Because I'll tell you what, nothing is more eerie than hearing absolute silence when someone who's normally much louder is sick. Set post-series!
He absolutely hated it.
It was one thing when Raphael got sick. Whenever the blond was feeling under the weather, there was respectful silence in the home. If the stoic redhead was sick…actually, the last time Alister had gotten sick had been in DOOM, and he barely remembered that occasion at all.
But this wasn't DOOM. This was the here and now.
And now, the loudest and youngest member of their group was sick and Alister hated it with a passion.
Three days ago the brunet had come home from riding his motorcycle in the rain. A cough had soon developed not long after he stepped inside the door, followed by a persistent tickle in his throat. The Australian had brushed off his older friend's concern, though he had gone to bed much earlier than normal after changing out of his wet clothes. "I've got me a cast-iron invincibility system, fellas," he had proclaimed with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
Naturally, Valon developed what could be best described as the flu the following morning.
Since then, the normally energetic boy could barely lift his head from where it hid underneath the coversheet (they'd removed the quilt to prevent the teen's fever from spiking) and his voice, when he had enough energy to speak, came out as a weak and rather pathetic croak. The cold also resulted in an uncharacteristic loss of appetite— Valon couldn't swallow anything, not even liquids, without wincing in pain. He could barely take the medicine that was supposed to be helping him.
But what bothered Alister the most was the silence.
When Raphael left for work, Valon was always ambling around the house looking for something to do. Sometimes Alister could hear the boy randomly speaking aloud to the cat—something Valon fervently denied doing—as he wandered. Most of the time, however, the Australian would "grace Alister with his presence". If Alister wasn't at his job or out wandering the city, he would sit in the trio's family room reading a book or watching TV. Nothing interesting, really, and yet Valon would still sit patiently with him.
In a way, Alister missed it.
The third day of Valon's illness found the redhead sitting at the kitchen table, already waiting with the customary cup of coffee for Raphael. He doubted that the blond needed it; last night Valon's fever had spiked to dangerous levels and they'd both taken turns trying to bring the fever back down. Except to deliver medicine to Valon, the other two bikers had avoided staying in the teen's bedroom longer than necessary—the last thing anyone needed was for both of them to get ill.
Footsteps in the hall alerted Alister to the elder biker's presence, and he asked, "How's he doing?"
Raphael stepped into the room, accepting the cup of coffee gratefully. "His fever's down again," he said wearily. "It hasn't broken, but at least it's below one hundred and two."
Raphael rubbed at his eyes, glancing at the clock. "I'm not staying at work too long. I'd rather not go at all, to be honest. Do you mind keeping an ear out for him today?"
"Of course," said Alister simply. "I'm not going anywhere."
Raphael departed after a few minutes, leaving Alister alone at the table. With a sigh, the redhead picked up the novel he had been reading and went into the family room. Misa meowed, hopping up on Alister's lap once he had sat down and placing her paws on his chest. Mainly to avoid aggravating Valon's cough, they kept the boy's door shut to keep Misa out of the room; the small cat had been overly affectionate to the other two bikers as a result.
Misa was giving Alister a long look and a plaintive meow escaped her, as if she was saying "Where's the other human?"
At that moment, the redhead would have given anything to have Valon come bouncing down the stairs.
Alister growled, changing the channel on the television set. The redhead had ended up finishing his book, and rather than get a new novel he had decided to turn on the television for a bit.
He'd never realized how much he despised daytime television until now.
If it wasn't the news, it was some dumb soap opera or sitcom that held no interest to the red-haired man; there had been a program on Animal Planet, but it was so stupid Alister had changed the channel out of disgust. Honestly, why call it Animal Planet when lately the programs had little to nothing involving animals?
Muttering, he rose to his feet and turned off the television. Heading to the nearby bookshelf, he grabbed the first book that he could find that was interesting and then made a beeline for the stairwell. "Come on, Misa," he said, already at the landing.
The kitten followed after him, a delighted meow escaping her as Valon's door opened and remained open. Within seconds the cat had hopped onto the bed and padded across the covers, making for the lump in the bed that was Valon. Once she arrived she nuzzled the teen's face comfortingly.
Alister leaned over and carefully moved the cat, placing his palm under Valon's fluffy bangs and on his forehead. Thankfully the boy was not burning up this time, and in fact his forehead was only moderately warm. That was an encouraging sign, as it meant that his fever was close to breaking. As he sat back Misa hopped back onto Valon's chest, starting to purr as her eyes closed.
The Australian stirred with a soft moan, shifting weakly but not moving enough to dislodge Misa from her perch. A pair of clouded blue eyes opened, blinking rapidly to stare at the cat in confusion. "Misa…?" he croaked, reaching out to pet her softly. The boy gave something that could be termed as a smile before his eyes closed and he was once more asleep.
Alister was almost half tempted to wake Valon up once again but squashed that urge; the younger biker had been limiting what few conversations he'd had over the course of the past few days to five words, because he simply could not say more.
Instead, Alister settled down to read his book and hoped that Valon would get better soon.