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The sun had finally risen from the shackles of night, reaching out with orange rays that crept through his bedroom windows. Natlanian birds sung and whistled below his windowsill, offering a sweet melody to welcome the returning of the burning star. The gentle, soft growling of waking saurians created a chorus for the earth and skies, while the rustling of trees invited those who could to sleep more. Rays of sun filtered through their leaves, across the ground and against the windows of his home. They stretched over the end of his bed, warm, inviting, coaxing him awake. Well, at least it usually would.
Kinich remained asleep well past sunrise, his body laid snug under the covers. It was comfortable, warm. Ajaw woke before him, which was usually the indicator that something was amiss. The almighty dragon lord, Ku'hul Ajaw, awake before his human subject? It almost felt insulting.
"Kiniiiiich! Hellooo! Wake-y Wake-y!"
There wasn't even a budge. What in the name of the Heavenly Principles was going on? Maybe something was wrong. Really wrong. Did humans usually malfunction like that? Did he need a veterinarian to help? Wait, what was the human form of those, again? Where does he find one?
It seemed to panic him. Kinich. Unmoving past sunrise. Dead still. Laid on his back instead of his side. The thought seemed to only make his heart race.
"Kinich!"
He still didn't wake up.
For a moment, he thought he was dead. He thought someone had killed him, or poisoned him, or that he'd accidentally suffocated while he was asleep. How could he live with that?
When Kinich started breathing through his mouth, watching as he slowly sighed and shifted, something in him relaxed.
"Kinich?"
The man slowly let his eyes draw open. They were reddened, tired, hazed. The only sound that came from his throat was a groan. He tried to suck air in through his nose, but it only resulted in the most disgusting, most pitiful sniffling he's ever heard. The poor man's nose was full. And running down his face.
"Ajaw. Tissue."
His voice was scratchy, his throat raw. It sounded as though ice shards had gotten stuck in his throat overnight, with what little voice there was left to hear anyway.
Part of him felt compelled not to give him a tissue, just to see how pathetic he really was. The other part felt strongly compelled to give him one. He decides on the latter option since Kinich was probably going to get snot all over everything, him included.
His sinuses were still completely blocked even after heaving with all his might into the little tissue. It looked confusing. It sounded... horrific. Disgusting. How could humans put up with this?
Kinich slowly lifted himself off the mattress, almost every joint cracking as he did. His chest started to heave, and hacking came from his lungs.
"Kinich, I don't think you should be getting out of bed, right? With your... malfunctioning, or whatever this is."
All that earnt was an incredulous stare, or one as much as Kinich could make.
"Ajaw, you really know nothing, don't you?" Kinich's voice croaked. It must've been sore.
But it was true. Ajaw really knew nothing about humans.
Kinich sat outside on the doorstep, half in the shade, half in the sun. The half of his face that was bathed in sunlight seemed to glow, his eye almost like a marble with how the light refracted off it. It made him such a beauty as the sun's rays carded through his hair - or at least, the hair that wasn't stuck to his forehead.
He sat with a cup of soup in his hands and a light blanket wrapped over his shoulders, hugged close to his chest. He seems to know how to take care of himself well. Ajaw had never known how he took care of himself, knowing exactly what his body needs and when, how much is too much or too little... he really was just like a floating, talking dog - he needed someone to take care of him, give him medication, food, and just take care of him when he was unwell.
In such, Ajaw found himself wanting to ask questions, wanting to know how.
"Why are you outside?" It was a stupid first question, he knew, but it was a starting point.
Kinich moved slowly to face Ajaw, standing at the front door behind him. He could see how slow his mind was working, the gears taking a minute each time to turn. Whatever virus was raging through his system had covered his mind in fog, dulling what many considered to be one of the sharpest minds in Natlan. Ajaw could see the moment his thoughts reached a viable conclusion, the faintest light of certainty dancing in his tired eyes.
"The Sun helps the chills while I wait for the medication to start working."
Kinich’s voice was beginning to sound better - the congestion in his sinuses had begun to melt away and the hoarse croak of his voice had soothed itself, even if only a little. Ajaw knew that, if he were in Kinich’s place, he wouldn’t have known what to take, how to relieve himself of the weight of illness. It seemed to be just like a miracle to him.
Ajaw watched as the man closed his eyes once again, the fatigue of illness weighing him down. Despite how pitiful and utterly helpless he was, he still managed to preserve his dignity. Perhaps humans weren’t as lowly as he thought them to be.
”Ajaw, what’s up?” Kinich asked after a moment of silence. He had turned around from where he was sitting, staring straight at Ajaw through his bleary eyes. He spoke slow, his words almost slurring, “It’s not like you to stare like that.”
For once, Ajaw didn’t have any insults to helplessly yell at him. Instead, all he wanted was answers.
”How do you know how to do all that?” He was hesitant. It was blatantly obvious in the way his voice waived and the way he swallowed after he spoke, “how do you know what your body needs? How do you know how to fix it?”
”I don’t know,” He’d said simply, slowly, softly, “I suppose it’s engrained in our survival instincts.”
Ajaw just stayed silent, mulling his answer.
”Do you not know how to take care of yourself, Ajaw?” Kinich asked, voice breaking away for only a moment. He still managed to sound oddly comforting even when his throat sounded as though it had been through hell.
When Ajaw didn’t answer, Kinich stood, soup bowl in hand.
”I’ll show you, then, the next time you’re unfortunate enough to get sick.”
Kinich shuffled past Ajaw, leaving him staring at the saurians playing beyond the brush.