Only Losers Get Sick

Masaru froze for a moment, confusing Mia and also raising her hopes. Would he give in? A smile started to blossom on her face, though it faded as he made another sound. Her hand fell from his cheek, her head hung and she took a deep breath that she let out in a long sigh.

"Sorry sorry, you need rest. Is there anything else I can do? Lakshmi has a tv... and I have some movies and shows in my cloak if...you want to watch something..." Mia's smile returned, a bit sheepish as she moved away from Masaru.

"It's fine, and...I'm alright." He replied, finally letting his eyes move over to Mia as she moved away from him. Moving one of his arms, his hand reached out to take hers so she would go too far, his actions causing his face to become a bit hotter again.

"But it can keep you occupi-" Mia's words cut off as Masaru's hand grabbed hers, her head having turned to scan the room for some sort of remotes. Her face turned red, eyes sliding over slowly to the hand he had reached out to stop her with.

She gently slipped her fingers between his after a moment, her eyes glancing away. They...had done things but... sometimes small instances like this left her flustered beyond belief...

Her hand went to her mouth, remembering her 'dearest' earlier on top of that. H-Had she really said that?! She'd...said something like that to him before and... it still was hard...

"I'm alright." He replied, his eyes moving down to the his hand that had taken Mia's as he felt her slip her fingers between his.

He never really watched that many movies anyway, had hardly seen enough to really think about them when it came to occupying his time. He was fine without it...

Glancing up at her, he noticed her covering her mouth and looking...flustered? "Mia...?"

"...but..." Mia's voice was soft...She wanted to watch one... Instead she just smiled and let it go. Masaru obviously did not want to watch anything or have anything on, so she would not. He was sick and in charge!

Masaru's questioning tone had Mia shaking her head and squeezing his hand lightly. "I-Its just...a small... I said...something...silly again... Sorry..."

But...?

Masaru tilted his head slightly, "Did...you want to?" Or was she just worried about him getting bored? "I've...never really used movies or anything to...occupy my time, so...I just never think of it..."

Something small? She'd said something silly?

"You don't need to apologize...I don't...don't remember you saying anything silly." Flustering, but not silly...

"A...a little... I like...having them on..." Mia murmured, that or music. If it was too silent she got nervous and upset, at least when she was alone... and if Masaru fell asleep on her again she'd be stuck like that. If she put in some blurays then she would be fine if he did.

Of course Masaru never did... He really was a Prince wasn't he?

Mia's head shook a bit as Masaru spoke. He hadn't...thought it silly!? It definitely was... Moving a bit, she took her free hand and filled the water glass back up on the bedside table to keep herself occupied. Her hand never left Masaru's but she couldn't look at him right now. "...Mm... Y-You should drink more water... I should see if there's soup I can heat up for you in a bit too..."

"If you want to then we can..." Masaru replied, trying to offer her a small smile; it was small but hopefully reassuring to at least some degree.

She'd shaken her head at his reply about her words, causing him to blink. "I-I....It was...flustering...but not...silly..." He stated, glancing away for a bit before his eyes returned to her, watching her refill the glass.

He gave a small nod, he could drink more; he still didn't feel all that hungry...

Mia perked up as Masaru said they could, her smile becoming much more excited. She had some really nice ones in her cloak... all animated though...

Why was she cursed to be such a nerd!?

Grabbing the glass, she held it out for Masaru to take again and looked down. His words were the flustering things but she couldn't cover her red face this time. "Oh... I...will... try not to again then...at least..."

Masaru accepted the glass, ignoring his burning face as he drank the water Mia had poured for him; they...they would watch a movie then, since Mia wanted to and he could rest.

"Y-You don't have to watch your...your words...like that..." It hadn't been bad flustering, just...flustering...She didn't need to watch what she said...

"...Wh-What if I say something worse though...I-I should be careful..." Worse?! What?! Mia felt the weirdness of the words that tumbled from her mouth. How could anything be worse and what would it be?

But it was a worry... Her eyes finally glanced over at Masaru to be greeted with red. Whether he was blushing from this or from fever, she became a bit worried against her will. "...I-I should get the thermometer. A-And check your temperature..."

W...Worse? Not that what she'd said had been bad...just...but...how would she say worse things? How could she say anything worse? What even was "worse" in this situation?

Masaru gave a small nod when she mentioned wanting to check his temperature, that was fine...his face was hot...though that was due to being flustered for the most part, but...but he could understand her wanting to check and see.

Masaru was still holding her hand, so Mia figured that meant she should not let go unless she absolutely had to. Looking at the bedside table, she saw a thermometer that went in his ear and a small bottle of colorful something. Leaning over, Mia grabbed the thermometer before seeing the sealed bottle of...

Childrens Triaminic? Setting the thermometer in her lap, she grabbed the bottle. On it in sharpie was written dosages for Masaru to take and... Mia held back laughter. Holding the bottle out, she blinked and smiled. "Good news! We found a solution to the medicine problem!"

