Day 6: Sick

Warnings: sick character, cold?, pretty unspecified, its fluff

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Roman let the door to the apartment shut heavily, leaving his shoes and backpack right there on the floor before continuing into the living room, peeking into the kitchen on his way. The only thing in the living room that got his attention was their recently hung up pride flag.

His roommate was nowhere to be seen, which was a bit odd as Roman knew his classes started later and ended earlier than his own, and he couldn't remember that Janus had said anything about going somewhere after classes. Then again, plans could change, and they actually hadn't talked in the morning, Roman had left before Janus got up.

"Jan?" He called out, walking towards his roommate's room. There weren't many other places to look, except for the bathroom, but the door had been open and it had seemed empty.

"Just wait 'til I tell you about the shit day I've had, you're gonna love dragging my English teacher for what she said today." He said, knocking on the door. When there was no response to be heard he opened it a smidge to look inside. At first he thought it was empty, but then he realized that someone was curled up under the yellow covers.

"Sorry, didn't know you were napping." Roman said, excusing himself to leave Janus alone, but then he heard a small whine and, hang on, Janus doesn't whine. Not like that at least.

"Wait, are you alright?" He opened the door fully and stepped into the room, walking over towards the lump under the covers. He reached out and rested his hand on top of Janus head, gently ruffling his hair.

"Janus, you alive?" He wondered, keeping his tone light but also starting to feel worry gnawing at him. Roman got a small hum as a response and he moved his hand to brush away hair from Janus forehead, eyes widening.

"You're burning up!" He exclaimed, and Janus shifted slightly, turning his face towards Roman and opening his eyes a tiny bit to look at him.

"Mh, feel like shit." He mumbled, voice coming out all croaky and hoarse. All Roman wanted to do was to cup Janus' face in his hands and kiss his forehead, tell him that he would do anything to help him feel better.

"I'll be right back." He said instead, but Janus reached out for him, fingers clumsily grasping Roman's wrist. His grip was so weak that if Roman took another step his hand would slip. He stopped and turned back towards Janus, wondering what it was he wanted.

"Stay." Janus said, letting go of Roman and lifting the covers up as if he was inviting him to join him. Roman stared, trying to will away the giddy feeling because Janus was fevery and at least a bit out of it, this was not the kind of cuddle invitation that he wanted it to be.

"I gotta go get the thermometer and bring you some water." Roman said, declining the offer to the disappointment of his heart. But someone had to take care of Janus, and he was delighted to do so.

"Missed you all day." Janus said quietly, so much so that Roman could barely hear him, but he did and he felt his heart ache just a little because those were far more intimate words than Janus would usually utter. He was all secretive when it came to feelings, a little bit like their mutual friend Logan, except that Janus was a lot more sarcastic than Logan was.

"I'm here now." He said.

"Don't go, then." Janus said, then letting out a huge yawn, his whole face scrunching adorably.

"Oh. C'mon, how about you rest on the couch, I'll be right nearby then." He said. He bent down and managed to get his arms under Janus' legs and around his back and he lifted him and his covers up in his arms. He could hear a tiny gasp from Janus and he gripped Roman's shirt.

He felt him lean his head against his chest a moment later and Roman was grinning the entire way out to the living room before forcing it to subdue slightly as he carefully put Janus on the couch. He pulled at Janus' yellow covers that had followed with them, tucking Janus in a bit more properly.

"Be back in a sec." He said, disappearing into the kitchen and filling a rainbow glass with water.

"You didn't go to any classes today, right?" Roman wondered, rummaging through a cabinet for the cup that he knew was Janus' favorite. It was a white mug with a silly cartoon snake and the text 'I love snakes more than humans'.

Roman had gotten it for Janus during their first year in college, because they hadn't known each other very long by that time and he hadn't known much else than that Janus was a total nerd for snakes. He had had no idea that Janus cared about the cup or had even kept it this long until they moved in together at the beginning of their third year.

