Work Text:
The first time he woke up, it was around 3am. And the first thing Ritsu was met with was a downright excruciating pain behind both of his eyes.
Ah. A migraine.
These would happen occasionally, every once in a great while when he was especially stressed, or just unlucky. And every once in an even greater while, they’d be particularly bad. Like right now.
Ritsu let out a low groan, quickly regretting it as just the vibrations from the subtle noise sent a shock through his head; everything was too loud and too bright, despite it being the middle of the night in his nearly pitch black room. It was as though every sound around him reverberated inside his brain, leaving a horrible pain in their wake.
While getting up and searching for pain medication may have been the best option, the overwhelming nausea and discomfort at just the slightest movement kept Ritsu trapped in his bed. He simply hoped it would pass, cautiously adjusting himself on his side and attempting to focus on anything other than the pounding in his head to fall back asleep.
Ritsu wasn’t sure how long he laid there for, his head throbbing and stomach churning, but eventually he managed to fall back asleep.
…
The second time Ritsu woke up, he shot a quick glance at his alarm clock (which was quite brave, considering how much it hurt his eyes in their current state) and noted that it was an hour before he needed to get up for school. Awesome.
To make matters worse, the migraine was most definitely not gone, and not even a little less intense. If this kept up, he’d have to miss school, which was a thought that made Ritsu feel even more miserable.
He despised missing school on any other day, but because of a headache? It was ridiculous. (Deep down, Ritsu knew that it was not ‘just a headache,’ and that the world wasn’t going to end because he missed one day of school, but his obsessive perfectionism didn’t quite get the memo.)
Ritsu’s misery, however, was outweighed by the fact that he could hardly turn on his other side without being hit with a wave of nausea. Yeah, there was no way he could do anything today. He made an attempt to reach out with his aura, towards the familiar waves of concealed power that radiated from his brother in the other room, but the strain from that alone sent another pulse of ache behind his eyes. Ritsu cursed under his breath. Looks like he’d have to do this the hard(er) way.
The raven-haired boy slowly and carefully reached for his phone at his bedside, taking in a deep breath before turning the screen on and trying to locate his brother’s number as fast as he could. From there, Ritsu sent one single text: “Migraine.” He couldn’t be damned to check if it was spelt right, placing his phone back down a little too hard to get rid of the bright light as soon as possible. He hoped Shigeo would understand the message.
Ritsu inhaled sharply, pushing his palms into his eye sockets to try and do anything to ease the pain. He bit back a sob, laying back down and somehow drifting back into a restless sleep relatively quickly.
…
The third time Ritsu woke up, it was to a familiar voice softly calling his name.
He turned over to face the door, momentarily forgetting the migraine before he was unfortunately slapped in the face with the consequences of moving too fast. A short gasp escaped at the pain, and Ritsu squinted his eyes about as much as he could without completely shutting them. He could just barely make out the short silhouette of what could only be his brother, still in his striped pajamas and dark hair ruffled from sleep.
“ Mngh ?” Ritsu replied, as well-spoken as he could be at the moment.
“Hey Ritsu. I brought you some water and pain meds.” Shigeo replied in a whisper, keeping his voice as low as possible.
The older boy tried his best to make sure only the smallest amount of light could stream in from the hallway, walking towards Ritsu’s bed and placing the items on the bedside table before trying to help his younger brother sit up; at least enough to swallow the pill.
Ritsu still flinched violently on the way up, and Shigeo apologized in a feeble tone before gently grabbing the glass and pill and handing them to the other boy. He made sure Ritsu swallowed the medication properly before helping him lay back down, and leaned forward to push the bangs out of Ritsu’s eyes in a soothing manner.
“Mom will be up with a hot water bottle in a moment,” Shigeo said, but Ritsu was already drifting out of consciousness once more. It was a battle between the lack of sleep and the agonizing headache, and this time the sleep deprivation lucked out.
Ritsu only partially heard Shigeo tip toe away from his bed towards the hallway, the backs of his eyelids brightening for just a moment before going dark again as a bedroom door creaked closed across the room.
…
The next time Ritsu woke up (he’s lost track of how many times by this point), his mind was still clinging on to unconsciousness.
From the corner of his vision Ritsu briefly noted that the sun was now up, thankfully muffled by his curtains, and with bleary eyes he somewhat registered someone holding something warm to his forehead. It offered just the smallest amount of relief, and he whined quietly. He then somewhat registered a voice speaking to him once more, this one nurturing and laced with worry: Mom.
Ritsu felt a hand run through his hair, and his eyes were lulled shut once again. She said more to him, but he was still barely awake, and simply ragdolled in her arms when she carefully lifted his head up. She placed what must be the hot water bottle underneath his head before laying him back down, and Ritsu grunted quietly.
Normally, Ritsu would feel embarrassed to be doted on like this. He wasn’t a child anymore (in his mind, at least), and he was perfectly fine taking care of himself; he always had been. Ritsu was the independent one, the child his parents never had to worry about because they trusted he could handle himself. The child who still showed up to school when he was sick, because he had a perfect attendance record to uphold, and it was what everyone expected of him.
Except right now, he was rendered helpless. And while he was far too out of it at the moment to really comprehend that, the shame would surely sneak up on him later.
But for now, Ritsu tried to focus on the heat against the back of his head as he swayed in and out of consciousness, the pain in his skull somewhat tolerable but no less awful than it was before. He vaguely noted a feeling of longing– ah, that’s right, he wouldn’t see Suzuki today. (How had Suzuki gotten on his mind?)
