Big Bad Bug [End]

[carcinoGeneticist]

Letters had flown between the Court of Hearts and Corvistowne over the last few months.

Virtute had been home for a while now, but that didn't mean she had to forget the adventure she'd had. Or the new friend she'd made. Friend? It didn't seem like the right word for it, but Virtute was afraid to say something wrong and scare Zeki off. For now, all she had were the letters. Every day, she waited eagerly for the next one to arrive. When they did, she read them slowly, then quickly, then slowly again. They were all filed away, in order by date.

The most recent ones were the most exciting. It had taken a lot of time to figure out the details, but they had managed it. Any day now, he would be arriving. Everything had to be perfect, and while the girl had begun to feel tired and lethargic in the last few weeks, this energized her. Virtute brushed her mane out two or three times a day, every day. She brushed her fur, too, getting Xander to help. He seemed... odd, somehow, but she was too excited to really notice or to be bothered by it. All she could think about was the sweet little taur-boy, and the fact that she was finally going to see him again.

There was the old paranoia, of course, lurking in the shadows of her mind. Perhaps he wanted to forget the kisses they'd shared, and he was on her way to tell her just that. But she couldn't - wouldn't - think that way. Her questions would be answered soon enough.

The morning of his arrival, Virtute woke up with snot crusted on her nose, a cough that wouldn't quit, and nearly no voice to speak of. She'd been unable to get out of bed, even, miserably requesting that the servants direct him to her room and generally feeling pathetic. This was awful. He was going to hate her for this - all that time and planning, and she got sick. There was no way things could have possibly been worse.

[Bee]

Zeki generally had little patience for carriages--they were so slow, and they'd had to take a weirdly circuitous route to avoid just going through the nice, well-maintained roads of the Gardens to get to the Court of Hearts, because something about testicles and trophy cases and if his plane crash-landed there, there'd be nothing left of him to ship home to his dad. Or anything left to see Virtute.

But he'd endured this one pretty well, mostly because he'd spent a large portion of it daydreaming. After months of writing and receiving letters--each one carefully tucked away into an ever-fuller trunk--he was finally going to see her again. Hang out with her again. (Maybe even get to kiss her again! If he were honest with himself, working through all the possible scenarios of that accounted for about half of his daydreaming, though disturbingly he was almost unable to work out a situation that didn't end with some heretofore invisible Heart immediately beheading him.)

When he'd arrived at the palace, hopping out of the carriage with springy anticipation, he was promptly informed that Virtute was ill. They let the statement hang there, weighted, in the air.

Oh, he said, crestfallen and worried. N-not terribly though, right?

A bad cold, he was told. Would he still get to see her? Yes, they said. Well, why didn't they tell him that first?

They'd paused.

Because.

Jerks, Zeki thought, but they led him to Virtute's room, so perhaps they weren't completely mean. They rapped at the door. Zeki half-waved at it before his addled brain remembered that Virtute was behind the door. He pretended that he had gone to smooth down his hair instead. There. Well-kept. Perfectly well-kept.

"Virtute," he said, though one of the guards had looked ready to speak. "It's me. Can I come in?"

[carcinoGeneticist]

There was movement outside of her door, voices talking in quiet whispers. Virtute pushed herself forward slightly, her ears perked towards the sounds, but she still couldn't quite make out what was being said or who was even doing the saying. She was pretty sure she could hear one of the guards - their voice sounded deeper - but there was one that was... less familiar. Younger, judging by the difference in pitch.

Her heart caught in her throat. Could it be that Zeki had arrived already? Even before waiting for confirmation, the kitten was trying her best to wipe all of the snot and other nastiness off her face and was on her way to the door.

He knocked when she was halfway there, making her pause. Yes. Yes. The voice had been his, this was proof of it. With renewed energy, Virtute scrambled for the door, opening it quickly and then... Sneezing. All over the raccoon-dog.

With a horrified expression, the kitten covered her nose and mouth with her paws. "O-oh! Oh, Deki, I'm do dorry! It'd dith dtupid cold." That was almost more mortifying than the sneezing, truth be told, and her ears drooped. Another sneeze took her, but this one she managed to aim away from him. "You can dtill come in, dough." A twinge of hope entered her voice as she slipped away from the door, making space for him. "If you wandt."

