Chapter Text
Neuvillette can get sick and the revelation had surprised Wriothesley immensely.
Hydro Dragon, Hydro Sovereign and all could still get sick if something upseted his stomach or a virus ended up making him sneeze his lungs out.
It was fascinating, despite how horrible that could sound, to think such a powerful creature could still get affected by something so trivial and proper of humans, but Neuvillette had explained that being reincarnated in a human made him experience certain affections typical of them.
It didn’t affect him as badly as it tended to affect normal people, reason why he allowed his mind to be fascinated by it, but it still fell on him to take care of his stubborn mate so he could get better.
No one would be surprised to know that Neuvillette had a huge sense of responsibility that made him believe leaving things to someone else while recovering was completely out of question. When Fontaine was left in his hands it increased and Wriothesley had to go to Sigewinne for help and it was up to the Head Nurse to convince him of needing to rest if he wanted to avoid having to spend even more time away from his duties.
Back in his place, of course, it was Wriothesley’s turn to take care of him. Prepare the consomme he enjoyed, warm tea and anything else that could make a sick person feel better. There was something special in taking care of such a powerful creature, something that made his heart jump because more often than not, he felt there weren’t a lot of things he could do for the other.
Wriothesley is the administrator of the Fortress of Meropide, but Neuvillette is the ruler of Fontaine and what could he do against that? It didn’t help that it wasn’t easy for Neuvillette to show his vulnerable side, but they were working on it. It’s not that Wriothesley couldn’t be as stubborn, after all.
So yes, finding the Iudex back in their place when he came back that afternoon didn’t surprise him that much.
Finding him curled up in bed hugging Wriothesley’s pillow is what surprises him.
“You… arrived earlier,” he says after getting rid of his coat and moving closer. “Is everything alright?”
Neuvillette doesn’t move for a couple of seconds but he eventually pulls his face, which is slightly red, back and looks at him. His blue eyes seem to hold something, but it vanishes in an instant as he starts to push himself into a sitting position. “I apologise for not informing you…”
“Hey, I’m not scolding you, it’s alright,” he says, sitting on the edge, reaching to place his hands against his forehead, frowning when he feels it’s burning. “Seems you’re sick again, I will take you to Sigewinne.”
“It isn’t necessary to bother her this late,” he hurries to say, continuing when Wriothesley opens his mouth. “I will personally go tomorrow.”
“I’m not about to let you out when you already have a fever,” he says. “You better start writing a letter informing the right people about it.”
“I’m fine,” he argues, Wriothesley knows this happens all the time. “I can manage to go, please.”
“So she can scold me? Not a chance,” he says with a quiet snort, moving to the bathroom to get a bowl with water and a clean cloth. “You already know how it goes.”
“I still…”
“I’ll be nice, you don’t want to go? Fine, then I will get her a day out and passes for the aquabus so she can come here,” he hums, setting the bowl on the small bedtable after getting the cloth ready. “I’m not arguing, so lie down and let me take care of you.”
To his surprise, Neuvillette lets out a defeated sigh as he lies on his back and even closes his eyes when the cold cloth is placed on his forehead. That alone says that whatever is affecting him has somehow managed to take a toll on his body, but he tries to keep the panic from rising and reasons it probably has to do with Neuvillette being too stressed and spending most of the night awake on certain occasions.
That night he’s completely dedicated to his mate, making sure the fever doesn’t get higher and that there aren’t more things that can be a cause of concern and that will end up with him calling SIgewinne, but Neuvillette, outside of that fever and the discomfort in his body product of it, seems to be alright.
“She will be here in an hour or two,” he says that morning as he sees Neuvillette dragging himself out of the bathroom to sit on the bed again. “You already know she will get the truth out of you if you try to lie, so save yourself the huffing and all and say what you feel.”
Neuvillette nods, his sigh of defeat just adding to the stress he feels at seeing his dragon behaving so differently from what’s normal, even when he’s sick. “I still believe I was capable enough of going.”
“We both know you’re just being stubborn,” he says after deciding his stress won’t do any good to him. “Send a Garde for me if needed, yeah?”
“Please do not worry, I don’t like stressing you, just like I do not wish to stress her.”
“She has been wanting to visit, so it is fine.”
Wriothesley decides to, once more, smile and pretend it is alright as he leans closer to press a kiss on his lips. He feels like a horrible person for leaving when so many things tell him something is going on, but he tries to find comfort in the fact that Sigewinne will be there and will make sure to tell him if Neuvillette needs to be taken care of, that she will let him know if there’s something going on.
Sigewinne is quick in making sure her patients are well tended to before rushing out of the Fortress towards the Palais. He can tell she also finds Neuvillette’s behaviour disconcerting and wants to make sure he isn’t hiding things to pretend he is right and no one worries. The Duke is barely capable of behaving as he would normally do and not showing there’s something going on in his mind, but finds comfort in knowing he will be seeing them when he’s back and he’s reassured that everything is alright.
“I thought she would be staying longer.”
As if the world is eager to mess with him, however, she’s not there when he comes back.
The fatalistic part of his mind thinks the worst, the other tries to be optimistic.
“I asked her to go back.”
Neuvillette replies quietly, he’s sitting on the sofa, hands resting on his legs. He’s not wearing his normal attire and that’s when he realises he’s wearing one of his loose shirts.
“What did she say?” he asks, hesitating for a second before finishing getting rid of his boots and coat to sit at his side. “How many medicines do I need to give you now?”
Instead of replying, Neuvillette places on his extended hand a list containing all the annotations she made about his medication, from the names to the schedule. Wriothesley almost leaves it to the side to hug his dragon thinking he can breathe now because there’s nothing wrong when some names catch his attention.
They are mostly supplements.
“Is your body… weak?” he asks, doubtful, panic little by little climbing up because of the way he’s behaving and now, this. “Why?”
“It’s not, it is strong… but it will start weakening.”
“Neuvillette you’re scaring me.”
The thunders he can hear in the distance match the tormented expression of his dragon and Wriothesley already knows he won’t survive if the Iudex isn’t there for him if something happens to him that ends up with both no longer being capable of being together and—
“I’m… carrying fertilised eggs inside of me.”
Ah, so it’s just that.
Fertilised…
Eggs.
“Wait, what?”