#keep gettin stress nausea :P

[henb-y]

hi people I have an exam tomotrow and my brain is very h

yknow that was a typo but it fits

[sickdaysofficial]

Anywhere but Here

Sickdays 3, Day 2: Anywhere but Here

Fandom: My (@lickstynine’s) OCs

Characters: Russ and Cody

Around the third block bell, Cody started to get a headache. Assuming he was just dehydrated from practice that morning, he pulled the water bottle out of his backpack and chugged its contents. That seemed to help, so he brushed off the residual lethargic feelings as boredom from class dragging on.

By the time lunch came around, he was feeling a little worse for the wear. He forced himself to eat a bit anyway, knowing he needed his energy for the game that evening. They were going up against West Jackson High, their biggest competitors, and the coach had been running the team ragged getting ready for it.

Sitting across from him at their usual lunch table in the courtyard, Russ noticed Cody’s half-assed attitude towards his food and raised an eyebrow.

“Not hungry?” Russ posed it as a joke, seeing as Cody was always hungry. He figured Cody, like him, was nervous about the game tonight.

Cody nodded. “Yeah… I feel kinda shitty, actually. If tonight weren’t the game, I’d go home early and sleep.”

Russ frowned, now a little worried about his boyfriend. “Are you sure you’ll be okay to play tonight?”

“He’ll be fine.” Tamara chimed in. “He’s probably just tired cause he stayed up late playing video games and jerking off.”

“Excuse you. I jerk off, then play video games.” Cody’s smart-ass reply reassured Russ that he probably wasn’t feeling too horribly, and would be okay for the game. At that point, the dark-haired boy returned to his previous train of thought, stressing about his own performance in tonight’s game.

The bleachers surrounding the football field were packed to the brim, parents, teachers, and students waiting eagerly for the game of the season. Whoever won would be going onto regionals, and whoever lost would be getting shit from the other school for the rest of the year.

Cody was sitting in the locker room, praying he might somehow get struck by lightning before the game started. He felt infinitely worse than earlier. His headache was back with a vengeance and he could feel a fever burning in his cheeks. He considered asking the coach to let him go home, but just as he sucked up the courage to do it, Desmond, their disaster of a second-string quarterback, walked by, smacking into a wall and almost knocking over another dude. Cody sighed. He wasn’t about to let his team play the biggest game of the year relying on Desmond. He just couldn’t.

Across the locker room, Russ was casting worried glances at Cody. He wanted to help his boyfriend, put an arm around him and tell him it would be okay, take him home and take care of him. He couldn’t, though. The whole football team was watching them right now, and they still had a game to play. Russ sighed, anxiously biting his lip as he finished getting dressed. Meanwhile, Cody downed a fistful of Ibuprofen, hoping that would be enough to subdue his fever and headache for the game.

At the call of the coach, the boys headed out onto the field, nervous but eager for the game to begin. They set up to kickoff the game, and Cody was massively relieved to feel the Ibuprofen taking effect. He could actually focus on the game for now, and worry about being sick later.

Russ was thrilled to see that his boyfriend seemed to be doing alright for now, sprinting around the field with as much energy as ever. As the first quarter progressed, they were dominating West Jefferson, and the crowd on their side of the stands was going insane. Russ could see Hayley and Tamara standing up in their seats, cheering loudly.

Much to Cody’s dismay, the usefulness of the Ibuprofen faded as quickly as it had arrived. By the time the first quarter drew to an end, his head was pounding, and he was getting a queasy feeling in his gut. He hoped that he might be able to drink some water and relax a moment, and maybe feel better by the second quarter; he sank onto the bench with an exhausted sigh. He closed his eyes and brought the water up to his lips, zoning out a little as he had a moment to relax. The next thing he knew, the coach was calling his name.

“Griffin! Griffin! Earth to Griffin!” Coach Hunter was standing over him, looking very displeased.

“Huh?” Cody blinked and looked up at his coach, trying to ignore his growing nausea.

“Get your ass out on the field!” The coach dragged Cody to his feet, taking the water bottle and shoving the husky brunette boy towards the rest of his teammates.

