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“Morning,” Sapnap hummed as Dream walked into the kitchen, dimming the lights. “Aye, aye, I’m workin’, what’re you doing?” Sapnap asked, and Dream glanced over at him.
“Why’re you working at the island counter?” Dream croaked, and Sapnap was instantly more worried about the sound of his throat than why he was working at the kitchen island.
“Holy shit, did you get sick?” Sapnap asked, standing up to feel his forehead.
“I’m fine, it’s just a migraine,” Dream said, gently pushing Sapnap off of him. “I’m just gonna make some tea and so sit in my room until it goes away.”
“You should at least take some medication,” Sapnap insisted, and Dream grunted softly.
“You know I hate taking pills,” Dream mumbled, grabbing the box of teabags. He stumbled slightly as he tried walking back to the stove.
“Go, go sit down,” Sapnap said, pushing Dream away. “I’ll make your tea. You’re not steady on your own two feet.”
“I’m fine-” Dream insisted.
“I wasn’t asking,” Sapnap pushed him to sit down at the island counter. “Put your head down, close your eyes, I’ll get your tea.”
“Fine,” Dream mumbled, putting his face in his arms on the table.
Sapnap was as quiet as he could be with making the tea. He dampened a hand cloth and put it in the freezer. He filled the cup with water, pouring that into a small sauce pot to bowl, just so he didn’t use the stove kettle and have the whistle hurt Dream’s head.
He opened the fridge, digging through the bottom drawers. He found mint cloves, and put a couple into the tea. Once the water was simmering, he put the teabag into the cup and poured the water over it, using a strainer to catch the cloves, the tea seeping out of the bag almost instantly. Sapnap grabbed the honey, putting some in to mix in. He grabbed the cool washcloth from the freezer.
“Put this on the back of your neck, it’s a cold washcloth it might help,” Sapnap said as he placed the tea in front of him. Dream allowed Sapnap to put the cloth on him, taking a sip of the tea and humming gently.
“Since when did we have peppermint tea?” Dream mumbled.
“We don’t but I put some of the mint cloves we have in the water while it boiled,” Sapnap said gently, and Dream nodded as he took another sip. “Come on, why don’t you lay on the couch. That way I can nurse you back to health.”
“You don’t have to do all that,” Dream insisted.
“Shut up and let me take care of you,” Sapnap gently scolded. “You never accept help when you’re sick, so do it this once.”
“It’s just a migraine,” Dream grumbled, rubbing his forehead.
“Which is bad enough, it could be more too. Come lay down on the couch, please ,” Sapnap said, and Dream sighed, but nodded as he stood up and took the tea with him to the living room.
For a while, Dream stayed quiet with the cloth over his eyes, occasionally moving it to sip his drink before laying back down. Sapnap had a feeling in his gut that it was more than a migraine. For a while, though, Dream seemed fine just resting. When he finished his tea, he sat up to go to his room. That’s when shit went wrong.
Dream collasped, and lucky for Sapnap he’d already been walking over to take the cup from his hands and insist he sit back down. Sapnap caught him on the way down, “Woah- woah, I gotcha, you’re alright,” Sapnap said, carefully lifting Dream back onto the couch. Thankfully the cup was empty and it didn’t shatter against the carpet. “Dream? Dream, hey-” Dream seemed to be semi-conscious, but he was burning up, his face flushed red and sweating profusely.
“Okay, you need to cool off immediately,” Sapnap whispered, lifting Dream into his arms bridle style with a grunt. He took Dream to the bathroom, starting a cool bath. Not cold enough to shock him, but enough to hopefully cool him off.
“Sap’ap,” Dream whispered, clearly out of it. Sapnap shushed him, wiping Dream’s sweatbeaded forehead.
“I’m gonna undress you, okay? I don’t know if you can understand me…” Sapnap mumbled, and Dream simply nodded with a heavy head. Sapnap carefully peeled each piece of sweat-slick piece of clothing, before carefully putting him into the bath.
Dream immediately sunk in the bath, and Sapnap had to carefully hold his head above the water as his knees bent. Dream’s eyes were closed, which caused Sapnap the most stress of holding his head up. He didn’t want Dream to drown. He brushed some of the water through Dream’s curls. “C’mon, you’re okay,” Sapnap whispered, slowly sitting him up enough for him to lean against the back of the bath.
Sapnap moved to sit on the edge of the tub, where Dream could rest his head as he soaked in the cool water. “There we go, there you are,” Sapnap whispered as Dream started to mummer quietly. “What’s up?”
