24 Fever

Chao opened the door to their apartment and walked in together with Yitian. They came back very late because they had to deal with Nou Rao first.

"It had to be done…" Chao said calmly while taking off his shoes. Yitian looked at him half sad.

"I know, it was dangerous. But she is my mother. I can't just be happy after something like that." Yitian ran his hand through his hair and walked into the living room. They both exhausted fell onto the couch. Yitian looked at them and the light-colored sofa and sighed.

"We will make it dirty and wet. Change your clothes and I will clean them," he said standing up, but he was pulled back down by Chao. He landed safely on the sofa and at the exact moment, Chao laid his head on Yitian's shoulder.

"Let me take a break for a while, please," Chao said and closed his eyes.

'Something is wrong.' Yitian thought and put his hand on Chao's forehand. He could feel the hotness of his skin. This kid had a fever and it was pretty high.

"How long do you feel like this?" he asked, touching his whole face and neck. Yeah, he was hot all over.

"I have no idea. I think I had a sore throat in the morning and I felt a little sluggish in the afternoon. But, this badly, only after we had to ride in the rain on the bike." Chao's eyes closed but Yitian got up, making him fall on the sofa.

"Get those wet clothes off and take a warm shower! Hurry!" He ordered Chao and helped him get up. He helped him to the bathroom and looked at him unsure.

"Are you capable of showering by yourself or should I help you?" Yitian said, worried. 'What if he slips? Faints?' his head was making up all the possible and even impossible scenarios, but Chao just chuckled.

"It's okay, I can still stand strong and firm, you can leave, don't worry." Yitian reluctantly left Chao to warm himself up after the cold rain and put their wet clothes into the washing machine. Then he headed into the kitchen and started to make some rice porridge. Nice and easy to swallow with a sore throat, he even found meds for cold. When Chao was not getting out for a while, he got even more worried.

"Are you okay there? Still alive?" He walked to the bathroom, knocked, and asked. Chao did not answer, but Yitian still heard the shower running…

'What if something happened to him? What if he did faint?' He panicked and opened the doors. But what he saw wasn't a catastrophic scenario he had in mind. But rather naked Chao in the shower just washing his hair. Both of them jerked but Chao then started to laugh.

"I thought something happened to you! I was calling. Why didn't you answer?" Yitian laughed together with Chao. There wasn't anything to be shy of, probably. They were both guys, but Yitian was a bit jealous of Chao's build.

"Oh, I didn't hear it at all. The shower is too loud," Chao said and continued to clean his hair, his back muscles tensing. Yitian took a nearby thing and threw it at Chao.

"Show-off!" he shouted and walked away slamming the doors. He knew it was hilarious and childish to behave like that but come on. It wasn't fair to have such a nice build, meanwhile he was stuck in this… Yitian looked down on his body. 'Nevermind,' he thought and had a sudden urge to visit the gym.

Yitian finished cooking porridge and a few more things if Chao wanted something else, when Chao just came back from the shower. He was drying his hair with a towel. Yitian couldn't take it anymore. He took Chao's hand and dragged him back to the bathroom. Good thing they had high temperatures in the apartment.

"When you are sick, you can't walk around with wet hair." He said, took a hairdryer and was blowing Chao's wet hair.

"I did not know that…" he shouted over the loud machine. Yitian was going through the silky black hair, smiling. How could such a big guy be such a child sometimes? "...nobody took care of me before…. maybe mother but that was too long ago. I can't remember at all...' he whispered, continuing when Yitian turned off the hairdryer. He smiled at Chao and ruffled his hair.

"That's good then, that I'm here to take care of you. Now, your bed or sofa in the living room?" he asked, meaning, where would Chao lay and sleep.

"Will you be with me in the living room?" Chao asked, looking cute as a puppy. Yitian just nodded and they walked to the living room. Yitian went to take Chao's bedsheet, pillows, and blanket and basically move his whole bed to the sofa. He made Chao eat some porridge and took the cold medicine. Then turned on another movie, but set the volume on lower, so that it wouldn't disturb Chao if he fell asleep, which he soon really did. Yitian was doing his papers, when he felt Chao's hand in his hair, stroking and caressing. He turned around in surprise, but he found Chao with closed eyes, still sleeping.

"Don't leave me mom!" he suddenly shouted and grabbed Yitian's shoulder instead of hair. Both startled Yitian.

"I didn't kill you!" Yitian blinked at this yelling. Not sure if he should wake him up or not. He then decided to simply take his hand and squeezed it. Silence. Chao stopped shouting, but his hand was still holding Yitian's shoulder. He couldn't move away, because Chao had a pretty strong grip. So when he ended his papers, he turned on another movie and fell asleep, his head resting on Chao's hand.

Later that night when Yixing came back to the apartment he saw these two sleeping, healing each other by simply being there. He laughed, shook his head at Yitian sleeping on the cold ground. But being the good person he was, he smirked and walked away. No, he actually went to Yitian's room, took his blanket, and covered him, so he wouldn't be so cold.