Work Text:
Alex glanced at the small wooden clock by his desk for the tenth time this day.
5:40 pm
He attempted to pick up his quill and keep writing, but his mind drifted, and he found himself straining to hear footsteps pacing next door to his office, or the occasional outburst by the coffee machine.
nothing.
Alex signed, bringing his hands to his eyes and rubbing them subconsciously.
Burr had skipped work three days in a row.
Three. Freaking. Days.
And thinking back, Alex can't remember the last time Burr ever skipped, much less been sick. He had never seen the man with any type of bug, now that he thinks about it. Burr was always neutral, quiet, and a master with his poker face, calm and collected attitude towards everything. You could never tell what he was thinking, despite the occasional snarky and plentiful sarcastic remarks that came from the man's mouth. Despite his rudeness, he was very hard working, and came day in day out, failing to ever skip a single day in years. And Alex was only slightly/a little/very? concerned.
Alex had no idea why he even cared. He didn't really understand his relationship with Burr. (Friend? Enemy? Simply co-worker?) It wasn't like the man couldn't take care of himself. So he was surprised when he found that his feet wondered to Washington's office, simply to ask where Burr might be (apparently he called in sick three days ago, confirming Alexander's assumption) And Alex may or may not have been incapable of focusing on his work for the past couple hours, mind determined to sway his thoughts back to Aaron.
Shifting in his chair, Alex attempted to refocus on his recent case, but after a few minutes, signed in defeat as he started to pack his bags.
Even if he wanted to check on Burr, he couldn't. He didn't even know where the guy lived! And what exactly would he say? Hey Burr! I just decided to come here randomly to check on you and make sure you're not half dead considering you never get sick or skip days at work at all, which is driving my mind crazy to the point where I can't even work without thinking of you constantly!
Yeah, he really doesn't want to imagine the response..
Grumbling, Alex packed his papers in his bag. Maybe he could get some more work done later in his apartment, where his mind would be free from the distraction of an absent Aaron Burr.
He walked out of his office into the hallway, passing Burr's desk which was positioned right next door to Alex's. He chuckled to himself as he remembered Burr's face when Alex burst into his office shouting "Hey neighbor!!" after Aaron had hauled all his things into his new workspace. It resulted in a rather violent shove into the hallway and a door slam to the face, all awhile Alexander's laughter echoed down the hallway as he clutched his mouth in attempt to hid his amusement. You could say Burr with less than thrilled to be five feet away from the biggest chatterbox of the building, but they soon fell into a routine, eventually becoming used to the close proximity of the two, though Burr still kept his door locked most days to keep Hamilton out.
Hamilton's interest shifted however when he noticed a large stack of papers scattered on Aaron's desk. Upon closer look, Alex realized the paperwork was for Burr's recent case. Shuffling through the papers, he noticed they were incomplete, as a smile grew on his face. This was a perfect excuse to get Burr's address and make a swift unannounced visit to give his co-worker the important papers he happened to forget on his desk. Maybe when Alex finally saw that Burr was perfectly fine, his mind would forget the whole thing and allow him to finally concentrate on his work rather than wasting his time obsessing over a sick Aaron.
That's what Alex told himself over and over as he hesitantly picked up the stack of papers and slipped them into his bag. It wasn't like he cared about Aaron's health or anything. Not at all.
After some slight persuading, he managed to drag Burr's address from the skeptical receiver at the front desk, using the forgotten documents as an excuse. He ignored the women's gaze on his back as he made his way to the exit, clutching the small slip of paper in his hand as he read the address and headed down the busy street.
________________________________________________
Aaron smashed his pillow over his head in attempt to block out the knocking on his door.
"Who the fuc-"
The pounding grew louder, and Burr gingerly scooted out of bed, only to clutch his head tightly as the dizziness and nausea threatened to appear while he tried to stand upright.
He never felt so sick in his life.
