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Rob stumbled into the apartment with two bags full with items from the gas station. Medicine, tissues, cough drops, snacks, water, and a thermometer because for some odd reason Joe didn’t own one.
Speaking of Joe, that’s actually where Rob was– his apartment. The poor guy had come down with a harsh sickness due to the change in weather. Rob, being the amazing boyfriend he is, went out of his way to ask Joe what he needed and came to his rescue. He unboxed the thermometer, grabbed a box of tissues and water and went over to Joe’s room. He opened the door slowly, peeking just his head in. He saw Joe sprawled out on the bed with two blankets only half-covering him, his head turned facing away from the door.
“Joe?” He said quietly, hearing a small hum and seeing him attempt to move to look at Rob but giving up. Rob frowned, coming in and placing the tissue box and water on his nightstand. He tapped Joe to alert him of his presence since his eyes were closed. He hummed again.
“I’m here. I’m gonna take your temperature, okay? Open your mouth.” He clicked the little button and patted Joe’s cheek to get him to open, which he did and Rob quickly took his temperature.
“102.3.” Rob mumbled under his breath, eyebrows furrowing before placing the object on the nightstand.
“Joey, how are you feeling? Do you need anything?” He asked in a gentle tone, sitting on the edge of the bed. Joe did his best to muster up the strength to speak, but he felt miserable.
“Throat ‘urts.” He croaked, rubbing his eyes and squinting to look up at Rob. Luckily, the blinds were shut allowing just enough sunlight in but not too much to disturb Joe. Rob gave a small smile when he noticed Joe’s eyes open, and Joe felt his heart skip a beat. He wasn't the one to be overly intimate in regards to PDA. Honestly, people couldn’t tell that the boys were dating half of the time. When they were in private, though? They were all over each other, and just because Joe was sick didn’t mean that he would be any different. Which is why he used the remaining energy he had to tug at Rob’s arm as a sign to get him to lay down..
“I don’t wanna get sick.” Rob complained even as he was kicking his shoes off to climb into bed. He shifted so he could properly cover them both with the blankets, Joe’s face buried in his chest, Rob’s arms around his waist. He exhaled through his nose and buried his head in the mess of curls that was Joe’s hair.
He was content for about five seconds.
“Jesus, dude, you stink.” Rob moved his head away. Joe huffed and aggressively moved Rob’s hands off of him, scooting so he could get away, making Rob laugh.
“Come on, baby, I’m messin’ with you.” Joe groaned out some type of complaint which Rob couldn’t hear clearly.
“Hm?”
“Too tired t’ shower.” Joe mumbled, and Rob frowned.
“What about a bath? I could help you. You’d feel better.” Rob tried to encourage him, especially since he knew Joe well enough to know that every time he was sick, a wave of depression hit him and made the man more miserable than he already was (or as people who weren’t Rob would say, annoying). He knew how stubborn Joe was but he would still try anyway. He kissed the side of Joe’s head despite how he was just complaining about how he smelled. He quickly went to run a warm bath, jogging back to the room while the water was filling the tub.
“Up and at ‘em, Joseph, before the water gets cold.” Rob shook Joe’s arm, figuring if he already started the bath Joe would get up. Joe just glared at him.
“Rob, I told you-”
“Just make it a quick rinse, you’ll feel better!”
“Just leave me alone.” Joe turned away, agitated. Rob sighed and thought for a moment.
“I’m sorry, seriously, I didn’t mean to offend you. But you still need to shower, when was the last time you did?” Rob placed a careful hand on Joe’s shoulder and a second later Joe actually sat up. Rob smiled.
“I dunno,” Rob could hear his congestion more clearly now that he was talking a bit louder. “Four days, maybe.” Joe winced at how talking affected his voice. He tried to clear his throat although that made the pain worse.
“Damn, didn’t you just get sick today?”
“Actually, it has been three days.” Joe said with just a hint of shame.
“What? Why didn’t you say anything?!”
“I thought I could deal with it myself.” Joe said simply, as if that’s an excuse for Rob to not attend to his boyfriend. He tsked and pulled Joe to stand up and lead him to the bathroom. No wonder Joe had been avoiding seeing him, his poor boyfriend was suffering for days and he hadn’t known! How did he expect to get better?!
“Have you at least taken medicine since then?” He asked as they entered the bathroom, Rob feeling the water and Joe sitting on the toilet and starting to take his shirt off. He shook his head which made Rob sigh and pinch the bridge of his nose in response.
“I didn’t think I needed to, it just felt like allergies.” Joe shrugged as he stood up to take his shorts off.
“Next time just tell me, please. Even if you think it’s just allergies. I’d rather overreact for a small cold than neglect a bad illness.” Rob said and Joe felt that familiar warmth in his chest whenever Rob was being sweet.
“You don’t have to take care of me, you know.”
“I don’t have to. But..you know, I want to. And clearly you need help from someone.”
Joe just hummed at that. He was standing in his boxers, arms crossed and watching the water fill the tub. After a few more minutes, he turned off the faucet and took his boxers off so he could step in.
“Shit, sorry, want me to leave?”
“Actually, could you stay?”
“Oh- okay.” Rob stood there awkwardly as Joe got in the back, lowering himself slowly due to the water being a bit too hot. Rob tried to make a point not to stare at him, instead looking at the walls and various items that were scattered on Joe’s sink. He did this for a few minutes until the silence was broken.
“Could you wash my hair?”
“What?”
“Please.”
Rob stood there in shock for a moment before blinking himself out of his trance and sat on the little tub wall, rolling his sleeves up before grabbing the shampoo bottle and squirting some into his hand.
“Look down.” He said quietly, starting to scrub the substance into his hair, scratching lightly at his scalp and focusing on the suds forming.
“Am I doing good?” He asked.
“Yeah, it’s good.” Joe said quickly, leaning into the touch as Rob’s fingers worked around his head. Rob ran his fingers through his hair to smooth it back, giggling at how he looked.
He then grabbed the shower head, quickly turning it on and angling it down so he could rinse Joe’s hair. He repeated the entire process with conditioner, both men staying silent and enjoying the peaceful moment.
After Rob finished cleaning up Joe (he was also asked to scrub his body, which wasn’t as awkward as he thought it would be.) he grabbed some comfortable clothes for him, handing them over.
“I won’t have to change you too, will I?”
“I got it.” Joe mumbled, drying himself rather quickly and getting into his clothes. While he was doing this, Rob went back out to the living room to grab the plastic bag of items he brought, figuring it was easier to just keep it in Joe’s room. When he came back in, Joe was already settling back into bed, though not laying down as his hair was still damp.
“I got you some cough drops too.” Rob fished the package out of the bag, opening it and handing one to Joe. He took it with a quiet ‘thank you’.
Rob sat next to him on the bed, and they just stayed in silence, Joe being too busy sucking on the cough drop to talk. After a few minutes, when he swallowed it, he looked over to Rob.
“Thank you for coming over.”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Rob smiled back, taking his hand and intertwining their fingers.
“You were complaining about getting sick.”
“I’m still here, aren’t I?” Joe looked down, blushing from that. He pressed a soft kiss to Rob’s cheek.
“Yeah, you are.”