Work Text:
Thomas had been almost asleep when he heard the front door of his flat bang open and voices in the living room. It took a moment before he recognized that the voices belonged to Alfred, Daisy, and Ivy. Thomas’ first thought was, where’s Jimmy? The four of them had gone out that night, and had asked if Thomas would like to come too, but Thomas had declined the invitation to join in. Thomas heaved himself out of bed, padding down the hallway, to see what all the commotion was. From the hallway he yelled,
“What the fuck is going on?” Thomas hated having his sleep interrupted. He had a lot of work to do tomorrow and he needed his rest.
“It’s Jimmy!” Daisy shrieked, just as Thomas turned the corner.
He froze when he saw Jimmy, who was being held up by the three of them, body limp and clothes covered in vomit.
“What happened?” Thomas shouted, rushing over to Jimmy, inspecting his roommate.
“I don’t know. We were out, having drinks, everything seemed fine,” Ivy explained, “but then all of a sudden Jimmy seemed really confused and then he started throwing up and…” Ivy broke off as she started sobbing. Thomas would’ve normally rolled his eyes at her hysterics but he was too worried about Jimmy to care.
Alfred heaved Jimmy onto the sofa, who began to slip over sideways before Thomas caught his shoulders to steady him.
“What should we do? Some coffee?” Daisy suggested. She was now holding a crying Ivy with an annoyed look on her face.
“No, some water, he’s obviously dehydrated,” Thomas instructed as he kept his hold on Jimmy.
“Oh get a grip, Ivy,” Daisy spat when Ivy wouldn’t stop bawling and shoved her away. Ivy glared at her angrily through her tears, but instead of saying anything she skulked off to the kitchen to get a glass of water.
“Should we call someone? Does he need medical attention?” Alfred asked, kneeling down next to Jimmy.
“No. I’m perfectly capable of handling this, thank you, Alfred,” Thomas said in a clipped voice. He was now in his third year of school to become a doctor.
“But if you want to be useful, go get him a shirt, this one is disgusting. Second door on the right, in the third drawer down.”
Alfred stood and left to go find a shirt in Jimmy’s room that wasn’t vomit-encrusted.
Thomas sat down next to Jimmy on the sofa, keeping a firm hold on his friend’s shoulders to keep him sitting up straight. Thomas noticed that Jimmy looked uncharacteristically pale and his breathing was a bit irregular.
“Here’s some water,” Ivy said in a shaky voice, handing the glass over to Thomas. Thomas took the glass and thanked her, bringing it to Jimmy’s lips.
“Here’s some water, Jimmy, try and drink some,” he said in a soothing voice. He was now gently rubbing Jimmy’s back, holding him up. Jimmy mumbled some gibberish and began tilting to the side again.
“Come on, Jimmy, please, just drink it,” he encouraged, pressing the glass against Jimmy’s lips. Jimmy’s eyelids simply fluttered and he groaned.
“I’ve got a shirt,” Alfred said from behind Thomas.
“Alright, help me to get him changed,” Thomas said, handing the water to Ivy. Together, he and Alfred pulled Jimmy’s shirt off and replaced it with the clean one. Pinched between two fingers, with his nose scrunched up, Alfred held the soiled garment as far away from himself as possible.
“What do I do with it?” he asked, as if he had never seen dirty clothes before. Daisy looked at him while Ivy pouted and sniffled. They stared at each other for a few long seconds.
“I’ll wash it,” Daisy said with a huff, grabbing it out of his hands, stomping away.
While the others had been focused on the messy shirt, Thomas’ attention had stayed focused on Jimmy. Jimmy was still mumbling, but Thomas couldn’t understand what he was trying to say, not that what Jimmy would be saying at this point would have any meaning.
“It’s going to be ok, Jimmy,” Thomas breathed. He grabbed the water back out of Ivy’s hands.
“Just a sip, love, please,” Thomas begged. His heart skipped a beat when he realized the endearment had slipped out, but then realized there was no way Jimmy would remember it in the morning, and it probably didn’t even register now.
Jimmy began heaving, but nothing came out, everything that had been in his stomach had already been purged from his body. Thomas’ eyebrows were pulled tightly together, his lips a thin line as he continued to rub circles in Jimmy’s back.
“Please, Jimmy, open up, just drink it,” he said. When Jimmy again didn’t react, Thomas could feel tears prickling in the corners of his eyes. He pulled Jimmy closer to him and he could feel the blond hair tickling his neck.
“I’m trying to help you, Jimmy,” Thomas said in a rough voice. He looked at Jimmy, a worried expression on his face. He wished he had gone out with them that night. So what if he had a paper to write tomorrow and other work to catch up on? He should’ve gone. If he had been there he could’ve kept an eye out, made sure Jimmy didn’t drink too much. But he hadn’t been there. And now Jimmy was here in their living room looking half-dead in Thomas’ arms.
From the other side of the room, Thomas could hear Daisy and Ivy bickering. When he looked up he saw that Ivy still had tear-stained cheeks and Daisy was standing with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes.
“Would you two just shut up?” Thomas barked, startling the two girls, “Or better yet just leave. Thank you for bringing him home but I’ve got it from here.”
“Fine,” Ivy sighed dramatically and with her chin held high, she stormed out of the flat.
“Sorry about that,” Daisy apologized. But instead of leaving like Thomas had said, she walked over to the sofa.
“Are you sure you’ve got it, Thomas? I know you’re very capable it’s just that Jimmy’s in such bad shape. I don’t feel right just abandoning you to deal with this on your own,” Daisy said kindly.
Jimmy started heaving again, making Daisy jump, but Thomas continued to hold Jimmy steady, waiting for it to pass, so that he could try to get Jimmy to drink again.
