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Marius woke up to the sun in his eyes- less tired, and more surprised by the weight next to him. He slung an arm to his right, gaze following to find Elias was still there, covers pulled up to his nose and his eyes open in a tired droop.
“Good morning… Are you okay?” Marius asked, thrown off by the sight. Elias was almost always out of bed before him- and if not, then he was wide awake and sitting up, waiting somewhat patiently for Marius to stir.
“I don't know,” He scratched out, his own eyebrows rising in surprise at the state of his voice, “I don't feel well…”
“You take karaoke night a bit too far, love.” He brought his hand up to brush against Elias’ jaw, his fingertips finding more warmth than they did stubble.
He sat up with a grunt, moving to lean over Elias as he gently pressed his cheek into his forehead.
“Well, that's certainly unexpected,” Marius said after a moment, pulling his face away and kicking off the blankets, “I'll go get the thermometer, don't get up.”
“I'm not sure I can, anyway,” Elias sniffled.
Talking stung, and trying to clear his throat so he could breathe better only hurt more. He wriggled one of his clammy hands out from under the blanket, brushing his knuckles against his cheek. Damn, he was burning up . He anxiously looked back at the doorway of the bathroom,
“Mari, baby, can you please hurry up?”
“I can't find the damn thing.” A drawer closed loudly, “Maybe if you were sick more often I'd know where it was.”
“It's… in there somewhere, probably.” He sniffed loudly again, “Shouldn't we just call someone to come check me out?”
“I want to make sure you won't cook yourself alive, first. Ah, here it is.” He came back into the bedroom, taking the thermometer out of its casing and turning it on.
He climbed back onto the bed, sitting on his knees as he waited for the tiny screen to light up.
“What would I have even gotten sick from…?” Elias asked, staring up at Marius lazily.
“Maybe one of the fifteen people you shared a drink with?” Marius responded, finally holding out the thermometer, pushing it into Elias’ mouth when he went to talk again, “Under the tongue, don't talk.”
Elias quietly complied, getting right back on topic when the thermometer beeped, “I only shared with maybe three people, including you.”
“And one of them was Adriano, who I swear I saw kiss at least ten people.” He stared at the screen, then looked over it and into Elias’ eyes, “Only a slight fever, I guess you just feel really warm.”
“Finally, my physical body matches my personality…” He coughed lightly, trying to smile but instead looking simply miserable, “So what do I do now? What do you do when you're sick?”
“I can't tell if you're joking or not.” Marius put the thermometer back into its case, placing it on the nightstand.
“I'm serious, I haven't felt this bad since… I don't know, long before GSG9, at the least.”
“Well, in that case, don't worry, I'll take care of you.” He pressed a kiss into his forehead, “First thing's first, you have to drink a lot of fluids.”
“That sounds easy enough,” He reached around for his bottle that was somewhere on the floor next to the side of his bed, “We can make soup to help.”
“Secondly, you must rest, so no, we cannot make soup.”
“Something tells me that will be easier said than done.” His words directly contrasted how he felt- he thought he might puke if he tried to stand. That was just his body being dramatic though, being sick surely couldn't make him that weak.
…Right? He took a sip from his bottle- finding that a sip was all that was left anyway.
“You haven't even gotten out of bed yet. My money's on you passing out on the couch in half an hour.”
“I'll be fine once I get up, you're going to eat your words.”
“For your sake, I really hope not.” He held out his hand, “I'll get you more water.”
Instead of giving him his bottle, Elias took his hand and pulled himself up to sit. A wave of nausea crashed into him like a train, his throat and cheeks pinching as his head spun.
Marius breathed out a profanity, quickly hooking his arms under Elias’ and pulling him along as he scooted back and off the bed.
“C’mon, off the bed. I've got you.” He moved an arm to his waist, tugging him off the bed manually and finding he had to keep up the same amount of effort to hurry him to the bathroom, and then even more when one of Elias’ knees gave out under him in the doorway.
He kneeled next to Elias as he let him down, tucking his hair behind his ears and rubbing his back. He stayed silent until Elias was only letting out dry heaves, helping him turn to lean back on the tub, then handing him a wipe.
“I’ve never felt this terrible in my life.” Elias tossed the dirtied wipe into the toilet, “I guess this means no kisses for me today, huh?”
“Not necessarily.” He kissed his forehead once more, “God, you're still scorching. I'll call Lera- see what she thinks.”
“That's a good idea.” He sniffled, “Tell her to bring her visor mask.”
Marius lightly chuckled, “I will. Do you feel a bit better? I can help you get back to bed.”
