Garazeb Orrelios rarely got sick.
Lasat were creatures who often didn't get the standard colds and whatnot that most of the other species in the galaxy usually were susceptible to, due to their hearty nature and not always being around the rest of the galaxy itself. There were outsiders who came to Lasan, with a few settlements here and there, and Lasat did go elsewhere in the galaxy, but they didn't get sick that often. They prided themselves not only for their warrior ways but also keeping themselves healthy to withstand colds, allergies, contagions, and other things that smaller creatures couldn't withstand as much. The Honor Guard even had policies in place to keep their member's healthy, almost going as far to make sure that everyone in the ranks – from the Captain of the High Honor Guard down to the newest recruit – got regular check-ups and if there was a sign of sickness, they would take care of themselves so it wouldn't spread around and make things worse.
Yet when they got sick, they got sick.
Here Zeb was, blanket around his shoulders, in his shared bedroom on Lira San, slightly feverish, and wiping away another round of snot coming out of his nose with what seemed like the hundredth tissue he used in the last hour. Oh, how he hated being congested, with his sense of smell messed up and his chest feeling heavy from the cold that decided to just creep up on him a week before his and Alex's second anniversary of being on Lira San. His head hurt, his sides hurt, his muscles ached – even his fur seemed to hurt. Even his eyes were hurting, from not being able to get a lot of sleep the night before; he had spent nearly the entire night in an upright position, the only way he could sleep without falling into a coughing fit. But that had just made things worse, as he couldn't get himself comfortable enough to be able to sleep for more than thirty minutes at at time.
Eventually Zeb had disentangled himself from the sheets of his bed – making sure that he didn't wake Alex up more than he already had – and sneaked out of the bedroom and into the living room. Where he found that it was only a little after one in the morning by the chrono near the stove, despite going to bed sometime after sundown the night before, and mumbled something about how it seemed earlier than it was. There was barely enough energy for him to make himself a cup of tea, something he didn't often make himself unless Alex offered it first, so making himself something to eat so he could take something to take away some of the symptoms that had been festering since the night before, was something he would try to do once he sat down in his favorite reclining chair and drink his tea.
Zeb hadn't gotten that far when he fell asleep in said chair, tea half gone, and was only awoken by a light coming on in the kitchen two and a half hours later; that had been the longest he had slept since he had gone to bed the night before. Alex must have noticed Zeb wasn't in the bed anymore and had come out to investigate, as he was now taking the now cold cup of tea away and bringing it to the kitchen sink, where he sat it down before going to the cabinet where they kept their canned soups and pastas and opening it. He watched Alex for a moment, eyesight blurry and his head beginning to ache, before leaning back down into the chair, several coughs racking his body. He knew that his mate gave him a look, one that was filled with worry, and Zeb wanted to console him, telling him that this was first time in ages he'd been this sick and that he didn't need to be doted on like a sick kit. But he knew that would start a round of arguments, something he wasn't too keen on doing this early in the morning and not when he was starting to feel like he was.
"What are you doing?" He managed to get out before he coughed again, closing his eyes and hoping that this wasn't going to be one of those colds where he'd be coughing every few minutes.
"Looking for something that you'll eat, you need it." Zeb heard Alex rummage through the cabinet before he closed it, apparently finding a soup that he thought Zeb would like, and moving towards the sink and stove area of their kitchen. "You didn't eat anything last night, you went to bed before you ate dinner."
"I'm fine," Zeb growled as best as he could, pushing himself up into a less reclining position and turned enough towards the kitchen so he could watch Alex open the can with the electric can opener he just had to have, as it would be easier on both their hands instead of using a manual can opener. We're not getting younger, had been Alex's own words, if Zeb remembered correctly.
"You're sick," Alex pointed out, giving him a look as he reached up into the cabinet above the sink to get a bowl and then got a pot out of the wood drying rack they had by the sink. "I know when you're getting sick like this, you don't eat like you usually do."
