Sharing the Sickbed Who: Dhaval and Tayne Where: Dhaval's room, outside, then the room again When: Late afternoon
Dhaval swallowed. His was thirsty again. He'd been drinking more lately anyhow, and whatever was wrong with him seemed to demand pretty constant hydration. He was no longer trying to convince himself he was just a little hung over. That would have ended by now, or at least gotten better, not worse. He'd spent the day in bed, something he absolutely detested. He'd spent enough of his life confined like that already. His attempt to get up, early afternoon, had ended in sitting at his desk for half an hour, his left-handed writing even more horrid than usual, and giving up to go back to bed. He'd lost the thread of the story about ghosts and letters and was now trying something that seemed to involve a family in a fantastic version of his childhood memories of India, tasked with building monsters out of fabricated flesh and bone. Sometimes he didn't think he had any control at all over what went on in his head. That would have been a neat story a little while ago. Now he didn't really want to show it to anyone.
So he was reading instead, devouring one of the books Tayne had brought for him. There was a bit less light in his room now, but he could still make out the page. Dhaval had excellent vision, as it happened.
At this point, Tayne was wishing he'd stayed in bed... though it was probably a good thing he hadn't, for the girls' sake, he just felt terrible. Pepper's news about Dhaval made it pretty clear it wasn't just some really long-lasting hangover, and he probably was actually sick, and that didn't make him feel any better about it all. Sick was the last thing he needed to be. Not here, not now. Especially not the kind of sick where you wasted food by throwing it back up again.
After talking to Pepper, putting his bike away, and trudging upstairs to shower and change and worship the porcelain god one more time-- though there wasn't much else to come up, now, except water and foul-tasting bile-- he trudged back down to Dhaval's room and knocked. "You unlocked?" he called through.
"Yes." Dhaval rolled over to face the door, marking his place in the book. Lousy as he felt, he smiled to hear that voice. Pepper hadn't wandered back down, so he didn't know if she'd found Tayne or whether he was sick, too. "Um, possibly contagious, though. If you haven't already got it. But I bet you have." He had to suspect that rash they shared. It was too odd a symptom. The rest of it he could write off as a really nasty stomach flu, something it was entirely possible to pick up while eating the way they had been. He was too tired to worry too much about what there might be between him and Tayne. He just wanted to see his friend for a little bit. It'd cheer him up.
"Too late," Tayne said, opening the door and giving Dhaval a wan smile. "I bet, if anything, I gave it to you...." He wandered in to sit tiredly on the edge of the bed. "You ain't been throwing up, too, have you...?" Because being stuck in a wheelchair with a bum finger didn't exactly make getting to a bathroom a piece of cake.
"Dry heaves." Dhaval shuddered. "Not pleasant." He sat up, trying to ignore the wave of dizziness attendant to that. "You look exhausted..." Of course. Tayne would continue with whatever he'd been planning on, nasty swimmy headache sensations regardless. Dhaval felt rather useless by comparison. He scooted a little closer and, after just a little hesitation, wrapped his arm around Tayne's shoulders. He hoped Tayne wasn't running a fever. Dhaval felt like he might be, but it was very hard to judge on oneself.
"I am," Tayne admitted. "Want nothin' more than t'collapse and sleep until morning." Even though it was only late afternoon. Ugh. "Got one more thing t'take care of, though. Into your chair, man. If yer sick, you need sunlight even more, so we're takin' care of that before I crash." He was half-tempted to move the eggs, too, but if it was sunny again tomorrow, he could save power if he kept them in the truck, just let the sun and the usual hot-car-effect keep them warm. Besides, moving the eggs would take more effort than he wanted to spare.
"Tayne, you look awful." Oh, that wasn't what he'd meant to say. "I mean, on the edge of collapse. I could go on my own. Or just go find somewhere the sun is sneaking in, couldn't I?" Dhaval had the sudden, novel idea that perhaps he could convince Tayne to behave. Using his... wiles. He had at least a general idea how he might go about that. And wouldn't it be a novelty if it worked? He ran his fingers through Tayne's hair and leaned a bit closer. "Come on, just put your head down for a minute."
