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The day was ruined before it even started.
No, that was probably a bit of a harsh way to put it. The just didn’t go as it was originally planned. And yet, somehow that still wasn’t the right way of putting what happened. Nothing had actually been planned in the first place. In reality, the day just didn’t go the way Chase Randall himself had imagine it. But just because it didn’t go how he had thought it would, it didn’t make it a bad day at all. In fact, it was a fairly pleasant day despite all that happened. It was definitely one that he looked back on fondly.
It had started before he had even gotten up that morning. He was still groggy and half asleep when he realized that his phone was vibrating like crazy, threatening to tip off his bedside table. He reached over to grab it, blearily looking at who the hell was bothering him this early in the morning and then promptly sat straight up in bed when his mind finally processed that it was Riley doing it. Riley who was horrible at responding to texts and was so bad about using his phone. Suddenly he wasn’t sleepy in the slightest, instead immediately calling Riley.
“What’s wrong? Riley, are you okay?” He asked as soon as Riley answered his phone.
“I’m dying.” Riley responded, sounding incredibly raspy (and a bit whiny.)
“...What?” Suddenly all the intense worry that he had had was starting to ebb away and replaced with relief. This wasn’t the first time this has happened.
“My head hurts, my throat hurts, I’m cold and hot at the same time and I’m dying.”
“So you managed to catch a cold huh?” Chase replied with a bit of a laugh. “What happened to you country boy immune system that’s made of steel because you ate dirt as a kid?”
“Shut up. Matt told you that didn’t he?” Riley paused to cough, and that made Chase’s smile drop slightly, it sounded pretty bad. “Whatever, tell Ms. Morgan I’m not coming to work today.”
“Alright, I’ll let her know you’re dying for the plague and can’t come in for the foreseeable future.”
“Thank you Chase.”
They chatted for a few moments longer, but it was clear that Riley was starting fall asleep again and they finally ended their conversation there. Chase sat on his bed for a while, looking at his phone. All the messages that Riley had sent them were pretty adorable, all of them variations of ‘I’m dying please save me’, because despite everything, Riley seemed to be pretty incapable of handling a cold. Chase had no doubt that his mother and Matt had coddled him to death any time he got sick, which was rarely. The guy definitely had an immune system of steel, because when the flu suddenly went rampant across all of the Amber Beach Museum’s employees, Riley was one of the few who were completely fine even though he took it upon himself to take care of half of the team.
It was a shame though, given what day it was. He stared at the date on his phone sadly. February 14th, Valentine’s day. And not just any old Valentine’s day, this was his and Riley’s first Valentine’s day since they had become a couple. Not that they had had anything really planned in the first place. Overall they were still pretty new into their relationship, content to be around each other but still trying to find the proper footing on how to go about it. They still haven’t even got hand holding down without hesitating slightly or blushing.
And Chase knew he couldn’t just go the generic route of flowers and chocolates like he had done plenty of times before with other people around this time of year. Riley was different, he was more special and deserved something better than just flowers and chocolates. And Chase had worked hard on getting the gift he had finally picked out for Riley. He had to pull some strings and nearly got his finger cut off in the process. But he had done it, and it had arrived on time.
But of course with Chase’s luck, Riley was sick in bed.
He looked at the time again, realizing that if he didn’t hurry he’d probably end up being late for his shift at the Dino Bite. But he didn’t really want to go, knowing Riley was stuck at home. And without really thinking about it, he went to Kendall’s contact and called her, letting her know that neither he nor Riley would be in work today because Riley had a cold.
“Chase, Riley is a big boy. He can take care of himself.” Kendall sounded exasperated.
“I know, I know. But I figured I’d at least act like I’m useful.”
“You could do that by coming into work.” She grumbled in reply, but Chase could already tell she was going to say yes. She didn’t want to admit that she had a soft spot for the youngest ranger (probably because he was the most helpful and least irritating to her out of all of them.) “Fine, fine. But you’re getting a double shift tomorrow.”
