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General Info

No allergies; sensitive to touch.

Only notices he is sick when the symtpoms get bad. Will hide and deny if something is looking forward to is coming up or if he is working on an interesting case. Otherwise big baby.

Normal Sneezes

Sort-of sneezy.

Kitten.

Average wetness.

Average buildup.

Sneezes in groups of three.

Stifles hands-free.

Silent stifle; no head bob.

Sick Sneezes

Loud.

Wet.

Long buildup.

Sneezes a lot.

August 30th, 2026

It happened a week into filming.

They had been filming at the cottage for the first few days, and it had been a lot of fun so far. It reminded Hudson of the tail-end of filming for last season, how nobody knew what their futures held. He for sure thought he was going to have to go back to work, taking people's orders with a tight smile as they barely tipped anything.

Though, it had been a pretty heavy first week already. Connor had his scene with Irina's actress on the first day, which — jeez. A pretty loaded first day to have on set. Whatever Jacob wanted, Jacob got.

Connor killed the scene, of course. It was amazing to watch how his costar morphed into the Russian character over the past few weeks. It's as if Connor was the puppet, and Ilya was the puppet master. Scary, in a way.

Connor had been reading Dostoevsky and binging old Soviet movies to get into Ilya's character, which was honestly genius to Hudson. Hudson started to pick up some quirks of Shane to get into his character again, just as he did for season 1.

The mini fridge in his trailer was stocked with ginger ale, city seltzers, caffeinated celsius, and he even got into the habit of watching some past hockey games on his phone before bed. His diet adapted to Shane's, his music taste, basically everything. He was still himself, of course, but these things really helped. Method acting.

Connor would normally be staying at Hudson's house for the shoot, but he insisted that he wanted to spend the first week of filming in his little rental downtown. Hudson was super fortunate that he lived close to set, meaning that he got to sleep in his own home. Especially when he awoke with a sore ass throat on day 7 of filming.

He sat up in bed with a soft groan, a hand immediately coming up to prod at his neck. Fuck, his lymph nodes were swollen fat already. They always puffed up every time he caught colds, minuscule or not. How had he managed to get sick a week into filming, in the middle of the fucking summertime —

Okay, maybe it wasn't so bad. Hopefully.

Hudson whispered some curse words to himself while he got dressed right out of bed, stepping into a comfortable pair of sweatpants and a random t-shirt. It was warm outside, so he couldn't just throw on his comfort hoodie too. The sweatpants would have to do for now.

Wait wait wait. He wasn't woken up by an alarm — FUCK! Fuck. Fuck.

Hudson stumbled out of the house in his new balances, thrusting the keys into his car as he plopped down into the drivers seat. He hadn't even checked his phone in his state of rush. He'd never been late to set before, ever. He could not muck this up for himself. Well, he wouldn't be fired if he was late. He was the main character — that's besides the point.

Hudson took a second to glance at his phone as he came up to a red light. It was only 06:50, thank god. He was not late.

He had missed out on his and Connors daily morning workout/run before they were scheduled for the makeup chairs, though. Shit.

Hudson drove like a sane person for the rest of the ride, forcing himself to relax. It was fine. Connor wouldn't be mad at him.

Hudson pulled up to the little secluded parking lot next to the trailers, parking in his designated spot right in the corner. Nice and snug.

He got out of his car, taking his phone and keys with him. Thankfully, he had left his scripts in his trailer from yesterday's shoot day.

Hudson padded over to the makeup trailer, attempting to flatten his bedhead as he went. He was surprisingly on time, opening the trailer door at exactly 07:01.

"Hey, good morning ladies," Hudson greeted the several makeup artists in the trailer as he sat in the first chair he laid eyes on. God, the halo of lights around the mirrors were killing his eyes today.

"Morning, handsome!" greeted Nikki, Hudson's usual makeup artist for the morning schedule. "Connor has been looking everywhere for you."

"Ah, shit," Hudson blinked, watching as Nikki brought over her makeup bag to where he had stationed himself. It kind of felt like he was watching himself from across the room. He wasn't in his own head. "Yeah. I woke up kinda late, missed our workout. Is he upset?"

