Warning: Again, mentions of stomach flu symptoms and some
discussion about it (a little more than in Hot) but no actual 'getting sick'.
Disclaimer: JKR's boys. My playing. Only playing.
Notes: Written for the 132 Moods of Sneezefic challenge.
This is a prequel of sorts to Hot.
Remus came
awake to the sound of the doorknob jiggling and stayed awake as loud knocks
followed. "Remus?"
"Mmmm?" In
the few seconds that had taken, Remus felt the illness rush back over him
again. He frowned and swallowed hard as he slowly sat upright.
"Remus,
open up!"
Feeling
almost too tired to do so, Remus opened his eyes and the soft light struck him.
As he took in the white bathroom surrounding him, he slowly remembered how he'd
spent the night there. He checked his watch to confirm the fact that the night
was actually over. Then he shivered and pulled the blanket around himself more
tightly. The bathroom wasn't the only thing he'd been forced to notice. He also
saw the mounds of tissues surrounding him on both sides, and the pile around
the wastebasket where he'd tried to toss them in but missed. And he noticed the
thermometer on the side of the sink basin, the collection of used washcloths
and hand towels on the towel rack, and the bottle of mouth rinse with levels
decreased by half since this time yesterday.
"Remus,
please open the door. You've been in here all morning. And I've really got to
use the loo!"
Not wanting
to feel guilty on top of sick, Remus went to go open the door, but his limbs
all felt too heavy to move and fatigue filled his whole body from head to toe. Remus
managed to dig his wand out from beneath tissues. He aimed it at the door. "Alohomora!" The lock clicked open and
Sirius quickly barged right in and went straight for the toilet.
"Thanks,
Moony. I couldn't have held out much longer." The toilet seat was already up
and Sirius pulled himself out as he approached. He acted as though it were
perfectly normal for Remus to be sitting in a blanket on the floor of the
bathroom while he used the toilet.
Remus tried
his best to get up, but couldn't seem to gather the energy required to do so. Sweaty
palms pressed against the cold tile floor, elbows locked, but he couldn't push
himself up. One hand slipped and he gave up on trying with a grunt.
"It's all
right. Stay put," Sirius said, holding his hand up. Remus nonetheless covered
his eyes to give Sirius privacy. Sirius laughed. "You're welcome to look at me and
enjoy me any time," he said.
"Not right
now," Remus replied weakly, reaching around blindly for a tissue he could use,
be it a new one or one not so used. He located one and covered his nose just in
time for a sneeze. "Hetchoo!" He felt
his stomach lurch at the movement and he wrapped his arms around it tightly.
He opened
his eyes after the toilet flushed to find Sirius undressing. Remus' reaction
wasn't his usual one when faced with Sirius undressing in front of him.
Sickness overpowered his arousal, as it was doing to practically every other
emotion. With Sirius done with the toilet and sitting a few feet away now,
Remus inched closer to the toilet, just in case. The porcelain was cold to the
touch and it made him shiver, but he still pressed his cheek to the side of the
tank, enjoying the feel of it against his skin which burned with fever.
Now
completely naked, Sirius bent over and ran the water in the tub, testing it
with two fingers to wait for it to warm to the right temperature. "You don't
mind, do you? Me taking a shower before I head off to Auror training?"
"Of course
I don't," said Remus wearily. "Would you prefer I leave, though?" He looked
worried about trying to get up again, and worried about where he would go once
he did. Remus had a bowl by his bedside in case of emergency, but his stomach
didn't feel strong enough for him to confidently leave the safety of the
bathroom.
"Nah," said
Sirius, sliding back the three-part sliding door so that he could step into the
shower. "If you don't mind me here, I don't mind you."
Remus
sniffled hard. "I think it might actually help my congestion." Sirius did not
answer, or if he did, it was drowned out by the sound of the water rushing down
from the shower head as he switched it from bath to shower mode.
Despite the
fact that Sirius was only on the other side of the bathroom, Remus suddenly
felt alone again. At the beginning of his illness late the night before, his
immediate concern had been to make it to the bathroom before he was sick all
over the bedroom or hallway. But after a while, he'd thought of getting up to
ask Sirius to sit with him a while and keep him company. Sitting in a bathroom
for hours on end with nothing to do and no one to keep him company only made
things worse. It let him dwell on how horrible he was feeling. But he didn't
have the heart to wake Sirius up and explain he was feeling sick and needed
help. He'd secretly hoped Sirius might know what was needed and go to him. But
now that Sirius was here, Remus was feeling just as alone as he'd felt all
night long.
