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“I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” Jack exclaimed, saying goodbye to his coworkers as he walked out of his office for the day.As he walked over to his car, Jack excitedly pulled his phone out of his pocket, and went to Alex’s contact, before clicking FaceTime. Jack had just gotten to his car and opened his door as Alex answered his call from the bathroom of the restaurant he worked at. Jack could tell that Alex was a bit tired, which was unsurprising, since he’d gotten to work at six that morning, and it was now about five in the afternoon.“Hey, Alex, I’m headed home from work! Are you going to head home soon, too? Maybe we could go out to dinner or something?” Jack excitedly suggested, starting his car up.“Hey, Jack. I’m going to be here for a bit longer, I think. Someone called in, and my boss said I could get a decent bonus if I stay over for a bit. Sorry, can we maybe take a raincheck on dinner?” Alex asked, making Jack’s heart sink.“Yeah, sure, we can try for another time. Maybe tomorrow after work? It’s going to be Friday, after all!”“Sure, we can plan for that for now. I’ll let you know when I’m on my way home. I’m so excited to see you later. I love you so much,”“I love you too, babe. I hope the rest of your workday goes well,”“Thanks, Jack. I’ll talk to you later,”Alex ended the call, and Jack sighed as he put on his favorite playlist and pulled out of his company’s parking lot. He wasn’t surprised that Alex had agreed to stay over at work, he’d been doing that quite a bit lately. Jack loved Alex’s drive and work ethic, but it was hard not getting to see him as often as he would like, particularly during the week. He was also nervous that Alex would eventually burn himself out working like this, despite Alex telling him several times that it was okay, that he was fine.As Jack drove home, he couldn’t help but wish that Alex had a job more like his; Jack worked a typical nine to five in an office for a large company, and made decent money. Alex currently worked at a local restaurant that was down the street from their apartment complex, making minimum wage and tips. They had graduated college together just about six months ago, and Jack had a much easier time finding a job, thanks to his major in business. Alex had studied psychology with plans to go to graduate school after, which ultimately fell through, leading to him working at the restaurant.Alex had been trying to find a better job, but was really struggling to. Jack knew that Alex would eventually land a great job, and that he would get more time with Alex once he had more of a traditional schedule, but he just had to be patient for that day to come. As he drove home, Jack sang along to the songs in his playlist, thinking of how he could spend his evening until Alex got home.Eventually, Jack pulled into the parking lot of his apartment complex, feeling relieved to be home for the day. After locking his car, Jack walked into the lobby, then took the elevator up to the third floor. Once Jack was inside his apartment, he set his bag with his laptop down by the front door, and kicked off his shoes. He changed out of his button up shirt and slacks, putting on a pair of sweatpants, and his favorite of Alex’s hoodies, then walked out to the living room.“Hm, what to do now?” Jack muttered to himself, looking around the apartment, hoping that something would catch his eye to keep him occupied until whenever Alex would get home.Jack eventually brought his gaze to the kitchen, deciding to cook himself dinner. He wasn’t sure what ingredients they had stocked, but after a quick look around, he decided to cook chicken alfredo, knowing it was one of Alex’s favorite meals, too. Jack connected his phone to a Bluetooth speaker, so he could listen to his playlist as he cooked. It didn’t take him very long to finish the meal, since it was fairly simple. After doing a bit of straightening up from the cooking, Jack served himself a portion, and took it out to the living room, where he sat on the couch.He browsed the TV guide for a couple minutes, eventually deciding on a rerun of his favorite show. Once he finished his dinner, Jack brought his plate back into the kitchen, and poured himself a glass of wine. Normally, he didn’t drink alone, but he decided to make an exception for tonight. He went back out to the living room, and saw that Rian and Zack were blowing up their group text, asking if he could play a game on the Xbox with them. Jack replied to the texts, saying that he would sign on and play. He mentioned that Alex was going to be working late, so he had plenty of time to kill. Jack turned the game console on, and joined the room that Rian and Zack created. He put on his headset, and took another sip of his wine.“Hey, Jack, what’s up?” Rian asked, as Jack got comfortable on the couch.“Hey, man, not too much. Alex is working late at the restaurant tonight, so I’m just hanging out. How’re you doing, Zack?” Jack continued, adjusting the microphone on his headset.“Not too much, I’m just glad to be home from work. I feel like we all work so much now, adult life blows,” Zack stated, making Jack and Rian laugh.“It has some perks, but, I agree, the constantly needing to work to earn money thing kind of sucks,” Jack replied, as Rian started their game.“We all need to hang out soon, Alex needs to be there too. I feel like he works the most out of all of us,” Rian pointed out.“That’s because he does. He’s been picking up so many shifts at the restaurant lately, and he’ll come in early and stay late. He gets decent bonuses when he does that, but it’s like he’s never home,”“That stinks, man. Are you guys, like, okay?” Zack asked, discomfort evident in his voice.