Too ill to teach J3T x DM

Based off To Love a Teacher and all events happen before Danny starts dating George, but the feelings are there. Side of JD x CS.

Danny p.o.v

I roll over in bed after the third coughing fit this morning. It's safe to say I am sick, but I am determined to go to work in a few hours' time. It is now roughly five in the morning. Maybe I should text in sick, but then it would mean arranging cover work and ain't nobody got time for that right now. I don't even know what to do in these situations since I am still kinda new to teaching and stuff. I roll out of bed and trudge into the kitchen to make some coffee and maybe try make some toast. I don't know if I will be able to keep it down though because my stomach is not too good right now and I vaguely remember being in the bathroom for a few hours last night. People are not gonna be happy with my decision to go in to work while sick.

I don't feel that bad though, just have a cough and probably a low-grade fever. I have been sick but, in my mind, based on what I have been through I just suck it up and go to school sick. I mean I did it for my entire life up to now so why stop? I am probably driving myself to an early grave, but it didn't really bother me that much. Jorel and the rest of my small friendship circle wasn't going to be happy with me. They want me to take care of myself and rest as much as possible when these things happen, and I know that they are going to come over tonight. I might cancel it because I am sick, but then again, I don't want to be on my own in this house when Grace is only next door and by the end of the school day she will know I am sick.

I curl up on the couch and snuggle under a throw blanket while watching some random show. I had my coffee next to me and I was occasionally sipping on it. Then I heard a knock on the door and looked at the clock, it is half six in the morning now. I wonder who is on the other side. I slowly get up and make my way to the door. I open it and see Dylan on the other side. He was very cheery for the time in the morning that it is. "Morning Dylan, what's up?" I ask him, he was surprised that I was already awake at this time in the morning. Usually he knocks, then waits a little while before using the spare key I gave him to come in and wake me up himself since I don't wake up to very much once I am asleep.

"Morning Danny, I was just coming to see if you wanted to come to Dunkin Donuts with us before we all go to work. Are you feeling okay?" he asks me, and he puts his hand on my forehead when he walks in. I was up for Dunkin Donuts, I have kept the toast down so far and if I need to be sick in school I can excuse myself to a staff bathroom. "It's been a rough night, but I feel fine now. I don't mind joining you guys for an iced coffee and a donut," I tell him, I was being honest with him too. I genuinely feel find right now and I did have a rough night. He hugs me, I don't have a fever right now which is good. "Alright Danny, just let me know if you want picking up early from work today. I know you feel fine now, but that could change," he tells me.

I was happy that he was considering me like that. "I will Dylan don't worry. I know that it could change throughout the day and although I feel fine now I don't know if I will be saying this in a little while," I tell him. I hugged him back and got ready for the day. He told me we could come back to get my stuff for work after we go to Dunkin Donuts. I got into the car, feeling a bit rougher than before but I was not about to tell Dylan that. He would force me to stay at home if he could and I know he has the means to do so. I just don't feel comfortable taking a day off when I don't know what to do to take a day off. "You still up for us coming over tonight? We can cancel if you still feel shitty later?" Dylan asks me as we get to the donut place.

"I'm still okay with it, even if I still feel shitty or feel worse later. I wouldn't mind the company and people to ward off you know who," I say and Dylan chuckles. We get out the car and walk into the place to meet the couple. "I swear you make her sound like Voldemort sometimes Danny," Dylan tells me as we find the couple in the booth. "Well, in my defence she does have a weird obsession with me. I don't really fancy suffering a whole school day being mother hen by her only for it to continue when I get home," I tell him, making a fair point. I want to rest as much as possible tonight. "Grace gonna bother you again Danny?" Jorel asks when I join them at the table. Dylan walked to the counter to make our orders.

"Yep, feeling a little bit under the weather today since I had a rough night, and everyone knows that she is going to mother hen me when she knows," I tell him. Both him and Jordon gave me a hug. Dylan came back five minutes later with our food. I don't have to be at work until about half 8 which gives me time to spend with my friends in the meantime. "One French vanilla iced latte and chocolate caramel duo donut for the teacher bear," Dylan says, and he gives me my order. I smiled at him and took a little sip of the latte while he sat down. I don't want to go sick again, but I think I can manage the donut as long as I be careful afterwards and take it easy and don't go jogging up the stairs to my apartment and to the staffroom.

