MPC 111X/52C: Sick Leave

Reward Requested: Bits

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It was around seven-thirty in the morning when Kaya started to wake up. It was earlier than she would normally wake up on a Sunday morning. Ordinarily she'd awaken to find her partner Hawkeye still asleep, embraced in a one-armed hug with her in bed. But today Hawkeye was missing, and Kaya had woken up all alone.

At that moment, Kaya heard a familiar sound coming from the hallway: the toilet flushing. She shrugged this off at first, figuring Hawkeye probably just had to go pee real fast and that he'd be back any moment now. But then she heard another sound coming from that same direction... the sound of retching. Fearing the worst, Kaya quickly threw off her blankets and got on her feet, making her way to the toilet room. The sound of groaning and retching only got louder the closer she got. She knocked on the door with her pointer finger's knuckle.

"Hawkeye, are you okay in there?" she asked.

"Right as rain,"  Hawkeye replied, although the way his voice sounded made it sound like he was in terrible agony.

Hawkeye was about to answer, but he was cut off by his stomach making another groaning sound before another retch sound was heard shortly after. Kaya cringed outside the toilet room when she heard her partner throwing up again. "I... I think I have food poisoning,"  the Hawkmon admitted shortly after.

Kaya sighed. "Yeah, that sounds like food poisoning, alright. Not fun at all. Could it be from the beef bowls we had last night?"

"I truly do not care where I got this from," Hawkeye said, sounding either annoyed or in pain, "I would just like it to end!"

Hawkeye's pained groaning could then be heard from inside the toilet room.

Kaya then made a mad dash to her parents' bedroom, seeing that they weren't there, then dashing downstairs before Hawkeye could say anything else to persuade her to go to school. Alas, Hawkeye simply couldn't find the energy with the lack of sleep he got, on top of the way he felt his stomach do flip flops once again, indicating that something bad was about to happen. Dancing around the gross details, Hawkeye finally left the toilet room after another forty minutes, practically dragging himself back to bed as he held his belly, groaning in pain all the while. There, he'd find Kaya sitting on the bed, patting her leg to allow Hawkeye to rest on the pillow on her lap.

"Are you... sure that's a good idea?" Hawkeye asked. His voice sounded like he was on death's door.

Not having the energy to debate against being cared for like he usually does, Hawkeye submitted and crawled back up onto Kaya's bed. It hurt his belly tremendously to do such sudden movement like he did, but it thankfully settled itself by the time he laid his head down on Kaya's lap, mostly on Kaya's left leg where the pillow was.

After a few minutes of sitting in silence, Kaya grabbed the remote to the TV in her room, turning it on and opening up Netflix. Kaya knew that The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. was one of Hawkeye's favorite anime, so she decided to put that on for the two of them to watch. Kaya rubbed Hawkeye's belly all throughout, figuring that it would help settle the poor bird's stomach down somewhat. It surprised Kaya to feel just how soft his belly was, specifically the feathers on his stomach. She never got the chance to do this with him before, since he's usually very high strung and didn't like anyone touching him in general, much less his belly. But in this moment, Hawkeye had to admit to himself that the belly rubs were indeed working to make the agony of his flip-flopping stomach a bit more bearable. Three episodes of Saiki K. later, Kaya decided to try and make some general conversation with her ill partner.

"Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen you sick like this before," Kaya said.

Right at that moment, Hawkeye's stomach started gurgling loudly. It was the kind of gurgling noise that sounded like it would precede something like an earthquake or a lightning strike, and Kaya couldn't help but stare at it in surprise. "That didn't sound good."

"No, it did not," Hawkeye responded, also staring at his stomach in shock.

"No, I am not," Hawkeye admitted. He practically leapt off of Kaya's lap and ran towards the direction of the toilet room once again.

"Poor Hawkeye..." Kaya muttered, pausing the show. She felt really bad that her companion was feeling so awful today, and she felt even worse that she didn't really know how else to help him. She grabbed her phone and looked up "how to help someone with food poisoning" on the internet, thinking it could at least lead her in the right direction.

And with that, Kaya made her way downstairs towards the kitchen. She searched the pantry and cupboards to see what was in stock. Sure enough, everything she needed was in this kitchen. She grabbed a banana and began cutting it up, putting it on a plate for Hawkeye to eat as a snack if he felt inclined to do so. She doubted he'd have any appetite with the food poisoning, but she knew eating these would be important to help get the nasty stuff out of his system. Kaya would also get a cup of applesauce and a spoon out, also as a "just in case" measure. She'd have to wait until Hawkeye was actually hungry to justify making toast or boiling any rice.

