Carry

2

Itachi started noticing something was wrong immediately.

At first, he didn't say anything. Shisui had grown into a man who needed to spend some time with himself when something was upsetting him, then he would always come and talk to Itachi on his own accord. So Itachi waited.

Itachi first noticed something was amiss when Shisui started taking a nap after every day after work. It was very, very unusual of him, being someone who required five to six hours of sleep each night and then was full of energy until bedtime, when he would fall asleep with his arms around his boyfriend, now fiancé, or his fiancé's arms around him. But one day after work, Shisui came home to Itachi having finished cooking dinner, having left work an hour earlier to come home and cook Shisui's favourite meal for him which was mushroom omelette with bell peppers. Usually, the smell made Shisui run into the kitchen immediately, but now, Shisui stood in the doorway.

"I need to go to bed, Itachi", he said apologetically. "Just an hour."

Itachi furrowed his brows. "Are you ill?"

"I don't know, maybe? Perhaps a cold tomorrow?"

Itachi wasn't one to worry too much. But Shisui then slept for three hours. And after he'd eaten, he immediately went to bed again and slept until morning.

The same thing happened the day after. And the day after that. Shisui didn't catch a cold, but he slept about thirteen hours a day, three of them being after work. Shisui didn't even take his Zumba classes anymore. Itachi had to start cooking and cleaning all by himself, at the same time being increasingly worried about Shisui. His partner wasn't one to let Itachi cook and clean by himself; the curly-haired man always made a mess, but it was a clean mess that he made and he didn't want a spot anywhere. Whereas Itachi was happy to load the dishwasher in the morning, Shisui couldn't sleep unless he'd cleaned up after dinner. So Itachi, in his exhaustion of having to take care of a household of two while simultaneously working, was not only very worried when Shisui no longer cleaned after himself, preferring fifteen minutes of extra sleep but also increasingly exhausted.

One Saturday morning, at noon, Itachi went to Shisui's side of the bed with a tray. Itachi had been up since eight and had made Shisui his favourite breakfast; scrambled eggs with cream cheese and salmon, Itachi's blueberry muffins and orange juice. Shisui had slept right through all of the frying, blending and rustling in the kitchen. He had been asleep for fourteen hours when Itachi woke him up.

"Shisui... Shisui, love."

He put a hand on his bare shoulder; Itachi was a dressed sleeper while Shisui preferred to sleep completely bare. The man with the unruly hair groaned as he woke.

"Itachi, it's the weekend. We don't have to get up at six."

"It's noon", Itachi said softly, planting a kiss on the top of Shisui's head.

Shisui opened his eyes, looked at him. "It's noon?!" he asked, horrified.

"Yes." Itachi could see the panic in Shisui's eyes. "It's okay. We had no plans until evening. Our friends are coming over for dinner, remember?"

"I'm not scared of wasting time, Itachi!" Shisui said. "But I'm still tired! I need to sleep!"

Itachi was taken aback. He had slept fourteen hours and still needed more? The worry in Shisui's eyes broke Itachi's heart.

"Shisui, what's wrong?"

"I don't know! I'm just so tired!"

"Will you please see a doctor?"

Shisui promised to go for a drop in time Monday. He ate his breakfast Itachi had brought him, hugging Itachi close and thanking him, then fell asleep with his fiancé in his arms. Itachi slowly peeled Shisui's arms from him after the man had fallen asleep and left the bedroom to go for a run. Shisui felt better as he woke three hours later, helping Itachi to cook a vegan dinner to cater for all of their friends. Together they made filled bell peppers, focaccia and two large salads. Itachi had missed Shisui's company in the kitchen immensely, and for the first time in weeks that felt like ages, he saw a glimpse of the man he knew Shisui was, tasting everything, playing music loudly on the speaker, singing and dancing, grabbing Itachi from time to time to dance with him. Itachi laughed, and Shisui laughed with him, hugging his waist to lift him up and twirl him around. Itachi grabbed Shisui's face and kissed him, for fun at first, but as Shisui opened his mouth, let his tongue play at Itachi's lips, Itachi ceased to breathe. Shisui put him down, backed him into a wall, pressing their hips together, letting their tongues softly wrestle as he pinned Itachi's hands to the wall.

"This is not sanitary", Itachi remarked. "We're cooking for our friends."

"Shut up", Shisui said.

Itachi didn't; he was a moaning, pleading mess within seconds as Shisui worked him.

A few hours later, their friends came, and they ate the food they'd prepared, then proceeded to drink wine, talk and play games together. Itachi was sitting close to his fiancé, holding his arm, looking at his engagement ring from time to time, still in awe of it. He wanted to get Shisui an engagement ring soon as well, and thought he ought to start plan how he would go on about it. He even managed to forget Shisui's sleepiness for a while.

Until the clock struck nine, and he could see Shisui wasn't really with them.

He was looking into the far distance, nodding over and over again as if trying not to fall asleep. Finally, he had to excuse himself to go to bed which has never happened as we had our friends over before.

"Are you okay?"

It was Chris, Shisui's best friend who was also the fiancé of his ex girlfriend Lauren, who, in turn, was Itachi's best friend. Chris had noticed Itachi was worried.

"Yeah, why?" Itachi asked.

"We've been calling your name three times and you haven't noticed."

"Oh..." Itachi actually hadn't noticed. He'd been far away in his mind, worrying about Shisui since he'd gone to bed, leaving Itachi alone with their friends.

On Monday before work, Shisui went and got his blood tests done and also got a thorough examination by his GP. Everything was splendid. Yet, it wasn't, as Shisui continued to sleep every day after work. Itachi couldn't help but notice his beloved also started to lose weight, not being able to maintain his usually so vigorous exercise regime and also being awake so few hours, he couldn't eat regularly. Itachi didn't know this, but Shisui couldn't eat at work because he had to take a nap during his lunch break to cope. Still, Itachi didn't nag.

Until one day, Shisui couldn't get out of bed.