Cal woke to the incessant bleeping of his phone alarm. Groaning, he reached an arm back towards his bedside table and hit the "snooze" icon, rubbing his blurry eyes and sitting up stiffly.

He looked down and smiled, somewhat sadly, to see poor Ethan looking even worse than yesterday. Pressing his fingers to his pink cheeks, Cal could already tell that his fever had crept up a degree or so, the quiet hum of Ethan's shallow, chesty breathing springing to mind memories of last night's traumatic events. But, being the affection-seeking creature he was when he was ill, Ethan was still happily asleep, snuggled up to Cal's chest, his head resting just beneath Cal's chin, lightly tickling his neck whenever his brother moved. Chuckling fondly, Cal softly pushed loose strands of Ethan's blonde hair away from his face, tutting as he saw he still had his glasses on.

"What are you like, hm?" He whispered quietly, carefully removing them and wrapping an arm around him, running his thumb along his shoulder.

Ethan didn't stir. Probably because he'd had an exhausting past few days, and as soon as he was given the opportunity to sleep, he took it with great pleasure; and from what Cal could predict, the next few weren't due to be any better... At least he had Cal here to take care of him.

Cal had always been the same; he would constantly fuss and fret over Ethan when he was ill as a child- whether it was a cold, a grazed knee from playing football together, or that one time Ethan landed himself in hospital with appendicitis that had ended with Cal being more upset than Ethan, despite the fact that he was not the one laying in agony in a hospital bed. Ethan now took great pleasure in teasing Cal about how he could recall memories of him apparently "Sobbing into mum's shoulder" as they waited for Ethan to come out of theatre. Cal liked to pretend he didn't known what he was going on about...

"Ah, here he is," Cal said, squeezing his brothers shoulder as he heard him begin to wake. "The elusive Dr. Hardy has awoken."

"Mm..." Ethan mumbled. He would've piped up with a sarcastic response of sorts if he wasn't busy coughing and sniffling. Cracking an eye open, he discovered that his vision was even worse than normal when he was ill.

"Oh, yeah, you probably want these back..." Cal said, reaching behind himself and clumsily fumbling about for Ethan's glasses on his bedside table. Grasping them, he brought them to his face, trying them on. "Hm, maybe I should get a pair of specs myself, y'know- so I look all 'studious' and 'brainy'. What do you think?"

"Stop trying to steal my style..." Ethan said raspily, smiling a bit and taking his glasses back, pushing them up to the bridge of his nose and blinking.

"Like I'd ever," Cal gave him a cheeky smile. "Right then, let's get you sorted out..." He got up out of bed, careful to not disturb Ethan's side so he wouldn't get cold, and went off to the kitchen.

Ethan sniffed, wriggling around a little bit to get comfortable, choosing to lay on his stomach, arms folded in front of him to cushion his cheek as he rested. Quiet, shallow breaths passed his parted lips, as he had found his nose was beginning to block. He considered sitting up to relieve the congestion, but he knew if he did so he'd become so dizzy that he would most likely pass out, so he remained stationary.

A lurking pain in his temple began to swirl around the rest of his head; not strong enough to cause him great pain, but enough to cause him discomfort. Groaning, he closed his eyes and buried his face in the pillow, praying that it would calm down. Alongside all of the other irritating minor medical conditions Ethan had dealt with since childhood, he had grown up suffering from terrible migraines (partly to do with his poor eyesight, but the rest was just bad luck), which often ended with him crying due to the excruciating pain.

Cal would always help look after him when he could feel a migraine coming on. He used to dim down the lights and dose him up on painkillers, he'd even sometimes spend the night with Ethan to make sure he slept well. Although too embarrassed to admit it, Ethan didn't mind Cal taking care of him, and he was always very gracious for his brother's help.

"I'm back." Cal had returned, balancing a tray full of various medicines and remedies on his lap as he carefully sat himself back onto the bed. Ethan felt the mattress creaking and buried his face even further into the pillow, his head spinning as Cal began to speak.

