million_points_of_light | i don't feel so well

Entry tags:

i don't feel so well

Who: Axel and Riku
When: 02June, for the Outbreak plot; mid-afternoon
Where: House of the Rising Tsun
What: Riku is down with the sickness
Warnings: prolly nothing

While the Initiative-issued tablets were definitely a bit higher-tech than he had grown accustomed to back home, there was one thing Axel had found made it worth trying to figure out all the buttons and options: games. Sure, a walkie was good enough for him, in most cases--keep it simple, stupid!--but you couldn't play games on a walkie. Having discovered the option to kill time without sitting up had been a huge breakthrough in Axel's laziness regime, and he had quickly downloaded half a dozen games to find out which ones were the most entertaining.

Most of the games had premises that made little to no sense, he'd found. He had quickly grown addicted to one where the only purpose was to fling oddly-shaped birds at buildings in an effort to crush any green pigs dwelling within. It was actually more difficult than it sounded.

Stretched out on the couch, the tablet resting on his abdomen as he attempted to demolish the landscape using his supply of avian ammunition, Axel had already beaten his high score. It had been a most productive day indeed. He was pretty sure it was his turn to make dinner, but until someone came home and confirmed this, he was content to continue wasting time.

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Riku tried to swallow in his throat, frowning as it itches. Snow had sent him home after he caught him sniffling--made sense, he supposed. He had been told to catch up on his rest and come back tomorrow once he was better, but the more he walked the weaker he felt. By the time he'd gotten to the door, he felt like he was breathing heavily, trying to clear his throat and trying not to feel as heavy-chested as he was.

His keys jingled, the door creaked as he called out a quiet 'I'm back', idly wondering what his other two roommates did while he was at work--

... oh.

He frowned as he looked at Axel on the couch, rolling his eyes. Typical.

"Do you do anything besides laze around?"

"I'm not lazing," he replied tersely without looking up. "I'll have you know I am in a fierce battle to defend a flock of birds from being forced out of their homes by evil green pigs from space. Or something." He assumed they were space pigs, as he'd never seen a green pig on any of his travels. Though he did idly recall hearing of a book about green ham once.

After taking out the last alien pig, Axel set the tablet aside between levels and sat up.

"You're home early," he noted, tilting his head curiously. When he got a look at Riku, though, his brow crinkled together as he informed him bluntly, "Wow, you look like hell. Did something happen?"

Setting his satchel down and shrugging out of his double-breasted jacket, he raised his hands to the back of his head, undoing the tight rubber band holding back some of his longer hair. "Snow sent me home," he said simply, scratching the top of his mouth with his tongue as he did, grimacing as the itch persisted. Was he seriously coming down with something? He sighed, hair flopping back to the sides of his face.

"He said I have a fever or something." Rubbing the back of his neck, he grimaced, feeling some sort of fatigue. Was he imagining it?

"I'll be fine," he waved a hand in Axel's direction, meaning to take his jacket, shoes and satchel back into his room.

"Lucky," Axel muttered; "wish my boss had been nice enough to send me home if I felt like crap."

Granted, for all he liked to complain and took any excuse to sleep in, Axel had rarely felt poorly enough to warrant a sick day back home. Leaning back on the couch as Riku walked unsteadily past, Axel watched him head down the hall, then tilted his head back.

"I could ah... order food or something," he called after him. "Don't they say 'feed a fever'?" He rubbed his chin then. "Or is it 'starve a fever'...?" he muttered mostly to himself. He really wasn't much of a nurse, nor did he really have any desire to be, but whether it was his turn for dinner or not he supposed he could spring for a pizza.

"You don't have a boss," he started, before rubbing an ear. He'd said had--he meant... wait.

Had? Wasn't Axel still with the Organization? He frowns, almost wanting to look back and see if his expression had changed. Had...?

"Feed a fever, starve a cold," Riku answers for him nonchalantly from his room, moving to put up his satchel and jacket with a little cough. He moves to go back out into the room and coughs harder--the whole world sways and he grabs onto the doorframe as his head spins. Ugh. What a pain. With a frown, he shakes his head as if to shake the world back into its rightful order, to just send it spinning again. He groaned, moving to just lean against the doorway for a moment. He'd had a sore throat yesterday, but...

