[Log] Painful Encounter

[crashndash]

Who: Chibi Pair + NPC Doctor
Where: Dan's room and then the infirmary
When: August 24th
What: Dan is in pain and is miserable. Ryoma's just miserable.
Warning: PG for boy-kissing? (Is that even a warning here? >.> )

Comments: Sure~ ♥

Dan sighed, shutting the book he had open on his bed. His fingers lingered on the cover for a second or two before he pushed the book aside, turning around to fall down on his back. He wanted to study the book a bit more, but he just couldn't do it. Not when his head felt like it did.

It'd been a constant problem for him lately. He didn't know why, but his head was aching pretty much every day. It'd been just a bit at first, an occasional annoyance he linked with too much reading that went away when he went outside for a while. Now, though, it tended to linger, often holding him in its grip for the rest of the day once it first set in. It was starting to be very annoying -- and it was definitely making him miserable. He tried not to show it to anyone, not wanting to come across as someone who just whined constantly, but it was getting harder lately.

Bringing an arm up to cover his eyes, Dan sighed, resisting the urge to just curl up holding his head. It wouldn't help any, anyway. He'd tried often enough.

Maybe he could sleep for a bit... at least then, he wouldn't feel it.

Assuming he could relax enough to fall asleep, first.

"Well, okay, Fuji-senpai, I'll talk to you later. I gotta hang up now, so..." While Ryoma was talking on his phone, he knocked once on Dan's door, then opened, stepping inside and shutting his phone off around the same time as he shut the door. "Yamabuki, 'sup?" He took one look at his boyfriend on the bed, and then grinned. "Is the summer assignment killing you or something?"

"...I don't know." Recognizing his boyfriend's voice -- not that anyone else called him Yamabuki, anyway -- Dan lifted his arm from his eyes just enough to look at Ryoma. "It seems my head's determined to kill me for some reason. Wish I knew what I've done to it desu..."

Ryoma frowned and tucked his phone away, promptly climbing onto the bed. "What, it's still there?" He paused for a moment then started to gently rub Dan's temples with his fingers. "You think it could be something serious?" His mind immediately leapt to the one, feared word tumor, and then decided that nope, he wouldn't go there. Not yet at least.

"Still there and not about to leave..." Dan sighed a bit as he felt Ryoma's fingertips on his skin. It... helped a bit, but not really. "I just don't know what it is... I mean, earlier it usually went away if I just stopped reading or whatever for a moment, but now it doesn't do that anymore... and it's not like I can eat painkillers all the time, either." He, too, had rather forcibly bade himself not even consider such unfortunate things just yet. It was just a bit of a headache, no reason to panic.

"Well..." Ryoma frowned and swallowed down the nervous lump that started forming. He never did anything good when he got overly nervous - like when he couldn't find Karupin for five minutes or something like that - and he was starting to feel something akin to that feeling just now. "You and me are going on a date. To the infirmary."

Infirmary. No. He didn't need to go to the infirmary. You only went there when you were sick or injured, not when you'd just been reading too much. Or whatever it was that made his head ache. "I don't want to," he murmured, turning his head to hide his face against Ryoma's thigh.

Okay, now what? He really didn't feel like forcing Dan into something he didn't want to do when he was as miserable as this, but... "Why not? It's just to check up on you..."

"There's nothing to check up on," Dan replied. "It's just a headache... If everyone went to the infirmary for every headache, the doctors wouldn't have time for anything else desu." And if he went to the infirmary every time he had headache, he would hardly be anywhere else, nowadays.

"Everyone doesn't have repeating headaches, you know." Ryoma frowned and gently caressed Dan's head. "You scared?"

Yes. Yes, he was, even though he didn't allow himself to be, because that would have only made him more miserable. "...A bit," he murmured.

"You think you're gonna calm down by just being in pain and not knowing why?" Ryoma shook his head. "That's stupid!"

"It'll go away," Dan insisted, really not appreciating Ryoma calling him stupid. As though he didn't know. He knew he should have had it checked, but he was hurting and tired and yes, scared, and he'd really just rather try to will it away than possibly hear it was indeed something serious. "It did before..." Only to come back.

"Fine, fine..." Ryoma stood up, biting his lip as he tried to keep his tone rational. And failed. "Just have me worry over you like you worried over me before. That's equal enough for a relationship, right?" Why was he getting angry in the first place? All he wanted to do was to hug Dan and tell him it would be fine, so why...?

"I'm sorry, okay?" Dan bit his lip, one hand clenched into a fist. "I don't want you to worry... I don't want myself to worry. It's not like this's going to kill me." Gods, he hoped not. "I just..." He pressed his lips together into a thin line as the ache flared up again. What was wrong with him? His voice dropped into a barely audible whisper, a couple of tears making their way out of his closed eyes. "I'm scared, Ryoma..."

The anger that had flared - and what the hell, he didn't usually anger that easily, right? - and then faded away the second he saw the tears that stained his lover's cheeks. He pressed his own lips into a straight line and knelt in front of the bed, reaching out his hand to place it over Dan's fist. "Me too. But we won't get less scared if we don't figure out what's wrong, Tai..."