"I've got painkillers, fever reducers, cough syrups, lozenges, both inhalers, and some Vicks," Cal listed, depositing said items onto the bedside table. "I brought tissues and water and stuff like that too, and," He smiled and twisted around back onto the bed. "I thought you could do with a nice cup of tea and a sudoku book to keep that big brain of yours going." He went to hand both to Ethan, but hesitated when he saw him with his face planted in the cushion. "Nibbles?"

Ethan couldn't even bring himself to groan in response. His head was throbbing, he tried to look up but he could barely see as a sudden wave of nausea hit him, rendering him practically blind. Sitting still, he hoped that Cal would be able to guess what was wrong.

"What is it?" Cal asked, gently placing a hand on his shoulder. Ethan flinched slightly, and very slowly, managed to bring his hand up to his face to tap the side of his head.

Cal sighed sadly. "Oh, Nibbles..." The curtains were already drawn, so he reached up and turned the little dial above the bed to dim down the ceiling lights, also switching off their bedside table lamps.

Trying his best to manage in the darkened room, Cal popped various tablets out of their packaging, glad he had decided to bring the extra-strong painkillers. "Up you get, Eth." He said.

At a snail's pace, Ethan slowly pushed himself up, his eyes half-shut as he placed all of his attention on trying not to throw up or faint, feeling Cal take his hand and place five pills into his palm. Ethan placed them in his mouth, one by one, and Cal handed him a bottle of water. As he wasn't the biggest fan of taking pills, Ethan quickly washed them down, taking little sips of water before beginning his descent back to that comfortable pillow, whimpering slightly as he felt a particularly strong wave of pain strike him.

"Okay, okay..." Cal said softly, helping him get comfortable and pulling him close. "Tell me where is hurts. Here?" He gently placed his cool fingertips on various areas of a Ethan's forehead, asking him to rate the pain. Ethan responded accordingly, keeping his voice down to a whisper as to speak any louder would surely make him sick. Cal nodded, picturing a map of the different pain points on Ethan's head, and began to very gently rub his temple.

Ethan let out a little sigh of relief as he felt some of the pain disappear already. Cal chuckled and continued.

"Brings back memories of the good old days, doesn't it..." He said quietly, continuing to lightly massage his forehead. Ethan tried to smile but burst into the beginnings of another coughing fit. Cal was quick to hand him his inhaler, just to be on the safe side, and offered him a tissue.

"Thanks..." Ethan whispered, taking a puff and attempting to blow his nose without causing such a surge of pain to sweep over him that he knocked himself out.

"Come here." Cal said, reaching forward and pinching the tissue around Ethan's nose and rubbing. Ethan grumbled, blushing in the darkness, but nonetheless allowed Caleb to blow his nose for him.

"Oh relax, Nibbles," He teased. "Believe me, I did much worse than a bit of nose-blowing when you were younger."

"There's no need to bring that up, Caleb." Ethan hushed him quickly, blushing even more.

Cal raised an eyebrow and chuckled. "Okay, grumpy, no need to get so defensive." He pulled him closer and played with his hair. "How do you feel? Is it going away at all?"

Ethan closed his eyes again and nodded, folding his arms against his chest and sighing softly. "I'm sorry to be such a pain..." He confessed, turning his face into Cal's shoulder.

"Oi," Cal poked his nose. "You're no trouble. Honest. I would still look after you, even if you were a facetious, complaining brat, because you're my little brother and I want you to be well. The time off is just a bonus." He added, smiling.

Ethan gave a small smile in return and nodded, still resting up against Cal's shoulder. "If you say so..."

"Here we go, this is much nicer, isn't it?" Cal said, tossing various cushions and blankets over to Ethan. "You get comfy and I'll make lunch."

Ethan lay down into the sofa, propped up on pillows and smothered in layers of thin blankets. Cal had decided that a bit of sunlight wouldn't hurt them, since Ethan's migraine had died down enough for him to become mobile again, so he had moved them into the living room. Depositing his grumpy little brother onto the sofa along with his favourite box set to keep him entertained allowed Cal to be somewhat productive and prepare them some food. He hadn't realised, fussing over Ethan, that neither of them had eaten, and, despite the fact that Ethan was probably nauseous and didn't want to eat, it was important that he got something down him so he wouldn't feel faint.