"Not here I don't," Axel said without missing a beat. It hadn't been a slip of the tongue; he had spoken in past tense because Xemnas wasn't here. (Thank Light.) Riku didn't need to know that he'd been questioning his allegiances for weeks back home; he'd stopped thinking of The Superior as his commanding officer and more like the annoying guy he only listened to so he would shut up. But that was neither here nor there at the moment.

He 'hmm'd aloud at the confirmation of the old agage.

"Personally I don't think starving is ever a good idea," he said with a stern shake of his head. He might have had a negative fat cell count, but that didn't mean Axel didn't enjoy good food. It wasn't his fault he had a hyperactive metabolism! He reached forward and grabbed his tablet again, swiping the game aside and pulling up the city directory to look for a place that delivered.

Axel craned his neck back when he heard a groan from the hallway then, and squinted a bit. The position of the couch left the hallway just out of view.

"Riku?" He craned his neck a bit further. "Dude don't puke or anything."

He didn't want to have to clean that up. Curry was one thing, but he drew the line at puke.

There was a beat of silence, and a stab of concern poked at the bottom of his stomach.

"Ah... you okay back there?"

"I'm not gonna puke," Riku argued, forcing himself back up to his feet with a shudder of his legs. He breathed in and out heavily, schooling his breath as he stood and walked, steadying himself. He wasn't going to fall right now. He still had other things to do--there were dishes to be done. He'd remembered, from this morning. He'd had a nightmare, made himself tea, made himself a rather bad breakfast as per normal and just packed up to go to work afterward.

He stumbles slightly into the kitchen, gripping the counter. It was more or less like a second bedroom, nowadays. He'd cooked so much in the last kitchen, and while this one wasn't built any differently, it didn't have the nicks, didn't have the dents. He was going to make it his own if he had anything to say about it. It was one of the only ways he could really lose all thought and just let his hands work. Fighting and training needed his full attention. Washing dishes, making food, that was all second nature, after cooking for himself and Namine for so long.

Swallowing down the itchiness in his throat, he moved over to the sink, turning on the faucet to hot and grabbing the steel wool to start scrubbing away grime and food both. "I'm fine," he muttered, finally.

Watching Riku stagger into the kitchen, Axel arched one eyebrow.

"You don't look fine," he said, frowning. "In fact I'm pretty sure I said, verbatim, that you look like hell. 'Cuz you do."

When he heard the faucet running then, though, he got to his feet and moved quickly into the kitchen, reaching out over Riku's head and shutting the water off.

"Uh-uh," he said with a shake of his head. "If you're sick enough to be sent home from work, I don't want your germy paws all over the dishes. Last thing we need is for all three of us to wind up sick, you know?"

Granted, since they shared a relatively small space it was likely Riku would be sharing whatever he'd come down with anyway, but Axel wasn't about to invite it.

A startled noise stuck in the back of Riku's throat as the warm water shut off, and he scowled, exhaling through his nose.

Calm. Masters are calm. Count back from 10.

Moments passed before Riku looked at Axel from over his shoulder. "If you want me out of the kitchen, you're gonna have to step out of my way, you know." He stated coolly, drawing his wet hands back and reaching for a paper towel. He'd been hoping for some cooler water, too, with how hot his body was getting. A moment passed before he wondered if he was supposed to wrap himself up to sweat it out or try to stay cool. If your temperature raised above a certain temperature, didn't you lose brain function? His mother had been a nurse--he knew something about being sick, though he'd never particularly cared to listen when she was hovering over him like a helicopter.

"Where's the first aid kit?"

Axel stared at him for a moment, his gaze narrow and a little suspicious. Riku didn't usually take such a terse tone, even when speaking to him, and that set off a little bell in the back of Axel's head. Lifting his hands in a 'copper, don't shoot' gesture, he took an exaggerated step back, then folded his arms and leaned against the counter.

"S'in the bathroom, under the sink, where it usually is," he replied plainly. "Bandaid can't fix everything though; got it memorized?"

He was being insufferable on purpose (he usually was, for that matter), but he had a feeling Riku was worse-off than he was acting and wasn't about to just let him get away with it.

"The first aid kit has a thermometer," he said, grabbing onto the counter as the world swayed again in his vision. Ugh. He was sick of being sick. Hadn't he left this behind when he was a kid? Sure, he'd gotten sick before, but it hadn't... really been this bad. (Maybe it just felt this bad because now he had two jobs and he'd gotten used to being so active that laying around felt... wrong.) Toddling over to the bathroom, he took a moment to just crouch (the world really needed to stop spinning) before he pulled out the first aid kit.

