SOY: SolDave I wrote quite a bit ago :3 it's fluffy, so I hope you'll like :D

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Rating: T

Warnings: Dave's speech, again.

Disclaimer: I don't own HomeStuck.

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Milk and Toast and Honey

One–shot

At first, Dave didn't even realise something was wrong with Sollux.

While they lived together and more often than not shared the same bed, Sollux had always been prone to catching unwanted colds throughout the whole year, not to mention pollen allergies during spring and hay allergies during summer.

The only period he was really safe from consuming overwhelming quantities of Kleenexes was autumn, but then he spent all his time inside his room to work on his coding and computer hacking and overexerted himself, which usually resulted in Dave having to ram the door down and force him to eat and rest; it wasn't in any way different from the rest of the year.

So, to see Sollux cough and sniffle miserably, curled up on his chair, the pale illumination from the twin monitors casting a sickly light on his face was not actually anything unusual.

Sollux had a strong body though, despite his poor job at taking care of it, and usually bounced back of whatever thing he caught with ease –it seemed to be normal for trolls.

Which meant sturdier and usually as stubborn as mules.

Dave did not pay much attention to the rough, dry edge of Sollux's voice as he left for his courses, simply pressing one hand on his shoulder to signal he was going out, and Sollux didn't even turn around, only grunting, eyes scanning a particularly difficult coded string.

The day dragged on slowly; after his lessons, Dave dropped off at the local where Terezi worked to spend some time with her, and only returned home later in the afternoon with Chinese takeaway.

When he unlocked the front door, Dave rolled his eyes behind his shades, noticing how all the lights were off.

It seemed like Sollux had forgotten once again to turn them on when it got dark.

The stupid troll just didn't seem to need lights to see, but sometimes Dave suspected he did it more to annoy him than because he really forgot about them.

Dave trudged inside the apartment, placing the food on the kitchen table and wandering to his boyfriend–slash–matesprit bedroom.

He had expected to see Sollux typing away at the computer, just like always, and had on hand at least three different ironic jokes depending on the state of disarray of the room, but when he pushed the door open, he was greeted by Sollux sprawled all over his keyboard, deeply asleep.

Dave frowned a bit, mentally calculating.

It was mid–November, and it was Friday –there were no exams scheduled for at least a month, no job Sollux had to complete in less than two weeks, and no new computer game out.

He should have still been up and about, sour and moody and cursing at everything in sight, as usual.

Dave usually tried to keep Sollux's health levels on an easy to remember, manageable pattern; whenever he noticed him shutting off completely from all stimuli and living interactions –troll or human– he just dragged him out of the room kicking and screaming, force-fed him something edible, waited his caffeine streak to run out, and then made him sleep for at least fifteen hours to recuperate.

It was usually enough to fix everything, and Sollux, while workaholic, was no martyr.

It wasn't exactly healthy, but Dave himself had trouble taking care of himself at times, let alone focus on a troll and his absolute inability to function as a sentient being outside of computers and hacking and gaming, so it just worked out that way.

Somehow.

Besides, despite the bitching and the cursing that always happened when the troll reached low HP levels, Sollux was highly capable to kick his ass, and they had some sort of mutual understanding going on.

Dave did not step into Sollux's private shit until it needed be, and Sollux didn't bitch about Dave's meddling and stopped being an ass until he was perfectly healthy again.

Allergies notwithstanding.

It was something to call home and brag about.

So that was why Dave found himself quietly wondering what had gone wrong, and if he had somehow missed a few weeks of Sollux's life.

Had the idiot worked himself into a frenzied state before collapsing on the computer, drooling all over it, without any of the usual signals?

With a small grimace, somewhat confused, Dave peeked from above Sollux's head and gently tapped him on the ear.

"Hey," he called out.

Sollux, dead to the world, did not even twitch.

Licking his lips for a moment, Dave observed him, searching for the tell-tales, but not finding any.

No dark bags under his eyes, no sign of stress nor severe pain unless you counted the reddish tinge of his cheeks which was a sharp contrast against his pale skin –a sickly yellow colour which Dave was never sure whether to attribute to his blood colour or to the horrid state of his health– and just…

Dave leaned closer, inspecting the troll's face, even going as far as to lift his shades up, careful not to stare at the computers with his uncovered eyes.

