#also shoutout to collegeanon-sickfics for her prompt list

[fluffyllamas-23]

Yes, hello, hi, it’s @taylor-tut‘s birthday, and she deserves all of the happiness and celebration in the world. 

Paisley feels like she’s on the verge of a mental breakdown. School and work have been hectic, leaving her with little to no time to sleep, and she’s exhausted.  To top it all off, Logan, who keeps her sane, is away for a week and a half on a family camping trip. He had asked if she wanted to come, but as much as it sucked to say no, she couldn’t afford to spend that much time without service. So, she and Ashton decided to use this time to finally hang out, because it’s been way too long since they’d actually spent time together.

~

The week had come and gone, and before Paisley knows it, it’s eight PM on a Friday night, and she’s ready to forget all of her responsibilities and just relax. Lord knows she needs it.  

She walks through their apartment, and Ashton, who’s been waiting for this moment for the last twenty minutes, launches herself onto Paisley’s back.

“Yo, Logan is great and all…but I’ve missed you, and that butthead has been stealing you from me,” Ashton says, wrapping her arms around Paisley’s neck.  

“Ashton, you fat ass, get off,” Paisley grunts, staggering under Ashton’s weight.

“I am not fat, you jerk. Anyways,” she says, climbing off of Paisley, “did you read the email she sent us.”

“Who’s ‘she'?” Paisley asks, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

“Um…the um…the landlady,” Ashton says, gesturing wildly.

Paisley raises a brow, “dude, we’ve lived here how long, and you still refer to Jackie as ‘the landlady’?”

“…In my defense you know I’m bad with names. Whatever, did you read the email she sent us?”

“No…haven’t had time. What’d it say?”

“There’s gonna be construction for the next few days and they might have to cut the power.”

“Great,” Paisley groans.  

“Yeah…it sucks…okay, off topic, but can we please have a girls’ night? I bought wine.”

Paisley grins, “um, yes.”

Ashton’s face lights up, “I have face masks too! Oh! Oh! Oh! WE NEED TO GO TO THE STORE!”

Paisley’s eyes widen, “WHAT, WHY? AND WHY ARE WE YELLING?”

“Because we need to go raid Target.”

“Um,” Paisley blinks, stifling a yawn, “not sure why that required yelling, but alright. What do we need at Target?”

Ashton grins, “junk food. ALL of it.”

“Yes.  Perfect, who’s driving?”

“I will, you look dead on your feet, dude.”

“I’m just a little tired.”

Ashton narrows her eyes, “when’s the last time you’ve even slept?”

“Um…it’s been a day…or two…I can’t remember.”

“Paisley.”

“What? I had papers to write.”

Ashton rolls her eyes, “let’s just go, you ready?”

~

Paisley and Ashton are cuddled up to each other, shivering beneath a pile of blankets.  The power had gone out an hour and a half ago, and taken the heat with it, so they were watching Netflix on Paisley’s laptop.  Open bags of chips and candy are scattered on the coffee table and floor, their half-empty glasses of wine have been abandoned in favor of staying completely covered by the blanket.

“We shoulda bought a space heater or s-something,” Ashton shivers.

Paisley scrunches her nose, sniffling slightly before she ducks her head into the blankets, “Ihn’gstch! N’gstch! *snff* Mmm…yeah, I agree…s’cold.”

“Bless you…you okay? You’ve been sniffling all night.”

Paisley nods and nuzzles her face into the blanket with a sniffle, “it’s just cold…s’messing with my sinuses.”

“You mean you're sick.”

“Um, no. That’s not what I meant.”

Ashton rolls her eyes, Paisley has been sounding like she was coming down with something for a few days now, and she’s sure that this is just going to kickstart whatever it is.

“Dude, you’re sick.”

“No…s’just cold,” Paisley murmurs sleepily, drooping over until she’s curled up on the couch and completely covered by the blankets.

“Alright…well, you should go to…” Ashton pulls the blankets down past Paisley’s face and she chuckles lightly when she sees that Paisley’s already fast asleep. “Well, you lasted longer than I thought you would,”  Ashton whispers, patting Paisley’s shoulder fondly before turning her attention back to the screen.  

