Archive of Our Own ^beta

Getting sick wasn’t a frequent enough occurrence for Prince to immediately pin down the symptoms, so when he had woken up feeling groggy, he had simply chalked it up to not having slept well. Maybe a nightmare had shaken him up, it was possible since he couldn’t remember the dream he had and to be this uncomfortable when just waking up, it was the only explanation he could think of at the time.

Now, in hindsight, he should have guessed what he was getting himself into that morning, but he really wasn’t feeling all that sick! On the contrary, after eating breakfast he felt more energised than he had ever had before! So much so he had concerned his brother who simply gave him a strange look over his enthusiasm.

“Well, look who’s excited for his first day!” He heard another voice enter the kitchen, a much louder and relaxed voice.

Prince quickly turned his head around behind him, which he internally regretted as a killer headache soon followed suit, and his smile only widened. "Eging!"

"Sup, squirt." The older teen said as he walked over to Prince, ruffling his tentacles a bit, the younger giggling as he tried to swat his hand away. "Today is a big day for you, are you ready?"

"Yeah! I was born ready!"

Eging laughed as he took a seat next to Prince, grabbing himself a serving of the breakfast displayed at the table. "That's the spirit!"

"Just don't get too over confident, we do not want to blind ourselves to any counter attack, we can't let our guard down during battle."

Prince, almost like a switch, immediately turned his face serious and gave the other a nod. "Yes, of course brother."

Emperor nodded. "Good."

"Ah, loosen up a bit! It's his first day!"

"That's why he needs to be extra careful." The monarch said, giving his teammate a glare that immediately shut him up.

"And we don't want to be stressing him out either, now do we?" The usual voice of reason spoke up.

"N-pacer."

"Emperor."

And that was as far as their exchange ever went, leaving Prince to wonder if they talked telepathically, and if so, what did N-pacer tell him that always got him in a sour mood. Probably just scolding him for something, she was pretty good at that.

"Do not fret, brother, you've trained me a lot for this, I won't disappoint you!"

Emperor gave his younger brother a small smirk, he'd like to believe it was a proud one. "Good."

The team finished their breakfast in relative silence, not much said besides the occasional chatter from Eging Jr. But Prince could feel the grogginess he had felt during the early morning trying to catch up to him, his movements slower than before and his speech more slurred. He tried to not talk as much, only when he absolutely needed to, feeling his throat getting slightly sore.

At that point, he could already feel it coming, but he didn’t want to admit it, not when they were moments away from joining the turf battles. Today was his debut, he couldn’t just chickent out at the last minute, and besides, it was only a sore throat, right? After the rounds are over, he’ll just grab some cough medicine and rest for a bit, he will be all better by the next morning, he was sure.

But oh, he was so wrong.

As they finished each round, Prince could feel himself getting weaker and weaker. The first round was a success, still having a bit of that energy he had during the morning, it felt nice seeing the crowd cheer for them, for him. His first turf battle as an official member of the Team Emperor was a success, but now he had to keep that glory up for the rest of the tournament and just the thought of it was exhausting.

“Hey, you good, little guy?” Eging had asked, and he had almost missed it, being too dazed as they waited for the next round. “Huh? Oh! Yeah, yeah, I'm doing alright, just a bit tired is all.”

Eging Jr had given him a bit of an uncertain look, but smiled nonetheless. “Alright, if you say so, just don’t overexert yourself, 'ight? It’s your first day, so things might be a little bit too much compared to our training, but there is no need to push yourself too hard, you’ve been doing great so far.”

Prince smiled at his teammate’s kind words. “Thanks.”

“Alright everybody! Let the finals now begin!”

“Oh! That’s our cue.” Eging Jr turned to look at Prince one last time. “After this we’ll take you to get some ice-cream to celebrate our victory.”

Prince seemed to have perked up at the offer. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

And with that, they were off, though, not without catching a glance of his older brother giving him a look. It was that thinking look he always had when he noticed something and Prince couldn’t help but shiver a bit, his mouth suddenly becoming dry. He couldn’t tell if he was looking at him disapprovingly, oh no, had he already disappointed his brother? This would not do, screw what Eging said, he couldn’t disappoint his brother, he had to do his very best. Besides, it was their last round, they had to go out with a bang.

But oh, that was a difficult promise to fulfil because as soon as they spawned in the map he could feel himself struggling to keep his form, gently touching his face he could still feel the ink dripping down despite the others having already shaken theirs off.

“Prince?” He heard his brother call which immediately snapped him out of his daze.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

With a firm nod, Emperor began to head out and Prince quickly followed. 3 minutes, he only had to last 3 minutes, he could do this, he would worry about this later.

As expected, the team was doing well, despite Prince being slightly behind, something the older monarch did not fail to notice, they still managed to hold their ground. It also helped that their intimidating factor kept the other team from trying to advance too far, but to their credit, they were determined.

Though Prince’s lack of input was starting to get concerning, and it was something that Emperor had noticed since the last couple of rounds, his movements became sloppier as well as himself, literally.

He still looked drenched in his own ink despite having reformed moments ago, and he seemed almost out of breath. So it was no surprise to him when someone tried to ambush his baby brother, with Emperor not being the only one who noticed such details.

One of the inklings from the other team had shot at Prince who narrowly dodged it, the ink hitting his arm, making him let out a small yelp of surprise and throwing him off balance. He barely registered the fact that he had fallen, his head was spinning so fast and the noise around him felt muffled, he couldn’t really tell who was calling him or if anyone was even doing as such and it was just his ears ringing too loudly.

Though that question didn’t last long as the far out cry for him was now overwhelmingly loud, blasting his eardrums to oblivion and he couldn’t help but aggressively flinch back, inevitably bumping on the leg that stood behind him. Confusion filled his mind as he tried to make sense of his surroundings.

He felt an arm wrap around his shoulder and pull him closer to them, his back resting on whoever was doing the action. He quickly whipped his head up to see none other than his brother, giving a disapproving glare that could send chills down anyone's spine, but…it wasn't directed at him and instead at the person who had attacked him. In one swoosh of his dualies, he splat the other player as ink flew around them, almost like a protective blanket.

Everything felt still for a moment as he looked up at Emperor who barked a couple orders but Prince couldn't hear any of it, he only knew it was such from the aggressive movements of his mouth and the shadows that dashed by the corner of his eyes who he assumed was N-Pacer and Eging Jr. He could vaguely register the commentators no doubt broadcasting this little slip up of his. How embarrassing.

Emperor soon turned his attention back to Prince and his composure almost immediately softened with worry, which confused the young inkling as he had expected the other to be mad or disappointed at him. “Prince, you need to keep your head in the game.” He said softly and quietly, as if he knew speaking any louder would hurt his ears, grabbing him by the armpits and pulling him to a standing position. Prince struggled to stay on his feet as he felt the world around him spin again, stumbling a bit as he tried to regain his footing, much to Emperor’s concern, his brows furrowing as his frown deepens.

“Prince, what is going on with you today? You were so excited this morning yet you can barely keep a hold of yourself right now.” His voice was laced with concern which made Prince look away, his face flushed with embarrassment as Emperor dragged them to a less open area, consequently breaking their formation, an action he could barely keep up with as his surroundings still felt fuzzy, which only further his shame, though he also questioned if the burning he felt inside him was completely from such feelings as the sensation was excruciatingly hot.

"S-sorry, brother. I don't know what's gotten into me either." He couldn't bring himself to look at Emperor, he had disappointed him, embarrassed him, he was supposed to prove how capable he was yet…he did nothing but prove otherwise.

He jolted at the sudden freezing cold touch he felt to his face, taking him a moment to register it was just his brother's hand. "Prince…you're burning up." He said, matter-of-factly. He quickly pulled away, despite wanting to lean on the coolness of his brother's hand as it alleviated the burning sensation if only slightly, but he did not want to embarrass himself further.

"I'm fine." Prince said in a harsh tone, which made him internally cringe, he didn't mean to sound that harsh. "I suppose I'm just embarrassed is all…" He said in a much quieter tone, just uttering those words made him further embarrassed.

Emperor simply sighed as he wiped his ink-stained hand off, not failing to notice his brother's melting features, crossing his arms and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Prince, a king cannot lead if he himself cannot care for his own wellbeing." He looked up at the remaining time and scowled at the numbers shown, they were only halfway through the match. Looking back at his younger brother who looked like he was holding back tears, he softened his tone as he placed a gentle hand once more on his face, gently guiding him to look up at him.

