Hi! So it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted on this account but I decided I want to try again, but I feel like I need a fresh start. So, here are some new characters I’d like to write for! I’m not gonna say requests for my old characters are closed, but I would greatly prefer requests for these new characters. They aren’t totally fleshed out yet, but that’s kind of the point and I’m excited to see where this goes!
You can find character relationships/dynamics here!
Here is an image of all of them as picrews, and their descriptions will be under the cut! Any and all questions are more than welcome, and of course so are requests! I am very happy to be back! <33
Laurence (Laurie) Michael Callaghan
Age: 24
Description: Ginger and freckly! He is about 6’0 with a good build, considering he is on a hockey team. He’s pretty lean but he has muscular arms and he definitely has some bulk to him. His eyes are hazel green and his skin is fair. He’s responsible and fun to be around and he is honestly just a good person.
Brief Background: Laurie definitely grew up in one of the most broken households out of all these guys. He doesn’t talk about his childhood much. He is the oldest of five siblings. He has 2 brothers and 2 sisters and they're all significantly younger than him (ages ranging from 16 to 1 ½ ). He was forced to raise them practically by himself because his mom walked out on them and his dad was an abusive alcoholic. He is used to being in the caretaker role because he’d had to care for all of these kids all the time while trying to put himself through school and work to earn money. He is definitely glad to be out of that situation, but he often feels guilty about it and misses his siblings dearly.
Gabriel (Gabi) Santos
Age: 24
Description: He’s not particularly built in any way, it’s not really his thing. He is 5’8. He doesn’t really do sports; again, it’s not his thing. He has black hair and eyes and tan skin. He is blind without his glasses so of course he is always wearing them. He is a bit on the quieter side, but that doesn’t mean he’s upset or mean, he just prefers to listen. He can definitely get talkative with the right people!
Brief Background: He comes from a very strict Filipino-American immigrant household, so he wasn’t very wealthy growing up. He had an older sister. He moved around a lot when he was a kid, but he didn’t mind it too much, he just focused on school and making his parents proud. When he was in highschool, his parents found out that he was dating a classmate that happened to be a boy and they flipped out. He was yelled at and called horrible things and it ended with him being kicked out at age 17. It was the most betrayed and hurt he’d ever been. He went to live with his aunt and uncle for a few years before he got a scholarship and left his hometown completely. He has no desire to go back, despite the fact that his parents have reached out to him with half-hearted apologies because they heard he was successful.
Cynthia Hansen
Age: 23
Description: She is 5’4 and she’s pretty skinny. She has a pretty small waist and generally has a petite build. She has a very good fashion sense, it is one of her passions! She has long blonde hair that extends a little past her waist in gorgeous waves. She is also freckled all over with very pale skin. She is truly beautiful inside out, as she is one of the sweetest people out there. She loves being around others and she is extremely chatty!
Brief Background: Cyn grew up in a very wealthy household. Her mom was a hospital specialist (neonatal) and her father was an attorney. The downside of this was that they weren’t around much, so she was really raised by nannies and housekeepers. In her teen years, she was never really home, opting to stay at friends houses because she enjoyed the lively environment more than her own empty home. While she loves her parents and appreciates them, she doesn’t really have a relationship with them and was thrilled to graduate and move on to college.
Maverick Lee Miller
Age: 23
Description: He is large. He is 6’3 and he is BUILT. He has very broad shoulders and strong arms, but he is definitely pudgy around his belly and thighs and such. He has messy overgrown brown hair and the largest puppy dog eyes. In fact, he can really be summed up as a bug dumb puppy. He is The Himbo and he is so loved for it. He is so sweet and honestly a complete doormat. He can’t say no to people and it’s gotten him into some unsavory situations. Overall, he’s a gentle giant that deserves the world.
Brief Background: He actually came from a stable household, a nuclear family if you will. He lived in the suburbs and went to a pretty decent highschool. His dad believed in typical gender roles, so Maverick’s loving and gentle nature put a bit of a strain on their relationship. Maverick primarily made friends through sports, and the jocks at his school were.. not nice, to say the least. They often forced Maverick to do and say and watch things that he was uncomfortable with and he was so relieved to finally get away from them when he graduated.
Kurtis (Kurt) Noah Morrison
Age: 24
Description: He is about 5’11 with a lean build. His hair is naturally black, but he has been putting it in locs and dyeing it since sophomore year of highschool. He hasn’t had his natural hair color since. He has an intense RBF and for the most part it is accurate. He is very guarded and grumpy and is very easily agitated. He obviously has a soft spot for people he cares about, and he has at least general manners, but he can come across as rude or bitchy a lot of the time.
Brief Background: He comes from a troubled childhood. He’s always dealt with anger issues, but they were at their peak in highschool. His mother passed away when he was very young and it caused a lot of turmoil inside of him that came out as rage and violence. He got into a LOT of fights when he was in school and just couldn’t seem to stay out of trouble. Eventually he got his shit together and finished senior year strong, hence why he was able to go to college. He retained a lot of street smarts from his upbringing.
Mallory Zhi Chiang
Age: 23
Description: She is very small. 5'2 would be pushing it a bit. Don’t let that fool you though, she can and will fight people if needed. She doesn’t tolerate bullshit. She has black hair and eyes and she has a curvier body type. She carries her weight in her hips and she has a very cute build. She is chatty and blunt and despite how she can come across, she is actually very fun to be around and a lot of the time is all bark and no bite (lovingly).
Background: She was raised by a single mother, which is where she gets a lot of her fiery attitude from. Her mother was an extremely strong woman and a great role model and they are still very close. Despite getting into some trouble at school, she generally had very good grades and prioritized school. Her mother is very proud of her and has always taught her to respect herself first, and she definitely holds that advice close to her chest.
Cameron Leslie Hale
Age: 23
Description: An all-American blonde jock. He is 6’1 with broad shoulders and a slim waist. He is probably the most noticeably muscular of the guys as he works out the most and often goes on diets. He radiates smug asshole energy, but it couldn’t be further from the truth. As cool as he wants to seem, he’s a huge dork and it's very endearing.
Brief Background: He also had a pretty cushy upbringing when it came to money. His family was well off and he lived in a good neighborhood. He actually went to the same highschool as Maverick, and they were in the same friend group but they didn’t interact much until college. His dad was the hockey coach, and he had a lot of pressure put on him to be the most fit and skilled player because of it. It caused him a lot of self-worth issues because it felt like the only time he got praise and love from his dad was when he practically killed himself to meet the high standards set for him. He still struggles often with feelings of inadequacy.
Daniel (Danny) Alejandro Martinez
Age: 23
Description: He is definitely the most chill of all the characters I have listed here. He is 5’10 with a slimmer body type. He has a messy mop of brown hair (it’s nearly a mullet!) and black eyes. He’s not huge on sports, he’s much more into the arts. He is the musically gifted one of the group! He plays both guitar and bass guitar and often has jam sessions with his “band” (they’re really just people he smokes with and plays random songs for a couple of hours). He’s very calm and is honestly refreshing to be around. He is usually the voice of reason in whatever scenario he finds himself in.
Brief Background: His childhood was probably the best out of all of them. He didn’t really have a “home” because for a majority of his life as a kid, he was living and traveling in a van with his mom. She was essentially a hippie and loved nature and art and culture and she wanted to expose Danny to as much of it as possible. She is where he got his love for music and he mostly has fond memories of this. This got a bit worse when they had to move into the city and she began to work. He got picked on in school because of his unusual upbringing and also his heavy Mexican-Spanish accent that he had since he didn’t start speaking English until 9th grade, and of course it hurt, but it didn’t affect him too much.
okay i know no one requested this but i wanted to get something up for one of the couples and cynthia and maverick are actually so fucking cute i was like grinning ear to ear while writing this! it’s a little short but i hope you enjoy anyways!!
