~At the palace~

"What. Were. You. Two. Doing?" Yamuraiha says when she sees both of us shivering on the way back to my study. We were mostly dry by the time we made it to the palace. However, since we were fighting on the way back from the cove because (y/n) wouldn't use my robe to cover herself, we both ended up shivering.

Sharrkan stands beside Yamuraiha, snickering. Then I realise that (y/n) and I are still huddled together, somehow sharing the crumpled robe that only manages to cover half of our bodies.

"It was nothing, Yamuraiha. We're just going to get cleaned up now," I say. "Sure, Ja'far. It was 'nothing'," teased Sharrkan. I shot him a look before leaving with (y/n).

By the time we both cleaned ourselves up and changed clothes, it was already evening. We still had a lot of paperwork to get done. (Y/n) tosses me an apple that she got from the kitchen before feeding the bird some seeds that she got on the way back from the cove. The cove... incident pops up in my mind and I blush. I turn back to my work, half-writing and half-eating the apple.

Suddenly, I hear a sneeze. Another sneeze follows barely a second later - this time, it came from me. (Y/n) and I shoot each other a look. Please don't tell me we're getting sick because of that stupid cove incident. I shake the thought off and continue working. Despite my best efforts to hold them in, the sneezes come again. "I think you should stop working," (y/n) says. "I'm fine," I tell her before sneezing again.

"Sure you are," she says, giving me a look. "I can keep working," I say. We glare at each other silently. "Fine," she relents. "But as long as you keep working, I'll keep working." "You're really stubborn, you know that?"

I keep working through the night while (y/n) stays true to her word. After a few hours, I look at the pile on the table. Good. I have only about ¼ of the papers left to finish. I hear (y/n) sneezing behind me. I shake my head. "It's your fault that we ended up fighting over who got to use my stupid robe. Now we're both sick," I think to myself. If I just stay up a few more hours, I can finish all my work. Then (y/n) can get some rest.

~10 hours later~

I fell asleep. I literally fell asleep. Even though I'm usually able to pull an all-nighter easily. I must have been pretty sick.

Wait.

I sit up and look around me. First of all, I'm not in my study anymore. I'm in my bedroom. Also, I'm in my bed and I'm not sneezing anymore. It's 10 a.m. already. I must have slept pretty well.

Crap! I haven't finished that pile of papers from last night. I change into some fresh clothes and run out of my room to see one of the palace servants. "Oh! Good morning, Ja'far. Don't worry about the papers. I had them delivered just now," he says. "What?" I ask, confused. "I picked them up from your study just now. A girl gave them to me. Isn't she the new assistant?" he explains. I breathe a sigh of relief and thank him.

I open the door to my study. What I see inside makes me close the door behind me softly. (Y/n) sleeps soundly on my desk, her face half-buried in her folded arms. The baby bird hops around in its makeshift nest on the table beside her.

"Baka," I mutter. I take off my robe and wrap it around her shoulders. "Looks like this is the only way you'll accept it," I say, feeling a smile tug at the corner of my mouth.