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With a stir, Charmy woke up to the sound of loud thunder radiating bright beams of light before vanishing, and rain pouring against his sole window. Charmy whined a bit, clutching his blanket that was over his head.
After a few moments of stirring and trying to feel comfortable again, Charmy gave up and sat up in his bed, flinching at the sound of the lightning and thunder returning outside in the crazy weather.
It was eerily cold and freezing. Charmy’s throat felt sore and itchy, whilst his head and stomach began to hurt a bit. His nose was stuffy as well.
Charmy sat still through the erratic noises and pounding rain outside, possibly for three minutes until the feeling of nausea caused him to snap back into reality. Charmy winced, all of the sudden feeling dizzy and weird..
Should he tell Vector? Vector was usually the one to handle these situations of Charmy or Espio getting sick…
Charmy grabbed the clock that was on top of his little drawer. 2 A.M. Putting the clock back where it was, Charmy worriedly pondered. Charmy couldn’t possibly wake up Vector now! It was so early in the morning, and the crocodile sometimes got all agitated or grumpy when he is woken up. Or maybe he wouldn’t wake up at all, Vector was a heavy sleeper anyways.
But his tummy hurt so bad, it was cold, his throat was itchy, his nose was stuffy, and he felt like he was going to throw up any moment! Typically, Charmy or Espio would wake up feeling sick at the beginning of the day and Vector would be awake, but this time, it was early morning. Vector nor Espio would be awake around this time.
Darn thunder! It woke Charmy up at the worst moment possible, and decided to let him deal with his sickly state. And even despite his fatigue, Charmy wasn’t comfortable enough to go back to sleep in this discomforting state of nausea.
Eventually, Charmy got out of his bed and opening the door, attempting to open it slowly so it wouldn’t make that annoying creaking noise. To Charmy’s dismay, the creaking noise was audible.
Charmy waited to hear or see if either Vector or Espio woke up, waiting for the loud snoring from Vector’s room to halt, and it did, before it resumed yet again. As for Espio.. Charmy didn’t really know. Honestly, Charmy really did hope for Vector to wake up. Charmy felt a bit ashamed of waking Vector up out of his slumber.
He’ll deal with it just fine! He could just redo Vector’s steps from when he was sick.
Charmy entered the bathroom and left the door slightly ajar, not completely shutting it. Coughing hoarsely, Charmy gazed around.. Vector often put medicine somewhere in these cabinets. Just looking up at the dim light caused Charmy to feel disoriented, a bit wobbly on his feet that he didn’t walk on very much.
Charmy gazed up, spotting a cabinet filled with almost finished medicine bottles and some thermometers. Charmy didn’t have much energy to fly, so he just stared at the cabinet with both disbelief and disappointment. That wasn’t good..
He could just get a stool, if there was a stool in sight… which Charmy didn’t see anywhere within the bathroom. Did they even have one? Whatever, the problem at hand was that Charmy couldn’t reach up.
Charmy could climb the counter and reach up, but that would be too risky and dangerous. He could fall and hurt himself considering he didn’t have his helmet on at the moment. Charmy sighed, wincing at the painful sensation pulsating through his tummy and head. Maybe he could just try to sleep it off again?
That wouldn’t be a pleasant nap. He felt all yucky all over.. He loathed this. Feeling nauseous and what not. Charmy sniffled a bit, still staring at the cabinet until a voice crept out.
“Charmy?” Espio’s voice broke the silence, and Charmy quickly whipped around, looking upwards at the purple chameleon. Espio clearly had barely woken up since he was rubbing his eyes. “What are you doing? It’s way too early for you to be awake at this time.” His voice trailed off as his eyesight focused on Charmy’s form; visibly fatigued, his face a bit pale, and his nose a light red.
Charmy coughed a bit, burrowing his nose into his arm to prevent the germs from spreading and looking back up at Espio. “Uhm.. my stomach wasn’t happy.” Charmy hated how his voice sounded hoarse and bad. Espio raised a brow with confusion, and the young bee elaborated with more understandable words. “It was hurting, and.. uhm, I just felt kinda’ dizzy and I d’nno..” Charmy shrugged, gazing away.
Espio didn’t reply to Charmy’s words, but his concern was evident in his movements on how quickly he went past Charmy and reached up to grab the thermometer and medicine for both a cold or fever in case Charmy had one or the other. The thermometer looked like a mini version of a ray gun and it was funny to Charmy, but the sickness within him made him have not that much enthusiasm about it.
“Just hold still for a few seconds.” Espio murmured, his voice gentle and soft which brought some Charmy slight reassurance. His voice was always so calming..
Espio pointed the thermometer at Charmy’s forehead, rubbing it a bit before clicking a button for it to proceed Charmy’s temperature. When finished, Espio pulled it back and held it close to see the reading.
100 degrees Fahrenheit. Hm, a cold.
It wasn’t too concerning, but Charmy still needed to be cared for so the cold would go away quicker. Espio put away the fever medicine and grabbed the cold-specific medicine. “Alright, Charmy, you have a cold. I believe it was because of our case a couple hours ago, you know, the one where you didn’t want to wear your jacket when it was raining a lot, and insisted that your vest was gonna keep you alright? Even if it didn’t cover your arms at all?”
