#run while u can yuko pls

[yamiisart]

“when we become devil hunters, we should partner up as buddies!”

[sneezingpotatoes]

The Road Trip [Part 2]

About 2 hours had passed since the boys had left their apartment, and Yuko was already knocked out, head resting on the car door, face buried snugly into his blanket, with his headphones barely staying clipped to his head from all the pressure. Harima had finished his red bull, and was now halfway through his first bottle of coffee. The feeling of fatigue was lingering around him with a constant itching at the back of his throat, and he was dedicated on keeping it at bay. The soft humming of the engine and smooth melody playing on the radio rubbed his ears gently, trying to sing him to sleep; It was like a continuous battle for him. He wished he could be sleeping right now, but he instantly shut that thought down and glued his eyes onto the road.

Harima tightens his scarf around his neck, feeling a sudden chill and rubs at his nose with the back of his wrist, cringing when the slightest touch sends his overly sensitive sinuses into a sharp, needling uprising. “O-oh crap…” He mutters under his staggering breaths, so desperately trying not to awaken his sleeping companion. Before he can attempt to prevent them, the sneezes escape from his grasp, jerking him forward, with his face still shielded by the back of his wrist. “Ihh… Hihh’sscht! Ihh’ISSCHT-NKG’isch!” The man sniffles quietly to himself, trying to stop the flow of sneezes that are forcing their way out of him. A weak sounding moan followed by a ‘bless you’ is heard from his right side; Yuko was rubbing at his eyes, lightly yawning with his glassy orbs fixed directly onto him. Harima broke the eye contact and quickly pulled up his scarf to cover up the wetness on his face.

“What time is it?” He whispered, voice clouded with sleep.

Harima glanced down at his radio and lightly sniffled into his scarf. “Quarter ‘till 12pm.” His voice came out thick and lower than usual from his congestion, with a slight voice crack. He attempted to quietly clear his throat, but it hadn’t helped on reviving his voice.

Yuko lifted an eyebrow at the man, feeling betrayed and lied to. “… So now you’re lying to me.” The teenager folded his arms at the man in disbelief.

Those words hit Harima hard in his gut; He knew exactly what Yuko was referring to. “I’m not lying to you, kid! I’m not sick, seriously. Now you can either choose to believe me or not, but just stop being such a worrywart.” He fought back the strong urge to sniff as best he could in order to help his case.

The teenage boy aggravatedly huffed at Harima and glared out the window. “Fine. Let’s see how long you can keep this up.” Yuko was fed up with him, and was eager to challenge him. “I’ll ‘believe’ you for now, but if it turns out you’re actually sick, which you obviously are, prepare for a big bowl of I told you so.”

Harima smirked at the boy and shook his head, only for his smirk to melt down into a wry frown as his head tilted back slightly and for his eyes to flutter, with a small tear rolling down his cheek from the prickly sensation in his flared nostrils he’d been trying to hold back for the longest time. He quickly grabbed at his scarf and pulled it over his nose, so that the giant piece of cloth could absorb all the liquids that would spray out of his mouth and nose. “Nnh.. Hhn’ngtsch-nnk’gssh! Kg’tschuh!!” He pried open one of his eyes, only to see Yuko’s hand grabbing the steering wheel, steadying the car for him.

“Damn it, Harima!” Yelled the boy in a panic, “Be careful! You’re gonna kill us!!”

The man helplessly shut his eyes once again, trying his hardest to maintain the sneezes. “W-wehh… well what the h-hell d’you want me to do?! I-It’s not liehh… l-like I can he-NGTsch!! C-can he— IKGSsch-isschiih!” Harima gave up on talking and just decided to let the sneezes possess him until they decided to give him a break, and hope that Yuko was good at steering from the passenger seat. “Nngschiih! Hhh— ehh? Ikg’tschh!! Ugnh…” He falsely allowed a desperate moan to leak out and quickly massaged the bridge of his nose, trying to relieve the pressure and returned his attention back on to the road, while continuously sniffing into his scarf. He muffled a ‘Thanks’ through his heavy congestion and the material of the cloth as the teenager blessed him, letting Harima regain control of the vehicle. Maybe it was time to admit that he was sick and that he needed a break, he thought, but of course his pride would always take over and insist that he was fine and that he would be okay.

