Feverish

The past two days have been a confusing blur full of pain. He's shivering despite the blankets tucked firmly up to his chin, but at the same time the atmosphere just seems to burn. He wants to get rid of the heat and push the blankets off, but his body is too weak to allow him to move. He settled for a low whine of discomfort.

Phil's voice is coming from close by, and he knows that he must be on the phone with the doctor again. His best friend sounded worried, which in return made Dan want to panic. Phil was normally the calm one around here...or at least more calmer than himself.

The illness has just sort of attacked from nowhere a few days ago. Halfway through his liveshow he'd began to feel under the weather, and a few hours later it was impossible to move without feeling dizzy or nauseous. The fever had added to the hell a couple of days ago, which had potentially turned things a lot worse.

He is still much too hot, but there is nothing he can do about it. Instead, Dan attempts to listen to Phil.

"...I gave him some an hour ago. No, it's still just as bad. Okay. Yeah. Alright..."

Dan feels reassured. This isn't the first time Phil has taken care of him. It is rare for Dan to get sick though, and when he does it usually always hits him hard. He can't remember feeling this bad though, except for maybe when he had to have his surgery back when he was in university. Phil had taken care of him back then as well.

Suddenly he feels a cool hand on his forehead, and it seems to chase some of the fire away.

"Dan?" Phil whispers. "Do you think you could drink some more water for me?"

A cup is pressed to his lips, and the younger male greedily gulps the cold liquid. When it is pulled away, he made a small noise of distress. A hand runs soothingly through his damp hair. Dan then realizes how exhausted drinking the water has made him, so he turns his head into the pillow and goes to sleep.

Sometime in the middle of the night, the fever has broken. Dan's clothes are soaked with sweat, but he is no longer burning. He has the energy to open his eyes and look around. It takes him a moment to realize that he is not in his room, but instead in Phil's.

Speaking of which, the said owner of the room was in bed next to him, his arms wrapped tightly around Dan's waist. He looked troubled as he slept, as if even in his sleep he was worried. Dan decided to help with that.

"Phil?" He muttered, lower than intended because his throat felt way to dry. He swallowed before trying again, but a little louder.

Phil's eyes popped open and it seemed to take him a moment to register what was happening before he gasped and sat up quickly.

"Dan, you're awake!" He exclaimed happily, and reached out with both his hands to feel his friend's cheeks and forehead. The brunette flinched away, embarrassed by his gross sweaty skin. Phil seemed not to care, beaming excitedly.

"Your temperature broke! Oh god I'm so happy, they said that if it didn't go away by tomorrow or got any higher then you'd have to be hospitalized."

Thank god he was feeling better then, because a trip to the hospital was the last thing that Dan wanted. He was already behind enough as it was. His new video was supposed to be up last week, and he still needed to prepare next month's upcoming radio show. Not to mention, it had been awhile since he and Phil's last gaming video. He couldn't afford to be kept down.

"Are you hungry? Thirsty? Or maybe cold?" Phil asked.

"J-Just thirsty," Dan managed to get out, although he did found himself shaking. Phil sensed this and pulled the covers tighter over him while smiling. "Alright, I'll go make you some tea."

...

He was too weak to get out of bed for the next few days. The first day after the fever had broken Dan had mostly slept. The next day he was able to sit up propped against some pillows for a bit, eating toast and checking twitter and tumblr. He was pleased to see that Phil had reassured fans on twitter that he was alive, but under the weather. Many people were wishing him to get well.

Phil was completely doting on him, making sure he took medicine every few hours and that he was fed and warm. He'd even helped Dan take a shower. Now that he was clean and in fresh pajamas, his mood felt much improved.

Three days after the fever had broken, Dan had moved out to the lounge, where he watched movies and browsed the internet, answering tweets and apologising for being late with his video. Phil kept a close eye on him, and when he began to look weary then the laptop was taken from him and they would cuddle.

Dan realized then that Phil was putting off his own work in order to look after him.

"Phil, you don't have to do all of this," He sighed, laying his head back against the older man's chest. "I know you have better things you could be doing."

"I'd much rather be with you, the internet can wait," Was the only reply he received, and Dan had to admit that his heart melted a bit.

The next few days consisted of soup, anime, tumblr, and cuddles. By the end of the week Dan was pretty much recovered from his terrible illness. He was still a bit fatigued and pale, but he at least could walk around and not be dizzy anymore.

He had just awoken from a nap in Phil's bed, wandering towards the game room where he knew Phil was editing a video he'd made from before Dan had gotten sick. When he entered, Phil looked up at him and smiled.

"Are you feeling okay?"

Dan didn't reply at first, sitting next to Phil and wrapping his arms around him.

"Thank you Phil. I don't know where I would be in my life without you. I love you."

"Aw," Phil hugged Dan back tightly. "I love you too. But don't ever scare me like that again. It was almost worse than the time you got your surgery."

Dan only snuggled into Phil further, resting his head on his shoulder and closing his eyes. He felt one of Phil's hands run through his hair, causing him to slowly drift off. Maybe he didn't enjoy being sick that much, but at least he had the person he loved to take care of him.