The Cure For The Common Cold (Teldryn)

Happy Skyrim anniversary day! Have some fluff.

 OTP Challenge: Cuddling Somewhere

“You look awful.” I tell Talvas when I get up to the lab, finding him slumped over a large spellbook on the table in the corner opposite his sleeping area. In reply he mumbles something and lifts his head slightly glares at me, the dark circles under his eyes are less apparent than they would be if he were a different skin tone, but still visible to those who know what they look like. “I notice the absence of one particular mage, where’s Neloth?” I ask, gently stroking his hair. “Mycologist.” Talvas mumbles. That would make sense, he’s next door, probably asking her why is his tower suddenly having problems. “You want to come back to Raven Rock with me? Can leave a note saying you went to get supplies.” The note wouldn’t even be a complete lie, looking around there does seem to be a few things that are in need of replenishing. Talvas nods in reply and vaguely gestures toward the pile of paper and writing utensils, so I grab him one so he can scrawl a quick note down to Neloth before managing to get up and grab what he needs before we leave.

The trip to Raven Rock is uneventful, thankfully, though we move at a slower than usual pace. Passing through the bulwark we enter the town being greeted by the patrolling Redoran guard. Talvas trails slightly behind me, holding my hand and more having me lead him than walking next to me. We head right for the inn and down the steps to the main area, and the rooms that are rented out, one of them being the one I live in. With a bit of coaxing I get Talvas to eat some soup, even if he’s not hungry fluids are always a good thing to have…unless you have too much and get water poisoning, I suppose. Geldis attempts to make conversation with him when he brings the bowl over, but Talvas seems too tired to engage with him, and so Geldis and I talk instead, pausing every now and then to encourage Talvas to keep eating, before going back to what we were discussing. Talvas, on his part, finishes most if not all of the bowl before pushing it away. “All done?” I ask, resting my head on my hand and Talvas makes a noise, looking at me with tired eyes.

Getting up, Talvas and I walk down the short hallway to my room and head inside, closing the door behind us and I lock it. As it’s early evening by now might as well, don’t want drunk patrons accidentally wandering in later on in the night. “Alright, come here.” I hold out my arms and Talvas walks over so I can pull him into a seemingly much needed hug. “You seem like you don’t feel well, have you got a cold?” Talvas shakes his head at the first question and replies that “no, I don’t feel well.” And nods at the question regarding the cold. Pulling back a little I tilt his head up slightly and gently stroke his cheek. “Poor thing, but lucky for you I know just the cure for the common cold.” I tell him and he tilts his head slightly “And what’s that?” He asks, curious. “Cuddles.” I reply, and that seems to make him smile a bit. “But first you need a warm bath.” I add, however, that seems to only make him smile more. Releasing him from the hug and turning him around I lightly shove him in the direction of the bathroom “Come on, bath time, then it will be officially time for a much needed nap.” Grabbing the spare set of sleeping clothes he’d packed Talvas goes to draw a bath, with me following after. Having gotten settled he sits in the warm water and I sit on the floor beside the bath. The steam should hopefully help, and I’ve always found a hot bath to be a nice thing when I don’t feel well, or if I’m particularly tired, or both. With an amusing noise Talvas sinks down further in the water, leaving only his head above the surface which makes me laugh a little. “Well I can tell you certainly needed this.” I say leaning over the side and placing a light kiss on his forehead. After a moment of sitting there like that he sits back up again in order to wash his hair.

Eventually the water starts to turn cold, signaling that as nice as it is to sit there and soak, bath time has come to an end. “Can you hand me a towel?” he asks, and I grab one that had been hanging up, handing it to him so he can get out and dry off before getting redressed. As expected his sleeping clothes are quite plain, just a white loose fitting long sleeve shirt, a pair of black pants, and socks. Once Talvas is dressed, the bath has been drained, and dirty laundry has been discarded, I pick him up, carrying him back to the other room and placing him on the bed. He doesn’t seem to mind being held, he never seems to mind being held… honestly- I think he’s a bit touch starved. “You rest, I’ll clean up quickly and be right back.” I tell him as he looks at me through half lidded eyes. “Okay.” Talvas responds quietly, continuing to look at me before rolling over and closing his eyes.

