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To be fair, it was sort of his own fault. No, correction; it was his dinner’s fault. Cade’s dinner had not been made correctly at all, that much was clear. He was vaguely aware of this, but thought it better to ignore while Bradley had him pushed against the brick wall of the restaurant they had just left. His heart was pulsing, sending shockwaves of arousal through his core as Bradley’s arms wrapped around his waist, nails kneading into his spine with desire. Cade’s own arms were looped around his taller boyfriend’s neck, fingers grasping hungrily at his peach-dyed hair.
Bradley reached down to plant his lips on Cade’s jawline, sucking at the tender skin and arousing a moan from the brunette. He continued to leave marks on his boyfriend’s neck and jaw, until Cade let out a growl of frustration and unhooked his arms from Bradley’s neck, using his freed hands to yank his boyfriend’s face level with his own. Immediately, he planted his chapped lips on Bradley’s soft ones and burrowed into his mouth with his tongue, exploring the familiar ridges of his teeth and the roof of his mouth. Soon enough their tongues were moving in tandem, and Cade could feel the sexual tension between them as they made out…passionately.
He was well aware that strangers could see all of this, and of course, it took less than a moment for some college kid to yell a homophobic slur, but neither of the seniors minded at that moment. They were so absorbed in each other, and the salty taste of each other’s skin, sweat, and saliva. The heavy breathing in between each kiss.
It was short-lived.
Cade’s belly flipped again, but not in pleasure. Rather, a very full feeling that quickly reached his chest. He started to push back Bradley, but his boyfriend was too into it. He quickly pulled Cade back, resulting into their stomachs slamming together with force.
That was it.
A deep, chesty belch gurgled up and out of his mouth before he could even blink. Shit. He’d actually just done that. He had just burped in his boyfriend’s mouth.
He immediately felt his cheeks go beet red, and he clamped a hand over his face in horror as soon as Bradley jerked away.
It didn’t matter if they’d known each other since they were in preschool, this was by far the most embarrassing thing Cade had ever done to himself.
“Oh my god. Fuck, I’m sorry.” He groaned, unable to look up. Bradley made a noise, which soon evolved into hysterical laughter. When Cade finally looked up from his hand, his boyfriend was in tears from laughing.
“Oh my god. Cade. Babe. You actually just did that, I can’t-” He cut himself off to gasp in some much-needed air before continuing in a voice wobbly with amusement, “-believe you just did that.” Bradley wheezed, trying to catch his breath.
“Fuck you! That’s not funny!” Cade retorted, crossing his arms over his stomach like a child, partly to try and ease the discomfort there and partly for dramatic effect.
“Not funny? That is among the most amusing of things you have ever done, man, even if you did kill the moment.” Bradley snickered.
Cade forced a laugh. “Okay, whatever. But we should probably get back now, before your dad gets home.” And before I get sick in public, he added to himself.
The nausea had been easy to ignore in the heat of the moment, but now it had hit him with the force of a semi-truck. Bradley, too perceptive for his own good, gave Cade a thorough look-over, and put a hand on his hip.
“Do you feel okay? You’re pale and you’re shaking.” He ventured, knowing the warning signs of a sick Cade from an entire lifetime of experience.
Cade sighed, scratching the back of his neck. “Ugh, not really? I started feeling bad a few minutes after we started eating…”
Bradley’s facial expression became flat, and he huffed. “What kind of bad? I’m-about-to-puke-all-over-you bad or gimme-a-few-hours-to-lay-down-and-whine-first bad?” Although his words sounded aggressive, Cade knew his boyfriend was just teasing in a concerned manner.
“Somewhere in between, I think…but really…can we go back??” He pleaded, turning his face away from Bradley’s to release another belch.
The taller boy looked pensive for a moment, before relenting. “Yea, ok. Just know that you owe me a furious make-out in the future.” He teased, kissing Cade’s cheek.
“What Bradley wants, Bradley gets…” Cade muttered, shoving his hands into his pockets and following his boyfriend to his Subaru Forester.
He snorted with amusement when Bradley opened the passenger door, bowing.
“Your seat, sir.” Bradley said, trying to imitate the stereotypical British butler. Cade flicked his forehead. “Thanks, dork.”
Bradley smiled as he slid into the driver’s seat, turning the keys in the ignition and stealing a glance at Cade, taking in his milky pallor and queasy expression. He was looking out the window, leaning the bottom half of his face onto his hand, elbow on the window’s edge, fingers covering his mouth.
His position didn’t stop the sickly belches slipping past his lips being audible, not did the burps themselves alleviate his discomfort. At least he wasn’t embarrassed to let it happen, otherwise he already would have been sick; that he was sure of.
