Hi there, folks! Here we go with my first new offering of the year!
For this one, it's actually an idea I've had for quite a few months now. I didn't know when I wanted to get to work on it amongst any of my other plans, but once I happened see to a call for a sickfic involving Surge and Kit on Twitter late last year, that's what gave me the extra incentive to prioritize this as the next thing I wanted to put out there once I had the time and opportunity to do so.
So with all that being said, read on and enjoy!
On most any given day, Surge the Tenrec was one of the most fearsome folks anybody could come across; one who'd fry and/or maul any simpleton dumb enough to cross or do wrong to herself or the scant few she cared about; all while showing sass, talking smack and throwing shade to the would be saps to boot just because she could.
Well, except for right at this moment that is.
Today, a handful of days before that and for however many more days it may take, she had been reduced to being bedridden with the common cold. With a scratchy throat, stuffed up nose, intermittent coughing, general soreness all around and the whole nine yards, "common" may be understating things, but the point is she's not been in the best of health recently.
If there was any semblance of an upside though, it wasn't like she'd been suffering in complete boredom and agony cooped up all by her lonesome self.
"All right, here we are..."
Turning herself slowly to the left from where she was laying down, Surge's drowsy gaze laid eyes on Kit; who'd taken it upon himself to do what he could in taking care of her as she rested in his bunk bed on the bottom.
Typically, Surge would be sleeping in or otherwise occupying the top bunk. However, she and Kit agreed to swap bunks for the time being as it was assumed to be less taxing on the tenrec's body to stay in the bottom bunk as opposed to climbing up and back down from the top one repeatedly in her current ill condition.
"So how are you feeling, ma'am?" Kit asked her.
"Like total shit...just like these last couple of days," Surge grumbled hoarsely in response. "Were you expecting anything different?"
"Uh...guess not right away, but I don't think it hurts to ask though just in case," Kit responded in return. "Any little step in you getting better is worthy progress."
As Surge's vision became clearer, she saw that the fennec was carrying a bed tray complete with a bowl of soup, a spoon, a glass of water and a fresh box of tissues.
Beyond the tray in Kit's hands, something else caught her attention which caused her to roll her eyes.
"Is all that still necessary though?" She wondered.
"Um, yeah?" Kit answered a little bit confused. "I do think these will help you feel a little better and..."
"No...!" Surge interrupted, a quick coughing fit followed and then she gestured with her hand up and down. "I meant all of this!"
What she'd actually been referring to were the measures Kit had gone through to protect himself from getting sick as he had on a face mask, face shield and a pair of rubber gloves.
"Uh, well...sorry, but I'm just trying to be safe rather than sorry." Kit explained.
"Drippy, I have a cold, not the fuckin' plague," Surge said following a scoff. "All I'm saying is I just think it's maybe a little over the top."
"Be that as it may, ma'am, there's nothing wrong with taking every precaution possible until you're feeling better." Kit reiterated.
"Ugh...fine, whatever..." Surge muttered, coughing a little again. "Being sick fucking sucks..."
Kit sighed. "I know, it's understandable, but..."
"Wait, hold up..."
Slowly, Surge raised herself up from bed and took a couple of breaths of air. Unless she mistaken, it's like her airways were feeling less clogged up. That little detail alone was giving her hope.
"Y'know, I might actually be feeling better now!"
A big toothy grin creased across her face as she began getting out of bed, standing up and strode around to stretch out her sore limbs.
"Ha! Take that, ya stinkin' cold! I'm..."
Alas, the revelry would be fleeting. In a near instant, Surge would be stopped in her tracks by a rough spell of coughing and a big sneeze to cap it off. Combined with her body still feeling rather weak, the sheer force of the coughs and sneeze was actually enough in causing her to be sent falling backwards and landing hard on the floor.
"Arrgh...fucking...!" She shouted, unintelligibly mumbling in frustration afterwards.
In a panic, Kit placed the bed tray down and rushed over to Surge's side.
"Y-you o-okay?" He asked worriedly.
