When Brian Is Sick...

It was nine in the morning, and the sun rays were brightening the room, even though the curtains were closed. There was no movement in the room, everything was staying still. The only sounds in the room were a ragged breathing and a sniffing.

Brian Haner was sitting on the bed. His hair was messy and his cheeks were red. There was a small mountain of used tissues on the ground, actually it was not that small, it was nearly as tall as their bed. Brian was awake for nearly five hours right now, and he couldn’t go back to sleep. Five hours ago, suddenly he wasn’t able to breathe normally. He woke up with the idea that someone was chocking him, but no one else was in the room, except the perfection which was lying beside him. However, someone -actually some things- were trying to choke him, viruses.

He sighed as he took the last piece of tissue from the box. He was bored from sitting there for hours, but he didn’t want to wake Zacky up. His hair was in front of his closed emerald eyes, his chest was moving up and down in a slow pace. He was busy with sleeping, even the sun was not waking him up.

Brian sat for another half of an hour in silence, counting the ticks and the tocks of the clock which was standing on their nightstand.

“That’s it! I cannot stand it anymore! I have to wake him up!” he thought and opened his mouth to call Zacky’s name out, but because of a severe sore throat, he couldn’t say anything. He was frustrated. He started to poke Zacky furiously. Zacky’s eyes flew open he was ready to scream every curse he knew. He hated waking up like this, actually he hated when someone woke him up, but when he saw two tired brown eyes looking at him, all of the anger went away. His eyes found the clock. “Too early to wake up,” he thought and tried to go back to sleep. However, Brian continued to poke him.

“What! What! What’s the matter? It is too early!” yelled Zacky and turned over to look at Brian. Brian was looking at him apologetically. Then Zacky saw the small mountain on the floor.

“You are sick again, aren’t you?” he asked. Brian could only nod like a little kid.

Zacky threw the sheets to floor and faced to Brian. His usually alive and shiny brown eyes were dull and red. Tiredness was dripping from them. His cute, little nose was turned to red and it was probably sore. His lips were parted, because he wasn’t able to breathe with his nose.

Zacky got out of the bed. At the same time Brian attempted to get out of the bed, but Zacky stopped him.

“No, you need to stay in the bed. You will get better, soon,” he said. Brian opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t. Zacky tugged Brian in sheets, kissed his forehead and left the room.

He went downstairs, took the phone and dialed a number.

“Hello, Mrs. Haner? It’s Zacky. Well, Brian is sick, again…-“

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

A few hours later, Zacky got into their bedroom carrying a tray. There was a huge bowl of homemade soup, and a bottle of syrup. The tray was not heavy, but he was never good with carrying things on the tray.

He put the tray on the nightstand and sat next to Brian’s sleeping body. When Brian was sick, he was helpless, he was helpless –or he acted like he was helpless- and he wanted lots of attention, like a child did. Because of this, Zacky was not considering adopting a child, since he had a forever-five-year-old in the house.

“Brian,” said Zacky softly. “Brian, honey, wake up.” However, no sound came from Brian.

“Brian, wake up!” said Zacky louder.

If things were normal and Brian was healthy, Zacky knew how to wake him up instantly, but thinking that Brian’s body temperature was high because of the flu, it was not a great idea to make him get hotter. Speaking of temperature, Zacky decided to check Brian’s temperature.

“Hmm… It seems like I need to get a febrifuge, too,” Zacky told to himself.
Brian slowly opened his eyes and looked at Zacky.

“Good morning, sunshine,” Zacky sang happily. Brian could only mumble a ‘good morning’, but he was happy, because earlier he couldn’t even say a word.

“Come on, sit up! You have to eat something!”

“But I don’t wanna,” whined Brian.

“You have to. To get better, and to get medicine.”

“I hate medicine!”

“Do you want to stay ill forever?” asked Zacky, even though he knew the answer. Brian hated being sick, he hated when he couldn’t do anything he wanted to do, and he hated when he needed to listen Zacky in order to be better.

Brian mumbled a ‘no’ as he sat up in the bed. Zacky waited for Brian to take the bowl and drink the soup, but there was no movement.

“What are you waiting for?” asked Zacky curiously.

“Can you feed me?” asked Brian.

Zacky stood there surprised. “He really thinks that he is five,” he thought.

“Brian, you are twenty eight! You can drink soup by yourself! You have been doing this for years!”

“But I don’t have enough strength to pick up the spoon, take some soup and place it in my mouth, yet do it several times!”

