"I am not sick."

Of course he was. You could hear it in his voice. He sounded dreadful – not only all clogged up, but hoarse and cracked as well. As if that weren't proof enough, he didn't look great either. Clearly he'd tried his best to look presentable, but it was a hopeless attempt. His hair was unkempt, random clumps defying gravity by sticking up and out all over the place; his eyes were a dull grey colour, not their usual perky blue; and his skin was unusually pale, save for the dark rings under his eyes. A quick touch of his clammy skin revealed it to be boiling hot, despite how he shivered and hugged the bed blankets tighter, pulling them into his chest.

And yet still he insisted.

"I am not sick." Xephos repeated, somehow managing to convey a sense of commandment even in his husky tones. He made a move to leave the bed, but Lomadia gave him a firm shove back into the pillows and blankets surrounding him. Her actions spoke louder than his words. He flopped back against the mattress, folding his arms across his chest, clearly irritated.

"I ahb naht thsick." Lomadia imitated, pinching her nose. This only earned her a moody frown from her boyfriend. She giggled, pulling the blankets up around him. "Trust me, you are. If even Honeydew and Lalna can see it, then it must be true." Despite the experiencing the same resistance from Xephos as she was now, Honeydew and Lalna had somehow managed to drag him back here, and call Lomadia back from Owl Island. Nothing too serious, she hoped, but impacting him enough, it seemed.

She saw a little smile spread across Xephos' face at her quip, and he didn't feel as stiffly awkward and was somewhat less reluctant to be tucked into bed.

"Okay, fine.; I'm sick. I'm just not that sick." He still insisted. He eyed the door narrowly, before looking back at Lomadia awkwardly. "As in, I'm well enough to go back to work." He said, but it had more of a questioning tone than an authoritative one. His slight sense of doubt allowed Lomadia to silence him with a stern look.

"You're not going anywhere in your state, mister."

"It's just a headache and a bit of a cold, Lomadia. It'll pass." He said moodily.

"It'll pass quicker and easier for everyone if you stay here and rest." She said, folding her arms defiantly and staring hard at him. Usually he was in command, but not while he was in this state, so he sighed and leant against his pillows, exasperated. His sore throat didn't allow him to express much confidence in what he was saying.

"I need to go back to work." He whined.

"What you need is to shut up and get some rest." Lomadia corrected, pulling up an armchair so she sat alongside the bed. At least this also prevented him from getting up – which he seemed to notice, as he began making himself more comfortable on the bed.

"But they're not going to make any progress if I'm not there." He complained.

"Lalna can handle it. Besides, it's you working too hard that got you into this mess in the first place. Taking it easy for once might do you a lot of good."

"We're going to get behind schedule!"

"Holy Notch – can't the schedule wait for one bloody day?" Lomadia said, slightly irritated now. "It's always about schedules, Xeph! About schedules and meetings and work! What about your friends? What about me?"

"What about you?" he snapped back. Although he had not meant the question in a truly hurtful way, it still only upset Lomadia further to hear him say that, even just to see him so angry – so angry at her. She took a deep breath, calming herself down. They never really argued like this, shouting at each other, and she didn't want something this silly to mess everything up between them.

"All I'm saying is that you're beginning to lose sight of what's important." She said, her own voice becoming strained. "I mean we never see each other anymore."

"I've been busy."

"That's exactly the point, Xeph. You're always busy doing this, that and the other. It's rockets one day and cloning the next. One project after another. No time for anything else…just…work." She gave a very forced chuckle. "You just seem to forget about all the bits in-between the working. Your friends. Me."

"You always see me." He said persistently, but deep down he was realizing the truth.

"Yes, I always see you. But I'm not sure how long it's been since you've really seen me. You come over here every day, yeah, but you always seem so…distant. Distracted. You spend so much time in your room."

"You've never worried this much about me before." Xephos said, a morose expression on his pale face. "What's all the fuss about?"

