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enigmatictypos · 1 year

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Unenticing Hours (Mikage Reo/Nagi Seishiro)

One where stress, overwork and a bad stomach bug leaves the Mikage heir in tatters. College AU

Sometimes Reo wondered if everything he did was even worth the actual effort he put in. Over the past few months, since the beginning of semester, he’d been getting less and less sleep, his hours extending from early morning classes and stretching into evening practice and subsequently all nighter assignments and projects.

That said - he did enjoy football practice, and he did love the courses he was taking at university.

Sometimes though, he found himself desperately wishing that the twenty four hours of a day were to either slow down or just extend longer than they did - something that would give him the leeway to just take some time away from the field or his study table and actually take a breather.

Which is what he did as he rested his head against the cool top of the desk next to his notes in class. The lecture was particularly tedious and covered a topic which Reo had already gone over with his father. Ideally irrespective of that, his eyes would be ever strained on the digital board at the front of the lecture hall, fingers scribbling down notes quickly and neatly, but today, something was different.

With the throbbing pain radiating across the inside of his skull, paying attention to his professor’s words seemed to get harder and harder with every passing minute. He finally ended up giving up around five minutes ago, his head dropping into his arms as he shielded off the glaring lights in the room as an attempt to ease the steady pounding behind his eyes.

There was only a couple of minutes left on the clock before the end of the class, so hopefully the teacher wouldn’t mention anything crucial to the semester. Plus, even if it did, hopefully the white haired individual sitting next him would have noted down something (even if he essentially scraped through this class by leaching off Reo’s notes).

Operations Management was the only class Reo actually shared with Nagi. With their university majors being pretty different, it was perhaps a stroke of luck that Nagi ended up choosing this among his optionals, while the class remained one of Reo’s integrals. That said, he still ended up seeing a lot of his best friend given that they were both among the only three freshmen who’d been called into the first string for the team.

Speaking of practice, Reo almost physically let out a groan. He wasn’t entirely sure why but a deep seated ache had been gnawing across his body since he woke up this morning and the notion of having to work his muscles while already sore was never exactly appealing, no matter how much you like a sport.

Not to mention his headache didn’t seem to be easing up any time soon either…

Maybe he was coming down with something. The thought occurred to Reo as a particularly nasty throb had him wincing - there had been a flu virus going across campus. Only last week Chigiri, his roommate, had come down with it so it would make sense if Reo managed to catch it from him.

The realisation though wasn’t very pleasant.

Midterms were approaching fast and quick and there wasn’t exactly any spare room of relaxation in Reo’s current itinerary. For all his academic brilliance, keeping up with the number of classes he had was in itself a superhuman feat, something which even a few hours less would impact. So actually coming down with something was a risky ordeal for him.

He’d just have to swallow his symptoms down with medicine and water he supposed, if it was indeed what he thought it was.

“Ne Reo-” a small, soft voice spoke up next to him, breaking him out of his thinking spree. Raising his head from his arms, Reo realised that he’d probably completely zoned out, since he’d somehow missed the class concluding and the teacher leaving the room. Nagi, who'd already gathered up the few stuff he’d actually lugged to class, was gazing at the purple haired boy with a look Reo couldn’t exactly put a label on.

Perhaps it was confusion. It would make sense - after all, Reo was usually the one nagging at Nagi to not fall asleep during class. His questioning looked to remain unanswered as Reo’s mind suddenly went blank, another flash of pain vibrating through his skull, triggering a new sensation of discomfort in his stomach.

Yup, definitely something wrong with him.

“Yeahhh,” he mumbled out, “I’m fine, just a bit off colour today, don’t worry.” He however, didn’t raise himself to his feet just yet, the cool sensation of the desk feeling far too comfortable against his unknowingly burning forehead. The silence from Nagi surprised him a little but then to be fair with their very recent patch up after a relatively big falling out, they were still playing on eggshells around each other.

It suddenly struck him though that the next hour was an off period for him - with his Statistics Professor having been invited to an All-Japan-Analytics Meet, the class had been suspended for a week, today being the fourth of the seven days. Which meant that he’d probably have time to catch a quick thirty minute nap back in his dorm room if he rushed.

With newfound zeal in his limbs, he stood, only to have his hands shooting out, fingers clutching against the desk as a wave of dizziness slammed into him, strong and disorienting. Unlike a headrush though it didn’t clear immediately, leaving Reo with his eyes scrunched shut, knuckles turning white with how he was holding the desk to keep himself from falling over.

