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Cheer quietly whined as she sat up in bed, blowing her nose loudly. It looked like a spring bug had hit her fast, because she’d simply been sniffling the day before, but was now full-on unable to breathe through her nose.
“Wow, I’ll bet they could hear that one all the way in Pelican Town!”
Sebastian stepped into the bedroom from the living room, a tray of food in his hands. As he approached, he smiled sympathetically at his poor wife as she was forced to blow her nose again rather than choke out a retort. He placed the tray onto her lap and sat beside her on the edge of the bed.
“I found some medicine you’d stashed in a treasure chest, so you should eat something before taking it.”
Cheer weakly reached for the mug sitting on the tray and smiled at its contents. It was definitely the green tea she had grown and saved for an appropriate occasion. She brought it to her lips, nose twitching slightly like a rabbit’s. After taking a couple of short sips of the steaming tea, she pouted at her husband.
“I can’t smell or taste anything.”
Sebastian immediately turned his head away from her to press a hand over his face; he tried to hide the amused smile that’d stretched across his lips, but his wife knew him too well.
“Stop laughing at my misery!” She whined, putting the mug down before blowing her nose again. She paused after a long, loud HONK! “Oh, there’s the after taste of the tea!”
She exhaled softly, only for a quiet growling sound to slowly come alive with every half a second that went by. The momentary elation on her face melted away as she chucked the tissue in her hand across the room toward the trash can, grabbing a new one to HONK, HONK, HONK into again.
This time, having witnessed the adorable moment, Sebastian couldn’t stop himself from laughing aloud. Cheer resigned herself to remaining silent, picking up the fork on the tray and stabbing the omelet he’d made for her.
“Oh, come on! I’m laughing because you’re the cutest thing I’ve ever seen, even when you’re sick!” The man offered in his defense, putting an arm around her waist to give her a sincere squeeze.
“Hmph… I better be.” Cheer grumbled half-heartedly through mouthfuls of egg.
As if in response, Sebastian leaned his head against hers and nuzzled into her hair for a moment. Although reluctant at first, she tilted her face toward him and pressed her cheek softly into his awaiting kiss.
In a slightly less sour mood, Cheer finished her breakfast, only to pick up the bottle of medicine and be instantly reminded of an upcoming predicament.
“Sebby… There’s only enough medicine for one more dose.” She emphasized her declaration by upturning the bottle and dumping the remaining two pills into the palm of her hand.
“Huh… Do you have another bottle hidden somewhere?”
It wasn’t a farfetched question; she had four chests and all of the cupboards filled with things.
“Ah… I don’t think so; this was the last one.” She turned big brown eyes to him, hopeful but tired, “Can you go buy some more from Harvey’s?”
Sebastian froze at the sound of the doctor’s name; he hadn’t seen him since he made it very clear that Cheer belonged to him. He also hadn’t heard Cheer mention him again until now… It’d been around two weeks since then, too, so perhaps things would be alright if he had to see him now.
He smiled down at her, his hand atop her head and ruffling it gently, “Of course. I’ll head over in a bit; just let me let the chickens and cows out for you.”
“Ehee! Don’t forget to pet ‘em!”
As Sebastian made his way out to Pelican Town, hands stuffed into the pockets of his black hoodie, his dark eyes stared ahead of him in thought.
Although he had already deemed Harvey harmless to his relationship, there was still something bothering him about even seeing the man again. It was like the mere thought of the doctor being anywhere near his wife, saying her name, even just thinking about her, was enough to piss him off. He felt his eyelid twitch, making him stop where he stood to recollect himself.
Cheer was home, sick in bed. She hadn’t spoken with Harvey since that evening at the pub weeks ago. She was definitely still as in love with Sebastian as he was with her… probably.
A big, goofy smile broke out across his face at the thought, “Nah, I definitely love her more!”
With renewed motivation, he continued on into the town.
It was oddly barren that morning. Sebastian’s eyebrows drew together before pulling up his wrist to check his watch. Sure enough, it was about noon.
He could honestly say that he wasn’t normally the type to even be awake by this hour, so what did he know about the amount of people that were usually out and about? At least he wouldn’t have to deal with a lot of people during this unexpected trip.
His heart rate sped up some when Harvey’s clinic came into view, eyes narrowing. The feeling in his chest was not the familiar anxiety he would always get when he knew he’d have to be social; it wasn’t any form of fear at all. It was more like anticipation before a kill, or something like that.
Well, a confidence boost was a confidence boost. Sebastian held his head up high as he walked inside, setting the bell above the door to ring.
“Welcome! Can I have you sign-in?—Sebastian?”
He looked over to the counter and found himself being stared at by his half-sister.
“Oh, good morning, Maru.” He greeted simply, approaching her in as casual a way as he could muster.
“Good morning! What brings you here?” Despite the schooled smile on her face, Sebastian could see how wary she was to his presence; it somehow made him feel better about being there at all.
“Cheer’s caught herself a spring cold and we’re out of medicine, so I’m here to buy more.” He explained, fishing the empty medicine bottle from his pocket, “Got any more of this in-stock?”
As soon as Maru glimpsed the name on the container, she nodded with a more sincere smile, “Of course! Let me go grab it for you.”
When she turned to make her way to the back, Sebastian called out quickly, “Two bottles, please!”
“Got it!”
The lobby was silent, except for him and the wall clock that kept tick-ticking away. He wondered how Cheer was faring in his absence. With the minimal farm work done for the day, it was fine for her to stay in bed and try to sleep off the sickness. His eyes softened at the thought of her miserable form; her cute helplessness aside, he definitely wanted to help her make a speedy recovery. She deserved all the happiness in the world, and he intended to deliver it.
