Happy Boostlethon, settiai!
Title: Varicella Zoster
Author: franzbrotchen
Prompt 1 - FIC: Hurt/comfort. Ted and Booster in the early days of JLI, when they're just starting to become friends. Gen or slash.
Booster Gold has been called many things; a glory-hound, an opportunist, and an egotist but he could never be called a slacker. Every morning he has Skeets wake him up at 6 AM so he could go through his exercise routine, take a shower, and check his suit over for any problems. Only then, after checking his hair and teeth for the second time would he be ready to head over to the JLI embassy.
This morning though, fighting to just open his eyes Booster barely manages to drag himself to his bathroom. Only to find that there isn't enough sprucing in the world that could make him look presentable. He hadn't been feeling that great for the last few days, but this was the last straw, as the 21st century expression went. To make matters even worse he had managed to get a cluster of bug bites on his chest which itched terribly. He goes back into bed, telling Skeets to call out sick for him and to not wake him up for anything less than the end of the world. Which made him admittedly concerned when a few hours later Skeets attempts to beep him awake.
“I told you, I'm not going out today.”
“I'm sorry sir, but the Blue Beetle said if you didn't come out he would break in anyway.”
“Don't we have security?”
“You gave the Beetle a key, remember sir?” Skeets just managed to say before a familiar blue head appeared in the doorway.
“Good morning Booster old buddy!” He strolled into the room all smiles, stopping to give Booster an appraising look. “Huh, the bot wasn't lying was he? I thought you didn't get sick in the future.”
Booster peeks out from under his blankets enough to scowl at Beetle is just standing there looking annoyingly healthy.
“Well you know Mama Beetle always said fresh air was good for a cold.” He says “And I happen to have a wonderful reason to get you outside!”
Booster buries himself under his blankets. “I'm taking today off. I'm not up to dealing with your crazy schemes, Beetle.” He grumbles. Beetle isn't the least bit perturbed by the flat refusal.
“Come on Boost, it's for the ol' Blue and Gold. Just a little retrieval job, a gang of hooligans stole some gadgets from a shipment that Amaris Co.wants back. You'll be back before your bed even misses you.” He says leaning over Booster, his persuasive tone cutting past Booster's defenses in a way only Beetle was able to do. Still Booster is going to hold out for as long as he could.
“If it's so simple why don't you do it?”
There's a pause of silence so unlike Beetle that Booster actually glances up to at his partner, who by his look of intense concentration is trying to come up with a convincing lie. “Well, this is a partnership after all. There can't be a Blue without Gold, that'd be false advertising!”
“Beetle.”
“...And it also might just so happen that the thieves who stole the gadgets were last spotted in Gotham-”
“No.” Booster pulls the blankets up around his head once more.
“What kind of friend are you? Come on Booster, I just need someone to watch my back. There are more crazies there per square foot there than there are pizza places in Chicago! What if I got eaten by a alligator? How bad would you feel then? Abandoning your best friend just when he needs you the most!” Booster just grunts.
Beetle crosses his arms. “Alright.” He sighs, “I'll take your monitor duty.”
“Really?”
“Cross my little Beetle heart.”
“Fine.” Booster gets out of bed, ignoring his headache. “I'll be ready in a minute.”
Beetle smiles brightly like whenever he gets his way. Again. “I'll be outside in the Bug.”
*
By the time they land in Gotham Booster's bug bites have gotten itchier, no doubt irritated by the suit. His head is also starting to pound and he doesn't think it's just because of air-sickness. If Beetle notices Booster's discomfort he doesn't give any sign and lands the Bug on the outskirts of Gotham. Probably hoping that Batman won't notice. Booster thinks it's a lost cause and wishes they could just get it over with as soon as possible.
They head for the docks where the thieves had last been spotted, and Booster feels a strange sense of non-deja-vu. He hadn't been in back to Gotham since his Mother had thrown him out of the apartment, and it was bizarre how different everything was. In his mind he had known it was a completely different city at this time, but somehow he had expected it to look the same. Even the Batman statue wouldn't be erected for another century.
In the future Gotham harbor would be filled in, and these endless rows of warehouses new and decrepit alike would be long gone. Along with everyone else who was living in Gotham at this time. Completely unaware of the future waiting in store for them; a future Booster had already seen. For a moment Booster feels so alone in this different time he forgets about his aching head and itchy chest.
“Come on Booster, we're not here for sight-seeing!” Beetle shouts and Booster realizes he has been blankly staring at the polluted waters of Gotham harbor. He quickly catches up to Beetle.