“Yeah, we’re fine. I’m fine, too. It isn’t ideal to have him out so much, sure, but we make it work. We still try to prioritize meaningful time together when we’re both off. Besides, I know this is all just temporary; he’ll eventually get a job with more traditional hours, and won’t have to work so much to get by. I just have to be patient,”“That’s a good way to look at it. Now, enough of this conversation, we have a battle to win!” Rian exclaimed, as the countdown to the start of the game reached zero.Jack played online for a few hours, time getting away from him. When he eventually looked at his phone, it was almost ten at night, much to his surprise. He saw a couple texts from Alex, each one saying he’d be home later than the last one. The most recent one said that he would be home by eleven, which Jack hoped was true. After saying goodnight to his friends, Jack cleaned up the living room, and put his wine glass in the kitchen sink.He went into the bathroom and got himself ready for bed, washing his face and brushing his teeth. Jack went into the bedroom and climbed into bed, before searching for the TV remote. Once Jack finally found the remote, he put on the news, then grabbed his phone to reply to Alex’s text.Jack: Sounds good, babe. I’m in the bedroom, but I’ll stay up until you get home. I love you.Jack scrolled through his phone as the TV continued to play. He looked over a couple of work emails that he’d received after he left for the day, then went to his different social media accounts. If he was being honest, he didn’t really care about seeing what his friends had posted, he was just browsing to keep himself awake until Alex got home. About ten minutes until eleven, Jack felt his eyes get really heavy, but was determined to stay awake so he could at least say hello to Alex before sleeping. Jack’s eyes slowly closed, but his mind was still awake and focused on his goal at hand.Not much later, Jack could hear the front door being unlocked then opened, but his eyes stayed shut. He could hear Alex kick his shoes off, before walking through the apartment to their shared bedroom. Despite being excited to see his boyfriend, Jack still couldn’t get his eyes to open, the sleepiness coming on quicker and stronger now. Just a couple minutes later, Jack felt a slight dip in the bed, forcing himself to use all of his remaining energy to open his eyes to see Alex, sitting on the edge of the bed and laughing.“Hey, Alex,” Jack sleepily said, making Alex laugh even more.“Hey, babe, sorry I’m home so late. You didn’t have to force yourself to stay up late for me,” Alex replied, his voice a bit worn out.“I know, but I wanted to see you, even if just for a couple minutes before I crash,”“I love you, Jack. I promise we’ll have more time tomorrow,” Alex stated, giving Jack a quick kiss.“That sounds great to me. Hey, I made chicken Alfredo, it’s in the kitchen if you want some. What time do you have to go to work tomorrow? I want to wake up with you,” Jack said, rubbing his eyes some, trying to force himself to stay awake for just a few more minutes.“I might get some, thanks for making that. Um, I’m going into work at seven tomorrow morning, so I’ll probably wake up around six-thirty. You don’t have to get up that early if you don’t want to, I know you don’t really need to be on the way to your job until eight-thirty,”“No, it’s okay, I want to spend some time with you, even if it is at the crack of dawn. I’m so excited that tomorrow is Friday, do you work at all this weekend?” Jack asked, hoping the answer was no; he had worked every day since the previous Saturday, and Jack knew that Alex would need a break at some point.“I work on Saturday, but I should have Sunday off. Tomorrow is going to be fun, though, I’m excited!” Alex exclaimed, before coughing into his arm.“Are you okay?”“Yeah, my voice is just a bit tired; it was a long day. I’m okay, don’t worry, babe. I’m going to get some of that Alfredo, but please don’t wait for me, go ahead and go to sleep. I’ll come in here when I’m done. I love you, Jack,” Alex said, kissing Jack one more time.“I love you too, Alex. I’ll see you bright and early in the morning,” Jack replied, finally letting his eyes fall shut.Jack shifted around in bed a bit, wanting to get more comfortable, as Alex walked out of the room, gently shutting the door behind himself. As much as he wanted to get up and spend time with Alex now, the tiredness finally won, and Jack was out like a light in minutes.—————When Jack woke up to the sound of a blaring alarm coming from his phone in his pitch black bedroom, he did his best to hold back an annoyed groan. He remembered telling Alex that he wanted to wake up with him, so they could spend some time together before Alex had to leave for work, but he didn’t realize how hard it would actually be to wake himself up so much earlier than he normally did. As he took a deep breath, Jack brought his arm up above his head and over towards his nightstand, haphazardly hitting around it until he found his phone.Once his alarm was finally off, he looked over to the other side of his bed, surprised to see Alex still fast asleep. He looked at the time on his phone, seeing that it was six twenty, then remembered that Alex said he was going to get up at six-thirty. Jack decided to let Alex sleep, his phone would wake him up soon, anyway. While he waited, Jack looked through his work email, then scrolled through his Instagram feed. Eventually, Alex’s phone started to ring loudly, causing Alex to react the same way that Jack had just ten minutes earlier; swatting at his nightstand, in search of his phone.“Fuck, that thing is so loud,” Alex muttered, his voice sounding scratchy like it had the night before.Jack laughed at his boyfriend, then reached over Alex to grab his cell phone to turn off the alarm. Once it was off, Jack held Alex’s phone out in front of him, as Alex looked over to him with a confused expression on his face.“Jack, what are you doing wide awake at six-thirty in the morning?” Alex asked, coughing to clear his throat.“I told you that I wanted to get up with you this morning, remember?” Jack continued, surprised that Alex had forgotten about their conversation from the night before.“Oh yeah, that’s right, I totally forgot. Well, I have to get up and get ready now, if you want to join me,”Alex took a deep breath as he ripped the comforter off of himself, and sat up on the edge of the bed.“Sure, I will. Why don’t you go ahead and shower, and I’ll make you some breakfast?”“I’d love that. Thank you, Jack,” Alex replied, looking over to Jack and smiling at him.“Of course, anything for you. I’ll see you in the kitchen, okay?”Alex just nodded, before finally standing up and stretching, before walking over to the ensuite bathroom. Once Jack heard the shower water running, he made himself get up from the bed, and put his slippers on before walking out of the bedroom, and into the kitchen. Jack looked through the fridge, smiling in satisfaction when he saw eggs and microwavable bacon. After putting a few pieces of bacon in the microwave, Jack began cooking two eggs sunny side up, Alex’s favorite. Just as Jack was finishing with the food, he heard the shower water stop running, so he quickly plated everything, and set it up on the table in the kitchen.Just as Jack was putting a glass of water on the table, Alex walked into the kitchen, dressed in his work uniform. Jack couldn’t help but sense that something was off about Alex, he didn’t seem to have the usual energy that he normally did. Sure, it could’ve been because it was six-forty in the morning, but something just didn’t feel right. As Jack took a closer look at his boyfriend, he noticed that Alex seemed to have dark circles under his eyes, and that the rest of his face seemed a bit paler than usual.