Sniffles and Sneezles Spread Diseasles

[idontneedluck]

The last few months have been stressful, to say the least, as he worked off his probation. Nothing he was made to do was out of malicious intent, of course, but hours upon hours of service work coupled with even more hours of solitary reflection meant it was a properly chastened Chirrut who returned to the fold.

It was also a Chirrut who'd been exposed to a majority of the pilgrims to the temple.

It was fairly inevitable that something lingered.

When Chirrut woke up this morning, the world was muffled, his chest heavy, his joints creaky and unhelpful. He ignored it.

That is to say, he forced himself up, went through the routines of getting ready for the day, but when it came time to actually set forth, he... stayed back. Casually. He didn't want a fuss, there was enough fuss over the last few months, this was just a cold. Once everyone was gone, he nabbed as many blankets as he could get his hands on, piling them onto his bed into a tangle of a nest to hide in... and then did exactly that. If this stupid thing was going to make his world muffled and off-balance, then he was just going to ride it out somewhere that didn't matter as much.

Comments

[iprotectyou]

Baze pokes him again, this time in the arm. And again, back to the chest again. That Chirrut can't seem to smack him is endlessly entertaining--though Baze does quit after the third poke. He doesn't want to make Chirrut too sulky, especially since he really is sick.

Baze folds his arms to curb the temptation to ruffle Chirrut's short-cropped hair. "Thank you," the older Guardian says, sincerely. "They haven't, but I wouldn't believe them like I believe you. I didn't think I would be good for them. But I like teaching the class. You help a great deal, you know. The kids missed you today. So you need to drink your tea and stop being sick so you can come be a good example for them again."

[idontneedluck]

"Good example? Is that what we're calling it now?" Chirrut demands, after catching his breath when his lungs seize in a coughing fit.

"Oh Chirrut, they're going to be traumatized! Oh Chirrut, they'll hate me forever!" He continues in a bizarre falsetto that comes out even more mangled than usual thanks to the congestion.

[iprotectyou]

Baze rubs his friend's back until his coughing subsides. At the falsetto, Baze throws his head back and cackles. "They were traumatized! If you hadn't brought that frog in, they would have cried!" he insists, punching Chirrut in the shoulder. "I distinctly recall the children being afraid to approach us in the halls whenever we were together. It was as if they thought we were going to hurt each other then!"

[idontneedluck]

"You know, they say the memory is the first thing to go when you're old." Chirrut clucks sadly, shaking his head over the shame of it all. "They were just in awe of us."

[iprotectyou]

Baze grunts, dissatisfied. "My memory is fine," he says, drumming his fingers on his knee. "I can tell the difference between awe and fear, even if you can't."

[idontneedluck]

"No, I just don't see it." Chirrut agrees blithely, finishing his tea. "You worry too much. They adore you. Last week we had to halt training because one of them ran out onto the mat looking for you."

[iprotectyou]

Baze doesn't know what to think of that. He knows Chirrut is telling the truth, and in fact believes the man is incapable of lying, but Baze isn't sure what to do with the devotion of a teacup person.

"They know better," he grumbles, choosing to focus on logistics rather than the whole adoring bit. "I hope no one was hurt. I'd give them a talking-to if they didn't have one already."

[idontneedluck]

"Master Sheotar spotted it." Chirrut replies dryly. "The kid's probably under a bed somewhere."

[iprotectyou]

Baze barks out a laugh, reclaiming some of his former cheer. "Poor kid. She probably skinned them alive. Tell me it was one of the younger ones; the older ones know better, or they should, anyway," he says, plucking Chirrut's empty tea mug up from his hands. "More tea?"

[idontneedluck]

"Yes, she was... tiny." There's a pause, while he tells himself he's not going to sound pathetic.

"There's more?" It's pathetic. Also deeply hopeful, but that's a given when he's being offered his favorite tea.

[iprotectyou]

Baze gently tweaks his friend's congested nose. "Of course there's more," the older Guardian says, chuckling. "Would I leave you high and dry and tealess? No. As long as you don't find my stash and drink it all, there will always be more."

He slips out of the room, taking the dirty dishes with him. When he returns, he has a piping hot mug of sapir tea with him. "How are you feeling? Any better? You're not nesting near as much."

[idontneedluck]

"Well, you keep stealing my blankets." Is his initial, unhelpful reply, after a start when he realizes Baze had come back.

"I am moderately less dead." Chirrut agrees - the soup soothed his throat and while the coughing is beyond annoying, at least it isn't the unproductive wheeze of earlier this morning.

