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Kuai Liang and Bi Han rarely get sick. Save for the day during training, in their home’s backyard, when Kuai Liang ended up coughing during his practice with Bi Han. The older Lin Kuei member pretended to not acknowledge the coughing though there were attempts to take steps back to prevent himself getting sick.
Many more coughs ensued, and Bi Han was not ready to get down to the same route as his younger brother. He ordered him to go to his room, and without argument Kuai Liang did what he said. While escorting him to his room, the older brother found Tomas in the living room, doing nothing but playing around with his karambit.
Bi Han yells out. “Oi! Tomas! Go find some blankets!” And to that, Tomas flinched in response, almost dropping his weapon.
“Why?” He asked.
“Kuai Liang got sick!” He replied. Tomas looked at the sickly brother beside Bi Han, then made an ‘oh’ sound though the oldest grew impatient. “Go!”
Quickly, Tomas got out of the couch to grab some blankets. In no time the two brothers were able to get everything for Kuai Liang. A good amount of four blankets stacked onto him and a heater was beside the bed. His temperature was checked and it was only a regular cold.
Bi Han and Tomas left the middle brother alone, so they could go train in the Lin Kuei faction. He was told that father was there to look out for him though he felt a bit betrayed. He was in his room all alone, with nothing to do except read a book, get a headache from watching television, or keep on coughing. He knew today was only the beginning and the next day he could expect worse.
If his head wasn’t aching yesterday, it was aching now. It was only Tomas that gets sick often, so the only medicine they would have is the kids version, despite the youngest already being in his teen years. Bi Han didn’t want to admit it but he found it a bit funny. He made it his duty to get some adult medicine along with getting green medicated oil.
The medicines weren’t hard to find and he was able to get home in less than an hour. When he entered home, it was expected for the inside to be quiet. Save for the tv that is still on, without anyone watching it. The screen appeared to be a kid’s cartoon where Bi Han could assume for it to be Tomas’ mistake. He grabbed the remote to turn the TV off and made a note to yell about it when he found him.
But first he heads to the kitchen to grab an empty cup to fill water with. Then goes to Kuai Liang’s room. Upon his steps he could hear a humming noise inside the middle brother’s room. He cringed as all the tune was off key and never right. The door wasn’t fully closed so he took a peek, and with his right assumptions it was coming from the youngest.
Whatever he was humming wasn’t making Kuai Liang feel any better. In fact it looked like he made it worse. His eyes were squinted and his body was turned away from Tomas. To make matters worse, he kept coughing repeatedly and the cup barely had any water yet. Simply, the humming sounded bad. Bi Han almost formed sympathy for his younger brother.
Because he didn’t want to hear any more of his awful humming, he opened the door.
“I got the medicine.” He spoke out, holding out both the adult medicine and the green medicated oil, making the middle brother cringe and stick his tongue out. Tomas didn’t hesitate to give Bi Han space, allowing him to give the medicines to Kuai Liang, though he didn’t leave. He stayed in the corner of the room to stare at his two older brothers.
—--
It’s winter, a season that Bi Han knows well, and the season that correlates to his given ice magic. Winter’s also the season where Tomas would get sick every year; without a doubt, this one was no exception.
Tomas has a tendency to not care of himself whenever he’s fallen ill. Whether it’s to go outside when he’s hot or make a bad attempt to grab another blanket. There would always be someone to watch over him. The brother’s father went out to mentor other Lin Kuei members at the faction. Which leaves to the choice of either Kuai Liang or Bi Han.
To a surprise, Bi Han volunteered to watch over Tomas. Kuai Liang had many thoughts about this, since most of the time he was the default option for everyone. On one hand it could be Bi Han having a soft side for the younger brother, on the other, it could be an excuse for him to be an ass. But rather than put effort into arguing, he allowed him to monitor the youngest.
Bi Han entered Tomas’ room and quickly inspected the details there. There are action figurines in the shelves that Tomas claims they’re not “toys”. Drawings of him and his family members plastered around the walls, though Bi Han doesn’t like whenever he’s drawn more scrawnier than Kuai Liang despite both having the same body type. Tomas would claim he can’t draw everyone with muscles, which the older brother finding that logic completely bull. He just doesn’t like him as much.
Going back to the owner of the room, Tomas was laying down on his bed, reading a Spiderman comic book he likely stole from Kuai Liang’s room. Bi Han coughed to get his brother’s attention, holding out a specific medicine.
“Sit and turn around for me.” He ordered.
“Are you-”
“Yes.” Bi Han was inevitably going to rub green medicated oil on him. “Now sit up.”
Tomas did what Bi Han ordered him and sat up, allowing his back to be exposed. “Kuai Liang really doesn’t like it though.” He commented, trying to shy away from the oil.
“Because he doesn’t know what’s good for him. If you’re smarter you would accept this.” He replied, trying to convince his stubborn brother. Tomas sighed and allowed him to put the medicine on his back. After it was rubbed, the expected effect came and his back felt hot and cold at the same time with that minty smell.
Time passes by as Bi Han would constantly remind Tomas to care for himself. Kuai Liang would check on him time and time again, and eventually bust his younger brother for stealing his comics. Then he left and the two were alone once again.
“Bi Han?” Tomas asked, breaking out the long silence in his room.
“What?” Bi Han replied, bothered that he was interrupted from doing some pushups.
“My head keeps hurting.” He whined as he took off the blankets, overwhelmed from all the heat. The older brother stood up and asked.
“How old are you again?”
“Eighteen.” Bi Han was honestly surprised that he was already at an adult age. Last time he checked he was an unrelated nobody of a child. He still is yet with more muscle and higher tolerance. Bi Han grunted and left the room to find a particular medicine. He came back with the medicine labeled ‘Tylenol.’
“Here.” He handed the caplet to him. Tomas took it away and popped it in his mouth, yet that simple act bothered Bi Han. He grabbed the glass and passed it to his younger brother. “You have to drink water with it!”
Tomas retorted with an angry noise and swiped the cup away from him. He drank the water and was able to swallow the caplet. Afterwards he laid back down and tucked himself with the layered blankets.
Bi Han ought to give him the taste of his own medicine and started humming badly. He tried humming the tune Tomas did to Kuai Liang when he was sick.
He looked down to expect Tomas’ need to kick him out of the room and ask for Kuai Liang. Instead his eyes were shut and relaxed, his body was calm, and his breathing was steady, minus the parts where he would cough. It confused the older brother. Why didn’t he have the same reaction as Kuai Liang’s? Did he do something wrong?
He squinted his eyes to look at his brother’s hair, then reached his hand to hold a part of it. Most of the time his hair was tied in a ponytail or a bun, never knowing the hair size. Though now its length was as long as his shoulders. It was long due for a haircut.
He made a mental note to cut it some other day, then started humming again, trying to remember what Tomas had hummed weeks ago. It wasn’t hard, It was the same tune he'd sung for years. All sounded bad but nonetheless it sounded the same. So along with that, with the best of his memory, he tried to sing the lyrics. He knew the Czech was butchered but he didn’t aim for perfection.
Bi Han stood out of the stool and grabbed the empty water to refill it. He silently stepped out of the room to not wake Tomas up.
“You sing like my mom.” He softly spoke.
Bi Han had nothing else to say, except grunt and leave the room. He went to the kitchen to refill some water. It left him to think for himself. Was he a good hummer or was Tomas’ mother a bad singer?
He made a mental note to let Kuai Liang watch Tomas next time. Or let him take care of himself, he’s an adult now.