Work Text:
Are You Unwell?
Tsumugi awoke to the sound of harsh ringing. He squeezed his eyes shut, wishing that the noise would go away so he could drift back to sleep. He knew he should handle the ringing of his phone. Sitting up enough to reach his nightstand, he reaches a lazy hand over to pick up the phone, and hits the green answer button. He flinches at the voice that greets him.
“Hey! Where the heck are you?!” A loud voice all but screeches over the phone. He wishes he had turned down his device’s volume the night prior. Natsume was loud as it is, and him yelling wasn’t a pleasant way to start the morning.
Pausing, Tsumugi quickly tries to remember what his fellow group member could mean. Plans for today?
“Ah..I’m sorry, Natsume-Kun. What’s going on?” He asks, scrunching at how raspy his own voice sounded.
“Senpai, we’re supposed to be rehearsing today!” Natsume’s voice is still loud, and he can hear the slight sound of Sora speaking with someone away from the phone.
Tensing up, he curses himself. Of course! They usually always rehearsed on Wednesday. Why is he being so forgetful?
“Ah! Right! I’m sorry, I’ll be there really soon.” He expresses, awaiting the other man’s response.
“Alright. Be here quickly.” Natsume says, and he hears him yell to let Sora know the news, before the call ends.
‘Gosh… I can’t believe I overslept.’ Tsumugi thinks, breathing out a sigh, and tossing the phone to the bottom of the bed. He slowly makes his way out of bed, flinching at how heavy his body feels.
He gets ready as quickly as he can, and soon enough he’s speed walking down the quiet sidewalk. Every step feels more difficult than usual, and he tries to brush it off as him having just woken up. He knows it’s a little abnormal, since he’s not felt it before, but he’s late and can’t focus on that now.
What feels like forever, Tsumugi finally makes it to the building, entering quickly and heading to the room his group was assigned.
“Here!” He calls. Breathing heavily, his shoulders visibly moving with his chest, he enters the practice room.
“Finally! Oh gosh- you look terrible!” Natsume speaks while making his way over to Tsumugi, arms crossed and brows raised.
Forcing a smile, he laughs.
“Ah, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be late. How are you both?” He asks, glancing at Sora over Natsume’s shoulder.
“Happy to finally start! Come on.” Natsume moves towards the back of the room. Sora looks up at Tsumugi, smiling warmly at him, and he can’t help but try and give a genuine smile back to the blonde.
Rehearsal starts, and- oh god- Tsumugi feels like he’s dying. His whole body is somehow managing to ache, and he knows he’s annoying the others. Natsume is very open about his emotions, and he’s snapped more than once. Even if Sora is trying to be polite, he can tell the shorter male is a bit fed up.
Despite putting in his best effort, he only lasts a bit longer before Natsume groans loudly. Tsumugi missed a step. And Natsume is once again having to restart the music.
“Senpai, do you need a break? I get that you slept in a bit, so you might be more tired from an unstable sleep schedule but seriously?!” The red head snaps, eyes glaring. Tsumugi wants to hide- sink down to the floor and become nothing- but instead he just holds his wrist tightly, a nervous habit of his, with his head down in shame.
Sora speaks up before Natsume can express his annoyance more, eyes quickly darting between the red head and Tsumugi.
“Guys- let’s just do that. A break sounds good for all of us, not just Senpai.” Even though he’s usually meek, Sora is clearly trying to sound firm. Tsumugi silently thanks him, extremely grateful.
Natsume glares at the blonde, rolling his eyes and letting out a sigh.
“Alrighty.”
Tsumugi wants to cry. He bites the inside of his cheek, the grip on his wrist unwavering.
“I’m sorry.” He manages, knowing he can’t fight the decision since he’d just mess up the second they started again.
Tsumugi moves to the opposite side of the room from the other boys, sliding down against the wall as the world spins. He can’t cry- not here. Not over something like this. Everyone’s messed up during rehearsal before, and the others are just tense because he was a bit late. That doesn’t mean he should have a breakdown in the practice room.