"Can you handle yourself for a bit longer?"

Prince was still for a moment before giving an unsure nod. He knew he couldn't, and he'd like to just end the match here but they still had an image to uphold, he was already going to have to cover up any press from spreading out too fast, he was thankful that Pearl had moved the attention elsewhere from the match, but he knew it could only hold the public's curious eyes for so long, he valued their privacy as much as his image.

Which is why he had decided to stick to Prince until the match was over. He was going to already, but he just needed to pay closer attention to him and protect him from any other attackers.

Emperor gave a firm nod. “Okay, just stay behind me.” That statement only made Prince feel worse, feel like he had inconvenienced his brother, but he wasn’t allowed to linger much longer on that thought as they were gently led back to Emperor’s Road, which N-pacer and Eging Jr. were able to hold fairly well without the other two, though it seems like they were struggling a bit too. Despite them being gone for less than 20 seconds, they couldn't do things alone for long.

"Took you two long enough, everything alright?" N-pacer asked, despite her monotone voice, Emperor could spot her glimmer of worry.

"Yes, apologies. But let's not further duel on it, we still have a match to finish."

N-pacer eyed Prince for a moment before raising a brow at Emperor who only gave a stern glare back, making the other inkling simply give a nod of understanding and continuing the match.

"And it looks like the two monarchs are back in the game! And as strong as ever I see, really, is there anything that can hold them back?"

Emperor looked back at Pearl with a smirk and raised a brow, the other simply winked back at him and that was all the reassurance he needed.

Prince, however, only felt nervous and struggled to keep up, he had elected from turning into his squid form as everytime he did, once he turned back, he felt like he was being weight down by the ink he swam in, struggling to pull back as his form kept getting harder and harder to keep.

He was a bit surprised that he hadn’t been splatted yet, but he wasn’t going to linger on the thought for too long, he had to put his full focus on the game and should just take this opportunity to its full advantage. He also managed to land a few splats himself, so he wasn’t going to complain much, the adrenaline that had kicked in kept him in focus for the remainder of the game at the very least.

Only a couple seconds left and he could finally rest, just the thought of his bed made him excited, he really just wanted to sleep after this, that was all he needed. But he was still in the battle field and that distraction had caused him to leave his brother’s side and head straight into enemy base, when he had realised that someone had gone to him it was too late, all he could do was gasp in surprise and close his eyes, ready for impact….but it never came, he heard someone be splatted but the noise did not come from his own throat.

He opened his eyes only to see that the person in front of him was the one that got splatted, vaguely aware of his brother behind him, no doubt with his weapon raised, but before he could think of turning around to confirm that, the game was set and they won with an overwhelmingly 89.7% over the other team.

Looking at the board, Prince couldn’t help but smile, he didn’t make his team lose! They won! He let out an airy laugh before falling in a bit of a giggle fit.

“We did it!” He couldn’t help but announce as he finally turned to look behind him to see the others smiling at him, even N-pacer who often kept a serious look with her. “Of course we did, little brother. We always do.” Emperor said with an encouraging smile. But that moment was shortly lived as it was immediately dropped and replaced with a distressed look, the older monarch quickly making his way beside his brother and quickly grabbing him by the waist before the poor thing collapsed to the ground.

“Wow there, are you okay, Lil’ guy?” He could vaguely register Eging ask.

“He’s burning up, we need to get him out of here, quickly.” Emperor said in a demanding tone before turning to look at Prince much more softly. "Prince, lean on me, I'll hold you up, all you have to do is smile and wave."

Prince nodded at that, wrapping his arm around Emperor’s waist as well and had a white knuckled grip on his coat. He could feel his legs shaking and just ready to give out, his head was spinning as the adrenaline began to die down and he felt so disoriented.

But he did what he was asked and kept a smile on, waving at the cheering fans as they walked away from the scene. He could feel himself slipping away and it had become such a burden to keep his eyes open, each blink felt like his eyelids were getting glued together and it became harder to pull them apart as the glue dried up.

Having to go through the exit was a bit of a pain, too much moving around and as soon as they were out, before they could even leave the lobby, Prince couldn't take it any longer as his legs gave out in him and if Emperor wasn't holding him he was sure he would have hit his head hard.

"Prince!" He could hear his other two teammate’s call for him worriedly in unison. He felt himself being gently lowered to the ground and shifted around to a more comfortable position, his head resting against strong shoulders as his legs were moved to be neatly placed over his brother's thighs.

His breath was heavy and raggedy, he felt like he was melting! And he honestly probably was! Gosh, how could he have let this happen? How did he even get sick in the first place? His brain felt too foggy for him to properly remember the previous day, and not like it mattered, he was already sick after all.

He could feel himself slip away, a short panic filling his chest as he raised his hand to clutch at his brother's shirt, holding on to it like a life line, a desperate attempt to keep himself conscious. “B-brother, it’s too…hot.” He managed to grumble out, still heaving out of breath. Emperor could already feel the heat emanating from Prince, like standing next to a hot furnace, but he still leaned in his forehead to touch the other’s, moving his now dishevelled tentacle out of the way for easier access only to almost immediately pull back from the shock in temperature.

“Cod, Prince, you’re burning up. And you went into turf like this?” He said in disbelief. “I’m impressed but you shouldn’t have gone if you were this sick.” Emperor gently scolded, brows furrowed in frustration that he hadn’t realised it sooner and from Prince keeping this hidden from him. He turned to N-pacer and Eging Jr with warning eyes. “Were you two aware of this?”

The two quickly shook their heads in denial. “No,sir, we weren’t.” N-pacer was quick to say.

“Well…” Emperor raised a brow at Eging, an almost threatening one which made a cold shiver go down the shaven inkling, his other teammate giving him a glare for trying to put them in further trouble. “I did notice him feeling a bit down, but at the time he didn’t look sick, just a bit stressed out.”

Prince simply looked away with a small pout as tears slowly made their way to the corner of his eyes and before Emperor could scold Eging Jr for not telling him his attention was swept away by the younger. “It’s not his fault! I just didn’t want to disappoint you…sorry.” His voice was meak and barely audible if not for Emperor being right next to the other.

“Prince…” He breathed out, heart shattering and his expression softening. He let out a small huff before moving to get up, shifting Prince a bit so that he could better carry him, the other letting out a small squeak of surprise. “Arguing won’t help anyone, let’s take you to the infirmary before heading home, they might have some medication to ease the symptoms a bit. We’ll talk about this at a better time.”

Prince looked at his brother with slight concern over the last part, but he already knew the conversation wasn’t over way before that, so he simply lowered his head and hid his face on Emperor’s shoulder, the fabric of the jacket cooling his burning face, his brain too fried to even think or care that his melting ink could dirty up the expensive piece of clothing, and it wasn’t as if Emperor cared either, he could easily replace it. He slowly closed his burning eyes and with that, he was out like a light, unmoving, the only sign of him still being alive being the heavy, wheezy breaths he’d take and occasional soft coughing as they made their way to the nearest infirmary.

Of course, like the royalty they were, they had a private area there, they hadn’t had to use it in years and Emperor had hoped it would've stayed like that, despite never cancelling their card to use the private infirmary, the last time they had been here was during their first couple of turf wars, right after their debut, where Eging had somehow tripped and toppled over Emperor, sending them rolling down the top of the the map and bruising themselves a bit, both getting a minor concussion for a couple of weeks.

Despite the embarrassment he felt, and the pain he dealt with and the anger he had towards Eging during that moment, he couldn’t help but huff a small smile at the memory, in hindsight, it was pretty funny and they had been young then, still inexperienced and new to the game, yet to make a name for themselves.

Emperor displayed himself as perfect in every way, it was only fitting for a king, but he and his team have had plenty of mishaps along the way, none he’d ever admit to of course.

Lost in thought, he had almost missed the door to the infirmary had it not been for N-pacer calling for his name.

“Emperor, the room is this one.” She had said behind him, hand over the doorknob, ready to push it open.

The tall inkling had stopped in his tracks, snapping out of his thoughts and turning around to face his teammate. “Right, of course.” He said, quickly making his way over and going inside once N-pacer had opened the door for him.

The room inside hadn’t changed all that much since he had last been here, a couple new expensive looking decorations and more medical supplies than he remembered, or maybe he was just too young to have realised it. In the far left corner sat a jellyfish nurse just tending to one of the plants that sat by the window, one Emperor recognised as their private nurse whenever they got sick or hurt outside of turf wars, which, thankfully, wasn’t that often of an occurrence, but it has happened enough times to warrant a friendly relationship with the jellyfish. She had heard them enter and quickly turned to face them and was genuinely shocked to see the group that had entered.

