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Sweat . That was the first thing Kris could feel as their heavy eyelids trembled, fighting to open and expose themselves to the world.
Ugh. It was a gross, hot and sticky sensation put on by the sweltering summer sun, inescapable even through insulated yellow walls and thick, mustard-colored blackout curtains.
…also not helped by the big, curling form beside them, closing in on her prey and pulling them further and further into her chest.
Shivers came next, ironically. The cool dampness caused by the humidity seeped into the mattress, pressed right up against Kris's exposed arms. Their tank top, though donning the pattern on their usual sweater, gave them no comfort. They couldn't stop shivering for some reason; maybe they needed to just open the curtains and bask for a little bit in the light, they figured. If not, stepping out for a bit. They tried their best to wriggle out of their best friend’s titanium grip, slightly succeeding for only a second before it was tightened even more.
“Nn…stop…squirmin’,” Susie groggily groaned out, burying her head further into Kris’s hair. It was kind of ironic, they thought, that they were struggling to escape her arms wrapped around them, knowing that there was a time not too long ago where it was all that they yearned for.
Kris sighed as they kept shivering, feeling the pressure of air tickle their scalp. They buried their face deeper into Susie, praying for some kind of relief from the icy wonderland their body had somehow become. They felt her stir a bit in reaction, and she opened one eye, angling herself to look down at her partner.
“You good?” She croaked out, voice deep and dreamy (according to Kris) from the nap she was woken up from. “You’re shakin’.”
“...‘m coooold,” they quietly whined out against her.
“Yeah, you feel like it…” Susie muttered and put a hand on Kris’s arm. It was clammy and cold, peppered with goosebumps.
“Dude, it's frickin’ hot out there…” She lifted her head slightly to look at the sliver of light that escaped from the partition of the curtains. It was still daytime, but it's not like it got any cooler in the nighttime, anyway. At least not yet, Hometown being smack-dab in the middle of the summer season.
“Think you’ve got a cold or somethin’,” she said, pulling them closer.
Now that Susie mentioned it, their throat kind of did hurt. It felt scratchy, and in the back of their head, they could feel an ache start to form. They groaned out in both frustration and neediness, snaking their arms back around her as much as they could.
“Well, I'm hot as hell,” she writhed a bit. She put a palm onto Kris’s head and forcefully pushed their head away from the scales of her sternum, them dramatically flipping their head all the way back and making an uuf! noise. Kris laughed before they lightly coughed and sniffled, stifling more giggles.
“Let me see you,” Susie said, voice softer. Her hands moved to the side of their face, slightly caressing one of their cheeks. Their cheeks were red, slightly glowing, overshadowing their increasingly paling features. They finally opened their eyes, and though they were filtered through choppy bangs, Susie could tell that dark circles rimmed them.
“Ugh. I think you're sick.” She dramatically pretended to push them away further against their cries and complaints. “Better not get me sick.”
“Mm…” they gave an annoyed, affirmative hum.
“You're really cold?”
“...mm.”
“I guess you can try stepping out for a bit,” Susie mused to herself. “Or open the window for a bit and stand there. Don’t expect me to join you,” she half-joked.
Kris nodded. “I know,” they sighed dejectedly. “Don't wanna get up. Feels like I’m dying, kinda.”
“You’re so dramatic,” Susie rolled her eyes.
“No one will believe you,” they hummed back, taunting her. “...I only talk to you .” They gave a soft, amused smile as they poked her right in between her nostrils with one of their fingers. She slightly flushed as she looked away, eyes once again tumbling around the room. She softly pushed them away again.
“Come on, it’s all gross and hot and sticky here. Go outside or somethin’ so the mattress cools down more. I’m still tired, I wanna finish my nap you so rudely interrupted.”
Kris groans and begins to sit up, propping themselves up with their elbows as they swing their legs around the bed, momentum finally letting them bring themselves up to a somewhat functional sitting position. Susie props herself up with her arm, head resting on her palm, inquisitively eyeing their weakened form. They try to lower themselves until their feet can touch the floor, but their legs buckle beneath them, and Susie reaches out fast to catch their arm. She supports their weight as they straighten back up, pressed against her, her legs wrapping around them in order to secure their safety as she sits on the edge of the bed.
“Whoa, whoa! Jeez. Maybe you are, like, dying…” A bit of guilt starts to catch up to her as Kris looks back and meets her eyes. “Uhh…”
She knows she shouldn’t panic, but she really didn’t know what to do in this situation. Toriel was gone for the evening, something about meeting someone out or something. Susie didn’t know anything about medicine, it’s not like she really had any at her place anyway. Wait…did monster medicine even work on humans? Did human medicine exist? She wonders how much Toriel and Asgore must have spent ordering said human medicine throughout Kris’s childhood, ‘cause wouldn’t that be expensive? Where do you even get human medicine, anyway?
