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Tom wakes up and he feels like shit.
Well… a bigger piece of shit than usual. He’s got a stuffed up nose he can’t breathe through, a throat that feels like he’s been swallowing acid, and all the side effects of a hangover without the bonus of having avoided his problems for the entire night before.
Tom gets up out of bed and starts to walk. His feet feel like they’re made of lead and ever muscle in his body aches. He makes his way to the stairs and stands waving at the top of the steps, staring blankly at the stairs.
“You going to actually go down those, or just admire modern architecture for a while longer?”
No. No. Nooooo. Not Tord. Not now. Even through a haze of sickness Tom knows he needs to move away from Tord before something inevitably happens. He takes one shaky step forward… and promptly loses his balance when his foot misses the first step and slides off. Tord grabs him by his hoodie and yanks him back before he can fall.
“What is this, a chick flick? Because neither of us are attractive or personable enough for that,” Tord says. Then he gets a good look at Tom’s face and the laughter dies on his face.
“What’s wrong with you,” he deadpans.
“I’d ask the same question but I want to eat breakfast today,” Tom snips, voice coming out raw and hoarse.
“Tom you look like upchuck.”
“Yeah well if you let me fall down the stairs right now it would still be less painful than looking at you.”
“Tord, are you antagonizing Tom?” Edd said as he came down the hallway. He was still wiping sleep from his eyes as he did so.
Tord rolls his eyes, “It is literally the exact opposite. There’s something wrong with Tom.”
Edd took a closer look at Tom noting the pallor of his skin as he pressed a hand to his forehead. It felt nice to Tom and lessened his headache a minute amount. He leaned into the touch, closing his eyes as he did so. He remembered how exhausted he felt waking up and suddenly he found himself slumping involuntarily in Tord’s grip.
“Woah there,” Edd said, sliding his hands under Tom’s armpits and hoisting him up into his arms. “I think he has a fever.”
“M’good,” Tom mumbled, attempting to slide himself out of Edd’s grip. Edd sighed as the omega wriggled in his grasp.
“Tom….”
Tom merely wriggled harder. He managed to slip out from under Edd’s grip and onto the floor where he lay disorientated and stunned. Edd bent down to scoop the smaller man up in his arms. When Tom started to struggle again Edd gripped him tighter and said in his alpha voice: “Stop it”.
Tom stilled, looking down sullenly. Tord arched an eyebrow looking at Edd and Edd shrugged sheepishly. Of all the things to use his alpha voice for, he uses it for a half conscious sick omega who probably just wants to throw up and lay down in it. It came across as a little pathetic he couldn’t keep him in line without stooping to his biological advantage.
“Okay, well what do we do with him?” Tord asked, gesturing to the limp body.
“Tom do you want some food?” Edd asked.
As if on cue, Tom’s stomach grumbled followed by a soft, “Yeah”.
“Alright, food it is,” Edd said cheerily as he shifted Tom to carry him bridal style down the stairs. Tord followed after. Edd set Tom down in the dining room at the table.
“How about some tomato soup? That okay?” Edd asked. Tom nodded.
Edd went into the kitchen to go make it. Tord sat down across the table from Tom. Tom rested his chin in his hands. Without even noticing he started to fall asleep, his head slowly nodding out of his hands until it out right slipped and slammed into the table. Tom awoke again with a start with a look of confused betrayal. Tord was across from him, nearly in tears from laugh so hard.
“You are the worst at helping sick people,” Tom snapped, irritated by Tord’s enjoyment of his distress.
“Tord what are you doing to him?” Edd said as he returned with a bowl of hot soup.
“He did it to himself. I just watched.”
Edd gives Tord a long look before dipping a spoon in the soup and offering it to Tom. Tom opens his mouth and swallows it.
“Hey you let him do that? You never let me do that,” Tord whined.
“Because it’s some weird fetish with you,” Tom replies before accepting another spoonful. Tord crosses his arms and huffs, looking disgruntled, but notably not denying the accusation.
“Yeah well being a mama bear gets Edd’s jumblies going, so it’s a moot point either way.”
“Okay well I just like him more.”
“Thomas you wound me.”
“Hopefully mortally.”
“Both of you cut it, Tom finish your soup,” Edd said, handing over the spoon to Tom in hopes of stopping the bickering.
Tom finishes his soup and starts to look drowsy again. Before his eyes snap all the way open and he gets up from the table to dash to the kitchen sink. Tord and Edd hear sounds of heaving and get up instantly to go help their friend. Edd places a hand of Tom’s back and rubs it as he finishes. Tom turns on the sink and washes his face and mouth, spitting back into the drain.
“I really don’t feel good,” Tom moans, fully giving into his shitty feelings. When he starts to waver on his feet Tord swiftly rushes forward and scoops him up, carrying the smaller man bridal style.
“Let’s just put him in some blankets and put on a movie.”
Edd nods and follows Tord out of the kitchen, stopping in the hall cabinet to pull out a blanket. Tord gently sets Tom down on the couch, taking the blanket from Edd and tucking it around him. Tom shivers under the blanket and Tord goes to get another blanket when Edd stops him.
“Tord no.”
“He’s cold,” Tord said looking distressed as he watched the smaller body shiver.
