sweet chocolate biscuits

lavender oil

taron knew he was getting sick from the moment he felt that slight tickle in his throat.
there'd been something going around at work lately; several of his coworkers had called in earlier that week. he'd been expecting it to hit him eventually.
but what he wasn't expecting was for it to be so bad.
he'd done a good job keeping it a secret from rich for the past two days. his boyfriend tended to go a little overboard when it came to these things.
but by the third day the tickly feeling had evolved into a burning sensation, almost as if he'd swallowed sandpaper. pressure built up in his head, and he felt hot and heavy all over.
his chest ached.
he threw himself off the bed and trudged to the bathroom to splash some water on his face, in hopes of making himself look a bit more presentable.
it didn't seem to have worked, considering the fact that richard's immediate response to seeing him come down the stairs was "did you sleep okay?"
taron bit his lip.
god, how long had he slept? rich was all dressed up and ready to go to work, and he was still standing on the stairs in his pajamas.
"yeah, 'm fine." he mentally cursed himself. he knew his voice was thick with congestion.
"hmm. sure."
the scotsman squinted suspiciously.
"you sound a little hoarse? are you sure-"
"i just have a little cold, okay? i'll be fine."
"okay. you should probably stay home and rest your voice though. don't want you to hurt yourself."
he wasn't gonna argue.
"okay."
"see you after work."
taron brewed himself a cup of tea, and made his way over to the couch, where he carefully laid down. he reached for the remote.
~
about seven episodes of sherlock holmes later, taron's phone buzzed.

dickie <3: how are you doing?

in truth, he wasn't doing great.
he couldn't draw a full breath without it sending him into an unrelenting fit of hacking.
he was freezing half to death, he couldn't breathe through his nose at all, and it hurt to swallow. it actually hurt all over.  
he was worse off than this morning, one thing was for sure.
his stomach growled.
he couldn't tell if he was hungry or nauseous at this point, and he really didn't want to take any chances.
with a groan of discomfort, taron repositioned himself on the couch.
he didn't want to worry his boyfriend, so he responded with a quick "miss you." and left it at that. he eventually felt the buzz of his phone when he responded, but he was already half asleep and too exhausted to bother replying.  
t was brought to by the sound of richard opening the front door. several tesco bags hung from his arms.
"hey, love." he spoke in that gorgeous, thick accent that taron loves so much.
"brought you some things. hopefully all of this'll help."
he leaned in for a kiss, but recoiled when he felt the heat radiating off taron's skin.
"t? are you sure it's 'just a cold?'" a frigid hand was placed against his forehead, and pulled away after a few moments and an unsatisfied click of rich's tongue.
the younger man just shrugged and nodded uncertainly.
"yeah right. come on!"
he groaned as he was pulled to his feet, much to his annoyance. he held a plush blanket tightly at his chin, in a futile attempt to keep warm.
"richardlemmebe—" he began before he was cut off by a series of wet and painful coughs, stumbling right into dickie's right shoulder.
"hey, easy." the black haired man cooed. when taron had finished, his lover placed a hand under his chin to get a better look at his face. his skin was pale, save for the unhealthy flush of fever, and tears welled at the corners of his greenish eyes. he looked like a sad puppy.  
he pulled away and allowed himself to pillow on the older man's shoulder once again.
"feel sick, dickie."
"come on, let's go back to our room."
they slowly made their way up the stairs, richard doing his best not to step on the tails of taron's blanket. one hand was placed gently on t's waist to keep him steady, and he carried the bags in the other.
when they finally made their way to their shared room, rich carefully helped his boyfriend sit down on the edge of the bed.
"lay down."
the younger man didn't need to be told twice. he curled up in the bed, wrapping himself in the loose covers as a quiet groan escaped his chapped lips.
richard's heart dropped.  
he absolutely hated seeing the love of his life suffering like this. he thought for a few seconds  as to what he could do to help.
"hey, don't fall asleep yet."
rich helped his boyfriend sit up, and dug around in a grocery bag for a moment before he pulled out a box of flu tablets and tossed them to t, who tore open the cardboard, popped a few out of the blister pack, and swallowed them dry.
"thanks, love." he muttered thickly before once again receding into the covers.
rich sighed. he really hoped this was just gonna be a short lived thing that would be over within the next 24 hours.
he looked down at his boyfriend's resting form, his heart sinking a little as he watched him shiver and writhe in his sleep. his gaze then floated towards the clock on their nightstand, which read 8:45. 
he could head to bed a little early...

