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Warm sun shone through the window of Fifteen’s cabin, illuminating the room.
Normally, this is when she’d get up and start doing the usual tasks of her everyday life, however, something was different today.
The energy she always has in the morning felt almost completely nonexistent.
Her limbs felt heavy and.. Weak? Her whole body felt so sluggish and numb and her throat was sore.. That could only mean one thing: She’s sick. Great. Just great! Of course it had to be on the day she was having company.
‘Oh math. I never get sick! Why today? I should get up. Well, maybe it couldn’t hurt to stay in bed a little longer.’ she thought to herself before pulling the blanket up to her face, trying to ignore the pain she was in.
She stayed in bed for about 5 more minutes before being abruptly woken up by the sun reaching her eyes.
‘Damn it. I can’t get any rest like this. I knew I shouldn’t have put off making those curtains. I guess I do have to get the house ready for when Zero gets here.’
Fifteen dragged herself out of bed in an attempt to get the day going but was quickly hit with the rude awakening that she had a horrible headache.
‘Ugh. I’m not gonna be able to do much like this.. I guess I’ll do what I can.’
- - -
Fifteen heard footsteps coming up to her cabin and four knocks on her door.
Which meant Zero had arrived. Fifteen told Zero to knock on her door four times instead of three so she could tell it was him and not one of the other algebralians coming over to get on her nerves.
Fifteen shakily opened the door, trying her best to look like she wasn’t sick, to no avail, because Zero noticed immediately.
“Whoa. You look.. Pretty rough.. Are you doing alright?” Zero asked
“Just peachy..” Fifteen said in a very clearly sick and gravelly voice.
“Oh come on, you’re not fooling anyone. You should be getting rest! You could’ve cancelled, I wouldn’t have minded.” Zero lectured.
“I’m fine! I don’t need to cancel anything. I’m just a little lightheaded.. That’s all.” she assured as she leaned against the door frame in an attempt to stay standing.
“Nice try, but you’re resting today!” Zero said as he let himself into the cabin.
Zero pointed at the couch and ordered Fifteen to go lie down.
“Go get some rest while I make you soup.” He insisted.
“You can’t tell me what to do!” Fifteen scoffed, still leaning on the door frame for support.
“Fifteen…” He pleaded.
Fifteen sighed. “Fine fine.. I’ll go lay on the stupid couch.”
Fifteen barely made it two steps before her legs nearly gave out and her vision went black for a moment.
Luckily, Zero was close enough to catch her before she hit the floor, and he helped guide her to the couch.
Fifteen groaned. She practically never gets sick, but when she does it’s usually really bad. But thankfully it only ever really lasts for a day or two.
She sat in pain for a few seconds before she heard Zero ask her something, but she barely heard him over the ringing in her ears.
“What was that..?”
“Can I check your temperature?” He repeated.
“Fine, whatever.” She leaned forward a bit
Zero pressed the back of his hand lightly against her forehead
“Jeez! You're burning up! I'll go get you an ice pack.”
Zero walked over to the kitchen and opened up the freezer, looking for an ice pack.
He found one near the back of the freezer and brought it back to Fifteen, who was lying on her back with her head on the armrest.
Zero moved the hair covering her eyes out of the way and carefully placed the ice pack on her forehead.
“I'm gonna go make you some soup, okay?” Zero said
Fifteen just groaned in response. Which Zero took as an “Alright”.
Zero walked back over to the kitchen and started rummaging through the cupboards. Eventually, he found a metal pot, and a soup ladle he could use.
He carefully placed them on the counter, trying not to make too much noise and bother Fifteen. Then, he looked through Fifteen’s food storage to try and find some ingredients to add to the soup.
He filled the pot with water and put it on to boil while he chopped the potatoes, but while he was cutting up the potatoes, he heard Fifteen sigh heavily from the couch
“Is everything okay over there?”
“No.. somehow I'm too hot and too cold at the same time. This sucks.” Fifteen complained
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Zero put down the knife he was using and walked over to the couch
“No.. I'll be fine.” Even though she hated to admit it, she did kind of want to cuddle, running her fingers through his hair was comforting to her, but she didn't want Zero to get sick too. One sick person was already too much.
