[Fic] Rainy Day
Title: Rainy Day
Author: Raserei Hojo
Characters: Yuuri, Murata (slight Murayuu)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Hurt & Comfort
Summary: Murata feels the need to do a bit of confiding in someone else.
Words: 3,046
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Yuuri’s eyelids struggled to stay open. With a glassy stare he held his trigonometry book an inch from his nose, determined to understand problem number 43. Ten minutes later, he awoke to find himself face-down in his trigonometry book with problem number 43 unanswered.
“This is ridiculous,” Yuuri grumbled, sitting up with a huge yawn. “I’m a Demon King, not an architect. I don’t need math.” He glanced out the window, watching the rain that had been pouring all afternoon. Somehow, the rain seemed to agree with Yuuri. “Looks like the rain has gotten a lot heavier.”
Knowing he was never going to finish his math homework, Yuuri shoved his papers into the textbook and slid it back onto the bookshelf. He stretched and sat down on his bed gratefully, glad to be rid of the math homework for the rest of the evening.
Just as he laid back and buried his face in his pillow, Yuuri swore he heard a distant knocking sound downstairs. Common sense told him that it was late and it was probably just the wind; his conscience knew that he should check the door anyway, just to be sure that no one was there and that there wasn’t an emergency.
Once more, a distant, but quieter sounding knock came from downstairs. With a groan, Yuuri hauled himself out of bed and groggily trudged his way downstairs, flipping on the living room light as he lazily shuffled forward. “I hope it’s not another salesperson.”
With one hand rubbing a very tired eye and the other hand reaching for the doorknob, he pulled open the door to find Ken Murata standing there, entirely soaked with rainwater.
“M-Murata!” Yuuri couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping. “What are you doing out there in the rain and at this time of night?!”
With a sheepish smile, Murata rubbed the back of his damp neck and glanced aside. “I was wondering if I could stay the night.”
Yuuri frowned, but stepped aside and gestured for his friend to come inside. “You could’ve called me, you know.”
“Sorry. I left my cell phone at my house.” Murata carefully stepped inside, trying his best not to get water everywhere. That seemed impossible; Murata was probably literally soaked to the bone. Water dripped from his body as though it were a rain cloud and his teeth chattered noisily.
Yuuri shut the door went to fetch some towels. “So why did you come all the way over here in the rain and without an umbrella?” He shoved some of his mother’s pink towels into Murata’s hands and plopped a green towel onto Murata’s head.
Murata was quiet for a moment and Yuuri got the suspicion that he didn’t want to talk about it.
“At the very least, start drying yourself off… Here…” Yuuri reached for the green towel and gently started drying Murata’s hair. It was then Yuuri noticed Murata’s glasses were missing and a few cuts and bruises were visible on his face.
“Thanks, Shibuya.” Murata suddenly became animated once again. His teeth stopped chattering and he started to dry himself off as best he could. “I apologize for coming over unannounced and all that, but I didn’t have much of a choice.”
“Murata… Those thugs didn’t come after you again, did they?”
Murata laughed as though the very idea was comical. Then, “Yeah. I’m used to people protecting me, so when no one was nearby, I had to defend myself. Needless to say, they took my wallet.”
“Those bastards…” Yuuri frowned. “Should I call your parents to let them know you’re okay?”
“No. They don’t need to know about this. I’m fine. Besides, there isn’t any need for you or anyone else to worry, Shibuya.”
“At the very least, let’s get you out of those wet clothes.” Yuuri led the way up the stairs. Murata was slow to follow, his fingers stretched out and groping the air blindly. “Here…” Yuuri took him by the hand and guided his friend up the stairs. “You would think that after coming here so often you would know how to get to my room.”
“The world looks different when you go from ‘good vision’ to ‘holy-hell-why-is-the-world-so-blurry vision’,” Murata mumbled in his defense. His voice sounded awfully tired and laced with misery.
There was a chance that his question would be shot down, but Yuuri still thought he needed to ask. “What happened, Murata?”
Murata put on his best smile. “I said you don’t need to worry about it, Shibuya.”
