Chapter Text
Charles woke up shivering and achy in his nest of blankets and towels. As he shakily got up he had a coughing fit and fell back dizzily, lying there for a moment until the room stopped spinning.
Quentin was snoring nearby and Charles got up again, waiting until he was steady enough to fly. A dizzy spell hit Charles just as he reached his human’s bed and he went into a nosedive, luckily landing on the mattress.
Coughing, Charles crawled until he was standing next to Quentin’s face and gave an insistent squeak that came out as a croak.
After a few more tries, Quentin stirred and mumbled sleepily.
“Char…I gotta get up early…”
Charles tapped Quentin’s face, then climbed onto the beside table, sitting there while shivering miserably.
“Char…? What’s wrong? You sick?”
Charles nodded shakily, shivering, and held out his arms. Quentin sat up and rubbed his eyes, then carefully picked Charles up and got out of bed.
“Let’s get you taken care of, little guy,” he said, heading to the bathroom and setting Charles on the sink. Charles watched as Quentin got the bottle of medicine out.
”Here you go, buddy.”
Charles hissed quietly and made a face.
“Come on, it’s not that bad,” Quentin sighed. “It’ll help you feel better. You’ve had it before.”
“C-c-candy,” Charles stammered.
“Fine,” Quentin said. “One peppermint. Take the medicine first.”
Charles perked up a bit and downed the small amount of medicine, just enough for a fairy, then climbed into Quentin’s hands.
“Alright,” Quentin yawned, setting Charles in his nest with the peppermint before going back to bed.
Charles ate the peppermint and huddled up shivering, but after minutes of tossing and turning he sat up and flew over to Quentin, tapping his face again. Quentin startled awake.
“Mm…what?”
Charles burrowed under the covers and snuggled up against Quentin’s face.
“Uh, you sure you’ll be comfy there? Don’t you wanna be in your bed?”
Charles huddled up and shook his head.
“Alright. Just be careful if I roll over.”
Charles woke to see he was being placed into his nest and looked up sleepily to see Quentin looking worriedly down at him.
”Wait!” Charles croaked, raising his arms as Quentin started to leave.
”Just getting you some more medicine, little guy,” Quentin said. “Your fever’s back.”
Charles struggled to climb out of his nest anyway and had just about managed it when Quentin came back.
”I gotcha,” Quentin said, scooping Charles gently up in a hand. “You’ve got to take it easy.”
Charles struggled to sit up, coughing for a bit and curling up when his chest hurt.
”Can you get this down?” Quentin asked, holding up the medicine cup.
Charles tried to sit up and lift his arms but collapsed against Quentin’s palm, breathing heavily between coughs. Quentin tipped his hand a bit to sit Charles up, then helped him take the cold medicine.
”Want a peppermint?” Quentin asked.
Charles stared weakly up at him, blinking as his vision started to get blurry.
”Charles?” Quentin asked, putting a finger on Charles’ forehead. “Damn it. I’ll be right back.”
Quentin set Charles down in his nest and walked away.
”Wait!” Charles exclaimed, rolling over and reaching out in a panic, fluttering his wings and weakly flying after Quentin. “W—“
He faltered in midair as a dizzy spell hit him.
”Charles!” Quentin exclaimed.
Charles felt a jolt as he landed in Quentin’s hands.
”Got you! Charles, I was coming right back!”
”S-stay,” Charles wheezed, hugging Quentin’s finger and looking up pleadingly, tears streaming from his eyes.
”Okay, Char, I’ll stay,” Quentin sighed, gently patting Charles’ head. “Sorry, little guy. You scared me. Don’t try to fly until you’re better, understand?”
Charles nodded and closed his eyes, then felt himself being lifted. Glancing around he saw Quentin had put him into his shirt pocket.
”Just gotta make sure I can take time off for a few days…”
Charles curled up in Quentin’s pocket and felt himself growing drowsy as the medicine worked. He heard Quentin talking but couldn’t make out the words.
Suddenly something cold jolted him out of sleep.
”There you go,” Quentin said. “How’re you feeling?”
Charles touched the cool cloth on his forehead, then blinked a few times and looked around.
”Moved you to the bedside table,” Quentin said. “Didn’t want you trying to fly if you couldn’t see me.”
Charles felt warmth bundled comfortably around him and sighed.
”I threw some of your blankets and towels in the dryer,” Quentin said. “Should help you feel better.”
Charles glanced out the window.
”You’ve been sleeping for a day,” Quentin told him. “Your fever’s finally starting to go down.”
Charles raised his eyebrows in surprise.
”It was a bad one this time,” Quentin muttered. “You were talking in your sleep a lot but I could only understand a few words. Weird dreams?”
Charles nodded faintly.
”Yeah, that happens when you get a high fever,” Quentin said. “Or you see things. Once I was really sick and kept telling everybody that spiders were all over the walls.”
Quentin shook his head.
”Glad that was the only time I had to be hospitalized for a fever,” he groused. “Drake and Josh told me what I’d been saying once I was more coherent. They thought it was hilarious. Always mentioned it when they were visiting me.”
Charles smiled faintly and gave a croaky laugh.
”Yeah, don’t you start, buddy,” Quentin chuckled, raising a finger. “You need to be resting, not laughing at me.”
Charles chuckled again, then yawned and rolled onto his side, drawing both legs up to his chest and closing his eyes. He jolted awake at hearing Quentin stand up.
”I’m not leaving,” Quentin said quickly, reaching over to tuck the blankets around Charles. “Just making sure you’re warm and comfy.”
Charles watched Quentin closely, even when he got back onto the bed and pulled out a book.
”See? I’m just reading.”
Charles pointed at the book.
”You want to see?” Quentin asked. “Okay.”
Carefully Quentin picked Charles up and held him in the crook of his arm.
”It’s uh…actually a book about creatures like you,” Quentin said. “Since you’re real some of it’s probably right. Maybe it’ll help me take care of you better.”
Charles stared at Quentin for a moment.
“Just feel better,” Quentin said. “I’ll be here, alright? Don’t worry.”
Charles yawned and rubbed his eyes, then finally closed them and drifted off to sleep.