A/N: I own none of them. I mean, I wish I did, and I'm hoping MI5 (the one Renner is rumored and better be on) will have more EthanBrandt for me to jump on, but for now I'm just going to write.

At its worst, summer heat in Washington DC was unbearable to most people. And Ethan Hunt, even though he was IMF's top agent, hands down, happened to be one of the most people that was not good in DC heat.

Usually Ethan would have the air conditioning turned on full with all the windows shut, with a fan running on top of it. And yet here he was, all windows open with the air conditioning turned off. He had the ceiling fan running as well as a stand-up one running, but neither did much to stifle the heat, especially because he was standing in front of a stove heating up soup.

The only thing that was keeping him sane was the cup of ice water he held, more to keep his temperature down than to drink. He sighed as he let go and instead put a kitchen mitt on his hands to hold the pot to pour its contents into a bowl. He fought the urge to dump the heated contents into the sink and instead carried it to the dim room. "Hey." He knocked lightly on the door, and the lump on the bed stirred. "How're you feeling?" He set the soup on the bedside table and picked up the electric thermometer instead.

Will turned weakly – it seemed to take a large effort just for him to do that – and cracked open an eye. "I feel disgusting." He rasped, his voice cracking. "I'm too hot and too cold all at once."

"Yeah, a fever will usually do that to you." Ethan winced in sympathy and reached over to insert the end of the thermometer into Will's ear. The blonde stayed obediently still, coughing once or twice, until the object beeped. "103.4." Ethan groaned. "Your fever's not going any lower. Maybe we should go see the doctor again?"

Will gave a little whimper and sunk into his sheets, curling up under it until the only thing Ethan could see was the tuft of dark blonde hair. "Don't wanna." Will said petulantly, coughing again. "We went an hour ago, what's the point?"

"We went three hours ago." Ethan corrected. "And the point is, your fever isn't going down. It's actually at the point where it's dangerously high."

Will coughed again, wincing lightly. "No, hyperpyrexia is at over 106.7 degrees. I'm 3 degrees below that. I just wanna sleep."

"Eat first. At least a little." Ethan insisted, coaxing Will up. He grabbed the fluffy pillows Jane had brought over and used them to help prop up. Will eyed the bowl of soup warily, and with good reason. Ethan had tried to get Will to eat something last night, and Will had spent the entire night vomiting it back out. "Just a little." Ethan promised. "We'll stop as soon as you feel nauseous."

Will sighed and tried to glare at Ethan. "Promise you won't eat the rest of it, you'll catch it from me." Ethan nodded firmly. "Okay. A little." He tried to pick his arm up, but Ethan patted it back down and settled on feeding Will instead. Will didn't seem to have to strength to protest, and Ethan had only gotten maybe ten or so spoonfuls when Will whimpered and turned away.

"Will." Ethan said desperately. "A little more? You barely ate anything."

Will shook his head, his eyes shut and coughing lightly. Ethan gave a frustrated sigh but nodded. He helped Will lie back out and wished he could feed Will another dose of painkillers, but the doctor had administered Ibuprofen less than three hours ago and any more would be overdose.

He squeezed Will's hand, promising he'd be back right away. He slid the rest of the soup back in the fridge – he'd bring it to boiling point later and try Will with it again – and turned off the two fans he'd forgotten about earlier. He slid back in to find Will whimpering in his sleep, and he rubbed Will's hand gently, forgetting about the stifling heat around them for a moment.

The window on the far side was open to let a breeze through, but it did nothing to air out the heated room. Ethan sighed and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Ethan knew how to win barehandedly against twenty heavily armed men. Ethan knew how to escape under consistent, heavy fire. Ethan knew how to arm and disarm bombs. Ethan knew how to climb the tallest building in the world.

But Ethan had no idea how to take care of a sick person. Benji didn't have any idea, either. The only people who knew such common sense were Jane and Will. Will was currently in bed, sick, and Jane was three states away on a conference. She promised to be back in DC by evening, but Ethan wished she was here now.

He slid out of the room and dialed Jane. She picked up immediately. [How is he?]

"His fever won't go down." Ethan groaned exasperatedly. "His room feels really stifling and all, are you sure I shouldn't turn on the air conditioning or the fan or something?"

[No. No air conditioning in his room. Or anywhere else in the house, unless you want his throat to be even worse. Have the fan running on low at the entrance of the room, get the air flowing through it a bit. Did you get him to eat something?] She sounded like she was driving. That's good, Ethan thought. Jane will be here soon.

