Chapter Text
"Achoo!"
Marc suddenly sneezes randomly in the morning, causing Vale to wake up from deep slumber. He could feel Marc's body next to his, heating up ever so slightly.
Vale panics,he blinks open his eyes urgently while worry creeps up on him. His heart rate gets faster and faster, hands shaking uncontrollably and he starts to hyperventilate. Marc is clinging to Vale's body, seeking for warmth. There are a few drops of sweat dripping down from Marc's hair, his body pale and shivering from the cold. His mouth is also sightly agape, signifying that he's breathing wit his mouth instead since his nose was probably blocked by mucus.
Vale brings his shaky hand to press it gently against Marc's forehead, feeling the temperature on his head, which is slightly-
Oh.
Marc has a fever.
"Cazzo." Vale swears to himself. What the hell is he supposed to do? Maybe he is "il dottore" but he isn't an actual licensed doctor. The only medical knowledge he has is about cars and bikes. The only other person he has ever taken care of in the past was his own half-brother, Luca. 'Think Vale, think, what's the initial step to help Marc get better from a fever?' Vale questions himself in his mind while he gently knocks his temple with his palm, trying to figure out a plan to get his boyfriend to feel better.
His first thought was to get Marc out of their bed first. To get him to sit up on the bed, at least. If not, he would probably be in worse condition. It's probably not a good idea to let Marc continue sleeping without any help of medications. The fever would eventually get much more worse if he slacks off in the bed with Marc together. Who knows, maybe this fever might end Marc's life?
Vale hurriedly gets off of their shared bed and gets to his two feet on the floor. He stretches a bit, his shoulders sore probably because he's aging but, who cares? Although Marc likes to tease him by calling him 'old man' sometimes but he's probably just trying to make fun of Vale a bit so, no big deal. Social media still says he looks handsome - although he is slightly balding but maybe we shouldn't talk about that - so of course his confident little ass is going to shake some ass on camera.
'Ok Vale, focus, stop thinking about yourself and stop concentrate on what you have in bed, please,' Vale tells himself in his mind as he breathes in, and breathes out, trying to calm down. He lowers his gaze back down to the bed instead of the walls that he's currently staring at for no reason at all, so leans down, placing one of his hand under Marc's legs and the other hand on his neck for support. He then picks Marc up bridal style and gets Marc to sit up on the bed while he sits next to him.
Of course, Marc flops back down on the bed when Vale removes his hand from Marc's neck. Well that didn't work. Why, you might ask? Oh. Right. Marc's still somehow in a asleep state since he's a deep sleeper. And somehow Vale didn't even notice at all. Huh, how stupid is Valentino?
Vale then towers over Marc and puts one of his hands on Marc's good shoulder. "Marc get the fuck up you have a stupid fever, and if you don't get up you're going to DIE," Vale exaggerated, shaking the same shoulder, somehow as gently but enough to wake up Marc a little, he's trying to get Marc's attention so that he can finally take care of him. "mruhgjh?? die?? whr's dyin'?" Marc mumbled out, his words incoherent but somehow still comprehendable.
"You're the one dying, of course. YOU literally have a FEVER!" Vale exclaimed as he shook Marc's shoulder subtly trying to get the half-asleep Marc to wake up fully and get to his full consciousness. Unfortunately, that is not happening since the fever is still burning up Marc's brain, making Marc feverish, of course. "Mmfjh let mi gert barc to- slerp" Marc mumbled again and quickly fell back asleep. Some light snoring could be heard coming from Marc.
Vale sighs. Shit. Fuck. Well of fucking course its going to be much harder to get Marc to sit up on the bed as he had originally thought. Taking care of Marc is absolutely not an easy task. Fine, if Marc wanted to sleep more, he'd let him do it. He'd just have to hurry up with his current plan. As for right now, he'd just have to grab some painkillers, a glass of water, and probably some ice for Marc to cool him down. He slowly gets up from bed again to leave the room, leaving the door widely open. He quickly stumbles down to the kitchen to grab the stuff he had thought about earlier. For the 'waking up Marc' part he'll just have to leave it to his future self once he's done with gathering all the stuff he needs right now.
