Prompt: First time Silas gets sick and is wary of Ray since he thinks that since he's sick Ray will have an easier time hurting him but Ray just keeps comforting him and being the lil cinnamon roll that he is
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Silas poured himself a glass of water, his schoolbag hanging off his shoulder. He drank the water, but that persistent scratch in his throat didn't go away, and he found himself letting out a hacking cough. He winced as the cough clawed its way up his throat. The force of it made the room spin a little, and Silas gripped the counter until he was steady again.
He headed for the front door, knowing the bus would be here soon. But he felt a hand on his shoulder, light enough for him to slip away from but firm enough that he knew before he even saw Ray's face that Ray wasn't joking around.
"Where do you think you're going?" Ray said.
Silas faced him. "School," he croaked out. "You make me go."
Ray moved his hand towards Silas's face, and Silas instinctively knocked it away and back up. Ray shook his head.
"I'm just seeing if your forehead is warm," he said, trying again.
"It ain't," Silas said, smacking Ray's hand away with as much force as he could muster. "Don't touch me."
"Fine, then I'll give you the thermometer and you can take your own temperature," Ray said, turning and digging through the cupboards. He reached the medicine cabinet and pulled out a thermometer. He rinsed it off in the sink and held it out to Silas. "Here, this is a new one. I just rinsed it off to be safe."
Silas reluctantly took the thermometer and stuck it under his tongue. He didn't get why Ray was making a big deal out of it. People got sick all the time, especially the school kids. One kid got sick and spread it around. You toughed it out and played it off like you were fine, or else you were an easier target.
But when the thermometer beeped and he handed it to Ray, Ray's eyebrows shot up. He set the thermometer down and went to the door.
When the bus pulled up, he blocked Silas from going outside. He opened the door and waved the bus on, and Silas watched as it drove away from the house.
"What the hell?" Silas said. He didn't care for school, but Ray was always insisting he went.
"You've got a fever of 101. You're not going to school," Ray said, picking up his cell phone and dialing. He held it to his ear as it rang for a few seconds. "Hey Robbie, you're on your own today. Silas is running a fever, so I'm staying home. Yea, just email the paperwork and I'll get it back to you by tonight. Thanks." He hung up his phone and turned to Silas. "You still here? Go get to bed."
"101 ain't nothin'," Silas argued.
"101 is a fever, which means you're sick, which means you need rest. If I send you to school, it could just make you even worse, or spread whatever you have to everyone else," Ray said. "Bed. Now."
"I don't need to go to bed," Silas said. He wouldn't be seen as weak, even as the room started to spin a little again. He let out another hacking cough and grabbed at the counter again.
Ray watched him. "You do realize that you die if that climbs up to 108, right?"
"Yea, so? It ain't at 108," Silas said. "Highest I ever had was 105."
