The dying husband did not look elated to see him back in the bedroom as Tay imagined he would. He glared, rolled away, and draped the blankets over his head. The food Yllen brought in earlier was still lidded and untouched.
"Come on Thitipoom," he pulled his sleeves up to his elbows. Sat by his husband's side. "You have to eat."
"I don't have to do anything, you're not the boss of me." Though his voice was weak, the petulance was conveyed.
Tay took the lid off the chicken broth and lifted the bowl onto his lap. "You have to eat to get some of your energy back."
New sneezed in response. He tugged the blanket higher until the last strand of hair disappeared.
"I'll feed you." Tay volunteered.
The sick man pulled down the blanket inch by inch. Then turned around. "And kiss me on the forehead?"
"No."
"Then I won't eat."
Tay grabbed the blanket before it fully went over his head again. "Okay okay, I will."
New's smile was interrupted by a hacking cough. Tay took pity on him and filled the cup with some warm water from the thermos. He held it to his husband's lips.
"I hate this," New complained when the coughing ceased. "My head hurts, my bones feel weak, I ache all over."
"I'm sorry," Tay said and realized that he meant it. New was a pain in the ass but he didn't want him to suffer. "Here, have some food. It'll help."
"When will you kiss me?"
"After you've had your food." He held the spoon to New's lips.
"What if you don't kiss me after I've eaten?"
"And if you refuse to eat after I kiss you?"
"I won't do that."
"You've lied about more serious things."
New pushed himself up to a sitting position and leaned back against the headboard. He looked like it took a lot out of him. "Okay, food first." He parted his lips for the food. Grimaced. Held it in his mouth for a long time. Then swallowed with a wince.
"I can't, Tay. Please." He squeezed his face. His breathing came out as if he ran a marathon.
"Just a few more. You can do it. Then you get your kiss."
New's eyes held his. Tay almost laughed at the determined look that overcame his face. He nodded once and opened his mouth again. He swallowed the next spoon down quickly.
"Good boy."
"I'm a man." He argued but a blush rose to his pale cheeks. He opened up for the third time.
New shook his head after the 6th spoonful. His eyes drooped. He had struggled to keep them open for too long. "Tay, enough. Enough please".
Tay allowed him to sink back into the bed without a fight. Rather than the millions of pillows around, New chose his lap to rest his head. Tay set the bowl back onto the tray. He glanced down at his husband. The sick man's eyes were now firmly closed.
Thitipoom's charm only amplified when he was incapacitated. Read: when he was not trying to annoy the pants off him. Tay brushed the sweaty strands on his forehead back. He chuckled to himself when New caught the hand and pressed it to his neck.
"Warm," he sighed.
"You said it was too cold a few minutes ago."
"Now it's warm," His eyes were still closed. Tay's hand looked strange against the sickly skin. He stroked the folds on New's neck with his thumb.
"When are you going to kiss me?"
"Do you want it now or later?"
"Do I get an extra kiss if I choose later? Delayed gratification and whatnot."
Tay smiled at his husband, glad the man cannot see his face now. "You get one kiss."
New opened his eyes. They looked weak but his gaze was anything but. "Kiss me now, Tay."
It must be how it was worded. His attraction to his lying husband, it seemed, did not waver even when he was sick. There should be something morally reprehensible about feeling aroused when one's sick husband was resting in a person's lap.
A deliberate clearing of the throat impeded the descent of Tay's lips onto New's forehead. He swung his head up. Foei was failing at hiding a smile. Next to him was Neng, who was staring too hard at the ceiling.
Tay sprung up from the bed. His husband's head hit the mattress. He groaned. Muttered a swear word.
"How long have you been standing there for?" Tay rubbed the balls of his left elbow. He knew his face was tinted red.
"A while, Sir." Foei's tongue stretched the inside of his cheek. "We didn't want to interrupt but we didn't want to see—that either."
"Okay." Tay cleared his throat. Looked around the room. He swept his arm to his side. "Neng, come in."
Neng entered with a smile. He pulled Tay into a brief but intimate hug. "Long time no see, friend."
"It has been two months. I'm sorry I have been eating a lot of apples." Tay dragged the chair from the window to the side of the bed.
"Ah, apples. I see why my invitation got lost in the mail."
He took his friend's wrist and ushered him to the chair. "That was all mother's doing. I had no hand in the wedding planning—or the husband."
New's sneeze broke off their laughter. When Tay looked at him, he had a frown on his face. His eyes carried a storm.
Neng sat down with an apology on his lips. "I'm Neng, your doctor."
"Neng my doctor," His pointed voice could slice into beef. "How do you know Tay, my husband?" He made sure to stress the word. "I have never heard of you or seen you before." Try as he did, his voice was too nasal to be intimidating.
"We are childhood friends." Neng smiled at Tay whilst he pulled on his gloves. Tay returned the gesture. The ridge between New's brows deepened.
"I guess you aren't that special if he has never mentioned you."
Neng brought out his thermometer first. He gave it a little shake and held it to the sick man's lips. "Then I guess I'm not that special. Can you open your mouth for me, sir?"
"Only my husband is allowed to say that."
"Jesus," Tay mumbled.
New smiled. Unapologetic. He opened his mouth and closed it over the thermometer.
"I'm gonna ask some questions," Neng prompted. "Just nod or shake your head. Are you feverish?"
Two nods.
"Have you been coughing?"
Nod.
"Sneezing?"
Nod.
"Headaches?"
Nod.
