[KinKi AU] In Sickness and In Health
Disclaimer: This writing is fictional and has no commercial purpose. Characters are real persons belonging to themselves.
Pairing: Tsuyoshi/Kouichi
Genre: AU, romance, fluff
Rating: G
Summary: How they might meet if Kouichi had gone to medical school instead. (Have some G album CMs to help with the imagining.)
---
In Sickness and In Health
Tsuyoshi closed the door to the consultation room. "Good morning."
Kouichi nodded. "Good morning." The face mask had eliminated the need for a friendly smile he wasn't good at giving, but there was a mild twinkle of recognition in his eyes as he registered the patient's face and nasal voice. "Is it the flu again?"
"Yeah." Tsuyoshi sat down, and opened his mouth readily when a thermometer came hovering before his nose.
Kouichi asked a few more questions, apparently having no problem discerning mumbled answers from lips restrained to keep the measuring device in place. "No fever," he concluded after the reading was done. "How long has it been?"
"Um... two weeks, I think."
Kouichi took a break from scribbling on the notes to give him a stern glance. "Have you been eating fruits and vegetables as I advised?"
"I do my best," Tsuyoshi said. His meal plan wasn't always in his control, given the frequency of trips he had to take.
"Sleeping well?"
Tsuyoshi scratched his head. "Not so much, lately." His schedule wasn't always in his control, either.
Kouichi put down his pen. "Then my suggestion is that you go home and take a good rest. That should help better than any medicine."
"But I need to get well by tomorrow," Tsuyoshi replied. "Could you prescribe the usual?"
"You have a gig?" Tsuyoshi's file in the clinic stated his occupation as a presenter.
Tsuyoshi nodded.
Kouichi shook his head slightly, then stood up and approached Tsuyoshi for a stethoscope examination. "You always do this to me. Coming only at the last minute."
"I'm sorry," Tsuyoshi said. The tip of his tongue stuck out in half-grin.
Kouichi caught the sight, and his formal stance loosened. "Well, I can at least be glad that you haven't come with anything worse than a flu... Though it would seem I have only heard you in that muffled voice all these years."
Tsuyoshi was surprised. "Is that so?"
Kouichi let out an uncharacteristic chuckle as he sat down to write. "Well, that's what doctors get. We only see you when you're not looking your best."
He completed the prescription, then slipped it into a slot at the wall connecting the room to the reception counter. "All right, you can collect the medicine outside. But please try to eat and sleep healthily. Medication should be the last resort, especially with your gastric condition."
"Thank you." Tsuyoshi hesitated briefly, then opened his bag. "Actually... I had this recorded before I caught the flu."
Kouichi blinked at the offered object before he took it. It was a recordable CD, labeled with a date and a Roman-lettered word he wasn't sure how to pronounce. "An event recording?"
"It hasn't been officially released, but... if you like, you can listen to it."
Kouichi still looked slightly confused as he placed the CD next to the stationery box on his table. "I'll keep it, then. Thank you."
Tsuyoshi smiled a little, then took his leave.
--
Just before he left the room, Kouichi caught sight of the odd object on his table. He grabbed it, and contemplated it on the way to the parking lot. He hadn't bothered to ask what kind of events Tsuyoshi organized, but if this was a talk of some kind, then he hoped it had some amount of scientific content to keep him from spacing out.
He inserted the CD into the player in his car. Instrumental music played. It was fairly catchy as an intro. Kouichi tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat.
One track passed. Then another. Just when Kouichi was wondering whether Tsuyoshi had given him some other recording by mistake, a clear voice, undoubtedly familiar, started singing.
Kouichi looked in wonder at seconds ticking away on the digital display, and almost drove through the red light.
That night, after his habitual browsing of online medical journals, he Googled the word "Endlicheri".
--
"Good morning."
There was a different recognizing spark in Kouichi's eyes this time around, having retrieved the patient file from the slot on the wall before the man entered. "Good morning."
Tsuyoshi sat down. Kouichi gave him the thermometer, then watched him in silence for a moment.
"Thank you for the CD the other time," he said finally. It had been three months since. "I like it."
"You're welcome," Tsuyoshi replied, mumbling around the device sticking from his mouth. When Kouichi didn't proceed with the usual diagnosis questions, he guessed the cause of awkwardness, and asked, "I take it you don't watch entertainment news, Doctor?"
"I don't," Kouichi admitted. "I'm sorry."
Tsuyoshi chuckled. "It's no big deal."
Kouichi took the thermometer out with a bit more care than usual. "I've always assumed celebrities like you have private doctors to call on."
"We don't," Tsuyoshi said matter-of-factly. "Some of my colleagues do prefer secluded hospitals for privacy, but my mother has been taking me to this clinic since I was little, at the time when your father --I believe-- was the doctor in charge."
