5(Hi guys! This was written as part of a Halloween Challenge. Hope you like it. I'll try updating my other stories soon)
Combeferre entered the room as quietly as possible so that he wouldn't wake his friend up. When he finally managed to convince Enjolras to stay in bed and get some more sleep, he had gone out for a quick shopping run to buy tomato soup, cinnamon tea and candy among other things. Now that he had everything, he was glad that he didn't have to leave the apartment anymore. It was freezing outside and the threatening dark clouds were bound to release their buckets of water any minute now.
It was Halloween night. And after weeks of fighting colds and pulling through, Enjolras' body had finally come to a halt and decided that enough was enough. Early that morning, the miserable blonde had knocked on Combeferre's bedroom door to announce that he felt 'a little under the weather' and then crawled into bed with him, clinging to his best friend like a koala to a tree. Enjolras hadn't left his spot in bed ever since, apart from the short trips to the bathroom and one defiant, yet futile attempt to settle behind his laptop.
Combeferre set the groceries down quietly on the kitchen table and tiptoed to the other side of the living room to peek inside his bedroom. To his relief, Enjolras was still fast asleep, tangled in his blankets and curled on his side with a small sheen of sweat clearly visible on his forehead. The soft snores told him that his friend was sleeping rather peacefully, but when he saw that Enjolras was shivering, he was tempted to crawl back into the bed as well. However, that would wake Enjolras up, and the best thing his roommate needed right now was sleep. And lots of it.
So he quietly closed the door until it was only slightly ajar and moved back into the kitchen to put the groceries away. They were supposed to go to Courfeyracs Halloween party that night. Their friend always liked throwing parties but they were never as exuberant and lively as they were on Halloween. He looked forward to the day for months. It wasn't going to be easy to tell him that his two best friends weren't going to make it this time. But Enjolras definitely wasn't going anywhere with the fever he was sporting and Combeferre didn't feel comfortable to leave someone as sick as his friend all by himself. Especially not when that someone was Enjolras, who became the stereotype of a sick child when he was like this: clingy, needy and reluctant to be alone.
With a sigh, Combeferre poured the candy in a large bowl and placed it on the counter next to the front door. If they were staying home, they might as well have candy in the house for the trick-or-treaters that would stop by that night. He stole one chocolate bonbon and then set to boiling some water for tea. Though he'd never wish for his friend to be sick, he didn't mind the quiet and peace he got while Enjolras was asleep.
While the water was boiling, Combeferre fished his phone out of his pocket and dialed Courfeyracs number. He hoped his friend wouldn't make too much of a fuss. He already felt guilty for cancelling at the last minute and he didn't really need Courfeyrac to add anything more to that guilt. Of course he'd understand it when his friend was disappointed, but it wasn't like he could help it. He hadn't known that Enjolras was coming down with something.
Combeferre smiled a little when Courfeyrac answered his phone, as happy and excited as ever. He was willing to wait for the man to finish his enthusiastic rant about this year's Halloweens costume, but decided to interrupt him anyway when Courfeyrac went on about it for longer than ten minutes.
"Courf, listen..." he started apologetically, "Enjolras and I won't be able to come tonight...No… E is really sick... Yeah, I mean, he's honestly sleeping out of free will this time, so... you know... And I don't feel comfortable leaving him alone like this...I'm sorry..."
Combeferre closed his eyes as Courfeyrac let out a long and annoying whine. Then shook his head when his friend came up with all kinds of solutions that included bringing Enjolras with him and force him to be happy, tying Enjolras to the bed and drugging him with enough medicine so that he wouldn't notice that Combeferre was gone.
"No Courf, come on. I'm not going to do any of those things," Combeferre said with a soft chuckle when his friend proposed to send Grantaire over to babysit Enjolras. "You know how he gets when he's ill. Besides, that isn't fair to R, he's looking forward to your party as well."