Zero nodded and walked back to the kitchen to continue making the soup.
He chopped up a few more potatoes and some carrots and put them in the pot.
Then, he put in some elk meat he found in Fifteen’s food storage and added some salt.
After he finished the soup, he put two large servings in a couple of bowls and brought them to the couch. He set one bowl on the coffee table in front of where Fifteen was laying and sat next to her holding his bowl.
Fifteen tried to sit up and eat it, but felt too weak to pick up the spoon.
“Need some help?” Zero asked, concerned.
“I got it. I'm fine.” Fifteen fumbled with the spoon in the bowl, trying to grip it with what little strength she had.
“Here, let me help you.” He said as he placed his bowl on the table
“No wait! It's fine I got it-”
It was no use. Zero ignored her and picked up the spoon, and scooped up a large helping of the soup and carefully brought it up to her mouth, putting his other hand underneath in case he dripped it.
Fifteen sighed, she hated when she felt weak or like she couldn't do things by herself.
She begrudgingly took a bite. It was surprisingly alright for a meal cooked by Zero. He wasn't the greatest cook but what he made was always passable.
After a few bites, Fifteen leaned back onto the couch’s headrest and closed her eyes.
“Feel any better?” Zero asked
“Mmhm.. a little…” Fifteen mumbled
He glanced around the room, looking for something to distract her from how she’s feeling.
He spotted the crt she stored in the corner, since she doesn’t watch tv often. She pretty much only watched tv when Zero was over.
“..Would you like me to set up the tv for you?” He asked
“Hm.. I guess that could be nice.. I am a little bored.” Fifteen smiled a bit.
“Okay!”
Zero got up and walked over to the corner of the room where the tv was. He looked at the tv from a few different angles, pondering the best way to pick it up so that he won’t drop it by accident. Eventually, he decided on an angle.
He crouched down and slowly picked it up, supporting it with his forearms, and grabbing the corners of the base with the screen facing outward.
He placed it in the middle of the coffee table and went back to the corner where it was and rummaged through the box of movie tapes Fifteen had.
“What do you feel like watching?” Zero asked
“Uhh.. hmm… I don’t really know. I can’t really remember what I have. My head is throbbing..” Fifteen slurred her words a bit.
Zero grabbed a random one from the box and lifted it up.
“How about ‘Jaws’?”
“Sure why not.” Fifteen shrugged.
- - -
The credits began to roll and Fifteen was fast asleep. She fell asleep about an hour in. She definitely needed the rest, though.
Zero looked over at her. She was lying on her side with a blanket that zero crocheted for her draped over her and her hair was covering her eyes.
Zero moved a bit closer to her and moved a few strands of hair out of her eyes, which startled her awake.
“Oh uh.. S-sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.” Zero Whispered.
“It’s fine. What time is it?” Fifteen asked, still a little groggy from waking up.
“It’s around 6.” Zero responded.
“Ugh.. I’m going to bed early.” Fifteen struggled to sit up, but she was too tired to get off the couch.
Fifteen stared at the ground for a moment before letting out a heavy sigh of defeat and looked over at Zero.
“Need help?” He chuckled.
Fifteen just angrily mumbled in response, but he could make out a “Yeah.”
Zero grabbed her right arm and wrapped it around his neck, resting it on his right shoulder, and wrapped his left hand around her waist and helped her stand up.
He cautiously helped her walk to her bed, going slowly so she wouldn’t fall over.
Zero sat both of them down on the edge of the bed and moved himself away from Fifteen by about an inch.
He went to get up and give Fifteen her space, but she stopped him. She moved her hand from his shoulder to his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder, which startled Zero a bit as she’s never usually that affectionate.
“Oh uh Fifteen I uh-..!” He stuttered, getting a bit flustered.
She quickly sat back up, well, as quickly as she could go without triggering the headache she had.