Espio stated, rolling his eyes and uncapping the medicine bottle as he did so. Charmy crossed his arms and pouted a bit. “Mhm… yeah.” Charmy mumbled, rubbing his arms and curling up on himself a bit to try and grant some kind of body warmth, his wings becoming unhinged and his flight muscles suddenly vibrating a bit. Hm, odd.
Espio poured the pink-ish liquid into a small little cup, putting about three or four liters up and putting it up to Charmy’s mouth.
“This may or may not taste bad. It’s bubblegum flavor.”
Espio said, waiting for Charmy to open his mouth. Charmy opened his mouth, but suddenly, Charmy quickly covered his mouth with frantic movement. Espio’s confusion faded away just as fast when he heard a small gag coming out of the bee’s vocals, and Espio knew what that indicated.
Espio grabbed Charmy as gentle as he can towards the toilet that was right there, but it was a bit difficult since it was either get him to go it in the toilet or clean up bile on the floor.
Charmy poured out his contents his wings fluttering with distress and tears pricking the corner of his eyes. “Let it all out, Charmy.” Espio instructed, rubbing Charmy’s back to the smallest comfort he could give. Espio gazed away, continuing on to rub Charmy’s back as Charmy heaved and panted. Charmy started to cry, distress and panic taking a toll.
Espio flushed the toilet and grabbed toilet paper, wiping Charmy’s mouth tentatively. “Thats good, Charmy..” Espio murmured, softly. “You got out probably all or most of the bad stuff out of your stomach.”
Charmy wiped his tears, a bit embarrassed but still felt relief at the possibly temporary pain relief since it removed the stomach irritation.. Charmy’s head still hurt and he was still a bit sniffy and tired, but..
“You still have to take the medicine, Charmy.” Charmy gazed away, but nodded. It was whatever it took to get this dumb stomachache away.. Charmy opened his mouth, letting Espio grab the cup again and pour the liters of medicine into Charmy’s mouth, and Charmy cautiously swallowed it.
It didn’t taste bad, but it didn’t taste entirely good either. It didn’t matter. Surprisingly, Charmy didn’t feel nauseous right after drinking the medicine, since he vomited right before. Charmy still felt a bit bad with his head and tummy, but Charmy knew well how medicine worked; his tummy just had to process the medicine and after knowing it will help, his tummy will welcome it and the medicine will help him recover!
For the next couple of minutes, Espio served Charmy some tea in the dark, rusty kitchen, the moonlight outside of the window being their only light source. Charmy drank it with relief, his tears now dried up. Espio’s tea tasted really good. Especially when he was sick! Vector usually made him drink water, but tea also worked.
When Charmy finished with his tea, Espio grabbed the cup and put it in the kitchen sink. “Well, Charmy, you now have to go back into your room and try to sleep again.” Espio stated, his voice stoic as ever again.
Wait, what?
Charmy didn’t exactly not want to sleep, in fact, he was really exhausted. It was 2:35 A.M now, and he did have to sleep. But..
He didn’t wanna be alone. Not after all that nice comfort and warmth from Espio..
“Do I really have to go to my room?” Charmy asked quietly, tilting his head at Espio as his antennae’s drooped slightly. Espio raised a brow. “..Yes? That is where your bed is, is it not?” Espio questioned, turning towards Charmy.
“I-I mean, I don’t know, can’t I just.. sleep with you? Just until we wake up?” Charmy asked, his voice somewhat pleading. Espio was surprised, but his expression softened. Espio sighed, approaching Charmy and extending his hand out to the smaller.
“..okay, fine.” Espio nodded, and Charmy lit up at the confirmation of being able to sleep with Espio. Espio honestly was a bit hesitant to bring Charmy into his room, considering the fact that Charmy was sick.
But Espio couldn’t just deny the pleading eyes of the little bee that he reluctantly cared for so much.
Upon entering Espio’s room, Espio made sure to put away some of the weapons he had in his possession so Charmy wouldn’t get hold of them. Espio patted the space right by his side on the bed, and Charmy gleefully jumped on it.
Charmy felt warm and cozy in Espio’s bed, the bed was soft, and the blanket that Espio had draped over them both was so, so comfy!
Espio closed his eyes, about to drift off after the whole ordeal.. Until he felt Charmy shuffle closer into his chest, nuzzling against it. “Thank you, Espio.” Charmy mumbled, tiredly. “I love you.”
Love. I love.. You.
Espio felt his chest warm with affection yet hesitation and slight panic. Love was a strong word. People usually used it for their loved ones.. family. Espio didn’t know what to say. It caught him off guard, that his eyes widened and his mind started to race-
“I..love you too, Charmy.” Well, his own momentary conflict was solved with the admission and feelings of family love coming from Espio’s mouth. Charmy stirred a bit, and Espio carefully wrapped his arms around Charmy. He rested his chin on top of Charmy’s fuzzy head while his arms engulfed Charmy with warmth and comfort.
With Charmy and Espio cuddled up, despite the rain still pouring outside with thunder and lightning, it felt as if nothing would bother them. Charmy felt safe, and Espio felt comfortable. The bee and chameleon slowly drifted off to sleep.
Just Hopefully Espio didn’t get sick the next day!