#but i have desperately been wanting to write poor wren getting ill so it was still fun!

[spookyboywhump]

Day One- Sick

Hello! I'm going to do my absolute best to participate in @ailesswhumptober this year! I know I'm already late on day one but. better late than never asdfghjk

This is technically the third (and last) part of These Two pieces, however I wouldn't say they're especially necessary to read this one, just know Wren had an incident with some barbed wire and cold weather.

Fandom: OC's/Original Work

Word Count: 2,533

CW: pet whump, sick whump, emeto, mentions of infections, nonsexual- nudity

***

Something was wrong. Zander was used to waking up in the middle of the night, sometimes for no reason at all, but he woke up that night immediately feeling like something was just off. Almost instinctively, still half asleep, he sat up and looked around the darkened room, before finally looking down at Wren, finding the source of his unease.

 Wren was still fast asleep, but he didn’t exactly look peaceful. He was curled up, arms pulled close to his chest, his eyes were squeezed shut tightly, like he was having a bad dream, and he was trembling. For a moment Zander thought he really was just having a nightmare, he hated to see him so distraught, but as he reached down to brush his hair back from his face he felt his forehead, he quickly realized the poor kid was absolutely burning up. His hair was soaked with sweat, Zander was immediately more awake and alert, his only priority taking care of Wren. 

 “Hey… kid, you need to wake up…” He said, gently shaking him awake. Normally he’d just let him rest but this felt really bad, he felt he needed to do something now. He knew Wren was a heavy sleeper, but after a bit of nudging him he finally stirred, opening his eyes and looking around the room, confused as to what was going on.

 “Huh…? Wh-what’s wrong…?” He murmured, reaching over to push Zander’s hand away. 

 “You need to get up, come on.” He said softly, trying to help him into a sitting position, but Wren just seemed to be confused.

 “Why…? ‘M tired… and I don’t… feel good…” He murmured, trying to lay back down, but Zander was already climbing out of bed to help him up. 

 “Wren, you’re burning up. You have a high fever and I need to cool you down, okay?” He told him. Wren seemed to understand him, or at least he understood that he was being very serious, and he allowed Zander to help him out of bed. He was swaying on his feet, Zander had to hold him steady to guide him to the bathroom. Once he had him under the light he could see just how flushed his face was, he was bright red and simply put, he looked completely out of it. 

 “Do you think you’ll be able to shower on your own?” Zander asked him, turning the shower on but letting the water stay cold. 

 “I… think I need help…” Wren said slowly. At least he understood what Zander was trying to do for him. “Will-will a shower help…?” He asked. His voice was hoarse, Zander wondered if his throat hurt too, but he needed to focus on just the one thing for now.

 “It’s going to be cold, but it’s to bring your fever down. Are you alright with me helping?” He asked, and after thinking for a moment Wren nodded. He got undressed and Zander helped him into the shower, he immediately flinched away from the water but after taking a few moments to get used to it he relaxed. He had to kneel on the floor, too unsteady to support himself, and Zander took the showerhead down to help him better. While he mostly intended to cool him down, he was able to help him clean up as well, washing the sweat out of his hair and giving him some relief. 

 Once he was done he helped him out of the shower and helped him dry off, he mostly just helped him dry his hair though. The last thing he needed was him getting even sicker because he went back to bed with wet hair in a cold room. As it got colder outside their room would also get colder, he didn’t know what was wrong with the way it was built but it was never kept at a comfortable temperature like the rest of the house. Then again, that may have been intentional, he wouldn’t be surprised. He helped him get dressed, he could hardly stand on his own, and then let him get back into bed. 

 “I’m sorry for waking you up, I know you probably wanted to sleep, but… I was worried when I felt how hot you were…” Zander told him, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

 “It’s alright… thank you…” He murmured.

 “Do you feel sick? Aside from the fever, I mean.” Zander said, putting the back of his hand to Wren’s cheek to check on him. He was still incredibly warm, the shower seemed to have brought it down a little bit but not by too much. He knew it wasn’t that far off that Wren might be sick, it was only a few days since Cain had left him out in the cold for hours, but still, he couldn’t help but worry about trying to take care of him when they really didn’t have any resources there in their cell. 