I still had a bit of my latte left which I decided I would keep and slowly make my way through it during the day. It helped my stomach surprisingly and the donut didn't hit my stomach too heavily. Jorel was aware just by looking at me that I was not feeling great and told me to take care of myself and message any one of them while I was at work if I was going to be sent home early because of how sick I would feel, and I promised him that I would. I walked up the stairs with Dylan to grab all of my stuff for the day like a very light lunch and my school bag with my laptop and work. I walk down the stairs and the nausea hit me like a truck. I stopped for a moment and Dylan was right there to support me. "I think you should be back in bed you know," he tells me. I wanted to agree but I have to push past it.

"I'm fine, honestly I can do this," I tell him. He was not approving it, but I was insistent, so he went with it and we made it to the car. The nausea had left as quickly as it had arrived which helped my case a little. He was probably going to talk to the principal when I get there to make sure she is aware I might need to leave earlier. "Why don't you take a day off anyway like have tomorrow off?" Dylan asks me. Now it is the time to admit to him a little embarrassing secret. "I don't know what the policies are for subs and what to make for a sub plan yet. I need the principal to help me out with it at some point, but I never thought I would need a day off," I tell him. He rubs my shoulder and I smile at him.

"Alright, if you want me to then I will ask the principal to come in and help you make plans. You probably need tomorrow off considering how you feel today so far," he tells me. He is making a good point, if my health keeps dipping the way it has been doing and I feel worse with this sickness at the end of the day than I was at the start then I am going to probably need a day off tomorrow. "Only if one of you guys stay with me tomorrow. I know I opted to live in the apartment alone but I didn't know my neighbour back then," I tell him, and he smiles at me. "Sure, I will make tonight a sleepover if you want and then stay tomorrow. I know we don't have to go into the studio until later this week," he tells me, this is why I call him my older brother when I refer to him and the others to people. He always wants to look after me like a brother would.

"Thanks Dylan, I appreciate it. I know I should consider buying a house or saving up to get one at some point now because of the neighbour issues," I tell him. We were almost at the school since he took his car not mine I can't drive home if I need to, but honestly I feel in no fit state to drive right now anyway. "You're welcome, if we ever kick Aron out of the band house you could always move in and stay with us full time," he says. I personally don't think it is going to happen but they have been complaining about Aron more since their album came out and the management was discussing tour schedules with them to help promote the new album. It's their first one and I do feature in quite a few songs so they have a limited set list to work off since I can only really do Los Angeles and Las Vegas shows.

We got to school on time, in fact I think I was a little earlier than usual. I walk with Dylan straight to my classroom for the first lesson and get everything set up. He went to the principal's office to talk to her on my behalf and I had to make my first dash to the toilet. I managed to make it look like I was not about to throw up which would be good for when I need to do it during the lesson because now I know it is going to happen whether I like it or not. I was back in my chair with a bottle of water I grabbed from the staff room fridge with my name on it before Dylan and Kayla arrive. I was dozing off when Dylan knocked and the principal was behind him. It snapped me out of my dozing and I let them in. Kayla already looked like she wanted to send me home.

"Dylan told me you want some help arranging a sub for tomorrow Dan?" she asks, being kind and friendly like usual. She helps me in a better way that Grace ever does. I don't get babied by Kayla she treats me like an adult and helps me make sure I understand all the things I am learning about being a teacher. "Yeah, I should have asked a while ago but I wasn't sick until last night and I thought I might as well struggle through today and then have tomorrow off and see where I go from there," I tell her, covering why I was in today and feeling like death warmed up. She rubs my arm and tells me if Dylan wanted to he could stay and cover me today if I wanted a nap in the staffroom or something. I said that was fine by me as long as Grace left me alone.

"Grace really bothers you doesn't she? I have noticed she is a bit overbearing when it comes to you and your health and wellbeing," Kayla says and Dylan chuckles. He told Jorel and Jordon he was helping me teach today which made Jorel feel a bit better about me being here when I really shouldn't be. "Yeah, I don't mind her when she is being the lovely lady that I know. Sometimes the mother hen bit can be a bit much and especially since I live right next to her it doesn't help when she is overbearing and it continues to being at home," I admit to her, talking to Kayla about it might help me get Grace to back off just a little bit without anyone having to get angry at her and tell her to fuck off because she is too much.