"Actually..." He mumbled, making an attempt to be a bit louder, but it was difficult to hear him from the other room. He put the cup on the counter, sticking his head into the living room and glaring at Janus.

"And what do you mean by that?" He wondered suspiciously.

"Totally didn't go to my first two classes but then felt so much worse that I had to go home." Janus said, avoiding Roman's eyes.

"What!? Did anyone take you home? You're, like, half delirious, Jan." He said, turning around to grab the glass and then carrying it out to Janus.

"Took the bus. Almost missed my stop. Don't remember how I got up the stairs." Janus said, accepting the glass and taking a tiny sip of the cold water.

"Jan!" Roman exclaimed, taking Janus free hand in both of his and squeezing it. "You could've passed out and hurt yourself!"

"Oh, hush, you sound like Virgil, and also you can't be angry at me because I'm sick." He said, giving Roman the tiniest of smiles. Curse Janus for being cute.

"Fine, but you better drink that entire glass of water. Have you eaten today?" He said, receiving a small shake of Janus' head.

"Drink." He said, pointing at him, before turning back into the kitchen. He poured two mugs worth of water into their electric kettle, making the both of them some tea, remembering to add the sugar cube and bit of milk that Janus always wanted.

Janus had drunk half his glass of water as Roman put their cups of tea on the coffee table in the living room. Roman then went to the bathroom to look through the cabinet in there for the thermometer. They had gotten the kind that measured the temperature in the ear, not under the tongue because they both found that one very uncomfortable.

"Here, Roman said, handing it to him and Janus took it, taking his temperature and handing it back to Roman.

"Well, your temp is kind of high, but not 'uber to the hospital' high. We just gotta make sure you get some rest." Roman put the thermometer on the table, thinking that he would put it away later and ignoring that that meant it would lie there for weeks.

"Then come make sure I'm resting." Janus said, lifting his covers to offer Roman a place next to him. Somehow he resisted the temptation to get to sit with Janus and maybe put an arm around him or maybe Janus would fall asleep against him and he could play with his hair-

Yes, Roman was, obviously, a bit gay for his roommate, so what?

Janus hadn't done anything to show that he was interested in Roman, so he wasn't going to push it. Sure, they playfully flirted sometimes, but that's all it was, playfully. Well, there was no time to pout about that, he needed to take care of Janus.

"In a moment. Gonna get you something that you can eat. You want soup?" He wondered. Whenever he was sick when he still lived at home his dad would always make sure he had something warm and something to drink, so in Roman's opinion it was the bare minimum for him to do when his friend was not feeling well.

"It's not like I can take care of myself, or anything." Janus said, sniffling and pulling his covers up higher.

"You shouldn't have to! What kind of prince would I be?" Roman scoffed, watching Janus shake his head. He didn't seem to have the energy to start their usual playful argument about the need for royal blood to be, well, royal.

It was a sort of inside joke, that he was a prince. They had first met in theater, Roman having the role of a prince, and then they had also met in their creative writing class, and Roman had been writing a fairy tale about a gay prince finding love, and he had played a prince several times in their dnd group.

"I'll make you some soup." He said, going back to the kitchen after hearing no complaints from his friend. Roman knew they should have some of the veggie noodle soup that Janus loved, it was the kind they could buy in a can and just pour in a pot and heat and it was done.

It took him barely ten minutes to have a bowl of soup ready for Janus, he even pulled their toast machine out and made Janus a grilled cheese. He didn't make himself anything, but it was only three in the afternoon, he wasn't hungry yet.

As he returned to the living room Janus was slumped across the couch, some video playing on his phone, although he seemed half asleep.

Roman put the food down on the table, nudging Janus slightly to see if he was conscious. It took a minute, but he got Janus to sit back up and he gave him the food, which seemed to perk him up slightly.

