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Qibli wore an uncharacteristic scowl as he slowly trudged through the halls of Jade Mountain Academy.
It was the early morning, so fellow students were walking the halls on their way to class or the prey center to get a quick meal. Some chatted happily with members of their winglet, others walked alone but did their best to greet a few dragons as they passed. Qibli tried to smile at the intertribal friendships he could see blooming, the very reason this school existed in the first place, but it was a short lived smile that quickly turned to a grimace.
It was hard to smile when every step made his splitting headache pound harder, every stride reminded him how all of his muscles seemed to ache and groan. And every breath he attempted was forced through a completely clogged snout.
Qibli was sick. Horribly so.
His path through the hallway was wobbly as he stumbled along in a half-daze, his brain foggy but his eyes locked on the end of the hall as he strained to attain his goal.
Just… gotta get to class. Clay won’t mind if I sleep a little through Herbs and Medicine, right? Qibli thought, achingly and agonizingly slowly in comparison to his usual raging river of thoughts, Talons and tails, I wish I stayed in bed. Comfy comfy bed… but class is more important. I can’t let Queen Thorn down!
Breathing out a harsh, hoarse sigh that felt like shards of glass in his throat, Qibli raised his head and fought to double his speed and get the torturous journey over with as soon as possible.
However, nausea and dizziness quickly took over before he could make any progress. The SandWing’s stomach churned and his ears began to ring as he stumbled, his body deciding that being upright was no longer an option.
Uncerimoniously clattering to the ground, Qibli found a strange sense of peace as his overheated body was cooled by the stone floor below. All things considered, it was a rather nice reminder that he should have stayed curled up in bed all along.
With that thought in mind, and the sound of dragons around him panicking fading out into the distance, Qibli shut his eyes for just a few minutes of peaceful rest.
He was close to the classroom, so it was fine if he took a break, right?
~~~---~~~
When he opened his eyes again, Qibli wasn’t sure where he was. It felt like just a second of darkness, just a blink, but suddenly gone were the stone walls and floors of the academy’s hallways.
Looking around with bleary, unfocused eyes he soon could see that instead, those halls had been replaced with his own room. The plush bed he had wished to return to was beneath him, tempting him back to sleep, and wrapped around him was a snow-white blanket that he didn’t recognize.
Qibli sat up to assess the situation.
The wave of dizziness and return of his headache made sure he regretted that.
“Go slow, you idiot. You’re going to hurt yourself.” A familiar voice grumbled at Qibli’s side as the SandWing fell back against the bed.
A bit too loud. Qibli winced and rolled over, squeezing his eyes shut and drawing the comfortable white blanket over his head.
“Ugh, stop yelling.” Qibli groaned, his voice a low and hoarse mumble. He sniffled in through his nose, attempting to draw a breath, but was forced to inhale through his mouth instead. “Whatever you want, I’ll deal with it later. Right now I’m trying not to die.”
“You’re not dying.” The voice coldly said as it drew closer to Qibli. “You’re just a sand-snorter who can’t handle a simple cold. Pathetic, really.”
Qibli’s ears twitched as he opened his eyes again, rolling over and, this time very slowly, sitting up to see just who was insulting him this time. Then he flinched, eyes squinting as the lights in the room glared off of the snow-white scales in front of him. Glaring as well were the cold, annoyed eyes of Winter, his very easily irritated clawmate.
After Qibli’s eyes adjusted to his very shiny friend, he smiled over at Winter. “Heeeey, there’s my favorite IceWing! What’re you doing h-” He said before cutting himself off with a string of horrible, hacking coughs.
Winter instinctively reeled back, covering his snout with a foreleg as he took several steps backwards.
“Ugh, was Turtle not enough? Are you trying to get me sick too?” Winter growled with disgust. “It’s bad enough that I have to share a cave with you.”
After taking a moment to finish his coughing fit, Qibli shot Winter another weak, but cheeky grin. “What, I thought it was just a simple cold?” He sniffled, wiping his snout with an arm. “Is Queen Glacier’s nephew scared of getting a little sick?”
“Or, perhaps, I’m smart enough to know that sick isn’t something I want to be.” Winter said indignantly, crossing an arm across his chest. However, as he looked Qibli over, his expression softened as he furrowed his brow. “How did you two even get this sick?”
Qibli laid back against the bed as he thought for a moment. Hazy memories of a cold, late night came to mind. A little swimming in the underground lake, a few shared drinks ‘borrowed’ from the school’s faculty, and two dragons talking about their lives, love, and feelings under the starlit sky.
Qibli scratched the back of his head with a talon. “Turtle and I decided to go for a swim last night. We had a nice little talk.” The SandWing laughed a bit, but it ended with a short, raspy cough. “How’s he doing? Just as bad as me?”
“You two went swimming? It was freezing last night!” Winter’s eyes widened as he brought a talon to his face. “You’re both idiots. But at least he was smart enough to not leave his bed this morning. Kinkajou is taking care of him right now.”
