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It was about half way through the school day that Raleigh started to feel ‘off’. It started as a little stomach upset (possibly from lunch), but had escalated quickly into a full blown ache- complete with nausea and a killer headache. He had one last class left for the day and he figured he could tough it out, but twice his teacher had called on him and both times he had been caught unaware and answered stupidly. He really didn’t give a shit, at this point he just needed the day to be over.
When the period was over he was having awful chills and it was all he could do to stagger outside and find Chuck.
“You okay?” the red head asked, hopping down off the cement wall he had been perched on chatting with some other friends.
Raleigh just nodded, and they began their walk home. Normally this was his favorite part of the day. Once they were out of sight of the school yard they would hold hands and compare notes all the way to Charlie’s house; but today he thought he might die.
Chuck was babbling away as usual and it took him a few blocks to realize Raleigh was quieter then normal. “Are you feeling okay? Seriously dude, you don’t look good.” His companion was colorless, and not just because of the carefully done make up. Raleigh was pale in a legitimately sickly way, not just the affected look he liked to wear daily.
Raleigh doubled over in pain and couldn’t stop a whine of distress, “No…I’m not okay, thanks for noticing.”
“Shut up.” Chuck snapped, “Who can tell with you Gerard.” Even in distress Raleigh had managed to slip that MCR reference in there. That was dedication of some sort. “But really Rals…”
Raleigh waved him off, “Can we just get home? I think I’m gonna puke…” They tried to move at a faster pace, but while they were still several blocks away from goal, Raleigh got so dizzy he needed Chuck’s physical support to keep moving.
Yeah no, he wasn’t going to make it all the way to the safety of a bathroom. Without warning he pulled out of Charlie’s grasp and retched violently into a neighbor’s front lawn. Chuck watched in wide-eyed horror at both the act and the chosen yard. This had bad juju written all over it….he should probably be more concerned about his friend than the grass though….
“Oh my god Raleigh!?” he managed to squawk as the blond stood panting and shaking.
“I’m good….I’m good…” he assured Charlie, he just wanted to get home. “Let’s go…please let’s just keep going.”
Chuck helped him stagger slowly down the unhelpfully uneven sidewalk and considered calling his Dad. No. They could handle this, they were adults now. It seemed to take all of eternity to reach the Hansen’s house – which in reality was less than six blocks away from campus, but at long last they made it. At least geographically anyway, in reality Raleigh was in bad shape physically and as he collapsed to the bathroom floor to bury his face in the toilet he wasn’t convinced that he was going to make it out of this alive.
Chuck kneeled beside Raleigh and stroked his back as he continued to heave painfully. “Shhhh baby it’s okay….” He cooed and consoled. “Let me get you some water or something….”
Raleigh shook his head and sat back on his heels. He didn’t want anything more he could throw up, it hurt so badly already. Just the thought of something as simple as water sent him diving for the porcelain god again.
Charlie was becoming increasingly more concerned the longer Raleigh stayed face down in the toilet. He wondered briefly if it was humanly possible to drown that way, because if anyone could manage that it would be Rals; but he didn’t have to worry about that risk for very long as Raleigh collapsed in a heap against the tub and slid to the floor like a rag doll.
“Raleigh?” Charlie scooted closer and reached out to pet his hair. Raleigh couldn’t even open his eyes, let alone form words, so he just whimpered to convey his agony. He felt Chuck’s arms wrap around him and Raleigh buried his face in his boyfriend’s chest. He could not stop shaking as he clung to Charlie for dear life; if he was going to die it was going to be in the arms of the only person in the world that loved him.
Instinctively Chuck rocked Raleigh gently to comfort both of them, and he started to hum softly, hoping it would drown out the fearful pounding of his own heart. Never in his life had he seen anyone this sick…what was he supposed to do!? He held on to Raleigh tighter and hoped Dad would be home soon.
