#dadscar

"Oh god dabbit." Eridan buried his face in his pillow, hoping against hope that if he just ignored it a little longer the tickle in his throat would go away and he'd actually be able to breathe properly again.

No dice.

Dammit.

"Eri, it's time to get up. You're going t' be late." 

His dad's voice carried easily through Eridan's bedroom door, and for a moment he considered just burying himself under the pile of blankets he'd collected. But no, Dualscar wouldn't tolerate shirking from anyone, much less his youngest son, and so, with a groan, Eridan levered himself out of his warm cocoon.

"I'm ub." Eridan called, and got a grunt of confirmation before footsteps headed down the hall towards Cronus' room.

Dressing was a pain in the ass, with all of his clothes feeling like sandpaper against his skin, and nothing feeling like it was quite warm enough. Eventually Eridan gave up and just threw everything on in layers, ignoring fashion in favor of warmth before heading downstairs to wait for Cronus.

Downstairs was, as usual, basically a riot, with Cronus and Dualscar arguing about what the hell ever yet again, and Eridan cringed as the noise made itself a nice cozy little nest of throbbing pain in his temples. 

It wasn't until a cool hand settled on the back of his neck that he realized that Dualscar was standing right in front of him, watching him with concerned eyes and a furrowed brow.

"You're sick." Dualscar said, his voice flat, and Eridan snuffled miserably.

"I can still go to school." 

"Cronus left five minutes ago." 

"Oh."

Dualscar sighed, tightening his hold on the back of Eridan's neck for a moment, then releasing him. "Couch, kid. And take your outdoor shit off."

Silently, Eridan complied, hanging his coat back up and kicking his shoes back into the closet before curling up in a little ball of misery against the arm of the couch and dozing off. 

The soft 'flumph' of blankets landing on the couch next to him jerked him back to awareness, and Dualscar tugged and pulled and pushed him into position until he was stretched out and wrapped snugly in what felt like half the blankets in the house.

"I'm turnin' the television on, but you should sleep if you can." Dualscar said firmly, and tossed the remote control into Eridan's lap, "See if y'can text one a your friends t'bring you your work, too."

"Yeah, okay." Eridan rasped, "thanks dad."