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Olruggio was burning, surrounded on all sides by an inferno, betrayed by the flames he always trusted himself to command.
Something cool brushed his face, a breath of fresh air breaking through the sweltering heat. He turned towards it, reaching for the promise of relief it offered—
And opened his eyes to Qifrey's worried face, where he was crouched next to Olruggio's bed, hair a silver halo backed by the soft torchlight streaming through the open doorway. Cool fingers pressed against Olruggio's cheeks. The crease between Qifrey's eyebrows deepened.
"Olly, you're burning up. How long have you had a fever?"
""S not a fever, 'm just tired," Olruggio mumbled.
The backs of Qifrey's fingers stroked over his cheekbone, and he sighed. The reprieve from the fire he had been dreaming about was such a relief, he couldn't help but turn his face into the touch. The small movement activated every aching muscle from his neck to his lower back, and the sigh turned into a groan, which then reminded his leg muscles to feel like he had spent an entire day walking up a steep hill too.
"It is a fever," Qifrey admonished. "You missed lunch and dinner, so I came to check on you. Forgive me for letting myself in. You didn't answer when I knocked, and I was worried. Rightfully so, I’m afraid.”
Olruggio covered the fingers on his cheek with his own, afraid that Qifrey might pull them away when they felt so nice against his flushed skin.
"Sorry," he murmured, struggling to get the words out around the exhaustion already threatening to drag him back under. "M always makin' you worry about me. 'S not fair to you."
Qifrey looked stricken for a moment, but Olruggio's mind was too scrambled by the fever for him to guess why. The expression cleared as quickly as it had come, replaced by a soft smile. "You don't have to apologize to me for anything, Olly." The smile wavered just a little as Qifrey brushed Olruggio's hair back from his face with the hand that wasn't still trapped under Olruggio's. "Just rest and get better. I'll bring you some soup in a little bit."
Olruggio closed his eyes and fell past the flames into a dream of cool breezes and the soft murmur of words he couldn't quite make out, though something about them felt important.