The swirling sensation of the ground beneath his feet was just more than enough to promote his former sensation of discomfort to an actual defined sense of nausea. He felt a hand on his shoulder, cool fingers wrapping around the exposing skin where his shirt looped around his neck - familiar yet hesitant in the touch. Perhaps it was even more concerning that Reo’s instincts didn’t immediately have him moving away, them still not having reached the physical affection phase after their last argument.

Great, now of all people Nagi knew something was wrong with him.

Drawing in a breath to steady himself, he slowly opened his eyes as the nausea and dizziness both slowly ebbed away. He cast a sheepish grin at the white hair who was now looking at him with pointed concern. Nagi didn’t voice his questions, so it was left up to Reo to analyse the obvious question in the gaze, enquiring whether Reo was alright.

Had it been anyone other than Nagi, his pale face and near-keeling over episode would have been enough ground to establish that he wasn’t in fact alright. But despite all his genius, Nagi was far too gullible, especially in front of Reo, who basically intended to make a living out of white lies and smiles.

“I just haven’t been sleeping well,” he said, which wasn’t far from the truth, “Just stood up a bit too quick there.”

Reo dealt Nagi a lot of bold faced half-truths and this was yet another one of the same. Nagi’s grip on his shoulder loosened hesitantly as he removed himself from Reo’s personal space, allowing the purple haired boy to breathe a bit easier. He looked suspicious but knowing him, he wouldn’t press into a matter (just how bad had he looked that Nagi hadn’t accepted what he said at face value?)

“If that’s what Reo says…” he mumbled out, taking a few steps forward before stopping, an obvious notion for Reo to join him.

That reminded him that Nagi too had an off period every Thursday. With them hardly having talked in the past week, they hadn’t been able to plan anything out (which in hindsight was a good idea since Reo didn’t exactly feel upto socialising right now). Nagi’s notion, though, probably implied that he thought that they’d still be spending the hour together, probably just sitting together in silence on the roof, while Nagi clicked away at whatever new video game had interested him.

An appealing invite if his painkillers hadn’t been in the bedside drawer all the way in his dorm room, a fair walk away from the main building, and his body screaming for well, his bed in general.

“Ahh,” he said, once again feigning innocence as he started gathering up his stationary, “You go on ahead today, Nagi, I have to go work on something in the library.” Yet another lie, but a selling one since never in the years they’d spent together had Nagi ever joined him on his library adventures, no matter the bribe.

Nagi nodded at that - to be fair, the argument was believable since Reo had spent quite a few free periods and even lunch hours on study work this semester, trying to keep up with his own good grades. Whether those additional hours were good or bad was something only time would say.

“Are you sure you’re alright though?” Nagi voiced, eyes moving down towards Reo’s hands, where he himself hadn’t realised they were trembling. Fisting them and stuffling them into the pockets of his loose beige flannel shirt that he’d unconsciously dawned upon his lilac t-shirt this morning.

Reo nodded quickly, probably far too quickly for it to be nonchalant, but then if he was hiding something from Nagi, the white haired boy knew better than to try to poke it out of the Mikage. Those attempts never worked well, and the effort was probably quite misplaced. So with a nod of his own, and a small half handed wave, Nagi turned around and left the room, leaving Reo to collapse back into his seat, thoroughly confused on how even standing up had been exhausting.

***

Whoever had come up with the notion that sleep made you feel better was an absolute lying bastard and they would not live to see the next morning if Reo managed to find out who it was.

That said, with his current disposition he almost doubted he’d make it to the next morning.

If he’d left bad this morning, everything seemed to have heightened over the course of his “nap”. Which he’d conveniently slept right through his alarm and missed out on every other class of the day. In hindsight though, if he’d felt even a fraction of what he was feeling now he doubted he’d have been able to spend even a second in a crowded classroom.

His skin felt like it was on fire, sweat poured down his body in gallons to the point where his inner t-shirt was absolutely drenched. His head hurt pounding fit to burst, each throb sending waves of intense nausea through his body which had him stumbling out of the bed and barely making it to the bathroom, before he was violently heaving over the toilet.

He didn’t bring anything up though except mouthfuls of saliva, his chest and stomach in agony from the convulsions of the dry heaving. It left him panting and breathless, tears gathering in his eyes from the effort, frustration bleeding into every inch of his existence. Exhaustion creeping in Reo leaned his head against the edge of the porcelain bowl, sanitation temporarily forgotten as his body seemed to want to wring him out in a matter of hours.

Another wave of nausea went over him as he was once again sent over the bowl weakly gagging, a thin stream of drool dropping out of his parted lips. Right since he was a child, Reo never had an easy time throwing up. Even when he knew that losing his stomach would probably make him feel better. Sometimes he’d spend entire hours hunched over the bathroom with either Ba-ya or his mother sitting beside him rubbing circles on his back.

