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It started slowly. Getting sick.
First, Jude felt a bit more tired than usual. Then came the pain in his legs and lower back before it gradually extended to all of his body. He didn't really gave it some thoughts though, he put it on being stressed and tired because of everything that was happening with the team lately. He brushed it off when Zero told him to maybe go see a doctor, saying it would pass after a weekend of rest and disconnecting from the outside world.
Problem is it didn't, and by Monday when he came to work Jude felt like shit and worse than before. Lionel noticed immediately:
“Jude are you alright? You're rarely pale?” She'd told him when he'd met with her in her office for their Monday morning debriefing.
“I feel a bit sick but it's nothing it'll pass.” Jude had said to reassure her. He had more important matters to take care of than going to see a doctor.
Maybe he should have listened to her and Zero when they'd told him to. Maybe it would have kept him from fainting in his office and scaring the life out of his secretary in the process. Next thing he knew, Jude was waking up in the hospital a worried Lionel siting by his side and a passing Zero walking back and forth in front of the bed Jude was currently lying on.
“Where am I?” He asked coughing, his throat on fire and hurting like a bitch.
“The hospital.” Lionel told him, handing him a glass of water to drink from slowly. “You fainted and scared your secretary to death. She called an ambulance when she saw you weren't waking up.”
“The hospital?” Jude repeated stupidly.
“Yes, you stupid.” Zero cut in suddenly. “What were you thinking Jude? I told you to see a doctor but no you had to be stubborn about this putting work before you're health.”
“Zero...” Lionel tried to say only to be cut off as well.
“What were you thinking? You're scared the shit out of me. Scared the shit out of Lionel. Even your secretary was scared as hell.”
“I-I'm sorry.” Jude apologized, voice breaking due to his inflamed throat.
Zero was about to add something else but that's the moment one of the doctors decided to come into the room to check on Jude a bit more. After taking his temperature and blood pressure, listening to his lungs and checking his ears. The guy concluded Jude had contracted a very bad flu. It wasn't the end of the world and with the right medication and antibiotics Jude would be healed in about seven to eight days. Jude took that as a positive information and told Zero as much.
“Positive. Jude flu could be lethal. If you hadn't fainted who knows how long you'd have waited before it became too serious or I don't know turned into a freaking pneumonia or worse."
The doctor chuckled a bit at Zero's antic but turned to look at Jude:
“New couple, huh.” Jude nodded sheepishly, Zero didn't seem bothered by the comment at all and Jude wondered if he'd even heard it. “You're boyfriend's not wrong, this could've been worse if we hadn't caught it this soon. Now, you're free to go home anytime but you'll have to stay home, rest and take your meds three times a day, except for the antibiotics those are only to be taken in the morning to prevent any side effects. There's also no getting out or going to work for a week.”
“What side effects?” Zero enquired, worrying even more.
“Vertigo. Racing heat beats, palpitations, migraines and bad blood pressure. It's rare but it happens. Those are already symptoms of the flu but sometimes they're enhanced with the antibiotics. Always make sure he takes them while eating too.”
“I will.”
“Okay. Then I wish you a speed recovery.” The doctor said before leaving the room.
Zero felt a bit relieved now that he knew exactly what Jude had and how to proceed with it, he turned to look at his lover and asked more softly,
“How do you feel? You wanna rest here a little more or you want me to take you home?”
“Take me home, please.” Jude asked, out of breath because of another coughing fit.
Zero nodded and helped Jude get dressed. The doctor hadn't lie the vertigo, speeding heart beats and the incredible pain in his body and ears, Jude felt every one of those symptoms.
Lionel helped them to the car and Zero assured her she could leave Jude with him without worrying, he had this.
“Okay, but call me if you need anything, alright.”
“I will. Thanks Lionel.”
Three days later, Jude still didn't felt any better and it had turned out he was one of the person reacting badly to flu medications. Something that worried Zero sick to the point the blond man was about to call Pete Davenport and tell him he couldn't with go the team play the game against Denver. Jude, even though he felt the world spinning around him violently, got up from the bed to grab onto Zero's phone.
“Zero, stop, I'm fine.”
“No, you're not and I'm not leaving you alone like this.”
“Gideon...listen to me.” Jude said as loud as he could, which wasn't that hight with the way his throat hurt and how short his breath was. “You're gonna pack your bag and take that plane with the team. You're going to face Denver with the others and beat them on their ground. You're going to do what I'm telling you and make me the proudest boyfriend because trust me when I say I'll be watching you on tv.”
“What if something happens or you need me and I'm not there? Or what if you faint again and hurt yourself in the fall this time? I won't be able to play worrying about you constantly.”
“Then don't.” Jude said softly. “I'll only be alone two days, I'll be fine I promise. Besides watching the game I'll probably spent the rest of the time sleeping.”
“Jude...”
“Do this for me, okay?”
“Okay.” Zero sighed heavily. Reaching forward to kiss Jude.
“Stop this, you'll end up just as sick I am.”
“Don't care. I'm your wifey, no. We share everything.”
Jude burst out laughing soundlessly which ended up in him coughing his lungs and throat out.
“Then go show them how powerful my wifey is.”
Zero giggled happily, kissing Jude long and hard. He helped his lover get back into bed before he took care of packing, the plane leaving in two hours. Before leaving the apartment he brought Jude his meds, a glass of water and a bottle of coke and kissed him one last time, Jude barely awake by then.
