Mick knew the second he woke up it was gonna be bad. The flu had been going through the restaurant staff like wildfire and people were dropping like flies. The tickle in the back of his throat that had been bothering him for days turned into a full blown cough overnight and he was warm enough to be running at least a mild fever.
Whatever. Tissues, soup, aspirin. Let's do this.
Mick calls off for the week. Sure work wasn't happy about it, but it also wouldn't help anyone for him to drop on the line in the middle of a rush.
Then he sends a text to Leonard.
'Sick. Don't come over. You don't want this mess.'
If Mick thought that text would actually keep Leonard away, he has another thing coming. To his doorstep, specifically, roughly an hour or so later. He's heard about the so-called plague going around lately and he knows it's been particularly rough for people ending up with the flu this year. No way is he letting Mick deal with Death Plague Flu on his own.
He lets himself in with the key Mick had given him months ago. He rarely actually uses it because habit keeps him knocking on the door, but this is kind of a special case. He's not about to put up with objections from the other side of the door.
The apartment is shrouded in darkness, blinds drawn, which says Mick's got the killer variety of headaches, and it's quiet, but there is still a soft murmur of the tv coming from the back room. Whether he's awake right now or it can't be determined because the guy sleeps like the dead on a regular day, Leonard can only imagine how much harder he falls under while sick.
He locks the door behind him out of habit and sets a bag on the counter-- nothing fancy, couple cans of different soups, a few bottles of water, cough drops, and some basic OTC meds. Look. He's just being prepared, not like he's fretting or something. Don't judge him.
Once everything is where he'll know and at easy access, he moves quietly through the apartment toward the bedroom in the back, hanging in the doorway, trying to determine if he was awake or not, so he could just let him keep sleeping, if he wasn't.
Really Mick should have known better. Tell Leonard to go right and he'll go left simply because he can, so telling him to stay away because he's sick would naturally bring him to his door.
He's exhausted already, dozing fitfully with the tv on to provide at least some distraction to his general feeling of misery. But he's got what he needs. Drugs, tissues and leftover frozen soup from when Lise caught a cold a few weeks back.
Mick stirs restlessly, startling at the familiar shape in the doorway. Christ. He should have known. Sagging back in the bed he drags a hand across his face, smothering a cough in his elbow. "Told ya to stay away you stubborn ass."
"I'm not so good at following directions," he drawls as he pushes off of the doorway and steps further into the room, walking until his knees hit the door of the bed. "How bad is it?" His voice is normal this time, not put-on, and definitely edging a show of legitimate concern. A beat passes and he quickly adds, "I mean, really. Don't patronize me."
"Color me shocked," Mick muffles another hacking cough into the pillow. God he feels like utter hell. The coughing fit rattles around in his chest and he's just so damned tired. But he also can't put on any kind of facade for Lenny - he's never been good at that.
"Feel like utter hell Lenny," he admits. "You shouldn't be here. Shouldn't get Lise sick," a weak protest at best but he still has to give it.
He smirks at the remark but it fades a second later at the coughing fit Mick succumbs to. It sounds awful, like the kind of cough that makes your rubs ache.
"I already had it," whether that's true or not is debatable; with the way it keeps going around, it's possible, and there was a block of time recently without any visits to Mick's and that would easily explain that abrupt absence... But Leonard is also a master at selling a point when he wants to. Good luck deciding if it's the truth or not, Mick.He shrugs one shoulder, "Can't get it again." That's how it works, right?
"Plus," he presses his knees into the mattress and moves to sit toward the middle of the bed, tucking one leg under the other in a criss-cross. "If you think I'm letting you convince yourself you're fine before you actually are, you're crazy."
The cough sucks, making his chest hurt but it isn't the first or last time Mick has hidden or buried pain for the sake of another. He reaches for the water at the bedside table, swallowing down cool water and coughing raggedly at the temperature change. He sags back, regarding his partner. His best friend. His first love.
"Don't remember you gettin sick Lenny," he offers weakly. And that doesn't stop Mick from curling closer, from pressing his feverish forehead against his knee.
