Work Text:
Pepper sneezed violently, his head sore and pounding profusely as his heated, sweating body tugged at the edges of the bed desperately. His head felt like it was about to split in half,
Glee hovered over his bed, her face full with worry.
She peered over his bed with concerned grazed eyes, frowning, "Pepper? Are you okay? What's wrong?" She poked at his face.
"I'm... I'm sick, Glee." He wheezed out, swatting her hand away, his headache worsening the more he spoke.
“Sick? But, Pepper—you’re not running low on joy or love or anything, are you?” The question spilled from her lips like a riddle, making zero sense to him.
“No—wait, what?” Pepper rubbed his temple, connecting the dots at last. Sickness, to her kind, wasn’t about bodies, but hearts. He sighed, amused.
“It’s not like that,” he rasped. “When humans say they’re sick, it means their bodies are fighting off these microscopic invaders—” he paused to cough, “—and, uh, I’m kinda losing the war.”
"Oooh..." Glee nodded, before tilting her head in playful resolve, "What kind of microscopic invaders, are they like-- tiny butterflies? or-"
Pepper grumbled out of frustration, his head was already pounding, he didn't have any more mental capacity to deal with Glee. He rolled over to the side, facing the wall.
"Aaah, I'm sorry Pepper!" Glee immediately rushed to him, it made Pepper feel a little bad, "I just thought it would be cute..."
"It--it's fine." He barely choked out, "I just-- I'm not in the greatest mood."
"...Do you need me to help you with anything, Pepper?" Glee leaned closer, concern drawing bigger in her face, Pepper didn't really like the sudden closeness, but let her lean closer anyways.
"..You don't really have to."
"But I wanted to!" She retorted, "I want help you!"
"Uh..." Pepper's eyebrows scrunched up, trying desperately to form a coherent thought, what did he need? "Can-- can you just get me a glass of water, please?"
“Alright!” Glee’s voice chimed like a bell as golden light danced around her. The glow spun faster and faster, wrapping her in ribbons of sunshine until—poof!—she reappeared in an adorable nurse outfit topped with a heart-shaped badge.
“Nurse Glee, to the rescue!” she giggled, striking a sparkling pose.
Pepper blinked for a moment, his face grimacing as if he wasn't sure this was a fever dream or not, "....God."
Water, water, water, water, Glee needed to get water~
Glee happily stumbled across the living room, in search for the destined goal; a fresh, ice cold glass of water! Wait, Pepper wanted a cold glass, right?
She nodded to herself, that was hopefully right!
Glee made her way into the kitchen, the area felt a lot emptier now that Pepper was resting in his room. She eyed the water dispenser, there it is! Now, she just had to get a nice glass of water for Pepper..
Taking a stool from the kitchen and using it to lift herself up, she opened the cupboard filled with glasses, they were all a plain, slightly translucent blue. Glee didn't approve of such a plain color, she wished Pepper would buy cuter cups, but every time she asked, he would swat the idea immediately.
"It's too childish." The echo of Pepper stated plainly, "Besides, why would we need that when we have plenty more cups, anyways?
Glee puffed her cheeks. Well, maybe childish things are comforting, she thought stubbornly.
Grabbing one of the blue cups, she hopped down and went to the water dispenser. As the cup filled, she watched the ice swirl and glisten in the soft light. The azure glass shimmered beautifully, but something about it still felt… plain, she stared at it, a sense of dissatisfaction on her face.
Did Pepper really only want some water? Glee huffed, she could definitely offer something more than this! This was what a nurse's job was, right?
She searched around, in hopes to find something to pair up this cool drink with, she searched around the kitchen to find something good--what would a sick human want, anyways?
Glee thought to herself, and her own experiences being sick, whenever she was sick, Faitha would prepare her a nice mushroom-flavored stew everyday...
Thats perfect! Soup! If human food were no different from Emotian food, surely, Pepper would appreciate a nice soup.
She searched around every corner, before eventually found a small packet hidden beneath one of the many instant noodle packs, the label read, "Cream Corn Soup" Glee's eye lit up, that was just perfect!
