Sick Afternoon

Aoi was rarely ever sick, so he could be forgiven for not realising that there was something actually wrong until he stumbled and nearly pitched himself over the empty staircase in a dizzy fit. Tsubasa caught him around the waist, holding him steady, her eyes wide with worry. "Hey, Aoi-kun are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" He tried to bat her hands away, but the dizziness seemed to be lurking at the edge of his consciousness, and every time he moved too quickly colours exploded painfully behind his eyes. He gave a weak shove and then winced. "I'm fine!" He repeated a touch less firmly this time. "Stop making such a fuss! People are looking."

Tsubasa frowned down at him. "You don't look fine to me," she argued, though she lowered her voice a bit so what she said couldn't be overheard. "You nearly fell down the stairs! Aoi…" He couldn't stop her as she raised her hand and placed it on his forehead. Tsubasa gasped. "You're burning up! You need to get to the nurse!"

Aoi frowned, but the act of furrowing his brows made his head hurt even more. He wanted to argue just on principle, but the thought exhausted him. Maybe he should go to the sickbay, just for a little while at least. It would get Tsubasa off his case anyway. Honestly, she was such a worrywart. "Fine," he muttered, "I'll go to the nurse."

She grinned, pleased that he was taking her advice. "I'll walk you."

"That isn't necessary," he replied quickly.

"Unfortunately, it's happening anyway!" She replied just as smartly. The two walked to the sickbay, though Aoi's symptoms increased with every step that soon it Tsubasa was the only one doing any actual walking. She paused for a moment, and Aoi gasped when in the next second she scooped him up, cradling him gently in her arms.

He immediately went tense all over. "What are you doing? Put me down!"

"Shhh," Tsubasa smiled down at him. He looked so cute like this, all pink-cheeked and helpless. It sucked that part of the flush was his fever, but he was still pretty anyway. Walking much faster now, she reached the sickbay in record time and pushed the door open, calling out a curious, "Nurse?"

The nurse was not in, on account of it being lunchtime and so she'd skipped out to buy something to eat. Tsubasa looked around for a second, before carrying Aoi over to one of the beds. She set him down on the little cot, and drew the mint green curtains shut behind her, hiding them from the rest of the world. Tsubasa bit her lip worriedly as she took in Aoi's condition. It didn't look serious at least, but he definitely needed medicine and a nap.

"I'm going to look for some painkillers," she told him gently.

Aoi glared at her out of narrowed eyes. It was taking a lot of strength to keep his eyes open. "You'll get in trouble for looking through the nurse's medication."

"I'm sure she has cold medicine and paracetamol somewhere. Everyone knows how to dose themselves with that. Just relax, okay?" She grinned at him and Aoi blamed his sickness for why he was so dazzled by her smile.

The cold medicine was on one of the shelves, right next to a jar of cod liver oil which Tsubasa shuddered and gagged at. She could remember her mother pinning her down and forcing a spoonful of the stuff down her throat, to be soothed with ice cream sandwiches as long as she didn't bring it back up again.

She pushed aside the curtains. "I found the cold medicine but no painkillers. You have to take two spoonfuls."

Aoi huffed and struggled to push himself up, grumbling but not fighting when Tsubasa's arms wrapped around his shoulders to help. "I know how to take cold medicine, jeez." It tasted sickly and gross, like artificial orange flavour. Aoi made a face and pushed the spoon back at Tsubasa. "There, I've taken the medicine. Now let me sleep." Then he flopped down and rolled over so his back was to her.

Tsubasa smiled down at him affectionately, taking in the fading pink blush and the pout on his lips. "Sleep well, Aoi-kun."

Tsubasa was bored. Without Aoi to stare at during classes she really had nothing else to do except stare at the schoolyard through the window. Well, she supposed she could listen to the teacher as he tried to engage them in the grammatical nuances of the English language but honestly that wasn't nearly as interesting.

She glanced at Aoi's empty seat and pictured him sitting there. His eyes would be half-lowered not with fever, but with boredom. His soft cheeks would be cradled in his palms, and sometimes his lips would be pursed around a colourful pencil, turning them pinker.

God Aoi was so cute. Tsubasa didn't hold much stake in gender roles but she'd never met a guy that cute before. She wanted to go out with him, maybe they could visit the zoo? She'd heard that a baby lion cub had been born there recently.

"Yamaguchi-san!"

She startled – had class ended already? – and looked up at the girl standing by her desk. She sat near the front and was one of the more studious students, with long brown hair in two braids that hung over her shoulders and brown eyes behind pink oval glasses.

Tsubasa straightened. "Hm? Yeah?"

The girl stuttered, her cheeks bright red. "I-I was wondering, since you're good at English and all, I was hoping you could help me. I didn't understand most of what the teacher said."

"Oh," Tsubasa cocked her head with a smile. "Yeah, okay. That sounds fine."

"Really?" She looked ecstatic and why was her face so red? "Then, can we-?"

"Ah, I can't right now," Tsubasa stood up, stretching her arms over her head. "I have to go check up on Aoi-kun. I'll see you later though, won't I?"

"O-Of course!" The girl – Tsubasa really needed to learn her name soon this was just awkward – nodded too quickly to be considered casual. Tsubasa shot her a bemused grin, and happily loped out of the classroom, making a beeline towards the nurse's office.

Aoi hated taking cold medicine because they put him to sleep pretty quickly and his dreams were always haunted by the strangest things. He'd just awoken from a dream in which he'd been a vampire hunter chasing after Tsubasa (who must have been the vampire in that scenario because he couldn't fathom why else he'd be chasing after someone as annoying as her) and his mouth tasted disgustingly acidic.

The pale green curtains kept the light out, which was a relief even though his head no longer hurt as much. With a sigh, Aoi rolled over and found himself face to face with Tsubasa. "Did you sleep well?"

"Ah!" He sat up too quickly and was suddenly struck by a wave of vertigo. "Ouch!"

"You need to be careful with yourself," Tsubasa said gently. She touched his cheek and Aoi pulled back, blushing hard and this time he couldn't even blame it on the fever.

"Stop touching me so casually!" He barked at her, feeling annoyed when she just laughed.

"I'm glad you're feeling better. You must be if you can insult me," she dropped her arm and took his hand instead, lacing their fingers together. For some reason Aoi allowed it even though he hated how warm her hands were, how much longer her fingers were. The nail polish was nearly gone, she needed to repaint it. He wondered what colour she'd use. Pink? Green?

He glanced up at her and realised that she was smiling at him with a stupid expression on her face. Surprised and feeling utterly confused and wrong-footed, he scowled and tried to pull his hand back. "What's with that dumb expression? What are you looking at?"

Tsubasa laughed. "I'm looking at you." I think I'll always be looking at you.

This was going to be miles more romantic but life has a way of kicking u in the butt.