"Yeah, well..." He leaves it at that, just settling on the bed with a shrug if his shoulders. With Mick's head in his lap, it's easy to see the glassy look in his eyes that's a clear sign of his sick he really is.
Leonard reaches to card his fingers through Mick's hair. "Sucks you're sick..." He wrinkles his nose as the idea of it. Being sick is totally the worst. Especially something as awful as the flu. "Are you keeping food down, at least?"
He can feel the fever settling over him just from running his hand over Mick's forehead. "And aren't you supposed to sweat a fever? Shouldn't you be under more blankets?" That's what he remembers from visits at his grandparents, which stopped years ago, when Lewis realized Leonard preferred to be there instead of at home.
He manages a raspy hum at the feeling of fingers in his hair, soothing him to stillness after most of a day and evening spent restless on either the couch or in bed. Nothing can soothe him quite as well as his partner. "So far," he rasps. "Still got some leftover soup."
A vague shrug at the idea of sweating a fever, not like he's ever really known one way or another. Mick simply wants to stop feeling like such garbage, he wants to wrap himself around Leonard and fall asleep and wake up feeling more human.
A soft whine as he curls close because he can't help it. He's tired. He doesn't want to keep feeling like such hell. Lenny has to take care of Lisa so often it doesn't seem fair to ask that he does this too. But who else can Mick ask?
He nods a little, "That's good... I brought some more." Because with a fever like this, it's best to go with light things on the food front. Mick might not want to look at another bowl of soup by the time he's better but oh, well.
Leonard has never really been in the position of having to take care of Mick, it's always the other way around. He does t mind it, though, because it's kind of fair to have the table turned around like this. It's the least he could do for everything Mick has done for him.
"I brought some cough drops and medicine, too." He says, still playing with Mick's hair-- it seems to be relaxing him and that's kind of a good thing right now.
The presence of his partner helps soothe Mick into something almost resembling restful sleep. "You're good to me Lenny," he mumbles into his leg, eyes drifting closed. He's been so tired, but achy and uncomfortable and the gentle fingers in his hair provide just enough soothing distraction that he can sink into sleep for a couple of hours before another coughing fit pulls him awake with a broken groan.
The fever he could handle,it's the way the damn thing is battering his chest that's making him really miserable.
"'Cause you're good to me, Mick." He says softly, smiling a little as he eases into sleep finally. Leonard doesn't move or stop his fingers trailing through Mick's hair while he sleeps, hoping it helps him stay that way.
Of course, he barely manages a decent nap because his lungs decide to give him a fit.
Leonard hates when Lisa is sick, because there's so little he can actually do to fix it. He can feed her when she's hungry, and get her blankets or medicine when they're needed, but otherwise, the whole ordeal is just utterly helpless.
He feels the same way sitting here, watching Mick curl in on himself after the coughing settles for the time being. He can't stop it. He can't make him feel better. And he hates it.
Leonard reaches over to gently run a hand down Mick's back and up, between his shoulder blades and back in the same cycle again. "You want some of the cough medicine I brought?" It's not much, not nearly enough, but it's one thing he can offer right now.
"Yeah," a raspy answer as he tries to just breathe without kicking off another fit. The pass of his hand is soothing and he closes his eyes to just focus on that for a moment. "Yeah that'd be good."
And that's how the next couple of days pass - Mick napping away the virus in bed or on the couch. Sometimes Leonard is there with him, sometimes not but he gets it. Lisa still needs her brother and he's got to keep up appearances for his old man. Mick will send a text now and then, just confirming that he's still kicking.
When we wakes up and the fever has finally, finally broken, Mick feels worlds better. Stirs in bed, raising his head. "Lenny?"
Leonard would much rather be around the entire time that Mick is sick, but he can't just disappear on Lisa or not show up when he's expected by Lewis. But he pops in and out when he can to check on him as much as possible.
Today, he's got Lisa with him and she's been quietly content in the living room with a deck of cards and a movie on the tv. Leonard has curled up on the bed next to Mick, intent on greeting him when he woke up.
Except he sort of fell asleep, too.
