Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Rui woke up that morning, he could already tell something was wrong. His stomach was cramping horribly, stirring him from his previously nice dream of shooting his theater troupe out of a confetti cannon. He groaned weakly, curling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around his achy stomach, nausea building steadily as consciousness came to him. 

Blinking open bleary eyes, Rui swiped his phone up from where it had fallen on the floor, squinting to see the time shown. Shit, he had to get up now if he didn’t want to be late. He threw his legs over the edge of his sofa-bed, but before he could stand up, another sharp pang of nausea threw him back down to his pillow. God, his stomach really fucking hurt, this was worse than that time on the boat…

Pushing his memories of seasickness aside, he gingerly eased himself up, vertigo knocking him against the wall, clutching his abdomen helplessly. Coils of sickness have him in a chokehold, the world spinning around him like he’s on a merry-go-round, dizziness the new normal. Staggering towards his closet, Rui can’t help the little hiccup that slips from his lips as his queasy stomach gets jostled, wishing to just go back to his couch and let sleep take him again. 

Really, if he had the choice he would just skip school, but there’s a stupid intermedial test today, and he’d really rather not accompany Mizuki to remedial classes for missing it. His only choice is to tough it out, and hope his stomach calms down enough to make it through the day. Not to mention Tsukasa would no doubt get on his ass if he skipped, his boyfriend was quite the stick in the mud sometimes…

Laughing quietly to himself, Rui slipped off his sleep shirt, wincing as the comforting pressure of his arm against his stomach was gone. Thinking about it, Rui had no idea why he was feeling so sickly, as far as he’s aware, he hasn’t eaten anything to make him ill, nor been in contact with anyone who was ill. Sliding on his uniform pants, he rationalizes it must just be a passing thing, and will probably be gone by morning. Rui goes to button the small clasp on his trousers, but the pressure on his stomach forces a gross burp from his throat, making his face flush a little and him glad to be alone at the moment. He hurries through the rest of the motions of getting dressed, realizing he’ll probably be late. 

Finally, Rui slips on his cardigan and toes on his shoes, throwing his phone into his pocket and school bag over his shoulder, rushing out the garage door. He contemplates breakfast for a moment, but he’s not sure he could stomach anything, or really have time to eat at all. His mom’s already left for work, but his lunch is sitting innocently on the counter of the kitchen, and Rui knows she’d be worried if she came home to see it left untouched. So, despite the way the thought of food is making his stomach drop, he cautiously slips the lunch into his school bag, before running out the front door. 

He speedwalks to Kamiyama, head down and awkwardly cradling his stomach, as if that will help soothe the bilious turmoil that's going on inside of him. Really, sickness like this is definitely the worst, he’d much rather have a headache than stomach ache, because at least then he can get some relief by closing his eyes or taking medicine. There’s no relief from a stomach ache, only constant building nausea until it all comes spilling out the throat. The thought makes Rui shudder, he did not like throwing up, but it was really the only relief he got when his stomach throbbed like this. 

“RUI!!” Rui jumped, ah, he was already at the school. Tsukasa was there, waiting for him like usual. He ran up to Rui, grabbing his sleeve and tugging him towards the school doors. “Finally!! I was worried, you know! I thought you were going to skip today!” Tsukasa scolds him, and Rui finds himself swallowing a mouthful of saliva as he’s dragged, tripping over his feet to keep up with Tsukasa’s fast pace. “Jeez, I can never catch a break with you, huh?” Tsukasa huffed, shaking his head. “Now come on, we’re gonna be late!”

Rui tried to get a word in, but he was suddenly filled with the fear that nothing good would come from opening his mouth.

—

Morning classes thankfully fly by without much issue, except for a few embarrassing hiccups that earn him some distasteful looks from his classmates, as well as one worried glance from Tsukasa. Soon, though, it’s lunchtime, and Rui finds himself filled with dread as Tsukasa leads him up to the roof, talking about something Rui can’t bring himself to listen to.  

His stomachs twisted in knots, vision waning as nausea boils his blood. He’s still feeling just horribly sick, he almost just wants to go home, but they still have that annoying test after lunch, he can’t just leave. 

Rui brings a shaking hand up to cover his mouth, a gross, quiet burp slipping past. It’s truly all he can manage to do, though, because Tsukasa’s tugging him forward by the wrist, not giving him a moment as his mouth begins to pool with spit. Fuck, he’s so nauseous, he’s seriously gonna be sick.

“….ui! Rui?! Are you even listening to me?!” Tsukasa stops dragging him, sunlight catching in his golden hair while he pushes open the door to the roof, looking annoyed as he snaps his fingers in Rui’s face. “Hey, are you alright, Rui? You look pale…” His tone shifts, harsh accusations fading to soft concern as he pushes Rui’s long bangs behind his hair.

