Chapter Text
The next morning was quiet. Normally, Neal was awake before Peter and El ever were, and already taking the puppy outside to go potty.
That morning though, Peter and El had woken up to Neal still asleep, and a puppy mess in the living room down stairs. Luckily, the puppy had at least made it to the puppy paper that they kept in the puppy pen for him. Peter volunteered to clean it up, and let the puppy outside so he could roam around for a little bit before coming back in.
Neal would probably still be asleep for a few more hours at least, and so Peter just checked up on him before he left, giving him a kiss of the forehead and checking the temperature sticker on him before he left.
“He’s a little warmer than he was yesterday, but not enough for concern yet. I’ll call at lunch to see how he’s doing.”
El nodded, leaning in to press a kiss to Peter’s cheek.
She decided to let Neal sleep in as long as he could that morning. Neal had at least not had a clogged nose yet though, since he still seemed to be breathing just fine with his paci in his mouth.
El left him in bed while she went to go start getting ready for the day.
She took the rarely used baby monitor out of Neal’s room, hooking it to the waistband of her sweats. No need to get properly dressed when she’d already decided to take the day to take care of Neal and do what chores that she and Peter usually didn’t have time for during the week. Neal usually spent a few days out of the week at his studio, but even when he wasn’t, Peter and El preferred for him not to do some of the chores around the house, knowing that it usually knocked him a bit out of his headspace to do it.
Just under three hours later though, she heard a few whimpering noises on the other end of the monitor. She headed up stairs as Neal was stirring, and got there just in time to see his messy bed head lifting off the pillows to squint at her. “Mommy.”
El came into the room, sitting next to the lump on the bed with a smile, “Hey, baby bunny. How’s my little boy?”
Neal reached up to displace the pacifier from his mouth, looking a little upset, “It’s- it’s not good, Mama.”
El frowned, checking his temp again before smoothing his messy sweaty hair down. He was the same temp as that morning, but he must feel sweltering under the blankets. Neal didn’t actually sweat that easy, having apparently come from a hot climate, and the slight dampness in his hair seemed to be the only part of him that actually was sweaty. “I know, I know, bunny. Do you think that you can take a cool shower this morning? Mama will help you, but we wanna cool you off just a little bit, okay?”
Neal’s fuzzy head thought that over for a little bit before he nodded. “C-cold showers, Mama.”
“Okie dokie.”
Neal seemed weak enough to not want to stand in the shower, but he kept upright under the spray of it, long enough that the pink tinge to his skin was starting to wear off. Finally, Neal reached out and turned the water off after holding his head under the spray for about a minute. “It’s less hot now, Mama. Breakfast?”
El smiled, nodding while she helped her little boy back out of the shower. Neal’s legs seemed shaky, and so she lead him to come back and sit on his bed while she went to grab him a pair of shorts and a thin tee shirt. “I was thinking, that pancakes would be light and yummy, don’t you, bunny?”
Neal nodded tiredly against her while she quickly wiped him down with the towel. His skin was cool to touch, but he was already getting heat back into some places. The only one that actually worried her though, was his head. She made a mental note to put a cool compress in a pillow and make him lay down on that for nap time. She made him put on a pull up that morning, unsure if Neal might have any accidents or not, but knowing that he hated it when he did. He didn’t argue, and she wondered if he was already falling asleep again on her. She decided to get him downstairs and on the couch at least before he did so she could keep a better eye on him.
When she had Neal deposited on the couch, and the puppy quieted, because he’d taken one look at his littlest master and gone on a barking spree, she headed back into the kitchen to get a cool compress and a bottle of cold juice. Neal needed to stay hydrated.
When she came back, Neal was snuggled on the couch with a paci from the coffee table drawer in his mouth, and both eyes closed. He wasn’t asleep though, just resting those big eyes a bit. “Hey, little boy. You wanna bottle of juice?”
Neal nodded, blinking his eyes back open again. He reached out to her with grabby hands for the bottle, and she helped him get into a good position with it so he could suckle on it while El made breakfast. He felt icky and just wanted Mommy to come back and snuggle him, but he also needed to be a big boy. He tried to be a big boy when he only had one parent home, because he knew he could be a handful otherwise, but he just wanted to be a little baby and be coddled.
He turned when he heard another long whine coming from the puppy’s pen again. He pulled his bottle back, “Mama, the puppy.”
El came back into the room with an ice pack to slide into the back of Neal’s pillow, “I know, bunny, he’s just worried about his baby boy. Is he bothering you?”
Neal shook his head, big eyes fixed on the whining pup. “Want him out. Play?”
El thought about that for a second, before deciding to just go with it. Might as well keep her boy entertained. “You wanna sit on your blankie and play with blocks?”
Neal loved his baby blocks. They were soft and he could throw them for the puppy to fetch without knocking things over. He nodded. “Yeah, Mama. Play.”
“Okay.” When El went back to making breakfast, Neal was curled up on the baby blanket, tossing the puppy a bright pink block.
***
When Peter came home later on that day, Neal seemed awake as ever. He must be getting better, because Peter spent most of that night, with a clingy little attached to his body, giving him his well deserved cuddles.
Neal was tired much earlier than usual, but that’s okay, he needs to heal.