Chapter Text
"Hey."
Yami's groggy morning voice was the first sound welcoming her into consciousness. How someone could sound both so incredibly soft and gruff at the same time, she didn't understand. It was rather in line with who he was as a person and so it was more just something else about him to appreciate.
But this morning there was nothing about it she could appreciate. Nor the somewhat abrupt shaking of her shoulder from his warm, strong hand. He wasn't even being particularly rough, yet it was terribly jarring for some reason! Enough to irritate her, which was unusual. After so much time harboring overwhelming feelings of love and admiration for him, there was little about his everyday actions of care that could even rise to being considered genuinely bothersome to her. She had almost lost him far too many times, and that tended to put things into perspective for a person. It was simply not possible for her to take him for granted. Even if he was so very ruthlessly ending her much needed rest.
Still clinging to the last remnants of sleep, in place of words, Charlotte released only a groan, eyes still closed. In fact, currently she was squeezing them shut, brows pinched together, as if stubbornly fighting the fates of the morning.
"Charlotte, you slept way past your wake-up time," he said, an alertness to his voice that felt like he was giving her heart a little hug. He could not have cared less about showing up for his own responsibilities on time. But he knew that it mattered to her to be timely and professional and, because of that, it seemed to matter to him, too. Their relationship had done wonders for Yami's success rate with showing up to Captain meetings on time, at least when they started their days together. Enough that they may have finally earned Nozel's approval, not that either of them cared about his opinion. It had somewhat jokingly become Charlotte's responsibility to wrangle him up and deliver him to those meetings on time, one which she only somewhat reluctantly welcomed. Plus, she had her ways to encourage and reinforce proper behavior from him...
She surprised herself by hardly reacting to his statement. Wasn't she supposed to jump out of bed in a panic and speed-run through her morning routine to make up for any lost time, even if it meant missing breakfast? And yet she remained still lying in bed, eyes closed, now finding herself turning onto her side and huddling to ward off the cold air Yami had welcomed by lifting up the blankets.
"I think I just need a little more time," she finally said, her first words of the day hardly more than a whisper.
"Uh, it's already the middle of the mornin'," Yami replied, confusion clear in his voice. "How much more damn time do you need?"
She remained silent, finding herself being peacefully coaxed back into slumber. So harshly thwarted by the sensation of his hand on her forehead. His touch was lovingly gentle, which normally melted her heart entirely. She typically cherished times like these. But in this moment it was more of a nuisance, though she was too exhausted to express the sentiment to him.
"You're burnin' up, you know that?" It was the first time he actually sounded concerned.
"Doesn't feel like it," she replied. "Please bring back the blankets." While they were past the silly nervous stages of dating, during which she had still been overly polite and proper, unsure how to be in front him, this was bringing their current state of familiarity to a new level. She found that she simply didn't care how pathetic or ridiculous she may have looked right now.
Charlotte, eyes still closed, blindly reached out, hoping to make contact with the edges of the still pulled-away blankets she so desperately missed. Mid-reach, she felt as his hand took hers.
"I've got ya," he said, keeping hold of her hand and using his free hand to drag the blankets back up to cover her. Oh, that was so much better! He wasn't annoying, he was a saint! Bless him!
"Thank you." She gave his hand a squeeze. Nothing particularly strong, because she was feeling rather weak in her energy depletion.
"I think you're sick."
Charlotte sighed. "I don't have time to be sick."
She heard a small chuckle and finally opened her eyes. The light shining through her curtains was far too bright! It was going to contribute to the headache she already had! Oh, but it may just have been worth it to see the sweet warmth of adoration in his eyes as he remained watching her quietly. He was sitting up beside her, hair still messy from sleep (though it was never particularly tidy to begin with, so this wasn't much of a change from normal) and eyelids still just a little heavy. Which was fair. If she had slept in, so had he. She was always the one awake first and usually ended up forcing him out of bed to start his day at a reasonable hour, no matter how much he resisted or complained. Today, it seemed, the roles were reversed for the first time.
She was beyond thankful that they chose to sleep at her base last night. She shuddered to think of how she would have handled the chaos and noise of the Black Bulls base with how she was feeling this morning.