The sound of a jackhammer yanks Ashton from her sleep, it’s still dark out, but she has no idea what time it is.  She looks down, expecting Paisley to be up and awake, because she’s the lightest sleeper on the planet.  

Except, Paisley is still fast asleep in the same position she fell asleep in, and Ashton feels a spike of panic when she realizes that Paisley is probably dead. That’s really the only reason why the construction work hadn’t woken her up yet.  

Or…

Ashton hesitantly feels Paisley’s cheek, and then inhales sharply at rolling heat that meets the back of her fingers.

“Dude, dude, dude, dude,” Ashton says, shaking Paisley, “wake up.”

After a few moments, Paisley groans weakly and attempts to bat Ashton’s hand away.  

“Go ‘way…mb’sleepind’.”

“Are you okay?” Ashton asks, sitting up.

Paisley shivers, and grimaces at the sharp pounding in her head, “umb…c-cand I have s-sombe Advil?”

“You’re sick.”

“I’mb just t…heh…hih’ngxcht! Nngsh! *snff* ohhh…mby heeeeead,” she moans, coughing lightly.

“That’s the fever,” Ashton says, eyebrows knitting together, “you sound awful.”

“I have to study,” Paisley groans, her face crumpling as she stifles another trio of congested sneezes.

“You have a fever. You need to sleep.”

“I’mb sure it’s ndot that high.”

Ashton quirks a brow and holds a thermometer up, “I’m about to call your bluff.”

Paisley frowns, “where’d that combe fromb?”

“…I just went and grabbed it. You stared at me while I was getting it, too.”

“I…huh?”

“Damn, how high is it?” Ashton hisses, sticking the thermometer in her ear.  

“Ash?”

“Yes?”

“I dond’t feel well…I wandt Logand…he mbakes everythindg better,” Paisley sniffles, squeezing her eyes shut.

“I know,” Ashton sighs, and stares at the thermometer, “and I know that a one hundred and-whoa…I know a one hundred and three degree fever can’t feel good…but hey, you have me.  I’ll get you better.”

“Everythindg hurts,” Paisley mumbles.

“How about some medicine?”

“How ‘bout and axe to the head?”

“Sorry, dude.  No can do.”

Paisley hides her head under the pillow with a tired groan.  

Paisley is sitting up on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket as she blinks tiredly at Ash.  She insists on studying, although Ash isn’t sure why.  

“Are you sure about this? You should definitely be sleeping right now.”

She sniffles and rubs her eyes.  She blinks once, “what?”

“Alright, how exactly do you plan on studying when you can hardly focus on our conversation?”

She grins lazily after a beat, “you’re goindg to help…will you? Umb…help me, I mbeand.”

“You already asked.”

“…I did?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Oh…sorry.”

Paisley watches Ashton through heavy lids as she struggles to stay awake.

“It’s okay…just…I’m going to get everything set up, and then I’ll make you some tea, and we’ll get started, yeah?”

“Okay…that sounds like a pland…but…uh…” black dots dance in her vision, and she squeezes her eyes shut with a weak shake of her head.

“Paisley?” Ashton frowns, pressing her hand to her friend’s forehead, “you okay?”

“Mb’finde…dizzy.”

Paisley sounds like she’s just barely hanging onto consciousness, her words are slurring together and it sounds like her tongue is sticking to the rood of her mouth.

“Alright, it’s bed time.”

Paisley blinks heavily, her expression slowly changing into one of rage.  Except, the rage is muted by her glassy, fever bright eyes and bright red flush across her cheeks.  

“You said you’d help mbe study.”

“Yeah, and that was before you looked like you were about to pass the hell out.  Come on, you need to sleep.  You can study when you’re feeling better.”

“I-“

“-I swear to God that if you don’t lie down and sleep, I will tie you to your fucking bed.”

Paisley sighs and drops down on her side, tugging the blanket tighter around her shoulders,  “I’mb just gonnda ndap…wake mbe up ind like…twendty mbindutes.”

“Okay,” Ashton says, not wanting to argue with her.  

She has no plans on waking Paisley up though, and instead she tucks her in and pats her burning cheek gently before getting up and walking into the kitchen.