[University] Damsel--Prince in Distress Sometimes, Shisui wished for the excuse that his anorexia had to do with an insecurity with his figure, rather than radiation therapy on his hips which made him spend hours in the freaking john and made him sick as hell. Also tired.
Which was why after dinner today - oh, he’d actually been hungry, thought he could handle eating a few slices of pizza, imagine that - he was asleep in the girl’s bathroom. On the floor in front of a toilet. He’d vomited for a while, and then had put his hoodie down as a ‘towel’. Thank the spirits he’d been wearing a long shirt, even if it was skin-tight.
After puking, he’d just flushed, pulled down the toilet lid, and pillowed his arms so he could sleep. He just didn’t think he could walk all the way to his dorm, so he just gave up. Better if he puked again, too. Shisui didn’t realize that one foot had made its way to poke out from under the bathroom door, but no one tripped over it and woke him up.
Itachi made a point to help Hayate with her RA duties. So, when she saw a foot sticking out from under a bathroom stall, Itachi decided something needed to be done about it. Itachi sighed, dressed in a nightgown, and knocked on the door.
“Everything okay in there?” Itachi knelt to take the foot’s pulse.
Shisui stirred slightly as the knock came, and her foot twitched under Itachi’s touch, but she didn’t react otherwise.
Itachi sighed. Someone had partied too hard, it seemed. Instead of going under, Itachi walked over to the next stall. She stood on the toilet and set her hands on the stall divider. With a jumped and a heave, Itachi got herself perched there, then hopped down onto the toilet of the other stall.
From the back of that toilet, Itachi could smell vomit. She grimaced and steppped down beside Shisui, kneeling down and touching Shisui’s neck gently. More gently than she intended as her hand wandered up to touch Shisui;s curls--the little soft ones at the base of his neck.
“Shisui.” Itachi sighed.
“Wakeup, idiot.”
This time, Shisui managed to open his eyes. He wasn’t really awake though, just enough to see that there was someone touching them, someone who he liked. Mumbling something that sounded like ‘hey, kid’, Shisui leaned into Itachi and the touch, eyes closing again. He was so tired...
“I said, wake-up, Shisui.” Itachi cradled the back of the other’s head. “Are you sick?” Itachi propped a knee on Shisui’s hip. “You’re in the girl’s bathroom.” Itachi should be mad, but she couldn’t be. Shisui looked pale, and if he was sick, that would explain why he was in the girl's bathroom.
Blinking heavily, Shisui managed to make himself wake up, and then nodded. Blinked. “Girls’ more private.” He had the urge to crawl into Itachi’s lap and fall asleep in there, but instead he sat up a little more. Pushed at Itachi’s knee, because she didn’t like it there.
“Why do you need privacy? Are you okay, Shisui? Should I take you to the nurse?” Itachi asked. She pinched Shisui’s ear.
“Easier to puke in a toilet than a urinal,” And she had rights to the girl’s bathroom, not like she would tell Itachi that. “I’m--I just need to get to my dorm. No nurse. Just need to learn not to be stupid.”
“Where’s your room?” Itachi asked. Of course, she as now going to help Shisui. She was worried. Her hand was still touching him, and she really didn’t want to pull it away.
“Foxfire, first floor. ‘Sa single.” It would have been nice if it weren’t so far. Shisui decided that Itachi would be good to cling to; he felt dizzy, enough to make him want to fall over.
“Okay, let me get the wheelchair.” Itachi slowly stood and unlocked the door. She hurried from the bathroom to get the hall’s wheelchair. That in hand, she took it back to the bathroom, glad the halls were so empty tonight. There was some party going on that most people were off at tonight.
Itachi wheeled the chair into the bathroom and back over to Shisui’s stall.
“I hate wheelchairs,” Shisui spat, but let Itachi go. She managed to crawl from the stall to the sink, and was able to stand and rinse her mouth out, though she had to lean heavily on it. When she caught sight of Itachi, she said nothing, just grabbed the wheelchair she was already shaking all over and lowered herself into it.
“Sorry, I don’t think I can carry you, and you’re not as likely to fall down,” Itachi apologized. She absently leaned down and tucked Shisui’s shins into position. She straightened and set her hands on the handles.
“Ready?”
“I’m somewhere around ninety...” Probably more, but still. Shisui let herself be manhandled and hummed an affirmative. This sucked. Maybe she would fall asleep on the way.