“Uh. Sorry.. My bad, I didn’t mean to. Wouldn’t want to get you sick too.” She fidgeted with the strap on her tanktop.
“No it’s okay! We can.. Cuddle if you want.” He said shyly, turning his head away from her and blushing a bit.
“The other Zeroes get sick all the time so I have a pretty good immunity.” he chuckled.
“Alright.. I guess…” The corners of her mouth curved up slightly, before she quickly noticed and changed her expression. She did want to cuddle, but she was never going to admit it.
They both moved under the blanket that was messily draped across Fifteen’s bed and moved a bit closer to each other.
Zero turned to face Fifteen, who was laying on her side already facing him.
She wrapped her arm around his waist and moved him right up against her.
He returned the embrace and let out a calm breath.
Fifteen rested her chin on his head and ran her fingers through his hair.
They stayed like that for about 20 minutes before Fifteen started drifting off to sleep.
- - -
About an hour and a half had passed. It was getting late, this was usually around the time Zero would head home.
He lightly nudged Fifteen, trying to move her off of him without waking her up, which he failed, as she’s always been a pretty light sleeper.
“Oh. sorry sweety. I didn’t mean to wake you up…” Zero whispered.
“Whatever.. I’m too tired to care right now.” Fifteen mumbled, rolling over onto her back
“I was just trying to get going. It’s getting pretty late.” Zero sat up and turned to sit on the edge of the bed and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.
“Oh. Okay..” Fifteen murmured, fidgeting with the blanket.
“Did you want me to stay the night?” He said as he stood up from the bed.
“Maybe..” She mumbled as she sat up and leaned against the headboard.
“Alright, I’ll stay the night.” He said teasingly.
“But you’re not sleeping in my bed!” Fifteen warned, moving over to the middle of her bed.
- - -
Zero woke up to sun shining through the windows of Fifteen’s cabin like it had the previous day. He felt pretty groggy, he never usually wakes up that early.
‘I better find something to cover the windows. The sun might wake her up.’ He thought to himself.
He grabbed some spare blankets that Fifteen had laying around, some clothes pins, and some metal poles she had at her workstation for a different project.
He wrapped the end of the blanket around the metal pole and used the clothes pins to keep it in place. Then, he fit the pole in the window sill.
Then he repeated the process two more times for the two other windows. He admired his makeshift curtains for a moment before heading outside.
He walked over to the well Fifteen had built and lowered the bucket into the well.
He hoisted it back up and brought the bucket back inside, where he saw Fifteen sitting up in her bed, rubbing her eyes.
It did take him around half an hour to get the bucket of water, so he wasn’t too surprised to see her up.
“Good morning! Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah. As well as I could..” She moved her feet to the side of the bed and got up. She walked over to the table and pulled out a chair to sit down.
“Hey you’re walking on your own now! That’s good!” He said as he poured the bucket of water he collected into a pot and put it on the stove to boil.
“Yeah. I feel a lot better today. You can head home if you want.” She responded.
“Alright! I’m just going to finish up boiling this water.”
- - -
Zero walked over to Fifteen with a glass of water.
He placed it in front of her and sat in the chair across from her.
“It’s still a little warm. I tried to cool it down as best as I could.”
“It’s alright. I don’t mind.” She said as she took a sip.
“I should probably get going.” He said, pushing his chair out from the table.
“Okay”
Zero walked over to the front door and Fifteen followed.
He opened the front door and walked out onto the porch. He turned to face Fifteen, who had her hand on the doorway.
“I’ll uh.. See you next week?” Zero asked, holding his other arm with his right hand.
“Sure, sounds good. And hopefully next time I won’t be sick!” She chuckled.
Zero laughed too. He reached his arms out and cupped her face in his hands. He lightly pressed his lips against her cheek.
Normally he would just kiss her but that probably wouldn’t be the best idea right now.
It caught Fifteen a bit off guard, causing her to get a bit flustered.
“A-Alright! See you next week then!” She stuttered before shutting the door in his face.
Zero chuckled at her reaction and started the long walk home.
(I can’t really think of a better way to end this so uh yeah the end :/ )