Rooting through the cupboards (which Ethan had spent hours meticulously organising), he tried to hunt down something edible amongst the countless tins of baked beans and boxes of herbal tea. Neither him nor Ethan liked the stuff, but he suspected Honey had offered him one of her "special blends" and Ethan had been too shy to say no. Smiling to himself, Cal finally emerged with a loaf and two packets of cheese and onion crisps, tossing a couple of slices of bread onto a plate and pouring Ethan a glass of milk (stopping to grab himself a beer whilst he was at it...) before returning to the living room.

"Grubs up, Nibbles." Cal strolled back into the living room, two plates in hand, and sat himself down at the end of the couch.

Ethan peeked out from the back cushion of the couch he had buried his face in and pushed his glasses up, smiling when he saw the contents of the plate.

"Thursday-night special." He said, coughing into the scrunched-up tissue in his hand.

"Yep." Cal said, popping the 'p' and handing Ethan his plate. "Was I the best babysitter in the world or what?"

"Just be glad mum never found out what you used to feed me..." Ethan said, taking the plate before he realised what he'd just said. "Oh, wait... Sorry, I didn't mean it like that..."

Cal smiled sadly at him and squeezed his shoulder. "It's fine. Now, come on, eat up." He said.

Ethan looked down at his plate, nose crinkling slightly as he placed it on the chair he'd put next to the sofa to balance the other various things he might need. "M'not hungry..."

"Please, Eth? You've got no meat on you already, you'll starve away at this rate..." Cal said, not wanting to push him but worried Ethan would worsen if he didn't have the energy to get better.

"Can I not just save it for later?" Ethan said, pulling as best a mock pouting face as he could.

"... That face was a lot more effective when you were younger, but fine." Cal said, smirking softly. Ethan smiled and snuggled back down into the couch. "Drink your milk, at least." He added, causing Ethan to grumble as he sat back up, taking a few short sips before placing it back down and relaxing into the cushions again.

"I'm tired but I feel too sick to sleep..." Ethan mumbled, sniffling and blowing his nose again, looking up at Cal piteously.

"Hold on, let me take your temperature..." Cal dumped his plate on the coffee table and grabbing the thermometer, gently placing it in Ethan's ear and clicking it, waiting for it to take a reading.

"... 38.2. That's not good..." He said darkly. "Okay, take some more fever reducers and finish your milk, that'll probably make you sleepy." Cal handed him a couple more pills and his milk again.

Ethan sniffled and swallowed them, forcing himself to get something in him by taking a longer drink of milk. He handed the glass back to Cal and smiled, settling back down. Cal was about to go back to watching the TV when he heard him pipe up once more.

"Cal?"

"Hm?" Cal turned to face Ethan.

"... Can I have a hug?" Ethan asked; embarrassed, but his blushing wasn't visible through his fever.

Cal smiled, chuckling at his brothers overly-affectionate behaviour and leaning down to give him a hug. "Someone's in a rather funny mood today..."

Ethan blushed, hugging him back and mumbling something about how he "just wanted some comfort because he was sick". Cal chuckled again, shaking his head fondly before giving him one last squeeze and sitting up, returning to the TV. Ethan yawned, rearranging his pillows and pulling his blanket over him as he started to doze off in his little area of the couch, a small smile on his face.

All Ethan ever seems to do is fall asleep at the end of every chapter! Lol, I'll find something more interesting for him to do next time. Spice things up a bit.

Sorryyy for being so inactive, I'm trying my best to write and I have a couple of one shots on the go so they should be up soon, along with chapter four of this.

On a sidenote, omg things are really kicking off! Who else loved that fight scene last episode? (30x22) I cannot wait for tomorrows episode, but I accidentally read some spoilers nooooo ;-; don't worry, nothing crazy lol.

Thanks for reading! and thank you for all of the lovely reviews omg you guys are so sweet! I'll start posting them along with my responses next chapter :3

Bye!