“Those eggs look great, thank you for making them for me,” Alex said, sitting down at the table.“No problem, Alex. Hey, are you alright?” Jack asked, taking a seat across from his boyfriend.“Um, yeah, I’m fine. Why?”“I don’t know, you just don’t seem quite like yourself for some reason,”“Well, you haven’t seen me up this early in a while. I’m usually not as loud and energetic at this time of day,” Alex replied, before sneezing into his elbow.“Oh okay, I guess that’s it. I don’t blame you for being so quiet, it’s so early; I don’t know how you get up this early on a regular basis,” Jack continued, making Alex laugh.“It’s not easy, but you get used to it after a while,”Alex continued to eat his eggs, and Jack continued to wonder if he was just overthinking, or if something was really up with Alex, and he just wasn’t saying anything. Eventually, Alex finished his breakfast, and Jack put his dirty plate into the sink. Alex went back to their shared room to finish getting ready, and Jack washed off the plate. After a few more minutes, Alex walked into the living room to put on his shoes, and Jack made his way into the living room to say goodbye to his boyfriend.“Thank you again for cooking me breakfast, you’re the best. I’m excited to be with you tonight,” Alex said, as Jack pulled him into a hug.“No problem, Alex, I can do that anytime. What time are you coming back from work today?” Jack asked, as the two of them pulled away from the hug.“I think I’ll be off around six or seven, so not much later after you get home. I’m working tomorrow, too, but I don’t need to go in until after nine,”“That sounds good, I’m so excited to spend the evening with you. Have a good workday, Alex. I love you,” Jack replied, leaning in to kiss Alex.“I love you, too. I’ll see you tonight!” Alex exclaimed, before walking out of the apartment, and shutting the door behind him.After Alex walked out, Jack could’ve sworn he heard a cough, but decided that he was just overthinking again. Jack had a slow morning, getting ready at a leisurely pace, thanks to the early wake up call. When Jack did get to work, he couldn’t help but stare at the clock all day; he was ready for it to be the weekend, and he was ready to spend time with Alex. Jack kept to himself for most of the workday, working as hard as he could to get all of his tasks finished on time. When the end of the workday finally came, Jack couldn’t have been happier. He darted out of the office right at five-thirty, not bothering to say goodbye to any of his coworkers. Normally, Jack was very social at work, but today, his focus was getting home, and seeing Alex.As Jack drove home, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and he hoped it was a text from Alex saying that he would be home within the next hour. When Jack checked his phone after pulling into the apartment’s parking, his face fell a bit with disappointment; Alex was going to be staying over until about ten that night; he’d gotten a high bonus to do so, and decided to take it. Jack wasn’t surprised, Alex stayed late on Friday nights often, since his boss always offered such a generous bonus to do so.As Jack walked into his apartment, he couldn’t help but hope that Alex would get a more traditional job sooner, rather than later. Not only would it allow the two of them to have more time together, but Alex wouldn’t have to work so much to make a decent amount of money, which Jack desperately wanted for his boyfriend. When Jack got into the apartment, he changed out of his work outfit, and put the same hoodie and pair of sweatpants on from the day before, then went into the kitchen to heat up some of the leftover chicken Alfredo he’d made. Once he had his dinner, Jack sat on the couch, and turned on one of the Harry Potter movies, since they were being shown back to back on TV. The evening passed by quickly, yet slowly, at the same time. Jack was very invested in the movie, but he couldn’t help but constantly check the time on his phone, counting down the minutes until Alex would finally arrive.Once it was just before ten-thirty, Jack could hear a key go into the lock of the front door, making him perk up in excitement. The door opened, revealing an exhausted looking Alex, causing the concern that Jack had felt that morning to come flooding back. Alex’s cheeks were bright red, the dark circles under his eyes looked even more prominent, and Alex just looked out of it. Jack quickly stood up from the couch, and walked over to his boyfriend.“Alex, hey, you’re home!” Jack exclaimed, as Alex slowly shut the door behind himself.“I am, finally. It was a pretty busy night, which I should’ve expected since Friday,” Alex replied, laughing at first, but eventually leaning into his elbow to let out a quiet cough.“Hey, are you okay? You seem exhausted,” Jack observed, pulling Alex into a hug.“Yeah, I’m fine, it was just a super long day; I just need to go to sleep, I think. I’m sorry for ruining our plans,”“Hey, no, you didn’t ruin anything. It’s okay, we’ll spend lots of time together on Sunday. Are you sure that you have to go in tomorrow? You’ve worked every single day since last Saturday, and you’ve stayed over and come in early a lot this week. Well, the last few weeks, actually,”Jack slowly started to lead Alex back to their shared bedroom. Alex knew what Jack was doing, but was too tired to protest; he was more than ready to go to sleep.“Yeah, I do. Well, I think we’re actually going to have more than enough staff tomorrow, but I’m not going to just, like, not show up. It’ll be okay, it’s just one more day,” Alex assured, letting Jack get him settled into their bed.“Okay, well, hopefully it’ll be a fast day. Here, why don’t you change into a clean shirt and swap those jeans for sweatpants? You’ll be more comfortable,” Jack suggested, grabbing clothing for Alex from the dresser.“That sounds great, but I’m so tired. Can you help me change?”Jack laughed as he helped Alex shimmy out of his jeans, and put his sweatpants on, then did the same with his top. After putting Alex’s clothes into the hamper, Jack turned off the ceiling light, and crawled into bed next to Alex. As soon as Jack got in the bed, Alex immediately latched on to Jack, putting his head on Jack’s shoulder.“Sleep well, Alex. I love you so much,” Jack said, kissing Alex’s forehead.“I love you, too. I’ll see you in the morning,” Alex replied, his voice already thick with sleep.In just minutes, Alex was sound asleep, soft snores coming from him. Jack shifted around a bit to get comfortable, then shut his eyes. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, but he did his best to push the thought from his mind. Jack closed his eyes, and fell asleep within just a few minutes, with Alex laying on him, and hugging him tightly.