"I'll talk to her today about getting her to back off you when you go into the staffroom. I will only tell her you feel tired and I have told you that you could sleep on the couch if you felt like you really needed it. Then that way when you go home to relax later you can rest because she might get the message to leave you alone if I tell her," she tells me and I smile at her. I appreciate having her around a lot. It just makes the day go by that little bit easier. Then she goes through and helps me make the sub plans for tomorrow and all the paperwork that goes with taking a sick day before the students arrive for their first lesson of the day since I don't have a homeroom class this year. Maybe next year will be a different story.

I have George's class later and George for some tutoring. I will explain to him that tomorrow's tutoring will be cancelled since I won't be there. Dylan helps me through my first two lessons by doing some planning I have asked him to help with or covering me the one time I needed to run to the bathroom to be sick again. I felt awful by the time break came and I rested my head on Dylan's shoulder when George entered. "Hey George, I don't think we are going to do much today. I'm not feeling great and I am also having tomorrow off so you have a free break and lunch then," I explain to my student. He looked worried about me, but I reassured him that other than this stomach bug I seemed to have, I felt fine.

We spend some time going over the work that he was struggling with and I told him that we were going to do some more work on it when it is our lesson later on. Some days I have English lessons all day, others I have music all day and the rest is a mixture of both. Today is an all English lesson day for me which is handy because I only know where the staff toilet is from this block and no one has noticed me throwing up yet which is a double bonus. Grace has left me alone so far today to which might mean I sent a thank you email to Kayla later on when I go home for the day. I was getting close to the point where that nap sounded like the best idea ever, but I didn't know if I should take it since I have George after break and Dylan doesn't know what to teach them, he only knows for the lower grades.

The lesson went alright, I kept having to leave the class to either cool myself down or be sick again since I kept trying to drink water in hopes of keeping it down. I did get an email from Kayla saying she was going to make sure the staffroom was empty after lunch if I wanted an hour's kip then and I reluctantly agreed. I was getting worse and Dylan said that one hour would be good for me and he felt confident enough to cover the lesson for me until I felt rested enough to return. I gave Dylan my lunch since I doubted that I would be able to eat it and he didn't anticipate staying for the whole school day with me. We had another catch up with George and he felt a little more confident on the topic he was struggling with now than he did at the start of break.

After lunch Kayla came and guided me towards the staffroom and put up a meeting in progress sign. She said she had a meeting over the phone and here was the quietest place to do it so she would let me take the hour kip she offered while she was in the meeting that way no one was going to bother me and I could get the rest that I needed. I told her thank you and let her know that Grace had not come to see me all day so far and she told me that was because she told her not to bother me and that I was going to be fine on my own. I was not the first person in the school or teacher for that matter to have those complaints about her and she was taking them all very seriously. She was only giving Grace a warning for now and then see how it goes after that.

Dylan p.o.v

Danny has been in the staffroom for over an hour and after speaking to Kayla we decided mutually to let him sleep for the rest of the school day. He really was not feeling well anymore and Kayla had a few calls she could make in the staffroom so that he wasn't going to be disturbed by anyone. I hadn't even seen Grace once. I covered for Danny when the students asked where he was and said he had gone home lunch time because he wasn't feeling well but he should be back when he felt better. Jorel and Jordon are going to meet us at Danny's house later on like we arranged and he was even more worried about Danny then he was at breakfast.

Jorel: How's Danny feeling now?

Me: To be honest with you Jay, he feels a lot worse now. Kayla made him go to the staffroom and he is sleeping for the rest of the school day

Jorel: Aw noo, good to know he is getting rest though. It must be horrible for him to feel like that and try and teach noisy kids at the same time.

Me: His classes have been very well behaved. They all respect him a lot and because I am his friend it seems they respect me too.

Jorel: well, that is really good. Grace been leaving Danny alone or nah?

Me: Yep, leaving him alone. Kayla is in the staffroom with Danny so no one can interrupt him and we haven't seen Grace once. We have also made him take tomorrow off to get better.

Jorel: ahh that's a nice change for him then. That was going to be my next question actually. Since he knows how to sort all that stuff out we can actually encourage him to have sick days when he is feeling like this.

Me: definitely I mean tomorrow will be the first sick day he has ever taken since becoming a teacher and he is going to rest. He already asked me this morning to stay with him so he gets the rest he needs and a certain old lady doesn't try and become his mother again.

Jorel: If he ever joins the band full time we are moving him out of there. Either that or get him a cease and desist order or something to that affect.

Me: Haha yeah he needs one badly. Gotta go, got five mins till end of day and then gonna wake a very confused Danny up.

Jorel: Alright, talk to you when you get back to Danny's. Hope he isn't too angry with the extended nap.