"Ah," Kouichi acknowledged. "If I had known, I would have adjusted my suggestions to your lifestyle."
Tsuyoshi tilted his head. "My lifestyle is an ordinary one."
"With this sort of sleeping hours?" Kouichi responded skeptically.
"Your eyebags are as bad as mine, Doctor," Tsuyoshi said, smiling.
Kouichi laughed heartily behind his mask, and the carefree gesture pleased Tsuyoshi somehow. "All right, I won't argue about that one."
Silence settled. Kouichi reached for his pen, and they went through the routine questions.
"I would have liked to give you the same advice as before," Kouichi said after he completed the examination. "But I suppose you're here because you need a speedy recovery."
"I do," Tsuyoshi replied apologetically. "Tomorrow is the first day of my concert."
Kouichi took a while to digest the term. "I see. The usual prescription, then."
Tsuyoshi watched as Kouichi started scribbling. "Actually... would you like to come?"
Kouichi looked at him, surprised. "Eh?"
"I'll be playing music like what's in the CD, so if you enjoyed that-- ah, except there'll be a crowd, but if you don't mind..." Tsuyoshi stopped himself, realizing that his sentences had gotten chaotic from a sudden anxiety.
"I would love to," Kouichi said slowly. "It's not too late to get a ticket? I don't know how these things work..."
"That is fine. I reserved seats for my family, and there are extras. You'd really like to come? Please don't feel obliged."
"I do want to see how it's like," Kouichi said. "I haven't been to a concert before."
"Great." Tsuyoshi took a breath. "My mother will be coming too, and I will feel more at ease to have a doctor by her side." He paused, then quickly added, "But it's really not for that reason that I asked you..."
Kouichi waved it off, and the smile was visible in his eyes. "I'm glad for the honour."
--
Kouichi stretched as he stepped out from the consultation room, then paused as he spotted Tsuyoshi at the reception counter. The rest of the waiting room was empty, while the clinic was closed for lunch break.
He approached. Tsuyoshi greeted him with a smile.
Kouichi nodded to the nurse behind the counter. "I can see him before I go for lunch."
"Ah, no, I'm only here to deliver a package," Tsuyoshi said, and lifted the paper bag in his hand to show it to Kouichi. "If you don't mind, shall we talk over lunch?"
Kouichi agreed, and they headed to the small eatery two doors away.
Tsuyoshi pushed the package across the table where they were seated. "This is from my mother. She has just returned from the onsen trip."
Kouichi was visibly moved as he took it. "Please give her my deepest thanks."
"She also wants to invite you for dinner again. Maybe some time next week?"
"I'll definitely go," Kouichi answered readily.
Tsuyoshi chuckled. "Leave it to a doctor to charm the elderly so easily."
Kouichi shot him a look. "She dotes on you even more. She keeps telling me to tell you to take better care of yourself. I don't know how she thinks a mere doctor's words can get through where a mother's can't."
"She said that?" Tsuyoshi pondered. "I suppose she trusts you a lot now. She told me you really took care of her at the concert. I should thank you for that, too. I haven't been able to get her to come and watch my concert before. The crowd makes her anxious."
"I'm glad to be of help," Kouichi said.
Tsuyoshi grinned. "You didn't actually enjoy the concert yourself, did you?"
Kouichi turned uncomfortable. "Uh, I... don't function well in a crowd either."
"I guessed as much," Tsuyoshi said. "Thank you for coming despite that."
"I did enjoy the music," Kouichi hastened to say. "Most of it, at least."
"Don't worry." Tsuyoshi waved it off. "The reason I invited you was really--"
Kouichi looked up from his meal. "Hm?"
Tsuyoshi put down his eating utensils. "There was this thought: after you've heard my voice without the flu, I wanted to see your face without the surgical mask."
Kouichi blinked. "You can see my face on the roster posted at the waiting room-- ah wait, have we replaced that by now? Anyway--"
Tsuyoshi laughed. "The photograph doesn't smile, nor talk... nor get flustered."
Kouichi wasn't sure why that line made him feel like blushing. "You're making fun of me now?" he protested, trying to restore his composure. "There goes all my credibility as your doctor."
Tsuyoshi picked up his spoon, but didn't resume eating right away. "I wonder if I should find another doctor, under these circumstances," he murmured.
Kouichi peered at the unexpectedly serious expression, and found himself rigid with restlessness. Before he could summon enough courage to ask if it wasn't a joke, Tsuyoshi's eyes lifted to meet his briefly.
Tsuyoshi looked away with a smile, and Kouichi didn't get the answer to his unasked question, nor understand why this time he really did blush.
