Chapter Text
The small screen trembled in his hand. [Ready if you are] the message read. Nico swallowed. Was he…? A coughing fit answered the question for him. With a scowl, he swallowed the last of the coughs back down.
Why? Why did he have to agree to another bout of sparring? Why did Logan have to message him right when he got sick for the first time in years? More importantly, why did his pride absolutely refuse to let him back down? There was no way Logan would let him live that down. If it had been anyone other than him…
Nico jammed his phone back into his pocket as smoothly as he could. Only three tries, promising enough, right? The corner of his mouth twitched, not a smile, not even a wry one.
He took a deep breath and pushed off the wall he’d been leaning on. A sudden dizzy spell reminded him just why he’d been doing that. The shadows pulled forward to catch him as he almost stumbled into them.
He quickly straightened up on the other side, upstate New York, just a little closer to the now familiar porch than he’d aimed for.
Logan seemed to think so too, taking a step back in surprise. He almost let go of the porch fence, then tightened his grip instead.
Nico grinned as Logan’s startled expression turned to annoyance. Logan ground his teeth, then narrowed his eyes. Nico’s grin strained as Logan slowly eyed him up and down. All annoyance in Logan’s expression turned smug when Nico accidentally let a shiver slip.
“You look even worse than last time” Logan jabbed.
Nico’s grin turned into a scowl, unable to even feign amusement anymore. “Are you worried about me?” he jabbed back. His voice had sounded a little raspier than he’d wanted it to, but that was fine.
The corner of Logan’s mouth twitched. He opened his mouth, then paused, rapping his fingers against the porch fence.
Nico blinked. Huh…? He shook his head a little, forcing the grin back on his face. “Don’t tell me you’re going to go easy on me?” his mouth taunted with much more bravado than the rest of his body could afford.
Logan huffed, expression hardening. “Whatever…” he muttered, reaching down and pulling his sword out from between the floorboards. He didn’t even turn to look at Nico as he walked past him, just beckoning him along.
Nico’s sigh of relief didn’t hold up at the pace he needed to move to keep up with him.
By the time they’d made it to the clearing between the trees, Nico was already panting. He pretended to huff when Logan glanced over, trying to hide how out of breath he was. Logan seemed intent on making that impossible, keeping his eyes fixed on him as he tested the weight of his sword.
Nico watched the sword turn a few times, rolling his shoulders in anticipation. He blinked when Logan moved his sword from his left to his right hand. His non dominant hand. Nico tutted in frustration, not leaving any room for the small sense of relief that had tried to creep up. “You are going easy on me” he complained, voice shaky with anger. Well, not just anger.
Logan’s expression darkened, his grin got a menacing edge in the corner. “Oh, you’re up for a challenge? Cool…”. He tossed his sword aside, fast enough to make the dirt gasp sharply when it stabbed into it. “Fuck swords. Let’s pick up where we left off last time”. He beckoned at his face. “I’ll give you the first hit. Let’s see if you’ve learned anything”. His tone lowered to downright threatening as he finished the sentence, all traces of the grin gone, just leaving the menacing.
Crap. Nico’s Achilles’ heel. Swordfighting would have been bad enough… He swallowed, silently cursing himself. Subconsciously, he moved to twist his ring. He stopped himself, suppressing a wince at the touch of the cold sweat on the back of his hand.
Logan stared at him, arms crossed, no expression. “Are you going to make me come to you?” he taunted, almost quietly.
Nico clicked his tongue. That insufferable asshole… That was enough motivation. Without further warning, he closed in. Logan hadn’t bothered to teach him much about throwing punches, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t learned anything from last time.
Nico went in with a left hook. As expected Logan caught his fist with ease, barely bothering to uncross his arms. Before Logan had the chance to twist his arm, Nico tossed out his right fist. He let out a short laugh at the sound of the satisfying, dull thud of the impact. Logan’s face snapped to the side.
Nico’s smirk wavered when the grip on his fist tightened, and Logan slowly turned to reveal a smirk easily twice as smug.
“Really? Is that all you’ve got? That's not going to get you anywhere” he taunted. He tugged Nico’s hand up, closing a vicegrip around his wrist.
Nico scowled at the sudden pain and took a sharp breath, ready to tell him to fuck off. A cold shiver ran down his spine, almost making him choke. He tried to catch his breath, then tried harder. Too hard? He shook his head at the sudden dizzy spell.
“What happened to all that attitude?” Logan taunted on.
Nico almost couldn’t hear him over the loud ringing in his ears. He tried to pull his wrist free.
Logan huffed. “For fuck’s sake. Just give up already, dude. What’s wrong with you?!”. He pulled Nico’s wrist up high.