not that it really mattered at this point. it wasn't like he was going to be able to get any sleep.
not with taron next to him.
the sweating, the shivering. the rolling. the constant fits of coughing that would cause the younger man to gasp for breath, and the worry that came with it.
after lord only knows how long, rich fell asleep and taron just gave up on trying. laying down did nothing but make his back hurt and push all of the pressure to his head. every time he thought he was comfortable, his breath would hitch in his throat and he'd start hacking yet again and have so sit up and start all over again.
he doubled over as a harsh chill overtook his aching form. he pressed the back of his wrist to his mouth in a futile attempt to stifle another painful fit.
taron looked down at richard, sleeping lightly next to him. god, he looked peaceful. a small smile across his lips, eyes shut delicately. he really didn't want to bother him. but he just felt so miserable and didn't know what he could do about it on his own. he hesitated a moment before slowly shaking him awake. 
"baby, what-"
"can't sleep." replied the younger man.
when rich sat up in bed, he could tell.
he could've sworn he looked worse than he did a few hours ago. his eyes were dull and sunken and his body was slick with a cold sweat. aside from the unhealthy redness across his cheeks, the color had drained from his face.
rich felt sorry just looking at him.
"god, t." he muttered.
"have you even eaten anything today?"
had he eaten? fuckk. eating was the last thing on his mind right now. he knew he wouldn’t be able to taste anything, and swallowing hurt, and god his stomach was churning. even the thought of having to eat something was making his chin wobble. uh, fuckk this.
he shook his head slowly, as rich reached up to stroke his sweat-slick cheek. he watched his eyes soften with concern.
"geez, love, you’re burning. im gonna run you a bath and put some soup on."
richard hopped out of bed and helped pull taron to his feet. he was a little surprised when the younger man stumbled forward, too tired to even stand by himself.
"dizzy-" taron started to say before he was cut off by more painful coughing.
dickie wrapped an arm around his shoulder. he cringed sympathetically and patted taron's back as he continued to hack into the back of his hand, tears welling at the corners of his eyes. when he'd finally managed to catch his breath, he looked up at richard with the most pathetic look that made his heart drop.
"come on."
he guided taron to the bathroom and set up the bath, even adding a few drops of lavender and eucalyptus oil to hopefully calm him down and clear out his sinuses. once it was ready, he helped him strip down and get into the bath. for a moment, taron remained tense, but soon allowed himself to relax into the steamy water.
in the meantime, rich headed to the kitchen and dug through the cabinets until he found a can of chicken soup, opened it up, and put it on the stove to heat up. while it cooked, he decided to change the bedsheets and open up the windows. it was hot in there, and he knew taron would be more comfortable in a fresh set, after the room had aired out.
once the soup had finished heating up, rich went to help taron back to bed.
once he'd gotten changed and dried off, he crawled back under the covers, already feeling the effects of the essential oils; his body felt cool and relaxed, and he no longer felt like he was going to retch at the mention of food. and he finally felt tired enough to go to sleep. his eyes began to drift shut, just as rich came back with the soup.
"hey t, don't sleep yet, you need to eat something."
"not really hungry."
"you haven't eaten anything all day, come on." over he scotsman's eyebrows furrowed in frustration as he sat on the edge of the bed. taron sat up. he bit the inside of his cheek. he held the blankets around his shoulders tightly as another wave of chills set in.
"only if you feed me."
"you're ridiculous." muttered richard beneath his breath, but complied, scooping up a spoonful of soup and raising it to taron's colorless lips. the warm liquid felt nice going down his throat, though he couldn't taste it.
he ate about half of the bowl before deciding he was done. 
rich set the bowl on the nightstand, before feeling taron lean against his shoulder. he was still considerably warm, but at least he wasn't as sweaty as before. his boyfriend grinned warmly before planting a gentle kiss on t's brow.
within the next few minutes, the lavender oil and exhaustion kicked in and taron was fast asleep resting right on richard's chest.
the only thing going through rich's mind at the moment was how lucky he was. with a veiny hand, he stroked his boyfriend's pale cheek. god he was gorgeous; even sickly and asleep, there was something he just found so attractive about the man sleeping soundly against him.
the slight lavender scent that hung in the air was starting to get to rich too. he allowed his eyes to drift shut, arms wrapped tightly around taron, and a smile plastered across his face.