The poll has spoken - TK with the flu it is. However, this is going to be a little different than a typical sickfic as it's going to take place right after the sickee was ill and is now in the recovery phase. Kind of like a sickness aftercare fic. I've been wanting to write something like this for a while.
When Carlos walked back into their bedroom, he found TK awake. He was lying on his side, blankly staring. He looked tired, and a little confused, but not like he was moments away from vomiting. Which was a significant improvement over the last 48 hours.
"Hey baby," Carlos said, setting down the glass of water he'd refilled for TK on the nightstand. Then he sat down on the edge of the bed, draping an arm over TK's waist. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
TK blinked slowly up at him. "Okay, I think?" he answered. Although it sounded more like a question.
Carlos reached over to feel TK's forehead and found an absence of the heat from the past 2 days, much to his relief. He ruffled TK's messy hair. "Seems like your fever finally broke," he said, "How's your stomach feeling?" he asked.
TK frowned slightly, considering it for a moment, "Feels a little weird, but not like sick really" he shrugged.
"Well that's good, seems like you've turned the corner on this nasty bug huh?" Carlos smiled, relieved to see that TK was feeling better. Carlos had never seen him so sick.
TK nodded slowly. He definitely wasn't magically all better. Carlos could tell that although some color had returned to TK's face, he was still pretty pale. And he seemed to be a little disoriented still. Carlos was sure he was exhausted, and definitely dehydrated. TK had barely eaten or drank anything for 2 days. But this was the first time he'd been able to more or less have a conversation since he got sick.
"Think you could sit up and drink some water?" Carlos asked tentatively. He'd forced as much water on TK as he could while he was sick but most of it was either refused or just came back up. He'd debated on taking TK to the hospital at one point.
TK nodded, then slowly pushed himself up to lean back against the wall. Carlos noticed how TK's arm shook from the effort of sitting himself up.
"Here, take it slow, small sips," Carlos instructed as he handed TK the water.
TK accepted the glass with shaky hands, taking several careful sips. As he lowered the glass, Carlos took it from him, setting it back down on the nightstand. They sat quietly for a moment, waiting, to make sure that the water would stay down okay. Lord knows it hadn't been the past couple days.
"Water sitting okay?" Carlos asked after a minute. TK cocked his head, considering, assessing how he felt, then nodded.
"Yeah I think so," TK said.
"Good, that's a start," Carlos nodded, smiling softly. He was glad to see TK feeling better.
TK sighed, running a hand through his hair, "I feel disgusting."
"You wanna take a shower?" Carlos suggested.
"Yes, that sounds amazing," TK nodded.
"Think you're ready to stand?" Carlos asked. TK nodded, pushing himself up off of the headboard and swinging his legs off the side of the bed.
Carlos stood, holding his hands out to TK and helped him to his feet slowly.
"Woah, easy, I've got you," Carlos said, quickly wrapping an arm around TK's waist to steady him as he swayed on his feet.
"Sorry," TK breathed, leaning into Carlos, "I feel really weak."
"I'm not surprised, you were really sick Ty, it might take a couple days to really get back to normal," Carlos said.
After a moment TK pulled away to stand on his own, "I'm okay," he said when Carlos gave him a questioning look. Carlos had a hand reached out to grab hold of him again, just in case. But TK seemed to be steady enough.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Carlos asked as TK started to slowly make his way toward the bathroom.
"I'll be okay," TK smiled softly, knowing that was Carlos was really asking was if he would be okay to shower on his own.
"Okay," Carlos nodded, although he was biting his lip, which meant he was worried. "Just take it slow okay? And if you start feeling faint just sit down and holler for me," he instructed.
"I will, I promise," TK said, reaching out to grab Carlos's hand and give it a squeeze.
Carlos nodded, although after seeing TK practically on death's door the past couple days he still felt a little nervous about him being in the shower alone. But TK probably wanted a little bit of me time to clean up and get to feeling himself again. So Carlos retreated back downstairs to the kitchen.
About 20 minutes later TK made his way down the stairs and came to sit at the bar, where Carlos was leaning over the counter on his phone.
"Hi baby," Carlos said, "How was your shower?" he asked.
"Amazing," TK breathed, "I feel almost like a real human again."
"That's good to hear," Carlos said, leaning over to kiss TK's forehead. "So the big question is, do you think you're up to trying a little bit to eat?" he asked.
TK winced, taking a deep breath. Okay, so maybe not quite back to normal yet.
But then he nodded hesitantly, "I'll try," he said.
"Are you sure?" Carlos asked. "I mean you definitely need to eat something today but we can wait until a little later if you're not quite ready," he said. The last thing he wanted was to force food too soon and cause TK to backtrack.
"Yeah I think so. My stomach hurts, but I think it's just sore, I don't really feel nauseous or anything," he said.
"Okay, good. Does anything sound good? Or not bad at least? Maybe we could start with toast or crackers?" Carlos asked.
"Crackers sound okay I think," TK answered.
So Carlos walked over to the pantry and pulled out a sleeve of ritz crackers, which set on the counter in front of TK. He also filled up a new glass of water and set that down as well.
TK stared down at the crackers, but made no move to eat one. Now he was the one chewing on his lip nervously.
"Hey," Carlos said softly, reaching out to cup TK's face.
"I don't want to throw up again," TK sighed, looking up to meet Carlos's eyes.
"I know, I don't want that for you either. And like I said we can wait a little while if you want. But I do think that you've more or less gotten past whatever that was. You being able to get up and shower and walk around is a massive improvement from even just a few hours ago," Carlos explained.
