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HypnoArt - If there's a dedication to you, that's how you know it's a really good chapter or that there's a nice surprise in it for you! XD I'm glad that you squealed, even if it was internally, it still counts! Thanks love, :)

Woo!


Deuce stretched back and readjusted his sunglasses, they were slightly crooked as he forgot to take them off after settling down with his furball. He shifted his gaze towards his books on the floor. Man that homework wasn't doing itself anytime soon.

"What did I say to you about leaving your brother alone?!"

Scarlet's angry mom voice made Deuce jump - Clawd however didn't even react. The gorgon checked to make sure Clawd was still breathing, which he absolutely was... he was just knocked right out.

"But mom-" Deuce felt bad to hear Clawnor's voice.

"No buts mister! Clawd's sick, he needs rest and Deuce is with him. There's no need for you to crowd him too. What if he hurls on your electronics?"

Clawnor whined slightly. "They're replaceable... when I'm sick I just wanna see Clawd. Can I just peek in and see him?"

Scarlet sighed, "Okay sweetheart, you have 5 minutes."

Deuce couldn't help but chuckle as he heard Clawnor ask if he could see Clawd, meanwhile the rest of the siblings took off once Scarlett raised her voice. 'Chickens.' the gorgon thought, even though he really couldn't blame them.

"Hey little buddy." Deuce said almost in a whisper as the door opened. Even though the wolf was fast asleep, he didn't want to wake him up either. He shifted his legs so the youngest wolf could at least sit down. "Come, sit. Don't worry, he's out." The gorgon couldn't help but snuggle back into the other side.

Clawnor looked carefully, "Deuce... could you move back the other way?"

The gorgon obliged and Clawnor then snuck in right in front of his brother. There was a small enough space for the youngest pup to lay in front of him. That's exactly what he did.

Clawd shifted and pulled Clawnor into a hug. "Hi buddy," he greeted him, his voice a bit hoarse and still half-asleep. "I was wondering how long it would be until you snuck in to see me."

Clawnor smiled, turning the volume down on his game before even turning it back on so he wouldn't disturb Clawd. He even turned the brightness down so the gameplay wouldn't make him all nauseous. "Everyone's pretty worried. A fruit basket came from your school today. And a sleeve of soda crackers. Don't know what that's about though."

Deuce's eyes shot open, Clawd hadn't eaten anything since breakfast! "Clawnor, stay with Clawd. If he needs anything come get me." Now would be the prefect time for Deuce to make his chicken noodle soup. "I'll tell mum you're watching him for me while I get his food ready. Gets you a few more minutes of snuggling Clawd too." Right now Clawnor would be the only other person he could trust not to bother Clawd. The twins wouldn't mean to, they just had so much energy to burn. The girls would get bored and try to start a conversation when the older wolf needed his rest.

Placing a small kiss on the wolf's cheek, the Gorgon slid out of the bed. As he opened the door, Deuce noticed two whirlwinds peering around the corner. He closed the door behind him, leaving the youngest and oldest boy alone with their family-snuggle time.

"He's fine guys, just needs rest. How about I make him soup, after that we can play some ball? But you gotta let Clawd sleep." The gorgon said looking at the twins.

Their ears perked right up when Deuce mentioned casketball. "Yay!" Howlmilton cheered. "Ow!"

He had been smacked by his brother. "Let Clawd rest, don't cheer so loud."

Deuce headed up the stairs and found himself in the company of Clawdeen, she had an orange in her hands, getting ready to peel it with her nails. "So Clawd hurled in the gym, huh?" She noted the gorgon's confusion. "Everyone's talking about it, last time he was sick like this was his freshman year I think?"

"I think I remember that, didn't he nail Nefera's shoes?" He couldn't help up chuckle at the memory, he swore the mummy never forgave Clawd either. Deuce smiled when he opened the fridge door and found there were fresh carrots and celery. Even chicken breast. "Good this will work." The gorgon mumbled to himself as he continued to dig for the items he might need. Going over to the pantry the gorgon found a pack of swirly noodles and chicken broth. Mum must have gone shopping because he didn't remember having this stuff in the house just this morning.

"Not sure what's up with the sleeve of soda crackers though," Barkley inquired, shrugging his shoulders as he glanced at the beautiful fruit basket. He had gotten home from work moments ago. "my boy's sick? Mum messaged me earlier saying he's sick with something right nasty."

