Really Sick Boyfriend Obvs + Self Obvs because contagion

[missannathema]

So this happened a few months ago and I've been meaning to post it here, but I never got around to it...until today, I guess. Has a bit of sneezing mostly, fever and care-taking...and some contaigion.

The Friday before Christmas my boyfriend and I spent a lovely day together, went to The Society of Illustrators, had a delicious dinner and then headed to meet some friends for drinks. We had been having lively conversation and jokes all day, but over drinks he was weirdly quiet (He's normally the loudest, most outgoing member of our group) and he barely finished one beer, though when I pointed it out he said he had been refilling his glass from the pitcher when I wasn't looking. We left a bit early since I had to work in the morning, getting back to my place around 10:30 and he fell asleep almost immediately while I stayed up and watched some TV.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of him sneezing, a triple. Three big, loud sneezes, and then blowing his nose. I asked if he was feeling alright, and he said he felt fine, just sneezy. He walked me to work, and sneezed several more times on the way there. I kept asking if he was okay, remembering how unusually subdued and tired he had been the night before, but he seemed fine other than the sneezing so I went off to work and didn't think much more about it. We had been planning to go to a party that night, but around 6pm I decided I was too tired, since I was working a 12 hour shift and had another one the next day and the party was over an hour away if I took the train and then another 20 minute walk. I texted the boyfriend:

Me: Hey, think I'm too pooped to party tonight. Sorry, will you be too disappointed if I don't show?

Him: No, I'll miss you, but I understand. I feel like crap anyway, planning to just drop off the presents and head home.

Me: What's wrong?

Him: Those sneezes from this morning have turned into a full blown head cold, I'm probably going to call out of work tomorrow.

Me: Sorry, feel better, I'll come over tomorrow night after work.

I was very excited about the potential snuggling and care-taking opportunities in my near future, and while I didn't want him to feel bad, I assumed that by a cold he meant just the usual sneezing, stuffy, sore throat situation, nothing drastic. I texted him the next day but didn't hear back, but that's not too weird, neither of us are super attached to our phones, so after work I headed straight to his place, stopping to pick up some orange juice and tissues.

I knocked on the door and it seemed like a very long time before he opened it. He was wearing jeans and a button down, which surprised me because I was expecting pajamas, but he looked absolutely horrible. Pale, sweaty, glassy eyes, before I could even say hi, he said "I have to go lay down" and headed down the stairs. I followed, slowly realizing that he was still wearing the clothes he had worn to the party the night before and that he definitely wasn't just a "head cold." He curled back up in bed, shivering and trembling, pulling the blankets around him. I sat down next to him and just stroked his curly hair while he shivered. I laid my hand on his forehead and he was burning up. I asked him if he had taken any medicine and he said he didn't have any, but maybe his roommate did he had been too sick to go upstairs. His roommate was out of town, so I went upstairs and foraged in the roommate's bathroom and found a bottle of advil, though unfortunately there wasn't a thermometer. I got him a glass of cold water and the advil and got him to sit up and drink a little and I made him take off his sweaty clothes, though by that point I was just undressing him while he laid down. I put a clean t-shirt and pajama pants on him and he told me that he had been feeling okay when he left the house the night before but on the bus and then the train to get to the party he had been feeling worse and worse and by the time he got there he was feeling so bad that he had to go lay down in the hostesses bedroom while his friends called him a cab to take him home. He didn't remember getting home at all and he had been laying there since the night before, feeling too awful to even get up and get some water.

He was so weak and his throat was so raw that I could barely hear him talk and his cough was deep and congested and he was coughing up mucus that he would have to spit into tissues and throw in a plastic bag that was sitting next to them and then he would apologize every time for being gross, despite my reassurances that I didn't mind. I sat up with him most of the night, sleeping off and on as he would fall asleep for a bit but then wake up coughing and sneezing and I would rub his back and make him drink some water and and sit with him until he fell back asleep.

