Wait how would neighbour könig react to a sick reader? Like they’ve holed themselves up in their apartment and are really unwell. I’m in my sickly Victorian child era and need comfort from this hunk of a man 💕
Exchange
Rated: Mature
Word count: 2965
Notes: I flipped flop so much on what kind of sick, but settled on König taking care of you during your period because it allowed the exchange that takes place.
Eating dinner alone in the comfort of his own home had been something König used to look forward to. For one, the food was better than what was offered at the mess hall (not that it was particularly bad). There was also the quiet his home offered, no loud and rambunctious soldiers turning meal time into some form of entertainment or competition. As he rose in rank, he started working while eating, then when he finally got his own place, he discovered he didn’t have to. He could take the time to simply enjoy his meal. It was refreshing, to say the least, and turned into a routine. He liked routines…until he didn’t. Until you moved in next door.
Lately there had been a little dance between the two of you. Sometimes you’d invite him over for dinner, other times he’d invite you over. As much as he wanted to sit you down and insist on a set schedule (every day), he didn’t want to scare you away. The next best thing, he figured, was to bring you dinner himself, no excuses, just because he wanted to spend time with you.
He was confident when he knocked on your door. You had expressed interest in this restaurant before and now he was certain to win some favor by sharing his favorite foods with you.
He was confident until you opened the door.
“Hey, König.” You started, a quiet pained sigh following your greeting, “I’m not really up for hanging out tonight.”
“What’s wrong?” He asked as he took in your appearance.
You were wearing what he assumed was your pajamas, a t-shirt and a pair of black shorts that normally would have had him drooling over your exposed skin, but that he was too worried that you were hunching over slightly in obvious pain.
You shook your head, “nothing. I’m just not feeling good.”
“Let me help,” he lifted his hands, intending to herd you back inside and either to the couch or your room, but as he did so he brought the container of takeout closer to you.
“Ugh, König!” You slapped a hand over your mouth and nose and quickly dashed to the kitchen, where you flung yourself over the sink and threw up. It wasn’t much, all liquid, bile and spit and what little water you had managed to get down.
He cursed quietly and followed you, dropping the food on the counter before gently touching your back. At least he tried to, but you waved him off as you grabbed a kitchen towel to wipe your mouth, though you kept it pressed to your face as you spoke. “I’m just really sensitive to smell right now.”
“Oh!” He realized that it was the take out that had caused you to suddenly throw up and apologized before darting out of your flat with the food.
You were still in the kitchen when he came back, having dropped the food off at his place. “Darling, please tell me what’s wrong. I want to help.”
“Nothing.” You sighed as you tried to stand straight, though one of your hands remained pressed to your lower stomach.
“You just threw up on an empty stomach, I do not think that is nothing.”
You scoffed quietly and resisted rolling your eyes. “It’s nothing. I just need to rest, so I’ll see you later, alright?”
You tried to get him to leave, instead he moved even closer to you, setting his hands on your shoulders.
“Please. Let me help.”
You looked up at him, worry clear in his eyes despite the mask he still wore, and sighed as you broke eye contact by dropping your head onto his chest. He didn’t seem to mind and started to gently rub your shoulders.
As you leaned against him, he started to worry even more. You felt so weak, trembling slightly in his arms, he had to resist the urge to scoop you up and take you back to his home, where he could properly take care of you.
“It’s just my period, it’s bad the first day. Just let me go back to bed.” You mumbled and attempted to pull away from him, of course he didn’t let you.
“Okay.” He easily picked you up in a bridal carry, ignoring your squeaked protest, and walked you back into your room.
He’d been in your room enough times to see how unusual it was currently. Your bed was a mess, blankets in a tangled bundle with your pillows strewn about, used tissues scattered on the bed and the floor. Your nightstand had a glass of water and some pill bottles on it, next to your laptop which was turned toward the bed with some movie on pause.
He gently set you down on your bed and helped straighten out your blanket so you could get comfortable. You mumbled your thanks as you curled up on your side.
“Do you need anything?”
You were about to tell him no when your knee hit the, now cold, heating pad under your blanket.
“Uh, actually, can you throw this in the microwave for ninety seconds?”
He nodded with a soft “of course,” and gently took the heating pad from you.
Once he was back and handed you the warm compress, he kneeled next to your bed. “Anything else? Something to eat? Fresh water?”
