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Ken thumbed through the mail, humming a quiet tune to himself as he walked through the door to his and Daisuke’s apartment. His school bag was slung over his shoulder, his jacket crinkled and crumpled to accommodate the bag’s band. He kicked his shoes off haphazardly, slipping into his slippers with a practiced ease. Walking into the living room, he placed the mail down onto the coffee table in a neat pile. “Daisuke,” he called out to the mostly quiet apartment. “I’m home!” Deft fingers moved to slip his glasses from his nose, carefully untangling the temples from the long strands of hair that had gotten caught in the hinge. The world fell into a comfortable, but barely noticeable blur.
Ken blinked when there was no answer to his call, his eyebrows pressing down in concern. “Daisuke?” He dropped his bag onto the couch and moved into the kitchen, where Daisuke typically was at this time of night. The stove was on, a pot filled with something strange and experimental bubbling on its top.
But no Daisuke.
“Daisuke?” Again, no response, nothing except for Ken’s quiet breaths that he felt rasped far too loud in the oppressive silence in the apartment. Daisuke was so loud, so boisterous, that he seemed to fill a room, never leaving Ken to the sanctity of his own thoughts. But without him…the atmosphere in the apartment seemed heavy…oppressive even.
He knew Daisuke worked…Daisuke worked all too much in his opinion, but not even he would leave the stove on with something cooking on it when he left for work. And he definitely wouldn’t leave without letting Ken know that he was heading out. So where was he?
Ken wandered more into the kitchen, eyes wide and searching. He paused when his foot bumped into something, something that wasn’t supposed to be there. Slowly, he looked down, his heart lodging deep in his throat. His breath caught in his lungs, a wave of cold sweeping through his body. The pot still bubbled, food spilling over its edge, but Ken paid it no mind. His ears buzzed, his heartbeat pounding far too loudly, too frantically. For a moment, Ken couldn’t even move.
Daisuke was sprawled on the floor in front of him, his arms draped limply over himself to graze the tiled floor. His eyelashes fanned out gently across his flushed cheeks, his lips parted to allow heavy pants to escape and jostle his body. A cut scraped its way across his forehead, blood pooling in the crevice and trickling in thin streams down his face to pool onto the floor below. He was still, oh so still, and it terrified Ken.
Ken dropped to his knees beside his boyfriend, his hand fluttering frantically around Daisuke’s unconscious form. “Daisuke! Daisuke, wake up!” he pleaded, his voice pitched high with fear. Daisuke didn’t stir, he didn’t even twitch. Ken’s hand brushed against Daisuke’s face, his fingers trembling. Warm skin met his touch, too warm for his liking. Panic clasping like an iron band around his lungs, Ken reached into his back pocket for his phone, his fingers stroking gently at Daisuke’s flushed cheek.
He lifted the phone to his ear after dialing, trying to ignore the tears he felt trembling at the corners of his eyes. When he heard the recipient pick up, he swallowed thickly. “Jyou…Jyou, I need a favor.”
When Daisuke awoke, the world felt warm and soft, almost too soft. His hand twitched, grasping the blanket that was draped over him gently. He squirmed, a quiet, nearly desperate moan leaving him. It was too warm, overwhelmingly so. His head tossed against the pillow, his hand moving to find the edge of the blanket that was covering him. It needed to go. He wanted to be cool again. He wanted to be able to breathe again, to think again.
A familiar hand slipped over his forehead and pressed gently against it, stilling his frantic movements. A quiet whine escaped him, his eyes fluttering and struggling to open. The hand remained, the thumb stroking at the skin between his eyes. “Shhh, Daisuke… Everything is alright. No need to worry. Jyou said everything would be fine. Rest now…Please, my love…” a voice murmured, so so gently. Daisuke instinctively pressed his head into the touch, a soft, mumbled noise of contentment slipping from his throat. The person laughed quietly, the hand continuing to stroke at his forehead.
Finally, Daisuke’s eyes slipped open, dazed golden irises peeking through the partially opened eyelids. A blurry image greeted him, a tall shadow looming over him with kind eyes that glinted even in the darkness. His tongue flopped awkwardly in his mouth, continually sticking to the roof of his mouth. Eventually, he managed to rasp a name. “Ken…” he mumbled, struggling to focus through the fog that had settled over him.
A smile tugged at Ken’s face, his expression softening at the whisper. He leaned in, close enough for Daisuke to make out the finer details of his face. Faint exhaustion lines webbed across his face, lining his eyes and the contour of his mouth. But still he smiled that smile that Daisuke loved, the one thing that could reduce him to mush at any time. Not like Daisuke was in any position to be turned into mush right now. His mouth worked, concern easing into the confusion on his face. The hand on his forehead moved, a finger soon pressing against his lips. “Hush, love. It’s alright. I have everything under control. Just rest and get better. I will be here when you wake up, I promise you.”
There had been something Daisuke wanted to say, a concern he wanted to voice, but it seemed to vanish at the soothing tone to Ken’s voice. His eyes grew heavy once more, but still he struggled, not wanting to leave Ken just yet. “Ken…” he rasped again, his hand clenching tighter on the blankets.
“Shhh… Daisuke, it’s alright. Just rest.”
Unable to argue anymore, his eyes slid shut, the exhaustion tugging him under once more. Ken drew the blanket up to Daisuke’s chin, tenderly tucking it around his form to keep it from moving. A hand slipped through Daisuke’s hair, combing through the unruly spikes of auburn. Ken sighed softly, the bed dipping a bit to accommodate his weight. “I wish you wouldn’t work so hard for me, Daisuke… I know you don’t want me to work because you want me to focus on school…But…I want you to be happy too… It hurts to come home to see you so run down… Please… Just let me help…”
Daisuke turned over, towards that dip in the bed. His hand wandered over the blanket until it brushed against Ken’s, closing gently around it. His eyes cracked open once more, a weak grin fluttering across his face. “Love you, Ken…Being with you…makes all of this…makes working this hard…worth it…Everyth’ng’s al’ight…Just…trust me…”
Silence settles in the room for a moment, Daisuke’s eyes slipping shut once more. The bed shifted against, the covers lifting and a form slipping into the spot beside him. Ken moved closer, his arms circling around Daisuke and pulling him close. Lips pressed gently against his too warm forehead. “I love you too…Even if you are an idiot,” Ken whispered against Daisuke’s skin.
Daisuke smiled, the warmth encircling his body no longer uncomfortable. In Ken’s arms, he drifted off into a dreamless slumber, more comfortable and content than he had been in weeks.