Inspired by the horrid cold I've been dealing with since Thursday before last. Ah, the joys of working with sick people.......
*****
"Decs? You here?" Ant called out, his voice sounding strangely loud and echoing in the dark hallway of his friend's home.
No answer.
His worry - previously only filling his stomach calmly - was now surging up his throat and making his mouth feel drier than a desert. He and his fiancée of a month, Lisa, had just returned from a three day trip to Oxford to visit Lisa's family and friends, and had come back to London a few hours ago. It was nearing five o'clock in the afternoon, and Ant had headed over to his best mate's house to see if he wanted to come around for dinner.
Actually, there was another reason he'd popped around. Neither he nor Lisa had heard from Dec since before they'd left for Oxford, which was strange. When they were apart, Ant and Dec still texted each other regularly to let the other know what was happening. This time though, Ant's texts had gone unanswered for three days, and when they'd tried ringing him, the phone had been left similarly silent.
In the end, Lisa had suggested that he go over to their friend's house to check that everything was alright. Ant had been glad that she'd suggested it, although he'd been seconds away from making the choice himself - worry for his little friend nearly through the roof.
As he walked through the house now, Ant swallowed hard to both wet his mouth and to calm his racing heart, before he padded across the tiled floor of the kitchen into the living room, where the sight that greeted him nearly made him collapse out of sheer relief.
Dec was fast asleep on the sofa, surrounded by blankets and snuggled under a duvet that Ant suspected he'd pulled off his own bed. Spread all over the coffee table were a variety of different coloured boxes, which - on closer inspection - turned out to be packets of throat lozenges, a nasal spray, a tub of Vick's chest rub, cough mixture, and some Day and Night cold/flu tablets.
A bin that looked suspiciously like the one that usually lived by the kitchen counter lay patiently next to the sofa, overflowing with used tissues and nearly bulging under the sheer amount of content it held. Some of the tissues had clearly not even made it into the bin as they lay strewn on the floor nearby, the sight making Ant's nose crinkle a bit in mild disgust before his concern took over once more.
An empty glass sat on the table beside one of many empty boxes of tissues, the residue in the bottom of it suggested that it had previously held juice of some description, and now it had dried into a sandy crust-like sediment at the bottom of the glass.
As Ant approached the sofa, trying to be as quiet as possible, Dec shifted under the mountain of blankets and his breath hitched as his eyelids flickered. Ant thought for a moment that he might get away with his approach, but then - with a rattling cough that was sure to set off a fit - Dec's eyes opened and he curled up as the coughs continued, pressing a fist to his mouth in an attempt to smother the coughs.
It didn't work, and he quickly tried to sit up as - sure enough - the coughs turned into a nasty fit. Having heard enough, Ant stepped forward and helped his friend upright, reaching around to rub his back.
The coughs sounded awful; deep and rattling and full of thick congestion as a yellowish phlegm appeared on the duvet. Wordlessly, Ant grabbed a few tissues and picked up the mess and tossed the used tissues into the bin.
"Alright?" he asked quietly when the coughing fit finally settled.
Dec's head shot up in surprise and as glazed, miserable eyes met his own, Ant couldn't help but smile.
"When'd dou ged here?" Dec asked back, coughing weakly into his arm before he lifted his gaze back upwards to Ant's concerned face.
Smile turning sad, Ant sat down next to him on the sofa and reached up to run a gentle hand through his friend's damp, lank hair. "Just before you woke up. I popped over cause I was worried about ye: hadn't heard from ye from a few days, Lise and I were thinking something had happened" he replied, hand shifting instinctively to rest on Dec's brow, frowning at the warmth under his touch.
Although, given the flush of his cheeks and the familiar glisten in his eyes, Ant wasn't really surprised.
He was worried though, when Dec's head followed his hand as it leaned into his touch, its owner whimpering softly as the movement pulled at his swollen neck. Seeing the wince, Ant's hands moved to the sides of his neck, just behind his jaw, and gently felt his glands - prompting another wince from his friend as Dec tried to pull away.
"Sorry pal" he apologised, dropping his hands back down to his lap. He couldn't help but chuckle as he felt his friend's head come to rest against his chest, another cough breaking weakly from his chest.
His hand came up to rub the back of his neck comfortingly, heart clenching when he felt both the unnatural warmth and the tense muscles under his fingers. Another cough followed by a whimper and the familiar feeling of a head pushing into his collarbone made Ant wince sympathetically.
"Aw, kidda" he sighed, wrapping his arms around Dec's body and pulling him close to his chest. "Why didn't you tell us you were sick? Hey? We could've looked after ye-"
Dec cut him off with a weak shake of his head and another cough. "Dno. I can look afder byselb!"
Ant raised an eyebrow sceptically. "Kiddo; you're feverish, you're coughing up your lungs every ten seconds, you clearly haven't eaten, and you're probably dehydrated as well. And you're so weak that if I wasn't holding you up right now, you'd be right back on those pillows."
Cheeks flushing with embarrassment, Dec shifted uncomfortably in his arms - the rising fever making him achy and cold.
"Like I said" he grumbled, although he didn't hesitate in snuggling back down into Ant's arms, prompting a fond chuckle from above his head.
"Righto kidda" Ant murmured teasingly, "well I'm here now, so let's get you feeling better, okay?"
Dec was silent for a moment, before he nodded and then he was overtaken by another coughing fit. Bent further double with the force of it, the sound of each cough being dragged up from his chest and grating on the inside of his throat made tears of pain and exertion leak sluggishly from his eyes.
"Aw, Doolittle" Ant whispered sadly, kissing his forehead reassuringly as the fit settled and Dec's head nestled back into the crook of his neck.
