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Makkari was feeling awful.
She was currently curled up in the corner next to the toilet on the bathroom floor of Ajak’s home, shaking. She had just thrown up, and her stomach had finally calmed down, but she was left with no energy to move and wipe her face off.
It was 2am, about a week or so after the almost-emergence. Makkari had been in many fights before, but none have left her like this.
Her head was pounding, making it nearly impossible to interpret the vibrations around her. However, she recognized the vibration of his thick accent after he said her name, knocking on the door.
Makkari, still shaking, tried standing up, but failed as she toppled back onto the ground. The world was spinning, everything was blurred, she didn’t even notice Druig open the door and immediately rush over, pulling her into his arms. He noticed the throwup still on her mouth and reached behind him to grab a wet towel from the sink and gently wipe it off.
Druig was panicking, but he tried his best to not show it. He wasn’t sure what was wrong, but he knew that Makkari needed his help.
She curled into his arms, whimpering. Her entire body hurt, and she was freezing. Druig brushed some of the hair sticking to her sweaty forehead away from her face and held her close.
“Shh, you’re gonna be okay,” He whispered. Even though she couldn’t hear him, the soft vibration of his voice was calming. She let out a long shaking breath in an attempt to calm down.
“Good… good,” Druig comforted, rubbing small circled on her back with his thumb before picking her up bridal style and bringing her over to the bed.
Makkari immediately tried to curl into the covers but he stopped her, “ We need to get you some clean clothes. Yours are soaked with sweat. ” Makkari’s head was pounding, making it hard to completely understand what he was signing. She was barely able to sign herself.
She brought her knees up to her chest, shaking and trying to stay warm. However, she nodded anyway.
Druig walked over to their dresser, pulling out shorts and a t-shirt, while Makkari tried to get up but swayed, almost immediately toppling over. He was next to her in seconds, having dropped the clothes to catch her, nearly losing his own footing but balanced himself out so they didn’t both fall to the ground.
I’m sorry, I’m sorry… I’m sorr- she kept trying to sign, her movements blended together and her fever making her act, and feel, vulnerable. He reached out and cupped her shaking hands in his, rubbing his thumbs lightly over her knuckles, “Shh, it’s okay. You’re okay.” Just like he had said on the beach a few weeks ago. It seemed like it has turned into a thing they said to each other lately.
Once she had calmed down, he pulled her close to his chest, fingers carding through her hair. They sat there on the floor for a moment before Druig got up and led her over to the bed before grabbing the clothes again and bringing them over to help her change. Once she was in fresh clothes, Makkari curled up under the blanket and he sat next to her, reaching out to rest the back of his hand to her forehead in an attempt to get an idea of how bad this was.
She closed her eyes at the touch, his hand was cool against her sweaty forehead. He inhaled sharply aat how hot her forehead was. He knew she ran hot, but this was too warm, even for her. He started to get up so he could go get Phastos, but as soon as he started to stand, he felt a tug at his arm and a broken whine coming from her unused vocal cords. Druig turned toward her to see her pleading eyes staring up at him.
Please stay , she shakingly signed. Druig nodded, not surprised that she would have separation issues after the beach. He climbed in next to her and she basically climbed into his lap. He wrapped his arm around her waist to balance her and laid a light kiss on her temple before threading the fingers on his free hand through her hair.
Druig knew he should get Phastos, who was currently the closest person they had to a healer, but he couldn’t leave her. He didn’t want her to wake up in a panic when he wasn’t there, so he reached to the bedside table next to him and grabbed his phone.
He sent a quick text to Phastos, realizing texting one handed was very difficult. He desperately hoped he would see it soon, Makkari was still curled up in his lap, sound asleep, when Druig heard a knock about 10 minutes later, even though to him it felt like eternity.
Phastos poked his head in a noticed Makkari asleep, sweating and shivering in his lap. Druig looked up, worry written all over his face, “I don’t know what happened, I found her in the bathroom after throwing up about half an hour ago, she can barely move around on her own, and I’m 99% sure she has a very high fever.” Druig whispered, worried that the vibration of his voice would disturbed the sleeping speedster resting on his chest.
Phastos nodded and walked over to the bed, looking Makkari over and resting his hand against her forehead. “It looks as if she has the same thing Thena did a few days ago.” Druig frowned, he remembered the other day when Thena had gotten sick.
Phastos had determined that Thena’s sickness was due to the fact she had survived Kro’s attempt to suck her powers out of her, but he hadn’t heard about Makkari being attacked by the humanoid deviant.
“Wait- wouldn’t that mean Makkari was attacked by that deviant?”
Phastos nodded.
“Why didn’t you say anything?!” Druig felt Makkari stir and immediately went quiet, trying to calm himself so she wouldn’t wake up.
Phastos shook his head, “It was very brief, I figured that if she did end up having any adverse reactions it would be small, like a headache or exhaustion that lasts a day or two.”
“Well clearly you were wrong.”
