Vigilante: Prompt Fills

Sick Eli!

Matthew tried his best not to laugh as he looked down at the redhead lying in bed, beneath a pile of blankets. He still couldn't help but want to smile a bit, his lips twitching as he tried not to let a grin slip out.

"Why aren't you writing this down?" Eli asked, freckled cheeks flushed and red curls plastered to his forehead from his fever induced sweat. "It's important."

"Because you're not dying," Matthew pointed out. Besides, he was a bit offended at Eli's will leaving almost everything to their cat.

"You don't know that," Eli insisted. "I can already feel the sweet embrace of death." Matthew couldn't help but snort at that. Who knew Eli could get so dramatic when he was sick?

"You have the flu. You'll be fine as long as you get some rest," he said, resting a hand on Eli's forehead. He was still warm, but his fever had gone down considerably, Matthew was relieved to note.

"People have died from the flu," Eli argued.

"Yeah, and people have died from falling from bed." Matthew watched as their cat hopped onto the bed to stare almost mournfully at Eli. He'd always liked the redhead the most. "Take your medicine and you'll be fine."

"You said that yesterday and I'm still dying," Eli said with a sigh. Weakly, he reached out to pet Matt.

"Yesterday you were barely awake so I'd say you're improving," Matthew told the redhead. "Is your throat still hurting?" he asked, hoping to derail Eli's thoughts on his impending doom.

"A little," Eli said, his voice sounding raspy.

"I'll get you some tea," Matthew said.

"Yeah, leave me to die in peace," was Eli's surly reply as Matthew walked out of the room.

The only thing keeping Matthew from teasing Eli or laughing at him was the knowledge that the redhead was feeling absolutely miserable. They weren't sure how he'd gotten so sick—though privately, Matthew blamed the germ infested death trap that was the public bus—but Eli had all but collapsed two nights earlier. Matthew would freely admit that he had nearly had a heart attack when he'd gotten back home and found Eli slumped over his textbooks at the kitchen table.

Once he'd realized that no, Eli hadn't been attacked by some mysterious enemy of Matthew's—and neither had he collapsed from clogged arteries thanks to his obsessive love of burgers—Matthew had been greatly relieved. He still smothered Eli with blankets and forced him to drink about half his weight in tea.

Eli probably would have complained if he hadn't been so out of it. As it was, he'd been strangely compliant the whole time. Granted, he'd also been asleep for most of that time. Still, Matthew would take what he could get.

At the moment, it wasn't much, seeing as Eli was finally feeling well enough to ignore Matthew's advice.

"Why aren't you in bed?" Matthew asked as he stepped out of the kitchen to find the bundle of blankets that was Eli moving towards the living room couch. Of course, Matt was following closely. Probably because Eli was an excellent source of warmth at the moment.

"I'm bored," Eli said, plopping down on the couch and making himself as comfortable as he could while being cold, sweaty, achy, and just generally uncomfortable.

"Then sleep. You need to rest anyway," Matthew pointed out from, walking over to hand Eli a hot cup of tea. It would do Eli well to catch up on the rest he missed out on during school days.

"I slept all day yesterday," Eli said before taking a sip of his drink. "And I don't think I can sleep now."

"Too miserable?"