"I'm sorry, Anty" he whimpered croakily, coughing weakly into his neck as miserable tears fell from his eyes and sobs began to tear from his throat.
He'd tried so hard to keep himself from being a burden to Ant and his new fiancée, telling himself that they needed the time to enjoy themselves without having him tagging along like the third wheel he knew he often seemed like. So he'd kept himself shut away in his home from the first moment he'd felt sick, shivering miserably on the couch and wishing for nothing more than to be comforted by his best friend.
That had been nearly four days ago, and things had progressively worsened over that time, to the point where he felt too weak to even get up off the sofa to go to the bathroom when he needed to. But he'd still stubbornly refused to seek out Ant's company - even over the phone or through their text messages - forcing himself to tough it out on his own.
Now Ant was here, and Dec was overtired, weak, feverish, and felt absolutely rotten, his emotions had finally gotten the better of him, and he couldn't stop the tears when they started to come. Wrapping his arms weakly around his best friend, he started to cry into his chest, their intensity increasing as he felt the embrace being returned.
"Why didn't you come to us, kiddo?" Ant wondered imploringly, continuing to rub his back in the hopes of getting him to calm down.
"I didn't wand do addoy dou. Dou werb ond holiday" was the muttered reply, hidden behind another sob, but Ant still heard it somehow, and it broke his heart to hear.
"You could never annoy me, kidda" he assured, alarmed when something else seemed to break inside his distraught and feverish friend and his cries increased. "Never ever ever."
At this, Dec glanced up at him - bottom lip wobbling and eyes shining with more tears.
"But you and Lisa-"
Ant was shocked at that, and he nearly let his mouth fall open. "Hey, listen to me, Decs" he ordered, putting a hand on his wet cheek and tenderly stroking away the tears before he continued. "It's my job to look after you: always has been since we were kids. Me being engaged now doesn't change any of that; Lise adores you, it was actually she who suggested I come over and make sure you were alright."
Dec's eyes now filled with surprise, followed closely by guilt for making his friends worry over him unnecessarily.
Seeing the flash of guilt in his eyes, Ant sighed and pulled him back into his chest.
"Mate, just because I'm engaged now doesn't mean I don't still care about you. You're still my best friend, and I love you to bits - always will, okay?"
Another nod, followed closely by a sniffle and another sob. It was clear that something else was bothering him, and - knowing him as well as he did - Ant picked up on it almost immediately.
"Oh kidda, did you seriously think I wouldn't want to look after you if you were ill just because I've got a woman in me life?" he asked, raising his eyebrows in question as he spoke. "A woman who - I might add - has known and loved you for years and would never ever begrudge you a little comfort when you're not well? And would probably quite gladly dish some out herself if she knew you were poorly?"
Finally, that got a sheepish breath of laughter in response, and Ant huffed in approval. "I thought not" he muttered, although he still tightened his arms around Dec's trembling body as his feverish cries turned to thick wet sniffles. "Ye dafty" he added fondly, smiling to himself as Dec nestled further into his chest with a snuffle.
It took a few more minutes of cuddling for his friend to settle, and then Ant laid him gently back on the pillows before he left with a pat on his shoulder. Dec watched him go with heavily lidded eyes and tear tracks still on his fever-flushed cheeks.
Meanwhile, Ant tidied up the area around the table and sofa, taking the bin bag outside and replacing it within the space of a minute. He took the dirty glass into the kitchen and gave it a thorough rinse under some hot water before he put it in the dishwasher. Grabbing another glass, he poured out some fresh water from the filter and brought it back into the living room, passing it over wordlessly.
"Small sips, Deccy" he instructed, helping his friend sit up and holding the glass to his chapped lips.
Obeying without complaint - which made Ant's eyebrows raise in surprise and concern - Dec managed nearly half the glass before another coughing fit forced him to stop. Putting the glass down on the table, Ant shifted slightly so that he could rub his friend's back in an attempt to help calm the coughs.
"You actually had any of that cough syrup?" Ant asked when he was done, tutting when Dec shook his head with a muttered "haben't feld like it."
"No wonder you're coughing your lungs up, kiddo" Ant continued, shuffling off the sofa so he could prepare some cough syrup for his friend. Pouring out 15mL of the mixture into a medicine cup, he passed it over and watched to make sure Dec actually took the medicine (having been known in the past to sneakily pour the liquid out to avoid actually taking it).
He did, although the bitter taste of the syrup made him grimace and pull a face - which Ant couldn't help but chuckle at.
"There ye go. That should start working in a few minutes, give ye a bit of peace, eh?"
Dec just glared at him, although his eyelids appeared to be getting heavier as his body tried to pull itself back to rest. After a few seconds, a new look appeared in his eyes and his upper body folded over to curl into Ant's lap, nestling down with a miserable whine.
"Do you want me to stay?" Ant asked quietly, rubbing a gentle hand across his friend's shoulders, suspecting he already knew the answer.
Pleading hazel eyes blinked sorrowfully up at him, and Ant's lips quirked in a half-smile before he lifted the weak body up and laid down behind it, gently laying his sick friend back down so that his upper body was in his lap and his head was resting on his chest. Pulling him close, he pressed a tender kiss to the fluffy hair under his chin, and settled back against the pillows.
"Just rest, little Deccy" he cooed softly, hand beginning to rub up and down Dec's back in an attempt to coax him back to sleep. "Just sleep, I'm here, and I'll look after ye now."
His sick friend smiled weakly as he nestled further down into Ant's chest with a contented - if very congested - snuffle and an almost silent whisper "I know."
Smiling fully now, Ant couldn't resist dropping another kiss to his hair, sighing in relief as Dec slept - in exactly the place where he'd wanted to be all along; in his best friend's arms.
*****
END
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