---
[*] The details on medical practice are referenced from Singapore family clinics. Kindly overlook any discrepancy with the Japanese system. =)P
Pairing: Tsuyoshi/Kouichi
Genre: AU, romance, fluff
Rating: G
Summary: How they might meet if Kouichi had gone to medical school instead. (Have some G album CMs to help with the imagining.)
---
In Sickness and In Health
Tsuyoshi closed the door to the consultation room. "Good morning."
Kouichi nodded. "Good morning." The face mask had eliminated the need for a friendly smile he wasn't good at giving, but there was a mild twinkle of recognition in his eyes as he registered the patient's face and nasal voice. "Is it the flu again?"
"Yeah." Tsuyoshi sat down, and opened his mouth readily when a thermometer came hovering before his nose.
Kouichi asked a few more questions, apparently having no problem discerning mumbled answers from lips restrained to keep the measuring device in place. "No fever," he concluded after the reading was done. "How long has it been?"
"Um... two weeks, I think."
Kouichi took a break from scribbling on the notes to give him a stern glance. "Have you been eating fruits and vegetables as I advised?"
"I do my best," Tsuyoshi said. His meal plan wasn't always in his control, given the frequency of trips he had to take.
"Sleeping well?"
Tsuyoshi scratched his head. "Not so much, lately." His schedule wasn't always in his control, either.
Kouichi put down his pen. "Then my suggestion is that you go home and take a good rest. That should help better than any medicine."
"But I need to get well by tomorrow," Tsuyoshi replied. "Could you prescribe the usual?"
"You have a gig?" Tsuyoshi's file in the clinic stated his occupation as a presenter.
Tsuyoshi nodded.
Kouichi shook his head slightly, then stood up and approached Tsuyoshi for a stethoscope examination. "You always do this to me. Coming only at the last minute."
"I'm sorry," Tsuyoshi said. The tip of his tongue stuck out in half-grin.
Kouichi caught the sight, and his formal stance loosened. "Well, I can at least be glad that you haven't come with anything worse than a flu... Though it would seem I have only heard you in that muffled voice all these years."
Tsuyoshi was surprised. "Is that so?"
Kouichi let out an uncharacteristic chuckle as he sat down to write. "Well, that's what doctors get. We only see you when you're not looking your best."
He completed the prescription, then slipped it into a slot at the wall connecting the room to the reception counter. "All right, you can collect the medicine outside. But please try to eat and sleep healthily. Medication should be the last resort, especially with your gastric condition."
"Thank you." Tsuyoshi hesitated briefly, then opened his bag. "Actually... I had this recorded before I caught the flu."
Kouichi blinked at the offered object before he took it. It was a recordable CD, labeled with a date and a Roman-lettered word he wasn't sure how to pronounce. "An event recording?"
"It hasn't been officially released, but... if you like, you can listen to it."
Kouichi still looked slightly confused as he placed the CD next to the stationery box on his table. "I'll keep it, then. Thank you."
Tsuyoshi smiled a little, then took his leave.
--
Just before he left the room, Kouichi caught sight of the odd object on his table. He grabbed it, and contemplated it on the way to the parking lot. He hadn't bothered to ask what kind of events Tsuyoshi organized, but if this was a talk of some kind, then he hoped it had some amount of scientific content to keep him from spacing out.
He inserted the CD into the player in his car. Instrumental music played. It was fairly catchy as an intro. Kouichi tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat.
One track passed. Then another. Just when Kouichi was wondering whether Tsuyoshi had given him some other recording by mistake, a clear voice, undoubtedly familiar, started singing.
Kouichi looked in wonder at seconds ticking away on the digital display, and almost drove through the red light.
That night, after his habitual browsing of online medical journals, he Googled the word "Endlicheri".
--
"Good morning."
There was a different recognizing spark in Kouichi's eyes this time around, having retrieved the patient file from the slot on the wall before the man entered. "Good morning."
Tsuyoshi sat down. Kouichi gave him the thermometer, then watched him in silence for a moment.
"Thank you for the CD the other time," he said finally. It had been three months since. "I like it."
"You're welcome," Tsuyoshi replied, mumbling around the device sticking from his mouth. When Kouichi didn't proceed with the usual diagnosis questions, he guessed the cause of awkwardness, and asked, "I take it you don't watch entertainment news, Doctor?"
"I don't," Kouichi admitted. "I'm sorry."
Tsuyoshi chuckled. "It's no big deal."
Kouichi took the thermometer out with a bit more care than usual. "I've always assumed celebrities like you have private doctors to call on."
"We don't," Tsuyoshi said matter-of-factly. "Some of my colleagues do prefer secluded hospitals for privacy, but my mother has been taking me to this clinic since I was little, at the time when your father --I believe-- was the doctor in charge."
