Summary: M-21 is sick.

Contains: M-21/Kentas

Happy (late) birthday, madamazzure! 3 Thank you so much for chatting with me about fic and all the advice and support you've given me. :) I hope you had a great day!

Bed Rest

By Dark Ice Dragon

M-21 was warm, warmer than usual. He frowned, but it was harder to think, everything sluggish and heavy. Shit... It was like the brain fog he had when the scientists had tested something on him. That couldn't have happened here though. Shouldn't have? It was safe here in Frankenstein and Raizel-nim's house. No-one could get in without Tao or Raizel-nim noticing.

But... But if something had been slipped into their food, maybe that's why he felt like this!

He had to check on the others.

M-21 stared at the stairs, the world starting to tip at the edges.

He had to do this. If he fell down them, he got down them faster. Bruises healed fast.

Needed to check on the others, warn them, before they were affected. Something in the air?

M-21 stumbled towards the stairs, hand braced against the wall, wanting to close his eyes against the vertigo, but he couldn't. Couldn't. He had to see where he was going, even though it made him feel sick.

"M-21?"

Brown hair and a wide body swam into M-21's view. "Kentssshit." Shit shit shit, he just wanted to puke trying to speak. Needed to warn!

"Hey!"

M-21's legs buckled under him. Kentas was there, holding him up, and the world kept spinning. M-21 fought the nausea, panting. "Poison." He should understand that.

Kentas sniffed his neck, pressing his hand to M-21's slick forehead. "I don't think so." What? Then what was it? "I think you're sick."

M-21 frowned. "Don't get-" He huffed again, another wave of nausea trying to overtake him. He'd never been sick. His body had been breaking down, but he'd never been sick. His body had been good at that at least.

The world tilted again, his legs swept up and M-21 finally squeezed his eyes shut. It helped a little to stop everything moving. He was pressed up against Kentas' warmth and he was carried somewhere in Kentas' arms.

"Well you are now."

Kentas laid him on a bed. Kentas hadn't carried him for too long and the scent was familiar. His own bed.

...Maybe Kentas was wrong. He wouldn't know about drugs.

"Get Frank-" Even with his eyes squeezed shut, it felt like he was back on a ship in the middle of a storm.

"I know. I will." Kentas ran his fingers through M-21's hair. "You rest and don't move, okay?"

He couldn't anyway. Useless like this.

"Hn." M-21 frowned when Kentas climbed into bed with him.

"Frankenstein?"

"I texted him. He knows."

Oh. Okay. ...Kentas knew how to text?

A chuckle. "Tao taught me how to use the phone. Stop thinking so hard and rest."

Fine. His eyes were closed and if he could focus on breathing in and out without puking, he might feel better by the time Frankenstein arrived.

[-]

M-21 was pressed up against Kentas when he came too, Kentas' hand resting on his hair.

"What...?" He frowned. The nausea wasn't as strong as before and he didn't feel as clammy. "That hadn't been five minutes." He'd recovered too much for that amount of time.

"I think it's been thirty," Kentas said, reaching over for something.

"Frankenstein came?"

"He checked you over and gave you something." A clink of something moving and Kentas sat up. "He said you should drink and eat a little to make sure you've got something in you."

M-21 stared at the glass of water and plate of crackers in Kentas' hands. The glass had a straw in it. How out of it had he been that he missed or didn't remember any of that? "So it wasn't poison."

Kentas chuckled. "You're sick." He pushed the glass and plate in M-21's direction.

M-21 tried to scowl but gave up, reaching for a cracker. "If I'm sick, then you'll get sick staying close to me."

"I'd recover," Kentas said with a shrug. He made a pointed glance at the cracker and M-21 ate it with a sigh. His stomach didn't turn as he ate, and M-21 took another one.

"Frankenstein said you should rest as much as possible," Kentas said, holding the glass out to M-21.

M-21 sipped from it. "Surprised you don't want me to train it off." Fight off the illness with exercise, that had to be a werewolf way or saying.

"I'm a werewolf - I don't know what works for humans when they're sick."

Huh. Kentas knew he was human, but there were things Kentas assumed was normal when they were something only werewolves did.

Kentas was silent for a second. "Frankenstein also looked like he wanted to throw me out the window when I suggested that."

M-21 huffed a laugh. That would explain it.

"Go back to sleep," Kentas said as returned the plate and glass to the side table.

"You staying with me the entire time?"

"Of course."

M-21 frowned. "You've got better things to do." Kentas could be training rather than looking after someone whose body wasn't strong enough to fight off illness fast enough.

Kentas settled down next to him again, drawing him close. "Nothing better than making sure you're feeling better."

...Hn.

The chat and eating seemed like it had exhausted the little reserves M-21 had and he drifted off again.

[-]

The room was darker when M-21 woke up again, Kentas breathing deeply in his ear.

He could also hear someone tapping on their phone behind him.

"Not you too," he grumbled, looking over his shoulder.

Tao waggled his fingers at him with a grin from the chair he was sitting on. "Guard duty." Cables slipped from his other hand, slithering towards the plate of crackers and water.

