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Kaoru woke up in the morning and immediately wished he hadn't.
Ok, that sounds a bit edgy, but being immediately assaulted with a flare that you'd felt coming but hadn't hit yet isn't the most fun thing. Luckily, he closed the shop on weekends, and since it was a Sunday, Kojiro (who'd already gone to work, leaving Kaoru a normal, albeit quite large, pillow instead of his warm muscular husband to sleep with) only had the restaurant open a half day.
He glanced over at the clock to see it read 7:45; still to early to be awake on his day off, in Kaoru's opinion, but also saw a plate of pastries left by Kojiro for breakfast. His gorilla seemed to have some sort of sixth sense for when his health took a sudden turn that he picked up in their 20 or so years of knowing each other. No longer bothered with the idea of getting up to eat something, he grabbed the pastries (three of them, though he'd save one or two for later when he inevitably got hungry) and started in on them as he grabbed the cart next to his bed.
It was Kojiro's idea, albeit one he took from the internet, to put a bunch of his essentials on a wheeled shelf that he could put near his bed for when he couldn't (or didn't want to) get out of bed. Stocked with various snacks, medications, braces, pain relievers, heating pads, water bottles, and nutritional supplements, it was nothing short of a godsend. He took quick stock to make sure he didn't need to bring anything from the bathroom (the one place he planned on getting up to go to this morning, considering the fatigue fogging his mind and the aching pain radiating through his hips, back, and knees), then heading to said room to brush his teeth and relieve himself, deciding the rest of his routine could be done from the comfort of his bed.
He debated whether he wanted to change his clothes, finally deciding to as he'd been wearing these since yesterday (when his migraine hit, thankfully the meds had taken care of that, for now) and had the energy to. He grabbed an old, paint stained pair of shorts and one of Kojiro's massive tee shirts on the short walk back to his bed, throwing his current pyjama set in the corner to be taken care of later. He grabbed his morning meds, a hairbrush, a water bottle, some liquid IV, and a wrist brace when he sat back down, detangling his hair as quickly as he could and strapping on the support to calm the throbbing radiating through his carpals. He took his 5 morning pills with the water, putting the pill organizer back and grabbing an empty reusable water bottle so he could drink the rest with a straw while laying down. He dumped in the electrolyte powder into the bottle and poured the rest of his water in, bringing his weighted blanket up to rest over him and grabbing his phone to play more of his audiobook.
He fell back into his dreams 45 minutes into his book (thankfully having taken his brace off when he felt his eyelids getting heavy), waking this time to a large hand running through his hair. He peered up at his husband, who was still in his chef's whites and smiling dopily at him. He managed a questioning hum.
"Lunch rush is about to hit but there's a dip in customers at the moment, I brought you some lasagna." His husband's lasagna, one of his favorite flare foods (because it could be heated up and still taste marvelous) that always made him feel special, getting Mama Nanjo's recipe as opposed to the one served in the kitchen. He turned his head to kiss Kojiro's wrist, making the gorilla bend down and give him a proper kiss before turning back to head downstairs.
People always seemed surprised to learn that Kaoru allowed food in his bed, but the truth was that when you're chronically ill like he was you couldn't always get up to eat. Kojiro, in fact, used to find it blasphemous that crumbs could possibly fall into his sleeping space, but seeing his friend/boyfriend/husband struggle through the years with pain and fatigue brought him over that mindset.
Besides, when you have health like Kaoru just about every bodily fluid has made its way into your bed. Though not all of them were because of his illness...
Nonetheless, while eating in bed was a luxury to some, eating on the floor was occasionally Kaoru's peak of extravagance, which he indulged in today. First stretching out his sedentary muscles, he propped himself against the wall next to their large window, pulling back the blinds for the first time in two days and watching the quiet city of Okinawa as he ate his lunch. He saw distantly the primary schoolers going for a short break outside, a few high schoolers skipping school (though none with distinctive red or blue hair, lucky for them as he'd give them the chewing out of a lifetime if he caught them skipping. Again), parents out with their toddlers, enjoying the day before it gets dreary and rainy as the dark clouds promise.
When he finishes his food, he sets out his mat to support his back as he lays down, turning his audiobook back on and letting his mind wander into the world out the window, hoping to come back up with more energy to maybe sit in the living room, or even downstairs in the dining room while Kojiro and his employees closed up the restaurant.
Days like these were spent with a lot of drifting off and sleeping, reading and watching TV when he could manage it, but he'd spent a long time with his therapist to learn that these "unproductive" rest days were needed for him. It was still hard to push back the thoughts telling him to do something, but his support system was always there and, luckily, included a very large gorilla of a husband who could wrap him in his arms and cuddle him to sleep if need be. His thumb traced the tattoo on his ring finger as his lips curved into a soft smile and he closed his eyes.
When he was jerked out of his trance to find bored muscles, his stomach was angry but he had some more energy, and the clock read just after the time the restaurant closed. The pink haired man hoisted himself up, grabbed his rollator walker (embedded with Carla, of course, during one of his long hospital stays in his university years), and made his way carefully down the stairs.
The chairs had already been put up when he got there, so he set his walker up just in front of the bar and sat on it, receiving a soft kiss from his husband and various greetings from his employees. He had his laptop in order to answer some work emails, now that he felt up to it, and even worked a little on the calligraphy AI he'd been developing while the workers moved swiftly around him, used to their boss' husband sitting in as they closed and the older ones joking with him and Kojiro about their workaholic tendencies.
