Work Text:
Craig was having a terrible day – no, a terrible week at this point. He was stressed, university was fucking killing him and he felt like he would keel over any second. He was way behind on his astro physics assignments, not to mention the presentation for Advanced Mechanics II he had to hold in two days, which he hadn’t even started on. On top of the piling assignments and work he had gotten sick.
Not terribly, but the constant itch in his throat and running nose told him he was probably about to be hit with a fever. Fuck this semester, truly. His entire schedule had been thrown off by a family emergency and since then he’d had trouble finding back into the rhythm of things.
Stripe 6th had gotten ill and Craig and his boyfriend had to take him to an emergency vet, leaving a huge stack of money back there. Vets weren’t cheap, but Stripe 6th was worth it. He had gotten a lung infection and needed expensive medicine on top of the already hefty medical bill. This had been a few weeks ago and their guinea pig was doing way better already, but Tweek had picked up a few extra shifts at his part time job, to balance out their income.
He was working at the local coffee shop on campus, never able to get rid of his affinity for caffeine and customer service. With his work and his music classes at university, Tweek was equally as busy as Craig and the last few weeks they had barely spent time with each other. Crawling into one of their beds together at the end of the day was the only time they saw each other throughout the day. If they even shared a bed.
Sometimes Tweek would come home to an already sleeping Craig, and since he didn’t want to wake his boyfriend, he opted to sleep in his own bedroom.
Craig was pissed about the entire situation. He missed his boyfriend. They didn’t even run into each other on campus, with their departments being so far away from each other and their schedule never aligning. Craig was about to lose it.
His steps echoed through the hallway as he stomped towards their apartment, his irritation palpable in his posture. He felt like he was about to explode, there was this heavy feeling in his chest, which meant he was either gonna start crying any second or punch the next person that talked to him. Just a tiny thing would make him go off.
Fumbling with the key he finally shouldered open the door. He just came from his last lecture of the day and to be frank – it had been a fucking shit show. Craig couldn’t concentrate at all, his brain fogging over every time he actively tried to listen. A blank page, opened in Words, had stared back at him, outright mocking him. This lecture was important, they had been going over essential stuff for the upcoming exam in two weeks, but Craig registered none of what was said. Fuck, he had to ask Tolkien for his notes again.
A coughing fit wrecked his body as he slammed the door close and he had to hold onto the wall for stability. His cough had gotten worse. His throat felt raw and dry as he hacked into his arm — he gagged once before finally being able to take a proper breath again.
In defeat, he leaned his forehead against the wall, the cool drywall a welcomed sensation against his heating skin. His sickness was about to hit him fully. He groaned, mostly in whiny irritation, and finally slipped out of his shoes. Dragging his feet towards his room he threw his backpack into a corner, his laptop making a dull noise as it collided with the wall. Shit. But he honestly couldn’t be bothered to check on it.
Exhaustion nestled deep in his bones and even taking off his jacket felt like a monumental effort. Without further ado he fell face-first down on top of his sheets.
Finally, he let himself melt into the soft feeling of his pillow. It probably still smelt faintly like Tweek, but his stuffy nose didn’t allow him to bathe in the comforting scent of his boyfriend.
Just thinking about Tweek made his eyes burn and he rolled over onto his back, pressing his hands into his eyes. God damn. He missed Tweek. So bad.
Not waking up next to him felt like a bad omen to him. The entire last week Craig had fallen asleep before Tweek came home and had to leave before Tweek woke up. Even on the weekend Tweek had been too busy, jumping in for someone at work since half of the staff was knocked out with a cold. It was sick season after all.
Craig glanced at his phone. 7:34pm. Tweek had work until eight, so that meant he’d be home in an hour. Craig whined into his hands.
He normally wasn’t that clingy or emotional, his usual deadpan never giving away any of his inner world. But with all the stress and now the sickness on top, he could feel himself grasping at his last straw. Sue him for wanting his boyfriend when sick. He already felt the oncoming crashout and he knew that, if Tweek wasn’t there to alleviate some of his stress, he’d accidentally hurt himself or break something in their apartment.
Craig wasn’t really prone to rage, always keeping his cool. But if he got angry or annoyed to a certain point, he didn’t shy away from using physical violence.
But this wasn’t usual anger or annoyance — it was irritation. There was an itch under his skin, one he couldn’t scratch no matter how hard he tried. He was pissed off at himself and the universe. At being sick and at the amount of uni assignments. He was pissed off at the lack of quality time with his boyfriend, at his life that currently felt like constant torture. Only functioning to eat, sleep and work.
