Work Text:
Theo was able to get into Boris’s house fairly easily since his dad was barely ever home during the day. He used a bobby pin he’d stolen from Xandra to pick the lock on the Pavlikovsky’s sliding door at the back of the house and let himself in. Boris and Theo had planned to rob a grocery store that day and when Boris hadn’t shown up or answered his phone when Theo had called to check on him, Theo decided to come see him.
Theo crept quietly through Boris’s living room and then slunk up the stairs to get to Boris’s bedroom. Theo got to the door and pressed his ear to it to make sure Boris was actually inside before bursting in. He heard a few shaky breaths coming from the other side of the door so Theo pushed the door open.
“Boris?”
Boris was sprawled out on his bed. His blankets and sheets were tangled together and bunched up at the end of his mattress. His greasy black hair was messier than usual and he wasn’t wearing anything but a pair of boxers. He was also shivering a little bit. Boris slowly rolled his head over to look at the door and blinked when he saw Theo.
“Potter?” he rasped, raising an eyebrow at Theo. “Why are you here?”
“You didn’t show up for our heist so I came to check on you,” Theo explained, making himself against the wooden arch of the doorway.
“You didn’t have to. I am okay. Promise.”
Theo snorted disbelievingly. “You don’t look fine Boris.”
“Don’t worry Potter. Am fine. Go home,” Boris said dismissively.
“No,” Theo replied stubbornly. “I’m staying here. You’re clearly sick so I’m going to help you. If you think I’m going to leave you here without doing anything to help you, you are out of your mind.”
Boris sighed, but he didn’t try to tell Theo to leave again.
Ha. I win. Theo thought triumphantly. He kicked off his shoes and tossed his jacket on the floor before leaving the room to get food for Boris. Theo knew that he probably hadn’t cared enough to get up and feed himself so getting some food into him was his top priority.
Theo went back downstairs and raided Boris’s fridge. Or well, tried to. He already knew Boris wasn’t going to have a lot of food because his father was rarely home and didn’t care to provide for him properly. Thankfully, Theo was able to find a can of vegetable soup in the nearly bare pantry.
He got out one of the cracked bowls from Boris’s cabinet and upon examining it, he noticed that there was still gunk on the inside of it. Theo sighed and grabbed a paper towel from the nearly empty roll sitting on the countertop. He got it wet with a bit of water from the sink and put some hand soap on it because he couldn’t find any dish soap. There probably wasn’t any to begin with. Theo began to scrub the bowl and he managed to get most of the crust off the inside.
That should be good. He thought to himself.
Theo used a rusty can opener to open the vegetable soup and poured it into the clean bowl. Theo walked over to the microwave with the bowl, being careful not to spill its contents. He opened the microwave and stuck it in. He pressed the “start” button on the side of the microwave and waited for something to happen. But nothing did. Theo frowned and hit the side of the microwave with the palm of his hand.
“Come on you stupid thing! Work!” Theo demanded, hitting the side of the microwave a second time.
When the microwave yet again refused to work, Theo checked behind the microwave to see if it was plugged in, only to see that the plug had been cut off of the cable. It looked like the cable had been hacked apart with a pair of scissors because the cuts were really messy and the plastic covering the bundle of gold and silver wires was torn and dented weirdly in some places.
What the fuck? Theo thought, picking up the frayed pieces of wire that used to have a plug attached to it.
Since using the microwave was off the table Theo only had one option left. He had to use the stove. Theo hadn’t learned much about cooking since his mom died before she could teach him how, so he’d have to figure it out himself and hope for the best. Theo sighed and dug through the cabinets again to look for a pot. He knew he needed one of those to heat up water for pasta so it was probably the same for a can of soup.
He found a pot, but like the bowl, it was also extremely dirty. Theo got to work scrubbing to clean off the crust and gunk on the inside with a new paper towel. He threw out the paper towel and the empty cardboard roll when he was done. He’d find time to bring Boris some new paper towels later.
Theo transferred the soup from the bowl to the pot and then turned his attention to the flat top stove. He studied the dials on the stove and adjusted one of them so the burners would start to heat up. He matched up the pot with the correct burner and placed the cold pot of vegetable soup on top. He found the timer button and guess-timated how long he should heat it for.
