melodiesoflife | Feed a fever, starve a cold?

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Feed a fever, starve a cold?

Who: Albel and Reno
What: Player Plot: Down with the Sickness
Where: Throughout Aqures Ixen, in their homes or the homes of their caretakers
When: Albel, May 16 -- ? ; Reno, May 21 -- ? (yes, during Diamond Weapon too, uh oh!)
Warnings: Language as always, hallucinations (possibly including body horror), severe anxiety, will add more if they come up. Headers will be labeled.

[Multiple threads and varying severity are fine, just put Reno or Albel in the thread header for who you want.]

Albel

As if revisiting the Lunar Gate wasn't stressful enough, whatever meltdown Sephiroth had just had was the last straw. Well, to be more specific, opening the can of worms that was Terra was the worst of it, especially when neither man was an especially good communicator as it was. Adding alcohol was just more fuel for the fire. So the Behemoth challenge was like a blessing. Albel could go, beat the thing senseless, and work out his frustrations.

At least that was the plan. But apparently using his Beastmaster job didn't count as "single combat" if he got help from his dragon. He would have beaten the damn thing, too, but for that technicality. Tch, stupid. Now Albel was even more stressed for having lost.

He sneezed. Again. Ugh, so annoying.

... Except it got worse. Sneezing became sniffling, sniffling became coughing, it all became a pounding headache with sweats and chills. Apris, it felt like the mountains of Airyglyph, he was so cold! Could this get any worse?

Reno

Reno blew his nose again. Ugh, gross. The girls had already preemptively quarantined him to his room -- apparently a weird flu had been going around and it was super contagious. But this was just a little cold! It couldn't possibly be that bad.

Colds sometimes had fevers, right? Sometimes? Maybe? Whatever, it wasn't even that high.

At least K-chan could still stay with him. But he didn't have time to be sick right now! The Assassins needed him! Surely this would all go away on its own in a couple of days, and then he'd be fine. It was just that gross sewage air, that was all. It was definitely not going to stop him from hunting down Diamond Weapon. That was too important.

Reno jumped, his heart suddenly racing as he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Breathe, he told himself, trying to calm down. Just a shadow, just a trick of the light.

There were no gods or goddesses to curse him here. There were no gods or goddesses to curse him here...

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Not only had Johnny brought him food... he'd made it? Reno was pretty much amazed. He hadn't expected anything like this. K-chan was already straining to reach the soup on the table, either to test for Reno's security or because he was suddenly a sick kitty too. Reno put him on the floor and he bristled.

"That's... wow. Thanks."

He grinned. "You still get t' try it first."

He shrugs. "It's nothin'. Gotta make sure ya get better. If the Empire gets wind of so many Heroes bein' down for the count, we're all in trouble."

Sure, that was a good enough excuse for his fussing.

He grins too as he opens the container of soup.

"Okay, yer highness, I'll check 'n make sure it ain't poisoned." He takes a taste, wrinkling his nose, thinking about it. He shrugs again.

"Eh. Could use some salt, I guess." It's not bad for a first try, really.

Reno chuckled (then coughed, and sniffled) at Johnny's reaction. "That was a 'just some salt' face?" he teased.

But he really was thankful. And he was hungry, now that he was reminded about it with food. He wasn't sure if he had eaten that day. Most of it he'd spent being miserable about being sick, or angry about feeling sick.

He smiled and reached for the bowl. "But it's not poison, so it's good."

"I hope so."

Now that Johnny did what he came here to do - check on Reno and deliver dinner - he wasn't sure what to do with himself. It recently dawned on him that Reno had been around for two of the most humiliating moments of his life on Crystallis: when he needed to be rescued from the slavers, and now the vision of the Exsilium bombing. It's obvious that something is making him feel self-conscious, but it might be tough for Reno to pinpoint.

"I guess I should let ya get some rest, huh? Unless ya need anythin' else."

"Wait!"

Johnny was leaving? Already? Reno frowned. He hadn't seen Johnny since that weird abduction thing... and it had been bad. When Hojo showed up, Reno had been so worried what Johnny might see about his world, about his past, about him. He'd been lucky.

Johnny hadn't been.

Exsilium was intense. Johnny had pretty much lost it. Reno was afraid of what could have happened if he'd been alone. Afterward, Johnny had basically disappeared, keeping to himself. Reno felt a little guilty going with Barkeep into the sewers, but he figured Johnny needed some time to process. But some time turned into more time, and if Reno hadn't felt so sick...

But Johnny was here now. And Reno didn't want to lose him already.

"I mean..." Reno shook his head. "I don't get t' see anyone, cooped up like this. They're all worried I'll get 'em sick, so..."

Johnny had already mentioned how he never really gets sick, so he couldn't use that as an excuse to go. After an awkward moment of silence and decision-making, he nodded, and set his guitar down by the door.

"Half of 'em out there are sick already as it is. Heroes, I mean. Took off like wildfire. You at least feelin' any better since ya caught it?"

He looked around the room, thinking for a moment, frowning.

"Must suck bein' stuck in bed sick in Crystallis. Ya can't even just veg out in front of the TV."

Reno paused and offered a smile. "I feel better seein' you. Haven't really talked since... y'know."

The visions. Their pasts. The bombs. "Exsilium," the place Johnny had been before Crystallis.

