Darkness

Tea

We're doing an extra chapter this week!

When Scott woke up the next day he felt miserable. His head was pounding, his throat felt as if he had emptied his stomach all night and his body ached. The man turned around in the bed standing in Mitch's guest room and pulled the blanket over his head to hide from the sun coming through the windows until he realized that he wasn't home and had to check his phone to see if Avi had texted him. The bright light coming from the screen hurt his eyes but Scott forced himself to carefully go through his notifications and check for a message from his boyfriend.

But Scott didn't find one. He went through them again, afraid that he had missed it, but gave up halfway as the pain in his head got worse and he couldn't hold back a groan. He pushed his phone back under the pillow and hid his face in it, begging the Gods for it to stop.

He must've fallen asleep again, when he woke up the next time Mitch was sitting on the bed next to him and lightly rubbed his back. "Scotty..." he said. "It's almost noon, time to wake up."

"Noon?!" he slurred and pushed himself up. "Avi.."

"Did he text you? Did something happen?"

The man shook his head. "Have to go home, check.."

But Mitch noticed the strain in his voice and gently pushed him back down. "You sound like you're sick, Scott. Maybe you should stay in bed and rest. Do you want to eat something?"

"No, no- I have to go home, check on Avi. Do you have Advil?"

"Scott-"

"No! You have no idea, Mitch! I can't just- stay here and ignore that Avi is by himself all day after what happened at the hospital!" Scott snapped and then winced when his headache got worse. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, waited for the pain to subside just enough to move and then got up. "You have no idea" he mumbled, put on his jeans and left without saying another word.

Once he was back at Avi's apartment he unlocked the door, put his keys away and paused when he wanted to put his shoes in his usual spot and found a pair there that definitely weren't his. The blinds were still down as he made his way through the hallway and passed the bathroom on the way to the bedroom. Scott opened the door as quietly as possible and couldn't help but pout when he saw his boyfriend lying on his side with his blanket pulled up to under his nose - since Scott had unofficially moved in at some point they had bought extra long duvets - and his sister right behind him, under the same blanket.

Esther turned her head to him and smiled lightly before her brother left out a weak whine and signs of distress appeared on his face.

"Esther-" Scott whispered and stepped closer but she just shook her head.

"I got it, no worries. It's just a small one." Her hand moved under her blanket, from Avi's shoulder to his side and over his tummy where it stayed in contact with his bare skin. She didn't say anything else, just scooted closer against the man and held him until his whines disappeared and he settled back down. "I'll meet you in the living room in just a bit, I need another five minutes or so."

The baritone nodded and stumbled to the bathroom to dig through Avi's medicine stash. He popped in some Advil, quickly brushed his teeth and washed his face before he made himself a cup of coffee. Just ten minutes later, right when Esther emerged from the bedroom, the throbbing pain in his forehead subsided and he relaxed.

"Hi" she said and walked over to the couch, gave him a quick squeeze and sat down. Her long, dark hair was messy, the oversized shirt she was wearing made her look slimmer than she already was and the wide pants - definitely Avi's plaid pj bottoms he wore in the winter - almost slid off her hips. "You don't look good."

"I don't feel good either. Woke up with a headache and all that this morning. Did he call you?"

"No. I was thinking about stopping by in the evening and after a quick text to check if you guys were home Avi told me that you were at Mitch's place. When I got here he was sitting on the couch with a bowl of ice cream and listened to a podcast. It was quite adorable" she said, chuckled and brought her leg up on the couch. "I stayed the night and he didn't move at all, slept right through it until around six or six thirty."

"Oh wow, that's...that's long. No nightmares?"

"No, not until then. I woke up when he started to toss and turn and then we fell back asleep after he told me what was on his mind."

"How did you do that?"

"What?"

"Made him sleep without nightmares? I'm always so worried when he closes his eyes that he can't rest properly..."

"Chamomile tea. Works like a charm. I mean, you know him, Scott. You know that he has this talent to think too much. I'm pretty sure that he can think himself to death if he wanted to. Since we were little kids Mom always avoided synthetic medication whenever it was possible. So we drank tea, ate healthy things and went on hikes a lot. When we had a fever she made more tea, we had pasta with basil pesto and lots of garlic. When we had a sore throat we'd drink ginger and lemon tea with honey - and it worked most of the time. Mom grows chamomile in the backyard and whenever we visit her or she visits us we get a little jar of them. I brought it over and made some tea. It helps to slow down his thoughts."

Scott smiled lightly. "Thank you, Esther. Really. I...I felt bad for leaving him by himself, especially right after he got out of the hospital-"

"But you have to take care of yourself as well. You can't just ignore your own mental and physical health, I mean, look at you. You're as pale as the wall behind you."

"I know, I- I think I'm sick."

The dark haired woman sighed softly. "That doesn't surprise me. You haven't slept properly in over a week and you didn't really...make time to take care of yourself. The mental and physical health are tied to each other and if you don't allow yourself to rest your body will eventually force you to do it."

"Yeah, that..makes sense" he said and ran his left hand through his hair. "I'll get ready for bed and lay down with Avi if that's okay? You're welcome to stay, there's food in the fridge. You know the drill."

Esther chuckled. "I do. Thank you." Before Scott left to go to the bedroom the woman sat up. "Scott?"

"Hm?"

"Rest and allow yourself to heal and let go. Mitch, Kirstie, Kevin and I are always ready and willing to help."