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Brian sighed as he walked up the steps to the flat. He had spent all day at some lecture that was fascinating for the first three hours, but he was just so tired he had zoned out half way through. He just couldn’t wait to get into bed. But first he had to get through the bombardment from his bandmates.
He opened the door and frowned. He could hear sniffling and the sound of the tv. He didn’t hear footsteps from Freddie, or sarcasm from John. ‘They mustn’t be in,’ he thought. ‘But then who was sniffling?’
Brian rounded the corner, after taking his shoes and coat off, to find Roger swaddled in a bunch of blankets on the sofa. His blue eyes lazily looked at Brian before a grin spread across his face. Brian saw that Roger’s eyes were glassy, and his face was flushed. Brian’s frown deepened and he made his way to Roger. He moved the box of tissues that were on the seat next to the blonde before sitting down.
“Hey Bri,” Roger grinned.
“Hi Rog. You okay?”
Roger’s grin died and became a frown, his eyebrows knitting together as he became a little confused by Brian’s question. As Roger was taking so long to take in his what he asked, Brian noticed that Roger wasn’t very coherent, and the only explanation he could come up with that would link all the symptoms together would be a fever. But it had to be high for Roger to be so out of it, didn’t it?
Roger still hadn’t answered him, so Brian stood up wanting to go and find the thermometer, but was stopped as a hand grabbed at his wrist. He turned back to find Roger with wide eyes.
“Stay.”
“Rog I’m only going to get the thermometer. I’ll be back in a minute.”
There was a while as Roger took in what Brian said before he nodded slightly, letting go of his grip on Brian’s wrist.
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He put the thermometer in Roger’s mouth and waited patiently for it to measure his temperature.
After a few minutes, Brian took the thermometer out of Roger’s mouth and read it.
39°C. Shit.
Brian was trying to contemplate whether to take Roger to the hospital, or try and treat him at home. He realised he couldn’t get Roger to the hospital anyway as Roger’s car was being fixed and John had the other car. Brian had to take the bus back from uni, and there’s no way he was going to get a delusional, ill Roger onto a bus. So he was left with only one option. Treat him at home.
He turned to Roger and brushed a piece of blonde hair from his sweaty forehead.
“I’m going to take you upstairs okay. You can’t stay in these blankets. They’re making you too hot.”
Roger shook his head. “Cold,” he mumbled.
Brian stood up anyway and picked Roger up into his arms. He was glad Roger was so out of it that he wasn’t commenting on how cheesy he was being.
He placed Roger on the edge of the bath as he started to fill it with cold water. He didn’t strip Roger, just kept him in his clothes because there was no way Roger was able to undress himself.
Once the bath was filled, Brian picked Roger up and placed him gently in the bath.
As soon as his body came in contact with the freezing water, Roger gasped and immediately started thrashing against Brian.
“Rog calm down. I’m sorry. You have to do it. It will make you feel better.”
Brian held the blonde down in the bath as he tried to get out, and was relieved when Roger eventually succumbed to the restraint Brian had on him. He was starting to shiver, but Brian wasn’t sure if it had lowered his fever yet so decided to keep him in there just for a bit longer.
After a few more minutes, Brian let up on his restraint, helping Roger out of the bath.
He checked his temperature again, praying it had gone down.
38.8°C.
Brian sighed with relief. He just hoped it didn’t spike back up again.
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Freddie and John arrived to find Brian on the sofa with Roger asleep on his lap, tissues discarded on the floor by them.
Brian lifted a finger to his lips, urging them to be quiet as they came in. Roger had only just fallen asleep, and he really didn’t want him to wake up. He needed the rest.
“Is he okay?” Freddie whispered.
“He’s got a fever.” Brian whispered back. “I’ve managed to lower it a bit but it’s still quite high.”
The other two nodded before claiming their spots on the sofa. Roger woke up shortly after, sniffling and smiling as he sat up to see his other two bandmates.
“You okay darling?” Freddie asked, a small smile on his face.
“Yeah I’m okay. I’ve had the best care from poodle man here,” Roger giggled, receiving a light smack on the arm from Brian.
“I can see the fever has done nothing about making you less of a little shit,” John deadpanned, before him, Brian and Freddie burst into fits of giggles.
Roger crossed his arms and fake sulked, sticking his bottom lip out, before eventually cracking and laughing along with the others.
“Seriously though, you really need to get some rest Roger. You temperature may have gone down a bit, but you’re still ill,” Brian said, patting Roger’s shoulder.
Roger grumpily nodded and sniffed again before standing up and saying goodnight. Brian followed, just to make sure Roger was actually going to sleep, but he saw that as soon as Roger’s head hit the pillow, he was out like a light. Brian smiled before yawning. He forgot he was so tired. He decided to go bed too. And like Roger, he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.