He most certainly missed them as yet another violent retch sent him bending over the toilet, unproductive yet ostensibly more painful. This round seemed to be particularly rough, heave after heave seemingly ripping his body apart in pain and exhaustion.

Leaning back against the wall once that bout was over, Reo drew in a sharp breath, hand raising itself to his face to wipe off both the perspiration and the tears. A part of Reo knew it was natural to get unwell from time to time, the other part was so irrationally upset that he just wanted to curl into a ball and sob himself to sleep.

The nausea had begun to take a backseat, the top concerns being replaced by his concern of whether or not he was fit enough to attend practice. Once again his brain found itself torn between rational and irrational - rational knowing well enough that he'd just worsen his own condition by even walking out of his dorm room while the irrational screamed in panic over how his position on such a top tier team could very well be shaken up over him suddenly missing practice.

Maybe that was just the fever reigning his mind as he stood up, using the sink as support as he leaned over, turning on the tap as he just stood there, letting the cold water run over his fingers. Chigiri would probably have yelled at him for wasting water if he were here but Reo couldn't really bring himself to care - not when the cold water seemed to bring a, though minimal, relief to his burning body.

It took him a few minutes of water running along his fingers and splashing into his face to regain a semblance of clarity. Looking into the mirror, he noted that his appearance had worsened since morning. His pallor was almost ashen, other than the feverish blush on his cheeks. His usually well maintained purple hair was an absolute mess with some parts sticking up and some parts matted down with sweat. To top it all off the dark circles under his eyes were probably dense enough for him to shrug them off as some variety of eye makeup.

He sighed to himself, running his hands through his hair, the simplistic movement itching further at his deep boned exhaustion. Opening up the cabinet beside the sink, he quickly dry swallowed a fever reducer and something to help with nausea, hoping fervently that the pills didn’t sit heavier in his stomach, while simultaneously thanking heavens that Chigiri labelled the bottles for symptom management because he was not even in a place to attempt to figure out which medicine helped what.

In hindsight, actually trying to go to the five pm practice in this condition was ostensibly dumber than Reo could physically even begin to imagine himself as.

They’d barely even started warmups and Reo felt his vision swimming dangerously, peripheral range zooming in and out. His nausea had returned to full swing, the stomach calmers doing absolutely nothing to help there, as the organ writhed angrily under his skin. The turf under his feet felt far too unsteady, strong chills working down his spine, despite the fact that he was sweating profusely.

He bent over, hands on his knees, eyes closed as he finally finished one of his workouts, understandably slower than his usual pace. His breath came short and gaspy, despite him attempting to draw them calm and deep to quell the nausea in his stomach. He felt a hand on his shoulder, coaxing him to look up.

A familiar head full of long, vibrant red hair invaded his vision, concern flooding his roommate’s red eyes.

“Reo-kun,” he said, voice attemptedly made gentle, “You’re clearly unwell, you need to stop pushing yourself,” Chigiri spoke, fingers squeezing tighter around the purple haired boy’s shoulder. The realization that Chigiri hadn’t needed much more than a look at him to say that he wasn’t holding himself up at all, was probably testament to how bad he was feeling, given that he was usually quite the reasonable and convincing actor.

“I’m fine,” he forced out, between gasps. Curt and short, “It's just a cold.”

Just a cold, my ass. Reo couldn’t help thinking as he spoke the words, back straightening up again as he gazed around the field, pointedly avoiding eye contact with Chigiri. The redhead was perceptive, much more so than Nagi, who had been the only other person to enquire about his condition today, and he knew that his lies were already falling short for this one. Ostensibly the fact that his eyes were likely to glaze over wouldn’t really help his case.

“Reo,” Chigiri continued, as the hand left the taller boy’s shoulder, “Nagi of all people noticed, and Rin’s been giving you these odd looks and the captain is obviously angry. I don’t think you even begin to realise how you’re looking.”

Reo’s hands ran along his face, a sigh escaping him, as he pressed down on his eyes, almost in an attempt to smother his face if possible. A small blush crept onto his cheeks which wasn’t directly associated with the fever, but more so the embarrassment that almost the entire team had been seeing through his facade. As a stab of pain once again reverberated through his skull, he didn’t bother to suppress the moan.

“... my head hurts a bit,” he admitted, revelling in the fact that that was likely to be the understatement of the year. Chigiri’s look conveyed that his thoughts probably resonated with Reo’s own. The redhead’s hand moved down from his shoulder to settle along his arm, an offer for support that they both knew Reo wouldn’t take.

