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He figured it was just a bad day. He’d woken up more tired than the night before, his muscles hurt without reason and the weather seemed unusually chilly for the jungle. But there was nothing to worry about. He’d get over it.
For now, he still had a lot to do around his base. Sloshing through the ankle-deep water of his base, Etho carried his shulker full of building supplies to the foot of his cliff. At least the sun shone. There were only a few clouds dotted around the sky. It seemed an awfully good day to be having a bad day.
Though he knew his base like the back of his hand, he still missed the ledge of brick sticking out of the water. His foot caught on the edge. An undignified yell escaped his lips as he lost his balance. With a large splash and no grace whatsoever, he landed in the water. His shulker bounced away.
He groaned. For just a moment, he stayed down. Lying there felt like the break he’d so desperately wanted. He just wanted to close his eyes and get some much needed sleep right then and there. But the wind bit through soaked clothes and wet hair and the sun burnt through his eyelids, sparking a nasty headache.
Arms shaking, he pushed himself back up. He stumbled over to the nearest dry blocks and leaned against the wall. His legs shook under his weight. Eyes closed, he heaved for air.
Did he forget to eat? Did he skip a meal? The thought of grabbing some steak made him grimace and his stomach churn. Eating didn’t sound like something he wanted to do. But he’d have to, didn’t he?
He stood like that, indecisive and trembling from both the cold and the exhaustion, until a voice cut through the warring noise in his head. He turned his head mechanically, more because he forced himself to than actually wanting to. When he blinked through the apparent blurriness in his eyes, he found Keralis landing in the water next to his storage system.
“Etho! Oh, it is good to see your sweet face again!”
He fought a sigh. Not because of Keralis, of course not. Etho just didn’t have the energy to do whatever he needed him for. Whether it was just chatting, a tour around his base or to drag him across the server.
“Hey Keralis!” he replied, showing none of that inner turmoil. But the tiredness in his voice betrayed him.
One look-over and Keralis’ happy expression turned into one of worry. “Is everything alright?”
“I’m fine, just tired.” He just needed to grab some food, force himself to eat it and he’d be even more fine. A bed, maybe. It sounded nice and he’d welcome it with open arms but he just had too much to do.
He only blinked once before Keralis suddenly stood in front of him. When- how- “Are you sure?”
No, he wanted to go to sleep and stay in bed for a few days. He had no time to waste though, so he nodded.
A warm hand was on his forehead. He frowned at the man in front of him. Either his headache was worse than he thought, or Keralis was just really quick. He hummed in confusion. He only got a more worried look in return.
“Etho? You’re sick, aren’t you?”
“Huh?” Sick? Him? That never happened.
“You’re burning up! You didn’t notice? What else are you hiding from me?”
For only a moment, he considered lying. Even that seemed like too much effort to even try. Keralis would see right through the lies. “Uh … headache, I guess. And, well …” Lifting a shaking hand, he frowned at it. Maybe he was sick.
“For goodness sake, Etho. You suck at taking care of yourself. Good thing Papa K is here, hm? Now where’s your bed?” It was a pointless question, because when Keralis turned around he already saw the bed standing lonely in the open air. He sighed. “That won’t do. Give me a minute.”
After being helped to sit down on the soft grass by the cliff he’d been working on, he could watch Keralis work his magic in making a quick house. Only through the cotton in his brain. He didn’t remember much of the details before he blinked and it was done.
“There we go; a safe and cosy place for you to get better in.” He helped Etho get to the house and on any other day he would compliment the beauty of the quick but impressive build.
He struggled to pull his shirt off but when he managed, he could just drop right onto the bed. All of the protest left him in an instant. He buried his face in the fluffed up pillow. Before he could even try to do it himself, the covers were pulled over him. He hummed in appreciation. His body relaxed as he sighed.
The bed dipped when Keralis sat next to him. Fingers combed gently through his hair. “I’ll get some guys to bring you soup and whatever else you need, alright?”
Soup didn’t sound bad. Not bad at all. He nodded, a short-lived smile pulling at the corner of his lips. He fought to keep his eyes open and focussed on his friend.
“Stay put. I’ll be back in a while. I’m going to steal some of Bdubs’ best blankets and tell the others. If anything’s wrong, just message me and I’ll be here.”
It was hard to confirm his words. It seemed Keralis knew though, because he shot him a comforting smile before pressing a kiss to his forehead. “Now sleep.”
Cheeks dusted pink, he didn’t even think of arguing. Unable to keep his eyes open, he promptly fell asleep. And while he couldn’t sleep that well — waking up due to pain or feeling too warm or cold — his friends were there to comfort him whenever he opened his eyes.