Eh. I don’t know. I’ll do, like, three minutes and come back to check on it later. Theo pressed a few buttons on the stove and stepped back to admire his work. Now I need to get Boris some medicine.
Theo left the soup to simmer and went to raid the cabinets again. He got Boris a glass of water and found some Tylenol and went upstairs to give it to him.
He marched up the steps to Boris’s room and placed the water and capsules carefully on Boris’s wooden night table.
“I got you some Tylenol and you're going to take it,” Theo stated. He knelt down next to Boris’s mattress and stared into Boris’s dark brown eyes.
“Potter, I’m fine. I told you this,” Boris reminded him.
“Here,” Theo said, ignoring Boris’s protest. “Let me help you sit up.”
“I can sit up by myself,” Boris insisted, waving Theo’s hands away. He pushed himself up so his back was against the wall and reached for the medicine capsules. Boris threw the Tylenol into his mouth and swallowed down a mouthful of water.
“There. Happy?” Boris asked, setting the glass of water down.
“Yeah. I’m making you soup too,” Theo told him.
“Surprised you were able to find anything in there,” Boris replied. He let out a humorless laugh and ran his fingers through his stringy black hair.
Theo heard the timer on the stove beeping faintly from downstairs and his head shot up. “How long has that been beeping for?”
“How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Boris countered, throwing a hand in the air.
“Shit!” Theo cursed under his breath. “I’ll be right back.”
Theo darted out the door and his socks nearly caused him to slip on the hard wood floor. He caught himself on Boris’s doorframe and let out a sigh of relief.
Boris, on the other hand, started cackling. “Potter, for fuck sake, don’t hurt yourself over soup.”
“Well I don't want it to burn!” Theo protested before going downstairs, this time treading more carefully. Theo walked up to the stove and pressed the button on the stove to stop the timer. He turned down the dial to shut off the burner and picked up the pot to transfer the soup back to the glass bowl.
Theo got a spoon out of a drawer and checked to make sure it was clean. It was, thank god, because Theo didn’t have any more paper towels. He pulled the sleeves of his hoodie down over his hands and gripped the edges of the soup bowl. Then he headed back upstairs.
“Here,” Theo said, placing the bowl down on the night table next to Boris and dropping the spoon in. “It's hot so I’d wait for it to cool down a bit.”
“Thank you Potter,” Boris responded quietly. “You didn’t have to do this.”
“Yeah, I did,” Theo argued calmly. “If I didn’t do anything you wouldn’t try to get better.”
Boris sighed. Theo knew he wasn’t going to fight back. They both knew Theo was right. Theo pushed lightly at Boris’s shoulder and Boris just blinked at him.
“What?”
“Move.”
Boris rolled his eyes and scooted over on the bed so Theo could get in next to him. Theo climbed onto the mattress and leaned back against the wall. He slumped down on the wall and adjusted his shirt, which had rolled up uncomfortably on his back.
“If you get sick, is your fault,” Boris said sluggishly.
“I don’t care,” Theo retorted stubbornly. He rested his head on Boris’s sweaty shoulder and knocked their knees together.
“You’re an idiot,” Boris chuckled, hitting Theo’s socked foot lightly with his own.
“I am not,” Theo disagreed.
He leaned away from Boris and stuck the end of his pinky finger into the soup to check the temperature. It had cooled down enough that it probably wouldn’t burn Boris’s tongue when he ate it, so Theo picked up the bowl and then spoon and put it on his lap.
Theo dipped the spoon into the soup and held it out to Boris. He eyed the soup and wrinkled his nose slightly.
You better not make this difficult for me, jackass. Theo thought to himself.
“The soup cooled down. Eat,” Theo commanded, holding out the spoon.
Boris didn’t try to take the spoon. He made a slightly disgruntled face and glared at the spoon like it owed him money. “Potter, you don’t need to spoon feed me. I am not a baby.”
“Okay fine. I won’t feed it to you,” Theo said. He put the spoon back into the soup bowl and handed it to him. “But, I am gonna watch you to make sure you actually eat your food.”
Boris groaned and reluctantly accepted the bowl. “Fine. I will eat it if it makes you happy.”
“Good,” Theo said. He tapped the side of the soup bowl expectantly. “Now eat.”
