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“....Ugly Takumi-kun seems in worse shape today. Your breathing is awfully loud.”
The jabbing statement made Takumi’s head throb. He simply curled his arms tighter as he laid his feverish head onto the cool cafeteria table. There was the sound of heavy footsteps getting closer to his seat.
“Hey…. Hey, ugly Takumi-kun? Has your hearing gone along with what’s left of that brain?”
“...Weren’t you taught in those fake memories that ignoring someone that is talking to you is rude??”
The stream of jeers that were coming out of Eito’s mouth were somehow more annoying and amplified by whatever was in his system at the moment.
“...What do you want, Aotsuki?” Takumi grumbled, voice distorted by the phlegm.
“Uwah… you sound even more horrendous than before!” It seemed that finally getting a response had elicited some sort of happy response. Takumi just sighed as he finally sat up from the table to look at his large 184 cm annoyance.
“... I got sick after the last exploration. I’ll just go lay down in my room so I stop stinking up the cafeteria for you.” Takumi said brusquely, before taking a breath to stand up from his chair. The scraping of the chair legs made a loud echo throughout the cafeteria, and Takumi felt his vision waver. At the same time, there was a large white, blurry shape moving towards him as he felt his vision shift towards the ceiling.
A strange sensation of falling- he’d felt something like this before. When he was time traveling…
Back.
The next time Takumi opened his eyes, the ceiling was suddenly different. It was a lot darker than the cafeteria and he felt his extremities burning. Had he fainted? Getting sick was a pain… maybe he should just kill himself and use the Revive-o-ma-
“Oh, Takumi-kun, you’re awake.”
The same voice that had been plaguing him earlier was back. There was a shuffle of material and Eito’s face, clad in jet black sunglasses appeared directly in his line of sight. Takumi grimaced and closed his eyes again. If Eito couldn’t see, he also would not see right now.
“What happened to me? Did you knock me out again?” Takumi sighed. Eito being here meant he probably had some hand in getting him up here back to his room. The implications were grim or heartwarming.
“How rude. Are you comparing me to that past me you knew before again? I’m sure it’s fairly obvious… you passed out in the cafeteria this morning when I came to say hello. Then I brought your disgusting burden of a body back here to your room. It’s still as unkempt as it’s always been, but I persevered and got you into bed. Really, you should be thanking me!”
That was already too many words for Takumi to properly process. He warily opened his eyes again to look at Eito’s face that was still hovering near his own and lifted a heavy hand to roughly pat Eito’s hair. The reaction to feeling Takumi’s hand was instantaneous- his eye sockets shot open, revealing the empty spots where his eyes had once been. Eito seemed to freeze as he processed what the sensation on his hair was.
“T-Takumi-kun?”
“...Thank you, Aotsuki. For getting my ‘disgusting burden’ back here to sleep. You can head back now. I can probably sleep it off and be better for tomorrow morning.”
Eito seemed to pause at Takumi’s words, opening and closing his mouth, as if he couldn’t decide what to say. It wasn’t often that Eito was speechless as a guy that would usually machine gun his thoughts out as if keeping them in would kill him.
“...I won’t be going anywhere.”
Takumi was surprised at that, Eito sounded determined.
“Haha, even if I keep putting my disgusting hands on your hair? Are you going to disinfect yourself later from my germs?”
Takumi felt a small burst of strength at getting to tease Eito for once and continued patting him, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Either Eito making a gagging sound or demanding Takumi stop it. Instead, Eito simply allowed Takumi to continue messing with his hair.
“Takumi-kun is always so cautious around me, but you’re touching my head? You must have lost your sense of caution to not worry that I’ll turn around and cut your throat. He’s really foolish, smells bad, sounds stupid-”
“You’re saying too many things again, it’s giving me a headache…”
Takumi squeezed his eyes shut again as he grumbled and began pulling his hand away.
Instead, Eito grabbed his wrist and placed it on his cheek with a disgruntled frown. It was almost like watching a bashful dog asking for more praise. Eito really had changed a lot after choosing to stay with all of them and removing his eyes. Takumi chuckled a little and let Eito squeeze his hand with his larger ones. Almost like he was trying to memorize the shape and feel.
Takumi felt the high from earlier start to ebb away, as a wave of sleepiness came over him.
“Hm… your breathing seems like it’s more normal now. Takumi-kun loves sleeping so much, you probably need twice as much rest to recover. Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you while you lay there defenselessly. After all, I didn’t kill you just now so feel free to fall asleep!” Eito said cheerfully, gently letting Takumi’s hand down to rest on the bed while still keeping his hand on his. Takumi felt a weight rest on his chest and grunted. It seemed like Eito was also planning to rest, with his head now laying directly on Takumi’s torso like a cat.
