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Nadeshiko realized two things when she woke up that morning. One, it felt like someone had turned the heat up for some reason. Two, it was 10 AM and Gentaro was still in bed with her.
It didnt take her long, as she started to sit up, to put two and two together. Gentaro was the source of the heat. Yes, normally humans were nice and warm (which made snuggling extra comfy, and she found she enjoyed mimicking as well) but this heat was...different. Stifling. Something was wrong. And shouldn’t he be at work right now?
“Gentaro.” She shook his shoulder gently, not wanting to alarm him despite the panic bubbling up in her chest. The uncomfortable heat was still there. “...mmh? Na...nadeshiko?” He stirred slowly, seeming a bit more out of it than usual. He sounded congested.
The panic boiled yet higher. She placed a hand on his face, where the heat was strongest. She’d felt his cheeks get warm before, of course. Early on in their relationship, when she’d shown affection, his face would go all red and get slightly warm. But this was everywhere and felt different, felt so,so wrong. He sat up and paused to cough into the crook of his arm before asking “...whats up?”
She looked at him, tears forming in her eyes (much to his apparent groggy confusion and concern). His voice sounded strange too. Had she somehow broken him? What was happening? Why was he acting all weird? What was that awful noise he just made? “Gentaro! I don’t want to worry you but!” She began, not quite sure how to continue. Eventually she gulped and said “You’re...you’re all warm! Not normally! Its weird! Are you alright?”
He looked at her with fever-glazed eyes for a second, as if processing what she’d just told him, before his face split into a vaguely amused, good natured smile. He chuckled “Yeah, I’ll be ok, Nadeshiko. It’s just a cold. I called in sick to work already, so you don’t have to worry about that. I’ll probably have this bug beat by tomorrow.” The quietness of his voice scared her a little too, the absence of his usual energy. But she decided she would trust him. If Gentaro said he could handle something he usually meant it.
“…alright. That’s good, sort of.” She said, allowing her hand to slide off his cheek. “You…seem tired. Is there anything I can do to help?” Gentaro looked away for a second in thought. “Can you maybe get some of the cold medicine from the bathroom cabinet? And a glass of water’d be good too.” The SOLU nodded, looking determined as she marched toward the bathroom. Gentaro sighed fondly as he watched her go, and allowed himself to sink into the pillows once more
He wasn’t sure when he’d fallen asleep (he honestly hadn’t meant to), but he found himself waking up maybe an hour or two later to the feeling of something cool being pressed against his forehead. He looked up to see his wife sitting on the side of the bed, dabbing a wet cloth on his face and smiling warmly at him. “Hello.” Nadeshiko chirped. “You were asleep when I got back from finding the medicine, and you looked really peaceful so I didn’t wanna wake you. Sorry I took so long…I didn’t know what it looked like. But!” She paused, puffing out her chest. “While I waited for you to wake up, I looked up stuff I could do to help you feel better. And I started cooling you off!”
She looked so pleased with herself for being helpful that he couldn’t help grinning. “Hey, good thinking! It’s definitely helping. I’ll be up again in no time at this rate!” He managed rising to his usual level of enthusiasm once more, finding himself more successful than he had been earlier. His reward was the radiant smile that spread across her face. “I’m glad! Oh, are you hungry? I can heat up some soup if you’d like!” She seemed very very excited to put what she had learned into practice, and Gentaro felt his heart swell.
He nodded, and she got up and headed to the kitchen, leaving the cool cloth on his forehead. “the medicine and water are on the bedside table, okay?” She shouted over her shoulder. “Yeah, thanks!” Gentaro sat up, trying to comb his slightly sweaty hair into his usual pompadour because why not, and took his medicine. He tried his best not to fall asleep again this time. He didn’t want to make her wait again, and besides, he really was starving.
Nadeshiko remained at his side all day, utterly determined to help and actually finding a fair amount of success. After they finished dinner (She’d eaten with him to keep him company), She’d taken the dishes away , put them in the sink, returned and then plopped down next to him. He had resisted this at first for fear of getting her sick too, and Nadeshiko had responded with her signature head tilt. “…I can’t get what you have though, right? It’s cause I’m a SOLU. Besides, I think cuddling can make you feel better too.”This was not something nadeshiko had researched, but well, it always made her feel better if she was upset. “…oh. Well, yeah,” Gentaro said, looking a bit sheepish. He had in fact thought of that earlier (it was the entire reason he’d allowed her to spend so much time with him today) but his brain had shorted out on him for a moment. He rolled over to face her.
Nadeshiko hummed an affirmative and scooted under the blankets. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and he wrapped an arm around her waist as she snuggled into him. She removed her head from where it was tucked under his for just a second to kiss his nose, adjusting her body temperature to be pleasantly cool.
“I love you, Gentaro. I hope your cold goes away tomorrow.” She mumbled into his chest. They’d been married for a couple months at this point and yet he still felt a huge smile and vague blush covering his face at her words. He let out a soft laugh. “Love ya too, Nadeshiko….” He whispered, curling around her. The SOLU mumbled something that sounded like ‘g'night’. As he drifted back to sleep yet again, he absently thought about how lucky he was to have met her, and how he was even luckier to have her in his arms again.