Cody jogged back out onto the field, trying to keep his focus. As much as he wanted to power through, he was feeling worse and worse. His face was flushed and radiating heat throughout his helmet, and his stomach was churning like a washing machine full of sneakers. His vision teetered a bit, and he shook his head to clear it. Realizing the game was about to start, he hastily called out the play at hand to his team. His voice cracked in the process, but it was still audible enough.

The ball was promptly snapped into his hands and Cody almost fumbled it, his focus slipping even further. Knowing he wouldn’t be able to run worth shit in this state, he passed the ball onto the running back, Ty, just before his vision wavered again. He stumbled and clutched his stomach, which felt like it was crawling up the back of his throat. A horrific realization flooded his spinning head: he was going to throw up any second now, and there was nowhere to go. He didn’t have any more time to feel self-conscious about it, barely managing to pull his helmet off before a wave of watery vomit spewed from his mouth, splattering on the turf and dripping down the front of his uniform.

A gasp of horror radiated through the crowd, and Russ turned to see what was going on. His heart dropped to his shoes as he saw Cody doubled over, puking his guts out on the field. He instinctively moved to go help his boyfriend, and promptly got slammed into the ground by several hundred pounds of incoming buff dude. Winded and a little dazed, he didn’t even try to sit up until he heard the whistle blowing in the distance. He gingerly climbed to his feet, every inch of his body aching from the impact. As his focus steadied, he could see the coach hurrying out onto the field to grab Cody and drag him to the sidelines.

Limping over to the bench, Russ knelt down next to Cody, looking worriedly up at the coach. “Is he gonna be okay? What’s going on, Coach?”

“Not sure, and not sure.” The coach’s blood pressure was visibly rising as he tried to figure out what to do without his only decent quarterback. “That was a nasty hit, you took, Butler. Are you okay to keep going?”

Russ nodded right away, knowing he’d certainly be needed now that Cody was out of the picture. “I’ll be okay.”

The coach nodded. “Then grab Desmond and get your ass back on the field.” He turned back to Cody just in time to get his shoes puked on. “DIDN’T I TELL SOMEBODY TO GET ME A BUCKET?”

“Sorry sir!” A scrawny freshman hurried over, offering the requested bucket to the coach.

Rolling his eyes at the small boy, the coach shoved the bucket into Cody’s lap before he could get puked on again. The feverish quarterback heaved loudly, more watery vomit splattering into the bucket. The coach rubbed his temples, disheveling his thinning hair as he watched the game unfolding. As Desmond tripped over his own feet and dropped the ball, the coach groaned in dismay, realizing they were essentially boned without Cody.

“Dammit, Griffin? Why’d you have to go and get sick today, of all days?” He grumbled.

Cody sighed shamefully. He hadn’t wanted to miss the game, but finishing it wasn’t really an option at this point. “S...sorry. Wasn’t on p-heuurrghhhhh… purpose…”

Coach Hunter sighed. As much as he wanted to be mad, he was honestly just concerned. Cody was clearly really sick, and he probably needed to go home and rest, rather than sitting on the sidelines of a game in the sweltering heat, puking his guts up. He gave the shaky brunette a firm pat on the shoulder, staying close enough to keep an eye on the sick boy while he barked orders to the team.

By the time the game was over, the ref’s final whistle seemed like a mercy killing. The team hadn’t scored a single fucking point since Cody left the field, and had spent the rest of the game getting their asses royally handed to them by West Jefferson. Coach Hunter sighed morosely. So much for another year destroying at regionals.

Russ stumbled over to the bench, sitting down next to Cody with a grimace. “Hey, man. How do you feel?”

“Shitty…” Cody grumbled, burping hollowly into the bucket. His stomach had been empty since before halftime, but that hadn’t stopped the queasy burps or periodic dry heaves.

Russ frowned, reaching over to pat Cody’s back. He was drenched with sweat, and his body was aching all over, but he was only concerned about his boyfriend’s well-being. “Come on, I’ll take you home.” He climbed to his feet and helped Cody up, murmuring to the coach that they’d bring the bucket back later.

“It’s no big deal, Butler. It’s just a bucket. They cost like a dollar.” The coach waved the boys off. “Just get him home and to bed.”

