The Pros and Cons of Loving

Eric’s POV
A Week Later…

“Rebecca has been on the show seven times with twenty three different men trying to find out the father of her baby girl Amanda. She is back today with three more, in hopes one man will be the father.”

I got comfortable on the couch. I was sick, so mom and Charles were staying away from the house. I had the phone and Kleenex’s by me and was waiting for Aiden to come over. He had a key (my mom can never know, obviously) so I didn’t have to get up.

I was watching TV for about ten minutes before I fell asleep, Aiden still not yet there.

…
…

“I’m sure he’s fine, Aiden. He probably just has a bad cold.” I heard Frank saying.

My eyes opened. I had a pounding head ache.

“Hey, babe.” Frank said. “How do you feel?”

“Like shit.” I moaned.

“Where does it hurt?”

“Everywhere.” I said.

This was weird. Whenever I got sick, mom usually gave me enough pills to knock me out. I’d wake up, she’d give more. There was no ‘where do you hurt?’ and ‘how do you feel?’

“Throat? Head? Stomach?”

“All of the above.” I said.

“I’ll go get you some medicine and I’ll make you some soup, okay?”

“I dunno if we have any.” I coughed.

“I’ll find some.” He assured me, ruffling my hair.

My eyes landed on Aiden after Frank left. “Hi.” I coughed.

He sat by me, looking worried. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Yep… and see, Maury isn’t off yet!” I pointed happily.

Aiden’s POV

After Eric’s temperature went down, Dad left to take a shower and get ready for… something or other. I don’t know what.

I sat by Eric, another bowl of chicken noodle soup in my hand. “Do you want more?”

“Yep.” He said, sitting up. He sniffled and sneezed.

I handed him the bowl and turned the TV to the Simpsons. We watched the episode, silent except for the plate scraping the bowl every few seconds.

“I love you.” Eric whispered.

“I love you too.” I leaned over to kiss him.

“No, you’ll get sick.” He said, pulling back.

I kissed him anyway, smiling. “Then we’ll be sick together. It’ll be a party.”

“You think this is a party—.” He said pointing at his paler-than-usual face. “and you’ve got issues.”

“Your nose is so cute red like that.” I grinned.

“I’m cute all the time.” He said in a congested voice.

“I know it.”

Eric fell asleep a little bit into the Simpsons. I sat, rubbing his back while he sniffled and coughed in his sleep.

I heard a car pull into the drive way.

Shit.

But I couldn’t move. Not without knocking over soup and cough medicine.

His mom and Charlie came in… Charlie’s eyes flashed with anger at the site of me near Aiden…

Uht oh….

I stood up, trying not to wake Eric. It didn’t work.

“Babe, where’re you go—.” He trailed off and sat up.

Aiden’s POV

“Eric, I thought we told you that no one was to be over? Especially him.” his mom said, looking at me.

“He’s sick.” I said before he could answer. “My dad brought over medicine and soup.”

“I’m sure Tylenol would have worked. We have plenty.” His mom said.

Eric was sitting up now, coughing. “Mom, I told him to come over.”

“You did not!” I snapped.

“Yes, I did.” He looked at me, unblinking.

“Eric, you were sick. You needed medicine.” I sighed. “Just because your mom is being stupid doesn’t mean—look, we got over here and his fever was 104. Okay? He shouldn’t have been left alone in the first place.”

“Now she’s a bad parent then, is she?” Charles, who’d been remarkably quiet, suddenly yelled.

“Well, yes. Yes, she is.”

Charles marched over to Eric, not me. “Get him out now! You’ll be sorry you ever saw this fag!” he shouted, dragging Eric up.

“Get your hands off of him NOW!” I shouted.

“Aiden, stop! Go home!” Eric snapped.

“What, am I fucking stupid?” I asked. “Let him go!”

Charles practically threw Eric to the ground. “There. Happy?”

I rushed forward, helping Eric up. “You aren’t putting up with this shit anymore. Do you hear me?”

He nodded, coughing. His mom said nothing as I took him out. He began coughing once we were outside. I rubbed his back with one hand, using the other to support him.

“Oh shit… Aiden…” he whimpered, holding up his hand. There was blood on it….

“DAD!” I shouted, running into the house. I sat Eric down. “Dad, are you back yet?!”

He wasn’t. There wasn’t any answer.

I got the phone, sitting on the chair by Eric. He seemed fine, only sick and a bit shaken up. But still. What if he was like… bleeding inside or something? I don’t think he hit the ground that hard, but whatever…

“Dad?” I asked.

“Yeah?”

“Dad, I need you home… fast.”

“What’s going on?”

“Just get here, Dad…” I hung up.

Eric looked at me. “You realize I… can never go back there?” he asked, coughing. The blood was bright red and bubbly-looking almost on his hand.

“I know…” I nodded, looking at his red hands with a sick feeling in my stomach.

….

“He has a very bad cold is all.”

I was sitting in the waiting room of the ER, while Dad and Eric were back there.

“What?”

“Yeah… see, he’s been coughing hard all day. It wasn’t from that guy pushing him down. The doctor said it may have made it happen faster, but no… Aiden, he’s pretty sick right now.”

I nodded. “He doesn’t seem that bad with the medicine…”

“He can’t breathe.” Dad said. “That’s why he’s coughing so hard… they want to keep him over night.”

I sighed. “Dad… he can’t… his mom won’t….”

“We’re paying for it.” Dad said, rolling his eyes. “You two could have gotten seriously hurt tonight, I hope you know.”

“I know…”

“But I’m glad you got him out of there.” He wrapped one arm around me in a hug.

“Dad?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you get laid?”

A Few Minutes Later…

I went into Eric’s room. A nurse was in there and smiled at me. I smiled back and sat by Eric’s bed.

“Hey.”

“Hi.” He smiled. “Wanna lay with me? It’s big enough.”

“Sure.” I grinned and climbed onto the bed with him, being careful not to pull out any wires or anything. “How are you feeling?”

He shrugged and laid his head on my shoulder. “Okay.”

I nodded and stroked his hair. “That’s good. Any better?”

“No.” he sighed. “Did your dad explain?”

“Yeah. Pretty much.” I nodded again, looking down at him.

“Will you stay the night with me, Aiden? If you don’t want to you don’t have to, I just hate ho—.”

“Of course I’ll stay the night. We’ll be spending every night together here soon.”

“What?” he asked.

“You’re moving in.” I said excitedly.

He smiled and went into another coughing fit. I rubbed his back, sighing sadly.

“I love you.” He said hoarsely when he was done coughing.

“I love you too.” I said.

He closed his eyes, lying his head back on my shoulder.

“He’s a bit drugged.” The nurse said. “His throats pretty scratched up from the coughing too.”

I nodded. Eric let out a quiet snore, curling into me. I’d never seen anything cuter…