Karkat awoke, the sun streaming into the bedroom, shining directly into his eyes. He grumbled, rolling over to snuggle up to his matesprit. As he inched closer he found that Dave was wearing one of his sweaters; which was odd. Dave normally slept in nothing but his boxers; he got overheated easily, often calling Karkat his own personal heater. He even remembered looking at Dave when he got into bed the night before; he didn't have a shirt on. He must have woken up cold or something…still kind of odd.

The troll cuddled up to the pale boy anyway; holding his hand like always. It was a residual habit from their time in the meteor. Whenever one woke up; they often grabbed the other's hand for comfort. Dave's hand was abnormally warm though. Karkat looked at Dave's face; it was paler than normal. Something was off. He didn't like the idea of waking the boy; but he wasn't familiar with this weirdness to his human's complexion. He gently nudge Dave awake. "Davey, you okay?"

"Mmmmmnnnnnnn, Karkat let me sleep." Dave groaned.

"You're hot."

"Heh, thanks, I know."

Karkat pushed him a little. "Not like that dumbass, like…your physically hot. You're never this warm."

"Dammit, must have a fever."

"What's that?"

"Means I'm sick." Karkat's heart was racing, he had to remind himself they weren't on Alternia anymore. Getting sick was reason enough for culling. It was considered a sign of weakness and risk to others. He held Dave close, kissing him on the head. Dave was happy for the added warmth.

"What do I do?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll take care of it." He was used to taking care of himself. His Bro usually left medication with instructions; but never actively took care of him. Hell, most of the time he still had to do chores and strife when he was sick; although Bro would go a little easier on him.

Dave got up, immediately hating the loss of warmth and started walking towards the bathroom, there should be medicine in there. His vision became blurry about halfway in his journey, he grabbed the wall to steady himself, but to no avail as he ended up falling against it. Shit, his fever must be fairly high. He hadn't realized that Karkat had followed him until he felt strong arms around him; bringing him back up and acting as his support. Black ebbed at around his vision and thoughts for a few seconds before subsiding. Karkat was say something…

"Davey, come on talk to me, you're okay, right? Shit, please be okay."

"I'm okay, I'm alright…just a little dizzy. It happens."

Karkat helped him to the bathroom, where he was able to brace himself against the sink. His hand trembling slightly, he reached for the cold meds. Karkat just watched; worry decorating his face. Dave fumbled with the container, trying to suppress the shaking long enough to get it open. Karkat took the bottle from him. "How many?" His voice tight with concern.

Dave was too focused on not passing out to detect Karkat's distress. "Two" he croaked. Fuck his throat hurt. Karkat took out two pills and retrieved some water. "Open your mouth." Dave did as he was told; desperately wanting to get back to bed. He was so tired. The troll lightly place the pills in his boyfriend's mouth, placing the cup at his lips and tilting just enough to get them down. He saw Dave grimace as he swallowed. "What's wrong?"

"Throat just hurts. It's fine, I'm going back to bed, okay?" This is probably the worst he's ever felt. Karkat was immediately at his side though, tenderly steering him back to their room and tucking him in. As soon as Dave was situated, Karkat ran to get Rose. He didn't know what to do; he had never dealt with a sick person before. He didn't want to do something wrong and inadvertently cause Dave's death.

Approaching Rose's door, he knocked hurriedly. Waiting only a few seconds before knocking more urgently. The door opened to find a grumpy looking Rose and Kanaya, in their pajamas; bedhead still prevalent. Then he realized, it's six in the morning…Rose was not a morning person. Still, this was important. "Dave's really sick, I don't know what to do."

Rose would have snapped at him; she was pretty much the grumpiest person imaginable when she first woke up; but the look of fear on the knight's face made her reevaluate how to respond. She leaned against the door frame. She was sick once with Kanaya, she had a feeling the troll was probably overreacting due to never having dealt with the situation before. "What's going on?"

Karkat explained Dave temperature, the shaking, the trouble standing and swallowing. Rose nodded. It could be something more serious…she would have to go over. "Give me five minutes, I'll be right over."

Karkat's face lit up with relief. Thank god; someone who will know what to do. He ran back to Dave's house, trying to calm down. He went back to the bedroom to check on Dave, only to be met with a noxious odor. He saw a putrid mess by their bed. Dave must have gotten sick. The troll ran to get some towels and just finished the clean-up when Rose arrived.

"I have a thermometer." If she smelled anything, she didn't let on. She approached the bed, turning Dave's head to the side and placing the thermometer in his ear. His eyes opened lazily, slightly glassy in the fog of his fever. "103…he was complaining of a sore throat?" Karkat nodded. "Help me sit him up." Karkat jumped at her command, taking hold of Dave, sitting him up with the greatest care.

Dave whined "I want to sleep."

