Cold Viruses and Warm Hearts

Howie knew that Adrianna was sick the moment he stepped into his sixth period tutoring class.

The freshmen this year were an obnoxious, talkative bunch prone to gossiping about anything their little brains found remotely interesting. The girls were some of the bitchiest he'd ever had the misfortune of coming across, and many of their male peers were just as rude and petty. So, naturally, a teacher as strict – not to mention beautiful – as Adrianna was the main topic of many nasty rumors that the little fucks liked to spread around.

"Did you hear that there's a substitute for Mrs. Jeepers?" one girl – Shelby, if he remembered correctly – whispered nastily.

Her bubble-headed friend giggled. "Yeah! Like, it's about time that we finally caught a break. That bitch is creepy as hell. And she's, like, totally a vampire in disguise. Maybe she finally got a bad enough sunburn that she couldn't come in."

The muscles in Howie's jaw twitched violently. Dear Christ, he hated these little bitches. They were obnoxious and rude and, in the case of the girls, downright cruel. He couldn't fathom where in the fucking hell their parents went wrong, but something got royally fucked in the line of discipline with this batch of fresh-meat. And it didn't help that all the freshmen girls he loathed so heartily constantly flirted with him.

In silent retaliation for the two comments, Howie pretended to ignore their calls for help as the class period went on. Maybe it was petty, but if they were going to be stupid and cruel, they'd get no sympathy from him.

"What was up with Howie today?" the blonde girl – Faith – complained as the bell rang. "He's been, like, totally cold all period."

"I dunno," Shelby replied. "It's like he doesn't realize how awesome today is. We're free from the Algebra Vampire! Can't he just be, like, happy?"

The tension in Howie's jaw increased to the point where he thought his teeth were going to explode. Furious and worried, he managed floated through his seventh period Chemistry course in a haze of red. It was a simple lesson anyway, acids and bases. He thought it could apply to the fucking freshmen – the Shelby girl probably would've registered a 14 on the pH scale because she was such a basic white bitch.

When the bell rang signaling the end of school, the blonde senior sprang out of his seat and literally sprinted out of the building. His bag wasn't heavy – Friday was a wonderful day indeed – so being weighted down wasn't a problem. And the summer job he'd held since age fourteen plus judo made the run from school to Adri's house fairly easy.

School let out at exactly three-fifteen.

Howie was standing at Adri's front door – keys in hand – at three eighteen.

Ruffling his hair nervously, the teenager rapped his knuckles against the ancient oak door to announce his arrival before using his key to unlock the door. The house was quieter than normal, much quieter, and a chill went up Howie's spine at the thought that something bad could've actually happened to Adri. His worry went down a notch or two as he heard the sound of heavy coughing floating down from the master bedroom. A tiny smile curled his lips as muffled Romanian swears drifted in after her coughing fit ceased.

Well, she wasn't dead yet, so that was a good thing.

Howie closed the door behind him and dropped his backpack on the couch. Then he toed off his black canvas sneakers before jogging up the old staircase. Adrianna was coughing again, a wet cough that sounded like it hurt, and the teenager winced in sympathy. Gently, he pushed her bedroom door open and stepped in.

Adrianna looked like death warmed over. Her normally vibrant green eyes were dull, bloodshot, and there were deep purple bruises shadowed beneath them. Her skin was ashen, unnaturally white against her messy red hair, which she'd pulled up into a sloppy bun, and he could see her shivering from the doorway. However, despite how miserable his girlfriend looked, Howie couldn't help but chuckle lightly at her.

She'd ensconced herself in a fortress of pillows and blankets, arms wrapped around the Dumbo tsum-tsum he'd gotten her for Christmas.

"Hey, hot-stuff," he drawled. "You weren't at school today, so I dropped in. Looks like it was a good thing I did."

Adri shot him a miserable, pleading look, snuggling further into her cocoon. "Leave me alone to die in peace. I don't feel like dealing with your sarcasm right now."

The blonde shook his head, still barely smiling, and crossed the room in three quick steps. He dropped onto the mattress next to her gracelessly. Adrianna groaned at the motion, but she didn't move away from him as he placed his hand on her forehead. She was burning up. In fact, the heat radiating off of her petite frame almost made him flinch. Howie frowned gently at her.

"Have you taken any medicine?" he questioned softly. "You're burning up."

Listless and obviously aching, Adrianna leaned into his touch. Her eyes fluttered shut. "I took some ibuprofen at eight this morning."

Sighing at his girlfriend's stubbornness, Howie leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead before getting up off the bed. "Stay here. I'll get you a couple of Tylenol and a glass of water."

At that moment, Adrianna did something that astounded him. She pouted, expression close to a small child who'd gotten sick and then realized that their mother had to leave. A grin curled Howie's lips. Again, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her heated forehead, lips lingering for just a moment longer than was strictly necessary.

"I'm not leaving," he chuckled. "It'll only take me a second and then I'll be right back here."

Reluctantly, he made the trek from her bedroom to the kitchen. Adrianna didn't like to keep her generic medicine in the bathroom – though, God knew why – so he grabbed the blatantly obvious bottle of Tylenol from above the copper sink. Howie then pulled a glass from an upper cabinet, filling it with ice and water. In actuality, his mission to gather drugs only took about three minutes.

Howie felt like it took an age and a day.

Once he got back up to the bedroom, the eighteen year old made sure that Adrianna took her medicine, watching with a sharp eye as she sipped at her ice-water. Her breathing was heavy, each intake of air rattling in her chest with such force that it made Howie feel increasingly worried. But he knew from experience that it would take a miracle to get Adri to ask for help of any kind. She was an independent little shit, one of the factors that made him love her so dearly. However, he couldn't say that it wasn't frustrating from time to time.