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Cynthia blearily opened her eyes against the deep sleep she was pulled out of. For a few moments, she didn’t know where she was. He groggily looked around and realized she was not in her own apartment, but in her boyfriend’s apartment. What time was it? She groaned lightly and rolled over to pick up her phone from the nightstand. 2:47. What on earth could have dragged her out of sleep? She knew she was always a heavy sleeper, it took a decent amount on commotion to make her stir in the middle of the night and—
A loud retch came from the restroom down the hall.
Cynthia blinked hard, trying to clear her vision and head as she processed the sound she heard.
“Maverick?” She called out, throwing back the covers and sliding out of bed.
Another heave was all she got in reply.
She still felt extremely out of it, but there was a slight sense of urgency now. She could have sworn Maverick was right next to her when she fell asleep, but at the moment her brain was hardly working and she just wanted to get to the bottom of this. The sound couldn’t be Maverick’s roommate Laurie, since he went to spend the night with his own boyfriend.
She made her way into the hall and squinted against the light that leaked from under the door.
“Maverick? Sweetheart, is that you?” She asked as she experimentally pushed open the door. There was no reply, but also no resistance, so she swung the door fully opened and let out a tiny gasp at the sight before her.
“Oh honey..” She cooed.
Maverick was kneeling in front of the toilet, one arm wrapped around his belly and the other gripping the rim of the toilet for dear life. His gray shirt had sweat stains under his arms and on his back, clearly indicating a fever of some kind. His face was about 5 shades too pale and his eyes were watery and bloodshot. Perhaps the worst of it though, was the way his stomach was audibly churning beneath his arm.
Maverick was panting over the basin of the toilet, letting out pitiful whimpers with every exhale. He seemed so out of it that he didn’t even notice Cynthia standing right next to him. Suddenly, another full body heave took over, lurching him forward with sheer force. A wave of watery puke splashed into the water below.
If Cynthia wasn’t awake before, she sure as hell was now. She kneeled beside her ailing boyfriend and began rubbing gentle circles into his broad shoulder blades. With her other hand, she grabbed some toilet paper, wiping the drool and vomit from his chin and then tossing it into the toilet. She flushed the mess away to spare both her and Maverick from having to look at it longer.
“Mav.. sweetheart.. you poor thing.. what happened? When did you start feeling sick? You should have woken me up..” She murmured, pressing a long kiss into the side of his sweaty hair. She peppered kisses along the nape of his neck as she continued with the circles along his back.
He took a shaky breathe and spat into the toilet. “I don’t.. I woke up and I felt sick.. I didn’t want to bother..” He said miserably.
She frowned and gave his forehead a gentle kiss. “You could never bother me with this..”
A burp made it’s way up, and he muffled it into his hand. He was grateful for the small break, but a gurgle in his belly told him he was far from done.
Cynthia was finally able to get a proper look at her boyfriends tummy, and she frowned at what she saw. While his belly was usually a bit squishy in general, it looked unnaturally distended over the waistband of his boxers. She gently placed her small hand on top of it and was surprised at how warm to the touch it was as well. She kneaded the skin beneath her hand gently, taking care not to agitate his stomach further.
He sighed softly in relief, and let himself relax for a moment, but all of a sudden his back straightened and he felt thick, sour saliva begin to pool in his mouth. His jaw tingled and felt heavy and he once again buried his head into the basin of the toilet.
This time around, he had hardly anything left in him to expel. His entire body convulsed with a retch that barely brought up a tiny stream of bile. He dry heaved for several more seconds, but to no avail. He was empty. Whether his body got the memo or not was apparently out of his control.
Cynthia pressed a kiss to his temple and got up to grab a few things. As she was leaving, Maverick gave her his signature “kicked puppy” eyes and Cyn felt her heart shatter into a million pieces.
“I’ll come right back honey, I’m just gonna grab a few things.. you’re burning up.. and you’re dehydrated..” She explained, stealing another quick kiss before leaving down the hall. She grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, a few fever reducers from the medicine cabinet. She also spent a little bit of extra time to brew some ginger tea, hoping it would soothe Maverick’s upset belly. When she finally returned, she couldn’t help but wince at what she saw.
Maverick had apparently found it too exhausting to stay sitting up, because he was fast asleep curled into a tight ball on the bathroom floor tile, looking impossibly small despite his large frame. Cynthia cooed sympathetically and set her things on the counter.
“Maverick,” She said, leaning down to shake him by the shoulder, “Wake up darling.. don’t fall asleep just yet..”
He groaned and rubbed at his face.
“Cyn.. I don’t feel good..” he whimpered, slowly sitting up with her steadying hand behind his back.
She nearly snorted at the sheer understatement.
“I know honey.. I’m so sorry.. But I have some things that will help.. do you think you can stomach some pills?” She asked, carding a hand through his sweaty brown hair.
He shrugged pitifully, and she figured it was close enough, so she placed the pills in one of his hands and the water bottle in the other. He choked it down and shut his eyes at the impending nausea. Cynthia rubbed his back through the whole cycle before he decided the medicine wasn’t going to come back up for the time being.
“Alright sweetheart.. how about we get you back to bed, okay? You can have some tea, and go right back to sleep..”
Maverick shook his head. “Might puke again..” As if to punctuate the statement, he let out an airy burp into his fist. Even if his stomach had settled for a bit, he knew it wouldn’t last too long.
“I’ll put a bin by our bed, okay? You’ll feel so much better once you’re laying down..” Cynthia felt a surge of affection for her boyfriend and she just stood up, pulling his head against her middle and stroked his hair gently. He was still too warm. She frowned and let her cold hand rest on his forehead, to which he sighed heavily and leaned into.
“Okay,” He said hesitantly. “Let’s go to bed..”
She smiled and offered a hand to help him up. He pulled himself up and swayed slightly before being caught under the arm by Cynthia, who nearly toppled over herself. He was much larger than her, so she struggled with the weight. Maverick, to his credit, did his best to keep most of his weight off of her as the pair staggered down the hallways and back to the comfort of the bedroom.
Maverick all but collapsed onto his side of the bed, pulling blankets and pillows around him and creating a kind of nest to envelope him. Even the short walk from the bathroom to the bed left him utterly spent, and his eyelids began to close involuntarily. He watched absentmindedly as Cynthia ran around the room, getting water and tea and a plastic bag-lined bucket for him, and a dopey smile spread across his face. She’s so pretty. She’s so caring. He was so lucky to have her.
After a few minutes, Cynthia finally finished setting up the room and slid under the covers herself. Immediately, Maverick turned towards her and buried his face in her tummy, whining quietly.
She smiled, mostly to herself, as she began to scratch up and down his back and massage his scalp is slow, soothing motions.
“Goodnight baby.. I love you..”
No words were needed on his end. Maverick kissed her tummy and squeezed his grip slightly, and Cynthia knew that he loved her too.
okay guys I finally made my mind up on some relationships for my ocs so if people wish to request with these dynamics in mind, they can! id love to write for the couples!
(also you can probably tell that these were the original romantic pairings based on the picrew haha!)