"You'll get to in a minute, let me see your throat, open up your mouth." Rose, holding a flashlight in her hand; not looking patient or willing to deal with difficulties. Dave complied with the attitude of a two year old. He did as he was told, but he made it abundantly apparent he was not happy. Rose ignored him. She looked his mouth, he was doing a good job of keeping his tongue out of the way so she could see. And boy did she. White patches clung to the back of his throat, she sighed, looking a Karkat. "He has strep throat.

Horror shone on Karkat's face "WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?!"

Dave whined, nearly crying; "Kitkat not so loud." Hands covering his ears as he retreated back under the covers.

"Sorry. Sorry Dave, I'll be quieter." The tenderness returning to Karkat's voice.

"Don't worry too much, I had it when I was younger. I'm going to alchemize him some antibiotics and he should be fine as long as you make him take them as I tell you to."

"Yeah, of course."

Rose nodded, leaving the room to go fetch the proper medication. Dave had already fallen back into a fitful sleep. Sweating and shivering slightly from the fever.

Rose returned some time later. Pills in hand. "Okay, what all have you given him?" Karkat ran to the bathroom returning with a bottle of Dayquil. She looked at it, frowning slightly. "No more of this for him, okay. Do you have anything labeled ibuprofen?"

"Yeah, that's in there."

"Okay, so here's what you do. In about three hours given him two of those, that will keep his fever down. Then, at dinner, make him take one of these. It's very important he take it with food okay?"

"Okay."

"After that, he takes one of these twice a day, once at breakfast, and once at dinner, until they're gone. If his fever comes back, give him more ibuprofen, but not more than three pills every four hours. Got it?"

"Yeah, anything else? What should I make him for dinner? Or alchemize him for dinner?" He still couldn't cook; something to tackle when Dave was better.

"I'll bring over some soup later. All you'll have to do is heat it up. I'll show you. Other than that, just keep him as comfortable as you can and make him drink plenty of clear fluids."

"Alright, thanks Rose."

She smiled and said her good byes. Once she left, Karkat looked at the clock; it was only 10:30. He was already exhausted. He climbed back into bed with Dave, holding him close.

He woke up again a bit later to Dave shifting in his sleep. He felt really warm again, and he was shivering worse than before. Karkat jumped up and retrieved the ibuprofen from the bathroom as well as a full glass of water. He carefully woke Dave up, not wanting to disturb him too much. "Wha-"

"Shhh. You're fever came back, take this."

Dave did as he was told; drinking only a small bit of the water.

"Drink it all. It's good for you."

Again, Dave was in an unusually compliant mood and did as he was told. When he was finished he felt a hand pull at his sweater sleeve. "Can you stay with me?" Karkat smiled.

"Of course."

He climbed back into bed with Dave as the blonde buried himself in the troll's chest. "So warm." He croaked; trying to meld with the troll as if Karkat was the only thing that could warm him up. It was nice; weirdly nice and Karkat found himself purring…this was a pretty pale situation. Dave seemed to like it too; he calmed falling into a more peaceful slumber than before.

Rose let herself in sometime later; making her way to the boys' bedroom she found them both asleep. She crept over to Karkat's side of the bed, nudging him awake. "I brought the soup." She whispered. Karkat nodded; carefully extracting himself from Dave's grip and following her to the kitchen. She explained how to heat up the soup and how much to make sure Dave ate before he took the antibiotic. He followed her instruction, bringing the soup and pills their bedroom.

Dave was awake, stumbling out of bed. "You should still be resting."

"S'fine."

"No Dave! It isn't! Get back into bed!"

"…I'm just going to the bathroom."

"Need help? You stumbled last time."

"S'kay, I feel a little better, I'll be fine."

Karkat would have protested, but Dave did seem a bit better, he was able to stay upright at least. Deciding to let Dave be and waited patiently for his return. As Dave climbed back in bed Karkat presented him with the soup. "Not hungry."

"Dave, just eat some okay? Rose says you have strep throat and you have to eat before you can take the medicine."

Dave eyed him, still a little groggy. Karkat went to the closet, producing a spare pillow; which he propped behind Dave's back to help keep him up. Kissing him on top of the head before he went to fetch his own food. Not seeing the loving smile on Dave's face as he walked away.

He returned after a few minutes with his own tray. Happiness filling him as he saw Dave eating. "This is good soup." The boy was a little more awake and the food seemed to help his mood a little.

"We'll have to thank Rose." He climbed into bed, next to Dave and began eating his own soup. Delicious…it was Rose though, so that's to be expected. Girl was a wizard in the kitchen on the meteor.

When they finished, Karkat made Dave take one of the pills and removed the trays. He came back with Jane Erye, figuring Dave would want to go right back to sleep. He was surprised however, to find the boy waiting expectantly for him. As he seated himself under the covers, Dave scooted closer, throwing his arm over his troll. "Could you read out loud?"

"Sure." And that was how they passed the night. Karkat read in a low soft voice that lulled Dave to sleep; his breathes rhythmically keeping beat to Karkat's words.

Linda065cliva: I know I already PM'd you, but I want to thank you again for reviewing!