(Author's note: I have tried to think very long and very hard how to use canon Manus for this prompt, but in the end I hated every scenario I came up with and decided to settle for the modern AU instead.

This ship has a huge age gap between them, so if you are squicked by it, I would recommend to not continue reading.)

"Good morning, daddy."

Manus slowly opened his eyes, still feeling the kiss his lover had pressed on his lips to wake him.

"Morning, kid.", he said and stretched, trying to shake off the fatigue when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his stomach. He winced and grunted slightly.

"Is something wrong?", Artorias wanted to know.

"I am just... still a bit tired. Give me a minute.", Manus said, slightly concerned about the pain, but today was one of the few days, where he and Artorias both were free from work and he wouldn't miss this for anything in the world.

"I have prepared some breakfast so that we can get some energy before we leave with taking Sif for a long walk in the park.", Artorias said and left the bedside. "Just join me once you are ready."

Manus decided to stay in bed for a while longer waiting for the pain to subdue. Artorias had looked forward to have a whole day to spend with his boyfriend for weeks now. His job as a policemen and Manus job as the head of a pharmacy company didn't make it easy for them to find much time to spend together. Artorias had been thrilled to know that their free days would match this week.

After around ten minutes, Manus felt secure enough to crawl out of bed, making his way into the kitchen. He sat down at the table where Artorias was browsing his phone, and just stared at the amounts of food he had made. "Jeez, kid, who shall eat all this?", Manus asked. Furthermore, Manus didn't even had much of an appetite today.

"Well, we don't want to get hungry later.", Artorias said, beaming. "I will get you a plate, just keep seated."

Typical for Artorias. He would always make sure that everyone had it as comfortable as possible, even though they shared an apartment for quite some time now and Manus had absolutely no trouble with getting up and fetching a plate for himself. But he also knew, that a discussion would only upset his boyfriend and he especially didn't want to get of the topic of his age again. That was bound to happen sometimes with the huge age gap both of them had. After all, Manus had jokingly started to call Artorias kid cause he was old enough to be his father and Artorias had taken this as opportunity to start calling him daddy in return.

Artorias came back and set a steaming plate of scrambled eggs and bacon in front of Manus, snapping him out of his thought. Manus just stared at the food, not feeling hungry at all, but in the end picked up the fork and started to eat slowly. While he was chewing, he was watching Artorias eat. Like usual, his lover had taken a serving that would be enough for two people on his plate and it wouldn't surprise Manus if he would take seconds. With his appetite completely vanished after only a few forks, Manus focused to watch Artorias intensely instead, they rarely had a moment where they could sit like this,

just bathing in the other's presence.

While Manus was busy watching Artorias, he could feel something soft pressing against his leg. Sif, Artorias trained police dog, a german shepherd girl. He leaned down and quietly got her some pets, picking up a piece of bacon of his plate and feeding it to her without Artorias noticing. Sif would never take any food of the ground, but she quickly had learned that Manus would gladly share his food with her. The dog panted happily and laid down next to his feet.

Even though Manus hadn't eaten much, he started to feel some slight nausea rising. This wasn't good, maybe he started to come down with a stomach flu. "Kid, you are still busy eating anyway, I will take this time to use the bathroom.", he said and stood up.

Artorias swallowed his current mouthful and said: "Hm, oh yeah, take your time." He noticed the leftover food on Manus plate: "You sure you are feeling alright? You have barely eaten anything."

"I am older than you, remember?", Manus said and vanished behind the bathroom door.

A while later Artorias was putting Sif on a leash while Manus was now pretty sure that he just had a constipation and that had been the reason for his symptoms this morning. This wasn't big trouble, he could just take a laxative later if it didn't resolve itself. It was pretty normal for his age to get into some digestion trouble, nothing to be concerned about. He still would enjoy the day with his lover to the fullest.

While they were heading for the park, the both of them were talking about stuff that happened at work. Manus mostly let Artorias talk, his boyfriend made even regular police work like giving someone a ticket sounding like an exciting adventure, but mostly refrained to talk much about his work, mostly be cause his company was pulling off some really shady things and Artorias should be the last person to know that. Manus actually felt bad that he was lying to Artorias like this. It had started because he needed to support for his four daughters after their mother had died, but now he was too deep into it to just opt out.

