Content warning: vomit

It was a wet and mushy November day. Both the Aarons came trudging out of bed at the same time. T, still half-asleep, stumbled over to Z and wrapped his arms around him. "Hi."

"Hey," said Z, putting an arm around his back.

The two of them started towards the stairs when they heard a groan in what sounded like Jesse's voice. Concerned, they pushed his door open, where they found him curled up in bed, with his hair a wild mess. "Hey, are you okay?" T asked.

"Leave me alone. I don't feel good."

The Aarons both looked at each other for a moment. "What's wrong?"

Jesse just groaned and pulled the blanket over his head, trying to get them to go away. Which did not work, because T is nothing if not stubborn as all hell. "Aw, come on," said T, nudging him, "tell us what's wrong."

"Yeah, dude," said Z, "you never get sick unless you get it from one of us."

"Piss off," grumbled Jesse, not in the mood.

"Jess. Jesseeeeee. Jesszilla. Jessorama. Tell me!"

Underneath T's incessant nagging, Jesse heard some muffled voices from the hallway, then some shuffling feet. "Will you tell me what's wrong?"

Jesse pulled himself out from under the blanket. Z had gone and rustled Tae-young out of bed to get him to pry the answers out. "Nice save," he grumbled as he sat up. "I don't really know, Tae-bear. Last night, I woke up feeling really queasy, and I haven't been able to shake it, or fall back asleep."

"See?" T swung his arm out in an "are you kidding me" fashion. "You told him, why couldn't you tell me?"

"Between all of you, he's the only one who hasn't been insufferably annoying this morning." Seeing Tae-young's worried expression, Jesse sighed. "Look, I appreciate your concern, but I'd like it if you'd give me some space, I really don't feel well."

"You sure you don't need anything?" T was still going. "Meds, something to drink?"

"Fine, I'll be blunt," said Jesse, very annoyed. "Z, you need to leave. T, get out before I hurt you. Tae-young…" Jesse pursed his lips for a moment. "...you can stay."

The Aarons, defeated, both went on their way, while Tae-young crawled onto the bed with Jesse. "You shouldn't be upset with T and Z about this, it wasn't their fault."

Jesse sighed. "I know, baby, I'm just very crabby this morning."

Tae-young gently tugged on Jesse's arm. "Here, why don't we go downstairs and hang out? It might cheer you up a bit."

Jesse hauled himself upwards. "Alright. I don't suspect it'll hurt me."

Downstairs, Jesse took his place on the couch. Tae-young ran back upstairs for a minute, and returned with his heating pad.

"This always helps me when I have cramps." Tae-young handed him the pad. "You press this on your stomach."

Jesse cocked an eyebrow. "I don't know. This is meant more for a cramping pain, not a queasy pain."

Tae-young shrugged. "Well, it'll probably make you feel at least a little better. Just try it."

Jesse sighed and did what Tae-young asked of him, while the younger boy plugged the little device in, and clicked it on.

Ooh. That felt really nice. Jesse felt his tensions melting, and he sighed, content.

"Told you it would work." The four boys all sat together on the couch, and passed a Gamecube controller around as they took turns playing Luigi's Mansion.

Around then, Robaire came shuffling down the stairs, rubbing his eyes. Z looked over at him. "Look who finally woke up."

"Yeah," said Robaire with a yawn. "You guys still trying to beat the baby ghost?"

"Yeah," said T, "it refuses to lose."

After coming over to the couch, Robaire noticed how pale in the face Jesse was, and that he had Tae-young's heating pad pressed against his belly. "Hey," he said softly, going over to him, "are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, he's not feeling super great," said Z, not looking up from the game.

"Why, what happened?" Robaire pressed a hand to Jesse's forehead.

Jesse put Robaire's hand down. "Look, I probably just ate something I shouldn't have. I'll be fine."

Robaire shrugged, and sat down on the couch to join in on the destruction of spooky ghosts. When the controller was passed to Jesse, he turned it down. "I'm not really up for it."

"Aw, come on, you're the best at this game in the whole house-"

"I don't have the energy." That shut T up real fast. Jesse sighed and pulled the heating pad off. "Tae-baby, this thing feels amazing, but it's not really helping me. I'm sorry."

Tae-young, looking rather crushed, took his heating pad and went to put it away.

Later in the day, Tae-young and the Aarons had gone upstairs to work on their lines for Dramafest. "Man, it would have been cool if this was a fantasy thing," said T, "I play a mean princess."

T stood up and went to the doorway to show off his dramatic princess entrance. "UGH, I've been waiting sooo long for you to come and rescue me!" He bitched in a shrill voice.