Once the last child was dismissed for the day I make my way over to the staffroom with mine and Danny's things all ready to go in the car. Now all I need to do is wake Danny up and tell him he is going home because it is home time. When I knocked on the staffroom door I did see Grace in the hallway but she was not happy to see me there. Kayla let me in and raised her eyebrow at the sight of Grace lurking. Ideally we want to get Danny on his couch without her knowing he is sick. "He's been peacefully out for the count this whole time. I was going to wake him at two, but I just felt like the extra hour and a half was needed," Kayla tells me as I go to wake up my friend. "That's fine, I have a feeling he will be sleeping a lot when he gets home anyway," I tell her.

He slowly wakes up and looks at me confused. "Home time buddy, we gave you a little extra time to sleep because you needed it," I tell him. He sits up slowly and rubs his eyes. "Okay, I think I am glad it's home time now really," he says, and you could just tell he felt a lot worse than he did this morning. I help him to his feet and let him lean on me if he wanted to. "You have a good night's rest tonight and a good day off tomorrow. Message me on Friday if you need Friday off too and I will get it covered," she tells Danny and he smiles. We said our goodbyes to Kayla and made our way out of the school. We saw Grace and Danny managed to pull off looking fine to her and saying he was fine and having her believe him.

I hope that means she will leave him alone tonight. The façade Danny had kept up quickly left when we got into the car. "Don't worry Danny. We will be back at yours soon and you can go to bed if you would like," I tell him, I wasn't going to be fussed if he chose to go straight to bed or to snuggle up with one of us and sleep on the couch instead. Whatever makes him happy I was more than willing to do. I know eating is going to be off limits for a little while, but we can try again with water and see how he does with that. Jorel and Jordon were waiting inside when we got in. Danny went into his bedroom straight away and I thought he was going to sleep then. He proved me wrong a minute later when he came back out in some comfy clothes and sat next to Jorel on the couch.

"I definitely don't feel good," he tells us and Jorel wraps his arm around the youngest and hugs him. "Yeah, at least you know now that you have tonight to rest and tomorrow," Jorel says as I get the poorly boy some cold water to try and drink. He managed to keep it down, and he spent the rest of the evening sleeping for a couple of hours then waking up for half an hour before falling asleep again. I was still going to spend my night here so when Jorel took Danny to bed before he left I said my goodnights to the couple who said they would spend tomorrow here too even if Danny sleeps the day away. It didn't matter much to us because we really care about him and we want to see him better.

The next morning – Danny p.o.v

I think it is past the time I should be up. Then all the symptoms of the flu hit me at once along with the memory of Kayla making me have today as a sick day because of how ill I was yesterday. I felt a little embarrassed by it but she made it feel like no big deal and I wasn't at fault even though I should have probably taken yesterday off too. I hear Dylan talking to Jorel in the kitchen, but I felt like I didn't have the strength to get out of bed and join them. I was probably going to spend most of the day in here or on the couch anyway. "I'll check on him Dyl, he might not even be awake anyway because you said when I got here he was out for the count," Jorel says and then I hear his footsteps coming towards the door.

I feel like I have no energy but I am not about to fake sleeping now. I will probably naturally fall back to sleep soon anyway. "Hey Dan, still feeling sick?" Jorel asks me when he sees me awake. I made no effort in sitting up and I let him put his hand on my forehead. "Hey Jay, I feel fucking awful. I think this has turned into a nasty flu or something," I tell him, then explain more of my symptoms to him for his judgement. I knew I had a fever because his hand felt amazingly cool against my forehead and when I looked at him he looked concerned for me. "I bet, that fever is pretty high. Do you feel like staying in bed all day Dan?" he asks me. I yawned again and Jorel hugged me. "Yeah, I don't feel like I have the strength to stand right now," I tell him, and he rubs my arm and I hugged him weakly back.

"That's fine, we can set up the TV in here for a bit if you want. We can balance it on your dresser no problem," Jorel says and I nodded. Even though I felt like a nap was coming I wouldn't mind watching TV while I am awake with the guys. A few minutes later Jorel and Dylan brought the TV into my room and Dylan brought me a bottle of water from my fridge while Jorel was setting everything up, so we could watch Netflix in a little while. "Don't worry Danny, Jay and I are here to make you all better until you feel better and Jordon will be here later," Dylan tells me when I took a cautious sip of my water bottle. "Thank you, guys, I appreciate it honestly," I tell them, and he smiles at me. Jorel smiled at me when he was done sorting the TV out.