"I don't think you get to pick when you're sick," he remarked, his fingers delicately combing through her hair. Which felt heavenly. She heard him sigh. "I should've known you weren't feelin' well."
"What do you mean?" she found herself asking, hoping he never stopped playing with her hair until the end of time. That and the warmth of the blankets were the only two good things happening to her right now.
"You just weren't really yourself last night. Somethin' was a little off."
So he had noticed. Her energy had been lackluster last night but she had accounted it to just being one of those evenings during which one finds themselves unusually tired for no reason. Nothing a good night's sleep couldn't solve, she had assumed. She was unaware, though, that she had presented with any clues that she felt anything less than typical.
"I'm surprised you noticed," she remarked.
"I think I know ya pretty well by now."
Those words left an impression in her mind. They had only been officially together for a few months and she was still getting used to someone knowing her this well; to someone caring this much about her that he could recognize the night before she fell ill. That hadn't even happened with her parents when she was a child. And she could hide everything she wanted to from her girls, as much as they idolized her. Someone who had chosen her and could see through to who she really was; who could notice when she was "off," was still somewhat remarkable and unfamiliar to her.
When he said the words, it was as if it finally solidified the fact that she truly was ill and could not trick herself into believing otherwise for the sake of a productive day. Though slower and foggier than normal, Charlotte's brain transitioned into damage-control-mode. She would need to use her communication device to alert her Vice Captain that she was sick and would be delegating all duties today. Fortunately, being at her own base meant that they could come speak to her if they needed anything. There were no meetings for the Captains scheduled this week, so travel wasn't necessary, and larger plans would not have to be taken into account during her rearranging of plans.
With another breath, she sat up, hating every millisecond of the action when lying down had felt so good!! Her head pounded and she found herself squeezing her eyes shut once more, hand pressed to her forehead.
"What are you doing?" Yami asked.
"I need to alert the girls that I will not be running things today," she explained. "The Vice Captain will need to know she is responsible for the day."
"I can do that."
"Hm?"
"I can go let them know."
That was true. She hadn't thought of that. She wasn't accustomed to this yet—where everything wasn't just on her all the time.
"But—"
"What, you don't think I can handle deliverin' a message to your girls?"
Charlotte was fairly certain he was joking, but at the same time she could see him being equally serious. He had made some of her brigade members cry on more than one occasion, requiring a swift scolding from her followed by supervised reparations. It wasn't out of the question to be a little wary of sending him off to speak with them on his own...
She did her best to give him a pointed expression, but had no clue if it landed.
"I promise I'll be nice to your delicate little flowers," he said, once again sounding both like he was joking and serious. It was all too confusing for her right now! Normally she could keep up with his shenanigans, but today she didn't have the physical or mental energy to even try!
"You will not be making my life easier if I have to get up anyway to go provide emotional support to one of my brigade members because you couldn't behave around them just this once."
Yami rolled his eyes.
"I think I deserve a little more credit than you're givin' me right now."
Charlotte sighed.
"Look," Yami continued. "I'm tryin' to make your day easier, not harder. I know how to behave. I'm not a damn child."
"Debatable," she replied. The first joke she was able to crack all morning. She felt a tiny smile grow on her face.
"You're lucky you're feelin' like shit, otherwise you'd be payin' for that," he teased with a smirk, filling her with a small puff of warmth within. "But seriously, let me take care of that. You just rest, alright?"
She was adept at arguing with him. She seemed to be one of the few who could keep up with him, never backing down from a verbal sparring match with him. But today, she didn't have it in her to fight.
"Fine," she relented. "Thank you."
Yami leaned over, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You bet. Now rest."
She didn't need to be told twice, surprisingly. Was that a first? Charlotte reclined back until her head found the pillow, and closed her eyes, already feeling better just by lying down.
"I'll be back in a few," Yami said.
"What do you mean?"
"I just want to make sure you're good."
"You don't need to do that, Yami. I'm fine."
"Yeah, that's what I'm about to go talk to your Vice Captain about: The fact that you're fine."
She did not appreciate the sarcasm.
"Yami, I do not need your help with anything. I'm going to be sleeping all day. I appreciate that you're going to go take care of talking to the girls. I really do. But after that, you can return home."