They were only a few miles from the neighborhood when Cade’s condition took a turn for the worst.
His abdomen was clenching over and over, sending splashes of acid into the back of his throat, a terribly familiar sour feeling washing through his gut, eliciting a long, airy burp that almost turned into a retch.
Bradley shot him a sympathetic look, reaching over to squeeze his bicep. “Want me to pull over?”
Cade didn’t say anything but shook his head slowly, breathing heavily through his nose, trying desperately to quell the nausea assaulting him without a moment’s pause.
He only lasted about a minute like that. Bradley was no fool, and Cade threw up often enough from his stomach issues that it wasn’t hard to tell when it was about to happen anymore. Pulling his car over, Bradley unbuckled his and his boyfriend’s seatbelts, hopping out and crossing to the passenger side, flinging open the door and helping Cade into the cool night air.
Immediately after getting out of the car, a jarring belch left Cade’s mouth, morphing into a wet heave. He gagged three more times before managing to burp up a thick mouthful of vomit that left his nose feeling clogged. He panted, bracing a hand on his knee and the other against his angry stomach. It felt distended, and he belched loudly several times, trying to relieve himself.
Bradley furrowed his eyebrows, rubbing his slender palm across Cade’s muscled shoulders and upper back, trying to coax up whatever was making him so miserable.
The force of the nausea and Bradley’s ministrations worked quite well, for the next moment Cade dislodged a massive burp that turned into a projectile stream of vomit at the end, splattering forcefully onto the edge of the sidewalk and leaving some running down the curb, a stark orange-brown against grey contrast.
A moan escaped him, and he pitched forward in utter misery as another round of sick hit the ground, adding on to the pile with a sickening squelch.
“Jesus Christ, babe.” Bradley whispered. His boyfriend was very surprisingly ill considering twenty minutes ago they were making out against the side of a restaurant’s brick wall.
“Holy fuck….this -brrurrp- feels fucking awful…” Cade’s voice sounded miserable, hoarse and even huskier than usual.
“I know, Cade.” Bradley soothed as best he could, but he had never been known for his caretaking skills.
They stood there in the chilling darkness for what felt like hours, the only sound being gags, sickly burps, and pants from Cade. There wasn’t much Bradley could do except continue to rub his back and offer as much comfort as possible.
When Cade’s nausea finally started to subside for a few seconds and he wasn’t throwing up anymore, Bradley ushered him back into the car, eager to get home and out of the cold.
“Damn, I’m sorry babe.” He smiled sadly, grabbing a pack of tissues from his glove box and using one to wipe off Cade’s mouth. The sick boy was too tired and ill to have remembered to do it himself.
“T’s fine…thanks…” His boyfriend’s slurred in response, closing his eyes. Bradley reached over to recline Cade’s seat, helping him to sit back.
Just as they pulled into Bradley’s driveway, Cade jerked upright with a painfully deep belch, and another thick amount of sick tumbled from his lips, running down his chin and falling into his lap, some of the liquid portion ending up under his shirt and running down his bare chest. He felt so sick, and he was so embarrassed. His emotions welled up behind his eyes, and he couldn’t stop fat tears from rolling down his flushed cheeks. He hiccuped, and another mouthful joined the mess onto his shirt.
“Oh, baby…I’m so sorry.” Bradley whispered, getting out of the car and walking to the passenger side door, opening it and immediately kissing Cades temple. “Shh, it’s okay.” Bradley sounded calm, but in reality he was worried. Cade very rarely cried.
“Feels so bad, Brad.” Cade cried, choking on a sob and stepping out of the car, letting the vomit on his lap slop messily to the pavement beneath his feet. He looked up at Bradley and buried his face into his chest. Bradley made a sympathetic noise, carding his slender fingers through Cade’s well-groomed hair, trying his best to ignore the puke stains that would undoubtedly be left on his shirt.
“I know, Cade. Just breathe, okay? You’re only this upset because you’re probably running a fever, right? So it’s okay, just breathe.” Cade was notorious for having hidden fevers, so that you couldn’t tell just from feeling his skin. Bradley, in a method he used to try and calm injured players on the basketball court, began to verbally guide his boyfriend to take deep breaths, and used their position as an advantage to sync his breathing with that of Cade’s.
Cade followed his instructions, and after a minute or so pulled away, rubbing his eyes to clear the tears in a fashion similar to that of a young child.
“Why don’t we go to your house instead, so we can get you cleaned up and comfortable, hm?” Bradley suggested quietly. He’d never been more relieved to be neighbors with his boyfriend. Cade nodded, and Bradley grinned, leading him across the front yard and into Cade’s own driveway.