“Emperor! It’s been so long since I’ve seen you here, what brings you-” Before she could even finish her sentence, her eyes landed on the small boy in the elder's grasp and her face immediately saddened. “Oh my...” She quickly made her way over to them, stretching her arms to guide him over to one of the beds. “Here, place him in this one.” She instructed and Emperor was quick to comply but when his baby brother let out a small whine from being separated he froze, becoming hesitant to let him go.

The jellyfish nurse had taken a notice to this and gave a small sigh. “I usually would tell to leave a patient to rest but I’ll make an exception this time, just lay down with him, he seems to need you by his side.”

Emperor simply nodded at that, giving a silent thank you to the nurse, the other already knowing his tendency of not being much of a talker when it came to situations such as this, and was quick to make himself comfortable on the bed, making sure Prince was the most comfortable as he rested his back against the older.

N-pacer and Eging Jr simply made their way over to the nearby seats and let the nurse care for their younger ruler.

“So tell me, what seems to be the issue? From the looks of it, Prince seems a bit feverish.” The nurse said as she walked over to the counters and pulled out one of the kits that sat there.

“Yeah, he was burning up and wasn’t doing too well once we were done with our match.”

She nodded and began to walk back to the two young monarchs, placing the kit on the bed besides them. “I see, and for how long has he been like this?”

“I’m not sure, I didn't know about it until right before the match ended. From what I can guess, he’s been feeling unwell since this morning.”

The nurse hummed in acknowledgment as she pulled out a bottle of medicine from the kit and carefully poured some in the small cup before gently nudging the younger inkling awake. He felt extremely groggy and disoriented, a confused groan escaping him, annoyed from being shaken awake. Emperor wanted to protest, but he knew better than to go against her, if his experience was anything to go by.

“Don’t worry sweetie, I’ll let you go back to sleep in a minute, just take this for me.” The boy complied, still unsure of what was going on as the nurse gently helped him take the medicine. "Good, good. Now open your mouth again." As he did, she shoved the thermometer in his mouth and turned around. “Okay, now close it and keep it in there until it beeps.” She looked up at Emperor. “I’ll be in the next room over getting a few other things, call me when it beeps” She said before walking out of the room.

Prince did as so and leaned his head back on Emperor’s shoulder. He felt so uncomfortable, he was sweating so much, everything felt too hot but it was too cold to take off his jacket, he couldn’t stop shivering and his face felt like it was melting away, eyes burning and nose stuffed, he wanted it all to go away, tears began to form in the corners of his eyes as a whine escaped him.

Emperor quickly looked down at his baby brother, worry consuming him whole. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” He asked, lifting a hand to place it over the side of the other’s face and gently wiping the tears away with his thumb.

“M-make it stop.” He whined, soft sobs erupting from his throat, his lips quivering so much that Emperor had to remove his hand from Prince’s face to hold the thermometer in place, much to the younger’s dismay. “Make what stop?” He gently whispered.

“Everything, everything feels too much.” Another small sob.

Emperor’s heart squeezed painfully at the state of his brother, frustrated in himself for not being able to do anything to help him. “Don’t worry, it’ll go away soon enough, just rest, okay?”

Prince simply whined more as he clutched Emperor’s jacket. The nurse soon returned with a couple more things in hand and walked over to the counter to put them away. As soon as she did so, the thermometer beeped. “Oh, I was back right on time!”

She walked over to them and gently removed the thermometer. Once she looked at the results her eyes widened, something Emperor did not miss. “What? What is it?”

“Oh it's just... his temperature is a bit alarming is all, but we just have to wait for the medicine to kick in.” She said, trying to be as gentle as possible as she turned to look at Emperor.

His heart dropped, he felt a pit open inside of him “What?” He moved his head around trying to take a glance at the thermometer, and that pit only grew once he saw it. It was too high

The nurse looked unsure, by that point, N-pacer and Eging were on their feet, both wearing worried expressions as they made their way over.

“Oh, please don’t fret too much, he just has a bit of a high fever, patients usually feel better after taking some medication.”

“What if it doesn’t go away after taking the medicine?” Eging asked, growing more concerned.

“Well, that is why it is wise to go to the hospital, to keep track and catch anything before it gets worse. Only if his symptoms don't fade in half an hour at the very least.” She turned to look at Emperor once more. “Has he experienced any other symptoms so far?”

Emperor paused and thought for a moment before shaking his head. “Not that I am aware of, he simply expressed feeling discomfort but was too dazed and tired to tell me any of it.” He said with a small frown, frustrated even more with himself knowing that he couldn’t help his brother further, he’s the king, he should know how to take care of his subjects…no, he should know how to take care of his family. Prince was his brother, his baby brother, yet he felt so helpless. He hated that feeling, a king should never feel helpless, he should know what to do at all times, he should be ready for anything and everything, he should know better, but…he didn’t.

He felt a small pat on his shoulder, making him turn around to see the nurse stretching her arm over to him, giving a comforting glance, probably smiling despite it not being visible. “He’s going to be okay, he is very lucky to have such a caring brother.”

He gave her a small smile as a thank you, but deep down he still reprimanded himself, what a brother he was, making his younger brother go on turf battles even when sick. The words that were uttered suddenly bounced back in his mind. “I just didn’t want to disappoint you.” Prince refused to voice his discomfort to him in fear of disappointing him, if that didn’t sting, he didn’t know what did.

Sure, he was strict, but Prince could never disappoint him! He loves him too much for that, he just wanted the younger one to outshine him, to be a capable king like himself, he just wanted the best for him.

But maybe the pressure was too much, maybe that’s why Prince got suddenly sick, his strange posture that morning should have been enough to clue him in, but no, he made him work more than he already had.
He looked down at the sleeping figure still in his arms, the others around him mattered little to him. He didn’t notice the worried glances, didn’t notice when the nurse excused herself, didn’t notice when his other two teammates left the room, N-pacer being the one guiding them out, Emperor wasnt even all that aware of that time that passed. He himself mattered little compared to his baby brother, so he hadn’t even cared to notice the tears that flowed down his face.

It was unfit for a king, he wouldn't be caught dead crying, but Prince was always the exception, he had always been weak to him.

Even when he didn’t agree with the younger’s decisions, he always fell to his whims. It was unfit for a king, and he would rather die than admit to it, but he honestly didn’t care, not in that moment, not ever, not when it came to him.

He held the back of his brother’s head and gently lifted it, resting his forehead against the other as he desperately held back a loud sob, biting his bottom lip as his ear drooped, thick tears rolling down his cheeks.

It didn’t matter that the touch was absolutely scorching, or the melted ink that got his hair messy, any inconvenience he had was probably nothing compared to the discomfort Prince probably held.

His chest felt tight, his heart was aching, and his throat was itching to say something but nothing came, he struggled to make any coherent noise besides painful whines and sobs, he never in his life felt more helpless.

Sure, Prince would be fine once he got the care he needed, but he still felt like he had failed him, failed as a leader, as a king… as a brother. “I’m so sorry.”

A gentle hand was slowly raised and placed on top of Emperor’s cheek, rubbing the tears away. “Brother, why do you cry?” A meak and tired voice spoke up, snapping Emperor out of his self-loathing thoughts and making him open his eyes to see Prince looking up at him with those caring eyes of his, even if they were barely opened and were foggy with his fever, his good natured self outshined it all.

It only made him want to cry more, but he bit it back. Prince was the sick one, Prince was the one that needed care and attention, not him, and especially not from Prince himself, not when he could barely stay awake.

He had already failed him once, he won’t do it again.

Wiping away the remaining tears, he put up a forced smile, grabbing the tiny hand that tried to rub his worries away and kissed the palm of it, holding it gently and caring, soothing the other as much as possible. “Don’t worry about it, big brother Emp is fine, just focus on rest, okay? We want you to recover as fast as possible, now don’t we?” If his voiced cracked, no one was there to notice.

“Yeah…” The small monarch looked away with slight guilt.

Now that wouldn’t do.

Placing the small hand down gently in favour of pinching the other’s nose and shaking it a bit. “Making your king worry so much, now what does that say about you, hmm? I ought to do something about that.” He said in a playful tone, humming in thought of an appropriate “punishment”, in turn, making the younger giggle a bit. He let out a fake gasp of an idea. “Oh! I know! What better way to punish you than to give you plenty of kisses!”

