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Spamton wakes up next to Tenna feeling weak. His head is spinning, he has a dry throat, a stuffy nose, almost feels like he has a fever. He coughs, it’s loud and raspy. Why is he so sick anyway? Is he not wearing enough layers of clothing? Sure it’s cold outside, but not that cold! Nonetheless, Tenna wakes up after hearing that cough, his screen slowly coming to life.
“Mmmh…Spamton? You alright?”
Tenna asks worryingly, still half asleep since he has just woken up.
“Ughh, I think I’m sick, maybe I have a cough”
Spamton turns around to face Tenna, his eyes teary. His voice was groggy, but not from sleep. His throat hurt from the cough
“Hmm…you seem too weak for it to be just a cough. What else do you feel?
Tenna moves closer to the small Addison, wrapping his arms tighter around him and stroking his cheek with his thumb. Spamton almost pulls away, but the warmth of his lover’s body and his sweet voice makes him want to stay even closer
“My throat hurts, I have a headache, my nose is…”
Spamton sits up as he feels the urge to sneeze.
“ahh…ahhh…
Tenna moves quickly to grab a pack of handkerchiefs from a compartment on his nightstand and gets one for Spamton.
“Oh! Here, take this.”
“Thank y-yoaaAACHHOO!!”
He sneezes on the handkerchief, his nose running. Tenna is concerned for his boyfriend , but he also can’t help but find it cute. Tenna takes the dirty handkerchief, stands up, and throws it in the trash bin nearby. Instead of going back to bed he says:
“And I guess you have a cold too.”
Tenna sighs with a small smile. He’s concerned sure, but he’s almost happy that Spamton is sick? This means he gets to take care of him without the mailman putting too much of a fight! Thank the fountain he got sick on the weekend too, so that the tv darker can take care of his spam all day.
“I think you might have a fever Spam! I’ll be right back, I’ll go get a thermometer.”
Before Spamton can say anything, Tenna goes out of his bedroom to get the thermometer. Spamton lays back down on the bed, thinking back to how Tenna looked at him. Preoccupied, yet happy. He saw that damn grin on his face, he was enjoying this! But Spamton isn’t gonna give in so easily.
Tenna comes back with way more than he promised. He brought a thermometer, a cough syrup with a small spoon, some painkillers, and a whole handkerchiefs package with about 8 little packages inside. the CRT opens the big package and sets 7 of the little ones on the night stand, he keeps one of them in the pocket of his pijama pants just in case. Spamton chuckles at how ridiculous this is
“Jeez, Ant. I’m not THAT sick to need a whole big ass package of…cof coff handkerchiefs!”
“Aw but look at you, Spammy! Your face is all red, you’re coughing, your nose is was running of course you’re THAT sick!”
“Yer pushing it-“
“I’m not! I’m just trying to take care of you.”
Tenna smiles wider, taking the thermometer and putting it on Spamton’s armpit. He turns it on and waits for it to give the result. Meanwhile, he gestures the smaller guy to sit up to take the syrup.
“Up up! You need to take your syrup, I promise it won’t taste bad”
Spamton doesn’t know how to feel. He’s never been treated so well when being sick so it’s new to him. On one hand he loves it, he loves being served like he’s some sort of king. But on the other hand he hates it, cause Tenna just has to baby talk him through this. He’s always felt like he’s smaller, incapable of doing things for himself when he’s literally an independent adult! Just thinking about it makes his blood boil, and he doesn’t hesitate to show it. Spamton takes the spoon from Tenna’s hand and takes the syrup himself.
“Y’know I don’t need ya to treat me like I’m a fuckin’ kid right? Coff! I can do things myself.”
His tone is not downright angry, just pissed off. He knows getting completely mad at the tv man will just result in him shrinking and crying while saying he just wanted to help, so he tried an approach that while it still is direct, it’s not too much. Tenna gets the message, he overstepped a boundary and he’s taking note of it
“Right! Right sorry…”
Tenna takes the syrup bottle and the spoon to put them on the nightstand.
“I just…-“
Beep! Beep! Beep!
“Oh- the thermometer is done!”
Spamton takes it off himself, reading the temperature: 98,6°F, not a fever. He flips it around so that Tenna can see too
“Huh, no fever…then it’s probably just a little cold, luckily nothing contagious!”
“Can ya even get fevers, Tens?”
“Technically no, actually! Means I would have an excuse to stay with ya in bed even if you did have a fever!”
Tenna lays on the bed next to Spamton, not pulling him into one of his big hugs just yet. He noticed how he was uncomfortable before when he was babying him too much, and he doesn’t wanna mess up again. This time, he decides to ask before taking action.
“Hey, Spammy? Am I ok to hug you, orrrr do you not feel like it?”
Tenna looks at him with that goofy smile on his face. He hopes Spamton to say yes, he WANTS Spamton to say yes, but he also doesn’t want to put pressure on him even as he usually wants things his way. As a tv, his job is to entertain others, not himself. Especially when the love of his life is sick, he can’t make him uncomfortable! Spamton smiles at Tenna’s attempt to not push boundaries, he’s glad he’s trying.
“Of course ya can hug me, Tenna. I just…coff coff! Ah-I just don’t want ya to treat me like I’m a kid, that’s all”
The Addison lets himself get pulled closer by his loving partner, accepting his comfort and laying his head on the CRT’s chest. Tenna’s warmer than before, did he turn on some sort of setting to make his body warmer?”
