Oliver checked the time on the monitor and sped up a little more. He usually didn't care at what time he'd come home, but he promised Fukase to be home by six and he was running late. Had it not been the unusually long line of people ordering at the same food stall, he would be on time, but today was not his day and the blond had to survive it somehow. 

While he was waiting on a red light, Oliver reached over to the passenger seat and checked his order once more. A small smile crept up his face when imagining how excited Fukase will be to see Oliver bringing his favorite dish. He drove a detour just to do his partner a favor, and Oliver couldn't feel any better. After all that has been changing lately, he liked to think that this was a reason to celebrate for once again.

The situation at home has improved drastically. Fukase has not once lashed out on Oliver ever since that day. In general, he has calmed down with showing his anger issues, even though Oliver knew that they were not gone completely. After what Fukase has told him last night, he had been pondering about their situation once more. He enjoyed the progress but couldn't hide from himself that he was worried for Fukase.

His prior smile dropped. Oliver knew that he liked to imagine things to go better than they actually were. Just by guiding the redhead a little bit, their ever-lasting issues were not going to disappear just like this. The light switched to green and Oliver continued his drive. He was a mere few minutes away from home.

He couldn't tell how else Fukase dealt with his emotions if he didn't let them out like he used to. There were times when Fukase had been feeling less chaotic but the blond assumed that had worked so well because he had managed to convert his negative emotions to positive ones. It was clear that trick wasn't going to work this time, leaving Oliver clueless on how to proceed any further like this.

Fukase's words from yesterday popped up in his mind once more. They didn't carry much weight, but they occupied his thoughts the entire day nevertheless. He knew he had to approach the redhead about it before it might have a bad after-effect.

While parking the car and setting everything to go back home, Oliver focused on his breathing a few moments. Pushing his doubts aside for a moment wasn't going to do any harm and he needed to be in a good mood if he actually wanted to reward his partner now. He hinged down the glare shield of his car and looked in the small mirror. Forcing himself to smile did help him improve his mood; he could show himself like this to Fukase.

Oliver quickly walked the rest to their apartment, stepped out of his shoes and put away his jacket. He was feeling a little too excited as he set up two plates and arranged the dishes to look somewhat presentable. Calling out for Fukase to come over to eat, Oliver waited to hear the door fly open, but there was no reaction. At this point, it was surprising to not have the redhead greet him, but Oliver shook it off and brought the plates on the table.

"Fukase, guess what I brought you home," Oliver chanted across the living room with a smile. Assuming that his lover must still be asleep, he decided to wake him up himself but froze in place as he noticed odd noises to come out Fukase's room. He rushed in front of the door and listened in a little longer.

He couldn't quite identify it but the occasional whimpers and muffled groans sent chills down his spine. Without much hesitation, Oliver rattled at the door knob, yelling for Fukase to open the door, but he received no response. Even though he had no explanation for it, something didn't feel right. 

Waiting for Fukase to open the door or just talk to him took too long at some point, and Oliver rushed back in the hallway to the storage room. His heart beat only faster as he threw a box out the closet and crammed through the dozens of utensils in it.

The blond fished out a small box and ripped the lid open, too shaky to fiddle with it otherwise. A rush of relief went through his body as the key he has been hiding from Fukase all this time was still in there. He was glad he had let the janitor give him a spare key.

The muffled noises still didn't quiet down as the blond arrived back at Fukase's door. Oliver's breathing hitched as he fiddled with the key, but he couldn't open the door. His lungs were burning with every further second Oliver couldn't get in. He leaned down to check the key hole, and much to his shock, Fukase's key was still stuck on the other side of the door.

Oliver banged and threw himself against the door a few times, begging the redhead to just say something at this point. He gulped hard, feeling his body temperature drop at once. His intuition just wouldn't abandon the bad feeling.

Oliver jumped up as he heard the key dropping down on the ground eventually. He quickly used the key in his hands and stumbled into the room, frozen by the sight of his partner lying on the bed. Fukase didn't look up as Oliver rushed towards him. He was hunched up in pain.

"Hey, hey, c'mon. Just talk to me," Oliver repeated over and over again as he shook the quivering body in his hands. He turned Fukase on his back and startled at the pale face looking up. Even after Oliver took Fukase's face in his hands, the redhead's eyes were merely staring up, a dim haze covering them.

Oliver's panic rose up the more Fukase gasped for air while he was tightening the grip around his abdomen. The blond looked down and pulled the redhead's hands away, searching for any sort of injury but couldn't find anything. Tears dwelled up the longer he couldn't tell what was going on.

"Fukase, can you hear me?" Oliver's voice broke off and he gritted his teeth, "Just do anything, show me if you can."

Oliver wrapped his hand around Fukase's and received a nudge on his index finger. Despite the raging panic within him, Oliver managed to sigh relieved that his partner was at least amenable. He took deep breaths and tried to focus rather than shake up even more. Fukase looked just normal if it wasn't for the in pain distorted grimace. Oliver rubbed over the teary eyes in front of him, hoping to get them to open.

"Deep breaths, okay, try to breath," Oliver joined in, for both helping Fukase as well as keeping his own breathing under control. Fukase followed reluctantly, only to fall back into another episode of painful groans. He rolled away, croacking out a few unintelligible words along with his partner's name.

Oliver leaned forward and wanted to crawl on the bed, but fell on his knees as he slipped. He groaned and looked down, wondering what made him fall that badly. Much to his surprise, he picked up an unfamiliar plastic lid. He inspected it a little longer but then quickly bent down to check under the bed. A bright plastic bottle caught his attention, with a few pills scattered around it. He picked it up and hastily turned it in his hands to find the label.

