Chapter Text
Something was terribly wrong when he woke up.
The side of his abdomen felt like it was on fire, and his stomach rolled every time he made an attempt to move out of bed. He tried to lay down and let the feeling pass, but it didn’t. It only got worse.
That’s how he found himself bowled over the bathroom sink, unable to make it to the toilet despite it being a few feet away. His body rocked like an earthquake as he threw up clear bile. He hadn’t really eaten much that day, so there wasn’t really much to come back up. After a good while of dry-heaving, he fell to the cold bathroom floor, his legs too sore to keep him up much longer.
It was at that moment Hau managed to rush into the room. Gladion heard him speaking, but didn’t really process what he was saying. The world was too hazy, his vision kept betraying him, he couldn’t process anything at all. It wasn’t until Hau grazed a hand against his side, causing him to snap back into reality over the pain that even the gentlest hand caused.
“This doesn’t look good…” His head turned back, calling out to someone who Gladion couldn’t see. “Raichu! Get some bandages from the closet downstairs!”
Gladion let out a noise of discomfort as Hau leaned him against a wall, slightly humiliated by all of this. He knew, deep down, he wouldn’t be able to take care of this shit himself, but man…what he wouldn’t do to have Hau forget he ever saw him like this.
“We need to take your bandages off so I can clean the cut, is that ok with you?” he asked, his voice soft. The only thing Gladion could do is nod numbly, still somewhat dazed.
“I’ll be careful.” Hau began with taking off Gladion’s shirt, then taking the soiled bandages away. When cold air hit the wound, he couldn’t help but wince. Hau’s face went pale at the sight of it, the area bright red and dirty with small amounts of puss. It wasn’t as bad as it first started out, but it certainly wasn’t good. It was all his mind could seem to focus on right now.
“Lillie stopped by when you were asleep…apparently, I’m supposed to spray it down with this stuff-” he watched as Hau pulled out a spray filled with light purple liquid. “-every time I change your bandages. It’s going to sting, I think.”
“F-fire away.” He managed to reply, the buzz of overstimulation starting to wear away.
Hau shot him a worried look before spraying the liquid on, causing Gladion to tense involuntarily and bite back a pained whine. It broke Hau’s heart in two to do this, but it was the only way he’d get better.
“Ok, We’re done, we’re done.” He said, grabbing some toilet paper and running it under some water before clearing away the grime from the wound. With uncanny timing, Raichu came bounding back in, holding regular gauze, band-aids, some paper towels, and tape. The poor thing didn’t really get much instruction on what exactly ‘bandages’ were, so it grabbed everything.
“Thanks buddy.” Hau grabbed the gauze and gave Raichu an affectionate head-pat before returning to Gladion’s side. Gladion could barely feel it as he wrapped the new bandage around. Maybe that spray had a numbing agent?
“That should do it! I’m pretty sure.” He said, looking somewhat proud of himself. Gladion managed a small, tired smile in return. Now that the pain wasn’t so sharp, he was able to focus on other things.
“This probably isn’t a good question, considering everything that just happened, but do you feel like food at all? You slept through breakfast.”
Gladion shook his head, afraid of what might happen if he ate (even though he knew he really should be eating) “Try later. N-not now, still a bit queasy.”
Hau only nodded, helping him up. “Well, you can’t stay here. I’m going to bring you to the couch and at least make you drink some water. Maybe we could watch a movie too? You’re barely home for this long, I think we could do something a little fun, even if you’re sick.”
“I don’t know how much fun it’ll be like this, but ok.” He replied, leaning almost all his weight on Hau’s frame. “Is Silvally out?”
“Mm, yeah. I’m pretty sure it would of busted out by now had I not let it out by morning.”
“Probably.”
Settling down on the couch, Hau left to the kitchen while Gladion scrolled through a bunch of rentable digital movies. Silvally had quickly found a spot next him, oddly affectionate. He brushed it off and blamed it on his sickness, after all, Pokemon are pretty in tune with their trainer’s feelings. When Hau came back, he had two bottles of water and some Tylenol in his hand.
“You still have a fever, so I doubt it could hurt to take some over the counter stuff for it.”
Gladion took it wordlessly, and moved over to let Hau on the couch. He didn’t miss how Silvally shot daggers at him, seeing as Hau put it in a ball all night, but Gladion ignored it. After choosing a movie (Some old time film called “That Darn Meowth!”) Gladion found it almost scary how satisfying it was to be snuggled up against both his husband and his Pokemon. Despite how normal and domestic it was…he realized that this kind of thing almost never happened between him and Hau. He was always so busy with work.
“You ok?” Hau suddenly cut into his thoughts. “You seem far off.”
“Uh, yeah, I just realized we don’t do this often.” He replied, shrugging.
Hau hummed for a moment and brought Gladion closer to him, an arm now comfortably around his shoulders. “Well, let’s enjoy it for now then, while you have the time. If you like it, maybe we could do this again some day.” He said, a smile playing on his lips as the commercials finally passed and the movie started.
Maybe having a little time off from work wouldn’t be a bad idea after all.