Bones ~ TsukiYama

11. Independence

Tsukishima looked up from shelving, noticing Yamaguchi still at the beginning of the aisle. "Are your arms too tired?" 

Yamaguchi held up a finger. He huffed softly, bending into himself slightly. 

Tsukishima set down his book and hurried to make sure nothing was really happening. He waited a while, holding his hand. "Is this a flare-up? Do you need to go somewhere else?" 

Yamaguchi gagged. He clamped his hand over his mouth. "Mph…" 

"Bathroom it is." 

Yamaguchi was wheeled to the bathrooms where he went into the largest stall and spit up into the toilet, trying not to throw up. 

"Baby, go ahead. I'll clean you up and get you back to the couch where no one bothers you. It's okay." Tsukishima rubbed his back. 

Yamaguchi nodded before the little bit he'd eaten was gone and he was shaky. He took his medication and laid down. Tsukishima kept people away, still working around him and checking on him as he would move around. 

"I can get someone to take you home. You can just…" Tsukishima paused. He wasn't getting any eye contact. They'd worked on that. He set his phone on Yamaguchi's chest. "Type out what's going on. I've got to get another cart." 

Yamaguchi hesitated before typing. It was just a question. That's it. 

Tsukishima came over to the couch with a new book cart and read the question. "Oh…" 

Yamaguchi gulped. 

"Well… I'm…" Tsukishima looked at him. "I've started another job. We need the money since the medical bills have started coming in for certain things. I'm not avoiding you at all. I just need the money for the bills." 

Guilt washed over Yamaguchi. "Oh…" 

Tsukishima nodded. "Yeah." 

Yamaguchi watched Tsukishima fiddle with his hands. His medical bills were making it difficult for Tsukishima. Before both of them had income but Yamaguchi's job had stopped paying him. He worked at a tech company where he was a leader of a team and was paid a little more than a comfortable amount. 

Now it was two of Tsukishima's incomes while Yamaguchi had to sit around since he couldn't do as much as he needed. 

"Tsuki…" 

"It's okay. I've got it. All you need to focus on is recovering." 

Yamaguchi kept staring. Now that he thought about it, that kind of made sense. Tsukishima had been skipping meals lately. He wasn't sleeping as much. Him being gone more. His lack of talking. 

Tsukishima kissed his cheek. "I need to get back to work now, okay?" 

Yamaguchi nodded. They needed to talk later. 

****

Yamaguchi turned his head, huffing softly. "Tsuki…" 

"I know, I know." 

Yamaguchi put his arms up. Tsukishima put his head on Yamaguchi's chest and Yamaguchi hugged him tight. "Mm…" 

"Better?" 

"Mhmm." 

Tsukishima nodded. He took a deep breath. "Mm I'm glad we took a bath. This is comfortable." 

Yamaguchi rubbed his hair. Tonight was going to be one of the bad nights. He could already feel it but he needed to try and sleep. 

"I don't blame you."