Work Text:
You were cold, freezing even. Which was a rarity since you shared a bed with a human furnace. More often than not, you woke up too warm from him. But today was different. You were shivering, you felt sick, you struggled to gain your bearings. It was then you realized he was already up, he was likely still in your shared space, but not where you could see him.
You debated for a moment whether to call for him or not. You didn’t want to bother him purely because you felt unwell. You could handle yourself fine. Though it was then another shiver wracked through you, and a surge of pain went straight to your head. You let out a shaky sigh, and put your stubbornness to the side for now.
“…Sabo…?” you call out, sounding a lot quieter than you intended to.
“Yes, love?” Though it seemed like he heard you anyways. You couldn’t tell exactly where he was, you were far too disoriented.
“Um…can you come here…? I don’t f-“ He was standing over you before you could finish speaking.
“You’re shaking like crazy…” he knelt down next to your side of the bed and pulled you into his arms. You couldn’t help but nuzzle closer to him as you relished in his abnormal warmth.
“I’m freezing…don’t feel good…” you mumbled.
“It’s hard for me to tell if you have a fever with my devil fruit…” Sabo seemed to be talking to himself, you weren’t entirely listening anymore. All you could focus on was how cold you felt and how warm he was. “Hey,” he jostled you a little to get your attention. “I’m going to get someone from medical to look at you, okay?”
“I don’t want you to leave…” you whined and he smirked.
“It’s really rare to see you like this…so clingy,” he gently let you go and stood up. “I’ll be quick, wrap yourself up, okay?” He shot you a smile and was out the door before you could complain further.
By the time Sabo returned, you were completely out of it. You had your temperature taken, and they talked about something you couldn’t get yourself to pay attention to. Sabo looked ridiculously serious, and you were sure he was being dramatic. He always was when it came to your wellbeing.
After a while of spacing out and being poked and prodded at with medical equipment, it was once again just the two of you. He knelt down beside you again.
“Hey,” Sabo cupped your face in his hands, “you with me still?” You groggily nodded and he smiled, “Good. You need medicine, but they don’t have what you need right now. They talked about going on a supply run soon, so it’ll be a bit…” He sighed, a worried look was plastered on his face as he looked you over. “I’ll work in here today, you can rest and I can keep an eye on you.”
“Okay…want you to stay with me…” you mumbled and he smiled. Admittedly, he could get used to you acting like this. It gave him a chance to dote on you without you being stubborn and insisting you didn’t need anything. Sabo was already amazed that you told him without him noticing first, though he did hate that he didn’t notice until you said something.
“Yeah? I will. I just need to get some things from my office. I’ll bring you some water too,” He moved to leave, but a weak tug on his sleeve stopped him in his tracks. Sabo turned his head to look at you, and you had a pitiful expression on your face. His heart twisted in his chest. “I swear, I’ll be right back, promise, okay?” He smiled at you and you seemed to understand as you let go.
He knelt down and pressed a light kiss to your forehead before making his way to the door. He shot you one more glance as he went to go get what he needed.
********
By the time Sabo returned to your shared quarters, you were seemingly asleep. He made his way to your bedside again, and set the water he brought on the table next to you. He supposed you’d be fine until you woke up, he hoped whatever medicine you needed would be here by then too. He gently patted your head as he looked you over.
He let out a sigh, he wondered where you even got sick from. If he had paid better attention to you, if he had noticed sooner…there wasn’t really any point in thinking about that though, he supposed. All he could do was pay attention to you now, and regret the fact that he somehow didn’t stop this from happening.
Sabo removed his hand from your head and moved to the desk in your shared room. He figured he should try to get something done.
After what was likely only ten to fifteen minutes of working, he heard you stir. He was almost instantly at your side, before you could even sit up properly. His hand was on your back, steadying you as you sat up. “Are you feeling any better? You didn’t sleep for long…” Sabo questioned, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.
You hazily looked at him, and then, to his surprise, you wrapped your arms around his neck and clung to him. “My head feels awful…” you mumbled out.
He was, once again, taken aback by your behavior today, but he wasn’t complaining about this either. He moved his arms around you to properly hold you in an embrace. “I’m sorry, love. I brought you some water, do you w-“
You cut him off. “Sabo,” you started, “sit with me over here…” you practically whined. “It’s lonely…”
You were killing him today. You had always been a weakness of his, but an ill version of you was a totally new one. He really did need to get some of that paperwork done, and it would be hard to work in bed, but you were lonely! And sick! Could anyone truly fault him for not immediately caving and doing exactly what you wanted? He surely couldn’t fault himself for it.
He maneuvered himself to sit on the bed, and he moved you lean on him, with your head on his chest and his arms still around you. One of your hands was gripping his shirt like a lifeline, he wondered if it was to keep him from leaving again. He laughed a little at the thought. “Is this what you wanted?” He asked, teasingly. He felt you nod against him.
“Yeah…you’re warm too…feels good for my head…added bonus…” you mumbled and he laughed again.
“I’m glad to be of service, then,” he smiled at you, though he knew you couldn’t see it.
Sabo sat with you like this for a while, and eventually your breathing slowed, and he felt you relax. You had fallen asleep again, and while he knew he for sure couldn’t move now, he didn’t want to either. He hoped you could sleep a bit longer this time.
He sighed to himself, he did hate the fact that you felt bad, but he didn’t hate to see you act like this. He was free to take care of you, to coddle you, without any remarks about how you were fine, how he should worry about himself, how you’d try to turn the topic back to him…he could just dote on you when you were like this.
For your own sake, Sabo hoped you felt better soon. Though, for his own selfish sake he wouldn’t mind if you let him take care of you for just a little bit longer.