VIOLET SKY, takigawa chris yuu

━ chapter fourteen

act ii

how do we do this?
( carefully. )

chapter fourteen

❛don't baby me❜

━━━━━━

Looking back on it, Amara getting sick the day of the Halloween dance isn't the worst thing that could've happened.

But when Asano lets Chris in and they have a quiet conversation by the door, throwing obvious concerned glances at her, she groans and rolls over, burying her face in her pillow. She is in no state for him to see her.

A quiet voice that sounds like Chiyo says she's being hypocritical. She tells it to shut up.

She shivers, cold, despite the burning state of her face, and draws her blanket tighter around her.

They stop talking eventually and she lifts her head, blinking blearily as Asano steps out, leaving Chris and Amara alone.

He sighs. Loudly. Clearly already thinking this is his fault. She knew he would jump to that conclusion when she reluctantly texted him that she wouldn't be able to make it to the dance.

"Stop before you try to blame yourself. How long has it been since you were sick? How long?" She demands, weakly propping herself up on her elbows.

He rolls his eyes and if she were a little more coherent, she'd call him out on it. As it were, though, her face is unbearably hot, her throat hurts, and she's lost the ability to breath through her nose. I have bigger problems.

She woke up fine this morning, spending the first half of the day helping Hiro and Chiyo put their costumes together. After, she felt the telltale heat begin settling into her face, along with the gradual increase of achiness in her body. She told Chris he didn't need to take care of her but of course, he ignored that. She couldn't be that mad, since she'd taken care of him just the same at the beginning of the month, too.

"I still think —"

"No. No thinking." She points at him and he arches an eyebrow. "It's been more than two weeks. That's how long it takes viruses to be passed on. I think. I learned that in biology." Which she took when she was a freshman and she'll admit, she blocked most of her memories from that time. "Probably picked something up at the mall. It's fine. Sorry we can't go to the dance, though."

He snorts. "It's not like we were even prepared to go."

Her laugh turns into a cough and she turns, pain lancing through her throat sharply. The humor quickly leaves his face and he frowns, concerned. It makes her chest warm.

"I brought the medicine you got for me. Hosaki didn't say much about your symptoms." He comes over to her desk and she flops back onto the bed, closing her eyes tiredly.

"It's just a cold," she mutters.

"Just a cold, huh?" Jumping, her eyes fly open at the cool brush of his fingers over her forehead. His frown deepens, a furrow seemingly etched permanently in his brow. "Have you eaten?"

She sniffles. "Yeah, Chiyo and Hiro forced me to eat some soup earlier. Just give me the medicine, I'll be fine in a couple hours." She yawns, having half a mind to tell him to go to the nearest drug store and try to find the brand of medicine that her mother would shove down her throat whenever she got sick. It usually made her empty out her stomach immediately after but she would feel better.