Sick

Grizz had just entered the bathroom and was preparing to brush his teeth when he heard the sound. His ears perked and he went still as he listened for the sound again, a small dab of toothpaste oozing out of the tube and missing the awaiting toothbrush before falling directly into the sink. Grizz promptly dropped his toothbrush and raced out of the bathroom, heading straight for his bedroom where he heard the sound. Bursting through the door, he found Nom Nom sitting on the edge of the bed, a fist pressed to his mouth as he coughed.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay? Are you sick?” Grizz asked frantically, barely giving pause between each question. Nom Nom glared up at him as he continued coughing.

“No, I’m,” -cough- “fine. My throat’s dry, that’s all,” he tried to argue, his voice incredibly hoarse. Grizz made his way over to him and placed a paw to his forehead. His frown deepened.

“You’re burning up, and your cheeks are flushed.”

Nom Nom swatted his paw away. “I said I’m fine,” he snapped as he slid off the bed. “What time is it?” he asked before another wave of loud coughs wracked his frame.

“Nine o’ clock,” Grizz replied, his concern escalating.

“Good, I didn’t oversleep,” the koala replied as he recovered. “I need to be at the studio by ten.”

“What? You can’t go out in this condition.”

“Grizz, I have a video to shoot. I’ve already rescheduled it once. I can’t miss it.”

“But you’re sick!”

“I’m not si-” Nom Nom placed a fist to his mouth as he started coughing again.

“Yes, you are! You’ve got a bad cough and you’re running a fever! You’re not going anywhere!”

The koala glared up at him. “Yes, I am! You can’t order me around, Grizz! I’ll fight you on this.” Nom Nom blinked a few times. “All three of you,” he added as he became a bit unsteady.

Grizz’s eyes widened. “You need bed rest,” he said as he quickly scooped the koala up and went to place him back in the bed.

“Grizz, I’m fine!” Nom Nom insisted as he was tucked snuggly beneath the blankets.

“No, you’re not! You’re obviously coming down with something. In fact, I should probably take you to the doctor.”

“NO! No doctors!”

Grizz crossed his arms as he looked at the marsupial sternly. “Well then, you’re staying in bed. Wait right here,” he said before leaving the room. He returned moments later, a damp washcloth in his paw, which he placed atop Nom Nom’s forehead. “Okay, so Panda and I are gonna go to the store and get the necessities: soup, medicine, etc.”

Nom Nom rolled his eyes. “You don’t need to get all that. Condensed soup is gross, anyway.”

“You’re gonna need medicine, but if you want, my li'l bro can probably make you soup.”

“Er…no, thanks. I prefer my soup to not be poisoned. I’ll just eat the canned soup,” Nom Nom replied with a sigh.

“All right. Just let me do one quick thing first,” the bear said as he reached for Nom Nom’s phone.

“Wait, what’re you doing?”

“I’m gonna call the people at the studio and tell them you’re sick,” Grizz answered as he looked through Nom Nom’s contacts. Sighing in defeat, Nom Nom rested his head back against the pillow, glaring up at the ceiling.


Part II

“Okay…Panda and I are going to the store, so I’m trusting you to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t try to sneak out.”

Ice Bear stared at his eldest brother momentarily before the tiniest smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“I saw that,” Grizz said sternly. “Don’t torment him, okay? He’s sick. Just make sure he stays put. That’s all I want you to do. So…no chasing him through the cave with the axe, no trapping him in the bathroom like you did last week, no putting itching powder in his blanket, and no sticking him in the trashcan. Got it? We should be back in an hour or so…give or take.”

Grizz waved to his brother before following Panda towards the door. “Remember, just keep an eye on him,” he said as he closed the door behind him.

“No one gets past Ice Bear.”

—–

After hearing the front door close, Nom Nom smirked impishly as he kicked the blankets away from his body. He removed the washcloth from his forehead and reached for his phone, sending a quick text to one of his crew members that he was planning on coming to the studio. He waited a few moments to give Panda and Grizz enough time to get far enough ahead of him before finally making his move.

