Archive of Our Own ^beta

Kane felt terrible. Even worse than when he would wake up in the morning after a drug and alcohol induced hangover. As a kid, Kane rarely got sick, only contracting a cold every few years at the most. But it seemed as though all his years of luck with illness had finally given way. Every other Apex Predator member had gotten the flu, but everyone agreed that Kane's was the worst by far. He had been bed ridden for about 4 days now, at least, that's what Richter told him.

Richter had the task of taking care of Kane until he got better. This was because Richter got the mildest flu of the team, and was the most adapt to take care of him. He would have done it anyway. They had been the closest friends for a long time now, and even better lovers more recently. Though they could not say it out loud, the rest of the team knew, but no one else.

Richter was looking around for any and all blankets in Kane's room and piled them on him as he found more. The main reason Kane would pilot a scorch most of the time was because he got cold easily, and that was even worse at this time. He kept shivering, almost violently at times, and it would take Richter to talk him down so he could be reassured that everything would be fine. This worked, surprisingly well, for someone as sick as Kane.

"That should be the last one," Richter said, as he placed the last blanket on Kane's already heavy pile. There were at least 10 blankets piled upon Kane, who's shivering had become less violent, but was still noticeable. Kane tried to say thank you, but only managed a nod. He felt really bad for making Richter take care of him, even though he knew he would have whether or not Kane asked him to or not. "Now, I will be right back to get you some food, okay?" Richter asked, in case Kane needed him. "Hopefully I can keep it down this time." Kane joked. He could barely keep any food or drink in his stomach since he got the flu. He had a bucket with him whenever he ate just in case he couldn't keep it down.

Richter smiled and left for the kitchen in the house the apex predators shared. Kane watched him leave, before closing his eyes, trying to fall asleep.

Kane had another sickness induced dream. He wasn't sure if they were fever dreams, because he's had fever dreams, and knew that they were not like the ones he had now. But they were more like illness nightmares than dreams. He counted about 3 illness nightmares in the past few days, but this one was by far the worst. His dream had him envision Richter dying before is eyes, as he was forced to watch, unable to turn away, held down by some unrelenting force. He knew it was just a dream, but the screams of his lover sounded so real, that it made him believe that he had just lost the person he cared the most about.

It felt like hours before he shot up out of his bed in a cold sweat. He couldn't tell if what he had just witnessed was real or some delusion, which caused him to go into panic mode. As he tried to move out of bed, the heavy weight of the blankets on him paired with his weak state, caused him to flop onto the floor, with his legs still trapped under the blankets. With half of his body in the floor and the other half still trying to free itself from the mountain of blankets, he couldn't help but sob and cry out, hoping that he could find someone to help him calm back down.

He didn't even notice Richter run into the room until he felt himself being pulled to his chest and being cradled by him. "Kane, it's okay. I'm here, I'm here," Richter attempted to reassure Kane as the sobbing continued for several minutes. After nearly 20 minutes of calming words from Richter and the continuous rocking back and forth, Kane finally calmed down and his sobbing stopped. When Richter noticed the lack of crying from Kane, he drew back Kane from his chest to get a better look at him. He looked worse than when he left. Kane's eyes had become red and puffy, his nose was running from the crying, and he looked as if something important had been taken from him. He had no idea how close to the truth he was.

"I th-thought I'd l-l-lost you for-forever," Kane managed to choke out before tears began to reform at the corners of his eyes again. "I'm not going anywhere, I promise. I'm not leaving you anytime soon," Richter assured Kane as he wiped the tears away. Kane just nodded as he laid his head back on Richter's chest, not wanted to ever let go. Richter wasn't planing in letting go anytime soon either.