Tears welled up in his eyes, even though he was pressing his palms into his eyes until he saw dots in his vision. Fuck. He hated crying. With a shaky breath he rolled onto his side and pulled the covers up to his chin. His stomach rumbled. His last meal had been some shitty cafeteria food hours ago that he’d gulped down in a rush so he wouldn’t be late to his next lecture.
He furiously wiped away some stray tears and grabbed his phone, coughing into his pillow. He opened up his chat with Tweek and stared at the last message he’d received.
14:29 : sry, gonna have to help out at work so ill be home around 8:30 again, love you<3
Craig scrolled up through their last texts before navigating to his clock app. Maybe he could just take a quick nap until his boyfriend came home. This way the next hour would pass faster and he could still see Tweek; it was a brilliant idea.
He slid his phone underneath his pillow and curled up into himself. He was cold, so he knew the fever was truly hitting him now. Still, it didn’t take long for him to doze off into a restless sleep.
“-aig? Hey Craig, wake up.”
There was a warm hand on his shoulder, shaking him out of his sleepy haze and he lazily blinked his eyes open. The first thing he properly registered was how hot he felt, stifling heat surrounding him under his blanket. His shirt clung to his back and he felt his jeans dig uncomfortably into his hip bone. He had totally forgotten to change into something more comfortable before dozing off.
“Hey babe, there you are,” Tweek was softly stroking his hair back from his sweaty forehead. He was looking at him with worry, but Craig only felt instant relief at the sight of his boyfriend, still clad in his work clothes.
“You’re home,” Craig croaked, dissolving into a coughing fit. The nap had made every symptom worse than before, he felt like bricks were weighing him down and sandpaper had rubbed his throat raw.
“Yeah I’m home,” Tweek reached towards the water bottle next to the bed and opened it for Craig, “I heard your alarm going off and wanted to see why you weren’t turning it off.”
Craig downed the entire bottle in a few gulps and put it on his nightstand. Immediately he nuzzled into Tweek’s hand and let out a whine at the difference in temperature. He wanted to curl up with Tweek in bed and never leave again, but at the same time he didn’t want his boyfriend to get sick too.
“Why didn’t you t-tell me you were sick, honey?” The small stutter in Tweek’s speech gave away some of the anxiety Tweek must feel, seeing his partner like this. His stutter and anxiety had gotten better during the years, especially after he moved out of his parent’s house. But in stressful situations it still came back, a blatant indicator of Tweek’s current stress meter.
“Just got sick today. Wanted to wait for you to get home,” Craig sniffled slightly and rubbed his eyes.
Tweek cooed in comfort. “Aw honey,” he laughed softly, “you’re such a big baby when you get sick.” He gave Craig a lingering kiss on his exposed forehead and stood up.
Craig immediately grabbed onto Tweek’s hand with a whine. He didn’t want him to leave and would prefer Tweek in bed with him than just next to it. Tweek rolled his eyes fondly.
“Jeez Craig, I’m not leaving,” he pulled back the covers and heaved Craig up into a sitting position, “you’re gonna take a shower, take some medicine and then you’re going back to sleep, okay?”
Craig whined again and started winding his arms around Tweek’s hips, pressing his face into Tweek’s stomach. The scent of coffee was so strong even Craig could smell it through his clogged nose. Or maybe he was just hallucinating, who knows.
“No- nope. Craig,” Tweek tried to pry Craig’s arms off of him, “you’re like an octopus, jesus christ.”
“Don’t leave,” Craig muttered into Tweek’s shirt, clinging tightly onto the fabric.
“I already told you I’m not leaving, dude.” Tweek was probably rolling his eyes at him, but Craig couldn’t see it. He knew his boyfriend well enough though. Tweek sighed in exasperation. “Do you want me to take a shower with you?”
Craig nodded against Tweek’s stomach, wiping his sweat across the shirt. “Yes, please.”
Tweek snorted. “So polite,” this time Craig let his arms go as Tweek pulled them off, “where did your snark go, babe?”
Craig knew Tweek was teasing, but he didn’t have the energy to join the casual banter as usual. He was so, so tired, even though a shower with his boyfriend sounded really good, he let himself be pulled up into Tweek’s arms.
Tweek noticed how out of it he was and helped him walk towards their bathroom; Talking quietly about his day and what annoying customers had plagued him today. Craig was intently listening as best as he could, but the brain fog was hard to fight on against.
As soon as they arrived in their small bathroom, Tweek sat him down on the toilet seat. “Do you need help undressing?”