"You are so quiet today, are you sure everything is fine?", Artorias suddenly asked.

"I just enjoy listening to your stories, kid. This is far more exciting than my work, this is only boring management stuff. I rather listen to you instead of talking about me.", Manus reassured Artorias, leading the subject back into the desired direction. Luckily, Artorias took the cue and continued talking about his work.

At the park, Artorias pulled out some of Sif's favourite toys and started to engage her in playful activity that would ensure that the dog would be exhausted and content after it was over. Manus sat down on a park bench and watched. He noticed that his stomach ache had returned and it seemed to have taken a turn for the worse. It wasn't exactly bad yet, but surely distracting. He laid a hand on his stomach, trying to massage the pain away, when Artorias came over to him.

"How about you bond a bit with Sif too?", he asked and pulled Manus on his feet. Manus sighed. If he would tell Artorias that he would rather kept sitting because he had a stomach ache, his boyfriend probably would take them straight home. So he tried to pull himself together and took the frisbee that Artorias had offered him.

"Alright, let's see how fast this girl can run.", he said and threw the frisbee with a graceful motion of his hand. Sif happily ran after it and flawlessly caught it midair. Artorias pressed the dog treats for Sif in Manus hand, Manus knew, that he was supposed to reward Sif for bringing back the toy. After Sif had brought back the disc like wanted, she clearly was in for another round, so Manus threw it again. This continued a few more times until Sif laid down, heavily panting, clearly exhausted from the activity.

"Mission accomplished.", Artorias grinned. "We have played a lot with her. Let's sit down for a few minutes before heading back." Manus was very grateful for this offer, cause the pain didn't manage to become better while he was performing the activities for Sif. Luckily, they had planned on watching a movie in the afternoon, so no further physical activities were requested. Manus cuddled against Artorias on the bench, while it wasn't exactly cold yet, it was a sunny autumn day and the air could be quite fresh. Manus just enjoyed the stillness of the moment, while briefly thinking about that a lot of people often would think that the both of them where father and son before realizing that they were in fact in a romantic relationship and just had a huge age gap going on. Manus had to smile a bit at the thought about Artorias really being his kid, maybe at first he had viewed him like this, but it had quickly turned into more intimate feelings. Also, Manus found that having four daughters were more than enough children to have.

"Let's head back to the apartment now and after we have gotten Sif into her bed, we can go and grab something to eat.", Artorias said and stood up from the bench, making Manus almost fall who had used his far taller boyfriend as support. He managed to regain his balance and stood up as well.

"You are still hungry after that breakfast of yours? Unbelievable.", he said.

"I know I eat a lot, but I am also very active and need my energy.", Artorias grinned. Manus was half expecting that his boyfriend would fell into a jog, but he seemed to consider the exhausted Sif and his aged boyfriend and walked a reasonable pace instead. Manus was able to follow it without being worn down too much by his pain.

Artorias dropped off Sif at the apartment, while Manus was waiting for him in front of the house. When Artorias came out of the house, Manus tucked arms with him and asked: "So, where are we heading for lunch?"

"I have picked out a nice little café, I am sure you will like it. I know you prefer fancy restaurants, but come on, you visit them because of work all the time. Let's get back to the ground for a bit.", Artorias answered.

"Actually, I think I prefer the café right now...", Manus murmured. The more light food served into a café would be the right thing for his upset stomach. If he would even be able to stomach any food at all, his stomach ache still hadn't dwindled down. Manus made a mental note to take some medicine later, when they were home. He half regretted that he didn't had came back in and take some when Artorias dropped off Sif earlier.

They arrived at the café and Artorias picked a nice table near a large window, so that they could watch the people outside, an activity that Manus thoroughly enjoyed. While Artorias got his signature Latte Macchiato, Manus preferred to get some herbal tea. He spend a long time looking at the menu, but in the end settled for a light salad. "Are you sure that is enough?", Artorias asked.

"I am not very hungry today, that is all.", Manus answered, trying to ignore the growing pain in his stomach. While they were waiting for the food, Manus got a text from his daughter Nashandra, who was asking for a new dress whose price nearly made his stomach ache worse. With the help of Artorias he managed to get her into buying a cheaper dress and then their food already had arrived.

