#corivan

Except his head is spinning as if he is rolling around the room and he should figure out what to do after his two last tissues are gone. Because they will be soon.

Something tickles inside his nose and he grabs a tissue just in time before he sneezes. With half closed eyes and a vein pulsing on his forehead with pain and annoyance, Kolivan stares at the last tissue hanging out of the box. Last one and he feels like he is counting minutes before this one will be gone too.

A knock on the door startles him and breaks his impromptu staring contest with the tissue. His eyes flick to the wall clock and then to his planner. Today are not his office hours and there is also no appointment scheduled. Normally the only person who dares to come along unannounced…

Kolivan watched the door open and a mop of red hair peek inside.

Coran.

The last person he needs right now.

“Hello dearest.” Coran waltzes in like this is his living room and he had just walked in from the kitchen. “I was just passing by and thought I might see how you are doing with the essays.”

Kolivan rubs at his forehead before he forces on a smile. He hopes he doesn’t look to snotty.

“It’s going well.”

A ‘I’m half done’ dances on his tongue, but he and Coran have been together long enough for Coran to know his habits in and out. The right pile is the finished one and it’s the smaller one, so there is no fooling Coran.

“What about a lunch together, it might…” Coran leans down to press a greeting kiss on Kolivan’s lips, who is hard pressed not to lean back – that would be too suspicious. But his hope that Coran won’t notice something is off dissipates into thin air when his partner’s eyes go wide after the kiss, and after his cheek rubbed against Kolivan’s.

“Oh cricket!”

A chilly palm is slapped onto Kolivan’s forehead and against his better judgement, he closes his eyes and leans into it.

“You are like a bloody furnace. You should be in bed right now.”

“I’m fine, Coran. It’s just a bit of runny nose.” Kolivan tries to convince him, but when he opens his eyes and sees the look Coran is giving him, squinting at him like he had just caught a child stealing a lollipop from his store, Kolivan knows he is doomed. Well, he did knew that since the moment the door opened, if he is completely honest, but he was still hoping.

“Nonsense.” Coran grabs the essay Kolivan had just opened, and puts it back on the left pile. “This can wait. Right now you need to go back home and lie down. No discussion.” Coran cuts Kolivan off, when he opens his mouth, so he only lets out some air in a wheezing sigh.

“I can still… finish…”

There goes his last tissue, as Coran grabs it and presses it against Kolivan’s face before he can sneeze all over his student’s essays.

“You were saying, dearest?” Coran’s voice is dripping with thick-liquid sarcasm right into his ear as Kolivan blows his nose.

This is the worst. His next lesson in this subject for this class isn’t until next week, so he has plenty of time to finish grading the essays, but he wanted to be ahead of time because there is always too much to do and too little time. And now he will be out of commission for the rest of today, because no way is Coran letting him out of the bed earlier than tomorrow. Given he looks well enough then, of course. God damn. And he might also… Kolivan shudders when he remembers.

“We will go back home now and I will make you my grand-grand uncle’s secret recipe soup. It’s the best remedy one can wish for a cold.”

There it is. And no chance to run away, with Coran already holding Kolivan’s coat in his hands. Cursed be this cold.

Kolivan feels his nose running again, but all he can do is pull it back, because he has no more tissues left.

=

“Are you warm enough, dearest?”

There isn’t much but the tip of Kolivan’s nose peeking out of the blankets Coran had piled on him. When Coran started to gather these together after they came home, Kolivan pressed his lips into a thin line. Such amount was unnecessary. Aside from the runny nose and a slight head pounding, he was feeling fine.

But now, dressed in a tank top, a t-shirt and a hoodie, he is happy he has a pile to bury himself under. Because he is still feeling cold, his body wrecked by one shiver after another. That is definitely not warm enough.

Fingers curled into the layers of blankets, Kolivan pulls them tighter around his chin, sealing all of his body heat underneath.

“Tea…” he whispers, barely avoiding biting into his tongue. “Tea would help.” He forces out with difficulties, looking up when he feels a palm on his forehead.

Coran’s eyes are concerned.

“I’ll go and make you something much better than tea. And then you will take a long, healing nap. You will be feeling all better in an instant, then!” Coran’s smile is meant to be encouraging, but it just grinds in how pathetic Kolivan feels.

His body is sweating, but he is still cold and his eyelids are so, so heavy. Again and again they flutter close, but are pried open by some unseen force right after as Kolivan seems not to be able to keep them closed. He resigns and keeps staring at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of Coran busying around in the kitchen that spill into the bedroom.

The rooms are right across each other, but the sounds are muted, like they are fighting their way through a thick curtain. Kolivan wishes the curtain was real, made out of a thick, warm fabric and he could wrap it around himself atop of all these blankets.

He doesn’t notice when his body starts to buzz, but when realizes it does, he can’t unfeel it anymore. It’s like his body wants to crawl out of its own skin. It forces him to toss and turn when he wants to stay still, because every movement makes him feel colder.

Kolivan misses Coran’s footsteps as he returns and startles when he sees him standing right next to the bed.

“Shhh, it’s just me.”

Fingers stroke messy hair loosened from his braid from his forehead.

“Tired,” Kolivan mumbles, his lips dry and cracking. How did his state got so bad so quickly?

“Just do me a little favor, alright? Drink this small cup all empty and then you can sleep all you want. You will feel plenty better after you wake up.”

Needles dig into his back when Coran nudges him to sit up. Kolivan is sure he is leaning against him more than he should, but Coran doesn’t say even one word, just lifts the cup up to Kolivan’s lips. A faint whiff of lemon and garlic hits him and he is suddenly happy his nose is clogged up, otherwise the scent might have knocked him unconscious right here and now. The liquid burns down his throat and for the span of one second, Kolivan wonders if it’s because it’s hot or because of something else. Then he closes his eyes and just swallows, one large gulp after another until the cup really is empty.

“There, see. That wasn’t so bad, right?”

A nod is the only answer he can muster enough energy for before he slides back under the blankets, curling together in search of warmth.

His eyes fall closed and this time his lids stay down. It still takes him a while before he falls asleep. The only thing he is aware of before he drifts off are the shudders of his body and the cooling palm on his cheek, with the thumb slowly stroking over his cheekbone.

=

The first thing Kolivan notices when he wakes up is the dark. The second thing he notices is the absence of the shivering and the cold; his body temperature seems to be evened out again.

The third thing he notices is the sliver of light under the door. He has no clue how late it is, if it’s still afternoon, evening or night, but either way Coran has to be still up. With careful, slow steps he slips into the hallway.

“Coran?” Kolivan finds him in the living room, curled in his favorite chair. With a blanket tucked around his legs (they still had any blankets left? How?), with a book in his fingers and with his reading glasses on. He looks up when Kolivan enters, a smile spreading over his lips.

“Kolivan. I see you are feeling better.”

“Plenty better.” Kolivan uses his exact words and smiles back. “Seems like your magical remedy helped.”

“Of course, it always does. You shouldn’t be up yet, though. The remedy is not as magical as to cure you completely with just a few gulps, after all.”

“And I was sure I could get dressed and head to finish grading those essays already.” Kolivan leans down to press a short kiss on Coran’s lips, who accepts it before patting Kolivan’s arm.

“Hardly. It’s almost one in the morning. What you should do instead is head back to bed.”

“That seems like a good idea. But I think with someone at my side instead of in this chair would help me sleep better and get well faster.” His fingers sneak down to pick the book out of Coran’s hands.