Zacky sighed and took the bowl and the spoon. Brian’s eyes lit up as Zacky placed the spoon in the water and he opened his mouth eagerly. As he swallowed what Zacky put in his mouth, he moaned in pain.

“Mhmm. Mom’s secret recipe… How did you manage to get it?”

“Saying that his son was sick was enough. Now shut up and drink,” ordered Zacky and continued to feed Brian for a few minutes. He stopped when the soup was finished.

“Do you think that I will die?” asked Brian.

“Here we go again,” thought Zacky.

“Brian, you just have a flu, it is not important. If you do what I tell you to do, you will be fine in a few days,” Zacky tried to convince Brian.

“If I die, find someone to love and live your life happi-“

“Now, it is time for the medicine!” interrupted Zacky.

“No, you cannot make me drink this! It probably tastes awful!” protested Brian, forgetting about the conversation they were having.

“How can you know how it tastes before you try it?”

“All of the syrups taste awful!”

“No, this one is not. I created it for you, it tastes like Jack.” Zacky loved how gullible Brian was when he was ill. “At least he is not that cocky and witty when he is ill,” he thought.

Brian hesitated for a moment, but he decided to open his mouth. He knew Zacky was trying to help him, and Jack tasting syrup couldn’t be that bad, if it was real.

But it wasn’t… It was the most awful tasting syrup he had ever drunk. He wanted to spit it out, but Zacky’s hand covered his mouth, so he needed to swallow the ‘poison’.

“You lied to me!” cried Brian.

“No, I didn’t, this is how the new Jacks taste.” Brian looked at him suspiciously, but Zacky gave him no time to say something, “Look, I need to get some febrifuge, you are going to lie down and try to rest while I am out. Nothing else, okay?” he asked. Brian nodded. But, as soon as he heard the door closed, he ran out of the room and went into another room.

*-*-*-*-*-*

As Zacky entered the house, he immediately heard musical notes flying in the air.

“Brian!” he yelled as he went upstairs.

Briand panicked, he tried to put the guitar away and sneak back to the room, but he saw Zacky in the hallway.

“What did I tell you?” he asked.

“I was not doing anything, I swear!” Brian tried to lie, but unfortunately, somehow Zacky was always able to understand when he lied.

“Get into your bed! Now!” ordered Zacky.

“But I am bored!”

“Go!” yelled Zacky and he watched Brian ran into the room like a guilty child would do.

“Why are you doing this? You are not a kid anymore! You should know what is good and bad for you! I am not your babysitter!” Zacky immediately regretted saying these words as soon as he finished his sentences. Brian’s big brown eyes darkened and tears started to form in his eyes.

“If you are that bored from me, he can always leave,” he said as he tried to hold himself from crying.

“Brian, you know I didn’t mean that.” Zacky walked to the bed, sat down on the bed and tried to embrace Brian, but Brian went away.

“I don’t want to talk with you!” said Brian as he hid himself behind his pillow. Zacky tried to hug him again, but Brian didn’t let Zacky to touch him. Zacky left the room in silence.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

For next few hours, Zacky controlled Brian hourly, and tried to talk with him, but Brian refused to open his mouth to say something, yet he didn’t even look at Zacky. He even drank his medicine without any protest.

It was now seven in the afternoon, and the silence between them was driving Zacky crazy. He never wanted to hurt Brian. Maybe, Zacky had exaggerated the things.

“That’s it,” he thought, “Next time when I go there, I will talk with him, if he doesn’t start a conversation.”

When Zacky entered the room, Brian was lying down in the bed, staring to the ceiling. He looked to the door as he heard a sound coming from there. Zacky walked to him and checked his fever, again. It was lower than before.

“Did you really mean it, what you said?” asked Brian quietly.

“Brian, you know I didn’t mean it.”

“Then why did you say it? I felt like I was a burden. Like I was disturbing you. Like I was-“ But Brian couldn’t continue his sentence, because Zacky’s lips cut him off. Zacky was kissing him with everything he had, to show him how he really felt about him, that he was not a burden and he was not bored or disturbed by him.

“He is right,” thought Zacky, “The syrup tastes awful.”

Unfortunately, the kiss was short, because Brian still couldn’t breathe through his nose.
“Now go to sleep,” said Zacky sofly, “You need energy.”

“Will you stay with me?”

“Of course I will.”

“And don’t sleep in case if something happens,” said Brian with yawning. Zacky smiled and he cuddled Brain. He kissed the top of his head and stayed awake all night, just to make sure Brian was okay.