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A loud cough echoes through the apartment, and Matt reaches for his phone. It’s been two days on hardcore flu medicine, and he still feels like shit. He browses his contacts, and eventually clicks on Julian’s. They had made plans way in advance for today, and Matt feels terrible for canceling last minute.
“Hey! When are you coming over, man?”
Matt coughs into his arm, grimacing, “I’m so fucking sorry, Jules, I can’t make it today. The flu’s got me beat. Trust me, if I wasn’t stuck in bed, I’d be there right now.”
“Fuck, you don’t sound so good. Do you want me to come over instead? You may need to be quarantined, but I still wanna hang out.”
“Oh my god, fuck no. I don’t want you getting sick either.”
Julian chuckles deeply, “Too bad, already halfway out the door, cutie.”
He hangs up, and Matt groans. He was half dressed, full of mucus, and surrounded by a mess of tissues and food. Using up the last of his energy, he manages to kind of clean up, but putting on a shirt was way too much for him.
Matt’s phone vibrates with a text from Julian reading, “hey do you have a spare key anywhere orrr”
Dragging himself from his bed, he walks to his door and looks through the peephole. Sure enough, his knight in shining armor was there with… chicken noodle soup. Matt opens the door to Julian’s surprise, and immediately starts coughing up a storm. Setting his bags down in the doorway, Julian guides him back to his room to lay down.
“I’m gonna make you some food, okay? Have you taken anything for that cough?”
A groan comes from Matt, and he sighs deeply. This was gonna be hard. He slams the bags onto the kitchen counter, and browses the limited options he has. Milk, almost finished box of Frosted Flakes, mustard, saltines, chips, and Chinese takeout. Julian ponders for a moment, sighs, and rushes to make the sick boy some chicken noodle soup. That’s what you do, right?
Meanwhile, Matt was suffering in the next room over. The dilemma being he was too weak to do anything, but bored enough to want to. He felt pretty guilty that Julian was doing anything for him, even though he forced himself into his home.
Almost as if on cue, Julian arrives in his doorway with a bowl of soup on a tray.
“You doing okay, you hot mess?”
“Definitely better now that you’re here.”
As he sets the tray down, he blushes a light pink, but Matt dives right into the soup. Julian sits on the edge of the bed, facing him.
“Do you need anything else? I can go buy you some cough medicine… or do you need a drink? Or-”
Matt lays a hand on Julian’s, smiling softly, “Dude, it’s okay. This’ll go away in a few days, and then we can go see a movie.”
“Oh, I’ll be counting the days!”
They both chuckle, and Matt’s lingering touch only leaves to drink more of the soup. Shaking his head, Julian gets up to go find more things to help Matt.
“Hey, before you go do whatever you’re gonna do, I just wanna say I… really do appreciate you forcing yourself over here. I kinda needed this, Jules.”
The nickname Matt has started using with him sends his heart racing.
“It’s really no problem, Matt. Fun fact, I actually give a shit about my friends’ health.”
Julian tries not to falter on the word friends, but he can’t help it when he’s head over heels for this boy. Before he can make more of a fool of himself, he rushes into the kitchen and lets out a held breath. Why did he have to be shirtless? Julian knew he was blushing. While he was collecting himself, Julian turns around to a confused Matt.
“You good? Did I already get you sick?”
“No, no, I’m fine! Just thinking about… what else I can do to aid you in this trying time!”
“I told you, it’s fine. Are you sure you’re alright? You seem pretty stressed.”
“I should be asking you those questions. You shouldn’t even be out of bed, Matt! Let me take care of you once in your stressful life.”
Matt backs up into his room, smiling all the way. As soon as the door closed, Julian cursed to himself. God, he’s whipped.
Julian cleans up his kitchen, living room, even as far as the bathroom. He collected himself yet again, and knocked on Matt’s door. He enters, and was met with a warm smile.
“I, uh… pretty much cleaned your entire apartment.”
“Jesus, why do you feel the need to do this shit for me? You know I’m a functioning adult, right?”
“Adult, yeah. Functioning? Not so much. You won’t be able to stop me from cleaning your room, though.”
Matt leans off of his bed, and grabs Julian by the shoulders, “You’re not my mom.”
Julian takes a chance and leans forward, smirking at Matt, “I was thinking more of a loving housewife.”
The two stay in this position for a good five seconds, before Julian laughs.
“I should get started on cleaning on your room, huh?”
Julian pries himself from his grip, but before he can get off his bed, Matt touches his shoulder. When he turns around, he’s met with a kiss on the cheek.
He gives Matt a questioning look, but grabs his face and leans in for a more direct kiss.
As they separate, Julian strokes Matt’s cheek with his hand, “That was unexpected.”
“Look, I might be sick, but I’m not completely oblivious, dumbass.”
The two chuckle, and meet with another kiss.
“This is arguably the best way to get sick.”