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canon relationships <3
laurie and gabi
maverick and cynthia
kurt and mallory
cameron and danny
friendships :)
maverick and laurie (BEST friends. the buds!!)
mallory and cynthia (best friends! met in 9th grade)
laurie, kurt, cameron, and maverick (hockey bros!)
danny and kurt (roommates and very good friends)
(to be fair, they are all friends to some degree since one of every couple is on the hockey team)
Ok hiiiiiiii!! I saw your new OCs and I have a request? Only if you want to ofc
Maybe a fic with Laurie having just an upset stomach for no apparent reason and being really off/out of it but thinking he has to power through (maybe bc of him always being in the caretaker role) and then one of the guys (idk who) on the Hockey team taking over a caretaker role? Like platonic cuddles and warm feels AHHHHH!
Ok ofc only do this if you want, just a thought bc I adore your writing!!!
anon! hi!! thank you so much! this means so much to me and this prompt was so lovely, i sorta gave him a reason for being sick so i hope you don’t mind too much! i haven’t written for laurie yet and i love it!
i also combined this prompt with a suggestion in @bellysoupset’s tags in which Laurie catches Maverick’s bug from this fic. hope you both enjoy!
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In hindsight, it should have been obvious that Laurie would end up in this situation. But when it came to caring for others, critical thinking was not his strong suit.
“I’m home Mav! I brought some stuff for you!” He called out from where he was fumbling with several plastic bags at the front door of his and Mavericks shared apartment.
He wrestled his way in and shut the door with his hip, setting everything on the kitchen counter. He let out a long sigh and rubbed at his face.
Laurie had spent the better part of the weekend taking care of his best friend when he came down with an awful stomach bug, and the sleepless nights were clearly starting to get to him, because he found a persistent ache all throughout his body that definitely wasn’t there before. On top of that, he felt weirdly dizzy from the simple effort of carrying groceries in. His world felt a little unsteady, and he’d even venture to call it slight nausea. He simply chalked it up to having seen more vomit than he would have liked to the past few days.
There was a creak of the door and Maverick emerged from his bedroom, clad in only blue boxers and old t-shirt that would have been oversized on anyone who was 6’3 and built. He yawned and lazily scratched at his belly as he walked into the kitchen. To Laurie’s delight, the pallor from the constant vomiting seemed to have subsided, as well as the unnatural flush from the fever.
“Hey dude. You feeling any better? I brought you some soup from Whole Foods and a grilled cheese, if you can stomach it,” Laurie said, taking care to unload the groceries from their plastic bags.
Maverick gave a nod to Laurie’s question and had a seat at the table. “Thanks Laurie.. dude, you’re awesome, you know that?” Maverick smiled at Laurie and rested his head on his hand.
Laurie rolled his eyes lightheartedly at the display of affection and tossed the grilled cheese towards Maverick, who caught it with ease.
“I think I’ll take it easy for the rest of today, but get back to classes tomorrow.. I can finally keep stuff down,” Maverick continued. He tentatively unwrapped the grilled cheese, and when the smell wafted to his nose, he found that he was actually starving. He began digging into the sandwich with a vigor that had been missing the whole weekend.
Laurie felt like he could breathe again. It was awful to see someone you care about so miserable, but now that Maverick was on the mend, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
“Alright, while you do that, I can do your laundry for you.. It’ll be nice to have fresh clothes for tomorrow, yeah?” Laurie said, putting the rest of the groceries in the fridge.
“Really?? Aww man.. you don’t have to do that..” Maverick said around a mouthful of food. He paused to swallow. “If you’re already doing laundry, do you think you could also throw my sheets in there? I must have sweat the fever out last night and uh.. yeah. Kinda gross.”
Laurie laughed and grimaced, but it was far from the grossest thing he’d experienced while living with all his siblings. In a way, caring for Maverick put him right back in his childhood home, in that sense.
“Yeah, I got it,” He replied before heading into Maverick’s bedroom.
The room still smelled vaguely like vomit since that was all Maverick had been doing in it lately. The smell of it made Laurie suddenly queasy again, which was unusual since he was pretty much desensitized to all that stuff.
He breathed through his mouth as he collected Mavericks strewn-about clothes and tossed them into the hamper. Then, he made his way to Maverick’s bed to deal with the sheets. True to word, they were slightly damp and smelled.. lived in.
He pulled them off the mattress and tossed them in the hamper as well. He grabbed the hamper and brought it to the tiny laundry room in the hallway, really more of a closet than anything.
From the doorway, he could see that Maverick had apparently finished his meal and was now sprawled on the couch, absentmindedly browsing various streaming services. He seemed to be content, finally. Again, Laurie felt a surge of warmth seeing his friend back to normal.
He began loading the washer with the laundry, but found that bending over irritated his stomach because it suddenly jumped to his throat. He felt an odd cramp surge through him. He stood up and paused, lightly cradling his belly.
That was weird. Why did he feel so weird? He paused for a few more seconds before finishing loading the washer and adding in the detergent.
His stomach still felt all stirred up, and he groaned miserably. Food. He hadn’t eaten yet. That had to be it. He was just nauseous from hunger.
He left the washer to run, and padded into the kitchen, rummaging through cupboards to see what he could eat. He absolutely refused to eat Maverick’s soup, since he bought that specifically for him. Maverick was on the mend, but that didn’t mean 100% better.
Instead, Laurie microwaved some mac ‘n cheese, and sat on the couch with Maverick, who had fallen asleep watching The Empire Strikes Back.
The food in front of him didn’t look particularly appetizing, despite his insistence on the fact that he was just hungry.
He took small, hesitant bites while watching Luke Skywalker getting trained by Yoda, but each bite sat heavy in his belly. He tried to focus on the movie a little more, but the movement on screen just made his head spin. Perhaps the food had been a mistake. Instead of feeling better like he was sure he would, he felt worse and worse.
Not wanting to waste the food anyways, he forced himself to finish before shoving the bowl on the coffee table and wrapping a protective arm around his middle. The nausea had increased ten-fold and at this point, his belly was audibly gurgling.
It finally occurred to him that maybe he caught whatever bug Maverick had brought home, and the thought deeply unsettled him. He didn’t want Maverick to feel like he had to care for him, he could care for himself. He didn’t want to bother Maverick with this when he was finally getting some rest, especially if Maverick was planning on returning to classes. No, Laurie would have to handle this himself.
His stomach lurched threateningly, and a burp fought it’s way up. He muffled it with the back of his hand and softly whimpered. He felt horrible. His world was spinning on its axis and the food he had eaten was violently churning.
His mouth filled with thick saliva and his jaw felt imperceptibly heavy, He realized that this was a warning. Unfortunately, the warning came a little bit too late because as he was trying to get up to get himself to the bathroom, his shoulders hitched forward and he retched up a thin stream of watery vomit.
He didn’t even have a chance to take a breath before he heaved, bringing up his barely digested lunch all over the front of his shirt and the floor. Before he could muffle it, a guttural burp forced its way out, but it morphed into another retch that brought up more thick vomit. He felt his body start to sway as a stray tear dropped down his cheek.
“Laurie…?” Maverick sleepily mumbled from his spot on the couch. He sat up and once he processed what the fuck was going on, he shot up. “Shit, Laurie!”
Laurie wanted to respond. He wanted to say “I’m fine, just go back to sleep.” But he couldn’t. He felt humiliated. He wanted to be stronger than this, he didn’t want the only other sick person in the house to have to be the one to deal with this.
Laurie pitched forward with another violent retch that brought up a torrent of sick, this time splattering on his jeans. His entire body was shaking. His vision was swirling. Everything hurt. God, why did he have to catch this bug now. He felt himself start to fall forward, his body apparently having given out from pure exertion.
