Work Text:
Spinel’s fever is ridiculous. He’s been tossing and turning for the last few hours and it hasn’t let up in the slightest. There are timers reminding him to take medicine every few hours, but he doesn’t dare ask for help.
Like any of the other Admins would let him live it down. Amethio and Agate are the most likely to help out of all his coworkers, but like hell he’d ever show vulnerability in front of either of them.
He scratches Umbreon’s ears, the fever has to go down soon.
Everything feels so restricting. Usually, Spinel is dressed in layers of clothing due to his poor cold tolerance. Now, he’s tugging off his usually long-sleeved sleepwear until he’s left wearing nothing but a t-shirt.
Short sleeves are really not his style. He feels exposed like this, though the cool air against his fevered skin is like heaven. Besides, there’s no one here except Umbreon to witness him like this. He keeps his door locked 24/7, and no one is stupid enough to break into his personal quarters.
—
Spinel forgot about the one person stupid enough to break into his personal quarters.
Umbreon moves next to him and he hears the telltale sound of the lock clicking open. He’s the only one with a keycard to open his door and aside from taking off the hinges completely, the only way to get in is-
He looks at the Magnemite poised outside his door. It’s possible to train the little bastards to use their magnets to open electronic locks. Spinel would know, he trained his Magneton to do the same.
Frankie peers her head into his room, and he drags an arm over his face to block out the hallway light. A glance to the clock on his nightstand tells him it’s 3am and he has so many questions about what the fuck his mechanic is doing breaking into his room at this hour, or at all.
The door closes to block out the light shining in from the hall which Spinel is grateful for, but he’s annoyed to hear the sound of Frankie crossing the room towards his bed. Umbreon doesn’t even growl at her. Traitor.
He has no concerns over his safety so much as his sanity. The little runt is an astounding 5’0” and down an arm since she never wears her prosthetic at night. No, he’s more concerned over her ability to talk and fondness for annoying him.
The bed dips and Umbreon still doesn’t growl at her or make any effort to get her out of his room.
He sighs,
“Frankie, what do you think you’re doing?”
His arm stays firmly in place over his forehead, he doesn’t feel like looking at her right now. Not when he’s still so feverish and there’s a headache pounding against his skull.
“You missed your evening - uh - I don’t remember what you drink. But you missed it, so I’ve correctly deduced you must be dying”
His evening coffee? Is she seriously talking about-
“I drink coffee every evening at the same time and you’ve never bothered to figure out what I’m drinking?”
There’s some shuffling next to him,
“That’s beside the point. You, my good sir, have a ratchet fever”
He scoffs at that,
“Obviously. Did you just come here to annoy me?”
She mumbles something in a language he doesn’t speak - probably one from Sinnoh, then - and doesn’t answer him.
A hand tugs his arm away from his forehead, and he begrudgingly moves his arm so it’s only covering his eyes. He feels the back of her hand check his temperature and he has a complaint ready on the tip of his tongue, but before he can speak, something is placed onto his forehead.
Something cold, blissfully cold. Without meaning to, he breathes out a sigh of relief at the ice pack? It feels awfully soft to be an ice pack, so maybe it’s something with antifreeze or a high salt concentration that doesn’t get completely solid in the freezer.
Whatever it is, he’s grateful for the relief it brings. Did Umbreon know she had that and that’s why he didn’t growl? He should give his partner more credit, he’s only ever looked out for Spinel.
He hears her shuffle to get off the bed, and quickly grabs her wrist before she can leave. It might be hard enough to bruise later, but Spinel isn’t concerned about that right now. There’s no way he can risk this idiot letting the others know he’s sick. The thought of Onyx barging in here to take advantage of his vulnerability and mock him is too much to handle.
Worse, what if Amethio came in here with all his concern and morals, trying to help him. At least with the mechanic she has the common sense to bring an ice pack and leave, even if he won’t let her go anywhere right now.
“Aww, if you wanted company just say so” she coos at him.
In response, he roughly yanks her wrist and hears the sound of her abruptly landing face-first against the mattress. He might enjoy the sight if he bothered to look, though his headache is still bad enough he wants to keep his eyes closed.