At first the rocking motion had in fact consoled Raleigh, but it had taken a nasty turn from comfort to trigger and he needed to throw up again- stat. He had nothing left to regurgitate this round so he was reduced to painful dry heaving for several minutes. When that fun time ran itself out, he looked up at Chuck with tear filled eyes. “I want to lay down….”
“Anything you want baby….” Charlie tripped over himself to help Raleigh up and to his bed room. The struggle against his tunneling vision was real and as he literally collapsed on the bed he took Chuck down with him.
A squawk and a small awkwardly placed giggle escaped Chuck as Raleigh sprawled on top of him, unable to move another inch. “Better?”
“……kinda….no….” Raleigh’s voice was muffled and pained. “I might puke.”
Charlie groaned, “Ugh not in my bed! Get off me so I can get a bucket or something…god…” Raleigh managed to roll off, and to be honest they were both disappointed that he did (dying or not), but now Chuck was free to grab the garbage can from beside his desk.
He plunked it down on the floor and plopped down beside it. He didn’t know what to do for his Raleigh, who was now curled up tightly in the fetal position, holding his restless stomach. So Charlie tucked him in vigorously in an attempt to stop his shaking and settled for stroking his pretty gold and black striped hair in what he hoped was something close to soothing.
Raleigh reached for Chuck’s free hand and held on to it for dear life. Charlie gave it a little squeeze and smiled lovingly at him and for some reason that helped. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on Charlie’s good vibes and less on his intense suffering.
Time slipped by in a meaningless fever haze for Raleigh, and Chuck was so absorbed in watching him that he didn’t notice the change in day glow meant that Dad would be home soon.
Herc came into a dark and quiet house. That was a bad sign. He was greeted by a very squirmy Max, who clearly had not been let out to pee for a long time…where the hell were those boys!? They had one job after school…and here were their bags tossed right in the path of the doorway, yet there was no sign of them.
His first instinct was unreasonable Dad panic. “Charlie! Raleigh!” He shouted, ignoring Max’s increasing plea to pee. His bag hit the floor beside the two discarded backpacks. “Charles are you here? You better be here!”
Herc flew up the stairs, totally unnerved by the unnatural silence of the house. It was odd not to have Chuck’s horrible music blaring, or Raleigh’s ridiculous laughter coupled with the TV booming some video game. He had no idea why he was so scared that something had happened to them, but he was convinced that he was going to find them murdered in a closet or not there at all. As he flung Chuck’s bedroom door open, he saw his fears were at once unfounded but ironically not far off- at the same time.
“Daddy!” Charlie exclaimed, not in surprise or guilt (per usual) but in genuine relief. He ran to Herc and flung his arms around him in that certain way that told Herc something was wrong. Before he could ask, the facts of the situation came pouring out of Chuck in a hurried whisper.
The big, green scared eyes gazing up at him pleading for help quickly melted away any of the mild annoyance (mostly at himself for his uncharacteristic overreaction) left over from his flight up the stairs. “It’s going to be okay Charlie, let me have a look at him…” He soothed his son.
Charlie led the way back to his bed, and Raleigh’s prone body. Herc’s first thought was that the kid was dead. He certainly looked dead. This was not good. He perched on the edge of the bed and gently stroked the hair off Raleigh’s forehead. The boy’s blue eyes fluttered open at his unfamiliar touch.
“Holy shit kiddo, you are on fire.” Herc pressed the palm of his hand against Raleigh’s burning skin. The fact that this boy-that-was-not-his, who normally avoided contact of all kind with him couldn’t even muster a protest at being touched was deeply concerning.
Raleigh looked up at Herc tragically through his blurry blue eyes and pleaded silently for him to make all his suffering stop. Luckily he was speaking the universally understood Dad Language, and Herc knew what to do.
