RW&RB oneshots (firstprince)

Sick Day (part 1)

A/N: First of all I would like to thank @DeannaWrites0_0 for the inspiration for this chapter. I saw the chapter Through Sickness (Even If You're A Baby While Your Sick)  in the book Red, White, and Royal Blue fics and instantly decided the world needs more firstprince sick day AUs. Also I haven't read RW&RB for like a month so please forgive me if I mess up the timeline or don't get something right. Let's get on with the story!

6 months after the election. Henry and Alex have moved into an apartment in New York City together. I'm not exactly sure of the timeline, but let's just say it's around December of Alex's first year of law school. Henry is working hard to open more shelters for at risk LGBTQ+ youth across America and the world.

Henry's pov

I look up from my work and at the clock, time really has flown by. It's already 2 am, I groan and grab my work off the table. I slowly pack away my folders and laptop so that they're ready for the next morning. I quietly open the door to our room and look across at the bed. Henry looks so peaceful sprawled across the bed.

Walking over to him I trip over papers on the floor, specifically Alex's papers from law school. I frown, that isn't like Alex. He takes good care of his papers, he knows that he can't lose anything. Now that I think about it he hasn't been like himself at all for the past few days, he's been restless at night, going to bed early, and working in every spare minute. I let the frown slide off my face and decide that if he's still off tomorrow I'll talk to him.

I slide into bed in my boxers and put my arms around Alex's muscular body. It hits me once again that this man is mine, Alex is my boyfriend. We are dating. This isn't just a good dream, this is real life. I sigh in content and wrap my arms tighter around his torso laying my head on his shoulder. I drift off into a dreamless sleep within two minutes.

I wake up to the sun peeking in through the blinds of our bedroom. I sit up and stretch looking over my shoulder. I see the place where Alex slept last night and look at the clock immediately. It's only 6 am, Alex does not need to get up this earlier. Something must really be up with him, he doesn't start classes until 9 am.

I get up and shiver, the windows are open and a chilly breeze blows through. I enter the kitchen of our flat and see Alex bent over his laptop looking defeated. "Hey babe." I say. He looks up sharply. I walk over to him and kiss the top of his dark curls. "Why are you up so early?" I whisper into his hair. I need to figure out what's up with him, he's really starting to worry me.

"Uhhh..." He stutters. I'm holding back a frown. Why does he feel like he can't tell me this. Whatever it is I'll still love him the same, nothing will change that. His face flushes and he looks down at his keyboard. He looks sheepish, like he thinks whatever he's dealing with isn't a big deal.

"Alex." I state sternly. He looks down again, this time I tip his chin up so he's looking me in the eyes. "Baby, I'm here for you no matter what. There's no use trying to hide anything from me." His face flushes again. I lean in and give him a soft kiss on the lips. "I love you." I go in for another one, this time he meets me in the middle. After a minute of gentle kisses, I pull away and say, "Nothing will ever change that, you know that, right?" He nods and gets up from his chair.

"I just haven't been feeling very good." He mumbles. I pull him in for a hug. I press his head into my chest and kiss his curls yet again. "I think the stress is getting to me." That would make sense, his face feels warm against my bare chest. "It'll be fine though, I just have to finish this work and I'll be fine for the day. I went to bed early so I didn't finish all of it."

"Alex," I start, pulling his head off my chest so he can see me. "You have to take a sick day, the more stressed you get, the weaker your immune system is. You know how sick you get this time of year." I can't let him go to school, Alex gets so sick with everything from the flu to colds this time of year. I can see him weighing his options, I know how he hates to miss school, but he knows he needs this day to catch up on sleep and to get better.

"Ok." He says after a minute. "I'll stay home today, but you have to go into work." I start to protest, but he puts his finger to my lip to quiet me. "You have the meeting with Pez today, remember?" I groan and run my fingers through my hair. I do have an important meeting with Pez today. He has me there.

I agree with the condition that he calls me if anything comes up or if he even starts to feel a little worse. I went back to our room to put on a suit and grab my briefcase, time had snuck up on us. We had cuddle time on the couch after making the decision.

I check in on Alex on the couch one more time before walking slowly out the door. "Bye babe!" I say one last time. I can feel Alex smirking from the couch. He doesn't think that my worrying is for anything.

I hear his faint, "Love you!" before I close the door behind me. I hesitate before walking away from our flat. Pez wouldn't mind if I cancelled, right? I shake my head, I can't do this every time Alex gets a little sick.

Alex pov

It's been a couple hours since Henry left and I'm not feeling any better. In fact I'm feeling worse. My head has started to hurt and my face feels even warmer than it did before. My body fluctuates from sweating buckets to shivering in mere seconds. I pick up the phone to call Henry, but see that his meeting with Pez is about to start. I put the phone down and decide against it, I don't want him to be worried during his meeting. I turn on the tv and flip through Netflix.

After an hour of Netflix, my head starts to feel fuzzy and light headed. I stand up to go grab a cup of water, but black dots take over my vision. I blindly grab for the coffee table, but miss, falling over into the sea of blankets on the couch. I blink a couple times and once again I can see. I grab for my phone once again, but see that Henry is still in the meeting. Is it worth interrupting him to get help?

Another wave of dizziness washes over me and I decide that I need him. I don't like being sick, but this time of year always seems to get me. Every winter I get sick with every possible thing you could think of, all the basic ones of course. I dial his number, one I know by heart.

Published: 9/24/20

Word Count: 1277