“You’re heavy…”
“Think of me as a weighted blanket. Takumi-kun must trust me a lot to listen to what I have to say and not instantly push me off.” The white haired man chuckled, causing Takumi to squirm from the vibrations to his chest.
“I wouldn’t say it’s fully trust… I still worry about falling asleep and you putting your scythe to my throat like you did before.” Although that had been to Hiruko rather than himself, the gruesome memory of Eito revealing what he had done previously still reared its head in his mind. The way Eito was now… Takumi felt a faint twinge imagining being betrayed again by this man.
“What if instead of a scythe to the throat, I kissed you awake like a prince?” Okay, now Takumi felt awake again.
“Where did that come from?!” Takumi spluttered as he struggled to get his hand free from Eito’s so he could push the heavy man off his torso. Why was his grip suddenly getting stronger?!
Eito continued speaking calmly, as if Takumi weren’t suddenly struggling out of his grasp like an angry cat and placed more pressure on his chest, effectively trapping the weakened redhead.
“I just read a story before that featured a person trapped in eternal sleep awaken with their prince’s kiss. I suppose it was considered romantic.”
“…You’re saying you’re a prince? More like a villain!” Takumi shot back, as he finally freed his wrist and used it to try and shove the offender away. Eito made a noise at the sensation of Takumi’s hand now roughly attempting to push him away, but didn’t budge. Instead his arms wrapped around Takumi’s entire waist, arm sliding under, between his back and the mattress. Was this supposed to be a hug..? He was clinging on like a child gripping its favorite plush.
“That’s hurtful. Aren’t I reformed now?”
The statement and pout that Eito had made Takumi deflate. He had been feeling rather sorry for the blind man the past few days, with him using enthusiastic ways to show that he wanted to be truly accepted as their friend. Large, generous sandwiches laced with unfortunate blood at his chopping mishaps, clumsy attempts to barge in on his exploration team as they set out… even showing up in the mostly deserted cafeteria to make sure he could talk to Takumi.
“I guess even a villain can change… I’m surprised you’d read a romance story like that. Weren’t you the one always complaining how disgusting humanity and human history is? I figured human romance wouldn’t be any different.” Takumi mused, as Eito readjusted his hold on him.
“Hmm. I still find humans quite disgusting. There have been many instances that romance has caused people to act stupidly or even betray so-called friends...But I think it’d be nice to be considered Takumi-kun’s special person..” Eito paused.
“You speak so fondly of that person from your fake memories… plus you work so hard to protect Nozomi-san and everyone. I’d like to be included in that category as well.”
The subject was getting heavier by the moment. Takumi could feel his weakened minds’ cogs struggling to turn. Eito said that he hated humans and thought romance made them act irrationally. Recalling their origins, fake memories, and what Eito had once shared with him from his cage… Destroying a hospital and the nurse he hated. Eito probably had never felt the urge to be close to another human before… so why was he now bringing up being a ‘special person’? Maybe it was similar to baby ducks that imprint on the first thing they see as their mother. The idea that Eito was even pursuing a special connection made his own cheeks heat up more. Or it was the fever.
“….You can take perfectly good care of yourself, what would you need me for?" Takumi grumbled. "Besides, there’s plenty of other people you work better with. All we do is fight.”
“I’d only want Takumi-kun.”
Takumi frowned, before sighing at the insistent tone that Eito had. Whenever he set his mind to something, he was a nigh-unstoppable force.
The next sentence comes out with a softer tone. “I just want Takumi-kun to spend more time with me and be by my side.”
…T-that…
That sounded too sweet. Takumi felt his frown grow, before turning his bed to face the wall. Eito was still too good at rattling off cheesy and romantic lines.
“…Stop complaining so much about my habits and calling me ugly, and I’ll consider it.”
“Eh? I have to keep complaining about Takumi’s lacklustre habits, otherwise he won’t be aware or try to improve and change, right? Ah, but even if you don’t… I won’t go anywhere.” The big smile that Eito said that with made Takumi’s insides feel strange.
“Somehow that’s scarier..but I guess that suits you.”
Takumi sighed, before shuffling his shoulders and head into the pillow. The gentle weight on his chest and the fever in his cheeks were lulling him to sleep.
“This is too much talking. I’m going back to sleep…”
“Rest yourself, Takumi-kun. Don't mind me, I'll be right here."
"….Do whatever you want."
Takumi mumbled, as he felt the darkness slowly taking him.
Eito's voice sounded further away as he continued chatting to Takumi's quickly fading consciousness. “Fufu… Takumi-kun doesn’t seem to be refusing. Could I really be your prince then?”
The weight on his chest suddenly lifted and Takumi felt something soft brush, before pressing firmly against his lips.
And then he was asleep.