Edit: Romania's name has been changed to Dimitrie
A Proposal of Sorts
Chapter Five: A Wicked Head Cold
The alarm goes off and Nikola wakes up, his groan coming out as a strange croak through his newly sore throat. Sitting up he reaches over and grabs a water bottle on his night stands to take a drink, assuming his throat is simply dry. By the time he finishes the whole bottle his throat is still hurting and now he's even coughing. Decidedly ignoring the situation, Nikola gets up and dresses for class. It's not like he can do anything anyways. Besides, he only has two more days before spring vacation where he'll have a week to nurse this possible-yet-probably-not cold.
"Nikola!" Dimitrie gasps, running over to the man as he heads out of his room. "I heard you coughing! Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Nikola sighs, his voice coming out normal which just proves to himself that he's right and it's nothing but his throat being dry. The water he had was warm so at school he will just get a cold drink and fix the problem. "Hurry up so we can get to classes."
"Yes sir!" Dimitrie grins, gathering his stuff before leading the two of them down to the car.
The day is uneventful enough; Nikola goes to his classes and doesn't really get time to get a drink thanks to back-to-back classes and having to meet with Romulus about his arrangement conference after break. Regretfully at the end of the day his throat is still sore, but his voice is fine so he shrugs it off. At home he and Dimitrie go about doing their homework and separate hobbies for the night as Nikola keeps his sore throat secret. Okay, so he has a cold. No doubt thanks to that lovely time in the mud last weekend. Dimitrie doesn't need to know though. He can just take some medicine and it will be gone soon enough.
Their last day of classes before break comes and Nikola is a bit worse for wear. Despite taking cold medicine and cough drops he's managed to get sicker. Now his nose is running like a faucet, to the point where he can't hide it from Dimitrie . Luckily, since it just started that morning, he can blame it on allergies and be done with the whole thing. In classes, away from Dimitrie 's attention, he can no longer hide it. Sitting at a table in Romulus' classroom between his two classes taught by the man that day, Nikola allows himself a short nap.
Or at least he tries to. It's pretty hard to fall asleep when you are constantly coughing and sneezing. Instead he settles for burying his face in his arms on the table as his classmates go in and out for various things in their thirty minute break. At one point he hears Romulus come into the room with someone else, talking about the general exhaustion of the students today.
"Even Nikola, who is always up and alert, is actually resting his head!" Romulus says to the foreign man and despite his exhaustion Nikola smiles to himself, happy his favorite teacher actually pays enough attention to him to pick up when he's behaving differently.
The rest of the day goes by slowly, embalming lab being the worst with the chemicals and actual focus that needs to be put in it. Luckily, his classmates notice he's sick and let him rest to the side for the most part until the end when Romulus has him use the trocar. By the end of the day he no longer sees the merit in hiding it from Dimitrie and when they meet up at the car he plops down in the passenger's seat, handing the very surprised teen his keys.
"Drive my baby carefully or so help me god I will kill you." Nikola says before slipping into a coughing fit.
"I knew it! I knew you were sick!" Dimitrie exclaims before his hand shoots out and feels the man's forehead. "Ah! You're warm, too! Damnit Nikola if you didn't feel well you should have stayed home!"
"I was just fine. No one even noticed." The man lies as he digs in his backpack for a cough drop. "Just get us home so I can sleep."
"Right! Don't worry Nikola, I'll take care of you!" Dimitrie promises to Nikola, who is sound asleep before he even makes it fully out of the parking lot.
When he finally wakes up they are already parked and Dimitrie is trying to figure out a way to get him inside without waking him. "Dude, I'm up, just get in the house…" He says tiredly, grabbing his backpack and getting out of the car.
"Do you want me to go to the store and pick up some medicine for you? Or maybe something you would like to eat? Oh! How about soup?" Dimitrie asks, going on and on as they head up the stairs to their apartment.
"So help me god one more word and I'm going to stay at Roderich's until I get better." Nikola groans, effectively silencing the teen. "Good boy. I have all the medicine I need, I'm not bad enough for soup to be necessary, and for the love of god stop looking at me like I'm about to keel over. It's a cold, Dimitrie , nothing more."
"I know…but it's my fault…" Dimitrie mumbles and Nikola nods.
"That's true, it is."
"Y-you're not supposed to agree! You're supposed to say something comforting!"
Nikola looks at him annoyed. "Why would I comfort the brat who got me sick?" He asks before heading into his room to sleep the evening and night away.
When he wakes up again it's four in the morning and his whole body hurts. His head is throbbing, his nose is running, his throat feels like there's someone in there running a cheese grater on it, and even his jaw hurts a bit. All of this to play in the mud with Dimitrie . Never. Again.
Crawling out of bed, Nikola staggers into the kitchen and grabs all the medicine he can think of; Nyquil, Mucinex, ibuprofen, and another bag of cough drops. Once he takes everything and refills his water bottle with a shitload of ice and some water, he takes the bottle and cough drops back to his room to sleep. Except he can't sleep. Nope, his nose is plugged up the second he lays his head down and his body decides now is the perfect time to go into a coughing fit. Of course, with Dimitrie in the next room, he's soon not alone as the boy tries to bring him medicine he's already taken.
"I'm fine, go back to bed." Nikola tries to order, but nothing really sounds serious when your voice is quiet and raspy.
