JJ was known to be dramatic, and overly, not to mention when someone was sick. Heaven forbid someone got near him when they were with the flu. Everyone thought it was weird since he had a bad habit of eating expired, moldy food and filled his lungs with unhealthy substances- weed not included.
He warned you against taking care of Kie who had gotten a cold, then Sarah who had gotten it from the former, you're luck had run out by the fourth day you had John B on bed rest. Pope had kept a safe distance so he was in the clear. He'd been the one who had told JJ of your current state.
You should have taken greater precautions, worn gloves, not gotten as close, and not slept over at every sick person's house to make sure they were okay.
Your bad habit was taking care of your friends and forgetting to take care of yourself in the process. Not that you minded, they needed you and you were happy to provide. They were your friends, after all, they were all you had and you were all they had. Your parents don't care where you are or who you're with, never did- that gave you the freedom to do anything you wanted.
It also meant you had to learn how to take care of yourself and in doing that, you naturally started to take care of others.
The pogues depended on you, you kept them fed; kept snacks in a bag that you brought with you everywhere, you always kept an extra shirt or two, and allergy medicine for that particular season. You didn't exactly have the money for all that but you picked up a thing or two from JJ, they never knew all that you would do for them.
Ever since that fated day in kindergarten when you threw sand in a boy's eye to slow down his chase on John B, he grabbed your hand and ran with you until the teacher put a stop to the 5th grader's terror over the two of you. You took care of him and he took care of you, that was kind of a Pogue thing, something you took pride in.
This fever though, is not your finest moment.
Kie was on bed rest at her parent's house when you were taking care of her. Her parents were needed at the Wreck and couldn't stay home with her so you did. Passed the time with gossip and movies, you forced medicine down her throat when she resisted, made sure she didn't get out of bed because all she wanted to do was chill in the sun on the HMS. Her parents had strict orders, she felt guilty that she was barely ever home and helping with the restaurant so you worked her shifts when she was in the stages of getting better.
Sarah was the same except she was much needier, she missed John B and was whinier than Kie, cursed you out as if you were the one that got her sick, and then asked if you could spoon her cause she was lonely.
John B was worse. Way worse, so bad that next time he was sick you'd take your chances at your own house. He was a literal man child, if he was the first one that got sick you would have thought it was the plague from how he insisted he was dying from something worse than a cold.
Now because of the big baby who refused to take the medicine, accidentally sneezed one too many times without covering his nose, and who was still sick by the way- you were on your own deathbed. Pope passed by to see how the quarantine was going, John B was slowly recovering but still not considered alive and you appeared to be a walking zombie.
JJ was pissed, not that he would show how angry he was but he'll definitely let it known how annoyed he was. He brought Tylenol, Benadryl, and NyQuill, and went to three different drug stores to get each without being suspicious in his dealings.
You were currently making two cups of noodle ramen, one for you and the other for John B. JJ placed the medicine on the counter, his hip leaning against the edge with his arms crossed, staring at you as you poured the soup into a bowl for John B.
"The hell are you doing?"
His voice made you jump with a small yelp, the rest of the hot soup splashing and burning the top of your hand. The pain went away in a second as you licked the droplets on your hand, you glared at him, clutching the blanket around your shoulders after putting a spoon in the bowl and heading to John B's room.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" You shuffled your way to his room almost losing balance as you felt yourself get lightheaded. Your back was to him so you could see the way JJ reached out his hand as if giving you the strength to stand or to catch you if you did fall.
He shook his head and went to you, grabbing the bowl from your hands, "Give me that."
"JJ, that isn't for you!" You exhaled with a shaky breath.
He rolled his eyes, "I know." He went into John B's room, you heard his surprised voice at the sight of JJ in the quarantine zone. JJ was in and out in a second, shutting the door to your shared best friend's room, he stood in front of you with a stern face and hands on his hips.
"Well?" He gave you an expectant look, you quirk your brow in question. "What are you waiting for? Get to bed."
