Fading Scars: A Series of Malec One Shots

I Got A Fever Of 103

Alec fell ill two days after Max's party. Jace had called Magnus before he showed up to the apartment and told him that Alec was sick in bed, coughing and vomiting and sweating from a fever. This struck Magnus as odd, seeing how Shadowhunters aren't known to catch mundane colds.

"I'll bring my own special soup recipe. It'll work wonders on him," Magnus told Jace.

Upon arriving to Alec's room, the moment he stepped into the doorway, the putrid smell of vomit and sweat hit him square in the face. He almost gagged, but years of having dealt with much worse taught him to ignore it and just do his job.

"We're in here!" Jace called out from Alec's bedroom. "Just helping Alec sit up a little bit. He can't breathe very well when he's lying down flat on his back."

Magnus opened the bedroom door and his heart sank. Alec was in his bed, moaning and whispering something to Jace as his brother propped him up in a sitting position. The sweat had drenched his bedsheets and was just pouring off his face like a waterfall. Not to mention his skin was sickly pale.

"Magnus," Alec's voice was hoarse as he spoke. He coughed violently, leaning over his bed and throwing up into his garbage bucket.

"Hey. Jace called and said you were sick so I brought soup," Magnus held up a canteen to show him. "I made this for an entire village years ago when they all got sick. It's a special recipe. Old but very special."

Alec managed a small smile before vomiting again. The smell made him want to die in embarrassment. He didn't want Magnus to see him like this; weak and pathetic. He felt helpless just laying there but he knew he couldn't help it. Magnus wouldn't judge or hold it against him.

Magnus poured some of the soup from the canteen out into a mug. "Once you get some of this in you, it'll break the fever. That's why it's going to taste so spicy. Jace, can you get some water in case he burns his tongue?"

Jace nodded. "Sure. Be back in a sec."

When Jace left the room, Magnus reached over and brushed a strand of wet hair off Alec's forehead. "I wish I could make your pain go away. Make you better."

Alec coughed. It sounded wet and gurgly. "You make me feel better just by being here."

Magnus chuckled. "I meant like just get rid of your sickness completely. No cough. No fever. Just....poof. Better."

Alec was about to say something when Jace returned to the room. "One glass of water for the prince. It's not cold. I read online that you're not supposed to drink cold water when you're sick. It could put your heart into shock."

Alec wiped the sweat of his face with a hand before taking the cup of soup from Magnus. He sniffed it first, just to see what it smelled like. It didn't smell too bad, but Magnus wasn't kidding about the spices. He could smell them wafting from the liquor inside the cup.

"It tastes better than it smells. Trust me," Magnus smiled, holding Alec's glass of water in his hand in case he needed it. "Drink up. You'll feel better when you do."

Alec put the mug to his lips and took a mouthful. Cringing at the taste of the spices, he gulped the rest of it down without stopping for a breath. When he was finished, his face was red from the heat and probably from the spices, Magnus figured.

"How was it?" asked Magnus.

"Good. A little hot on the tongue. But good," Alec gulped down his water. His stomach still felt a little queasy. Maybe he shouldn't have drank the soup so fast. "It's hot in here. Open up a window, Jace. I feel like I'm dying of a heatstroke."

Magnus conjured up a thermometer and stuck it in Alec's mouth. "What was his temperature before I came here?"

Jace rubbed his jaw. "Uh....like 103.4 or something. I checked his temp two hours ago. He wasn't as bad as this at the time."