“I can’t have you running off and telling anyone I’m sick” he grumbles, not thrilled at his actions being perceived as affectionate.
No, he only acts in his own self-interest, thank you very much. She must lift her head up because she’s still talking to him,
“Sure you aren’t just feeling cuddly? Ah, is it that time of the month aga-”
He’s not letting her finish that sentence, and tugs her by the wrist until she’s sort-of next to him and he can loop his arm around her neck, letting go of her wrist in the process.
“Go to sleep, and if you try to talk to me, I will smother you”
Frankie thankfully shuts up, though he doesn't get the impression she's particularly concerned over his threat. He feels Umbreon move to lay on top of him, and decides to let himself drift off, hoping the fever will break soon.
—
He wakes up to an odd feeling on his forehead. Is that . . . nibbling?
Shooting upward, he turns to look at the perpetrator, but Frankie is passed out on the other side of the bed. Umbreon is sleeping on top of her and gives him a look that says “not this one”
Something falls into his lap.
A Snom.
The mechanic put a Snom on his forehead.
He picks it up with both hands. It’s kind of cute-looking. His fever is gone, too. Are Snom good for fevers? It nibbles on his hand curiously. What do these things even eat?
Why the fuck did she bring him a Snom instead of an ice-pack. Where did she even get a Snom from.
Never a dull day living here, he supposes.
He nudges Frankie’s shoulder. She doesn’t stir. A more forceful shove, still nothing. How do you wake up a heavy sleeper, anyway? He pinches the bridge of his nose.
There’s no time for this. He sets the Snom to the side and takes her hand in his.
Apparently, an old test to check if someone was dead before putting them in the ground was to forcefully press down on their fingernails with a pencil or pencil. He doesn’t have either, but Frankie blearily wakes up after three seconds of pressure against her nail-bed. She tugs her hand away, as though offended by him.
“Hi Spinel”
He points a finger at her,
“Explain the Snom”
“It stays cold longer than an ice pack”
That’s not what he meant.
“Why do you have a Snom?”
“Correction: that’s your Snom now. But, I found it while I was trying to befriend Bronzong on Glaseado Mountain.”
His Snom, what is she-
“Absolutely not! I do not need a Snom, it’s completely useless and one of the weakest pokemon that-”
She cuts him off,
“Aren’t you chasing Rayquaza, with a 4-times weakness to ice?” he glances at the Snom in his hands, the snow bug is going to help him? Caterpie are stronger than this thing. Frankie waves her hand and continues,
“Besides, you have an Umbreon. That’s a friendship evolution, and at night. Snom is also a friendship evolution at night. It’s like a match made in heaven” She leans back like she just made the most compelling argument in the world.
He blinks at her.
“Get out of my room”
She slinks out with a smirk, evidently aware of how he did not make her take the Snom back. This is a horrible idea. He doesn’t not need such a weak pokemon on his team.
He finds himself researching what Snom eat anyway. If he happens to accept its company later on, it’s only because he appreciates its natural ability to be used as an ice pack. No other reason.
—
Amethio nearly does a double take seeing a photo of a passed out Spinel with a Snom on his forehead. Frankie sent it to the groupchat he has with his subordinates, aka, the only other sane people in the Explorers.
He probably shouldn’t have added Frankie if he wanted sane, but she likes to send memes into the groupchat and Zir and Conia seem to like them. She’s also technically a subordinate to him since he’s an Admin, even though pulling rank with her is about as useless as bringing a Snom to battle.
“Omg! So cute!” Conia texts back immediately. After a few moments, Zir sends a thumbs-up emoji.
Amethio has so many questions. Why was Frankie in Spinel’s room, why is there a Snom on his forehead, where did the Snom come from, who’s Snom is it, how did Spinel not notice there’s a Snom on his forehead?
He sets his phone down. It’s way too early to deal with this.
Frankie winks at him later that morning, which is odd, but he doesn’t think anything of it until he catches sight of Spinel feeding the Snom ice cubes from the freezer at 2am, and decides he doesn’t want to know.