“Thank you Daisy,” Thomas said sincerely, “I appreciate it but I’ve got it under control. It was kind of you to bring him home.”
“Well of course we would, we’re his friends. We’re all just as worried as you are,” Daisy paused, “well maybe you worry a bit more, but anyways…” she said giving him a knowing look. Out of the whole group, she was the only one that was aware of Thomas’ affections for Jimmy.
Thomas smiled bashfully, but his face changed to a look of concentration as Jimmy started groaning again. Thomas again brought the glass to Jimmy’s lips, and with a little more encouragement and tipping of Jimmy’s head back, Thomas was able to get Jimmy to drink.
Alfred ambled over to the sofa and gave Jimmy’s shoulder a squeeze.
“Well I should go too. Ivy is probably waiting for me since I’m driving tonight,” Alfred explained, “coming Daisy?”
“Yeah, you go on down and I’ll be there in a minute,” Daisy replied, not taking her eyes off Jimmy and Thomas. Alfred went out the door, closing it with a soft click.
“Anything else I can help with? You’re sure you’ve got this?” Daisy asked. Thomas’ first instinct was to snap at Daisy for being so persistent, but he was too tired, too concerned, and frankly fond enough of Daisy to not be annoyed.
“Yes I’ve got it,” Thomas paused, “But, uh, actually, if you could hand me that blanket over on the chair that would be good, he’s a bit cold,” Thomas replied.
Daisy grabbed the blanket and draped it across Jimmy’s shoulders. Thomas wrapped it more tightly around Jimmy, as he still kept hold of him to keep from swaying too much.
“I think I’ve got it from here,” Thomas said.
“Ok. Just text me or something in the morning to let me know that he’s fine.” With that Daisy turned and left.
Thomas held Jimmy closer to him, wrapping an arm around his intoxicated friend’s shoulders. Jimmy’s breathing seemed to be normal and he had stopped heaving. His eyelids lazily floated up and down, his blue eyes unfocused and distant.
“Hhhrrmph, I, guuuh, need urrrgh,” Jimmy mumbled, his cheek pressing firmly into Thomas’ shoulder.
Thomas grabbed the glass of water, hoping Jimmy would drink some more water.
“Alright, Jimmy, I have some water for you, just try to drink it.” When he brought the glass up this time, Jimmy parted his lips and took a sip.
“That’s good, have some more,” Thomas whispered, his fingers gently stroking Jimmy’s arm. Jimmy took another small sip and then waved his arm, trying to push the glass away, but missed it entirely.
Thomas set the glass down on the table in front of the sofa, not letting go of Jimmy.
He knew that he was supposed to keep Jimmy sitting up and conscious but Thomas himself was getting really drowsy, it now being the middle of the morning. In what felt like about the passing of five seconds, but was probably more like thirty minutes, Thomas realized that Jimmy had now fallen asleep against his shoulder. He stared at the clock, the violent digital red numbers showing that it was almost four in the morning.
A weight on his chest. Sunlight prodding at his eyelids. Lumpy cushions beneath him. Thomas opened his eyes, but his view was obstructed by a mess of blond hair. As he continued to blink and regain consciousness, he realized that he had fallen asleep on the couch—with Jimmy in his arms. Thomas started, immediately thinking that maybe he should slip out from underneath Jimmy and go back to his room before Jimmy woke up.
“Ah, you’re awake,” said Jimmy as he turned his head to look up at Thomas, his hair tickling Thomas’ chin.
Thomas dropped his arms that had been wound around Jimmy’s waist and made to get up, but he was pinned down and his legs were intertwined with Jimmy’s too much for him to move.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Jimmy asked with a mischievous grin.
“Uh, I… I should… get up and get ready for the day,” Thomas babbled. At least Jimmy didn’t seem angry at him. Thomas had at least half expected Jimmy to freak out finding himself sleeping on top of Thomas.
“Not so fast. It took me getting vomit-up-my-innards drunk for you to finally touch me,” Jimmy said in a scolding tone as if talking to a child. Thomas held his breath, not believing what Jimmy was saying. He was so sure Jimmy had been interested in Ivy, or some girl. Thomas had thought he had just been a piece of foliage in the background of Jimmy’s life.
“I’ve fucking earned this,” Jimmy started grabbing at Thomas’ arms that were glued to the sofa cushions, “now hold me.”
Thomas did as Jimmy said, replacing his arms around the small waist. Thomas could barely breath. It took every shred of self-control to not grin like a mad man and plant a thousand kisses in Jimmy’s hair.
After a few minutes of cuddling on the couch, thoughts of his paper crept into his mind. He really should get up and start working.
“If you’re worried about your stupid bloody paper,” Jimmy began, as if reading Thomas’ mind, but rather than finishing his statement, he nuzzled into Thomas’ chest instead. Thomas’ couldn’t help but smile and realized that no work, no matter how important, could bring him to want to get off this sofa, to let go of Jimmy. He had wanted this for so long, ever since they had become roommates. Thomas held Jimmy tighter, laying a firm kiss into curly blond hair. Jimmy lifted his head, and leaned in for a kiss.
“Wait,” said Thomas abruptly, turning his face.
“What?” Jimmy demanded.
“Well, it’s just, your mouth, you were… you know… and you haven’t cleaned up since then,” Thomas said sheepishly. He desperately wanted to kiss Jimmy, but not when the last thing that mouth had been doing was throwing up.
“Fine,” Jimmy acquiesced and rolled off the sofa. He pulled on Thomas’ hand, and Thomas gave him a quizzical look.
“You’ve got morning breath, so if I’ve got to be minty fresh to kiss you, so do you,” Jimmy said matter-of-factly. Thomas allowed himself to be pulled off the sofa and down the hall. He chuckled to himself, thinking that he had never been so excited to brush his teeth before.