Nikki shook her head, looking at Hudson in the mirror. "He was mostly just worried. It's not like you to sleep in, Hudson."

Hudson scrubbed at his eyes, rubbing the sleep from them. "I'll talk to him."

Nikki hummed in agreement, getting a clean makeup pad out to prep Hudson's skin for some faux freckles and spinning his chair a little to face her. Hudson closed his eyes as he felt her hand on his jaw, allowing her to do her work.

Nikki pursued her lips, a thumb rubbing circles over Hudson's cheekbone. "You're warm.."

Hudson opened his eyes a little, closing them again at how bright the room was. "I pretty much just woke up. Had to rush out the house like a crazy person."

Nikki squinted at the random information, dotting the freckle pen on Hudson's nose bridge and under eye area, bleeding across to the apples of his cheeks.

"Alright, gorgeous. All good to go," Nikki put her equipment back into her little bag, standing up from the chair she dragged over.

Hudson jolted a little as her hand left his face, forcing himself to be in the moment. He felt so tired. "Mm, thank you. Good work. Amazing. Spectacular."

After exiting the makeup trailer, Hudson made his way into the building that Jacob and his team had rented out for a couple extra set rooms. He walked into the wardrobe section, silently appreciating how everything was straight forward and organised.

Hudson's clothing wrack for the day had been set up and ordered perfectly by a very hardworking wardrobe designer. He got dressed into the outfit, taking a look in the mirror. He was wearing a dark grey cotton hoodie with a pair of blue pyjama pants, along with some white above the ankle socks and a pair of comfortable reebok sneakers from last season. Nice.

Hudson continued to ignore the odd ache in his bones as he stepped out of the room, taking a walk around the building to go to the main parking lot out front after retrieving his backpack from his trailer. It was just going to be Hudson and Connor for the first morning shoot, as usual.

Hudson took a ride on scheduled time from a quiet man from the Transportation Department in a nice blue Honda Civic, allowing his eyes to rest for the whole ride as he kept his script open on his lap out of his backpack. Everything was so different now. He missed when he was allowed to drive Connor himself to the sets instead of — whatever this was, no offence to the quiet driver.

"— ir? Sir?"

Hudson jolted alert for the third time that day, blinking at the driver who was actively attempting to verbally get his attention. Oh, they were here. How long had he dozed off for? Jesus.

"Fuck — sorry, man. Thank you," Hudson nodded to the driver, grabbing his backpack and script and getting the fuck out of the car. He needed to get his head into the game, he was slacking. Lock in, Hudson.

Hudson glanced up at the familiar house from season 1, sending a smile to the crew members he couldn't immediately recognise who were stood outside. They were booked to film in Ilya's Ottawa house for the whole day, so that meant they were filming the boxing day fight first — and then the Halloween party afterwards. A long day of back and fourths for costume changes in a strangers car to come. Hooray..

Hudson peered into the house from the doorway, watching as the cameras were being put together by four members of the camera crew.

There was a rapid fleury of motion before Hudson even caught sight of him. Connor was stood by a fully assembled camera 1, bouncing on his toes slightly, as if trying to still his own excitement as he waved at Hudson. "Huddy!"

Connor was clad in a long sleeve navy shirt with some Adidas sports shorts, Adidas sliders on his feet to top it off. Ilya had style.

Hudson smiled, flashing his teeth at the sight. He had only seen Connor last night, but the sight never got boring. "Baby.. hi, hello."

"I missed you this morning!" Connor mumbled, quickly stepping over the mess of camera gear on the floor to come greet Hudson. "What happened, huh?"

Hudson shook his head, blowing out a raspberry as he exhaled. "Those stupid.. apple alarms. They're so ass, I don't think mine went off."

Connor cooed to himself, looking back at the camera crew. "Alright, come. Practice with me before they finish setting up. C'mon."

Hudson followed after Connor over the camera gear, clutching his script in his hand. Connor took Hudson to a far wall, reading his own script that he had. There were multiple annotations and sticky notes on Connor's script.

