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Arin’s phone vibrated in his pocket in the middle of the breakfast aisle. He let the cereal he’d been holding fall into the shopping basket on the ground, and fished his phone from his jacket, looking at the screen. It was a text from Barry.
Huh. Wasn’t Barry supposed to be heading to the airport right about now? He opened it up and scanned the display.
[text:BarryKramer] Hey man, can you check in on Dan? He wasn’t feeling good when I left & I’m worried
Arin cocked an eyebrow and replied that sure, he’d swing by when he was on his way home later. It’d be another hour or so - just had to buy a few groceries for the achingly empty fridge back at the Grump Space, then he’d be off the hook for the rest of the weekend. Most of the others were already gone; Suzy was at home, Kevin with his girlfriend, Ross and Holly were doing some Polaris-thing, and Barry was headed to New York to visit his family. Dan… he actually wasn’t too sure, just knew that it was the musician’s day off.
An hour and one pile of groceries later, Arin parked his car outside of Dan and Barry’s shared house and went up to the front door. The place looked deserted. Was Dan even home? Arin glanced at the text again before knocking tentatively.
No answer.
He scowled and tried calling Dan. He picked it up on the third ring, although Arin hadn’t been sure at first that it was actually Dan, with the way his voice sounded.
“Hello…?”
“Whoa man, what’s up? You home?” Arin asked, glancing around. He could hear Dan groan and shift around - was he in bed? It was only 4 PM, and it wasn’t like Dan to nap this late in the afternoon; he always said it would screw up his sleep cycle.
“Yeah, ‘m home…” came the muffled reply. It sounded like he was holding his breath or something. “Why?”
“I’m outside your door, man. I’ve been knocking and shit. Open up,” Arin commanded. Without waiting for a reply, he hung up and rang the doorbell for extra effect.
Dan finally opened the door, and Arin couldn’t help but widen his eyes at the sight of him. Dan’s hair was a mess - more than usual - and he was pale, with heavy bags under his eyes. He looked absolutely like hell.
“Whoa bro, you okay?!” Arin asked, completely taken aback. He’d never seen Dan like that. He got a grunt in reply, and Dan motioned for him to come in, not waiting but instead shuffling over to the couch, which he dropped himself on unceremoniously. Arin sat next to him, on what little space was left considering Dan’s entire length being splayed out on the couch, and looked at him.
“You sick or something?” he asked. Dan groaned in reply and shifted so that he could look up at Arin through his mass of unruly curls.
“My stomach’s been playing up, man. Must’ve eaten something too spicy,” he mumbled, unable to mask the pain in his voice. Arin thought back to all the times Dan had mentioned his “sensitive jew stomach” on Game Grumps, and nodded thoughtfully. He knew this was more than just a stomach ache - he knew Dan actually took medicine for this, so it had to hurt like a bitch. No wonder Barry had been worried, if he’d left Dan like this.
“Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?” he asked, resting his hand lightly on Dan’s thigh. Dan shrugged and sat up, wincing at the motion.
“It’s not like you have to hold my hair back while I vom or anything, dude. I don’t throw up when this happens, it just… hurts. I just need to writhe in pain for a while, you know?” He forced a laugh, but it was evident that it wasn’t genuine, and Arin frowned.
“Well, how about you take off your pants first?”
“Bascuse me?!” Dan exclaimed, scooting away from his co-host. Arin laughed.
“No man, not like that. Just… you’re wearing your… what’d you call them, booty chokers? I figured they were tight on your stomach. Maybe you should change into something more loose and comfortable. I’ll make you some tea while you go change, yeah?”
Dan mulled over this for a bit, but another sharp stab of pain made the decision for him, and he got up and made his way to his room slowly, cursing the pain every step of the way.
“Have you taken the medicine that you take for this thing?” Arin called over his shoulder, rummaging around in the cupboards to find a mug and Dan’s tea - chamomile or whatever. “Jeez, you’re such an old lady with your weird herbal tea and shit,” he muttered under his breath.
Dan called back that yes, he had, but his voice didn’t really carry. Speaking - and shouting - required the use of stomach muscles, which were currently hurting too much for him to want to use them more than necessary.
When he came back to the living room, Arin had found the blankets and brewed Dan’s tea, and he motioned for Dan to sit on the couch.
“No man, sideways, sit sideways,” he corrected him when Dan had sat down. Dan shot him a questioning look, but obliged. When Arin sat down beside him, with a leg on each side of him, he was just about to object, but then Arin placed his hands on his bony shoulders and pulled him back so that Dan was resting, back against Arin’s chest and Arin halfway lying down with Dan on top of him.
