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"And done! Okay, how's this Two?"
Peter 2 turned around to see Peter 1 bundled up in thin sheets on the master bed, a thin rag covering his eyes and forehead hiding the reddened fever haze. Boxes of tissues were scattered as soup sat on the nightstand, a little neat tray of crackers placed gently next to the soup.
"Wow, you are like a professional bedside nurse. Kudos Pete, this looks awesome!"
The middle brother simply blushed from the comment, sitting on one side of the bed and the oldest sat on the other side of the sick tiniest spider. "Hey Petey, it's 11 now. It's time to take some medicine to get that fever down so you can sleep good. Can you sit up for me?"
"Don't wanna get up," Peter 1 whines as he felt cold hands manhandle him to sit up right. "Stopppp,"
"Shhh, this is for your own good, bubba." Three had one hand on Peter's chest as the other hand held onto his back. "Open the hatch,"
Petey weakly opened his mouth, coughing as Peter 2 fed him the medicine. Starting to choke, he felt himself being adjusted to a firm chest, pats to his back quickly silencing his complaints.
"That's it, easy there," Once Petey stopped choking, he gently set the kid to lay in the pillow, putting a fresh rag on. Petey suddenly made an upturned frown, telling Three he did something wrong.
"What?" Peter Three turned to Two, who just chuckled instead. "Okay, I'm officially confused now."
"If I didn't know any better, I think he's upset you stopped patting his back. I think he really liked it." Two nodded to his hypothesis when he saw the little one nodding weakly. "See? He agrees too."
"I think that's the loopiness from the fever big bro," Three saw Petey's frown widen, making him immediately gently grab ahold of his baby brother and holding him in that upright position, patting his back softly this time since there was no choking. "Or...maybe he just likes how it feels."
He felt his little brother hum in contempt, the small sniffs and weak coughs almost snapping his already hurting heart some more. Peter 1 being sick was one thing, but knowing it's because of lack of self care and stress from the mere recent events that changed his life for good, just broke his heart for good.
And not just his, he could feel the oldest radiating some sadness and empathy too. Peter 3 looked at the oldest with a sad smile, gently rubbing Peter 1's back as he saw his eyes drooping.
"Hey, you want us to stay here? We can make web hammocks to chill in while your spider dna does the healing magic," Peter 3 was already tucking in One, Peter 2 turning off the lights and putting on the humidifier they were grateful of getting on a discount.
One shakily shook his head, only holding out his hand and putting up a little pinkie. "M, okay. Pinky promise you guys get some rest?"
Peter 2 & 3 internally cooed as they linked their pinkies with Peter 1, watching as the kid yawned and sighed as they put a new rag on his forehead. Before they left, they each gave him a small kiss on his forehead.
"He's still a bit warm, I think I'll stay up to check up on him. Go get some sleep, okay?" Peter 2 gently closed the door as they both entered then hallway, Two watching as Peter 3 yawned and scratched his back. "You look tired too."
"No way Jose, you are not going to be wearing yourself out while I dream in la la land." He pushed his brother to couch while he sat next to him and put on the TV. "We can take shifts so the pressure isn't all on you, and we can chill in the living room since we can hear everything. Like a sleepover, but...living room style!"
"I like the sound of that," Peter 2 nodded as he settled comfortably on the couch.
***
"Got any twos?"
Peter 3 was ready to bonk his head on the coffee table. Maybe Two is the one who needs to be sleeping right now. "Peter, that's not how you play uno-
"Okay then," Peter two slapped down all of his cards down. "Cinco!"
Peter 3 was about to seriously consider on making an old man joke for forgetting the actual rules of Uno, before they heard a strangled shout.
The two brothers immediately perked and headed straight to the source of the suspected noise, slamming the door open and turning on the lights as they saw a frantic moving lump of sheets.
"Petey! Hey hey!!" Peter 2 got on one side while Pete got on the other. He gently untangled the blanket as Pete 3 shoved it off the bed. "Petey, can you hear me?"
