Work Text:
Evan’s sick day
Connor looked out of the car window impatiently, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel in front of him while waiting for his phone the make a sound. Wednesdays his boyfriend of a few months, Evan, and him attended the same physics class, but today when Connor looked at Evan’s usual seat near the door it was empty. Evan ditching school was very unlikely and if he was sick, he would have written Connor a message. He always did that.
15 minutes into the period Connor couldn’t take the monotone voice of the old teacher anymore, who was scribbling something on the blackboard what seemed like thousands of incomprehensible equations. Without a word he had stuffed his only pen and half ripped up blog into his messenger bag, threw the strap over his shoulder and left. His had chair made a horrendous screeching sound when it scraped over the floor, but his classmates were so used to his behaviour, that only a few turned around to shoot him a glare.
That’s how he ended up in his car, waiting for his boyfriend to respond to his worried texts. After a moment only filled with the nervous drumming sound of his fingers, he turned on the engine and began to drive, maybe a little too fast, to the Hansens’ house. Connor pulled his beat-up car into the small driveway which was framed with various weeds and wild flowers, which seemed to grow through the hard surface of the concrete. The house itself was small and a bit shabby. The grey bricks of the way that lead to the door were dirty, you could see the red paint chipping from the door and if you squinted you could make out one window which didn’t quite fit in with the rest of the others. The neighbours’ children had shot it with a football long ago and blamed Evan to get out of trouble. The neighbours moved out and the window had been replaced with a nearly identical, cheaper one, but if you knew the story you could clearly see it standing out.
But this time Connor had no eyes for any of this. As soon as he reached the back door, which was always open in case Evan lost his keys, he stormed inside and went straight to Evan’s room. He opened the door carefully, not wanting to scare Evan in case he was inside.
And he was indeed. Sleeping with his head buried into the bedsheets while snoring softly. Connor smiled and sneaked as quiet as he could muster to Evan’s bedside. Softly he removed the blanked from Evan’s face, but his face instantly turned into a frown, when he saw that his boyfriend was undeniably sick. His face was red and sweaty and his skin paler then normal. Immediately he touched Evan’s forehead, the skin burning under his cold fingers. Connor was getting a little worried. Maybe he should phone Evan’s mom, Heidi, but she surely knew about this, so no need to panic.
Before he turned down all help from her, his mom would always make him soup to make him feel better. He didn’t even call her that anymore. Not “Mom”, no, now it was Cynthia Murthy, only another person in his world who tried to “fix” him. She always made him feel like everything was wrong with him. Evan was the exact opposite. He made him feel warm inside and important and when Connor thought he wasn’t enough, Evan was always there to hold him and to tell him how much he loved him. And now, the only human that cared about him was sick, and it was time to take care of him.
So, Connor went down to the Kitchen. It was messy to say the least. The dishes were stacked in the sink, the pot on the stove stored noodles, probably leftovers from the night before, and a few drawers full of unorganised kitchen stuff were left half open. But nevertheless, it appeared cosy. The barn red walls and the rustic countertops gave the house a homely touch and after a bit of rummaging through the cabinets and the fridge, Connor found what he was looking for: all the ingredients for an easy soup recipe he found online. He never cared to learn Cynthia’s.
His soup certainly wasn’t going to win a price, but for his first try Connor was proud of its quality. He stacked his masterpiece, some bread, glasses and a water bottle on a tablet and walked up the stairs to Evan’s room, while trying not to spill the hot soup. The first part of his mission was a success and he managed to put the tablet secure on Evan’s nightstand.
The next step was slightly more difficult: waking Evan. He just looked too cute to rip him out of his sleep, and staring at him was making it even harder. Finally, he gave himself a nudge and pressed his lips against Evan’s forehead. Slowly he pulled away, waiting for him to open his eyes, but he only stirred in his sleep and let out a soft grown. Connor chuckled at his antics and tried another method: Whispering Evan’s name, while shaking his shoulder softly. The attempt seemed to succeed, as Evans’ eyes fluttered open and he looked around a bit disoriented, until he saw Connor, looking at him lovingly while a lopsided grin played on his lips.
“I made you some soup” Connor said, pointing at the tray and sounding a tiny bit too proud about it. “Wha-, Why are-, I mean -” Evan stuttered out with a husky voice, when he got cut of by a violent cough. It wrecked through his entire body and left him with tears in his eyes. At once the relaxed expression vanished from Connor’s face and he instantly grabbed a glass of water for him, which Evan gladly excepted.