I woke up in the morning absolutely ravenous, since I hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day and his fridge was totally empty except for the orange juice I brought. He woke up sneezing, harsh, wet sneezes, as I was getting dressed and I gave him some more advil and told him I was going to the grocery store and asked what he wanted for breakfast. To my surprise, since he was obviously still feeling awful, he asked for bacon and eggs and homefries. I walked to the store picking up the supplies to make him breakfast and a few other things so he would have some food in the house for the next few days and more tissues and some medicine. When I got back I made breakfast and guess the advil had kicked in because I got him to sit up and eat and he finished off a whole bowl of eggs and homefries with a couple of strips of bacon. I made a big pot of tea with honey and lemon and ginger and basically spent the morning and afternoon forcing cup after cup of it down his throat. He didn't want the orange juice that I brought, but I drank some, and took several packets of emergen-c while I was at it. He was still running a fever, but he seemed to be feeling better, cuddling on the couch with occasional coughing and sneezing fits. We watched TV for most of the day and then I headed up some leftovers from breakfast for him for dinner and gave him some more medicine.

After dinner, though, his fever started going up again, even with advil and cold medicine and it just went up and up and up. We watched Seven Psychopaths with his head in my lap while he alternately shivered and sweated. I still didn't have a thermometer, but his fever was definitely over 103 degrees. I got a cold washcloth and held it on his forehead but it made him shiver so badly that I couldn't keep it up up. I just felt so bad that it was making his teeth chatter and his body shake. I stayed as long as I could but I had to work the next day so I had to head home at about 11pm, even though I couldn't get his fever down. I went home, took a shower, downed about three more emergen-c and went to bed.

I talked to him the next day, Christmas Eve, around two and he said that he had felt terrible all night but he was feeling a little bit better and that he thought his fever was down. He asked if I could come over that night since we had planned to spend Christmas day together anyway. I said es, of course, but about two hours before the end of work I suddenly noticed that my head and back were aching and my feet felt like lead. I got off work and walked the mile back home to get my stuff and by the time I got to my house I had a 101 degree fever and had to tell him I wasn't up to the hour and a half on the train between my place in Brooklyn and his place in Queens. I felt so bad he sounded so disappointed that I wasn't coming and so upset that he had gotten me sick. I spent Christmas Day sneezing and coughing and shivering in my bed with a fever between 101 and 104 degrees while he did the same thing at his place. My roommate was nice enough to get me some popsicles and gatorade and that was my Christmas dinner. Thankfully I didn't get quite as sick as the boyfriend did, but it was still a miserable bout of flu. I missed three days of work (at the job I had just started three weeks prior) and he missed an entire week and then had to take two more days off because he went back too early and we both had a disgusting cough for about a month after.

Anyway, sorry that was so long! Hope someone enjoys reading it!

[Arty]

One: u an awesome gf for taking care of ur boyfriend. Sorry u were both sick.

Two: I love the society of Illustrators....

Three: That Picture!!!! Omfg Sickie Jason and Daddybats Bruce!!! With awesome Alfred on the side!!

[Jorm]

Oh man, this pushes SO MANY h/c buttons for me! This is the stuff my fantasies are made of In real life though I wouldn't wish that high of a fever on anyone! I mean, that's borderline "You should probably go to the hospital", I'm sorry you and your bf were so sick, it sounds like a pretty miserable week. I still really enjoyed reading about it though. I'd say I hope your boyfriend came and took care of you in return, but it sounds like he was in worse shape than you. Arty is right though, you're an awesome partner to take such good care of him even though you undoubtedly knew you stood a good chance of getting sick. Thank you so much for sharing this! And don't worry, it was in no way too long.

[doggo]

Oh dear, I'm sorry you two had to go through being that sick, but at the same time, I found this absolutely adorable and such a heart-warming read. You're such a good caretaker, lucky guy! Poor thing. Now I'm just floating on a cloud of fluff. Thank you for sharing!

[SneezyHolmes]

Awww I'm sorry you guys were so sick but nice obs and thanks for sharing!

[Melody]

Aw man I'm sorry you two got so sick but you are an amazing gf for taking care of him and ur bf sounds really cute!

[sickprincess]

I'm sorry you two were so miserable but I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about how you took such good care of him! So cute!! Thank you for sharing:)