“That's it.” Beetle whispers as they arrive at a particularly beaten down structure. The windows broken and one side sagging.
“It looks abandoned.” Booster said.
“That's usually the idea with thieve hide-outs. Now I need you to kick down the door to catch them off guard. They won't know what hit them!”
On Beetle's count they rush the door, breaking through the rotten wood; Beetle's BB gun flashing and Booster ready with his blasters. At least the Beetle had been right in saying they didn't know what hit them. The warehouse is utterly devoid of anything but a few empty barrels and crates.
“Beetle, you failed to mention that these thieves were invisible too.” Booster says taking in the empty containers. He wishes not for the first time he was back in bed. Beetle only grunts as he stalks around the barrels as if expecting an angry thug to pop up from behind any one of them.
The interior is marginally better than the cave they had explored in one of their first jobs, but only by the lack of vampires. Everything smells like mold and the shadows had a Gotham sharpness to them that could only mean bad news. And Booster's bug bites were still itching.
Booster leans against a crate wishing his suit had better access to scratch, idly watching Beetle. Which on the bright side wasn't so bad a sight if he has no choice in the matter. Then Beetle leans over, and Booster shifts to get a better view, only to lose his balance knocking over the crate he was resting against. Suddenly Booster finds himself staring down into a dark hole that the crate had been covering.
Beetle who had straightened up hearing the racket claps Booster on the back as he regains his balance. “Good job Booster, I should have realized the warehouse was just a cover for the secret entrance.” Without hesitation Beetle throws his legs over the side of the hole, feet finding the first rung.
“We aren't really going down there are we? This is Gotham. It'll probably lead to a vat of giant mutant alligators or something.” Booster couldn't help sounding petulant at the prospect of a exploring a dark crevice.
“Nothing ventured nothing gained. Come on Boost!” Beetle says as his head disappears. Booster frowns but climbs in after him anyway, noting the slimy texture of the metal rungs. In the darkness it is difficult to gauge how long they climb down. The only source of light comes when Beetle reaches the bottom and begins using his BB gun as a flashlight.
“So which way now?” Booster asks. They are in a tunnel, but being stuck in a dark, smelly tube didn't keep the Blue Beetle down who just glances in both directions before heading to the right.They walk for at least thirty minutes before getting out of the tunnel and entering a what appears to be a cave.
Of course there is an ambush. Of course Booster also has a headache, probably a fever, and now his entire chest is alternatively itching and hurting. Which makes fighting off a gang of thieves that much harder.
“Could use some of your help over here!” Beetle yells. He has two men attacking him from two different directions.
Booster turns out of the reach of his opponent and shoots his energy bolts at the two smugglers ganging up on Beetle. Only for his vision to swim for a moment so instead of the thugs he hits Beetle and the wall above the entrance. Which causes a landslide. Their ambushers immediately disengage sprinting out of the crumbling exit still carrying their ill-gotten goods.
Booster rushes to Beetle's side who is doubled over. “Don't come to me, get them Booster!”
He turns but they're already gone, and the entrance is covered in cement and other debris.
“What was that?” Beetle demands clutching his side and sinking to the ground.
“I'm sorry! I told you I wasn't feeling that great this morning.”
“There's a difference between having the sniffles and being blind.” Beetle says, but then looks around them, eyes calculating the situation. “Guess we're pretty lucky the rest of the place didn't collapse.”
“I said I was sorry.” Booster says trying to keep hurt out of his voice. His blasts appear to have scorched the outside of Beetle's suit, but as far he can tell caused no serious interior damage. It seemed that Booster had only grazed him.
“I know buddy, I guess I should phone the JLI. Guy is never going to let us live that down though.” Beetle got to his feet, coming to the wall of cement between them and freedom. He purses his lips. “But there's not too much heroic ingenuity and elbow grease can do about this. Any bright ideas Booster? Boost? Boost!”
Booster hears Beetle as if through a filter, his vision swam again causing him to fall against the wall. After making sure Beetle was alright the weariness he'd been fighting since he had gotten out of bed came back with a vengeance. It took him a moment to completely regain his senses, but by then Beetle was at his side peering at his face looking the closest to scared Booster had ever seen on his face yet. “Booster please tell me that you used a new shampoo or something this morning.”
“Huh? No.” Of all the things to be asking about... That's when Booster catches his reflection in Beetle's goggles. His face is completely covered over in red welts, some already blistering. All at once the irritating itchiness that had been forgotten in the heat of the fight came back only instead of just on his chest it was all over his body.
“Beetle, what's going on.” They were on his hands too.