Prince gasped and let out a squeal as Emperor began to give him raspberries all over his face, tickling him in the process. “No! Stop!” The younger one gasped out between fits of giggles, trying to shove his brother away but being too weak to do so.

“You better think twice before leaving your big brother in the dark next time then!” He said in a playful tone as to ease the tension but a genuine sentiment was carried through with that statement.

“I will! I will!” Prince said as he continued to laugh until coughs would start to interrupt it and Emperor would immediately pull back, another wave of guilt washing over him. He was trying to comfort him, not choke him!

Prince didn’t seem to have noticed such change in demeanour, hitting his chest to let the coughs out but still giggling in between. Once he had it under control, he turned to face his brother once more, he had the largest smile Emperor had ever seen in a while and quickly wrapped his arms around him.

“Thank you.” Prince whispered to Emperor’s ears, stunning the other for a moment before wrapping his own arms around the small one.

“Of course…anything for you.” And he meant it.

They stayed like that for what seemed like forever before a knock was heard. The two young monarchs both lifted their heads to look at the direction of the door, N-pacer being the face they were greeted to.

“Sorry to disturb you, but the nurse wants to know how he's doing."

Emperor nodded and the inkling girl let the jellyfish in. He hadn't even realised it had been an hour already. The process was quick, but unfortunately the results weren't pleasant ones, she simply looked down at the thermometer and shook her head, the young monarch simply sighed as he turned to look at Prince, who in turn looked back. "Are we going home?"

Emperor shook his head. "No, not yet, but don't worry, we'll go home soon, we just need to give you a check up, okay?"

Prince's grip on his jacket became tighter. "The…the hospital then?" The other nodded, much to his dismay. "Oh…"

"Do not fret though, I'll be with you all the way, so it'll be like we're home. How does that sound?"

Prince leaned his head back on his brother's shoulder. "Yeah…yeah, sounds good."

With that, Emperor began to shift around and make his way out of the bed, making sure to have a tight grip on Prince. He wasn't as little as he used to be, and carrying him became a much difficult task, but it never stopped him, it never would, for as long as he lived, Prince would always be his baby brother and he would forever carry him when the situation called for it.

Besides, it helped him build muscle and be a better fighter, be a better king of turf, he couldn't miss out on that opportunity.

Prince wrapped his arms around Emperor’s neck and let the older carry him away. As they passed N-pacer he could see the smile on her face from seeing him awake, he must of really looked bad if the relief in her eyes were anything to go by.

They made their way to their limo and were quick to go inside, Eging being the one telling the driver where to go.

Once the limo started, Prince could already feel sleep pull at him, he wasn’t sure how many times he went unconscious but it didn’t really matter as he always felt exhausted when he woke up.

And as if Emperor read his mind, answered. “It’s okay, you can sleep until we get there.”

He didn’t need to be asked twice. He was out like a light before Emperor could say anything else.

Emperor huffed a small smile before turning his focus to the other two of his team. “Once we are dropped by the hospital, you two can head home and rest, today was a long day for everyone.”

The two looked at each other before looking back at him. “Are you sure?” N-pacer asked, Eging soon adding. “Yeah, we wouldn’t mind staying and helping out the little guy. Besides, you’re also very tired, you should rest as well.”

Emperor scoffed as he rolled his eyes. “A king never rests.”

That seemed to have ticked-off the inkling girl, her eyes twitching as she tried to keep herself calm. “That attitude is exactly why we are in this predicament, Emperor.” The way she had said his name made even the king of turf flinch and cower. “He looks up to you and mimics your every move, he wants to live up to your expectations and be as good as you, to live up to your name. You need to set a good example for him and that should start by taking care of yourself. If you disregard your health for greatness, so will he.”

It seemed as if she had failed to fully hold back her rage.

Emperor leaned back on his seat with a huff, pouting a bit. "Still, I think you two should head back home for today, I'll keep you updated."

N-pacer huffed as well as crossed her arms as she leaned back. "Stubborn as ever, I see." She said, rolling her eyes.

Eging just let out a small, awkward laughter. "We'll go home for today but we'll come back tomorrow to check on you guys, I'm pretty sure his fever will be down by then, so we can all just go home together. How does that sound?"

"Good for me." Emperor said, shooting a victorious glance at N-pacer, who only growled back in disapproval, seriously considering her options of wiping that smug grin off his face, but held the urge back.

"N-pacer…?" Eging asked, turning to face his friend with an expectant look.

The inkling girl simply rolled her eyes. "No complaints here…" She begrudgingly answered.

Eging gave a small victory smile, though it was way less smug than Emperor, something N-pacer appreciated, she was sure if both were the same amount of smug she'd have popped a vain by this point.

The rest of the ride went by in relative silence, with only the occasional chatter here and there, but Emperor’s mind was too preoccupied with worrying about Prince to pay attention to any of it, every small breath he took that sounded slightly higher or lower in pitch would be worth his full attention. The ride felt like it would never end, each second that passed was a second that Prince wasn't getting the help he needed and he wished traffic could just speed up for once.

Eventually, though, they arrived at the hospital and Emperor was already getting out of the car before their driver could even open the door for him. He bid his goodbyes to his teammate’s and made his way to the entrance, which wasn't far since they had private care for everything. What else did you expect from a royal family?

Before they even stepped inside, Prince had suddenly sprung awake and began to complain about feeling sick, shifting uncomfortably as a silent plea to be put down and as soon as he did so, Prince let all the contents of his stomach out into the pavement, with how little time Emperor had to move out of the way, his jacket consequently got targeted. But it mattered little to him, he could replace his jacket, not his brother.

As he rubbed circles on Prince's back he desperately called for help, they were right at the door, they had to have seen it happen.

What followed next was a blur to him, everything happened way too fast for him to process everything. All he knew was that they had taken his baby brother out of his arms and he so desperately wanted to take him back, it took every inch of him not to shove everyone away and do so, if he did he would have only suffered for longer. But the confused and scared calls for him that came from Prince were hard not to reach out for.

With everything just being thrown at him at once, he managed to only get a couple of things. His fever had gotten higher since they last took his temperature, it was likely due to an infection, what kind? He couldn't tell you, his mind was already buzzing with all the other information, but he was already searching through his memory of any possible situation that had happened the day prior that could have caused this, but nothing came up. Besides training in the early morning and dinner, he hadn't seen Prince all that much, which only made the pit in his stomach grow, so much so he thought he would puke himself.

He barely even took notice of the worried nurses trying to calm him down, he must have looked so pale at that moment, his blood running cold, he had to sit down in the waiting room. He didn't even know when his jacket had been removed or where it had been taken to, and it's not like he cared either.

But worse of all was that Prince had to stay for the day until they got the fever under control, and that only gave Emperor further dread of whatever could be going on with his baby brother.

It felt like forever until he was allowed to go see Prince, it probably wasn't that long, but everything felt too slow at that moment.

He was in the room almost immediately, running over to sit next to Prince's bed, the boy soundly asleep. Emperor had his hand on his in an instant, being mindful of the IV fluids being injected and gently rubbed the back of it with his thumb.

“He must have given you quite the scare.” Another voice spoke up. Emperor lifted his head to glare at the perpetrator who had dared disturb him. “Wow, calm down kid, I just came in to talk to you for a bit about the situation, then I’ll leave you be.” The doctor had said, walking up closer to Emperor.

The young monarch let out a heavy sigh, he really was letting emotions cloud his judgement, how unkingly.

“I’m Doctor Stout, I’ll be the one in charge of…” He checks his clipboard for a moment before looking back at the teen. “Prince.”

“How long is he going to stay in for?” Emperor had decided on asking instead, not giving a chance for the older jellyfish to speak.

“Well, that entirely depends on if we can lower his temperature into a manageable one. Right now it is too high for us to consider letting him go.” Emperor’s ears drooped, a frown growing on his face. That didn’t really stop the doctor from continuing. “However, he should be fine by tomorrow, his body seems to be acting well with the medication we gave him. Now it’s just a matter of waiting.”

He really wanted to growl at the doctor, not that he did anything wrong, but he wanted to find something to be mad at, something to blame for having his baby brother go through this, but he held it back and simply composed himself. It would be highly embarrassing to have a king such as himself throw a temper tantrum when the news delivered to him was a relatively good one.

“What exactly caused this, doctor?” He decided on asking, his mind still running on those previous thoughts.
He simply gave a small hum before answering. “It seems to have been just a common flu.”

The room was silent for a while. “That’s all?”