Rui swallows down the saliva in his mouth, slowly lowering his hand as his stomach settles. “A-ah, I’m alright, Tsukasa-kun~!” Rui stutters a little, curling his fingers over his sleeve as his stomach gurgles. It’s embarrassing, and he feels his cheeks go red as Tsukasa’s eyes widen, before hardening into a glare. 

“Rui!!!! You skipped breakfast this morning, didn’t you??!!” Tsukasa exclaimed, yanking Rui towards the bench they always sit on together. Ah, Tsukasa thought that was his stomach growling out of hunger. Pulling Rui down to sit, Tsukasa takes out his lunchbox, gesturing for Rui to do the same.

“Aha..! You caught me, Tsukasa-kun!” Rui went along with it, sliding his lunch out of the bottom of his bag, opening it with such a feigned eagerness he wouldn’t be surprised if the other boy saw right through him. The sight of last night's dinner, some sweet pastry, and gross vegetables sectioned off makes his stomach lurch violently, acidic vomit filling his mouth before he forces himself to swallow it back down. 

Tsukasa’s paying him no mind, shoving his own lunch down his throat with such force you’d think he’d have skipped breakfast, but Rui knew Tsukasa just had a massive appetite. With shaking hands, Rui lifts the air sealed lid off of his lunch, the normally delicious aroma of his mothers home cooked meals making him sick. Still, not eating would raise too much suspicion, and he was admittedly a little hungry, even if his stomach was hurting. 

Trembling, Rui brings a mouthful of food to his lips, almost gagging before shoving it in his mouth, forcing himself to swallow it all despite his body's insistence to spit it back out. He probably looks like a freak right now, fighting with himself over just eating, but he really doesn’t want to throw up all over himself in front of his boyfriend. 

“Are you alright, Rui?” Tsukasa asks after swallowing a mouthful of food, he’s always been adamant that talking with your mouth full was about the rudest thing a person could do. “You’ve been quiet today.” He adds, setting his own lunch beside him and reaching over to rest a hand atop Rui’s thigh. 

“Aha, yes, I’m alright, Tsukasa-kun~!” Rui chirps, a little glad for the distraction from his food. “I’m afraid I’ve just been a little tired lately, nothing to fret over.” Rui smiles, teeth clenched with discomfort at the way his stomach aches. Tsukasa doesn’t look like he believes him, slowly bringing up another bite of his lunch as he watches Rui suspiciously.

“If you say so…” Tsukasa drawls before going back to devouring his lunch, leaving Rui to fight through the rest of his own. 

Lunch goes without much more of a hitch, Rui almost feeling a little better with something in his stomach, if not a little bloated. Soon enough the bell rings and it’s back to class though, getting ready for the test he came to school for. 

As soon as the test is in front of him, the tiny text and numerous questions hit him with a wave of dizzying nausea, leading him to have to close his eyes for a moment and bring his fist to his lips. He feels so, so gross, stomach rolling unsteadily with the newly added weight from lunch. He shouldn’t have eaten as much as he did, but it was just helping him feel better at the time, he wasn’t thinking through the consequences.

Still, he needs to actually do this fucking test, or else there’s not even a point to having gone to school today… Sucking it up, Rui slowly opens his eyes, focusing on the text of the exam and getting to work answering the questions. Some of the questions are too hard for him to think through when every other thought is whining about how his tummy hurts, but he reasons flopping this test wouldn’t be too bad for him. 

He honestly rushes through it towards the end, longing to at least close his eyes and rest his head on his arms, hoping that would be more comfortable than how he’s sitting now. The moment he’s done he’s holding the test up in the air, waving it around a bit to catch the teacher's attention, who takes it without question back to their desk.

Biting down a whimper, Rui wraps an arm around his gurgling stomach and lays the other one across his desk, resting his head on it. He’s so nauseous, even keeping his eyes open is enough to make the world spin and his stomach quake, ill and aching. 

He just wants to be home, really, to lay on his couch or even his bed in his bedroom, take a nap and hope that he’ll feel better when he awakes. It doesn’t work like that, though, and Rui’s still rubbing his upset stomach in the middle of his shitty classroom, trying not to get sick.

Little noises start to invade his ears, the quiet scratching of someone else’s pencil on paper, the low tapping of someone’s foot on the floor, even the gross smack of someone chewing gum from the back of the classroom. It makes his head hurt dully, but not enough to distract from the bubbling in his stomach.

Rui placed a hand over his squirming abdomen, hopelessly trying to fight down the heady nausea rising in his throat. He seriously couldn’t throw up, he was in the middle of class for fucks sake, and that stupid teacher wouldn’t let him leave cause of the test. Still, the circumstances wouldn’t stop his stomach from squeezing in on itself, trying to void all of the contents through his throat. 