Surge glared over at him and coughed again weakly, which pretty much said everything to the fennec.
"Right, right, dumb question to ask..." Kit conceded.
Grumbling, Surge reached up with her arms and attempted to pull herself up. But perhaps as to be expected, her body was once more wracked in total pain due to her fall and experienced difficulty getting upright. She kept trying, flailing her arms around in vain and getting just that bit more frustrated.
"Mind giving me a hand here?" She eventually asked of Kit.
With a nod, he grabbed both of her hands and gently helped Surge back up to her feet. Afterwards, she shuffled over little by little back to bed and just before she laid down again, Kit adjusted the pillow so it was propped up against the headboard; thus signalling to the tenrec to lean against it upright.
Upon Surge finally climbing back in and sitting in an upright position, Kit then got the bed tray and placed it right in front of her.
"Okay, that should be everything. I do hope this will all help you feel a little bit better," Kit said. "If you need anything else, be sure to give me a shout, okay?"
In the middle of Kit speaking, Surge grabbed a couple of tissues, blew into and wiped her nose down with them, and disposed of them into a wastebasket close by.
In spite of any pain, discomfort or frustration that wracked within her, nothing took away from the fact that Surge was genuinely grateful of how far Kit had been going for her during this time of sickness. Thus, she cracked a light smile.
"Sure, will do..." She told him after a brief cough, then she reached out and patted his head ever so briefly.
Nodding in return, Kit allowed her to have some space and went off elsewhere in their room to keep himself occupied until he may be needed again.
Later on into the evening, Surge was sound asleep or at least as soundly as she could be while having a cold. Taking a bit of medicine beforehand did probably help somewhat in this case.
However, she did pick up on a small muffled sound which stirred her awake slightly. She didn't entirely know if the sound was muffled either because it was relatively quiet or if it simply came off that way to her due to how under the weather she was.
Either way, she didn't pay that much more heed to it as she tried returning to slumber.
Then all of a sudden came an almighty crashing noise that shot her eyes widen open.
"The fuck was that?!" Surge wondered to herself in a hushed tone.
Grunting, she raised herself up and scanned the immediate vicinity. The room was by and large dark which naturally made it difficult to visually discern what caused the noise.
"Huh..." She muttered, then she looked up and tapped the bunk bed above her. "Yo, Drippy, did you hear that?"
She waited to hear any response from him, but got nothing.
"Drippy?" Surge inquired again along with another couple of taps.
Once more, she didn't get any response. With a sigh, she carefully stepped out of bed; coughing a bit along the way.
She was just barely able to peer up and get a decent look at the top bunk, but only to then notice Kit wasn't there.
Before further contemplating his whereabouts, Surge's attention was drawn to the sound of a low pained groan near the kitchen.
"Kit?" She hoarsely called out, perhaps now having an idea of where he is.
Next, she took her time in manoeuvring herself over to the kitchen. As she arrived, she fumbled around for a nearby light switch and flicked it on where she then laid eyes on Kit laying on the floor and grasping at his ankle.
"Drippy?" Surge asked with some concern and confusion in her voice. "What happened?"
"Huh? W-what...?" Kit muttered, his eyes taking a moment in adjusting to the sudden light beaming down on him.
When he gathered enough of his bearings, he looked up to see Surge standing over him.
"I say again, what happened?" She repeated.
"I-I...I was just...taking a sec to double check on a couple of things...and I-I guess...I tripped and landed on my ankle wrong," He explained. "B-but enough about me...w-what are you doing up, ma'am? You should be resting..."
"Well, obviously I was roused up by all the commotion that apparently was your doing." Surge answered straightforwardly.
Grunting in pain, she gingerly knelt down closer to Kit as he continued favouring his ankle. But that wasn't the only thing she noticed about him. Or more specifically, what was amiss.
"You all right? And by the way, I'd figure you'd be having all those, uh...you know, health doodads you've been so insistent on wearing ever since I've come down sick if you were gonna up and around."