Artorias had chosen a double serving of the steak bowl, Manus still couldn't comprehend how he was able to eat that much after that rich breakfast. He decided to concentrate on his own food instead, despite his appetite pretty much being non existent. He still ate, although slowly and had to stop after half the plate was gone, cause his nausea returned. And this time it felt really bad.

"Please excuse me for a moment...", Manus whispered and made a beeline for the bathroom. He only intended to calm down there, trying to get the nausea to go away, but it was so worse now, that the salad and his breakfast made it into the toilet bowl.

Manus wiped his mouth, breathing heavily. He surely wouldn't tell Artorias about this. The movie they had picked out to see would start in an hour and Artorias had looked forward to see it for such a long time now, it was the newest one from his favourite series. It was a bit too much dumb action for Manus taste, but Artorias excitement about it made up for it. He stayed a while longer at the bathroom, but when he was certain that his nausea was gone for now, he cleaned out his mouth and returned to Artorias at the table.

"There you are.", his lover cried. "I was starting to get worried. I was about to go and look if something was wrong. Is something wrong?" Artorias eyed him intensely. "I mean, I am sure you haven't been that pale this morning."

"Don't worry, I am fine, kid. You know that old people sometimes take a bit longer on the bowl, right?", he grinned at Artorias.

"Manus, that is disgusting.", Artorias said, but grinned back at him. They payed and got on their way to the movies.

Manus was more than glad when they had gotten their movie tickets and could sit down. After he had vomited, the pain in his stomach had gotten even worse. He didn't feel like doing anything now, so he just was letting Artorias talk, who once again told him about all the other movies in the series and what he was expecting from the newest title.

When it was finally time to enter the hall, Manus was searching for Artorias hand while his other was holding his stomach. His pain had gotten so bad now.. he definitely needed to take some medicine later. Manus felt like he was barely able to follow the plot of the movie, if you even could speak of it having one. He was sure that Artorias would want to talk about it later, but he got too distracted by the pain. Manus sighed a breath of relief when the credits rolled, he was so ready to go home and just lay down in bed now.

Like anticipated, on their way out, Artorias was starting to talk about the movie, his favourite part, what he didn't like, the expectations that had come true and the ones which hadn't, but when Artorias asked Manus for his opinion, he was at a loss. He had barely realized what had happened in it. And before he could say anything, his pain flared up so bad, that the next thing he knew was that he was surrounded by darkness.

When Manus came back to his senses, he was laying in a bed, Artorias in a chair at his side, his usual bright smile a frown of worry and anger.

"What happened?", Manus asked, confused. "Is this a hospital?"

"Indeed, it is.", Artorias said with a deep sigh.

"Since when have you been in pain? Why didn't you said anything? The doctors said that it was really close, you should have come to them a lot sooner.", Artorias hissed. Manus winced at his voice.

"What?", he just said, still confused. Was this about his stomach ache? He had trouble remembering what had happened after they had entered the movie hall.

"Manus, you had an appendicitis. You got emergency surgery and everything, it was apparently really close to get fatal.", Artorias scolded his lover. "Why haven't you said anything? I had the assumption that something was wrong this whole time, but because you insisted that you are fine, I decided to trust you."

"Sorry.", Manus said. "I just didn't want to ruin our day."

"I wouldn't have gotten mad when you had told me right away that you were feeling unwell, then we could have gotten you treated right away.", Artorias said.

Manus felt very small, even smaller as usual with their clear size difference. "I am sorry.", was the only thing he could think of to say once again.

Artorias got closer to him and took Manus hands in his own. "Just promise me one thing.", he said. "If you ever feel unwell again, don't lie to me, regardless what we have planned. Your health is far more important than having a free day."

Manus just stared in the grey eyes of his boyfriend, eyes that looked like he could drown in them if he stared any longer. Finally he gave in and had to look away.

"I am truly sorry.", he said once again. "I just didn't want to see you unhappy. I promise to you that I won't hide it anymore when I am feeling sick."

"See, that wasn't so hard, right?", Artorias said, smiling and pulled Manus in a soft hug.

"Don't ever scare me like that again.", he said and Manus could have sworn he had heard his boyfriend sobbing.

"I won't.", Manus said, reciprocating the hug. He sighed. "But now I have quite a few people to inform that I will be out for a few weeks... Will you help me sort this out, kid?"

"Of course, daddy.", Artorias said and his usual beam returned to his face.