Though Tayne shut his eyes, leaning his head a little into the touch, he wasn't shaken of the desire to get Dhaval out into the sun yet. "I lasted this long, din' I?" he asked, mostly rhetorically. "I can make it one short trip out front and back in again after a couple minutes. 'Sides, I still gotta turn those eggs an' set the space heater up 'gain.... So I gotta g-go out, anyhow. Might's well take you with me."
Well, darn. It had been worth a try. "If you're going out anyway." Dhaval let go of Tayne and reached out to drag his chair over, engaging the brake and positioning it easily from habit. It was still a slightly precarious thing to go from bed to chair. Even braked, it was a small piece of furniture, and he was constantly afraid it'd just fall over. He'd only landed like that a few times, but it was always unpleasant. He wished he could get a bar fitted into the wall. "Fine, you win." He thought about asking Tayne for help, but he looked worn out enough. Dhaval stood for a very brief moment and landed heavily in the chair. That hurt. More than it should have, really. Lying prone all day had apparently left his legs even more useless.
"Yaaaay I win," Tayne said, though his tone wasn't as jovial as the words. He patted Dhaval's hand once he'd landed, giving him a sympathetic expression. If the guy felt half as awful as he did, that had to hurt. But then, Tayne was a little achy, too. "All right. The longer I sit here, the less I'll wanna move, so...." He pushed himself somewhat unsteadily to his feet and moved around behind the chair again. It was his customary position, these days, and really? He was okay with that, at least until Dhaval's finger healed up. "So you feel pretty shitty, too, huh? Wonder where we picked it up... wasn't the meat. Joyce had that, too, and she's feelin' fine...."
"I have that, um, the same red spot you do. I don't know if that's anything. Mine's on my ankle, though. So... little different." Poor Tayne, having to push him around. At least he could sort of slump on the wheelchair a little. It could be used like a walker with someone in the seat. He leaned back in his hair and tilted his head back as well, looking up at Tayne. Funny angle, this. "So... what did you do today? Besides feeling like death warmed over. Fight more monsters? Save some damsels?" He was a little worn out for making conversation, and Tayne was probably worse, but hanging out in silence was somewhat on the awkward side.
That wasn't a surprise, since Pepper had told him as much. They were definitely sick, the pair of them. Tayne laughed a little, pausing at the door to let Dhaval open it for them. "Actually, yeah... kinda.... Though not so much fighting, and more running away from. We got a few things at a craft shop, but got interrupted by this pack of dog-looking monsters... got two of the girls away on my bike, but Joyce had to... had to stay behind. Insisted on it." He shook his head. "Good damn thing she's g-got unbreakable sk-skin, or something... they couldn't hurt her."
"Unbreakable skin," he repeated. "...I have a lousy power, don't I?" He laughed a bit to show he wasn't serious. It would be a waste for him to have something more useful at his command, after all. He was always going to be confined to a single floor. No place for a decent hero. "Um, glad she's okay. That you all are." Dog monsters were really just the order of things nowadays, weren't they? He couldn't work himself into half the dither that seemed reasonable when one's friends were being attacked by mutated wolves. Dhaval got the door open as he considered that.
"Me, too." The long ride back to where he'd left Joyce had been horrible, full of guilt and anger and, he supposed now, feverishness. "Very me too...." He pushed Dhaval out into the hall and towards the lobby, slowly and rather grateful for the support of the chair. "We got dinner for the next day or two outa it, though... so that's somethin'." Not that Tayne was planning on eating anything. Not until he felt better. Come to think of it, he'd better not do the cooking, either. he'd hate to infect half the hotel.
Dhaval turned and put his hand over Tayne's. Just for a second. They were out in the lobby and he didn't know who they'd run into. He couldn't think of anyone he'd met so far who he thought might have a problem with him and Tayne being... whatever they seemed to be, but he hadn't been introduced to most people here. Besides, he was shy. "At least it was productive." He wanted to say they could be more careful next time, but they probably couldn't. Being careful wasn't exactly the crux of the problem. Monsters could be careful, too. Dhaval opened the front door and managed a smile when the sunlight hit him. "Wow. And... it's a hotbox out. On top of everything. Lovely." The complaining was sympathetic, really. The heat didn't bother him. He already felt better.