With his phone in hand, he hopped down off the bed, which immediately caused him slight dizziness. He swayed on his feet slightly and placed a paw to the side of the bed to steady himself. He then slowly made his way for the door, peeking his head outside  to make sure Ice Bear wasn’t around. He slipped through the door and tiptoed his way towards the living room, thankful to see the polar bear was nowhere in sight. His grin widened as he made a break for the door, jumping up to grab the doorknob.

Opening the door, the koala could feel himself begin to giggle mischievously, but he stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the stoic polar bear standing right outside the door, staring down at him with his arms crossed.

“No,” was all he said.

Growling in frustration, Nom Nom slammed the door and stomped back to Grizz’s bedroom and slammed the door. He crossed his arms and leaned against the door for a moment as he tried to think another route of escape. Looking up at the bedroom window, Nom Nom quickly rolled Grizz’s computer chair over to it and climbed up, unlatching the window and pushing it open. He swung one leg over the side and held on to the edge of the window tightly as he swung the other over. As he dropped down into the grass, he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. He turned to see Ice Bear once again standing before him, arms crossed and face devoid of emotion. He reached down to pick the koala up, who glared daggers at him.

“I hate you,” he hissed.

“Likewise,” the polar bear responded as he dropped Nom Nom back inside the bedroom.

His efforts would continue, but the result would always be the same.

—–

Later…

Upon opening the front door, Grizz was somewhat surprised to see Nom Nom sitting on the couch, wrapped in a fleece blanket with Ice Bear sitting right beside him, his nose in a book.

“Aww, you guys are bonding!”

“Yeah, I guess you could say that,” Nom Nom quipped as he ripped the blanket away to reveal a red harness strapped to his body, the leash looped around Ice Bear’s wrist.

“Dude, what the heck?” Grizz scolded as he went over to undo the harness.

“Ice Bear did what you asked. Nom Nom did not sneak out. Ice Bear made sure of that.”

“I didn’t mean strap him in a harness like a three year old.” Grizz shot Panda a glare when he heard him start giggling.

“You never said Ice Bear couldn’t do that.”

Grizz sighed, pulling Nom Nom into his arms. “Well, I’ll be sure to add that to the list next time.”

Nom Nom peered over Grizz’s shoulder, glaring at the polar bear as he was carried back to Grizz’s room. “Jerk,” he mumbled.

“Takes one to know one,” Ice Bear shot back without looking up from his book.

Part III

Grizz gently placed Nom Nom back on his bed before turning his attention to the bag carrying the items he had purchased at the store. He chose to simply dump the items out on the bed, which there were quite a lot of, much to Nom Nom’s surprise.

“I wasn’t really sure what medicine to get, so I bought several. I got you some cough drops, too.”

Nom Nom immediately reached for the bag of cough drops, tearing it open and fishing one out.

“Oh…and Panda made me buy this,” Grizz laughed as he held up a bag containing a face mask. “He’s afraid I’ll get your germs.” Tearing the face mask out of the bag, Grizz stretched the band over the back of his head and situated the mask directly over his snout. “Hey, I kinda look like a doctor,” he laughed.

Nom Nom rolled his eyes as he unwrapped one of the cough drops and popped it in his mouth.

“My name is Dr. Grizz and you’re going to be my patient today!”

“Kill me.”

“No, no, that would go against my Hypocritic Oath.”

“You mean Hippocratic Oath. Nerd.”

“Right, right. Now then…why don’t you tell me what’s wrong?”

“Grizz, I’m not in the mood,” Nom Nom sighed.

“The sooner you tell me what’s wrong, the sooner I can help you get better!”

“Oh for…Fine. I feel warm, I’ve got a bad cough, my head feels like it’s in a vice, my throat’s dry, and my nose is stopped up!”

Grizz rubbed his chin. “Mmmhmm, I see, yes.”

Nom Nom could feel his eye begin to twitch. He knew Grizz was just acting cutesy to try and cheer him up, but he really wasn’t in the mood.

“Let’s see…what do I have here that might benefit you?” the bear continued in his doctor persona as he looked through the different medicines, reading each of their labels carefully. “Ah, yes!” he exclaimed as he made his selection, tearing open the box. “This one should suit you best,” he continued as he struggled to tear the plastic wrapped around the neck of the bottle. “Heheh…one second…Okay almost…No…Darn it. Oh wait, here we go!” He tossed the plastic wrappings aside and removed the plastic cup from the lid. He rechecked the instructions before unscrewing the cap. “You need to take a tablespoon of this every four hours.”

