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“Baz, wake up. It’s late.” Simon shakes his shoulder a bit roughly.
Baz is usually awake with the sunrise, but this morning Simon wakes up to him still snoring away at his side.
“Baz, come on. We have to get moving…” Simon tries again, a little more demanding this time.
Baz grunts and pulls the blankets tighter around himself.
“Don’t wanna… get up…” he mumbles, Simon notices he is shivering.
That’s not good. Baz is never cold.
He says there is only one time since being turned that he has felt cold.
After the numpties, when he was sick.
“Baz, how do you feel?” Simon whispers, hoping he is wrong.
“Like shit, Snow.” He rasps, his voice is raw and as Simon reaches for his wrist to feel his pulse Baz grabs his hand and Simon jumps back.
“Crowley! Your hands are freezing!” he gasps, recoiling.
Baz shivers violently as another bout of chills run through his body. Simon lays a gentle hand across his brow, and he doesn’t need to know anything medical to know a high fever when he feels it.
“You are definitely sick, Baz.” Simon murmurs worriedly. “I’ll call Penny and let her know we can’t make it to lunch today, you just stay here and try to get warm.”
He runs a hand down his boyfriend’s cheek and brushes away the stray hairs that cling to the sweat lingering on his boiling forehead.
Baz nods without another word and curls back up in the fetal position.
Simon gathers their blankets around him and kisses his forehead as he leaves the room to grab the thermometer, some medicine, and give Penny a call.
The call with Penny goes as well as can be expected, she drills him with questions about Baz’s illness.
All things he doesn’t really have a good answer to.
“Yes, he has a fever and chills, and his throat is red and hurts. No. I don’t know if there are white spots too, no he won’t go see a doctor. No, I didn't ask him, but we both know why he won’t. Okay, thanks Penny, sorry again. Bye.”
Simon hangs up the phone and hurries back to Baz’s side.
He is sound asleep, snoring loudly with drool covering a small fraction of his pillow.
He runs the thermometer across his forehead carefully, setting it to silent so as not to wake him.
It works, but Simon frowns deeply at the display, 101.4.
Not too concerning for a human, but for Baz whose temp usually hovers just around 94 degrees, this is quite a problem.
Yes, their thermometer is in Fahrenheit, they have learned their lesson from buying cheap things on amazon.
“Si” Comes Baz’s rough half cough, half whisper that startles Simon from his thoughts.
“Hi, darling. Just getting your temperature.” Simon murmurs, tucking the blankets under Baz’s chin once more and resting their foreheads together.
“Stop.” Baz barks, his voice scratchy and he winces as it rips at his raw throat.
Simon pulls back just a bit.
“Sorry honey, did I hurt you?” Simon worries, his eyes wide.
“No… I just don’t want to get you sick.” Baz manages in a barely intelligible whisper.
Simon shushes him gently and runs his fingers through Baz’s long, inky black locs.
“Don’t worry, love. I’ll be just fine.” He murmurs reassuringly.
Simon gets sick every so often, definitely more than Baz, who has only been sick twice during their whole ten-year relationship, and the other time it was because Simon shouldn’t be trusted to cook seafood.
Like ever.
Whoops.
Simon knows that Baz will take care of him if he does catch Baz’s illness and besides, nothing can keep them apart.
Simon is stuck to Baz like glue, sometimes a little too much, but you’ll never hear Baz complaining.
Nope. Not even a little.
“Baz, what about a nice hot shower? Do you think that would help?” Simon suggests after about an hour of Baz drifting in and out of sleep, his head resting comfortably in Simon’s lap, while his careful fingers work through his hair, combing and unknotting it one strand at a time.
“Mmmm…” Baz hums and shrugs his shoulders, he really doesn’t have the energy to move, but a shower does sound really nice.
“Let’s try it.” Simon decides, leaving Baz to rest with the blankets still tucked around him as he gathers what they need.
Baz stares into space and considers how much he loves Simon as he listens to the nearly silent ticking of the second hand on their analog clock.
Simon is always right by his side, comforting him, taking care of him, loving him.
He always knows just what to say and do to make Baz feel safe and sound. Baz knows very well he is the luckiest man on Earth to have a life he couldn’t wait to wake up to each day.
Except today…
Today kinda sucks.
******
His throat is raw and hurts when he has to swallow, talking is out of the question at this point, it hurts too much and his voice sounds like it was sucked out most of the way by a shop vac.