“I’m concerned. I’m your friend and I want you to tell me.” Yuuri could see right through Murata’s fake smile.
“You don’t need to--”
“Murata!”
There was that stare--that vicious Maou stare that no one wanted to be on the other end of. “All right, I’ll tell you.” Though he didn’t look very happy about it.
Yuuri passed Murata a clean set of pajamas and boxers for him to wear and sat on the bed, waiting.
Murata began in a quiet voice. “I don’t know why, but I was feeling a little guilty today. My mother and father had no idea I was a demon, and I didn’t think it was fair. After all, you and your parents and even your brother get along well enough. So, I told them.”
“And…?” Yuuri looked at the bruises that blossomed across Murata’s white chest and stomach. Before Yuuri politely turned his head away, he noticed that even Murata’s slender thighs were covered in purple bruises. Those bullies really must have had it out for him.
“They didn’t believe me, of course. None of my parents, in any of my lives, ever have.” Murata paused, distracted by buttoning up the pajama shirt. Yuuri glanced back at him, hiding an awkward smile when he noticed that Murata had skipped a button. “Our conversation escalated into an argument, and I ended up storming out of the house like a little kid. I went to the library for a little while…” Here, Murata again and squinted in the dim light. “It was dark by the time I left and I met up with my lovely bullies just as it started to rain.”
Yuuri angrily gathered a fistful of bed sheets in his hands. “Those rotten…”
Murata shrugged loosely, a bit warmer in Yuuri’s pajamas. “I’m an easy target, especially when I’m by myself.” He smiled earnestly. “You’ve always been around to protect me. Even when we were in middle school together, you’d come over and tell them to stop.”
“Yeah, and then they’d chase me.”
“Yeah… Sorry about that.”
They were silent for a few minutes, basking in each other’s presence when Yuuri started to laugh. Murata knitted his eyebrows together and huffed, “What are you laughing at?”
“I shouldn’t be laughing, but I think it’s funny that you don’t look so ominous and mysterious without your glasses. I can tell if you’re telling me the truth a lot easier now.” Yuuri cocked his head to the side and smiled. “You look like an average high school student.”
“I’m not a big fan of the truth, really. I…” A huge yawn interrupted Murata’s sentence, but he tried to hide it behind his hand. “…I get into more trouble when I tell the truth.
“Don’t do that! Yawns are contagious!” Yuuri did his best to stifle an oncoming yawn of his own. “Anyway, you sleep on the bed.”
Murata blinked a few times. “I know I’m the guest and everything, but you’re a king. You can’t just give up your bed to another person.” He leaned forward, a serious look on his face. “That’s nearly considered to be taboo.”
“We’re not in Shin Makoku. Besides, you’re my friend. What kind of friend would I be if I let someone as bruised up as you are sleep on the floor?”
“You really are an amazing king, you know.” Murata smiled and with his hands outstretched, he found his way to Yuuri’s bed and climbed on top of it. “But you’re not sleeping on the floor either.”
“Of course not. I’ll just get a sleeping bag.”
“No.” Murata tilted his head in a way Yuuri was sure would be frightening if his friend still had his glasses. “You’ll sleep on the bed too. There’s room for both of us.”
Yuuri laughed a little. “Wolfram would kill me if he found out we slept in the same bed.” He could see the furious blond in his head, throwing pillows and fists wildly at his face.
“Neither one of us deserve to sleep on the floor.” Murata managed to wrap his hands around Yuuri’s arm and pulled him down onto the bed. “There.”
Yuuri landed face-down and struggled to adjust himself so that he didn’t have body parts flung over Murata. “You sure you won’t be uncomfortable?”
“Nah. This bed is plenty big enough for the two of us. I’d ask if you’re uncomfortable, but I hear you do this with Lord von Bielefeld all the time.”
“I guess…” Yuuri watched him. To him, Murata looked sad behind that façade of a smile. Without the glasses, Yuuri could see the loneliness there, naked and unprotected. Despite the maturity one must gain after being alive for four thousand years, Yuuri suspected that Murata had gone through more than his share of hardships.
“I really owe you for letting me stay the night, Shibuya.”