"You're welcome Danny. You would do the same for us when we get sick, so we are returning the favour," Jorel tells me and he sits on one side of me and Dylan sits on the other while a film is on. I finally kept some water down which made me feel relieved and I was leaning on the pillows as my support to sit up and watch the film. "Yeah, I am glad everything got sorted today. I would have definitely texted Kayla with the new I wasn't going to be in today if we didn't sort it out already," I tell them. The Friday being a day off is also looking likely at this moment in time. If I have the flu like I suspect I am not going to magically be cured by tomorrow. "Yeah, and you can have tomorrow off too if you need it, you just have to text her, and everything will be sorted," Dylan tells me since he was there with me yesterday.

"I hear you did well with teaching the last three lessons on your own there Dyl, I am proud," Jorel says. I knew I had slept from after lunch time to just past dismissal which means I miss three of my lessons and Dylan covered all of them well. I was a little upset I had missed them, but I knew I needed the rest and Dylan was more than capable of taking care of a bunch of students. "Yeah, I need to pay you back for that Dylan. I had no intentions of making you cover those lessons or sleeping that long," I tell him. He won't want paying back, but I was going to get him a gift card or something when I have more energy and more strength to do this because right now I can't even sit up properly by myself.

"Hey, I had to help a friend out in need. I bet if you were on your own then you would have fallen asleep in class and it would have been quite the embarrassing situation," Dylan says, and I nod. Jorel showed me a $50 gift card which we know Dylan would spend and I nodded in approval to it and he bought it on my behalf since I would pay him the $50 to cover it. "True, or Grace would have come in and ordered me to go home," I tell him. If Dylan wasn't there to help me explain it to Kayla, then yesterday would have been different. "Yeah, surprised she didn't show up before school this morning, but if Kayla told her to leave you alone then she might actually have listened," Jorel tells me. I hope she has finally listened even if it is for this one incident.

I dozed off after a while and woke up to my front door opening and closing. "I brought some soup back from Panera Bread for Danny to see if he can try some," I hear Jordon say, I knew he was coming over and it sounds like he brought lunch. Dylan was sleeping with me and Jorel was probably in my lounge. "Yeah, that might work since he has kept water down so far and soup is quite light. Him and Dylan are sleeping right now though," Jorel says and then I hear footsteps. They will probably prep the meals and bring them in here since I said they could eat in here with me as long as it didn't get too messy. "Hey Dan, feeling any better?" Jorel asks and I shake my head. I had a bit of water, but it wasn't disagreeing with me.

"My stomach is not bothering me anymore, but I still feel rough," I tell Jorel who smiles. Then Jordon walks in with the dinner for the four of us and Jorel decided to wake Dylan up. "Lunch time Dylan," Jorel says and hands our friend his lunch. "Oh thanks, Dan still sleeping?" Dylan asks, he hadn't seen me awake yet, but Jorel put a few more pillows behind me so he could help me try this soup. "Nope, just being quiet like usual," I tell him, and he smiles. Jorel explained he was going to feed me the soup but I had to tell him when I couldn't eat anymore. I could barely hold my phone, so I had no complaints about being fed this one. I was drinking water through a straw as well. I managed to eat all the soup and it didn't hurt my stomach much if at all.

"That might do you some good Danny. Your body needs fuel to fight the flu," Jordon says, and I nod. We have the bucket nearby just in case I need to be sick which I was praying that I didn't. "Yep, I hope it stays down in my belly though," I tell him. Dylan rubs my back and smiles at me. We watched some more TV and we made it passed the clear mark with my soup staying down. To be fair though the last time I was sick was yesterday evening or night time. "We might stick to soups and pastas for you today Danny, so we don't overdo it and make you sick again," Jorel tells me. I smiled at him. "Yeah that sounds like a good idea. I wanna eat, but I am scared of being sick again and going back to square one," I tell him.

"Yeah, hopefully that bit has passed now, and it is just the flu left," Dylan says, then we spend most of the rest of the day watching TV and napping. Well it was mainly me who was taking the naps and the guys would write songs while I slept. I was slowly getting better, but Jorel and the others advised me that taking Friday off would be best, so I don't send myself back to square one by going back to work when I wasn't ready. This time it was the couple's turn to spend the night with me which was nice.

This means that I am now done with TLAT based things unless I get another idea. I hope you enjoyed it!

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