Above the soft buzzing from the computers, Dave's keen ears caught on Sollux's slightly offset breathing, and his frown deepened.

"Oi, Captor," he nudged him again, and this time, Sollux showed signs of life and groaned, curling onto himself a bit.

Dave licked his lips.

This was not like him passing out from exhaustion… which only left one other option, and it sent shivers down Dave's back.

Sollux had finally did it.

He'd caught the flu.

Well, fuck.

"Daaave".

Dave twitched. He refused to answer. Enough was enough.

"Daaave, come oon, why mutht you be tho thubborn?"

Sollux's voice was as dry as sandpaper, and Dave winced in sympathy, but still held strong. He was not a maid. He was the fucking Knight of fucking Time.

Which meant he was born to live and serve, was it not. John would have had a field day creating practical jokes to have his Prankster's Gambit raise.

Thankfully, Egbert was not around.

"Daaaave, my throath hurthth," there it was again, the whiny inflection, and Dave gritted his teeth.

He knew Sollux was doing it on purpose, because he was more than capable of standing up and getting the shit he wanted himself, but no. He couldn't even use his stupid powers –being sick actually meant his psionic powers did not work, and if he tried using them it might as well blow the house up.

Again.

Dave did not want a repeat of that.

"You are not that sick, Captor," Dave replied, idly flipping a few pages of the latest GameBro magazine. "Get up and get it yourself".

"Fuck you, Thtriider," Sollux growled, sniffling pitifully and blowing his nose. "ii feel like thhiith".

"Of course you do, that's the whole point of catching the flu," the human snorted. "You feel like shit for a few days, invest some money on Kleenex, curse and feel miserable, and rest".

"Iif ii have to retht, why don't you briing me the thuff ii athk you?"

"Is that what you want of me, Captor? To be your maid? Should I go take out the dress we keep for special occasions?"

There was a short silence.

"Sollux?" despite his earlier statement, Dave felt a sliver of worry nonetheless.

"Thorry, ii wath buthy piicturing you iin that drethth," there was a sheepish tone in the troll's voice, but it was still mostly clogged up, rough and whiny. "Would you–"

"You wish," Dave replied automatically, but he actually had to smirk.

Last time he'd tried that on, the two of them had been unable to leave the bedroom for over a day –who would have known psionic powers could be used like that?

"Yeth, but what iif for onthe ii want you two be my knight in thhiining armour, you fuckathth?"

Dave licked his lips, opened his mouth to say something scathing, then stopped, closed his mouth, and thought better of it.

Maybe he wasn't the best fucking boyfriend –or matesprit, he surely didn't see much difference there– on New–Earth, but there were things he could do without bitching too much, and this…

Well, he could do this.

And there were many things worse than pampering Sollux every now and then, especially when he was this sick.

He stood up with a smooth movement that could have sent countless masses into a swooning frenzy all over the world, then made his way to Sollux's bedroom.

The room felt stuffy and dark –the troll's eyes had grown a bit more sensitive due to the flu– and Dave wrinkled his nose a bit, thinking about all the horrid bacteria floating around in the air.

Sollux was curled up inside his pile, with Dave's blankets wrapped around his body, the husktop perched on top of his bony legs, and the moment he noticed Dave coming inside, he frowned and pouted up at him.

"Well, look who'th there," he grumbled, curling more upon himself. "ii thought you didn't want two iindulge me".

Dave felt a small pang of guilt, but stomped relentlessly on it until it disappeared. "I guess being the nice boyfriend for once is ironic enough to justify me doing it," he shrugged.

Sollux glanced at him, knowing this was the closest the douche would ever get to admit he was sorry, and nodded a bit.

"ii'm thirthty," he stated, jutting his lower lip out and managing to look like a kicked puppy. "And my legth hurth".

Despite the situation, Sollux's attitude was actually somewhat endearing, and Dave snorted, kneeling next to the pile of assorted shit to grab one of Sollux's hands into his own.

Then, with his best deadpan voice, he added a quiet "Yes, my Mage".

