If You Miss It

34. overwhelming sex drive

CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

OVERWHELMING SEX DRIVE

—

It was not a date.

While Dmitri had played around with the idea for a bit, pondered on whether or not it could actually be a date (after all, Tariq had said that it was a date), yelled at his brain for settling on the worst possible result instead of having hope, one look at Tariq was enough for him to realise that it definitely wasn't a date.

With sunken in eyes that rested on heavy bags, dark and prominent, Tariq just offered Dmitri a weak raise of his lips, and an even weaker, "Hey."

An immediate frown took over Dmitri's lips as he entered the house, removing his shoes next to the door. "You okay?" he decided to ask, even though he knew the answer to that.

Tariq's face was enough of an answer.

"Do I look okay?" Tariq asked with a sniff, his I have a cold sniff, not the crying one. Though he looked like he may as well have been crying, with how bloodshot his eyes were.

Shrugging, Dmitri took a look around the house, eyes shifting from the strip of tablets on the dining table to the water that was boiling on the stove.

It wasn't a good day for Tariq. That much was clear.

"Are you sick?" he asked, placing the back of his hand on Tariq's forehead, which was surprisingly colder than he had expected it to be. Almost too cold for Tariq, who was warmth personified, literally and figuratively.

Tariq groaned, pulling a chair out of the dining table and sitting down, placing his head on the edge of it. "Last night was terrible. Pain all over my fucking body, had a sore throat so I spent the whole night hacking my lungs out. That led to stomach cramps, and it was just— it was a shitty night. I didn't want to call you because you've been sleeping well for the past three days, and I didn't want to be the one to—"

"You should've called me," Dmitri chastised, but Tariq just groaned again, raising his head to glance up at him, eyes smaller than they normally were. Probably because he had been awake for over twenty four hours.

For most people, pulling occasional all-nighters was okay. It didn't fuck with their systems as much as it did to Tariq's.

Dmitri knew that Tariq needed to sleep for at least eight hours each night, that if he didn't, he would be tired for the rest of the week, until he crashed for a minimum of twelve hours on a weekend.

"I didn't want to wake you up, I've done that once, I didn't want to do it again," Tariq explained, getting up from the chair and making his way over to the boiling water. Then, he poured it into a mug and downed it, all at one go. Jesus.

A brief second of silence washed over them, after which Tariq sniffed, pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket and sneezing into it, shooting Dmitri a smile immediately after, one that didn't quite reach his eyes nor the corners of his face.

"I'm sorry," he muttered under his breath. Nothing to apologise for. "I don't feel too shitty today, definitely not as bad as last night, but I just— I don't really feel up to going out today. I'm sorry," he repeated, taking a seat on the couch and closing his eyes.

Okay. I know what to do.

Opening one of the cupboards in the kitchen and finding it to be completely empty, save for a few spare plates, Dmitri opened another, eyes landing on what he wanted.