“M’sorry,” Dream whispered, and Sapnap gently shushed him.
“Don’t apologize. I’m just worried about you,” Sapnap said softly. “Just relax, let the water cool you off.” He said, massaging Dream’s scalp with a gentle hand. “Lights are dimmed too, so if you open your eyes they shouldn’t hurt too bad.”
Dream mumbled something, and Sapnap hummed in confusion, leaning down to try and hear him better. “Help me go un’er, wanna get my face wet,” Dream mumbled, a bit more clear this time.
“Okay,” Sapnap said, unsure this was the best idea as he put his hand behind Dream’s head and led Dream’s head down. Dream barely seemed disturbed as the water engulfed his face, one of his hands holding onto Sapnap’s thigh. When Dream started to attempt to pull back up Sapnap lifted his head. Sapnap wiped the water from his eyes, and Dream opened them slowly, looking up at Sapnap with a pitifully innocent look.
Sapnap ran a hand through his flat, wet hair. It curled back up as it was released from underneath Sapnap’s palm, and Sapnap almost smiled at the sight of seeing his hair bounce back. “How’d you feel?” He asked softly.
“Not as warm,” Dream mumbled, resting his head on Sapnap’s leg again, despite the fact that he was dripping with water. Sapnap didn’t mind. “Didn’t mean to collapse.”
“I know. I’m just happy I caught ya. You were falling right to the coffee table and it's glass, so that would’ve been bad,” Sapnap mumbled, letting his nails trail down to Dream’s back and gently scratch his back, which always calmed him down as well. “How’s the migraine?”
“Throbbing,” Dream mumbled.
“Can I trust you to stay above water if I get some medication and some water from the cabinet?” Sapnap asked, and Dream nodded. “Promise?”
“I’ll be okay,” Dream chuckled. “Just… hurry back. Don’t wanna be alone.”
“I will,” Sapnap promised, before Dream lifted his head and allowed him to stand and escape to the kitchen to grab a cold bottle of water. He had to search through the cabinet to get the dual action medication, but he practically ran back to the bathroom when he did find it. He had to apologize for almost tripping Patches as she followed him, though, worried about her boy.
Dream was exactly where he’d been left, which was a relief, and accepted the medication, chugging the water down with it. He made a ick noise once the bottle was empty and away from his lips. He hated taking pills.
“Should eat something soon,” Sapnap said, and Dream nodded as he rested his head back against Sapnap’s thigh. “Do you want me to call your mom? Maybe she can come over and make some of her soup?”
“She’s always called when I get sick,” Dream whined. “I’m a big boy… I know how to make her soup.”
“You’re too sick to do that,” Sapnap mumbled, “You can barely stand, Dream.”
Dream groaned, “Don’t call Ma,” He insisted, and Sapnap sighed.
“Fine, I’ll call my stepmom. She can lead me through how she made her soup when we were younger, and you don’t have to worry about you mom showing up,” Sapnap offered, and Dream groaned again, but nodded against Sapnap’s knee. “Alright, c’mon. You’re starting to get goosebumps and I don’t wanna keep you in here for too, too long.”
Sapnap helped him out, handing him a towel so he could cover himself while he leaned against the counter for support, and then grabbing him a robe to keep in a little more body heat since he was now too cold. Dream already had terrible body heat regulation, but now it's significantly worse. Sapnap took his hand, leading him to his room so he could get dressed, picking out shorts for his friend just in case he got too hot again.
Dream got dressed himself, of course, and Sapnap stepped out to take care of the dirty clothes and let him do that. When he returned, Dream had the polar bear in his arms. Sapnap smiled, kneeling down in front of Dream.
“Hey, are you slippin?” Sapnap asked, and Dream nodded slowly as his eyes seemed to fog over slightly. “Okay, little Cub. I know you’re not feeling well, so why don’t we go sit on the couch so you can lay down and watch some TV while I make you some yummy soup that should make you feel better. Are you hot or cold?”
“Cold..” Dreamie whispered, clutching his bear.
“Okay, let me know if you start feeling too hot, okay?” Sapnap said, and Dreamie nodded. “Good, I’m gonna pick you up, is that okay?”
Dreamie nodded again, and wrapped his arms around Sapnap’s shoulders as Sapnap picked him up like a koala. After snagging the pacifier out of the desk drawer, he carried Dreamie out to the living room, sitting him down on the couch and wrapping him up in a blanket and placing the green pacifier into his mouth to give him some temporary relief. Dreamie curled up on the couch, snuggling into one of the couch pillows.