—————When Jack woke up the next morning, little fragments of light were shining through the blinds, casting abstract shapes across the room. While Jack thought the light was pretty, he couldn’t really enjoy it, because he was too focused on the fact that the bed was wet, much to his confusion. He was trying to recall of he had spilled water in the middle of the night, but he didn’t even have a glass on his nightstand. As he started to wake up more, he felt his shirt and the sheets, realizing that they didn’t just feel wet, but they felt sticky. Jack looked over to Alex, and immediately felt the familiar concern from the day before come back. Alex’s hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, and his face was very flushed. Despite his face looking quite warm, Alex was as bundled in the blanket as he could be, shivering and shifting around uncomfortably. Jack wasn’t even sure if Alex was asleep, he looked too uncomfortable to actually be in a sound sleep.Even though he knew Alex would likely try to fight it, there was no way Jack was going to let Alex go to work today. Knowing that getting Alex to call in would be a fight, Jack got up and walked over to Alex’s side of the bed to grab his phone; he was going to take matters into his own hands. After he picked up Alex’s phone from his nightstand, Jack put a hand to Alex’s forehead and cheeks, grimacing at how warm he felt. Sighing, Jack quietly made his way to the living room, sitting on the couch before unlocking Alex’s phone. He scrolled through Alex’s contacts, eventually finding his boss, Mike. Jack had talked to Alex’s boss before, he’d even met him a couple of times, and he was great; Jack felt confident that Alex wouldn’t be penalized for not coming in, especially considering how much overtime he’d been doing. Jack dialed the number and put the phone on speaker. After just two rings, Mike answered.“Hey Alex, what’s up?”“Hey Mike, it’s actually Jack, Alex’s boyfriend,” Jack started, trying to think of how to best communicate what was going on.“Oh, hey Jack, how have you been?”“I’ve been okay. Listen, I don’t think Alex is going to be able to come in today. When he came home last night, he was very low energy, and out of it. This morning, he hasn’t woken up yet, but he looks awful; he’s sweaty, flushed, shivering, and just looks miserable,” Jack explained, hoping that Mike would be understanding.“Geez, I’m sorry to hear that, but I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s been really pushing himself to work crazy hours; I think he’s at the restaurant more than I am at this point. I’ll tell you what, why don’t we give Alex a week to rest and recharge? He was scheduled Monday through Friday next week, but I can get his shifts covered, and I can even pay him half of what he would’ve earned by working. It sounds like he’s got the flu or something, so he’s going to need some time to recover,” Mike proposed, a grateful smile taking over Jack’s face.“That would actually be great, thank you so much, Mike! Alex might be a bit pissed at me for doing this behind his back, but I think he really needs a break. Thank you for being so accommodating, I really appreciate it, and I know Alex will, too,”“No problem, he’s a great employee, and I don’t want him to burn himself out, or put his health in danger. Tell Alex that I hope he feels better soon!” Mike said, before disconnecting the call.Jack was relieved that the phone call had gone so well, and that Alex’s boss had been so understanding. Remembering that Mike said that Alex should take a week off to recover, Jack decided to take a week off from his job, too, so he could take care of Alex, and ensure that he actually spent the time resting and recovering. Jack pulled out his own phone, and texted his boss that he was going to take paid leave for the next week to be with Alex while he recovered, but that he had his computer for just in case something urgent came up. As Jack slid his phone back into his pocket, he heard Alex start to cough a bit from their bedroom, reminding Jack that he still had to tell Alex that he was staying home today, and for the next week.Before going back into the bedroom, Jack stopped in the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water and a Tylenol. He also grabbed the thermometer from the kitchen drawer, then went back into the bedroom. Alex wasn’t quite sitting up in bed, but he was wasn’t laying down anymore, either. His hands were over his eyes, which Jack could see were tightly shut. Alex had the blanket pulled up as far as it could go without going over his face, and he was doing his best to stifle more coughs. Jack set the water and medicine down on the nightstand, then gently sat on the edge of the bed, next to Alex.“Hey, baby, how’re you feeling?” Jack asked, putting his hand on Alex’s side over the blanket.“I’m fine, just a little tired. I need to get ready for work,” Alex said, his voice raspy, making him cough again.“Alex, you’re sick, you’re staying home today,”“No, I’m just tired from the late nights, I’m totally-“Another coughing fit stopped Alex from getting to finish his sentence. Jack quickly helped Alex sit up more in bed, and rubbed his back as Alex slowly regained control of his breathing.“Alex, you’re going to stay home and get some rest today, and next week. I called your boss to let him know that you weren’t feeling well, and he said you could have the whole week off to rest and recover. Also, he said that he’d pay you half of what you’d normally make for this week,” Jack explained, once Alex was able to breathe again.“What? You called my boss? I’m okay, baby, I’m not-““Let’s take your temperature, then we can decide who is right, and who is wrong here, okay?”Alex rolled his eyes as Jack handed him the thermometer. Once the thermometer was done, Jack took it as it beeped.“It says 102.8, Alex, you’re resting this week. I brought you some medicine and water, why don’t you take it?” Jack suggested, grabbing the medicine and water to hand to Alex.“Okay, I think I will. To be honest, I do feel really terrible. I’m freezing, but still somehow sweating, everything hurts, and I can’t breathe through my nose,” Alex said, before taking the medicine.“I’m sorry you’re so miserable, but I’m glad you’re going to take it easy for the week; you’ve been pushing yourself hard lately. Why don’t we get you changed, and set up on the couch? I can pull it out so it’s like a bed, but I need to get these sheets off of this bed, they’re a bit soaked through,”“Yeah, sorry about that,” Alex mumbled, before sneezing into his elbow.