He sighed. "I definitely miss TV, though, thanks for reminding me. It's not like I'm a big reader." Sure, he had those skin mags he'd stolen from the "haunted mansion" squirreled away, but he sure didn't have them for the articles.

"I suggest startin', if you want something to do while ya get better." Not that Johnny was one to talk. When was the last time he read a book?

With the mention of the visions incident, Johnny looked away forlornly.

"I, um. Sorry ya had to go through all that. I don't know what any of us did to deserve all that, but... if I was gonna get picked on, they coulda left the rest of you out of it."

"Hey..." Reno reached out for Johnny's hand, then thought better of it, being germy as he was. In the end, he settled for the other man's sleeve.

"Honestly? I thought I'd be the one sayin' that to you." He didn't know why Hojo hadn't said much about him, about the rest of Shinra. A lot had been revealed about Sephiroth, though.

Reno shook his head. "Don't apologize. I wouldn't want ya t' go through that shit by yerself."

"Whatever was goin' on with you guys at least didn't involve gettin' bombed out of existence. Or what seemed like it, anyway."

It had been weird, awkward, and humiliating for sure. But at least it wasn't horrifyingly frightening.

Johnny was still mostly looking at the floor. "I thought for awhile that maybe I had just been dreamin'. I have dreams about that day a lot." Nightmares, more like.

He finally looked at Reno, not sure what else to say about it. He struggled for a few moments before coming up with something.

"But, I mean, at least we know that part wasn't real. Real as it mighta seemed."

"Not... at that point..."

Meteor might not have been a barrage of missiles, but it might as well have been. It would have destroyed the world. Reno gave Johnny's sleeve a gentle tug toward him.

"I kind of know what it's like, t' be facin' that down," he admitted. "And feeling responsible."

And having nightmares, both about Meteor and about the Plate.

"I'm glad that wasn't real," Reno sighed. "I'm glad you're okay. An' I'd go with you again."

Johnny was at a loss for words. He was honestly moved - it's not often anyone has said something like that to him, and he wasn't sure how to respond. After a few moments, a slight but real smile touched his mouth.

"I... thanks. That means a lot."

He slipped his arm free of Reno's grip of his sleeve to take his hand, entwining their fingers. The hell with germs.

"Johnny, don't, I'm si-- !" Before he could even finish warning the other man about touching, Reno's body was seized by a particularly rough set of coughing. Unconsciously, his grip tightened on Johnny. His soup sloshed over the side of the bowl onto his lap.

"Shit." He sighed... then had to smile in spite of himself and the wet, warm spot on his crotch. "You still like this?"

Johnny winced at Reno's coughing fit, but he didn't let go of his hand. He grimaced at the spilled soup, but he grinned a little too.

"Damn, dude, nice job. Good thing there's more where that came from."

Reno bit his lip and grinned back. Johnny was sweet. And that answered everything he needed to know.

He twisted to put the bowl back on the bedside table before asking, "Help me get changed?"

Johnny used that hand to help Reno up, but let let out a dramatic sigh as he did so.

"I gotta do everything for ya when yer sick? Fine, fine."

Reno snorted (sort of, being congested) and rolled his watery eyes. "Yeah, right, like you'd really turn down an excuse to get my pants off."

Teasing and flirting -- back to normal. This was good.

"Thanks." He smiled, slipping off the soiled pajama bottoms, nothing underneath them of course. It took a second for him to resist kissing Johnny, though, remembering he was indeed very sick. But this domesticity was sort of nice. He'd missed it.

"Hey -- " Reno sniffled, kicking off the clothing and reaching for his drawers to get a new pair, wobbling slightly. "I been thinkin' about somethin'."

Johnny's experience with that phrase was often not good. His grin faded, but as Reno was smiling, hopefully it wasn't anything too bad.

"Yeah? What's up?"

Reno glanced over as he reached for Johnny's shoulder to steady himself. This dizziness was getting annoying. His eyebrows rose to see the other man suddenly looking so serious and realized how it must have sounded.

"Hey -- relax. Nothin' bad." Reno smiled again and gave Johnny's shoulder a squeeze while his other hand rummaged around for something else to cover his bits. "I was actually thinkin', y'know, since I missed you the last few days -- seein' you daily would be nice. Like... maybe we should live together."

Johnny relaxed, but only for a moment. He was momentarily speechless at the suggestion.

"I... uh... wow. Um. Yeah, sure. I mean, my house is open 'n all. Never had much luck with housemates. But, um. Yeah. Okay."

He doesn't even realize how red his face had gotten in the last few seconds.

Reno might have realized how frequently Johnny seemed to have new roommates. That last one, Jack, had been a riot. It was a shame she'd crystallized, too.

"Well. I don't have any plans on movin' out." He smirked. "I'm way more 'n just a regular old housemate, after all."

He was special. There was no way he was afraid of a stupid string of coincidences.

Johnny slowly broke out into a relieved smile. He really hadn't expected this, and was even more surprised with how okay he was with it.

"All the more reason for ya to rest up 'n get better faster. Get ya moved in whenever yer ready. Besides, that house was feelin' too empty."

Reno grinned. He was thrilled -- this was really happening! He loved his time with Thancred, of course, but Johnny... Johnny was special. Moving in with him would be special. It almost made him a bit dizzy again and he had to sit down.

"Great!" He couldn't stop grinning, even if he looked stupid, even while sniffling and sneezing. "Awesome!"

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Feed a fever, starve a cold?

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[whoops I lost this >.>]

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