"Have you eaten today?" he asked quietly. "You probably need to keep something in your stomach."

Adrianna shot him a wary look. But she responded anyway, voice sandpaper rough and hoarse. "I'm not very hungry. And why are you still here? You should get home before your father finds out where you're at or you get sick too."

Howie crawled up into the bed once more, this time settling his body against the headboard and pulling Adri up to rest between his legs. She was blisteringly hot against him, but as she snuggled deeper into him, the blonde could feel how her body was shuddering violently with chills. Jesus, she wasn't kidding when she'd asked him to leave her to die.

"You, my small noodle, are going to have to get used to the fact that I'm not going to just leave on a whim," Howie murmured good-naturedly. "To answer your earlier question, Dad's at a conference in New York for the week. I'm all alone, and I'm not scared of getting sick. So I'm not going anywhere until you're better. Okay?"

For a while, Adri didn't say anything. She just snuggled further into his chest, squeezing the life out of her Dumbo as Howie wrapped his arms around her shuddering frame. He had a sneaking suspicion that she was trying not to cry, but he didn't want to point that out. Adrianna was a strong noodle.

And his strong noodle did not like having her tears pointed out under any circumstance.

So Howie made himself comfortable against the headboard, a pillow behind his back, and kissed the crown of her head in reassurance. However, after about five minutes of silence Adrianna finally found enough energy (or willpower) to speak.

"Did you just call me a small noodle? Because if you did, I don't know how I feel about that."

Howie couldn't help it. He burst out laughing, tears running over his cheeks as Adri giggled against him. "Yes, I did call you a small noodle. Why, does that offend your delicate sensibilities?"

Adri, still firmly wrapped up in her blanket cocoon, turned to press the side of her head against his collarbone. Her breathing was still pretty labored, but he could already feel the Tylenol working to combat the fever that gripped her tiny frame. Dumbo nearly got squashed between them; however, Adrianna managed to keep her precious stuffed animal safe from harm. Somehow, anyway, because Howie would never understand how one person could be as flexible as his girlfriend was without having to work at it.

"I am not a small noodle," Adri protested weakly. "I don't know what I am, but small noodle is definitely not it."

Gently, Howie began rocking his body from side to side. He could feel the red-headed woman start to sag against him. It wouldn't be long until she fell asleep, but he could afford to finish this conversation.

"Okay. You're not a small noodle," he conceded. "But you, Adri, are most definitely a cinnamon roll."

Adri snorted against him. "No, Howie, I'm pretty sure that's you."

"Fine then, sassy, what are you then? Because I'm fairly certain that if I'm a cinnamon roll, you are too."

Adrianna picked her head up off his chest, exhaustion and sickness making her face look pale and drawn. However, the old twinkle in her eyes was back. Howie felt the knot of tension that had begun building in his chest with each strained breath she took ease with the familiar expression.

"I am Batman."

While the twinkle in her eyes was present, Adri's face had been utterly serious. And Howie couldn't hold back the peal of insane laughter that followed her comment. Neither of them could apparently, because they sat in a cuddle-puddle of hopeless giggles for a solid five minutes before he could come up with a response.

"I guess," Howie gasped, "if you're Batman that makes me Wonder Woman, huh?"

Adrianna coughed harshly a couple of times before replying with, "You don't have the breasts for it, silly boy. But I guess you'll do."

The next several hours were spent in the bed, Howie rubbing circles on Adrianna's back as she coughed miserably. Honestly, he wished that he could leave to go get her some cough-syrup, but apparently sick Adri was more cuddly than regular Adri. Considering that cuddling was one of her favorite things to do, Howie felt like that was saying quite a bit.

It was almost nine o' clock when Adrianna began to fall asleep.

Slowly so he wouldn't accidentally wake her up, Howie maneuvered their bodies until they were laying underneath the blankets, his head resting on the one pillow that Adri hadn't commandeered to make her fortress of fluff. Adrianna was still firmly ensconced in his arms, wrapped up like a burrito with her back pressed to his front. The giant pill of adorableness that constituted Dumbo was still nestled safely within her arms, so much so that the eighteen year old couldn't help but smile.

Dear Jesus, how did he end up with such a perfect little queen?

Howie frowned gently as he remembered how skeptical Adri had seemed when he said he'd stay. How long had she been treated like less than a princess? How many guys had taken all she had to offer and abused it? Had left her to pick up the pieces all alone? Adrianna was by far the strongest woman he'd ever known, but even the strongest needed someone to hold them up on occasion.

Silently, the eighteen year old vowed to himself that he would beat the living hell out of the first ex-boyfriend of Adri's he came across.

Howie squeezed Adri gently around the waist once more, eyelids heavy, and kissed the top of her head. "Sleep tight, Batman. I love you."

Adrianna made a light humming sound in the back of her throat. She pressed even further into him, one of her delicate hands moving from Dumbo's back to squeeze his hands around her waist. Despite the fact that she'd been sweating off and on because of the fever, Howie caught a whiff of her normal mint and rosemary scent as she moved.

"Don' leave?" she slurred.

"Never, beautiful," Howie promised solemnly. "Not in a thousand years."

"Good. Love you, too."

Neither of them woke up until nearly ten o'clock the next morning, by which point, Adrianna's fever had broken.

Covered in sweat – both from Adri and himself – and hotter than hell and already feeling the onslaught of whatever disease had struck his girlfriend, Howie had never felt better.

A/N: Okay, so this was a prompt given to me by AsLostAsAliceAsMadAsTheHatter about the pairing I previously showed in "It Happened One Summer". Sic-fics are one of my favorite things, so I jumped at the opportunity to write something for this particular crack pairing. I hope you all enjoyed it - I certainly did - and please leave a review in the white box below! Constructive criticism is always welcome!

Thanks!