I slowly blinked my eyes open one Saturday morning and, eyes bleary, glanced at my watch. "Eleven-thirty?" I grumbled surprised. Tyler didn't usually let me sleep this late, not even on weekends. I rolled over and saw Tyler, still asleep in his bed. I climbed out of my bed and walked over to Tyler's.
"Ty... Ty, wake up." I said shaking him lightly.
He groaned and rolled over towards me. He looked like hell. "Reid... I don't feel good."
"Ya think?" I said feeling his forehead then his throat. He was really warm, "I think you have a fever, you should go back to sleep."
Tyler nodded his head lightly, before closing his eyes and falling asleep.
---
Tyler woke up and rubbed his eyes. When his vision focused he saw Reid sitting at the foot of his bed, playing a muted game of Halo 3. "Reid?" He asked sleepily.
"Oh, you're up, you were out for like, three hours." He paused his game, "How are you feeling?"
"Better... but still pretty shitty." Tyler laid his head back on one of his pillows.
"That sucks. I called Pogue, he's gonna bring you some stuff for your fever." He turned fully around and crawled along the bed until he was lying next to Tyler.
"No! I don't want to get you sick." Tyler buried his head into his pillow.
"It's cool, I'll be fine." Reid smirked, "My immune system kicks ass."
"Don't let it get too violent." Tyler said with an almost goofy laugh.
Reid arched a brow, "Ty, I think you're delirious."
"...I think you're cute."
Reid laughed softly, "Yea, you're delirious."
"Y'know, I like you Reid." Tyler said, sounding almost maudlin.
"I like you too." He ruffled Tyler's slightly sweat-soaked hair.
"No...I like you, like you." Tyler said, reminding Reid of when they were in middle school. Tyler slowly reached his hand over and started tracing patterns along Reid's face with his fingertips.
Reid bit his lip and shuddered, this was going in a direction Reid wasn't sure he was ready to head just yet. He pulled Tyler's hand from his face and held it. "Shit, Ty..." He didn't know what else to say.
"Will you stay here?"
"Of course." Reid squeezed Tyler's hand gently and laid his head down on a pillow.
"Okay." Tyler mumbled before they fell asleep.
---
Pogue walked down the hall towards the door to Reid and Tyler's dorm room. "Hey Reid, I brought Tyler some -- Whoa!" Pogue said startled, as he opened the door to find Reid asleep in Tyler's bed, with Tyler on partially top of him.
---
"...Whoa!" I heard someone yell. I started awake to see Pogue standing in the doorway holding bags.
"What the hell?" I looked down to find that somehow I had gotten underneath the blankets... and Tyler.
"What are you doing?" Pogue asked, sounding like he wasn't sure if he wanted an answer.
"Shut up, I fell asleep, okay?" I tried to move from underneath Tyler but it was no use. "What did you want anyway?"
"I came by to drop off some stuff for Tyler." he held up the bags in his hand, "I got a few things for the fever."
"Put it on the night stand." I said softly, trying not to wake Tyler up.
"Why were you sleeping in Tyler's bed?" Pogue asked.
"Eh...long story." I tried again to get from underneath Tyler, this time I managed to get out of the bed.
"Reid?" Damn, Tyler had woken up. "Where you going? You said you weren't gonna leave."
I leaned over him and rubbed his hair, "I'm not going anywhere, I'm just talking to Pogue."
"Promise?"
"Yea, but you have to go back to sleep."
"But I wanna talk to Pogue too." He started to pout slightly, looking pretty damn adorable. He could be incredibly cute when he wanted to.
"Okay, but then you have to go back to sleep."
"Mm-hmm." He looked passed me to where Pogue was standing, "Hi Pogue, why are you in my room?"
"He's kinda delirious." I whispered behind my hand.
Pogue nodded in understanding, "I brought you some soup and stuff." he explained.
"Thanks," Tyler tilted his head, "Did you bring Caleb soup?"
"No, why?" Pogue looked confused.
" 'Cause he likes it when you visit him."
"Really?"
"Yea," Tyler looked around the room and then lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, "He so wants you, but don't tell anyone, 'cause it's a secret." Well that was new.
"He wants me?" Pogue stated a bit more than asked.
"Yea," Tyler said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Y'know like me and Reid." Well baby boy was just full of announcements today.
Pogue arched an eyebrow and turned towards me at that statement.
I held my hands up defensively, like hell I was agreeing to that. Well, agreeing this soon at any rate.
"Anyways," Tyler dragged out the first syllable, "you gotta ask him out, dude."
"Uh... yea," Pogue said awkwardly, "I'll... talk to him." Was he blushing? He totally was, oh man I gotta rag on him about this later.
"Well seeing as how this has been nice and awkward for all parties involved I think it's time you head on out Pogue-ster." I said, eager to dissolve the increasingly embarrassing situation.