"I wonder if he can actually keep anything down right now," Kaya wondered out loud as she cut up the bananas. "I don't want him to throw up more than he already has." She placed the banana slices on a small plate, as well as some saltine crackers and the applesauce cup, grabbed a bottle of water, and headed back up the stairs towards her room. As she walked by, she saw that the toilet room door was still closed, a light peering out from underneath. She knocked on the door again.

"Not right now!"  Hawkeye's pained voice could be heard yelling from the other side.

"Sorry, sorry...!" Kaya quickly apologized, backing away quickly from the door. She set the plate on the low table in the middle of her room and sat down on the bed. It had been a while since Hawkeye snapped at her like that... in fact, she couldn't remember the last time he ever did. She understood why, since she knew his stomach must be staging the mother of all revolts against him, but it still spooked her. Kaya just hoped his stomach would start feeling better soon as she hit play on the show. It was episode 6 of Saiki K., the beginning of the episode being a segment on which kind of coffee jelly he should buy.

Isn't that just relatable... Kaya thought to herself, thinking back to her own moments at the store where she couldn't decide between two or three things. Hawkeye once almost fell asleep in the V-Pet, she was taking so long. I've never had coffee jelly before... I wonder if it's actually that good? Maybe Hawkeye would like it... I should buy some once he recovers... dang, that ball's in the water? This show is ridiculous.

Yeah, when she's watching a movie or a TV show, Kaya's inner thoughts can bounce back and forth between topics without any rhyme or reason. Hawkeye came back in some time later, holding his stomach with one wing and his beak with the other. "I hate this so much and I wish for the sweet release of death."

"Ah, thank you, Kaya." Hawkeye took a couple steps towards the table, grabbing the water bottle and taking a sip. 

"What? Pfft, no, of course not." It totally was.

"Ah, well. It couldn't hurt to at least try... but not right now. Let's say my stomach is not exactly welcoming of guests at this moment, ugh." Hawkeye had never felt such awfulness in his belly before, so he was not used to this sensation at all. Not to mention the "unmentionable" aspect of having food poisoning that neither Hawkeye nor the writer wanted to get too far into. He hopped back up onto the bed and tried to make himself comfortable once again.

The two of them spent the rest of the day hanging out together at home while Hawkeye's system worked out whatever the hell was wrong with it. They watched anime and movies together to start out with, then they moved on to video games and board games when Hawkeye was starting to feel more like himself. Slowly but surely, Hawkeye felt comfortable with eating again, although he decided to stick to the foods Kaya had suggested just to be safe. The rest of Kaya's family was also a big help with Hawkeye's recovery, heading out to the stores when he needed something or being able to help with things that neither Kaya nor Hawkeye were all too sure about. The only thing that didn't change was the amount of bathroom breaks he was taking.

Over the course of the whole day, Hawkeye couldn't help but think on how much of an asshole to Kaya he was at the beginning. He had changed so much since meeting her that he couldn't imagine his past self as being all too pleasant to be around. But Kaya took the time to get to know him, to bond with him, to help him when he needed it, even if he didn't particularly ask for it. Over time, their bond grew, and Hawkeye became a better Digimon for it. The old Hawkeye probably wouldn't have been worth taking care of when he was sick... and the only reason he changed to begin with was because Kaya was able to make him want to change. 

And now here she was, helping Hawkeye as much as she could with his sickness and just being there for him. He knew this before, but this act of kindness cemented the fact that Kaya was the best thing that could've ever happened to Hawkeye, and he had a feeling that Kaya felt the same.

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It was around seven-thirty AM the next morning when Hawkeye started to wake up. Whatever he did yesterday worked, because he felt much better today, stomach wise. Ordinarily he'd awaken to find his partner Kaya still asleep, embracing the Hawkmon in a one-armed hug with her in bed. But today Kaya was missing, and Hawkeye had woken up all alone.

That's weird... where did she go?

At that moment, Hawkeye heard a familiar sound coming from the hallway: the toilet flushing. He shrugged this off at first, figuring Kaya probably just had to use the restroom before getting ready for school. But then he heard another sound coming from that same direction... the sound of retching.