Sore.
That's all I felt as I felt myself slowly coming to. I couldn't quite get up. It was like I was in some kind of state between consciousness and sleep. My mind was buzzing while my body was numb and warm. I couldn't form my thoughts into actions and all I saw was black.
"She's waking up." I heard a faint voice, but I could barely make it out in my state of mind.
I felt full control and I opened my eyes.
I made full eye contact with a bright light and my eyes stung.
"Oh fuck." I groaned, sitting up while blocking the light with one arm.
That proved to be more difficult than I expected and I felt my ribs sting.
I let out another curse as a hand made contact with my waist, supporting me.
I looked up to see Boomer helping me sit up and I widened my eyes.
"Easy there…" There was a concerned frown plastered on his face and I remembered everything.
I quickly looked around and froze.
"Hey there."
"Wha-" I let out an outraged cry as I made eye contact with the other two Ruffs. I looked at Boomer and poked his chest roughly. "This was a setup!"
Boomer widened his eyes and shook his head quickly. "No, Buttercup-"
"I knew it!" I screeched as loud as I could, even if my voice was hoarse and barely audible. My head hurt and I couldn't think straight, but I couldn't help but let my thoughts race.
"Buttercup-" Boomer repeated, his eyes desperate.
"You kidnapped me!"
"Calm your shit!" Brick shouted, silencing me. I blinked, surprised at his tone. For a minute I thought he was Blossom or something. "This isn't an ambush. Boomer should just explain."
Brick nodded at Boomer and I looked at the blonde.
"Well, I knew you'd be pissed if I let the monster destroy Towsnville and I knew you'd be even more pissed if you knew I left you alone with my brothers. I told my brothers that you were here so they could take care of the monster while I uh, take care of you."
"Of course, we couldn't believe him right away so we wanted to see for ourselves to see if any of this was true." Butch explained and I looked at my counterpart completely dumbfounded.
"So what you're telling me…" I said slowly. "Is that all three of you have been watching me sleep?"
The three boys stood completely still, frozen. I smirked at the reaction.
Butch caught on and rolled his eyes. "We just wanted to see if you were really sick and boy, do you look like crap."
"I've heard." I rolled my eyes. I cringed at how hoarse and high pitched my voice was and I hated how the three boys saw me in my weakest state. I couldn't let them know that I was feeling any of this embarrassment so I had to play it cool, even if I did feel like crap.
"Does this mean you'll do it?" Boomer looked to his brothers.
Brick looked unsure and Butch looked at Boomer, analyzing his blonde brother.
"Fine." Butch said. "Let's go Brick."
Brick looked at me skeptically, clearly not trusting me as easily as his brother did. He shot me a warning look before nodding at his brothers. "Don't fuck the place up. I don't want fucking goo all over the walls like last time."
Boomer reddened and shook his head. "It'll be fine just go."
With one last nod from Butch and untrusting glare from Brick, they flew off.
"How are you feeling?" Boomer asked me.
"Peachy."
Boomer laughed at my sarcasm and shook his head. "Seriously though, how are you feeling?"
"Sore. Tired. Numb. Sweaty. Nauseous." I held my stomach as I winced. I felt like someone just stabbed me multiple times with a drill or something.
Boomer frowned, which looked foreign to me on his usually smiling face. "Sounds bad, but normal."
He held up a finger telling me to wait as he walked out of the room, leaving me alone.
I sighed and leaned back into the bed.
My mind was trying to process everything. I was sick, being treated and helped by someone who I should be arresting. Not to mention being helped by his brothers who I don't trust at all. I was in their home, in one of their beds, and letting two villains be in charge of taking care of the monster destroying Townsville. I was letting two criminals do my job. Worst of all, they saw me weak.
Boomer was right. I'm Buttercup. I'm supposed to be fearless, courageous, strong, and heroic. I may do some stupid teenager shit like underage drinking and breaking curfew, but none of that is nearly as bad as this. I've gotten sick before, but none as bad as this.
"I'm back." Boomer walked in, interrupting my thoughts.
"I see." I let out a slight scoff but it didn't seem to faze him. He was carrying a rather large box and I furrowed my brows.
Boomer placed the box on the bedside table before taking out a small stick.