It was a constant cycle of medicine, puke, bed, repeat. He had barely touched any food since he awoke with the nausea around three days ago. Despite his obvious need for nutrition, Burr avoided food, learning quickly when he proceeded to throw up anything he managed to swallow. God, swallow.. his throat felt like he ate shards of glass. The burning would worsen every time he puked, causing more misery in the constant cycle of hell. He'd gone through about three boxes of tissues, and the remains of the soft white paper littered the floor around his bed, to exhausted to try and keep his room sanitary. The covers were strewn across the floor, his temperature apparently rised in the middle of the night and his subconscious decided his body was overheating.
His hand quickly traveled to his mouth as he felt more bile threatening to leap up his throat. He honestly didn't know what he could be puking anymore, but he wasn't to keen on gasping air as his body attempted to convulse up nothing, leaving him sputtering on the floor.
He hauled himself up rather ungracefully, deciding to use one hand on his mouth and the other holding the side of his stomach tightly.
Pathetic.
His eyes darted across the room, trying to pinpoint the door from the wall as the knocks grew louder.
Burr didn't need to look in the mirror to note how pale he had become, or the fact dark eye bags laced up his face. He had gotten a minimum of two hours of sleep each day, most of the time spent clutching the toilet bowl for deal life as another wave of nausea rolled out of his mouth.
Pushing the thoughts of bile out of his mind, Burr shakily made his way to the front door, stumbling over his own feet as he hauled himself down the stairs. Despite his destress, he was extremely annoyed at the persistent knocking, more than ready to strangle the fool who decided to bother him while he felt so sick.
Burr finally made it to the door, twisting the lock while cussing in as many languages as he could think. He ripped the door open, and was met to the smiling face of Alexander Hamilton. He swore he felt his eye twitch.
"Who the hell gave you my address."
Burr meant to make it sound annoyed and pissed off, but it came out more in a strangled raspy voice.
PatheticPatheticPatheticPatheticPathe-
Alex seemingly ignored the question, his gaze traveling up and down Burr's body as he took in the rather sick man.
"Wow, you look horrible! When's the last time you ate?" Alex asked, concern in his voice
Burr hardly had time to reply as he turned around and scrambled to the nearest trash can and heaved up more bile. So much for having an empty stomach.
Alex stood awkwardly by the door as he watched Aaron finish the rather violent shaking. Burr quickly bolted up to the kitchen sink, proceeding to rinse his mouth out as Alex stepped into the house and close the door behind him, following him in concern.
Aaron turned off the water and glared at Alex who was standing a few feet away, his face twisted in pity.
"Do not even mention food." Aaron gasped in between breaths. Just saying the word made another round of nausea trickle up his throat as Burr did his best to swallow the feeling away. Puking in front of Hamilton is not something he wished to repeat.
The dizziness seemed to retreat a bit, and Burr raised his eyebrow at Hamilton as he noticed the large stack of papers in his hands.
"Why did you come here?"
Hamilton seemed to snap out of thought, focusing on Burr, face unreadable.
"I came to give you these papers, you left them on your desk and I thought you might need to complete them, but considering how horribly sick you I'm guessing paperwork is the last thing on your mind."
Burr stumbled over and snatched the papers out of Alex's hands, glancing at them briefly, then raising a skeptical eyebrow up at him. He had indeed forgotten them, but his mind drifted more to why Hamilton even bothered to personally deliver them to his doorstep. Placing the stack on the kitchen counter, Burr grabbed a surprised Alex by the shoulders and twisted him around, pushing him towards the doorway.
"Yes, well thank you for your kind gesture of bringing me my.... Papers. However I'm going to have to ask you to leave, as you can see I'm feeling a little under the weather and as much as I would love you to stay for whatever reason, I really insist you go. Now."
Burr shoved Alex out the door
"Goodbye." He said, closing the door, only for it to be stopped by Hamilton's foot wedged in the crack.
Burr sighed as he opened the door again to a more defiant looking Alex, arms crossed over his chest.
"What?" Burr snapped, resulting in a small coughing fit that he aimed towards the floor.