It took about an hour or so for everyone to finish their closing tasks, leaving Kojiro to count the register and set up for the openers tomorrow. He left the door unlocked, as became custom, and it only took 10 minutes from the end of the school day for Reki, Langa, and Miya to burst in. "Hey Joe!"
Kojiro snorted at them, raising a hand in greeting as he walked behind the counter to grab the food he set out earlier. It was, to the surprise of no one, Miya who noticed that Kaoru was sitting there as well.
"Cherry"
Reki piped up next, as expected of their three braincells, "why are you sitting on that... thing?"
"Oh," Langa replied, "it's a walker, my auntie uses one."
"A walker? Like what old people use?"
"Not just old people, Miya," Kaoru chided lightly, "they're for mobility."
"Then why do you have one?"
"Just as I said, mobility. I've had chronic illnesses my whole life, plenty with long names and confusing explanations that I won't bore you with. My joints and heart aren't doing too well today, so I'm using this to balance myself and sit on."
"Your heart?! Are you okay?!"
"Oh, not much to worry about, it just... well, it beats weirdly sometimes, we'll leave it at that."
Finally, Kojiro came back from the kitchen with a large pizza, as well as a small personal one that was usually reserved for kids meals. "Pizza sound good, Kao?"
"Yeah, fine, just plain pepperoni though."
"I figured. Alright kids, dig in!" He exclaimed, taking his own bite of the large pizza while Kaoru picked through the small one, managing to eat half of it before he decided he was done and sipping his way through his lemonade. He wasn't much up for conversation, but he was glad to listen to the kids talk about their day until Hiromi showed up to drive them to S (grumbling the whole time about being used as an uber).
"You guys aren't coming?" He directed at the two other adults, not even flinching at Cherry sitting in his mobility aid and passing the same silent understanding they did when Kojiro visited the flower shop for the restaurant and saw Hiromi wearing a wrist brace.
"Nah, princess here will be whining for sleep in about half an hour," Kojiro replied, earning himself a swat with one of the fans Kaoru kept laying around for temperature regulation. "Hey!"
"Goodbye Hiromi, Reki, Langa, Miya. Be safe." Another chorus of goodbyes rang out and Kojiro stood up to finally lock the door, not missing the way his husband slumped over a bit once they didn't have an audience.
"You really are tired, huh Blossom?"
"Not tired, fatigued," was mumbled out from where the pink haired man rested his cheek on the cross of his arms. The chef chuckled a little bit, turning off all of the lights and going back over to kneel by his husband's side.
"Wanna go upstairs princess?"
"Wanna carry me?"
Kojiro chuckled. "Yeah, yeah I can do that. Let me throw all these dishes in the back." Kaoru hummed again, closing his eyes and relaxing back into the (albeit uncomfortable) position until his husband returned, conserving what little energy he still has to spare.
It took all of a minute for the large gorilla-man to come back, no longer wearing his work shirt and just the tank top underneath. He slid one of his hands under Kaoru's knees, pushing him back a little bit to lean his torso against his other arm and deadlifting until pink hair was settled gently across his shoulder, and the face he adored so much tucked into his neck.
It wasn't much of a secret to those that knew him best, that a good part of the reason he started working out like he did was to be able to do this. It was a secret, however, that Kaoru started crying when he learned this fact.
"Carla, go charge." One of the perks of having an AI building genius as a boyfriend, all of his mobility aids could move themselves out of the way and to charge when they weren't in use.
The stairs weren't too steep, and Kojiro had much better spatial awareness than Kaoru did, so the trip up the stairs and back into their bedroom went without a hitch. The taller set his husband at the foot of the bed, watching as he immediately curled up and tucked himself under a blanket, eyes peeking open to watch the other put away the half pastry still left from this morning.
Kojiro quickly went through his night routine, changing, brushing his teeth, et cetera, and bringing back Kaoru's last dose of medication for the day, along with some mouthwash (he'd seen his husband flare more than enough times to tell when brushing his teeth was going to be too much, but at the same time he hated his mouth feeling dirty; this was their happy medium). Once Kaoru had taken his pills and cleaned his mouth, Kojiro lifted him back up into a sitting position, earning him plenty of whining until he settled the feverish man in his lap, body facing him and head tucked into his shoulder.
Kojiro took the hairbrush that was still near the bed from earlier, as well as a hair tie from the cart (which he then pushed away using his feet), and set to brushing and braiding the sakura strands in front of him so they wouldn't get in the way. He could tell Kaoru was just about asleep, no longer making affirmative noises to the stories the chef told about his day (because as much as he wouldn't admit it, his husband loved his deep voice and hearing it resonate in his chest) and eyelashes no longer fluttering against his bare torso with each blink. As soon as he tied off the braid, he scooted backwards, bringing his husband with him and laying back into their spot so they could properly sleep.
He tucked his husband deep into the blankets, knowing how atrocious his temperature regulation was and dealing with the fact that he (a human furnace) was going to be sweating during the night, settling with his phone to entertain himself as he was employed as a human pillow. He pressed a kiss to the crown of Kaoru's head, earning another sleepy little hum and settling down for the night with the perpetually sick light of his life.