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"What to do you mean she's sick? Can we get sick?" Zooble questioned.
"Technically you're not able to! After all, you don't really have functioning organs. BUT! That's the point of this adventure! Each one of you have to fetch a special ingredient to make Pomni some chicken soup so she gets better, isn't it exciting?" Caine did several mannerisms expressing his thrill for his new idea.
"So Pomni's just in her room with a cold because YOU gave it to her?" Zooble was in desbelief, Caine was no doubt capable of much more than he'd previously let on.
"CORRRRECT!"
Zooble sighed.
"Worry not, silly worms! Her cold will go away as soon as she tastes the very special and yummy chicken soup you guys will prepare!" Caine conjured one those multicolored portals.
"That's not the only thing we're worried about, trust me," Zooble muttered as they walked towards the portal. Much to their dismay there wasn't really anything any of them could do about Caine giving Pomni a cold, and her being sick was a priority, so they didn't feel any right to interfere with this adventure. If it could be called that.
Gangle, Kinger, and Ragatha followed suit. Jax was the only one Caine stopped from going into the portal.
"You, my friend, will stay behind!" Caine grabbed Jax's arm.
"What," Jax made a consternation noise.
The rest stopped and turned around.
"Why doesn't Jax have to go?" Ragatha asked, a touch of complaint showing in her voice.
"He will be of use to keep Pomni company while she waits for her soup! She needs cold compresses and all that human stuff you guys use when you get sick!" Caine clarified.
"So she also has a fever? Wouldn't it be better if you just stop her symptoms?" Gangle spoke up with worry.
"NONSENSE! Where would the fun be in THAT?" Caine dismissed Gangle with a sway of his hand.
Caine waited until everyone else went into the portal, this time they were slower and hesitant, to finally look at Jax again.
"Here you go!" Caine snapped his fingers and several plastic bags appeared out of thin air and dropped into Jax's arms, "You'll need those!" and he dissappeared.
Jax looked at the bags' contents. A thermos filled with hot water, a thermometer, herbal tea bags, honey and eucalyptus candy, and several instant cold packets. He sighed, he really didn't want to take care of Pomni. Not because he hated her, he just hated how he felt when he was alone with her. Nevertheless, if he didn't comply he was sure Caine would lose his shit, and that was better left avoided.
Jax made his way into the large hallway and towards Pomni's door. He knocked twice, softly but audible enough. He got a few groans and a very muffled "Come in..." in response.
Pomni was on her bed, wearing a pijama version of her jester outfit without her distinctive hat, and her face was a soft hue of pink. She seemed disoriented, Jax could tell she had a stuffy nose by the way she was breathing. He closed the door behind him and dropped the bags on a piece of furniture near the bed.
"Jax, what are you doing here? Where's everyone?" Pomni asked, she sounded like she'd swallowed sandpaper.
"They're out somewhere looking for ingredients to prepare a chicken soup for you," he responded, taking out the thermometer from a plastic bag.
"Soup..? I don't even know how I got sick, are we supposed to get sick if we have digital bodies?" she laid back down and stared at the ceiling.
"I'll let you take a wild guess as to how only you got sick and why everyone else is on an 'adventure' right now," Jax gave her one of his signature smiles.
Pomni looked at him, then back to the ceiling, and it seemed to click.
"Caine. Mother[%$@!#]" Pomni said, the censor bar appearing on her mouth for a second.
"Mhm, right on the money," Jax held up the thermometer.
"What's that?" Pomni narrowed her eyes.
"A thermometer, silly. I'm gonna check if you're actively dying or not."
"Oh. Let me…" Pomni reached for her pijama shirt's buttons. She undid three of them exposing some of her chest.
Jax froze. That wasn't what he meant. He was gonna tell her to just shove the thermometer inside her shirt and take it out when it beeped, but was she actually expecting for him to touch her? No way, he wasn't gonna. Too risky.
"Jax?"
He snapped out of a very brief fantasy where Pomni undid all of the buttons in front of him while looking straight into his eyes.
"What?" he asked back.
"The, uh, the thermometer. I need it," Pomni said, holding out one hand.
Jax looked at the device, then back at her. He handed it quickly, "Help yourself, I'm only here to give you moral support." He smiled and sat on a chair next to the bed.
Pomni took her own temperature while Jax dug out the thermos and inserted a tea bag in it. The thermometer beeped after a short while.
"38.3° C. That's not reassuring," Pomni said.
"Could be worse," Jax said, handing her the thermos and an ice pack.
They sat in silence for a lot of time, Pomni slowly sipping the herbal tea which made her throat feel a lot better. Jax felt like he was dying whenever he looked at her and took notice of the insignificant three buttons she'd undone and forgotten to redo. She was blissfully unaware of her mistake, drinking hot tea and rubbing the ice pack everywhere she could think of.
"So, uh, you stayed willingly or did Caine force you to be here?" Pomni asked, casting a side glance.
"He forced me. But I quite like seeing you like this," Jax admitted without much thought.
Pomni felt her face getting warmer than it was.
"L-Like what?"
Jax turned to face her.
"Not as composed," he smiled.
She looked away, flustered. Jax, on the other hand, was on the verge of letting everything loose.
Another while passed, with them ocassionally talking about nothing worth remembering. But with each verbal exchange, each glance, each silence that stretches out too long, Jax only wanted to undo the rest of her shirt and be done with this stupid tension.
"Pompom," he called.
She turned around, expecting a joke, but found his hand resting on her cheek. She was gonna lose the last bit of sanity she had. The way Jax looked at her should've scared her, but somehow it only tempted her now.
"I… I want to—" he began.
"POMNI, HELP IS ON THE WAY, DEAR!" Kinger burst through the bedroom door holding a tray with a plate of chicken soup, a glass of water, and a box of tissues.
Jax and Pomni jumped away from each other, startled by the sudden interruption. Behind Kinger entered Gangle, Zooble and Ragatha, who hadn't seen the previous interaction between them, so their faces expressed relief to seeing Pomni awake.
"We brought your remedy," Kinger said, setting the tray over Pomni's legs on the bed. She was a little shocked still, but smiled and gave her thanks to everyone.
Next to her bed, Jax was acting nonchalant and very much as he normally would. Unbeknownst to him, Pomni would stay awake all night later on, reliving the memory of what had just happened, with her hand between her thighs and a whole different kind of heat all over her body.