She heard him sigh and she figured he didn't like her reply but what she said was true. She suspected that all she would be doing for the majority of the day was sleeping. He didn't need to waste his day when there wasn't anything she would need. He had enough to take care of with his brigade, and with his sister still visiting. The last thing he needed was to sit around watching her do absolutely nothing at the sacrifice of his own plans.
"Fine," he said. Eyes still closed, she heard his footsteps grow quieter, then the sound of her bedroom door opening and closing.
The world quickly swirled away into nothingness as she easily drifted to sleep once more. Thank goodness.
It was short-lived.
She heard the sound of a deep voice cutting into whatever she had been dreaming about. It took her a moment to register the fact that it was real.
"What?" she asked, opening her eyes and fighting the feeling like she wasn't sure whether or not this was just another dream.
"Talked to your girls. They said to rest. And told me to bring you this." Yami placed a container of water by her bedside.
"Thank you," she said and closed her eyes again.
"And you know what?" Yami asked.
She did not know. Nor did she care. The only thing she cared about was sleep.
Yami did not wait for her to respond.
"I think it's bullshit you won't let me take care of you," he stated, his voice direct and angry.
"I don't need anything," she replied, her voice almost a whine. Did they really have to discuss this right now?
"What if you want soup?"
"I don't want soup."
"But what if you do later?"
"Then I'll go get soup," she replied. They had had plenty of stupid debates but this one may have taken the cake.
"But you're sick."
"Yes, and I have been sick plenty of times before and somehow could still go retrieve myself some soup if I wanted any. Which I typically didn't."
"I don't know why you're bein' so difficult!"
"I don't know why this matters so much to you!" she exclaimed back, surprising herself with the amount of energy she could gather for just that one moment. It was gone in a flash and she regretted speaking up, feeling dizzy.
"Are you fuckin' serious?" he asked, as if she were the one making no sense.
She thought he was about to get angry and throw one of his little tantrums she had witnessed countless times over the past 15 years or so. But instead he got quiet. Still angry, but a quiet and sad kind of angry that had her mentally scrambling, trying to figure out how to handle it. This was a new one for her!
"Yami, what's going on?"
She reached out her hands, waiting for him to take them and then pulled him to sit down on the edge of the bed beside her.
"This thing we're doin'? I take it seriously," he stated, his voice quiet and solemn.
"So do I."
"I know I'm the one kinda playin' catch-up with feelings and everything but...I care a lot. About this. About you."
She reached up to place a hand on his cheek.
"I don't like seein' you not feelin' well," Yami added.
"I'm going to be fine, though," Charlotte assured.
"But that doesn't change the fact that the woman I love is sick. I just...I don't like it. And I'm not used to worryin' about somethin' like this. I just wish you'd let me in a little."
"I Just know how much you have on your plate," Charlotte explained. "I don't want to get in the way of all that for you. It's not that I don't trust you or don't want you around, because of course I do. I just don't want to be the reason you're not able to do what you need to do with your brigade, with your sister, or whatever else you've got going on right now. Things haven't exactly been easy in the Kingdom the past few months."
"This is more important to me."
Charlotte sighed. "I suppose I'm just not used to someone caring this much." She lowered her eyes, which were suddenly teary for a reason she couldn't understand. Maybe it was just that she was so exhausted that there was little to protect herself from the realization that she had experienced a profound loneliness during many different parts of her life, and she still couldn't comprehend the fact that she was no longer in it by herself.
Yami wiped away the rogue tears with his finger. "Well get used to it," he said with a sly smile. One that made her heart flutter whenever she saw it. Now was no exception, even as tired as she was.
"If I say you can stay here will you let me sleep?" she asked, doing her best to tease him despite having absolutely no energy to follow through with the delivery.
"I don't feel like I'm really bein' appreciated here," he joked.
"I'll appreciate you far more after I get some sleep."
He released a small humored huff. And then he was beside her on the bed and she was in his arms, her head resting on his chest and realizing that it was all far more comfortable than just resting alone on her pillow. Sooner than before, with the return of his fingers stroking through her hair, she was asleep once again.
She could get used to this partnership thing.