Just because it BURNS LavaShipping

3

Kai wonders what universe he’s fallen into when he wakes up for the third time and Cole is still there, fluffing his pillow and tucking his sheets in around him. Kai eyes him for a moment before shuffling back down into the bed. “Welcome back, sleeping beauty,” Cole says, placing a hand on Kai’s shoulder. “Can I get you anything?”

“I need food like you need comedy lessons,” Kai says, and he finds he has the strength to shift a little in the bed, but can’t because of Cole’s tucking job. It makes Cole laugh, which okay, definitely a parallel universe. Cole never thinks he’s funny.

“Good to see you’re starting to get back to normal,” Cole says, and then he’s pressing something into Kai’s hand. Kai looks down to find a juice box there. “Here, drink this. I’ll go get you something more.”

Cole doesn’t take his hand away, looks at Kai for a really long moment before he shakes his head, gets up and goes out of the room. Kai stares after him, wondering what that was about. He goes to open the juice box, but finds pulling the straw off of it especially difficult. He flexes his fingers, opens and closes his fist, trying to make his body respond. He tries to pull the straw from its wrapper, realizes that if this is so difficult there is no way he’ll be able to punch the straw into the top of the box and scowls. He keeps trying, though.

He’s starting to get frustrated when Nya peeks her head in the door. “Kai!”

He looks up, smiles at her. “Hey,” he greets, and she bounces over to the bed, wraps her arms around him in a quick hug.

When she pulls away she sits on the bed and says, “I’m so glad you’re okay! We were really starting to get worried.” She looks down at the juice box in his hands, and Kai glares at it. “Need a hand?”

“I didn’t really want it anyway,” Kai says, attempting to push it aside, but Nya smiles, grabs it from his hand and quickly tears open the straw wrapper and pushes the straw in.

She passes it back to him. “Sensei said you’d be really weak for a while, remember, at least until all of the poison is out of your system.”

“Yeah,” Kai says, after he’s sipped some of the fruit punch out of the box gratefully. “About that. What happened?”

Nya raises her eyebrows. “You-you don’t remember?”

Kai shakes his head. “Last thing I knew, we were trying to convince Jay that squid was not breakfast food.”

Nya half-smiles at the memory. “Yeah, we totally didn’t win that one.” Then her face goes worried again. “You don’t remember anything else?”

Kai sips his juice, stares at her. After a moment he says, “I remember Cole helping me drink a glass of water, and tucking me into bed like an infant just now.” As if on cue, Kai has to stifle a yawn.

“Yeah,” Nya says, a look of amusement crossing her face. “He’s been pretty vigilant about taking care of you the past few days.”

“Days?” Kai says, sputtering. “How long have I been asleep?”

“Well, you haven’t really been…” she pauses, watches Kai fiddle with the now empty juice box. “Since Tuesday,” Nya informs him, taking the empty juice box from his hands and tossing it in the trashcan. “It’s Saturday.

“Crap,” Kai says, and Nya smiles at him weakly.

“Don’t worry, everything’s under control. Sensei warned us you could be out of commission for a week or two.” Nya says, like that’s supposed to be comforting.

“What did I say about not wearing him out?” Cole’s voice intones, coming through the doorway with a tray.

“What, the sick guy’s not allowed visitors?” Kai jokes, but he’s so incredibly happy to see Cole now that he has food with him. Nya moves out of the way, and Cole sets down the tray over Kai’s lap. He can smell the chicken noodle soup and herbal tea already. His stomach growls loudly.

“The sick guy can have visitors when he can lift both hands over his head and feed himself,” Cole says, and Kai looks at him with a question.

“What?” He asks, baffled.

Cole’s smile fades. “You,” he starts, then pauses, apprehension covering his face. He sits down, looks in Kai's eyes. “Yesterday,” he says cautiously. “You were in and out all afternoon. I had to spoon feed you yogurt.” Kai’s eyes widen comically, but no one laughs. “Zane and Jay had to help you change clothes?"

Kai looks between them, shakes his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Cole looks over at Nya, who bites her lip. “He was just saying he doesn’t remember the attack, or anything after breakfast Tuesday morning.”

Cole looks back at Kai, his face suddenly hard, and Kau tries to figure out what’s going on other than the fact that he was poisoned. They both look so worried that Kai’s stomach starts to twist. Was this not part of the poisoning thing, then?

Cole looks down at the soup, hands Kai the spoon. “I think we should go get Sensei,” he tells Nya, and then to Kai, “Eat your soup before it gets cold.”

As they stand, Cole stops, looks back, his face looking weird and unnatural. “Call me if-if you need help,” he stutters, and then he turns, walks out of the room behind Nya.

Kai spoons the soup into his mouth, finds out he doesn’t have total control of his mouth yet, spills some soup on his shirt, and curses. This is going to be a hell of a week.