🤍

See Silver was not in bed to fall asleep. Silver was in bed because he had woken up with a horrific pounding headache accompanied by a very dry throat and a barking cough that made his chest ache every time it jumped into action.

Lilia had taken about five seconds to look at Silver after he had borderline crawled out of his room before he had turned him right back around by his shoulders and walked him back to bed. What had followed was about a straight hour of fussing, tucking Silver into bed, and cooing over him. Silver had thankfully managed to convince Lilia he did not need any soup, thank you very much, but had accepted the glass of water brought to him.

Silver had only managed a few sips of water before he remembered opening his eyes to the sun high in the sky through the window nearest his bed. He must have fallen asleep, and looking around brought no sight of Lilia. Silver could only pray to the Seven that Lilia had simply gone to class instead of trying to cook up some amalgamation of a meal.

As Silver dropped his head back onto his pillow, he felt his headache rear its ugly head again, and a fresh wave of pain washed over his skull, followed by a settling fog. Silver’s eyes fluttered with the intensity of the wave, and he could feel his face contort as a result. Of course, that only made the pain worse, and a whine fell from his lips unbidden.

That first whine snapped something in Silver, and the brain fog from earlier rushed in quickly to coat all of his thoughts. He turned his head to the side into his pillow, muffling a second whine into the soft fabric. The pillow did almost nothing to dampen the sound, nor the light shining in from his window, which as of a minute or two ago hadn’t bothered Silver. Now though, it was another annoyance on the rapidly lengthening list. Silver wanted the curtains shut. He wanted the curtains shut and a nice cold drink and the pain in his head and throat and chest to go away.

Silver’s spiraling thoughts were put to a sharp stop when his cough from the morning returned, rattling his chest. He gasped for air as it finished, finding a returning ache sitting in his chest. For a few moments Silver lay stunned by the force of his cough, but once he recovered as best he could, tears sprung to his eyes.

Silver rolled over and pressed his face into the pillows once more, finding he had curled up somewhere between waking and now. Why was he crying over this? Sure he didn’t get sick easily, but this seemed excessive.

When Silver caught himself rubbing his face into the pillow he was clinging to, the answer made itself clear. This was… not ideal. However, if there was ever a day for this type of behavior, today was probably the most logical. At least his chances of being caught in a less than favorable situation were much lower. All Silver needed to do was bury himself into his covers whenever anyone came to check on him and keep his mouth shut. Considering the cough he had, his silence wouldn’t even be questioned. Yeah, that sounded like a good… plan…

The next time Silver awoke, it was to his father’s face hovering in his blurry vision. Silver could only just barely make out the grin on Lilia’s face, but when he had processed it, he grumbled and turned his face back into his pillow.

“Ah-hh. It seems like someone is a little bit grumpy, hm?” Lilia’s voice sent spikes through Silver’s head, resulting in a quickly choked off whine. Although Silver’s head was buried in fabric, he could practically hear Lilia’s smile curve into a frown.

“Hm, well that’s no good. Is your head still aching dear?” Silver could barely move his head enough for it to count as a nod, but Lilia seemed to catch it anyways. Lilia’s resulting coo drew another whine from Silver.

“Is there anything that you need Silver?” Lilia’s hand carded through what was available to him of Silver’s hair, something that got a huff from Silver as he lifted his arm weakly and pointed to the window. The hand in his hair left, and a moment later the room darkened as the curtains slid shut. When Lilia returned to Silver’s bedside, Silver turned his head from his pillow to gaze up at him. Lilia’s smile was obvious, but Silver had to squint through the sleep still fogging up his eyes to bring it into focus.

“A little better?” A garbled grunt left Silver’s lips as Lilia’s hand returned to his hair. After Silver nodded in response, Lilia’s thumb brushed over his forehead. Lilia’s brow furrowed the slightest amount before his face smoothed out and his hand trailed down to cup Silver’s cheek. He chuckled as Silver absentmindedly pushed his face into the contact.

The moments of quiet were broken once more by Silver’s barking cough, and he broke away from Lilia’s hand and flopped back into his pillows. Lilia sighed from above his bed, and Silver felt the soft press of a kiss on his head, something that made the fog in his brain thicken.

Lilia’s hand then smoothed over his hair once more before he spoke again. “I’ll let you sleep for now, and I’ll whip you up something easy to eat for later.” Silver was much too exhausted for Lilia’s words to alarm him, but he did throw a quick thought Malleus and Sebek’s way in hopes they would catch Lilia before he made it to his destination.

As the door closed behind Lilia, Silver’s eyes fell shut once more, and within a few minutes, he had drifted off once again.