chapter 1 - onodera x takano - dangerously high

Onodera had just gotten off work and it was really late. Takano had just finished being a slave driver. Onodera had been ready to leave hours ago but right when he was going to go Takano had handed him a bunch more work. By the time he finished, all of the trains were off so he had to walk 5 times the distance to get home. To his surprise, as he walked out of the elevator, Takano was leaning against the wall.

"Took you long enough," he said.

Onodera frowned. "I thought you'd left a couple hours ago."

"I did but since you weren't back yet and all the trains had shut down I got worried. You're the son of a rich guy, anything could happen to you."

"It's your fault it took me so long, and I'm going to walk anyway so you can leave now," he snapped in annoyance.

Onodera walked passed Takano and when he was about to open the door he was stopped. Takano stood behind him holding his hand against the door.

"What are you doing? Stop it, let me out."

"Why?" the taller male questioned. "I came to get you so why do you want to walk? I can clearly see that you're dead tired."

"Just let me go out already."

Takano didn't listen, and in stead he grabbed onto Onodera's hand and dragged him to the car, throwing him in unceremoniously. Then he got in the car and he started to drive away from their work building. Onodera just stared out of the window. After a few moments, the other noticed that he looked sad because all he was doing was staring at each drop of water as it hit the window and he only blinked when the lightning flashed.

"Whats wrong?"

Onodera answered, dejectedly, "I wanted to walk. I really like the rain."

"Oh."

Suddenly Takano pulled the vehicle onto a small road that went down in to the park.

Onodera was confused by this. "What are you doing?"

He didn't get a proper answer, only, "Look."

Onodera got out of the car and went and sat on the small bench that had a perfect view. Takano sat down right beside him on the bench and Onodera blushed and tried to hid his face. Then a flash of lightning hit somewhere nearby and Onodera got freaked out by it, putting his head on Takano's shoulder without thinking.

Takano gently set his hand down on Onodera's head. "Are you okay?"

Onodera wiped the tears that were coming from his eyes. "I'm fine."

"You still have a fear of lightning," he stated, not questioned.

"Just a tiny bit, I actually enjoy walking in thunder storms."

"Why would you go out in it if you're scared of lightning though?"

Onodera paused to think for a moment. "Because even though I'm scared of it I find it very soothing."

"You're weird".

"You wouldn't understand." He sighed resignedly.

Onodera got off the bench and walked back over to Takano's car. He grabbed his stuff and started to walk home in the pouring rain. Takano sat there for a little while longer before he started to drive out down the small road. It was pouring so he couldn't see very well but as he was driving he saw something on the edge of the road, but since he couldn't tell what it was he just drove passed it. When he got back, Onodera was not home yet so he went into his own apartment and laid down to await any noise to show that Onodera was home. However, he ended up falling asleep first.

When he woke up he took a shower and got ready for work. Just as he was leaving, he didn't hear Onodera so he went and knocked on the door. There was no answer. He thought that it would be a good idea to open the lock to wake him up, and so he slid out his credit card and used it to open up the door. When he walked in there was no sign of Onodera. He must have gone to work before him, that was the only explanation he could think of.

He left in his car and headed to work without another thought about the empty apartment. It was quite early so he decided to go down the small road and sit on the bench for a little while. As he turned on the the road and was about half way there he didn't find what he expected. You see, the thing that he saw last night on the side of the road that he didn't know what it was still laid there and he just couldn't believe what it was.

There, soaking wet in the clothing he had on last night, laid Ritsu, passed out, He was as white as a ghost. He had blood in his hair as he laid on his back on the side of the road. When Takano noticed that he was lying there he bolted right out of his car and ran over to carry Ritsu back to the car and placed him in the back seat.

"Ritsu, Ritsu, wake up." His voice was very worried as he spoke, trying to stir the small body.

"T... T... Ta... ka... a... an... no... I'm... c... co... col... cold."

Ritsu woke up for only a second and then passed out again but was still shaking. Takano lifted up Ritsu's arm and put his finger on his wrist. There was almost no pulse. Takano ran to his trunk and pulled out some blankets and put them on Ritsu in the back seat because he was as cold as ice. He was blaming himself for everything, thinking that if only he had checked the thing on the side of the road last night none of this would have happened. He closed the door to the back seat and got in the driver's seat, putting the heat to full blast in the back, and started to drive straight to the hospital. Takano was looking back and forth between the road and Onodera and he was so worried that he was speeding. Then out of nowhere, Onodera woke up and leaned forward. Takano put his hand back and touched Ritsu's forehead, realizing that he had an extremely high fever.

"What's going on?" Onodera tried to ask, before grabbing his forehead abruptly. "Ahhhhh, my head hurts."

"Lay back down and go to sleep"

Onodera shook his head but it only seemed to cause him more pain. "Noooo..."

Onodera collapsed down again even though he had refused to do so and was out like he never woke up. But it didn't soothe Takano's worry at all because his fever had just gone over a dangerous level. Takano pulled the car right in front of the hospital, then he picked Onodera up and carried him inside. When the doctors started to look over Onodera, Takano ran back to his car and grabbed his bag which held all of Ritsu's identification and handed it to the head nurse.