“It’s okay, these things happen. Come on, let’s get you changed, and set up on the couch,”Jack helped Alex slowly get up from bed, then walked him over to their shared closet. It was a bit hard to get Alex dressed with all his shivering, but Jack eventually got fresh clothes on his boyfriend. Jack then led Alex out to the living room, and quickly pulled the couch out, then set Alex up on it, with an abundance of blankets and pillows. After handing Alex the TV remote, Jack went back into the bedroom to change the sheets. After stripping the dirty sheets, Jack quickly put on the backup set, and put the old ones straight into the washer. Once that was done, Jack went out to the living room to sit with Alex, who was wrapped up in several blankets now. Jack sat on the couch next to his boyfriend, and put his arm around Alex’s shoulders.“You can put on whatever you want, do you need anything?” Jack asked as he got comfortable on the couch.“Nah, I think I’m okay for now,” Alex replied, coughing as he put on a rerun of South Park.They stayed like this for a while, Jack stroked Alex’s hair as the episode played. Towards the end of the first episode, Alex began to shift around some on the couch, raising Jack’s concerns again.“Hey, are you okay, Alex? Are you feeling super uncomfortable again?” Jack finally asked, continuing to stroke Alex’s hair.“Um, I think so, my stomach just hurts a bit,” Alex replied, looking down and shutting his eyes.“Do you think you’re going to be sick?”“I don’t think so, it feels like it’s just pain,”“Hopefully you’ll start to feel better soon. Do you maybe want to try sitting up some more? That might help the pain go away,”“Yeah, I guess so,”Jack slowly helped Alex sit up more against the back of the couch, and then scooted closer to Alex, to keep him propped up.“How’s this?” Jack asked, gently putting his hand on Alex’s leg.“It’s good, this is actually more comfortable,” Alex replied, looking over to Jack with a grateful smile.“Good, I’m glad to hear that. Do you want to watch another episode of the show? I think the channel is gong to keep playing reruns for several more hours,”“Sure, that sounds good. Honestly, I might fall asleep at some point, I’m still pretty tired, even though I woke up not too long ago. Would you mind if I took a nap?”“I wouldn’t mind at all, you need to get as much rest as you can so you can get to feeling better. I might get some chores done around the apartment while you sleep, but I’m not going to leave you here by yourself or anything,”“I don’t want you to feel trapped here or anything,” Alex continued, coughing into his elbow.“I won’t feel trapped, I promise. I just want to be here with you, doing what I can to help you feel better,” Jack replied, rubbing Alex’s back as he tried to regain his breath.“You’re the best, thank you,”“I love you, Alex. Hey, it looks like the next episode is coming on,” Jack said, pointing to the TV.Alex lazily smiled at Jack, and Jack smiled back, before placing a kiss on Alex’s forehead. Jack hugged Alex closer to him, and they began to watch the next episode of the TV show. They stayed like this through two more episodes of the show. By the time the third was starting up, Jack felt Alex lay his head down on his shoulder.“Hey, are you getting tired again? Why don’t you take a nap?” Jack suggested, as Alex slowly lifted his head back up.“I think I will, my head really hurts, and I think getting some sleep might really help,” Alex replied, letting Jack help him lay down and prop his head up with pillows.“That sounds like a good idea. I might do some straightening up, but if you need anything, just call for me, okay?”“I will, thank you for being so great, Jack. I love you so much,” Alex said, sneezing into his elbow.“I love you, too. Get some sleep, I’ll be in the next room over,” Jack assured, making sure that Alex was comfortable before walking into the kitchen.Jack wanted to get some of the dirty dishes washed and put away while Alex was sleeping, so he wouldn’t have to spend time away from him once he woke up. There weren’t too many dishes piled up, but Jack decided it would be best to put away what was there, so it wouldn’t become unmanageable over the week. Once the dishes were done, Jack found a couple cans of Campbell’s chicken noodle soup in the pantry, and heated them up on the stove for Alex when he woke up. When the soup was warm, Jack left it covered in the kitchen, then went into the laundry room.The sheets he’d put in the washer earlier that day were done in the washer, so Jack switched them over to the dryer, then took a very full laundry basket of clean clothes into their shared bedroom to put away. Normally, Jack was really good about keeping up with their laundry, but Jack had somewhat neglected it over the past couple of weeks. It took him much longer to put everything away than he expected, but he felt extremely accomplished once he was finished. After putting the laundry basket back in the laundry room, Jack went back out to the living room, where Alex was still fast asleep. Jack didn’t have any other chores that he needed to get done, so he sat on the chair next to the couch, not wanting to take any of the space on the couch from Alex while he slept. He pulled out his phone, and began to scroll through Instagram. After a little bit, he looked over to Alex, who was still fast asleep.Jack felt bad for Alex, he looked incredibly miserable. His face was still very flushed, and he was groaning intermittently, which Jack knew meant he was uncomfortable. Jack wished that he could take Alex’s pain and discomfort away, it was hard to see the person he loved so much in this state. While he was glad that Alex hadn’t put up much of a fight about taking some time off to rest and recover, he couldn’t help but wonder why Alex had worked himself hard enough to get in this state. Sure, Alex had always had a very high work ethic, but he had never worked himself hard enough to get so sick before. Jack made a mental note to talk about this with Alex eventually, because he certainly did not want something like this to happen again. For now, though, Jack would stay silently sitting in the living room, waiting for Alex to wake up.————Jack had stayed sitting on the extra chair on his phone for quite a while, but eventually felt his eyes grow heavy from looking at the bright screen. He had closed his eyes to take a short nap, despite the chair not being the most comfortable thing to sleep on. Only about thirty minutes after he had drifted off, Alex slowly started to wake up, groaning as he slowly opened his eyes to see the sun shining right through the window.As he started to feel more awake, Alex couldn’t help but notice that he had quite the headache, and it seemed to be getting more intense by the second. He started to haphazardly feel around the couch for another pillow, wanting to cover his eyes from the sun that was making his head feel worse. Eventually, he found a throw pillow, and put it over his face, tightly squeezing his eyes to block out as much light as possible. While this helped some, Alex knew that the only way he was going to get rid of his headache would be to take a pain reliever.