“You need to eat more.” Itachi wheeled Shisui around and gently out the door. “Do you have your room key?” If not, she’d need to wake Hayate.
“I can’t. You saw what happens.” Shisui nodded and dug her key out of her pocket, holding it up for Itachi. Then she yawned.
“Every time?” Itachi asked skeptically. She took the card and paused at Shisui’s door. All she intended to do was get Shisui settled with a bucket and then leave. Itachi leaned over Shisui to open the door and had to lean a little farther to open it. Itachi pulled back and dropped the card in Shisui’s lap before wheeling her into the room.
“Do you want some sprite or something like that?” Itachi asked, pushing Shisui over to the bed.
“If I’m not careful.” Shisui pulled the bed sheets up to pull out a hospital bin. She grimaced at it, but set it on the bed next to the pillow. Then pointed to a cooler on her desk. “I have a ginger ale in there. Couldya pass it?” Flicking the card on the night table, Shisui stood and then pretty much fell into the bed. In a mess of movements she’d curled under the cover, removed the cargo pants and skin tight shirt, and only her head was poking out.
“Sweet, sweet sleep! How I miss the days when I could survive on two hours!” Shisui lamented, dragging up the comforter further.
Itachi turned to the cooler as soon as she was certain that Shisui wouldn’t fall out. Itachi pulled out the ginger ale and turned around to find clothes everywhere. Itachi didn’t think much of it---until she toed up a pair of women’s underwear. Then she thought she might know why Shisui was so sick.
“Here.” Her tone was icier. Clipped. “You should take better care of yourself.”
Now she would leave, because it was ridiculous that she would be upset over women’s underwear in Shisui’s room. She had no reason to care. No reason to expect anything other than that.
“I hope you feel better soon.” No, actually, she hoped he felt miserable for a good long while. She should have left him on the bathroom floor. Itachi snatched the wheelchair and tugged it towards the door.
“...Thanks...” Shisui told her when she got the sprite, but was actually terribly insulted. It wasn’t worth giving up the gender front, but jeez. Propping herself up on a pillow, Shisui clutched her sprite and stared at Itachi for a long moment. “Whatever the hell I did to insult you, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t mean to make you run off the other night, I don’t know what I did. I flirt with every living being, don’t take it personally. But sorry.” There. Shisui tugged the blankets further up her shoulders.
Itachi paused with her hand on the door. “I don’t care who you flirt with, Shisui.” She liked how his name sounded--how it twisted on her tongue and made something in her brain spark warm and blue. She was annoyed, and she knew it wasn’t because Shisui had flirted with her. It bothered her that...
Perhaps just that. That Shisui flirted with anyone. Itachi just wanted to be special to Shisui, oddly enough. She wanted this total stranger to approve her and hold her in regard above his other friends and acquaintances. Silly, yes, she knew that, but it didn’t stop her from feeling like that. While she often had gut reactions to people, she never had them this strongly in a positive way. Maybe this was just a normal hormonal reaction, though Shisui wasn’t that attractive. Itachi remembered the feeling of Shisui’s hand on hers, which still sent a tingle up her arm.
“I think it’s best if we don’t pursue any kind of relationship.” Because Itachi knew she was going to get in too deep too fast with Shisui. She already had the urge to crawl back and slip under the covers--something whispering that curling up and sleeping with that warmth would bring the sweetest dreams and deepest sleep. Itachi glanced back at the sleeping man and started to open the door.
Wait, wait, wait wait! Don’t leave him like that!
“Not even a friendship, Itachi?” Itachi-chan. Itachi-kun. Love. Shisui, he didn’t want to end it like this. He didn’t want his last impression to be of this girl walking away, out of his dorm door without one kind of nice word. It hurt something deep, enough that it made him want to scream and throw himself after Itachi.
Why should he want to hug her, caress her, make her feel like the greatest thing in the world? To even... teach her, about what he didn’t know. He just had to show her... Shisui’s face contorted slightly, and then he burrowed further into the blankets. Fine.
“I’m not good with casual relationships,” Itachi smiled. “And you seem the type all too used to those types. I think we’d hurt each other too much.” Itachi depressed the door handle.
“Please take care of yourself,” Itachi murmured as she stepped out.
Shisui just sighed and spoke when the room was empty but for him. “I already told you I don’t. Can’t take me for my word?” And that was it.