He'd remembered finding a thermometer in the last first aid kit, when he'd been sick the last time. Finger grasping around the little knobbed readout end, he breathed in (at least that got rid of his dizziness) before slipping one of the silicone covers over it. Slumping against the doorframe, he waited, arms crossed over his chest as he waited for it to start beeping.

If he didn't go public about this, Tamora wouldn't find out and force-feed him tonic again...

Axel waited in the kitchen a moment, then sighed heavily and followed Riku down the hall. Standing in the hall across from the doorway, he watched as Riku fumbled with the kit, then fumbled with the thermometer, and then sagged against the door. He clicked his tongue and dropped to a crouch beside him.

"If you wanted a thermometer you should'a just said so, dummy," Axel said, reaching out and planting one bare palm against Riku's brow. One didn't work with fire as much as he did and not learn how to tell exactly how hot something was. He frowned a bit and then pulled his hand back. "Thirty-seven and change," he said (flames were easier to handle in Celsius, he'd found), "which means you're running at about a hundred, kiddo, congratulations."

Getting back to his feet and leaning against the opposite wall again, he cocked his head to one side.

"Is this a semiannual thing with you?" he asked, though it was curiosity, not derision, that colored his tone. "Weren't you sick at Christmas, too?"

The thermometer beeped then, and Axel waved a hand as if encouraging Riku to check his assessment for accuracy.

Riku gave a little cringe when Axel's hand braced against his forehead, looking away and exhaling tersely again, brows drawn together and eyes tightly shut. When he finally spoke, he opened one eye to look at him, thankful for when he pulled his hand back.

"At least it's not a hundred and two," he muttered through the bulkiness of the thermometer in his mouth. "I don't get this sick usually. It's probably all the rain," Riku ran a hand into his hair, trying to straighten back up again and promptly slouching once more. "I got sick all the time when I was a kid, but this is just weird."

Pulling the thermometer out as it beeped, he looked surprised--and then promptly a bit irritated. "A hundred it is."

A moment, and then he looked up at Axel. "You could've told me you were a built-in thermometer. You know, me and Sheena can cook, you can detect temperatures. Might've been useful."

"If it hits a hundred and two do you turn into a pumpkin?" Axel grinned a bit and then clicked his tongue again, absently scratching at his temple. "Kid if the rain gets you sick you'd better start wearing a poncho or something, cuz I don't think it's gonna let up anytime soon."

When Riku confirmed he'd gotten it right, Axel shrugged cavalierly. Then he folded his arms again.

"Well you never asked," he retorted. "Knowing the temperature of something within a half a degree or so by touching it is kind of an obscure talent, you know? Not exactly my most marketable skill; how do you even classify that on a resumé?" He arched an eyebrow then. "Just don't expect me to stick my head in the oven to make sure it's preheated properly."

In a gesture that might have surprised Riku then, Axel extended his hand to help him to his feet.

Edited 2013-06-04 05:44 (UTC)

"My brain turns into a pumpkin pie, more like," Riku retorted, leaning over and chucking the silicon sleeve into the little wastebin in the bathroom. He made to push himself up, swaying slightly, blinking in surprise when he caught sight of Axel's hand.

Awkwardly, he reached for it, half-expecting the redhead to pull away at the last minute. Pulling himself up on shaky legs, he braced a hand against his head. "Just stick your hand in, that'll do the job," A wry grin lit up his features, before his vision swam. Ugh. His temperature must've been raising as they spoke.

A moment, and he pulled his hand back. "Thanks. I just need to lie down. It'll pass and I'll go back to work tomorrow."

"Pumpkin pie brains, eh?" He 'hmm'd aloud. "Sounds like a zombie delicacy if you ask me." Had Riku been well, Axel might have pulled his hand away, but it was no fun picking on somebody who was under the weather--that was like cheating. Pulling him to his feet, Axel snorted a laugh. "Right, next you'll be asking me to stick my hand in the pot of boiling water. I'm onto you..."

Releasing Riku's hand, Axel stepped aside and made a gesture toward the end of the hall, where Riku's room was.

"Go," he said. "I can't pester you if you're sick, that's just mean." Axel was many things, but he was rarely outright mean. "I'm'a go back to my birds and pigs, but I guess ah..." He awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "Holler if you're dying, or something."