“Jack, hey, are you awake?” Alex finally asked, his voice weak, but just loud enough to wake Jack up from his sleep.“Hey, Alex, how’re you feeling? Sorry for dozing off for a minute there,” Jack replied, taking a deep breath in an attempt to get his mind and body to wake up.“It’s okay. Do you think you could get me some Tylenol, if I can even have any? I just woke up, and my head is killing me, and I’m feeling achy again,” Alex requested, coughing into the pillow.“You can definitely have some, it’s about one in the afternoon, and you had that first dose around eight or eight-thirty. Do you still have a fever?”“Probably, I’m still freezing, like I was earlier when you said I had one,”Jack stood up from his chair and walked over to the couch. Upon first glance, Alex did look a bit better than before; his face wasn’t quite as flushed, and he did look a bit more rested, thanks to the three and a half hour nap he’d just taken. Jack put his hand on Alex’s forehead and cheek, delighted that he wasn't as warm as he’d been earlier.“You’re still warm, but you’re not burning like you were earlier, which is a good sign! I’ll be right back with the medicine, and some fresh water,” Jack said, before walking into the kitchen.Jack looked through the cabinet of reusable water bottles in the kitchen, and found a large bottle that he knew Alex liked, hoping that it would encourage Alex to keep himself hydrated for the rest of the day. Once the water bottle was filled, Jack grabbed the medicine, then went back out to the living room. Alex was sitting up a bit more now, his eyes still tightly shut as he wrapped his blanket tighter around himself.“Here’s your water and Tylenol, why don’t you take it before you get too wrapped up in that blanket?” Jack suggested, laughing as Alex began to slowly unwrap himself from his blanket cocoon.“That’s a good idea. Thanks for getting this for me,” Alex replied, before quickly downing the pills, grimacing as they went down his throat.“Does your throat hurt?”“Yeah, it feels really raw and sore. It was already like that before I went to sleep, but I guess I had my mouth open the entire time, because it feels worse now,”Alex started to cough again, so Jack carefully grabbed the water bottle from Alex, and set it on the side table, before sitting down on the couch next to his boyfriend. He rubbed Alex’s back until he was finally able to calm himself down again. Jack scooted closer to Alex and put an arm around Alex’s shoulders, like he’d done earlier.“I’m sorry you’re feeling so shitty, babe,” Jack said, sympathy in his voice.“It really blows, I can’t remember the last time that I was this sick. Probably when I was a little kid, to be honest,” Alex replied, staring down at his lap.A beat passed as Jack considered what to say next. Alex sneezed into his arm, and Jack tightened his arm around Alex’s shoulders, hugging him closer. When Alex realized this, he stared up at Jack, looking concerned.“Is everything okay? You look nervous about something,” Jack pointed out, wondering what could’ve caused the sudden shift in Alex’s demeanor.“I just realized, you’re, like, really close to me. I don’t want you to get whatever this is that I have. I can sleep out here until I’m feeling better, but I really-““Alex, don’t worry about that, I’ll be fine. Besides, I want to spend as much of this time with you as possible; we really haven’t had a whole lot of time to just hang out with each other within the past few months, y’know,” Jack pointed out, hoping to segue into the conversation that he really wanted to be having with his boyfriend, the one he’d been wanting to have for months now.“Well, as long as you’re sure that you’ll be okay. I’ve missed just getting to lounge around with you like we did when we were in college, so I guess that’s the one silver lining to all this,” Alex replied, a small smile on his face.“Yeah, we really haven’t had a whole lot of quality time together like this for a bit, mostly since you started working at the restaurant,”Alex’s smile started to fade, and he looked back down, away from Jack. Jack started to worry that he’d said too much too fast; he didn’t want Alex to feel cornered into this conversation, but he certainly wanted to address why Alex had been working himself so hard for the last several months. He decided that he would let whatever Alex said next dictate how he proceeded with this conversation.“Um, yeah, that’s true, that’s when it started to decrease. I guess working a full time adult job is hard, it makes it hard to spend time with your partner,”Jack could tell that Alex was a bit uncomfortable, and he really didn’t want Alex to feel like he was being called out, especially if there was something deeply personal that Alex had been keeping buried. At the same time, however, Jack wanted to figure out what had been going on, and hopefully ensure that once Alex was feeling better, that he wouldn’t push himself to work so many days and hours at a time.“Well, yeah, it can certainly make things a bit more difficult, but I think we both know that you’ve been working way more than a full time schedule; you’ve been pulling, like, eighty or ninety hour weeks for quite some time now,”Alex shifted around, then looked up at Jack; he didn’t look scared, but he looked a bit wary. He took a deep breath, and Jack started to rub Alex’s shoulder with his hand, hoping that it brought his boyfriend some comfort.“You’re not wrong, I definitely have been, more often than not,” Alex replied, taking a sip of his water after coughing.“Yeah, you have been. Look, I hate to spring this conversation on you when you’re not feeling great, but this is the first time in a while that we’re both actually home and awake enough to talk about this. I’ve been wanting to talk to you about this for so long, but I think now that you overworking yourself has actually made you physically sick, we need to have this conversation. Alex, why have you been working yourself so hard? I mean, it’s been like this for so many months, I’m surprised it took your body to essentially shut down like this. I’m really not trying to call you out or anything, I just want to support you, and understand where all this is coming from,” Jack explained, trying to keep his tone as even and gentle as possible.