A/N: This one happened originally as a short comic in response to a mix of two art prompts, suggesting Tentoo getting ill with a cold for the first time in a bout of a man flu and realising how fragile his part human body is when his previous Time Lord physiology would've simply fought it off. (You can once again find the comic on my AO3 account linked in my profile.)

A Bout of Doctor Flu

Summary: The Doctor has his first cold...
Rating: Gen

Rose stirred the steaming soup in the pot gently a few times before turning her attention from the stove back to the small pile of medication strewn over the kitchen table. She finished going through each of the packets she'd kept from her own last bout of flu, checking the ingredients on them, and ended up with only some throat lozenges that seemed innocuous enough for the Doctor to consume without any worries.
It was still better than nothing, she supposed, and took the packet of lozenges with her after filling a bowl with some of the hot soup from the stove, carrying both over to the living room.

The sight that met her as she entered the room left her torn between feeling sorry and somewhat amused at the same time.

The Doctor way lying on his side on the couch, cocooned in a blanket that was wrapped all the way up over his head, a slight frown on his brow and the reddened skin around his nose hinting at his discomfort.
Apparently having heard her walk in, he spoke without even opening his eyes.

"Rooose..."

The addressed blonde did her best to bite back an amused smile at the heavily whiny tone in his hoarse voice.

"I think this rubbish body might be dying on me..."

Unable to stop an eye-roll at his over-dramatic claim, Rose set the steaming bowl on the coffee table in front of the couch, catching the Doctor peeking an eye open to see what she was doing.

"It's just a light fever, Doctor, I'm sure that 'rubbish' body of yours will be more than capable of handling it."

She watched the displeased pout on the part Time Lord's face deepen at not getting the sympathy he had been fishing for in continued amusement.

"Come on, sit up," she encouraged. "I made you some nice, hot soup."

Still pouting and wrapped in his blanket, the Doctor sat up, staring moodily at the soup. "I don't feel like eating."

"You really should, though, you've barely had anything since yesterday. The soup will top your body up with some nutrients, I made sure to add lots of goodies to it. Mum used to make that for me whenever I got ill when I was younger."

He frowned. "But I don't want to! I'm not hungry at all, and everything tastes off and dull anyway."

"Blimey, you're worse than Tony!" Rose accused, a little miffed that none of her mothering from the past two days seemed to be even acknowledged by him.

"Am not!"

"You are! He's been acting a lot more grown up about it, and he's five!"

"Well, he can take medicine which makes it a lot easier for him, so it's really not a fair comparison!" the Doctor defended himself.

Rose threw the packet of lozenges at him, watching as his hands reflexively shot out from under the blanket to catch it.

"You can take those to sooth your sore throat."

Giving her an unimpressed look, the Doctor turned the packet over in his hand. "Fat lot of good that'll do," he mumbled while checking the ingredient list.

Rose crossed her arms in front of her chest, feeling her previous amusement and sympathy being replaced more and more by annoyance at his behaviour. "'Thank you for going through the trouble of checking all of the available medication to see what might help ease my situation a bit without being of any potential harm while taking care of my whining self, Rose' – Why, you are very welcome, Doctor," the blonde mimicked sarcastically.

The Doctor looked up at that, initial indignation soon replaced by a look of uncertainty on his face as her words seemed to sink in. "Am I really being that bad…?"

Rose felt her annoyance soften again at the miserable sight he made, with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders, his sore, red nose and the lost look on his face while he held on to the packet of throat lozenges.

"It's just that I have rarely felt so out of control over my bodily functions?" he offered. "I know that barely a degree more in temperature might be considered to be just a light fever by human standards, but you have to keep in mind that my physiology still doesn't quite follow the same set of rules – the effects I'm feeling don't feel very light at all."

"Probably because you simply haven't experienced them before, since your previous full Time Lord physiology used to be 'above such insignificant things as a cold'," she quoted.

Sighing at the look on his face, Rose went around the low coffee table to sit down on the couch next to the Doctor, pulling a leg up and bending it on the seat so her body was facing his.

"Look, it's not that I'm not taking you seriously, Doctor; but the symptoms you're showing really don't seem dangerous at all, and are very much comparable to that of a simple common cold. And considering that you most likely got it from Tony and his didn't turn out to be some severe flu, either, I think it's safe to say your body is in no grave danger," she assured him, before adding, "I did warn you not to finish his cocoa while he's being ill."

"Yes, thank you very much for reminding me," the Doctor pouted with a sarcastic roll of his eyes.

Turning more serious, Rose decided to once more broach a topic they had previously disagreed on. "You know, maybe it would be a good idea to let them take some tests at Torchwood, after all?" Seeing his expression shift and expecting immediate protest, she quickly added, "Think about it; we might know for sure then what kind of substances are compatible with your unique physiology and which aren't – and not just to ease the symptoms of a simple cold, but in case that one day medication might really become necessary. I don't like the idea of not knowing whether something comparable to aspirin might be able to actually help you or put you in a coma instead."

"Neither do I," the Doctor admitted. "But I also don't like the idea of having an obscure organisation running tests on my body."

"Doctor, you know very well that this world's Torchwood isn't comparable to ours – so calling it obscure in suspicion really isn't fair, especially since Pete took it over and with me helping in changing things. D'you honestly think I would work with them if they had questionable intentions?" she asked, holding his gaze.

The Doctor sighed, his expression softening. "Of course not. It's just not easy to ignore all of the history running between them and me..."

"I know, but I promise you it's not the same Torchwood. And Pete gave us his word that the tests would be kept very low-profile and run by the same, small group of trustworthy people who also do my and mum's check ups and know about our true background. They've proven themselves to be very reliable over the years."

"I suppose I can at least think about it..." he finally allowed, his voice ending in a rough croak after the amount of talking he'd done.

Smiling at having gotten through to him, Rose took the throat lozenges out of the Doctor's hand and removed one of the blister packs. "Here, let's give these a try at least."

Pushing one of the bright red pills out into his obediently waiting hand, she watched the part Time Lord pop it into his mouth.

"Mmh, not so bad, actually! I think that's supposed to be cherry," the Doctor exclaimed while rolling the lozenge around in his mouth. "Thank you for taking care of me, by the way."

Rose's smile widened. "You're welcome."

Several days later found them getting ready to head over to Torchwood for the first round of very basic tests that the Doctor had agreed on, once he had gotten over the worst of his first feverish cold and come to appreciate how good being mostly back to health felt.

When Rose saw him holding a scarf after having put on his pinstriped blue jacket, though, she came to a stop and gave him a sceptically raised brow.

"Aren't you going a little overboard there, Doctor? It's around twenty degrees outside today..." she pointed out, wearing a short sleeved shirt herself at the unusually warm temperature for the season.

Ignoring that last bit of information, the Doctor wrapped the scarf around his neck. "The evenings can get surprisingly chilly now, and I'm not keen on getting that cold back just when I'm starting to feel better." After finishing wrapping it twice around his neck, he added, "Only got one life with you, Rose Tyler – gotta take care of it!"

Biting back a smile, Rose shrugged at his antics. "If you say so."

She failed in trying to hide her amusement once they were in the car a bit later, though, when she saw the Doctor taking the scarf off again once he started sweating underneath it, pointedly ignoring her knowing smirks.