"Ah," Kouichi acknowledged. "If I had known, I would have adjusted my suggestions to your lifestyle."
Tsuyoshi tilted his head. "My lifestyle is an ordinary one."
"With this sort of sleeping hours?" Kouichi responded skeptically.
"Your eyebags are as bad as mine, Doctor," Tsuyoshi said, smiling.
Kouichi laughed heartily behind his mask, and the carefree gesture pleased Tsuyoshi somehow. "All right, I won't argue about that one."
Silence settled. Kouichi reached for his pen, and they went through the routine questions.
"I would have liked to give you the same advice as before," Kouichi said after he completed the examination. "But I suppose you're here because you need a speedy recovery."
"I do," Tsuyoshi replied apologetically. "Tomorrow is the first day of my concert."
Kouichi took a while to digest the term. "I see. The usual prescription, then."
Tsuyoshi watched as Kouichi started scribbling. "Actually... would you like to come?"
Kouichi looked at him, surprised. "Eh?"
"I'll be playing music like what's in the CD, so if you enjoyed that-- ah, except there'll be a crowd, but if you don't mind..." Tsuyoshi stopped himself, realizing that his sentences had gotten chaotic from a sudden anxiety.
"I would love to," Kouichi said slowly. "It's not too late to get a ticket? I don't know how these things work..."
"That is fine. I reserved seats for my family, and there are extras. You'd really like to come? Please don't feel obliged."
"I do want to see how it's like," Kouichi said. "I haven't been to a concert before."
"Great." Tsuyoshi took a breath. "My mother will be coming too, and I will feel more at ease to have a doctor by her side." He paused, then quickly added, "But it's really not for that reason that I asked you..."
Kouichi waved it off, and the smile was visible in his eyes. "I'm glad for the honour."
--
Kouichi stretched as he stepped out from the consultation room, then paused as he spotted Tsuyoshi at the reception counter. The rest of the waiting room was empty, while the clinic was closed for lunch break.
He approached. Tsuyoshi greeted him with a smile.
Kouichi nodded to the nurse behind the counter. "I can see him before I go for lunch."
"Ah, no, I'm only here to deliver a package," Tsuyoshi said, and lifted the paper bag in his hand to show it to Kouichi. "If you don't mind, shall we talk over lunch?"
Kouichi agreed, and they headed to the small eatery two doors away.
Tsuyoshi pushed the package across the table where they were seated. "This is from my mother. She has just returned from the onsen trip."
Kouichi was visibly moved as he took it. "Please give her my deepest thanks."
"She also wants to invite you for dinner again. Maybe some time next week?"
"I'll definitely go," Kouichi answered readily.
Tsuyoshi chuckled. "Leave it to a doctor to charm the elderly so easily."
Kouichi shot him a look. "She dotes on you even more. She keeps telling me to tell you to take better care of yourself. I don't know how she thinks a mere doctor's words can get through where a mother's can't."
"She said that?" Tsuyoshi pondered. "I suppose she trusts you a lot now. She told me you really took care of her at the concert. I should thank you for that, too. I haven't been able to get her to come and watch my concert before. The crowd makes her anxious."
"I'm glad to be of help," Kouichi said.
Tsuyoshi grinned. "You didn't actually enjoy the concert yourself, did you?"
Kouichi turned uncomfortable. "Uh, I... don't function well in a crowd either."
"I guessed as much," Tsuyoshi said. "Thank you for coming despite that."
"I did enjoy the music," Kouichi hastened to say. "Most of it, at least."
"Don't worry." Tsuyoshi waved it off. "The reason I invited you was really--"
Kouichi looked up from his meal. "Hm?"
Tsuyoshi put down his eating utensils. "There was this thought: after you've heard my voice without the flu, I wanted to see your face without the surgical mask."
Kouichi blinked. "You can see my face on the roster posted at the waiting room-- ah wait, have we replaced that by now? Anyway--"
Tsuyoshi laughed. "The photograph doesn't smile, nor talk... nor get flustered."
Kouichi wasn't sure why that line made him feel like blushing. "You're making fun of me now?" he protested, trying to restore his composure. "There goes all my credibility as your doctor."
Tsuyoshi picked up his spoon, but didn't resume eating right away. "I wonder if I should find another doctor, under these circumstances," he murmured.
Kouichi peered at the unexpectedly serious expression, and found himself rigid with restlessness. Before he could summon enough courage to ask if it wasn't a joke, Tsuyoshi's eyes lifted to meet his briefly.
Tsuyoshi looked away with a smile, and Kouichi didn't get the answer to his unasked question, nor understand why this time he really did blush.
---
[*] The details on medical practice are referenced from Singapore family clinics. Kindly overlook any discrepancy with the Japanese system. =)P