You groaned and shook your head. You were so nauseous you could barely hold down enough water to swallow the pain medication, there was no way you were ready to eat yet.
“Cuddles?” He asked as you were shaking your head.
You actually chuckled, his own smile softening his eyes.
“I like cuddling with you, König.” Though it didn’t happen as often as either of you would like. “But not now. I move too much and I don’t wanna bleed on you.”
König pulled your blanket up to your shoulder, as it had fallen when you reached for the heating pad. “A little blood doesn’t scare me, darling.”
You laughed again and scrunched up your face. “Gross.”
“Oh,” you looked back up at him, “you really wanna do me a favor?”
He nodded, almost too eager to finally do something to help you.
“Can you take me to work tomorrow? I hate driving like this.”
“You’re going to work tomorrow?” He blinked rapidly, surprised to hear that you were considering this in the state that you were in.
“Yea,” you laughed again, “my period isn’t exactly a good excuse to miss work. Besides, I’ll feel better in a few hours.”
König hummed like he wanted to disagree but nodded. “Alright.”
“Thank you. I usually leave around seven.”
Of course, he already knew that. Not that he was going to say so out loud.
König stood back up and hesitated, looking back and forth between you and the door.
“What?” You prompted him.
“You need to lock the door.”
“Ugh!” You turned your face into your pillow, hiding a grin. “Just leave it unlocked.” You’d get it later. You had to get up eventually.
“I’m not leaving your door unlocked all night!” König chided as he looked back at you. Especially not when you were this weak and vulnerable! “I’ll sleep on the couch.”
You pushed yourself up with another weak laugh and rolled your eyes. “König, you can barely fit on that couch sitting down.”
“Well, I’m not leaving you with your door unlocked.”
“I’ll lock it later. Or, or just use my spare key.”
König stiffened, “spare key?”
“Yea. It’s on the shelf in the living room, in the white and blue bowl. With a Hello Kitty keychain.”
As König followed your directions, finding the key easily, he fought with his own thoughts. You were not giving him free access to your flat whenever he wanted! You were just letting him borrow it because he was the one insisting the door be locked.
After taking a moment to settle his racing thoughts, he popped back over to your room and knocked on the door to draw your attention.
“Found it,” he said as he held up the key with its cute little cartoon charm attached.
“Good.” You peeked up at him before settling back down, “thanks, König, goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
He double checked that the door was locked before he made his way back to his own flat. And even though he thought he should return your key to you tomorrow, he looped it onto his own set of keys.
-
König was concerned when in the morning you admitted to still not having eaten. He was even more concerned when he picked you up from work you admitted to also having skipped lunch.
“It’s fine,” you reassured him, again, as he helped you down from the truck. “I’ll eat later. Right now I just need a nice hot shower and to stretch.”
Thankfully it was the weekend and you’d get to spend the rest of your period in peace.
“Stretch?” He asked as he opened the door to the building.
“Yea,” you put a hand on your lower back. “My back doesn’t like when I hunch over so much.”
König followed you inside and up the flight of stairs, all the way to your door, silent. Maybe you read his insistence on your well-being wrong, most men would rather not talk about women's periods, why should he be any different?
He was so close to you as you unlocked your door though, that you had to open it and partially step inside just to properly turn to face him. You were about to thank him, but he was leaning down almost in your face.
“Wha-”
He took your hands in his and looped them around his neck, “hold on.”
“What?”
He then wrapped his arms tightly around your back and stood up straight, pulling you into a hug that lifted you off your feet.
You let out an involuntary groan as relief flooded you as your back released, the accompanying pop of your back cracking loud enough for both you and König to hear clearly.
He set you back down, glad of the mask hiding his burning face, and loosened his hold on you until his hands were softly resting on your hips.
You looked up at him, a bashful smile lighting your face as you continued to cling to him, your voice barely above a whisper. “That felt really good.”
His eyes went wide and he quickly pulled his hands back, blood thrumming at the little whimper that you let out when your arms fell away from him. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. If he didn't leave now, he'd do something inappropriate, like push you up against a wall and devour you. The thought stirred him until he looked at you again, at the way you pressed a hand to your lower belly in an attempt to alleviate some of the cramping, and reminded him that now was not the time.
“I should, uh, leave you to that shower.”