"Your guard duty is protecting the kids, not me," M-21 said with a roll of his eyes. He turned over, Kentas' arm letting him move around that much. Even then, Kentas growled, holding him close for a second before relaxing again. "Which you should doing right now rather than looking after me." Was Takeo working by himself?

Tao brought the plate closer, hovering it beside M-21's face. "If you go in sick, then you could infect the kids, and that's a no-no." He leaned his elbow on his knee, resting his chin on the back of his hand, his grin going as wide as it could. "Sooo in order to protect the kids, we need to make sure you stay in bed and recover."

M-21 groaned. "Fuck all of you." He ate one of the crackers anyway, since he was trapped there unable to move.

Tao snickered. "And it's the weekend, remember? At night. There's no kids to watch."

What? "...Fuck." What day was it?

Tao stiffled his laughter. "You're really sick. Go drink an' get back to sleep." The plate was replaced with the glass.

If he couldn't keep track of what day it was, he really was out of it. M-21 sipped a little more water than last time and closed his eyes, hearing the clink of the glass hitting the side table.

"Thanks."

"Heh, no problem. Now stop talking and rest."

"You first."

More snickering as an answer and M-21 drifted off again.

[-]

Kentas was still sleeping when M-21 woke up, everything still. He stared at the wall for a few seconds, but it didn't move. Finally.

Kentas was still dozing, his arm loose enough M-21 could move.

M-21 eased himself out, pausing when Kentas seemed like he was about to reel him in again.

Sitting up was all right. His head didn't quite feel the same, but it was better than before. Standing was okay - he grimaced as he walked to the bathroom, his balance a little off.

Once he was finished there, M-21 paused at the bathroom door. Kentas still hadn't woken up, but the crackers weren't appealing to think about.

The kitchen wasn't too far. Just down the stairs.

M-21 left the room and closed the door as gently as he could. He was still fine. Just to the kitchen.

He turned around and nearly walked into Takeo.

"Should I be carrying you back into your room?" Takeo raised an eyebrow, but M-21 could see the corner of his lips twitching.

"You can make sure I don't fall down the stairs," M-21 grumbled. He could walk. "I just want something else to eat."

"You could have texted us," Takeo said, walking next to him.

"I've been in bed the whole day." Or two. What day was it now? "I've lain enough."

Takeo hovered around while M-21 made the sandwiches, getting the plate and ingredients.

M-21 huffed once he finished, hand braced on the countertop, things starting to waver in his sight. Still not fully recovered. "You're not carrying me back upstairs." He could do this.

"Can I hold the plate then?"

"...Yeah." He had enough left to pull himself upstairs, but being able to keep the plate steady at the same time... He wasn't sure about that. "Thanks."

"You would have done the same," Takeo said as they went back upstairs, M-21 gripping the banister.

M-21 snorted. "No. I would have thrown you or Tao back into your room."

"...Ah, yes. And then you would have gotten what we were trying to do."

M-21 eyed the plate in Takeo's hand. "Fine. Similar, but done in a different way."

Takeo held the door open and put the plate on the bedside table as M-21 made his way over to the bed. "Text us if you need anything else."

Kentas shifted. "Nn?"

"Don't think I'll need to," M-21 said with a smirk. Not with Kentas finally waking up again.

Takeo smiled at them both and left the room.

Kentas looked at him blearily. "What...?"

M-21 pushed Kentas' shoulder before going back to bed. "You're not much of a guard if you let me out of my sight for that long."

"Hnng." Kentas wrapped him up in his arms with a low grumble. "Good thing my job isn't a guard then - I'm more of a fighter than a guardian."

That was fair. But it was weird... "How come you're sleeping so much?" Kentas had been sleeping every time M-21 had woken up. Kentas didn't need to sleep as much as him - had he just dropped off because of boredom?

Kentas blinked at him and then his gaze drifted. "I think I'm sick too."

"You're-" Shit. "Because of me?"

Kentas shrugged. "I'll recover from it."

Right. Of course he didn't care where it came from - his body could deal with it.

"I made sandwiches while you were sleeping," M-21 said, bringing the plate over. "Unless you want to go out for a run instead." If that was what werewolves did to recover faster.

"Hnnn." Kentas took one and started to eat it. "Later. I'll wait until you're feeling better."

M-21 frowned at him. "You don't hav - ff!" Kentas put a sandwich in M-21's mouth. He glared at Kentas' grin.

"I want to. And you should eat, not just me."

He kept glowering at Kentas as he ate. It was that or spitting it out, and he wasn't going to waste food.

"I want to make sure you're okay," Kentas said. "I like sleeping with you too."

"It's..." He frowned. Why was this hard to put into words? "I'm glad you stayed." There. "Waking up alone when you feel shit is...shit." He needed to recover more if he couldn't think of a better way to describe it.

"Hnn, then go back to sleep." Kentas wrapped him up into a tight hug and M-21 could feel him rumbling. "I'll still be here."

M-21 returned the hug, closing his eyes. "Yeah." He could sleep for a little longer.