Dan forced his fingers to uncurl only to grasp on Ryoma's hand. "But what if it is something serious?" he asked quietly. "What if it's something scary?"

"Then we'll catch it early on," Ryoma said with a certainty he didn't really feel. "That's a good thing."

"...I guess." Dan squeezed Ryoma's hand lightly. "I just wish this would stop..."

"Mm..." Ryoma leaned over and placed a soft kiss on the other boy's lips. "It will, I promise."

"You'd better." Ryoma slowly urged Dan to his feet and turned his face slightly upwards for another kiss.

Dan followed Ryoma's urging with just the slightest hint of reluctance, trying to concentrate on Ryoma's hand in his, Ryoma's lips upon his... Anything but the relentless ache in his head and the nagging fear.

Ryoma pulled back and looked his boyfriend over, the frown still present on his face. "You ready...?"

"Not really," Dan admitted, "but I doubt that's going to change." He closed his eyes again for a moment, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Not like lying here will help it, anyway..."

That was true enough, and Ryoma nodded, trying his best to look encouraging. He put an arm around Dan's waist and started towards the door. "You know, when you get better, you'll be able to play around with that stupid mutt of yours again," he said, trying to keep his tone light and teasing.

"Pavlov's not a stupid mutt," Dan replied, managing a faint half-smile. "You're just jealous because I pet him more than you." Ryoma was right, though. His headaches had been eating away at all his activities, even the time he spent with Pavlov. Poor dear's fur was probably in an atrocious state by now, thanks to his constant misery.

"Damn, you got me." Ryoma grinned. "But you know... I get special petting. He doesn't."

Dan laughed a bit, then made a face as it made the ache flare again. "You're right... you get very special attention, my dear..."

Ryoma's grin grew slightly weak as he noticed the flash of pain on Dan's face, and he squeezed his lover's hand tight as they walked down the corridors of the building. "I was talking with Fuji-senpai, by the way."

Dan returned the squeeze, thankful for Ryoma's grasp. "Oh? What were you talking about?" He supposed it wasn't a secret, or Ryoma wouldn't have mentioned the discussion in the first place... right?

"He said he had given you a few pointers to chew my head off," Ryoma grinned, rubbing his thumb over Dan's. "Why didn't I know that?"

Dan felt a tiny flush making its way onto his face. "Because I didn't mention it," he murmured. "I mean, what could I have said? 'I cried at your senpai and he told me it's okay to hit you'?"

Ryoma blinked and ogled at Dan. "He said that? To me he only said that he gave you a few pointers that you had to straighten things out with me, or something like that." He was quiet for a moment, then: "And... You went to him and cried? If he laughed at you I'll kill him."

"Well... technically, he did. I asked him if I was wrong to be hurt by what you'd said, and he said anyone else would have already hit you..." He shook his head. "He didn't laugh... he was very understanding, really. And I didn't exactly go to him and cry," perhaps he wasn't the most prideful of men, but even he had his limits, "he just came along as I was trying to decimate a tennis ball and offered me company... and, well, as we talked... I wasn't feeling all that cheerful. And, well, despite my best attempts I did cry desu."

Hm, well, this was interesting. He had really just started to bring the subject up to get Dan's mind into other things, but... "It's funny that he comes to you and talks when he sure as heck didn't come to me and try to talk to me." He wasn't feeling put off about it, not really, and he guessed it had something to do with him being none too friendly with his senpai when they met the last time, but still. Odd. "He's weird, don't you think?"

"I guess he was just worried I'd hurt myself or something if I tried to channel too much of my energy into the ball, or something." Now Dan almost felt guilty about the fact Fuji had come to talk to him instead of Ryoma. He was Ryoma's senpai, after all. "I... guess," he said, somewhat hesitantly. "But a good kind of weird, I think... in a way desu."

Ryoma looked over at him, quirking an eyebrow. "In a way?" He found himself laughing. "The guy's a mess. And he's a freak. Have you ever tried wasabi sushi? Here's a tip. Don't."

Dan couldn't help but laugh, a small chuckle at least, not wanting to irritate his head again. "I have, and I won't try it again," he said. "And before you ask why, well... I have some... interesting... senpai as well desu."

"Oh? Tell me? I don't really know all that much about the Yamabuki guys, you know. Well, you can skip Akutsu." He shrugged. "Don't think I wanna hear about him. Not right now at least." He grinned weakly.

"...That's kind of a difficult request." Dan brought a hand up to rub his temple for a second. "I mean, I don't know what you'd like to hear about them or anything desu... Except that nobody ever really listens to Minami-buchou, and Sengoku-senpai really is always just as lucky as he claims to be, and Muromachi-senpai is probably the meanest person ever except when he's being nice." He tilted his head to the side. "...And I still haven't thanked Akutsu-senpai for telling me to aim for you."

The tennis ace found himself stopping in his tracks for a moment only to ogle at his boyfriend. "Huh?!"

"Hm?" Dan looked at Ryoma, puzzled. "Something wrong?”

"What did he say you should do?"

Ah. That. Dan smirked a bit. "Not what you apparently thought," he said. "Just... when he quit the tennis club, and I pleaded him not to, saying I couldn't ever be as strong as he was... he told me to try to become like you instead. Him telling me that was the reason I started actually playing desu."