Peter 1 immediately stopped squirming around, but shakily looked at both brothers with a horrified expression as panted breaths came out of him. He pushed himself to the head of the bed as he kept shaking.
"It was a nightmare Petey, it's alright, okay? It's just me and Peter 2," Peter 3 immediately piped up, reaching out before stopping himself. "You alright?"
Peter 1's sweaty hair was plastered against his face, now the older brothers were achknowleging how sweat drenched the kid was. His eyes were red rimmed and he hasn't looked this terrified since they first met him on top of midtown high.
At the silence, the brothers were increasingly worried. The fever and nightmare was not a good combination. "Petey?"
Peter 1 simply looked at his brothers, then looked at his sweat drenched sheets and felt his sticky clothes immediately cling to his hot body.
"I...I..." With a quivering lip and increasingly loud whimpers, Peter couldn't help but choke out a sob.
"Oh, bud," Peter 2 immediately scooped up the youngest brother who now held out his hands, and carried him into his arms as he tried comforting the kid. "It's okay, it's okay,"
Peter 1 just shook his head frantically as he hiccuped violently.
Peter 2 immediately looked at 3 and nodded. 3 got right to work and began discarding all the sweaty bedsheets, replacing them with new bedsheets as he left the room to throw them in the wash.
Peter 2 didn't care that his clothes were now covered in his youngest brother's sweat, but now made it his objective to make sure his brother didn't feel uncomfortable. He began to shush Peter 1 gently, pacing around the apartment to get Peter's mind off of whatever monstrosity he just saw.
While Peter 3 was handled the sheets, Peter 2 suggested a shower that would help Peter feel better. Not knowing if Peter 1 was strong enough since he was sick, Peter 2 offered to help him shower and he did so. After all, they were the same person.
Peter 2 hated the distant look his younger brother had as he scrubbed his hair, watching as Peter 1 just sniff quietly during the process. The older brother knew that his own nightmares increased as he was sick, so those vivid images made almost any shower not feel good enough to wash those images away.
Now wrapped in clean PJ's, Peter 2 picked up Petey from the bathroom to set him down on the bed with the clean, fresh linen. Peter 3 was ready with a nice and warm towel, gently drying his hair as the boy looked at him with grateful, swollen eyes.
Peter 2 gently stood up and patted both of their heads, walking to his own room to change his slightly sweaty and wet clothes. Petey proceeded to make confused grabby hands, not wanting any of his brothers to leave him.
"Bubba, he'll be back, okay? He just needs to change his clothes. It's okay," Peter 3 soothed as Peter 1 pouted. "Let's check on that fever, yeah?"
Peter 1 nodded, letting Peter 3 put a thermometer in his mouth. When it showed Peter 1's fever went down, Peter 3 sighed in relief as he gave Peter some water to drink. Once he was done drinking as much water as he could, he was immediately tucked into the fresh thin sheets. Peter 2 padded in gently, watching with a proud awe as he saw Peter 3 work his nurse magic.
"Lights?" Peter 2 asked, Peter 1 nodding. Turning off the lights, Peter 3 scooted to one side of the bed and tucked himself in while Peter 2 invaded the other side. Peter 1 was now smushed into a little Peter sandwich.
"Do you feel better?" Two asked, One humming a yes. "Awe, that's good. I know nightmares and fevers don't mix well together."
"Tell me about it," Peter 1 sleepily scoffed, rubbing his tired eyes. "I don't wanna get you guys sick.."
Peter 2 & 3 looked at him with a sad smile. "Bud, that's the least of our concern."
Peter 3 scooted closer, already knowing the answer to the question he asked seconds later. "Do you want us to go?"
The youngest Peter's tiny pinkie gripped theirs. "No. No. Please stay."
"We will, we promise." They both shook their pinkies, their purring starting to echo in the room as they snuggled into the warm, scented comforters.
"Okay,that's good," the boy let out a kitten yawn, letting his eyes close as he felt the earlier images from the nightmare drives away, not minding his nose being just a little runny. "G'night, love you guys."
The brothers smiled and said their love yous back, being lulled to sleep by their purrs.