365 Days of Starshipping (Part 1)

Sick Days

5/12/19

The next morning, Judai was the first awake, which honestly should've been the first warning sign that stood out to him but he was so focused on staying in Yusei's warmth that he hadn't noted it was odd. It took him a few minutes of barely hanging on to the last dredges of sleep, but he finally roused enough from his half-asleep state to pull back a bit so he could look at Yusei's face.

As always, Yusei's sleeping face was cute, but after a few seconds Judai frowned as he noticed it wasn't quite as peaceful as it usually would be - something was off and he couldn't quite place it. He rubbed the crusty sleep from his eyes, blinking rapidly to get some moisture back in them before squinting at his face again, finally noticing how... flushed it was. And was it just him, or was his breathing a little shallower than normal?

Oh shit, he thought, which got the attention of the other two in his mind now that they knew he was awake.

"What's up?" Yubel asked, and Judai must've been sending off distress signals because he could feel her immediately attempt to calm him down.

I'm ninety percent sure Yusei is now sick, Judai replied, frowning when he got a snort of amusement from Haou in response.

"It's almost like you two predicted it," Haou stated, rolling his eyes in the back of his head.

Oh shut up, what... what do I do?

"Right, you never actually learned how to treat sickness beyond 'eat soup and drink tea'," Yubel sighed, causing Judai to pout defensively.

It's not my fault it's almost impossible for me to get sick now! He retorted, getting up from the bed and making sure to re-wrap Yusei in the blankets afterwards, Besides, whenever I did it was always in the spirit realm, and there's completely different stuff there!

"We know, Judai," Yubel said soothingly, "Don't worry, it's probably just a minor fever. It was just rain, go look in the restroom for a thermometer so you can double-check."

"There's medicine in the kitchen storage," Haou recalled, evidently deciding to be helpful this time despite the great amusement Judai could feel him having at the moment, "When you get there I'll tell you which one."

Thanks, Judai said, taking a deep breath to get his bearings back before his mind could possibly run-off and make this whole thing seem irrationally worse. He thought his instincts got bad when Yusei was hurt, but now he was proving to himself that they were even worse when Yusei was sick with something; it wasn't something tangible like a wound so there was less he could actually do about it, which was probably the reason why he was starting to worry so much.

He found the thermometer, cleaning it with an alcohol wipe once Haou reminded him that he needed to, before quickly returning and sticking it carefully in Yusei's mouth and under his tongue without waking him up.

One-hundred point two degrees, definitely sick with a fever. At least it wasn't any higher than that.

Judai double-checked to make sure Yusei was nice and cozy in the bed, moving a couple pillows around him until he was satisfied, before wandering off to the kitchen to start making some classic chicken noodle soup. He'd make tea after the other woke up so that it'd be fresh and- wait, did they have honey?

He felt a split second of panic before remembering that yes, they did have honey since he'd just bought it the other day.

"Good morning!"

Judai startled at the voice, whipping around to find Crow at the entrance to the kitchen while gripping a hand to his chest with a yelp.

"Whoa, you okay there Judai?" Crow asked, giving him a confused, concerned frown.

"Yeah, I- I'm fine, just didn't notice you come down," Judai replied, letting out a nervous laugh. Holy shit, he seriously needed to calm down if that was his reaction to someone else - luckily for him Crow hadn't noticed the shadows that had been ready to lash out behind him, and he forced the tendrils that had formed to melt away.

"What's got you in a tizzy?"

"Uh- Yusei's got a fever, hundred point two. Not too bad, but-"

He was interrupted by Crow patting him on the shoulder with a sympathetic wince, which only made him worry more, "Is he asleep right now?"

"...Yes?"

"Good. Appreciate this little bit of peace right now, because you're not going to get any reprieve once he wakes up and starts insisting he's fine," Crow stated, clearly speaking from experience, "I know he's on break right now from work, but he's going to be begging for his laptop anyway - whatever you do, you can't give it to him."

"Wait, why?"

"Because it's easier to deal with a sad sick Yusei who never got his laptop than an angry sick Yusei who's had his laptop taken from his grasp in an attempt to make him sleep again."

This didn't bode well for Judai at all. Maybe though... maybe it wouldn't be too bad because at this point Yusei was used to Judai doting on him, at least a bit, right? He might just sigh and let him do whatever he wants to help him.

...Hopefully. He'd just have to see how it went once Yusei woke up.