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Jay wasn't worried when he got cut, not at first. It came with the thievery, every now and then someone caught up with him, or, at least, in this case, got close enough to nip on his heels, not literally though, the cut was on his arm. It was long and nasty, but at least didn’t look like it would need stitches, which was preferable. On the Isle, perhaps they decreased your chances of bleeding out but they did not do any favors to your chances of catching an infection, so when Jay got home he poured some alcohol over the wound, took a drink of his own, and went straight to bed, lest his father start on him about such a close call.
In the morning, he knew that had been a mistake. Really, it was pure carelessness on his part, he hadn’t even covered the wound up, of course, it had got infected. He poured some more alcohol on it, clutching the table as the sting made his vision go dark, but skipped out on the drink this time. Ideally, if he kept pouring alcohol on and kept it relatively clean it would heal itself up in no time and he would be fine. Of course, he couldn’t be that lucky, luck didn't exist on the Isle.
By the time the school day was done and Mal and Carlos dragged him off to their hideout to meet Evie, Jay was running a fever and felt like shit- a fact that did not escape his friends.
“Take this.” Evie handed him a pill.
Jay didn’t question it, popping it in his mouth and swallowing it dry. After a few moments, he began to feel sleepy. “I’m gonna get some shuteye," he mumbled.
He didn’t hear anyone’s responses, just darkness.
“I can’t get his fever to break!”
“Well try harder!”
“This stupid cut.”
“If his temperature keeps spiking…”
“Well let’s get him into a fucking ice bath.”
“We don’t have ice.”
“Well, cold water then.”
Jay felt the cold water, heard Evie humming, could feel Carlos’s presence near him, heard Mal pacing outside. He wanted to open his eyes, but it was like they were glued shut, like all of his limbs were swollen, and as the water lapped at his sides, he sank back down into darkness.
“It’s not what he needs, but this might help.”
“Thanks, Los.”
In any other situation, the burn would get him to move, the fire in his arm would get him to fling himself somewhere, on instinct, trying to get away from the pain. Now, he just flinches away from Mal’s fingers before the burn subsides enough for him to sink back down.
When he wakes up, the first thing he sees is Carlos. The younger boy is sitting on the back of the sofa, asleep leaning on the wall. He wakes up when Jay tries to move.
“Hey, no, that’s a bad idea.”
It feels like a bad idea, every muscle feels stiff, he feels nauseous and hungry at the same time, and his head is pounding, but he tries to anyways.
Mal stops him, coming into the room when she heard Carlos’s voice. “Jay, no.”
Mal’s their leader, he listens to Mal and lays back down. “What happened?” His voice hurts to use, it hurts to swallow. Carlos raises a glass of water to his lips and his need to drink outweighs the embarrassment of not being able to do it himself.
“You got an infection, you idiot,” Mal said. “You’ve been out for almost a week, now.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah, shit.” Mal agreed.
“I’m going to go get, Evie.” Carlos said, “She’ll know what to do next.”
He slipped out of the room and Mal brought Jay a basin of water and a washcloth. “Can you do this yourself?”
Jay raised his arms, it was enough. He wasn’t making Mal do this shit if he could do it, no matter how badly, on his own.
So Mal helped him sit up and then left, giving him some privacy to take stock. His hair was greasy, which wasn’t new, his arms were surprisingly clean though, probably an attempt to stop the infection, they seemed smaller too, and one was wrapped in a bandage with drawings that were clearly made by Evie.
“You’re awake!” Evie came in soon as he’d finished washing his face, which was enough. Surely she’d been informed of this improvement, but hearing that your unconscious friend was awake and seeing it were two very different levels of happiness.
“Yeah, I’m awake.”
Evie was carrying a tray. “Soup and bread. We broke your temperature, but you need nutrients and your stomach isn’t going to take well to most things right now.”
Jay shrugged and attempted to shovel it into his mouth, but Evie stopped him.
“Slowly, you haven’t eaten much.”
Jay tapped his arms. “I can tell. By the way,” he pointed to the bandage. “I’m keeping this. It’s mine now.”
Evie blushed and Jay focused on his food to hide a grin. She thought too little of her work and honestly, the bandage looked awesome with their symbols and VK drawn on.
“We’ve brought you some stuff,” Mal said, hauling up a bag of trinkets.
“To appease Jafar,” Carlos explained.
Jay nodded. That was clever, he’d been gone for a bit, might as well have something to show for it.
They spent some time catching Jay up on what had happened, not that anything of much importance happened on the Isle ever, while he ate and at some point he found himself dozing off again.
He started to Mal covering him with a blanket. “Shh,” she hissed, nodding towards Carlos who was curled up under Jay’s uninjured arm, his head in Evie’s lap, who was also asleep. “Let them sleep, we’ll get you back tomorrow.”
Jay didn’t mind staying, if he was honest he’d prefer to sleep too. He had been awake and without a fever for the first time in a week, but that took all of the limited energy he had. “You going to join us, Mal?”
Mal scoffed but she did sit next to Jay, making sure that his injured arm stayed out of harm's way. The two of them watched over Evie and Carlos until they drifted off themselves, close to perfectly in sync, always on guard, but content knowing everyone was safe.