Oliver's heart stopped for a moment as he found out that he was holding a bottle of sleeping pills in his hands. His mind needed a few seconds to process what was going on, but as soon as he caught up back on the situation, his eyes jumped back to Fukase still suffering on the bed. A force tugged on Oliver's entire body and he gasped for air, confused and shocked about what was going on. His body, however, was quicker than his mind and he rushed back to Fukase, pulling him closer to the edge of the bed and back to facing the blond.

Fukase's eyes opened only slightly as he slurred out more incoherent words, but Oliver didn't listen anymore at this point. He held the bottle close to Fukase's face, his hands shaking.

"Did you take that?" Oliver yelled out, both shared and upset for about what was to come.

Fukase barely forced a nod, groaning in pain as his head fell back on the bed once Oliver let go off him again. He didn't wait any longer, and roamed around in the bedroom to find any sort of container. Oliver rushed to the snack bowl lying in the corner of the room, threw the content away and quickly got back to his partner, grabbing his face once again. Clenching the chin in his hand, Oliver hoped to Fukase open his mouth, but his partner only gritted his teeth even tighter.

"C'mon, open up," Oliver grunted, feeling no patience whatsoever. Time was crashing on him as if every lost second meant his doom. Fukase still didn't listen and Oliver merely pushed harshly against the redhead's stomach, making him groan once again.

Oliver shoved his fingers in Fukase's mouth in an attempt to make his partner throw up, but he barely got gagging out of him. Oliver tried to catch his breath and calm down, but the obvious resistance coming from Fukase unsettled him only more. A sharp pain travelled down his arm as the redhead bit his fingers. Oliver tried to shake his hand out of it, but he couldn't escape the tight grip.

"Stop that!" Oliver yelled out as tears shot in his eyes. He had been fighting with Fukase for far too long now and every further delay made him panic even more. "Why are you like this?"

Oliver let go of Fukase's face and used his free hand to punch into the redhead's stomach with more force this time. He didn't even have to force him to throw up the poison anymore as Fukase already bent over the bowl and get rid of it by himself.

Oliver crashed down on the floor, numbed by exhaustion and fear, while watching his lover get rid of the last bits of what was left in his stomach. Fukase coughed a few times and leaned back, still huddling from the pain in his abdomen.

"Oliver, I...," Fukase forced out under his heavy breathing, repeating himself a few times. His hazy mind shot his senses all over the places and he tried to reach out the blond, unaware that Oliver had distanced himself more and more. 

Oliver looked at the scene in apathy. His thoughts have numbed out anything surrounding him. Only weakly, he could muster up the strength to stand back up on his shaky legs and stumble over to Fukase, who still tried to form any sorts of exclaims.

He looked at his lover lying there still. Occasional whimpers still escaped his throat, but the groans have quieted down. He remained cramped up nevertheless; the effect of his misdoing was still there.

"Why?" Oliver breathed out eventually, still overwhelmed with what he had to witness a few moments ago. He took a deep breath, swaying under the shift, "You promised me to never do that again."

Fukase struggled to roll over to face Oliver. Hasty breathing turned into faint words.

"No...just...sleep. I don't-"

His slur of words got interrupted by a slap in the face. Oliver clenched his hands into fists, ready to strike out once more.

"Shut up!" he yelled, barely holding back to hit his partner over and over. With his panic turning into rage, he didn't know what to do with himself like this. "You are unbelievable. Are you doing this on purpose? Are you trying to kill the both of us? You idiot!"

Single tears streamed down the blond's face but he didn't notice any of it. His shaking jaw merely hindered him from yelling at Fukase any further. He looked down his hands and gulped. The world was spinning, and Oliver felt sick. He gagged at the sight of the overflown bowl with vomit scattered all over the floor, while barely holding back his own stomach acid from forcing its way out.

Oliver gulped hard and bit his tongue, suppressing his reflexes as best as possible. Fukase's whimpers pulled him out of his frozen state, and Oliver watched the scene in pain. Even so, he couldn't bring himself to help Fukase sit up and struggle to talk to him. He wanted to just run away. Run as far as he could and forget about everything. The scene seemed only more obscure the more he was trapped in it.

Stepping back slowly, Oliver evaded Fukase's hands from reaching out to him. The mere thought of touching the redhead sent chills down his spine.

"Oliver, please...I-," Fukase coughed and groaned at his burning throat cutting off his words, "Don't walk away!"

"You...I...," Oliver stuttered repeatedly, perplexed about what was happening. His insides pressed against the walls of his body, threatening to pour out of him. The dull pain urged him further to escape this place. He gulped down the painful lump in his throat. Searching for his phone in his pocket, he sighed out loud.

"I can't do this anymore," he breathed out, squinting at the sudden brightness coming from his phone. Ignoring the desperate cries coming Fukase, Oliver proceeded to tap on the screen a few times and then threw the phone on the bed right next to the redhead's face. He looked at his partner one more time but then walked out of the room.

He didn't know where he was going, but his feet automatically carried him away from the horror awaiting him back in the bedroom. Fukase's growing screams barely scraped his ears, and Oliver followed the urge eventually and kept moving faster. He needed to get away, run far away. Scared of what was happening to the two of them if he stayed any longer, he ran out of the apartment to the open street, blinded by fear.

He just wanted a safe place to forget all of it. His life, Fukase, his work, his doubts, everything; but there was nowhere a safe place he could run to. All he did was running right into the arms of the next storm coming up.