Chapter Text
"Okay… Uh huh."
Z blinked the sleep out of his eyes when he heard Robaire's voice coming from the living room. He hauled himself out of bed and plodded downstairs, where Robaire was on the phone. He must have come home from the hospital after he had fallen asleep.
"Alright. Okay, bye." Robaire hung up the phone, and jumped a bit when he saw Z standing behind him. "The doctor says they'll have to keep him there for a few days, but it's nothing life-threatening."
Z sat down on the couch. "Did they say what he had?"
"Pneumonia," said Robaire. "That explains the cough and chest pain."
"Pneumonia, how the hell do you get pneumonia in the middle of the friggin' summer?" Z sighed and shook his head. "I just hope he'll be okay."
"He should be," said Robaire. He put his hand over Z's. "I know you don't like when others see you cry. That's why I went with him instead of you."
Z was a bit surprised. "How did you know I cried last night?"
"Come on, you love T more than anyone else in the world. I knew you'd be broken up because something bad happened to him." Robaire sat up a bit. "Speaking of T, I also talked to his mother on the phone. She's on her way up to spend a few days with us while he recovers."
"Mrs. Talavera's coming?" Tae-young softly asked, as he came downstairs, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah," said Robaire, with a grim look. "We had to take Aaron to the hospital last night. He passed out in the bathroom."
Tae-young's eyes widened, and his heart went cold. Z opened his arms for him. "Yeah, I know it's really scary. But the doctor says he's going to pull through just fine. And like Rob just said, his mom's coming up to visit. Mrs. T is like, your best friend."
Tae-young laid his head on Z's shoulder. He was right; Mrs. Talavera was one of his favourite people.
Robaire went upstairs to the linen closet to put out a pillow and blanket for Mrs. Talavera, just as Jesse was coming out of his room. "What are you doing?"
"Getting things for Mrs. Talavera," said Robaire, with an edge to his voice. "She's coming to visit."
"Yeah?" Jesse glanced at the open bedroom door. "Where did T go?"
"To the hospital, to get treatment for the pneumonia that you said he didn't have."
"What?!"
"Yeah." Robaire sharply poked Jesse's shoulder. "Who's doing wonders for your blood pressure now, jackass?"
As he came back downstairs, he noticed Tae-young's heating pad laying on the stairs. How did that get there? He shook his head; he'd just put it away when he went back up.
Jesse just stood there in shocked silence. Eventually, he walked back to his room and sat on his bed. He put his face in his hands and emitted a shaky sigh.
How could he have done this?
In the afternoon, Mrs. Talavera arrived at the cabin. "Hey, Mrs. T," said Z, welcoming her in.
"Hola, Kuo," said Mrs. Talavera, hugging him. Because Z had the same first name as her son, she always called him by his middle name. "How is my son?"
"He was in pretty bad shape when I left last night," said Robaire, "but the doctors said they were going to give him some oxygen and antibiotics, and that it'll help."
"Hi, Mrs. Talavera," said Tae-young softly, from his place on the couch.
"Hola, mi chiquito," said Mrs. Talavera, coming over to hug him and nuzzle noses. Tae-young was like a second baby to her, especially since he and T were so close. She then straightened her back. "And where is Jesse?"
"Upstairs, probably," said Robaire. "He won't come and interact with us."
"He didn't believe T when he told him he was sick," said Z, "and we're all pretty pissed off at him for it."
Before Mrs. Talavera could react to that, Tae-young winced and whimpered. She turned down to him. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," insisted Tae-young. "I'm okay. Just sad that T is sick."
Robaire sighed. "We all are, baby."
Once Z had brought Mrs. Talavera into the kitchen for coffee, Tae-young softly groaned again. Robaire sat next to him. "Okay, are you sure you're fine? Don't tell me you're getting sick too."
"No," said Tae-young, "it's fine."
Robaire was confused for a bit, until he noticed that Tae-young was clenching his jaw. There was only one reason he did that. "Are you having cramps?"
Tae-young hung his head. "Yes."