Since an early dinner had already been eaten and there’s no other reason to go out I myself wash off quickly, changing into my own sleeping clothes, which are similar to in style to those that Talvas has, with the exception of the sleeve length. Returning to the main room I find Talvas sprawled out, in at least a light state of sleep, and crawl into bed next to him. Seeming to sense there’s someone there Talvas rolls over onto his left side and moves until he’s next to me. “Told you I’d be back.” I say, one arm pulling him closer, the other letting my hand run through his hair, which is still slightly damp. Given that he seems to have a mild temperature I’m not overly concerned about his hair being wet, it should hopefully help cool him down. Talvas keeps one arm close to his body, and the other lays along his his head against my chest. “Feeling any better?” I ask, and get a mumble and a nod in return “That’s good, I’ll let you rest now.” Talvas shifts slightly, pulling the blankets a bit more to his liking, and mumbles what I think was an “I love you.” Which makes me smile. I love you too, Talvas, now get some sleep.

Over the course of the night Talvas sleeps relatively peacefully in my arms, with a few brief periods of wakefulness. Once in order to go to the bathroom, as is typical when having lots of fluids. Once because of a minor coughing fit. And once just because he woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep. The first two were resolved quickly, the third involved a sleepy and ill feeling mage sitting in my lap almost whining before a solution was figured out via drinking a glass of milk and looking at a book at three in the morning until being lulled back to sleep thanks to the melatonin in the cup of milk and being held. In a way it reminds me of a much less intense version of Anna during periods of trauma induced regression, or simply Anna when she herself is feeling ill…which unfortunately for her is rather often. Poor thing, at least Farkas is immune to getting sick thanks to the twins' particular strand of lycanthropy. I actually learned the trick of warm milk and reading books from him, as it is one of the easiest ways to get Anna back to sleep. Apparently it works on Dunmer mages as well as Breton ones, the more you know.

Morning comes late, almost to the point of afternoon. Talvas still sleeps peacefully on top of me, and I almost don’t have the heart to wake him, until I hear a noise and feel the shifting of weight and see that he is actually in fact awake, even if only a little. “Feeling better today?” Talvas shakes his head and puts it back down against my chest, but he smiled when looking at me, and so I take it at least partly as a joke of sorts. “You just want to stay in bed, don’t you?” Talvas laughs slightly, “Maybe I do, and what’s wrong with that?” I pause for a moment. “Other than the fact it’s almost noon, nothing.” Talvas waves a hand in the direction of the clock “Who cares about time anyways. Time…time, is a weird soup. That is simply a fact.” He states and turns his head away from the clock, still cuddled against me. “Time might be a weird soup but it doesn’t mean you can stay in bed all day and not eat anything. I think it’s about time for a real bowl of soup.” I reply, laying there for a few more minutes before sitting up with Talvas in my lap, still reluctant to move out of my arms.

After a little while longer of just sitting there I manage to get up and go ask Geldis for two bowls of soup and some tea quickly, bringing it back to my room. Thankfully, he’s unfazed by my not being dressed yet, when you run an inn you see some interesting stuff. Closing the door and setting down the tray I pull back the covers on the bed. “There’s soup and tea, it will help you feel better.” With a groan Talvas gets up and agrees to eat lunch, and having finished decides that he would be much more comfortable curled up in my lap looking at a book than a wooden chair in need of some repairs. Between the soup, another bath, and some adequate sleep, he seems to be on the mend. I don’t mind him curled up next to me, or sitting in my lap while I look through some paperwork on a contract that Glover Mallory had offered me, either. Cuddles after all, as I told him, are the cure to the common cold.