Work Text:
Kevin woke up to a hand gently shaking his shoulder.
“Kev?”
“What?” He said, annoyed. Billie used to wake him up in the middle of the night when he couldn’t sleep to tell him stuff that could easy wait till the morning, or just to chat.
“I think I’m sick.”
“What?” Kevin asked again and rolled over. He opened his eyes to find Billie looking at him tiredly, and Kevin knew he wasn’t messing around. Even in the dark he really did look like shit.
“I think I have a fever. I just woke up and I’m cold,” he whispered in a raspy voice. “I must’ve caught a cold when I went to the shop yesterday and it started raining.”
“Oh shit. Alright, I’ll call to work in the morning that I won’t be coming today,” Kevin said, knowing very well that Billie hated being alone when he was ill and was bitchy every time Kevin had to go to work and left him alone for the whole day to take care of himself. Billie couldn’t even make himself a stupid tea, he would just lie in the bed or on the couch for the whole day and wouldn’t even eat. Kevin knew he wasn’t doing it on purpose, but it still annoyed him sometimes.
“What time is it?”
“Half past four,” Billie whispered. “I slept for like an hour or something before I woke up.”
“Do you want Tylenol? And I’ll make you tea if you want.”
“Yes, please. Thank you, Kev. I’m really sorry that you have to-”
“What are you apologizing for? I’m your boyfriend and I love you, why do you have to apologize for you being sick? I’m not mad or anything for having to take care of you. It’s a sure thing,” Kevin said and kissed Billie’s cheek. His face was hot and sweaty, and he could feel Billie was trembling, so before getting out of the bed he covered Billie with his own blanket too. He stumbled a bit when he stood up and turned on the bedside lamp, because he was sure he would trip over something, and they didn’t need another person who needed to be taken care of in the household.
Kevin made is safely to the kitchen and searched in the cupboard for the herbal tea they usually had when one of them was sick.
“Fuck.” He muttered to himself, when he remembered he forgot to buy it when they used it the last time.
“Is it okay if I make you black tea with lemon and honey? We ran out.” He yelled, so Billie would hear him in the other part of their house. He heard a faint yes, so he put on the kettle and waited.
Kevin was sure his tea sucked, but they had no other option; it didn’t matter that he spilled at least quarter of it on the way. It was either this, or the weird green tea Kevin was sure they should’ve thrown out months ago.
When he made it to the bedroom, Billie was sitting up with a pillow behind his back and with a blanket up to his nose. Kevin felt sorry for him, he hated to see him like this because he always looked so vulnerable and even smaller than normal.
“Okay, here you are. It tastes like shit, I’ve gotta go buy it in the morning,” he said and sat down on the bed next to Billie and handed him the mug and the pill.
“Thanks, Kev. I’m sure it’s better than any tea I’ve ever made,” he laughed softly, and took a small sip. “Well… It’s not that bad,” he said and made a face. “I’m just kidding, it’s really good.”
“Oh, thank god. I was really worried, ‘cause we don’t have anything else,” Kevin laughed. “Scoot over.”
Billie moved to the side so that Kevin could lie next to Billie and put his arm around him. They sat in silence; Billie was sipping his tea while Kevin stroked his hair.
“Can you put the mug on the bedside table? I’ll finish it later,” Billie said in a small voice after a while and Kevin did as he was told, and planted a kiss on Billie’s hair, brushing it away from his face.
“Try get some sleep, you’ll feel better for sure.”
Billie hummed and snuggled closer to Kevin and put his head on Kevin’s chest and covered them both with a blanket. Billie was trembling, and Kevin knew that Billie liked it when Kevin played with his hair, it always made him feel better and it helped for his anxiety too.
Kevin woke up when Billie moved a little bit and was surprised that even he fell asleep. It made sense, he only slept for a few hours before Billie woke him up. He reached with his free hand for his phone, careful not to wake Billie up. He had troubles falling asleep most of the nights, and he didn’t want to wake him up especially when he was sick.
“Oh fuck,” he muttered to himself when he turned on the phone screen. It was 9:30, and he was supposed to already be at work. He had two missed calls, one from his boss and one from David, his friend and a colleague. Kevin gently moved Billie to the side so he could get out of the bed and call his boss. He texted David on the way to the kitchen, explaining the situation. As soon as he walked in, Kevin frantically dialed his boss’ number.
“Hello?”
“Umm, hello Aaron, this is Kevin. I’m so sorry that I’m calling you right now, but I can’t go to work today. My boyfriend is sick, and I have to take care of him,” he said in a hushed voice.
There was a pause, and Kevin’s anxiety was rising. He couldn’t afford to be fired. Billie’s job was well paid, but the last thing Kevin wanted was to be a househusband.
“Alright. But call in advance the next time, we’ve been worried if anything happened to you. I hope your boyfriend gets well soon, you can stay at home tomorrow too,” he said in a voice that made it clear he wasn’t mad at him, and Kevin felt a relief wash over him.
“Thank you, and yeah I’ll probably take it. On Monday I’ll be back. Again, thanks so much.”
Kevin let out a breath he was holding, poured himself a glass of water to calm down and made his way to the bedroom. He found Billie fast asleep, so he decided to quickly go to the store right across the street to buy the herbal tea and something to eat.
Just as he was about to pay, his phone vibrated with a new message.
Where are you, you went to work?
It was Billie. Shit, he thought to himself and opened the message. He was hoping that Billie would still be asleep before he came back home.
I just went to buy the tea. Don’t worry, be back soon xx
Kevin quickly paid and made his way home. He found Billie sitting on the couch wrapped in a blanket, watching the tv.
“Hey babe. I’m sorry I didn’t leave you any note. I was hoping you wouldn’t wake up,” Kevin said and walked into the living room.
“That’s okay- Why do you have a hand behind your back? Does your back hurt or…” Billie said with a suspicion in his voice.
“Flowers?” He said, surprised when Kevin showed him what he was hiding behind his back.
Kevin knew Billie loved getting flowers, even though he would never admit that.
“Yeah, I thought it could make you feel better, you know. I read somewhere that flowers help with getting better or some shit. There is surely a reason why they give them to people at the hospital.”
Billie looked at him and rolled his eyes. “Where the fuck did you read that? I doubt that’s true. But thank you, they’re gonna look really nice here.” He said and smelled the flowers. They were simple pink roses, and they were really pretty.
“Did you just blush?” Kevin asked with a smile on his face.
“No! That’s the fever, y’know,” Billie answered and put his hand on his forehead, pretending to be offended.
“I see you’re feeling much better now,” Kevin laughed and went to the kitchen to put the shopping bag on the kitchen counter and put the flowers into a glass; Billie broke their last vase when he was trying to reach the shelf where it was on, insisting that it wasn’t that high and that he didn’t need a chair.
“Do you want the herbal tea?” Kevin asked loudly.
“Not right now. Get your ass here, Preston, I wanna cuddle.”
Kevin smiled at that, realizing how lucky he was. He had a boyfriend whom he loved (even though he could be a little bossy bitch sometimes) and that alone made him happier than anything.
When he walked back into the living room, Billie was huddled in the corner of the couch, offering him the blanket he was wrapped in earlier. Kevin lied on the couch next to him and opened his arms. Billie put his head on Kevin’s chest and hummed to himself in content.
“So, what do you wanna watch?” Kevin asked and started browsing the channels.