All You Need
Waking up in their house was usually a quiet affair. Nado wasn’t really a morning person, and Zhenya tended to let him have his first cup of coffee before trying to have a conversation. But this morning, Zhenya woke up to a distressing amount of coughing.
He sat up to see Jackson sitting on the edge of the bed, shoulders shaking as he coughed into the corner of his arm.
“Котенок? You okay?” Zhenya mumbled, trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. Reaching across the bed, he rubbed a gentle hand over Jackson’s back.
Leaning back into the touch, Jackson closed his eyes, “Don’t feel good.” He mumbled, his voice hoarse as he laid back onto his pillow. Zhenya could see how pale he was, the circles under his eye darker than he had ever seen them. As he ran a gentle hand through Jackson’s hair, he could feel the heat radiating from his body.
Zhenya sat up, reaching for his phone, “I call Coach, tell him we won’t be in today.” He said already dialing Arthur’s number when Jackson rolled closer to him.
“You shouldn’t miss practice just because I’m sick, Zhenya,” He mumbled, his face pressed into the taller man’s thigh.
He was quickly hushed as Zhenya spoke over the phone to Arthur, running his fingers through his boyfriend’s hair as they spoke. Jackson closed his eyes before another coughing attack had him sitting up again, his chest aching.
After finishing the call, Zhenya got up and carefully tucked the blankets back around Jackson, “You stay in bed. Coach said get better soon.” He whispered, setting some pillows up behind the other man’s head so he wasn’t lying flat.
“Where are you going?” Jackson said with a small pout, the one hand that hadn’t been tucked under the covers reaching out to Zhenya.
Intertwining their fingers with a smile, Zhenya pressed a soft kiss to his knuckles, “I’m make you soup. It helps. And then I come back. Promise.” Jackson let out a soft huff before nodding, allowing the other man to leave.
Jackson turned on the TV after Zhenya left, flicking to a channel he knows will be playing reruns of Friends. The last thing he remembers was Phoebe in the hospital to have the babies, but he must’ve dozed off because the next time he looked at the screen it was a completely different episode. Checking the time, he found that he had been out for over an hour. Just as he was about to get up and look for his boyfriend, he appeared in the doorway with a tray.
“Knew you’d be watching Friends.” Zhenya said with a smile as he carefully set the tray on bed in front of Jackson. There was a large bowl of soup in the middle as well as a steaming cup of what appeared to be tea, a small pile of crackers on the side.
Jackson could smell the chicken and what smelled like garlic coming from the bowl. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until the food was put in front of him, “Looks amazing, babe.” He said with a soft smile.
Zhenya’s face flushed a bit as he shrugged, “My mama used to make for me when I was sick. Chicken soup with garlic, Raspberry tea with honey. Helps with cough and fights the sick. You feel better.”
Carefully bringing some soup to his mouth, Jackson hummed happily. The warm liquid going down his throat felt so nice after coughing all morning, “It’s perfect, Zhenya. Thank you.” He said with a smile.
“Of course. Always.” Zhenya murmured softly as he moved carefully to his side of the bed, trying not to jostle the tray as he curled close to his boyfriend.
He stayed close to Jackson’s side as he ate, watching whatever episode of Friends happened to be playing at that moment.
Zhenya played with the long hair on the back of Jackson’s head as he watched the show, “Wait, now Joey and Rachel date? She not with Ross?”
Chuckling softly, Jackson shook his head, “Not in this episode. She’s with Joey right now.”
“First Ross, Now Joey. She steal Chandler from Monica next?” Zhenya huffed as he watched Jackson finish off the soup. “You done with soup, Котенок? We can set tea on side table so you don’t have tray on you.”
Jackson nodded as he took the warm cup from the tray, “Yeah, baby, that’d be great if you don’t mind.” Zhenya was up before he could even finish the sentence, taking the tray into the kitchen. He put the dishes into the dishwasher before coming back to the bedroom.
Setting the cup of tea on the side table, Jackson reached out for Zhenya as soon as he was back in the room, “Come cuddle now, Zhenya.” He said, pouting out his lower lip.
Zhenya chuckled softly, crawling back under the covers and pulling Jackson onto his chest, “I’m cuddle. I got you.” He murmured, gently rubbing over his back.
“I got you too.” Jackson mumbled, his head resting over his boyfriend’s heart so he could listen to the steady pulse. He could honestly sleep anywhere but Jackson always falls asleep the quickest like this. Zhenya wrapped around him and just listened to the beating of his boyfriend’s heart. That was all he needed.