Ethan grabbed the fan with one hand and pulled it to the entrance of their bedroom. "I tried, but he ate like ten sips and he couldn't eat anymore."

He heard Jane sigh on the other end. [All right. Just get him to drink a lot of water, flush the virus from his system. I thought Will got vaccinated along with the rest of us in the beginning of the year.]

"I thought so, too, but I went through his paperwork and he missed the vaccination. I think he got caught up in doing the paperwork for our missions." Jane groaned on the other end. "What do I do about his fever? It won't go down."

[Pat him down with a cool towel. Not cold, cool. And you have to change his clothes frequently. He must be sweating through them.] Ethan turned the fan on and touched the shirt Will was wearing. True to Jane's word, they were soaked in cold sweat. He cursed lowly. [Yeah, get him changed, or he'll just get worse. And you know, sex helps.]

Ethan froze. "What?"

[You know. Sex. Don't be prude, Ethan, it's not like you two haven't fucked in the last two years that you were dating. It'll help him sweat it out and help with temperature regulation.] Jane sounded too gleeful for someone who was concerned about her teammate. [Don't wake him up to fuck him, just, you know, if he wakes up and I'm not there yet.]

She hung up before he could say anything and he shook his head. He spent the next half hour undressing Will without waking him up, spent the half hour after that patting him down with a cool towel, and then spent another half hour dressing Will in new clothes. When he was done, he reached over to the thermometer, slid it inside Will's ear and the temperature beeped – 103.6.

Ethan stared at the new reading and decided he was going to call either Jane or a doctor when Will groaned and stirred. "Will?"

"Plastic bag." Will groaned. "Now."

Ethan shot up, grabbed the nearest trashcan – thankfully it was empty – and shoved it at Will. Will vomited a fraction of a second later, and Ethan winced as he retched drily, his entire body shaking. Will finally fell back and curled back up, shaking. Ethan all but ran as he tossed the plastic bag into the trash outside, wiped his hands clean and brought Will back a cup of cool water. Will gulped about a quarter of the cup before he curled up again, shaking miserably. Ethan reached over and cupped Will's cheek. "Look at me." He said softly, and Will turned weakly into him. He hooked his hands on the waistband of the sweatpants he'd slipped onto Will. "Jane said it'll help. Will it help?"

Will laughed weakly. "I don't know. I've heard stories, but…"

"Then you just relax. If you start to feel really bad, tell me, but otherwise I'm going to do it."

Will pushed at Ethan's chest. It barely had any strength to it, but Ethan stopped, just in case Will didn't want what he was about to do. "You'll catch it."

"Jane and Benji and I got the vaccination that you skipped out on in the beginning of the year. I'm going to be fine." He wanted to ask Will why he'd missed it so he didn't have to speculate, but it could come later. Will sighed shallowly and his hand fell back to his side. Ethan undressed Will quickly, wondering why he'd spent 30 minutes dressing him if he was just going to undress him back again. His own clothes were discarded quickly and he pressed his body to Will's.

Will winced a little. "You're freezing."

"You're the one that's burning up." Ethan reminded gently, kissing a feverish cheek. "You think you can wrap your arms around me, or no?" Will considered it for a moment and shook his head. "All right, that's fine, that's fine. Just lie back." Ethan pressed his lips to Will's for a chaste kiss and then moved down, nibbling along the jawline and the neckline before settling to suckle on bottom of Will's chin. Normally, Will would have cuffed him on the back of the head for leaving marks where it was visible, but Will did nothing as Ethan left a trail of marks from his jaw down to his shoulder, leaving a clear and unquestionable mark of territory.

He gently slid Will's thighs around him, settling himself in between and sliding his knees below Will's back so Will didn't have to exert any physical strength to keep himself in the position. Normally, he would have stalled the entire process – his specialty was melting Will bit by bit until Will was all but begging for Ethan to fuck him, but today he didn't want to stress Will out. Or push his physical limits. He stroked Will's thigh gently with one hand, nibbled on Will's shoulder and managed to fish out a condom package. He looked up when he couldn't find the normal tube of lubricant. "Where'd the lube go?"

"Ran out." Will responded, gasping as Ethan's hot breath brushed across his tender skin. "You used it all last time, remember?"

Ethan cursed lowly and instead reached over to grab Will's hand lotion. It would have to do. He squeezed a generous amount onto his fingers and went back to nibbling at Will's shoulder as he circled the tight ring of muscle with his index finger and then slid it slowly inside. Will stiffened against him and a gasp escaped his lips. Ethan told himself to take it slowly. Usually, Will would have no problem taking two fingers, but currently Will was sick. It makes him weaker, he told himself firmly. Take it slow.