There was some silent moping on the other end of the line. Combeferre supposed he'd best try and be touched by the fact that Courfeyrac wanted his two best friends at his party than be annoyed that his friend wouldn't just let it go.
"You know I would've done the same thing if it were you sick in here," the medical student said softly. "And it's not fair of you to accuse Enjolras of making up excuses. You know he'd rather come to the party than be stuck in bed with nothing do to. And you know I'd never fall for his excuses either."
It took some time to sooth his friend's feelings and Combeferre had to make a couple of deals to make it up to him, but finally Courfeyrac abided. He told him to wish Enjolras well and promised to stop by in the morning to pay them a visit.
"He'll be happy to see you, I'm sure," Combeferre smiled as he remembered another time when Enjolras was sick and Courfeyrac came over to make him feel better. It had worked, although Combeferre questioned his friend's methods. "Enjoy yourself tonight, Courf and say 'hi' to everyone from us, alright? See you tomorrow, then. Bye."
Shaking his head, Combeferre placed his phone on the kitchen counter and poured the boiled water into two large mugs. With a slight frown he tossed in the cinnamon tea bag into one of them, a lemon one in the other. Combeferre hated cinnamon tea. He really didn't like it. He disliked the smell and he hated the taste. But for whatever reason, Enjolras always wanted it when he was sick and because Combefere was such an awesome friend, he had gone to the supermarket to buy a package.
He quietly made his way into the bedroom and put the two steaming cups on the bedside table. Then he climbed onto the large bed and carefully pulled his younger friend against his chest. He knew better than to immediately wake Enjolras up. Whenever the blonde was sick, he always scared easily and Combeferre didn't want to him to panic. So he gently started carding his fingers through the matted curls and smiled when Enjolras's fist weakly grabbed his shirt. It took a couple of minutes, but soon Combeferre was rewarded with bright blue eyes blinking up at him.
"Hey," Combeferre said softly, shifting a little so that Enjolras could look at him better.
His friend blinked up at him, a little confused. The fever was clear in his eyes and he clearly wasn't fully awake yet. That didn't matter. Combeferre had time.
"You've been asleep for a while now…," the older man continued slowly, "Which is good, but I need you to drink something now and I want to check your fever."
Enjolras let out a small 'hmpff', dropped his head back on Combeferre's chest and curled a little into himself. "M tired," he whispered.
Combeferre smiled and continued playing with Enjolras' hair. "I know you're tired… you're sick and you've been working yourself up to exhaustion for far too long. But you can sleep more later. Now I need you to wake, come on."
He gently nudged his friend with his elbow until the sick man let out an annoyed moan. It had the desired effect as Enjolras carefully pushed himself up until his back was pressed against the headrest. Though was still leaning heavily on Combeferre, his eyes were open and focused. They were even trying to glare at the medical student, which only made Combeferre chuckle.
"Don't pout, you're not a child," Combeferre chastised jokingly as he reached for the thermometer and handed it to his friend. "In your mouth, and no cheating. Under the tongue and keep your teeth clenched until it beeps. Good."
Enjolras' glare was getting stronger, but with the thermometer sticking out of his mouth, the whole thing was actually looking adorably hilarious and Combeferre had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing at his friend.
The urge to laugh ebbed away instantly, however, when he read the numbers on the thermometer. No wonder Enjolras had been shivering that violently earlier. Combeferre took the object from his friend and placed his hand against Enjolras' forehead. He smiled when the younger man leaned into his touch.
"Okay… I'm going to fetch you some meds. That temperature needs to come down," Combeferre said, standing from the bed. When he noticed Enjolras reaching for one of the two tea cups, he swatted his hand away. "I don't think tea is the best idea for you right now. At least not while it's this hot. I'm serious Enjolras, you can drink it later."
He ignored his friend's indignant frown and disappeared into the bathroom to collect two pills and a glass of cold water. When he returned, Enjolras had buried himself under the blankets again.
