Of bratty demons and mushroom heads

Journal: Kirihara

I kinda lost it yesterday after the earthquake... When I found out about the dorm... umm... ya know... I didn’t mean to hurt or scare anyone... I… Wakashi was still in there and the senpai-tachi... but um... Well... Wakashi got hurt and we were at the hospital for a long time last night. I don't care what the housing people say. He's staying with me until the dorms are fixed. He just got a bad concussion... and some scrapes and stuff, but...

It looks like everyone else is okay though... The dorm looks like it’s gonna need a lot of work. Fukubuchou texted me and told me he's going to be moving into my dorm. He didn’t say anything else though so maybe I should go check on him... I called all the senpai-tachi to make sure everyone was alright cause I got really worried...

My room is a mess because of everything, but nothing's broken or nothing. Anyway, I'm gonna go take care of Wakashi.

CHAPTER 23

Hiyoshi woke up slowly with a pounding headache. Since the earthquake this had been happening off and on, but the doctors had informed him it might happen. Looking around Akaya’s room, he noticed the other boy wasn’t there. That was odd considering it was nearly impossible to get him to leave him alone since the earthquake. He figured he’d take advantage of the alone time and get up. He’d been assigned a temporary new room since his old dorm had collapsed, but hadn’t even been there once since Akaya had insisted he stay with him instead. It was both absurdly endearing and insanely frustrating that Akaya turned out to be even more protective than he was after getting hurt.

Truth was, he could barely even remember it. He remembered being in his room, only just having arrived there from class, when the ground started shaking and something must have fallen on him. The next thing he remembered was waking up to Akaya freaking out. The rest was a blur of being at the hospital and going between listening to doctors, talking to his parents, and trying to assure Akaya he wasn’t going to die.

Akaya walked into the room with two take out boxes balanced on one arm while the other closed the door. He looked over to see Hiyoshi awake and his face lit up. "You're up! Look! I brought food," he said happily and gestured to the boxes of Japanese food.

He'd been worried sick about Hiyoshi, even though the doctors had assured him he was fine. He'd also had enough concussions to know the symptoms and when it was really bad, so he knew his boyfriend would be fine. But he couldn't stop the nagging voice in his head that kept saying it could have been a lot worse.

When he'd found out about Daidaiiro dorm’s condition, his mind had gone blank and all he remembered of getting to Hiyoshi’s room was pushing a couple people out of the way and snarling at a police officer who tried to stop him from getting into the building. He felt a little bad for that, but he was glad he did. When he'd gotten to his boyfriend’s room, he’d found the other pinned under a bookshelf and unconscious. The rest of their day had been spent with him pacing in a multitude of hospital rooms while Hiyoshi had tests done and got treated. He'd never been so scared in his life and, even now, it was a fight to get him to leave his boyfriend’s side.

Hiyoshi internally groaned. He loved his boyfriend, but he really needed some time to himself for a while. Then he remembered that he would be leaving the day after tomorrow and wouldn’t see his brat for two weeks. That helped change his mind real fast.

“We could go out you know,” he tried to hint, tired of being inside all the time. “Thanks for the food though.” He walked over to help with the food boxes.

"But the doctor said you're supposed to be resting," Akaya grumbled and handed his boyfriend a pair of chopsticks and a paper plate, then started opening up all the boxes to reveal an assortment of different kinds of foods. "Thanks," he mumbled, allowing his boyfriend to help him even though he didn't want him to.

“I have been resting.” Hiyoshi glared up at him from where he sat down at the desk to eat. “I’ve been resting none stop for a week. I don’t think it’s going to kill me to leave the room and go out to dinner. Besides, I need to start moving around. I’ll be teaching classes in three days whether I’m ready or not.” At least Akaya had gotten food that he liked.

"You shouldn't be teaching when you're hurt," Akaya argued with a pouty lower lip as he stuffed a piece of chicken in his mouth. "Tell them what happened. They've gotta excuse you from it."

“I already told you, my father spoke with the hospital regarding that. Apparently he doesn’t believe my injuries warrant canceling the trip. My father would never cancel a class due to a personal physical inadequacy and expects the same from me.” The martial artist had seen his father teach classes multiple times while sick, and even with a sprained arm and ankle. “I can handle it.”

Akaya growled and shoved another chunk of chicken into his mouth before sitting down stubbornly on the floor, mumbling things like 'stupid' and 'dangerous' under his breath. He hated the idea of his boyfriend going to another country in the first place, but going while injured was even worse. He wouldn't be able to watch over him and Hiyoshi had a tendency to not take proper care of himself. He wanted to give the other man’s dad a concussion and see him try and teach classes. That jerk.

Seeing Akaya’s reaction, Hiyoshi sighed. Chewing thoughtfully on the last of his meat and vegetables, he tried to appease him. “I have a friend there. Knowing her, she’ll probably make sure I’m taking care of myself, so you don’t need to worry about that.” He started in on the rice to finish off his dinner.

There was a moment of temporary relief, then Akaya’s brain came up with an image of a girl taking care of Hiyoshi, his Hiyoshi, and his chest tightened up again. "Oh..." he said quietly and focused on his food, obviously pouting.

Now mushroom-headed boy was confused. “What the hell is wrong with you now, brat? Are you that bent out of shape that you won’t be able to play house nurse anymore?” He got up from the desk and made his way over to where Akaya was sitting. He ruffled his hair and rolled his eyes. “Natsumi will kick my ass if anything goes wrong and I can’t teach. She’s fairly good at cooking, too. So I may even eat better while I’m there.” Why was Akaya pouting? He’d just assured him that there would be someone there for him so he wouldn’t worry so much.