"Yea." Pogue agreed, "Well, I got him some cough and cold syrup, 'cause I know he hates swallowing pills... and there's some microwave soup, some orange juice, tea, and a box of tissues." Pogue listed the items as he pulled them out of the plastic drug store bag.
"Damn, you don't miss a beat." I said clapping a hand on Pogue's back.
Pogue just grinned as he headed for the door, "Reid I don't wanna hear you tried anything while Ty was sick." He said annoyingly smug... the bastard.
I give as good as I get though, and shot back in a sing-song voice, "Kay, have fun with Caleb!"
All I saw was Pogue's hand, middle finger raised, sticking through the closing gap between the door and the frame.
I laughed and held up a hand towards Tyler, which he instantly high-fived. I laid down on the bed next to him and brushed his hair away from his face.
"You hungry?" I asked.
"Nah, kinda thirsty though."
"Okay, sit up some." I helped him prop himself up against the headboard. I moved to get one of the bottles of orange juice Pogue had brought over. I let him drink it on his own, eying him nervously the whole time.
I figured I didn't mind it too much, taking care of someone else. Well, taking care of Ty at least. I guess I like him more than I really should, but he's just so... I don't even know. But it was something good. Something that makes you wanna be good too. Damn I'm getting soft, but one look at Ty makes me not even care. As long as he's with me, I really don't give a fuck.
"Done!" I turned to see Tyler holding the empty juice bottle almost proudly.
"A'ight, time to go back to sleep baby boy." I said throwing the empty bottle out.
"I been sleeping all day..." He all but whined.
I sighed. It was kinda late in the day, and I was getting kinda bored sleeping and just sitting around. "Well, what do you wanna do?"
"I'd say video games, but you cheat." Me, cheat? The nerve.
"You wanna just chill?" I couldn't really think of anything else at the moment.
He shrugged to the best off his ability, "Okay..." He leaned up against the headboard, eyes closed, breathing kinda hard through his mouth. Sick as a dog or not, Baby Boy always seemed to look good. His skin was shiny with sweat from the fever, his hair was tousled... damn, he was perfect. Just when I thought he'd fallen asleep, he spoke.
"Hey Reid" he didn't bother opening his eyes.
"Mm?"
"Do you like me?" He said real slowly.
"Yea."
"I like you, too."
"I know." I said, remembering his fever induced confessions earlier.
He paused, despite being sick the youngest son managed a cocky grin before speaking again. "I thought you weren't worried about getting sick."
"I'm not."
"Then why are you sitting all the way over there?"
I jokingly rolled my eyes and moved from my position at the foot of the bed to sit next to Ty. I got under the covers with him and put on my best cute face (which is damn cute, if I do say so myself), "Happy now?"
"Yes, yes I am." he kinda leaned on me, "Thanks Reid."
"No problem, Ty"
"Nah, I know it musta been a drag, sittin' here all day."
"Psh," I made him look me in the eye, "chill, seriously, it's cool dude."
"Really?"
I decided to break the mood with a joke. To add effect, I put on my best down-south voice, "Ain't no thang shawty, you know I love you."
Tyler snorted before bursting into peals of doubled over, eyes-closed-from-smiling-too-big, bubbly laughter.
His laughter died down slowly, leaving us in a nice companionable silence.
You ever do something, and like, after that something, everything just fucking spirals completely outta control. But then, afterwards, you're glad you did it? Well I have, and this particular something was me turning my head toward Ty.
When I looked at him, damn, he looked so... cute? Yea, that's it...probably. Then, he turned to look back at me. And I kinda... leaned in, and so did he. Long story short, I ended up making out with my best friend in his bed, while he was sick, which is kinda what Pogue told me not to do. Oh well, bastard was probably too busy fucking leader boy to care.
After talking, joking, and of course more making out, we called it a night. I left Ty to sleep alone that night, better for his health I figured. I climbed into my own bed and went out quick. Hey, I had a busy day.
--
"Reid...babe, wake up." Tyler said softly the next morning, crouching next to the other's bed.
"I'm babe now?" Reid responded, his voice dry and scratchy. "Shit..." he muttered clutching his head, "My head kills."
"Told ya so. I knew you were gonna catch it."
"I'm fine." Reid sat up, probably a bit faster than he should have, "Oh man... " he fell back onto the bed.
"Luckily," Tyler said smiling, "I was prepared." He held up a plastic bag full of what Reid assumed to be medicine and other amenities. "Now, I get to take care of you." He leaned down to place a soft kiss on the blond's forehead.
"I think I like this treatment." Reid grinned.
--
I started this a while ago and finished it just recently, i actually had my buddy sarah do a once over (beta in the making lol)
reid/tyler makes me all warm and fuzzy inside