It was 12 am, and Cade’s parents were on a mission trip in Zimbabwe for the next month, so Faye would be the only one home, and there was a good chance Tate was with her. Bradley, having a key to Cade’s house on his own ring of various keys, unlocked the door quickly and helped Cade inside, waiting for him to slip his sneakers off clumsily. Faye would more than likely be up at this late, so Bradley took a chance in calling her name out.
“Faye?!” He yelled into the silent house, hoping he hadn’t woken up the Sassy Twin™. Thankfully, a small figure soon popped around the corner, and she began a greeting only to pull back in shock.
“Cade?! What happened?!” She exclaimed in surprise and concern, looking Cade up and down with furrowed brows and a prominent frown. Her shock elicited a surprising reaction from the sick teen, who’s eyes began to well up again, thinking she was angry through his fever induced-delirium.
Bradley mouthed ‘sick’ and motioned something akin to vomiting with his arms. Faye scoffed, “Well no shit ya genius, he’s covered in vomit.” she approached Cade and wiped his tears away with her thumbs.
“Okay big guy,” She soothed her brother, “Bradley here is gonna run and get the thermometer in the bathroom cabinet, yea?” Bradley shot her a glare, but complied, trudging up the familiar stairs.
Faye smiled and turned back to Cade. She usually wasn’t so gentle with her twin, but he was obviously running a fever, and for as long as she could remember, he had always been reduced to the state of an emotional, delirious child when feverish.
“Okay, let’s get that gross shirt off of you. I’ll get you a clean one, just give that to me and I’ll throw it in the wash for you.” Faye said gently, reaching out to grab his sleeve.
When she looked up, Cade had stopped listening and his eyes were closed, he had the back of his hand to his mouth, and was breathing heavily. “Cade? You alright?” Faye ventured slowly, unsure if he was about to be sick. He didn’t respond, but his chest hitched and he accidentally let out a heavy belch towards her face, and he mumbled something that was probably akin to excusing himself or an apology. She cringed, but didn’t punch him like she usually would. She could actually hear his chest rumbling. He must have really felt awful. His upper body jumped again and another deep, painful sounding belch pushed past his slightly open mouth, and Faye’s unease grew. She knew he was trying really hard not to be sick.
“Okay, bro, come on. Let’s get you in the bathroom.” She said quietly, not quite sure how he would respond.
“Mmm…not gonna- HicURrp -make it…” He shuddered after a moment, swallowing the saliva pooling in his mouth rapidly. His stomach was absolutely stewing, bubbling and churning. His chest felt sour, increasing his nausea tenfold.
“Ah, um, shit. Okay, it’s okay, I’ll get something… Faye trailed off incoherently, sprinting to the kitchen and searching for a bowl. She jumped up on the marble countertop and swung open the glass-paned cupboard, grabbing a plastic mixing bowl. She was feeling hopeful, but when she turned to the kitchen doorway her brother stood there, looking incredibly nauseous. The sight of the dirty dishes with remnants of food in the sink set Cade off before she could even blink, and she stopped dead as the taller twin belched, ending the sick noise with a splatter of dinner onto the linoleum flooring, and he let out a sob, completely breaking down for a third time.
Faye was terrified. She’d never seen her brother this sick, and this upset because of it.
“I’m sorry…” He cried, devolving into a coughing fit after another mouthful of vomit, adding to his ever growing amount of lost fluids.
“Jesus, Cade.” Faye whispered. This was bad. She looked up to see Bradley, looking scared.
“I think we need to go to the hospital, sweet.” He said, crouching down next to the sobbing teen and shushing him as Faye handed Bradley the bowl. He held the bowl under Cade’s chin, and his brows furrowed even further when the brunette was plagued with dry heaves that refused to let up until a small stream of mostly acid finally came up, along with the very last of everything in his belly. Cade gagged so sharply that his ears turned red, and he scrunched his face in pain, tears and sobs tearing from his fever-riddled body unhindered.
Bradley used a paper towel to wipe Cade’s tears and then his mouth, whispering sweet nothings all the while.
“Faye, go get my car started, here’s my keys.” Bradley instructed without looking up, tossing his ring of keys to Faye.
“Shouldn’t we get your dad?” Faye asked uncertainly. Bradley shook his head.
“He’s working the graveyard shift ten-to-six tonight. I’m not a minor anymore, it’ll be fine.” He reassured her, reaching up to give the small girl’s shoulder a squeeze.
She let out a shuddering breath, collecting a large trash bag and a bottle of water, handing the water to Bradley and heading towards the door.
Bradley uncapped the water and had Cade stand straight up, holding it to his lips and allowing water to dribble slowly into Cade’s acid-ridden mouth. Pulling the water away, he smiled. “Okay big guy, let’s get you some help.”