Once he gets in the kitchen, he scrambles to find the painkillers that are somewhere in the drawer. And when he finally finds it, he leaves it on the counter first and heads to grab a glass to fill it up with lukewarm water. He'll go back to the painkillers later. Afterwards, he opens the fridge to grab the ice pack and refills it with a lot of ice, 'the more the merrier' , he thought. Finally, he grabs all three of the items and sprints back into the bedroom, and at the same time, he's trying his utmost not to accidentally spill the water at the same time, or else he'd have to clean up the mess he made.
As he approaches their room, he slows down his footsteps, trying to not make a soundwhile , trying his best not to startle Marc from his sleep. When he finally gets inside the room, he walks towards their bed and places everything on the bedside table gently, making sure nothing drops and there's no sudden thud.
Alright, now we're back at this challenging part. Again. This actually kind of feels like mission: impossible. So... what now? Ah, yes the ice pack. Vale proceeds to sweep away Marc's hair to reveal his forehead and then he places the ice pack on Marc's forehead. Alright, back the the other part. He thinks of a different approach. Maybe he start with a gentle approach. 'Ok, let's do that' , he thought to himself.
He climbs onto his bed and towers over Marc, and he leans down, placing a kiss on the corner of his lips.
"Rise and shine amore. Come on, get up before your fever gets worse," Vale murmurs, his voice soft, but deep since he woke up not long ago.
Marc finally blinks to open his eyes, his gaze hazy, and his body limp.
Suddenly, Marc's eyes were shiny with tears, a layer of it covering his eyes, threatening to fall out. Marc brows furrow, his lips are down turned. He hics, and tears start rolling down from his eyes to his cheeks.
"Wh- wh- who are y-you?" Marc stuttered and sobbed out, his whole body trembling from confusion or maybe the coldness from his fever.
Valentino's heart stops beating. His chest tightens and his entire brain and body freezes. It feels like earth had stopped moving from that moment.
What the actual fuck? Can a fever really cause brain damage or amnesia to a human brain? No absolute fucking way right?
Vale panics again. Maybe it's because that fever cooked his brain too hard? Oh no. Was he too late to try to help Marc out? What has he done? Vale's mouth opens from surprise, and he is very upset at himself. He wants to slap himself in the face or go hit his head on the wall.
He gets out of bed for the third time and shuffles through the bedside table to grab his phone.
What's the motive you may ask? Of course, he's going to search the possibilities of someone getting amnesia through a STUPID FEVER. After some typing, the result from google shows up, the answer was a big no.
Research has shown that a very high fever can lead to a delirium.
Huh? Oh. Turns out, instead of amnesia, it's just some type of medical condition called a 'fever delirium'. Thus, it must mean that Marc has a high fever.
"Ah... that's why" Vale sighs out, then proceeds to walk towards the bed again and place his palm against Marc's forehead, trying to feel his temperature. Well, yeah it's burning hot, of fucking course, what the heck did he expect? Slightly disappointed at himself, he facepalms himself with the free hand then removes his other hand from Marc's forehead.
Ok, so according the the article he found on Google earlier the only way to cure this stupid 'fever delirium' thing is to just give him some painkillers and get his fever to cool down. Phew. That sounds easy enough, am I right?
First, he had to get Marc into a half-sitting position. He places a hand under Marc's back and the other under his legs and starts lifting Marc up so that he gets into a half-sitting position. He then grabs the painkillers and the glass of water by the table. He breathes in, and of course he's still frightened. What if Marc rejects his help? What if-
His thoughts get disturbed by a hand hitting his temple. His own hand, actually. 'Ok, ok, snap out of it Valentino, stop fucking thinking and get back to work' , Vale thinks to himself.
"Marc, listen to me please and open up, let me take care of you and please listen to me please." Vale pleads softly, hoping to not startle Marc again.