Craig nodded, but started coughing again. He had to lean against Tweek so as to not fall over, and Tweek stroked his hair until he’d calmed down again. “I hate being sick,” he croaked pitifully into Tweek’s shoulder.
He suddenly felt like crying, tears welling up against his will. He knew it was just the fever and stress making him delirious, but he couldn’t help the sudden sob escaping his mouth. Tweek, of course, noticed.
“Oh sweetheart,” he lifted up Craig’s head and wiped away some tears, “let’s get you undressed, huh? I’ll help.” He kissed Craig’s cheek with soft lips and pulled Craig’s shirt over his head. Craig helped by lifting his arms but immediately hugged himself, the sudden cold making him shiver. Tweek helped him out of his pants with a quiet, “Lift your hips for me love.”
Tweek kissed his nose as soon as Craig sat completely naked on the toilet seat, freezing his ass off and shivering with a runny nose. Tweek started up the shower and kept checking the temperature until he deemed it hot enough.
“You too,” Craig said with a pout and pulled at Tweek’s shirt, like a small child clinging to its mother’s skirt. He truly didn’t feel like himself right now. His entire behavior was so vastly out of character, but the fever made him needy and whiny.
“Stop pouting at me you big baby,” Tweek rolled his eyes and slipped out of his work clothes. Normally Craig would rake his eyes across his boyfriend’s body in appreciation, but right now he was just happy to be in his presence. The casual way in which they shared a space felt intimate, cozy, comfortable. He felt safe with Tweek, having seen each other at their lowest and highest. For him Tweek was truly it. His one and only, the person he’d love until he died, he knew that.
Another wave of tears welled up at his thoughts and Tweek carefully pulled him under the warm spray of the shower, holding Craig’s hips with warm hands. The water washed away his tears, but didn’t wash away the intense feeling of love he felt for his boyfriend.
He wound his arms around Tweek’s shoulders and burrowed his face in his hair, enjoying the skin on skin contact.
“I missed you. So much,” he whispered into Tweek’s hair, barely audible over the water pelting down next to their feet, but Tweek caught it anyway.
“I missed you too. The semester is over in two weeks and then we’ll both won’t be as busy anymore.” Tweek stroked his hand across Craig’s back, mumbling against his shoulder.
“Can we spend the entire break together?” Craig didn’t know why he even asked, they always spent the semester break attached at the hip. Most of the time even that didn’t feel enough and sometimes Craig wished he could just crawl into Tweek’s ribcage, right next to his heart, and stay there for eternity. Damn he was so sappy today, as soon as he was healthy again he’d be so embarrassed.
“Of course silly, we always do that,” Tweek giggled and pressed various kisses across Craig’s shoulders.
They stayed huddled together under the stream for a while. Bathing in the existence of the other and the press of skin on skin. Only the occasional cough and sniff from Craig interrupting the rhythmic pitter-patter of the water.
Craig was already halfway asleep when Tweek ruffled his hair and unwinded himself from the protesting boyfriend.
“No…” Craig moaned in complaint.
“I have to wash your hair, come on,” Tweek turned Craig around, “afterwards you can go back to bed and I’ll cook you something.”
He started applying shampoo to Craig’s hair and his fingers rubbed soothingly across his temples. Craig sighed softly and closed his eyes, continuing to doze in the comforting presence of his partner. Tweek hummed a melody while he was massaging Craig’s head, until he deemed the hair ready to be rinsed out.
“Lean your head back a bit,” Tweek said softly and guided Craig’s head back under the spray, careful not to get any shampoo into his eyes.
Afterwards he took a sponge and started rubbing Craig’s body, turning him around into whatever position necessary. Craig just let himself be guided along, the hot water was slowly getting to him and he felt slightly dizzy. He held onto the wet tiles when his head swam.
“Honey,” he whined, trying to get Tweek’s attention, “m gettin’ dzzy.” Tweek looked up at him in alarm and stood up to stabilize him.
“We’re almost done, babe. Only a fast rinse and you’re done,” he washed the last soots off of Craig and guided him slowly out of the shower. Craig was clinging onto his arm, but sighed in relief as cooler air hit his body when they stepped out.
They were both dripping all over the floor and Tweek grabbed a towel from their rack, throwing it around Craig’s shoulders and setting him back down on the toilet seat. The shower was still running.
“I’ll clean myself real quick and then I’m right back, ok?” Tweek was rubbing his shoulders to keep him comfortable and distract him from the fact that Tweek wasn’t about to be in his immediate field of view for two minutes.
