C'est La Vie

Of AU-ish setting with an ill Arthur. Poor Iggy.

Happy FrUK reading! :D

#05 Pain relief

He couldn't remember much.

All that he did recall was a loud screech of the alarm, a sudden loss of warmth that had been beside him for the entire night, and a stabbing pain in his head. Then it was a quick touch of moist lips against his forehead and a 'rest well, chéri, I'll hurry home'.

Then nothing. Sheer darkness except for the pain that stretched from the back of his head across his forehead, onto his eyelids. He never thought eyelids could feel this heavy. Worse still, the only command that his brain was sending out was to go back to sleep as soon as possible, yet he could not physically sleep. No matter which position in which he lay, he could he the pressure being pushed onto his head, intensifying his already deteriorating headache.

Fortunately, weak as any sick person would be, it didn't take Arthur too long to fall back into sleep, be it one of the most uncomfortable feelings he'd ever had.

Come to think of it, he vaguely remembered seeing a scented note on the bedside table with a glass of water next to it when he first woke up today. It was written in that undecipherable cursive writing. And it had to be uncaringly in French. Make a patient translate when he was already feeling nauseous and drained.

Panting slightly, he leaned against the table for the glass of water, took a sip and read the note as carefully as his attention-span allowed him to. He felt like he could hit the mattress again any moment.

Oh, bloody hell. Arthur realised that his vision was actually slightly blurred and when the slip of paper was threatening to slip out of his hand, he simply let it fall and squirmed his way back under the duvet.

Francis can tell me later if it was anything important.

Nose blocked, he struggled again to gain more much needed sleep.

For the second time of the day, he opened his eyes with a start. Somehow the room seemed a bit brighter and his headache was replaced by rubbing and pressing motions on his temples. The pillow seemed eerily warm as well. He blinked curiously and stared upwards, only to be greeted with a fond smile and long blonde curls falling around it. He came to find out that he was no longer lying on the useless pillow that didn't help him sleep, but on Francis' lap; the Frenchman gently massaging his head.

'Bonjour, Arthur,' Francis' deep voice sounded, obviously avoiding to talk too loud to aggravate his headache, 'Feeling better?' Arthur only let out a groan in response.

'Non? Did you take the pills like I told you to, on the note? Tu as dû le faire!'

'Was that what you were trying to say on that slip? I...didn't quite read it...' Arthur said in between sighs, his breathing becoming unsteady again.

'Oh, chéri,' Francis sounded genuinely apologetic and pained, 'I should've been here to take care of you. Je suis désolé. I was having a secret rendez-vous.'

Be it any other day, Arthur would stare susceptibly at the taller blonde, his thick eyebrows twitching in a strange way and a pout on his face. But he simply smiled at the faux ami and leaned into the expert touch of Francis' fingers on his scalp, his mind too numb to generate any impertinent retort that usually flowed out of his mouth so fluidly.

'It's okay. Make sure...you don't get a cold...from me...' Arthur said between soft coughs. His flushed face due to the sickness and his burning forehead only made Francis feel worse for not being able to be there for his amant earlier in the day. He leaned down to kiss Arthur's forehead sincerely and stroked his cheeks with self-blame in his eyes.

'Just told you...not to...get it from m-'

'Wouldn't you get better sooner if you passed it onto someone else?' Francis smiled charmingly on top of Arthur, 'Besides, you will look after me if I did fall sick, wouldn't you, chéri?'

Arthur had definitely wanted to punch that frog in the face if it wasn't for the fact that he felt, for once today, profoundly comfortable.

A/N:

Thank you for reading! I'm sorry it was rather cheesy...

I hope Arthur wasn't too OOC. I thought he really would reveal his weak side when he was feeling sick, like he did in the anime :D

But he still lovingly hated Francis for being the Francis he was.

1 am, plot bunny time! XD And type-slowly-so-I-don't-wake-my-'rents-up fun time.

haha thanks for getting this far into the drabble series and I do hope to see you soon!

~OmangoOlemonadeO