As quickly as she found it, she took a pot from the storage and placed it on top of the stove. She recalled Pepper teaching her how to use this, so it shouldn't be that hard to make some soup, right?
Slowly, she filled the pot with water and added the soup powder, she waited as the soup diluted into mixture, stirring it softly with a wooden spoon. She hummed softly as the rich aroma filled the room.
After a few minutes, the soup had a nice, creamy texture to it, and it tasted great! It was a little hot, but Glee was certain Pepper would love it.
She stepped down the stool, and poured the soup into a nice bowl, a cute pink bowl--one Pepper actually let her buy, this time around!
She held the soup and water glass happily and made her way back to Pepper's room.
By the time she arrived, she hoped she wasnt too late! Preparing the soup took her a couple more minutes than usual..
"PEPPER!" Glee yelled happily, "I got the--"
Suddenly, she shushed herself, inspecting the bedroom area of the room, she heard a soft, quiet snore.
There, Pepper was sleeping, peacefully and soundly. Glee stared for a moment, tip-toeing to his desk--careful not to wake him in any way. Carefully, Glee set down the bowl of soup and water on his desk.
She slowly, very carefully lingered over Pepper to check if she had awoken him, letting out a sigh of relief inspecting his limp, unconscious body resting peacefully on the floor.
He looked so peaceful, soft, shagged breaths coming out of his mouth as his eyes drooped into exhaustion. He was a quiet sleeper, no doubt, the soft raise of his chests the only thing to indicate he was still alive and breathing.
"Oh, Pepper.." She whispered, a soft smile crept up in her face, she looked at him endearingly.
She traced every feature with her gaze — the soft lashes, the exhaustion resting beneath his eyes, the warmth still alive in his expression. Glee’s heart swelled; she loved it all. Every precious thing that made Pepper human.
Maybe there were some differences between them, but Glee couldn't care less. She loved every part of humans, especially in Pepper.
Pepper muttered, "Mmmm.." subconsciously detecting Glee's presence, he moved his hand a little closer to hers. Glee stared at his hand for a moment, as if contemplating something,
then, she reached out to it, pressing her hand softly against his. She felt Pepper's instinctively curl up his fingers, intertwined with Glee's.
Glee's face suddenly turned red, no, no no! What was she thinking?! Her face was beet red, her hair suddenly turning a soft pink, she was stunned, left to hold hands with Pepper-- she stared wide-eyed at what she had done. Immediately left flustered..
She slowly, quietly, moved Pepper's hand away, her heart beating as she finally managed to free herself. She stared at her palm for a minute, surprised at what she had just done, she quickly stood down on Pepper's chair, swiveling away to no longer face Pepper.
Maybe she just needed to cool down.
Pepper groggily opened up his eyes, the exhaustion sagging over the rest of his body, the afternoon sunlight hung over the entire room, his sweat increased tenfold as he slowly got up from his bed, but strangely, he felt... a lot better.
Pepper stretched, that was great, he was going to stop being sick in no time, he inspected the room; strangely Glee was nowhere to be found, Pepper sighed, she must be off doing something nonsensical again.
Suddenly, Pepper's eyes laid on his desk, the soft flavorful aroma faintly spread over from a bowl, a cute, pink colored bow with little hearts alongside the glass of water he asked for hours ago... Pepper let out a sigh, both out of amusement and surprise, he knew this had come from Glee. Did she really take the time to make him soup, too...?
Mmm. Corn. Pepper mused, it tasted good, a rich flavor. Pepper never realized he even had soup anymore, he smiled, Glee's thoughtfulness struck a heart string to him, but he quickly shut the feeling down.
Though, it was pretty cold, and the water was lukewarm... had it been hours since Glee placed this here?
Oh well, Pepper didn't mind. Today felt strangely warm to him, though he didn't understand why he felt this way. He didn't mind it.
In fact, he was grateful. It had been such a long time since anyone cared for him when he was sick, but now, he had someone.
And it felt nice..