“Honestly, me too, I’m surprised the workload didn’t wipe me out like this sooner. I mean, there have been days I’ve gone in feeling kind of bad, but just from sleep deprivation and stuff. This is totally different; as much as I want to, I can’t work like this,”“No, you certainly can’t, and you probably shouldn’t have risked your health to go in and work when you weren’t well rested in the past. My question still stands, though, why have you been putting yourself through hell for this job? I’ve met your boss several times, hell, I even spoke to him today. He seems like a really nice, reasonable guy, has he been, like, making you stay over or pick up a lot?”Alex scooted himself away from Jack, so he could turn and face him directly. Jack put his hand in Alex’s, still wanting to physically show his support while Alex talked.“No, it’s been the exact opposite. Mike has told me several times, like you have, to not push myself so hard, and to take more time off,”“So, why haven’t you? Why have you been forcing yourself to do crazy hours when you certainly don’t need to?”“Well, because it feels like I do need to, in order to keep up with you,” Alex finally admitted, the flush on his face deepening as he quickly looked away from Jack, who’s face was overtaken with confusion.“Keep up with me? What do you mean by that, love?” Jack asked, tightening his grip on Alex’s hand.“Well, you have a fancy, adult job in corporate America, making a ridiculous salary; a good ridiculous, of course. I’m a dumbass who decided to pursue a degree that you need graduate school to make money from, but still decided to drop out of graduate school. You make so much money, and I know we have so many financial goals coming up; we want to buy a house, we want to get married. Well, technically, we’re not engaged yet, but I’m hoping that’ll come down the pipeline at some point, because I really love you. But, yeah, I’m just trying to make sure that I’m doing my part, and you’re not the only one bringing in a decent amount of money for our future,” Alex explained, tears starting to form in his eyes as he spoke.Jack leaned in, and pulled Alex into a tight hug. He knew that Alex got emotional when he wasn’t feeling well, and that admitting this was likely really hard. As Alex tried to take deep breaths, Jack couldn’t help but wonder how he hadn’t thought of this before. Sure, Alex had done a really good job of keeping it all under wraps and appearing as fine as he could be, but Jack had no idea that Alex had such a negative view of himself and his worth.“Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay. Alex, I had no idea that you felt this way, I’m so sorry for being so oblivious for all this time,” Jack finally said, placing a kiss on Alex’s forehead after they both pulled out from the hug.“Don’t blame yourself, I really wanted to keep all this under wraps, which is why I did everything I could to not make you think it was anything other than me just working a lot,”“Well, I’m still sorry I didn’t notice or anything. I hate that you have such a negative view on yourself and your worth, Alex. I know you’re not in your dream job, or a career job, but that’s totally okay. You don’t have to have it all figured out right now, we’re still so young,”“You have it all figured out, though. I had it all figured out, too, but I decided to drop out of graduate school like a fucking failure,” Alex continued, as more tears made their way down his face.“Hey, you’re not a failure, Alex, you just decided that graduate school, and that career weren’t for you, which is totally okay. Honestly, it’s better that you decided that it wasn’t for you now, rather than after you graduated, five years and so much debt later. You’ll find your career job when it’s the right time, I promise. I know you think I’m all set for life, but I don’t know if I am. I mean, I don’t hate my job, but I don’t know if it is what I want to do long term. We’re so young, we’re figuring it all out, and that’s okay,” Jack assured, stroking Alex’s hand with his thumb.“I guess you’ve got a point, I know that I don’t need to have my whole life together right now, but I still wish I made more without having to work so much. Like, I want to contribute to our house fund, and to our wedding fund, once we’re engaged and actually start one. You’re able to save so much each time you get paid, and I can’t do that, unless I work as much as I do. It just sucks, I don’t want you to have to contribute so much, while I contribute so little,”Alex coughed again, then pulled his blanket up more as he shivered. Jack helped Alex place adjust his blanket, then took a deep breath.“Alex, you don’t have to, like, match, what I put into our savings account for the future. There’s no rush for us to move into a home, or do anything like that, you don’t have to kill yourself working so much, just to put a certain dollar amount into our shared account each week. If you can only contribute, like, fifty bucks a check, that’s fine. If you can’t put anything in one week, that’s fine, too. I really want us to get a house, too, but I’d so much rather have you be happy and healthy, and have to wait a bit longer, than for you to overwork yourself and be miserable, just to contribute a certain dollar amount to our account. When you’re healthy again, I don’t want you to keep working so much, I want you to be able to enjoy life, and not feel so stressed about money. Plus, since you’ve been at work so much, it’s been harder for us to spend time together, and I miss it; I miss you,”Alex blushed at Jack’s last comment, and Jack smiled at his boyfriend. As they looked at one another, Jack could tell that Alex was much less on edge now than he had been just a few minutes before, to his relief.“I’ve missed spending quality time with you, too, I really have. I guess, it just felt like I didn’t deserve to unless I could meet a specific dollar amount. I didn’t want you to think I was just hanging around here, not trying to bring in more money when I could by working more. And, I didn’t want you to think that I was just trying to, like, take advantage of you or anything,”“I never would’ve thought that, I promise. I appreciate that you want to contribute towards our house fund, and keep everything even, but you don’t need to stress yourself out too much to do it. If you can’t do exactly half, or put in as much as me, it’s not a big deal. I won’t, like, love you any less or anything, y’know?” Jack continued, offering Alex a small smile.“Thank you for saying that, I really appreciate it. I guess I assumed that you thought the same way about me that I do, so I felt like I had to overcompensate by working crazy hours, to prove that I’m not trying to be lazy,”Alex reached over to his water bottle and drank quite a bit of water. He then ripped his blanket off, and began to fan himself with his hand.“Are you too warm now?” Jack asked, stifling a laugh at Alex’s sudden shift.