'Ouch pops, it's probably just venom... ' Deuce narrowed his eyes briefly. "Those would be from Simon, he always has sleeves of crackers in his bag." The gorgon said dicing up the chicken breast. Once the chicken was in perfect cubes, Deuce began looking for the skillet to to sauté the meat. He also dug for the stockpot to begin the broth. "Right now Clawnor's snuggling with him, while I make soup." Deuce informed the older male, as he went on the prep the vegetables.

Barkley gave a nod of approval. "Good, is the soup also for us though or..." he just wondered if they'd have to make something else for dinner.

Clawdeen reached for a piece of meat but Deuce smacked her hand. "Ow! I just want a snack." Her ears flattened.

Clawnor soon came up the stairs, earning himself a stern glare from Deuce as he was supposed to be on 'Clawd-Duty'. "I was just relaying the message... Clawd said he's 'fucking starving'."

"Clawnor!" Barkley narrowed his eyes at the youngest pup.

"His words!" He defended as Clawdeen laughed.

"Don't worry Pops, there will be enough for everyone. I'm thinking with ours we'll have grilled cheeses or something. Clawd'll be lucky to finish his soup, let alone a sandwich too." Deuce couldn't help but chuckle, Clawnor did do his job to the fullest. "Tell him about 15 more minutes." The gorgon said tossing the veggies into the boiling broth/water combination.

They were all shocked to see said wolf come up the basement stairs. He stretched out his stiff limbs briefly but then found out that was a bad idea – the meds he took had yet to completely wear off. "Did you relay the message, buddy?" Clawd asked, a jerkish smirk on his face.

Clawnor's ears flattened. "Yes."

"Cool." Clawd entered the kitchen – or tried to – he unintentionally smacked his elbow off the wall. "Fuck me! That's the second time. How'd I hit it the first time? I can't remember."

Barkley couldn't contain his smile. "You're the lightest lightweight I've ever seen, son." He could tell just by looking at his eldest son that the medication he was given for nausea still left him if nothing else, groggy. He gave Clawd a hug – Barkley could feel the increased weight after only a few seconds.

Clawd didn't want to admit to anything, but his body felt heavy still. He could use to go back to bed in all honesty – but his back was too sore to stay lying down any longer. "I'm so sore though."

"Why?" Clawdeen asked him, taking another piece of fruit from the decorative fruit basket.

"From being on my back." She burst out laughing and Clawd narrowed his eyes.

"Well cut down on it, you slut."

"You smashed your elbow when coming out of the bathroom." Deuce stated, grabbing the loaf of bread to begin making the grilled cheese sandwiches. "Clawdeen reach for the chicken one more time and I'm giving the twins your new leather jacket." The gorgon threatened the female wolf.

"Is Deuce cooking? He must be 'cause it smells amazing in here." Howleen inquired as her and Twyla entered the kitchen to join the crowd.

"Speaking of smells, aren't the twins normally sniffing around?" Twyla asked Barkley, who normally had to get them away from the stove before they got hurt.

He chuckled, "Normally they are. I wonder what has them preoccupied?"

Clawd shrugged. "Probably the Slaystation and the new game I got but haven't played yet." He figured he owed them something for not being able to spend much time with them.

"That would do it," Barkley smirked. "do you need some extra hands there, Deuce?"

Clawd didn't want to remove himself yet, his father was pretty comfortable. He sighed and did so just in case Deuce did want his help. He found himself a nice piece of wall to lean up against.

"Are you sure you're good?" Clawdeen asked him. "Because if you go down, you're going all the way down. I can't catch your ass." She told him, hoping he'd banter back with her like he always did.

He thought about it, "I'm gonna head to the living room, actually."

Her ears flattened once more, that wasn't the response she wanted to hear from him. Maybe he was pretty sick? Not that she doubted him... she just wasn't sure how 'sick' was 'sick' exactly.

"That, also I promised them after soup we would play a few rounds of casketball if they let Clawd sleep." Deuce shifted his attention towards Clawnor, waiting to see if they did wake him up.

Clawnor looked toward the stairs and back at Deuce, sadly. "They did wake him up. They didn't quite mean to... but they did." While he was snitching on the twins, he might as well continue. "And Clawd missed you, that's why he came upstairs."

Clawdeen scrunched her nose up briefly. These two were so cute they nearly made her sick, in the good way of course. How did she not see how good they were for one another until right now?