“Yes, that’s why I say he will likely feel better by tomorrow.”

“But his temperature was so high, I--”

“Yes, it was, but simple things can get worse if unchecked or untreated. I heard your team has been battling since this morning and it’s already late afternoon, if what you say is true and he’s had it since morning, no doubt it got worse.”

Emperor’s whole demeanour dropped at that statement, head and ears low and shoulders dropped as he looked away, guilt consuming him again. This time, the doctor made an effort to reassure him. “Look, it’s not your fault he got this sick, okay? It happens and sometimes it passes by from even the most attentive parents. You took initiative once you did notice and that already shows how much you care for him. So don’t be so hard on yourself kid.”

The doctor started to make his way out of the room. “I assume you’ll be staying the night?”

“Do you even need to ask?” Emperor said, huffing a small laugh, one that the doctor returned.

“I suppose not.” He turned away and continued his way out. “Then make yourself comfortable on the couch, I’ll send in a nurse to bring you some pillows and blankets.” and with that, he was out.

Emperor watched him leave, gently closing the door behind him with a soft “click” and only once he could no longer hear the jellyfish’s footsteps did he turn to look at Prince who was still sleeping. He pulled at a chair nearby so he could sit next to Prince. He was only going to sleep when he was truly tired, it was barely even past six, he didn’t need sleep now. Though he could already feel N-pacer glaring at him disapprovingly.

The room was painfully quiet, however, but he didn’t dare move, not even to turn on the TV to make some background noise, or shift to grab his phone and scroll through social media to pass the time, he couldn’t bring himself to do any of that, mind too lost in thought over the past couple of hours.

Guilt, it was all he could feel at that moment, he knew it was his fault even when he had been told all day otherwise.

Their parents were never really around, too busy with work, they were raised by their nannies and only ever saw them on special events or when they had room to squeeze in some time with them between work.

They weren’t unloving parents, quite the opposite, they’d make calls and send letters. Emperor understood their busy schedule, but it didn’t make them any less of absent parents.

Which subsequently made Emperor take that parental role in Prince’s life in a way. He was always the one that came to his school affairs, such as plays they’d do or they had a big game coming up, he was always there to cheer his baby brother on.

During special days, such as father’s day, Emperor would be the one to receive such gifts. He’d encourage Prince to gift their parents more often and, to his credit, he did but that never dissuaded him from still gifting the most thought out gifts to Emperor.

It was odd at first if he was being entirely honest, still is, Emperor had always understood his role in his parents life, he was the heir to the throne, so to speak, but it seems that Prince had a different view on things. It could be because he was the youngest and didn’t have the same expectations put on him as Emperor had. He could even partially understand the gifts given during those special days as he had done the same to his nanny during mother’s day (which Prince had also done). He had seen their parents much less, even as a baby, Emperor was expected to care for his younger brother.

And he had fully accepted that role. At first he was fussy about it, he was barely being past a toddler when Prince was born after all, but he quickly grew into it as it was hard not to love this small ball of sunshine.

But that also came with the fact that he was fully responsible for Prince, especially in moments like these, and he couldn’t help but feel like he had an obligation to take responsibility for every little thing that went wrong when it came to Prince. It was an exhausting role, but not one he regretted having, he couldn't.

He wasn’t sure when he had passed out, maybe when the adrenaline had finally faded away and the exhaust of that day had finally caught up with him, but all he knew was that he was suddenly awoken by something shifting around his hand. He let out a small groan as he could feel his sore muscles scream at him for sleeping in such an uncomfortable place after a long day of battling.

Emperor rolled his shoulders to try and put everything back in place as he looked around, still feeling groggy from the horrible nap he took. He noted that the room was dimly lit, the curtains were closed but you could tell it was already night as the sun no longer shone through the blinds. Once he finally was awake enough to remember where he was, his attention was quickly shifted to the small bundle of blankets beside him, shifting in his bed uncomfortably.

Right, Prince, sick, hospital. Everything came flooding back to him at once and he was quick to lean in closer. Placing a hand on the young boy’s shoulder, he gave a gentle shake. “Prince, hey, it’s alright, your brother is right here.” He whispered, keeping his voice low to not startle the sick child.

That seemed to have gotten his attention as he moved his head to face Emperor, eyes half lidded and tired. He let out a small groan before speaking up. “Mmmgh, Bro…ther?” He mumbled out. Emperor gave him a small smile. “Yeah, that’s right. Are you feeling any better?”

Prince was silent for a moment, eyes blinking incredibly slowly as he looked around. “Where are we?”

Emperor was a little disappointed that he didn’t get an answer but didn’t press it further. “The hospital.”

Prince took another long moment to process the information before asking again. “When can we go home?” He turned from looking at the room around him to looking at Emperor with eyes that looked even more exhausted than before, it hurt his heart to see and even more that he didn’t fully know the answer himself.

"The doctor said that you'll probably be better by tomorrow, but only if you're feeling better. Which means you need to be well rested."

The boy let out a frustrated whine. "Ugh, but all I've been doing is sleeping! I'm tired of sleeping!"”

Emperor couldn’t help but chuckle at his brother’s despair. It wasn’t often you’d see the young one complain, always so well mannered and quiet, but even then, he was adorable doing so.

“Well, you need a lot of rest to get better.”

“Will I still get the ice-cream if I get better?” That question confused Emperor, ice-cream? He doesn’t remember offering such thing, not that he was against the idea though.

“Huh?”

“Junior offered to buy me ice-cream after we finished the turf battles, but we didn’t get to do that…” Prince looked not only disappointed, but frustrated with himself, eyes moving to look down at his hands that rested on top of him, his left still being held by Emperor.

“Ah, I see.” Of course it had been Eging Jr to have offered it. He smiled and gave a small hum, pretending to be in thought even though his mind had already been made. “Of course, we’ll take you to get ice cream when you get better.”

Prince smiled at that, sniffing a bit. “Yay…” It was weak, but Emperor knew it was filled with excitement. He let out a couple of sneezes and coughs, squeezing at his brother’s hand at the small fit he had. The older gently caressed his head, rubbing his thumb against his forehead. “But for that to happen, you need to rest up.”

“Can’t I stay awake for a bit longer? I’m not that sleepy yet.” Prince said with pleading eyes, a small pout forming. He knew how to play with Emperor’s heart strings, and knew those big eyes were one of his weaknesses. “Besides, I didn’t really get a chance to be around you…just you in a while…” He was quiet for a moment before adding in a bit of a mumble as he looked away from his older brother. “I miss you.”

He let out a defeated sigh and gave a soft, kind smile, one anyone but Prince was yet to see. “Okay, you can stay up for a bit longer, at least until you feel tired again.”

Prince’s smile grew. “Thanks…”

“No need to thank me. I’d love to spend time with you, and you’ll have me all to yourself for the next couple of days as I nurse you back to health.”

“Wait! No! You’re a terrible nurse!” Prince said with a scrunched up face, but a couple of giggles couldn’t help but escape him.

Emperor let out a gasp of fake offence, dramatically putting his free hand over his chest. “How dare you! I am an amazing nurse!”

Prince simply continued to giggle as he rolled his eyes. “Yeah right, you barely even know how to cook.” That statement made the kind of turf let out a small defensive huff as he put a hand over his hip. “I’ll let you know that just because I’ve burnt a couple batches of cookies does not make me a bad nurse!”

“Really? I thought you’d try and defend your honour as a chef.” Prince said, snorting in amusement.

“Prince, I may have an ego, but I know when something is inedible. I can’t even prove myself since I’ve been banned from the kitchen.”

That seemed to have lifted Prince’s mood even more as he burst into laughter, face going pale from lack of oxygen, the coughs that would cut through making it hard to take a breath.

Emperor, despite panicking a bit over his brother's struggle to breathe, couldn’t help but laugh himself, can you blame him? Prince’s laughter was contagious! He helped the other into a sitting position and gently patted his back to help out. “Easy now, we don’t want you to die out of a silly joke.”

Prince was slowly put back down as his coughing eased, face still flushed as his laughter lowered to just giggles. “Yeah, put it in my grave “Prince. Beloved monarch. Died due to the joke that is his brother’s cooking”.” He said, lifting his free hand to stretch it out and display an invisible sign on top of him.

Emperor smiled and shoved the other by the shoulder as he continued to giggle himself. “Oh don’t push your luck, or you’ll wake up to a burnt ice-cream.”

“How do you even burn ice-cream?”

“I don’t know, mess around and find out.” Emperor said with a small shrug.

