutsu said. "Mom won't shut up trying to take care of me and it's fucking annoying. I wanted to go where I could get some peace and quiet."
Kawamura didn't seem to notice his heavy emphasis on the last words.
"You could come back to my house," he said, that stupid cheerful lilt to his voice he always had, going on like he hadn't heard a word Akutsu said. "Maybe if you ate something you'd feel better. At the very least you wouldn't be outside anymore and you could, uh, warm up a little and--"
"I'm fine, Kawamura."
"You're not hungry?"
"No." If he was or if he wasn't it didn't matter. Dead man didn't have to die with anything in his belly.
"Not even a glass of water?"
Akutsu let out the long sigh of the utterly defeated. He opened his eyes the rest of the way.
"Fine," he said.
"Huh?"
"If it means so much the fucking world to you I'll go and get a glass of water at your place. Happy now?"
Kawamura, grinning like an idiot in reply.
"One glass of water," Akutsu said, like he was doing him a favor. Hell, Kawamura looked like he'd just told him he'd won the lottery. Akutsu had no clue what the hell was so great about dragging him, deathly ill and looking like shit, back and horrifying Kawamura's family's restaurant's customers. But then again he never had been able to figure out Kawamura in the first place--guy was weird, when it came down to it.
"One glass," he croaked, "and then I'm coming right back here and getting some sleep."
"Okay," Kawamura said. He got his bike and stood there while Akutsu got up from the bench. So it took him a little bit to get back on his feet. At least Kawamura knew he'd fucking kill him if he did some jackass thing like offer him a hand to help him up. He just stood and watched.
Finally Akutsu was up and ready to go. Then Kawamura started in with his concern bullshit again.
"You okay to walk?" Clearly he could walk. See--there was no explaining Kawamura. People like him would sit there with these eyes glistening concern all over you if you had a freaking paper cut.
Akutsu scowled at him. "I'm not fucking crippled, Kawamura."
"I didn't mean that," Kawamura said pleasantly. "I just know it's tough to walk when you don't feel good. If you want, you could sit on the handlebars of my bike or something--Momo and I did that one time, actually we went over a rock and he fell off--" He laughed helplessly.
Akutsu gave him what he hoped was a killing look.
"I won't run over a rock this time though," Kawamura told him, as if that was what the whole problem was.
"I can walk," Akutsu said, for the fucking millionth time.
"Okay."
So they walked to his place together, Kawamura pushing his bike, and sometimes Akutsu sort of rested his hand on the handlebars as they walked, not like he couldn't stand up without it, but he might as well.
Chapter Two
By the time Akutsu had made it out to the park, sitting uncomfortably on the bench with his coat now zipped up around him and his head leaning miserably back, he was sure of two things: people talked way the fuck too loud, and he was going to die.
First place he'd gone had been a restaurant--he didn't have much money, but he figured he could order like the smallest thing they had and drink water until they kicked him out. It was afternoon, before the dinner rush. You'd be surprised at how dead those restaurants were sometimes; even if the managers gave you nasty looks they wouldn't be real adamant about getting you out of there if there weren't better customers waiting for the table.
But jesus, as soon as he'd sat down and pretended there was anything on the menu he could afford, this group of girls sat down in the booth right next to him and started talking and squealing and blabbing their asses off. Akutsu had shut his eyes tight, taken a long sip of the ice water he'd had the waiter bring, thought to himself that if only he was at his full strength he could have shut those girls up but good, but he wasn't feeling too well and they just kept on blabbing. Finally he'd admitted defeat. He'd thrown the menu down on the table and skulked out.
So he got the idea he'd go sit in a coffeehouse that wasn't too far from the restaurant, but they wouldn't even give you a glass of water unless you got a real drink, and he couldn't afford that. There was a bookstore not too far from where he was--he definitely wasn't up to walking a long ways, walking made him feel like he was going to black out--but when he was almost in the front door he saw the manager who'd been on duty last time he'd helped himself to a few of their finer magazines and gave it a second thought. He figured the manager'd be on the phone to the cops the second he saw him and while a jail cell, he supposed, would be comparatively quiet and peaceful, his mom would come to get him out of there sooner or later, and what would that leave? More yelling. Loud yelling. His mom's yelling--the most annoying sound in the fucking world.
And so he had come full circle. The only other thing left was the park.
Hell, it was quiet; you could find a place to sit where no one would bother you. His mom was always telling him he wouldn't get so many colds and shit if he got more sunlight, so it had to do something for whatever he'd come down with. Getting away from people and--oh fuck--screaming children meant a pretty long walk over a couple of hills, but he supposed it was probably worth it. He'd come and sat down and was thinking over the second thing he'd realized.
Dying...yeah. Probably so. It wasn't a huge deal or anything, but he probably wasn't going to make it through the night. He hoped if he expired right there on the bench some kid would find his sorry corpse and be all freaked out--the thought almost made him smile.
Little shit better not poke him with a stick or anything. He'd kick his fucking ass.
Hell, that made no sense. The fever was eating at his fucking brain.
Akutsu closed his eyes and tried to rest, but you knew you were sick as hell when even resting hurt. Plus, he felt all weird--freezing cold, he'd been cold all day, but when the sun hit him at the right angle or for the right amount of time he'd get hot all of a sudden, and shift his position, and then be freezing again and want the sunlight back.