"I'm fine," Zeb snapped before coughing again, this time it was deeper and began to hurt his chest more. Stopping once the soup was out of the can and into the pot, Alex turned and moved towards Zeb, who only waved him off. "Alright, I'll be fine by this time tomorrow."
"If you're not, I'll comm the local doctor to come check up on you myself. Until then, you're going to rest and take some medicine to help." Alex turned back to the kitchen, where he took the pot and put it on the stove, only glancing over to the Lasat, who now had his ears back and a 'I'm not going to' look on his face. "And don't give me that look, Garazeb. The faster you get better, the faster we can celebrate our two years of being here."
"Alright, fine," he grumbled, falling back into his chair with a pout. He knew that Alex had a point, they did have some celebrating to do, this was the longest they've been in one place since they were younger and they needed a reason to celebrate, there hadn't been much since the end of the war. Chava had insisted she cook a meal for them for this milestone, something that didn't take too much prodding for either one of them, nor Gron and a few others they were close to, to accept; despite his muttering about earlier memories of the elder Lasat, Zeb had fond memories of her cooking from his younger years.
Which brought Zeb up to where he was now, blanket around his shoulders, and yet another tissue in the bin by their bed. After he had eaten a bowl of vegetable soup, had another much better cup of tea, and some medicine to help with his aches, pains, and coughing, Alex had sent Zeb to bed with the instructions not to get up unless he needed to relieve himself or more medicine was needed to be taken. That had been around four in the morning, it was now almost ten am and despite having taken another dose of low dose pain medicine for his head, another cup of tea, and some sleep, although not consecutive increments of more than thirty to forty minutes, Zeb felt worse than he had hours earlier. Which was to be expected, colds always got worse before they got better, especially in Lasats.
And Zeb was feeling a lot worse than he should be, which wasn't going as expected. Alex hadn't come back into the bedroom since he had made sure the Lasat was comfortable and had water, a couple boxes of tissues, and some medicine by the night stand so that he could take it when he needed to without having to get up any more than he should. The last time Zeb had gotten up to use the refresher, he peeked out into the living room and found Alex where Zeb had been before: all snuggled up in the reclining chair, a fluffy blanket around him, a small pillow behind his head, and fast asleep as though he was in a bed himself. If Zeb had felt better, and he should've done it anyways even if hadn't been feeling all that great, he should've gotten a recording of the human, all curled up and asleep. But he thought better of it, feeling a pang of guilt of keeping Alex from properly sleeping in bed with him, yet as he climbed back into bed, the last thing he had needed then was for someone else to get sick on his account.
But that had been earlier and now Zeb felt a need to get up to get something else to eat, the soup he had earlier had barely touched the hunger that was there. He was glad he wasn't one of the small group of Lasat who didn't feel any hunger pangs at all when sick, his hunger may have faded a bit when he was sick, but not enough to not eat something. Alex took that moment to wander into their bedroom, stretching his back and arms, yawning as he glanced over to Zeb with a smile as he made his way to the refresher; Zeb silently thanked the Ashla for his mate coming in at that time, throwing the blanket off of him and swung his legs over the side of the bed as Alex relieved himself, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair before exited the refresher. He looked more tired than Zeb felt, coming over and sitting next to Zeb, feeling his forehead with his head and doing a quick look over him, and the bin with all the used tissue, before sighing and putting his hands in his lap.
"How you feeling?" He asked softly, knowing that Zeb probably didn't feel any better than he had earlier that morning but still needed to ask.
"Worse," Zeb mumbled, rubbing his head where Alex had put his hand. "Cough isn't as bad, though. Head still hurts a bit, chest hurts from coughing, even my fur hurts."
"You'll be fine soon," Alex said lightly with a soft smile. "Might not need that doctor, if you keep taking medicine for everything."