“You’re terrible!” Prince gave a weak punch at his shoulder as he laughed, the other simply giving a smug look.

“I know~”

They stayed like that for a while, chatting and joking, only the occasional coughing fit or sneeze interrupting their peace. They did so until both felt exhaustion pull at them. The first one to yawn was, surprisingly, Emperor.

Prince giggled at that before a yawn caught him as well, making the other smirk. “No! Not fair! Your yawn passed over to me! I wasn’t the one that yawned first!” He protested, which got a weak laugh from Emperor.

“Yeah, sure my little night owl. But it is well past midnight at this point, I think we both should be heading to sleep.” The older said, getting up from the chair he sat at and stretched, a couple snapping and squishing noises emitting from his body as he let out a satisfied grown. “Man, my back is going to kill me.”

“Old man.” Prince said, more giggles escaping him as Emperor glared at him.

“I’ll pretend I didn't hear that.” He said before bending down to pull at the covers and tuck in Prince. “You’re lucky you’re sick.” He said, pulling away at his tentacles to plant a small kiss on his forehead, feeling relieved that he didn’t feel as hot as he did a couple hours ago.

Prince was quiet for a moment, something clearly bothering him, which Emperor had taken notice of. “What’s wrong?”

“N-noting!” He said, shaking his head and giving a small, fake smile.

Emperor raised a brow at him doubtfully as he crossed his arms. The younger one sighed. “Just…I’m scared…” He said, though the sentence sounded unfinished, he didn’t need to.

“You want me to sleep with you?”

Prince looked like he was about to gasp in shock at the idea, ready to quickly deny it. “No! I–”

“Prince, it’s fine, I don’t mind.” Was all he said, despite wanting to say more, say how Prince didn’t need to pretend around him, didn’t need to play tough just to impress him, how, despite it all, he’s still his baby brother and he wanted to care for him.

But he didn’t, he was never one to be sappy about things, his pride was too big sometimes.

“You sure? I don’t want you to get sick too…”

Emperor rolled his eyes. “It’ll take more than a mere flu to affect the mighty king."

Prince just shook his head as he giggled. “Uh-huh, if you say so.”

The other was already wiggling himself next to Prince who scooted to the side to let his brother in, kicking out his shoes and pulling the covers over himself. He grabbed Prince’s hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Goodnight, Prince.” He whispered.

There was a small pause before the younger replied, a satisfied smile on his face as he gently closed his eyes. “Goodnight, brother.”

Everything fell silent soon after until suddenly.

“What happened to your coat?”

“Go back to sleep, Prince.”

“Okay–”

~~~~

The next morning came quicker than they expected, being woken up by someone barging in their room. “Good morning, sleepyheads!” A familiar playful voice called out. Emperor had lifted his head in a daze, looking around confused.

“Huh? Wha?”

“Settle down, no one came here to kidnap you.”

Emperor rubbed at his eyes, shifting to swing his legs to the edge of the bed as he got up in a sitting position, Prince doing much the same but not making a move to actually leave the bed. Both turned to look at the door to see Eging Jr with a plastic bag on his hand and with a big smile on his face, N-pacer right behind him.

“Oh, it’s you.” Emperor said, unimpressed

“Ouch, so cold.” Junior said as he walked further inside, placing a dramatic hand over his chest, but his smile never dropped.

“Eging!” Prince said with a bit more excitement.

“At least someone is excited to see me, which means you get a gift.” The shaven inkling stepped closer to him and stretched out his hand with the bag over to Prince, who greedily reached over for it. The younger gasped as he looked inside.

"My favourite Jersey!" Prince said, pulling out an Octoking HK Jersey alongside some shorts, the Jersey had been a gift from N-pacer when he had first gotten his kid form.

Unlike his other gifts, where he kept it safe to preserve it, he actively wore this one when at home. It was of a nice fabric and had made him feel more comfortable in his new skin (literally), and the only reason N-pacer had gotten him the shirt was because she noticed his discomfort with his new form. Of course, he never wore it out and always made sure it was clean after use, but it brought a nice sense of comfort when he wasn't feeling well.

Such as now. It was very loose fitting when he was younger, though now it was slightly a bit more form-fitting, N-pacer had said it was the only size they had but he didn't mind, the oversized Jersey felt comfortable either way.

"I thought you might need a little something from home! I notice you always wear it when something's got you down, so I figured this would be a good time to bring it!"

Prince smiled softly at Eging, feeling his heart fill up over the fact that he had even taken notice of such a small fact. It made him feel…cared for.

"Though, you should've seen N-pacer's face when she realised you still kept her little gift even after all these years." He said, giving Prince a wink who simply giggled.

Speaking of N-pacer. “How are you feeling, Prince? You seem to be doing much better compared to yesterday.” She asked, stepping to stand beside Eging and giving him a small glare for exposing her, the other simply shrugging back.

The young inkling dropped the shirt back in the plastic bag and turned his attention to N-pacer. “A lot better! I feel like I can run a whole marathon!” As if to contradict himself, he started to violently cough. Emperor was quick to turn back to him and gently rub his back. “Easy there, Prince, you’re not fully healed yet.”

“But he is well enough to go home, right?” Eging asked, and before Emperor could answer, another voice spoke up over him.

“Well, we’ll have to check.” They all turned to face the door to see the doctor standing by the door.

“Oh, Doctor Stout.” Emperor said, finally getting up from the bed to move out of the way so the doctor could do his job.

“Yes, it is I.” He said, chuckling a bit as he moved to stand next to Prince. “I heard you’re feeling better? Can you let me take your temperature?” The boy nodded and leaned his head as Dr. Stout scanned him.

He hummed for a moment as he looked at the results. “So…? Can I go home now?” Prince asked after he didn’t get an immediate answer, nervously fidgeting with his covers.

“Well, your fever is still pretty high, but it lowered a fair amount.”

“Then does that mean I can go?”

Dr. Stout hummed in thought. “Although you can, I would recommend you staying until your fever is fully gone. You gave us quite the scare yesterday.”

“Oh please, I’ll stay well rested, I promise, I’ll take the awful medicine and if it gets worse we’ll come back! I promise!”

“Wow, someone is a little bit eager it seems, was your stay here that horrible?” Dr. Stout said, laughing a bit.

Prince looked horrified for a second before shaking his head. “No, wait! That’s not what I meant! I just…I just want to stay in my home.”

The jellyfish patted the boy on the head. “Oh, don’t fret kid, I’m only kidding. I understand you prefer your home, stays closer to family, right?” Prince nodded shyly as he grip his sheets again, the doctor chuckled. “Well, alright then, if you promise to be good and rest for Dr. Stout, then I’ll let you go.”

That seemed to have immediately lightened up his mood as a smile grew on Prince’s face. “But we still need to do a couple more things before we do that.”

“Okay.” His mood didn’t falter, he was just happy he’d be home soon, he couldn’t imagine staying any longer, especially if, most likely at some point, Emperor would not be there with him.

Dr. Stout asked Emperor to follow him outside, something about signing papers, which left N-pacer and Eging to start fussing over him.

“Prince, we were so worried about you! You know the heart attack you gave us?” N-pacer was, surprisingly, the first one to speak up. But it made some sense, she was kind of the mother of the group.

“Yeah! What happened? You should’ve told me you weren’t feeling well when I asked!”

“Sorry, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal…” He mumbled. “But to answer your first question, it was just a common flu or something.”

Eging let out a small sigh and patted the smaller inkling’s head. “Well, next time, tell us if something’s up, got it?”

Prince looked up at him and smiled. “Got it.”

“And that’s a promise. “ N-pacer added. “So no backing out.”

He giggled a bit. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Emperor soon walked back inside, closing the door behind him. “Okay, Doctor Stout will be back in a minute, you guys can wait in the waiting room, it won’t be long.”

“And what about you?” Eging shot back, slightly displeased at being kicked out when they had just arrived.

The young monarch just smirked. “I’m family, I get to stay.”

The shaven inkling gasped in mock offence and turned to look at Prince, who was holding back giggles. “Prince, are you just going to let this blatant slander of my character go?”

Prince shrugged. “Rules are rules.”

The face of fake hurt that Eging did only made the boy laugh more. “Fine, so be it!” He began to storm out. “Let’s go Pace, I know when we’re unwanted.” The young inkling girl just chuckled as she rolled her eyes and followed behind. "And after the gift I had offered too!" He added before slamming the door shut.

“What a drama queen.” Emperor said as he watched his teammates leave before turning his attention back to Prince. “Now, let’s get you changed before you walk out with the hospital gown.” He said as he saw Prince already trying to leave his bed, the younger inkling blushing a bit with a shy smile.

