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Taking care of Ed when she got sick was easy for Jet; The kid had a surprisingly robust immune system, so she was back on her feet and causing trouble in a couple of days.
Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for him.
Whatever virus Ed had wreaked absolute havoc on Jet. Chills wracked his body, and his lungs felt like they were filled to the brim with fluid, rattling violently with every breath; The last time he’d gotten this sick was when he fell off his uncle’s fishing boat as a kid and nearly drowned. The resulting pneumonia had him bedbound for a week, and his grandmother had cared for him the entire time, making him soup and fussing over him constantly.
His crewmates proved to be a poor substitute.
Spike’s bedside manner left a lot to be desired, and Faye’s cooking— well, it was edible, but only barely. He wondered how she ever managed to feed herself before she joined their crew, though he decided rather quickly that he’d rather not know; it probably involved some level of swindling, or just straight up stealing.
Ed tried to help, in her own way— he’d made the mistake of trying her “special soup” just once, which turned out to be regular ramen with about half a bottle of chili oil in it.
Ein turned out to be the nurse of all of them; He stayed by Jet’s side the entire time he was sick. He followed him when he got up to go to the bathroom, watching him sway back and forth with concerned eyes. He pushed him to eat more, whining and nudging his hands with his nose whenever he tried to push the bowl away before it was empty. He curled up by his side as he slept, keeping the nastier fever dreams at bay.
“You know, Ein,” Jet said weakly, the fingers of his right hand threading through the thick fur on the back of his bestial nursemaid’s neck as he lay beside him after Spike left him for the night, “I always knew keeping you around was the right decision.”
Jet immediately regretted speaking as a coughing fit took hold of him. Ein sighed and turned to rest his head on Jet’s chest, waiting for the fit to subside. As soon as his breathing evened out, Ein leaned forward and licked Jet’s cheek gently.
Jet chuckled softly. “Good boy.”