"It's alright, kinda figured they might." Shaking his head as he finally adding everything to the broth. "Pops, can you stir everything while I grill the sandwiches?" The gorgon normally would have asked the closest person, sadly that was Clawdeen. With her testing everything, he was nervous there wouldn't anything left for anyone else.

Barkley took over that task right away – sampling the broth for himself while Deuce wasn't looking. "Mhmm." He commented, then realizing he shouldn't have.

Deuce glared at Pops for a brief moment, clearly nothing was safe around here.

Clawnor was bored with everyone in here so he headed out to the living room. He noticed Clawd looking at what seemed to be his homework. "Hi." He greeted.

Clawd smiled, thankful for the distraction. "Hi buddy," he set the book aside. His ambitions were great but the words were still blurring when he attempted to look at them, maybe tomorrow he'd try again. "what's up?"

He settled in the spot next to him, pulling out his game. "Not much, are you feeling any better?"

Clawd sighed lightly. "I don't know, the scents in the kitchen were making my stomach churn." He was hungry but sadly he wasn't sure how it would sit on his stomach. Chicken could be greasy. "I feel alright... but even being up here for a bit has me... I don't know, uneasy?" He wasn't sure how to describe it.

He really wanted Deuce to sit next to him though, the gorgon's presence made him feel a bit better.

Meanwhile there was something slightly burning in the kitchen, "Umm, Deuce. Not telling you how to cook or anything but I think that sandwich is done." Twyla point out the well-done sandwich.

"Shit!" It was all that came out of his mouth as he pulled the burnt item off the frying pan. He had been more focused on what was going on in the living room instead of his task at hand.

The ghouls in the room, which consisted of Clawdeen, Howleen and Twyla, noticed how quickly Deuce became distracted when it came to Clawd. It was sweet.

Come to think of it, despite the fact that Draculaura had always been around... she hadn't felt as concerned as Deuce was showing. Clawd had been known to feign illness to get out of Draculaura coming over before – that's why she wasn't sure if he was actually ill or not. She took a glance out into the living room – he wasn't looking so hot.

Barkley knew all too well that he had been distracted since Clawd left the kitchen. From here part of the living room could be seen. He decided he'd give the gorgon a break. "Go to him," he told Deuce instinctively. "how badly can the old man screw up some grilled cheeses?" He pushed Deuce gently.

Deuce didn't have to be told twice, he nearly tossed the spatula and headed towards the living room. It broke his heart when he saw the wolf's head in his hands. He occupied the empty spot beside the wolf, he gently rubbed the other's arm before having Clawd rest his head upon his shoulder. "What do you need?" The gorgon questioned the sick wolf as he continued to rub circles on the other's back.

Clawnor moved over to the armchair, in case Clawd needed to lie down.

Clawd lightly sighed, he was irritated with himself for feeling sick still. He should be fine, if he were then maybe they could do something together? Instead of the gorgon watching him sleep all the time. "You." he answered simply, reaching up to kiss Deuce's cheek. In all honesty, he wasn't exactly sure what he needed or wanted. Maybe food? Maybe sleep? Maybe more medication?

Wrapping his arms around the wolf, he held him close to his chest. "You got it, babe." Deuce informed the other.

He rested his chin on top of the wolf's head. He began to think back to what landed them in this situation. How their friendship turned into, love? Deuce knew his cousin said that a gorgon only bites and releases venom when in love with the other, that their body knows. The part he questioned was, how did his body know before his mind?

Deuce ran his fingers gently through the other's fur, he wouldn't mind being in love with Clawd at all. Yes, the wolf was very handsome. But his looks were just a bonus package. The gorgon admired how spirited, caring and smart he was. He loved how Clawd didn't let the little things bother him, how grounded he was.

The front door soon opened and Scarlet came in with various bags, Clawdeen and Twyla came to take some of the load. "Thank you darlings," she gestured to the vehicle. "there's more where that came from." She was used to buying in bulk for her big family.

She noticed Deuce cradling Clawd on the sofa, biting down on her lip she lightly sighed. If anything, she hoped he'd be feeling better... not still under the weather. If only she knew what was causing him to feel so sick.

Scarlet headed over to the sofa and she knelt down in front of the two. "Hey."

Clawd perked up slightly, hearing his mother. It didn't matter how old he was, he'd always feel comfort in hearing her voice. "Hi Mom," the gorgon had let go of him, resting his hand on Clawd's knee instead. Scarlet brushed Clawd's hair back and kissed his cheek, lingering. "I'm sweaty." He whined softly.

