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Walking into the flat, Remus dropped his keys in the bowl near the door, and hung his cane on the hook to the right of the doorknob. Shrugging off his coat, he hooked the hood over his usual on the coatrack, and put his scarf on top of that. The warm burst of air from the heater gave him an involuntary shiver, and he flexed his chilled fingers, trying to chase away some of the wintery stiffness.
“Sirius?” he called when he was not immediately greeted at the door as his boyfriend was usually wont to do. He tilted his ear toward the main room and listened, but there was no sign he was home at all. “Weird,” he muttered. He flipped open his watch and pressed his fingers over the small pieces to read the time. Near tea, actually, which meant Sirius should have long-since been home from his lectures.
Remus let out a groan and headed first to the kitchen to flick the kettle on. It was his first year teaching, and it was all well and good. He chose to get his feet wet, so to speak, working at the school for the blind. They could accommodate both him and the students, and eventually when he felt he had enough practise, he’d consider moving to a University level position.
For now it was okay. But they were children, and apart from his near three year old godson, he wasn’t overly fond of them. They smelled funny and were a bit sticky and very exhausting.
Then again, he supposed he was the same. He was always a bit sharp, learnt to swear with the best of them at a very young age, and never cared much what people thought of him. Something he was happy with, and something about him Sirius loved very much.
His hands moved about the kitchen expertly, finding his favourite mug, and a tin of tea at the ready. The kettle beeped when it was finished, and he poured the water over the bag, deciding to let it steep whilst he went into the bedroom to change out of his teaching clothes.
He let his hand drag down the wall as he moved toward the door, and when he stepped in, he immediately noticed something off. A different smell, and the room was a bit more on the humid side. Then he heard a faint groan coming from the bed.
“Sirius?”
He received another grunt in response.
Moving to the bed, Remus’ hand gently reached out until it came into contact with a pile of duvet which was a bit too hard to be all bedding. He prod the shoulder gently and knelt down on the mattress. “Sirius? You alright?”
“M’ny?” Sirius’ voice sounded hoarse and thick, sending Remus’ heart plummeting to his stomach.
“I’m here, love. Have you been in bed all this time?”
Sirius let out a dry, hacking cough as he rolled toward Remus. “What you doin’ here?”
“Just got home from work, love.” Remus’ fingers trailed up from the padded shoulder to naked skin along Sirius’ neck and cheek and he sucked in his breath. “Shit, you’re burning up. Have you taken your temperature?”
“M’what?” He sounded confused, possibly delirious.
“Just…wait here. Let me fetch the thermometer.” Righting himself, Remus took a breath, then went straight for their supply basket in the hall cupboard. He found it on the third shelf, his fingers moving through each item, but the only thing he could come up with was the ordinary thermometer, which meant he wouldn’t be able to read it. “Buggering fucking hell,” he whispered. He looked a bit longer, but after coming up with nothing, he resigned himself to getting Sirius to read the numbers.
Heading back to the room, he went to the bed and found Sirius curled back up in the duvet. Using his fingers, he located the opening to Sirius’ ear, then put the pointed bit inside and pushed the button. He waited for the double beep, then pulled back.
“Gonna need your help, love,” Remus said gently. “I cannae read this.”
“Fight me,” Sirius mumbled, refusing to turn.
“Sirius,” Remus said, trying not to sound exasperated, “just read the fucking numbers. Please.”
“Fight me. Moony’s mine, you can’t have him.”
“Jesus fuck,” Remus breathed. He prod Sirius’ shoulder harder. “I need to know if I should be taking you to hospital so open your eyes and read the numbers off this screen.”
Sirius groaned, then rolled over. After a second, he huffed and croaked, “S’no use. Screen’s off.”
“Fucking shitting bloody thing,” Remus hissed. “Roll back and let me take it again.”
Somewhat more compliant, Sirius obeyed, and when Remus held the screen out again, Sirius eventually said, “Thirty nine point seven.”
“Fuck,” Remus said, pressing a hand to his forehead. “Fucking hell. That’s high, Sirius.”
“M’not high. You’re high. Where’s my Moony? I’ll fight you.”
Remus got up, going back to the cupboard and found fever reducer. He stopped by the bathroom to grab a wet flannel, then straight back to the bedroom. “Need you take some of this, and put the flannel on your head. We’ve got leftover soup, so I’ll heat that. You may have a flu, love.”
Sirius mumbled something, but when Remus heard him tipping pills into his palm, he let out a relieved breath. He stopped Sirius’ hand, using his finger to count and make sure only two were sitting there before he let Sirius dry swallow them.
“Now the flannel,” Remus ordered.