A strong hand caught his shoulder.
“Easy.. easy buddy.. oh Laurie.. it’s alright, just breathe..” Maverick said softly, helping Laurie sit up a bit more. He began to rub gentle circles into his back and frowned when he felt the sickly heat radiating off of him.
“You’re burning up.. oh man.. did I give this to you? I’m sorry Laurie..”
Laurie shook his head. “Not your fault,” he choked out, burping into his fist. The nausea was persistent, and his belly ached terribly but he felt done for the time being. He wasn’t even sure he had anything left to throw up. Now, he had to do damage control. Maverick shouldn’t be dealing with this. “I’m—” Hic. “I’m fine.. don’t worry about it..”
“Respectfully, this is not fine. You’re sick, you’re miserable. Let someone lighten the load. Isn’t that what you told me?” Maverick said, maneuvering himself so he could meet Laurie’s eye. He cupped a gentle hand over the redhead’s cheek, both as a comforting gesture, but also to gage the fever. “Cmon.. Let me help you.. you spent so much time taking care of me this weekend, I want to do this. You’re my best friend Laurie.”
Laurie was as surprised as Maverick was when he felt hot tears begin to fill his eyes and spill over on his warm cheeks. He’d never felt care like this before. He was never the one to receive it, at least. He suddenly felt all warm inside, and it had nothing to do with his raging fever. Laurie simply nodded, not letting himself speak for fear that he would get choked up. Pesky fever, making him all emotional. He finally understood what Maverick had meant at the hockey rink that day. It had to be the fever.
“Alright then. Nurse Miller mode. I’m gonna run you a hot bath, and when you’re in there I’ll clean all this up. I don’t want you to worry about it. Just focus on getting out of those clothes, okay?”
Laurie nodded, for once not having it in him to put up much of a fight. As Maverick left, he got to work on himself. A bath did sound nice. Besides the obvious mess that was all down his front, he felt pretty grimy in general. His fiery hair was moussed and damp with sweat. The smell of sick clung to his nostrils and it made him even more nauseous, despite having nothing left to throw up. Yeah, a warm bath sounded heavenly.
He carefully peeled off his t-shirt, taking care not to get any of the vomit back on him. He repeated the action with his jeans until he was clad in only his boxers. He felt suddenly very chilled, and began shivering where he was standing stiffly in the living room. He could also see now exactly how bloated he really was. His upset belly stretched slightly against his boxers, and gurgled ominously. He wrapped his arms around it as he waited for Maverick to come back out.
“Alright, the baths ready whenever you are. I’ll set out some clean clothes too.. I’m sorry you’re so sick dude.. It’s uh.. not gonna be fun..”
Laurie snorted. “I figured that much..” He lifted his eyes to meet the taller man’s. “And uh.. Mav? Thanks… really. This all uh.. it all means a lot..”
Maverick rolled his eyes playfully and lightly shoved Laurie in the direction of the bathroom. “I’m supposed to be the sentimental one! Go take your bath!”
Laurie laughed again, and shut the bathroom door behind him.
He made quick work of washing himself, then scrubbing at the sweat and grease in his hair and applying his usual products. He spent a few extra moments basking in the warm water, letting it sooth his cramps, before draining the tub and wrapping a towel around his hips.
He shuffled into his room and saw that, neatly folded on his bed, was his favorite pair of pajama bottoms and a loose t-shirt. After putting on his favorite printed socks and another pair of boxers, he shrugged both items on and let out a sigh of relief. The pajamas were much less stiff and tight on his bloated belly, and the material was like heaven on his fevered skin. He felt more alive than he had in the past two hours.
After roughly towel-drying his hair, he made his way to the living room once again, where he saw Maverick wiping up the last of the mess on the floor.
“Sorry about that by the way..” Laurie sheepishly murmured, taking a seat on the couch.
“Nah, it’s fine. It was gross, but I’ve dealt with worse.” Maverick said, tossing the paper towels and washing his hands. He also took a seat on the couch, scooting closer to Laurie, offering him a water bottle and two pills. “Think you can stomach it? You’re probably dehydrated as hell. Plus, you’ll feel better after taking some fever reducers..”
Laurie’s stomach roiled as if in reply, and he grimaced. As much as he didn’t want to, he knew it would help, so he popped the pills in his mouth and knocked them back with as little water as possibly. He sat as still as possibly, letting the following waves of nausea wash over him before his stomach finally settled a bit.
Maverick sighed contendedly, and placed the bottle on the coffee table. “Alright.. let’s get some rest dude..”
Laurie hummed in response, and sank further in the cushions. He was finally warm and comfortable and he relished in it. He watched absentmindedly as Maverick resumed The Empire Strikes Back. Some time between Han Solo being help captive in Cloud City and Luke Skywalker’s duel with Darth Vader, Laurie stopped listening because he suddenly found it impossible to keep his heavy eyelids open. He let his head rest on the large, warm shoulder of his best friend. For a moment, despite the persistent ache in his belly and fever headache was suffering from, all was right in the world. All because he had a friend who truly cared about him.
Ooooh, given that Leo can cook and Jonah can't...how about he plans a romantic dinner date and accidentally gives them both food poisoning 😈 sometimes fish can have toxins in that will make you sick no matter how well you cook it, but you can't see/smell/taste them to avoid
Oh my! This ended up huge as double food poisoning always does. I'd kill for Leo and I'm pretty sure so would Jon. Thank you for this request it was awesome to write!!
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Cooking for Jonah had been a bold idea, one that Leo was regretting with how nervous he was for his boyfriend's reaction. Jon was one of the most annoying people when it came to food. His picky eating was mild, but what was hard about him was the fact he ate only in the best places. Places that Leo's humble cooking couldn't live up to.
Leo would never say it out loud, but he held Jon's opinion with the highest esteem, so while the compliments were nice, he only truly started to feel accomplished when he watched his boyfriend go for seconds. And then thirds. Leo wasn't sure he had ever seen Jonah go for thirds, not even in the fancy restaurants they went on dates.
He frowned, holding the spoon out of Jon's reach "are you eating so you won't hurt my feelings?"
Jonah snorted, "Fuck your feelings, give me the spoon. This is delicious."
"It's just... Okay," Leo shrugged, plating his boyfriend's third serving, while he still pushed around his own. He had been so nervous about whatever Jonah would think that he had only eaten about half of his first serving so far.
"Wherever did you learn how to cook?" Jonah groaned, eyes closed as he pushed the fish around his plate with the fork, in order to get it covered in cream.
"The poor know how to cook too, Dr. Banks," Leo teased, before shaking his head, "I had to learn how to feed myself young and then I realized that I quite enjoyed it, so..." he shrugged, "I don't know how to make anything fancy, though."
"This is plenty fancy," Jonah mumbled, cheeks puffed as he chewed, "really, Leo, consider dropping out of law and opening a restaurant."
Leo rolled his eyes, cheeks burning, "now you're just egging me on. I'm a way better lawyer than a cook."
"I never saw you lawyer anything," Jon shrugged, "but I have now eaten your food."
"Then eat, stop talking," he scoffed, squirming in his seat. Jonah's eyes lit up with mischief.
"Can't take a compliment?" he asked, voice brimming with happiness, "my boyfriend is a fucking amazing chef, a hottie, a lawyer, a football star-"
"Shut uuuup."
"Adorable too-"
"I'm not listening to you anymore," Leo jammed his fingers in his ears, much like a toddler and Jonah let out a laugh, surprised and genuine.
"Take the damn compliment!"
