#answeriehugs

And its 3am; everyone else is asleep, leaving whumpee in the dark, alone, scared and overpowered by their symptoms.

"Hey, shhh, shh... I know..."

Nothing Caretaker can say or do will ease Whumpee's pain — they've been suffering a raging fever for three days now and it isn't giving them a single minute of mercy. Even with every over-the-counter medication on board, all Whumpee has been doing for the last 72 hours is sleeping and crying.

"It's been 6 hours, you can take another Tylenol. How's that sound?"

"Swallowing h-hurtss..." Whumpee whines, their voice raw and broken, every sentence sandwiched between whimpers and weak sobs.

"I know, sweetheart... It'll be over quick."

Caretaker opens the bottle of pills, and Whumpee buries their head in the blankets. Sighing, Caretaker easily pries the end of the blanket from Whumpee's weak grip, replacing the wad of fabric in their palm with two Tylenol tablets.

"mmnn..." Whumpee reaches for the glass of water on their nightstand and takes the tablets, grimacing at the way it scratches their raw throat on the way down.

"Good job, honey," Caretaker whispers as they use their thumb to wipe away a tear from Whumpee's eye. "C'mere."

Caretaker walks over to the other side of the bed, slipping under the covers and guiding Whumpee over to rest their head in their lap.

"It all h-hurts... all've it..."

"I know, honey. You're doing so well, and all you have to do is rest."

Caretaker's lap slowly begins to dampen with Whumpee's quiet tears. After days of their throat being thrashed from coughs and sobs, all they can do now is squeak and sniffle while the tears pour out. Caretaker's hand instinctively gravitates towards Whumpee's head, beginning to gently mess around with their hair in an attempt to calm them down.

"Aw, baby," Caretaker whispers softly, "You're being so good... Once you get better we'll do something fun, okay? But right now, sweetheart, you just close your eyes and rest..."

I would love to :0 I thought of a few scenarios

1: Caretaker leaves Whumpee to get them something (food, medicine, first aid...) and when they return, Whumpee is fast asleep.

"Shoot, not yet..."

Caretaker is so conflicted because Whumpee needs their rest but there's still things that need to be taken care of first.

"Hey... I know, I know. You can go right back to sleep after you have this."

"There you go, you're doing so good..."

Caretaker sits down, letting Whumpee's head rest on their lap. They pet Whumpee's hair and whisper.

"There you go, all done... Sweet dreams..."

2: Caretaker is cuddling on the couch with a sick or injured Whumpee who has been crying for hours, when they finally fall asleep.

"Shhh... There you go, there you go..."

"Aw, you're all tuckered out, aren't you? I knoww, crying is hard work, isn't it~?"

It's finally quiet. Caretaker continues to gently pet Whumpee's hair until they're sure Whumpee is fast asleep. Perhaps caretaker falls asleep too after a while.

3: Caretaker comes home to find their partner asleep on the couch.

"I'm hoome~"

"Oh? Aww my gosh... Oh, you're adorable..."

Caretaker whispers and laughs quietly, crouching down to place a hand on Whumpee's head. They're taken aback when they feel just how warm it is. (You can additionally add some puke on the couch and floor ^^)

Like. Whumpee trying to stand up, already drained from a fever but suddenly their vision is doubling and spinning which only makes their nausea worse :(

Stopp this is so good yes

okay basing this off my own experience sometimes stuff just hurts so bad that articulation fails and you just start shaking.idk I just love it

character who is usually never tired but ends up constantly half-asleep when they're sick.

yours truly, 🥭 anon.

Energetic and upbeat characters becoming worryingly lethergic while sick >>>

People can tell something is seriously wrong when they come in and don't immediately start yapping everyone's ears off, at first they think they're upset about something but they assure anyone who asks that they're fine

OR trying to force themselves to participate, only to be completely miserable and get sent off to bed or pass out.

-🥚

anon... anon how did you know im sick

i'm sick on christmas

:(

ok so

the whole big friend group is together for christmas, sickie can hear everyone having fun from their room. caretaker comes by to check on them every once in a while, but for the most part, they've been lonely and sick all night. at a certain point, they fall asleep under the assumption that when they wake up, they'll still be by themself.

instead, they wake up to a number of hushed whispers and the faint aroma of tea. at first they think this is a dream, so they don't open their eyes. but the faint rustling of blankets alerts everyone else in the room that sickie is awake.

they open their eyes, and the lights are off. shadowy figures loosely resembling people surround them, and they think they might be delirious.

then, voices begin asking them how they're feeling, if they've eaten, they feel a hand being placed on their forehead and another pair further tucking in the blankets around them.

as it turns out, after everything had simmered down at the gathering, the others all wanted to make sure sickie had a good time too. someone had made tea, another lit some candles, and everyone has been quietly chatting while sickie rested.