“No worries. I’m sure Mom will be ecstatic when she sees you here in the morning.”
“Ah, yeah… Mama will be excited! I can put on your frilly pink apron and help make breakfast.”
Yuuri cocked an eyebrow. “How can you make breakfast when you can barely see two inches in front of your nose…?”
“…Point.”
Within minutes, Murata’s eyes fluttered shut and it wasn’t long before he was asleep and snuggling childishly close to Yuuri, snoring softly into his ear. It took a bit longer for Yuuri to doze off; he was busy listening to Murata take shallow, haggard breaths.
Then there was the nagging thought that for some reason, Murata was only telling half the story. Why else would Murata be so grim for this long? Things like a fight with his parents didn’t normally upset him this much, did they?
* * *
It wasn’t the heat of the sun that eventually made Yuuri groggily open his eyes; it was the feverish skin of Ken Murata, whose face was buried in the crook of Yuuri’s neck. Murata’s mouth was open, breathing hot puffs of air onto his sensitive neck.
Yuuri carefully sat up, mildly surprised he was still on the bed, and twisted around to look down at Murata.
Murata’s normally pale skin was flushed red with last night’s bruises looking rather prominent. His eyes, half-lidded, were rather glassy and lifeless looking. For a moment, Yuuri was afraid Murata had suddenly died, but his friend’s continuous hot breaths said otherwise.
“…Murata? Are you awake?” He prodded Murata’s cheek, getting a vague ‘unn’ in response before his eyes fluttered shut again. Yuuri pressed the back of his hand against Murata’s forehead and, unsurprisingly, the skin was hot. “Idiot… You got yourself sick… Honestly, you should know to carry and umbrella with you during this time of year.”
Quickly, Yuuri clumsily scrambled out of bed and grabbed a washcloth from the bathroom. He soaked it with cold water, rung it out a bit, and returned to his bedroom to gently place the damp cloth on Murata’s forehead. Murata shifted a bit and Yuuri wasn’t sure whether his expression was content or frustrated.
“Yuu-chan!” His mother’s voice floated upstairs. “Breakfast is ready!”
“Coming…!” Yuuri gently pulled the blankets tightly around Murata and tucked him in. “I’ll bring you some food in a little bit, okay? Don’t do something stupid and die on me, okay?” The thought was silly--Ken Murata, the Great Sage, doing something stupid.
Murata’s lips barely seemed to have the strength to form the word, “…’kay.”
Yuuri watched him to make sure he would be all right alone for a few minutes. He went downstairs with a frown on his face. “Mom…”
“Call me Mama,” Jennifer corrected.
“Mom! This is serious!”
Jennifer blinked. “What is it, Yuu-chan?”
“Last night, Murata came over. He was soaking wet and didn’t want to go all the way back home, so I let him spend the night. He’s got a really bad fever now.”
“Oh no… Ken-chan must have caught a cold from the rain.”
Yuuri nodded. “I hope that’s all it is. Anyway, I’m gonna grab two plates and take one upstairs to him.”
“If Ken-chan is sick, you should probably let him sleep first.”
“…You’re right,” said Yuuri with a nod. “At any rate, I think we should call his parents. They don’t know Murata is here, and they’re probably worried sick.”
Jennifer nodded in agreement. She went to a desk and passed Yuuri the school directory. Feeling a bit nervous, Yuuri searched for Murata’s home phone number and dialed.
It rang several times, and just as Yuuri thought surely no one would answer, an angry sounding man answered the phone.
“Murata residence.”
“Ah… H-Hello. This is Yuuri Shibuya. I was Mura… I mean, I was Ken’s classmate in his second and third years of middle school. Anyway, I was just calling to let you know that he’s here, safe and sound.”
“Oh. I see.” The man didn’t exactly seem thrilled. “Well, we doubted he would come home last night, so we’re not overly surprised.
Yuuri felt a lump in his throat. “Well… Ken isn’t feeling very well, so he might not be home until later tonight. Do you mind if he spends the night here again if that’s the case?”
