╰┈➤ Tomoya's situation is growing stressful. unable to handle the pressure any longer, the anxiety finally crashes over him, and stress causes sickness, leaving you to take care of him while he recovers.
SICKNESS(vomit) WARNING!!!
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
The wintertime always brought about its certain unfair edges. Sometimes, certain people have nosebleeds. Others have cracked skin. But Tomoya has work stress.
Mounds of idol work surrounded him, rendering him with zero free time. His life had become a rinse-and-repeat cycle of waking up, working himself to the bone, then collapsing into his mattress the moment he got the chance to. While Tomoya loves every single one of his fans to bits, he often wishes that their requests and eager fan-mail would take a subtle cease; just for a day or two.
The moment that this thought crossed Tomoya's mind, his head violently shook from left to right in more of an uncoordinated bob. His eyelids, heavier than two trucks, began to fall over his eyes in spite of his every attempt to wake himself up. At this point, coffee was his only saving grace.
It was strange. Tomoya never liked coffee before—
"Hey, Tomo." Said the familiar voice of a young producer(you).
"Whaa—!" Tomoya fumbled with his cup of coffee, almost dropping it in the process. He shakily set the cup on a nearby desk that he was standing beside. "Sorry, Producer! I didn't mean to make that obnoxious sound.."
His shameful apology made you laugh gently, your lips lifting into a genuine smile. "No problem. I'm sorry about startling you— hopefully you didn't get burned by that coffee."
Tomoya shook his head. "Not at all! You're not in the position to apologize." Said he.
You squinted at him..
His eyes drooped with dark rings and heavy bags. His entire face looked sunken in an exhausted manner. Your eyebrows curved downwards as you examined him further, disregarding his gaze catching onto your obvious stare.
"Uh.. Producer? Why are you staring at me like that?" Asked Tomoya, his face slightly more nervous than before.
Your eyes snapped back to his. "You look exhausted. Is work stressing you out?"
Tomoya awkwardly laughed off your concern, his arms folded over his chest. "No need to worry. I'm all right, really." He smiled to reassure you. In your eyes, this smile was fake as plastic. You squinted at him.
"Are you sure? How about a small break?" You held your hand out to him.
Tomoya hesitantly placed his sweaty hand into your palm, heaving an unsteady sigh afterwards. "...okay. Let's take a break together, then." He repeated. You could sense that his urgency was a cover-up to avoid being caught in a panic.
You curled your fingers around his hand, holding his skin close to yours. With that, you turned around and began steadily guiding him outside of the building.
The office area soon vanished in you and Tomoya's wake as you both walked hand-in-hand down the hall. The longer the walk stretched, the worse the casual "arm cross" that Tomoya upheld grew into a self-hug. His steps began to slow. Your head whirled around to peek over your shoulder, your hand still in Tomoya's. You could feel his figure shuttering as you approached the exit doors to the ES building, freeing your hand from Tomoya's. You pushed the door open.
Tomoya thanked you in an awkward mumble. His complexion drained of color, leaving behind a ghastly appearance in its wake. He began to hunch over, his arms still holding himself in a self-hug.
Before long, you noticed his sides heaving.
"Sorry— I'm sorry." His voice wavered as his breaths heaved. You could see the sweat covering his forehead.
Your expression dropped. "Oh, sh—" You carefully placed your arm over Tomoya's shoulder, allowing him to lean his opposite shoulder into your chest. His knees grew weak, though you could feel the convulsions of his body—
Bleck..!
You trained your eyes on Tomoya's heaving frame as he proceeded to hurl nothing but water. The first wave ceased quickly, leaving Tomoya panting shakily. Before long, his back slightly arched as he vomited more water.
You eyed the water with wide eyes. "Have you been eating lately, Tomoya?" You gently questioned, your gaze shifting back onto his hair, which you had gathered in your hand to hold back.
"I—" he inhaled sharply moments before another wave of vomit sent shivers down his body. "Coff.. coff..! Make it stop.." he pleaded as his brown gaze landed upon you.
At that point, you didn't know what to do. You're certainly not Nazuna, who would most certainly have a quick-witted plan for this situation woven within seconds. But you, all you could do was watch.
"Tomoya," you adjusted your grasp to better support him as a means of comfort. "How have you been lately? Be honest."
Tears threatened to fall from Tomoya's eyes as he gazed into your eyes. You could see his entire expression wavering, including his chin wrinkling and his bottom lip quivering. He hung his head before replying. "Awful.. I brought everyone down with my own work, and now you're here because of me— I can't believe I'm so stupid. I cause problems for everyone. I'm horrible.." His voice was intensely hoarse.
Your words of comfort were cut off abruptly before you could even begin to formulate them.
"I hate myself..!" Wailed Tomoya, his face seeking hiding in your clothes. You didn't mind, especially since this incident wasn't too bad. It was unexpected, but just water and probably a drop of bile, nothing to fear.
Your eyes rounded as you caught Tomoya's exhausted figure in your hands by his shoulders. "Okay— uh, calm down. Please. It'll be okay. You're just panicking right now. It's okay, it's okay. Please, please stop crying." You pleaded, unsure of how else to comfort the sobbing idol.
Not even that consoled Tomoya. All he did was cry and cry and cry some more. You found yourself beginning to guide him away from the ES building entrance. This way, you could better comfort him.
Work stress is definitely awful, and you could how Tomoya wouldn't be left with any time to eat, but at that point, this was all absurd.
You halted a short distance from the Ensemble Square main building. With that, you began rubbing Tomoya's back. He blurted inaudible sentences to you as a means of ranting to free his burdens. As it stood, you were fine with that.
"Aghh.. Producer, I'm so sorry that you're forced to— hic! Forced to love someone like me..!" He strung out his words as he choked on his own sobs, his tears being absorbed into your clothing with little effort.
You pat his head gingerly. "It's my choice— Tomoya. Tomoya..?" You beckoned him over his sorrowful cries.
"Hm?" He finally lifted his head to look into your gaze.
"Dude, it's gonna be okay. Breathe with me."
You deeply inhaled. Tomoya copied. You slowly exhaled. Tomoya copied, mirroring your breathing patterns nearly immediately. You smiled at him. "Relax. I got your back. Split the workload with me, eat, take care of yourself."
His expression softened. With a small snivel, he placed his cheek against your shoulder and gazed into your eyes. "Are you sure? I don't want to overwork you." He quietly said.
"Wow," you deadpanned. "You're more overworked than everyone in Ensemble Square combined. So, a little help can't hurt."
Tomoya's brows knitted as he cried a bit more. "...I'm sorry."
You shook your head. "Relax. I'm not mad at you, so it'll all be okay. Let's just get you back to my office— then you can eat and sleep."
Tomoya nodded slightly before shutting his eyes as he leaned into you, exhaling a shaky breath onto your neck to summon your attention. "Please don't tell Ni~chan about this.. he'd be so disappointed in me."
"He never needs to know." You replied calmly. "Alright, can you walk by yourself?"
"I'm fine, thank you.." with that, Tomoya steadied himself. You walked slowly to guide him to your office for a much-needed rest.
And as you said you would, you'd sit at your desk and organize everything while Tomoya ate whatever cooking you provided him.
As you said, Nazuna never needed to know.