2minsforslashing

Title: Stay
Fandom: Detroit Red Wings RPS
Pairing: Darren McCarty/Chris Osgood
Disclaimer: This presumably has never happened. I don't own any of these people. I have no people. I don't even know these people.
Summary: In which a sick Ozzie turns out to be a cesspool of need
A/N finally getting around to crossposting out of my LJ

He sighed as he began climbing the stairs to the bedroom, fearing what may be waiting within. Ozzie had been sleeping when he left. Not that that meant that the goalie would still be sleeping. He’d taken advantage of the fact that Ozzie had finally managed to fall asleep to run out to the store, primarily to pick up some groceries and other assorted items Ozzie had requested, but also, because after dealing with the goalie all night and all morning, he needed a break…anything to restore his sanity.

It wasn’t that he didn’t love the goalie. They’d been together too long and been through too much for him to doubt that he loved him. It was just that, well, Oz was presently sick. And where Oz was normally the calm, reliable, strong one…a sick Ozzie…completely different.

Just as he suspected, when he pushed open the bedroom door, Ozzie was awake. Not just awake, but lying in bed, surrounded by tissues, bordering on hysterical awake. Darren took a deep breath before crossing over to the bed. “Hey,” he said softly. “What’s wrong?”

“I woke up, and you weren’t there.” Ozzie sobbed before lapsing into a harsh coughing fit. Darren handed over the water bottle he had placed next to the bed before he left and waited for Ozzie to drink, rubbing his back with smooth, circular motions, waiting for the coughing to cease. He handed the goaltender a tissue to blow his nose and dry his eyes.

“Chris, I told you, once you fell asleep, I was going to go to the store.” He reminded him, gently. “I was hoping I’d be back before you woke up. But you needed more juice and popsicles and tissues and cough syrup. You’re more miserable without those.” He followed that up with a gentle kiss to Chris’s forehead. “I think it’s time you had some more Tylenol, babe,” he murmured softly. “I’ll be right back.”

Chris clung to Mac’s shirt. “Don’t leave.” He whispered, coughing again.

“I’m just going into the bathroom to get you some pills. I’ll be back in just a few seconds.”

“No.” Ozzie whined. “Want you here.”

“Want to get your fever down.” He managed to pull away from the goalie’s grasp as Ozzie turned away from him to sneeze several times. He ducked into the bathroom, returning with the promised Tylenol seconds later.

He shook two out and set the bottle out on the nightstand so they wouldn’t have to go through that again. “I’ve got the Tylenol here, babe.” He reached for the water bottle.

The goalie shook his head. “Deed bore tissues first.” He sniffed.

Mac bit his lip to avoid grinning at Ozzie’s congested speech as he grabbed a new box of tissues and opened them, handing over a few over to him. He waited for him to blow his nose before pushing the pills on him again. This time, the blonde swallowed the pills, wincing.

“Throat hurts.” He whined.

“Want me to go downstairs and get you a popsicle?”

“No.” Ozzie wrapped his arms around Darren again. “Don’t leave me. Please?” He looked up at him with blue eyes, tears threatening to form.

He rubbed the goalie’s back again. “I won’t. But promise me you’ll lie down and try to sleep again.”

“You won’t leave me again?”

Mac sighed. There was laundry and cleaning that needed to get done. And at some point, he should make Ozzie some soup. But as he felt Chris’s fists clench tighter around his shirt and he looked down at the runny-nosed, coughing goalie, he sighed. Perhaps after Ozzie slept and his fever went down he’d be more okay with being left alone, or be willing to come downstairs and lie on the couch while supper was made. But right now, leaving Chris, just wasn’t going to be an option. Sleep was what he needed, and left alone, he wasn’t going to get it. The laundry could pile up. And later, if things weren’t going as planned, he could always call Malts and Drapes and ask one of them to come over and sit with Chris for awhile.

“I’ll stay. But only if you promise to sleep.” He helped Ozzie lie back down, smoothing the quilt around him, and snuggling in next to him. He relaxed slightly as he heard Ozzie’s breathing slowly begin to even out and the snoring begin as the goaltender fell asleep, forcing air through his congested sinuses.

Yawning himself, he sighed. Yes, everything else could wait. Right now, the goalie needed him. And that was what mattered. Besides, a nap for himself wouldn’t be all that bad. Might even help keep him from getting whatever it was his lover had.