[Bee]

A bad cold indeed! Poor Virtute, she looked and sounded miserably ill—sprightly for all of that, and it made him absurdly happy that was still happy to see him—but—he didn’t want to tax her and make her cold worse. But then resting comfortably in a room didn’t involve strenuous activity, right? So maybe a little time wouldn’t hurt, as long as they weren’t running around or yelling at the top of their lungs or anything—not that Virtute looked to be in a position to do either. He was just pleased to see her. They didn’t have any exciting adventures around the palace or anything.

“I’d love to,” he said, cheerfully, and scooted into the room behind her. He shrugged his satchel a little higher up on his back and debated the little gift he’d made—presents were always embarrassing, and there was never a right moment to give them; the paranoid fear of rejection only made it worse. So he let it sit for the moment. He’d much rather pay attention to Virtute than worry about that, anyway. “I’ve missed seeing you.”

[carcinoGeneticist]

Once the boy was in the room, Virtute closed the door behind them - but not before shooting a Look at one of the two men standing outside. She had given them instructions that said that when the boy had arrived, he was to be allowed in right away.

Her anger was short-lived, however, in the face of her joy. How long had she been looking forward to this? Even the cold didn't seem quite as bad with Zeki around, especially when he was saying sweet things about missing her. Missing her! She almost couldn't believe it. The girl smiled and lifted a paw to hesitantly touch one of Zeki's. "I'be middet you, doo. I'm do glad you're here, now." For a moment, her expression fell. "Dorry again aboud da cold."

Really, that was just the worst part. She'd wanted to show him around the Palace, let him see the rose gardens and the rolling hills and the lake, but her mother had been adamant. As long as she was a snotty mess, she was to stay in her bed. Her friend could visit, but there would be no exploring. That was the end of the conversation. Keeping those words in mind, the kitten crawled back into her bed and then a little hesitantly patted a spot next to her. "You could - dit nexdt to me?" If he wasn't afraid of her as she was now, a little ball of germs.

[Bee]

Zeki turned a little red at the thought--sitting on the bed next to her, that was; it seemed peculiarly different when you liked someone in an out of the ordinary kind of way--but he rapidly decided that this little hang-up was getting in the way of being close to her and talking to her, so he shoved his worries aside, smiled, and sat down next to her.

The next couple of hours were a whirl of conversation--however much they'd communicated by letter, it was so much nicer to hear her voice, even at the points when they really weren't talking about much of anything at all, even though it was muffled by a cold. Zeki wished absently that it was possible to visit more often--maybe, maybe they could arrange something, when Virtute was feeling better.

"Oh!" he said. He dug around in his satchel. "Before I forget! I made this for you." He brought out the little toy. It had taken hours of tinkering to make it functional; for all that it was just a trinket, he was rather proud of it. He wound it up and let it hop across the bed, a little ship with a propeller on top to get it into the air, and little people inside who turned and waved with their clockwork. He pointed happily to a little slot in the middle. "It also makes toast!"

[carcinoGeneticist]

The closeness was surprisingly nice, and Virtute felt the last few nerves begin to melt away. Behind her mask, the small smile that she wore (plastered with snot as it may have been) only grew. She wasn't entirely aware of it, but as Zeki spoke, she slowly gravitated towards him until they were nearly touching.

When she did notice this, her cheeks lit up with a bright blush. For a moment she considered moving back to a proper place, but no - their proximity didn't feel uncomfortable in the slightest. In fact, she found that she rather liked it. The talk was just as nice. It seemed like it had been so long since she'd been able to just talk to someone like this, and Zeki didn't even seem to be bothered by the stupid accent her illness had bestowed upon her.

Then, the conversation parted, and a present was pulled from the satchel he had brought (had she noticed it before now? She must have, because it was perfectly adorable on him.). She stared at the toy with a wide-eyed wonder that he might have remembered from the first time he'd mentioned that he made planes, with just a touch of something else.

That something else manifested in its entirety as she launched herself towards the Corvie, pressing a firm kiss against his lips.

Hopefully, that would say enough about how strongly she felt that it even made toast.