 “Hm… I’m cold now… and my throat hurts… feels like I’ve been swallowing sandpaper…” He yawned. 

 “Alright… Why don’t you try to get some more sleep, I’ll try asking Cain for help tomorrow, okay?” He told him, and Wren nodded.

 “Will you lay with me…?” He asked.

 “Of course.” Zander laid back down with him, Wren cuddled up close while Zander held him in his arms, waiting until Wren fell back asleep to finally drift off himself.

 ***

 Wren woke up hours later, he thought the sleep would’ve done him some good but if anything he felt so much worse. He was hot again, he was sweating and his clothes and hair were sticking to him and he couldn’t stand it, hardly thinking as he kicked the blanket off him and pushed Zander’s arm away. That alone was enough to wake Zander, but Wren was already jumping out of bed, rushing to the bathroom, he knew exactly what would happen to him when he got sick. He’d dropped to his knees just in time to vomit into the toilet, he heard Zander come in behind him and soon felt his hand gently rubbing his back, trying to comfort him through it. 

 He still felt nauseous and sick even after he was finally done, sitting on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest, his head on his knees. He was trembling so badly he didn’t think he could stand, but Zander stayed with him, and Wren appreciated that he was willing to keep him company no matter how unpleasant it was.

 “Do… you feel better after that?” He asked him, and Wren shook his head, blinking back tears.

 “I just feel like shit.” He muttered. He gave himself a few moments to recover before struggling to his feet, turning on the sink so he could rinse his mouth out and wash his hands. He still felt too hot and overwhelmed by everything, but he desperately hoped that was the last time that would have to happen. 

 He went back to their room and flopped down onto the bed, trying to calm himself down. Zander came and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at him sympathetically. 

 “Hey, when Cain comes in I’ll try to ask him for help, okay? He’s often more… charitable to me when I get sick, so I think I can convince him to do the same for you.” He told him.

 “Yeah, but he-” He was interrupted by a coughing fit, bringing his arm up to cover his face, “He likes you more.” He finished, rolling his eyes. He wasn’t really thinking that hard about what he said, but it was how he felt. Usually he could reason that wasn’t true, Cain was harsh on Zander, he treated him differently but not nicely. In his miserable state though, all he could think about was how Zander could persuade Cain for better treatment, how Cain was charitable to Zander when he was sick, and how he’d beaten Wren senseless for absolutely nothing in the past.

 “What?” Zander laughed. “Cain doesn’t like me.”

 “He dislikes you a lot less than he dislikes me.” Wren shrugged. 

 “I’m sure he hates us both. Absolutely despises us, even.” Zander said, reaching up to brush Wren’s hair back from his forehead. Wren knew he was just trying to comfort him but he didn’t feel comforted, he just felt sad. Of course he had to get sick here, in this awful cell, in this awful place. He was thankful to have Zander with him, but at the same time he wanted to be at home. He wanted his bed, his stuffed animals, he wanted to take a long hot bath and eat his favorite comfort food. That wasn’t an option though, and that just made him all the more miserable. 

 While he laid there simply waiting for whatever was to come, he couldn’t help scratching at his arms. He was still covered in wounds from the barbed wire incident, it hadn’t been that long ago and while most had been reduced to scabs there were still some one his arms and legs that were constantly itching and irritating him, to the point he’d wake up with blood under his nails from scratching in his sleep. He knew it was bad, he knew he should leave it alone, but it drove him so crazy he couldn’t just ignore it. 

 “Wren- stop that.” Zander told him.

 “Why? It hurts.” He told him, but Zander was already grabbing his wrist and pulling his hand away. 

 “Shit, how long has it been like this?” He asked, and Wren frowned, he didn’t know what he was so upset about. He looked at him arm, yeah that particular wound didn’t look great, it was red and swollen, he hadn’t given it a chance to heal with how often he was picking at it. 

 “It’s fine.” He told him, using his hand to cover it.