"What?" You stuttered. "But my soup!"
"I'll bring it to you, you're officially now on bed rest," He shooed you with his hands. "Go on, get. Better be under those covers when I get there."
You huffed in annoyance but followed his orders, the bed did sound nice. You didn't get a lot of rest in taking care of the others, you were like a mother hen all worried, they joked about how you would get sick of them one day. You never thought it would actually be true.
Your body shivered as you felt the coolness of the unused bed, you sat against the pillows with the comforter over your lap. Your head throbbed at holding the weight of your head, you wanted to lay down and sleep but your stomach growled at the thought of the noodles. You didn't even have much of an appetite but you haven't eaten since earlier this morning when you force-fed John B some toast.
JJ bursting through the door made you jump again, you winced "Can you move more... quietly?"
"My bad, Y/n/n." He gently placed a tray with the soup and Gatorade, he knew you got thirsty when drinking something hot. He didn't know if it was healthy or not, but he knew that even if you were drinking hot soup you wanted something cold. "Eat."
You narrowed your eyes, "Thanks." You picked up the spoon and began to sip.
"You're done taking care of John B," He softly shut the door behind him, leaning his back against it. He watched you pause halfway dipping your spoon back into the bowl, "Don't give me that look, you're sick."
"So is John B-"
"He'll be fine, I'll be here and make sure you're both alright, besides John B's feeling better already."
You give him a deadpanned look, "Give him a couple of hours, he'll be telling you it's his time for the third time today."
"It'll be your time if you let yourself waste away because you're taking care of everyone else but yourself." He sat on the edge of the bed by your thighs, he reached out his hand and brushed a stray hair behind your ear. "You can't keep doing that, pretty girl."
Your body shivered again though this time you weren't sure what it was from, JJ or the fever. "If I don't then who will, J?"
"They appreciate it, I know they do, alright but remember that one year when we had finals you were hella stressed and yet you were talking Pope down a ledge, volunteering with Kie cause you didn't want her to do it alone when she asked and nobody wanted to, John B always needs your help with something-"
"Just sounds like your jealous," Your face held a lazy smirk at the joke.
He clicked his tongue, "You take care of me too. A lot, that gets me to my point, you need a break. You reached that point, just like you did that year when you got physically sick because of how stressed we were making you."
"This isn't like last time, I just caught the cold, but I'm fine I just need to eat then I can make sure John B gets better."
"I'll make sure John B doesn't die and I'll take care of you."
"You?" You almost want to laugh at the thought of JJ taking care of both you and John B, especially with his affliction with sickness but the increased pounding in your head prevented you.
"Shut up and eat your noodles."
~~~
The rest of the day he doted on you, doted was too mild a term, full-on hovered over you. He kept you fed, reached things for you when he didn't have to, he gave you a little bell for you to ring like he was your servant.
You fucked with him a little too much with it until he threatened to take it away but he came every time you rang. It made you hopeful, a little too hopeful, in a way that you shouldn't of your best friend. Because that's what this was, one best friend taking care of the other. He wanted you to be comfortable but not weirdly comfortable, and he was only taking care of you because he felt bad.
Then again you and JJ were never just normal best friends. You both had no boundaries when it came to one another, the line was never drawn and neither of you wanted to form one, perfectly complacent with the unsaid rule of being there for each other. You loved each other like family and respected each other like friends, but every touch had an underlying meaning that was better off not being unmasked.
Even now when your fever had you shivering like you were in Antarctica with JJ's body heat on your back, his chest exuding a warmth that made you nuzzle further into him. You felt a little moisture coming from him, poor guy, you had him sweating from how hot it was. But internally you were freezing.
You groaned as you felt your body ache, the back of JJ's hand went to your neck and your forehead, and he hissed.
"You're hot, Y/n," He put his weight on his forearm to hold himself up. He looked down on you like a golden angel and you briefly thought that you wouldn't mind if the fever took you out.
