(home)Sick -- (Star Wars: TFA, Poe Dameron)

[dw124]

Three days of scouring the underworld of Coruscant for a fragment of Imperial Archive data, and all he’d managed to pick up was a particularly nasty cold.

Poe lurched upright, nearly smacking his head on the ceiling of his narrow bunk, and tried to muffle his coughing fit into the fabric of the blanket covering his body. Around him were the sounds of creaking bunks and the soft rustle of blankets as his fellow Resistance fighters shifted in their sleep. Poe quietly swung his legs over the edge of the bunk and dropped to the floor, tiptoeing barefoot across the room and palming the door open.

As it slid closed behind him, he stepped forward across the hallway of the old military carrier ship and rested his forehead against the cool transparisteel window. There wasn’t much to see in the middle of a hyperspace jump, but the smooth glass and metal felt better against his skin than the stuffy, warm air of the crew quarters.

“hh’ngch!” He pulled away from the wall to quickly stifle a sneeze into his shoulder, before remembering that he didn’t have to be quiet out there. Good thing, too, because what started as one sneeze quickly developed into a fit that left him congested and miserable and off in search of the nearest refresher for a tissue.

Inside the small cubicle, Poe leaned against the sink, staring at himself in the mirror. He looked about as bad as he felt – his hair a mess of sweaty curls, dark circles forming under his eyes. Whatever this bug was, it had hit him hard and fast. The fever was making him tired and cranky. His chest was sore from all of the coughing. He couldn’t breathe through his nose at all anymore, and the near-constant sneezing was exhausting. All he wanted was to be back home – back at the base on D’Qar in his own quarters, tucked into his own bed, with his own blankets, and his own overprotective, ex-stormtrooper boyfriend to take care of him.

But even traveling at lightspeed, they could only go so fast, and they probably wouldn’t be back in the Ileenium system for at least another few hours. Poe sighed at his reflection in the mirror, resigning himself to going back to bed and trying to get some sleep. He couldn’t exactly stay in the ‘fresher all night.

But before he could leave the room, he felt the urge to sneeze quickly build in his sinuses again and scrambled for the tissues nestled into one of the wall cabinets.

“hh’kshhhh! eh’IHSHHH! hh-hh---ETCHHH! HH’TCHHHUH!” He blew his nose into the handful of tissues and tossed them into the bin nearby, before grabbing another few handfuls and stuffing them into the pockets of his sleep pants.

“Okay, you,” he murmured to himself. “Back to bed.”

He sniffled wetly and left the room, stumbling back down the dim hallway towards his uncomfortable, lonely bunk. But when he rounded the corner, he found that the hallway was no longer empty. Standing outside the crew cabin door, in a simple black tank and sleep shorts, stood Jessika Pava, arms crossed over her chest and a concerned look on her face.

“Y’okay, Commander?” she asked quietly, taking a step towards Poe.

He sighed congestedly, running a hand over his face. “Not really…” he murmured, directing a breathless sneeze into his shoulder. “Go back to sleep, Jess,” he continued, feeling guilty that he apparently hadn’t been quiet enough not to disturb anyone earlier.

“Can I do anything to-- whoa!” Jess stopped midsentence as Poe stumbled, tripping over his own two feet and nearly crashing to the floor. She rushed forward and grabbed him, hauling him upright as much as she could. “I gotcha, it’s okay,” she assured him, hanging on until she was sure he was stable again. “I’m not the one who should be in bed right now. What are you doing up?”

Poe answered with a deep, throaty cough, one hand on Jess’s shoulder to keep himself upright. “Couldn’t…” he began, trying to catch his breath. “Couldn’t sleep. Kept doing, well, that. Didn’t want to bother anyone.”

Jessika shook her head with a frustrated sigh. “Who cares about us?” she asked. “Everyone knows you’re sick, and we’re nearly home, anyway. They’re not gonna care if you wake them up.”

“I don’t think Snap’s got that memo yet,” Poe answered, thinking of his fellow pilot who was most definitely not a morning person. He fumbled for the tissues in his pocket, pulling one out just in time to cover a couple of quick sneezes. “hh’ktchhh! uh’hshhh!”

“He can deal,” Jess insisted, frowning up at her commander. “But you’re still not going to listen to me, are you?”

“Not likely,” Poe answered wryly, sniffling into the tissues.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Stay right here, then,” she ordered him, helping him to sit on the cool metal floor, propped up against the wall.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, coughing softly. Beside him, the door hissed open and shut as Jess stepped back into the room and Poe was left alone, gazing at the pulsating blue streak of stars as they hurtled through hyperspace. It was kind of mesmerizing… until it became kind of dizzying, and he had to look away, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his head on his knees.

There was the soft sound of the door opening again, and Poe felt himself being maneuvered sideways as Jess eased him to the floor. Rather than hitting the cold metal, though, his head landed on a soft pillow, and his bare arms touched the soft fabric of the blanket she’d spread out.

“Easy, there you go,” she murmured quietly, helping him get settled before draping another blanket over him.

Poe hummed in appreciation, opening his eyes to blink tiredly up at her. “Thanks, Jess,” he whispered. She smiled back at him in the dim light. “Now will you go back to bed?” he asked.

Jess chuckled, pushing his hair back from his forehead. “Nah,” she responded, sliding across the floor to sit cross-legged near his head, leaning back against the wall. “Wasn’t that tired, anyway. You get some rest, but I’ll be here if you need anything.”

“You’re the best, Pava,” Poe said, closing his eyes again and snuggling further into the pillow.

“Yeah, Dameron, I know. Get some sleep.”

[Alabaster]

Lovely! This was written very true to the characters, I think, too.