“Yes, sir.” Russ nodded, practically carrying Cody out to the parking lot. His beat-up third-hand truck was parked against the fence, wedged in between some preppy girl’s Corvette and an ugly old van.

He hoisted Cody into the passenger seat, grimacing as he had to put weight on his sore leg. He was almost positive he’d done something to his knee, but he didn’t really have time to deal with that right now. Once Cody was in the truck, Russ hopped into the driver’s seat, trying to worm his way through post-game traffic to get his poor sick boyfriend home.

Cody groaned and whimpered the whole drive, periodically pausing to retch into the bucket. Russ winced sympathetically, reaching over to pat his back. “You’ll be okay, babe. We’re almost home…”

They finally pulled into Cody’s driveway just as Cody’s parents were getting home from a late dinner. Russ helped Cody out of the truck, waving at the middle-aged couple. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Griffin.”

Cody’s mom smiled and waved. “Hello, boys! How was the game?”

“Not great, actually. Cody got sick and we got destroyed…” Russ sighed. “Er, I need to get him inside. If you could get the door?”

“Of course, dear!” Cody’s mom scurried over and held the door. “Do you need anything?” She asked Russ.

The dark-haired boy shook his head. “No, I can take care of it. Uh, do you mind if I crash here? I’m super tired, and it’s really late…”

“Go ahead. Just let me know if you need anything.”

“Yes ma’am.” Russ nodded as he headed up the stairs, basically carrying Cody. “Thank you.” Once they were upstairs, Russ helped Cody sit on the edge of the bed. “Hang on a sec. I’ll get you some clean clothes to change into, then you can shower and go to bed. How does that sound?”

“Good…” Cody nodded meekly. He was miserable and drained at this point, just letting out the occasional quiet burp or heave.

Russ nodded, still just ignoring the pain in his knee for now. He pulled out some comfy pajamas for Cody and helped the shorter boy over to the bathroom. “I’ll be out here when you’re done, okay?” He was closely monitoring his words for fear that Cody’s parents might hear them. Cody nodded again, shuffling into the bathroom to shower.

Russ sat in Cody’s desk chair, trying to give his bad leg a chance to rest. He was waiting patiently for his boyfriend to return when he heard a thud from the bathroom. Panic sending his heart rate through the roof, he jumped to his feet despite the pain and ran to check on Cody.

Knock knock knock.

“Dude, are you okay?”

No reply.

Not willing to wait any longer, Russ tried the door. Thankfully, it was unlocked and he was able to let himself in. Cody was laying on the floor of the shower, trembling faintly. He didn’t seem to have hit his head or anything on the way down, but he was definitely too weak to get back up. Russ’s heart nearly broke in half at the sight, and he dropped to his knees, reaching into the water to help Cody up. He didn’t care in the slightest that his clothes were getting soaked.

“Shit, babe, are you okay?” He asked quietly.

Cody shook his head. “Feel sick… wanna go to bed.”

Russ nodded, trying not to freak out as his brain scrambled to figure out the best course of action. “Alright, okay. Just… lemme rinse the soap out of your hair, then we can dry off and you can sleep.” Cody didn’t even reply, just leaning on Russ and trembling faintly. Russ wrapped his arms around Cody for a moment, giving him a tight hug. “It’s okay. You’re gonna be okay. We’re gonna be okay…” It sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than his boyfriend, but at least it relaxed Cody some.

After a bit of struggling, Russ managed to rinse all the soap off of Cody and get him dry enough to dress. Not trusting the shorter boy to walk, he took a deep breath and swept his boyfriend off his feet. Russ was plenty strong enough to carry Cody, but his hurt knee was protesting intensely. He brushed it off for the moment, much more concerned about Cody’s well-being than his own. When they go to the bedroom, Russ just fell onto the bed with Cody on top of him. The shivering brunette cuddled up to his boyfriend, burying his face in Russ’s chest.

Russ gently stroked Cody’s still-damp hair. “Get some sleep, babe. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

Cody nodded, mumbling, “Night… love you.”

Russ’s cheeks turned bright red as he whispered, “Love you too…”

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