a caring ficlet

[doggo]

Ok, here's another snippet I wrote for purely my own enjoyment. Not much, but my main attention was on the caring side of things... posting in case someone might enjoy this sort of thing!

--

“Hey... you awake?”

His soft, almost whisper-like voice broke surprisingly effortlessly through my half-slumber. I sat up, confused, and started coughing. His hand grabbed my shoulder, I felt a warm cup being thrusted against my palm. “Here take a sip. I found a tea-bag. It helps.”

I did as I was told, and indeed the warm drink felt heavenly. I pressed the cup against the side of my throat, then another. “Feels good...” I croaked. My voice was nearly gone, and I felt a sneeze coming. I tried to shake away his hand from my forehead with little success. “Huh... Hetssch-ah!”

When I cracked my eyes open I was met by his unwavering gaze. There was a frown on his face I hadn't seen before, not an annoyed one but something else. “You have a fever,” he said, still not taking his hand away.

I sniffled. “You shouldn't be so close, you'll catch this,” I mumbled thickly. He didn't react. “Wait, I don't want to sdeeze on you...” I shifted farther away from him, the blanket sliding down onto my lap. “Hess-chow-ah!” The cold air hitting my arms and waist made me shudder.

“Such a miserable cold you have caught,” he sighed, pulling the blanket over my shoulders. I felt tempted to ask him who he was and where had he hid Karel, as so completely not like him this sort of caring behavior was.“You're freezing aren't you. You'd better keep under the covers.”

“What about the...”

“Shush. I won't have you help me anymore, with a fever like that. You should have told me you weren't well in the first place.”

“But it's just a cold...”

“Now... that's true but still. Please just... promise me you won't do such thing anymore. You need to tell me if you're not well. You make me wo--” suddenly he pursed his lips together and stood up. He had tied up his hair, but it looked like it could come loose any moment. It looked so soft. “That kind of carelessness is troublesome.” He pulled his heavy sheep collar coat back on. “I'll come to check on you later. Try to sleep.” With his face towards the door, I had no idea what sort of expression he was wearing.

I slept for a long time, my mind filled with feverish dreams. I dreamed that we managed to get the machine working, but just when we were about to leave Gustav came to tell us that he wanted the parts back. He started ripping things off the machine in a wild frenzy. I attacked him, desperately, but everything I touched just melted in my hands, or my hands went through everything like all was made of thick smoke. Then I was back in the capital, in my old job. I heard Karel had been caught and was in jail. My heart sunk with desperation, I couldn't believe it. I found an antiquated cell phone, from early 2000's, and tried calling him. My father answered, he didn't recognize me. It was all very confusing.

I woke up to the door slamming shut, it was pitch-dark. Karel must have been out for hours. I heard him cough dryly while shaking his clothes onto the floor, and then without a warning he crawled next to me. “Shit, you're so cold” I squeaked. “Wait, I'll go back sleep on the...”

“Shuddup,” his voice trembling violently with his chilled body. “... won't go anywhere from bed. You're sick. You sound awful.”

“Not that... huh... Hesss-chaw-ngh!” Shit, I really tried to cover it, but some of the spray must have hit his face. I sat up. “Sorry,” I mumbled. “I need to blow.” There was a stack of tissues somewhere in the bed. I kept frantically searching for it, I felt my nose was streaming. He curled up with another shudder and coughed again. “You're getting sick too aren't you...” I whispered. There it was, a fresh tissue. Damn my nose was a mess. Disgusting.

“Come here,” he said, his voice weak and and tired. When I lay back down he pulled the blanket to my ears, putting his hand on my forehead. “You feel so hot.”

“Your hands are just cold. How long were you out there?”

“Not...long...enough.” More coughing. This was not good.

I couldn't help it anymore. I stretched out my hand and stroke his hair, very lightly.“Stop being so...” I didn't know how to continue.

He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me so close I could hear his heart beating. What a mess. What a mess we were in. Yet, for a moment, I felt so happy to be there I wanted to laugh.

[purpleninja]

AW!! that's adorable!!

[jezebel215]

want moar!

[Vetinari]

posting in case someone might enjoy this sort of thing!

*Likes this sort of thing!*

So beautifly described, as ever.

[TheCakeIsAlive]

Awww... completely adorable. Beautifully described and very cute.

[telltale]

I love this. <333333333333333

[VoOs]

The sweetness of this ficlet has melted my heart into a hot, sugary puddle. Just so you know.

*happy purring*

[Skiffy]

I don't even know what their story is, but this is so moving. Actually cried a little. I'm weird. You're a brilliant writer.