Work Text:
Thursday, March 22nd, 2007
Severus felt horrible, absolutely despicable. Not because of his strep or double ear infection that was hitting his body hard with a fever, vomiting, and more, but because of what he had done after Remus spent so long taking care of him, making him as clean and comfortable as possible. The werewolf had just felt okay enough to take a break, to not keep caring for Severus, even as slept, and now he would have to do more work.
Well, he would if he found out, at least.
Of course Severus had to tell him, there was no way he could handle this by himself—he couldn’t put on sheets on a good day—but….Did it have to be now?
Severus had only been asleep an hour when it happened meaning Remus had gotten maybe half-an-hour break at this point, it was unfair to make him work more. At the same time, it was unsafe to stay lying in his own urine for so long—getting a rash would make Remus have to do even more work.
“Oh, you’re awake.” Severus turned his head, trying not to wince at the pain, to look at his husband who had just come in to check on him. “You know you have to sleep if you want to get better.
Remus gently laid his freezing cold hand against Severus’s red forehead, continuing to talk when the elder one didn’t. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah.” He probably couldn’t smell it thanks to all the cleaner and sweat and sickness, thank goodness. “Just woke up.”
“How come?” He went to sit on the bed, but Severus reached out a hand to stop him.
“Please don’t sit!”
“Okay.” Remus tried to smile, but it was hard when he felt so confused and a bit hurt.
“I-I just don’t want you to get sick!”
“Honey, I’ve been around you, touching and changing you, all day. Sitting next to you isn’t going to do anything.” He laughed.
“Yeah, but don’t….Just in case.”
“Is something else going on?”
“No!”
“Sev? You can tell me.”
“No!” Silence. “No…I can’t.”
“You can tell me anything. Do you need help with something?”
Severus wouldn’t look at him, trying to keep from shouting but ended up going to the other end of the spectrum, whispering, instead of his goal of a normal tone and level. “No.”
“Baby?”
Right, that’s what he was, a baby .
“It was just an accident.” He had not meant to say that, and definitely wasn’t welcoming the tears trying to flood his eyes.
“What was?”
He was definitely crying now, pressing his face into the nearest pillow to hide it, neither of these two things making him feel any better. “I know forty-seven is too old for this, but it won’t happen again.” He barely lifted his head for a few seconds so Remus could hear.
Remus looked him up and down a few times as if he was considering everything, before crouching down next to the bed and moving Severus’s head so he could breathe better. “Honey, if you keep laying like that you’ll suffocate.”
“Good!” Severus kept crying, his eyes closed tightly, but didn’t move his head back.
“Not good, I need you alive.”
“I’m an embarrassment!”
“To who?”
“Everyone!”
“Well, then, you can call me Odysseus.”
Severus couldn’t help but laugh, even as he kept crying, causing a minor coughing fit.
“Are you okay?”
“You….You know what happened.” He must.
“I think so.” Remus admitted. “But, I’m not 100% sure.”
“I….I….” Severus couldn’t say it. “....I need help cleaning up.”
“Of course, lovely.”
“I….I didn’t mean to.”
“Of course you didn’t, honey. It’s okay.” Remus began pulling the covers away from his husband’s body, before gently picking him up. “I’ll give you a bath first, then change and clean the sheets.”
“You don’t have too.”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“It’s gross.”
“You think I’ve never cleaned up urine before? I do have siblings, y’know.”
“They weren’t adults at the time.” Severus was forced to bury his head in Remus’s shoulder as the bright, fluorescent, lights made his headache worse.
“Nor was I married to them. Situations don’t have to be identical to be similar.”
“ Nobody would want to do this.”
“Maybe, but, I’m Odysseus, remember?”