Vash opened his eyes slowly, a fuzzy image hovering in his view.
There was a purple jacket, and some thick brown/black hair that hung a little before some very blurry looking glasses. An arm slipped beneath his knees, another behind his back. He felt the soft fabric of his jacket slide down his chest, dangling between him and whomever held him. Slowly, the ground beneath him seemed to disappear, and he cuddled close to the thing that held him, falling back to complete unconsciousness.
His eyes opened once again, the sight of an endless sea of gold above him. To his side, he could make out the purple figure once again, but he was too tired to speak up and ask any questions. Sleep continued its beaconing, and the warmth of the blankets that lay over him coaxed him to sleep once more.
By early morning, the hint of sunlight crawled in through the windows. The sun itself was just beginning to rise over the eastern mountains, and the sky turned a pale pink in the morning light. Vash opened his eyes slowly, blinking endlessly until he could clearly see the shapes of objects that surrounded him. He was back in his room. How, he wasn't sure, but he was quite certain he was in that atrocious golden room, beneath those regal blue blankets, with his head on those perfectly fluffed golden pillows. He wanted to die. He still felt incredibly out of place in that room, and to make things worse, he felt horrible. His left cheek still ached like it had the night before, his legs were stiff and hard to move, his back hurt from a long night on the steps, and his stomach hissed and moaned and tumbled around like he should be leaning over a toilet and not lying in a luxurious bed.
He really wanted to die.
It wasn't any easier to think of something pleasant and feel any better. Every time he thought of Lilli's smiling face, all that came to mind was those waterfalls of tears he'd seen the night before. When he tried for a friendly memory from his childhood, the only person who came to mind was Roderich, which brought him to what had happened last night. That only brought on more confusion, which made his head ache like never before. What really had happened last night? One moment Roderich was yelling at him, the next he had kissed Vash, and that was just plain strange. Perhaps putting it in context, it had made sense; after all, Roderich had been extremely worried about Vash too. But still, why did he have to kiss him?
That stupid, piano loving moron! He's only making my life confusing! And what about while I was asleep? Did I really see him in that crazy dream? Oh god, what if he was the one who brought me up here! I never should have slept down there; I must have looked so weak! Damn that Austrian! He shouldn't have been there! Vash thought to himself, anger growing in his thoughts with every word. But suddenly, he softened and leaned back in the pillows, his eyes back on the gold-ish ceiling. Why is he always there? Why is it, that every time I do something stupid, he's there to save the day? Didn't I used to do that for him? So why then can't I hate him for it?
A squeaking noise came from the direction of the door, which made Vash sit up rapidly so that he'd look a bit more alert. It did him little good, as his head swarmed and his pounding headache grew. He quickly wished he hadn't been so quick to move. He almost felt like had a terrible hang over, but he hadn't drank anything the night before so it didn't make much sense. He just felt ill, violently ill, and there wasn't a whole lot to stop him from just getting sick right then, except for the Austrian standing in the doorway. That was a good reason not to grab a trash can or bolt for the bathroom.
"I'm glad to see you're awake. Winter nights are cold around here; I'd be surprised if you didn't get sick from sleeping on the cold stairs like that." Roderich stated from the doorway, a troublesome, gentle smile resting on his lips. He looked so calm and cheerful, like there was nothing wrong in the world. Vash could highly disagree, and in about ten seconds, he had a feeling his stomach would prove his point.
His face went pale, then a sickly color green, before he threw the covers off and sprinted to the bathroom. Roderich watched for a moment as Vash tore off to the bathroom, stifling his laughter at the thought. He knew it was unkind to laugh at someone's misfortune, but the coincidence of the time in which such an event occurred was rather humorous to him. Still, he remained concerned about his old friend; Vash was in the bathroom puking his guts out after all.
"Vash? Are you alright in there?" Roderich asked gently, standing beside the locked door. There was a long pause after he posed his question, then the sound of running water. The shower was on, which made very little sense to the Austrian, but he could understand just why Vash had done that. The thought of being so sick was embarrassing, and Switzerland was in no mood to be tormented by the thought of Roderich's knowledge. It was bad enough to have locked himself in the bathroom, Roderich need not be involved to make things worse.
"I feel like my head's going to split open, my stomach's empty, I'm stiff and in pain, I feel absolutely awful, and you want to know if I'm okay? Yeah, I'm completely fine." Vash hissed harshly over the sound of the shower. It was rather obvious that he was in no joking mood, and to make it worse his head started spinning again and he was forced to lie down with his back against the side of the bath tub just to calm his headache and his stomach.