"Let me take your temperature!" Dimitrie pleads, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I just want to make sure you don't have a fever!"
Nikola tries to glare at him, but what should be a harsh look comes out as a pathetic pout. "Fine." He concedes, allowing Dimitrie to place the thermometer in his mouth and sit with him for another minute.
"No! You do have a fever!" Dimitrie gasps. "This is horrible! You need to get to sleep right away!"
"That's what I was trying to do…" Nikola groans and Dimitrie frowns.
"Oh, right, I'm sorry…" He apologizes before leaving the room.
When Nikola finally wakes up, around two that afternoon, he hears Dimitrie clanging around in the kitchen. Knowing no good can come of that he gets up and staggers out in his pajamas, peaking into the kitchen as he tries to hide his overwhelming feeling of dread. "Dimitrie …what are you doing?"
"Making you some soup! I called your mom and she said bob chorba was your favorite when you are sick!" Dimitrie explains as Nikola comes closer, inspecting the food. "I've never made it before…but…I want to make you feel better. Especially since it's my fault…" He mumbles and Nikola frowns a little.
"It's not really your fault, don't be so sensitive." Nikola says, smiling at him a little. "Now let me try some of this and see how bad you are doing." He teases before taking a spoon and having a taste.
"I-is it good?" Dimitrie asks nervously before receiving a smile from Nikola.
"It's really good." Nikola praises, turning off the stove and grabbing a bowl. "Are you having any?"
"No, it's all for you." Dimitrie smiles. "I'll be eating leftovers."
"You…don't have to." Nikola says, grabbing another bowl and filling it before holding a spoonful of soup up to Dimitrie . "Here."
Dimitrie blushes a little and laughs awkwardly. "Nikola, I will if you answer me something."
"That's…random…but fine, sure, go for it." Nikola shrugs, grabbing both bowls and leading Dimitrie to sit on the couch. He's dizzy and tired and standing is just exacerbating both of these problems.
"Well…I know it's not fair to ask you this while you are sick but I can't stop thinking about it and I just really need to know the answer…" Dimitrie mumbles and Nikola nods stupidly, the words refusing to make sense in his exhaustion.
"Mm…homework troubles. Don't worry, I'll ease your troubled mind." Nikola mocks, smiling at Dimitrie a little. "So, what's the homework?"
Dimitrie looks at him confused but decides not to call him on it. The man is sick after all. "When we were playing in the mud…before Romulus came…I was going to kiss you." He mumbles shyly and Nikola tenses up, finally catching on.
"I-I don't think we should talk about this right…"
"Nikola, please! I was going to kiss you and you didn't move away! You noticed, I know you did. Your lips even parted a little when I moved in!" Dimitrie exclaims and Nikola blanches.
"That…that was…I wasn't thinking at the time." He admits, staring at his soup. "Don't get your hopes up too high."
"I know, I figured as much…" Dimitrie begins, leaning closer to him. "But if that's the case…could you stop thinking for a moment again so I can pick up where we left off?"
Nikola blushes and pushes him away. "I'm eating, leave me alone and eat your food."
Dimitrie laughs, an almost sad sort of laugh, before he picks up his own bowl and eats obediently. "You still have no interest in marriage, do you?"
"Not even a little. Sorry if I gave you a different impression." Nikola answers.
"Nah, you never gave me a different impression." Dimitrie admits. "Whether we had kissed or not I know you don't want to marry me." The two finish eating and Dimitrie turns on a show they both like. As they watch the show, Nikola feels Dimitrie 's eyes on him.
"What?" He groans, his voice croaking a little before he goes into another coughing fit.
"I-I just…want to kiss you." Dimitrie admits, receiving a skeptical glare from Nikola. "It's true! You look so cute and I just-! I-I get one kiss, right?"
"I don't remember agreeing to that. Besides, my mouth tastes like medicine, my jaw hurts, and my nose looks like Rudolph's. How could any of this make you want to kiss me?" Nikola asks annoyed and Dimitrie smiles at him.
"There's never a time I don't want to kiss you, Nikola." He admits, watching as a defeated look comes to Nikola's face.
"Fine, waste the one kiss you will ever get on a sick man." The man concedes and Dimitrie grins, leaning down closer to his face.
"I will." He says and presses his lips to Nikola's. They both open their mouths and Dimitrie hesitates for a moment at the bitter taste of medicine before he delves his tongue in further, being sure to memorize every inch while he can. In spite of himself, Nikola wraps his arms around Dimitrie 's neck, thanking whatever entity is actually allowing him to go five seconds without coughing. No wait-
"STOP!" Nikola pushes him away quickly before he begins to cough again. He spoke to soon, stupid cold. Stupid mud. Stupid, stupid, stupid Dimitrie .
Asdfjgfkldh I'm so out of it I put this up without editing!
A/N: I have a wicked head cold, so I decided Nikola should have one too. If this chapter makes no sense I'm sorry. Wrote it while sick. Like, super out of it. You know head colds can cause jaw pain? BECAUSE NO ONE WARNED ME ABOUT THAT AND NOW MY JAW IS WHAT HURTS THE MOST! Sorry, I'm rambling, I've been stuck in my bed since Thursday night trying to get rid of this. ISOLATED FROM THE WORLD I AM SO BORED!