He sighed, “Listen Druig, I know you’re scared, but you need to take a breath. I’m gonna go see if there is any equipment on the Domo I can use. Don’t go anywhere.”
Phastos left, leaving Druig alone with Makkari again. He looked down to now notice how her face was scrunched up in discomfort. He brushed some of the hair away from her sweaty forehead and ran his fingers through it. She cried and snuggled closer to his chest, still asleep. He didn’t want to wake her, but he also wanted to know what was wrong.
Luckly, Makkari woke up before he had to decide. Unfortunately, she didn’t wake up pleasantly.
She had woken up suddenly, crying and shaking in his arms. “Shh, you’re okay. It’s okay,” he spoke softly, so the vibrations of his voice didn’t bother her much. She just curled closer to him, burying her face into the crook of his neck, and had his shirt soaked with sweat and tears in minutes. He let her cry it out, before pulling her away from him just enough so he could sign.
Panic rose in her, thinking Druig was trying to leave. She looked at him with wide eyes, but he didn’t try to push her away any more, the panic bubbling inside her slowly dissipated, but she was still on high alert.
“ What’s wrong beautiful? ” he asked, signing the words carefully, in case her condition made it hard to understand him. Her hands were shaky and she could barely form a full sentence when she tried to sign. Please don’t leave, was all she could say.
Druig smiled sweetly and put a hand on her cheek, “ I won’t. Never again,” he signed and spoke, taking her hands in his and leaning forward to rest his forehead against hers.
Makkari closed her eyes at the touch, sleep washing over her again. But this time, she tried to fight it. Scared to close her eyes, because every time she did all she could see was Ikaris slamming Druig into the ground. Her fever just made it worse.
Druig noticed how she was fighting sleep and reached a hand up to lightly rub his thumb on her cheek, “ You need to sleep darling. ” He pulled her closer to his chest. “ I’m right here, I’m not going anywhere. ”
She took a deep breath, breathing him in, letting the rise and fall of his chest when he breathing and the vibrations of his heart against her ear lull her back to sleep.
~~~
Phastos came back a while later to find Druig and Makkari in the same spot as when he left.
Druig had actually fallen asleep with Makkari still curled up in his lap.
Phastos walked over to the side of the bed, placing the medical equipment in a chair and then turned toward the “younger” Eternals. He reached out his arm and lightly shook Druig, whispering his name in an attempt to not wake Makkari, unfortunately, he was unsuccessful.
Druig’s eyes snapped open in surprise and he quickly turns toward Phastos, which is most likely what woke Makkari up. She, on the other hand, woke up much slower, blinking a few times before looking around the room and noticing him. She gave him a weak smile. Even if they tried to hide it, Phastos noticed how Druig’s arm had moved up, protectively around her, and how Makkari tensed before realizing where she was.
“Hey Phastos, what’s up?” Druig asked, Makkari laid her head back against his chest again, but didn’t fall asleep.
“I brought some of the medical supplies we used to help Thena,” Phastos pulled out an IV bag and set it up, “I’m going to stick this in your arm okay?” Makkari’s vibrations were off the charts, making it difficult to understand him. He didn’t realize and reached out, making her flinch.
Phastos quickly pulled away, but before he could raise his hands to sign, Druig was already translating it for her, adding in some reassurances to help her relax. She now turned and nodded at Phastos, holding out her arm. He moved slowly, so as to not startle her again and put the needle in her arm. “ This should keep you hydrated, but I still recommend drinking plenty of water ,” he told her, signing along with the words.
Makkari leaned her head back against Druig’s chest again, all the tension leaving her body as she closed her eyes, but was unable to sleep. Her head was pounding, the vibrations around her were difficult to focus on and make sense of. She buried her face into Druig’s neck, trying to block it out and focus on his heartbeat.
Phastos tapped her shoulder to get her attention, making her look up at him, “ I’ll try to keep everyone away from the room so you can get some rest. This will take a couple of days to blow over, but you should be good as new by then. Now, you will feel the worst of it by then end, but that should also mean it will be over soon .”
Makkari gave a small nod and let her head fall back again into the crook of Druig’s neck. “Oh, and Druig,” Phastos said, causing the mind reader to quickly glance up at him, still looking at the speedster out of the corner of his eye. “Make sure she eats and drinks water, even with the IV, it will still be a good idea to help her stay hydrated by drinking.” Druig nodded and Phastos left, taking any spare equipment with him.
“Hey beautiful,” Druig said quietly, barely even a whisper, nudging her. This caused her to nuzzle her face closer into his neck, making him chuckle, “Cmon, you need to eat.” Makkari shook her head, eyes squeezed shut.
Just the thought of eating was making her nauseous. “Okay, okay, but at least drink some water. Please?”
She lifted her head ever so slightly so that he could help her drink from the straw, which was much easier to access in her weakened state. Druig shifted to where he could lay on his back with her head laying on his chest, curled close to him.
Makkari was asleep in seconds and Druig laid a kiss to her forehead before closing his eyes, glad to know that his beautiful Makkari would be okay.