"Geez Burr, do you have anyone coming over to help care for you?" Hamilton replied, bending down a little to rest his hand on Burr's back as he proceeded to cough up his lungs.
Burr straightened up, lifting Hamilton's hand off his back by his sleeve, touching his little of it as possible with his two fingers as he tossed it away, rolling his eyes in disgust.
"I'm fine, just a small flu or something, no need for concern." Burr rasped, throat burning from all this chatter. He wished Hamilton would just leave. His headache was returning, and Burr didn't know how much longer he could stand upright.
He was startled from his thoughts as he felt Alex's hand rest on his forehead.
Jerking back as if he had been burned, Aaron shot Hamilton a glare.
"Stop touching me."
Hamilton furrowed his eyebrows in frustration.
"I was just checking your temperature, but a thermometer would be better. Do you have a thermometer?"
Aaron grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose as he silently willed Hamilton to leave.
"Yes. Yes. Thermometer. Got it. Goodbye now."
He attempted to close the door, using more force now. He grinned to himself as he heard the door click, backing away in satisfaction, only to hault in his steps as he heard Alex's voice on the other side of the doorway.
"Aaron! Open this door!"
Fury overtook Burr as he ripped the door open and grabbed the shorter man by his collar, ripping him forward so they were brought face to face.
"DON'T. CALL. ME. THAT." Burr snarled, Furious.
Only one person used Burr's first name to address him, and unless Hamilton was his dead wife, Theodosia, it was going to stay that way.
Noticing how close Alex was, Burr suddenly let go of him, pushing him away to leave some distance between the two, but continued to glare at the man. Hamilton smirked, and pushed his way into the house while Aaron was momentarily occupied with his next coughing fit.
Spinning around, Burr glared at him.
"I could charge you for B&E." Aaron snapped.
"And I think there are certain exceptions to that rule if the person in question is trying to help a person who is dying of the flu, and is too stubborn to go visit a hospital for medication." Hamilton replied, same triumphant smirk on his face. "Now where is the thermometer?"
Burr facepalmed, running his hand across his eyes as he huffed loudly.
"Damn it, if I let you take my temperature will you leave?" Burr grumbled
"Only if your temperature isn't too high." Hamilton replied, happy he won the argument. He proceeded to grab a pouting Burr by his wrist and lead him to the bathroom. Burr rested against the wall inside as he watched Hamilton rummage around for the medicine bag, crossing his arms. He felt even worse, and he was sure his temperature had only been rising since this morning. Not really helping his cause.
Hamilton yanked out a thermometer from the bag, a look of accomplishment on his face. He shifted his attention to Burr.
"Say, Ahhhh!" Alex said, a dorky grin spreading across his face.
Burr was unamused.
"We are not playing doctor, Hamilton." Burr huffed as he snatched the thermometer from his hand and placed it in his mouth, the cold metal uncomfortable on his tongue.
Alex rolled his eyes, a grin still on his face as he leaned against the opposite wall, brushing a strand of hair from his face as he crossed his arms.
A few minutes passed, and Burr felt the heat in his throat rising, along with the urge to vomit.. again. Suddenly unbearable, Burr yanked the thermometer from his mouth and grabbed the toilet, heaving out more bile.
It hurt like hell.
He felt the vomit slide uncomfortably up his raw throat, leaving it burning as he finished convulsing. He bit back a sob and instead settled on bringing his knees to his chest in shame, burying his head into the soft fabric.
You'renotgonnacry,You'renotgonnacryYou'renotgon-
He lifted his head from his knees as he counted in his head to 10, composing himself enough to glare at a concerned Hamilton. Not liking the pity in his face, Burr snorted and instead flushed the puke down the toilet, and rinsed his mouth for the hundredth time with water. He splashed some on his face as well, and rested his back up against the tile, rocking back in forth in an attention to soothe his aching head.
"You okay?" Hamilton asked, putting his hand comfortingly on his shoulder
Burr slapped the hand away, annoyed and disgusted with himself for almost breaking out in tears in front of Hamilton of all people.