“Call me anytime if you need me back, okay.”
Jude nodded.
“I left Lionel a message just in case, call her too if you need anything.”
“Okay. Now, go.”
“I am. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
“Sleep now.”
But Jude didn't need for Zero to tell him to he was totally out the moment he heard the front door close behind his lover.
He couldn't focused more than what was necessary to beat Denver. Something the coach called him down with. But Zero couldn't care less. He was past the state of worried sick by then, he'd tried calling Lionel before the game but had ended up on her voicemail, he knew she was supposed to be at Jude's as she'd texted him she would drop by to see him two hours before the team got to the Arena in Denver. He'd tried calling her during halftime, worried by the lack of answer or text after his first call. By the end of the game, when he heard Pete and his teammates roar in happiness Zero couldn't take it anymore. He was the first to go back to the locker room, checked his phone but only to discover Lionel still hadn't left any news. Fearing this might mean something serious had happened to Jude, Zero packed his things in record time. Found the coach next to explain the situation and see if it was okay for him to fly back to L.A. directly and not in the morning with the rest of the team, surprisingly Pete granted him his wish which coming from the man was almost a miracle the rest of time the coach would treat Zero like a traded superstar player but without giving him any more importance than to push him to be the best forward for the team. Not that Zero truly cared, though, it was clear that Pete Davenport was way too clouded by Sloane Hayes judgement and hatred to make his own opinion about his players and the dancers.
After a quick stop by his hotel room to retrieve his unpacked travel bag, proof that he'd been too worried to even empty it the first night they arrived, Zero just as quickly as he came left for the airport. There, and he don't quite know how the coach had managed it, he had to wait for Oscar's private jet to land before Zero could board it. When finally they made it to Los Angeles and that the car waiting for him at the airport took him directly to Jude's apartment, Zero only started breathing a bit more easily. The way his stomach had been twisting since he'd left Jude, his brain had been torturing him with endless thoughts of flu, pneumonia and countless scenarios where Jude ended up injured and at the hospital. It was no surprise he just couldn't wait being home already. He was so impatient that he didn't even registered they were finally at Jude's, it's only when the driver spoke through a mic on the other side of the black screen that Zero suddenly came back to reality.
“Sir, we've arrived.”
“What? Oh...yes. Thank you, Gerald.” Zero said before getting out of the car, retrieving his stuffs from the trunk.
The car drove away as he was quickly walk the few steps up to the entrance, he used his key to enter into the apartment and felt weird when he noticed how dark it was, except for the ray of light coming from under the bedroom door. Leaving his bags by the door he made his way silently to the bedroom. Opened the door and released the breath he hadn't noticed he was holding until then.
Jude was safely tuck into the bed, on Zero's part of it the blond man couldn't help notice. The light in the room was coming from the television still on but on mute. Some of Jude's dark strands were visible coming through the top of the comforter he'd brought over his face.
Taking his leather jacket and trainers off. He hadn't even changed after the game nor showered as he'd been way to worried to think about anything else but come home to Jude. Zero silently made his way to the bed, slid under the sheets and brought Jude's body against his tenderly. He breathed in his lover's scent, nose buried in his hair and finally was able to calm down his raging heart beat. Jude was safe, asleep. Warm still with the rest of the fever and a bit sweaty because of it but Zero couldn't care less. He had his man safely locked in his arms and it's all that mattered. Jude probably felt his presence in his sleep because the next thing Zero knew, his lover was snuggling more comfortably in his arms, head tucked under Zero's chin and nose pressed against his collarbones. And his long feet found their way in between the blond's calves for warmth.
“I'm home.” Zero whispered in Jude's hair. He'd never been so scared for anyone the way he'd been for Jude lately. His love for the man was just so great and he could feel it grow bigger with each moment he passed with Jude. “I love you, stupid.”
He got no answer, Jude being way too deep in sleep to hear him. Zero listened to his laborious breathing for a long time and slowly felt the stress of the past week and the adrenaline rush from the game leave his body. He then fell asleep.
When he woke up hours later maybe, Jude was looking at him with a goofy smile:
“You're home? When did you arrived?”
“An hour or two after game.”
“You couldn't help worry, couldn't you?”
“No, I couldn't. I needed to come home. I begged the coach to let me fly back home. I made the team win against Denver, he couldn't say no.”
“Yeah, I watched you. Very nice dunk.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Bit better but it's still not it.” Jude admitted coughing painfully. “Are you still in your jersey? How worried were you exactly!” He exclaimed, hands caressing the red top.
“Too worried.” Zero confessed. “I'll go take a shower, you need anything?”
“A shower as well. I'll join you, that way I know you'll be there to make sure I don't faint.”
“Ha ha... Not funny. You scared me to death when you did.”
“I know. Sorry.”
“Yeah, well, maybe next time you'll listen to me when I tell you to go see a doctor.”
“I promise you I will.”
“You better.”
“I love when you get all protective and caring. It's hot.”
“Oh yeah...”
“Yeah. But I'll show you in the shower, we both smell like beasts.”
Zero laughed, he was so in love with this man, it was ridiculous. What would he be without his Jude?
“Let's go then, show your wifey how much you missed him…”