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Mork woke up to the alarm blaring, and also with a pounding headache that felt like his brain would burst out of his skull at any moment. He groaned and switched off the alarm, and also putting his phone on silent. Any more noise would really end him. He hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night. Turns out, walking home in the rain may result in you falling sick. It had started with a slight fever, but he had managed to fall asleep for sometime, until the headache started. Also, maybe it was just his luck, but his parents weren’t home either. His mother had to attend an international conference and his father was visiting his grandparents.
He stumbled to his table and took some medicine for the headache and fever. Meen had got those for him last night. Then he went back into his bed, trying to will the headache to stop, and get some sleep.
_
Mork woke up feeling sweaty, the headache finally gone. This was probably the third time he woke up in a day. He didn’t recall much of what he did when he woke up around noon, except that his head felt heavy and he wanted more sleep. It was kind of dark outside now. He had basically slept the whole day. He had pushed the covers from his body, when his bedside lamp switched on, making him jump.
“Hey.” A soft voice. He felt a hand on his shoulder which made him jump again, as he quickly turned his head to see who it was.
“It’s me, it’s me. Calm down.” Pi chuckled, seeing him scared out of his wits.
Mork stared at him wide-eyed. Pi was in his house, in his room, sitting next to him on his bed. It felt surreal.
“Are you feeling better?” Pi asked, his voice thick with concern. He leaned closer to him and moved his hand to his forehead, then to his neck, checking for temperature. “You still have fever.”
“You’re here.” Mork whispered. It felt like if he spoke louder, he would actually wake up and Pi would be gone.
“Huh?” Pi looked at him confused. “Of course, I’m here.”
Mork felt his lips curl into a smile. The soft yellow light from the lamp was illuminating Pi"s face rather beautifully. Pi was really with him. But…
“Come on, sit up.” He slid his hand behind his neck, supporting his shoulders and helping him sit up. “I bet you haven’t eaten anything. Let’s get you some food, probably a change of clothes…” He pushed two pillows behind his back, helping him lean against the headboard.
“Wait, how did you get in? And, how did you know that I’m sick?”
Pi pursed his lips and sighed. “Meen told me and he was the one who let me in.” He climbed off the bed, making his way to Mork’s wardrobe.
“How long have you been here?” Mork asked curious.
Pi looked through Mork’s clothes and pulled out a tshirt and sweatpants, tossing them to him. “An hour or so.”
Mork sighed. Pi really just sat next to him for an hour. He hadn’t seen this side of him much, the caring side. It had been mostly him, taking care of Pi. Now that he was being cared for, it made him feel really good.
“I’ll go get your food.” He almost walked out of the room when he stopped and looked back at him. Mork could see him hesitating before speaking, “Umm…do you need help…you know…with changing?” His eyes darted from him to the floor to the headboard and back to him.
Mork couldn’t stop himself from smiling. They weren’t there yet, but the fact that Pi even asked him was quite touching. Any other time, he would have teased him, saying something flirtatious, but now he just smiled and shook his head. It seemed like Pi was biting back a smile himself as he left his room.
He slipped off his sweaty clothes and wore the fresh ones that Pi had given him, and grabbed his phone. Going through the notifications he realized that almost all of them were from Pi. 12 missed calls and 17 texts.
7:30 AM Hey! Good morning *heart emoji*
7:53 AM Did you reach university?
8:04 AM Hello? Are you there?
1 missed call
8:21 AM Are you still sleeping?
8:34 AM Don’t you have an important class today?
1 missed call
8:52 AM Why aren’t you picking up?
1 missed call
9:20 AM I have lab class now. Text me when you wake up, okay?
10:05 AM What the hell Mork! Where are you?
2 missed calls
10:27 AM I checked your faculty too.
10:27 AM You aren’t there!
1 missed call
10:34 AM Is your phone on silent or what? Why aren’t you picking up?
10:40 AM Text me back when you see these, okay?
11:30 AM Mork its been 4 hours.
11:34 AM Is this a prank?
1 missed call
12:12 AM I am getting worried.
12:25 AM Nan doesn’t know either. Mork, please pick up!
2 missed calls
01:20 PM I’m really worried. Where are you?
3 missed calls
Mork held his head in his hand. His blinding headache clearly made his brain to stop working. Why else had he not thought of texting Pi? Because of him Pi had gotten so worried.
“Are you still having a headache?” Pi was back with a bowl of steaming something. He quickly put it on the bedside table and sat next to him.
