It had been a few weeks since Shintaro's punishment, and he was absolutely exhausted. The relentless snakes had not let him sleep throughout the whole terrible ordeal, constantly violating him day in and out, for several days. When Kuroha finally decided that he had been disciplined enough, he barely allowed Shintaro any time at all to recover from the traumatizing experience before they went back to their normal routine, Kuroha constantly abusing his now-weak body, leaving small intervals for sleep and sustenance. What's worse, his tormentor seemed to be treating him even more aggressively than before Shintaro's escape attempt, leaving less and less time between rounds, which only grew longer and more brutal.

Eventually, Shintaro barely moves at all during their sessions, and it suddenly occurs to him one day while he's being kissed forcefully by Kuroha that he's sick.

"Hey, Shintaro, you aren't struggling as much as you normally do," Kuroha notes passively after finally breaking the kiss, his voice tinged with mild interest.

"F-fuck off," Shintaro spits weakly in between his desperate pants for air, trying to avoid Kuroha's searching gaze.

"Come to think of it-," He kisses Shintaro again, his icy tongue pushing past the NEET's unwilling lips to feel around inquisitively inside of his mouth for several long moments. Finally, he draws back, slightly tilting his head at the boy underneath him, who starts gasping again.

"I wasn't imagining it after all. Your body temperature is quite hotter than usual, isn't it Shintaro?"

Shintaro tries to look away, but before he can turn his head to the side, Kuroha suddenly catches the boy's chin in a vice-like grasp, preventing him from moving his head. His golden eyes bore into Shintaro's, conveying a warning to not move again as he releases the boy's chin to trail his hand across the smooth skin of his cheek. Slowly, he makes his way up Shintaro's face, brushing his cool fingers through the boy's dark bangs before resting his palm on the heated skin of Shintaro's forehead.

"My body is naturally cold anyway, so you always seem a bit warm to me, but today, you're definitely hotter than normal," he murmurs softly. "Do you have a fever, perhaps?"

At that, Shintaro squints his eyes shut. If Kuroha wouldn't let him look away then he'd just refuse to look at all because fuck-who gets sick from having too much sex?! It was ridiculous and he knew Kuroha would find it ridiculous too and possibly mock him for it, so he had tried his best to hide his state from his tormentor. No such luck, he thought miserably as he registered Kuroha's sudden chuckling.

"My, Shintaro, are you embarrassed? There's no need to be. I guess I have been pretty rough on you lately." Shintaro could hear the smug grin creeping across the sicko's face, and has a sudden urge to punch his captor right in the stomach, only to remember sullenly that his hands were hopelessly restrained to his bed. Instead he remains silent, not willing to give Kuroha the enjoyment of a biting retort.

Kuroha continues to tsk in slight annoyance. "Still, this won't do, Shintaro. How am I supposed to fuck you when you're sick?" He pouts sulkily, causing Shintaro to give a noise of irritation through his closed mouth; he couldn't take this anymore.

"How about you don't, you creep?!" he snaps indignantly, finally forcing his eyes open to glare nastily at the man looming above him. Kuroha isn't phased by this in the slightest, returning the stare with a mildly bored gaze; he'd gotten used to Shintaro's acidic remarks and burning glares since long ago. They stay like that for a while, just staring at each other, one from hate, and the other from something that might faintly resemble affection.

"Alright, fine then," Kuroha replies simply after what seems like an eternity. Shintaro still hasn't stopped glaring, not understanding what Kuroha was saying.

"Fine then what?" he asks through clenched teeth.

"Fine then, I won't fuck you today," he repeats slowly, exasperated that Shintaro didn't get it the first time. He rolls his eyes at the boy as Shintaro's grimace disappears, replaced with a surprised expression, full of confusion. Kuroha had never, ever listened to him before.

"It won't do me any good to worsen your condition and kill you." Kuroha explains, smirking. "I don't doubt that I'm capable of that," he adds casually, watching in amusement as Shintaro flinches from his blunt statement. His hand resting on Shintaro's forehead once more brushes back his dark bangs so that Kuroha can lean down to plant a light kiss on the boy's brow.

"In return, please try to get better as quickly as possible," he whispers, his cold lips moving against Shintaro's feverish skin.

"Since when….do you care….about my wellbeing…?" Shintaro finally manages to spit out, almost choking on the irritation welling up in his words.

Kuroha draws back to look at Shintaro in fake surprise, his hand moving to grasp at his chest dramatically.

"Why Shintaro-! I've always cared about your wellbeing!" he mockingly exclaims, pretending to be offended. "Remember when I took care of your broken thumbs and cleaned those nasty wounds of yours?" He smiles brightly at the memory.

Shintaro grimaces, remembering. "Yeah, and what did you do after-? You freaking had your snakes come on me and- !"

He's cut short by a snake that suddenly wraps across his forehead, and flinches in sudden disgust and repulsion.

"Now, now, don't get so worked up, Shintaro. You're sick, after all," Kuroha chides lovingly.

"What do you mean, 'don't get worked up?!' Get this snake off of me now!" Shintaro shouts, panicked, suddenly thrashing around as more snakes begin to crawl on him. He never wanted another snake touching him again after what Kuroha made them do to him.

"But Shintaro, my snakes are cold," Kuroha replies simply as the snakes begin wrapping around Shintaro tightly, immobilizing him. "They'll help to bring your fever down," he adds, smiling at the boy's inability to move.

Shintaro gulps, shivering from the sudden change of temperature against his body. An idea occurs to him, and while he doesn't like it, it's better than being wrapped in a bunch of writhing, disgusting snakes. He swallows what little left there is of his pride.

"Yeah, well, you're just as cold as they are," he begins, trying to look anywhere but Kuroha's eyes. He catches Kuroha's attention at this, the man humming a note in sudden intrigue.

"Hm~? And?"

"And-" Shintaro stops for a moment, trying to gather his courage, to force the words out between clenched teeth.

"And-?" Kuroha asks again, his voice more insistent as he becomes more irritated that the boy was not answering him. Shintaro hesitates again before finally responding.

"You could…you know, c-cool me down….instead of the snakes…," Shintaro finally mutters. He was thankful that he had a fever, otherwise his blushing would have been that much more noticeable.

Kuroha is silent for a moment, barely moving, before he breaks into laughter.

"You mean you actually prefer me, Shintaro? I'm so flattered!" His laughs finally die down into snickers as he comes closer to Shintaro, seizing his face with both hands and forcing a sloppy, possessive kiss on the boy. Shintaro is too flustered to fight against it, letting Kuroha dominate the inside of his mouth, letting him move his appendage aggressively around Shintaro's own, kissing and kissing him until he eventually parts, a strand saliva following Kuroha's lips.

"If you feel so strongly about it, then fine," he says, pleased that the boy turned out to be so amusing. He allows the snakes to slither off of Shintaro's body and into the shadows.

Shintaro is tired, from the fever, from the stress of the snakes being around him, from the effort it took to swallow his pride, from telling Kuroha he preferred that the psychopath hold him rather than the snakes. He barely moves as Kuroha releases him from his shackles and pulls the boy into his tight embrace, pinning his arms against his sides. Kuroha positions himself so that his icy lips are against Shintaro's heated forehead, in place of the snake that was there before. Shintaro briefly has time to register that he's probably going to regret this later before he begins to nod off in his captor's arms, the fever overtaking his exhausted body.

Kuroha smiles, noticing the boy's deeper breaths. "Rest well, Shintaro. We have much more to do once you get better."

And with those disturbing words fresh in his mind, Shintaro drifts off into the dark void of unconsciousness.