Janus seemed rather happy to be eating his soup and grilled cheese and Roman sneakily went on netflix and turned one of Janus' favorite movies on, then sat next to Janus and drank his tea. It was cold by now, but he didn't really feel like getting up and putting it in the microwave.

Chances were he would just forget it there and then two days later open the microwave and find a cup with moldy tea. It happened surprisingly often.

When Janus finished his food Roman helped him put the bowl on the table and then Janus slumped against him, leaning his head on Roman's shoulder. It made Roman feel as if his heart stuttered in his chest and he was sure his face had gone a bit pink.

Janus usually wasn't much for cuddling, though there had been instances when they had been up late or something and fallen asleep together, moments which Roman cherished. He put an arm around Janus' shoulders and Janus pushed at the yellow duvet to cover Roman too, enveloping them both in wonderful warmth. He felt Janus' fingers bump against his hand, and then they were gently holding onto the other's hand.

"Never knew you were so cuddly when sick." Roman said with a chuckle.

"'m not cuddly." Janus said, which was a bold statement coming from someone who was currently cuddled against Roman's chest and holding his hand when he would usually startle and become awkward if he realized he was unintentionally sitting too close.

"Of course you're not." Roman said sympathetically, moving his arm around Janus' shoulders slightly so he could reach to ruffle Janus' hair a bit.

"Shut up and watch this masterpiece of a movie." Janus said. He didn't try to duck away from Roman's touch, which made him dare to keep his hand in Janus' hair, just gently scratching at his scalp and playing with his soft hair.

There were no complaints, if anything Janus simply melted against him even more, which to Roman meant that he could keep it up. Janus was not the kind of person to stand something he did not enjoy. But, he seemed to be fine with it, and Roman's heart felt like it melted into a puddle of loving goo in his chest as Janus placed a hand atop of Roman's to keep it there as he shifted to lie down, using Roman's lap as a pillow.

They both stayed quiet and concentrated on the movie, although Roman was thinking a lot about how cute Janus was. It was a good movie, although Roman didn't entirely understand why Janus loved it so much. He mainly liked it because Janus did, usually he preferred a good ol' disney movie.

An hour into the movie he loses focus, senses instead drawn to the fact that Janus seems to be shaking, which is much more urgent than any movie.

"You're trembling." Roman stated, hand automatically coming to touch his forehead again despite that he would not be able to tell if he was warmer now than an hour ago.

"Cold." Was all Janus uttered, which was enough for Roman to reach for the heap of blankets that was lying a few feet away on the couch. Blankets were very important, which is why they had, like, five of them. And Roman draped all of them over Janus, tucking him in properly, making it impossible even for someone feverish to stay cold.

"There you go." He said.

"Thank you, Ro." Janus said with a small yawn, face barely visible with his he had ducked it into all the blankets.

"Any time, Jan." Roman said, watching with slight curiosity as Janus wormed a hand out from the mountain of blankets he was resting under, grasping Roman's hand and tilting his face up.

He pressed a little kiss to Roman's hand, an action that shouldn't be enough to make Roman stop breathing for a solid ten seconds, yet there he was. Janus then moved Roman's hand back to the top of his head, as if to urge him to keep playing with his hair. Roman did so automatically, still caught up on the tiny kiss that had his hand tingling.

If he was being honest Roman really thought that the little crush he had on his friend was growing into something more alarmingly fast.

He didn't know what to say except 'that's gay', which was their go-to when either of them did anything that could warrant such a response (which was... constantly), but it didn't feel fitting and instead he just stayed quiet.

"So oblivious." Janus murmured with a sleepy huff and Roman hummed, then a few moments later processing what Janus had said and tearing his eyes from the screen of the tv.

"Hey, what do you mean 'oblivious'?" Roman wondered, shifting to attempt to look at Janus, but all he saw was that Janus had fallen asleep.

Well, Roman hadn't planned on moving from Janus' side anytime soon anyway.

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Written: 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th May 2022

Published: 15th May 2022

Words: 2509

Not sure about this one but hope u enjoyed