When overworking hits, you can rely on me

Otsukare!" The sheer amount of times they said that was amazing. However, it was starting to get to Kanae. There were many events he had planned for that few months , his livestreams, his tweets and thumbnails, his covers and songs, his concerts and collabs with other livers. Other than that, he had kuronan radio every week and a new outfit to reveal. There were new games to play, new stream mods to add, and he was starting to get tired. Barely getting 6h of sleep in the afternoon, every night he dragged himself to stream. Other livers were starting to worry for him, especially his unit partner Kuzuha. He knew Kanae worked hard, but not like this. Under the context he had a lot on his plate, Kanae brushed off others concerns with a small smile. The listeners were worried for his health, sensing that his voice had become less energetic and he constantly stared out into space.

"Nii-yan?" Honhima called out. He snapped back to reality upon being called.

"Yes?"

"Are you alright?"

"Oh, it's nothing, don't worry chat" He comforted the anxious chat who were wondering if he was okay.

"I'm going to get water."

"Okayyy~"

After Kanae muted the stream on his side, Honhima questioned his chat.

"Has he always been like this for the past few streams?"

[yes]

[im worried for him]

[tell him to take care of his health]

"Does anyone know his condition and can help him? I don't want my nii-yan to be stressed…"

[i don't think so…]

[he doesn't really tell us]

[maybe kuzuha]

[don't worry hima he'll be okay]

Kuzuha[he hasn't told me]

"What?! So no one has helped him? Oh no… and isn't he taking awfully long to take water?"

Kuzuha[what? how long has it been?]

[hi kuzuha!]

[probably close to 10 minutes]

[maybe kuzuha can call him?]

Kuzuha[i'll try calling him, if he doesn't pick up after 3 calls, i'll go and visit him]

[hope Kanae's okay…]

[kanae please be okay…]

"Thank you so much, Kuzuha!"

[…]

[…]

[…]

Kuzuha[there's no news from him, chat how long has this been going on for?]

[about a month]

[a month or longer]

Kuzuha[I'll go over and check on him, honhima please handle the rest!]

"Yes! Chat, let's…."

Kuzuha switched off his stream, and hurried as fast as he could to Kanae's house. It was making him worried that he got injured.

Kuzuha unlocked his door with the spare key Kanae had provided for him. When seeing him sleeping safely in his chair, he breathe d a sigh of relief. The stream was still on and as he faced away from the webcam, no one could see him. Taking over Kanae's vtuber model, he declared the stream was over and apologised to the viewers and thanked Honhima for her time.

[is he okay?]

"Yep, he's alright, just sleeping. Bye chat!"

Turning off the stream, he turned to the still sleeping Kanae and tried to push him to the bed.

To his surprise, Kanae latched on to him and nuzzled into him.

"mm…don't wanna sleep…wanna stream…"

"you can stream later, but do apologise to your chat"

Upon hearing Kuzuha's voice, Kanae woke up. Seeing the embarrassing situation he was in, he quickly retracted his arms and stared at his turned off his stream.

"Oh shit…what did you do?! I was just streaming and you… you know what, i can't believe it, you're such a dumbass! What about Honhima and the other listeners? Oh no…I've disappointed everyone, im sorry, im sorry I've even troubled you on your day off…"

The initial anger that clouded his face turned into sadness and regret, almost to look as if being a guilty, having done something wrong.

"You're the idiot! Who leaves their stream on and goes to sleep? And doesn't take care of their health? Wait, no, no, don't cry, don't cry, um, nevermind, go ahead and cry, I guess…"

Was it out of instinct or fondness seeing Kanae in such a vulnerable state, Kuzuha opened his arms, a rare invitation for Kanae to hug him. Kanae seeing his usually touch shy partner allow him to hug him, he leapt out of his chair to hug him. Burying his head in the crook of his neck, Kanae felt his warm tears flowing down his cheeks. It was so unlike him, but it was just too much…Kuzuha whispered kind nothings into his ear and rubbed his back gently. "It's okay""It'll be alright"" I'm here for you""Let it all out""You can rely on me"repeated over and over again. Almost collapsing to the floor, Kanae was lucky that Kuzuha caught him and placed him on his lap. Kanae continued to sob into his shoulder and Kuzuha could feel the wet spot on his shirt growing. It hurt Kuzuha to see him like this, like his heart broke. The smiling Kanae was hiding this much pain behind the smile? He bit his bottom lip, and frowned. He knew Kanae was having a tough time, but not to this extent. How did he not notice?If he could help support Kanae, he would. Who knows how long Kanae was crying for, for he had fell asleep with dried tear marks on his face and slightly swollen red eyes. Carrying him gently to his bed, he stroked Kanae's hair tenderly. He had never seen Kanae collapse like that and it scared him. What if he was not around? That would be horrible…

When Kanae woke up and saw Kuzuha by his bedside, still holding his hand and sleeping soundly, he unlatched his hand, stroked his head and went to wash his face. Seeing the tear marks reminded him of last night, he sighed. How could he trouble everyone, especially his dear partner who had worked hard, Kuzuha? Thinking about the things he probably ruined, a few tears slid down his cheeks.

He had wanted to let Kuzuha sleep in his bed but Kuzuha had already woken up by the time he had came back. Kuzuha, seeing his downcast face and hearing his apologetic words, had enough. Lifting his face up with tears pouring down his face, Kuzuha kissed him. On the lips. A shy blush coloured both their cheeks and after releasing the kiss, Kuzuha mumbled,"you really need to know when to shut up. don't cry anymore, you wouldn't want to ruin that cute face of yours, and don't worry, worry about yourself first…" A deeper blush coloured his face and silent tears slid down his face.

"What? no, no, don't cry again,um…"

Kanae laughed. He laughed, the audacity of him, while Kuzuha was so worried about him.

"Ku-kun…did you grab that off a pickup line site? And I'm so, so grateful that you care for me. And what kind of partner kisses their partner just to shut them up?"

"You were talking nonsense…"

"Admit it. You love me."

"///"

"I'll take that as a yes. And here I was so worried that you didn't share the same sentiments as me. Kiss me again?"

"///"

"If you won't do it, I'll do it."

And they kissed. Well, Kanae tried, but Kuzuha just melted in his arms and did little to reciprocate the kiss. Kanae laughed and felt a burden of his problems of his chest disappear.

"You know, you can always rely on me. Don't overwork yourself you idiot."

"Will do~♡"

The next day, Kanae was chipper as ever, leaving listeners to ponder and fantasise what had happened the previous night.