It was slightly scary on how well the two managed to avoid each other until it came to dinner. Tino had to wake up first to get to work early, and usually ended up making breakfast for both, storing his companions breakfast in a container and leaving it out for the other man to eat- or not eat.

After that he would generally get home an hour before his housemate did, and would start dinner for the both of them. Berwald would come home to the smell of something cooking, and Tino would greet him with a smile.

This had become very much the norm in the past few weeks, so when Berwald came home to an empty house and no food, a frown instantly plastered itself to his face. Silently he glanced around, kicking his shoes off in the front foyer, and hanging up the heavy jacket.

Silently he debated on whether or not he ought to go back and get something like a bat in case there was trouble, before he shook it off. Just because Tino didn't make dinner once didn't mean anything. It was probably the other had gotten tired of cooking for him.

With that disquieting thought dragging on his mind, he began to search the house.

He bypassed the first, slightly ajar door he came to, since it was his bedroom, figuring the younger man wouldn't of entered, and proceeded straight down the hallway towards Tino's room.

Nothing.

With a frown he backtracked, opening each door, searching for the smaller man, half-expecting Tino to pop out of nowhere with that cheerful smile of his and apologizing for not making dinner. But still he could find nothing, and he was just about to consider tracking down the list of phone numbers Tino had provided him for emergencies, when he stopped in front of his doorway once more.

The door was ajar. He had shut it this morning, hadn't he?

Slowly and quietly he pushed the door open, to find a large lump curled up in the middle of his bed, shivering slightly. "T'no?"

There was no response. Fearing the worst, Berwald rushed to the bed, and pulled back the covers. Tino, still fully clothed, shivering, breath coming out in painful gasps, face flushed and red was unveiled.

One violet eye pried itself open, and a confused, slurred voice asked, "Wh're y' d'ing h're? Isn't th's my room?"

Ah, that explained a lot. Berwald nodded, drawing up the covers around Tino. Tino's eyes fluttered close once more, as he curled up a little further, a cough wrenching itself out of his throat. Berwald frowned worriedly. What could possibly cause an illness to strike so suddenly- no…

His hands tightened as his mind flashed back to yesterday.

Berwald flinched as a loud crash echoed through the house just as he entered into the house. Startled, he dashed through the hallways and into the kitchen, as Tino's surprised voice creid out.

"T'no?"

"Oh- it's alright. I accidentally dropped a plate!" Tino's voice came back quickly as Berwald threw open the door to the shattered remains of a dinner plate. "Sorry about startling you."

"Are y'u alr'ght?" Berwald questioned, completely forgetting about the plate- plates were easy to replace, but Tino not so much.

"I'm fine." Flushed cheeks rose to stare up at Berwald, as Tino smiled at him.

But Tino quite obviously hadn't been all right, as was evidenced by the shivering mass huddled in the middle of his bed. And he should've noticed his housemate's condition, since Tino had been very caring and had been making him meals everyday.

A lot like a wife. The amused thought circled around Berwalds head, and Berwald brushed it aside with the thoughts of how to nurse the man back to health. Obviously Tino needed more warmth, so that meant thicker blankets- and he should probably find Tino's night clothing to make the man at least a little more comfortable.

But… well… that would mean he'd have to go through Tino's clothing.

A blush crawled up into his cheeks, and he began to paw through his own clothing- his clothing was probably thicker then Tino's anyways, and at least this way he wouldn't accidentally upset anything of Tino's.

Within a few minutes, Berwald completely retreated from the room, Tino changed into one of his bigger shirts, and wrapped in an extra thick blanket Berwald had brought with him from Sweden. The clothes Tino had originally worn were quickly placed into the laundry, and Berwald moved into the kitchen.

Soon a thick stew was bubbling away merrily, as Berwald rifled through the practically bare cupboards, wondering if there was any medicine at all.

The frustratingly bare cupboards mocked his futile efforts, and the large man muffled a curse as he slammed the doors shut. He forced himself to stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Loosing his temper was not a good idea-

His cell phone rang shrilly, and he really did curse this time. "Yes?" He growled out into the phone, only to have the annoying voice of his British co-worker come across.

"Hey, Berwald, this is Arthur. What happened to the stack of tax papers that we were supposed to fill out? I can't find them."

"M' desk. Goodby'."

He hung up the phone with a grumble. But at least now his anger had died down at least a little. With a deep breath he found the thermometer stashed behind a stack of bowls. Someday he was going have to talk to Tino about this habit of placing things in odd places.

He reentered his room carrying a bowl of soup and the thermometer. Tino, in the space of the time he had been busy, had moved deeper into the covers until all that could be seen was a few tufts of white hair peeking out from beneath the blanket. It was actually a kind of cute picture.

"T'n'. T'n'." Tino's last name had been completely unpronounceable for the poor Swedish man, so Tino had insisted on him using the first name. "Y'u need t' eat."

"Mmm…" Tino mumbled in protest as Berwald dragged back the covers, one violet eye snapping open to fix him with a dizzy glower. Berwald kept his face straight through an extreme force of will- he doubted Tino would appreciate it if he started going 'awww, how cute' on him.

"T'n'."

Tino ignored his tone, as Berwald sat down on the edge of the bed to try to shake the man. He was not prepared to get a lapful of the shivering Tino. "T'n'?"

"Warm." Tino commented once, before tightening his rather possessive hold around Berwalds middle. Berwald choked, helplessly staring at the man. People did not just spontaneously grab him and refuse to let go. They hadn't since he was a child, and at six-feet tall, he most definitely wasn't a child.

"T'no, y' need to let g'." He tried again helplessly, before giving up. Tino wasn't letting go, and had in fact tightened his hold, making it slightly painful. The warm bowl of soup was beginning to cool down.

With a sigh, Berwald set the bowl aside, and slumped in his half-sitting position against the head of the bed, staring blankly at nothing and thinking about carpentry. He hadn't done it in the past few weeks- would Tino mind it if he did?

His mind wandered, as his eyes slowly fluttered shut, and his breathing evened.

------

It was warm. A very nice, snuggly warm that made him feel content, but there was a slight nagging sensation that he was forgetting something- or that something was not quite right with this warmth.

Well, it was moving, up, down. Up. Down. Up. Down… your bed was not supposed to do that.

Violet eyes fluttered open in confusion, just in time to meet sleepy, terrifying blue-green eyes behind glasses.

The automatic shriek woke both men up soundly from their sleep.

Tino scrambled backwards, heart pounding double time as Berwald sat up straighter. Only then did Tino register where he was. "Ah? Wait, what? Why am I in your room, since when did I! Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scream, I mean, it was just slightly surprising to wake up to someone else in my bed-" His head spun for a second, and he gasped in pain as a searing pain lanced through his head.

He doubled over in pain, biting back the quiet whimper. In a second large hands swooped him up and settled him back into the bed. He shivered slightly, head tilting back to look into ice-cold eyes. A second later his eyes skittered away as the intimidating factor leaking off the other man grew.

"You're st'll sick. You should r'st."

"I-I'll be fine, I have work to do today… wait, what day is it?"

"F'fteenth. Tak' day off. Y' need it t' heal."

"But- I- work-"

He stopped speaking as another wave of dizziness flowed over him. Hands tucked the blanket a little more smugly around him, and Berwalds soft voice spoke. "Sleep."

Eyes obediently fluttered close in response to the soft command, and he slowly sank back into dreams, the smell of Berwald lulling him deeper. The last thing he was aware of were two large hands, rough but gently, smoothing back hair from his sweaty forehead.

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a/n: yeah, Tino, you totally already have Berwald wrapped around your finger, you know?