sweet chocolate biscuits

sick

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 first 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.
taron groaned as he peeled himself from the sheets. he carefully rose to his feet, took a few steps, and braced himself against the wall as he felt his blood rush to his head. he could see flashes of white clouding his vision, and the slight pressure across his forehead gradually starting to throb.
once he finally felt steady enough to walk the remaining few feet to the restroom, he did so, and immediately bent over the sink to splash his face with water.
it felt like ice against his burning skin. it would’ve been refreshing if he didn’t already feel so miserable. shudders wracked his form as he felt a few stray droplets trickle down his neck. he took a glimpse in the mirror and immediately recoiled at his run down appearance.
dark circles hung beneath his bleary eyes; the unhealthy flush of fever crept across his slightly puffy cheeks, and his already pale skin seemed to take on a slightly grayer shade. there was really no way he could hide it now. he knew as soon as he walked downstairs richard would be all over him. taron gripped the handrail for fear life as he wobbled down the stairs. in the kitchen, the he scot was cooking breakfast, too caught up in his work to notice his boyfriend tiptoeing down. heaving a sigh, taron took a seat, folded his arms on the table and laid his head down. frankly, even the thought of trying to chew anything made his stomach flip. he laid there taking shallow breaths until he felt a warm hand on his shoulder, starling him slightly. “good morning, lovely.” taron carefully lifted his head and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out, rich seemed to register the situation, and he was immediately bent down to eye level, cupping taron’s face with freezing hands. “awe, love.” was all he could say. once again, the welshman started to talk, but his breath hitched in his throat and he was overtaken by a bout of rattly coughs. once he’d caught his breath, he leaned into rich’s touch. “do you want your breakfast?” rich asked, and t shook his head slightly. “just wanna lay down.” rich helped him to his feet and steadied him with a hand on the waist as they made their way to the couch. as soon as t sat down and kicked a blanket over himself, rich planted a kiss to his sweat drenched temple. he speed-walked to the downstairs bathroom to grab a thermometer, and without saying a word, stuck it under taron’s tongue. he knelt down beside the sickly actor, and slicked his sweaty hair away from his face, grimacing worriedly. rich pulled the device from taron’s lips and squinted to better read it. when his vision focused and he was able to make out the small black numbers, his brows jumped and he clicked his tongue. “shit, mate. gonna go grab you some paracetamol.” the black haired man walked off again, only to return with only a glass of ice water in hand. “try and sleep, okay? we don’t have anything to give you, so i’m running to the store.” taron almost wanted to tell him to stay, and sit with him, but rich was already putting on his coat and searching his pocket for the car keys. “text me if you need anything.” taron felt overwhelmingly teary when the front door clicked shut. he sighed. he knew sleep wasn’t going to do him any good, and he’s probably just wake up hot and sweaty and even more stuffed up and nauseous than he already was. if that was even possible. he wasn’t quite sure at this point. eventually, he decided to put on a movie at a low volume just to keep him entertained and distract him from everything his body was currently deciding to do to torture him. finally, taron allowed himself to relax into the cushions, pulling his blanket up to his chin, and let his mind drift off into a fuzzy and dreamlike state. some 45 minutes or so into the breakfast club, richard slung open the door, successfully startling taron and rousing him from his feverish haze. tesco bags hung from his arms, rustling noisily as rich made his way over to the couch. richard set the bags next to t. “got you some stuff.” taron reached for the bags to take a look inside; tea bags, some tissues, a few boxes of flu tablets, and some lozenges. he looked up at his lover with a slight pout etched across his chiseled features. “sit with me.” “im going to make you some tea, you need to take your medicine, and then we can cuddle, okay?” richard made his way to the kitchen to put some tea on the kettle. meanwhile, t fumbled with the blister pack, struggling to peel off the backing and get to the medication. when he finally got them out, he popped them in his mouth, and swallowed them without a drink. bad decision. the action left his throat dry and scratchy and as hard as he tried he wasn’t able to stop himself from dry retching into his palms at the aftertaste of the chalky tablets. he reached for the glass of ice water on the coffee table, and took a few sips, which were thankfully enough to calm his gag reflex. “do we need to go to the restroom?” richard yelled from the kitchen, clearly hearing the ruckus. “no, love, ‘m fine.” speaking alone seemed to make his voice feel even worse. soon enough, the kettle began to whistle, leaving a god awful ringing in taron’s ears, and shortly after, richard made his way back to the sitting room with a steaming cup of tea. he handed the mug to his boyfriend, and sat down beside him, feeling taron immediately lean towards him as he took a small sip. the drink was hot and felt good going down, though he couldn’t taste it of course, and it was less than appetizing. after downing about half of the tea, taron placed the cup on the coffee table next to the couch. he laid against the scot with a rattly sigh that turned into another fit of hacking coughs. richard bit his lip and placed a hand on his back in a more than futile attempt to provide a bit of comfort. when he finally stopped coughing, he slumped pathetically against richard with a wheezy sigh that made the other’s heart shatter. he stared up at his lover with his face flushed bright red, and tears welling in his eyes, taking in shallow breaths through slightly parted lips. “you’re a fuᴄkin disaster, mate.” “no shit.” taron reached pathetically across rich’s lap to grasp at a box of kleenex. he unproductively blew his nose and tossed the tissue to the ground. “ugh, dicky.” he complained, voice nearly cracking. “yes, loves?” “can’t fuᴄkin breathe.” “i know, baby. maybe sit up?” rich turned towards taron and pulled him in so he was sitting back against him, between his legs. he took taron’s clammy hands into his and squeezed them tight
“this good?”
taron nodded and much as he could manage and leaned closer to rich to try and hide how badly he’d started to shiver. rich seemed to notice this, and he wrapped his arms around t’s chest, cringing as he felt his breath shudder with every inhale, trapped by a web of phlegm.
taron muttered something incoherent as he felt the effects of the tablets kick in, and his eyelids began to drift shut.
“hm?”
“love you lots, dickie.”
“love you more, t.”