He had to fight the urge to curl up in a ball on the floor, opting to instead gently rub his gurgling gut, desperate to ease some of the ache that resided there. Rui could barely stifle a sickly whine as he realized he still had twenty minutes left until he could leave this class, glancing around for some sort of distraction. Tsukasa was a decent distraction, always doing something, even when the explicit instructions were to sit quietly. Still, his upset stomach groans beneath his hand, lurching against his palm.

Rui breathes heavily, covering his mouth with his other hand as thick saliva fills his mouth. Panic seizes him at the realization that he’s gonna be sick, the fear chaining him to his chair. He doesn’t know what to do, the teacher is busy talking to another student, the trash can is in front of the whole class, and he can tell he only has a few moments of thinking before he’s gonna throw up. He catches Tsukasa’s eye, somehow, as the other boy obnoxiously mouths ‘are you okay?’ at him, only getting a small shake of the head back.

His stomach gave a final lurch of discomfort, and before Rui could process much of anything else, he was gagging over his own desk, drawing the attention of everyone else in the quiet classroom. Discrepancy be damned, Rui scrambled out of his seat, throwing open the classroom door with another weak retch. Knowing he wouldn’t make it to the bathrooms, Rui collapses against a large trash can at the start of a hallway, retching hard into it. His stomach spasms in pain, hot vomit spewing from his mouth and into the big plastic bin. 

It’s humiliating and loud, he’s sure anyone in nearby classrooms can hear his retching, but his stomach hurts too much to care. Rui chokes on his own bile, coughing and wheezing into the trash can, he feels disgusting. Various viscous liquids trickle down his chin, slowly dripping onto the plastic liner, quiet plop, plop, plops sounding as they collide with it. 

Footsteps pound behind him, slowly getting louder and louder, before someone’s gently pushing his hair back, his long bangs pulled back into an awkward updo by the kind person's hands. Rui doesn’t get the chance to thank them, let alone look up and see who it is before he’s heaving again, knees buckling as he clutches the sides of the trash can. Thin strings of vomit come up with each trembling gag, sour and disgusting in his mouth. 

“Ffffuck…” Rui seethes, head falling against the gross rim as his stomach finally gives him a break. He turns to the person who tied his hair up with blurry vision, not remotely surprised to see his boyfriends crimson eyes staring back. “Aha, sorry, Tsukasa-ku-hhmprh!!” His words are cut off by another sudden lurch of his stomach, throat spasming around another round of vomit, now mostly just stomach bile. 

“Easy, Rui…” Tsukasa gently rubbed at his back, and Rui finds himself grateful for his sweet and loving boyfriend, even if he can’t take his head out of this god forsaken trash can long enough to look at him. “Let me know when we can go to the nurse, I’ll walk you there.” As if it wasn’t already obvious he was going to, with how he bolted out of class to chase him.

“Thank you, my love~” Rui tried for a smile, but he assumed it wasn’t nearly as charming as normal, considering the vomit dribbling down his chin. “Ah, can you get me a tissue? Or, something to wipe my face..?” Rui asked, straining his neck awkwardly in hopes to keep his clothes unstained. Tsukasa startles into action, running just a little further down the hall and into the bathrooms. Ah, if only he’d made it there in the first place… No matter, what’s done is done. 

“Here, let me!” Tsukasa proudly announces as he comes back, gently dabbing a wet paper towel over Rui’s vomit-dripped chin and neck. “There, all better now!!” Tsukasa speaks with the confidence of an older brother, assuredly checking that Rui’s face was in fact vomit free. 

“Fuu~ Thank you, Tsukasa-kun.” Rui shakily pulls himself from the trash can, queasily looking back at it as his stomach gives a traitorous lurch. Still, nothing comes up, so Rui hesitantly steps away, one arm going to hold his stomach just for the comforting pressure of it being there. “Now, I do think I remember an offer of being escorted to the nurse?” 

Tsukasa stands at full attention, wrapping his arm around the back of Rui’s shoulders and ushering him forwards. “Yes! Let’s go, Rui!!” Tsukasa’s volume isn’t too considerate to Rui’s sick and sensitive headache, but he’s not feeling well enough to fight Tsukasa on it. It’s sweet how much Tsukasa cares, Rui truly does have a wonderful boyfriend. 

The walk to the nurse continues in general silence, with Rui occasionally fighting down another wave of vomit, barely listening to the words Tsukasa says to him. He feels weak, but he’s sure even if all his limbs give out Tsukasa would make sure he got where he needed, Tsukasa was just that kind of guy. 

And as they walk through the empty halls of Kamiyama, Rui finds himself grateful. Really, from the bottom of his sick and nauseous heart, he was grateful to have Tsukasa in his life, there to take care of him when he needed it.