Man, it sucked. He'd never heard of some disease where every sound pounded into your head and each one made you sicker. Getting chills from a fever was common enough, he guessed, but he didn't think he'd ever been so cold in his whole life. And just when he fucking finally got comfortable on the bench he started getting thirsty and had to shift to try and see if he had enough coins to go to the vending machine and get a soda or something, and then he wasn't comfortable anymore.
Fuck it anyway. Even the effort of jingling through what little money he had in his pocket was too much. He pulled his hand out and tried to lean back exactly like he had been before but couldn't quite find the right position. And when he'd settled for second best and finally gotten to where he could doze a little bit there was a voice behind him.
"Akutsu?"
He was so groggy at first he thought it was his mom, but it was a guy's voice--a voice he knew, sounding all surprised and concerned and annoying as hell.
"You okay?"
Akutsu knew who it was before he managed to pry his eyes open again.
Kawamura.
And sure enough there he was, standing there in his school uniform with his bike to his side. He'd leaned his head down to get a better look at him and was staring at Akutsu like he was an alien from freaking outer space.
"What is it," Akutsu said, voice scratchy.
"You okay?" Kawamura asked again.
"Yeah," Akutsu said. "I'm fine." He closed his eyes again. Hopefully even Kawamura could get the hint that he wanted to die in peace.
"How come--uh," Kawamura hesitated. Guy couldn't finish a sentence without interrupting himself fifty thousand times, but at least he wasn't screaming at him like everyone else had been. Akutsu slitted his eyes open.
"How come what?"
"Aren't you hot in your coat?"
"Nah," Akutsu replied. Guess Kawamura couldn't get the hint no matter how obvious it was he didn't want to talk. Guy always was asking him questions, saying hello, pestering him every time he saw him about tennis and telling him what was going on at his school as if Akutsu gave a fuck. Akutsu sure as hell would have popped him one at some point if they hadn't been friends--hell not friends, acquaintances, or whatever, since they were kids.
"Are you sick? You look sick."
"Little cold," Akutsu grunted. "Headcold or something. It doesn't matter."
"You look terri--uh, how come you're sitting in the park? It's not too hot with what all you're wearing?"
What the hell was this, the Spanish Inquisition? He would have said that if talking wasn't such fucking agony. As it was he just said "Nah" and closed his eyes pointedly for the ten thousandth fucking time.
"You probably shouldn't be sitting outside if you're all sick," Kawamura said. He pushed his bike up against the side of the bench and came to sit next to him. He actually had the nerve to bother him that much. "Did you lose your key or something?"
Akutsu was always losing his keys as a kid. Hell, he was always losing them now, but leave it to Kawamura to actually remember something like that.
Through eyes barely opened he could see Kawamura looking at him all concerned, but the second he saw that Akutsu was watching him he averted his eyes and played with the sleeve of his school uniform.
"I ain't going home," Akutsu said. "Mom won't shut up trying to take care of me and it's fucking annoying. I wanted to go where I could get some peace and quiet."
Kawamura didn't seem to notice his heavy emphasis on the last words.
"You could come back to my house," he said, that stupid cheerful lilt to his voice he always had, going on like he hadn't heard a word Akutsu said. "Maybe if you ate something you'd feel better. At the very least you wouldn't be outside anymore and you could, uh, warm up a little and--"
"I'm fine, Kawamura."
"You're not hungry?"
"No." If he was or if he wasn't it didn't matter. Dead man didn't have to die with anything in his belly.
"Not even a glass of water?"
Akutsu let out the long sigh of the utterly defeated. He opened his eyes the rest of the way.
"Fine," he said.
"Huh?"
"If it means so much the fucking world to you I'll go and get a glass of water at your place. Happy now?"
Kawamura, grinning like an idiot in reply.
"One glass of water," Akutsu said, like he was doing him a favor. Hell, Kawamura looked like he'd just told him he'd won the lottery. Akutsu had no clue what the hell was so great about dragging him, deathly ill and looking like shit, back and horrifying Kawamura's family's restaurant's customers. But then again he never had been able to figure out Kawamura in the first place--guy was weird, when it came down to it.
"One glass," he croaked, "and then I'm coming right back here and getting some sleep."
"Okay," Kawamura said. He got his bike and stood there while Akutsu got up from the bench. So it took him a little bit to get back on his feet. At least Kawamura knew he'd fucking kill him if he did some jackass thing like offer him a hand to help him up. He just stood and watched.
Finally Akutsu was up and ready to go. Then Kawamura started in with his concern bullshit again.
"You okay to walk?" Clearly he could walk. See--there was no explaining Kawamura. People like him would sit there with these eyes glistening concern all over you if you had a freaking paper cut.
Akutsu scowled at him. "I'm not fucking crippled, Kawamura."
"I didn't mean that," Kawamura said pleasantly. "I just know it's tough to walk when you don't feel good. If you want, you could sit on the handlebars of my bike or something--Momo and I did that one time, actually we went over a rock and he fell off--" He laughed helplessly.
Akutsu gave him what he hoped was a killing look.
"I won't run over a rock this time though," Kawamura told him, as if that was what the whole problem was.
"I can walk," Akutsu said, for the fucking millionth time.
"Okay."
So they walked to his place together, Kawamura pushing his bike, and sometimes Akutsu sort of rested his hand on the handlebars as they walked, not like he couldn't stand up without it, but he might as well.