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Stu has always known Billy was a bit of a brat, and had prided himself off learning how to navigate his moods and learning the best ways to piss Billy off and get him to open up without crossing lines. Here lately he’s had to do a lot less pissing Billy off and a lot more sweet talking. Coaxing the other to open up with soft words and soft kisses and teasing touches in just the right places. There’s still an element of getting Billy to let go, sometimes he has to engage in a verbal spar with the other until Billy takes half assed swings at him and then later feels bad and relents. Rarely does Stu have to get physical with Billy anymore, or at least not in the way that results in them actually fighting each other.
Because both boys had discovered they’d rather Stu bend Billy over whatever surface they were near and fuck him out of his mind than come to blows. Stu because he’d always been worried he’d hurt Billy on accident, and Billy had to deal with that enough at home and it only got worse once his mom left, and Billy because ever since that night he’s been starkly reminded of Stu’s chronic health conditions and he always worries he’s going to end up damaging the other more. He won’t say that though because he knows Stu doesn’t want to be treated like glass. Even though the first time Billy actually watched Stu faint, because he’d been spending so much more time at the other’s house, he’d nearly lost his mind panicking.
Right now though Billy is really pushing it, because he’d woke up feeling like shit, with his head throbbing and his nose stuffed up and nausea rolling around in the pit of his stomach. And he doesn’t want Stu to worry, because then he might come over and check on him and then he might get sick. But they’d had plans tonight, they were going to spy on Maureen and start getting some ideas on when the best time to plan her murder was and start plotting how they were going to pin the blame on either Billy’s dad or some other bastard the slut was fucking. And Stu was trying to text him and then had called when Billy hadn’t answered.
When Billy doesn’t answer the phone call either he drives over and tests the back door, because Billy’s dad often goes in through the back after drinking so the neighbors don’t see him, so they have nothing to gossip about to tarnish his reputation, except that his wife left him and that his son was “strange, but a nice boy”. It’s unlocked so Stu lets himself in and goes up the stairs and finds Billy in bed, shivering even though he’s drenched in sweat and had immediately tried to help the other sit up and get him into the shower to cool off while he packed him an overnight bag so he could stay with Stu. Not that he needed the bag, he had been leaving stuff at Stu’s house for a few weeks now so that he didn’t have to try and rush home in the mornings and get changed.
But Billy had resisted, snapped that he was fine and Stu could go away and that they’d reschedule. “I don’t care about tonight, I’m worried about you though, you’re really warm, babe.”
“Don’t fucking call me that! I’m not your damn girlfriend or something.”
“Well, I’ll say, you’re missing two very important pieces of anatomy for that. However, my anatomy loves your anatomy and I love you so quit being a brat and just….you know what let’s skip the shower and let’s just get you to my place.”
Billy shrugs him off when he goes to help him up and huffs. “My anatomy….fucking perv, just go get your rocks off with Steve or one of your other admirers. Leave me alone!”
“I think my boyfriend would have a problem with me getting off with my admirers. Billy, you’re really burning up. I mean it, lets get you out of this shitty house. It’s a friday, you’re dad’s gonna be drinking and I don’t want you alone with him.”
“What makes you think I’m your fucking boyfriend?! Because we fucked a couple of times? You think you get the right to tell me what to do, like you fucking care?!” He shouts, then starts coughing because it hurts his throat. And he hates that Stu’s hand on his back helps, that for once Stu feels cool and soothing against his skin, the first indicator that something’s wrong because Stu’s hands are never cool, they always feel like fire against his skin.
“I do care Billy, and I’m not doing this verbal sparring shit when you’re like this. You can get mad later, you can act like a brat later, but you’re fucking burning up and you look like you’re gonna pass out. Let’s go.” Stu orders, places his hands under Billy’s thighs and back like he’s gonna fucking bridal carry him and for some reason Billy panics. Deep down behind the fever addled thoughts he knows he’s about to fuck up, but he can’t stop himself as he swings at Stu, knocks the other back and shouts. “FUCK YOU! You gonna be just like my mom and pretend to give a shit and then leave me? I don’t fucking need you, asshole, so just fuck off! I can take care of myself! I’m not some bitch ass rich boy who’s always fucking sick and can’t handle being alone!”
Stu stares and it’s cold and detached and Billy knows he fucked up. The silence is icy and where he had been burning up minutes ago Billy feels chilled to the bone now.
“Right, well, if that’s what you want, I’ll fucking leave. After all, I told you I’d do anything for you.” And Stu turns to leave, walks right out the door while Billy reels because that’s not what he wants. He’s just scared and feverish and worried he’d make his boyfriend sick. But now that he’s gone it feels like he took all the air with him and Billy starts crying. The moon is burning up, but not with the intense warmth that comes from the sun's love, but with fever. He's burning and crashing and going down like a failed rocket launch and he's chased the sun away, pushed his light from his life and he kinda just wants to curl up and die now.
He shakes and gasps and coughs until his lungs hurt because he can’t breathe. There’s snot running down his face and he’s pulling at his hair so hard he rips some out and the room spins because he can’t get any air in between sobs and coughs and his head is pounding.