He starts a little at the sound of his name, but he calms down when he registers Mick next to him. "Yeah?" He sits up further, quickly swiping a hand over his face to wake himself up more, ready for anything Mick might want or need from him. "You okay?"
The soft, quick pitter-patter of tiny feet barrel down the hallway and a few seconds later, Lisa bursts in. "Mickey, you're awake!" She bounds over and jumps onto the bed, crawling across the bed to sit between the boys, all her attention on the oldest boy. "I drew you a pic-shure to make you feel better!" She declares, pushing the drawing towards his chest. It's the three of them, and a house with the words mY faMuhlY scrawled across the top.
Leonard can't do anything but watch, helplessly, and laugh, as his sister pounces on the bed and shoves a drawing at him.
A slow nod. His head isn't killing him and while he's sore as hell, he's feeling a lot more human than he has in a while. "Yeah.. could probably stand a shower but I'm good."
Which is when little Lisa charges into the room and Mick can't help but smile as she jumps on the bed to nestle between them. He devotes his attention to her drawing and.. fuck. It's so sweet and honest and 'family' was something he never thought he'd have again.
"That's the best thing I've ever seen, little Princess."
And through the years, through every safe house and fire and stint in jail, Mick never once loses that drawing. It means the world to him.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Sick day..
Date: 2018-02-10 03:48 pm (UTC)Whatever. Tissues, soup, aspirin. Let's do this.
Mick calls off for the week. Sure work wasn't happy about it, but it also wouldn't help anyone for him to drop on the line in the middle of a rush.
Then he sends a text to Leonard.
'Sick. Don't come over. You don't want this mess.'
no subject
Date: 2018-02-10 11:54 pm (UTC)He lets himself in with the key Mick had given him months ago. He rarely actually uses it because habit keeps him knocking on the door, but this is kind of a special case. He's not about to put up with objections from the other side of the door.
The apartment is shrouded in darkness, blinds drawn, which says Mick's got the killer variety of headaches, and it's quiet, but there is still a soft murmur of the tv coming from the back room. Whether he's awake right now or it can't be determined because the guy sleeps like the dead on a regular day, Leonard can only imagine how much harder he falls under while sick.
He locks the door behind him out of habit and sets a bag on the counter-- nothing fancy, couple cans of different soups, a few bottles of water, cough drops, and some basic OTC meds. Look. He's just being prepared, not like he's fretting or something. Don't judge him.
Once everything is where he'll know and at easy access, he moves quietly through the apartment toward the bedroom in the back, hanging in the doorway, trying to determine if he was awake or not, so he could just let him keep sleeping, if he wasn't.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-11 12:08 am (UTC)He's exhausted already, dozing fitfully with the tv on to provide at least some distraction to his general feeling of misery. But he's got what he needs. Drugs, tissues and leftover frozen soup from when Lise caught a cold a few weeks back.
Mick stirs restlessly, startling at the familiar shape in the doorway.
Christ.
He should have known.
Sagging back in the bed he drags a hand across his face, smothering a cough in his elbow. "Told ya to stay away you stubborn ass."
no subject
Date: 2018-02-11 12:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2018-02-11 12:41 am (UTC)"Feel like utter hell Lenny," he admits. "You shouldn't be here. Shouldn't get Lise sick," a weak protest at best but he still has to give it.
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Date: 2018-02-11 02:01 am (UTC)"I already had it," whether that's true or not is debatable; with the way it keeps going around, it's possible, and there was a block of time recently without any visits to Mick's and that would easily explain that abrupt absence... But Leonard is also a master at selling a point when he wants to. Good luck deciding if it's the truth or not, Mick.He shrugs one shoulder, "Can't get it again." That's how it works, right?
"Plus," he presses his knees into the mattress and moves to sit toward the middle of the bed, tucking one leg under the other in a criss-cross. "If you think I'm letting you convince yourself you're fine before you actually are, you're crazy."
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Date: 2018-02-11 02:30 am (UTC)"Don't remember you gettin sick Lenny," he offers weakly. And that doesn't stop Mick from curling closer, from pressing his feverish forehead against his knee.
