Alain gets sick

Alain Woodloe gets sick. But his friend Cole Inokke is close to a breakthrough. Will he be able to go to work while ill

He felt the heat across his body, as the sweat plastered his feathers to his face. He opened his eyes slowly, as his body responded sluggishly, his surrounding spun around him, unfocused. He rolled over on his side, as his vision cleared, he saw that it was close to the time his alarm would wake him up.

Alain reached out, missing a few times, before grabbing his phone and turning the alarm off. He rolled back, staring at the ceiling. Alain felt warm, not hot certainly not, but warm in the most uncomfortable way, it didn't feel secure, it felt suffocating, made his limbs feel heavy, he could feel the sweat dripping down from his forehead, going into the feathers that covered his head. Alain then noticed a light throbbing coming from his head, not painful, numbing would be the right word to describe it, he thought.

He sat up, the world swimming around him and his stomach clenching, threatening to throw up anything he had eaten the previous night. Alain was sick, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. I should probably do a quick check up on himself, to see if anything... troublesome was present, Alain thought, with that, Alain slowly got his legs out of bed, trying to make sure his talons were firmly planted on the ground before getting up.

It didn't stop him from losing his balance, causing him to support himself against the wall, while his stomach did somersaults. He waited for his stomach to settle before moving forwards, each step sending another wave of nausea, but he finally made it to the bathroom.

He looked at himself in the mirror. His skin was a lot paler than normal. He opened the cabinet, finding the thermometer easily, he sat down on the toilet, popping the thermometer under his tongue, being careful to avoid his sharp teeth, and waited.

While he waited, he started going through a list of his symptoms, tiredness, nausea, body aches, weakness.... He took the thermometer out of his mouth, 100 F it read, and a low fever he added on to the list of symptoms.

Alain went slowly back to his bedroom,a flu, he didn't feel like it warranted a trip to a doctor, but he was sick, I should take some time off work to get better. He sat on his bed and grabbed his phone, holding it in front of him.

Alain felt....hesitation. He sighed placing the phone back down. He knew they wouldn't mind, on the contrary, “take all the time you need Alain” Roxie would say, “ Yeah, can't have a sick doc following me around all the day” Cole would respond, if he wasn't already down in his lab. But what made him pause was Cole.

Not that Alain thought Cole needed him working, not at all, Cole would be fine without him, fine without him, at least scientifically he would be. But health wise.... Cole was close to a breakthrough in his research in regenerative cells, and whenever that happened Cole tended to be...negligent, health wise.

Cole forgot to eat, to rest, heck if someone didn't throw him out of the labs he probably wouldn't leave! He would just keep going until he... well, succeeded or failed. That was what worried Alain, if he failed.

Normally failure for someone else would be horrible, yes, but they would learn and grow, they wouldn't hold on to it for too long, for Cole.... It was devastating, like his life depended on him succeeding, that would trigger an episode with him.

Now Alain didn't know much about these episodes, since he had only seen one, nor did he know the origins, but what he did know was that when Cole entered an episode, he needed to be watched like a hawk.

He hated seeing his friend like that, hollow empty eyes, that familiar smile on his face gone, looking so tired, looking like he could fall apart at any second, the image haunted him. And so against his rational thoughts, Alain got ready for work.

Alain had tried to eat something, yes tried, but his stomach refused, making him empty it into the nearest bin. That's when the rational side, his medical knowledge, spoke up You're not going to be able to keep this up it whispered You're not going to be able to help anyone like this, and he almost listened, almost, but one phrase whispered in his head, one phrase, that made him take his car keys and go anyway, And if he fails?, So here he was, driving to work, trying not to vomit.

Alain stopped in front of the Lab, this was going to be a long day, he was sure of it. This is a stupid idea, he thought, he opened the door of his car and started towards the lab doors, You're being such an idiot, That thought repeated on an seemingly endless loop, as his stomach turned. Alain opened the door to the labs.

