comfort fics

getting well (Jack Manifold)

The thermometer beeped, and Jack took it from my mouth. "Almost 103," he said, worried. "I don't read Fahrenheit, that's bad, innit?"

"Almost," I replied. "If it gets any higher, I guess I'll need to go to the ER."

Jack crossed his arms. "And you said you'd be fine," he tisked. I handed him the device and he began putting things away.

"Wait..." I started, covering my mouth. "You don't think it could be..."

"Well now I think it could be!" he said worriedly.

"I have tests in the bathroom, red and white boxes," I instructed. "There should be two to a box." Jack hurried back to the bathroom and looked under the sink for the COVID-19 tests, darting back to the bed.

"And this is why I said you shouldn't've come," I groaned.

"Should I be wearin' a mask? I think I should be wearin' a mask," Jack spouted. His eyes were wide in fear. "I'll go get a mask."

I sighed and tried to open the box. "Well, it's not gonna help anything now, is it?"

I fiddled with the box for a few more seconds before Jack took it from my hands and popped the flap up. Two COVID tests, as advertised. He dumped the contents onto the bed and I picked up the instructions, beginning to read.

"We have to stick this up our noses," I stated. "If I sneeze and die due to 'complications of a covid test' and not even actual COVID I will be upset."

I could tell Jack tried to laugh at my morbid joke but he was too concerned about the both of our health for comedic relief right now.

***

We waited in my bedroom, Jack nervously sitting at the foot of the bed facing me, and I was still under the covers, Doctor Jack's orders.

"One more minute," he proclaimed, looking at his phones timer again.

I grabbed his phone from him and clicked it off, setting it on the nightstand. "Time goes so much slower when you count down the seconds," I warned. "It will alert us when the time is up, I promise."

We sat in the deafening quiet. Jack fiddled with the covers and I closed my eyes, starting to get a headache from the stressed silence.

I closed my eyes and leaned back into the wall of pillows behind me.

"Jack, I can feel you rocking the bed, and not in a good way," I griped, opening one eye to look at him.

"Oh, sorry," he awkwardly chuckled.

A bit later, Jack's phone started going off, signaling that the fifteen minutes had passed for the tests to develop.

"Fucking christ, why is that your alarm tone?" I cursed out loud, putting my fingers in my ears. Jack went for his phone, muttering apologies as he turned it off.

"Your's was on the left of the sink, yeah?" he asked for clarification. I nodded, and he walked to the bathroom to retrieve them.

Once he entered, he called my name. "Uhm, how sure are you that your's was on the left?"

"Pretty damn sure, that's where I left it," I called back. "I have a fever, not amnesia."

Jack sulked into the room again, both tests in hand. "So... " he started. "Looks like we both got COVID, so. Sorry for that."

I face-palmed gently, as to not hurt my head any more. "It doesn't fucking incubate that quick," I laughed. "You didn't get me sick."

"Yeah, well. Looks like I'm staying here for a while anyways," he started solemnly. He turned back both of the tests so I could see the two blue lines on each of them.

I blinked and rubbed my eyes, as they must have been deceiving me. "Wait, we're both sick?"

Jack chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I did lead with that."

I took them from his hands and sat back on the pillows. "Why am I the only one dying here, then?"

Jack shrugged. "I'm not sure," was all he could muster.

He took all the garbage from the tests to the bathroom to toss them, and then came back to sit on the bed with me. "Suppose we should make the most of this time off, while we have it," I mused.

Jack held up a finger. "But first, soup," he said, matter of factly. "You've not had anything to eat since yesterday."

❤️
part two coming soon :)