I'm Not a Savior, I'm a Vampire (Jalex)

No Soup For You

"Alex?" Jack pounded on the door. "Alex, what the fuck?"
Jack continued knocking on the door, trying to get a response from his sick friend.

Nothing.

"You fucker! When Rian gets here, you better-" Jack was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. "I'll be back in a minute and you better open the door."

Jack walked to the front door and opened it to find Rian carrying a few bags of groceries.
"Hey Jack! So I got some-" Rian paused. "Hey, are you okay? You look stressed."
"Yeah Alex locked me out of the bathroom."
"Right, that's his home now. I almost care." Rian handed Jack one of the bags and followed him to the kitchen. They set the bags down on the kitchen table. "So this is suspicious behavior? Last time I checked, Alex didn't like people fussing over him when he was sick. Why should this time be different?"
"Because this time he's acting weird and I need a distraction from life."
Rian frowned at him. "Jack you can't just use Alex as your distraction from life. What do you even need a distraction for? Did alcohol break up with you?"
"No my girlfriend did, but thanks for the concern."

They stood in the kitchen for a while, neither of them speaking.
Finally, Rian broke the silence. "Well shit man, I'm sorry."
"It's whatever." Jack motioned for Rian to follow him and started walking to the bathroom. He knocked on the door again. "Alex, Rian's here." He turned to Rian. "Fair warning, he's not wearing any clothes."
"What?"

Jack knocked on the door again, ignoring Rian's question. "Dude, Alex, I swear to god, open the fucking door."
"Jack. I literally came here to bring you food. Can I leave now?"
"No. Help me get him out of there. We only have one bathroom."
Rian sighed before pushing Jack out of the way and knocking on the door. "Alex, if you don't let us in we're gonna have to break down the door."

They waited a few seconds before Alex responded quietly, his voice sounding strained, "People don't actually break down doors, Rian."

"Well, I mean at least he's alive."
"Rian! He's still- oh"

Alex had opened the door, though Jack wasn't exactly sure how because when he turned to look at Alex, he found him lying on the floor.
"Jesus Christ, Alex...."

"Mmm fine," he slurred.
"You're laying on the ground on the bathroom and-" Jack paused when he saw some reddish stuff on the floor near Alex's face. "is... is that blood?" He asked quietly.
"No. Fuck off."
Rian walked into the bathroom and kneeled down next to Alex, studying the reddish stuff. "It looks like blood," he said finally.

Alex coughed and some of the same reddish stuff came out of his mouth. Rian jumped back. "Okay, we need to call a doctor."
"NO!" Rian and Jack flinched at Alex's sudden outburst. "Y-you can't- I- no.... no doctors. I'm fine."

Jack looked at Rian, a bit frustrated. Alex was literally going to kill himself if he kept this shit up. Didn't coughing up blood mean internal bleeding or something? That's bad, right?

Jack sighed. "Alex, you're coughing up blood. We need to get you to a doctor." He turned to Rian. "You wanna grab him some clothes? I don't think-"
"Jack, no. This isn't- it's not what it looks like."
Jack frowned. "Then what is this? Because it's not healthy. You look like you're dying. You're coughing up blood."
Alex thought for a moment, seemingly struggling to find the right words. "I-I just... it's not- I don't think- just please no doctors?"

Jack looked at Rian, hoping for some sort of support. He wanted Rian to be on his side. Jack was mad at Alex, sure. That was their thing. They were just mad at each other constantly. But Jack did not ever want to see his friend die.

"You know...." Rian started. "It's his body. If he doesn't want to see a doctor then-"
"Rian this is insane! You're agreeing with him? Are you kidding me?"
"Jack, technically this could just be a misunderstanding. Maybe it's not blood and he just had a lot of red wine. I don't know. I have no idea what's going on. Do you know what's going on? Because if you do then, by all means, tell us Jack. What's going on? What should we do?"
Jack opened his mouth to speak but no words came out.
"Fine!" He threw his hands up into the air, exasperated. "Fine. Whatever. If he dies it's not my problem."

Jack walked out of the bathroom for a few seconds before walking back in, hands covering his face in frustration. He sighed. "Have you eaten today? I know you had cereal or something but I don't think you finished it." He spoke quietly, though the frustration in his voice was still quite obvious.
"I'm not hungry."
"That wasn't my question."
Alex wouldn't look at him. That was all the answer Jack needed. "Rian can you go make him some soup or something?"
Rian scoffed. "What am I, your butler? Oh, I'll just buy your groceries and make you food. No way man."
"Dude."
Rian rolled his eyes. "You owe me big time," he said before walking out of the room.

Jack shook his head and sighed. This was going to be a long day. Or... couple of days. Or week. Jack wasn't sure how long Alex would be sick, but he hoped Alex would be okay enough to fend for himself when Jack went back to work.

"Alex do you need like.... medicine or something? Are you in any pain? Like... I don't know..."
"I'm fine."
"Stop saying that. You're not fine. Answer the damn question."
Alex hesitated before responding. "Tylenol?" It sounded more like a question, as if he were unsure.
Jack nodded. "Alright. I'll be right back. Please don't lock us out of the bathroom?"
"Okay."

Jack practically ran to the medicine cabinet to grab the Tylenol and then he got some water from the kitchen and returned to the bathroom within a few minutes.
He helped Alex into a sitting position and tried to ignore Alex's nudity.

Jack had seen Alex naked plenty of times, why was this any different? Jack's skin prickled uncomfortably.

Jack shook his head, trying to clear his mind. He handed Alex the glass of water and then some medicine.

Alex took the medicine and drank the whole glass of water. He didn't look at Jack when he set the glass down on the floor next to him or when Rian walked in with a bowl of soup.

Alex hesitantly took the bowl of soup and his nose flared as the scent of broth hit his nose. Jack could see Alex's hands quivering slightly as he raised the spoonful of soup into his mouth. The instant the broth hit Alex's tongue his face contorted in disgust. 

Jack noticed that Alex seemed to gag a bit before he spit the broth back in the bowl. Alex's breathing shuttered for a second and then he shoved the bowl into Rian's hand not bothering to wait for him to get a good hold on the bowl. Rian fumbled a little almost dropping it.

"I-I can't do it." Alex blinked rapidly and rubbed his neck right over the welt.
"Dude, you just puked up everything you've eaten probably in the last twenty four hours. At least eat half of it." Rian sounded tired and he hadn't even been there for very long.
"I want to," Alex said, "but I just can't, okay?"
Jack eyed Alex's face. There was a pale pallor to his skin. Jack grimaced and rubbed his face. "Half." He paused. "Please?"
"No."
"Alex."
"Jack."
Jack raised an eyebrow and Alex realized his arguing was futile. Alex made a pitiful sound in the back of his throat, taking a bite of the soup before spitting it back into the bowl again. He gagged slightly in his mouth, then dropped the bowl on he floor and crawled quickly to the toilet and spilled the contents of his stomach.

"Wow I didn't realize my cooking skills were that bad," Rian said, rolling his eyes. "Guess no one's going to be eating this." Rian took the bowl and left the bathroom.

Jack sighed. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. Sighing. "Okay, so... no food. Got it. Wonderful."

Alex leaned back against the wall with his eyes closed.
"I'm gonna get you some clothes," Jack said when the silence started to get awkward.
"No."
"Yes. Otherwise I have to clean the bathroom and I don't want to. I'll be right back."