It would be even harder to pester him if he was dead. ~~Again.~~

'Birds and pigs' got Riku to raise both of his eyebrows, but he said nothing as he shuffled into his room. He didn't bother closing the door; Stellaluna liked to go in and out of his room, so there was never any point. Besides, even if he did get bad enough to call for help (he doubted it) he'd need the door open.

Once he'd tucked himself into bed, Riku was out like a light. ... at least, until early morning, jerking himself awake with a silent scream as another nightmare awoke him. The first thing he did was nearly cough up a lung, grimacing as pain shot up the middle of his throat. What had been an itchy throat turned into a sore one. Stellaluna crooned from her perch, opening her eyes and flapping over to perch right in front of him. With a bounce into his lap, she cuddled against his torso, making him sigh and curl his arms around her.

Nightmares and sickness. What a week. He looked down at Stellaluna and ruffled her head before pulling himself to the side and shoving himself up--to promptly fall, only able to brace himself with the wall. Exhaling, the world spun worse than it had earlier. Calling Stellaluna to his side, as her power was lent to him, he floated a few inches above the floor, wings flapping at his back. A quick shake of his head later, he floated over to the kitchen, planning on making himself tea as he always did. Pulling the fridge open to get the cream, he paused as he noted a new carton of orange juice, squinting at the note attached to it.

You can have this one. Just this once.

Riku coughed out a laugh. "What a sap," he found himself muttering, only noticing what he'd said a moment afterward, closed fist coming to his mouth. His mind flashed backward to when Sora had been in Exsilium, heart aching with the thought of his best friend. What were he and Axel, right now? They'd agreed to be allies, and then Riku had saved him, and he'd have to admit that things settled down rather quickly after that. They weren't best friends. Were they actual friends, in that case? He could still remember the jabs he and Lea shared at times when they were both training, and... he frowned, picking up the carton and forgoing his usual tea for a glass of orange juice.

He'd always thought of Axel and Lea as two different entities. That wasn't right, was it? Axel had, supposedly, had a heart all along, even if it was a fledgling little thing. Even if it had just started to grow again, he'd had a heart. Axel hadn't been Axel the whole time. Maybe at the start, when he'd newly become a Nobody, but... when exactly had that heart kicked in? It had to have been with Roxas, right? Friends inspired emotions, he knew that more than anyone else. Kairi's presence gave him the strength to push Ansem back when he'd been possessing his body. Her and Sora's heart were strong enough to see his real self; the bond of a friend was a strong thing, and with a heart...

It would make sense that Axel's sacrifice to Sora was spurred on by a heart. His own heart, in particular, even if he didn't know it. And if so... he couldn't really separate his sacrifice for Sora and his saving Sora as Lea, could he? The circumstances were different, sure, but his actions weren't.

He exhaled harshly, Stellaluna hopping along the counter as he moved over to the couch, taking long sips of juice as if to cool his whole body down. Laying down on the couch on his side, he closed his eyes, set the glass down on the table before him, and tried to rest.

What he'd meant to be rest turned into another bout of sleep--his alarm distantly rang, in his room, causing Stellaluna to jerk awake herself and give a confused noise. Flapping over her human, she gave a concerned croon as she noticed he made no motion to get up and turn it off, and sped over to turn it off herself with a bit of headbutting. She checked on him again; no, he was still, with his knees drawn up and hands laced together before his mouth, huddled as if needing warmth. Dawn was starting to break; she knew he got up early, but he wasn't making a sound. Quickly, she darted over to the only ajar door, circling around the second human she'd grown affectionate to.

She grabbed onto one of his feathers (they were feathers, weren't they? Long and red and sticking out... either feathers or fur) and yanked with her little feet, just once, before going back to circling around, quiet, distressed sounds leaving her mouth.

When Axel had glanced up to find it was 4 in the morning, he'd decided that was enough saving birds from porcine deforestation. After doublechecking that the front door was locked, he shuffled back to his room with a stretch and a jaw-cracking yawn and flopped unceremoniously onto the bed.

Sometimes Axel dreamed vividly, but tonight had been dreamless, and so when he was jerked awake by a sharp pain in his head, he was not only startled, but confused. He was additionally confused by the strange chittering noises that seemed to be emanating from the air around his head. ... Yeah, okay, no more cream cheese bagels before bed.

Sitting up slowly, his eyes focused in the grainy shadows of the room and he rubbed the top of his head where he was sure something had tugged at his hair. He glanced up then just in time to see something flying at his head--

"Uwaugh!"