After Dream was settled watching the TV, he stepped into the kitchen to call his stepmom who picked up almost immediately. “Hey, Darlin’,” She chirped. “How’re you doin’?”
“I’m alright, Ma,” Sapnap said. “I need you to walk me through that soup recipe you made us kids whenever we get sick. Clay’s got a migraine and I think a fever, he almost passed out earlier and he just took some medication… so I wanna get food in his stomach before he throws it up.”
“Oh of course, here, why don’t you video call me?” She offered, and Sapnap agreed, videoing his stepmom and propping his phone up. “Alright, do you have canola or avocado oil? Also some chicken broth?” She asked, and Sapnap stood on his tiptoes to grab an oil down.
“Yeah, avocado. And of course we have chicken broth,” Sapnap nodded, and she hummed.
“Save about 3 tablespoons of that to put into a pot. Before that, chop up half a cup of an onion. So, depending on the size of your onions, you’ll have to chop a third, a half, or the entire thing.”
“We have these,” Sapnap said, holding up an onion he got from the fridge.
“Perfect, about half of that. Do you guys have fresh ginger?” She asked.
“Yes! Actually, Clay’s mom brought over a bunch of fresh stuff a couple days ago,” Sapnap smiled, grabbing the ginger.
“Wonderful, garlic?” She asked, and Sapnap nodded, grabbing a thing of garlic. “Okay. Do you have boneless chicken thighs?”
“Yes ma’am,” He nodded, pulling some of the chicken out. “Ma, what’s this?” He asked, holding up some sort of vegetable or fruit.
“Oh! It’s a chayote, you’re gonna need it so luckily you have one,” She said, and Sapnap chuckled, setting it on the counter with the rest of the stuff. “And do you have malunggay leaves? Remember when you moved out I said you’re gonna need a lot of that for dinners?” She asked, and Sapnap nodded, kneeling down to grab it.
“Yeah, actually, Clay loves cooking with em,” Sapnap smiled.
“Wonderful,” She smiled. “Do you have fish sauce?”
“I… do not think so,” Sapnap said, going through their kitchen. He hummed, “No… I’ll have to get some later.”
“No worries, I’m sure it’ll be alright without it for now. For right now, chop up the onion, get a ¼ of the ginger sliced, and 6 cloves of the garlic minced up and prepped to put in the oil, which you’ll need to heat up over a medium heat,” She explained, and he nodded. He chopped the onion first, before turning the oil on to heat up as he dealt with the ginger.
“Alrighty, all in,” Sapnap said after getting all of it into the pot with the oil.
“Good, stir it and let it cook until the onion is kinda translucent, or about 3 minutes. After that, you’ll need to cut up some chicken. Cut them into half-an-inch pieces,” She explains, writing something down without a second thought. Sapnap followed the directions, carefully cutting the chicken and keeping an eye on the oil and vegetables. He glanced out to the living room at Dream, who was still watching the TV.
“Onions are clear,” Sapnap said, looking at his stepmom.
“Perfect, put the chicken in. Pour four cups of the chicken broth. Cook that until the chicken is done,” She continued, writing something down on the piece of paper she was working on. “Once the chicken is done, add two cups of the malunggay leaves, chopped, and chayote, also chopped.”
“2 cups… chopped,” Sapnap mumbled to himself, chopping the stuff up while multitasking while stirring the pot of broth and chicken. Once the chicken was done, he poured the leaves and vegetables into the pot.
“Alright, once those things are in, salt and pepper to your liking. Since you don’t have the fish oil you could probably… mmm, add a little extra seasoning of your choice? You don’t have to, but without the oil it may be a little off,” She explained, and Sapnap nodded, grabbing the salt and pepper. “Let it simmer, taste test a couple times to make sure everything’s mixing together well flavor wise, and once it’s to your liking, it’s ready to serve,” She smiled.
“Thank you, Ma,” Sapnap smiled.
“Of course, Darlin’. Take care of that boy,” She said, and he chuckled as he nodded.
“You know I will,” Sapnap nodded, stirring the pot slowly as he continued checking the broth. “I think it’s ready, so I’ll call you back later and tell you how he’s feeling.”
“Alright, thank you for calling me and asking me for help,” She chuckled, and Sapnap smiled.