"Thermometer?" I asked.
He nodded. "Open wide."
"Why?" I looked suspiciously at the small stick. "For all I know, you could've poisoned it."
"You don't trust me?" Boomer asked seriously, then laughed. "If I wanted to poison you, I would've done it already. Plus, why would I want to poison you."
He didn't say it to mock me, but I still ducked my head down, embarrassed at how stupid I sounded.
Boomer shook his head, laughing. "Open up."
I hesitated before opening my mouth and letting the thermometer under my tongue.
Boomer rummaged through the boxes, putting various bottles and tools on the desk near him before the thermometer beeped.
He looked up and looked at the thermometer. "Better than I expected."
"Let me see." I croaked.
Boomer held it out and I nearly had a heart attack after reading the not so little number on the screen.
"One hundred and twenty degrees?" I shouted, my voice weakening as I said more. "How the hell can my body temperature go up to that? I thought you said I had a normal sickness! Better yet, how the hell am I not dead yet?"
"Buttercup calm down." Boomer said.
"Calm down? How do I-"
"Listen, Buttercup." Boomer said over me, which wasn't too hard with my barely there voice. "You have Chemical X in your DNA, and it makes your body temperature fairly different from a regular person. It also makes your body more resistant to temperature increases. Why else would you be able to stand it when you get blasted by heat vision?"
As he continued, I stopped and processed this. It made sense, as strange as it was. He sounded smart, which was weird. Last time I checked, he was a dunce, not this expert on all things dealing with fevers and Chemical X.
"That makes sense I guess." I muttered.
"But don't worry. It's nothing I haven't dealt with before." Boomer grinned reassuringly and I looked at him, trying to figure him out. He noticed me staring and he flushed. "What?"
"How do you know so much about this?"
"Living in the streets can give you a few colds and not having a hospital available makes a person more educated on these things."
I remembered the Rowdyruffs taking shelter in Fuzzy's cabin and random places in the city. I even recall Bubbles saying something about seeing Butch head into an old parking lot where Boomer was sitting on a blanket and eating a candy bar. I remember Bubbles said something about giving them money, when Blossom lectured her on how they deserved to be on the streets for their crimes or something along those lines.
For a moment I felt bad for not saying anything back then with Boomer taking care of me, but I couldn't say anything. It'd be too awkward. Plus, I felt like puking right then and there.
I couldn't hold in my cough and began to choke, feeling a burning acid rushing up my throat.
My eyes watered even more and before I knew it, I puked.
Boomer was quick though, and placed a garbage can in front of me where the vomit landed. He rubbed my back soothingly as I threw up and I felt embarrassment heat my face up even more and I felt my pride slowly sink away.
"How are you feeling?" Boomer asked.
"Worse." I sputtered, my head feeling light and my nose burning with the awful stench of vomit.
"Here." Boomer handed me a shirt and a glass of water.
I looked at the shirt dumbfounded before he wiped my mouth with the shirt.
I flushed, but it probably wasn't noticeable with my recent puking.
"Drink up." He said, his voice oddly upbeat for a boy who just had a girl wipe her puke on his shirt.
I drank the water quickly as it soothed my rough throat. It tasted bad with the lingering scent of the vomit in my mouth, but it didn't taste any worse than the vomit alone. The glass was finished in seconds and I sighed after drinking, sinking into the soft pillow.
"Can you swallow pills?" Boomer asked. I nodded and he handed me two pink capsules. "These should take care of your nausea."
He held out one green capsule after I swallowed the pink ones. "This one should help your fever."
I swallowed them and he handed me another glass which I finished shortly after.
"You should get some rest now. It'll help your fever and help the pills kick in."
My head was getting really fuzzy and I felt sleepy.
"I'm so tired." I sighed as my eyes closed and I drifted into sleep.
A/N: There you go! Sorry it took so long! I've been on break, and I was planning on updating all of my stories but I was suffering from post concert depression and I've been re-watching all of my favorite shows on repeat. Plus, my laptop charger broke over the weekend so I wasn't really able to work on my stories either. But here is an update, and hopefully you liked it! Don't forget to review, follow, and favorite! All feedback is welcome, and thanks for reading, guys. It means a lot.