Lomadia shook her head sadly. "Of course I worry about you. I'm your girlfriend. I love you." She watched his expression change from ill-tempered to desperately guilty. "I just hate seeing you do this to yourself. It's only a fever for now, but I'm really worried about what's going to happen to you if you keep on like this. And that place…YogLabs…I know you funded it but I really don't trust the things that go on in that building…like the cloning and stuff…is that saf–"

"That's classified information." He suddenly interrupted sternly, and she looked up to see his grey eyes turned cold, but he immediately realized the mistake he'd made by speaking before thinking.

"Oh, is that it?" Lomadia said harshly. "You're shutting me out even further? Now I can't even know what you're doing at the workplace you love so much."

"No, Lomadia, I didn't mean…"

"Then what did you mean?"

"I…I don't know…" he said, shrinking into the duvet. "I don't...I don't know...I...just didn't…realize…how much you I was hurting you…and I never even noticed…"

"Oh Xeph." She said, and each of them could tell the other was struggling not to burst into tears.

"I never realized how much you cared…about me…and I nearly threw all of that away…for some stupid rockets."

"Well, in all seriousness, the rockets are pretty cool." Lomadia muttered jokingly, and the two of them beamed at each other. Lomadia caught hold of Xephos' clammy hand and rubbed it in-between both of her own. "So...do you agree to be sick just for one day?"

"I agree to be sick for as long as you want me to be sick."

"Well, I'd rather you were better, to be honest. As long as you take it easy for a few days, you'll be able to go back to work in no time. Think you can manage that?"

"I'll try to. The moon can wait for a couple of days, at least."

"She might have to wait a little longer than that, Xeph." Lomadia smiled, leaning close to him and pecking him on the cheek. He flailed and pushed her away playfully.

"Oh Notch, don't kiss me; you'll get sick." He moaned, though he didn't object when Lomadia snuggled up next to him on the bed. "No, don't – I'm in such a state." He protested, though he was glad to have her warmth beside her as he shivered and nuzzled closer to her.

"Shut up, Xeph. Let me kiss your yucky, snot-covered face – that'll make you feel better." She kissed him softly on the lips and then buried her head into his chest, her warm blonde hair fanned out over the pillows. He continued to struggle but they died down when Xephos realized that a) she wasn't going anywhere and b) he rather enjoyed her company. It certainly beat lazing around in the bed alone, feeling sorry for himself and generally being a miserable bastard.

"Yeah, you." She said, mockingly victorious, poking him in the chest. "Settle down. And don't judge me. I've got a thing for guys with a bunch of catarrh and phlegm down their throats."

"What a charming way to describe my illness." Xephos muttered, wrapping his arm around her and hugging her tightly. He whispered into her ear, so quietly and closely his breath tickled her ear. "Are you going to stay with me? You won't leave just yet?"

"Sure thing, Xeph. We'll keep it nice and bright in here – plenty of torches, just the way you like it – and we'll tuck you up nice and tight and talk about daft shit for a few hours. Sound good?"

"Sounds heavenly." He said, nuzzling into her blonde hair. He yawned.

She glanced up at him, with mock irritation. His eyes were dazed and unfocused, looking back at her.

"Or you could just sleep for a few hours. Would that satisfy you?"

"Very…much…so…" he said sleepily, his grey-blue eyes sliding shut and making the light level of the torch-lit room drop quite considerably, but not to a frightening level. "…as…long…as…you're here…with me."

She reached up and began running her fingers through his brown hair soothingly, almost massaging him to sleep where insomnia had plagued him so heavily before, judging by the dark rings underneath his closed eyes – yet another side effect of his workload. Lomadia rested her head on his rising, striped-shirt chest, listening to his consistently rhythmic heartbeat, and the gentle murmurs that indicated he was now in a deep sleep; his first in perhaps months. She let her eyes slide shut, caught in this perfectly blissful and heartwarming moment.

"I'm not going anywhere, my snotty spaceman."

A/N: Another request from the awesome SilverG64, this time for a Xephmadia, which is probably my favourite Yogship (AH MY GAWD IT'S SOOO CUTE AAH)

One more request to go! I'm having tons of fun writing these - really spices things up (i.e. it's nice to not have to write BFTD ALL the time...not that I don't enjoy it...it's just...very 'moody'.)

AJ

PS: I hope my attempt to make it cute didn't make it weird...that said, it probably did. Oh well.