The sudden movement pulled Nico off balance. The grip on his wrist tightened when he toppled to the side. He didn't even notice the arm hooked behind his back before he almost folded over it.
The grip on his wrist let go, letting his hand drop uselessly to his side. He wanted to lift it back up, grabbing something, anything, to help him stay up. No use. It was too heavy. He could barely move his fingers. Wait. No use? Wasn’t that supposed to mean he was going to fall…? He stopped squirming and held his breath, bracing himself for impact. To his surprise, only his head fell back.
The arm around his back shifted a little, a warm hand held onto his waist, pulling him a bit further upright. Nico clenched his eyes shut, trying to resist any more movement, and swallowed back the overwhelming nausea.
He gasped when his hair got swept out of his face and a hand pressed to his forehead. Not quite gently. Still, he sighed in relief at the cool touch. A stark contrast to the warmth of the other hand. Ha… Weird…
Logan huffed in annoyance right above his ear. “I fucking figured…” he grumbled quietly, mostly to himself it seemed.
Nico groaned when the hand on his forehead slipped away and pulled on his collar, forcing him mostly back on his feet. His elbow got yanked up. Despite his attempts to protest, the world tilted upside down under him. The hands moved undeterred, much too strong. He gave in, releasing all tension in his body with a final shudder.
Nico felt warm. Too warm. He moved his hand, over fabric…? He grabbed onto it and pulled. Yeah, definitely fabric, he realized as he pulled it off of himself. Cool air touching his arms made him take a deep breath. Not quite relief, as he immediately felt too cold. He cracked his eyes open through the shivers. Bright light blinded him, making him groan. Slowly, he was able to make out what he was looking at. Who he was looking at. Standing right next to the couch he found himself to be laying on.
Before Nico had time to process, Logan narrowed his eyes, only hiding half of the two angry little flames that flared up in them. “You didn't think the fact you have a hundred and three degree fever was interesting enough to share?” he asked with more constraint than Nico expected.
Nico glanced away and tried to shrug. “I don't have a thermometer…”.
Logan's jaw twitched. He opened his mouth, revealing his tightly clenched teeth, then closed his eyes and took a sharp breath. “You can’t smartass yourself out of this one!” he hissed.
Nico grinned humourlessly. “Ha”. He pushed his elbows down, trying to get up. “Watch me” he countered. Before he could even make it half way, Logan shoved a hand onto the base of his neck, pushing him right back down. Keeping him down, with way more pressure than needed. He slowly sat down on the couch, eyes and hand fixed on him.
Nico heaved under his grip, glaring up at him. Logan glared back down at him. He didn't even try to keep the flames at bay this time. “I'm not messing around, Spooky” he growled. Pushing down even harder, that was more than just a warning.
Nico shuddered, ruining any chance his glare had to look threatening.
The fire in Logan's eyes died down a notch. His jaw relaxed.
Nico's eyes darted down to Logan's hand when the pressure let up. Annoyingly, Logan didn’t move it away, rapping his fingers against the side of Nico's neck.
When Nico swallowed, Logan finally pulled back. “Look, I know we're not exactly friends, but I'm not going to let you self-destruct right in front of me” he sighed. “You're staying here. At least until Gwen's had a chance to look at you” he stated. Ordered.
No! No way! Not even more embarrassment! Nico couldn’t bear that. This shitshow had been bad enough. More than bad enough. The absolute fucking worst. A nightmare. One that was going to haunt him forever! Even if he could somehow ever find it in himself to let this go, there was no way Logan was ever going to let him… He gripped onto the blanket and prepared to protest when his throat closed up. Another cold shiver rolled down his shoulders. He clenched his eyes shut.
He felt Logan shift next to him. “Hey, are you-?”.
Wait… Was that genuine concern…? No way, right? Nico opened his eyes in surprise. Not as surprised as Logan, apparently. Nico blinked, only just then feeling the tear roll down his cheek.
Oh…
Fuck!
Nico quickly swiped the tear away with the back of his hand as the heat of the fever mixed with shame. His fingers trembled. He stopped wiping, leaving his wrist right there, in front of his eyes, to hide as much of his face as possible.
Neither of them moved for a few seconds.
Nico couldn't take it anymore. He rolled onto his side and curled up a bit, holding his breath as long as possible. At that, he felt the weight next to him lift. He winced when the blanket got pulled over his shoulder, so careful it hurt...
“Don't forget to drink your water…” Logan warned… Pleaded?
When the quiet footsteps moved out of earshot, Nico finally let go of the sob he'd been holding in.