Luckily Simon can read him like a book, well actually this is Simon we’re talking about, he can read him much more easily than that.
The husbands know just by a quick touch or glance what the other needs or is feeling.
It took a long, long time to get to this point, but it is so worth it.
Baz’s head is pounding with every movement he makes, and he finds himself trying to stay as still as possible.
His coughing is the least concerning of his symptoms, just dry and annoying at occasional intervals.
His chills on the other hand are driving him mad.
He can’t get warm no matter what.
He has four heavy quilts cocooned around him right at this moment and he is still colder than he has ever felt.
His toes are like icicles and his hands, covered by thick gloves, and painfully frigid.
Simon comes back into the room then, and gathers Baz into his arms, he tries to bring all the quilts, but Baz cuts in with a firm shake of his head.
Simon leaves them, Baz nods his approval, it’s not like they are helping anyway.
Baz whimpers when he is jostled by Simon scooping him into his arms bridal style, his head pounding in agony.
Simon notices and apologizes and then suggests going to a doctor, but just as he expected, Baz vehemently declines.
“Well, we found a vampire dentist, is a vampire doctor really that far-fetched?” Simon jokes as Baz snuggles close to him, sighing loudly in relief as he is finally able to get warm against Simon’s bare chest.
Simon snuggles him closer and after removing Baz’s sweat-soaked pajamas and his own joggers, he steps into the shower.
He is still holding Baz but sets his feet on the floor of the shower and lets him grip around his middle, as Simon holds him steady with a firm grip on his waist.
The hot water is steaming and feels incredible as it hits Baz’s freezing skin.
“Ahhh” he breathes in obvious relief, as Simon scrubs the germs from his skin and carefully washes his face.
Baz is free to just enjoy the warmth running through his body and melts into Simon’s chest as he begins to wash his hair with gentle but through movements.
Simon massages the shampoo and conditioner into his husband’s hair and takes his time pulling it through each gorgeous stand, before repeating his movements again on the next one.
Baz is nearly asleep against his chest, his throbbing headache all but gone from the comfort Simon and the shower combined is bringing him.
*******
“Si” Baz rasps as Simon is carefully blow drying his hair after getting them both into clean pairs of pajamas and getting Baz upright in a chair, as he drifts in a dreamlike state.
“Hi, sweetheart. Good to hear your voice.” Simon kisses his forehead and turns off the blow dryer to hear him better.
“I love you.” Baz continues, it comes out scratchy and pained, but heartfelt all the same.
“I love you, darling.” Simon breathes back and continues to blow dry his husband’s hair, letting him rest so they are chest to chest, his wings curling around Baz in the only blanket that calms his chills.
Baz snuggles closer and hums contentedly, as Simon finishes up and puts the blow dryer away.
They retire to the couch, where they watch re-runs of old sitcoms for hours on end, Simon slipping away to make dinner at some point.
Baz is snoring in his arms as he tries to convince him to eat some more of the chicken noodle soup he made for dinner.
Baz ate nearly a whole bowl after refusing everything earlier in the day, so he was pretty happy with his effort.
Simon wraps his wings tighter around Baz, a security blanket, his tail snakes up Baz’s back and scratches at it lightly as Baz continues to sleep peacefully.
After he can't take any more TV for one day, he carefully carries Baz to their bedroom.
Simon lays him down face first onto the pillow, he always sleeps on his stomach anyway.
He combs out Baz's long black hair into straight rows.
Baz stays asleep the whole time Simon works his hair into two neat and perfect braids, starting at the back of his head and working all the way down to the tips.
Simon climbs into their bed and keeps one wing tucked around Baz while he uses his other hand to rub gentle circles into his back.
Baz sleeps the whole evening that way and wakes around midnight, needing the bathroom and a drink desperately.
He is surprised how much better he feels compared to 24 hours ago.
He wiggles free from Simon’s tight grasp, careful not to disturb him from his own sleep.
He tiptoes to the bathroom and relieves himself. He is sure to wash his hands before coming back to bed with a cup of ice water.
Simon rolls over in his sleep and their lips brush as Baz settles back into the pillows.
Baz chuckles quietly and pecks his husband’s lips, whispering “thank you” as he snuggles close and pets his short bronze hair and drifts back into a peaceful sleep.