"I am so not ready to see your eyes as I tell Shane to go home, oh my god," Connor muttered to himself as he eyed his own script, a hand ghosting over his own lips. Hudson loved recognising how Connor's accent was a mix of Texan and Russian while talking to him on set. It was so endearing.

Hudson cleared his throat, wincing at the flare of pain as the phlegm rattled against the inflamed walls of his throat. "You owe me your lucky cigarette once we're done."

Connor gently whacked at Hudson's arm with his rolled up script, his smile reaching his eyes. "Okay, fair enough. Remind me."

"Hi, guys!" Hannah, the intimacy coordinator stepped over to them seemingly out of thin air. No seriously, where had she come from? Hudson hadn't even seen her when he stepped inside. His head felt full of fog.

"Good morning," Connor greeted her with a gentle smile, cocking his head in the way that he naturally did. "So, the little fight is going to be coordinated?"

Hannah nodded in confirmation, holding a singular sheet of script in her hands that highlighted the little section that would be the main focus. "Mhm! Would you like to practice it with my help?"

Hudson found himself nodding with a little smile, glancing at Connor. He wasn't aware that a hand to a chest needed to be coordinated, but okay. This lady had a job to do.

"Alright, so," she clasped her hands. "Hudson, you're going to be against the wall. Any wall for now, exact placing does not matter for practice. As you know."

Hudson blinked, pressing himself against the wall that was right behind him. "Like this?"

Hannah nodded. "Great. Then Connor, you're going to be stood in-front of him. Your right hand will be coming up to the centre of Hudson's chest, then it will swiftly move to the wall once Ilya has realised what he's done. Okay?"

Connor nodded, bringing his hand up and placing it on Hudson's chest over his hoodie. It felt like the world paused for a moment as Connor's brow furrowed, a look of concern painting his face.

"Are you okay?" Hudson found himself asking Connor, blinking at the man eye level with him.

Connor scoffed a little, quirking a brow. This man was the most expressive person on the planet. "I should be asking you that — baby, you're burning up. I can feel you through this hoodie."

Hudson glanced down at Connor's hand on his chest, a little taken back by how his Russian accent had suddenly vanished. He must be serious. "It's, like, 100 degrees outside. I'm in a hoodie and some fuckass pyjama pants, on top of that."

Connor didn't listen, moving the hand that was on Hudson's chest up to the man's forehead. "That's — okay, definitely a fever. Why didn't you tell me you felt sick, Huddy?" Connor asked, his tone sounding genuinely distraught.

Hudson's mouth opened and closed, desperate to fix Connor's sudden grief. "I don't feel that bad, alright? I promise."

Connor shook his head, mumbling something to Hannah, who then padded off into the direction of where the crew was. Moments later, she returned with Jacob. How hadn't Hudson noticed Jacob when he came in, either? This whole day was so weird. Fever dream. Fever. Oh.. yeah, he definitely had one.

"Ooh.. okay," Jacob squinted at Hudson, adjusting his stance. "Yeah, I can tell something's up from just looking at you. Alright. I think you should head home for the day. Pretty sure something is going around the team."

A scoff left Hudson before he could think to stifle it, his lip curling. "What — I'm okay to work. I'm good. We have — a lot to film later. I'm okay."

Jacob shook his head, glancing at Connor. "Yeah, no. That's exactly why you should take the day off. All that work will go to waste, Hud. Your whole demeanour is totally shot."

Connor gave a pinch to Hudson's waist in support, worrying at his lower lip as he too agreed with Jacob's words.

"I can — I'm capable," Hudson tried to explain, frantically grasping words from his head. "We're on a schedule."

Jacob patted Hudson's shoulder, glancing at Connor once more. "Take him back to the trailers. There's a rapid flu test, and also a covid test in the bathroom. Use those on him. Get back to me."

"Yessir," Connor mumbled, bringing his hand up to the back of Hudson's neck to steer him out. Fuck, that felt great. Heavenly. He felt like a little cat being carried by it's scruff for some before bedtime milk.

