They panted out little puffs of steam, their glazed eyes sweeping around the stifling room. They thought about heading into the kitchen to get another wet washcloth, but that had taken all of their energy last time, and the initially-cool water had fizzled out into vapor within seconds.

The scent of burning polyester wrinkled Hero’s nose. They sat up in their stupor to see little flames licking up their sheets and bedframe.

“Aw come on,” Hero croaked.

Hero patted the flames with their bare hands, and while this didn’t harm them at all because of their pyrogenic power, it did make the fire much bigger and hotter.

“Noooooo,” Hero rasped.

Hero tumbled out of bed, landing on the carpeted floor with a thud. The fire extinguisher… Hero had one in every room. Hero crawled over to their closet, their bedroom becoming more uncarpeted by the second.

Just as it looked like their entire room was going to go up in flames, there came a rapping at Hero’s window. They forced their spinning head up to see Other Hero on the other side of the glass. Their fingers had just curled around the latch before an all too familiar wave of nausea hit them. Fortunately, Other Hero opened the window the rest of the way.

A big, beautiful, sparkling beam of ice hit Hero in the chest like an exquisite spray of flame retardant foam. They let the crystals swathe them in their cool embrace. They heard Other Hero’s footsteps overhead, stamping out every flame and spark in their room. Soon, all that was left from the chaos was ice and smoke.

“Hey.” Hero cracked a weak grin despite their chapped lips, “come here often?”

“You could have burned down your entire neighborhood!” Other Hero scolded, “why didn’t you tell someone you were sick!?”

“I was getting better,” Hero argued.

“Sure you were.” Other Hero shook their head.

Other Hero crouched down at their side and went to pick them up. Now that was going too far. Hero scrambled to their feet. The dizzy spell that washed over them almost made them crumple right back down.

“Thanks for the assist, but I’m good now,” Hero said, “you can leave the way you came.”

Other Hero didn’t even glance at the window. They put their hand to Hero’s forehead and cried out. They retracted their hand which came back red with heat.

“Not a chance,” Other Hero said, “you are literally burning up. Put your ego aside for once and let me help you. Or if not me, then at least let me get someone in here who will help you. Do I need to call Superhero?”

“No!” Hero said quickly, “…no.”

Other Hero nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer for now. They helped Hero back onto the bed.

“Have you eaten or drank anything today?” Other Hero asked.

Hero threw an arm over his eyes, whimpering a little.

“Hero.”

“No, Mom. Sheesh.”

Other Hero rolled their eyes.

“I’m gonna make you some soup,” they said, “but before I do-”

A soothing cold enveloped Hero from below. They lifted their arm to see Other Hero applying a thick layer of frost to what was left of their bedding.

“Knowing you, that’s probably gonna melt in a few minutes, so I’m gonna stick around to keep it going until the fever comes down.”

Other Hero left the room, and Hero settled down into the melted pillows. The soup would be cold, but other than that, their rival would prove themselves to be a pretty good nurse. Neither of them would speak of this in front of anyone. As soon as Hero got better, though, there would be a lot of furniture shopping to do together.

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