“Thank you for waiting!” Maru called as she returned to her post at the front desk with a white paper bag that very easily showed the two orange bottles inside.
She then rang up the medicine on the register, one price showing up on the digital display, but then a slightly cheaper one replaced it.
“Uhh…?” Sebastian questioned, raising an eyebrow at her.
“My discount. You’re my brother, Sebastian, and Cheer’s family, too, so I figured I’d help out.” She replied promptly, although her cheeks had reddened in what must have been embarrassment.
Sebastian smiled softly; how useful, “Thanks a lot, Maru, really.”
He handed over the gold coins in exchange for the small bag, pocketing it into his hoodie, “When Cheer gets better, we’ll make sure to swing by the house.”
Just as he was about to turn and leave, Maru seemed to be struck with epiphany, “Oh, wait!”
He looked at her expectantly.
“Harvey actually left a message that he was going to check on Cheer earlier and, since he’s not back yet, I think he may still be at the farm. Can you tell him to hurry back by 1:30?”
Sebastian’s ears actually cut out everything his sister said after hearing that the doctor went to see his wife. Shouldn’t they have passed each other? The quickest way to and from town was the path he’d taken… unless Harvey intentionally took the mountain path so they wouldn’t run into one-another.
“Hey? Sebastian, are you okay?”
“Fine. I’m fine. Yeah, I’ll let him know.” He turned his back on her, “I better hurry back; Cheer’s gonna need these.”
“Right…” Maru trailed off, watching him run out the door.
How could he have been so stupid? He never should have left his poor defenseless wife home alone. Sebastian could have called Maru, or even his mother, to go get the medication for them.
Despite his usual lack of stamina, he was all the way back past the bus stop when he felt out of breath. Even that didn’t stop him, though, as he forced himself up the stone pathway to the house, only to stop at the foot of the wooden steps just as the front door to his home came open to reveal the smiling doctor.
“You take care of yourself now, Cheer. I’ll be back again to check up on you in a few days.”
Harvey took one step out onto the porch, the door shutting behind him. Their eyes met and the two were rendered motionless.
“Why are you here?” Sebastian asked, breaking a silence that didn’t last nearly as long as it felt.
“I heard that Cheer wasn’t feeling well—“
“False.” He interrupted matter-of-factly, staring intently with wide eyes, “Cheer got sick suddenly overnight, with no warning signs these past few days. There’s no way you could have known she was sick; try again.”
Harvey was taken aback by the response, pausing to consider his options before speaking again, “I… was worried about her because I hadn’t heard from her for a while.”
“Aww, sounds like you missed her, “Sebastian teased, approaching the railing of the stairs and leaning on it, “Plausible. Unfortunately, she hasn’t even mentioned you, so I wouldn’t say the feeling is mutual.”
“You appear to see things in a very different way, Sebastian.” Harvey pointed out as he made his way down the stairs, putting obvious distance between the two of them by remaining by the opposite railing, “Regardless, I’ve already seen her. I’ll be back again to make sure her condition is improving.”
As the older man passed him, Sebastian didn’t watch him, didn’t say anything, until they both stood level on the stone walkway.
“It’d be a real shame if Pelican Town lost its only doctor…”
Harvey froze for a second, turning abruptly to face the other man. His voice was firm and didn’t bother to hide the offense he’d taken, but the fear in his eyes betrayed his tone, “Excuse me?”
“Just thinking out loud.” Sebastian smiled at him, but his eyes also said something different, something darker, “Make sure to call ahead next time you make a house call.”
With that said, he ascended the steps and wordlessly entered his home.
Harvey remained outside for a moment longer as he tried to make sense of what just happened. He’d have to be extra careful around there from then on.
“Sebastian! Welcome home!” Cheer greeted with a big smile. Despite her cheerful disposition, her nose was bright red, likely from how often she’d blown her nose while he was gone.
Sebastian felt himself relax at the sound of his wife’s voice, his expression softening in sympathy as he crossed into their bedroom and approached her. Unconsciously, his hand reached out to ruffle her mess of brown hair, eliciting silent giggle-snorts from the young woman.
“I got your refills for you; better take them now before you get any worse.” With that said, he brought his hand back down to flick the tip of her nose with his index finger and took the paper bag out of his pocket with his other hand.
This time, Cheer laughed, taking the bag and removing the medicine bottles. As she reached over to take the half-full glass of water from her nightstand, she didn’t notice the thoughtful frown that crossed her husband’s lips.
“So what did Harvey say?” He tried to ask as casually as he could, but saying the doctor’s name brought a bad taste to his mouth.
The brunette hummed with a shrug, taking two pills and washing them down with big gulp of water. Her face was scrunched up for a moment, likely to indicate that she had difficulty swallowing so much water at once, but pulled at another tissue before responding.
“He said that my allergies are seriously acting up and working toward a sinus infection. I shouldn’t have waited so long to start taking my medicine again.”
She was pouting upon being faced with the reality of her mistake and Sebastian had to stop himself from outwardly gushing over her cuteness again. Instead, he leaned forward to gently hug her and leave a kiss on top of her head.
“We should make a schedule and mark the calendar for when you need to start taking it again. I can remind you, too, y’know.”
Cheer smiled, bringing up her arms to return his embrace, “You’re so good to me, Sebastian… I love you!”
The warmth that filled his heart at hearing her say those three simple words was enough to make tears threaten to blur his vision; when had he become such a sucker for love? It didn’t matter, though; he was just so happy to have her.
“I love you, too, Cheer.” And I’ll never let anyone take you away from me. He added mentally with his arms tightening around her.