“He has a fever, we’ll make it worse if we wrap him in a bunch of blankets. If his fever gets any higher we have to put him in the shower.”
“Fine,” Tord scoops up Toms head and puts it in his lap , gently threading his fingers through the brown hair. Tom was already half asleep, softly breathing out his mouth. He was probably going to drool all over Tord’s leg, but the Norwegian was finding it hard to care at the moment. Edd put in a generic action movie before coming to sit down at the other end of Tom. As the movie progressed, Edd periodically felt Tom’s back reaching under his shirt to do so. About half way through he got up and returned with a thermometer.
“Tom? I need you to hold this under your tongue okay?”
Tom cracked an eye from his position in Tord’s lap and opened his mouth to let Edd place the thermometer in it. He took it out a moment later.
“One oh two, not good. If it gets higher we have to go to the hospital,” Edd said, brow furrowing in concern.
“Okay, should we put him in the bath?”
Edd sighed. “Yeah I guess so. He’s not going to like it at all.”
“Since when does Tom like doing what’s good for him.”
Edd cracked a small smile. Tord pulled Tom fully into his lap, cradling him in both arms before standing up.
“Where we goin’” Tom mumbled.
“We’re going to the bathroom,” Tord responded softly, starting to carry Tom up the stairs.
“Why?”
“Someone’s really hot and we have to help them cool down.”
“Oh….” Tom said before starting to doze again.
“He’s really out of it,” Edd said as they entered the bathroom. He turned the water about halfway between cold and hot.
“Yeah, honestly, having him be so compliant is not nearly as satisfying as I thought it would be,” Tord said as he set Tom on the toilet.
When the bath was filled about halfway and the water was lukewarm, Edd unwrapped Tom from his blanket, helped him undress while he was seated on the toilet, and gently set him in the tub. Immediately Tom jolted up as if the water was scalding and tried to scramble out of the tub.
“It’s freezing,” he cried.
“Tom, it’s really not. You’re really sick and we are trying to help you,” Edd said softly. He firmly held Tom in the tub while Tord helped scoop water on his back and head. Tom’s shivers merely increased in number and violence as did his sounds of protest.
Edd was surprised to hear Tord offering soft apologies in response to Tom’s outcries. He looked over at his friend to see him looking pained. Finally, after a good couple minutes, Tom was allowed to exit. Edd helped him towel off while Tord went to get him a new pair of clothes. They helped him dress and then brought him back to the couch, letting Tom wrap himself in the blanket again. When Edd checked his temperature a short while later, it was down to about a hundred.
Slowly Tom’s shivers decreased and he was simply breathing noisily on Tord’s lap as the movie played on in the background. He only moves once to snuggle closer to Tord’s body heat, murmuring something indiscriminant softly as he does so. Tord runs a hand through his hair softly saying something back in Norwegian.
“Why don’t you ever talk to him in English like that,” Edd questioned.
“How do you know I don’t?”
“He actually complains that you never sweet talk him.”
Tord blinks. “Really?”
Edd nods,
“That little…. I sweet talk him all the time!”
“In Norwegian. I guess he assumes it’s dirty talk. Why don’t you just talk to him in English?”
Tord sighs, running his fingers through his hair. “I… I don’t- I guess I didn’t want to freak him out? I have no clue what he thinks our relationship is.”
Edd laughs, “Well that makes two of us.”
Tord chuckles and looks down at the slowly rising and falling frame in his lap.
“But really, I think he’d melt if he heard something nice from you. If you doted on him just a little.”
Tord smiled, “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks Edd.”
“No problem.”
A few hours later Edd has gotten up to go make dinner, and Tom slowly blinks awake.
“Time is it?” He slurs.
“About six, you’ve been out all day,” Tord responds.
“Ugh, sorry I’ve been drooling all over your crotch,” Tom groaned, looking at the wet patch he left.
“It would be the first time,” Tord smirks.
Tom snorts, “Lovely.”
He goes to get up when Tord catches him by the wrist.
“Hey… I was really worried about you today,” Tord said, reaching up to put a hand on Tom’s back and pull him in a little closer.
Tom swallowed, mouth going a bit dry, “I bounce back fast.”
“Yeah well, you’re cute when you’re sick, but I like you better when you can talk back. Take good care of yourself for me, okay?”
Tom stared at him wide eyed for a bit, before giving him a minute nod. Tord pulled him into a kiss. And almost immediately felt a sharp slap on his head from behind.
“You and I just spent a day wiping Tom’s snot off everything, I do not want to do this all over again tomorrow,” Edd glowered.
Tord grinned sheepishly. “You got it, mama bear.”
Edd rolls his eyes. “Whatever, both of you get in the dining room dinner’s on the table. Tom, you don’t have to eat if you feel like you’re going to throw it up again.
“No actually, I’m pretty hungry,” Tom said.
Edd smiled warmly, eyes crinkling at the edges. “Good to hear.”
Having slept all day, Tom is up late after dinner. He is sandwiched between two alphas who fret every time he so much as coughs. It is, quite frankly, excruciatingly annoying. But maybe a very small, very quiet part of Tom, deep, deep down, is okay to admit he enjoys the doting a little.