Unless he actually passed out, his pride would probably make him walk out of the turf on his own, even if he had been sporting profusely bleeding stab wounds all over.

Chigiri didn't, however, let go as the two made their way over towards the benches where the rest of the team were trying awfully hard to pretend that they weren’t looking in their direction. The attempt though was absolutely horrible. Their captain Sae had a pointed look on his face, which wasn’t exactly angry or malicious but held an odd sense of understanding. Then again, Reo assumed that with Sae’s own levels of dedication to the sport, it was quite possible that he too had ventured onto the field in a similar condition.

Isagi and Bachira were both talking with each other, casting very unsubtle looks at Reo and Chigiri as the two of them made their way over, Chigiri helping Reo into one of the chairs, offering him a bottle of sports drink. While Reo accepted it, he didn’t really move to drink it, knowing that putting anything in his mouth right now would probably send him into another retching and heaving fit. Something which was probably inevitable at this point, but much preferred in the solitude of his dorm bathroom instead where the entire team could see him.

“Reo, you weren’t alright earlier.” A familiar voice filtered through the haze that was his mind, as he looked up to face Nagi. The white haired boy wore his usual neutral look, but the emotion was evident in his round orbs as he spoke. Reo’d spent years with Nagi, enough to be able to gouge exactly what Nagi was feeling right now. A part of him was disappointed that Reo had lied, while the other part… probably was nervous about whatever Reo would say next.

It wasn't a concern, because Nagi was likely not capable of actually feeling the amount of concern which would cause him to leave behind whatever he was doing and ask around. Or that’s what Reo told himself in the moment, the sudden emotion in the latter’s eyes, hitting his own, almost making him tear up. He bit his lower lip, head pointing down at the plastic grass of the turf once again.

Sae came to stand in front of him, beside Nagi, voice holding the same contempt he seemed to always speak with.

“Can you walk on your own?” He asked, a question Reo didn’t want to answer, because at this point he didn’t know if he could walk all the way back without passing out or throwing up or both of those. He didn’t voice that to the older boy though, simply giving him a sheepish nod.

Sae wasn’t one to unnecessarily poke either so with his nod to match Reo’s he continued, “Then go get some rest before I’m convinced that you’re attempting to start the zombie apocalypse or something.”

Getting to his feet though, proved to be another challenge as the moment he stood up, the ground shifted beneath his feet, sending waves of nausea and dizziness washing over him. His knees folded without much warning, as a whine escaped his lips. He’d probably have fallen to the ground if it weren’t for both Nagi and Sae’s reflexes as they both grabbed him by his arms, steadying him enough to keep him on his feet.

Sae let go though, allowing the white haired boy to support most of Reo’s weight. And even in that fever-addled, upset condition, he was hyper aware of how close he was to Nagi, a form of contact that he hadn’t exactly willingly initiated. He closed his eyes, burying his face into the boy’s shoulder blade, letting himself feel that moment of weakness. He’d already lost the image he’d been attempting to uphold, why make himself suffer further?

“He’s burning up,” he heard Nagi’s monotone speak, albeit it wasn’t exactly a monotone, when the slight spike of worry was evident in the boy’s tone. Who was he kidding? Obviously Nagi was worried about him. Maybe not to the extent Reo would be if the roles were switched, but he cared enough that Reo’s pain would make him drastically concerned.

“You don’t need to leave practice,” Chigiri said, presumably not to him, “I’ll take him over to our suite, I need to get myself a hair tie anyways.”

When Reo’s head finally stopped spinning, he moved himself out of Nagi’s grasp, his hand moved towards Chigiri who despite his shorter stature, quite comfortably draped his arm around his shoulder, the other arm moving to support him by the waist. There was a certain level of jostling though that seemed to set off fireworks in the young Mikage’s stomach, making him swallow down the saliva that flooded his mouth almost urgently. They’d barely reached the edge of the field when Reo realised he was fighting a losing battle.

“Chigiri-” he managed to rasp out, before bringing his hand up to his mouth, pressing down in an attempt to coax his brain into not immediately triggering his gag reflex.

But when did the universe really listen to him?

With a violent retch, Reo tore himself away from the redhead, stumbling a few feet away. His fingers wrapped around the fencing of the field as he sank onto the concrete, knees being too unsteady to hold his weight as his stomach worked to expel all of its contents.

For the moment, everything around him seemed to blur out, except the burning sensation of something thick and slimy crawling up his throat, as he helplessly gagged, a sour, rancid mixture of whatever he’d put into his stomach, pouring out of his lips in a gush. It was like a dam had been broken within him. He retched once again, the painful noise scraping his throat raw as another rush of half digested food made its way out of him, bitter and hot to the taste.

