Chapter Text
"A-a-a-choo!"
"Gesundheit," Jay said for what felt like the fiftieth time, stepping back from his teammate. "Are you sure you're good to train, Cole?"
"I'm sure," Cole said, but his voice was thick with exhaustion and probably more than a little snot. "Let's keep going."
Jay frowned. "I mean, if you're sure…"
"I'm sure," Cole said again, and he sniffed hard before resuming a fighting stance. "Come at me."
Jay twirled his nunchucks uncertainly, still not stepping forward.
"Come at me!" Cole repeated.
Giving up on his inhibitions, Jay rushed at Cole, swinging a nunchuck at his torso.
Cole dodged to the side. Or at least, he tried to.
Jay saw what was going to happen the moment before it did happen, not enough time to prevent it but just enough time to wince.
Seeming to forget he was holding his scythe, Cole tripped over the long end of the scythe and crashed to the ground face-first.
Jay hurried to his side. "Cole?'
"Ow," Cole muttered into the ground. He rolled over, blinking up at Jay. "Yeah, that hurt."
"Now do you think you're good to train?" Jay asked, maybe a little more smugly than was necessary but definitely less smugly than he wanted to.
Cole sighed. "Maybe not."
"You should go lie down," Jay said.
"Maybe," Cole said. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, then he stood, swaying a little bit. "I mean, it's not that bad. I'm not, I'm not really-"
"You're not standing up without swaying, you mean," Jay interrupted.
Cole frowned at him, then he looked down at himself. "Okay, yeah. I guess."
"Come on," Jay said, stepping forward. "Put your arm around my shoulders. Let's get you to bed."
Cole sighed again, but he wrapped an arm around Jay and began following him inside, sneezing periodically.
"I should've let you keep training," Jay said teasingly. "I bet I could've beat you five times in a row with how you're doing."
"Not a chance. I'll whoop you ten times out of ten, sick or not," Cole said, obviously trying to sound tough even as he wheezed for breath.
Jay frowned and reached a hand over to Cole's forehead. "Wow. That's hot. Like, Kai's-sword-on-fire hot. I feel like we should call a doctor."
"No," Cole said firmly. "No way. I'm fine."
"You're struggling to stand, you're burning up, and you're still fine?" Jay asked. He gave an incredulous little laugh. "Yeah, right. You're fine, and I'm the orange ninja."
"I'm fine," Cole insisted. "I don't need a doctor. And you'd look decent in orange."
Jay pushed the bedroom door open, rolling his eyes. "You definitely need a doctor."
"Who needs a doctor?" Kai asked, hopping up off of his bed.
"Cole does," Jay said, ushering Cole across the room toward his bed.
Kai frowned. "He doesn't look like he needs a doctor."
"Are you kidding me?" Jay asked. He removed his arm from around Cole. "Look at him. He's swaying and sneezing and barely breathing. The guy's sick."
"Yeah, he's sick," Kai agreed. "But I don't think he needs a doctor."
"I don't need a doctor," Cole said, sitting on the edge of his bed.
"Yeah, you do," Jay said. "You're really sick."
"Yeah, but not a doctor kind of sick," Kai said.
"See, Kai gets it. I'm not that kind of sick," Cole said, and he promptly sneezed four times in a row.
"What, exactly, would be a 'doctor kind of sick' to you two?" Jay asked.
Kai shrugged. "You know. A dying kind of sick."
Cole gestured at Kai. "Yes. That."
"You're saying if you're not dying, you don't need a doctor," Jay said slowly.
"I mean, it'd be nice to have a doctor for anything other than being about to die," Kai said. "But. You know. Doctors are how they are."
"And how they are is not for just getting a little sick," Cole said.
Jay frowned. "What? I don't-"
"How they are is not cheap," Kai clarified.
"How they are is expensive," Cole agreed. "And how I am is not dying, so I don't need a doctor. I'll be fine."
"He'll be fine," Kai said dismissively. "He'll just have to take it a little easier for a couple of days. But not too easy, because then he won't get done what needs to be done."
"Yeah," Cole said. He coughed forcefully, slowly reclining on his bed. "I'll just drink a little extra water, maybe not train quite as hard, and I'll be good."
"You two are starting to weird me out," Jay said. "In what world do you just not go see a doctor when you need to?"
"Uh, in this world?" Kai said.
"And in the mountains," Cole said. "That world too. In the mountains."
"Go to sleep, Cole, you're talking nonsense," Jay said.
"Mmm," Cole said, his eyes already closing.
"And you're talking nonsense too, Kai," Jay said, shaking his head. "Seriously. 'Only go to the doctor when you're dying.' What does that even mean?"
Kai just looked confused, which was exactly how Jay felt.
Jay sighed, heading for the door and calling back over his shoulder, "I'm going to at least grab him some medicine, or is that a dying-only thing too?"
"I mean, if we've got it, he can take it, but not too much, that stuff's pricey too," Kai said.
Jay just shook his head and left.