“Surprisingly, I actually do. Still not anywhere near good, though.” He rubbed his throat, grimacing at the way it felt on the inside.
“That's usually how it goes.”
Together, they ambled back to the bedroom, until Elias tightened his hold on Marius, causing him to stop.
“Feeling worse already?”
“I just… are you going to stay with me?”
“Well, I'm not going to go out, if that's what you mean. I was just going to the kitchen to make you soup- unless you want something else, but I'm not sure you'd be able to keep anything else down.”
“Soup’s good. I just don't want to be alone.”
“I'd stay in here with you when I was done.”
“Not enough.”
Marius chuckled, stretching his neck to accept Elias’ silent request to nestle his head under his chin, “Alright.”
He leaned to grab his phone and Elias’ bottle off the bed, then it was off to the rest of the house, typing as they slowly shuffled to the couch. He clicked call, and put the phone to his ear,
“Hey, good morning, Lera,” He paused for her response, “No, I’m not calling about that article- but if you find a similar one, do send it to me. Anyway- I’m calling about Elias. Here, listen.”
“Hi, Lera,” Elias croaked into the phone as Marius held it out to him, hearing a snippet of Lera’s concerned shout as Marius put it back to his own ear.
“Yeah, that’s really him. He threw up just a minute ago, but he sounded like that when I woke up too… Yes, he has a fever… Lera, can you just come over?”
Elias chuckled as he listened to Marius’ half of the conversation, climbing over the armrest of the couch and then curling into it.
Marius pulled a blanket off the back of the couch, draping it over Elias as he handed him the phone, “Here, talk to her. I don’t want to drop my phone into the soup.”
“Lera, can you bring me a snack?” He asked immediately, getting a disapproving frown from Marius, who was attempting to make the blanket a bit more uniform.
“Didn’t I just hear Marius say he was getting you soup?” Lera asked on the other side of the line, “Besides, I’ve already left, I’m on the way.”
“Please?” He pleaded, waiting until Marius disappeared into the kitchen to continue, lowering his voice, “Just a treat for Marius? I can’t get him anything if I’m holed up, I’ll pay you back, of course.”
She was silent for a moment, then sighed, “Alright, I’ll get him something. Just don’t barf on me when I get there, and I’ll count us as even, okay?”
“No promises, I'll keep my wallet ready.” He looked up at the window when he heard the wind howl through the speakers, “Jeez. Are you going to be able to even make it here?”
“I’ll be fine. I should probably hang up though, I’ll be there soon. Drink some water, you sound like shit.”
“Thanks, Lera. You always know how to make me feel better.”
“No problem,” She said with a laugh, “Bye, Elias.”
“See you soon.”
Lera beat him to ending the call, hearing the beep before he even pulled the phone away from his ear. He looked up as Marius peeked his head around the kitchen corner,
“How are you feeling?” He asked.
“Not great.” He took a few sips of his water, “Can I have that carrot slice?”
“Carrot slice?” Marius looked at the blade of the knife in his hand, then flipped it over to see there was in fact a carrot slice stuck to it, chuckling, “Oh. Yeah, ready?”
“Yep.” Elias opened his mouth, wearing a small grin after catching the carrot on his lip, “You should ask Jalal to teach you how to throw.”
“Give me a break, I threw it just fine. I could've hit you in the eye with it, like you did to Julien with the smoke two months ago.”
“Hey! Don't bring that up.” Elias aggressively inhaled through his nose, snorting, as he pulled the blanket up to his eyes, “That kid can really think fast though… Hurled that smoke behind me like he was Ngũgĩ.”
“He's almost as good at keeping you on your toes as me.” He ducked back into the kitchen for a second, re-emerging with Elias’ bottle and a cough drop in hand, “Almost.”
“I'm finally learning your tricks, don't get cocky.” His voice cracked on the last syllable, and he followed it up with a rough cough.
Marius held out the drop, placing the bottle on the table, “And I, yours. Don't worry, I have more up my sleeve, I won't let you get bored. Now, quiet, you're going to tear up your throat from talking too much.”
“That's not a thing.” He scratched, putting his hand atop Marius’ and gazing into his eyes, “You just want to get the last word.”
“Yes, of course, that's my only motivation. Now, please.” He flipped their hands, dropping the lozenge into Elias’ palm.
Elias popped the cough drop into his mouth, but was quick to take Marius’ hand in his own again, “Marius?”
He had taken a step back, wanting to check on the pot in the kitchen, but returned to his original position, “Yes?”
“I love you.”
The cough drop clicking against Elias’ teeth as he spoke made Marius smile a little wider, and he leaned in to kiss Elias’ forehead yet again, “I love you too.”