Written for the Pokemon kink meme: "Give me someone feeling bloody awful due to a cold or flu or something, and someone taking care of them awesomely. Any pairing is fine."
Hilda didn't get sick too easily. She'd always been a hardy one, her mother said, whenever some sort of illness spread around Numeva Hilda was one of the last to catch it and the quickest to recover.
But no one could be lucky all the time, and when Hilda awoke one morning achy and dizzy and feverish, she knew her lucky streak had come to an end or was at least on hiatus.
"Well, it had to happen sometime," her mother said as she plucked the thermometer from Hilda's mouth. "Oh, boy...you definitely have a fever. It's just as well, though, you wouldn't have been able to do much outside in this rain anyway."
"But Bianca and Cheren and I were gonna go to Cheren's house to practice triple battles," Hilda groaned. "I was really looking forward to that."
"You can reschedule," her mother said, tucking the covers around her neck. "I'll go make you some toast and orange juice, you stay put."
Usually when a person was sick and didn't want to be kept in bed, they'd sneak out as soon as their caretaker's back was turned. But as it stood Hilda was too tired and her body ached too much for her to even consider getting up. So she laid there, grumbling and miserable as she reached for her cross-tranceiver. If nothing else, she should at least let Cheren and Bianca know she couldn't make it.
"That won't be necessary," her mother said as she returned with the tray; she'd barely been gone five minutes. "I already called Cheren's house, and he's going to tell Bianca." Hilda rolled her eyes.
"Mom, I'm not so sick I can't talk to my friends," she murmured. Her mother just smiled and shook her head.
"Come on, honey, it's not often I get to mollycoddle you like this," she said. "Just humor me."
"Fine." Hilda was too tired to argue anyway. "But can it wait? Right now I just wanna go back to sleep." Her mother nodded, leaving the tray on her end table and pressing a kiss to her forehead.
"Feel better," she said. Hilda closed her eyes, pulled the blanket over her head and dozed off.
-x-
A few hours later, she heard the sound of her mother talking to someone. Probably a neighbor or a telemarketer, she thought.
"...right upstairs," she heard, and Hilda blinked. Why would she be telling someone to come up-
"Um...hi. Is it okay if I come in?"
"Bianca?" She sat up, coughing. Bianca stood in the doorway, holding a basket and smiling. "W-what are you doing here? Didn't Cheren tell you?"
"He did!" Bianca said. "So I decided to come over and take care of you for a while, is that okay?" Hilda paused. She didn't want to make Bianca sick, too, but she couldn't very well say "no"...sure, Bianca might understand, but she'd end up being sad over it, and to Hilda one of the worst things imaginable was a sad Bianca.
"Sure," she said. "I mean, if you really want to..."
"Yay!" Bianca pulled Hilda's beanbag chair over beside the bed and sat down. "Your mom's gotta go run errands soon anyway, so now you won't be all alone!"
"You're awfully excited about this," Hilda said, stifling a sneeze.
"Well, you've always been there to look out for me," Bianca said. "Now I get to return the favor!" She opened the basket and pulled out a bottle of pills, an extra blanket, a thermos of tea and another one of soup. "I also brought over my copy of The Neverending Story." That was one of their all-time favorite movies; Hilda had never gotten around to buying it, but Bianca had had it ever since it came out on DVD.
"Thanks," Hilda said, coughing into her pajama sleeve. Bianca gently pushed her back into a reclining position, smoothing her bangs away from her hot forehead.
"You just rest," she said. "If you need anything I'm at your beck and call."
"And I will be too, after I get back," Hilda's mother said as she poked her head into the room. "Now Hilda-"
"I'll stay put unless I need to get up, I know," Hilda said. "Don't worry, Mom, I'm not that stubborn."
"I hope so." Her mother left, and the two girls were finally alone. Wait, finally? Hilda shrugged. Maybe it was just the fever talking...she groaned a bit; the mild headache from earlier was becoming stronger, and suddenly she just wanted to pass out again. "Um, Bianca-"
"Rest!" Bianca commanded. "You rest, and I'll sit here beside you and keep the nightmares away, okay?"
"I don't get nightmares," Hilda murmured, pulling the covers tightly around herself. "But thanks anyway." She drifted off, hoping the rest would do away with all those pesky aches and pains.
-x-
Some people were prone to nightmares when they were sick, fevered minds could conjure some of the most disturbing images. But Hilda had never been one for fever dreams, and today was no exception. She awoke from a sound sleep hours later to find Bianca still sitting beside her and another tray on her end table.
"Afternoon, sleepyhead," Bianca said cheerfully. "How are you feeling now?"
"Not much better," Hilda groaned. "But I am a little hungry..."
"I thought you'd be." Bianca handed her the tray. "Eat up, you need your strength!" Hilda tucked into the bowl of chicken rice soup, and Bianca smiled. "Well? How is it?"
"It's really good." And she didn't even have to pretend, Bianca was a surprisingly good cook. Even her father was impressed by her skill and would often arrange for her to prepare the meals when she was home. Not that Bianca minded, of course. She ate slowly, savoring every spoonful until the bowl was empty, then took the medicine Bianca offered after. "Thanks," she said. "Funny, I'm actually not that tired now..."
"Want to watch the movie?" Bianca asked. Hilda nodded, and Bianca stood up to turn on the TV and DVD player. She started up the disc, then sat down on the bed. Hilda blinked, feeling her cheeks flush a little.
"Um, Bianca? A-are you sure you-"
"You don't want me to sit with you?" The other girl blushed, looking away. "S-sorry, I thought-"
"No! It's just, I don't want you to get sick cause of me," Hilda said. "But...if you really don't mind..."
"I don't, not at all." Bianca made herself comfortable, snuggling close and drawing Hilda's head to her shoulder as the movie started. "Ohhh, this movie has the best theme song ever!"
"Mm." Hilda smiled, nestling closer to her friend. They always snuggled like this when they watched The Neverending Story, but at the moment it had never felt more right...maybe it was the sickness making her feel more vulnerable somehow but Bianca had never felt warmer and softer and as they lost themselves in the epic fantasy, Hilda almost forgot about how awful she felt.
Almost.
"Bless you!" Bianca said, handing her a tissue. Hilda grinned sheepishly and wiped her nose.
"Sorry about that, good thing we didn't miss anything too important."
The movie played on and on and when it was over Hilda was half-asleep in Bianca's arms. Bianca picked up the DVD player's remote control and shut it off.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Tired," Hilda said with a yawn. "How're you feeling?"
"Just fine, thank you," Bianca said cheerfully. "Did you want any more soup, or medicine? Tea? Maybe something sweet?"
"Not now," Hilda mumbled. "...thanks, though. And not just for that...thanks for everything. You've been amazing to me all day..." She closed her eyes, burying her face in the crook of the other girl's neck. "You're always the best friend anyone could ask for, but right now you're practically an angel."
"Oh-!" Bianca laughed nervously. "Well...I-I just wanted to take good care of you, Hilda. You...you really mean a lot to me. If it wasn't for you I'd never have figured out what I wanted to do with my life, and all I'd ever learned about Pokemon..."
"Oh, Bianca..." Hilda yawned again. "Just don't ever forget how amazing you are. Ever..." She was starting to nod off again; tomorrow she might remember how emotional she was being right now and feel embarrassed, but she knew she meant every word of what she said. "Thank you..."
The last thing she felt before exhaustion claimed her was Bianca's lips pressing against her temple.