--and let out a yawp of alarm, snapping both arms up defensively before he realized it was Riku's rainbow sherbet bat creature. With a gusty sigh of relief that it was only the trained attack bat who seemed to get a kick out of orbiting his head, Axel leaned back on his hands and blinked groggily at Stellaluna.

"I didn't order a wakeup call, Fluffy," he grumbled, scrubbing at one eye socket with the heel of his hand. Not bothering to stifle a yawn, Axel squinted at the bat. "Wha'ssa matter with you?" he asked, frowning. He'd seen the bat circle excitedly before, but she seemed rather distraught at the moment. Had Riku forgotten to feed her or something?

... What the hell did trained attack rainbow sherbet bat things even eat?

"Okay, okay, fine," he said, waving her off as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and got to his feet, arching his back. "I'll feed you, sheesh. I hope you like cold cereal though, 'cuz that's all I'm capable of preparing at this ungodly hour."

Stellaluna continued chattering distressedly as Axel nudged his bedroom door open and shambled out into the main room, headed for the kitchen. As he bypassed the living room, though, Stellaluna made a high-pitched keening sound and grabbed for his hair again.

"Oi!" He whirled quickly--aha! So she had pulled his hair!--and gave an affected glower. "Riku needs to teach you some manners, Luna," he said, shaking a finger. He'd taken to just calling her by the latter half of her name; the full thing was far too long and he was far too lazy to say all of it. As she flew in tight circles in front of him and then darted back and forth between where he stood and the back of the couch, he supposed maybe this was less lashing out because he was moving too slowly and more an endeavor to get him to follow her. "All right, okay, I'm coming," he said through a yawn. "If I look at whatever you want to show me will you let me go back to sleep?" Sure, Axel might have only slept a few hours at a time, but really... 6am? Gimme a break.

As he rounded the couch, however, what he saw there was not at all what he'd been expecting. Tilting his head and blinking as he waited for Riku's form curled up on the sofa to turn into something that made sense (though admittedly he had no idea would have made sense to wake him up at 6am to see), he glanced up at Stellaluna and then back to Riku. Then back to Stellaluna. Then back to Riku. Okay, so she was concerned because Riku was couch-crashing?

"The couch ain't restricted territory, you know," he said quietly to her as she went back to orbiting his head. Reaching up to scratch the top of her head as she hovered near his shoulder Axel turned to head back to the kitchen. "Come on, don't you want some cereal or something?"

She grabbed his hair again as he took a step forward, and he stopped dead in his tracks and held up one finger.

"Okay I'm really gonna have to ask you to stop that." Turning to look at her again he shook his head. "What's the problem? I don't speak bat. Pig-Latin, sure, but I don't think that'll help here." Stellaluna broke orbit and landed on Riku's shoulder, bouncing slightly, and Axel made a shooing motion at her. "Hey, come on, stop that," he chided in a loud whisper. "Let him sleep, I said I'd feed you."

That was when he realized that Riku wasn't moving. So far as he knew, Riku wasn't usually a heavy sleeper, so the fact that a crooning bat on his shoulder didn't seem to faze him at all was odd. A stab of sick dread lanced through his stomach and before he'd thought about it he had dropped to a crouch in front of the boy and placed the back of his hand in front of his nose and mouth. He let out the breath he didn't realize he'd been holding when he confirmed that the kid was still breathing, at least, and then shooed Stellaluna from his shoulder.

"Hey," he said softly. "Riku van Winkle, you in there?" No response. He reached out and took the shoulder that Stellaluna had been perched on, with intent to shake it himself, then paused, frowning. The fever had gone up. Not a lot, but it was up nonetheless, and the fact that the kid still didn't seem to be waking up left Axel puzzled and a little worried.

Really, Sheena would kill him if Riku did something stupid like died again on his watch.

Axel didn't know a whole lot about medicine or diagnosing illnesses, but he knew that if someone was unconscious instead of just sleeping it was probably a bad thing. Riku's breathing was shallow and a bit labored, his brow drawn together in discomfort--what the hell was wrong with him? He certainly hadn't been as 'fine' as he'd wanted Axel to believe, sure, but Axel hadn't really thought he was in any danger. What had happened?