Quite honestly, Tayne was more than a little shy about it all, himself. He'd never had anything more than a single-night fling before-- not with another guy-- and he was rather pointedly going to ignore even thinking about what one was supposed to do in situations like that. His brain wasn't really up to it, today, anyway.
... but that didn't mean he minded that hand. He didn't. He was just glad it was kind of brief.
The sun stabbed at Tayne's eyes, and he immediately reached up to knock the sunglasses back down off the top of his head and onto his nose, wincing. "I'd rather it be hot and sunny than cold and rainy... if it weren't so damn dangerous, I'd just come out here and lay." And the idea of climbing to the roof sounded so daunting. He kicked a little rock into the doorway to keep it open, then made his slow way to the truck with Dhaval.
"I like it, um, a lot better now than I did a little while ago... I didn't like heat. But I guess it's tasty now. Since I'm a plant and all." Human plants. That had probably been done, hadn't it? He had so many ideas lately. There were so many lovely ideas in his head right now. He was pretty sure that if he had that fever that he might have, that might be the reason that every strange idea seemed brilliant just now. "Still a little hard on my eyes, though. It's funny, because I'm from about the sunniest place on earth, right? Not that I've been back since I was little."
"I'd give you my sunglasses," Tayne told him apologetically, "but I think I need 'em more than you do...." Even with their help, his eyes still stabbed and he still squinted heavily. Not even getting into the shadow of his truck helped much.
"A'ight...." He left Dhaval sitting in the sun a foot or so away, and unlocked the truck's camper. "Let's see how the little monster eggs are doing, today...." The heat coming out of the camper was pretty intense, and he winced. Hopefullly that was good for the eggs, not bad....
"Looks like you do." Dhaval wasn't sure what to make of the urge to give Tayne a hug. He wasn't a hugger. Well, later. "Hopefully they aren't cooked," he commented wryly. He was pretty sure that Tayne wouldn't object to him moving about on a small scale, so he rolled carefully up to the door, or as close as he could get without being in Tayne's way. "Must be sturdy stuff though, I imagine. Being monsters and all." If one had to be a nightmare, it was only fair to be tough. Fair, at least, on the monster level.
"With another couple hours of light before sunset, I bet I don't even need to turn the heater on tonight... awesome." He could just leave it locked up, and come out in the morning to get them and bring them in. Or just leave them to heat in the sun again, for that matter.... Tayne leaned in to lift the blankets keeping them even warmer and started gently turning, testing the shells. "Gotta wonder... they're gonna be totally new critters. Will they have the right instincts? Will they even know how to hatch?" They might wind up needing to help....
"Hmm. Well, baby birds have egg teeth... But whether we can even call these birds is, um... questionable." Dhaval tried to collect his thoughts well enough to be coherent. "And maybe they'll... keep mutating? They might be lizards when they come out. Or something new." He thought back to a favorite picture book he'd had as a kid about Cambrian life (his parents had appreciated his oddness), the incredible, illogical strange things on the pages swimming before him now. Maybe that was happening again? Or maybe he was more feverish than he thought. "Once they've been, well, around longer, I'll start keeping a closer watch on them, maybe? See if they start twitching or anything."
"Once we get 'em inside," Tayne corrected, still leaning into the truck's camper so he could get at the eggs without moving the next too much. Moving the nest might've meant disturbing the way the heat was distributed, and he didn't know that, that was a good idea. "Which ain't gonna be today... maybe tomorrow, or maybe day after. I've got the space heater rigged to a car battery, now, so we can take 'em inside, but don't g-got the energy today to d-deal with it today...." Next on the list: get that Verity kid to put another car battery to a fan, so they could dry meat. Once he had the energy to climb stairs and find him, again....
"Hmm, yeah, I'm not so maneuverable out here." Even with both hands in working order, he'd have hesitated. After all, if something approached, he could only move so quickly, and getting in the door on his own was a major operation. "When, um, you feel up to it, you can always put them on my permanent lap, right?" His smile was a little weak. "Though I doubt I'd be so useful for... setting up the entire rig, hmm?" He had only the vaguest idea what went into that. Maybe someone could scrounge a book on animal husbandry?