"Yeah, that's what I told you earlier." Zeb coughed, wincing as he did. He didn't see the need to call for the doctor, not when he knew he'd be a lot better by this time tomorrow and would fully recovered by the day after that; Alex still would worry about him, he hadn't seen Zeb sick like this before. In fact, Zeb didn't recall ever having Alexsandr Kallus see him so much as sneeze since he had fully defected to the then Rebellion all those years ago, hurt yes. Being sick? No, not the slightest hint of a cold or cough or even a headache. That was what made him stop and stare across the room, now realizing that Alex probably was more worried about him being sick then anything else. Yes he had seen Alex be sick before, several times since then, but Alex hadn't seen him sick before.
"We can postpone the dinner until another time if needed, Chava knows you're sick." Alex ran a hand along Zeb's arm then rested said hand on Zeb's own. "Had to tell her."
"Yea, I know. I feel bad knowing she's gone through all this trouble already." Zeb's ears drooped down. "I haven't been this sick in a long time, not since a year or so after Hera and Kanan picked me up, even on Lasan I didn't get sick often. A few coughs and some rest usually what made everything better."
"Zeb, she knows things like this happen," Alex said soothingly, although the worry he had displayed since coming into their bedroom had barely diminished. "I know you don't get sick, I think this is the first time I've seen you like this."
"I know it is. But hey, don't worry too much, okay?" Zeb took Alex's hand into his, while grabbing a tissue to wipe his nose again. He was going to look into getting something to plug up his nostrils before this was all over, even if he had to go out several villages over to get it – if Alex didn't do it himself, by the way the expression on his face looked. "This is going to be one of the few times I do get this sick, yeah? Lasat don't get sick easily."
"I've noticed," he responded, rolling his eyes and mumbling something that Zeb didn't fully catch. "But I'm going to worry about you anyways, just because."
"Yeah, I know. Glad that I have you to look out for me." Zeb threw the tissue into the overflowing bin, then looked out the bedroom door. "Have you eaten since I did?"
"I ate not long after I put you to bed, but not recently. I can fix us something to eat." Alex perked up at the mere thought of helping Zeb get better, even if it was by food. "Up to eating in the living room and watching something on the holo? You can get the chair, you'll be more comfortable there."
"So long as we both come back to bed later. I'll get better knowing you're next to me."
This time, Alex doesn't warm up a can of soup, but makes a half of a sandwich for each of them with some sort of dried fruit they had gotten from the market the week before, along with a cup of mint tea for Alex and some dark blend that Zeb did not remember the name of at that moment but always liked to have on days when it was snowing or raining outside. Alex still insisted Zeb got the reclining chair, covered with the same fluffy blanket and the same pillow Alex had used earlier, along with some cold medicine he watched the Lasat swallow very carefully. It wasn't the best breakfast they had since settling down on Lira San, but it was enough for the way Zeb was feeling and didn't push it when, not long after they watched the early afternoon news and a short holo movie, Alex herded him back to bed along with another low dose of pain medicine and curled up next to him. It took Zeb some time to fall asleep, but as he eventually drifted off into a light doze, using several more tissues and wishing his body didn't ache so, he was at least thankful that he had someone to take care of him should he fall sick again.
By the time Zeb was feeling fully better two days later, they still could keep their promise to Chava to celebrate two years of living on Lira San. And Alex didn't need to follow through his threat of getting in touch with the local doctor, either.
Author's Note: So I don't get sick often, like not enough to warrant me staying home, in bed, and getting better for any length of time. In fact, I can count on one hand the amount of times in the last ten years I've been so sick enough to stay home and rest, I just don't get sick, not at all. If I do get sick, I get sick and am out of it for at least two or three days before I'm better and won't see a cold or anything for two or three years. Yeah.
Interestingly, I was going to do Kallus being sick first but for some reason or another, I just don't have what I thought I had typed up saved anywhere - it also might be saved on my laptop, which I don't have with me at home at the moment. I swear I was going to do him being sick first then having Zeb being sick, but I guess I've done Zeb first. This is a two part thing, so as soon as I can access my laptop again and get that file or restart it, I'll have it up.