Akaya winced and stared down at his food that now tasted like sand. There were a lot of things he could say, but he found nothing would come to his tongue. He opened his mouth to speak and just closed it again. How could his boyfriend not know what was bothering him? He'd just told him that some girl in Singapore was going to take better care of him than he could. How could he not be upset by that?

Akaya wasn’t saying anything and just looking down at his food, so Hiyoshi figured he’d accepted his reasoning. Maybe he was just still upset that he was leaving. The thought made him a little selfishly happy. He ran a hand through Akaya’s hair again with a small smile. “When you’ve finished eating we can go out and see a movie if you want. Or is there anything else you want to do?”

The still pouting demon was tempted to swat away his boyfriend’s hand, but held back. "I'm done," he mumbled flatly and stood up to put the rest of the leftovers in the little fridge. Grabbing out a soda, he cracked it open and watched it fizz out the top. "Whatever is fine..."

Now Hiyoshi frowned. That was a very un-brat-ish thing to say and his tone was odd. Usually, when Akaya had a problem, he just told him, or literally threw it at him. Maybe he had it wrong. Maybe his brat was actually getting tired of him since he’d been taking care of him so much lately, but felt too guilty to leave. “If you would rather go out tonight with someone else… without me, I don’t mind.” He did mind, but the last thing he wanted to do was force Akaya to stay with him, even if he was leaving the day after tomorrow for two weeks.

"Why would I want to do that?" Akaya asked and looked up at Hiyoshi. "Was there someone you wanted to go out with? Or are you just waiting for that stupid girl who's good at cooking?" he snapped and looked back to his soda. He'd never been very good at holding back what was bothering him for very long.

That was more like it. Snappy Akaya he could deal with. Hiyoshi leaned back against the nearest wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “I was just giving you the option in case you’re sick of taking care of me. Are you really that much of an idiot? Of course I prefer being with you, that’s why I asked.” He wasn’t sure why Akaya was suddenly in a bad mood, but he had the mood swings of a girl sometimes and Hiyoshi had learned to cope.

"Yeah, right. You're tired of being with me and just can't wait to go running off to the stupid girl in Singapore. I'm sure she'll take great care of all your needs, huh," Akaya snapped again, frustrated that Hiyoshi was avoiding what was really bothering him.

“What the hell are you on about, brat? Haven’t I told you numerous times that I don’t want to go to Singapore? I don’t have a choice. Yes, I’m sure they’ll take care of me just fine over there, so what’s the problem?” Now he was getting frustrated. Akaya was acting ridiculous and not making any sense.

"Stupid mushroom," The chibi demon growled and set his soda down, too frustrated to drink it. "You don't even get it, do you? Well I'm sorry if I'm not a good cook and don't know how to take care of you like a girl does," he crossed his arms over his chest and frowned down at the ground.

Hiyoshi thought about what Akaya said, then cocked his head to the side and thought about it again. Yes, it still sounded like one of the most idiotic things Akaya had ever said (and he’d said a lot of amazingly idiot things), and it pissed him off. He took a deep breath before patiently walking over to where Akaya was staring holes into the ground. With cold resolve, he reached out and pushed him against the wall, pinning him there, his eyes furious.

“Let’s get something straight right now. I don’t need anyone to take care of me, and I definitely don’t want a fucking girl who will nag at me and cook for me. I am not weak and I let you take care of me because I chose to.” His grip tightened and he made sure Akaya was looking straight back at him. “If you haven’t learned by now that you’re the only one I want then you’re even more of an idiot than I thought.”

"Then don't fucking say stuff like that, asshole!" Akaya snapped and pressed their lips together hungrily, groaning quietly. It sent shivers down his spine when Hiyoshi pushed him around, he knew that probably meant there was something wrong with him, but he couldn't help it. It was even better that Hiyoshi was telling him that he was the only one.

Hiyoshi yanked away from the kiss, not about to be distracted. “Like what?! I don’t remember saying I cared about those things.” Damn, his head hurt even more now from getting angry. He needed some aspirin or something. He wasn’t in the mood for this. He let go of Akaya and lay back down on the bed. “Never mind brat, just go do whatever you want.”

Akaya hated the loss of contact, and expressed so through a grumpy growl to rival one of Sanada’s. "Fine! I will!!" he snapped and grabbed his phone and wallet before walking out of the door and slamming it loudly behind him. If his boyfriend was going to be an ass, fine, he could do it by himself. He would find something else to do. He flipped open his phone and looked at it carefully as he scrolled through his contacts, there had to be someone he could call.

Hiyoshi buried his head in his pillow and groaned when he heard the door slam, signaling Akaya’s exit. He still didn’t understand what he’d said that set him off like that but right now he didn’t have the energy to deal with it, not to mention, he wasn’t about to go running after him like a needy puppy. Akaya would come back eventually after he cooled down. Shit… this really sucked.

He waited hours for Akaya to come back before finally going to bed. He’d considered going out and looking for him, but knew Akaya would come back home when he was ready. It was his room after all. At one point during the night, his father called and told Hiyoshi he needed to go home first before leaving, so now he was leaving the next day instead of the day after. With a frustrated sigh bordering on anger, he pulled the blankets tighter around himself and forced himself not to think about his idiot boyfriend whom he didn’t need to have with him to get a good night’s sleep. It took a while, but he finally fell asleep with a troubled grimace on his face.

It was nearly four in the morning when Akaya came home, buzzed and depressed. He stumbled when he opened the door and tripped over a couple things on the way to the bed, but once he found it, he wrapped himself around Hiyoshi, still fully clothed. "Wakashi," he mumbled quietly and kissed his boyfriend, "I love you," he whispered and drifted to sleep, happy to be back in his lover’s presence.