"Stop talking!"
He was still giddy, feeling a little dazed in cloud nine when they put the dishes away and crawled into bed. Jonah rolled flat on his back, planting a hand on his stomach.
"I ate too much," he grumbled, but he didn't seem upset about it, just stating a fact, "I'd eat more if I could."
"You are being ridiculous," Leo's cheeks were hurting from smiling, as he moved down on the bed, fishing his laptop out of his bag. Jonah didn't have a tv in his room, he was firm believer it was evil, so despite the giant flatscreen in the living room, they watched most of their shows in Leo's laptop that was held up by duct tape.
"Uhm, I don't think so," Jonah groaned, tugging on the elastic of his pajama bottoms and pushing it down. Leo raised his eyebrows, while his Netflix loaded, noticing how bloated his boyfriend's stomach was.
"You really overdid, uh?" he couldn't help the smugness. Jonah rolled his eyes.
"What do you want, a trophy?" he shoved Leo's arm gently, before shifting on the bed and pressing his cheek to the blonde's bicep, "where were we?"
"Rio was being tortured," Leo answered, pressing his cheek to the top of his boyfriend's head and getting comfortable as they started a new episode of Money Heist.
Not even twenty minutes later Jonah shifted again, peeling off of him and rolling on his back. Leo paused, "Jon?"
"Gotta burp, keep playing," now the breathy amusement had finally melted off his voice and it was back to its normal roughness. Leo didn't keep playing.
"Do you have a stomachache?"
"To the surprise of no one," Jonah said bitterly, "I did just eat my weight in fish and cream."
Leo nodded, putting the laptop away on the bedside table, "scoot down, let me rub your tummy."
"No," Jonah shook his head, grimacing as he thumped on his chest and managed to force up a deep, wet belch, "don't touch it, you'll make it worse."
Leo pouted, cringing in sympathy, "do you think tums would help?"
Again he shook his head no, sitting up on the bed and fanning himself. Jonah had sweat clinging to his forehead, Leo noticed.
"Babe... Are you sick?" he planted a hand on his boyfriend's forehead, but there was no fever, "talk to me, what can I do? Would tea help...?"
"No," Jonah hugged his knees, rocking back and forth, "I feel sick, I don't wanna drink anything else."
Leo bit his tongue, worriedly mulling over what he could possibly do to help. While he thought it over, Jonah leaned against the headboard, burping deeply in his fist and groaning.
"Babe, I think we should move this to the bathroom, that didn't sound good..." Leo decided, grabbing Jon's elbow but not forcing him to move. His answer was Jonah nodding in agreement, but not moving, only gulping down again.
There was another wet burp, this one Jonah didn't even bother trying to muffle, his hand moving down to his naked belly. It was puffy, sitting right over the elastic of his pajamas bottom and Leo cringed in sympathy as he heard a whine.
"Jon, c'mon..." Leo urged him, holding his bicep, "up."
With a little effort he managed to get Jonah inside the bathroom and crouching down in front of the toilet. Jon seemed almost out of it with the nausea, forehead pressing to the cold porcelain, "fuck, Leo... I really don't feel well..."
"Just get it up, it's too much food in your poor tummy," Leo explained, rubbing a hand steadily up Jonah's back. The man shuddered, squeezing the toilet.
"No," he spat in the water, "no, it feels off. I feel off..."
Leo felt a chill run down his spine as he considered another possibility: he had given him food poisoning.
He touched Jonah's forehead, but met clammy skin, no heat. Leo gulped down, suddenly nauseous with the idea. Jonah let out another groan and moved forward, bracing the toilet, back arching with a horrible retch.
Leo heard a little moan and then liquid hitting the water, a lot of it. He gulped down, rubbing Jon's naked back, "you're doing great, babe, just get it out..." he mumbled, through numb lips. Anxiety prickled him all over.
Jonah coughed, then reached in with a shaky hand, pressing the flush. His belly was still just as bloated and just as sick, emitting the loudest noises in the quiet bathroom, except for Jon's pained breathing.
"I still feel sick," he groaned, not even bothering to pull away from the bowl, "I don't feel better at all..."
"Jon..." Leo said against his own will. Mentally he started chanting shut up shut up shut up- "could it be food poisoning...?"
Jonah didn't pull back, he only turned his head, cheek resting on the toilet's seat. His hazel eyes zeroed Leo and he quirked an eyebrow, "you tell me, Leo."
Fuck.
Leo felt a whole new wave of nausea and anxiety, "I- I don't know... I did everything right, I swear, I- I cooked the fish, I cleaned it, I used different- different boards... I checked the expiration dat-uurhgp-" he interrupted himself with a retch and Leo slammed a hand over his mouth. The last thing he wanted was to make Jon vomit because he was sick too.
Jonah was frowning at him and Leo shook his head, feeling horrible in all senses of the word, "Jon, please say something-"
Jon didn't answer him, except for turning his head and burping up another gush of pale vomit into the water. He panted, eyes squeezed shut, puke still clinging to his bottom lip, "Leo."
"I'm so sorry, I'm sorry-"
"Leo," Jonah sighed, then gagged again and spat a mouthful of drool, "Leo, calm down."
He couldn't calm down, he had just given his boyfriend food poisoning and after he had eaten all that, after he had praised it so much-
Leo let out a whimper, choking up, "I'm so sorry..."
"It's fine," Jonah groaned, leaning over the bowl again, "fuck..." his throat bobbed up and down and he belched. He removed a hand from the toilet bowl, cradling his stomach and squeezing up another burp.
"Here, let me-" Leo fought to keep his voice steady, scooting up closer and planting his hand over Jonah's, rubbing wide circles. He expected at least a snappish response, but all he got was a sick groan, followed by the noise of liquid rushing up the man's throat.
Jonah nearly missed the bowl with the intensity of the gush, barely able to catch his breath in between the bouts of sickness. Leo wasn't even rubbing anymore, it almost felt like he was simply holding Jon, his hand resting over the swell of his stomach and feeling the angry gurgling inside.
Jon coughed, struggling to breath and wiping the tears that had involuntarily run down his cheek, "Leo..." he groaned, reaching for the flush, but missing, "I really don't feel well..."
"I know, babe, I'm so sorry," Leo said, flushing the toilet and grabbing a wad of paper to wipe Jonah's chin. His heart squeezed as he noticed Jon's chest rising and falling, both hands holding his bloated belly.
"It's still churning..."
"Let me rub your tummy," Leo asked, pulling Jon to lie across his lap, "try and get some rest, babe." He knew it was far from over, so did the other man. Jonah groaned, shaking his head as he braced against the toilet again.
"I can't- I can't lie down, it's all in my... My throat-" he gagged and brought up yet another little stream. Leo patted his back gently, turning his face to blow a small airy burp away from Jonah.
His own belly was hurting, but he was fairly certain in his case it was given to the overwhelming guilt crushing him.
The patting worked and Jonah belched again, then another deep burp brought up another huge gush of vomit, enough to cause him to choke and start coughing like crazy. Leo urged him to sit up straight, patting his back.
"Hey, hey, you're okay, breathe Jon..."
After a scary minute where it felt like Jonah might just choke, he slumped against the toilet, spent and exhausted. This time he didn't even attempt to flush, his chest rising and falling.
"Aw..." he groaned, eyes slipping shut, "hurt..."
"Do you think you're done?" Leo flushed the toilet, before crouching down again and cupping Jon's cheek, "hey, Jon?"
"I don't know..." Jonah mumbled, his lips barely opening, as if his jaw was too heavy.