"Is he going to be okay?" he asked her, concerned beyond belief.

The nurse gave him a tight-lipped smile. "The doctors have gotten his fever under control and gave him some medicine too. But right now they are taking care of the wounds on the back of his head."

"Okay, so he'll be fine now, right?"

"Yes, and you should go now because he needs rest. I'm going to call his parents."

Takano stopped her, trying to explain something she should know. "You shouldn't do that. He doesn't really care much for his parents."

The nurse frowned. "Then who will take care of him? The doctor said he can go home as long as he stays with someone so they can watch over his condition 24/7 and bring him to the hospital if his fever goes up too high again."

Without hesitation he replied, "I can take care of him. We live in the same apartment and he's a friend."

"Okay, but we have to wait until he wakes up to make sure he's okay with that."

Takano nodded. "Okay then. Which room is he in so I can see him when he gets up?"

"He's in area 6, floor 12, room 5r."

"What's with the weird room number? Why does it have an 'r' in it?"

The nurse looked surprised. "Oh, you don't know. It's got an 'r' to stand for Ritsu. He owns the room because he's been in and out of the hospital since he was 17, after he got into a car accident right after graduation and had some minor brain injuries that made his immune system weaker. He comes quite a bit, minor colds are pretty bad for him."

Takano smiled at the nurse as she left him, but he still felt filled with worry. He started off to see Ritsu but it took him longer than he thought it would because he got lost. When he finally arrived at the room, the window was open and fans were on to cool him off. Ritsu was laying there but he had woken up by now and he was just staring at the wall. Takano walked up and sat at the end of the bed and slowly touched the bandages entwined in Onodera's hair.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly.

"Yeah. The nurse already told me you were coming here to get me but you sure took your time, it's been like an hour since the nurse was here to tell me. She was surprised you weren't in here already."

"Well they know their way around here, I don't, and do you know how hard it was to find room 5r?" Takano took a moment to look around. "Why's this room so big?"

Onodera stiffened slightly. "Well I understand how you can get lost if you're not used to being here. The room's big because my parents paid for it. So can we get out of here before they call them?"

Onodera went to walk away but couldn't stand the heat because he was still slightly feverish which was killing both his strength and all of his senses. Takano grabbed a wheel chair and helped Onodera onto it before grabbing Ritsu's stuff. Afterwards, they headed for the car. When they got to the car the nurse helped Onodera in while Takano got the wheel chair they rented in the trunk of the car. Takano thanked the nurse and got in the car.

When they arrived at the apartment, Takano thought it was a waste of time to get the wheel chair so he just grabbed Onodera's bags and then picked Onodera up and carried both up to his apartment. When Takano got them in his apartment room he put Onodera in his bed and made them some soup for supper. He phoned the office and told them that neither of them would be at work for a few days. The fact was that Takano completely planned to take care of Onodera until he was 100% better, mostly because Takano still felt a lot at fault for what happened to Onodera, but also because he genuinely cared about him.

Over the next few days, even though Ritsu was very sick, every second he could he tried to escape from Takano's protective grip. Takano had to start to lock the bedroom door to hold him in.

"What are you doing? I'm fine now so just let me go home."

"No, your fever is still way too high but it might go down if you sleep a lot, so just go back to bed already."

"Can I at least stay at my place?" Onodera almost begged.

Takano shook his head. "No, the nurse said that I have to watch you 24/7."

He bit his lip, trying to find a way for this to work. "What if I let you have the extra key to my house so you can check on me whenever you want?"

"Okay, fine, but I will be checking on you all the time."

"Fine, as long as I get to stay in my own room."

Takano walked Ritsu out and into his apartment and then left with the key he was given. Onodera walked to his room, turned the window fan on, and went straight to sleep. When Onodera woke up, Takano was in the living room watching T.V.

It was raining again but this time it was all clear of thunder and lightning. Ritsu got up out of bed and walked to the living room. He looked at Takano and then walked to the small area that looked like a kitchen. He was making some hot water for noodles when a sharp pain suddenly appeared in his arm and he dropped the cup of water. It smashed onto the ground, shards of glass mixed with really hot water spilling all across the floor. A few small shards shot into Ritsu's legs and he screeched in pain. Takano flew off the couch and ran straight to Onodera. Thank god he was wearing shoes so he could just walk in and lift Onodera out of the mess, carefully avoiding his legs, and set him down on the couch.

Takano tried to speak slowly and softly. "I know it hurts but I have to pull the glass out."

Onodera looked like he was in great pain, tears in his eyes as he managed to say, "O-Okay."

"It's okay, just hold your breath." As gently but quickly as he could, he pulled out the shards of glass.

"Ahh, o... o... ow... ww... It hurts."

"But at least it's out," he soothed.

Tear fell from Ritsu's eyes as Takano applied the antiseptic and a bandaid to the cut. Takano wiped Ritsu's tears from his cheeks but Ritsu knocked his hand away quickly. He rolled his pant leg back down over the cut and then got up, walked into his room, closed the door, and went straight to sleep.