“I’m sorry.” Evan apologised in a defeated voice, but Connor just shook his head, silently telling him that he doesn’t have to do that. Connor lifted up a bowl of soup, his eyes still on Evan, which led him (unsurprisingly) to spill some of the already cooling liquid on his grey shirt. Seeing Connors annoyed expression, a laughter escaped Evans lips, who immediately slapped a hand onto his mouth.
“Well, I’m glad you are amusing yourself,” Connor teased “But If you weren’t sick, I would tickle you to death, babyboy. Now eat the damn soup.”
After the two emptied both bowls and Connor forced Evan to drink half the bottle of water, Evan sank down into the pillows again. He looked better than before; his face was less pale and instead of being dull, his eyes began to shine again.
“Could we watch a movie together?” Evan asked shyly, pulling Connor out of his thoughts of adoration and concern towards the boy in front of him.
“Sure, which one do you want?”
“I don’t know, you pick”
“Alright,” Connor gave in, “You go down and get comfortable on the couch and I change my shirt and find a good movie to watch.”
Evan smiled and peeled himself out of the thick layer of blankets surrounding his body, while Connor went to grab a shirt from Evans closet. Luckily, he had left a hoodie at Evan’s the last time he slept over, so he didn’t have to force his lean body into Evan’s far too small shirts.
By the time Connor arrived at the cluttered living room with a Harry Potter DVD in his hand, Evan had already boiled some tea for them and transported some blankets from the box in the corner of the room to the sofa. Connor got comfortable on the couch next no Evan and as soon as the movie menu appeared on the TV screen, he put an arm around Evans frame and pulled him closer to his chest.
“You will get sick” Evan injected, pulling away half-heartedly
“I don’t care, I only want you to feel better”
“But I care about you!”
Connor smiled, tilted the smaller boys head, so that he had to look at him and simply stated: “I love you Ev.”
Evan blushed slightly and leaned in to give his boyfriend a quick peck on the lips “I love you too.”
“Good, now that that’s settled…” Connor smirked and pressed the play button on the remote and pulled him close again, meeting no resistance this time.
Not even 30 minutes into the movie, Evan started to move even closer to the boy beside him and pulled his blanket tighter around his slightly shaking body. Connor glanced down at him with a worried look. The boy’s hair was a mess, his nose glowed red and his eyes were half closed.
“Hey, are you alright little one?” Connor asked, while pressing a gently kiss onto his hair. Evan shook his head. It was a small motion. Nearly everyone would have missed it, but Connor noticed it without any problems. There were no words needed, to tell him what Evan wanted, so he picked him up from the spot next to him and placed him in his lap, their chests facing. Evan buried his head in the crook of Connor’s neck at an instant, breathing in the familiar scent of shampoo and a bit of smoke, that clung to him. One of Connor’s arms was wrapped around Evans waist, while his other hand snuck under Evan’s shirt to trace calming pattern onto his skin and soon Evan’s entire body relaxed against him.
The movie continued to play in the background, but Connor only had eyes for the helpless boy in front of him. He couldn’t help but smile like an idiot as Evan fell asleep in his arms.
But blissful feeling wore off rather quickly, when his legs fell asleep and he got an uncomfortable itch on his nose. After a bit of contemplating he decided, that Evan would sleep best in his bed, so he picked him up in bridal style, of course cautiously not to wake his darling up, carried him up to his bedroom and carefully laid him onto his bed. Always keeping his eyes on him, Connor wrapped him tightly into a fluffy blanket. As soon as the warmness of the cover wrapped around him, Evan’s scrunched up face relaxed. He looked so cute, that Connor couldn’t resist to lie down beside him and throw another blanket over them. Still asleep, Evan immediately shifted towards him and weakly grabbed onto Connors arm as to forbid him to leave from his side. Connor chuckled softly, adjusted his position, so Evan’s head rested on his chest and began to stroke his hair, knowing it always calmed him.
Despite all his trying to stay awake, the warmth of the blanket and Evan’s body combined with the subtle snoring and the grey sky outside the window slowly lured Connor into drifting into the world of sleep.
The cuddling couple stayed fast asleep until they were awakened by the front door opening. Evans mum had come home. Connor groaned in annoyance of the disruption and Evan rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand to get rid of any sleepiness and looked at Connor. Without a word, but a very telling smile, he leaned forward and kissed him. Connor was surprised, but certainly not averted, so he cupped Evans cheek with one hand and pulled him closer with the other on his neck. After they parted Evan smiled at Connor for a moment as he traced every feature of Evan’s face with his fingertips, as if he wanted to memorise it for forever.
“Thank you” Evan broke the silence.
Connor’s fingers stopped to move and his eyes locked with Evan’s: “For what?”
“For everything”