He took his time exploring Will with just his index finger, brushing across the prostrate and massaging it gently. He doubted Will was in any condition to take the usual strong stimulation Ethan did, so he played along slowly until Will's body relaxed enough for him to slip in a second finger and scissor gently in and out. "How's that feel? It feel okay? Tell me if it's too much, okay? I don't want you to get sicker."

Will nodded and his fingers brushed along Ethan's knees. His face was still flushed and his body was still limp against Ethan, but Ethan didn't read any discomfort or pain on Will's face, so he slowly added a third finger. This was where Will, even in a clear state of mind, started to feel discomfort, and he knew, so he took extra care keeping the pace slow and steady.

As he'd expected, Will let out a sort of a strangled sigh, and Ethan stopped. "Should I stop? Tell me to stop and I'll stop." Will managed to shake his head, so Ethan slowed down even more, pressing forward an excruciatingly slow millimeter by millimeter before his index, middle and ring finger were buried inside the analyst. "Feel okay?" It took Will a little longer than usual to nod, and there was definitely no pushing back as he usually did. Ethan bit the inside of his mouth, something he did when he didn't like what was going on. "Will, tell me you're okay."

Will coughed lightly, and Ethan recognized it as a forced cough. Not a cough someone made when they were trying to pretend being sick, but one someone made in an attempt to cover up a larger one. "I'm okay." Will whispered desperately. "Keep doing it, it feels good."

Ethan frowned. Usually Will was the last to admit with his own lips that something felt good. Even when he was a pool of sensitive goo in Ethan's arms, Will snapped and cursed and Ethan. Ethan sighed and moved up to nibble on Will's bottom lip, but Will kept his lips firmly closed. He laid over Will, hoping his cooler body temperature would help Will, and moved his wrist slowly, sliding in and out instead of his usual quick preparation.

Ethan had no idea how much time had passed until he finally slipped the condom on himself. That was new, because usually Will fussed that he should be the one doing it. Ethan nibbled on Will's lips again, but Will shook his head weakly away. "Let me kiss you. It'll hurt less."

"No." Will said quietly but firmly. "You'll catch it." He coughed lightly again, the same forced cover-up as before, and Ethan sighed. Ethan didn't argue – he didn't want Will spending his energy arguing, but he slid in just as slowly as he had done with his fingers. Will let out a chocked sob at one point and Ethan froze. "No. It's okay. Slow."

Ethan wasn't sure if he could go slower than what he'd been doing, but he bit his lip and forced himself to slow down. His thighs quivered at the effort, but he managed to hold a slow pace, and Will didn't make the noise again. He pressed his body close to Will's, pushing every inch of his cooler skin onto Will's fevered one, and he pressed their foreheads together. "Tell me when you're okay. I'm not going to push anything too far."

The process took a lot longer than Ethan expected, and he frowned. He knew the initial discomfort for Will when he was being penetrated was there no matter what he did. Not only that, he and Will were on missions all the time and didn't have time for sex, and the long period of time in between meant Will's body tightened up again. Sometimes Will would bleed, but neither of them had paid much attention to it.

Ethan found himself regretting it. Will, currently with not much coherence to cover up his discomfort or pain, was pretty much showing him that the sex was uncomfortable for longer than Will usually let Ethan know. Ethan himself had been on the receiving end of sex – not often, and never with Will, but he knew what it felt like. But he had never been uncomfortable for so long. But he should have known it was different with everyone, especially because Will was, to put it crudely, a lot tighter than any other male he'd had sex with.

He was lost in self-admonishment when Will let out a shaky breath. "Okay. Okay, I'm okay."

Ethan set a slow, gentle pace. Not so slow that he had to control himself painfully, but slow enough that Will could breathe between each stroke inside. He pressed butterfly kisses onto every inch of skin he could get his lips on. If Will wouldn't let him explore his mouth, he was going to find a way to comfort him in every other way he knew how.

Orgasm wasn't hard-hitting as it usually was, but Will's body arched into his, his fingers slipping desperately over Ethan's knees, as he came. Will was out before Ethan had the opportunity to finish, and Ethan had more class than to finish himself inside his sick and unconscious partner, so he pulled out and cleaned Will down.

He tossed the condom in the trash, and before he went into the shower he grabbed the thermometer from the bedside table and slid it into Will's ear. The thermometer beeped at 102.1. He stared at it for a while before he slid into the shower, a smile ghosting along his lips.