Z and Tae-young burst out laughing. "Oh god, that's great."

"We'd need to put you in like, the worst hair and makeup ever," said Z, "that'd make it even funnier."

Downstairs, Jesse remained tucked in on the couch, with some juice to stay hydrated. He laid back, trying to get some sleep, when his insides completely flipped upside down. He hauled himself up and rushed over to the bin, where he vomited up whatever was left of last night's dinner. He groaned, and stumbled back to bed, dragging the bin with him.

"Are you okay?" Robaire poked his head in from the kitchen.

"Just got done throwing up." With a weak groan, Jesse curled back up on the couch.

Robaire went to Jesse's side and patted his back. "Hang in there, big guy. Alright, just chill, finish your juice, it'll be fine."

After going back to the kitchen, Robaire noticed a marker on the juice carton; "New Recipe". So that's why the stuff tasted different.

Wait a minute.

Realizing what might have just happened, Robaire looked at the ingredient list.

Oh, crap.

With his knuckles pressed to his lips, Robaire went back into the living room. Seeing his "OMG" face, Jesse, who had just finished off his juice, looked up at him. "What?"

"Dude?" Robaire clicked his tongue. "I just fed you pineapple."

"What?!" Jesse was absolutely not supposed to have pineapple; he was majorly intolerant to it.

"These friggin' Cooler things, they changed the recipe and the new blend has pineapple in it." Robaire shook his head. "No wonder you're so sick."

Jesse leaned back into the couch and groaned. He knew that pineapple stomachaches lasted for hours on end, and with the juice he just drank, he likely wouldn't be feeling better for days.

"Buddy, I'm so sorry." Robaire knelt down to Jesse's level. "I should have checked that sooner." He sighed and went upstairs to pull the blanket off Jesse's bed.

"What are you doing?" Tae-young and the Aarons were watching him from the other room.

"Bringing Jesse his blanket," said Robaire. "He's gonna be on that couch for a long time."

The three younger boys all looked at each other, very concerned, but said nothing.

It was late in the middle of the night, and Jesse just could not sleep. He stared at the ceiling with tired, strained eyes and groaned. This sucks. He felt so sick, but what could he do about it?

He heard the floor creaking. Someone was coming downstairs. Jesse shut his eyes and pretended he was sleeping. Whoever was on the stairs shuffled past him and into the kitchen. He heard the faucet running, the kitchen door opening, and then a weight shift on the couch. Whoever it was, they had decided to come sit with him.

"Jesse, are you awake?"

That was Tae-young's voice. Jesse opened his eyes and looked up at the smaller boy. "Yeah. I can't sleep."

Tae-young shrunk into himself. "Is it okay if I sit with you?"

"Oh, you can lay down if you want," said Jesse, "it's not gonna hurt me."

Tae-young finished his glass of water and crawled to the other side of the couch to snuggle closely to Jesse. Jesse was Tae-young's favourite person to cuddle with, since he was big and warm and gave perfect dad hugs. And Jesse was grateful to have someone by his side to comfort him; he needed it a lot more than he realized.

"What are you doing up at this hour?"

"I was thirsty." Tae-young rubbed his eyes. "And I missed you."

Jesse, feeling warm and fuzzy inside, tucked his other arm around Tae-young. "Aw, Tae-bear, you really mean that?"

"Mmhmm," mumbled Tae-young. "I've never really seen you so…vulnerable before."

Jesse deflated a bit. "I'm sorry, baby, I-"

"No, it's fine, it's fine. It wasn't your fault." Tae-young pressed his face against Jesse's shoulder. "I missed you at dinner, too. I felt really bad, knowing you were out on the couch and couldn't join us. T had to tell me jokes to get me to eat."

"That explains why you all were laughing." Jesse rubbed his eyes. "I'm gonna try and get some sleep now."

"Okay, good night," said Tae-young, settling down as well. Jesse bundled the blanket around him, and laid his head down.

The next morning, it was raining, and cold outside. Unlike the previous day, Robaire was the first one up, and his heart melted at the sight of Tae-young curled up on the couch with Jesse. He nudged Jesse's shoulder. "How are you feeling?"

Jesse blinked his eyes open. "I still feel like my guts are rotting from the inside out, but at least I don't feel like puking."

Tae-young, not awake yet, softly cooed Jesse's name in his sleep. Jesse and Robaire both fawned over how adorable he was for a moment.

Robaire ruffled Jesse's hair. "Well, we'll see how you're feeling later."

Jesse nodded, and curled back up on the couch for a long nap.