Before Hudson could even verbalise words of disagreement, he was being buckled into the passenger seat of Connor's car.

"They let you drive here, but not me? Crazy.." Hudson mumbled, furrowing his brow at the script in his lap.

Connor smiled to himself, now sat in the driver's seat. "I got here early, I wasn't aware that they wanted private drivers for us. Anyways — save your voice. Quiet now."

Connor had to remind Hudson about how they were currently in company owned clothing, so they had to change. All of the bending over and stretching was making his head dizzy, so Connor helped where he could; tying Hudson's laces and putting his Shane outfit back on the clothing rack.

They got back into the car to drive up the length of the trailers to save Hudson's leftover energy.

Hudson lapped at his dry lips, pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth to quell a sudden irritation in his nose. Had he really managed to catch a cold during the summer? Someone must be praying for his downfall. This was going to affect everything, the schedule, the deadline —

"Number two, Hudson Williams.. here we are," Connor voiced out loud as he parked near Hudson's trailer, giving his thigh a pat. That was fast..

Hudson watched as Connor got out and quickly came around to the passenger side, opening his door for him and unbuckling his seatbelt. Hudson shamelessly held onto Connor's arm to get out of the car, trusting the other to lead them to his trailer.

"You're crashing.." Connor quietly noted, walking Hudson to his trailer.

Hudson took a breath, stepping blindly into the now open trailer door. "I don't know, maybe. I feel a little grosser than before. If that's — even a word in the English language."

Connor frowned, making sure that Hudson sat down on his little couch so he wouldn't be following him around. "I should have known something was up with you.."

Connor soon returned from wherever he had went holding two of the tests that Jacob had requested to be done in his hands. Connor perched next to Hudson, opening one of the tests. "Am I okay to do this for you, baby?"

Hudson hummed at the pet name, opening his eyes to see what the hell was going on. His discomfort must have shown on his face, seeing how quickly Connor put down the test somewhere to his side and placed a comforting hand on Hudson's thigh. "Hey, it's okay. It's fine."

Hudson let himself grimace at the thought of getting something shoved up his nose. Definitely wasn't the most comfortable thing ever. "Gentle.."

"I'll be so gentle, don't even worry about that," Connor mumbled, preparing the test again. "Okay, flu first. Then the covid test."

"Or we just do one.." Hudson mumbled with a cocky smile, a little weaker than his usual one.

Connor grinned to himself, holding the little swab in his hand. "We'll see, okay? Maybe it'll be one and done."

Hudson nodded, taking a deep breath. He was so brave, he could absolutely do this without a fuss. So brave. So grown. A very brave 25 year old man.

As soon as Hudson felt Connor's hand on his jaw, his shoulders fell down a little, along with his eyes falling shut. This wouldn't be so bad if Connor continued to hold him like that. "Okay, 'm ready."

"Quick in and out for both nostrils. Don't try to move away or it will feel so much worse," Connor stated, bringing the swab up to Hudson's nose.

Hudson squished his eyes tighter at the odd intrusion, which resulted in Connor rubbing his cheekbone. "You're okay. So good, Hudson. Almost done."

"Huuh!" Hudson hitched, trying his best to stay still so Connor could get a good swab as the stick dipped into his right nostril, and then his left. It tickled so bad. "Hhuhfuck.."

"All done!" Connor removed the swab, the hand that was on Hudson's jaw now dipping down onto his shoulder, rubbing comforting circles into the material of his shirt. "Good job — "

Hudson couldn't even warn Connor before he was ducking down and interrupting him, closing a tight fist over his nose and mouth. "Huh-dt'shou! Hhu—hDZ'shoo!"

"Buh-less you! You okay?" Connor asked, tilting down a little so he could see Hudson's face. If that was anyone else, they would have jumped back in disgust at the sight of such a potentially contagious show. Connor was one of a kind, for sure.

Hudson rubbed his fist against his nose to get rid of the tickle, squinting open his eyes. "God — yeah. Fuckin' hated that."

Connor frowned down at the test in his hands, rubbing the used swab in the little sample well so they could get out of here as soon as possible. "Hopefully we won't need to do another."

