Another MFU blurb

Written for today’s short affair prompt at Section VII

Summary:
Napoleon is disheartened by the results of his latest physical fitness test–but Illya points out one key factor in the results.

Cross-posted to AO3.

After years of association with his partner, Illya always
knew when Napoleon was in a gloomy mood—not that it was too difficult to tell,
as Napoleon rarely hid what he was feeling.
But there were different sources and levels of gloom, and Illya could tell
exactly which was what based on just one glance at his partner.

That morning, Illya’s first observation after his shower
was noticing that a full, warm breakfast was on the table, and yet, Napoleon
was now sitting in a chair by the window, glumly resting his chin on his hand
as his brown eyes gazed out, blankly, at nothing in particular.  In Napoleon’s other hand was an opened
letter; the rest of the mail was on the table, so, clearly, Napoleon had been
fine until something in the mail, which must have arrived after he had finished
making breakfast, had upset him.

Illya cast one more glance at the tempting breakfast before
pulling up another chair beside Napoleon’s.

“What is the bad news?” he asked, gently.

Napoleon sighed deeply, glancing at Illya for a moment
before looking back out the window.

“I’m getting old.”

Illya exhaled.

“I would ask if this was about you finally noticing your
greying temples…”  He paused as Napoleon
gently touched them out of reflex—something that Illya had noticed occurring over
the last few weeks.  “But clearly you’ve
been aware of them for some time.  So, I
presume that mail you received wasn’t someone else pointing out that you had
them?”

“No,” Napoleon sighed, handing Illya the letter he had
received.  “The results from my latest
physical fitness test came back…”

Illya glanced at the results—and could see why Napoleon was
concerned.  The results had taken a sharp
drop from the last time’s, as indicated in one of the columns.  And Napoleon’s blood pressure, resting pulse
rate, and cortisol levels had all increased significantly.

Illya exhaled and was about to comment that, yes, this was
a cause for concern… at least until he noticed the date of Napoleon’s fitness
test.

“Napoleon?” he asked.
“You had your fitness test less than a week after we’d returned from
Berlin and the Summit Five meeting?”

“Mm-hmm,” Napoleon responded, glumly.

Illya looked up from the test results to stare at Napoleon
in utter disbelief.

“Why?”

“I was already overdue for my fitness test even before the Summit
Five meeting,” Napoleon sighed.  “I
convinced Medical that our need to be in Berlin was absolutely urgent, and so
they made it quite clear that I had to have the test within a week of our
return from Berlin.  So, that’s what I
did.”

“…You… this…”  Illya
was struggling to put words together as he pointed from the paper to
Napoleon.  “Why…?  Blockhead!”

Napoleon glanced at him in some confusion.

“You are fretting over results of a fitness test that was
taken less than a week after you were systematically tortured!?” Illya finally managed to ask.  “What, may I ask, was the logical result, if
not this?”

“There was a time when I could have taken the test the day after, and there wouldn’t have been
any way to tell,” Napoleon pointed out.
“I guess I agreed to take the test so soon because I wanted to see if I
could… still do that.  But I can’t.”

“Well if that was what you were expecting, Napoleon, then
yes, you are getting older.  Neither of
us can stop getting older.  If the Baron
of THRUSH rose from the grave and tortured me on those saltires of his like he
did seven years ago, I would not bounce back again as quickly as I did
then…”  He trailed off again as he saw
Napoleon’s shoulders go rigid at the mention.
“I see…  This thought has already
occurred to you.”

“Maybe we’re not unfit—not yet,” Napoleon said.  “But you just admitted it—we’re not as fast
in bouncing back like we used to be.
We’re not…”

“Not invincible?” Illya finished.  He gently drew an arm around Napoleon.  “I have news for you, Napoleon.  We never were.
Deep down, we both have always known that; even if we never gave much
thought to our own mortality, we certainly did think about each other’s—a lot.  You have given me plenty of scares over the
years, and I am sure I have done the same for you, as well.”

Napoleon responded by drawing Illya into a tight hug, which
Illya returned.

“I was worried for you as recently as Berlin,” Illya
said.  “How I had to see you suffer and
couldn’t do a thing to stop it…. Napoleon, I don’t think you realize how close
I came to killing Strothers.  Part of me
still wants to.”

“You got to kill Beldon.”

“And I noticed you didn’t ask me to show him mercy as you
normally would…”

“Well, he tried to kill you, too.”

Illya glanced at Napoleon with a “See?” look and Napoleon
managed a smile.

“And that is how we have made it this far, Napoleon,” he
said.  “We cover each other’s
weaknesses.  That is how we will continue
to face the next five years.”

“You know, what, Tovarisch?  I do believe you’re right.  So, how about that breakfast?”

And Illya smiled now.
He still insisted that he was never great at pep talks—but he was
certainly glad to have been of help now.
It’s why the partnership had worked so well—and would continue to do so.