"Okay, we'll sit here for a little bit more," Leo said, tugging on him and Jonah willingly rested his head on his shoulder, resting a hand over his bloated belly.
"What in hell did you do to the food?" he groaned, rubbing little circles and burping, not bothering to try and muffle it. He felt Leo flinch, but couldn't be bothered to reassure him, not when he felt this awful. Instead Jonah just closed his eyes, gingerly cradling his aching belly.
They sat there for the longest time, but just as Leo was about to ask if they could go back to bed, Jonah let out a groan and hiccupped, lurching forward and almost missing the bowl entirely.
Leo squeezed his eyes shut, swallowing in thickly. He wasn't sure if this was all just anxiety anymore, after all, he had eaten too... Just a lot less than Jonah.
Instead of saying anything, he opted for keeping a steady hand on his boyfriend's back, breathing slowly through his mouth and glaring at his lap. The usual ratty tanktop he wore for bed was clinging to his stomach and Leo tugged at it, not liking one bit the sensation of the fabric hugging him.
"I think I'm done..." Jonah rasped out, grabbing onto the sink to hoist himself up, "I need to lie down, I'm lightheaded."
"You need to drink water," Leo said, flushing after him and filling up a cup, before following Jonah into the room, "c'mon, take just a little sip for me, Jon."
"So you can poison me again?" his boyfriend scoffed, the joke missing its mark my a mile as Leo's heart sunk even further. He couldn't believe he had messed up this badly.
"Just... Just take a sip, I'm gonna grab you a bowl," Leo mumbled, refusing to meet his eyes. He felt overwhelmed and sick and his head was throbbing, his stomach was pulsing with nausea and he had fucking poisoned them both.
Leo sniffled, bracing against the laundry room's cabinet, reaching for the bucket. He had made Jonah terribly sick, all because he had wanted to show off and do a fancy dish.
"Leo...?" Jonah called from the room and the blonde sucked in a breath, wiping away the tears from the corner of his eye. No time to be a baby, he could feel guilty and dumb about this tomorrow.
"Here..." He said, planting the bucket right under Jonah's side. His boyfriend didn't even bother looking, an arm thrown over his eyes, blocking the bedroom light, while the other hand was planted to his bloated stomach.
"Turn off the lights," he asked and Leo obeyed, crawling into the bed, only to have Jon groan with the movement and gag again.
"Please don't move the bed, Leo."
"Sorry," he whispered, curling up on his side, "do you want me to-" he touched Jonah's hand over his belly and then felt as the other man pushed his hand away.
"No, I just want to sleep."
"Okay..." Leo forced the words out, blinking quickly to stop the sting of tears in his eyes. He needed to get himself on check.
***
When Jonah woke up again, the room was still pitch dark and his stomach was aching fiercely, rolling from side to side. He let out a groan, turning on his side and blindly reaching for the bucket.
He could still taste the cream and all it took was a weak cough from him in order for the rest of dinner to come up, splashing in the bucket with a disgusting noise. Jonah grunted, gagging as a cramp seized his belly, forcing up another thin stream and then only empty heaves.
Once he was done, spitting the taste out of his mouth, he noticed Leo hadn't said a thing. Had he even woken up?
Jonah lowered the bucket back down, wiping a hand over his face and grabbing the glass of water, as he sluggishly turned around to face Leo... Except his side of the bed was empty.
"Leo?" his voice broke over the one syllable word and Jonah took the smallest sip of water, struggling to get up. He was drenched in cold sweat, it was disgusting. He walked to the bathroom, but it was empty and dark, the door open.
Jonah frowned, all the more confused now. Had Leo left in the middle of the night? Without saying anything?
His stomach gurgled unhappily at all the movement and Jonah muffled a sick burp against his fist, but he knew that by now he was empty, if the sore muscles of his belly meant anything.
"Leo..?" he was so fucking queasy and tired, Jonah felt a pang of anger and hurt at the idea of Leo simply leaving. He walked the rest of the hallway and then frowned, as he noticed a lump on the couch.
Jonah sat down at the foot of the couch, confused as he noticed Leo rolled onto his side, shirtless, just his shoulders going up and down with deep breaths.
"Leo," he called, unsure now if he even should wake him up, but craving the comfort enough that he was willing to be this selfish, "wake up."
It took him a second, Jonah's hand coming to shake his thigh lightly, before Leo groaned and rolled onto his back, rubbing his face, "Jon...? What- Hey..." his voice softened, blue gaze turning all wet and sad, "how are you feeling?"
"Wretched," Jonah answered truthfully, "what are you doing in the couch? Was I moving too much?"
"No, you were fine," Leo shook his head, yawning. Outside, the sun had just started to peak out and Jonah vaguely thought he'd have to call in sick, there was no way he was going anywhere with how sloshy and nauseous he felt, "I just didn't want to wake you up or make you sick again, that's all."
"Make me sick...?" Jonah felt uneasy for a different reason now. He took in the situation, how ghostly white his boyfriend looked, his normally flat belly peaking over his baby blue boxers, the way his blonde hair was matted down by sweat, "oh shit, Leo, are you sick too?"
"I poisoned the food, Jon, what do you think?" Leo snapped back and the sharpness startled them both. Leo cringed at his own tone.
"It was an accident," Jonah frowned, "you didn't mean to do whatever is it that happened to the food, it's fine... Where's your shirt? It's freezing in this living room."
"Laundry," Leo made a face, "I couldn't get up fast enough."
Jon's heart squeezed. Fuck, "you got sick on your shirt? Baby, you should've woken-"
"So you could puke too?" Leo rolled his eyes, leaning forward on his knees and rubbing his temple, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be snapping at you, I just... I feel horrible and I poisoned us both and you were in a state and- And you were mad at me and I get it, because it was my mist-"
"I wasn't mad at you, are you crazy?" Jonah scoffed, moving closer, "I know you didn't mean to make us sick, Leo, don't be stupid... And I know I'm useless when you're sick, but- But I still wanted to be there for you..."
"You seemed mad," Leo shrugged, not meeting his eyes and Jonah shook his head, leaning back against the couch and moving as close as he could with the way his boyfriend was sitting. Which wasn't much, considering Leo had his back to the arm of the couch and his knees drawn up to his chest.
"I wasn't mad, I was just sick," Jonah sighed, squeezing his knee, "are you mad?"
"No," Leo scoffed, then his stomach gurgled unhappily, interrupting them both. He opened a small, pained smile, "okay, maybe a little."
"Why are you angry?" Jonah fought a yawn, planting a hand over his own upset stomach, while the other he kept in his boyfriend's knee, "baby?"
"Just... I was feeling awful and you were angry - Well, you seemed angry," he corrected himself when Jon opened his mouth, "and I know I was the one who poisoned us, so really I shouldn't be demanding anything, but-"
"I'm sorry," Jonah interrupted him, "I'm sorry, I didn't want to be a dick to you. I should've realized you weren't feeling well either, I'm sorry."
Leo let out a groan, before moving on the couch and all but throwing himself on Jonah, hugging him tightly, "I'm sorry I made you super sick."
"That was on me for eating three plates," Jonah squeezed him back, grimacing when just the thought made him want to gag, "baby, maybe let go off before I puke again."
"Sorry," Leo sniffled, pulling back, "and I am so-"
"Stop saying that," Jonah cut him off, "how's your stomach?"
"Off," Leo shrugged, "I feel really sick, but I can't seem to vomit. You?"
