When Brynn awoke after what felt like a very, very long time, there was a pressure on her abdomen. She felt around to determine what exactly it was, and found a mass of hair, with two horns. Looking down, Brynn found that Hanso was knelt by the couch, his head laid on Brynn. One of his hands held one of Brynn's, and he seemed quite at peace.
It was then that Brynn's lungs promptly decided to burn terribly. She picked up into a brief coughing fit, causing Hanso to spring right to his feet. Brynn lowered her hand from its place covering her mouth, and mumbled an apology. "I'll have none of that," Hanso said sternly; though his big, goofy grin betrayed him. "You're sick, and though I'll admit it could have been avoided, I'll not let you apologize for needing to cough." When he saw the flat stare and slight smile that Brynn had fixed on him, Hanso blushed a bit. "Er, well, I'll go see if I can find anything to help make you feel better! I believe this place has reasonable television reception, so yes, have at it!" He rushed out of the living room, and into the kitchen.
For a while, Brynn looked to the kitchen doorway. Then, she sighed, and decided to try her luck with the television set. The thing was, although Brynn was a skillful, perhaps even nimble warrior on the battlefield, she and technology were not ones who saw eye-to-eye with each other. Carefully lifting the remote, Brynn stared down at it. She sighed, trying not to aggravate her chest. "Confounded buttons," Brynn spat, looking at the three in a row at the leading end on top of the remote, "they can never just make something easy to understand." Deciding to take her chances, she hit a red button with some kind of circle on top.
Thankfully, the television came on. It was Better Than You, the game show which Brynn would only admit to Hanso that she had a slight fancy for. Seeing so many famous Neopian figures was a nice treat, and it was interesting to see how everyday 'Pets tried to rise to the challenge. The thing was, she never had an opportunity to watch it in Brightvale, and had only even seen her first television in person in the last year or so. Regardless, most in Brightvale saw the distraction of television as unnecessary, with the countless multitudes of fine books to read throughout Neopia.
Brynn watched the show, scowling as she was forced to use a tissue while coughing. By the time that Better Than You had ended, Brynn had coughed up what seemed to be half a pint of phlegm. Thoroughly disgusted, she pitched it into a waste basket near the couch. Turning off the television, Brynn slumped back into her seat on the couch.
Her chest was still hurting, her head, still feverish. However, whatever Hanso had made for her to drink had most certainly reduced the 'ungodly agony' down to 'bearable discomfort.' She really would have to thank him - whenever he decided to leave the kitchen.
Quite tired as she was, Brynn decided to take a nap.
... ... ...
Hanso was thoroughly panicked, now.
Though he had fully meant his promise to stay by Brynn's side, he hadn't meant to fall asleep half-on top of her! He had hidden it as best as he could, but Hanso couldn't escape the feelings of embarrassment and, to some extent, guilt.
"Well," he mumbled, "how can I say I'm guilty for that?" For one thing, if he had stayed up all night and made himself an exhausted mess, he'd be in no condition to look after Brynn. Then, if it was a matter of perhaps hurting her, Brynn was a trained warrior. It would take more than her light-built partner in heroics to hurt Brynn on accident. Regardless of any of that, it was now midday, and they would both need something to eat.
So, Hanso set himself to the task of cooking up some lunch. He knew that Brynn liked soup, but Hanso honestly had neither the skills, nor the necessary materials to make soup from scratch. There were, however, bowls, spoons, cans of various kinds of soup, and a microwave. Better that than nothing, right? This being the only rationale that Hanso needed, he fetched two spoons, and set them on the table. The microwave had just enough room for two bowls, so with a bowl of mushroom soup for Brynn and minestrone for himself, Hanso set them to begin heating. Finding thankfully that he had guessed fairly accurately as to how long the soup needed to be heated for, Hanso put everything on a tray, and carried it to the living room.
There, he found Brynn; face still flush with a fever, lying prone on the couch. Hanso quietly set the tray down, but it seemed that the smell was more what woke Brynn up. Her nose twitching, the Captain of Fyora's Guard rose up, yawned, and looked over. Eyes brightening at the sight of her bowl - though she didn't quite smile - Brynn picked up her spoon, and dug in.
Once the two were done eating, Hanso prepared to take the bowls and spoons into the kitchen to clean. However, he was stopped by Brynn's hand over his. He looked at her, and felt his heart flutter at the smile she gave him. Brynn said so, so quietly, "Hanso, thank you. For...For everything."
Hanso found himself smiling back. "It's the least I can do, Brynn." Not quite thinking, Hanso kissed Brynn's hand. She gave him a surprised look, and the Blue Ixi bustled out, quite flustered once more.
Smiling again, Brynn held the place on her hand where Hanso had kissed.