"I'm fine" Burr huffed "Weren't you checking my temperature?"
Alex rolled his eyes at Burr's stubbornness, but proceeded to lift the discarded thermometer on the floor. His eyes widened in surprise as he read the number.
"Christ! You're at 38.9° C!" Hamilton looked at Aaron, shocked.
Oh. Burr thought, rolling his eyes. So that's why he felt like shi-
Hamilton grabbed Burr by his shoulders hauling him up. He grimaced at the sudden movement, and jerked out of Alex's grasp.
"Like I said, stop touching me." Burr snarled, his comment ignored as Hamilton grasped him tighter, his brows furrowed up in concentration.
"We need to bring down your temperature.."
Burr huffed and closed his eyes. His headache was throbbing, his neck was aching, his throat was swelling, his nose was clogged, he was sleep deprived, exhausted, pissed off, and had a fever. He ignored the fact his stomach was churning, threatening to force more bile up his already screeching throat.
Jerked out of his thoughts, he was surprised as Hamilton quickly shoved him into the bathtub, clothes and all, and proceeded to turn on the shower mode, winding the crank to as cold as the water could go.
"HAMILTON!!!" Burr shouted as the freezing water sprayed him, soaking his clothes. He attempted to get up but was pushed down by Alex again.
"Sorry Burr, this is the only way to cool down your temperature quickly, you need to stay in there for a bit" Hamilton replied, a small amount of guilt in his tone.
Burr cursed in German and French as the water ran down his back, then switched back to English as the spray got colder. He was going to kill Hamilton for this.
Clutching his sides in discomfort, Burr violently shivered, teeth chatting. Even though he would hate to admit it, he didn't have the strength to push back on Hamilton's firm grip, so settled instead to wait till this madness was over.
After a minute that felt like hours, the spray suddenly stopped, and Burr felt himself getting hauled out of the tub, drenched in freezing water. He glared up at Hamilton when he was deposited on the floor.
"Next time I have to vomit, I'm aiming for you." Burr rasped in between his chattering teeth.
Alex chuckled. "Fair enough."
Burr grimaced as he lifted up his arm, water pouring out of his sleeve, the fabric hanging like dead weight against his skin.
"Look what you did!" Burr snorted with disgust. "You ruined an expensive pair of sweatpants and a tee-shirt!" He exclaimed, emphasising his point as more water spilled out of his sleeve onto the floor.
Alex smirked at him. "Sorry Burr, would you have preferred me to undress you before threw you in?"
Burr felt his face heat up, and instead of responding, he settled on flicking him off.
"I would have PREFERRED you to not shove me into a bathtub at all, you bastard!" Aaron hissed, grabbing his sides as he shivered again.
"Ah, which reminds me!" Hamilton said, grabbing the thermometer again and placing it in Burr's mouth.
A minute later of violet shivering, silent cussing, and glares, Alex finally gripped the thermometer in his hand and read it, delight spreading across his face.
"38.2° C!" Hamilton exclaimed. He glanced over at Burr only to stifle a giggle as he finally noticed the state of his "friend".
"You look like an angry drenched road rat!" Hamilton gasped, laughing.
If looks could kill, Alex would be dead ten times over.
"Ah I'm sorry Burr, it is a little funny. At least your temperature has dropped! Come on, let's get you into a pair of dry clothes." Hamilton said as he grabbed Burr by his arms and literally dragged him across the tile floor to Aaron's bedroom. He rummaged around his clothes until Alex picked out a t-shirt and a pair of fuzzy PJ pants, all the while Burr huddled against the wall in an attempt to warm himself up, using every insult he could possibly think of and comparing it to Alex's name over and over.
He was so lost in thought he didn't notice Hamilton taking off his shirt, which snapped him out of his thoughts VERY quickly as he jerked away from Alex and sent him a furious death glare, his shirt now in Alexander's hand.
"I am quite capable of dressing myself, HAMILTON." Burr huffed, snatching his waterlogged shirt from his grasp.
