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Pah was sick.
He should have listened to his mother when she told him to wear thicker clothes when going out during the evening. Now he was stuck in bed, sweating bullets and shivering because of his fever and with the worst headache he ever had. He coughed loudly, making the rest of the people in the room take a careful step back.
“And here I thought idiots couldn’t catch a cold.”
Mitsuya’s comment caused snickers to erupt in the room but earned him a glare from the ill teen. Some of the gang’s members had decided to give him a visit after he warned them of his upcoming absence at this week's meetings, a kind gesture if the members weren’t Mitsuya, Hakkai, Baji, Kazutora, and the Kawata twins. The moment they set foot inside, they made fun of him and his condition while taking advantage of the multiple benefits of the enormous house.
“He’s dumber than an idiot so maybe the saying doesn’t apply to him.”
“Guys you shouldn’t be mean to a sick person!” the gentle voice scolded them and placed a gentle cold hand on Pah’s forehead, “Don’t listen to them Haruki-kun, they’re just jealous because you’re missing Draken-kun’s lectures.”
Hanagaki Takemichi, the only light in this dark sick world. The girl was the first one in front of his house the moment she learned about his poor health: she came with Peh-yan and an enormous fruit basket she apparently thought was a necessity since she was imposing in his house and his parents had never seen her before. Haruki remembered how pleased his mother had looked when she took the girl to his room earlier and even insisted on her staying for lunch if she wanted.
Peh-yan was scandalized: the first time he came, his mother had nearly slammed the door on his nose.
“Haruki-kun say “ha” please~”
The said teen opened his mouth by reflex and chewed on the meticulously cut piece of kiwi the short-haired girl had presented to him. A gasp in the room caught his attention.
“Stop this immediately!” Baji’s booming voice made him groan painfully because of his head. Takemichi noticed and glared from where she was sitting on the huge bed, next to Haruki’s laying form, causing the boy to immediately lower his voice, “Why are you even taking care of this dumb— this guy? He’s a grown-ass man!”
“He’s lying sick in bed while we’re invading his home, Baji-kun. The less I can do is to make him feel better.” She ignored the indignant sound the teen was still making and fed her patient another careful cut-up piece of fruit.
“I want fruit too!” Smiley turned his attention away from the game he and his brother were playing on the flat screen, “If you feed him, feed me too!”
“Oh me too then!” Hakkai crouched next to her, mouth opened expectantly, and lifted his middle finger at Kazutora’s gagging noise. Smiley followed his lead and soon, the two were waiting for her to feed them like a dog in front of their owner.
The girl rolled her eyes at their antics, already cutting other fruit pieces she fed Haruki before feeding a single one to Hakkai only. She then shooed them away from the bed and went back to fussing over Pah to everyone's dismay. Smiley kicked Hakkai’s shin for good measure, muttering about Takemichi playing favorites because of his pretty face, and went back to his game with a sour face.
“Souya-kun, come get some fruits too.”
“Now this is provocation!”
Takemichi stuck her tongue at Smiley’s outrage and slid a plate of bunny-shaped apples to the blue-haired twin who gratefully took them, hissing at his brother’s hands which were too close to his plate for his liking. They started quarreling between them loudly, then against Kazutora for stealing some food on the plate, to which Baji joined to defend his best friend and because Mitsuya loved to go against Baji and Hakkai was always on Mitsuya’s side, the duet sided with the twins, soon creating their usual cacophony inside Haruki’s room.
It was in time like this, Pah regretted being part of Tokyo Manji.
“Shut it! The whole of you!” God bless Hanagaki Takemichi and her influence on those dumbasses he called friends, “Haruki-kun has a headache and you’re only making it worse by screaming near him! Get out.”
They all tried to protest but she was determined to get them out of the room, even when Hakkai and Souya whined at her. That was very satisfying if Haruki had to be honest. Less when Mitsuya smiled dangerously sweet at him while sliding his finger across his neck when she proposed to help him bathe to get rid of his sweat.
Anyway, he was sick so he could indulge a little smothering from a cute girl, couldn’t he?