"We'll work t-together," Tayne promised tiredly. "And yeah, I was plannin' on using your c-cart-like cap-cap-capabilities." He shot Dhaval a quick, equally weak grin, then pulled himself back out and closed the door. "I think that'll keep okay overnight," he commented, not really aware that he was repeating himself. "It's hot enough now, and there's a few more hours of sunlight... and with night still bein' pretty short...." It'd better, because he wasn't coming out here again. He was going to sleep. Drink another gallon of water, then sleep. He stared at the closed door a little blankly, trying to think clearly. "Gotta find somewhere t'keep 'em inside, where we can both get at 'em, but th'won't be where anyone can...." Dhaval's room was awfully small. Maybe the linen closet.
"We could see if there are more keys. Like janitors' keys. For broom closets or stuff like that. Or there's probably a maintenance room... Well, no, that's likely to be in the basement." Dhaval wondered in passing what might be in the basement. Nothing especially interesting, probably. Basements were usually too chilly to be anywhere one would want to hang out. And... there went his wandering train of thought again. "They'll be fine." Or at least no worse off than usual. Dhaval still didn't think they had that great a chance. "Should we just get you inside to lie down, then?" Poor Tayne. Running around all day in this state.
"Yeah. Yeah, that's a good idea." Shaking himself out of the useless contemplation of the camper door, Tayne fumbled to get it locked, then pocketed the car keys again and turned back to Dhaval, dusting off his hands and coming around behind him to push again. "Got enough sunlight, y'think? Feelin' any better?" At least Dhaval's source of nourishment, these days, he couldn't throw up. Lucky bastard.
"Little bit." Dhaval smiled as solidly as he could muster. He didn't want Tayne worrying about him, not when he looked so miserable. The dry heaving had pretty much stopped earlier in the afternoon, and he thought he could put on a pretty brave face. "Thanks you for bringing me out." He had to wonder what running a fever meant for someone who seemed to run on heat and light. Wasn't he just losing energy very quickly? Part of the reason he was so dizzy and sluggish, probably. Hopefully he'd also have a little time to leech a bit of Tayne's body heat, though he wouldn't blame the man for not wanting to snuggle.
"Hey, s'no problem." Tayne leaned down briefly to rub his cheek on Dhaval's hair-- the best sign of affection he could think of at the moment; if it happened to be very catlike, well, he wasn't quite thinking clearly enough to be self-conscious about it-- and started pushing again. "Had to come out, anyway, and one of us should be allowed t'feel better. Keep some food down. Have a feeling I won' be doin' much t'morrow, though." Despite his thought to go get Dhaval's walker, finally. That probably wasn't going to happen for a few days, at least. Even once he felt better, food was probably a priority.
Dhaval blushed slightly and smiled. Maybe it was safe to hope for a little cuddling tonight? "No, you're resting tomorrow." Dhaval tried to sound very authoritative. "Um, well, you can maybe spend a little time making plans. But besides that, bed. We'll just have to go, um, stir-crazy together." Dhaval certainly understood the discomfort of staying still all day and restricted movement. "There's, um, about another whole pitcher of water in my room. When we get back in." Pepper's eager attempts to help had panned out pretty well.
"Might need two," Tayne said, a little vaguely, and let Dhaval get the door. "One for each of us." Resting sounded good. He knew himself well enough to know he'd do some wandering-- especially lately, he simply couldn't stay in one place all day-- but it would probably be wandering with a lot of resting inbetween. He wasn't sure what kinds of plans they'd be making, probably about eggs and food-hunting and maybe he could check that list he'd started for patrol-people, since security was technically his job. Eh, he'd worry about it tomorrow... his brain wasn't awake enough at the moment to think too much about it, beyond a vague sense of guilt that he simply hadn't gotten enough done lately.
"Maybe." He was always thirsty. "But later..." Or maybe Pep would stop by again sometime. Dhaval opened the door, fumbling the knob the first try. Sometimes his hands just went weak and shaky. Well, sometimes all of him did that. At least he had practice at being a useless invalid. He ignored his eyes crossing for a moment as they got inside. He missed the sunlight immediately, but the cool, darker air was also refreshing.