“Thank you for helpin,” He said again, before waving at the phone. “Love you, Ma. Bye-bye.”
“Bye, Darlin’,” She smiled, before the phone call ended. He poured some of the soup into a bowl from a ladle. Going into the living room, Sapnap set the bowl down helping Dreamie sit back up so he could feed the little. He took the paci from Dream and set aside, feeding him a small spoonful to let him taste it first.
“Do you like it?” Sapnap asked, and Dreamie smiled almost immediately with a nod. “Good, I’ll feed you but you can tell me when you’re all done, okay love?”
“Otay,” Dreamie smiled, bouncing slightly and opening his mouth for more.
Sapnap fed him slowly while Dreamie watched the TV. In no time, he finished the whole bowl, clearly happy with every bite. Sapnap, not used to cooking, was happy little Dreamie seemed to like it. When it was all done, Dreamie was satisfied with a full belly, and decided he wanted to lay back down. Sapnap smiled, kissed his head and going to clean up his mess in the kitchen, which wasn’t a lot since he cleaned mostly as he went along when he made the food earlier.
When the kitchen was completely clean, he cleaned up after Patches and got her some dinner and such. He then joined Dreamie out in the living room and allowed Dreamie to lay on his legs while he watched the TV. He’s getting warmer again, but Sapnap wasn’t too worried about it since Dreamie didn’t say he was uncomfortable.
“Nicky,” Dream whispered, looking up at him. Sapnap hummed, looking down at him with a soft gaze. “Wan binkie,” He whispered, pointing at it. Sapnap chuckled, leaning over and grabbing it, and putting it back in Dreamie's open mouth. Dreamie smiled, curling back up and watching his show.
Sapnap kept petting Dreamie’s hair, and eventually Dreamie fell asleep on his lap. Sap did end up changing the channel, laying Dream over his chest without waking him up, and rubbing his back to help keep him asleep. Dreamie woke up an hour later, whining softly as he curled up. Sapnap shushed him, slowly rocking him back down to sleep, “Mama…” Dreamie whispered, and Sapnap chuckled, kissing his head gently.
(-8-)
“Glad to see you’re getting better,” Sapnap said, setting a bowl of the soup down in front of him. Dream smiled as he sat down.
“Yeah… thanks for taking care of me,” Dream said, taking a bite of the soup with another smile. “Since when can you cook?”
“Like I said, I called my ma, she walked me through it,” Sapnap chuckled, “It is missing an ingredient, but I think it’s alright for my first time making it.”
“It’s… really good. What is it? A type of chicken noodle or something?” Dream asked, taking another bite.
“It’s Tinola, I’m like 80% sure it’s a traditional Filipino dish, and technically, Ma told me, it’s meant to be survived with rice, but she didn’t tell me that when we were cookin’ it so I didn’t make any. But it’s actually really healthy. It’s got ginger, malunggay leaves which are apparently, I think, really good for you, and whatever a chayote is, we had one here apparently, your mom brought it over,” Sapnap shrugged, making Dream another cup of tea as well just to make sure Dream’s head would be good since there was a lingering headache, according to Dream.
“You know, for a migraine, you did a lot of work,” Dream chuckled.
“It was more than a migraine, and I think you know that,” Sapnap said, crossing his arms as the mint and water boiled. “You almost collapsed, Dream.”
“Who knows,” Dream shrugged, “I think I was just a little dramatic.”
“You’re ridiculous is what you are,” Sapnap scoffed, shaking his head. “But also really adorable. And I’m not gonna tell you why.”
“Oh c’mon, that’s fucked up, now you gotta tell me,” Dream scoffed, as he brought another healthy spoonful of the soup up to his lips.
“Nope,” Sapnap said, though he was grinning a little too happily. “If it happens again, then I’ll tell you. But… I don’t wanna bring attention to it if you never do it again, because it could cause you to never to it again, and I want you to do it again, so…”
“Say “do it again” one more time and my head might explode,” Dream grumbled, rubbing the left side of his face.
“Do it again,” Sapnap teased, before moving to get the boiling water off the stove and make Dream’s tea. “Just… if it happens again, I’ll tell you. If it doesn’t, tough luck.”
“You’re an ass,” Dream complained.
“You love me anyway,” Sapnap smiled, and Dream returned it kindly, before happily accepting his tea.
He was getting better at accepting others taking care of him, and that did put a warm feeling in Sapnap’s tummy, and a bright smile on his face.