"Sore, queasy... Empty, tho, I hope," Jonah rubbed the top of his stomach, fingers digging in and coaxing up a little burp, "do you wanna go back to bed? It's freezing here."
Leo bit down on his lip, shaking his head, "I think I'll just stay here. I really don't feel well, so-"
"I don't care," Jon frowned, "please, stop worrying about me, I want- Come to bed."
Leo's face lit up, "are you sure? I'm serious, Jon, I think I'm gonna puke-"
"Whatever," Jonah sighed, "I can't puke anymore anyway, I'm empty. Come to bed, love."
Leo nodded, in the living room that was slowly turning pink, even his greenish pale face looked blushy, "Okay..." he smiled timidly, "alright, let's go back to bed."
alright, I'm still not sure of how these characters are, but I'm really excited about them! Please feel free to ignore this ask if its ooc: about Maverick feeling pretty wretched a day, but not sure if he should speak up on this, since its not very manly of him, only to end up getting sick at the most inconvenient time?
introductory (sorta) fic! woo! B, thank you so much for the request. it was completely it character too! this was so fun and i pumped it out so fast bc i was so excited to write it so forgive any spelling errors and such.. hope u enjoy!
﹌﹌﹌
Maverick should have never opened his eyes. He should have never sat up and he definitely should never have gotten out of bed. Alas, the pull of responsibility dragged him out of his paradise of duvet covers and pillows and forced him take the most miserable shower of his life as well as scarf down a nauseating breakfast of Cap’n Crunch and milk that tasted a few days past the expiration date. The day had already been off to a horrible start, and he didn’t anticipate it getting any better.
He should have known something was up when the previous night, he couldn’t stomach his leftover curry and went to bed earlier than normal. Then, he had passed it off as exhaustion from the long day of classes. He was starting to think it was something a bit more sinister.
For starters, his head pounded like it had never before in his life. Goosebumps appeared all along his broad shoulders and arms as he chafed away the odd chill that clung to him. Despite this, he was sweating buckets, evident by the dark gray stains under his arms and around his neck.
The worst of it, though, had to be his stomach.
It churned and roiled like some kind of lava pit from hell. Every slight movement threatened to send him over the edge, and with it the meager breakfast he choked down. It cramped and twisted and he felt more nauseous than he ever remembered feeling.
But he was fine.
He could handle this. He could “be a man.”
He couldn’t uproot every plan he had just because of a stomach ache.
So that is how he ended up in his current predicament. Biking to his schools hockey rink in the pouring rain while feeling like he was going to lose his lunch at the slightest pebble under his tire.
Usually he caught a ride with his teammate Cameron, who swing by to pick up both him and his roommate Laurie up for practice. For some reason or another, Cameron must not have been able to pick them up that day and so Maverick had to resort to his trusty bike he’d had since junior year of high school.
Laurie was long gone when Maverick had woken up, ever the early riser. He vaguely remembered Laurie mentioning something about 6am office hours, but Maverick didn’t have the energy to try and decipher the memory. He was preoccupied with more pressing matters. Like the fact that he felt like he was spinning in a teacup ride despite simply biking along the smooth sidewalk on the university campus.
After a few more minutes, he pulled up to the building and fastened his bike to the bike rack, but the movement of bending down to scramble the keypad on the bike lock irritated his stomach, causing him to press a fist to his mouth and muffle a burp.
Just for a minute, he allowed himself to express his misery. He let out a soft groan of pain as he braced himself in the seat of his bike and doubled over. He wanted nothing more than to just be back home, in his bed, sleeping off whatever this stomach bug from hell was.
He couldn’t do that, though. He needed to tough it out. He’d been doing it since he was young. He needed to be able to get through practice.
He pulled himself together and walked into the ice rink, sighing lightly under his breath.
As he walked in, he was met with a pair of brown eyes and a messy head of red hair waiting for him at the entrance with crossed arms.
“We we’re all waiting for you, Mav. You’re a whole fifteen minutes late. Coach is NOT happy,” Laurie said, clad in his jersey.
“Yeah yeah, I know.. I’m sorry.. I got caught up in the rain,” Maverick mumbled, making his way towards the lockers to grab his helmet and jersey and sticks.
“That, or you just slept in again, and you’re trying to make excuses,” Kurt muttered, throwing a half-hearted glare toward Mav.
Maverick ignored him. In fact, he couldn’t focus on any of them at the moment. His stomach twisted sourly, and he discreetly bent over to try and soothe the ache. He really didn’t feel good. To top things off, he was almost positive he was running a fever now, because despite being soaked from the rain, he felt pulses of sweat and dizziness overtake him. He wanted to be home. He wanted to be home so he could lay down and rest and he couldn’t imagine having to practice for 4 hours straight and he—
“Mav? You okay?” Laurie stood in front of him, apparently trying to snap him out of whatever fevered daze consumed him.
“Yeah.. yeah I’m alright, just uh… I’m still kinda waking up..” He said with a soft laugh. He didn’t meet Laurie’s eyes.
He couldn’t let his teammates see him like this, even if they were his closest friends. What would they think of him if they knew he was this weak, and couldn’t even push past a little illness. He’d be humiliated. They’d all ridicule him. He didn’t want that.
Laurie frowned skeptically, but he decided to leave it alone for the time being.
He absentmindedly changed into his uniform with a new resolve to just get through practice without utterly embarrassing himself. He laced up his skates and grabbed his sticks and made his way to the ice.
The rest of practice was a blur of drills and agility exercises and cardio that made Maverick want to bury himself in a hole and die. He felt horrible. Every sharp and fast movement made him feel like his belly was pushing its way into his throat. He had to stop for more water breaks than usual, but he didn’t even drink any water because he knew putting anything inside of him would end horribly.
It go so bad that at one point, he was so dizzy he nearly fell over trying to rejoin the group after one of his many water breaks.
Cameron was the one who walked over to steady him.
“What’s up with you man? You’re off your game today,” Cameron said half-jokingly, dragging Maverick back to the center of the rink.
Maverick just shrugged and continued the drills with the rest of the team.
To his credit, he managed to get through almost all of practice without incident. Almost.
It was the second to last set of drills Coach was making them do when Maverick felt a wave of nausea more pressing and intense than any he felt earlier in the day.
He faltered in one of the steps, and he skated off to the side as he doubled over and braced himself on his knees. He took in deep breaths through his nose, trying to will away the nausea, but this time it wasn’t budging. He knew he didn’t have much time. Laurie must have figured it out too, but suddenly he was being lead away from the rink and sat on one of the benches on the sidelines.
He let out a pathetic whimper and slapped a hand over his mouth when he felt his body lurch. He really really didn’t want to be sick here. Not in front of all these people. Tears sprung to his eyes and made him feel exponentially worse. Not only was he about to lose his breakfast in front of his team, but now he was crying in front of them too.
“Shh.. it’s alright dude.. Just breathe, okay? If you’re gonna be sick, you’re gonna be sick. No point in fightin’ it..” Laurie murmured beside him.
Maverick shook his head stubbornly, but his body clearly had had enough.
He pitched forward with a heave and at first, nothing came out. After a few seconds, a sickly burp brought up a wave of watery vomit that splattered on the synthetic rubber between his feet.
Maverick whimpered and he coughed up another mouthful of vomit, dangerously falling forward.
He was caught by a hand on his shoulder and a palm to his forehead that dramatically snapped away.
“Maverick! You burning up! Why the hell didn’t you say anything, you could have passed out or something!” Laurie yelped, patting Maverick back.
“I didn’t—“ Maverick muffled a burp into his fist before continuing. “I felt fine.. I can handle it.. it’s all.. it’s fine..”