Boris dipped the spoon into the bowl and stirred around the vegetables for a few seconds before reluctantly spooning up a bit of soup. He stuck the spoon into his mouth and slurped the soup off. He swished it around in his mouth and swallowed it down.
Boris let out a deep sigh and dropped the spoon to his side. “You were right Potter. I was a bit hungry.”
“A bit?” Theo asked, holding back a laugh as Boris brought the bowl to his lip and tilted his head back to let the mixture pour down his throat.
“Mhm,” Boris hummed in response. He grabbed a dirty black shirt off the ground and wiped his mouth with it before practically dumping the rest of the soup into his mouth.
“Jesus Boris!” Theo exclaimed, elbowing Boris’s bicep. “Seriously though, how long has it been since you last ate?”
“Eh, I don’t know,” Boris answered with a shrug. “Maybe a day. Maybe two. Father has been gone for a few days.”
“Dude, you should’ve told me! I bet I could've stolen some money from Xandra or my dad and gotten us takeout!”
Boris shook his head. “No. Is fine Potter.”
“No it's not Boris,” Theo protested. “You have to eat.”
Boris licked the edge of the inside of the bowl and dropped it on the carpet next to his mattress. Theo grabbed Boris’s water and offered it to him. Boris accepted the glass and chugged the rest of it and ditched the glass cup on the floor next to the bowl.
“Do you want me to spend the night to take care of you?” Theo inquired.
Boris shook his head. “No Theo. I will be fine on my own–”
“I don’t care what you want. I only asked you so you’d think you had a choice,” Theo informed him. “I’m staying whether you like it or not.”
Boris snorted and rolled his eyes. “I figured. Potter, you are very very stubborn.”
“We both are,” Theo countered. Boris shook his head.
“No. Just you.”
Just then, Boris’s body spasmed. Theo’s concern immediately spiked up.
“Are you cold?” Theo asked, putting a hand on Boris’s shoulder.
“No,” Boris lied.
“You can borrow my shirt if you want,” Theo offered. “I still have my jacket and I can just steal one of yours if I need another.”
Boris looked from Theo’s face, to the shirt, to his blankets, which were bunched at the end of the bed. He thought about it for a couple moments before nodding slowly.
“Sure,” Boris agreed.
“Alright.” Theo crawled off the bed and shrugged out of the thin black t-shirt he was wearing. He tossed it to Boris before sitting back down on the bed and returning to his original position.
“Thank you,” Boris murmured, pulling Theo’s shirt over his head. He moved a little ways away from the wall and rolled his shoulders back to adjust the shirt's position on his back.
“Yeah of course,” Theo responded. He laid down on the bed and made himself comfortable against one of Boris’s pancake flat pillows. Theo patted the mattress next to him and glanced up at Boris.
“Lay down. You should take a nap,” Theo suggested.
Boris didn’t argue. He just moved to lay down next to Theo. Theo opened his arms so Boris could crawl into them. Boris allowed Theo to cuddle him, pressing their chests together and Boris burying his face in Theo’s neck. Theo felt Boris’s shaky breaths tickling his jaw as Boris relaxed against him. Theo draped his arm over his best friend's back and massaged his shoulderblades with the pads of his fingers.
“I’ll be here when you wake up, okay?” Theo whispered.
Boris hummed in response. Theo closed his eyes and cuddled Boris closer as he drifted further and further off into sleep. The heat from Boris’s body was burning against his bare skin. The warmth helped lull Theo to sleep. Boris shifted underneath him and buried his face deeper into Theo’s skin.
Theo smiled softly and brought his hand up to run his fingers through Boris’s hair as he slept. Boris hummed quietly in response to the gentle touches.
After a few minutes of laying there, Boris cuddled up in his arms, Theo spoke. “Boris?”
No answer.
Theo took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. He slowly moved his head down and pressed his lips against the top of Boris’s head. He didn’t move for a few seconds, not daring to move just in case Boris woke up from Theo moving his head. If Boris did wake up, Theo could just pretend to be asleep so he wouldn’t freak out. When Boris didn’t wind up stirring, Theo pulled out of the kiss and continued to cuddle him as though nothing had happened.
I’ll be here when you wake up. Theo promised silently. I love you.