"You're burning up again, sweetheart." Scarlet pulled back and shared a worried look with Deuce.

"I'm hungry." Clawd told her, however he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep anything down but he wanted food damn it.

She nodded. "That's understandable, but you won't be able to eat all fevered honey. The raise in body temperature would curdle it. Let's get that fever down together. Go team." She pat his other knee and headed for the main-floor bathroom, grabbing the best fever reducer in the cabinet and she came back out.

Clawd lightly groaned.

"Listen here you," she said sternly, though her heart nearly broke when she saw his ears flatten. "this isn't the stuff that messes you up. But before you eat that fever must come down, Clawd."

Deuce sat back and watched as Scarlet did her mom-thing. It amazed the gorgon how she could so easily just talk with Clawd. "What different about this medication?" Deuce inquired, as he refused to let go Clawd's hand.

Scarlet double-checked the label. "Well, I have multiple pups and a gorgon," she poked Deuce's nose lovingly. "and each of you are individual. I can't remember if Clawdeen can't use the ibuprofen or maybe it was Howleen? It just doesn't do anything for one of them."

Clawdeen and Howleen looked at one another, clearly confused. "Ma... that's actually Clawdia."

Scarlet shrugged her shoulders. "See? I believe this is the exact same medication from downstairs, I just keep multiples in every bathroom - it's a good idea." She opened the safety lid like a pro and grabbed 2 pills. She had a bottle of water in her purse.

Clawd frowned for a moment but then realized there was no point arguing. She was always right.

After taking the pills he figured he'd get comfortable enough for the required 20 minute wait. He sunk into the cushions of the sofa and had his legs across Deuce's lap. The gorgon was holding his hand, rubbing it gently.

A blush swept across Deuce's cheeks, honestly he loved how Scarlet counted him as one of her own. "Comfy?" The gorgon arched an eyebrow at the male wolf.

Clawd gave a soft nod, "Mhm. Very. Thanks." He wiggled his butt against the gorgon's thigh and laughed to himself. He stopped to think about whether Deuce would be upset if he wasn't able to eat the soup. He put work into making it... he should eat it. The wolf's stomach growled. "Shh," he poked it. "you act up and we're getting drugged."

Scarlet chuckled, "You're damn right about that."

"Greetings, my sexy wife." Barkley hugged her from behind, startling her.

She swatted at him. "After 9 births and 4 miscarriages, you'd better not sneak up on me like that. I could've pissed myself right here you frisky bastard."

Clawnor's eyes widened. "Mom – language." He told her, not once taking his eyes off the gaming screen though.

Deuce did his best to count out all the children of the wolf family. It seemed like a big family to most but he wasn't aware of how many there... almost were but weren't.

"You can't be drugged for at least another 4 hours." Deuce pointed out to Clawd, kissing the back of his hand.

"Does that mean we gotta get you diapers, mom?" Howleen questioned, as she leaned against the door frame.

"You, quiet." She narrowed her eyes at Howleen. "Loop hole, that was the fever reducer. If you stop being such hot stuff and can eat something, then we drug you with the one that makes you loopy because hopefully it'll keep your food down, mister. Muahaha, mommy gets to drug you after dinner."

Clawd sighed and frowned, did he mention he hated that one? "Shit." He cursed under his breath.

Clawdeen had a nice bowl of soup, a buttered roll and a grilled cheese sandwich – all eyes were on her. "What? Dinner's ready." She said with a smile, setting up the wooden TV tray to eat in the living room.

"Don't you have a dining table to sit at?" The gorgon inquired, knowing Clawd was a hungry wolf and the smells wouldn't help him relax.

Howleen rolled her eyes as she walked over to Clawdeen and stealing her buttered roll, slowly dropping it when she could feel Deuce glaring at her. Her ears flattened against her head, "Maybe we should go into the dining room?" The young female wolf said to her sister.

Clawd glanced longingly at the bowl of soup and buttered roll. What he wouldn't give to sink his teeth into it all. He wiped the sweat off his brow and sighed lightly. He was almost settled until Clawdeen moved her food around again, now headed to the dining room. He gagged and hoped that was all it would be.

Scarlet bit down on her lip, wondering if she should've promised Clawd dinner... perhaps he wasn't ready for it, even though he wanted it. Her heart truly ached for him.