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Gentaro likes to think he can conceal things about himself well, and he knows many people would agree. However, worse physical symptoms, like shakiness or dizziness, he had never been very good at hiding it when he tried. He still makes an attempt, since he doesn’t want to worry Ramuda more in their already worrying situation, but Ramuda, being as perceptive as he is, notices almost immediately.
Dice was sent out to get food, as the food that was previously stored in the studio had expired and was thrown away the last time Gentaro had cleaned, however long ago that was. Gentaro gave him yen from his wallet to get enough that could hopefully last them until they were safe to leave the studio.
Ramuda was fiddling with his phone, and Gentaro had been reading for the past 20 minutes, until he felt his hand holding the book start shaking. He tried holding it with both hands, but it still felt like more energy than it was worth, and he decided to give up and put the book down. Leaning his head against the wall of the studio, he tries to take a breath to calm his shakiness, knowing already it wouldn’t do anything.
“Gentaro?”
“Hm?” He knows the second he saw Ramuda turn his head toward him that he’d been caught. Still, he feigns wellness as well as he can.
“You’re shaking. Are you sure there isn’t any food here?”
The studio had been empty for the past few years, why on Earth would he keep food here? …That’s too snarky, he berates himself briefly in his head. Ramuda’s only concerned, he has no reason to think something so rude.
“No. ‘S fine.” And he was definitely caught now, slurring his speech. Even just that small amount was enough to increase Ramuda’s worry.
“It’s not. You’re low. Where’s your tester?”
Gentaro gives a vague movement of his hand toward a desk in the corner of the room. He hates how he can’t get himself to treat Ramuda kinder, more respectfully in the moment of kindness Ramuda is showing to him. He’ll apologize when he has the energy after they figure out what to do about his blood sugar.
Ramuda tries his best to be the least panicked he can be, knowing Gentaro doesn’t like when people fuss over him. He doesn’t want to make Gentaro upset, especially when he knows how shitty Gentaro must already feel. Still, he moves at a faster pace than normal to retrieve Gentaro’s tester and return to his side at his left.
At a quicker pace, he fumbles with the test kit and unzips it, opens the strip bottle, inserts a strip into the meter, then sets it back down. Lifting Gentaro’s hand from his side as gently as he can, he turns it so his palm is facing upwards, and grabs the poker from the kit. As much as he wants to mutter an apology to Gentaro as he pricks his finger and squeezes it to draw blood, he bites it back. Gentaro’s dealt with this for longer than half of his life, and Ramuda understands he’d rather not hear apologies from other people for his condition. He sets the poker down and grabs the meter again, his own hands shaking slightly from nervousness. Miraculously, he manages to get enough blood into the test strip the first try.
He wipes the blood from Gentaro’s finger as the 5-second counter on the meter goes. The second the timer ends and the numbers “47” appear on the screen, his fear sets in worse than it had before. He reaches into his pocket for a lollipop at the speed he would’ve if it were his own condition he needed them for in the moment. Other lollipops fling out of his pocket with the one he grabbed as fast as he could in his panic, and he begins unwrapping it. He grabs Gentaro’s hand and shoves the lollipop into it, closing his fist around Gentaro’s so he holds it steadily.
“Eat it.”
…
“Ramuda, you-”
“Gentaro.”
“Ramuda, we can just wait until Dice comes back. Surely he’ll be back soon, it’s been-”
“We don’t know when he’ll be back. Please just eat it.”
Gentaro wants to continue his argument, he knows Ramuda is running low on lollipops, and though he would never dare to admit it to Ramuda, he thinks that the lollipops would be better saved for Ramuda when he needs him, rather than used to save himself now when he might be able to just wait it out. But Ramuda already sounds a bit irritated that Gentaro had tried to disagree in the first place, and with Gentaro’s mind being foggy and his body shaking, he obliges and sticks the lollipop in his mouth. As a second thought, he considers it wouldn’t have been worth arguing with Ramuda anyways, he knows Ramuda would win an argument against him the second he decides to argue.
Just biting into the candy steals energy away from him, but he tries his best until the pieces are small enough for him to swallow. When he’s done, Ramuda scoots closer to Gentaro’s side and grabs his hand again, this time only to smooth his thumb over his knuckles. He can’t claim to understand how Gentaro feels, but he understands that this part of treating a low blood sugar, when all you can do is wait until the carbs set and your blood sugar comes back to a normal range, is frustrating. Gentaro makes eye contact with Ramuda, hoping that it’s enough to convey his gratitude for now. He leans against Ramuda’s shoulder and allows himself to be fretted over for the moment.