“Yippee,” the koala responded dryly.

Grizz tipped the bottle over the top of the plastic cup and carefully measured out the correct amount. “Okay, take this,” he said as he held the cup out to the koala. Rolling his eyes, Nom Nom leaned over the side of the bed and spat out what was left of his cough drop into the waste bin and took the cup with a grimace. He tipped his head back and downed the red liquid in one gulp, immediately wincing the second it touched his tongue.

“UGH!” he gagged, visibly shuddering. “That stuff is horrible!”

“Yeah, it usually is,” Grizz agreed as he took the cup back. “But hopefully it’ll relieve some of your symptoms. Now then…would you be able to stomach some soup?”

Nom Nom nestled himself under the covers. “I guess,” he murmured tiredly. “Just don’t let your brother anywhere near it.”

——

Grizz had stayed by Nom Nom’s side throughout most of the day, only leaving the room when he needed to eat or use the bathroom. Nom Nom had spent a large portion of the afternoon sleeping, so Grizz was somewhat surprised to find him sitting up and awake after returning from eating a late lunch. “Hey, you’re up!” he greeted. He saw the koala hunched over, clutching his phone in one paw as he tapped at the screen with the other. He heard a very familiar musical tune coming from the phone, along with crushing sound effects. “Hey, are you playing Candy Crush?” he asked as he went to join Nom Nom on the bed.

“Mmhm,” Nom Nom hummed, never tearing his attention away from the screen.

“Man, Panda was obsessed with that game for a while. We actually ended up having to have an intervention. He was so obsessed, you literally couldn’t tear his attention away from it for nothing. I even tried telling him I was abducted and anally probed by aliens and that still didn’t snap him out of it.”

Nom Nom finally looked his way. “Okay…I really didn’t need that mental image. I’m sick enough already, thanks.”

Grizz giggled. “Sorry. Anyway…it’s time to take your medicine again. You really should have taken it an hour ago, but you were still asleep and I didn’t want to wake you.”

Nom Nom sighed as he set his phone aside. “How long was I out?” he asked before he suddenly started coughing again.

“About three hours,” Grizz replied as he carefully poured the medicine.

“That long?”

“It’s probably the medicine that knocked you out. It said it can cause drowsiness.”

“No kidding.”

Nom Nom took the cup as it was offered to him and gulped the bitter liquid quickly, not wanting to let it linger on his taste buds too long. He furrowed his brows when he saw Grizz remove his face mask.

“Why’re you taking that off? You don’t wanna get sick, do you?”

“Eh, I’ll take my chances,” Grizz replied with a shrug. “I hate wearing this thing. It makes it a lot harder for me to do this,” he added as he leaned in to plant a gentle kiss between the koala’s eyes.

“Come on,” Nom Nom sighed as he pulled away, trying to feign annoyance, but Grizz had caught his brief smile.

“‘Come on’, what?” he teased, leaning in to kiss him again.

“Grizz, knock it off!” Nom Nom laughed as he tried pushing the incoming snout away. “You’re gonna get sick, dumbo.”

“It’ll be worth it.” Grizz leaned in again, planting another kiss on the top of his head. “Do you feel any better? Is the medicine helping?”

“I can’t really tell,” Nom Nom replied in a voice that sounded nothing like his own.

Grizz frowned. “Man…you sound terrible.”

A very sarcastic, “Thank you,” was Nom Nom’s response to this.

“Look…if you don’t feel any better by tomorrow, I really think you should see a doctor. I know going to the doctor isn’t fun, but-”

“No.”

“Please? They can prescribe you antibiotics that can knock this stuff out really fast.” Grizz reached behind Nom Nom’s ear and started scratching gently. “Please? For me?”

Nom Nom’s eyes fluttered as he leaned into the touch. “I hate it when you do this,” he growled. “You always do this to win an argument.”

“You love it when I do this, and I’ll keep doing it if you’ll agree to go to the doctor.”

“Ugh…fine!”

Grizz’s smile brightened.