“No, no more headache.” Mork could see the concern in Pi’s eyes. “I’m so sorry Pi. I…I don’t know why I didn’t let you know…I…I couldn’t think in the morning…”
Pi’s expression went from slight confusion to realising what he was apologizing for.
“Hey, its okay.” Pi held his hand. “Its not your fault…I understand.”
“But I made you so worried.”
Pi sighed. “Yeah, but you’re fine. I mean you are sick, but its nothing scary. I can take care of you and heal you back to health.”
“So, you are not mad?”
Pi stared at him for a moment. “Actually I am mad. Meen told me that you walked home in the rain, yesterday. Didn’t you give me your umbrella, saying that Nan will drop you home after your class?”
“Umm...” Mork scratched the back of his head. “Nan had somewhere urgent to go, so he left early.”
Pi squinted at him, clearly not pleased. “Fine. It has happened already.” He held the bowl in his hands again, dipping a spoon in it and giving it a light stir. “This is chicken noodle soup. Its good to eat specially when you are sick. So, even if you don’t like it, you have to have this.” Pi filled the spoon halfway and brought it close to his mouth.
Mork’s brain almost stopped functioning. Was Pi going to feed him?
“Quick!”
Mork obliged like an obedient boyfriend. He didn’t know if it was because he hadn’t really eaten much that day or because he was sick, but the soup tasted really good. He wasn’t much of a fan of chicken noodle soup, but this one was blowing his mind.
“Mmm. Its really good.”
“Really?” He looked at Mork, eyes lighting up. Mork nodded. “Then you’ll probably like it even more when its spicy. I didn’t add any chillis or peppers because you are sick. Maybe when you get better, I will make it spicy for you...”
“Wait a minute…you made this?”
Pi smiled shyly, “Umm…yeah.”
Mork didn’t know if his body temperature was rising again or was it just warmth he felt hearing Pi’s words. This time before Pi could retract back his hand to fill up the spoon again, he pulled his hand to his cheek, rubbing the back of the hand against it. Pi’s hand felt cool on his skin, as he dragged it to his lips, kissing his knuckles. He could see Pi visibly blushing, but he didn’t pull his hand away.
“Thank you.” Mork whispered and released his hand slowly.
Pi smiled, his ears still slightly pink, as he continued to feed him.
_
Pi felt himself smile even as gave Mork his medicines. Mork had liked his soup. When it came to being caring, he often found himself sweating over things. What to say, what not to say, what he should do, what he shouldn’t do, but knowing that Mork was sick had him only thinking one thing, he had to be there for him.
He helped Mork lie down on the bed, adjusting the pillows and pulling the covers upto his chest. He saw Mork softly smiling at him, when he felt it. He had felt it many times, in simple, casual moments. Like when they would study at the library together and he would glance at Mork concentrating, wearing his black rimmed glasses, or when he would see Mork coming out of his faculty, while he waited for him outside or when Mork would put his head on his shoulder and complain to him about how tired he was and how he had so many assignments to submit.
“Mork?” He said softly.
“Hmm?” Mork’s eyes were already on him.
“I love you.”
He wasn’t sure before. He hadn’t felt like this before. It was nothing like what he felt for Nan. It took him time. He had to be sure. Because Mork had said it him, hundreds and thousands of times, never expecting to hear it to back. He knew Mork was sure, that Mork was baring his heart to him, he had done it before, and he kept doing it over and over again. Being loved by Mork felt amazing, it made his heart flutter and do cartwheels but what Pi realised was that loving him back felt even better, even more amazing. It was like getting hit by huge tidal wave but instead of knocking the air out of his lungs and drowning him, it gave him the ability to breathe underwater, exploring all that was beneath, all that was not visible from the shore.
He saw Mork’s eyes light up as he blinked at him a few times, lips curving into a smile. He could see the genuine happiness in his eyes and that just made Pi’s heart soar.
“I love you too.”
Pi bit his inner lip, feeling his ears getting warm again. “You should rest now.”
“Will you stay?”
Pi nodded, still smiling. He positioned himself up on his elbow above Mork’s pillow, and slowly ran his fingers through his hair with his other hand. It made Mork blush a little too as he closed his eyes.
“This isn’t a dream right?” Mork spoke after a minute or so.
“I guess you’ll find out in the morning.”
_
Sure enough, when Mork woke up the next morning, he felt an arm draped around his chest and he could feel shallow breaths on his hair. He smiled to himself as he turned his head to find his boyfriend sleeping next to him. He snuggled closer to him, adjusting himself so that he could face him.
Pushing back strands of hair from his eyes, he whispered to himself, “Guess its a dream come true.”