Craig pouted up at him again, but reluctantly nodded his head. He probably looked like a wet cat, sitting there with his dripping hair, huddled into the towel. Tweek kissed the top of his head in apology and hopped under the shower.
It really wasn’t longer than two minutes before he stood back in front of Craig. It felt like the longest two minutes of Craig’s life and he was getting cold again. “Wasn’t too bad, huh?” Tweek smirked down at him.
“It was horrible,” Craig deadpanned, his voice taking on an even more nasal tone than normal. The sniff that followed underlined his misery.
Tweek shook his head fondly and started toweling Craig’s hair, before drying off himself. “Let’s get you back into your bedroom-”
“No,” Craig vehemently shook his head, “wanna sleep in your bed.” Tweek’s sheets were just more cozy than Craig’s and he had these really pretty fairy lights hung up all across the ceiling, that just screamed home to Craig. They were nearly as pretty as Tweek, he mused to himself dreamily.
With a sigh Tweek guided him back to his own room and sat him on the bed. “Do you also want to wear some of my clothes, you leech?” Tweek had his hands on his hips, the towel dangerously low on his hip bones. Craig just stared at him wordlessly, lost in thought. He was really so gorgeous, the soft light highlighting his soft skin and freckles.
Tweek took his silence as a yes and started rummaging through his closet. He pulled out an oversized sweater and some joggers that were too big on him. They’d still be too short on Craig though. He helped Craig get dressed, he had started coughing again and was whining under his breath.
“I don’t wanna be sick, I hate it.” He muttered as Tweek helped him into the joggers, his normally unsteady hands soft on Craig’s ankles.
“I know, love. You already told me,” Tweek hummed, getting used to Craig’s needy behavior. “Now go, under the covers with you.”
Craig slipped under the fluffy blankets and looked up at Tweek with expectation written across his face.
“What?”
“Cuddle with me?” Craig sniffed pitifully, his face red from the fever.
“I need to make you some food,” Tweek stroked Craig’s cheek, “close your eyes and I’ll be back before you notice.”
The reluctant whine Craig let out made Tweek laugh as he slipped out the door towards the kitchen. Craig stared after him, but felt his eyelids droop from exhaustion. A short nap sounded nice, he thought.
He felt like he had just blinked when Tweek was suddenly shaking him awake, having sat some soup down onto the nightstand. “You need to eat something and take your medicine, but then you can go back to sleep.”
Blearily Craig blinked up at him, reminiscent of earlier. Tweek was dressed in blue pajamas and sat down next to him on the bed. “Come on, sit up.”
With a whimper Craig pushed himself up with his elbows and Tweek fluffed up the pillow behind his back so he could properly sit up. Craig just stared at Tweek in awe, slightly dazed. He was such a lucky man, having someone that cared so much about him. He smiled perhaps a bit dopely, because Tweek started laughing when he noticed Craig’s gaze.
“Damn, you’re so out of it man,” he giggled and pulled the soup into his lap, careful as a sudden tic made his head twitch. “You can eat on your own right?” He raised a skeptic eyebrow.
“I’m not five,” Craig frowned and was about to reach for the bowl as another coughing fit hit him. His entire body shook painfully as it finally stopped, his lungs fucking hurt.
“Well, you certainly act like it right now,” Tweek shrugged his shoulders and carefully set the bowl into Craig’s lap, leaving a hand on it just to be sure it wouldn’t tip over.
Craig whined in protest, but looked down in embarrassment when Tweek raised an eyebrow at him as if saying see?
Slowly, Craig started eating the soup. It was a simple vegetable broth with small star noodles in it. It was the soup he liked to eat when he felt down or sick, it was exactly what he needed right now. Tweek just knew him too well.
While Craig worked through his soup, Tweek started rambling on about his day again.
“And see, I knew as soon as she walked in that she was a Karen, but I didn’t expect her to straight up insult me, right? Normally these type of people are more backwards with their insults, but she immediately started insulting me. Well, I’m sorry we don’t have your fucking pumpkin spice in the middle of winter,” Tweek started gesturing with his hands and Craig had to pull his bowl closer to not get it whacked out of his hands, “maybe if you actually liked it so much, you would know it’s a fucking seasonal drink! Everyone knows that!”
Craig smiled softly at his boyfriend, he had missed his tangents about work.
“Anyway, and then at uni there was this hella annoying dude in my lecture that kept asking questions completely unrelated to the topic, solely to show off his knowledge,” he put knowledge in quotation marks, “like, none of his questions had anything to do with music production! It was infuriating! As if the entire lecture wasn’t awful enough you have this fucking guy on top of it, jacking himself off to his own questions! I wanted to shove a fist up his ass!”