“Who hired you? You’re a shit nurse.” Sirius flopped back against the pillows with a huff, and Remus snorted as he pressed the cool flannel to the burning hot skin.
“You’ll be thanking me later, love. And feeling quite a bit stupid.”
“You wanna go, mate? I’ll go right now.” Sirius started to shuffle upward, but Remus held him down with a firm hand.
“Sit the fuck down and get better. I’m getting soup and tea, you fucking wanker.” He leant down and kissed Sirius’ temple gently before making his way back out to the kitchen.
His tea was ruined, of course. Over-steeped and lukewarm, but it didn’t matter. He had to reheat the kettle, and whilst that was happening, he put the soup on the cooker and began simmering the broth.
Finding their tea tray, he loaded it up with the mugs, getting Sirius a bag of herbal, honey, and the lemon he so loved and Remus found just dreadful. It took all of ten minutes to heat the soup properly, and he poured it into a bowl, adding a spoon and a few pieces of kitchen paper as a Sirius Black delirious with fever was likely to make a mess.
Heading back down, one hand balancing the tray, the other on the wall to keep him oriented, he made his way back to the room and heard Sirius’ even breathing, punctuated with the occasional cough. Taking very careful steps, he set the tray down on their bedside table and eased himself down on the mattress.
“Soup and tea, love,” he said in a low voice.
Sirius let out a hoarse groan and rolled over. “Re?”
“Glad you recognise me at last,” Remus said, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.
Sirius groaned and Remus could hear him shifting upward. “Fuck. I feel dreadful.”
“You have a fever. Bad one. Here, take the tea for a moment, then you can have the soup.” Remus held the mug out, and waited for Sirius to take it. There was a moment of quiet sips and Sirius letting out a sigh of satisfaction as the hot brew soothed his throat.
“How long you been home?”
Remus frowned. “Thirty minutes, maybe? Found you bundled up. Got your temperature, gave you something for it.”
Sirius sipped again. “Did I er…say fight me?”
Remus snorted. “Yes.”
“Sorry.”
Remus reached out, brushing his fingers across Sirius’ still very hot brow. “It’s alright. I’m used to it.”
Sirius choked out a painful laugh. “I’m a git.”
“Yes,” Remus said slowly. “One I love very much. Ready for soup?”
Sirius took the bowl and got nearly through the entire thing before he gave a shiver. “Oh I’m sweaty. I think the fever broke.”
Remus reached up with his wrist and pressed it to Sirius’ forehead. “Think so. Good, you can sleep now. And I can change out of my sodding work clothes.” Remus set Sirius’ bowl aside, then moved to the wardrobe for a pair of fuzzy pyjama bottoms and one of Sirius’ band t-shirts. That done, he walked back to the bed, pulled the duvet away, and climbed in.
“Should you be in here with me? I’m poorly and you could catch it.”
“I’ve had my jab,” Remus said, feeling very sleepy. Sirius was lying flat on his back, Remus leant up on his elbow, and he reached out a hand to play with Sirius’ slightly soggy locks. “Besides, someone’s got to take care of the piss-baby, and last time I checked, I’m the only one here.”
“You could ring James. He’d come.”
“And expose Harry and Lily to your plague? I highly doubt that.” Remus smiled as he pressed a kiss to Sirius’ forehead.
Sirius let out a breath, then snuggled deep against Remus. “Love you.”
“I know you do,” Remus said with a grin.
“You take good care of me.”
“I know that as well,” Remus breathed softly, holding Sirius just a bit tighter.
“I would, you know.”
Remus frowned. “Would what?”
“Fight anyone for you. Even on my death bed from flu. I’d fight them.”
Remus laughed hard, pulling Sirius as tight as he could without smothering him. “I know you would, love. Even if that someone is me.”
“Just protecting your heart,” Sirius muttered. He yawned against Remus’ chest and his body went more relaxed. “M’I gonna die, Moons?”
Remus quirked a brow as he shifted to get more comfortable. “Probably one day, but not from this. Just a flu.”
Sirius yawned again. “That’s good. Because I was thinking when I’m better we could go on another holiday. For the New Year.”
“Yeah?” Remus asked, smiling as his hand found the lamp and switched it off. “Somewhere nice?”
“We could…we could go somewhere to ski. Or maybe Australia and have a summery New Year. On the beach. With the sharks. And evil jelly fish.”
Remus chuckled and settled against his pillow. “Could do, yeah. But for now you need to get better. Alright?”
“Alright. I do love you a whole lot though.”
Remus smiled to himself as he found Sirius’ hand and held it tight. “I love you too, you bloody git. Now sleep.”
“…kay.”