"Enjolras, come on. You can go back to sleep in a few minutes," Combeferre sighed, sitting back down on the bed and pulling the blankets away from his friend. "You'll feel better once you've taken these, I know you will."
"How d'you know?" Enjolras' muffled voice came from where it was pushed into the pillows. "I feel like I'll never feel good again."
"I know, because I am studying medicine and I'm always right. Now come on, stop whining."
Enjolras' behaviour wasn't new to Combeferre. His best friend always acted like this when he was really sick. It was quite fascinating, to be honest. A complete turnaround of how Enjolras behaved when he was feeling well. But though Combeferre was used to it, it didn't mean he couldn't grow tired of it. And this was getting frustrating, because Enjolras' fever was really high. Almost dangerously high, and they needed to get it back down.
Luckily, Enjolras gave in and allowed his friend to pull him back up again. He obediently took the pills from his friend and swallowed them down. The cold water was a blessed relief for his sore throat and he emptied the glass without complaint.
"Thank you," Combeferre said softly, taking the glass away from Enjolras. He squeezed his shoulder and offered him a small smile. "Now you can go back to sleep."
Enjolras' eyes were already drooping as he nodded his head. He laid back down and pulled the blankets back over his shivering body. He was out cold within a minute.
It was around dinnertime when Enjolras woke up again. Even though he had slept nearly all day, he was still feeling miserable. His limbs felt like lead and part of him wished he could just turn around and fall back asleep again. But he had to go to the bathroom and that meant getting out of bed, into the cold.
With a pained sigh, the blonde man pushed himself up and stood on shaky legs. Combeferre wasn't in the room with him. His friend had spent most of the time reading a book next to Enjolras on the bed. Enjolras knew that, because even though he slept all day, he still woke up every hour or so for a short while.
Enjolras carefully crossed the distance to the door and stepped into the living room. He had to blink a couple of times to make sure that what he was seeing was really there. The room was dark, candles being the only source of light. There were carved out pumpkins on the kitchen table, a large bowl of candy on the counter next to the front door and a large plate of snacks on the coffee table in front of the TV.
But what Enjolras shocked the most, were the seven people smiling up at him from couches and chairs. There were pillows and blankets everywhere and a large collection of DVD's spread out on the floor. The blond young man was so surprised, he abruptly forgot that he was on his way to the bathroom.
Before he could say anything, Combeferre walked up to him and draped an arm around his shoulder. He pressed his cheek against Enjolras' forehead to check his friend's fever. It was apparently under control, because Combeferre smiled and guided him to the couch. Enjolras let himself be pushed down, grateful when Courfeyrac handed him a blanket, and gave his friends a confused look.
"What are you doing here?" he whispered in a raspy voice.
Combeferre sat down next to him, placed a pillow on his lap and motioned for him to lie down.
"Well," Courfeyrac started, ruffling Enjolras' hair gently, "It all started when Combeferre announced that my two best friends weren't going to attend my Halloween party. And though you know how much I love my parties, I like you guys more and I prefer us being all together. So, I decided to cancel the party and have a horror movie night with my favorite group of freedom fighters."
Enjolras looked at Combeferre, who smiled apologetically. "I didn't know E, or I would've warned you. Besides, this whole thing is ending the second you don't feel up to it anymore, I told them that… Your fever seemed to have lowered however and I need you to eat and drink anyway, so I thought maybe it would be fun to watch a couple of movies together. They'll behave, I promise. And you can go to sleep whenever you like."
"Also, you have first pick of the movie," Grantaire added with a grin. "One of the hundred promises Combeferre made us do. Breaking one of them means immediate removal and a temporarily cold shoulder from the triumvirate."
Enjolras still didn't really understand what was going on, but he felt his lips twitching and soon enough, his face broke out into a smile. He curled against Combeferre, accepting the – much desired – cup of cinnamon tea and selected the first horror movie.
And though he couldn't keep his eyes open for longer than 40 minutes, in the presence of his best friends, he felt much better already.
The end