Item number one was to get Charlie to stop hovering like a gangly, anxious mother hen. “Chuck, I need you to go get the thermometer from the bathroom…” Charlie went to bolt immediately rather than wait for further orders and Herc had to grab him by arm to keep him in place, “Wait! Jesus…not done. You need to empty the garbage out of this,” he shoved the can still full of crumpled scratch paper and brightly colored, acetone scented cotton balls into Chuck’s arms, “and for Christ’s sake will you let the damn dog out!?”
Charlie stared at him for a heartbeat or two while that all sunk in past the adrenaline. He nodded once and booked it out of the room. There was a dull thud and a clang as he ran into a wall somewhere in the hallway.
Herc and Raleigh both rolled their eyes. “Jesus Christ Charlie….He’s not good in a crisis...clearly.” Herc mumbled and Raleigh managed a small, tight lipped smile. Now to business. Gently Herc pulled back some of the covers that Chuck had lovingly trapped Raleigh in to slow cook to death.
“There you go, that’s better. Now tell me what hurts?”
Raleigh took a deep breath and winced in pain from the pulled muscles in his ribs. “Mostly my stomach….but my head really hurts now…really bad….”
“That’s because you’re dehydrated. Do you feel like puking anymore?” Herc reached down to check his temp again.
“Not as badly….” Raleigh closed his eyes and sighed softly. Herc’s hand was so nice and cool against his cheek...he totally didn’t care that he was allowing the terrifying Father of his boyfriend to touch him in a way that only Chuck was allowed too. It was so good…
“…where’s your Mom?” he tuned back into Herc’s questioning. “I need to call her and tell her your sick…”
Raleigh did not want him to do that. It’s not like she would care enough to leave work, he was better off here… “She’s at work tonight….she can’t take calls when she’s on shift.” He answered pitifully, and it was sorta the truth.
“Oh.” Herc frowned. That was weird. He was definitely getting an evasion vibe off Raleigh; there was more to the Mom issue then met the eye. It didn’t matter anyway, he wouldn’t let this kid go anywhere in this condition. “Well, you can stay here with us, but I am going to call and leave her a message okay?”
The patient nodded. Good, he could deal with that. He didn’t want to die alone- or worse under the neglect of his brother. Charlie came bombing back in, having completed the mission. He handed Dad the thermometer and stood breathing a little hard from running around.
“Dog out?” Herc asked wryly. Charlie whined to imply yes. “Good. Okay Raleigh, open up.” He held out the thermometer and Raleigh complied meekly. As they waited for the verdict, Herc continued to stroke Raleigh’s hair softly. It really was depressing how much this kid craved affection. There was a beep. “102.1, well that’s not great but I have seen worse.”
He was now on the receiving end of two sets of tragic eyes. “Yes darlings, I know it’s still very bad.” He stopped petting Raleigh and got up, “I’ll be back with something to fix it.” Herc fetched some Tylenol and a bottle of the disgusting blue flavored sports drink Chuck insisted on drinking by the industrial sized drum. Raleigh took the pills and drank one full glass; and now they waited to see if it would all stay where it was put.
“I’m going to start dinner, your back in charge Charlie,” Chuck gave him a very serious nod. He had this under control!
Herc returned downstairs and fed Max immediately, then called Raleigh’s Mom’s phone and left her a lengthy voicemail assuring her that while Raleigh was sick, probably with the stomach flu going around the high school, that he had it covered and if he got any worse they would go to the emergency room. He really hoped it wouldn’t come to that for many reasons.
He did some quick cooking, made some toast for Raleigh, and headed back upstairs to check on the convalescent and his nurse. When he got to ‘sickbay’ he found said nurse in bed, curled up around the patient. Both boys were asleep, and Raleigh seemed to be resting more comfortably now. Herc set the plate of toasted bread down next to a half full glass of antifreeze colored water and stood watching the pair.
Under normal circumstances would he never allow this overly familiar, inappropriate, bed snuggling. Never. Besides, the way they were holding hands and breathing in sync was cute. Since nothing about this situation was normal, and they were clearly drawing comfort from each other, he would allow it- just this once.