Yuko glanced up at the struggling man in concern; his glassy eyes were hazily scanning the road, his leaky chafed nose seemed to be very bothersome for him, and his cheeks were now flushed a dark shade of pink. A light, muffled cough was heard from Harima in his scarf, sounding wet and lung rattling. The teenager could tell at this point, the man was too fatigued to care about hiding it anymore and was just trying to stay well enough to maintain control of the vehicle. Yuko bit his tongue so hard it threatened to bleed; it took all of his might for him to hold back the boast of being correct for once. “… It’s okay to pull over and let me drive, Harima.” He was both concerned and fearful of the situation; He didn’t want Harima to break out into another sneezing fit and lose control of the car again, only for him to not be so quick to recover for him. “You sound like you’re fighting something really nasty, and it’s beating you like a dead horse…”

The man used his scarf to clean his nose for the fifth time it seemed, and shook his head at Yuko, eyes never leaving the icy road. “I’m not stopping.” He brought up his fist to catch the forcefully wet coughs he’d been hiding back from Yuko, seeing how his light coughs were making the itch worse, rather than relieving them. “I’ve only been driving for 2 hours, are you kidding me?” He muttered between his lung shattering coughs that took his breath away, making him gasp for air. “Just relax, I can handle this, kid. I’ll let you know when I want to switch.”

Harima’s words flew in one ear and directly out of the other for Yuko. How could Harima tell him to relax when they almost veered off the road from his harsh sneezing fit two minutes ago? The boy gave out a ‘tch’ and folded his arms, rolling his eyes at the foolish man. “Relax? You almost killed us. As far as I’m concerned, you’re in no condition to be driving period.”

“Whose car is this?” He barked at Yuko, trying not to waste the little breath he still had left. “Whose name is on the insurance?”

Yuko fell silent, being stumped for a response. He knew that the answer was obviously him, but he didn’t want to admit to it. He sunk deeper into his blanket, trying to hide his unspoken frustration with the stubborn man.

“Exactly, now shut your mouth before I… Ihh-hih…” It felt like tiny bristles were prickling the inside of his flared, red-rimmed nostrils. The man slowly hovered his cupped hand beside his mouth in preparation for the sneezes that would decide to escape him. “Great, hih-here we g-IKGSsch! …hh’sscht-isschiih-‘tschuh!” He forced himself to pry one of his eyes open and glare at the road, vision being blurred by the tears from the burning sensation.

Yuko was watching the man from beneath his blankets, face completely buried with only his eyes visible, along with his feet resting on top of the dashboard as if he were watching a horror film. “Bless—”

“—hh’sscht-ikgscht!! Ehh-hiih!? I-I’b dot… d’NGTSschiih!! Ha’ekk-chhiihsh!! Ih’tchiihshehh!!” He had given up on covering and returned his hand back onto the steering wheel, and with each sneeze, his head would duck down into his chest, raising his head again to fix his gaze back onto the road, only to almost instantly duck back into his chest. He could feel all the sick liquids on his face and scarf, and knew he had gotten some on his coat, but he ignored it and fixed his fatigued gaze back onto the road, sniffling hard, trying to at least get rid of some of the moisture on his face.

Yuko was thoroughly disgusted with the man; he just looked like a beat-up pile of garbage, and he could tell Harima was suffering; His eyelashes still had light flutter to them, as if something were in his eyes, he still hitched softly between breaths, and he softened his sniffling in concern for Yuko, but it clearly wasn’t helping him. “B-bless you…” He muttered under his breath, trying to keep his strong feeling of disgust from coating his voice. He knew Harima must’ve been embarrassed— He was embarrassed for him.

“Ihh-hh… T-Thanks, Yuko, but you mighhh-hihh… want to save those blessings… F-for laterhhh…” Harima’s voice trailed off into a torturous build-up. His chest was moving to a beat of its own, and he couldn’t control his breathing properly. “U-ugnh, not agaihh… n-nnh…” He fought the urge to let out a desperate moan, as the climax he had reached faded into a slow and soft hitching again. A clicking of the hazard lights were heard as he pulled over to the side of the road; he finally decided that it was time for him to rest and recover… Or at least clear his system of whatever was needling its way through his nostrils, interrupting his driving.

Yuko sat up and removed his fuzzy blanket, preparing to get out of the car. “Does this mean—”

“— This is the only s-stop we make, understood?” Harima flatly interrupted the excited Yuko, staring him directly in the eye, conveying to him that he was most definitely being serious. “I-If we’re running low on gahh-hihh… g-gas, tell me.” The man brought his coat sleeve to his nose, trying to avoid the lingering, rebellious sneeze, causing his voice to be muffled into his arm. “And do NOT crash my car. If you do, I’ll have your head on a silver plihh… p-pl’Itchiihsh! Hih’kgscht-ugh!!” He didn’t’ even bother trying to finish his sentence; He was too warn out to, anyway.

Yuko giggled at the suffering man. “Mmhmm, mmhmm, yeah, whatever.” He mumbled, trying to quickly brush him off and get into the driver’s seat. “Just get some rest already! I don’t want you looking like this in New York.” His soft smile seemed to warm up Harima, as he got out of the car and approached the passenger side.