Chapter Text
Ding-dong!!
“Donnie, can you get that?” came a call from the kitchen.
Donovan lay in bed, holding a tissue up to his nose because it helped to distract him from the fever. Flu A, they’d said. It’s not that big of a deal, they’d said. Yeah–right. Donovan felt as if he were about to hack up a clump of mucus the size of a watermelon. The only thing that was worse than the congestion was the fatigue. He had hardly gotten up all day, and if he did so now, his muscles would ache to high Heaven. So, he just muttered back “Why don’t you get that?”
“I can’t hear you!” his mother. Before Donnie could even gather the courage to stand up, he heard the door unlock, followed in a quick procession by “Oh, hey Noah. Donovan’s in his room.”
…How did Noah unlock the door???
Whatever.
“Oh, he better be,” Noah quickly answered, his voice becoming clearer as he walked toward Donovan’s room. “He should be resting. You’ve been giving him antivirals, correct? Why, I sure do hope so–”
The door to Donovan’s room opened. He was met with the concerned face of Noah Youkilis, who stopped talking just to gaze at him. And then, he jumped into action.
“Oh, c’mon, Donnie!” Noah frowned. “There’s tissues everywhere. And you should at least have a fan on or leave the door open–”
“Yeah, yeah, gimme a sec–” Donovan began to struggle up.
“No!” Noah interrupted. “You have to stay there! I’ll grab you a trash can. For the tissues, I mean.”
“Yeah, I know what you meant.” Donovan answered as strongly as he could at the moment, settling back underneath the covers. Suddenly, he remembered something. “Also, how the heck did you get into my house?”
In response, Noah pulled out a set of paper clips. “I had a feeling nobody’d answer the door.”
“I didn’t know you could pick locks??” was Donovan’s response.
“It’s not that hard. You’ve just gotta–”
“Forget I said that, I don’t want to know. Just grab the trashcan.”
And with that, Noah was off. Seconds later, he reappeared with a small white bin. “I stole this from your bathroom.”
“Practical.”
“Your mom has checked your temperature, right? What was it??” Noah inquired whilst gathering the tissues from the floor and tossing them into the can.
“No, she hasn’t. Do we really need to know?”
Noah seemed appalled. “Of course we do!” he exclaimed, standing up and abandoning the bin. “It’s a crucial part in understanding illness and estimating the severity of it. Where do you keep your thermometers?”
“Weirdly enough, the pantry, I think, but why–”
Noah was off before he could continue.
In all honesty, he was pretty happy that Noah simply cared so much. Where’d he even learn that Donnie was sick? He didn’t have the answer to that question. All he knew was that Noah was here now, and that was what he cared about most.
Soon enough, he arrived and approached Donovan with the thermometer in his hand. He placed one knee on the edge of Donovan’s bed and put a small hand on his forehead. It was a bit of a relief, actually. Noah’s hands were very cold.
“Say ‘aaa’,” Noah offered, shoving the thermometer in Donovan’s face.
Donnie faced him with a confused look.“I am not saying ‘aaa’.”
“I–, well, you have to do it, because it’s like–medical protocol.”
Donovan sighed, exasperated. “...aaa.”
Soon enough, Noah placed the thermometer underneath Donovan’s tongue. It was a pretty awkward couple of seconds, to say the least. Because Donovan couldn’t breath out his nose, he had to hold his breath until his face turned red. But, sure enough, Noah was looking at him with the prettiest blue eyes. Not only that, but his hair was tossed and naturally curled in the best way, and his face was so soft–
Noah pulled away and looked at the number on the thermometer. “Awh, dear… 102.4. Are you sure you’ll be alright?”
Donovan, still scrambled, stuttered a reply. “Uh–well, yeah, I should be.”
Noah faced him with a concerned, but determined expression. “And you’re taking medicine every once in a while, right?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Okay. I’ll take your word for that. My mom needs me home right about now, so I need to go. I trust that you’ll take care of yourself, Donnie.”
For once, Donovan smiled. “I’ll certainly try.”
Noah turned back around in the middle of exiting just to smile back. And, then, just like that, the door shut and he was gone.