 “It’s not fine, it looks infected. Shit, I should’ve helped you take care of it better.” He looked frustrated, and now Wren felt bad for not taking care of himself better. He didn’t have too much time to feel bad though, as the door opened and Cain stepped into the room, but he seemed to immediately notice something was off.

 “What’s wrong with the pup?” He asked, his eyebrows raised.

 “He’s sick.” Zander told him. “He needs help,  he’s had a fever all night, he threw up earlier, and now it looks like he has an infection…” He said, but Cain was already approaching to assess the situation for himself. He pressed his hand against Wren’s face and Wren almost wanted to lean into his touch, for once he welcomed how cold Cain’s hands were.

 “Shit, he is warm… Do you think this is making him sick, like what happened to you?” Cain asked, kneeling down to get a better look at Wren’s arm. 

 “I don’t know… it doesn’t look as bad as that, right?” Zander asked. Wren kept quiet and simply let them discuss him and his condition, he didn’t love it but he didn’t see any sense in fighting it either. 

 “Not, but you never know… I’ll get him something for the fever and something to eat later on, and I’ll see if Andrew has time to come look at this, okay?” Cain said, standing back up. He left the door open when he left, and Wren was shocked that he actually planned to do anything at all; he hardly knew what to think of it, just looking at Zander in disbelief. 

 “Is he… actually worried…?” He asked him. 

 “He doesn’t like dealing with infected injuries… after the one I had, I don’t think he wants to risk it.” Zander told him. 

 “What happened to you…?” He asked. Zander lifted his shirt, pointing out the scar across his chest.

 “That one was from a whip. I didn’t take care of it and not only did it get infected, but I got really sick, I actually had to stay and let Andrew watch me for a few days.” He told him, pulling his shirt back down. Wren shuddered, he didn’t want it to get that bad. He almost hoped the cold symptoms were completely unrelated, that there wasn’t any infection and there was nothing to worry about. He was already miserable all the time, he didn’t want to deal with his body attacking him as well.

 ***

 Cain did what he said he would do, he brought him some over the counter medicine he had for Wren to take to bring his fever down, and even left some so he could retake it hours later, and later on in the day he brought him some warm soup. It was oddly kind from Cain, and somewhat off-putting, but Wren appreciated it nonetheless. He would rather have that than nothing at all. 

 Andrew wasn’t able to come see him till the next day, which Wren thought would be fine, but by the time he got there, Wren felt so much worse. Everyone agreed he still had a fever, but he was so cold now, he was shivering so violently his muscles ached, his entire body felt sore. Andrew was being gentle as always as he looked him over, but Wren was still trying his hardest to hold back tears, he was just tired of feeling so terrible.

 “I think he just has a cold, you don’t need to worry much about that.” Andrew said, more to Cain and Zander than to Wren. 

 “What about his arm? Does that look infected?” Cain asked.

 “I don't think it's that severe, but if he keeps scratching at it he could risk getting a staph infection. I brought stuff for him just in case, keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn’t get any worse.” He sighed, standing up from where he knelt beside the bed. “I don’t think it’s as serious as what happened to Zander, but you can’t be leaving him out there in the cold, you already don’t take care of his health very well, I’m not the least bit surprised he got sick from that alone.” 

 “Oh whatever, if he’ll be fine then it doesn’t matter.” Cain rolled his eyes, immediately becoming defensive the moment Andrew tried to tell him what to do. While Wren was thankful Andrew would try to vouch for him like that, he wasn’t surprised that Cain brushed him off like that. He also wouldn’t be surprised if this happened to him again. When he got sick, he got sick, it had been like that his entire life, if this kind of treatment from Cain continued then he very likely would end up this ill again. 

 Once Andrew was done with looking him over, Cain left the room with him to walk him to the door, leaving Zander and Wren alone once again. Though he still felt terrible, he also felt like he was finally able to relax. It was nothing life threatening, he would be fine, he’d survive a simple cold of course, but just like everything else since he’d come here, he’d be miserable the entire time he endured it.