Work Text:
"I hate this.”
Kevin's voice came out soft and hoarse, as if he'd swallowed a bowl of nails. With a wince, he clutched his throat. Bad enough his head was pounding, he couldn’t even get a word out without straining his vocal cords. How had he gotten sick in the first place?!
Sensing her master’s discomfort, Zed whined. She had her head on his lap, not understanding what was going on but wanting to comfort him any way she could.
From the kitchen (or at least, what counted as one in a space this small), Gwen walked back to the bed with a glass of warm honey water. “Kev!” she mildly scolded. “The more you use your voice, the longer it'll take for you to get it back. You heard the doctor!” She handed him the glass and he wasted no time taking a swig.
After putting it on the bedside table next to the plastic bag of medicine he’d been prescribed, he lifted himself off the bed. She was quick to push him back down, met with no resistance. He really was sick. “Nice try. Until you get better, you’re gonna stay in bed and rest.” Zed echoed Gwen’s sentiment with a loud bark.
Kevin grumbled. When he was a runaway, he was on his feet every day; rain or shine, sick or not. Even in the Null Void, he had to keep moving to avoid dangerous aliens. Resting felt wrong.
She cupped his shivering face, his skin warm to the touch. “Let yourself be weak. I’ve got you.” Their eyes met, and her gentle-yet-firm stare melted any resolve he had. Without a voice, he couldn’t argue with her, and in his current physical state, he couldn’t walk out and work on his car like he wanted to. He didn’t even have the energy to play fetch with Zed!
Nevertheless, it was embarrassing—almost infantilizing—to be waited on hand and foot. Gwen had an important test coming up and his falling sick had derailed her plans to pull an hours-long study session. He didn’t want her to waste anymore time looking after him, or worse, get sick from being too close to him. She’d already accompanied him to the clinic and bought things from the store to help him recover. That was more than enough.
Then again, if their roles were reversed, he’d do the same for her…
He relented, his shoulders slumping in surrender. She guided him closer to kiss his forehead. “Good.” Shifting one hand to his neck, she rubbed in slow circles to relax his throat. “This might help a little.” Her touch continued downwards, more forceful but not enough to hurt him. It was strangely intimate.
A smile played at the corners of her lips as she admired the sight of him. His cheeks were hot now, and not just because of his fever. How could she unravel him so effortlessly?
After what seemed like an eternity, she took her hand away. “Better?” He fixed his gaze to hers again, and made a seesaw motion with his hand.
“You hungry? I can make you something,” she offered. To his own disappointment, Kevin declined with a shake of his head. As tempting as it sounded, his body wasn’t up to eating. He drank more honey water, deciding he’d settle for it for now. “Okay, but you’re gonna have to eat at some point. I’ll feed you if I have to!” she threatened half-jokingly. He didn’t know where to look.
Having done all she could to help Kevin for now, Gwen gave Zed a pat on the head, then went to retrieve her tablet from the counter on the other side of the room. She made a mental note to ask Kevin’s mother if she had any family recipes that might help. They were overdue for a chat, anyway.
Upon returning to the bed, she waved the back of her hand at the wall, signaling him to make space for her. “Scoot.”
He coughed deeply into his fist.
“I know.” She put a hand on her hip. “But I need to keep an eye on you. What better way to do that than to be next to you?”
Hesitant to comply yet unwilling to drag things on, he drank more honey water, then did as he was asked. Zed sat between his legs, putting her head on his stomach. Gwen squeezed next to Kevin and, after fluffing his pillow for him, leaned against the headboard and pulled the covers over him. One arm wrapped around his shoulders to keep him close, not that he had much room to move; it was a tight fit. Her other hand held her tablet and scrolled through her lecture notes with her thumb.
He tried to pay attention to what she was reading, but between his fever-induced delirium and the subject matter, her notes might as well have been in an alien language. Two chapters in, his eyelids began to droop and his mind grew fuzzy. The sweet embrace of sleep soon snatched him from consciousness, no doubt helped by the pills he took. It didn’t take long for the room to be filled with the sound of his snoring, slightly disrupting Gwen’s focus. If only she could see his face. He always looked adorable when he slept.
While one hand continued to scroll through her notes, the fingers of her other hand threaded through his thick, soft hair. He was really growing it out, to her delight. “I wish there was some way I could show you it’s okay to let me take care of you,” she told him, despite him being too asleep to hear it. Hopefully, his subconscious could still pick up the words.
She let out a small chuckle. “I’m one to talk. Remember how much of a storm I kicked up when I broke my ankle? Guess we’re both too stubborn for our own good sometimes. That’s why we have each other, though, right? To take care of each other when we can’t do it ourselves?”
Her mind replayed memories of those six long weeks. Kevin had been there for her every step of the way, without a single complaint. He did everything she asked him to, and everything she didn’t ask but wanted him to do anyway. If she could make him feel as cared for now as he made her feel back then, her mission would be a success.
Gwen prided herself on being a good multitasker. She was going to study for that test and help nurse Kevin back to health, and she was going to excel at both.
“You can whine and pout aaalll you want but I’m not leaving you.”