You hummed and smiled, “alright. Thanks for the help, g’ni-”
“-And I’ll stop by to check on you in an hour.”
You breathed out a laugh, “you really don’t have to.”
“Will you eat?”
You made a face and groaned. While not nauseous enough to throw up from something as small as sipping water anymore, you weren’t quite feeling like eating just yet. Though, maybe you were at the point of questioning whether you were nauseous because you weren’t eating, or if you weren’t eating because you were nauseous.
You opened your mouth to answer him, to tell him that you’d eat later, but he shook his head. “I’ll bring you something to eat in an hour.” And he walked away before you could protest.
You sighed, well, his heart was in the right place…
-
You were feeling infinitely better after a hot shower, glad to put on your comfiest t-shirt and shorts and wait for König to show up with food. Just as he said, a little under an hour later he knocked on your door.
“I got you soup.” He said instead of a greeting when you answered, holding up a covered, steaming, glass container.
“That actually sounds nice, thank you, König.”
He smiled, the little creases around his eyes giving tale to it, behind his mask, as he walked in. “Good. I was afraid you would say you would eat later.”
“I mean, it’s technically later now.”
He shook his head and motioned towards the bar stools you had pushed up against the counter. “Sit.”
He’d been over enough times to know where things were in your kitchen, and served up some of the soup with a glass of water. It was a light soup, mostly broth with finely diced vegetables.
“Is this what you eat when you’re sick?” You asked as he continued to move around your kitchen.
“I don’t get sick.”
You scoffed a laugh that you tried to play off as you blowing on the hot soup.
“...Yea.” He answered truthfully as he put a kettle on.
“No shame in a good ol’ Cup a Soup. I have some in the pantry, you didn’t have to raid your stash for me.”
“Had to make sure you would eat.”
You laughed a little at that, surprised at how well he seemed to know you. You would feel a little guilty for not finishing a bowl if it were something that he brought over instead of what you just had sitting in your pantry.
“What kind of tea?”
“Peppermint. With two spoons of honey.”
You were finished with your soup by the time he was done preparing your tea just the way you like.
Following a cute little exchange of an empty bowl for a fresh tea cup, he motioned to your room with a nod, “go lay down. I will clean up.”
“Kay. Thank you.” You didn’t argue with him this time, because all you really wanted to do anyway was climb in bed.
König followed after you just to grab your heating pad then headed back to the kitchen.
You were careful with placing your tea on the nightstand, close enough to reach while you’re in bed and but not too close to the laptop that’s facing the bed.
“I have something for you,” König started as he came back, just as you settled down.
First he handed you your heating pad, which you were glad to pull under the covers with you. Then he held up your favorite candy bar, “for when you feel better.”
You chuckled, “aww, thank you, König!”
He set that down next to your tea and shifted on his feet awkwardly before he looked at you again. “And this. Here.”
He held out his hand in a loose fist towards you.
“Hm?” You reached out to let him drop whatever it was into your palm.
You blinked at the slightly warmed metal in your hand and smiled when you looked down. A single key attached to a plain key ring.
König was looking up and away from you when you looked back at him, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he stuttered out an explanation. “Just in case, yea? I want you to keep it.”
“Okay,” you said softly and reached over to the nightstand and slipped it inside the drawer. “I’ll keep it right next to me.”
König’s heart fluttered at how intimate the simple little gesture sounded and he was once again glad that his face was covered. “Need anything else?”
You hummed and patted the bed next to you. “Cuddles?”
His eyebrows shot up at your request. “I thought you didn’t want to cuddle?”
“That was last night! But if you don’t want to cuddle, it’s fine. I’m sure I have a plushie around here somewhere.” You sat up and glanced around your room, trying to remember where you stashed that cute teddy bear you had.
Before you could point out your bear, König moved around to the other side of the bed and lifted the blanket enough to slip under it, muttering for you to lay back down.
There was a bit of an awkward shuffle as he kicked off his boots and settled behind you, spooning you.
“Ack, you’re on my shirt, you’re choking me!” You half laughed as you tried to pull the tail of your shirt from under him.
He cursed and pushed himself up long enough for you to free yourself. “Why are you wearing such a big shirt?”
“It’s comfy!”
“And where do you get such a big shirt?” He teased as he tugged on the excess material before settling his hand over the heating pad that was slipping, keeping it close to your abdomen.