Tayne was both relieved and disappointed, going back inside. His eyes didn't feel quite so badly like they wanted to jump out of his skull and run away, but the warmth on his back-- fever often left him feeling cold when he wasn't over-working himself, and coming inside he could just about feel himself go down in goosebumps-- had been very welcome. "Def'nitely later." For now, all that really mattered was getting to Dhaval's bed and falling into it. He did have enough presence of mind to make sure the door locked behind them, then headed them both across the lobby, toward Dhaval's little hall.
Dhaval nodded, but just let Tayne push, not wanting to bother him any further. The poor man was stretched too thin already. He'd probably want to just collapse and fall asleep, but no matter how tired, sleeping wasn't always easy when one was feeling as nasty as Tayne must be. Dhaval didn't think he could possibly sleep any longer, so he'd be up anyway. He thought back to his mother's excellent bedside manner. Reading stories, stroking his hair, fetching endless glasses of water... He could handle all that. He opened his door, hoping Tayne would forget to scold him for leaving it unlocked, as soon as they reached his room.
This time, Tayne didn't even think about it being unlocked. It just meant they got inside more quickly. He did lock it behind him, though, and pushed Dhaval up against the bed, as always. He paused there, staring between the bed and the chair with an unhappy sort of frown. "Okay... I can... prob'ly get you to the bed. But I'll prob'ly fall down, doin' it. Just so y'know." But he didn't want the poor guy having to lever himself out, either, not with the hand and the fever and all that, too.
"You know what? Um, just go ahead and sit." Dhaval smiled. "I don't think, um, that winding up hugging you is a problem, exactly. I'll just... get up for a second." He'd fall, and it'd probably be uncomfortable, but that wasn't the end of the world. "I'll promise to only fall on you a little." He didn't think he weighed that much less than Tayne, so he would have to be careful not to land hard and make it worse.
Chuckling a little, unable to find up the will and energy to protest, Tayne gave in and sat down. "You could fall on the bed," he suggested, though he did offer his hands for support for the move, at least. "It's a little softer than I am, an' might be less likely to wind up with an elbow or knee in your stomach...."
Dhaval braced his left hand against the bed and took Tayne's in his right. This was an increasingly awkward operation, and the sooner it was over with, the better. "Alright, just a second... there." He pushed himself up as firmly as he could, trying not to drag on Tayne. He barely got into the bed at all, his knees buckling as he tried to stand. He ended up scrambling and trying to ignore a dizzy wave of nausea, paling visibly as he lay still, blinking the dark spots out of his vision. "...Yuck." And he hadn't even wound up on Tayne at all. That would have been a little consolation.
Tayne did his best to help, looping an arm around Dhaval's waist when he looked about to fall the wrong way and tugging a little, to help get him where he needed to be. He wound up laying next to him, one arm still around his waist, and looking about as nauseous as Dhaval felt. "Yuck works," he agreed faintly, swallowing heavily. There was nothing to throw up, anymore, and no where to throw it up into. He'd just have to keep it down. "You okay?"
Dhaval wormed a little closer. Tayne's warmth was helping him steady. He was aware enough now to feel the heat assuage the wave of weakness a little bit. Using Tayne as a battery felt a little questionable, but he wasn't going to stop. "Getting better. I, um, don't seem to have enjoyed all the rapid shifts in, um... gravity." Ugh. He reached up and mussed Tayne's hair a little. That always seemed to work pretty well. "You?" He certainly didn't look any better.
"My stomach didn' enjoy it, either," Tayne answered, shutting his eyes briefly. His feet were still dangling off the bed, though, so he let Dhaval go and started scooting up further onto the bed, getting himself facing the right direction so there were pillows in the right place and everything. "Think you prob'ly oughta be on the wall side. I might hafta leave in a hurry, at some point, wouldn' wanna crawl over you in th'process...." Maybe he needed a bucket in here, or something. The thought of trying to track one down was way too tiring, though, so he'd just have to keep it down then, too.