Arin rubbed Dan’s stomach through the loose t-shirt he’d changed into, and mumbled, “Let me know if it hurts or anything.” Due to their position, Dan’s ear was next to Arin’s mouth, hot breath tickling him and making him shiver. This made Arin think he was cold, and he pulled the blankets tighter around them. The sudden lack of pressure against his stomach made Dan emit an involuntary whine.
“Put your hand back, and press a little harder?” he requested, face slowly turning crimson. “This is so gay,” he added as a sort of no-homo. Arin chuckled and did as he was told.
“Nah man, just a bro helping another bro out.”
“At this rate you might as well jack me off, dude,” Dan laughed, then winced. “Ah, don’t make me laugh, it hurts.”
“Dude, I can’t jack you off while you’re in pain like this,” Arin observed before using his other, currently non-occupied hand to reach over and grab Danny’s mug of tea on the table. “You should drink this, dude. It’ll make you feel better.”
Dan blew on the tea to cool it and creased his brow in thought.
“How did you know to do this, dude?” he asked before taking a sip.
“Suzy used to get mad period cramps before she went on birth control,” Arin explained, taking the tea from Dan and setting it back down on the table before tugging some of Dan’s hair away - it had been getting into his face as they spoke. “I have a few years of practice. Tell me if I press too hard.”
“No man, this is great. I… I never really experimented with it much, I usually just curl up in a ball and cry,” Dan joked before yawning. Arin shot him a worried look.
“Did you sleep last night?” he asked. “You seem pretty drained.”
Dan shook his head.
“Not a lot, it started around 3 AM. I honestly have no idea what caused it, I’ve been so fucking careful.” He wriggled a bit to get more comfortable, lying flush against Arin, whose hands were carefully kneading at the skin right under his belly button.
“Jeez, dude. You should nap or something.”
“Well yeah, but I don’t want you to leave,” Dan said without thinking. He felt the heat rise up to his face and frantically tried to clarify; “I mean, this feels awesome, so I- ah, but you have to go home to Suzy probably, I’m sorry, I didn’t-”
Arin smiled and kissed Dan’s cheek softly, immediately shutting him up.
“I sent her a text saying I’d be hanging out with you, so stop worrying and go the fuck to sleep,”
Dan was right about to sass him, when the pain suddenly increased, making his eyes go wide as he whined. Arin felt a bolt of worry surge through him, and sat up a bit more so he could properly look at Dan, whose face was scrunched up in pain. Dan’s whole body had tensed up, and he was slowly curling in on himself, trying to take deep breaths.
“Fuck, Dan, dude, you okay?” Arin asked, mentally cursing at himself for asking when it was obvious that Dan was very much not okay. He knew from past experience with Suzy that curling up made it harder to breathe, so he grabbed Dan’s shoulders and pulled him upwards, straightening his body in the process. When Dan’s head was resting in the crook of Arin’s neck, he could feel Dan’s labored breath against his skin. He tried petting Dan’s hair to soothe some of the pain.
“Bro, do you need me to find you some painkillers, or…?” Arin asked, but Dan shook his head.
“Won’t help. Gotta ride it out,” he groaned through gritted teeth before taking a shaky breath. Arin swallowed nervously and wrapped an arm around Dan, holding him close.
“You should drink some more tea, hot drinks usually help, right?” he suggested. Dan shrugged and eyed the mug through half-lidded eyes, and Arin reached over to grab it. Dan didn’t drink much, but burrowed further into Arin, who told him to just focus on his breathing.
Shit. He’d never seen Dan in pain like that, and he could feel his worry grow for every pained breath Dan took against him. When the pain finally seemed to recede after what felt like an eternity, and Dan’s muscles finally stopped being tense, Arin softly stroked the older man’s hair, kissing the top of his head.
“I’m sorry, Arin,” Dan said, voice laced with fatigue.
“For what?”
“I’m not exactly much of a host today,”
Arin couldn’t help but smile as he lay down on the big couch, pulling Dan with him, back to softly rubbing his stomach.
“Nope, you’re a pretty shit host, to be honest,” he smirked, earning a tired smile from Dan. “Don’t worry about it, bro. Get some rest. I’ll stay here with you until you feel better.”
It wasn’t long before Dan had drifted off to sleep, his features slowly relaxing as he lost consciousness. Arin tucked the blanket tighter around them both and kissed Dan’s temple before reaching for the remote, turning the TV on with the volume lowered so that it wouldn’t disturb the man currently sleeping on him. Arin figured he would be there for a while. Might as well watch the news or something.
He looked down at Dan’s face. The older man was sound asleep, and Arin couldn't help but smile. He tucked some of Dan's curly hair behind his ear, and whispered that he could relax, he wasn’t gonna leave him.
He wasn’t sure if Dan heard, but a small smile did show on his lips as he sighed in content, finally getting some much needed rest.