Stellaluna made another distressed keening sound, and Axel got back to his feet. Striding back to his room and grabbing the chair from his desk, he wheeled it out into the main room and positioned it backwards near the couch. Okay, fine, if Riku wasn't going to wake up, then Axel would just... wait. He wasn't sure he'd be able to forgive himself if he just left the kid to his own devices and he just stopped breathing or something. Straddling the chair and folding his arms on the back of it, Axel propped his chin on his forearms and watched the steady, if rapid, rise and fall of Riku's side where he slept.

It wasn't exactly riveting TV, but he supposed he owed Riku this much.

He wasn't sure how long he'd slept for, but what awoke him was a ray of sun hitting his face. Riku jerked awake, gave a shudder, and curled into himself, dazed. What had happened? Where was he?

When had he drank orange juice? Really, that was Axel's thing--

The earlier morning's thought process rammed into him like an out-of-control truck going down the highway. He winced and pressed a hand to his head, one eye screwed shut, turning onto his back--just to stare up at the scene above him. He'd seen the same thing once before, he noted, as his hand dropped and both eyes opened, his other hand curled at his stomach.

Axel-Lea had done this before, watching over him at the exam, when he'd plunged into Sora's heart. It'd seemed strange to him at the time, but everything had, in retrospect. Lea showing up and saving Sora hadn't been such a surprise. Axel had saved him before, Lea saved him again, Riku hadn't expected anything less. He and Axel had spoken a few times while he was still in the Organization, but it was never incredibly positive, and Riku had never been left with the impression that Axel might want to extend a helping hand towards him. Sora and Roxas--different story. Riku had certainly not expected to wake up to Axel sitting over him like he was now, although... seemed Axel had fallen asleep.

"Lazy bum," he whispered, knowing exactly what he meant when he said it to himself. Something in his heart hurt a bit. He'd assumed that Axel would've never been the same kind of person Lea was, simply because he was a Nobody and affiliated with the Organization--even knowing that his heart was growing. What kind of jerk was he? Sora probably wouldn't have treated him that way. Here he was, just taking a nap and hovering over him, just like he would've back home! He'd lamented on missing and losing a friend when he'd been right here, the whole time--just without the knowledge of the future and without any real actions that lead to their friendship. Not that Axel had wanted to be friends in the first place, but Riku hadn't been keen on it either.

Stellaluna hopped down to his chest and made a soft, relieved noise as she rubbed up against his face, and he nuzzled her back, letting her hop into the crook of his arm before he raised a hand to press a finger against Axel's forehead. "Hey, sunshine, wake up."

~~Yeah gosh Riku what kind of a jerk are you!?~~

Axel had never been good at sitting still. He had also never been very good at just sitting and waiting when nothing was really happening. He had tried--really he had!--but at some point while watching over Riku his head had sunk onto his folded arms and he'd nodded off. He had only slept two hours before being awoken by Stellaluna, after all, so he had a teeny bit of an excuse. Even if he didn't tend to sleep very long all at one time, two hours just wasn't fair.

Seven hours was downright unheard of, though, especially when five of them were in a chair. Later Axel would muse that he must have been a lot more exhausted by everything that had happened lately than he'd thought, but in the moment Riku's finger hit his forehead, he wasn't really in his right mind.

Axel was a very light sleeper, and thus it was exceptionally rare for anyone to ever sneak up close enough to touch him while he was sleeping. And so when Riku's fingertip pierced through the haze of light slumber Axel had been drifting through for the past several hours, a total of three things happened: first of all, Axel's heartrate (heh, heartrate) skyrocketed and he jerked awake with a rather unbecoming yelp of alarm. Secondly, he gave such a vicious start that he pitched backward off the chair and tumbled to the floor in an ungainly tangle of limbs, smacking the back of his head on the coffee table as he did so. And thirdly, due to the sudden start and the subsequent sharp pain in his head, Axel's still-groggy brain decided he was obviously under attack and he drew up his arms with intent to char-broil his assailant.

Luckily he came to his senses before he set the couch on fire and instead just clapped a hand over his chest with a wheezing noise.

"Jiminy Christmastown Riku, don't do that!" he barked, his voice breaking halfway through, either from alarm or just plain residual sleepiness. "I almost barbecued you just now! Good thing I don't actually have a heart or it might have just stopped, for Light's sake."

A sap, a lazy bum, and a dork on top of it all.

How had he thought Axel was dangerous, again? Riku tried to hold back his laughter, it coming out as more of a wheeze as the world spun and he threw his legs over the side of the couch. "Sorry," he admitted finally through a cough, rush of lightheadedness drifting away.

