Work Text:
This was not happening.
Despite what his brain was telling him, Nick tried his best to pull himself out of bed. His vision blurred, he groaned as he sat up, his legs for whatever reason refusing to obey him. He strained his forehead, like thinking about moving his legs extra hard was going to help his situation.
Finally, they began to move - move him right to the cold, hard floor, that is. With a loud thump!, Nick's body broke out in goosebumps as he lost the heat of the blanket and hit the ground, letting out a roar of a cough as he did so. His stomach felt queasy and he felt like sleeping forever.
Yep, despite his best efforts, he was sick.
Messages at 9:52 am
Carrots: Where are you?
Nick: Sick
Carrots: Are you serious?
Nick: As a heart attack.
Nick: Speaking of heart attacks, think I might have one in a minute. My heart is racing because idk. Flu stuff.
Carrots: (frowny-face emoji)
Carrots: I can bring you something on my lunch break
Nick: Don't trouble yourself Carrots
Nick: I'll be fine (smile emoji)
Carrots: If you're not back tomorrow I'm bringing you something
Nick: I'll be back. Nick Wilde has never been sick for more then 24 hours in his life.
Carrots: Lol, you just jinxed yourself
Nick: Nahhhhh
The rest of the day was a blur for Nick. A few times he woke up from weird dreams he couldn't even remember after he woke up. He would look at his surroundings, think about moving or taking some medicine, but then his body would just say 'nope' and put him back into a semi-comatose state.
Before he knew it, he was peering at his clock while rubbing sleep out of his eyes. It was almost 9 a.m. The next day. More than 24 hours.
He still felt awful.
Nick groaned, letting the gravity of his situation pound into his skull as he closed his eyes and let out a loud cough. He'd be getting a text from Carrots very soon.
And it'd say something like...
Messages at 9:02 am
Carrots: Still sick? (frowny-face emoji)
Nick: No
Carrots: Then you're...just late?
Nick: Fine I'm still sick
Carrots: I knew you jinxed yourself
Carrots: Coming to see you after work
Nick: Carrots no
Nick: Attend to your own life
Nick: Carrots?
Nick: Ugh
Within what seemed like the blink of an eye (it had actually been eight hours, but Nick had returned to his semi-comatose state), a certain hare was jolting Nick awake.
"You alive?" Carrots questioned with a chuckle.
"I don't know, maybe." Nick groaned, pressing his head into his pillow. "First of all, how did you get into my apartment? Second of all, I told you not to worry about me."
"Maybe don't leave your spare key under the mat." Carrots teased. "And it's only in my nature to want to help my sick friend."
Carrots walked out of Nick's bedroom, and he could hear lots of clanging and mutters of frustration as she seemingly was trying to tear apart his apartment.
"Do you not keep any medicine around?" Carrots yelled to Nick with a sigh.
"I don't typically -" Nick began, before having to stop for an awful cough. "I don't typically get sick, remember?"
"Well, from now on keep some around."
"This isn't going to happen again."
"You know, for being sick you're as difficult as ever." Carrots groaned, before letting out a gasp. "Nick, your sink is filthy! It's overflowing with dishes!"
"Do you seriously think I've been doing dishes? I haven't even been able to get out of bed." Nick stated.
"Wait a second, these are the dishes from when we had dinner together two nights ago. This one still smells heavily of soy sauce. Nick, have you eaten at all since you got sick?"
"What part of 'I haven't even been able to get out of bed' do you not understand?"
"Oh, Nick." Carrots sighed. "That's probably part of the reason you feel like crud. You can hardly move your body because you have no energy stored up!"
"Well, that stinks."
"It's a good thing I brought this, then..."
Carrots reentered Nick's room, and with a smile handed up a wrapped up platter to him.
Puzzled, Nick began to tear the foil from the platter. His eyes went wide as what was inside was revealed to him.
"You know me too well, Carrots." Nick said with a smile and a little cough.
The platter contained a scrumptious-looking, gooey blueberry pie.
"This is actually perfect." Carrots stated. "Nice and calorically dense, so you'll get some energy back fast. I'll go warm up a slice for you."
Carrots took the platter from Nick and jittered back over to his kitchen, starting up the microwave.
"Hurryyyyy." Nick whined, hacking as he did so.
"I have yet to develop the ability to speed up time!" Carrots yelled back. "It's only been five seconds!"
In what seemed like an eternity (only thirty seconds in reality), Carrots returned to Nick's bedroom with a nice, warm slice of the pie sitting on a small plate, as well as a silver fork.
"Bon appetit." Carrots smiled.
Nick eagerly took a bite of the pie, and felt his senses go haywire as he did so. It might've just been the sickness talking, but this might have been the best blueberry pie he'd tasted ever.
The crust was perfectly flaky, and was nothing less than an excellent compliment to the rest of the pie. Nick could tell the pie had been made with fresh blueberries, and the mixture of sugar and cinnamon inside the pie made it sweet - not too sweet. Absolutely perfect.
"Hoh my gah." Nick stated, his mouth full of dessert.
Carrots chuckled. "Did I do a good job? I tried my best to follow the recipe, but like, I didn't have lemon juice, so I-"
Nick swallowed. "Say no more, Carrots! Whatever you did to this recipe, it's better than anything I've ever had before. Maybe it's just because I haven't eaten in two days, but...wow."
"Glad you like it."
Eagerly taking another bite, Nick's face was utterly blissful, even as he almost choked on the bite as he involuntarily coughed again. "I can't get over this. Carrots, this is so good I could kiss you."
There was an awkward pause. It took Nick a good second or two before he even realized what he'd just said.
Memories flooded back to him quickly. He had always had a bit of trouble with his inner filter turning off when he was sick. Like the time he got pneumonia when he was ten and told his father he wished for nothing more than him to be hit by a bus, and that his mother and the milkman were-
That was a story for another time.
Nick saw the hare's face go bright red as what he had just said processed through her brain.
Oh no no no, Nick thought. You've possibly just made things awkward between you and your partner for the rest of your lives. Gotta think of a way to fix this quickly...
"Did...did you hear 'kiss you'?" Nick asked nervously, letting out a cough and a forced laugh. "No, no, no. What I actually said was...Carrots, this is so good I could...piss glue."
What?! Where did that come from?
"Very common saying among foxes," Nick said, nervously laughing again.
The crimson in his partner's face began to fade as she gave him a mischevious smirk. She pulled out a small, familiar device from her pocket.
"Oh, did you say that now?" Carrots asked. She pressed the button on the orange device, forcing Nick to relive his awkward moment. In fact, she could make him relive it as many times as she wanted.
"Carrots, this is so good I could kiss you. So good I could kiss...so good I could kiss..."
"Why do you have that?!" Nick exclaimed, trying his best to leap at the bunny and grab the pen with what little energy the two bites of blueberry pie had given him.
"Delete that!" Nick demanded. "Or I'll..."
Nick broke out into a coughing fit, his face going red.
"I don't think you'll be doing much of anything." Carrots replied with a smile. "Except for rest, that is. Finish your pie, I'll be back in twenty minutes with some medicine for that nasty cough."
Nick had no choice but to nod and sink back into his bed as Carrots walked out of his apartment. He sighed as she closed the door, taking another bite of his pastry.
Stupid blueberry pie. Stupid, delicious blueberry pie.