“I made you a bento Haruki-kun! I got savory and sweet sandwiches, salmon, egg rolls, stir-fried vegetables, fried chicken, sweet-sour pork, plain white rice, bean rice, and a lot more! Got one for you too Ryohei-kun! ”
Takemichi placed three five-level bento boxes in front of the said teens, completely obvious to Mikey’s wide eyes at the food display and the indignant sounds of the rest of their little circle.
It was one of those days they had decided to take advantage of the third division captain’s home's latest technology heaters to hold a meeting. They were (miraculously) all huddled around the massive kotatsu inside the living room and were just waiting for the girl and her division to come. When she arrived, they all got excited by the huge bento boxes Inupi and Koko were holding but she was quick to shatter their hopes. Chifuyu made a sour face at the duet munching on their food without a care for the rest of them
“What about us?” The blond whined to his best friend. She scoffed and plopped herself right between the two teens eating.
“And what about you?” She smiled innocently at her partner, all provocative, “Go make yourself some food if you’re hungry— Ryohei-kun, you have to eat the vegetables too.”
Chifuyu was too stunned to speak. He whipped his head toward Hakkai and Souya and made a sign for them to say something to see if he was the exception. The two understood and got up to whine to the girl. She only pecked them on the cheek, effectively shushing them and making them blush stupidly which was the last straw to the most jealous of them.
Mikey and Baji slammed their hands on the kotatsu, rage and jealousy oozing in waves from them and both glared at Pah and Peh. Mikey pointed an accusing finger at the lunch box.
“What the hell did they do to have food and not us!” They all nodded their heads furiously in agreement.
“This isn’t even the first time you’re doing this! You’ve been smothering them for weeks !” Baji's rage was backed by another round of nods from the boys in the room.
“Unacceptable!” “Outrageous! “Unfair!” With each and every accusation, the girl’s nose and cheekbones grew redder and redder with furry.
“And what about them!”, she pointed at Kazutora and Sanzu, “Nobody gave a shit when I was braiding their hair and smothering them!”, she moved her fingers to Draken. “ You weren’t saying anything when I smothered your stupid face with my chest .”
The room went still at the accusation and all eyes went on the tall teen whose face was the one of a deer caught in headlights. The silence was maintained for some long minutes, only interrupted by the heavy breathing of Takemichi after her outburst before a glass was broken dangerously close to Draken’s head.
“You fucking pig.” Mikey’s face was menacingly cold and his eyes promised years of suffering for the teen, “This is treason, Imma get your ass.”
“She’s lying! Why would I ask her to do that?!” Draken stood up from his sitting position, feeling the need to tower over them to make a point, “She’s diverting your attention from the real problem: her pampering kisses to Pah and Peh!”
“She never kissed me tho?” Peh-yan made his point before shutting his mouth to drink his soup at Draken’s glare, “Forget I said that…”
“Don’t try to get out of this Ryuuguji Ken,” Mitsuya squinted his eyes at the teen, “I always knew you were a pervert in the end. Living in a brothel without jacking off? I mean, c’mon bro make it believable.”
“True, true, true. You’re probably the one with the most unholy thoughts in here. Disgusting, vice-commander.” Nahoya added another layer of accusations.
“Don’t talk about unholy thoughts when I wore a maid dress for your birthday Nahoya-kun.”
A round of gasps around the table and soon chaos exploded once more in the living room, with more and more surprises being added to the mix: the lunch boxes she made for Hakkai and Chifuyu for school, the pullover she knitted for Mikey and Baji, the massages she gave Mitsuya and Draken, the buying snack for Koko and Inupi, and much more were unrevealed around the kotatsu,
Takemitchy exposed every single one of the things she did to or with every boy in the room to Pah’s delight. At least they wouldn’t bother him with the unfairness of eating the lunch she prepared. Still, something was weird.
“Yo, Takemitchy,” his voice was muffled by the food and the fighting ongoing but the girl immediately shifted all her attention to him, a smile on her face, “Does that mean they don’t know about you coming over to make dinner with my Ma every Sunday?”
“They don’t need to know that Haruki-kun.”
Well, if she said so.