Espilver Flufftober 2021

27. "I'm cold" - "Here, have my jacket"

"When will you learn that going outside with little protection and jumping in puddles is tantamount to you getting ill?"

A dry cough follows Espio's scolding. "Never, and now stop nagging."

"I will not. And when will you learn that when you are ill you need to stay in bed?"

"...Also never."

With a deep sigh Espio shakes his head, studying his slightly-scrawny and completely-flu-wrecked beloved from where the other is pointedly laying face-down on the floor of their living room instead of the upstairs bed the chameleon had just finished trapping him in. A necessity, something he does not like to do usually but which he had deemed acceptable now; after their little escapade in the pouring rain a few days ago, it had not taken the time traveller long to succumb to sniffles and fevers galore. Which in itself is fine, definitely not impossible and maybe even normal, but... it has happened far more commonly this autumn season than Espio would have liked, he must admit. Not only in part because sometimes Silver makes himself nigh-impossible to care for, let alone be forced into taking medicine or resting; it also indicates something deeper, something more troubling that makes the ninja rather antsy and worried, though he does not speak those thoughts out loud. Sinking down next to the psychic on the floor Espio decides to sigh anew, if only to allow himself some silent bemoaning of this whole situation. Sometimes he wishes the guardian of the future was not so stubborn and headstrong, let alone seemingly capable of teleporting on top. How else would the time traveller have managed to get in the living room without the chameleon noticing him sneaking down the stairs or fly through windows somehow? No-one ever said dealing with an ill psychic would be easy, sadly.

"I want to nap in the sun, Espio," resounds beside him in protest, a feverish forehead getting pressed against a cool purple leg despite Espio's earlier scolding. The ninja pulls a worried face at that- Silver's body is much too warm, his innate skills as fuzzy space heater amplified a thousand-fold until he now is almost too hot to the touch... And his beloved has always been wiry and thin, but as the chameleon lets his fingers trail over soft grey fur he can easily feel the ribs poking out through the skin of the hedgehog's chest...

And he knows the cause, Espio is well aware. Silver had not gotten the start in life the ninja so gladly would have given to him.

Living in a ruined future on fire has had its impacts on Silver in more ways than one, that much had become clear quickly enough once the wary hedgehog joined their household and Espio could truly begin caring for him and find out just what his life had been like before. Not only is there the psychological effects, the time traveller's amazement at all the wonders of the pasts that its natural denizens consider mundane or plain unremarkable – and his fears towards many more he does not know or recognises in all the wrong ways from the ruined future – but... the physical marks it has resulted in are clear as day on his body also, in dozens of poorly-healed injuries and other such characteristics, and Espio might hate those most of all. He can soothe Silver's thoughts and nightmares, be his guide and shoulder to lean on to let him heal in his mind, but the ninja can do dishearteningly little against scars and burns hidden underneath soft grey fur and aching lungs and poor immune systems.

And Silver knows, and Espio knows Silver knows the chameleon knows as well, but perhaps the worst of all is that the hedgehog is okay with it all. Not at peace, not truly accepting, but also not knowing how to change it or get rid of it and thus simply... being okay. Because he is Silver, and Silver never asks anything for himself, and the ninja does understand that being fine with something wholly not-fine is sometimes the only thing one can do to make the situation bearable.