“Thanks Kendall.”
“It’s Ms. Morgan.”
He was lucky that he didn’t live too far away from where Riley was currently staying with family that lived in Amber Beach. He knocked a couple of times, hoping that Riley was the one who answered the door. He sighed inwardly in relief when he saw a bit of dirty blond hair and one grey eye blink at him before he heard a raspy groan.
“Why are you here Chase?” Riley’s voice was throaty, and he was definitely speaking more quietly than normal.
“Can’t a guy come and keep his boyfriend company in his time of need?” Chase asked, pushing the door gently open. Clearly Riley wasn’t entirely against the idea because he didn’t put up any resistance to Chase getting inside the house.
He noticed Riley’s cheeks were tinged pink, but he couldn’t tell if it was from his cold or if he was embarrassed about Chase visiting while he was sick. “You’re going to get sick Chase. You get the sick the most easily out of all of us.”
Chase waved him off, dropping his back by the doorway. “Doesn’t matter, it’s Valentine’s day. We should be spending the day together.” He gave Riley a quick kiss on his hot forehead before jokingly ruffling his hair. “So if you die from the plague at least you’ll have me with you.”
Riley responded by pecking him on the lips. “Thanks for risking your life for me, hotshot.”
Chase was lead into the living room, where it was pretty obvious that it was where Riley had chosen to make his nest, because there was heaps of blankets, boxes of tissues, and multiple mugs of tea already scattered around.
“I was watching bad daytime TV, but do you want to watch a movie or something?” Riley asked, coughing slightly.
“Sure, but first I should give you your gift, shouldn’t I?”
Riley made a face. “You got me something? Don’t say that, I didn’t get you anything…”
“It’s alright, love. There’s always next year.” Chase winked at him before going back to his bag to pull out the little box he had stashed there that morning. “You’d better enjoy it, I went through hell and back to get this done.”
Riley raised an eyebrow at that comment but they both sat down on the couch as Riley tore the wrapping paper off and carefully removed the lid on the box. He looked confused for a few seconds before his eyes widened in surprised. “They’re...tiny swords!” He picked one carefully up by the hilt and examining them closely.
“Yeah, got a mate of mine who’s really into working with metal. It was pretty easy to get him to work on the project, but careful, they’re sharp. Nearly cut off my finger because he didn’t tell me they were.”
Riley was already using one to carefully cut at the wrapping paper. “These are so cool...but I still feel bad about not getting anything for you. All this trouble, and now all you’re getting from me is probably going to be a cold.”
“Nah, it’s alright. I’m always down with a couple days off of work.” Chase started to laugh, but it quickly turned into a cough. “Ah...there it is.”
“Are you sure you want to stay?” Riley asked, setting his gift carefully on the table.
“I’m here, I’m already getting sick. There’s no reason to leave.” Chase settled himself back onto the couch and threw one of the blankets over them. Riley immediately curled up next to him, resting his head on Chase’s shoulder. “Well, I hope you’re ready to see if this lady is going to say yes to that dress because I doubt either of us will feel like standing up in a few minutes.”
Chase rested his head on top of Riley’s. “As long as you’re here I don’t think I care how ugly of a wedding dress is picked out.” He thought for a moment. “Though I really wouldn’t mind watching a movie instead...Riley?”
He looked down to see Riley had already fallen asleep lying against his shoulder. And really, he couldn’t blame him. From the looks of it when a cold finally hits Riley, it hits him hard. He leaned down a bit to give Riley another kiss on the forehead before resting his head back on top of Riley’s grinning a bit at the mumbling sound Riley made as he adjusted himself more comfortably on Chase. He was sure he had never felt more content than he was at that moment, so despite all the circumstances their first Valentine’s day wasn’t a bad one at all. Chase grinned and closed his eyes, now completely ignoring what was going on on TV and focusing more on the fact that he was with Riley, and incredibly, incredibly happy.