Hudson nodded, grasping for the tissue box that was situated on a little coffee table to his right. "It's probably just a cold. I don't know why Jacob.. freaked out like that."

"He didn't necessarily freak out," Connor eyed the test in his hand, waiting for Hudson's result. "I think he's just a little stressed. Sicknesses spreading isn't exactly taken into consideration by the team in the summertime. Everyone's just a little setback. That isn't your fault, okay?"

Hudson sighed, already being able to predict the future. Twitter was going to go fucking crazy when they find out about a filming setback. This was all so fucked.

Connor swiped a hand through Hudson's black hair, pressing a hand to his forehead again. The coolness of the others hand felt good against his fever ridden skin. "Mm.. I wish you could come home with me."

"I mean.. I probably could. All of my scenes that were due today were with you," Connor recalled, rubbing his knuckles against the faux freckles on Hudson's skin out of habit.

Hudson hummed to himself with a sniffle at the thought of going home with Connor, squinting down at the flu test in Connor's hand. "Am I pregnant?"

Connor snickered a little, following Hudson's eyes to the test. His smile faded as he read the result. One fat red line, and a little pink one beneath it. Shit! "Poor baby. Summer flu."

Hudson couldn't stop the disappointed whine that slipped past his lips as he grasped for Connor's forearm in a sudden panic. "Wait — wait, fuck, we practically kissed, like, 500 times yesterday. Fuck!"

"Don't fret about something that hasn't happened yet. Let's just get you home. Up."

Hudson miserably sighed, continuing to hold onto Connor's forearm as they both stood. Connor grabbed Hudson's script for the day off the couch, placing it under his arm with his own script for safe measure.

Hudson tugged at his eyelashes with his free hand, looking around the room for something before they left. "I need my backpack.. scripts.."

Connor swiped Hudson's backpack that was on the carpet by the door, tossing it over his own shoulder. After stepping back out of the trailer, Hudson was led to his own car and disposed into the passenger seat once again.

Connor got into Hudson's driver seat, fishing out his phone from his pocket. "I'm gonna let Jacob know about your flu, then we can go. Sounds good?"

"Yeeeessss.." Hudson drew out, resting his forehead against the cold glass of his window. Wasn't exactly on brand for a Skin1004 ambassador, but that was a problem for future Hudson. Present Hudson couldn't give less of a fuck.

Hudson closed his eyes and listened to Connor's thumbs tapping against his phone screen, tugging at the seatbelt that was currently digging into the sore meat of his pecs.

Connor buried his phone back into his pocket, starting up Hudson's car as he had done multiple times in the past. "How were you feeling this morning?"

Hudson blinked, picking at some lint on his sweatpants. "I had a little bit of a sore throat."

"'A little bit' he says, as I just witnessed a positive flu test in my hand," Connor shook his head, keeping his eyes on the road as he drove them en route to Hudson's house. Because of course he knew the way.

"I did!" Hudson's voice pitched a little, causing him to cough into his elbow from the tickle in his throat. "I thought it was just allergies or some shit. Not a whole ass flu."

"Okayyyy.. to be fair, they do come on real fast. Okay fine, I believe you."

Hudson beamed a smile at Connor, sinking his head back onto the window. "As usual."

"As usual," Connor pursued his lips into a little smile, his cheeks dimpling.

—

Hudson was immediately hoarding the couch the second they stepped foot into his house. The thought of going up all of those stairs to get to his bed sounded like a bad idea, so this was good enough for him. Connor took off Hudson's shoes for him, placing them in the little shoe compartment by the door.

Connor stepped into Hudson's kitchen and put some fresh water in Gizmo's bowl, petting the cat who was now on the kitchen countertop to greet him. Connor fished out some medicine that he knew was in Hudson's stocked up cabinet, grabbing some Tylenol and some DayQuil.

"Have you eaten today?" Connor popped his head out from the kitchen, eyeing the man on the couch.

"No," Hudson sniffled, rubbing the skin on the bridge of his nose up to try get some leverage on his increasingly runny sinuses.