That bothered him almost more than the migraine did, for a moment, before sleep took over once more.
…
Ritsu continued to wander amidst being both awake and not throughout the rest of the day, most details passing in a blur while others stuck out.
The feeling of being made to sit up, of a glass of cold water being brought to his lips, of the hot water bottle beneath his head being replaced with a new one, of gently being fed something soft enough to not rattle his brain with a deafening crunch, of the door to his bedroom creaking closed again and again.
All the while the pain didn’t cease, only ebbing and flowing. Ritsu would feel relief for a while, believing that maybe it had finally passed, before the migraine returned with a vengeance, agony pulsing through his head as if someone had taken a bat straight to his brain. All he could really do was choke back tears and search for another comfortable spot in bed, hoping to fall asleep again and willing the nausea occupying his stomach to subside.
…
The final time Ritsu woke up, he immediately knew why, and he was immediately irritated (and yet immediately relieved).
How naive of him to think he could go a day without seeing that fiery orange hair and annoyingly cocky grin; those of which belonged to the young boy standing on Ritsu’s balcony outside, who was currently peeking in through a gap in the curtains.
Shou gave him a happy little wave, totally oblivious to the anguish his friend was experiencing; when all Ritsu did was barely lift his head to glance toward the window before letting it fall back down (which fucking hurt and he instantly regretted it), Shou decided to take matters into his own hands. Or, more specifically, powers.
Ritsu heard and watched with barely open eyes as his balcony doors unlocked and slid open, coating in the dull glow of Shou’s orange-red aura, quite a bit too loud for his liking. Not only that, but now a lot more of the moonlight was filtering in, and Ritsu’s eyes did not appreciate that at all. The raven-haired boy exhaled harshly, biting his lip to keep a pained gasp from escaping.
Shou noticed Ritsu’s squinted glare, and by some heavenly power managed to equate it to the balcony door and curtains being open, so he quickly shut them; but not without making another loud noise. At least, loud for Ritsu, what with the heightened sensitivity he had been plagued with all day. His head throbbed painfully, the normally ordinary sounds piercing through his eardrums like knives.
And if he thought that was bad, Ritsu forgot to anticipate the fact that Shou was going to talk .
“Yo, I was shocked I didn’t see you at school today! Mr. Perfect Attendance missing a day is unheard of! And ya didn’t even think to let me know either? I’m hurt, man!”
As expected, the commotion fueled his migraine to the max, and as humiliating as it was, Ritsu didn’t manage to choke down a sob in time. He whimpered, burying his face in his pillow and quickly bringing his hands up to cover his ears. Shou felt his heart drop, and his smile instantly fell.
In a voice softer than Ritsu had ever heard from him before (which he still somehow heard through the hands over his ears), Shou spoke,
“I-Is everything alright?”
Ritsu unburied his face from his pillow and pulled his hands hesitantly away from his ears, glancing up at his friend with tear-glazed eyes. He couldn’t find his voice, for fear of the nausea traveling up his throat and reaching its desired destination (the floor), so he shook his head ‘no’ instead.
Shou searched the bedroom for any sort of sign as to what was wrong with his best friend; there were no wet rags or cough drops, so probably not a fever. All he spotted was the cup at Ritsu’s bedside, and the water bottle that the ravenette was slowly removing from underneath his head. He also noted that the lights were off, despite Ritsu never having been much of a napper, and it only being 8pm. Shou mumbled curses under his breath before turning back to Ritsu, approaching his bed with more caution this time.
“You got a headache?” he asked quietly, probably the quietest he had been since Ritsu had known him; the latter gave a slow nod before trying to speak.
“M-migraine.” he croaked, his voice hoarse from staying unused all day. Shou’s frown deepened, but Ritsu saw him nod in some sort of understanding.
“D’you, uhm… d’you want me to go?”
Ritsu felt his heart tighten at the idea of Shou leaving almost as soon as he arrived, and against his better judgment (or any judgment, really; his brain was still hardly functioning at the moment), he shook his head again.
“Stay?” he asked weakly, and Shou could swear he felt his heart twist right inside his chest.
“‘Course.” the redhead replied with a crooked smile.
He breached the rest of the distance to Ritsu’s bed before gently crawling to sit next to him and being sure to jostle the other as little as possible. As delirious as he was with pain, Ritsu didn’t think twice before moving his head to lay against Shou’s thigh, relishing in both the company and the body heat he provided.
While Ritsu couldn’t see it, his companion's face flushed underneath the dimmed moonlight, and Shou released a shaky sigh. Whatever things he was feeling at this moment could be dealt with later, because now was certainly not the time for an emotional crisis.
Shou hovered his hand over Ritsu’s head, hesitating for a moment before saying screw it. It’s not like the latter would remember this anyway, so he started gently carding his fingers through Ritsu's inky black hair. It was soft, silkier than Shou had anticipated with how it always seemed to be stuck in the same position every day (though not nearly as bad as his, he knew). When the latter whined quietly in response, pushing his head into Shou’s fingers, Shou’s heart skipped a beat. Or three.
Yeah. Definitely dealing with that later.
For now, he continued to play with the messy locks of hair that belonged to his friend, feeling an unusual sense of comfort as Ritsu’s breathing slowed and he fell asleep properly for the first time all day.