what would we do without each other? ~[paw patrol]~

6 - [Emp̷̺͒̅͝ḁ̵̼͇̟̗̅̆͒̄̈́t̸̹̩̬̀̀͜͝h̸̨̜̭̞̻̚ỵ̸̧̻̉]

The song for this chapter is Hello/How are you?, by nanou feat. Hatsune Miku! (if you want the Niigo cover, I can swap it out.)

tw: VERY mild suicide mentions

Anyways let's go!!
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[Zuma's POV]

"And... thewe we go." I sighed out in relief as I put a damp handkerchief on his forehead. His fever seems to be cooling down a bit, but it's still good to have it as a precaution.

He'd somehow sat back up, applesauce lying on his lap, so I just lied him back down on the bed and tucked him in, taking the dish and putting it onto the nightstand.

But after a few moments, he started stirring in his sleep, accidentally kicking off the blanket in the process. I immediately kneeled to the bed to try and cover him back up, but when I looked, he was lying on his side, hugging something.

It was my little plush shark. Dad had bought it for me when we first moved here.

I'd kept it, despite everything that happened. I'd accepted my past, and I knew myself I wanted to move on. But I still kept it anyways. Because it felt good.

'Z- Zuma...?" I heard a familiar weak voice call out to me. I'd been sitting with my back towards the bed, so I had to shift myself to face the boy sat up on the bed.

He tried to sit up and get off the bed, but instead just proceeded to almost fall face-first into the floor. Lucky I managed to break it just in time. I pushed him back onto the bed, laying him to rest flush against the wall.

He stared at me with his amber coloured eyes. But there was no way this was the same boy. His eyes were just a dull brown, missing the sparkle they had just a few hours ago.

They were also brimming with tears, which flowed down his face, leaving behind ugly black streaks.

"Are you okay?" I asked as hushed as possible, while I reached out to grab the dish sitting on the nightstand.

"I... I'm... hungry..." He moaned, eyes following the applesauce. Yup. Knew it. Scooping a bit of the puree onto the spoon, I hand it over to him, but he doesn't reach out. He seems to be too weak to feed himself.

At a loss, I just shove the spoon into his mouth. He just licked the applesauce off the spoon, then opened his mouth to let me scoop more. After a while, he stopped midway, staring at my finger.

"Did... you... cut yourself...?" Oh. Right.

"I nicked off some skin grating these apples, it's not a big deal..." I could see him pull himself closer to me, as he proceeded to lick the wound, like a dog, then rolled back to face the wall, still hugging the shark.

I immediately blushed quite the shade of red, but just ignored it. He's probably tired, not realising what he's doing... Yeah... that's it...

But... his face was red too. Could it be?

No. There's just no way. It's probably just the fever...

"Ugh..." Hmm? Was that Wocky?

「僕は何をしたの...」

Huh? Is he...?

「...これ... *sniff* ...に値するために?"」

I couldn't understand what he was saying, but it didn't seem right. I stood up, and decided to peek over Rocky's back to see what he was doing. Sure enough, he was awake, sobbing into my sheets.