Connor silently tutted at the information, clearly not happy with the answer. Fasting until 1pm was not his personal cup of tea.

Connor quickly prepared something that he knew Hudson would eat, some graham crackers with a light coat of almond butter spread on them. He had to have something solid in him before taking medicine.

Hudson managed to digest the crackers between sips of water, appreciating the gesture from Connor. Connor's nature to provide was extremely endearing to Hudson. It was one of the first things he noticed about the Texan.

Hudson was surprisingly cooperative with taking the medicine. Connor made sure that he tilted his chin down to make swallowing easier, but Hudson still winced at the flare of his sore throat.

"Alright, I can't just mope around all day. I feel useless. Can we do something? Can we go for the run we missed?" Hudson mumbled, reaching for the man who was at the opposite end of the couch.

Connor raised his brows, coming to rest in-between Hudson's awaiting legs. "Hellllll no are we going for a run. You're sick with the flu, if you forgot. Stayin' right here where I can see you."

Hudson pouted a little, squishing at Connor's left earlobe. "Fine, fine. Can we script read? Please?"

"Smarter than your previous idea. I don't see why not," Connor shrugged, moving to get up so he could retrieve their scripts from where he left them by the front door. He could never say no when Hudson pulled out the Shane eyes.

Hudson grinned as his script was plonked into his lap, picking it up and turning to the relevant pages with a newfound enthusiasm. "Thank you, baby. Okay. Start from page 133. Sdnff! I want to practice the Halloween party scene again."

Connor sat at the foot of the couch as he flipped for the page, deciding to give Hudson his space so they could read whatever scenes that Hudson wanted to go over. "Ooh, okay. Fun."

Hudson sat up a little more, holding his script in both hands. "Alright. Shane was standing on the doorstep in a puffy jacket, looking a little embarrassed," Hudson illustrated, crossing his legs on the couch.

"I didn't want to use my key and scare the shit out of you," Hudson mumbled, speaking in his soft Shane voice with a slight rasp. "Oh wow. That costume is even better in person. Sdnff."

"Ilya blinked, unable to find words," Connor added, smiling at the tone of Hudson's voice. It didn't help that the man still had on his Shane freckles.

Hudson prodded at his nose before he began. "Shane let out a shhhaky breath — huhh.."

"You don't actually have to perform the shaky breath — "

"UHHDzj'shuu!" Hudson tensed up, pushing his elbow up to his nose as he dropped his script onto his lap.

"Oh, bless you baby! I thought that was — never mind. Are you okay?" Connor leaned over, a hand on Hudson's shin.

Hudson nodded, fumbling for his script again. "Fuck.. yeah. Sorry — continue. Oh, it was my turn. Okay," Hudson dragged his finger over the dialogue on his script to find where he interrupted. Connor kept a hand on Hudson's leg as they continued.

"Alright, Shane let out a shaky breath. "This is probably so stupid. I have to be back in Montreal for practice tomorrow morning, and — "

Connor interrupted at the em dash, talking in his narrative Texan accent. "He didn't get to finish that sentence, because Ilya was hauling him into the house and kissing him at the same time. He pressed Shane against — "

"HhU'Dtz'shoou!"

"Bless you! — a wall inside the door and devoured him while Shane ran his hands over Ilya's mostly bare back. He couldn't believe he was here. All night he'd been dying inside, wishing he could have the man he loved at his side. Wishing Shane was in his arms, in his lap, in a ridiculous costume, in front of everyone," Connor continued to rub Hudson's leg, dipping up to his thigh.

"Do you require some tissues, sneezy?" Connor asked peeping over his script.

Hudson sniffled, nodding as he kept his eyes on the script. "Mm, there's some in the bathroom cabinet."

Connor hopped up to retrieve the tissues, eager to get back to Hudson. Hudson smiled as he was handed the box. "Thank youuuu."

"You're welcomeeee," Connor huddled back up to his spot, giving Hudson's thigh a soft squeeze. Hudson kept the tissue box on his chest as they continued, the box staying held up by his pecs. Impressive.