As he heard Surge say that, Kit did suddenly realize he hadn't put on any of his protective gear; not even his face mask.
"Ugh...oh no, you're right," He said, a little panic present in his voice as he was also trying to stand up. "I guess because I thought I was gonna be quick with everything and not expecting to bump into you that I-"
However, as he tried putting even a little bit of added pressure on his foot with the hurt ankle, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his leg and resulted in him falling back down hissing in pain.
"Ow...!"
While Kit again grabbed on to his ankle, Surge sighed and chose to forego her own weakened condition as she began putting her arms underneath him.
"W-wait, what a-are you doing?" Kit asked taken aback.
"What does it look like, Drippy?" Surge said, trying to get a comfortable grip on the fennec. "From the looks of it you can't even stand up let alone walk and unless you're gonna crawl or drag yourself back to bed, then I guess there's no other option than to get you there myself."
"B-but without any of m-my gear on...and w-with you in such close p-proximity to me...then there's a risk I-I could end up g-getting sick!" Kit struggled out. "N-not t-to mention the strain you're p-putting on yourself...
"Kit...I don't think there's any point in complaining now..." Surge grumbled, trying to clear her throat in the process. "At this rate if I'm sucking it up for your sake now, then you might as well accept the risk on your end too."
Eventually and by exerting a bit more effort, Surge lifted Kit up from the floor. It was still a struggle again given her compromised health and the soreness she already felt throughout her body was being further amplified by the added weight of the fennec in her arms.
Because of that, she opted to change tactics from the plan of carrying him back to bed. For the moment at least and after shutting off the kitchen light, she shuffled over to the couch in the centre of the room and gently sat Kit down on it instead.
Right as that was done though, Surge went into a rough coughing fit which would be capped off with a sneeze.
And of all the rotten luck, she did all of that inadvertently right in the direction of Kit's face, causing him to let out a cry in discomfort.
"Ah, shit..." Surge said distressingly upon that realization. "Uh...hold on..."
Luckily, the box of tissues which Kit had provided her with earlier in the day was just within reach. She grabbed a couple of them before then bending down, placed a hand on his head and did her best in wiping what she could of her spittle off of his face.
"Okay, hopefully that's most of it..."
Upon finishing and taking a moment to wipe her nose, she tossed the tissues away into the nearby wastebasket and then took a seat on the couch next to Kit.
"Um...my bad, Drippy," Surge said to him apologetically and with a weak sheepish chuckle. "Clumsy me, am I right?"
"No, it's...it's all right, it's not your fault," Kit assured her. "If anything it might be more my fault than anything else."
"What? Where would you come to that conclusion from?!" Surge said scratchily, genuinely taken aback by such a claim. "Kit, I'm the one who just now stupidly hacked up a storm right into your face and may end up making you sick next! That's pretty cut and dry if you ask me!"
"Yeah, but..." Kit tried in saying.
"No, Kit, you need to stop-"
Whatever Surge wanted to say next, it got cut off by another fit of coughing. By the end of it, she groaned as she felt more soreness and pain course all throughout her body.
"Look..." She uttered softly after a few seconds. "I'm too bushed and all that to get into it right now. Whatever you were gonna say in trying to blame yourself, just stop and don't worry because it isn't your fault, got that?"
Kit looked down, sighed and nodded. "Yes, ma'am..."
Surge sighed as well and then reached over to lightly pat the fennec on his back. "Good. Now, assuming you're okay, I really need to crash back over to bed if you're able to do the same."
"S-sure, o-of course." Kit said. "Let me try again in standing and walking on my own..."
Slowly, he scooted forward from his seat and planted both his feet on the floor. He gradually tried standing up, but once more he felt some pain on the ankle that's been bothering him; enough to cause him to groan lightly and sit back down.
"Ugh...I'm not entirely sure if I can make it..." He said. "Or maybe I can, but I might run the risk of hurting myself further and I wouldn't want that to happen."