“How very fitting.” Qibli said with a smirk. “Hey, maybe I was swimming in the cold ‘cause I missed you so much! Speaking of,” the SandWing dragged an arm across his forehead, wiping away sweat from his scales, “I’m burning up over here. What’s with the dumb blanket? It’s practically killing me!”
“That ‘dumb blanket’ is 100% polar bear fur.” Winter hummed with a raised head, his voice equal parts hoity and toity. “Sunny and Ostrich both agreed that you needed to be kept warm so you can break your fever. I don’t get it, but…” The IceWing gestured blithely at Qibli instead of finishing his sentence.
“So it’s your polar bear blanket?” Qibli asked, tilting his head thoughtfully before a devious smirk pulled across his face. “Aw, did you put it on me so it smells like me when you get it back? I know we have other blankets in this cave.”
“You disgust me. I swear, the very idea…” Winter trailed off with a frown, his brow furrowing again, but the blue blush that creeped across his face told Qibli everything he needed to know.
“Well, you can have it back if you want.” Qibli let out a sigh that trailed into another hacking cough as he threw the blanket off of him. He drew in a deep breath, then let out a long groan as it did nothing to fix his aching, overheated body. “It’s too hot. And I’m dying.”
“As I said, you are not dying!” Winter rolled his eyes at Qibli. After a moment of hesitation, he approached the sick SandWing and pressed the back of a talon against his forehead. Winter grumbled loudly as he felt just how hot Qibli felt against his cold scales. “Your temperature is dropping, at least. When I tried this while you were sleeping, I had flashbacks of being burnt by Peril.”
Winter tried to pull his talon back, but Qibli was quick to grab him by the wrist and press the talon back against his forehead. He let out a low, grumbling sigh as he pressed his head upwards against Winter.
“What are you doing, you idiot?” Winter growled, trying (admittedly very gently) to pry his talon from Qibli’s grasp.
Eventually Qibli relented, allowing Winter to reclaim his talon.
The SandWing pouted as he looked at Winter. “You’re cold, and I wanna be cold too.” Qibli said softly, a bit pitifully, as he scooted away from Winter in the bed. Pressed up against the far edge of the bed, he pat the free space that he curled around with a talon. “Come on over and help me cool off. Don’t make me beg.”
As much as Winter would have loved to see Qibli beg, he looked over the pitiful dragon and realized it wouldn’t be as satisfying to force it out of him while sick. Instead, he simply sighed and shook his head. “I’ve been told to keep you warm. I don’t know how SandWings work, but I assume cold will just make everything worse.”
“You don’t make anything worse, Winter.” Qibli whined. “You make everything better, and that’s what I like about you.”
Winter paused for a moment, looking over Qibli briefly, before letting out another sigh as his shoulders slumped. “You’re delirious, clearly.” He grumbled as he eyed the space that Qibli had made for him. “If you really want this, then give me some more room. Not every dragon is as small as you.”
Rolling his eyes, Qibli did as he was asked to and scooted over some more. His reward, after another moment of hesitation from Winter, was the comfortable aura of cold as Winter climbed into bed with him.
It was a small bed, but Winter did his best to make himself comfortable while maintaining a bit of distance from Qibli. Distance that Qibli immediately closed for himself, pressing his luck as he pressed against Winter’s wing.
With a low growl, Winter pulled his wing back and wrapped it loosely around Qibli. Because the alternative was more uncomfortable, of course.
“I swear to the Great Ice Dragon,” Winter glowered as Qibli nestled himself under his wing, “If you get me sick, I will harm you bodily. Your face will be removed.”
Qibli laughed softly as he got comfortable. “Tell you what. If I get you sick, then I promise to take care of you waaaaay better than you’re taking care of me. Sound good?”
Winter seemed to consider this for a moment, pursing his lips in thought before shaking his head. “With my luck we’ll both get sick. And then who will take care of us? Moon?”
Another, louder laugh from Qibli. “Hey, don’t threaten me with a good time.”
A soft silence fell between the two dragons for a moment. All that could be heard in the cave was Qibli’s ragged breathing and Winter’s gentle sighs.
“Winter…” Qibli grumbled, his voice half muffled as he pressed up against Winter’s side. “Did you know you’re my favorite IceWing? Like, ever?”
“I’m the only IceWing you know that hasn’t tried to kill you or a friend.” Winter said as he wrapped his loose wing a bit tighter around his SandWing. “Options are a bit limited on favorites.”
“Not true! Changbai and Ermine are pretty cool too.” Qibli said, then giggled a little to himself. “Get it? Cool? Because you-”
Winter swatted Qibl gently with his spiky tail, causing him to quiet for a moment. The SandWing nestled deeper against Winter, a low rumble forming in his throat as he relaxed against Winter’s cool scales.
“Winter, you know that I love you, right?” QIbli hummed softly.
After a moment of hesitation, Winter let out a long sigh.
“We can talk about that when you’re feeling better.”