At the mention of uni, Craig had suddenly lost any fleeting appetite he had. He had forgotten about his goddamn presentation in two days — he was so fucked. Tweek noticed how he had suddenly stopped eating, his bowl still half full.
“What’s wrong? Do you want me to warm up the soup again?” He already reached for the bowl to check the temperature, but put it down onto the nightstand when Craig just shook his head with pursed lips.
“I can’t be sick,” the stress came rushing back in and with it came the tears, “I have so much uni stuff to do and exams in two weeks.” He cleared his throat and sniffed, his snotty nose was infuriating. Tweek pulled a tissue out of his nightstand and handed it to him.
“Don’t think about uni right now,” Tweek slid under the covers next to Craig and pulled him into his chest, “if you’re sick, then you’re sick. Uni can wait. Your health is more important.” He stroked through Craig’s still damp hair, feeling Craig’s forehead in the process.
Tears were silently sliding down Craig’s cheeks and he pressed his face further into Tweek’s body. He wanted to smell the comforting scent of his boyfriend, but his stuffy nose didn’t allow him. Somehow this made him even more upset, and he started sobbing again. “But ‘m gonna b-bomb m’exams ‘f I don’t start studying,” he wailed into Tweek’s chest.
“If you bomb them, then you bomb them. Or you take the second exam. I know it sounds hypocritical coming from me, telling you you shouldn’t worry. But you really don’t need to, love. If your professors give you a hard time, I’ll personally shove their exams down their throat.” Tweek spoke in a calm and soothing tone and let Craig cry, leaving tear stains on his shirt.
Craig was all over the place, he felt so small and helpless in that moment. Everything felt like too much. The only balm on his soul was Tweek’s presence and his hand stroking his back in a circular motion.
After Craig’s sobs had turned into occasional sniffles, Tweek nudged him up, wiping his face with a new tissue. “Let me check your temperature and then you take some medicine. Afterwards we can go to sleep.” Craig whimpered and closed his eyes, wanting to bury himself back into Tweek’s warmth. Tweek pressed his lips to the crown of his head before sliding out the covers.
“Just one sec.” He left for the bathroom and Craig heard him rummaging through the cabinets, looking for their thermometer and medicine. The skin on his face felt dry from the tears and his eyes burned. It was pretty late now and he was really tired, but he still needed to take some pills, apparently.
Tweek came back and clicked on the thermometer, carefully inserting it in Craig’s ear and holding his hair out of the way. It beeped as it took the temperature and Tweek furrowed his eyebrows at the number he saw.
“39.7 degrees… Yes, that’s definitely a fever worthy of some painkillers,” he put down the thermometer and looked through the medicine he had brought, “ok take this one for your fever.” He dropped a pill into Craig’s hand, followed by a freshly filled water bottle, whenever he had acquired that. After Craig swallowed the pill Tweek held up a small cap of cough syrup up to his face.
“This one’s for your cough,” he picked up another package, “do you have a headache, or feel nauseous?”
Craig shook his head, no, he luckily didn’t have a headache, his head only felt stuffy and slow. Nor was he nauseous, only his appetite was nonexistent. So in terms of symptoms he had kinda lucked out, but he didn’t know what he would wake up with the next day. Better not jinx it.
After downing the cough syrup he got handed some nasal spray before Tweek turned off one of his fairy lights, leaving only the one above the headboard on. It bathed the entire room in a soft glow, not bright enough to disturb their sleep, but still giving enough visibility to find the door in case one of them had to take a piss during the night.
Tweek slipped back under the covers with Craig, adjusting the pillows so the both could lie down properly. Craig immediately cuddled up into his side and tangled their legs together.
“You’re like a furnace,” Tweek pressed his cheek against Craig’s head, “hopefully the medicine will kick in soon.”
Craig hummed with a croak and had to clear his throat, which made him cough again. After he settled back down he blinked up at Tweek’s face.
“Thank you for takin’ care of me honey,” he kissed Tweek’s cheek in thanks, “I love you so much.”
Tweek squeezed him in return and smiled down at him. His eyes were incredibly soft.
“I love you too, Craig. Now get some rest, we’ll take care of everything else tomorrow,” he stroked his cheek, “don’t worry your handsome head about it.”
With a loopy smile Craig’s eyes got heavier with every blink and he felt himself drifting off into a proper sleep, bundled in the arms of the love of his life.
The last thought he had was about how lucky he was that Tweek was equally as in love with him, as he was with Tweek.