Title: Home Remedy
Author: Neldluva
Fandom: FFVII
Pairings: Reno/Rude ish
Rating: PG/PG13
Warnings: Excessive snot. A wee bit of alcohol. Fluff.
Disclaimer: Not mine. I don't even want Reno's cold.
Summary: Reno gets sick. Rude makes a good nursemaid.
Author's note: For Sommie because I want her to get better!
"Ah … ah … ahCHOO!"
Rude held tighter to his pen, willing the ink not to smear. It was the tenth sneeze in the past half-hour. He'd been counting. He didn't even bother looking up at his partner, knowing already that his nose was the approximate color of his hair and his eyes were watering.
"Reno, you're sick."
"Am not." Sniffle, sniffle, wheeze, hack, honk. "Don't get sick, yo."
Rude shrugged, knowing better than to disagree. Forcing Reno to do something he didn't want to do was generally not a good idea.
"AhCHOO! Oh, ewww…" Reno made a disgusted face and wiped his snotty hand on his pants.
Rude suppressed a shudder. No wonder Reno was sick. The superhuman mentality, wherever it came from, apparently didn't allow hand sanitizer. He stood slowly and approached Reno's desk, laying one broad hand on the redhead's forehead. As he had expected, it was hot enough to fry an egg.
"Reno, you look like shit, you sound like shit, you feel like shit. It's a slow day, I'm sure Boss won't mind me taking me home." Translation: Tseng probably wouldn't want Reno hanging around infecting the entire office with the bubonic plague.
Reno turned fever-bright eyes on Rude and sniffed miserably. "Yeah, maybe you're right."
Rude frowned. Reno had to be feeling awful if he gave up without a fight, and Rude started to worry. He checked in quickly with Tseng, who urged them to leave as soon as possible and kept a careful three foot distance between himself and Rude. The large man dragged Reno out of the office, down to his car, and back to their apartment.
Reno wheezed and hacked the entire way, huddled up in his seat and shivering a little. He was surprisingly silent except for the sick sound of his breath, which just made Rude worry more.
Once home, Rude wrestled Reno out of his sweaty uniform and into some more comfortable sweats. Though Reno balked at the thought, he allowed himself to be tucked into bed, promptly surrounding himself with an ocean of used tissues.
Rude busied himself in the kitchen. He didn't consider himself much of a cook, but he could remember a recipe or two from his mother. He set to making chicken soup from scratch, loading it with as much garlic as he could find. The pot was bubbling and steaming nicely as the broth simmered, and he went back to check on Reno.
The redhead was stretched out in bed, breathing through his mouth because he was out of other options. He coughed once in a while, just often enough to keep him from falling asleep, and looked extremely pissed off at this fact. Had the virus been a physical entity, Reno no doubt would have beat it into submission, but as it was he could only stubbornly try to clear his running nose.
Rude managed to put some cough syrup down his throat, though Reno made disgusted faces and wheezed at him. There were certain up-sides to the normally vociferous redhead having lost his voice.
"Try to rest," Rude said, stroking back the sweaty red hair. "That should help. Here, lemme help you prop up." He stacked the pillows behind Reno's back, trying to keep the mucous from drowning his partner.
It took some time, but finally Reno's bright eyes slid shut, and he settled into a light sleep. Rude stayed a little longer, making sure Reno stayed calm, and went out to check on his soup. It smelled heavenly, thick with garlic and chicken. He added some salt and pepper and scraps of onion for flavor.
The soup taken care of, he snatched a book to read and went to relax with Reno. He untangled the blankets from his partner's long legs … Reno had clearly been tossing and turning a little. He settled on the other side of the bed after having kicked his shoes off, opening up his book to read for a while.
Reno stirred after a few hours, blinking sleepily and taking a deep breath only to release it in a series of lung-racking coughs. He bent over, coughing hard as his body tried to expel the mucous clogging it, and Rude rubbed his back lightly.
"Shit," Reno mouthed, smiling apologetically at Rude.
"Yeah," Rude agreed. "It's a nasty one. You just better return the favor when I come down with it, okay? I've got something for you, though. I'll be right back."
It was to Reno's delight when Rude returned with a hot cup of tea, the delight mostly due to the substantial amount of scotch poured in the warm, lemon-scented liquid. He drank the entire thing, no questions asked, and sat back with relief.
"Feels better?" Rude asked. "I thought it'd help your throat."
"Yeah," Reno managed, though his voice was still weak and hoarse. "Lots better. Hungry."
"Good," Rude said with a smile. "I made you tons of chicken soup, and you'd better eat it all." He left again, returning with a bowl.
"Whoa!" Reno exclaimed, the scent penetrating even his abused nostrils. "There's enough garlic in that stuff to kill off all vampires in a ten-mile radius!"
Rude shrugged. "Call it a home remedy. It'll help."
Reno was still skeptical, but managed to gulp down most of the bowl. The hot liquid was, once again, soothing to his throat, and the garlic did seem to do something.
Rude felt at his forehead once more, and the fever had gone down a little. "Hmm," he noted approvingly. "You want more soup?"
"Nah," Reno croaked. "Had enough. Wanna sleep more."
"Good idea," Rude said. He gave Reno another dose of the cough medicine and made sure the blankets were tucked in again. He was about to go out to the living room to give Reno some peace and quiet when he felt his partner's clammy hand catch at his wrist.
"Stay," Reno requested. His eyes were hazy, and he was clearly drugged to the gills. "Stay 'til I'm asleep."
"Yeah," Rude said, settling back in on his side. Reno cuddled close, tossing a bony arm around Rude's waist to keep him still, and passed out cold. Rude just smiled and stroked the red hair. Yeah, he was probably going to catch the virus too, but he wouldn't trade this time for anything.