Page 32 of Back to You

“What’s up?” Brandon said, laying out balls of cookie dough.

“I mean … you know, Ethan might not have been hit so hard if he wasn’t working such crazy hours. I’m sure he was run down.”

“Yeah, he was. And you’re preaching to the choir here, man. It’s a losing battle.”

“Maybe him being sick right now is a good thing?”

“How so?”

“Well, first of all, he needs the rest. But second, he needs to see what really matters in life. A job that runs you down until you get sick, or a family who takes care of you when you’re ill?”

Brandon thought about that after Marcus had retreated back to the counter. Marcus was right, the family had rallied around them when Brandon had told them Ethan was sick. Michelle had volunteered to cook a meal for them, Lake was stocking up on vitamins he swore would help Ethan get better, Brandon’s parents had told him to let them know if he and Ethan needed anything. He took a moment to bask in the love of their combined family.

He’d make sure Ethan knew how much he was loved, too.

***

Brandon got home and forced a bowl of chicken soup into Ethan, who had slept most of the day and said he wasn’t hungry. But he needed to eat to keep his strength up.

So went their weekend, Ethan either resting on the couch or sleeping, and Brandon making sure he ate, drank enough and took his medicine. He knew Ethan was a grown man capable of taking care of himself, but it made Brandon feel good to do this for his boyfriend. He didn’t get the chance to take care of Ethan enough lately.

“I swear, I feel much better,” Ethan said as Sunday rolled around. “I haven’t had a fever in two days, my cough is better, and I’m not sneezing my head off anymore.”

Barnabus opened one eye to glare at him. The cat had parked himself on Ethan’s lap and refused to be dislodged as soon as he got sick. Brandon figured he was trying to help make Ethan feel better in his own way.

“Well, one more day of rest won’t kill you,” Brandon said. “What do you want to do? Book, TV, movie?”

“Are you going to relax and sit with me?”

“Sure, I can do that.”

They pulled up a movie and sat in companionable silence on the couch. Ethan had been worried about getting Brandon sick, but he figured if he got sick, he got sick. There wasn’t much to be done about it at this point. It was a good sign he still felt fine after four days.

“This is nice,” Ethan said. “Not the flu part, but just having all this time to spend at home with you.”

“It Is nice,” Brandon said. “I look forward to the day you finally get your head out of your ass and let us have more nice weekends like this.” He smiled to take some of the sting out of his words.

“Yeah, I know.”

“You know you probably wouldn’t have gotten so sick if you weren’t already run down from working so much,” Brandon said tentatively.

“Really, I know. Please, you don’t have to keep getting onto me about it.”

Brandon huffed. “I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m okay, I swear. And it’s not like I want to be away from you so much, it’s just the way it is for now. It won’t be forever.”

“I don’t want to argue, let’s just watch the movie.”

Ethan began coughing, and Brandon checked the time before hopping up to grab more cough syrup.

“Thank you,” Ethan said.

“I just want to take care of you and keep you well and happy and safe. And I feel like you’re not really any of those things lately.”

“I know you do, and I love you for it. But I have to do what’s right for me, and that might not always seem like the best idea to everyone else. I have a handle on it, Brandon. I promise.”

“I trust you.”

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