He didn't remember getting out of the shower and slipping in next to Will on the bed, but he woke up later to the sound of dishes clanking in the kitchen. There were two voices carrying into the bedroom, not loud enough for him to discern their conversation topic, but loud enough for him to realize they were Jane and Benji. But of course. No one else had the keys to their house and any sort of break-in would have triggered an alarm.

He didn't know if the blanket that was pulled over his and Will's naked bodies had been there before Jane or Benji got here, but decided he probably had enough sense not to leave his sick boyfriend in bed naked without a blanket. On an impulse he tested the thermometer again. 99.1. Judging from Will's chapped lips and his not waking up despite the fact that Ethan had pushed a cold metal into his ear, the low temperature was the work of Ibuprofen and not because Will had healed, but medicine working was a much more progress than medicine not working, as it hadn't earlier in the day.

He pulled on his boxers – they were folded on the chair on top of his shorts, and that was definitely Jane – and then his shorts and exited the room.

Benji noticed him first, because Jane was over the stove heating, from what Ethan could tell by the smell, the soup that he'd tried to get Will to eat. Benji snickered at him and ushered him to the dinner table. The sun had set while he was sleeping, and the night breeze that floated in was warm but refreshing. "I got to the bottom of it all, and you were right. Will missed his appointment for his shots because he was buried in paperwork from our Ukraine mission, and didn't bother making another one." He offered Ethan a plate of mashed potatoes drowning in gravy, and Ethan accepted it. "He's probably not going to catch another bug, but I figured we should get him his shots anyway, so I scheduled an appointment for him next Monday. Should be plenty of time for him to flush this virus out of his system."

Jane looked up from her place at the stove. "And we need to figure out a way to unload that paperwork from him. I mean, he's the best at it, but it doesn't mean we should pile everything on him the way we sort of do now." She winced lightly. "Maybe we can at least help him do a little of it."

"Yeah." Ethan nodded. "We'll talk about it when he wakes up."

"That's going to be now." Jane pointed to the pot of soup. "He needs to take another dose of medicine, so he needs to eat and stay awake for about half an hour." She paused and smirked. "I'm going to safely assume you took my advice."

"It worked." Ethan defended himself.

"Of course it worked, I told you it would." Jane scoffed. "Now go wake him up. Even if he's not hungry, his body's going to need food for him to heal back up. And get him decent, I'm going to be walking in about a minute."

Ethan forlornly abandoned the mashed potatoes and slid back into the bedroom. Will was so peacefully asleep that Ethan felt guilty about having to wake him up, but Jane was right. (As always, his mind provided him.) He reached over and gently shook Will. It took him a few tries for blue-gray eyes to open, but when they did Ethan was relieved to see that they weren't dilated and unfocused with fever. A little tired and weak, maybe, but Will was alert. And strong enough to sit up by himself on the bed. "I feel shitty." Will coughed, and this time it wasn't a cover-up cough, but a genuinely small one.

"Jane's heated up the soup again. You should eat so you can take medicine." Ethan tucked the thick blanket around Will's lower body, making sure everything was covered before grabbing the fleece liner from the side to drape it around Will's shoulders. "Should I close the window? The night breeze might get a little chilly."

Will considered it. "No. It's nice, for now." He glanced at the clock. "You can close it when you go to sleep."

"Benji made an appointment for you to get your shots that you missed." He said quietly, trying not to sound stern. Will winced, but Ethan didn't press the subject. He wasn't going to yell at Will for not taking care of himself when he was sick.

Jane didn't bother knocking as she entered the room, a tray in her hand. The tray contained a small soup bowl, a spoon, a cup of water and two pills on the side. "Hey." She smiled warmly at Will and pressed her hand to his forehead. "Feeling better?" Will nodded. "That's the medicine for now, though, so eat as much as you can, read or do whatever for half an hour, take the medicine and go back to sleep." She bent low to kiss his forehead and Will smiled. "Ethan, Benji and I are going to be right outside if you need anything. And we're taking the guest rooms, in case Will comes down with a bad fever again."

Ethan nodded and picked up the spoon. "Yeah, thanks." He smiled and she smiled back at him. Will chuckled weakly, and Benji, who had shown up behind Jane, snickered. "Thanks. Really." She waved at him and pushed Benji out of the door. It shut with a soft click and Ethan focused back on his ailing boyfriend.

No, he corrected himself. His healing boyfriend.