"Everything is still..." He waves a hand vaguely, both because he doesn't really know the shape of the gesture he's aiming for, and because he isn't quite sure what the word is that goes here. "Muted? Good word as any." And he's tired, which is ridiculous, he has been drowsing all morning and he hasn't done anything other than raid for blankets.

[iprotectyou]

"I only took two," Baze says, pressing the tea into Chirrut's hands. Baze turns to his own bed, picking up the blankets there, and spreads them out over Chirrut. "'Muted' makes sense. You can't hear as well when you're stuffed up, so the main sense you use is impaired. You should get some sleep. Sleep is always necessary for healing."

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut giggles, softly.

"Keep that up and they'll make you into a healer next." He points out, curling around his cup of tea. "Or minder of the dormitories."

[iprotectyou]

"Force forbid that!" Baze says, scoffing. "I'm a fighter, not a healer. Besides, you're my only patient, and you're enough of a handful that I wouldn't be able to care for any others."

He strokes his chin, contemplative. "I wouldn't mind being the minder of the dormitories, though. Someone's got to do it, and it might as well be me."

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut giggles again, sipping his tea, his posture slowly going more boneless.

"I can just imagine. Fearless Baze Malbus, Guardian of the Temple... acolyte teddy bear."

[iprotectyou]

"I am a warrior of some renown and a fierce Guardian, not some child's toy. 'Fearless' is right," Baze grouses, reaching over to scrub the top of Chirrut's head.

The older man folds his arms, squinting at his friend. "Do I really let the children walk all over me?"

[idontneedluck]

"Don't worry, you're not contributing to the next generation of hooligans. That' my job." Chirrut teases, after a momentary sulk when his retaliatory swat failed to land. "Rather they see you as friend to guide them instead of a master to rule them."

[iprotectyou]

Baze is more smug than he has any right to be that Chirrut missed. The larger man is torn between being bummed that his friend is sick and thoroughly enjoying himself because of it--and not just because Chirrut can't hit him worth a damn. Fussing over him is good, too.

"They have to unlearn what they learn from you before they can be properly trained," Baze says, shaking his head, a gesture he forgets Chirrut can't see. "And you're right--I'd rather not be a master. Master Sheotar is more than enough around here, though I don't envy her the job."

[idontneedluck]

"Ugh, no, don't become her, that'd... no." Chirrut has utmost respect for Master Sheotar.

She's just terrifying.

Losing the last of his attempts at a normal posture, he slumps against the wall, cradling his empty cup in lax hands.

"Ugh. I hope I'm not needed today, I'm useless." He yawns, giving up any serious effort at alertness.

[iprotectyou]

"I made sure that you weren't," Baze says, sympathetically. He takes the empty mug out of Chirrut's hands and gently pushes him back down into the bed, tucking the blankets under his chin. "Sleep, Chirrut. You need sleep to get better."

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut smiles and mutters something (teddy bear, it's definitely teddy bear, and he didn't mutter it nearly as softly as he thought he did). Soon he's asleep, trusting Baze to have his back while he is recovering.

[iprotectyou]

Baze smiles at his friend, watching over him for a time before finishing out the rest of his duties as a temple Guardian. When he goes to sleep that night, he has a curious tickle in the back of his throat, and by the time he wakes up, it's a full-blown cold. His nose is runny, his head is splitting, and he can't seem to get warm enough despite all the shivering.

The large Guardian turns over in his bed, curled in the fetal position and sniffing miserably.

[idontneedluck]

Chirrut, on the other hand, woke up feeling decidedly on the mend. The world seems real again, which is a vast improvement.

The way he can hear Baze's bed creak as the man shivers is not an improvement, however. Chirrut clambers out of bed, scattering blankets, to go investigate.

"Baze?" Chirrut rests feather light fingers against Baze's head, searching. His frown deepens at what he finds.

"Ridiculous man, you weren't supposed to get sick too." He chides because it's better than giving in to worry.

Before he goes in hunt for something to help, he takes his nest of blankets apart, and drapes them over Baze instead.

[iprotectyou]

"Chirrut?" Baze croaks, a plaintive whine. He burrows underneath the blankets, grateful for the extra warmth and extra pressure of the heavy cloths. He can barely raise his head, and he aches, and he succumbs to a hacking cough before he can say anymore.

"I blame you," Baze says, muffled by the blankets. "I blame you so much."