You breathed out a chuckle, "Yeah, I know. Remind me when I actually feel like it."
He rolled his eyes but smirked anyway, "Your temperature, Pretty girl."
"Mm," You turned your weak body to talk to him face-to-face without having to twist your neck. "Shut up and cuddle me."
"You gotta actually take a nap this time though," He strokes your cheek with his thumb. "You need to rest."
"Sir, yes, sir-" You would've saluted but that meant moving your arm that felt way too heavy to lift at the moment. JJ turns to grab something from the nightstand and hands you a plastic shot cup, the one that comes on top of the medicine bottles.
"Drink this," He hands you the tiny cup with the red liquid. "I thought you would like taking it this way so you could pretend you're taking a shot."
Your heart melted at the sentiment and took it out of his hand, "Are you trying to drug me right now?"
"Probably the only time I'd do something like that but I'm willing to do it if it means you'll feel better."
"You're annoying," You drank it with one swallow, expecting it to taste worse than it actually did but the flavor he picked out made it sweet.
He placed a hand over his chest in mock hurt, "Is that any way to speak to your nurse?"
"The elderly people at the hospital would treat you way worse."
"That's why I'm only qualified to take care of you," He bopped your nose and you scrunched it as his finger tapped lightly.
He settled down beside you after he took the empty cup out of your hands and set it aside, his hands traveled from your waist to your arm into your hair, playing with each strand on the top of your head.
You began to faintly trace the curves and angles on his face while trying not to think about how intimate this was, you were close, so close your noses were touching.
You wished your brain would stop thinking so you didn't feel the need to break the silence, suddenly being hyperaware of the fact that while both of your legs were tangled in each other, bodies touching, fingers roaming- all the while intense eye contact was being made. "You're going to get sick being this close to me."
"I like being this close to you," He whispered. "If I get sick, you're worth it."
"I don't like when you say things like that," You nibbled on your lip only slightly- another bad habit that you picked up on when you were nervous and felt awkward. His fingers untangled themselves from your hair and you regretted speaking but it was how you felt. Him saying things like that made it feel like this was more than what it was and you knew better than that.
His eyes flickered from where your teeth were caught on your lip, his thumb pulled it with his index curved under your chin. "Why?"
"Because," Your breath shuddered.
"Because?" His ocean-blue eyes held yours and you were about to give it all up right then and there. You were sick, you weren't in the right state of mind and you would never forgive yourself if you admitted your love for him right now and he rejected you while you already felt like you were dying.
You couldn't handle looking at him anymore and began to move your body so that your back was facing him when you talked but his hand slipped onto your cheek and he pulled you into him, attaching his lips to yours.
He kissed you once, twice, and the third time felt like he was speaking a language that you understood all too well and you reciprocated. Your lips moved languidly with his, an natural movement that made your heart flutter through the fever that held you captive all day.
He pulled away giving you one last kiss, "I love you. I'm tired of pretending I don't and that everything I do for you is just because we're friends when we both know that it's more, at least I hope it is because if not then what just happened made us a hell of a lot closer and definitely more awkward. I love you, and you don't have to feel the same cause either way I will always always take care of you but I just needed you to know because I feel like friends or not, you forget that people care about you too. We care about you, and I love you."
You blamed how sick you were feeling for the tears that threatened to spill out of your eyes from his confession, "God your such a sap."
His panicked expression searched your face for any other sign of a reaction to the word he just spoke and you kissed him. You kissed him deeply and with the assurance that you hoped translated with the way your soft plump lips spoke on his. "I love you more, J."
He brought you into his chest, cradling your head, your arms around his middle holding him tight. The distraction of his confession interrupted the thoughts of how frail your body felt but now it was coming back as his heartbeat thumped against your ear and your mind slowly drifted into sleep.
"JJ?"
He hummed in response.
"Thank you for taking care of me."
"Anytime, baby," He squeezed you gently. "Now go to sleep."