"Well...if that's really the case and you ain't able to get back to bed on your own, the only other option for you that I can think of is if you don't mind sleeping on the couch for tonight," Surge suggested after a moment of thought. "I mean I'd try to get you over there myself, but it was already a chore for me to carry you over here in my condition, so I can't exactly..."
Right as Surge was saying that though, she stopped and noticed a frown form on Kit's face and he looked away practically in shame. Almost immediately, she began feeling a little regretful over her choice of words and sighed.
"Look, I didn't necessarily mean that like I was complaining or trying to put any blame on you for how I'm feeling now. I meant...I..."
She tried to figure out something to say to possibly alleviate things, but nothing was quite coming to mind.
Signing again more heavily and snorting, she gritted her teeth, sat up and began reaching out to Kit.
"Ah, fuck it. My limbs feel shot, but let me try helping you over there anyway..."
"Wait, no, ma'am," Kit told her, putting his hand up. "You don't have to do that. I don't want you to push yourself too much."
"Drippy, I'll manage. I'll suck it up for just a little bit more and-"
"Surge, I said no...!"
The sudden firmness that came from Kit just now did take Surge off guard. It was also apparent from his expression that he immediately felt remorseful speaking in such a manner.
"S-sorry...t-that sounded too h-harsh. I mean...it's fine, I'll stay right here tonight if I have to," He said more softly. "Again, I-I really wouldn't w-want you to strain yourself any further or get seriously hurt. So please, I can make do here for the rest of the evening."
As Kit shifted over the end of the couch to lay down on his side and rest his head on a small pillow there, Surge felt an odd mix of emotions over this. Intrinsically, she was feeling guilty that he appeared to be doing this like he had no other choice or little say in the matter. Yet at the same time though, there was also a degree of respect in how insistent he was about affirming this decision on his own and admiration for the lengths he'll go just as long as she'll be okay.
"You sure you're okay with this?" Surge asked him. "Seriously, I'll give it another shot just for you."
"It's fine, I promise," Kit reiterated. "It'll be just for tonight after all, so I can handle it."
Despite that assurance from him, Surge still felt a little unsure about this arrangement. But at the same time though, she was figuratively and literally aching for any reason to get back to bed and if his mind was set, then she didn't see any remaining reason to convince him into any alternatives for the time being.
"Well, if you insist you're square with this, then...okay." Surge said with a hint of reluctance.
She let out a series of coughs before slowly inching herself up to a standing position off from the couch.
But before returning to bed, she felt like doing a couple of things to make Kit feel a bit more comfortable here in this circumstance.
First, she took the pillow on the opposite end of the couch and carefully placed it under the ankle which had been giving Kit his current grief. Then as she laid eyes on a blanket that happened to be laying on top of the couch, she took it and gently covered Kit's body with it.
"All right, well...'night, Kit," Surge said quietly. "If I haven't said it enough or even at all yet, I really do appreciate all you've been doing for me recently. I gotta be sure to return the favour to you somehow."
"It's my pleasure, ma'am," Kit said with a small smile. "And you don't really need to do anything for me in return. As long as you'll feel better soon, that's all I really want out of you at this time."
Generous with his time for her and selflessly not expecting anything in return for it.
There were all sorts of words that Surge could've said to express how heartened she felt hearing that from him. But for now though, her mind as well as the rest of her body were so close to shutting down for the night. So with that, she simply opted to smile at him, ruffle around his head with her hand and used the last bit of energy within her to get herself back into bed.
But regardless of what Kit may have said just now, Surge was going to find some little way to repay him for all his efforts, whatever it may be.
The next day came along and perhaps as to be expected and feared due to the unfortunate events from the other night, Kit had now fallen ill with a cold. On a somewhat more positive note though, his ankle wasn't bothering him as much. That bit of good news allowed him to make it over to the bottom bunk bed on his own upon waking up and agreeing to switch back to previous bunking arrangements with Surge.