“Like hell you are. We’re getting you home. Did you drive here?”
Maverick shook his head. “Biked.”
“In this rain?! Jesus christ Mav, no wonder you feel so shitty!”
As if to emphasize the point, Maverick leaned forward with a hiccup and brought up a small amount of puke, but his body had mostly run out of things to expel. The nausea was still relentless though, and. the fever sweats were worsening by the minute.
“Cam! Can I borrow your car? I’m gonna get this idiot back to his dorm. He biked here and I don’t think he has it in him to bike back,” Laurie yelled out towards the rest of the team, who were watching the situation with respectful distance.
Cameron said something, but Maverick wasn’t listening. An ugly feeling was festering deep within him. He didn’t need to be infantilized like this. Why couldn’t he just man up and deal with his problems on his own? He didn’t need to be taken care of like this. He was fine.
Cameron tossed his keys to Laurie, and Laurie slid an arm under Maverick’s shoulder to help him up, but Maverick lightly shoved him off.
“I can walk on my own.. I’m fine Laurie, you don’t need to stick around..” The words seemed mean, but Maverick said them with no venom. He just sounded like a wounded puppy, if anything.
“Mav.. it’s fine.. don’t worry about it so much, alright? You’re sick. You’re miserable. Let someone lighten the load. You’d do the same thing for me.” Laurie said softly, out of earshot of anyone else.
Maverick felt a lump in his throat grow at the sentiment. This was what it felt like to be cared for unconditionally. He could see now that Laurie wasn’t looking for ways to take advantage of his weakness or make fun of him. He genuinely wanted to help. He actually cared about him, and wanted to make things just a little bit easier on him.
He tilted his head down so Laurie wouldn’t catch the tears that slid down his fevered cheeks. The fever had to be getting to him. It had to be.
Laurie pulled Maverick’s arm around his shoulder and lead him to the parking lot outside the rink.
✓ and ✈️? and for the ✓, i think the confused one could be cute!! i love your writing!
(that's so sweet of you! thanks for reading!)
✓: waking up either adorably confused or painfully scared
✈: reaching out for someone [bonus points if they mumble! their! name!]
B groans with relief as they plop down next to the fire, taking a moment to massage their aching legs. It had been a long travel day, and they were looking at several more of those before their party would return to their village.
It didn't help that A had come down with a cold. All the nights sleeping out in the frigid woods must've taken their toll on their small, frail body, and they’d woken this morning feverish, coughing, and refusing to shed their blanket.
B had volunteered their horse to carry them the rest of the journey, and that meant an even harder trek for them on the rocky paths. But they could handle it. And A had slumped over the minute they settled on the saddle, so they knew that their sacrifice had been well worth it.
B shook their head. If it was up to them, A would have stayed home in the first place, getting provisions ready for the winter like they usually did this time of year. But A had wanted - nay, demanded - to come on this year’s trip, and B had been outvoted by the other dozen members of the group.
Now, as they looked at the sniffling, coughing bundle sleeping in two bedrolls near their feet, they felt a fierce protectiveness rise in their gut. They couldn't stop A from coming, but they'd make darn sure they made it back in one piece. The chatter and laughter of the rest of the camp lulls them into a daze, and they stare up into the clear, velvet sky pinpricked with starlight, dreaming of the hour-long bath they'd take when they got-
"Home?"
The scratchy voice cuts through B's thoughts and their head snaps to attention. A's struggling to push themselves up, and they try to untangle their limbs and climb out from the bedroll. B's at their side in an instant.
“A. Easy, there. Lay back down. Shhhh." B motions to pull the covers back over A, but they resist, half-lidded, fever-bright eyes searching wildly.
"Home," they repeat, looking around them wildly. They throw a finger to point over at C. "C. From home." C glances warily from side to side and points at themselves with raised eyebrows, but B waves them off. A's still half asleep, and from the looks of things, this is not a conversation they'll be remembering in the morning.
"A, we're not home. We're out on the trail, remember? C came with us." A's eyes look like they're searching for some secret code on B's face - either that, or B's facial features have all rearranged themselves. Then, like a lightning bolt, clarity sparks in their tired face.
"Not home?" A's face falls, and they glance up at the dark sky, then over to the crackling fire. They cross their arms against the evening chill and look back at B, unsure of what to do with this shattered illusion.
"Not yet, bud." B smiles softly. "Let's get you tucked back in."
A's limbs are pliable as B covers them back up, and they huddle into the bedroll and stare at the flame. B goes back to their horse to retrieve an extra blanket for A - there was no telling how cold it'd get tonight.
When they return, they’re surprised to see A still awake. At the sound of B's footsteps, A rolls back over, and B sees the glint of tears pooling in A's eyes. Their lower lip quivers as they hold their shaky arms out to B, and a single tear slips down their cheek.
"Home," they whisper. "B, I want to go home."
B feels the prickle in their own eyes as they scoop A into their lap, snuggling them close to their chest in the warm blanket and cradling their head in their hand. "I know you do, bud. We all do. Just a couple more days, okay?"
A sniffs a couple times and curls closer to B. "Go home now," they whimper stubbornly. B chuckles half-heartedly, pulling the blanket up closer to B’s chin. After years at this, they knew the ache of homesickness that could come over you on the multi-week journey - especially when you were tired, cold, hungry, and all you wanted was your warm bed and a roof over your head. And being sick on top of it all couldn't help matters.
Suddenly, they've got an idea. “Well then. Since you’re in such a hurry, you better have a plan in mind. What’s the first thing you’re gonna do when you get back?”
“M’ gonna….make pie. Blackberry.”
B nudges them. “What else?”
“Take a bath. Play with the dogs. Sleep in a bed.”
“Well then. That sounds like a great plan. Keep thinking about that.” B looks up as C comes closer, and extends a woolen hat towards the pair.
“Figured A could use this,” they murmur quietly as B gratefully tugs it over A’s ears. “It’s gonna be another brisk one tonight.”
B grunts softly in agreement, looking down at A’s pale face as their eyelids blink more slowly, fighting sleep, tufts of hair poking out from under the hat.
“Home,” A mumbles again.
B squeezes A tighter. “I’ll get you home, bud. Don’t you worry.”
“No,” A mumbles. “With you. Home for now.”
B convinces themselves that the campfire’s the root of their watery eyes and tightened throat as A drifts off to sleep, cradled and warm in arms that hold them the whole night.
You've been visited by the random OC question fairy! :D ~☆
Are there any emotions the character is particularly afraid of, or really resents having to feel? Why do they have this reaction? What do they do when they feel this emotion?
THIS IS SO AWESOME!
Hmmm... If i had to pick a character, I’d say Elliot hates feeling angry more than anything, it makes him feel weak and out of any control he previously had. When he’s angry, he usually locks himself in his room on his own to cool off because he doesn’t want to interact with people when he does get mad. Luckily, he’s quite difficult to provoke, and he’s usually very calm.
HELLO I just went through your ocs and I love them ALL but Finn...Finn 😭 I can already tell he's going to steal my heart. May I please have a ▼ - childhood headcanon for him?
Hell yeah!! Okay so I have a few, here you are :D
-As a kid, Finn was a huge hugger and would just go up to strangers a hug them randomly and it earned him a few glares but he still did it anyway
-Finn LOVED putting on his mom’s high heels and jewelry and just parading around the house like that even though he’d trip and fall
-He played outside a lot and he would always bring in a stray cat or two that his mom had to regime as quickly as possible before their house was overrun with cats