~~~~

They all walked out of the hospital over to the parking lot where their ride was, Prince finishing placing the black face mask he was given by Eging to use. Surprisingly what waited for them was not their usual ride, nor was their personal driver there, instead, N-pacer was the one to take the driver’s seat as Eging took the passenger’s seat. Emperor recognised the model, it was N-pacer’s parent’s car they usually lend over to her now that she has her driver’s licence.

They used it whenever they didn’t want to call much attention to themselves when in public spaces or when it was convenient for them, since N-pacer’s parent’s car was easier to reach than theirs.

Emperor had offered to get her her own car, and it’s not like she couldn’t get one herself, albeit it would be the cheapest there was to be offered, but she had refused, for reasons Emperor could not understand but respected her privacy, though the offer was still open.

Him and Prince stayed in the back, the younger one leaning on Emperor as he still felt sick and his head still felt heavy. They drove in relative silence, with only the radio quietly playing in the background. It was moments like these that Emperor cherished, even if the night prior was filled with uncertainty, the calm after the storm always felt nice, it felt nice to be surrounded by those he cared about, knowing they had his back as much as he had theirs, even if he’d never verbally admit it, his actions spoke louder than his words more often than not and he knew his teammates knew as such.

Though, he did wonder if maybe he should be more honest with how he feels about them. He’s always grown up with grandiose actions rather than kind words being given, praises were earned, you had to have a good reason to be praised. Small things did not need such things… but… he supposes it would be nice once in a while.

He shook those thoughts away, however, that is too much to unpack while he’s still dead tired, he’ll do that at a later time, for now, he’ll just enjoy the moment. Leaning his head back on his seat, turning to look out the window as he watches the scenery go by, Eging humming along to the tune of the song, drumming his fingers against the dashboard, N-pacer swinging her head gently side to side as the tapped at the steering wheel, Prince letting his eyes drift closed, tapping his feet along side the beat and Emperor couldn’t help but join in, patting his thighs as he slightly bopped his head to the song as well.

It wasn’t long until a familiar mansion made its head towards the horizon, the tall gates greeting them as the car slowed to a stop before they were permitted inside.

Once parked, the group walked out and started to head their way inside, Prince clinging to Emperor who had his arm around his shoulders, keeping the boy steady.

Eging was telling about the morning he and N-pacer had, catching up the two on what they missed. Prince would occasionally add a couple things here and there to keep Eging talking, mostly laughing and acting shocked, which only fueled the shaven inkling to keep going with the story telling.

N-pacer had lost count of the amount of times she rolled her eyes and had to correct her friend in parts of his retelling, the boy exaggerating things to an absurd extent.

"Eging, we only went to the grocery store."

"Yeah! But then that lady showed up! And a trip to the store turned into a drama show!"

And that's how their conversation usually went, their little discussion causing even the regal king to laugh, which N-pacer couldn't help but smile a bit at.

"You go rest up, Prince, I'll make you a meal to help with that nasty fever of yours." N-pacer said, putting the groceries they had gotten on the counter.

"You can just let the maids do that, you know." Emperor said, tilting his head a bit to look at the other inkling.

She just waved her hand off at him. "No, that's alright. It's just a quick meal after all, no need to bother them with such minor things, and it'll be quicker if I start now. Besides." She paused and turned to look at Emperor with a smirk. "There's a reason why you're banned from the kitchen and I'm not."

Emperor scoffed as he turned his head around, his face heating up as he heard N-pacer laugh a bit. "That's a low blow, N-pacer." He grumbled as he guided Prince to his room, Eging following suit, both of them giggling between themselves.

Prince was quick to flop into bed, rubbing his face on his soft, comfortable pillow, letting out a small satisfied sigh. Emperor was right behind him, putting down the plastic bag with both their outfits they had on before entering the hospital. “Happy to be home, huh?”

The younger inkling let out a hum of agreement, rolling to his back and was about to remove his mask but thought twice about it, he didn’t want to risk transferring whatever he had to his brother and teammate, so he simply dropped his hand and turned to look at the two making themselves comfortable on his small sofa near his window. He didn’t really know what to say, there wasn’t much to talk about and his brain felt too tired to think of anything so when his brother looked back he simply smiled, despite it being hidden behind a mask, Emperor smiled back.

And maybe that was all that needed to be said, nothing at all. He turned his head to look back up at the ceiling content, gently fluttering his eyes closed and letting himself rest. He was home, surrounded by squids that cared about him and his well being, even if some wouldn’t express that verbally, to him, actions spoke louder than words and the loving hand that was gently placed on his forehead, the thumb rubbing it with care, told him all that needed to be said.

It wasn’t long until N-pacer returned with her tomato soup, despite his body’s protest to get up he still did so, enjoying his nice, warm meal, better than anything the hospital had to offer.

“Wait! I know what will make this even better!” Eging announced, jumping out from where he sat and out the room, the group looked at each other confused, all shrugging, unsure of what was the shaven inkling’s plan. But they didn’t have to wait long to find out as he returned rather quickly with the softest blanket they owned, draping it over Prince’s shoulders as he smiled, proudly placing his fists over his hips.

“There we go!”

Prince snuggled in closer to the blankets, feeling content with his arrangements as he continued to finish his soup.

Once he was done, it didn’t take too much time for him to go back to sleep, the soft chatter of his friends easing him to a delighted state of rest and it made his heart flutter knowing how lucky he was to have them.

For the next few hours, he’d be going in and out of consciousness. Being awoken to take his medication or to drink water, when someone would come in and out of the room, despite them trying to be as quiet as possible, he wasn’t in deep sleep to not notice it. He’d occasionally get up to use the bathroom, drinking so much water made those trips quite frequent. But one constant presence was his brother, always there, on the small yellow sofa, reading one of his many books.

When Prince would stir uncomfortably, he was always there, by his side without a second thought, ready to do anything he might be asked for. Asking how he was feeling whenever he got up to go to the bathroom, he could swear that he felt someone hold his hand, rubbing the back of it with their thumb in a comforting manner when he slept.

They also made sure to keep him entertained while he recovered, watching movie marathons and playing board games whenever he felt enough energy to do so, nothing that would over exert him.

It felt… nice.

It didn’t take long for Prince to make a full recovery though, two days later and he never felt fresher. Waking up by the sunlight that hit his face from the crack of the widow, he shifted to a sitting position, yawning as he rubbed his eyes, the movement stirring his brother awake who was resting his head on the edge of the bed.

Emperor rubbed the sleep away from his eyes, looking slightly worn out. “Oh, Prince.” A yawn escapes him. “You’re awake, how are you feeling?” He asked, already raising his hand and placing the back of it on his forehead.

“Much better actually!” He said enthusiastically. “I can finally breathe again! Boy did I take that for granted!” The young inkling chuckled, getting a weak smile from his brother.

“Well, that’s good to hear. But let’s take your temperature just to be safe.” Emperor said, grabbing the thermometer on the bedside table, sniffing a bit as he did so, Prince gave him a concerned look at him as he removed his mask. “Are you okay though? You look worn out, brother.”

“Hm? Oh yeah, I’m fine, I just stayed up a little bit longer than I should’ve.” Emperor said, waving the other off. “Now open your mouth for me.” Price gave a doubtful glance at him but complied and let the thermometer be put inside. Once it beeped, Emperor took it out and smiled. “Well, guess you’re officially fully recovered!”

Prince pumped his fist up with a small “yes” as he hopped out of bed. “Woah there, excited much?” Emperor chuckled, getting up from his chair and stretching his back and groaning out in pain, sitting there all night was not his brightest decision.

“Of course, brother! I’ve been cooped up in here for 2 days! I think it’s about time I get some fresh air, wouldn’t you agree?