Speaking of the tenrec and in a bit of a miracle, Surge was actually feeling quite a bit better compared to recent days gone by. She did still feel a bit sore, still had a slightly stuffy nose and still experienced a little cough here and there, but again it was a good degree of an improvement comparatively speaking. It was to the point she'd kind of jokingly tell herself that there must've been something magical in the soup and water she had the other day which may have seriously sped up the remedial process.
Whatever the case may be, her feeling more better did allow her to be more up, mobile and assume enough of a role to now be tending to Kit.
"All right, Drippy, time to give this medicine a whirl."
Right on cue, Kit sat up slowly and turned his sights over to Surge approaching him with a measuring cup filled with medicine in one hand and a little paper cup with water in the other. She handed both over to the fennec which he accepted.
In a flash, he gulped down the medicine; his face scrunching up a bit in the aftermath which did elicit a brief chuckle out of the tenrec.
"Bitter, huh? I sure know about that these last couple of days," Surge said, taking the measuring cup back. "Dunno if it's the flavour we happen to have or if they're all like that, but yeah, it ain't that particularly tasty going down even though it helps ya get better."
"Yeah..." Kit simply added.
He then took a sip of the water before handing it off back to Surge, and she put it and the measuring cup to the side. Afterwards, she took a seat on the bed right next to Kit.
"So, uh, listen..." She began saying, awkwardly laughing and rubbing the back of her neck. "Obviously it's completely my fault for you coming down with what I had – or technically still kinda have – and I do also feel kinda bad for putting you in the position of sleeping on the couch the other night, so..."
"Ma'am, it's all right," Kit softly interrupted, coughing briefly before smiling. "You told me last night nothing about what happened was my fault and I want to say it wasn't yours either. The way I see it, a bunch of stuff happened that neither of us could've foreseen and the best we can do is not needlessly blame ourselves too much, make the best of whatever gets throw our way and come out better from it in the end."
"Heh...y'know, I like the way you put it there. You always keep showing me what a smart little dude you are," Surge said with a grin. "And on top of that, I wanna say once more that I gotta thank you so much for all your help while I've been down and out recently. It might not be much, but I hope doing the same for you now can be enough of a repayment."
"Well, as I already said similarly last night, I didn't expect nor really want anything else in return other than you feeling better, but still...thank you anyway," Kit said, his smile only getting bigger. "And speaking of which, I have to say thanks as well for your help after I got hurt last night. I know it had to be rough on you in the moment, but I appreciate it all the same."
Perhaps a bit to his surprise, Surge responded to Kit's words of gratitude by moving just that bit more closer and encircling him into a hug.
"Hey, no prob, Kit," She told him in earnest. "And maybe I shouldn't be hugging you now, but screw it, we're both under the weather and it's not like we'll be made any worse by me doing this. I think we'll both live to tell the tale afterwards."
Kit laughed and he happily returned the hug. "I think so too."
Their hug lasted for about a minute before Surge let go and Kit followed suit.
"Be sure to give me a holler if there's anything else you need, okay?" She reminded him.
"Of course," Kit affirmed with a nod. "Thanks again, Surge."
Surge gave him a pat on his head before he laid back down in bed once more. Meanwhile, she stood up and contemplated her next move.
After giving it a little thought, she was still feeling a tad bit weary and decided to take another rest of her own. She climbed up to her top bunk bed as again she and Kit were able to revert back to their standard bunking arrangements upon her feeling better and more able to get up and down from there with less hassle.
As she laid down, Surge let another grin briefly form on her face as she thought back and couldn't help but be both impressed and heartened by the events of the last few days and especially the past 24 hours. Between all they've done recently and will continue to do for each other in the near term, it lead her to an undeniable conclusion...
Sometimes it really is those simplest acts of care that show how far they've come since the circumstances which brought them together in the first place, how more natural and genuine their bond has become, and just how far they'll truly go for one another in their times of need into the future.
And that shall do it for now! I had fun with this one as I continue to carve out my niche in providing sweet and heartwarming Glitchsibs stuff to the world! ^^
Thanks for reading, take care and I'll see you all again next time!