Well, at least it was only that... Even if that only wasn't so much 'only' but hm. Odd. "You mean I owe him?"

"It's simple." Ryoma shrugged. "If you hadn't started playing for real you probably wouldn't have come to this camp and we probably wouldn't have started dating. Right?"

"...That's true," Dan admitted. "I sure am glad I did..." He squeezed Ryoma's hand. Yes, he was indeed glad.

"So... I owe him." Ryoma chuckled. "Of all the god damn people in the world..." He shook his head and then stopped as they had arrived in front of the infirmary door. "Okay... Here we go. You think you can do it?"

"Don't worry about that." Dan gave Ryoma a small grin. "I think he rather thinks he owes you for keeping me off his hair." He drew a deep breath before giving Ryoma a small nod. "...Not like I have much of a choice, ne?"

"Right," the shorter boy replied, both to the matter of Akutsu and Dan's last question. He opened the door and carefully led his boyfriend inside. "Hello, is anyone there?"

"If there's a crisis, I guess, otherwise no," came a cheerful voice from the back of a screen and then a man in his late twenties or early thirties poked his head out, looking the boys over. His white doctor coat swayed around his ankles as he walked up to them. "So. Who needs the fix and what needs fixin'?"

"Well, we see you, so unless you're a ghost or something, I guess it means a crisis," Dan murmured. "I... well, my head's been aching all the time lately desu..."

"Oh? Well, come over here then." The doctor smiled widely - he looked like a psycho if you asked Ryoma - and led Dan over to a bed, placing him down on it. "Can you describe your pains? Are they sharp? Throbbing? How often do the symptoms appear?"

"It's..." Dan tried to think. It wasn't like he was taking data on this... not like he could concentrate enough to do so. "It's more of a dull pain, I guess desu," he said. "I first noticed it a few weeks ago... I thought I was just spending too much time reading or on the computer, and it usually did go away if I went outside for a while. Nowadays, though, it seems to start with seemingly no reason sometimes, and it doesn't go away as easily desu... It's... I have headache almost every day, now."

Ryoma pressed his lips together as he listened to Dan explaining. Well, maybe his boyfriend had his reason to go around and look like a kicked puppy. Why he hadn't told him more about this before, he didn't know. But he wasn't going to press him about it, not now at least. He glanced over at the moronic doctor who looked like he was trying thinking hard, and if you asked Ryoma, he probably wasn't succeeding in his attempt. He nodded his head a few times and then walked over to a drawer, which he pulled out. He walked back to Dan, carrying a small flash light, and then he smiled. Ryoma wondered if it would be okay to just simply strangle him and take Dan away from here. Apparently the doctor was unaware of his impendent death, because he only leaned over slightly, talking in a soft, caring voice:

"I'm going to have to check your eyes... Uhm. Dan-kun, right? I have all your boys medical charts here, and I think I've managed to memorize most of your names. Just try and look into the light for me. It won't hurt, I promise."

The doctor was talking to him like he was a little kid... in any other situation it might have been annoying, but right now Dan was hurting and really couldn't bring himself to care. If this weird doctor could help with the headaches, then yes, he would look at the light and not say something snappy. He was vaguely aware of Ryoma hovering in the background, grateful for his presence at least.

"Well, I can't really find anything wrong," the doctor said after a while, leaning back. "I'm going to send you over to my college in the nearest town. I'll set you up for an appointment as soon as possible, will that be all right? My guess is that you'll going to need glasses pretty soon."

"Glasses?" Dan blinked. "But there's nothing wrong with my eyesight!" He had momentarily considered it, himself, but then far as he could tell, he could see perfectly well.

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to check it out, right? And quite frankly, there could be something wrong." The doctor started to rummage about on his desk, flipping through small stacks of random pamphlets, before he found the right one. "Take this and read through it, if you'd please. It holds some information about farsightedness in young people, and I think you might find it interesting. Read through it, and then come back here, okay? And we'll see about that referral to my college, okay?"

Dan just nodded mutely, not sure what he could say. "Okay," he finally managed to get out. "I... thanks." He really didn't think he needed glasses. He really, really didn't want glasses. But if there was a possibility that was the cause of his headaches... well. It wouldn't hurt to check.

"What, you're not gonna check for something else? What if it's something worse?" Ryoma really didn't like this guy, for some unknown reason, and he didn't like the way he almost brushed Dan's troubles off, as if they were nothing. "And he's still in pain."

"I will give him some pain killers to tide him over, and if they work, I'm pretty certain it's his eyes that are causing the trouble," the doctor replied easily, starting to scribble something down on a note. He handed the note over to Dan and nodded. "You show this in the reception and they'll give you what you need. We'll be billing your parents of course, so you'd might like to inform them."

Dan bit his lip at Ryoma's comment. He... didn't know what to think, now. He didn't want to be poked and prodded in search of "something worse"... he just wanted the headache to go away, in one way or another, before he went crazy with it.

"...I understand." He nodded again. Suddenly, he just wanted to get away from here and curl up with Ryoma.