Canon: Remove if not applicable.It wasn't like he hadn't known how stupid it was when he did it. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he had probably, even through his irritation, known how stupid he was being. One always ought to expect consequences when going outdoors in wet clothes. Perhaps catching a cold serves him right or something, but at least he should be grateful that he didn't get pneumonia. From what he has been told (since he has never personally had pneumonia) it was not a pleasant experience.
Not that it was a pleasant experience to have a bad cold, either, because he couldn't stop shivering.
When he was awoken by his alarm, his body had been heavy and there had been a fog clouding his mind. He was barely able to gather the strength to turn off the painfully loud clock. Feeling way too cold for comfort, he slowly rolled over to the other side of the bed and joined Mu under his bedsheets, to steal some of his body heat. He could feel back musces shift as Mu looked over his shoulder in surprise, then turned around to have a good look at him. Apparently, he looked pale or something of the sorts, since Mu looked concerned.
"Damn," Mu murmured as he put a pleasantly warm hand on Kouen's forehead. "You're burning up."
Kouen disagreed. "I'm freezing,"
"Yes, it would feel that way to you," Mu said, reaching toward his bedside table for the phone. "I'm going to call you in sick, okay." Kouen felt like he ought to protest, for example, he had an important meeting later in the day, but he didn't have the energy to do anything. Instead, he half dozed off with one of Mu's arms wrapped around him, only catching bits and pieces of Mu's conversation with his secretary. Did Seishuu have to be so loud? Why was he even shouting, he was giving him a headache. "Shut up," he muttered into Mu's shoulder, and it seemed as if Seishuu heard the hoarse rasp and finally relented; for some reason he always thought Mu was 'up to something' or 'trying to steal' Kouen and Kouen didn't really get it, but it was annoying.
After Mu hung up, he extracted himself from Kouen and the bed, and Kouen was disturbed by it. He tried to get grip of something to keep him in bed, but there was just skin and more skin. "En, I'm going to get you medicine, okay?" he explained as he tucked Kouen in. "Then you ought to get some sleep, and I'll take the kids to school." He left the room, and when he came back, there was the sound of other footsteps following him. He heard Mu say something to the children, and the extra sets of feet disappeared. Most likely he had asked them to go eat their breakfast and get ready for school, because En-nii should get some peace and quiet since he felt and looked pathetic. Though Mu wouldn't call him pathetic, he was too nice and well-mannered for that.
Then he got help into sitting position, and he leaned against Mu for support. The man kept a firm hand on his waist, and helped him take the medicine. When Kouen cringed at the disgusting taste of the thing, he rubbed a thumb against his waist and murmured something Kouen couldn't quite hear into his ear, but it was soothing, none the less.
***
Kouen didn't notice when he dozed off, but when he blinked awake, the sunlight was sticking sharply into his eyes, and he felt something cold and wet on his face. He squeezed his eyes shut as he got something in them. "What?" he croaked out. It seemed the sleep had made his voice even hoarser. He heard a squeak, and a small sob, and he raised a hand to feel a sopping wet piece of cloth on his forehead. He brushed water out of his eyes, and when he turned his head toward the sound, the towel fell down onto his pillow.
His little sister Kougyoku was standing beside the bed, a very concerned and worried expression on her ten-year-old face. Her hands were wet, and so were her sleeves, all the way up to her elbows. He sighed. "What are you doing?" he asked slowly, and she jumped, a guilty look making it's way onto her face. He could figure out what she was doing, however, even through the fog covering his mind. "You're supposed to use a damp towel, not a wet one." he explained to her.
Kougyoku's lower lip quivered, but before the little girl could start crying, Mu was back in the room and crouched beside her, gently patting her on the head. "It's alright, honey, don't worry. En-nii isn't mad, he knows you only meant to help." He said something more, and it appeared to calm Kougyoku down. When he asked if she could go get dry sheets, she nodded with vigour, and hurried out of the room to do as asked.
"You've slept all day," Mu informed him calmly. "How are you feeling?" he then asked, as he wiped Kouen's forehead and neck dry with a piece of a pillow case. Kouen made a noncommittal sound, and then a less pleased one as Mu picked him up in his arms. He was coccooned in blankets and had great difficulties moving. "This was a one-time deal when we married," Kouen grumbled. He wasn't too keen on the so-called bridal-style carrying. Mu only grinned, moving him over into the big, woven straw chair they had in the bedroom. "Now, I've restrained myself ever since our wedding night, you know," he said, and brushed Kouen's wet bangs out of his face. They both knew that Mu was the type of person who loved physical contact, and they could both remember that when they first had this discussion, Mu had asked if Kouen wanted to carry him instead then? even though they were both aware of the fact that something like that was impossible, since Mu was a lot heavier than Kouen, as well as much stronger. Kouen huffed, and buried his nose in the blankets. "This reeks of sweat and musk," he muttered, and Mu chuckled. Since they were Mu's bedsheets, they smelled of him, and Kouen sometimes pointed out that Mu should change his sheets more often, or shower more often, since everything he wore or wrapped up in had a tendency to smell heavily of him. Not that he was only complaining, because he didn't hate how his stupid husband smelled.
His gaze wandered over to Kougyoku, who tottered back into the room more or less drowning in mismatched bedsheets. She looked like she had had some mishaps and dropped them a few times on the way, as they had been unrolled, unfolded, and were crumpled into unruly bundles. Still, Mu gave her an approving look and praised her on a job well done.
Kouen watched as the two remade the bed, Kougyoku sometimes rolling or tripping in her attempts to be useful, and she wasn't very good at it, but she seemed happy to help and happy over all the encouragement she recieved from Mu. It was a bit odd, how well the man got along with Kouen's siblings, since they had all been upset when they found out about their involvement with each other. Jealousy, Kin Gaku had said that it was. The kids had been jealous and worried about this huge man with a thick mane of red hair coming to rob them of their beloved older brother. They had calmed down though, and in the end, they had ended up living with them, since their mother had died and their father was too busy to keep an eye on them, and it hadn't felt entirely safe to leave them all in the big house alone with just the servants. And now they had no servants, and instead they had a bunch of kids helping each other out and taking care of each other. It was a lot different from when Kouen was a kid, to say the least. Warmer, in a way. A lot warmer.
He realized he had become lost in his thoughts when he was suddenly untangled from the warm blankets and helped to his feet. He held back any protests, and went back to his side of the bed, which was now made with clean, dry sheets -- one Star Wars pillowcase, one with Pokémon and one duvet cover with some magical girl anime pattern - he'd think about the combination later -- and after he was offered water to drink, he laid back down. Kougyoku, still concerned and a bit worried that she had offended him, nervously stood watching while Mu tucked him back in. Kouen shifted to allow her some space under his blankets, and she was soon cuddled up against his chest. A few moments later, Mu was wrapped around him from behind, and smiled down at him and the girl, who had instantly gone to sleep. "Such a kind big brother," he said, pressing his lips to one of Kouen's temples. Kouen said nothing, too tired to come up with an answer, and only entwined his fingers with Mu's. "Shut up and let me sleep," he finally muttered, and a few minutes later, he was sleeping even more soundly than his little sister.