To Vale's surprise, Marc finally opens his eyes. "Hmm... fine..." He hums out and takes the painkillers and the glass of water. He places he pill in his mouth and swallows it with the help of some water. Afterwards, he lies back down on his back, and he shifts a bit to change his position.
Mission accomplished. Hell yeah. Vale pumps his fist and celebrates in silence. "Yes! Finally!" he mutters out, clearly very satisfied with the result.
'Alright... what do i do now....' Vale thinks to himself. Maybe he can crawl back to bed again and sleep with Marc until his fever gets better, however, he's afraid that he'll terrify Marc due to the delirium. Therefore, the safest option currently is to just head downstairs and make breakfast and some coffee for himself and maybe for Marc later on.
A few hours later, Marc wakes up with full consciousness. He does not remember anything that has happened earlier since he was feverish. His whole body was drenched in sweat. Fortunately, the fever he had earlier had already disappeared. The bad news is, he still has a very bad migraine and his whole body kind of sore when he tries to move around. He uses his hands to try to touch the other side of the bed, and to his surprise, Vale isn't there. Huh, weird. Maybe he woke up late? What time even is it?
What the- it's 2 p.m. already. Damn. Marc couldn't believe his eyes, he rubs them a bit, trying to get his vision to become clearer so he could make sure that the time is 2 p.m., and not 12 p.m.
Holy cow. Its actually 2 p.m. Was that fever from earlier that bad? Eh. Never mind that now, as long as he doesn't have it as of right now.
He climbs out of bed slowly, his whole body still sore from his sickness. He gets to his feet and uses his hand to support him to stand up. Only to fall back onto the bed.
Fuck.
Everything hurts so bad right now.
He sighs, and goes for his second attempt. Marc is not weak. Especially not when he won his 9th even when he has a broken arm. Filled with perseverance and determination, he gets up again and tries to ignore the soreness of his whole body.
Since he's still sweaty, he probably would need a shower first. He grabs his towel and a loose hoodie that Valentino had wore in the past. He then shuffles towards the bathroom to shower.
After getting out of the shower, Marc stretches a bit. His body feels much better, after a much comforting shower. He quickly puts on the clothes he picked out earlier and stumble out to go find his loving boyfriend.
Marc spots Vale on the kitchen counter, making some type of pasta. His face lights up into a smirk while he sprints over to Vale, hugging him from behind.
Vale gasps, his shoulders perk up in surprise. His shoulders relax once he realizes that it was Marc who had just woke up. "Good morning sleepyhead, or uhm. Good afternoon." Vale coos, his voice velvety and sweet
Marc clings closer to Vale's body, seeking for warmth. "Good morning...", Marc responds, his voice scratchy from sickness.
"You feeling okay now, baby?" Vale asked softly while he turned around to face Marc, then continues to rub soothing circles on Marc's back, leaving a few kisses on his forehead temple.
"Well yeah, I feel better, at least for now." Marc answered as he closes his eyes and sinks into Vale's hold.
Vale switches positions with Marc, cornering him against the counter. Vale leans in, minimizing the distance between them to try to connect their lips together. However, before their lips connect Marc swiftly moves his hand toward Vale's lips, covering his mouth with his palm.
"mgnnfskjdjhsjkajdbj" Vale was surprised at what came out, he was just trying to say 'what was that for?' but that came out instead.
"Come on Vale, you know I'm sick", Marc sniffles. "You can't just try to kiss me like that, its contagious... What if I spread it to you?" Marc pouts as he looks away, clearly upset with whatever Vale was trying to come up with. Marc removes his palm to let Vale talk and hear what Vale would respond with.
"Contagious or not, I don't care. What matters right now is that you're here with me. Plus, I already kissed you earlier today when you still had a fever." Vale responds. "Now can I get my kiss?" Vale adds and leans in for the second time.
