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The bright colors of the Navi Starmobile radiating off the TV screen provided the only light Price Tag had to find their Bubble Pop, with the blinds pulled against the moon and the light under the door crack long extinguished. They took a sip, washing down the lingering chip crumbs from the bag they’d just finished, before tapping a couple buttons on the controller.
“Shoot,” they mumbled, tightening their grip as the Starmobile landed a crit. The screen to swap in a new Pokemon came up, and they furrowed their brow, scanning the roster for the best switch-in.
Jolting them from their focus, the default ringtone rang out from their phone, cutting through the room. They set down the Joy-Con, leaning forward to grab the phone from its arbitrary position on the carpet.
The blankness of Book’s caller ID was a bit of a surprise at first, but as Price Tag moved to accept the call, they realized they’d never really sent a DM to Book before. If they talked, it was through the team’s group chat, or in person. As strange as they found it, though, they clicked the green icon with no hesitation, lifting the phone immediately to their ear.
“Hey, what’s up, Book? It’s, uh… one in the morning. Kinda thought you had a better sleep schedule than me.”
“Sorry-” Book coughed quietly, removing the slight rasp from her shaky voice. “Did I wake you up?”
“Nah, I’m usually up a lot longer than this.”
“Okay,” said Book, cautiously. Her voice sounded a bit farther away, like she was on speaker and had just leaned back. “Could you do me a favor?”
“Sure, yeah.”
Book cleared her throat again, unsuccessfully this time. “I’m… out of water in my minifridge. Do you have any?”
It wouldn’t have been weird from Naily or Cake. The ones who wouldn’t second-guess whether they’d be awake so late, or if it would be too much trouble to take two steps down the hallway to drop off a water bottle. Seeing as it was Book, though…
“Sorry. I know you probably–um, I can get some from downstairs,” Book went on, her volume dropping.
“Give me ten seconds. I’ll be there.”
Before Price Tag could lower their phone to hang up, they heard a weird sound from Book’s side of the phone. They kept their hand to the ear, listening to silence for a couple more seconds.
After a moment, the sound repeated, unmistakable this time as a gag.
They stood immediately, stumbling for a second as their legs got used to motion after the hours of sitting crossed on the floor. After grabbing one bottle from the fridge and one from the freezer, Price Tag was out the door, padding down the hallway to Book’s room, the one at the very end.
Book’s room wasn’t locked. They knew that from the many messages she’d sent to the group chat, reprimanding Pillow for walking in on her, or for going through her stuff. Why she hadn’t just tried locking it, they probably wouldn’t find out for sure, but they had a slightly worrying theory or two.
As they opened the door, as easily as they expected, they found an empty bed, comforter tossed on the floor like it had been too hot. Or like Book had left the bed in a hurry. The bathroom door was closed, but light poured out from underneath the door.
Confirming her location, Book let out another pitiful retch from the direction of the bathroom.
“You okay?” Price Tag called, walking over to the door, leaning back up against the wall.
Every breath Book took was audible, until she caught it enough to call back out. “You can leave the water by the door,” she replied, punctuated by another gag.
“I could.” Price Tag tilted their head back, rubbing their hair against the green wallpaper. “Would you be upset if I came in?”
All they heard for a moment was some more heavy breaths, and a tiny groan, until…
“No. That’s fine.”
Once they’d opened the door, the first thing Price Tag did was press the liquid bottle into Book’s tremoring hand, before taking a seat on the bathmat. They weren’t that close to her, but still right there, just in case.
Before they could get settled, though, Book reached her hand back. Her face still hovered over the toilet bowl, but she’d taken the remaining hand off the seat with the sole desire to have it held.
This time, it took Price Tag a moment to get over the copious amounts of germs on it, but they did, moving closer to rub her back at the same time.
“Is this weird?” Book choked, after spitting out another watery mouthful of acid. “I know you- you don’t really know me.”
“Doesn’t matter right now,” they soothed. They let go of her hand for a moment, noting the second of tension that waned as Book realized they were just reaching for the toilet paper.
Book turned her head, letting the last few drops of saliva and her insides be wiped from her chin. Her face was ashen, bags larger under her eyes than Price Tag had ever seen them.
“C’mon, drink some water.”
She shook her head, letting the bottle slip from her grasp onto the tiled floor. “I’m a medical textbook,” she half-whispered, curling the newly-free hand around her midsection. “We’re supposed to take my temperature before I drink anything.”
“Right.” They stood up, taking their hand off the back of her extremely soft blue pajamas, feeling a bit guilty as she flinched and straightened back up. With a gentle pat to the top of her head, they opened the cabinet door to root through it, looking for a thermometer. Book was, of course, well-organized, so it didn’t take long before Price Tag was back on their knees in front of her.
They realized, only after putting the thermometer into Book’s mouth themself, that they could have just handed it to her.
“100.8,” they read off the screen once it had beeped, brushing a stray lock of brown hair from Book’s sweating forehead. “Not too bad.”
Satisfied, Book grabbed the water from the floor, struggling with the cap for a moment before Price Tag took over.
They moved to sit by her side as she took the first sip. When her head hit their shoulder, they could hardly breathe, careful not to scare her off.
“You ready to get back to bed?” they asked, rubbing their hand against her arm, appreciating the expensive feel of the fluffy fabric.
“Actually,” Book mumbled, relaxing a bit further. “I don’t think I could sleep.”
Price Tag paused, thinking for a second. “I usually fall asleep watching a let’s play of something,” they suggested, “if you want to try that.”
“I guess so.”
“Great,” they said, nudging Book’s side. “I’ll be right back with my Switch.”