He looked
over at the shower. The glass door panels had frosted stripes running from side
to side. Remus could make out Sirius' shape behind the far right one but could see
no details for the stripes. It made him feel terrible to watch Sirius but not
be able to go to him or have his usual reactions. And he felt terrible to need
Sirius' help but not want to ask for it. But Sirius was too busy with his own
things right now. He'd barely noticed Remus.
Remus
shivered again and closed his eyes, but not to go to sleep, no matter how much
his body told him he needed rest. "hehhhhh...
hehChoo! hahhKShhhh! huhhShuhhh!" He felt around, locating the tissue box
and pulling out a few tissues. "hehhh...
hehhhh... H'Schhhhhhh!" He rubbed his dripping nose into the handful but
didn't have time to blow. "hahhh-TChhhhh!
Hehh-yehhh-HIHShhhhhh!" He was glad that the water covered the sound of the
sneezes for the most part. Not that Sirius didn't know he was sick, of course,
but because Sirius didn't know exactly how bad.
And the
tickle in his nose was most assuredly bad at the moment. "ehhhShuhhhh! hehhhChooo! Heh-hehh-EHHHChooo!" He crumpled up his
handful of tissues and went for another with his eyes closed and mouth hanging
open. "hehh... hehhh..." He leaned back
against the wall and nuzzled into the dry tissues. "hahhh... ahhhShmphhh! uhhhShphhhh!"
When the
sneezes finally stopped, Remus realized the water had also stopped running.
Sirius stood, dripping, on the bathmat. There was a towel wrapped around his
waist but he was in the process of changing into his robes.
After Remus
had the chance to blow his nose thoroughly, a fully-dressed Sirius squatted
down beside him. "You look just awful, Remus." Remus nodded, having guessed as
much from the few glances he'd had while visiting the sink. "So you spent the
whole night here on the floor of the bathroom?"
Remus
nodded again. "Every time I even thought about getting up and going back to bed
I felt too tired to move and too sick to my stomach."
"Maybe it's
best you stay here, then. I mean, I remember last night you saying you thought
you might be coming down with something but I didn't know you spent the night
here v--"
"Please
don't say that word," Remus quickly said, wincing. He slouched down a little
more, fidgeting, hugging his stomach with both arms. "I'm too suggestible right
now. It makes me feel like I'm going to--"
"Sick-up?"
"Padfoot!"
Remus pleaded, trying to control the urge to cough, not wanting that to lead
into getting sick. The way he was feeling at the moment, however, made him
wasn't to lean over the toilet bowl again.
"Hey..."
Sirius put a hand on Remus' cheek, then kissed his forehead softly. "You won't
get sick. Not while I'm around. I promise." Sirius gently stroked Remus'
stomach through the pajamas. After a few moments, Remus' stomach calmed and the
nausea backed off. He slowly smiled, feeling comforted for a change.
Before
Remus could thank him, Sirius suddenly sprang to his feet. "All right. I'm off
to training!"
Remus
groaned to himself and rolled his eyes.
"Try to get
some rest, though," Sirius told him. "Even if it's just napping here. Oh, and
you should make yourself some tea."
Remus
nodded, disbelief melting into amusement. "hehh-UhShhhhh!
HahhShuhhh!" He hugged his blanket around his shoulders more tightly. "I
think the worst is behind me." He hoped, after the horrors of last night, that
he was telling the truth.
"Good."
Sirius ran a comb through his hair and gave himself a look-over in the mirror
before heading out of the bathroom with a "Take care, Remus!"
Remus
sighed. "No... hahShuhhhhh!" Talking sarcastically
to no one except himself, "No, no. Don't worry about me. I've only got the flu.
I'll be fine alone here." His arm felt heavy as he picked it up to retrieve
another tissue and rub it at his nose.
"Hey
Moony?"
Surprised
and startled, Remus looked over to the doorway where Sirius had reappeared.
Sirius set down the wizarding wireless radio and a small stack of books that
Remus recognized as the ones from his nightstand. Remus smiled back at him.
"Thanks."
"I'll look
in on you when I get home. And if you're still here but feeling up to moving,
I'll help you get back to bed, okay? No need to worry about using your energy
to do anything but get better."
Remus
nodded, resting his cheek against the toilet seat now, using it as a pillow.
"Okay." He kept his eyes open long enough to see Sirius blow a kiss. He
certainly hoped he would feel up to moving later, because right now he didn't
feel like doing anything except for sitting there and waiting for the sickness
to pass.
He reached over, straining, but managing to
grab hold of a book. Then he lay back down on his back and propped the book up
against bent legs. At least he had something to do now and something to keep
him company while he sat there.