He jerked his head to the side to avoid getting smacked in the face by an older issue of a Troll Gamezine, stood up again, and left the bedroom to prepare something to quell the thirst of his crabby lover.

"What'th iith thiith?"

Sollux sniffed carefully the cup filled with white liquid, extremely and irrationally cautious of human foods –despite having had years to get used to them, thanks to the new Universe's rules post–Game– then frowned.

"iith that milk iin here?"

Dave's eyebrow raised above the shades' line. "Yes".

Even though he'd lived with Dave for the majority of the last three years –five ever since the world was reborn– he'd never seen the human buy milk, and his lack of interest over groceries had never actually placed him face to face with a bottle of it.

As such, he was left perplexed.

"Humanth driink milk?"

Dave's eyebrows moved upwards some more. "Yes".

"… ii thee".

There was a long pause in which Sollux debated whether to drink or reject the offered liquid; for trolls, milk was only ever considered grub food, and after they pupated and grew arms and legs, they usually stopped drinking it.

Besides, it was quite hard to find –except for Equius, who had the excuse of having a Lusus providing it to him in the first place.

Maybe for humans it was different, or maybe Dave had really gone out of his way to get him that, but whatever it was, Sollux couldn't just refuse to drink it.

Not to mention he longed to taste such a delicacy once again, embarrassment be damned.

"Thankth," he muttered, bringing the scalding cup to his lips and taking a small sip.

The milk was creamy and hot and delicious, and he tasted it for a moment before swallowing it, eyes fluttering close in bliss at how it soothed his throat ache instantly.

There was a sweet, dense aftertaste that made him pause. It was vaguely familiar, and weird, and–

Sollux's head jerked away from the cup, breaking the trance and almost dropping the contents all over himself before Dave's hand darted out to grab it.

"What the hell," the human hissed, taking the cup away. "Do I have to spoon-feed you? What's wrong now? Strider's milk too hot for you?"

"There'th honey iin iit!" Sollux shivered, eyes wide behind his tinged shades. "ii cannot eat honey!"

Worry once again replaced Dave's irritation. He had never heard of Sollux having allergies to food before, but if it was as severe as John's peanuts allergy was, then…

Then, Dave remembered pieces and bits from earlier conversations with Sollux, and calmed down. "Human honey," he stressed out, grabbing Sollux's chin and forcing his lips back to the cup of steaming milk, "not your freaky, alien mind honey".

Sollux blinked, panic subsiding as he realised that he was still sane, if only still shivering and sniffling. "iit won't…"

Throwing caution out of the window –if the flu wanted to get a piece of him it'd have to fight with hordes of fans all over the city– Dave brought the cup to his lips and took a sip.

Sollux stared at him, eyes focused on his lips, on the small droplet of milk still visible there, white against red, and when Dave leaned in, gently kissing him, tasting of honey and milk, he did not retreat.

"Ok," he murmured when the infuriating human pulled away. "ii beliieve you".

He tried to grab the cup again, but Dave made a soft noise and didn't allow him to; before the troll could demand to have it back, Dave brought the cup to his lips instead, tipping it so Sollux had to latch on the cup to drink.

"I quite like the idea of feeding you, actually," Dave commented in an even tone.

"You're a bathtard," Sollux lapped the milk from his lips but did not protest the gesture.

Slowly, the rest of the milk was consumed, and Sollux felt drowsy as he leaned a bit on Dave's shoulder, nuzzling his neck a bit.

"Is that everything you want?" Dave murmured, patting Sollux's head. "I could make you some toast. If your stomach decides to organize a protest march, it might settle the riots without resorting to armed forces".

He made to stand up and leave, but stopped when Sollux wrapped one hand around the edge of his shirt and shook his head.

"Thtay here," he grumbled, sniffling and tugging him closer. "You're warm".

"If I get sick because of you, there will be a very non–ironic shit hitting the fan here, I warn you".

"Hmmmm. Bluhbluhbluh, that'th all ii hear".

With a soft snort, Dave settled back down into the pile, nudging Sollux until he was leaning on his lap, heavy but pleasantly warm.

"Flu thuckth," he heard the troll mutter softly.

"Yeah, I know".