“That’s fine. I think Ken needs to spend some time with normal people to get his head cleared. He was trying to tell us he was a demon last night. His mother and I considered sending him to an exorcist, but then he suddenly decided he wasn’t a demon anymore.” The man laughed a bit. “Honestly, that boy watches too many science-fiction movies.”
“…I see. Well, thanks for the permission… Have a good day.” Yuuri bitterly hung up the phone and wondered how in the world Murata managed to smile so broadly all the time. It would have to take serious skill in order to smile if his father was like that all the time. Then again, those constant smiles Murata wore must have been able to be a shield against that kind of father.
“What did Ken-chan’s parent’s say?”
“Eh…? Oh! His dad said it was okay if he spent the night again.”
“Good! I’ll make him some soup for lunch. He’ll need all he can get if he wants to get better soon!”
Yuuri forced out a laugh and started preparing two bowls of rice. “I’m gonna go back upstairs and check up on him.”
Jennifer ignored the fact that it was Friday morning and that Yuuri was supposed to be at school soon.
* * *
A little past 2:30PM, Murata’s eyes slid open. He panicked slightly when he couldn’t recognize his surroundings -- but the memories of last night came flooding back. Yuuri had been kind enough to let him sleep on the bed, too.
“Ke--I mean, Murata! You’re awake!”
Murata turned his head toward the direction of the voice. “Shibuya…?”
“Geeze, you scared me. You looked like you were going to sleep the rest of your life.” Yuuri smiled--at least, the blurred mouth looked like a smile--and walked over to Murata.
“Sorry…”
Yuuri leaned over and replaced the old washcloth with a different damp cloth. “There. Your fever has come down quite a bit.”
“…Fever?”
Yuuri nodded. “Mom says you caught a pretty bad cold. We prodded you awake a few times to make you gulp down some medicine, but other than that we let you sleep.”
“Mm… I don’t remember any of that.”
“I brought you some rice from breakfast, but it’s cold now… You want anything to eat?”
Murata vaguely shook his head. “That’s all right…”
Yuuri sat on the bed and placed his hands over one of Murata’s hands. “I know this is prodding, and you probably won’t answer me truthfully, but won’t you tell me why you still seem so miserable?”
Murata glanced at Yuuri. “It’s nothing, really. After the argument with my parents, Shinou decided to visit me at the library. Then the two of us got into an argument of our own, and I hate it when Shinou is so upset with me.”
“So, one argument after another.”
“Basically. I really wish I had my glasses back. The blond thug with the blue contacts stole them and crushed them in his hand.”
“I like you better without your glasses. It makes you look a lot more trustworthy.”
Murata managed a chuckle. “You’re right.” Then he smiled. “Shibuya… Are you going to hold my hand all day?”
Yuuri blushed and immediately withdrew his hand. “Sorry.”
A thoughtful look crossed Murata’s face. “I hope Mama and Papa weren’t upset that I came over so suddenly in the middle of the night.”
Yuuri shook his head. “You know Mom is always so happy to see you. She even went to the store with a smile on her face to buy you some medicine.”
Murata smiled. “That was nice of her.”
“And Dad already left for work, as usual…”
“And you skipped school to take care of me?”
Yuuri blinked. “What? There’s no sch… I guess I did skip school.” He laughed and ran his fingers through his hair. “You just worried me. I didn’t want to leave you alone up here. Who knows what could have happened?”
“You really are a kind king, Yuuri.” Murata’s eyes fluttered closed suddenly. He rolled onto his side and buried his nose into Yuuri’s pillow.
Yuuri stared at Murata. “He said my name… He must be really sick of he’s calling me by my first name!” Yuuri huffed but nevertheless moved a few stray hairs away from Murata’s eyes.
By now, Murata’s hot breaths were even and slow. With a smile, Yuuri had the feeling Murata would be well enough in the morning. He carefully lay down beside Murata and ruffled his hair a bit. “Feel better… Ken.”
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Author’s Note: …Hooray! I’m happy I wrote this much, even if it’s not exactly something I’m great at. It was something that hit me in the head as huge inspiration and demanded I finish it. Since that’s never really happened before, I felt I had better oblige… So hopefully, the read wasn’t torturous for you!