Alex rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay! Just trying to help! You get dressed, I'll be back in a minute." And with that Hamilton left the room, closing the door softly behind him. Aaron heard the footsteps echoing down the hallway as he heard Hamilton head into the kitchen, rummaging for God knows what.
Aaron sighed, and peeled his wet clothing off his skin. Drying himself the best he could with a towel, Burr proceeded in putting on the outfit Hamilton had selected for him, too exhausted to debate on why he was letting the bastard order him around.
He felt much better when he was dry, carefully stumbled up, walking out of the room, slightly dizzy. He did have to admit, his head felt a lot clearer after that mess. Maybe that madness was worth it?
Glancing at the clock on the wall, he noted it was already 8:35 pm.
He shakily made his way down the stairs, shivering. He might be dry, but he could still feel the cold bite at his skin. He walk-limped down to the kitchen where he saw a humming Hamilton, preparing some canned soup and ginger ale. Burr blinked, wondering where he got the food, because he most certainly did not buy those items.
Alex must've noticed his confused face, because he turned around and answered Burr's question for him.
"When I came to give you your papers, I already considered the fact that you were sick, so I stopped by the grocery store on my way here and picked up a few items that could be helpful if you needed them!" He said, glancing at Aaron and winking.
Burr's gears in his brain shifted as he considered a number of responses, finally settling on "Oh."
It was thoughtful of Alex, he'll give him that. Seeing some frost building on the glass, Burr walked to the window, surprised to see snow falling, and with a quick glance upwards, noticed the setting sun. It was truly a pretty sight, something Aaron would have wanted to appreciate more if he didn't feel so sick.
"Theo loved sunsets.." Burr mumbled to himself, tearing his eyes at the beautiful view. They used to sit outside and watch the sun set almost every night when she was alive. He felt his heart clench at the grief of the memories, missing her soft touch on his hand while they sat and enjoyed the view.
He must've said that a little too loud because he was broken out of his thoughts by Hamilton's voice. "Who's Theo?" He asked, glancing up at Burr.
His face darkened. "Nobody! Nothing! No one at all!" Aaron hissed, backing away from the window, sending a glare at Alex.
He walked out of the kitchen in a huff and into the living room, surprised to see the couch decked in blankets, the TV up and running on Netflix, and a soft light turned on to make the whole room feel more cosy. Aaron turned as he heard footsteps behind him, Alex carrying a tray of soup with a glass of ginger ale, and various different flu medication for vomiting and sleep deprivation.
"You... Uh.. did all this?" Burr mumbled
A small smile came on Alex's face, their earlier tension clearly forgotten, much to Aaron's relief. "Yeah! Besides, I kinda owe you after shoving you into freezing water for 3 minutes."
Aaron chuckled, and playfully shoved Alex in the shoulder.
He went to sit down, all the exhaustion building up on him. Hamilton handed him two pills, mumbling something about helping with his vomiting, and gave him a few more doses of some random liquids Burr was too tired to even question. They did make him feel better, and after about twenty minutes into watching a calm Christmas show (much to Aaron's protest, considering it was only November!) He eventually felt comfortable enough to try the soup, which he greedily ate after a few spoonfuls of not vomiting, the days catching up on him.
About an hour into the movie Burr was falling asleep, blankets wrapped around him as he listened to the calm sounds of the noises on the TV and Hamilton breathing. Drowsy, he laid across the couch, and against his normal judgment, gripped Hamilton tightly and hugged his stomach, laying across his lap. He would blame the medication, which blurred his normal instincts.
He could feel Hamilton's gaze on him as Aaron closed his eyes, snuggling into the warmth. Just as he was about to drift off, he murmured quietly.
"Thank you, Alexander."
Thought he didn't see (mainly due to the fact he had his head snuggled into his lap) Alex smiled the biggest grin and the sound of his first full name coming out of Burr's mouth. He shifted, wrapping his arms around the sleeping form of Burr and chuckled softly.
"You're welcome."