sick

fluff oneshot

"...I feel sick."

Alberu's fingers gently brushed away the errant locks from Cale's forehead, smiling down at him sympathetically. "I know you do."

"...make it better."

"Unfortunately, I don't have that ability." Ah, Cale really did get so much needier when he was ill. It was sort of cute but Alberu wasn't about to tell that to the grumpy man lying in his lap.

"...you're useless to me then." Cale grumbled, burying his face in Alberu's stomach and attempting to hide from the misery of his nausea.

It did help having Alberu's hand caressing his head. At the very least it eased his headache. The fever, the nausea, the body aches, and the just overall shittyness of feeling sick on the other hand were completely unaffected by his boyfriend's attempts at comfort.

Cale appreciated the effort though.

He used to spend his time alone when he was sick. When he was younger, he'd hide it from his family and when he got older, he just didn't have anyone to pamper him like this.

Alberu Crossman was an annoying know-it-all who Cale resented falling in love with. He was also absolutely made of boyfriend material and Cale counted himself to be lucky as fuck to have him.

"I'm sorry to be so useless." Alberu chuckled, taking absolutely no offense to Cale's bitter condemnation. "I can make you some soup though."

"...no." Cale clung to his waist with a pout. "You're not allowed to leave."

"I thought I was useless."

"You are, but you're less than useless if you leave me."

What a ridiculous man. Alberu smiled down at him gently. What could he do to help this pain pass for him faster...? He knew that there was no cure for sickness like taking your medicine, eating properly, and getting rest. Which Cale was already doing.

There really wasn't anything more to be done except to just remain at his side just like this.

"Then I won't leave." Alberu promised, leaning down and kissing the top of Cale's head.

Cale closed his eyes, a smile hidden in the folds of Alberu's shirt as he let his drowsiness lead him to a restless and painful sleep.

Being sick really did suck. There weren't short cuts, there wasn't any magic cure, there was just enduring and waiting and hoping that tomorrow was better while the mind impatiently demanded the ultimate treasure of being better now.

Cale hated being sick. He always had. When he was small, he'd had his mother to assuage this pain but those memories were dim now and they weren't comforting to think about. It was hard to think about moments when you impatiently screamed and cried at your mother when she was no longer in this world.

Then there'd been his step family and he'd never wanted to reveal his weaknesses then. Being sick meant losing somehow and he did just about everything to hide it. There was nothing quite like being feverish and taking a chem test with a teacher squinting at you, unsure if you were acting suspiciously because you were cheating or just sick.

He really really hated being sick.

But he'd prided himself in being good at hiding it.

That's why it had come as such a shock to him when he met Alberu.

Class hadn't quite started yet but the lecture hall was a buzz with noise. University students milling about as they socialized their little hearts away without a care in the fucking world for how stupid and meaningless everything was.

Cale's thoughts might have been more bitter than necessary because his headache made their incessant happiness absolutely intolerable.

Years of hiding colds and fevers from his family had created a really bad habit for Cale. He never took time off even when he probably should. Here he was, sitting in a class that he didn't give a shit about that he'd have skipped on any normal day, waiting for his lecture to start with a miserable frown and growing impatience.

He was just a stubborn and contrary person. On a day where he felt healthy, he'd probably have given this class a pass. But because he was sick, he had to come. It was a personal challenge.

He had to prove to the world, prove to himself, that he wasn't weak and something as stupid as feeling like crap wouldn't hold him back from anything.

Cale Henituse could be considered the type of person who would cut off his own nose to spite his face.

A cool hand landed on his forehead, flinching back at the temperature.

Cale blinked owlishly, dazedly realizing that someone had just approached without his notice and even dared to touch him.

"...the fuck?"

A tan man with dark hair and warm eyes frowned down at him. "I knew it."

"Who the fuck are you?" Cale's every hackle was raised, the sight of him brought to mind a very angry pomeranian that was about to start barking its fool head off.

The man looked entirely undaunted by Cale's aggression, a look of such sincere worry on his face that it took him aback. "You shouldn't be here." He said, his voice chastising. "For starters, it's bad for you. But what would you do if you got the rest of us sick?"

Oh. Wow. Cale hated this guy. Just about every bone in his body screamed to fight this fucker. How fucking dare he? How dare he get on his high and mighty pedestal, not knowing shit about Cale, not knowing shit about anything. How dare he notice Cale was even sick?! No one else had!

It was just insulting!

Unfortunately for Cale, he was a little sicker than he thought and standing up with such vitriol in order to show this bastard who was boss really didn't work out the way he wanted it to. His vision began to spin, his body toppled over, and his next coherent memory was being carried on this stupid bastards back all the way to the medical building.

He complained and bitched the whole fucking way too. The bastard was obnoxiously unaffected by his half delirious insults and didn't leave his side until he fell asleep.

Cale decided he really hated him.

He hated him two weeks later too, when he agreed to go on a date with him.

He absolutely despised him a year later when they decided to move in together.

"...I hate you a lot..." Cale murmured, five years into the relationship and only half awake in Alberu's lap.

"I know." Alberu chuckled. "I love you too."

Cale was a terribly dishonest person even while sick but Alberu didn't really mind.

He'd fallen in love with a cursing, crazy, and dishonest bastard. He really wouldn't have him any other way.