Shizuo woke up feeling way warmer than he normally did. He turned to the man sleeping beside him and noticed how Izaya's still sleeping form was shivering.
"Oh hell," Shizuo muttered as he looked to the time. It was only 6 am, which meant that he still had half an hour before Izaya's alarm would wake the currently snoring beast.
Shizuo reached his hand out slowly in hopes of not waking Izaya while checking the man's temperature. Shizuo's hand didn't even need to make contact with Izaya's head before Shizuo could feel the heat radiating off of it.
"Fuck," the blonde man muttered as he got out of the bed as quickly as he could without disturbing his bed mate. Shizuo grabbed a pair of pants from the floor and made his way towards the door. He could buy a shirt on his way to work if he had to, but he had to leave before the monster woke up.
His hand didn't even make it to the door knob of the room.
"Sh-I-ZU-Chaaaaan," Izaya cried from the bed. "Where are you going?"
"To work," Shizuo replied hoping that Izaya would be dazed enough that he wouldn't notice the time.
Shizuo heard Izaya moan from the bed. It wasn't a sexy moan – it was a sound that a dying animal would make. It was a sound that made Shizuo want to run to the hills.
"What time is it? Isn't it too early?" Izaya called from the bed.
"No, I'm almost late, your alarm didn't go off this morning," Shizuo winced as soon as he said the words.
The man still in the bbed let out another horrible moan as he rolled over to look at his phone. His phone always went off at 6:30 in the morning, whether it was a weekday, weekend, or holiday, his phone never failed.
"It's only six, Shizuo," Izaya stated as he rolled over.
"Oh, is it? I must have still been sleeping when I looked at the clock then," Shizuo sighed in defeat. He dropped his pants back to the floor and walked back to the bed.
He crawled under the blankets and immediately wanted to recoil as the heat struck him again. He felt bad for Izaya, he must be incredibly sick to have a fever running this high, but his pity didn't last long. It shattered the second that Izaya let out another sound that even a dying animal would think is impressive, and curled into the larger man.
"Fuck, I feel like shit," Izaya mumbled into Shizuo's chest.
"No shit," Shizuo replied as he wrapped his arm around the smaller, shaking man in an attempt to give some of the warmth back. Izaya coughed right into Shizuo's chest and used the blanket to wipe the phlegm from his mouth. The blonde did his best not to gag. He wasn't the cleanest person, but sick germs were one thing that he had always wanted to stay away from.
The sick man shivered into Shizuo and pulled the blankets up and around the two of them. Shizuo grimaced at the heat the enveloped him, but he could tell that his lover was still cold. Using his lover's chills as an excuse to leave the confines of the blanket, Shizuo moved to stand up.
"Nooooo," Izaya wined as he wrapped his arms around the other man. "Stay with me."
"I am going to make you some tea and to warm up that thing," Shizuo stated as he tried to untangle the dark-haired man from around his waist. "You're cold and those will warm you up quicker."
"But I'll get colder without you here," Izaya wined as he tightened his grip on Shizuo.
"It's a small price to pay for the heat that will come with that warm up thing and some tea."
"But you're so warm and soft," Izaya argued. "I need you, Shizu-chan. Don't leave me."
Shizuo's heart melted a little bit at hearing how sad Izaya sounded. He wanted to be there for the other man, the way that neither of their parents had really been there for them, but Shizuo also knew that he would be able to treat his lover's symptoms better if he got up for a bit.
"I guess that you'll just have to come with me."
Shizuo maneuvered himself out of Izaya's grasp and turned back to the bed. He tucked the blankets in and around his lover and picked the man up, blankets and all. They made their way into the kitchen where Izaya was placed on the counter wrapped up like a warm caterpillar to watch Shizuo prepare things for him while he was sick.
Shizuo started by placing the water in the kettle to boil, and then moved to find the thing. The body guard really didn't know what else to call it besides "the thing". It was a blob of fabric and beans that Izaya's sisters had made for him. You heat it up in the microwave and it stays warm for a while and provides heat. It was a warm thing.
Shizuo located the thing tucked in a top cupboard behind all of the general flu medicine. He pulled it down and tossed it into the microwave. He heard the kettle click, signifying that the water had boiled. So, he gathered the ingredients and started to put together the tea.
"Mint? Really? You know I hate mint," Izaya grumbled as he coughed into the blanket.
"It'll help with the fever and the headache. It will even help clear out your nose," Shizuo stated as he continued to mix the remedy. "It's this or lemon, cayenne, and honey."
"That sounds awful," Izaya coughed.
Shizuo grinned and handed the cup of mint tea to his partner. Izaya grimaced as he took the cup and his first sip. He fought all of his instincts to just spit the concoction out.
The microwave went off and almost simultaneously Izaya's alarm started to go off back in their bedroom.
Shizuo lifted the pathetic excuse for an info broker back up and moved to the microwave to retrieve the thing. Once it was in Izaya's hands, the sick boy sighed and relaxed. It was a gift from his sisters that seemed to bring all of the love and warmth of their family that he hadn't been entitled to.
Shizuo laid Izaya back in their bed and tucked the blankets around him. The taller man stood up to walk away when he heard a raspy voice call his name:
"Shizu-chan, where are you going?"
"I have to get ready for work, Izaya-kun."
"Please stay with me. I need you Shizu-chan."
The request came as barely a whisper, but it struck Shizuo hard. If Izaya had screamed at him, or had burst out into tears, or had called him names, Shizuo probably could have walked away. But the request was so genuine and full of sorrow that Shizuo couldn't ignore it. So, he picked up his phone.
"What are you doing?" Izaya asked.
Shizuo held up his finger in response, telling that he would answer in a second.
Izaya huffed into his blankets as he waited for the phone call to finish.
"Hey Tom," Shizuo said into his cellphone. "Yeah, I'm not going to be able to come in today." … "Because Izaya is sick and is being a baby about it…" …. "Just use it as one of my sick days I guess." …. "Thanks man."
With that Shizuo hung up the phone and stalked back to the bed. He placed his phone next to Izaya's on the bedside table and crawled under the sickly warm covers.
"You better not make me sick," Shizuo stated as he grinned down at the fevered boy curling into his torso.
"I love you too, Shizu-chan."