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he gripped his stomach, groan reverberating off the walls as he twisted and turned. he heard a soft knock on the attic door and said a soft "come in".
it was his mother, who had a small bottle of ibuprofen and a glass of water, which she walked over to him.
"here you go dear," she said, hand him the things and kissing his forehead. she knew he didn't like people in his room for extended amounts of time, especially not now, so she turned to leave.
"make sure to call me if you need anything, doesn't matter how unimportant you think it is." she said. "thanks, mom." rodrick huffed after he took the pills and drank the water. susan nodded and walked down the stairs.
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a few hours had passed, it was about 4:30 in the afternoon and he was already praying for death. he yelled out just loud enough for him to hear, and groaned into a pillow, until he heard a slight knocking on his door.
"come in. unless you're anyone younger than 16." he warned. but to his surprise, it wasn't his mom, or his dad coming in with one of his weird "pep talks." it was ben, a small backpack on his back.
he closed rodrick's door and walked over to his bed, cupping his face in his hands as he kneeled down.
"dude what happened to you?" he asked, eyebrows upturned with worry. "you weren't at school at all, and then i called your phone and you never answered, and then i called your house phone and your brother picked up and said you were sick. is it a cold? a stomach bug?" ben rambled, sounding like a concerned mother as he placed his hand on rodrick's chest to check his temperature.
"nah, its shark week." rodrick chuckled, running his hand through his hair. "you're such a fuckin' worrier, dude." he said, a soft grin on his face.
ben gasped dramatically and shoved rodrick's face aside, placing a hand over his chest.
"well excuse me for being worried about my favorite person." he said, getting up.
rodrick grabbed ben's wrist and tugged him down, allowing his head to rest on his chest, laughing quietly.
"is it true? that im your 'favowite person'?" rodrick asked, cupping ben's chin between his index finger and thumb.
ben stared at him, then looked at the ceiling, as if considering
"mmmm, i don't know. my mom and dad are pretty cool." he shrugged.
rodrick gave him a quick peck on the cheek and held him closer, koala hugging him.
"you're warm, imma keep you here." he smiled. ben returned it and once again cupped rodrick's face in his hands, this time pushing their lips together. rodrick quickly returned the sentiment.
the two stayed like that for a while, ben pulling away first and staring at rodrick. they stared at each other until rodrick pushed his face away, laughing.
"dude, you're such a sap." he chuckled. ben just tucked his face into rodrick's neck, pressing small kisses to it. "i'm only ever a sap for you." he laughed.
ben stopped suddenly, leaving rodrick confused as he got up and reached for the backpack and pulled out his 3ds.
"we could play pokemon red." he offered, also pulling out the game cartridge.
rodrick rolled his eyes and got up aswell, knowing exactly how this would play out. "you mean i can watch you play pokemon red while you geek out and tell me about all of the types?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
ben huffed playfully, shoving rodrick's chest softly. "well, yeah, but i know you like it." he said in a teasing voice, situating himself in rodrick's lap, which was slightly difficult as they were around the same size.
rodrick shrugged, resting his chin on ben's shoulder and watched as the game started up. "thats fair."