Emperor rolled his eyes as he smiled. “I suppose so.” He picked up some of the tissues that were laying around to throw them away. “Then go shower and get changed, I’ll go call N-pacer and Junior, we did promise someone ice-cream~”

That only made the young inkling even more excited and he quickly ran to the bathroom to get himself ready. Emperor watched it fondly before a sneeze interrupted him. He shook his head and sniffed, rubbing his nose as he walked away to get changed.

~~~~

It wasn’t long before the other two had showed up, excited and ready to take Prince out for some much needed fresh air.

“Look who’s finally back to his peppy self!” Eging was the first to announce, walking over to give the younger one a big bear hug, one that Prince very much missed.

“Yep! Up and ready for that promised ice-cream!” He said with a cheeky smile.

“Ice-cream? Did I promise that?”

Prince playfully kept hitting at Eging’s back as he whined. “Eging! You swore you would!”

The older inkling laughed and gently fought off the other. “Alright, alright you little brat.” He said, though there was no bite to his words as he ruffled Prince’s head. “Of course I didn’t forget, I never forget a promise. Now, let’s get going, the day is bright and beautiful, so let’s go make the most of it!” Eging Jr said, pulling the younger one to his hip with a hand around his shoulder.

“Hey, where’s Emperor?” N-pacer asked, looking around for said inkling.

“Right here.” A mumbled voice called out. They all turned to look at the king of turf who was wearing a more casual look, he didn’t have his jacket on and was wearing his Black Velour Octoking Tee and a King Facemask. It wasn’t an odd look for him, it was what he usually wore whenever they went out together in a more casual setting, none of them were dressed up fancy anyway. Prince was in his red King Jersey and shorts in addition to wearing his Octoking Facemask, N-pacer was wearing one of her many white sweaters and long grey skirt, always looking well put whatever she put on. And Eging had just removed his jacket he wore when in battles, using his usual black tank top and black and red arm sleeves.

“Well, we’re all dressed up and ready to go, so let’s get a move on!” Eging said, shoving the group out the door.

~~~~

It wasn’t long until they had arrived at the square, immediately heading to their usual ice-cream shop. Seeing Prince so happy and peppy made Emperor’s worries flow away, it was a hard couple of days. Prince might not even remember them but Emperor did, and very vividly. Seeing him so sick and in obvious discomfort, shifting around with fever dreams that haunted his sleep, all Emperor could do was hold his hand and whisper sweet nothings to him, rubbing the melted ink in his forehead away with a cloth.

When he’d wake up panicked and confused, looking for something to hold on to, he hadn’t left the young inkling’s side throughout all his recovery in fear of taking the only comfort he had away.

It was a sight he never wished to see ever again, it was horrible and it made him shiver to his core.

Prince noticed his brother staring at him as he ate his ice-cream. “Something the matter, brother?”

Emperor shook his head. “It’s nothing, Pri– ah, ACHOO!”

That made all eyes fall on him, making the king recoil in embarrassment. “P-pardon me.” he mumbled, pulling his mask further up his nose.

“Emp, you good man?” Eging asked, putting down his cup of frozen goods.

“I am doing quite well, thank you for– HEY!” Emperor jumped as a cold hand was placed on his forehead, or was his face just too hot?

N-pacer sighed, retracting her hand. “Emperor, I told you not to push yourself!” She said, pinching at his cheek.

Before he could retort, Prince jumped in. “Wait, is he sick?”

“I am not!” He said, rubbing the side of his face that was assaulted by N-pacer, and as if the universe wanted to prove him wrong, a coughing fit soon followed after that statement. The guilty face Prince made at that made him even more angry with his coughs, how dare it ruin his baby brother’s day!

“I’m sorry, you probably caught it from me…” Prince said, looking down at his ice-cream but jumped once he heard a fist slamming at the table.

“Don’t apologise.” Emperor says firmly, making Prince a bit stunned as he didn't often use that tone with him, if ever.

“O-okay?”

“It wasn’t your fault, you didn’t ask to get sick and it was my choice to stay around you while sick, so do not blame yourself over minor inconveniences. Got it?” Emperor firmly stated to which Prince nodded fairly quickly to. He huffed with a small nod of satisfaction before crossing back his arms and leaning back on his chair. “Good, I do not wish to see you blaming yourself for something that was not your fault.”

“Ooookay, so are we taking him back home or what?” Eging asked once he deemed the conversation to be over.

“What? No, nobody is going anywhere, we came here to take Prince out, we aren’t going back when we just got out.”

“But you’re sick, and we don’t want you getting as bad as this little dude got.” Eging said, throwing a thumb in the direction of Prince who seemed a bit too eager to nod in agreement.

Emperor just rolled his eyes. “Really, I’m fine. Besides, a little fresh air could do me good, Prince wasn’t the only one who was cooped up in the house.”

“He does have a point.” N-pacer reluctantly agreed, a heavy sigh escaping her.

“Fine, but the second I have any reason to suspect that you’re a big fat liar, we’re taking you sorry a– behind back home!” Eging Jr said with a small huff as he crossed his arms, leaning back on his chair.

Emperor just rolled his eyes again and shook his head down. “Sure, whatever you say.” He said with a small chuckle.

The group didn’t take long to finish their ice-cream, heading out to other shops and inevitably coming out of them with hands full. The day was pleasant and they were having fun, but the three of them kept giving side glances at their leader, noticing him getting slower with time. When Emperor was distracted, N-pacer pulled the other two aside and nonverbally told them it was time to go.

They honestly couldn’t help but laugh a little at the situation, their leader could be so stubborn sometimes, they did a couple more silent talk before walking over to Emperor, all putting their most “innocent” face.

“Brother, I’m feeling a bit tired, can we go home?” They knew the only way to get him to do anything they wanted was through Prince, it worked every time.

“What? Why, you feeling okay? Did something happen?” Emperor was quick to fuss, which only got a giggle from Prince.

“No, nothing’s wrong, just had enough fun for the day.” Prince reassured. Emperor thought for a moment before nodding. “Alright, let’s head home then.”

The group smiled in victory as they walked off, Prince tightly wrapped around his brother’s arm, not planning to let go any time soon.

~~~~

Once they arrived home not long after and before Emperor had any time to settle down, Prince and N-pacer were dragging him to his bedroom, Eging threw his pyjamas at his face and told him to get changed once the group had left the room. He was stunned for a moment but eventually did so. It wasn’t long until they barged back inside his room, Eging had their softest blankets in hand, N-pacer had her famous tomato soup in hand and Prince had his laptop in hand.

Wait a minute, this felt awfully familiar. This was exactly what they had done to Prince when he had returned from the hospital!

Prince guided Emperor to sit down on his bed as Eging wrapped the blanket around him almost like a burrito, N-pacer handed him the soup which he already started to dig in to, she smiled at how eagerly he ate it, not knowing she had put medication in it much like she had done with Prince.

The group made themselves comfortable around Emperor’s bed, Eging and N-pacer sat on his sides as Prince sat in front of him, opening his laptop and starting it up. “So, what would you like to watch?” The young inkling asked, turning to look up at his brother.

Emperor was still stunned, he hadn’t really expecting them to go all out, he was just hoping to head to bed and sleep it all off but… This was a much better outcome.

“Well, how about we finish last week’s series?” He suggested, a smug look growing on his face as he heard Eging groan.

“Really? That show again?!” He asked exasperated. “It’s such a cheesy romcom.”

“I don’t see why not, Prince did ask what I wanted to watch, afterall.”

The shaven inkling simply rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, leaning on the headboard of Emperor’s bed with a pout. “Fine, you’re lucky you’re sick.”

Emperor smiled victoriously. “Interesting, does this mean I have more power when sick? Then I should get sick more often.”

“Please, for the sake of everything good in your life, don’t” Eging said with another long groan.

“You say that like you don’t already have all the power.” N-pacer added with a small roll of her eyes, though her smile betrayed her snark remark.

Prince couldn’t help but giggle at their antics as he set up the series so they could watch it, much to Eging’s annoyance. It felt nice, this moment, it wasn’t a very rare thing to happen but it wasn’t as frequent as he’d like it to be, they were always focused on training or whatever tournament they had coming up next to keep their high title, they never really had time to play with Prince before, which had made him even more eager to join their team.

So when it did happen, he savoured every last second of it. It was awful what happened that led them to this peaceful moment. Prince hoped nothing like this would ever happen again, it was awful but he supposes that that was simply how life went, it was hard but there was always a rainbow at the end of a storm. And it felt nice to have them all come together like this.

Emperor wasn’t big with words, his pride was too stubborn for that but if the hand that wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer was anything to go by, then he knew his brother would agree.

And maybe a small kiss was planted on Prince’s head, and maybe N-pacer’s hand was held, if she felt it being squeezed she didn’t tell, and neither did Eging when he felt a head rest on his shoulder, not a single word was uttered and if you asked them about it, it never even happened.

But they knew it did, and they were content with it.

The sun had set, the king had gone to rest and his loyal confidants placed a mattress next to his bed so they could be there if he needed him.

They were always there for each other, and Prince wouldn’t have it any other way.