“Are you used to being treated like a kid?”
Tenna asks, and that question hits deep. No wonder he feels small, other Addisons used to always pick on him. For his bad sales, his tics and stutters from being a spam email, they even mocked his appearance! His height, his squeaky voice, he couldn’t stand it. Even if they intended it as a joke, something to not be taken so seriously, Spamton hated it. He felt so small, only now that he was getting the fame he deserved did he feel big. Or at least bigger, cause all those memories never actually faded away. No metter how big he is he still feels small deep down, he’s just never gonna let the public eye see it….but maybe he can open up a bit to Tenna.
“Meh, kinda. Other Addisons picked on me for being small”
“Small? Because of your height?”
“In general, sales, appearance, they saw me as-coff coff! T-They saw me as a weak little guy all the time that needed constant help, I hated that and I still do today.”
“Oh gosh…have I done it before? If I did I really didn’t mean it…”
Tenna shrinks down a bit, holding Spamton tighter. Spamton sights with a small smile
“Nah, you’re not like them. Hell, ya always make me feel like I’m at the top of the world. Like we’re at the top of the world…”
Hearing those words Tenna gets bigger, he woke up at 7 feet and now he was at almost 11.
“We….we are big shots together, that means so much to me..!
A big flower pops up from his nose. Spamton chuckles and plucks the flower from the tip of Tenna’s nose, smelling the flower’s scent.
“Why, ya thought we weren’t? Coff! How long have we been together for now…three years?”
“I think there’s still a long way to go, Spamton. Maybe someday, one day…a contract could seal out our partnership?”
Spamton doesnt catch the hint and asks:
“What? That contract you’ve been begging me to sign for ages?”
Tenna giggles
“No silly! Another contract…one that would seal our love forever…I think you can guess what I’m talking about, right?”
Tenna looks at Spamton with a hopeful gaze, even with the tv’s the lack of eyes the mailman can feel it. But yet again…he doesn’t catch the hint.
“…does this quiz have any answers I get to pick from or-“
“Marriage! I’m talking about marriage, Spam!”
Tenna chuckles at Spamton’s lack of understanding, kissing his reddish nose playfully. He laughs along with him
“Oh fuck off! I’m just too sick to get what you mean.”
“What excuse even is that!?”
“I’m just tired! Man, give a sick guy a break.”
Spamton nuzzles closer to Tenna as their laughs subside.
“But hey…maybe we could work on that later on in life”
Tenna’s smile reaches the stars, another flower popping out of his nose and Spamton plucks it again with a giggle
“Coff coff! Fuck! Stop making flowers, doll face. Yer gonna turns this bed in a garden if ya keep at it”
“I can’t help it! You’ve just said to me that you would consider marriage I….that’s all I ever wanted!!!”
“I would love it too, Tenna”
Spamton says in a soft voice, one that the CRT doesn’t hear often. Tenna holds Spamton impossibly closer, giving him tons of kisses on his face and wrapping his arms so tight like he’s afraid the salesman would disappear if he doesn’t.
Spamton relaxes into the affection, this is exactly what he wants. He likes being loved, being taken care of, cause this doesn’t feel like a mockery. He doesn’t feel small, he doesn’t feel inferior, he feels big with Tenna. He feels like the two of them together can conquer anything in the world, even if it’s just a little sick day. And sure, Tenna has his ups and downs. He’s imperfect like anyone else, but he tries his best to appear perfect for others. Now Spamton about to drift off to sleep, but then…
“Ahhh…ahhhh…ah-AACHOO!”
Tenna takes a handkerchief from the package in his pocket and gives one to Spamton just in time. He blows his nose with it and folds it. He doesn’t wanna get up to throw it in the bin, but he also doesn’t want to ask Tenna to do it for him. So he settles on a rather silly idea, grinning to himself at the thought of it. He forms the handkerchief into a ball and calls out:
“Hey cathode, check this shit out”
He sits up and focuses on the bin like his life depends on it, holding the handkerchief like it’s some sort of basket ball. Tenna sits up to look where Spamton’s looking, curious
“Here comes the big shot!”
Spamton exclaims as he throws the ball at the bin, but it ends up falling to to the ground instead. It didn’t arrive even close to the trash bin. Tenna looks amused at first, but then bursts of laughing. Like really laughing, so hard he was about to hit his head on the headboard of the bed. He hasn’t laughed like this in what felt like ages. Spamton yet again laughed along with him at how stupid that was.
“That….that’s NOT how it was s-supposed to g-coff! Coff! Coff! Hah! Fuck!”
“Y-you…and then….and you MISSED! HOW D-DID YOU MISS THAT HAHH!”
They’re laughing hysterically, especially Tenna. They both try to calm down from their laughing. Was it even that funny? Probably not, but when they’re together everything is ten times funnier. They sighed and laid back on the bed, not even bothering picking up the handkerchief. Spamton ends up falling asleep in the CRT’s arms after a bit of cuddling and sweet nothings into his ear, but Tenna decides to stay awake a bit longer to look at at his boyfriend’s pretty sleeping face.
“I love you, Spamton…forever”
He doesn’t expect an answer, and he didn’t get one. But he knows his sweetheart heard it when he sees him nuzzling closer to him.
Sick days maybe aren’t actually all that bad.