Groaning softly as the world finally stills, he loosens the grip on his wrist to rub at his forehead.
The lights in the room feel painfully bright. Tsumugi closes his eyes, letting his head sink downward. He tries to allow his body to rest during what little break time he had left.
He doesn’t know how, but his mind manages to feel so empty yet so full at the same time. His mind was tired but so full of anxiety. It was hard to think. Possibilities of what could go wrong clashed with every mistake he had made during practice. Natsume’s disappointment flashes over and over. Tsumugi wishes it would all stop.
Breathing feels harder and harder the more he thinks, and- has it gotten warmer? He unknowingly lets out a small whine, sinking further down onto the floor. ‘Please just let me disappear.’ He thinks.
Across the room, Sora and Natsume were sitting by the speakers. Neither of them had noticed the worrying state that Tsumugi was in.
“I feel kinda bad for snapping at him.” Natsume mumbles, eyes downcasted. Sora looks at the red head with worry.
“It’s okay. I’m sure he isn’t mad at you!” He makes an effort to sound light-hearted, offering Natsume a smile. “We’re all a bit tense, and waking up early is never fun.”
The redhead looks up, meeting Sora’s gaze and smiling back. Then he stands.
“Alright! Back to work.” He calls, scanning the room before catching sight of Tsumugi. Nothing looked off about the other man from across the room, but if only Natsume knew the internal battle he was facing.
Tsumugi thinks he’s heard Natsume, but he’s stuck, drowning in a sea of his own thoughts, and it’s so- so difficult to try and pay attention to them completely.
Natsume makes his way over, standing in front of Tsumugi.
“Hey, did you fall asleep?” He asks, squatting down in front of the other. When Tsumugi doesn’t move or reply, alarms filled with worry start to go off in Natsume’s head.
“Hey, Senpai?” He tries, setting a hand on Tsumugi’s shoulder. He visibly flinches at how warm the other male was. His hand was close to Tsumugi’s neck, and he could feel the warmth radiating off onto his hand.
“Oh gosh- Senpai? Senpai-? Tsumugi!” He calls, a little frantic, as he begins shaking Tsumugi in an attempt to get a response. Sora had come over while Natsume inspected their fellow group member, worry obvious in the blonde’s green eyes.
To his and Sora’s relief, Tsumugi’s eyes open. Yellow unfocused eyes lock with Natsume’s worried ones. Clearly something is wrong.
“Shit- Senpai! Are you okay??” He asks loudly, making Tsumugi flinch. Regret pools in Natsume’s chest, and he quickly swears and mumbles an apology. He pulls his hand away from Tsumugi and tries again, a bit softer. “Are you okay?”
Tsumugi blinks. Natsume’s mouth is moving, but he can’t quite tell what’s being said. There’s a ringing in his ears, and everything is too loud.
“Sorry..what did you say?” He tries, but his voice is unnaturally quiet, sounding foreign even to his own ears.
“I asked if you were okay.” Natsume repeats, moving to sit in front of Tsumugi, legs crossed.
“Oh, I’m good. Sorry, is it time to start again?” Tsumugi mumbles, finally processing what was said.
Natsume and Sora glance at each other, obviously not believing him. Sora, conflicted, shakes his head. “You weren’t responding.” He says, voice wavering.
“I’m okay, really!” Tsumugi blows off the blonde’s worry, his own volume makes his head hurt. He tries to stand up, but fails as the world tilts around him.
Natsume lets out a noise of surprise, quickly grabbing Tsumugi’s shoulders to steady him.
“Hey! Sit down before you fall and hit your head or something!” Natsume is so loud. Tsumugi lets out a soft whine despite himself.
Natsume frowns, easing Tsumugi back down. He looks over the other male, staring at his unfocused eyes. Natsume puffs his cheeks in worry.
“I don’t think we should practice anymore today.” The redhead declares, a noise of agreement coming from Sora.
Tsumugi quickly tries to shake his head, but the action is slow and even that hurts.