Roxie lifted her head from where she was at the reception desk, yellow slit eyes going to Alain's face. She smiled, red spikes of hair cascading down her face

“Hello Alain!” she said cheerily “How are you doing?” Alain had never noticed how loud her voice was before, nor how bright her hair and eyes were, he felt another wave of nausea.

Roxie looked at him with concern, before moving to get up. That snapped Alain out of his trance “O-oh, I-i'm fine.... just peachy” He realised that his voice lacked energy, and went to grab his lab coat, avoiding eye contact.

“Are you sure?” she asked, “you seem to be blanking out a bit” Alain put on his lab coat, making his way down the right hallway “Yep.. just a bit tired” He replied, putting as much fake energy as he could “story of my life” she replied. He continued walking.

He knew Cole was most likely down in the underground lab, since Cole had said that they'd be doing mainly experiments on the regenerative cells, but he decided to check in his office anyway.

He opened the door and the lights were off, he had the slight temptation to just sit in the dark room, so that he didn't feel the nausea or tiredness, but he had work to do, so he made his way down to the labs.

Alain's talons clicked against the tiled surface of the lab floors, sending more vibrations through him and subsequently to his stomach. When he entered the bright lab, seriously this lab was way too bright for his tired eyes, He saw Cole, the raven haired man slouching over a microscope, his hair tied back into a low ponytail, with his lab coat and wearing his red turtle neck, how could he wear that when it was so hot, Alain thought.

“Glad you're here doc!” Cole said, not turning around “we got a lot to do today!” He started to turn around to face Alain “So get ready for-” As soon as Cole's deep emerald green eye and light blue eye landed on Alain, he stopped, wide smile dropping for a look of concern, Cole raised an eyebrow “Are you okay?” He asked quietly.

Alain was shocked to say the least. It took him zoning out for Roxie to catch on to something being off, and Cole normally wasn't any good at reading people, not being able to tell when someone was angry or sad or upset or or anything, and yet one look was all Cole needed to know that something was off with Alain.

Alain tried to make his voice sound stronger than he was feeling “I'm alright. Why do you ask?” Cole looked at him with scepticism “it's just,” he started, tilting his head to the side “you don't look good...” Cole looked to the side, avoiding eye contact and rubbing his arm nervously.

Now this really took Alain back, Not only had Cole caught on to something being off but he had also recognised that Alain looked unwell. Maybe Alain wouldn't have been so surprised if Cole had been a creature like himself, but he wasn't, Cole was human, And whereas Roxie, a Reptile like creature and mother, hadn't been able to tell until Alain had zoned out, Cole, a human who wasn't very observant when it came to others, knew as soon as he laid eyes on him. Maybe he looked awful and Roxie didn't want to mention it?

Alain shook his head, he'd leave that question for later, right now, he needed to get past Cole, and so he did it the only way he could think of deflecting it, with humour.

“Wow.” he exclaimed with as much sarcasm as he could muster “didn't know my choice in fashion was that bad” Cole's head snapped back around, meeting Alain's eyes immediately “I didn't mean it like that!” he exclaimed “I meant.. well I mean..I” Cole stuttered.

Alain would always find it amazing, how such a confident scientist like Cole, could be reduced to a stuttering mess. Although Cole never was good with people, “numbers and formulas are predictable, people aren't!” Cole had exclaimed to Alain when he had asked why Cole had such a hard time with people, so maybe it wasn't that big of a mystery.

In fact, Cole had always acted in a nervous fashion around people, strange since he was excellent at meetings and public speaking. Maybe the man just wasn't comfortable around-

Cole snapped his fingers right in front of Alain's face, causing him to jump. Cole now had a very serious look on his face

“You're zoning out too.” He muttered, starting to circle him, examining him from every angle. Alain went to say something. To protest. But Cole stopped him, putting a finger up to his own mouth before continued his track. Putting his hand on Alain's forehead, looking at his eyes, prodding at his feathers, until he arrived back at the front of Alain.

“You're sick.” He stated clearly, staring at Alain. Alain went to argue, but Cole stepped forwards, grabbed his jaw and pulled him down so that they were at eye level.