A moment passed; the thought of telling Axel that he would've been able to handle any 'barbecuing' with his Barrier was cancelled out as he found himself smiling, albeit with a tinge of incredulousness. Pushing himself to his feet, he leaned over, gripping the back of Axel's chair and extending a hand to him. "Looks like you could use some more sleep."

~~Shut up you Axel is totally dangerous. Like. Ph34r his mad assassin skillz yo.~~

Rubbing the back of his head with a grunt of pain, Axel gave Riku a feigned glower.

"Yeah, you better be sorry," he grumbled with mock anger. "How dare you fall asleep in my spot on the couch, and after I so generously donated that carton of OJ, too!"

He maintained the surly glower a moment longer, then harrumphed and accepted Riku's hand, though mostly for the sake of the gesture; he was heavier than he looked, really, and from the way Riku wobbled he had to guess the kid didn't quite have his feet under him yet. He sort of hefted himself up by bracing his other hand on the coffee table, flopping down sideways in the chair and releasing Riku's hand.

"Well I had been sleeping," he grumbled, "until your pet over there decided to wake me up." He rubbed the back of his head again--this was going to be a headache later--and then gave Riku a look. "That fever'a yours has hit a stride, at least," he said; "hasn't gone up since last night."

"Sorry," came first, without any malice or snide tone, as he straightened and let go of Axel with a wobble.

When Axel mentioned Stellaluna, though, he grimaced awkwardly and looked down to his bat, who just flicked her big eyes up to him. "Stella," he warned, sounding a bit put-out as his shoulders slumped. But as soon as she saw him looking at her in any emotion that wasn't adoring or with a smile, she gave a sad croon and flapped out of his arms, quickly nuzzling against his face. Almost instantly, Riku just sighed and closed his eyes, his stern demeanor crumbling underneath him. "Oh, fine."

He turned back to Axel, almost forgetting his earlier two apologies by rounding it out with a third, "Sorry," patting Stellaluna's head. "But..." Awkwardly, he shifted a bit, like he didn't want Axel to see his gratitude. "Uh, thanks." He looked back at Axel, full-on. "For keeping an eye on me."

Ah, there truly was no love like the love between a boy and his... bat thing. Axel cupped his chin in one palm and rested his elbow on the back of the chair to wait for the cuddling scene to end, and then made a face when Riku apologized a third time.

He sighed long-sufferingly and shook his head.

"Yes, we already established that you're sorry," he said, scrubbing at one eye and then rolling his shoulders back, "but you don't have to thank me." This was said with what was probably a surprising degree of candor. "You wouldn't wake up this morning, though, so..." He shrugged. "I mean, I really never would have heard the end of it if I let you die again."

There was a beat of silence as he deadpanned the remark, then he cracked a crooked grin.

"Besides..." he said then, his voice a bit halting. "I kinda owed you, right? Er... well, and even if you don't remember her for some reason, you were a pretty good friend to Xion." He averted his gaze and awkwardly pulled at the back of his neck. "So, I mean... any friend of Xion's is a friend of mine, I guess."

"I'm not gonna die, Axel," he sat back down, letting out a sigh of relief as his head started to still. As soon as those words left his mouth, Riku gave a pause of thought, trying to re-consider his words. He didn't know what he had, and he was in a strange world with stranger people that could revive the dead, and he'd just got back from their enemies completely decimating a world. He had to wonder--was whatever he had not normal?

He'd had a cold before, but this was different from it. Riku frowned as he pressed a hand against his chest, breathing in. He kept feeling lightheaded, his breaths had been shallow--it'd been uncomfortable to breathe too deep. He flinched as he felt a rumble in the depths of his chest, a cough following shortly after. This was summer, right? Summer colds weren't like this in Destiny Islands, and they weren't like this in the Initiative, either. He'd spent his summer here before. Swallowing after his coughing passed, he cleared his throat, looking to Axel again.

Was it paranoid for him to think back, try to gather as much information as he could about the past? This illness could easily be from the world they'd just visited, be from something the Initiative botched when they'd revived him, or maybe... it could be United Earth's doing. They'd contaminated the water supply to brainwash the entire populace before--Riku had been a victim of that. He wasn't so naive to think that they wouldn't do the same thing once more. "You don't owe me," he stated, lines in his face smoothing out. "Friends do that for each other, right?"

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