"Diarrhea?"
Shake.
"Loss of appetite?"
Nod.
Loss of taste and smell?
Shake.
Neng scribbled something into his note in black ink. His penmanship had always been terrible and had gotten worse with his profession.
"You still write like this."
Neng's eyes folded with his smile. "Was I supposed to change it in two months?"
The thermometer beeped before Tay could think of a clever response. New just about spat out the device.
"100.8 is bad. I have some drugs here to ease some of the symptoms. Just a cough syrup and some Tylenol. The rest, you'd have to get in a pharmacy with a prescription—which I'll write right now."
Tay chuckled. "Still awkward as ever."
"You're the only one who thinks I'm awkward. Perhaps I'm only awkward around you." He scribbled down the prescription and handed the paper to Tay. "These will make you drowsier than you already feel," He unearthed a bottle of Tylenol and a cough syrup from his bag. Placed them beside New.
"Your face is making me drowsy."
Neng's lips pressed into a straight uncomfortable line. "That should be all. You'll also need a warm shower, lots of fluids, and a good rest. You'll feel better in a few days." He rose from the chair and hoisted his bag with him.
"I'll walk you out," Tay offered, already lifting an arm to drape across his friend's back.
"No!" New said as loud as his voice box could allow. "Foei, see him out. I'd like to have a word with my husband."
"Yes sir."
"See you soon, Tay." Neng waved.
"I'll give the apples a rest." His joke put a smile on his friend's face as he left the room. Foei was smart enough to shut the door this time. He turned to his husband. "What did you want to say?"
"The drugs, please. I'm dying here."
Tay uncapped the bottle and dropped two pills into his palm. He gave him some water to wash it down. The cough syrup followed. New swallowed it down quietly.
"Is that it?"
"Help me to the shower now."
"Do I have to?"
"Do you have to help your dying husband to the shower? What kind of man are you?"
"You're not dying, New."
"Bet you wished I were so you could remarry your doctor boyfriend."
And there it is! Tay decided to play the New Thitipoom game. He disregarded the accusation and helped New off the bed instead. He was unsteady on his feet but he could walk just fine. He walked to the bathroom without any incident but had to lean on the sink to catch his breath.
"Tired," he moaned.
Tay took over. He brushed New's teeth, pausing every few seconds when he giggled every time Tay said "open up".
"I knew you would stick something down my throat sooner than later but I didn't think it'd be a toothbrush."
"New!"
Minutes later, after some exchange of words, Tay shut his eyes as New pulled down his underwear. "You've seen me naked, Tay."
"I don't want to again."
"I'm sorry but you have to. This is not the time to be an innocent virgin. You were nearly begging to drop your pants for the good doctor but can't look at your husband's dick."
He ground his teeth, "I am neither a virgin nor innocent."
There was a strain in his voice when he spoke. "Oh, I forgot you watch porn. Your right hand must be doing all the good work."
"Left hand."
"What?"
"I use my left—," he huffed. "I don't want to talk about this." He took the hem of New's shirt and plucked it over his head, nodding in satisfaction when his husband groaned in pain. He avoided his lower body, eyes firmly fixed on his face.
His eyes were pinched and the skin on his face was uncharacteristically dull. There were cracks in his pink lips but it didn't make him any less gorgeous than he was the day before. Tay's eyes strayed back to New's. The man looked away, ears coloring. He took the initiative of wobbling into the shower first.
The space was built to accommodate more than 10 men. Something to consider when New decided to invite some of his 1000 exes over! A bitter voice in his head said.
Tay managed to keep his jaws off the floor as he admired New's backside. He was still in his suit pants and shirt. Shedding off his clothes would make things more complicated. But walking into the shower with these clothes would be too much of a task for himself and Jennie, their housekeeper.
He undid the buttons on his shirt first. New turned around just as the shirt came off. And fuck, no sick man should look that good. His husband smiled at him through the sliding door.
He pulled down his pants, never breaking eye contact with New. There should be a special place in hell for people who got boners while looking at their sick husbands. He would be the first in line to be thrown into that special pit.
His erection strained against his underwear. There was no way to hide it. He was pretty endowed. He joined his husband in the shower.
New chuckled. "Do you want me to take care of that?" He nodded to the bulge in his pants.
"No." He felt somewhat ashamed of his desires. "You can't even stand on your own. But you can run your mouth." He tweaked the shower to the right temperature.
"My mouth isn't sick, Tay. You'd be surprised at the things it can do." A cough seized his throat right after he said that.
"What were you saying again?" Tay grabbed a body wash from the unending varieties on the built-in shelf. "This okay?"
"I bought that for you but you never used our bathroom."
"The body wash in the guest bathroom is just fine. Is this okay or not?"
"It's okay, anything goes."
Tay flipped wet hair out of his face and painstakingly ran soapy hands down New's toned chest and back.
"Go lower." He dared. His voice was hoarse from the cold which in some messed up way made it sexier.
Tay was tempted to do it just to shut him up. And to satisfy his own carnal desires. However, he kept his hands above the waist. "Do that yourself."
He groaned. "I'm dying, Tay." His teeth bit into his lower lip. "This is a dying man's wish."
"A handjob is your dying wish?"
"What do you want me to ask for? I've got it all, I've been to all the places." He got tired of holding himself up and fell forward against Tay's chest.
"You're losing energy. Let's be quick about this."
"That's what he said." New giggled.
"You surely can't be sick if you're like this."
"Tawan, look at me. I'm literally dying!"