"I don't remember you kissing me earlier, but, fine. But don't blame me if you get sick." Marc sniffles and rolls his eyes. Vale's eyes brighten up with excitement as he gets Marc's approval. Marc turns his gaze back to Valentino, who's staring at his own lips. He places his hands around Vale's neck and whispers "Kiss me." Vale leans closer to Marc and connects their lips together to form a soft and gentle kiss, earning a small moan from Marc. Marc responds back by kissing harder, biting Vale's bottom lip. Vale places his hand on Marc's waist, pulling Marc closer and closer, not letting him go anywhere. Marc's shoulders relax, melting into Valentino's touch while Vale hold's him tightly.
They part after a bit to catch their breaths, the corners of Vale's mouth turned up, as he leans in again to press a small peck against Marc's lips. He raises his hand to card through Marc's hair, while Marc leans into Vale's chest.
They stay there for a bit.
Until... Vale realises he was cooking pasta like a moment ago. He switches positions with Marc again, letting Marc cling to Vale from behind. Holy fucking cow. 'please don't tell me the pasta is burnt, I'm an Italian, my ancestors will kill me if they saw this, mama mia'
Luckily, the pasta wasn't burnt. Vale sighs in relief. Thank god he doesn't need to eat burnt pasta (he'll probably just cook another batch if he actually did burn it) and his ancestors would still be proud... Hopefully...
Vale gets the pasta out and mixes it with carbonara sauce, stirring and tossing them together. And of course, he adds a splash of pasta water, which is very important in making pasta. After all that mixing, he finally plates them equally in 2 plates, decorating it nicely.
Vale grabs both the plates, and sets it on the kitchen table for both Marc and himself to savour his cooking.
Marc pulls his hands back, no longer clinging to Vale. He grabs a seat, and sits down next to his lover.
After Vale finishes his meal, he pushes his dish away and places his elbow on the table, turning his gaze to stare and admire Marc. Marc was just minding his own business and eating his pasta slowly, since he doesn't have much of an appetite due to the sickness he has.
"Are you going to stop staring at me and do you're dishes?" Marc turns his head and tilts his face to observe Vale. "Well, you're just too good to look at, I can't help it." Vale flirts as he smirked, his tone playful yet sly.
Marc's cheeks burned up fast, turning his whole face bright red. He couldn't stop that feeling at all. Damn, Marc felt extremely embarrassed at how good Vale could make him blush so quickly. "S-stop it." Marc stuttered out as he looked away, hiding his face with his hands.
Valentino's hands cup Marc's face, pushing his hand away as he pulled Marc closer. He kisses Marc on his lips, tasting the creaming carbonara sauce as their lips touch. Marc's full body goes slack at the attention from Vale.
Marc then gets his hands back up and places it on the back of Vale's hair to push Vale closer to him in order to deepen the kiss.
Small pants could be heard when they parted, trying to catch their breathes.
"Well, where'd all that come from?" Marc questioned with a slight confusion from his tone. "As I said, you look good." Vale answers, oh, and he's still smirking
Marc rolls his eyes. It feels cliché but well it's from Vale so of course he's gonna treasure it since he enjoys whatever Vale gives him "alright, alright, fine, whatever." Marc adds and goes back to enjoying his pasta.
Marc doesn't finish his meal. Therefore, Vale grabs it and finishes it to not waste the food. Additionally, it would also be very disrespectful to throw away and waste pasta, as his ancestors would probably cry.
They go and watch a movie at the living room afterwards, while Marc is clinging to Vale once again.
For dinner, Vale decides to order some pizza for the two of them.
After finishing dinner, Marc falls asleep on Vale's shoulder as they mutter out their 'goodnights' to each other. Then, Vale carries Marc to their room, bridal style, because he can and tucks him in their shared bed. Of course Vale is tired, but he'll need to take care of Marc, tidy everything up and finish some of his important work.
At about 2 am, Vale finally gets in their bed after wearing his boxers. He had just finished showering, his hair also dried.
After a tiring day, Vale finally gets some well deserved sleep as a reward to his hardworking self. He drifts into sleep along with Marc who he is holding onto in his arms.