It Came Out of Nowhere

[vesper_verde]

It had been a very long day at work, and he had a very long night of patrolling in front of him. Marcelo leaned against the wall of the elevator as he traveled toward the penthouse. It felt like someone hung cinder blocks from his shoulders. He dropped his briefcase when the elevator came to a stop.

He let out a soft grown as he bent over to pick it up. A wave of general hurt washed over him. Marcelo straightened up with a sigh and a shiver. Well, whatever this was, he only has time for dinner to fix it. Then he had things to do.

As the elevator doors opened, he rubbed his eyes and barely managed to not walk smack into the door halfway in his way. Once in the penthouse, he dropped his briefcase just inside the door way. He made his way to the kitchen to see if there was a bite to eat.

Comments

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie had actually got home a little early that day, sitting with a report from Shaw Industries and shuttling between that and a paper on the history of NAFTA. The chef had just prepared a paella and the entire kitchen smelled of saffron. Feeling that she had been fairly successful that day, she was only half-working, enjoying a glass of chilled white wine with her food. Another tab was open to a YouTube video of babies playing with kittens and a very large cat was stationed nearby, great fluffy tail swishing idly as he catnapped.

When Stephanie heard Marcelo come in, she looked up with a small smile on her face- though as she heard him walk down the hallway, there was a leaden heaviness that suggested that it had, at the very least been a rough day. When she actually saw him, though, it was apparent that he was not well. Everything about him seemed just a little limp.

"Are you feeling okay?" The wording was fairly neutral, but the subtext was pretty clearly you're not okay, what's wrong, should i be worried?. Sancho stretched out with a faint yawn and looked over at Marcelo, before ambling towards him, rubbing up against his legs.

[vesper_verde]

He almost smelled the smell of good food. Any other day, he would have wished he could. His head felt a little congested, so he got the scent of there was food.

"I'm fine. Just need something to eat." He completely missed the subtext. He was determinedly trying to make the day go like normal. Food. Patrolling. A little sleep. And apparently a large cat rubbing against his shins.

"How was your day?" he asked as he ignored the general ache from all over his body.

[pyroprincess]

The food smelled and was, in actuality, delicious. And there was enough for Marcelo to have some. The chef was smart and prepared meals in portions suitable for four or five. There were rarely leftovers.

"My day was busy as usual, but all right. Classes. Board meeting. Working on a few things right now." Stephanie sighed and took a small sip from her wineglass. "Not working that hard, though. People are going to probably have to wait until tomorrow and they can just deal with that."

She paused for a moment and looked over him carefully. Marcelo didn't look at all healthy. Stephanie knew there was some sort of flu going around. He may very well have contracted it.

"You don't look fine." Stephanie went for the direct approach. "Maybe you should have an early night tonight?" Which didn't just mean forgoing patrolling for a night, but it certainly included that. It would also probably include Stephanie giving him a little more distance than usual. By the look and the sound of Marcelo, though, he plainly needed some rest. His schedule was sometimes nearly as punishing as hers was and he didn't have the superpowers she did.

[vesper_verde]

He couldn't really taste the good. It was subtly there, but with his sense of smell diminished he couldn't enjoy the work of their chef. But Stephanie seemed happy with it, so it must have been good.

He picked at his portion of food. He ate a little here and there, but it felt like he needed energy to eat. Energy that seemed to be dwindling. He made almost articulate noises at how his wife's day went.

Though he did blink at Stephanie at the suggestion of an early night. That was usually code for sex. Or so his slightly fogged brain jumped right to. "I'm fine. Probably just need an energy drink before heading out."

He shoved some food in his mouth. Like it would show he was fine and dandy. He did good not aspirating it.

[pyroprincess]

"Marcelo. I don't mean early night as in "I want to drag you into our love den". I mean, sleeping. You don't look well. You need to take care of yourself." Stephanie set down her own fork and looked over at him. "Take a night off. Get some actual rest and maybe tomorrow you'll be able to beat up twice the number of drug dealers. I'll throw in a massage and I'm sure Sancho will be able to donate cuddles." Stephanie smiled slightly, hoping a little sugar helped soothe the problem over.

Stephanie reached over and pressed her hand against Marcelo's forehead, which felt slightly off. It was sometimes hard for her to read flesh temperatures really well, with her own being somewhat higher than the average, but it didn't feel the way it usually did. "There's a flu going around, you know. Two members of the board and several people in my classes are down with it."

[vesper_verde]

"Love den? Did you decide to order the chaise lounger?" It took a second for his brain to catch up with the not gonna part of what she said. He had to physically shake his head to get his thoughts to change onto the right track.

His eyes nearly crossed looking up at her hand on his forehead. He looked a little confused why she didn't feel as warm as she used to. He would not believe he was running a fever.

"I don't know anything about a flu going around. Those sniffly conversations aren't that fun to eavesdrop on."

[pyroprincess]

"Only the best for you, mi amor." Stephanie replied mildly, watching him shake his head. It was more and more obvious that he was badly out of sorts.

"Marcelo." Stephanie said kindly, but firmly. "You're running a fever. You don't feel remotely right. Why don't you take a night off, get some rest and maybe you'll feel well enough tomorrow to beat up twice as many criminals. As I said, I'll throw in extra pillows and something warm to drink and all the babying you can handle."

"You're sick and when your body isn't well, your mind isn't going to be 100% either. Stay home tonight and rest."

[vesper_verde]

He opened his mouth to protest. Then he closed it. He opened it again but couldn't get the protest out.

"Alright," he agreed reluctantly. He set his fork down because there was no use keeping up appearances on hunger. "I don't want the gripe."

He hadn't really been sick in awhile. The last time he had been, he had Luisa and her traditional cold remedy around. He really missed his former secretary.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie was actually surprised he gave up so easily. She had been prepared for more of a fight, but she was certainly happy that he hadn't. She circled around him and gently wrapped her arms around him, kissing him softly on the neck. "Thank you. I'll do my best to take care of you, I promise. I don't actually have much happening tomorrow, so I'll be around most of the day.

I know it's hard to admit you're not up to something- so I'll reward your wisdom with flagrant spoiling. Just watch me." She gave him a gentle squeeze.

[vesper_verde]

It was a testament to how miserable he felt that he gave up so easily. It only took two to three increasing instances of pointing out he should stay for him to at least acknowledge it. He was rapidly running out of energy to do anything, arguing with his wife drained him when he was healthy anyway.

"Around? Okay." He rubbed his hand across his forehead in the hopes it would make the room seem cooler somehow. "Don't need to make make yourself catch-"

He paused. "You don't get sick, do you?"

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie knew that he must have felt truly awful to put up so little fight, which only increased her determination to take as good care of him as possible. It was fortunate that, as it happened, all she had tomorrow were a few classes in a cluster in the early afternoon. She'd be home the rest of it to spoil him thoroughly.

Stephanie actually had to consider it for a moment. "I'm not certain if I'm actually immune, but ... I haven't been sick since my powers manifested. Which makes me an excellent nurse. I'll even wear the costume if you like."

[vesper_verde]

The nurse costume usually got him excited. Now, he just ached and had no inclination to do anything but sit there and slump over a bit.

"Oh. Good. " He pushed his plate out of the way and put his arms one on top of the other. "Finish your paella. I'm not going anywhere."

He slowly rested his head on his arms.