“I stole it.”
“You stole it? From who?”
“Mmhm.” Then you paused to hit play on the movie you had picked out, “just…someone.”
Your ex. You didn’t want to say it, didn’t even want to think of your ex while wrapped up in König’s arms, but your silence itself was loud enough for him to hear it.
“Do you do that often?”
“What?”
“Steal other people’s clothes?”
You laughed, “well, it is hard to resist a comfy shirt.”
“Little thief.” He teased in German, chuckling at your “what?!” that followed.
You were familiar with his nicknames enough that you picked up on the word ‘little’ but you didn’t know the second word.
“Only of comfy t-shirts!” you protested when he translated for you.
König chuckled and nudged you slightly, “watch your movie.”
He didn’t pay attention to the movie, even if you did insist that it was good. He was too busy trying to figure out a way to tempt you with one of his shirts.
I made a post about this, I relate to him a lot and I see a lot of his behavioral patterns in me.
YES. i see it!! and i’ve been meaning to talk about the possibility of basil being autistic for quite a while, so, i’ll talk about it here. it’s harder to see it in comparison to sunny’s since he’s most likely masking (which sunny doesn’t really do), but it’s still there!!
(this tweet will kinda be a mess, since it’s not like an analysis analysis. if i’m wrong, please do correct me!)
according to the nhs (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/signs/children/) signs of autism in older children include:
- not seeming to understand what others are thinking or feeling
- unusual speech, such as repeating phrases and talking ‘at’ others
- liking a strict daily routine and getting very upset if it changes
- having a very keen interest in certain subjects or activities
- getting very upset if you ask them to do something
- finding it hard to make friends or preferring to be on their own
- taking things very literally – for example, they may not understand phrases like "break a leg"
- finding it hard to say how they feel
from what we know about him & from what the duet cutscene says, he was alone for most of his life before meeting the friend group. he also has a line (though said by headspace basil) about this! while that may not necessarily be a sign of autism, it’s what he says next that stands out to me.
“you’ve all taught me so much… how to care for others and how to care for myself too!”
that specific line stands out to me because of how it tells us that basil wasn’t always as caring and cheery as he was as a 12 year old. he learned from his friends—through experience with them, and through observation.
he’s also implied to have a hard time making friends. other than aubrey (who he likely met later in his life rather than in early childhood like sunny and kel), he had no friends before that. how awkward he is in the cutscene where aubrey introduces him to her new-found friend group also implies that he hasn’t had experience with friends. (he also looks like he’s somewhat ‘copying’ aubrey’s smile, just in a more awkward way)
basil most likely has difficulty when it comes to identifying feelings—specifically ones he hasn’t experienced himself. such as the fear of spiders. he doesn’t seem to get that others can fear spiders due to how he doesn’t fear spiders and sees them as a positive instead.
(icon can’t be seen due to my bad internet, but it’s headspace basil. a lot of the headspace basil lines in blackspace and omori route help when it comes to understanding his character better. stranger’s lines help as well :3)
(it should be noted, though, that otherwise, he’s good at reading sunny specifically. may not be a sign of it on itself, but taking into consideration that sunny is also likely autistic, it might be. both of them understand each other despite their childhood different experiences due to it.)
he’s also… pretty bad at articulating and identifying feelings.
“…but the words don’t come out.”
“i don’t know if i should apologize”
“but why does part of of me still cling on?”
the feeling of not knowing if you should apologize or not, the inability to form words and articulating yourself, the feeling of not knowing why you do something… that counts, right?
basil has a very keen interest in plants and flowers. he memorized the symbolism of the flowers that the he assigned to the friend group, and we see plants all over and even outside basil’s house.
he also insists on only taking photos of people when they’re not posing for him and genuinely expressing emotion (which does give the headcanon of him observing expressions and feelings through the photo album a little more merit :3)
from OMORI canon, we know how attached he is to the past and how he dislikes sudden changes. it’s why the photo album exists, it’s why he says “everything will be okay”, it’s why he did what he did. this is something that both sunny and basil have in common!
to me, basil is an autistic person who learned how to mask because he’s afraid to be seen as weird by his friends & others. his relationship with sunny is the only one where he’s able to drop that mask and be “free” in a sense. post-incident basil tries to mask too, but fails at it since he has… a lot more going on his mind.