"You smell like weed-," Hudson said, making a face as if he'd smelt something gnarly. "-Shane said when Ilya finally let him breathe. So how're they going to make you look high?"

Connor hummed, glancing at Hudson. "Eyedrops. I don't think he's high in this scene, he only took a couple hits."

Hudson made a face of approval, looking back at his script.

"You'd know," Connor spoke, putting on his Ilya accent for his line.

"I know what weed smells like, Shane said, testily," Hudson sniffled, tugging at his eyelashes as he yawned. "Testily.."

"Ilya grinned at him," Connor showed his teeth to Hudson. "You're here."

Hudson grinned at Connor's smile, continuing to read. "Yeah, Shane smiled shyly. Is that okay? You sent that photo — sndff! — and I've just been — fuck, I missed you so much."

"Ilya kissed him again, then said, you want to get fucked by a gladiator, Hollander?" Connor gave another squeeze to Hudson's thigh.

Hudson squirmed where he sat, his nose twitching ever so slightly. "Shane gazed up at him through h-hhis dark lashes. I put a plug in before I.. leFTHhU'dZ'Shoo! Hhuh!"

Connor jumped at the abrupt sneeze that erupted from Hudson, his fingers curling into the material of Hudson's sweatpants for comfort. "Fucking — bless you! Jesus, Huddy."

Hudson coughed into his elbow, plucking a handful of tissues from the box resting on his pecks. He gave his nose a shameless blow, clamping his eyes shut as the mucus audibly rattled deep inside his sinuses. "Let's just start over."

Connor stretched a little, putting his script to the side. "I think that's enough for today. You look so sleepy."

"You're leaving?" Hudson mumbled, his brow furrowing as he inhaled.

"No," Connor said, patting Hudson's thigh. "I'm also pretty tired. Wouldn't hurt to nap."

Hudson nodded, thinking back to season 1 when they napped together all of the time. He always awoke with Connor's hand around his waist, or resting on his stomach. How could he forget? "Alright, but I'd rather deep throat the exhaust pipe of my car than climb the stairs right now."

Connor squeaked a laugh, biting at his lower lip as he massaged Hudson's thigh. "Fine, we can stay on the couch."

Hudson nodded with an over exaggerated smile, tearing off his shirt. The fever flush that painted Hudson's cheeks dipped down onto his pecs, making them pink. Connor did the same, taking off his hoodie. "Skin to skin is great for fevers."

"You just made that up.." Hudson chuckled, his speech starting to slur from how tired he was getting. Hudson moved his hips down, grabbing a pillow and placing it under his head.

Connor perched himself on the outside of the couch, clutching onto Hudson so he could get comfortable without falling off the edge.

"No, on me!" Hudson mumbled, brow furrowed once again.

Connor put a leg over Hudson, resting his chest on Hudson's as he buried his face into the other's neck. "Like this?" he asked, speech muffled by skin.

Hudson hummed happily, basking in the familiar comforting weight on his chest. "Mm. Yes."

Connor closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of Hudson's fever against his skin. It should be uncomfortable, being so close to someone so scorching hot in the depths of August, but Connor was content. The summers he spent growing up in Texas had all been for this very moment.

Connor opened his eyes as he began to feel Hudson's chest swell under his own, a soft hitching catching his attention. Hudson turned his head up to the left, not to accidentally spray the man on his chest. "Hh! HH'DJzs'shou!"

Connor bounced on Hudson's ribs with the movement, his hands moving to rub at Hudson's waist after pressing a little kiss to Hudson's neck where his face was buried. "Bless you."

Hudson sniffled, clearing his throat. "Thank you, baby. Sorry, I'll probably be doing that a lot."

Connor pressed another tiny kiss to the crook of Hudson's neck. "That's fine. I know."

—

The next morning, both men were curled up on the couch with hot cups of honey tea.

Connor had known he was fucked the second he woke up. He was greeted by a sore throat and buzzing sinuses.

They shared an ice pack between them, taking turns to rub the ice on the other's chest and neck. Connor hadn't been upset at all, instead, he continued to care for Hudson even though he too was sporting the same flu.