“…dunno,” Kris mumbles softly.
“Oh, shit,” Susie reflectively curses. “Sorry…must’ve said that out loud.” The emerging slight shame and embarrassment stains her cheeks.
“It’s okay,” Kris shuffles against her, leaning back on the edge of the bed in between her legs.
“Never really got super sick as a kid.” They shrugged and looked back at her again. “Can’t remember if monster medicine worked on me or not…just always kind of dealt with it.”
Susie sighed to herself. For some reason, she’d thought that Toriel probably coddled the hell out of Kris as a kid, given her protective streak with them as a teen. She remembers even as they were fifteen, the way she made fun of Kris after they had come into their classroom with their head hung low, embarrassed from their mom having held their hand as they walked throughout the hallway together. She hated that. She hated remembering the person she used to be. There’s a guilty feeling swirling around in her stomach as she tries to alleviate the tension within herself with a joke.
“H-huh. I thought Toriel would’ve like, been on top of that kind of shit, w-with how much she…” Susie trails off, the words naturally dying off her mouth, not knowing where she was going with the joke. Kris made a noise that was the mix of a giggle and a scoff.
“She tells us to keep my door open when we’re together?” They joke sarcastically. Susie can’t tell if they’re genuinely in a light-hearted mood despite being sick, or if they were gracefully helping her save face by completing her joke. It was a mixture of both. “I think she knows something’s up,” they continue as Susie’s face flushes, teasing her.
“There’s nothing up,” she quickly dismisses Kris, grinning and sniffling. Idiot, she endearingly thinks. “Sniffling and still having the balls to mess with me. You’re weak right now, you know. I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” There’s a bit of silence in between sniffles before Kris speaks back up, tone more serious. They clear their throat and swallow down some slight pain.
“I just don’t think she knew how,” they said. Susie’s attention was brought back to Kris. “You know, like…how to raise a human kid. She tried her best, but…” They looked from side to side, avoiding what eye contact they could make with their friend through the curtain that was their bangs. Eyes are the window to the soul, after all. They didn't want to be so vulnerable right now.
“‘m throat's scratchy,” they croaked out. “And you're making me speak,” they continued, dramatically flopping back against Susie's chest. “And move. All things I'm pretty sure I shouldn't be doing.”
“Oh, whatever. A-anyways… what should we do?” Susie grabs them by both their shoulders.
“About…?”
“Uh, you being sick, dumbass. I never dealt with sickness before. I didn't get sick much as a kid either, I guess.” Susie looks to the side. “Not that there's like medicine or anyone around to help anyways,” she quietly adds. Kris decides not to press further for details, sensing she felt similarly to them.
“Well, I dunno what to do, really. Sleep, I guess. But I'm cold,” they muttered, looking back at the mattress, then back up at the fan spinning dizzily in between plastic glow-in-the-dark stars and planets. It made Kris slightly sick as they felt the rest of the world start to spin in sync with it.
“UGHH.” Susie dramatically groaned. “Shut uppppp,” she says as she bear-hugs Kris, pulling them up as she rolls them both back onto the bed. They silently laugh to themselves in the process and Susie lands with them lying on her stomach. They slowly reposition themselves to lay next to her, closing their eyes again, and they feel a warm sensation cover them. Susie wrapped her arms around them, spooning Kris, bringing the thick comforter that was once discarded along with her right hand. She half-jokingly tucked the both of them in as tightly as she could, packing them in like a can of sardines, and resumed hugging Kris from behind. As they both calmed down, the room grew heavy with a sense of sleepiness, just like a warm blanket covering it. A few minutes passed, them feeling the edges of a dark temptation pull on the inside of their eyelids.
“...so frickin' hot,” they heard a mumble behind them. Susie grumbled to herself further, quieter each time a complaint spilled from her mouth. Kris smiled, knowing that she cared enough to be willing to stand the scorching heat just to help them feel warmer.
“... Kris?” They heard her call out. They didn't say anything, for some reason. It was a mixture of being exhausted both physically and mentally, their social battery and ability to talk being drained due to their slightly worsening symptoms. Susie hesitated a bit. Kris felt a pressure to their scalp as she pulled them closer and tighter to her, resting her maw on their head.
A kiss to their head.
Kris could feel their eyes go instinctively wide, their cheeks coated with the color of a tomato, more out of a feeling akin to butterflies in their stomach than one from illness. They probably made the stupidest smile they've ever made in their lives, but they didn't want to think about that, and they're definitely glad Susie couldn't see. Although, they know she was equally just as embarrassed from the stunt she pulled herself. I guess we both have dirt on each other, they joked in their head.
“...hoping’ you feel better soon, dork.”