It was probably the texture and smell which made his stomach turn worse, as it heaved and heaved, not even giving the boy the time to breathe between retches as each movement brought about small amounts of the slurry, which splattered against the concrete. Tears freely flowed down Reo’s eyes, a building panic growing in his chest, as spots danced in his vision.

His body sagged further downward, his loose arm wrapping around his stomach in a desperate attempt to alleviate some of the agony he felt, but to no avail. The knuckles of the hand gripping the wire fence turned white as he heaved for what seemed like the umpteenth time, this time only bringing up burning stomach acid and bile, the liquid being painful enough to send him into another fit of tears.

It was when he was finally reduced to simply dry heaving once again, stomach wrangled out and empty that he registered the two people on either side of him. Chigiri’s gloved hand was holding his matted hair out of his face as he kneeled beside him, now simply holding his head up, keeping him from face planting into a massive puddle of his own puke.

On his other side stood Nagi, who was bent over, hand rubbing circles on Reo’s back. While the supposed massage didn’t do much to help Reo’s pain, the contact was what melted him, as he let his exhaustion get the better of him. His fingers uncurled from the fence, as he let out a pitiful sob. Turns out his position and his hand holding him up was his only source of support as his body tilted sideways. He probably would’ve hit the ground if it weren’t for a pair of arms steadying him.

Through half closed eyes and his own panting breaths, he could hear a familiar voice speak.

“I’ll take care of him,” it said, distant almost as though Reo was listening to someone speak through a wall of water, “He’s my…”

The rest of whatever the person was saying mellowed out as the darkness in Reo’s vision expanded. The last thing he registered was the same pair of hands lifting him off the ground, and the sense of temporary security he felt.

***

Reo woke up feeling as though he’d been hit by a truck.

It took him a moment to gouge his surroundings. He was… not in his room, that was for sure if the white ceiling in contrast to his own violet was anything to go by. The next thing he took in was that the room was rather dimly lit. Which was certainly a relief since his head was throbbing fit to burst. Did he end up getting a concussion during practice?

“Ah, Mikage-kun, you’re awake!” a slightly high pitched voice spoke up next to him, making him wince at the decibel as he moved his line of vision to the side, to catch sight of the dark haired boy with glasses break into a smile, “We were getting concerned that we’d have to get you to an actual hospital.”

… Yukimiya Kenyu.

One of the only pre-med students on the football team who basically had the additive job of poking and prodding over any injuries or illnesses that the players came down with.

“Yukimiya-kun-” he spoke, wincing as he realised how scratchy his own throat was. Bringing his hands up, he attempted to push himself up into a sitting position, only to have a rush of nauseating dizziness slam him right back into the mattress. Yukimiya invaded his direct vision again, face scrunched up in concern.

“Hey, hey, take it easy there, Macho Man!” he called, “You’re severely dehydrated so don’t go making sudden movements, you will keel over.” He however, didn’t leave Reo the way he was, helping the purple haired boy into a sitting position, helping himself back up against the back of the bed to support himself. The exhaustion in his body was deeply embedded, but now that the memories from what had perspired began returning to him, he realised he was probably feeling a bit better. Still thoroughly and completely ill, but at least he wasn’t throwing up and passing out on people anymore.

Speaking of people… it was then that Reo noted the mop of white hair which had its head buried in Reo’s sheets, asleep in a position that couldn’t possibly be comfortable. Especially with how tall Nagi was. He had pulled himself a chair and used the bed as a headrest - but knowing Nagi’s ability to sleep anywhere he wasn’t surprised to hear the soft snores emanate from the boy.

Hesitantly, he reached out to run his fingers through the messy white locks, a small smile playing on his lips.

Nagi had stayed by his side.

Taking in the tenderness in Reo’s expression, Yukimiya chuckled, “This guy here, gave me quite the fright when he came banging at my door at two in the morning. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so worried,” the older boy recalled as his own gaze went over to the now asleep Nagi, “Apparently you weren’t able to keep anything down and you were speaking worrying things in your sleep.”

“Ah…” was all Reo could say to that as he retracted his hand from Nagi’s hair to massage his own temple. The ever lazy Nagi had hung around to look after him when he was in such a bad condition, huh? Maybe all his doubts over the boy’s dedication towards him were moot after all. Yukimiya seemingly reading into his line of thought merely chuckled along.

#blue lock #blue lock fic #sickfic #mikage reo #nagi seishiro #chigiri hyoma #yukimiya kenyu #nagireo #vomiting #emeto fic #fainting #chigiri hyoma and mikage reo roomies

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