"Aw, baby, no wonder your heating pad was on the stairs." Robaire went upstairs to get his heating pad. Once he had retrieved it and pressed it against Tae-young's belly, he began asking questions. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"Well, you were all really busy with T," said Tae-young, "I didn't want to distract you."
Robaire shook his head and put a hand on Tae-young's shoulder. "I know you're really worried about him, but you don't need to let yourself suffer. None of us would have been upset with you over you getting cramps, you have no control over that."
Tae-young was quiet for a moment before speaking again. "They're…they're going away now."
Robaire sighed and put his head in his hands. Tae-young's face crumpled. "I'm sorry."
"I'm not mad, baby," said Robaire, "I'm just very stressed out right now. I mean, we've got T in the hospital, you just let yourself suffer for like five hours without your heating pad, I don't even know what's going on with Jesse…"
Almost on cue, Jesse came downstairs. His eyes were red, as if he'd been crying. Robaire and Tae-young both scowled at him disapprovingly. Jesse, who previously seemed like he wanted to say something, kept his mouth shut.
Once everyone had eaten dinner, off they went to visit T at the hospital. Tae-young had even picked him a small bouquet of wild lavender and heather from the woods out back.
When they arrived, they were escorted to T's room by a doctor. T was laying in bed, asleep. A lot of the colour had returned to his face, but his hair was still a mess, and he had some sort of clip thingy on his finger.
None of the guys were quicker to hug him than Jesse. T, being knocked out of the dream he'd been having, opened his eyes, confused. "Jesse?"
"Aaron, baby, thank god you're alright." Jesse cupped T's face in his hands. "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you. I thought you were trying to pull a fast one on me."
"I know." T gave him a disapproving look. "And it really hurt my feelings that you wouldn't listen to me." He crossed his arms as he thought for a second for something else to say. "You know, I heard the doctor saying last night that excess stress was why I passed out last night."
Jesse's heart lurched. He held T tight and pressed his forehead against his. "I'm sorry! I-I didn't realize!" He said some other things, but they were rather hard to decipher through his ugly sobs.
T thought maybe he laid the guilt on a little thick. He put his hands on Jesse's biceps. "I don't want to be mad at you." Seeing the absolute mess (figuratively and literally) on Jesse's face, he thought of something to lighten the mood. "If you let me tell everyone you cried like a little bitch over me, I'll truce."
Jesse sniffled. "Alright."
"Okay, now you need to go wash your face before you get any more hugs," said T. "Gross."
Once Jesse had backed up to clean his face up, Mrs. Talavera took his place. "Mi vida."
"Mamá!" The two Talaveras hugged, and Mrs. Talavera kissed her son's forehead. Seeing the other guys standing back, T gestured for them to join. "Bring it in, fellas!"
The four all rushed T with big hugs. Z had to power his way through Robaire and Tae-young just to get in, and he held his boyfriend tighter than anyone. "How have you been feeling?"
"A lot better," said T. "It's not so hot anymore, and no more throwing up." He sat up a bit and coughed; it didn't sound like a goose anymore. "Still got a cough, though."
"What's this clippy thing for?" Tae-young asked, lifting T's hand to show him.
"It's a heart rate monitor," said T. "They put it on me before I went to sleep."
Just then, T's doctor came in for his evening checkup. "Good evening, Mr. Talavera, how are you feeling?"
"Better," said T.
The doctor took his vitals; temperature, heart rate, breathing. "You're recovering quite nicely, Mr. Talavera," said the doctor. "I expect that you'll be able to leave and finish your recovery at home by tomorrow."
T smiled, and looked back up at his friends and family. The six of them all grouped hugged again. "Now listen," said Mrs. Talavera, "you need to hurry up and get better, your hermano misses you!" She squished Tae-young close to herself for emphasis. The two boys giggled; they loved when Mrs. Talavera played up her motherly side for fun.
"Alright, guys, we gotta let T get some sleep," said Robaire, rounding up the party. "T, we'll come get you tomorrow, alright?"
"Mmhmm," said T, laying back to get some beauty rest. The remaining members went to wait for the bus to go home for the night.