“Don't lie. I may not be observant, but I know a sickness when I see one.” He let go of Alain's chin, allowing him to straighten up. Cole sighed “.....What were you thinking? Coming to work ill. Did you think I wouldn't allow you time off? Do you think I'm that severe to my employees?”

Cole actually looked genuinely upset at the thought that his employees would think that of him. Alain shook his head walking forwards “Not at all, I-”

“Then why?” Cole interrupted, He stepped towards Alain, looking at his face “If you knew I'd happily give you time to recover, why did you feel it necessary to come? I'm mean.... you're helpful yes. But I can do it on my own, you can take time off.”

Alain gulped, He didn't know how to respond. He couldn't tell him the truth or it'd start another argument, but he couldn't leave either. He took a step forward, hoping, praying his mind could give him something to say. And that was the instant his stomach lurched.

He fell to the floor, his feet slipping out from under him, he collided with Cole on the way down, taking them both to the floor. Cole was pinned under Alain, Cole looking up at him with wide eyes, Alain tried to get up but.... all the movement had been the final straw for his stomach.

He started dry heaving, Cole looked up at him in shock, tried to get Alain to move, but he was pinned on all sides. Alain vomited over Cole's shoulder, Cole gave a shiver of disgust as he felt the vomit go into his hair and lab coat. Alain could feel Cole rubbing his back as he vomited

“J-just let it out... There we go” Cole said shakily, When Alain finished, he looked back at Cole, panting slightly “Better?” Cole asked. Alain shook his head, before his limbs finally gave out, collapsing on top of Cole.

Cole sighed “This is why we don't go to work sick” He was able to sit up with difficulty, making it so Alain was sitting in his lap. Alain wrapped his arms loosely around Cole. Cole rubbed his back some more “This is ridiculous. I'm taking you home” That was the last thing Alain heard before he drifted off to sleep.

When Alain woke up, he had a wet towel on his head and felt a weight on his body. He opened his eyes and recognised that he was in his bedroom, with the duvet over him. He could also hear the sound of the shower. He sat up in his bed and reached for his phone, that was when the door opened.

“Oh, you're up. Hope you don't mind that I used your shower” Cole said from the doorway. Alain shook his head “N-not at all.... what are we doing here?” He asked.

Cole dried his hair with a towel, before grabbing a chair and sitting next to the bed “Well you're sick, fell asleep in my arms in the labs. Couldn't leave you there like that now could I?” He chuckled.

Alain groaned, laying down as he remembered what happened “Sorry about-” Cole raised a hand, chuckling “Don't worry about it! You're sick. Can't really blame you” Alain sighed in relief.

They spent a few moments in silence. Cole retold the tale of how he got Alain back home and after got up to leave before stopping at the door, turning around to face him.

“Why did you decide to go? You're a doctor, it's not like you didn't..... know.” Alain shifted in his bed, before sighing, It was the least he could do “I was worried about you.” Cole chuckled “Come on-” “No listen.” Alain said with authority. He went into a sitting position again before continuing.

“I've seen what you're like when you fail things Cole. It isn't healthy, so of course I worry because.... Because” Alain groaned “Because you're my friend. You're my friend and I hate seeing you like that. Thin and in pain. And so I decided I would keep an eye on you. To make sure nothing happened, because if I don't who will?” Alain sighed, looking away from Cole.

Cole didn't move for a long time, then he heard him go to the chair “It's not your job to worry about me Alain-” “But-” Alain said turning his head towards Cole. Cole raised a hand

“You had your speech, let me speak now” Alain nodded, looking away. Cole started up again “I'm a grown man, you only started working with me, what, a year ago. And I survived those years. It may not seem like it, but I have people looking out for me, and I always make sure I don't go too far. Plus, this little stunt didn't really help either of us, if anything, it just made me more worried about you. I understand, But trust me, I'll be fine” Alain looked at Cole, who was smiling back at him.

Alain sighed, nodding “Good, now get some rest. If you want, I'll stay here for a bit longer, so you don't have to worry.” Alain went back into the blankets “Thank you.” Alain said softly, Cole stroke the feathers out of his face “No problem friend.”