“N-no. No, it’s okay. I’m good. I wouldn’t want to burden you guys by making you stop early.” He tries to reason. His eyes feel unnaturally heavy, and black spots are starting to cloud his vision. He doesn’t notice or react to Natsume pulling him closer.
Now against the other males chest, head on Natsume’s shoulder, Tsumugi can barely see Sora staring at them. He hates the worried expression on the other.
His eyes are so heavy, but Natsume’s so warm and his body was already painfully hot. He groans, weakly trying to pull away from Natsume. Why is the room so hot? It’s a large room. It shouldn’t be. Breathing is getting more difficult again, and- and he hates feeling this way.
Squeezing his eyes shut, he tries to squirm away from Natsume. “Let me go- I’m fine.” He tries to be loud, have any hint of firmness to show he was serious and not as desperate as he really was.
He wants to tell Natsume to let him go, but he can’t get his mouth to move.
He wants to push him away- curl up away from all the heat, but he can’t.
He can’t.
Tsumugi wants to scream.
He feels so weak. The black spots in his vision are getting bigger, and his body is so heavy.
“Calm down.” Natsume frowns, eyebrows knitted together. As much as he wants to listen to Tsumugi, he doesn’t want anything bad to come of doing so. The other male clearly wasn’t okay. “Senpai, it’s alright, we don’t have to practice anymore. I-” He cuts off, eyes growing wide.
With growing panic, Natsume tightens his grip on Tsumugi. The other was suddenly dead weight. Eyes closed, Tsumugi was limp.
“Eh- Senpai?!” Natsume exclaims, quickly trying to carefully move Tsumugi off of himself. “Sora! Quick, help.”
Tsumugi doesn’t know where he is, fear uncomfortably creeping into what senses he can feel. He tries to open his eyes to figure it out, but they’re so heavy.
He can’t move.
Wherever he is- he can hear the sound of people talking. It’s so far away and muffled to him, but the voices sound so familiar. He just wants to know what’s going on.
A desperate moan leaves his lips, and he can finally open his eyes. He regrets it the second he does it. The light is so bright. He realizes that his head is pounding.
He tries to open his eyes again, allowing them to adjust to the light. He finds himself staring at a familiar ceiling, and only then does he realize he’s on something soft. A couch.
Despite himself, he unknowingly lets out another small noise, which catches the attention of others.
“Tsumugi! You’re awake!” A voice beams, and soon Sora is next to him.
Tsumugi can make out old dried tear tracks on the blonde’s face, but Sora is crying again. Sora is leaning over him, attempting a hug. He’s silently grateful Sora wasn’t pushing his full weight into him. Sora was always gentle.
“Hey, seems like you’re up.” Natsume’s voice called as he stepped up next to Sora. He sighs, shaking his head. “Gave us such a scare.”
Tsumugi was confused. He tries to think through the headache, to remember something. Anything.
“Sorry..”
That’s all he manages, and he swears he can see Sora’s tears get faster as the male’s red face scrunches.
“No! Don’t apologize, Tsumugi- ah- I mean- Senpai. You did nothing wrong.” Sora exclaims, trying to smile through his crying.
“Geez. Calm down.” Natsume grumbles, nudging Sora’s shoulder. “Anyway, it’s fine. Don’t stress yourself thinking about anything right now. Just- get better soon. We’re still at the rehearsal building, so let us know when you’re comfortable enough to get up so we can walk you home and all.” He explains, rubbing his hands together nervously.
“Y-yeah, but, Senpai…” Sora trails off, and Tsumugi tries his best to reply.
“Yeah?” He asks, voice soft.
“Can you let us know you’re unwell? So then, we can combine our magic to cast a spell that’ll help you feel better!” The blonde exclaims, causing Natsume to chuckle. Tsumugi can’t help but smile.
His memory is slightly fuzzy, but he’s sure it’s okay. He doesn’t feel very good, but his friends are here, and as long as that’s the case he’s well.