“S-st-stu,” he gasps, hoping the other is still in the house somewhere. He can’t breathe. He needs help, his wants his mama, but she’s gone and all he has left is Stu. His sunshine and he needs him. Billy rolls out of bed, tumbles harshly to the floor because he tries to stand up, to chase after Stu even though it’s been an hour since the other left, Billy doesn’t know that. Time has lost meaning and he just gets his arms under him to push up from the floor when he throws up. It hurts because there’s nothing in his stomach to throw up, so his body wracks with awful wretched sounding heaves until stomach acid burns up his throat.
“Oh, Billy,” someone sighs and he lifts his head. Stu’s back and he has a plastic bag from the pharmacy in one hand but he drops to his knees instead and Billy sobs.
“Stu….stu…sorry! I’m so-,” he doesn’t finish because he’s hacking again and then Stu’s pulling him into his arms and pressing his lips to his sweaty forehead.
“I know baby, I know. You worried you’re gonna get me sick?” And Billy just whimpers, nods his head the tiniest bit and Stu sighs.
“How about next time you just tell me that so I can tell you not to worry instead of acting like a brat?”
“Sorry,” he croaks and Stu hums, kisses his forehead again. He taps Billy’s lips with a thermometer and he opens obediently, folds himself into Stu’s body and rests his pounding head on the other’s shoulder. The thermometer beeps and Stu swears.
“Fuck, it’s 102.2. You should have called me sooner, here, drink some of this and take these pills and then let’s get you home ok?”
Billy recognizes his favorite flavor of gatorade, the blue one, and happily lets Stu open the cap and hold it to his lips. He tries to chug it down but Stu won’t let him, just dribbles it slowly into his mouth before pushing two cold and flu relief pills in and letting him swallow. They sit for a moment to make sure Billy can hold it down and then Stu carefully recaps the drink, puts it back in the bag with the other stuff and lifts Billy up and down the stairs and out the back door into Stu’s car. Billy's too fever addled right now to register it, but Stu had said home, their home, not his house that Billy's been staying in. He doesn't even register that he knows Stu's talking about their house. The place he's been staying most nights since his mom left, because that's home now. Anywhere Stu is, that's his home now.
Billy sleeps the entire ride to Stu’s house and barely stirs when he gets him inside and upstairs to the bathroom where he strips the other out of his drenched clothes and sits with him under a lukewarm stream of water. Billy still feels too warm so Stu towels him off, dresses him in one of his shirts and some boxers and settles him in after making him drink some more gatorade and then changes his own clothes and calls his mom. She’s a nurse and is just finishing her shift when her son calls and tells her how bad his friend (she’s pretty sure they’re dating but decides to let Stu come to her with that information on his own) is. She rushes home and checks the other boy out. It seems like his breathing is getting worse and his throat hurts a lot and she diagnosed it as a viral cough/infection and since it’s a viral there isn’t much she can do besides give him some cough medicine and some fever reducer and make sure he stays hydrated. She asks Stu if he feels ok with sharing his room with the other while he’s sick or if he’d prefer they clear out some space in the guest room turned home office and set up a cot. Stu just looks at her incredulously and she laughs, kisses his forehead and tells him she’s going to make some warm chicken broth for Billy and order pizza for dinner.
Billy can barely swallow the broth and it doesn’t stay down long and the next three days are spent trying to keep him hydrated and get some nutrition in him while he stays mostly asleep. On the third night Billy’s fever breaks and gets so high at one point Mrs. Macher considers taking him to the hospital but eventually it goes down and Billy wakes up feeling gross and sweaty and like he got hit by a truck. Stu wakes up at his whining and helps him into the shower, stays with him so he doesn’t pass out, and then strips the bed sheets before tucking Billy back in and spooning him.
“Sorry I was a bitch,” Billy rasps, throat still raw. “And sorry I might get you sick.”
“Told you, ba-...Billy, Im not glass.”
His skin crawls, hearing Stu correct himself like that, he wants to go back in time and beat himself over the head. His hands start twitching picking at the skin around his nails. “You….you can call me babe. I….please?” Stu kisses his neck, wraps his arms tighter around Billy’s waist.
“You sure? Thought you weren’t my boyfriend, that you wanted me to go blow Steve,” Billy twists and buries his face in Stu’s chest and sobs. He wants so bad to kiss him but he tastes like cough drops and sickness and he doesn’t want to give Stu his germs. Stu feels like shit, he shouldn't push when the other is like this, but Billy had hit a nerve and he’d needed to let the other know somehow. He tangles their legs together, pulls Billy’s head up to kiss his cheeks and nose and nuzzles their foreheads together. “It’s ok, I forgive you babe. Just please….don’t send me away like that again?”
“I promise, I’m sorry, sunshine.”
“I’m sorry too, moondrop. Now get some rest ok?”
Billy sighs and closes his eyes and feels relieved that Stu’s hands are starting to feel warm against his skin again, glad he hasn't chased the sun away.