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Date: 2018-02-11 03:01 am (UTC)Leonard reaches to card his fingers through Mick's hair. "Sucks you're sick..." He wrinkles his nose as the idea of it. Being sick is totally the worst. Especially something as awful as the flu. "Are you keeping food down, at least?"
He can feel the fever settling over him just from running his hand over Mick's forehead. "And aren't you supposed to sweat a fever? Shouldn't you be under more blankets?" That's what he remembers from visits at his grandparents, which stopped years ago, when Lewis realized Leonard preferred to be there instead of at home.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-11 03:26 am (UTC)A vague shrug at the idea of sweating a fever, not like he's ever really known one way or another. Mick simply wants to stop feeling like such garbage, he wants to wrap himself around Leonard and fall asleep and wake up feeling more human.
A soft whine as he curls close because he can't help it. He's tired. He doesn't want to keep feeling like such hell. Lenny has to take care of Lisa so often it doesn't seem fair to ask that he does this too.
But who else can Mick ask?
no subject
Date: 2018-02-11 05:27 pm (UTC)Leonard has never really been in the position of having to take care of Mick, it's always the other way around. He does t mind it, though, because it's kind of fair to have the table turned around like this. It's the least he could do for everything Mick has done for him.
"I brought some cough drops and medicine, too." He says, still playing with Mick's hair-- it seems to be relaxing him and that's kind of a good thing right now.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-12 03:21 pm (UTC)The fever he could handle,it's the way the damn thing is battering his chest that's making him really miserable.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-14 01:21 am (UTC)Of course, he barely manages a decent nap because his lungs decide to give him a fit.
Leonard hates when Lisa is sick, because there's so little he can actually do to fix it. He can feed her when she's hungry, and get her blankets or medicine when they're needed, but otherwise, the whole ordeal is just utterly helpless.
He feels the same way sitting here, watching Mick curl in on himself after the coughing settles for the time being. He can't stop it. He can't make him feel better. And he hates it.
Leonard reaches over to gently run a hand down Mick's back and up, between his shoulder blades and back in the same cycle again. "You want some of the cough medicine I brought?" It's not much, not nearly enough, but it's one thing he can offer right now.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-21 05:57 pm (UTC)And that's how the next couple of days pass - Mick napping away the virus in bed or on the couch. Sometimes Leonard is there with him, sometimes not but he gets it. Lisa still needs her brother and he's got to keep up appearances for his old man. Mick will send a text now and then, just confirming that he's still kicking.
When we wakes up and the fever has finally, finally broken, Mick feels worlds better. Stirs in bed, raising his head. "Lenny?"
no subject
Date: 2018-02-21 11:16 pm (UTC)Today, he's got Lisa with him and she's been quietly content in the living room with a deck of cards and a movie on the tv. Leonard has curled up on the bed next to Mick, intent on greeting him when he woke up.
Except he sort of fell asleep, too.
He starts a little at the sound of his name, but he calms down when he registers Mick next to him. "Yeah?" He sits up further, quickly swiping a hand over his face to wake himself up more, ready for anything Mick might want or need from him. "You okay?"
The soft, quick pitter-patter of tiny feet barrel down the hallway and a few seconds later, Lisa bursts in. "Mickey, you're awake!" She bounds over and jumps onto the bed, crawling across the bed to sit between the boys, all her attention on the oldest boy. "I drew you a pic-shure to make you feel better!" She declares, pushing the drawing towards his chest. It's the three of them, and a house with the words mY faMuhlY scrawled across the top.
Leonard can't do anything but watch, helplessly, and laugh, as his sister pounces on the bed and shoves a drawing at him.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-22 12:09 am (UTC)Which is when little Lisa charges into the room and Mick can't help but smile as she jumps on the bed to nestle between them. He devotes his attention to her drawing and.. fuck. It's so sweet and honest and 'family' was something he never thought he'd have again.
"That's the best thing I've ever seen, little Princess."
And through the years, through every safe house and fire and stint in jail, Mick never once loses that drawing. It means the world to him.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-24 02:41 am (UTC)"You really like it, for real?" Lisa beams at him and throws her arms up in victory before looping them around his neck for a hug.