"..."

Masaru blinked at the box as Mia held it out to him, looking at it. C...Children's medication... It was still medicine though, so he didn't see how this was some problem fix. Medicine tasted bad, that was just how it was!

"I...don't see how it's good news..."

"People in the human world are geniuses in some ways. Children hate bad tasting things and can be hard to give medicine to... So whats the solution?" Mia was much happier now, setting the bottle down and leaning forward as she scooped up the thermometer.

Her hand had to leave his, unfortunately, and it went to his face to brush back hair from his ears. Once she had pressed the button for the thermometer to start working, she continued. "Make medicine not taste bad. Hm... Thirty-Eight point three three... You need it then."

As she spoke it had beeped and she had let his hair fall again as she checked the screen. It registered a temp that was in need of reducing.

"Mnn..." He was obviously doubtful of the claim; medicine was always bad tasting...

He was quiet as she took his temperature, frowning a bit when she'd said he'd need the medicine. Even if his temperature was high...

"Here, want to smell it first?" Mia shook her head, the cute doubtful sound making her flush again even as she wanted to get medicine in him. Undoing the seal, she pulled the medicine cup off before opening the bottle. Holding it out carefully, she wanted to let Masaru at least try... if he was willing to try... she could meet him halfway on this.

He needed medicine but it didn't have to be a miserable experience for him. "Why don't you like bad tasting medicine?"

Obviously he was hesitant, and reluctant to do so, but after some fighting with himself he took the bottle she held out to him after a few moments and looked down at it, blinking.

He supposed by her question she meant other than the obvious "because it tastes bad" for an answer...

"I wasn't the...healthiest child growing up, so I often got colds and fevers a lot...I'm fine now, but because I often came down with colds I had to take medicine for it, having to do that so often back then over the years..."

It was tiresome, annoying, and he hated it. He was fine now, he rarely got sick anymore but obviously a bad taste had been left...

A victory! Internally cheering the man on, Mia smiled as he stopped. Masaru was staring down at it, blinking and not moving. Reaching her hand out, she gently prodded it up. To her it smelled really nice, like a sweet orange pop. She hoped it smelled nice to him...

The image of a small child Masaru...just sick all the time and having to get medicine poured down his throat... No wonder he reacted so badly to taking it. He had to, but she felt bad for him... Hopefully children's medicine would help. If...if she had to get him that for the rest of their lives, she would!...rest of their...lives...

Ignoring that outburst in her brain and the red face it caused, Mia smiled gently. "It must have been really hard for you Masaru. Really really hard. I'm sorry..."

On instinct his head pulled back some as Mia gently prodded it up, though he didn't move it too far. Medicine...it was modern...it wasn't like the stuff he had had...back then so...

Still though...

He was having a bit of an internal battle with himself, this was just...

"I don't mean...to act as badly as I do, I can't help but fight it though...I hate it..." He didn't mean to make things so hard for them, but he just really...really hated the stuff.

Mia smiled sweetly and nodded, stopping her hand from moving it up more. Instead she shifted around on the bed, moving so she was on her knees. Leaning down onto her hands as well, she moved closer to him and then lifted herself up a bit. Her mouth moved forward gently, placing a kiss on his forehead as she left her mouth there. "Its okay... I understand. I'll be right here though, trying to help you. I'll give you my solemn oath, you'll never have to have bad tasting medicine again as long as its possible..."

She would protect him, from his bad memories and hurts even. That was something she swore to herself...

"..." He was silent, keeping his eyes down on the medicine as he felt Mia move closer and kiss his forehead.

Modern...it was made so it wouldn't...

Mia was promising him, and he knew he could trust her on it, but... Medicine...he had to... but even though he trusted her word; "P...Promise...?"

She'd be repeating herself, but...it...it would help.

"Unless you don't like orange flavored things, then this should taste okay. It might not be amazing, but it won't be awful, I promise. If it smells bad to you, we can look for another flavor and see if that one works..." Mia's voice was quiet and what she hoped was soothing, leaning back a bit to give him space after placing another kiss on his cheek. All her instincts screamed at her, she was going to protect him from the evil bad tasting medicine. She would not let him taste bad stuff any longer!

She watched carefully, waiting for signs he didn't like the smell.

Orange...Orange flavored things were fine, those usually tasted alright. Then... this would be alright. He tried not to think of it as medicine, even though that was exactly what it was.

He blinked down at the orange-flavored...stuff again, and after a bit he finally lifted it a bit to smell. S...Smelled like orange stuff...

He lowered it, blinking again as he remained silent.

Mia took that as it didn't smell badly at least... Reaching out, she moved to take the bottle with a soft smile. "Not so bad? Do you think you can taste a bit?"

She'd need the bottle, but once she had it she would pour a tiny bit into the cup and dip her finger in for him to try... at least that was her plan. Slow, go slow... If they did it like this, he might feel better...