TK nodded, "You're probably right," he said, reaching for a cracker.
"Just take it slow babe, and if anything starts to feel off then you stop," Carlos encouraged.
TK took a deep breath, and took a bite of the cracker. He paused for a minute after eating the first cracker before taking another. But he slowly ended up eating about a quarter of the sleeve, which made Carlos feel a lot better that he at least had some kind of nutrients for his body to finish healing.
"Doing okay?" Carlos asked.
"I think so," TK nodded, "I feel a little bit better actually, not quite as shaky," he said, holding a hand up to demonstrate. There was still a slight tremor in his hand, but notably not nearly as bad as they were shaking when he'd been holding the glass of water this morning.
"You're getting a little bit of color back too," Carlos noticed, reaching out to ruffle TK's damp hair.
TK closed his eyes, leaning into Carlos's touch. "I am exhausted though. Honestly I feel like I could go back to bed," he sighed, posture becoming more slumped.
"You could," Carlos said, "Go back to bed. Or take a nap on the couch if you want to have something on the tv."
"It's like 10am," TK said doubtfully.
"Yes, but your body has been through a lot, it's worn out and running on empty. So if you feel like you need to rest then you should rest," Carlos said.
"Okay," TK sighed, "I just want to be better."
"I know baby, and you're on your way there, but it's gonna take a little bit to get fully back to normal," Carlos said. "Come on, let's get you laying down," he added, seeing that TK's face was starting to pale again, dark circles under his eyes returning.
Carlos walked around to the other side of the island where TK was sitting and helped him up by the elbow. He wrapped an arm around TK's waist and led him over to the couch. Once TK was laying down, he draped TK's favorite throw blanket over him and handed him the remote.
"There we go," Carlos said, leaning down to kiss TK's forehead, subtly also feeling for the return of a fever, but thankfully found none.
When he turned to head back to the kitchen, TK's hand caught his wrist. "Stay with me?" TK asked quietly.
"Of course Ty," Carlos smiled. He moved to the other end of the couch, moving to sit with TK's legs across his lap.
TK put on an episode of friends, one of his comfort shows, although he was asleep within 5 minutes. Carlos left the show running though, so that it would be on when TK woke up, and instead reached over to grab the book he'd been reading off of the side table.
When TK woke up a couple hours later, he looked revived once again. His face returned to its normal color and his eyes brighter. He slowly moved to sit up, scooting closer to Carlos to lean on his shoulder.
"Hey, how are you feeling my love?" Carlos asked, turning to press a kiss into TK's messy hair.
"Better," TK said, "Kinda hungry," he added.
"Well that is a very good sign. What sounds good?" Carlos asked, grateful to see that TK was still on the mend. He'd been a little worried that TK getting up and eating so quickly had sent him backward, but thankfully that didn't seem to be the case.
TK thought for a minute then said, "Mashed potatoes?"
"Mashed potatoes it is. Coming right up," Carlos said, getting up and heading to the kitchen.
TK took a few minutes to fully wake up, then came to join Carlos in the kitchen, sitting at the island.
"Maybe you should just stay on the couch and relax baby," Carlos said, moving to stand at TK's side, placing a hand on his back.
"I'm okay Carlos," TK said, giving Carlos a little smile.
"You weren't," Carlos said, his expression turning darker.
"It was bad?" TK asked. If he was being honest, he didn't have a lot of clear memories of the past couple days.
Carlos nodded. "I've never seen you so sick. I called Tommy on the yesterday to see if she thought I should take you to the hospital," he explained.
"Why? Dehydration?" TK asked.
Carlos nodded again, "I hadn't been able to get you to eat or drink anything in over 24 hours and you were throwing up almost every couple hours still. Tommy had me check your capillary stretch or something and it was still okay so she said you didn't need to go but that if you weren't better this morning she would come over and give you an IV."
"Capillary refill. It's a test for dehydration," TK nodded. "I'm sorry babe, that must have been scary."
"It was," Carlos said, taking a deep breath, "But I'm just glad that you're feeling better."
Truthfully, Carlos had been terrified. He didn't have any medical training beyond one CPR course and some basic first aid, so he felt like he was severely in over his head. Once TK's fever got so high that he was delirious, unable to respond to questions and mumbling nonsense to himself, Carlos had been at a loss.
Thankfully, Tommy had walked him through it. She'd had him put TK in a lukewarm bath to help bring his temperature down and to have him suck on ice cubes, even though he spit most of them out. Last night, Carlos had hardly slept. He'd just sat next to TK, holding his hand and rubbing his back and replacing the cool damp cloth on his forehead to try and keep the fever at bay.
"You must be exhausted," TK said, turning to face Carlos and wrap his arms around his boyfriends waist.
Carlos sighed, leaning slightly into TK as he wrapped his own arms around TK, pressing his face into TK's shoulder.
"Yeah, I am," he breathed out, relishing in the feeling of having his boyfriend back. He'd missed TK. Because the person he'd been taking care of these past couple days, had been only a shell of a person. "But I'm alright, I'm just glad you're okay," he added, not wanting TK to worry. That was the last thing he needed to be doing.
"Well maybe you should rest too. We don't want you getting sick next," TK pointed out. Which was a valid point.
"You're probably right," Carlos sighed. "After we get a little more food in you how about we both take a nap together?" he suggested.
"That sounds perfect," TK agreed. "Thank you for taking care of me," he added, arms squeezing a little tighter around Carlos's waist.
Carlos squeezed back, "Of course baby. Always."