“Yeah, it just hit randomly, but I feel like I’m going to die of heat exhaustion,”“Well, we don’t want that, but I don’t think that’ll happen. Just stay out of the blankets for a bit,”“I know, I’ll be okay. But seriously, thank you for talking some sense into me, I love you so much. I really should’ve come to you about this forever ago; maybe I wouldn’t be so miserable now if I’d just done that,” Alex pointed out, coughing into his elbow.“Maybe so, but I’m glad that we did talk about this. I love you so much, Alex, and that isn’t conditional on things like income. Besides, this job you have now isn’t your forever career, y’know? Like, you’re figuring things out, which is what you’re supposed to do in your early twenties. Sure, I have a decent job now, but I may hate it in five years and want a change, and that’s okay. You’re so smart, and so capable, and certainly not a failure. Just take everything a day at a time, and don’t put so much pressure on yourself,”Alex looked to Jack, a huge smile formed on his face as he leaned over to hug his boyfriend. Jack gladly returned the hug, squeezing Alex as close to himself as possible. Alex did his best to hug Jack tightly, but the overall weakness he was feeling made this somewhat of a challenge. Eventually, they let go of one another, and Jack took Alex’s hands in his own.“Thank you for being the best, and for having so much faith in me, it really means a lot. I’m going to try to give myself more grace and patience from now on, like I should’ve been doing this whole time. Also, I won’t go back to working so many ridiculous hours at my job; maybe I’ll actually have more time now to explore other options for jobs with this new free time I’ll have,” Alex stated, making Jack laugh.“Maybe so, but don’t start overly stressing yourself about that. I should’ve mentioned this before, but I’m more than happy to help you with all this, if you’re comfortable with that. This type of stuff is hard and scary, but it doesn’t have to be so bad, especially if you have someone by your side to assist and support you through it,”“I would love that, thank you,”Alex broke into a coughing fit, quickly taking one of his hands out of Jack’s, and covering his mouth with it as he struggled to calm himself back down. Jack put a hand on Alex’s back, rubbing circles into it as Alex continued to cough. Eventually, Alex was able to stop, trying to conceal a grimace as he looked back over to Jack.“Does your throat hurt even more?” Jack asked, to which Alex just nodded.Jack stood up from the couch, and went into the kitchen. He quickly fixed Alex a cup of honey lemon tea, and brought it out to him in his favorite mug.“Thank you, Jack. You really know how to take great care of me,” Alex gratefully said, before taking a small sip of his new drink.“What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t? Besides, we can’t get married if I don’t know the best way to help you feel better when you have a sore throat, right?” Jack teased, smirking as he sat back down on the couch next to Alex.“Marriage? Who said anything about marriage?” Alex teased back, carefully setting his cup of tea on the side table next to him.“Um, you, about a million times. And me, probably just as many times. I mean, that is the plan, isn’t it?”“That’s what I’ve been hoping for. I can’t imagine doing life with anyone else. There’s no one I want to share my highest highs or lowest lows with,”“I feel the same way, and that’ll definitely happen, but we can talk about that more when you’re feeling well again,”“Yeah, good idea. Like, just thinking about the future with you makes me excited, but it’s a little overshadowed by how crappy I feel right now,” Alex admitted, sneezing into his elbow.“I can imagine. Hey, do you want to turn on another movie or something? You can take another nap if you need to,” Jack suggested, digging through the mess of blankets for the TV remote.“Nah, I don’t really want to watch another movie now, I have a feeling that I’ll be doing a lot of that over the next few days. I kind of want to play a video game, but not actually have to do any of it myself, if that makes sense,”“What? How do you play a game but not actually have to do anything yourself? Did your fever go back up or something, because that made no sense,” Jack stated, laughing as Alex rolled his eyes.“I’m fine, I just didn’t say that right. I really want to play that Pokemon game we bought forever ago, but never actually got around to playing, but I just want to watch it be played. Hey, do you want to play it so I can watch and tell you what to do?”“That’s one of the weirdest requests I’ve ever heard. You basically want to watch an interactive play through,”Jack kept laughing as Alex thought over what Jack said, then started laughing at himself.“Yeah, I guess that is what I want. Can we do that? I think it’ll be fun!”“Sure, I’ll do that, just for you. Let me get the console and controllers set up,”Jack walked over to the TV cabinet, and turned on the Switch. He grabbed his favorite controller, then went back over to the couch. After taking another sip of his tea, Alex laid back down, and snuggled himself into Jack’s side, making them both smile. As the game booted up, Jack extended his arm so he could have it around Alex, but still be able to operate the controller. As the game booted up, Alex looked up to Jack.“Hey, thank you for taking care of me and making me get some much needed rest today, I really appreciate you looking out for me and everything,”“Of course, Alex, you know I’m always here to support you. I love you so much, and while I wish you didn’t feel so miserable, I’m looking forward to getting to spend some time with you while you recover,”“Me too, but hopefully the fever and shit will go away soon, that would make all this a lot more fun for me,” Alex pointed out, stifling a sneeze.“I know, but it will if you keep resting and taking care of yourself. If you want to sleep at any point, let me know, I can always play again later,”“Will do. Hey, the game loaded, you need to make your character!” Alex exclaimed, pointing at the TV.Jack laughed as he let Alex direct him in making his character, and through the beginning of the story. Eventually, Jack started hearing soft snores, and laughed when he saw Alex passed out on his shoulder. Jack saved the game, then turned the console off. He hugged Alex closer to himself, then began to scroll on his phone with his free hand, and used his other to stroke Alex’s hair. They stayed like this for quite a while, but Jack didn’t mind. Sure, he would’ve loved to spend the day lounging around with Alex under better circumstances, but that didn’t matter right now; all that mattered was that they were together and had each other.