"Poor Tayne." He hoped the sympathy wasn't becoming grating. He felt so bad for the man. "Well, um, I can try and climb over you, then." Very awkwardly, of course. "Or... the other way around. But you just say still, um, and breathe for a second, huh?" He pressed his forehead to Tayne's shoulder for a moment before he had to worm up on the bed a little, too. He and Tayne were of a height, and his feet were dangling as well. "But, um, do you want some water first? I can reach the pitcher from here."
"Mm. Water's prob'ly a good idea, yeah." Tayne pushed himself back up to sit, though at least this time all of him was on the bed. He'd get onto Dhaval's other side in a minute. "I can get it, though... you don't gotta move." Well, okay, he kind of did. Tayne did need to get to the non-wall side of the bed, anyway, but then Dhaval could scoot over to where he was. It was better to get it all over with, he decided, all the moving, and then crash. He'd move. In just a minute.
"Here, I got it." Dhaval patted Tayne's forehead gently. Sitting up wasn't too bad, though the room went just a little bit spinny. He pushed himself up with a little sigh. He poured a tall glass of water. He'd been drinking out of that glass all day, but he and Tayne had already shared mouth space rather intimately. Probably not an issue. "There you go. Here, um, want a hand up?" He held out his arm and smiled.
"Thanks." Tayne wasn't even thinking about sharing germs. After all, they were both already sick: the germs had already been spread. He took the glass, patting the offered arm, but not moving just yet. First, he guzzled down that water. It took him a minute, but he did down it pretty much all at once. Efficiency was the name of the game right now, so he didn't waste energy. Then he offered it back, saying again, "Thanks. Now I'll move.... Then we can just... sleep. Or something." That's what he was gonna do, anyhow.
"You'd better, I think. Because, um, whether you give yourself permission or not, I think your brain is just about to shut off of its own accord." Dhaval scooted himself back a little ways, wincing a bit as he jarred his finger, and leaned back so Tayne could clamber over him easily. He had a vague idea that this operation ought to be at least a little, well, interesting to have Tayne squirm over him. He didn't have the energy now, though.
"Prob'ly," Tayne admitted with a little grin. He leaned over Dhaval first to put the empty glass on his chair, the only thing he could really reach, then did, indeed, just kind of crawl over the guy. Though his brain might have been in the shut-off mode it had been the night before, it really wasn't the same kind, and he didn't even think about how interesting it might've been. He just slumped down on Dhaval's other side when he got there and sighed tiredly. That switch seemed to have taken the very last dregs of his energy.
Poor Tayne. Dhaval snuggled close to him and wrapped one arm around his waist. "If I'm, um, crowding you? Just say so. I usually get kind of cold when I have a fever, but... that may be me." He was definitely chilly now, and having Tayne beside him helped a lot. He was completely willing to back up, but hoped he wouldn't be told to. He made sure, glancing back, that he could still reach his book if he absolutely couldn't sleep. He definitely wasn't getting out of bed again. Climbing over Tayne without making the poor man more miserable sounded impossible.
"M'usually cold," Tayne murmured, shutting his eyes and tucking his arms in. He always ran warm, which only tended to make it easier to get cold, unless he was working hard and overheated himself. "Fevers make it worse. So you're fine." Even if Dhaval didn't have as much body heat as someone like Tayne did, he'd take what he could get. And it was oddly comforting having someone snuggled up next to him. Like he had that morning, he tucked his head under Dhaval's chin and settled down with another sigh.
Tired, but not really sleepy, Dhaval was at least alert enough to enjoy this a little. "Um, enjoy your rest then." Dhaval hadn't made his bed this morning, so the comforter was still in reach, and he tugged it over them. "And feel better." He was glad to be able to do Tayne a good turn. It was a small task, maybe, but keeping him cozy and making sure he wasn't left alone with no one to make sure he rested and got water was pleasant.
"Mmm," Tayne agreed absently, already dropping off into sleep. He was safe, behind a locked door, with someone cuddled up to him, keeping him warm. It was about the best he could have expected to get, and he was going to take advantage of it and sleep as long as his body would let him. That Dhaval was there only made it better.