Roderich flinched a bit at his words, but tried not to let it get to him. He knew how Vash could get, and he knew before he asked that the Swiss young man was not feeling well in the least bit, but he'd asked in hope of some response to know that behind the locked door, at least Vash was alive. "Do you want me to get you something? I'd hate to see you miserable like this all day." Roderich offered gently, hoping that such kindness might make things a little easier on Vash.
"Tonic water, a blanket, and some ibuprofen. Lots of ibuprofen." Vash muttered his voice a little softer, a little weaker than before. There wasn't a lot of point in being angry at Roderich, it wasn't his fault after all. Vash had been the idiot the night before, he was the one who slept on the stairs and got himself sick. He was angry that Austria had kissed him and made him so confused that he'd chosen to sleep on the steps instead of his room, but it wasn't actually his fault.
Oh, who was he kidding! Why wasn't he blaming it all on Roderich? What the hell was going on? He always blamed things on Roderich, always, why was this any damn different?
From the other side of the door, Roderich moved out of the bedroom and down to the kitchen. He waved off his servants that offered to help and grabbed the glass bottle of tonic water. He poured it in a glass, and then moved upstairs to the bedroom once more. He pulled a blanket out of the far closet that was hidden in the wall of the bedroom before closing the closet door again. He then walked over to the bathroom door and knocked twice, waiting only a moment while Vash turned the knob on the door and unlocked it. Roderich sighed softly, a small smile on his lips in hopes that a good bed-side manner would help Vash feel better.
He opened the door slowly and his eyes immediately fell on his friend, who looked about ten times worse than he had five minutes ago. He was about half asleep on the floor. His green pants were wrinkled up around his ankles, his black under shirt was slidding down his arms, he only had a sock on his right foot, and his face was a horrid mix of pale white and faded green. He looked absolutely awful. Roderich wasn't about to waste any time getting Vash back on his feet, he couldn't stand to see him looking that terrible.
Roderich sat the glass of tonic water on the sink counter and handed the blanket off to Vash, who immediately wrapped it around his shoulders. The Austrian then went rummaging through the medicine cabinet till he found the ibuprofen and cold medicine. He took two of each out of their bottles and held them in the palm of his left hand before he screwed the caps back on and put the bottles back in the medicine cabinet. He took the glass of tonic water in his right hand and held the pills and liquid out to the blonde young man on the floor.
"Take those, and then let's get you back in bed. You'll feel better once you get some rest." Roderich explained gently as Vash took the pills out of his hand. There was no hesitation in the Swiss man as he tossed the pills back and downed them with a little of the tonic water. He paused a moment, making a face like he was about to throw up again, or a bit like he was choking, but within a few seconds he settled and leaned back against the bath tub again. Roderich sighed and took the glass of tonic from him and set it back on the sink counter. He reached his hand down to Vash, who slowly groped his way up the wall to stand. He wobbled a little, and Roderich immediately jumped into help him. Slipping Vash's arm over his shoulder, he wrapped his own arm around the blonde's mid section and half walked with, half carried Vash back to bed.
At the bedside, Roderich lifted Vash up and helped lean him back against the head board and pillows. He pulled the blanket up to Vash's waist before he moved back to the bathroom and brought the glass of tonic back over to Vash's bedside. He set it on the night stand then moved around the bed to the other side, where he climbed onto the bed beside Vash.
"Really Roderich? I'm only going to get you sick too." Vash muttered, leaning his head back as he sucked in a sharp breath. He was waiting for the pills to set in, but until then, he remained miserable, and about the only way to deal with it was to sit still. Roderich seemed less than concerned, and instead of moving away, he moved a little closer to Vash, placing his hand on the blonde's forehead. Vash's face flushed red as he stared at Roderich. The Austrian smiled, and pushed Vash down slightly so that he was lying down completely, then leaned over him, his one hand still resting on Vash's forehead.
"I can't let Lilli down you know. She did trust me to keep you safe, and I can't do that if I'm not nearby." Roderich joked. Vash glared at him for a long moment, but slowly let go. Roderich was doing what his sister had asked of him, he really couldn't blame him for that, but did he really have to be on top of Vash like that? It didn't help that those meds were starting to kick in, he could feel a sleepiness setting in once more. He groaned slightly, wishing he could get Roderich off of him, but it was no use. He was too tired, and the edges of his vision were already fading to black.
He didn't remember the next few seconds, there was a lot of scrambling, anything to get Roderich off of him, but it was useless, and within a few minutes he was out like a light. Only three words rested on Vash's lips as he fell into unconsciousness once more.
"I missed you."