one shots

simon and gabriel

i shiver, thirteen blankets and yet no warmth is brought to my body. i hate being sick, who the hell gets fevers during winters? i breathe into the palms of my hands, trying to warm myself up. there's no use, i'm just breathing back in my infected air.

my throat feels like it's being scratched at by my own cat as i cough. i've been scratched at by charlie on a lot of occasions, he's never liked me, but i think imagining him in my throat clawing is way out his way more painful.

charlie is not allowed to come into my vicinity, my boyfriend won't let it happen. he says he's okay with getting sick, but won't let our son be infected. i keep protesting that cats can't get human sickness, he doesn't buy one bit of it.

i wrap myself tighter in my layers of blankets, all freshly washed. gabriel washes them in our fancy new laundry machines every six hours. he insists that i can't sit in my own filth, i think he just likes how the dryer sings when it's done. when we were at the store looking for new machines since he broke the old one, he was sold on the fact that the dryer had a customizable alarm. it's quite obnoxious to hear, especially after he gets obsessed with it, but anything to make him happy.

i cough into the blankets and continue to breathe into my hands. my nose is completely stuffy, not a single bit of air coming in or out. taking heavy breaths hurts my throat even more then coughing does. i'm in so much pain, i just want to disappear.

"no! no! no!" i hear gabriel scold me from afar. he's running towards me in a desperate attempt to safe me from advanced sickness. "stop! stop! that's even worse honey!" he grabs my elbows and forces my hands away from my face. he plops down on the bed, sitting beside me. he stares at me in thought, his eyes sparkling. it's impossible to imagine how someone like him could care so much for me.

"it hurts." i groan through my pain. he frowns and leaves a kiss on my forehead. as his lips leave the small peck, i feel the temperature in my body rise. i wish it was enough to break this fever.

he grabs the thermometer on our bedside table, "i know sweetie. i'm so sorry." he raises it up to my mouth, i open wide and lift up my tongue. when he places the thermometer under my tongue i close my mouth and we collectively wait for the tiny beep.

*beep!*

gabriel pulls the thermometer out of my mouth. he reads the numbers on the machine outloud, "one-hundred and seven degrees." his expression is full of pity, making us both angsty. my body twitches as i shiver, when he sees this, he jumps right back up. "i'm going to make you some ramen, and you have to have the broth this time."

i whine, but comply. gabriel cooks for us a lot, i've been helping him with his anorexia and he discovered his love for cooking along with sobriety. it's been rough, but i'm okay with all the free food. on some nights we have ramen. when we first moved in, i was afraid to mention i don't like the ramen broth so whenever gabriel would turn around, i would pour my broth into his bowl. by the end of the night, his bowl was overflowing. surprisingly he laughed it off though, from that moment on, he made me ramen without the broth.

gabriel turns around and walks out of our room. i never thought sharing a bedroom with someone would be comfortable, even when he would stay at my apartment he would always take the couch. sure we... did things on my bed, but even then i could never picture actually sleeping beside him. it was scary, but comforting. i guess it was always the fear of being too vulnerable while unconscious, since janis took that to her advantage. but since my therapy sessions and support from gabriel along the way, i've become a lot more comfortable when it comes to opening up.

sometimes i'll wake up to gabriel cooking breakfast, or maybe even in a therapy appointment. it's totally different then waking up to nothing but being taken advantage of. i loved that way i could trust gabriel. we've both had so much growth over the years.

i close my eyes, still very cold. i sink into my mattress and close my eyes, drifting away.

-

"simon, honey." gabriel whispers, pushing my hair behind my ears. i open my eyes. he's holding a bowl of ramen, full of chicken flavored broth. there are bits of chicken and corn all around the bowl, one big egg sits on top of the noodles. my mouth waters at the sight of it. "here you go, sit up." gabriel sets the bowl down and pulls my pillow up, once i'm fully sat he hands me the bowl.

i push past the egg and twirl my fork under the broth, when i pull it up i have a collection of noodles. i bite into the forkful, letting out some hums of happiness. i finish chewing and swallow, feeling warmth fill my stomach. "i love you so much, gabe." i smile, gabriel nods and lays down on the other side of our bed. i can tell he's very happy with how i complemented his cooking, he loves when i recognize his hard work. he rests on the pillow beside me. admiring while i eat.

i finish the food fairly quickly, drinking the broth as well. when i am done, gabriel takes my bowl and goes to clean it. when he comes back he's holding a heavy basket full of blankets, including his 24 pound weighted one. "blanket switch! cmon, honey!" he smiles, ripping all the blankets off of me and shoving them into the empty laundry basket.

i shiver and he quickly replaces all the blankets, each one warmer then the one before. i smile and he leaves a kiss on my head before running to put the other blankets in the laundry machine.

when gabriel returns once again, his hands are empty. "is there anything else i can do for you?" i shake my head. "alright then i'll be in the kitchen-"

i cut him off. "wait! do you mind.. laying down with me?"

he smiles widely. "of course honey." he skips over to his side on the bed and cuddles up next to me, my body warmer than ever. "i love you." gabriel whispers in my ear as we both fall asleep.

i think that little act was the real reason my fever broke that day.

—-
characters

gabriel; someone special & someone you used to know

simon; someone special & someone you used to know