“I have no clue, if it's not allergies. Have you been in contact with aliens or anything strange lately?”
“You think this is an alien disease?”
“It's possible. You said your future genes protected you from basically all bugs we have in the present?”
“Yes, but our records of this time are incomplete, who knows what we may have missed.” Panic sets in so it's hard to breathe. Suddenly he's being strapped to a bed his body deteriorating with no way to stop it. Watching Mom fall apart before his very eyes.
Then he feels arms around him and a voice, calm in his ear, speaking “...Deep breaths, sit down and conserve your energy. I'm going to contact the League right now, OK Booster?”
A part of Booster bristles at being treated like a child. However most of him is too tired to care and finds being taken care of kind of nice. Things start to get blurry after that. All at once the physical exertion hits him like a brick. Beetle lowers him to against a wall. He gets the vague impression of Beetle petting his hair in a distracting yet comforting way. His voice babbling, “I'm sorry. Booster. They'll be here soon. Just hang in there.”
*
Booster wakes up and realizes he's not dead because his head hurts too much and he itches all over.
“You're awake. Good.” Booster turns his head to see J'onn, his face impassive, standing by Booster's bedside.
“Where am I?” Booster asks and notices the glass of water. The red welts are still on his hands, but Booster tries to shut down his panic. He sips the water taking in the room. It was far nicer than any hospital room he had ever been in.
“You're currently in the embassy. Since we weren't sure what you were infected with we didn't want to risk exposing others by taking you to a hospital.” J'onn answers walking over to the door. He smiles a little. “And you have someone anxious to see you.” For a moment Booster is transported to a time where he had been knocked out during a football game, but Michelle was dead so who could...
Beetle stood in the doorway, out of costume and relief so naked on his face that Booster was almost embarrassed. J'onn quietly takes his leave as Beetle takes a chair next to the bed. There was a silence. Beetle's expression grew sheepish, turning his face away from Booster. “So next time pal tell me when you're really not feeling up to superhero-ing. You really had me worried for a moment there.”
“What do I have?” J'onn probably would have mentioned if Booster was currently dieing.
Beetle shrugs, but a line between his eyebrows betrays his annoyance. “They checked you out while you were asleep, but only told me that you would live. Have to say it wasn't all that comforting.”
“Did you wait all this time for me to wake up?”
Beetle seems to be staring very intently at something on the blank white wall. “It was only a few hours. I just felt responsible, you know, for dragging you on the stupid job in the first place.”
“Excuse me.” They both startle and look at the door where an older woman with a clipboard stood. “Now that you're awake, Mr.Gold, I can inform you about your condition.”
Booster straightens up as she entered the room.
“Of course with your line of work we recognized the possibility that your condition might have been caused by something we had never encountered before. However analysis confirms my suspicions that you are simply infected by varicella zoster virus.”
Understanding dawns in Beetle's eyes. “You mean-”
“Yes, Mr. Gold has managed to contract a case of the chickenpox. Actually he's pretty lucky, some adults who get it without any immunity can have some very serious symptoms. As far as we can tell his faint was caused by overexertion, but once I perform a final examination he should be free to go home. With strict orders of bed rest of course.” She adds pointedly.
She takes his temperature, taking notes on how he was feeling and within half an hour he is given street clothes and being shuffled into a taxi. The only surprising thing about the whole business is that Beetle stays through it all, and is apparently taking him back home.
“Knowing your luck you'd get ambushed by some gang of super-villains if I let you go alone. Chickenpox. ” He says it as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard, “That's what you get for saving that school bus last week. I thought your future genes would protect you against childhood diseases.”
“It's extinct in our time.” Booster says defensively, even as Beetle opens the door to the cab for him and pays the driver.
They enter Booster's apartment. “Alright, just go to bed and I'll make you soup or something.”
“Can you even cook?” Booster asks, but is too tired to much care that he'll probably be force fed some greasy burnt monstrosity in the near future. He goes into his bedroom and falls face first onto his bed. He's unconscious on impact.
*
Booster wakes up still feeling sick, but someone had covered him in a blanket. He leaves the bedroom surprised to find the rest of his apartment in one piece, and is even more surprised to find Beetle sitting on his couch watching television. He turns his head when Booster walks past.
“Oh you're awake? There's some soup in the refrigerator if you want it. Skeets made it.” He specifies after seeing Booster's expression of disbelief.
Not knowing what to say to that Booster goes into the kitchen and finds the promised soup. Warming it up took a minute, and it wasn't half bad. Everything still itched/hurt, but at least he has soup.
“So where's Skeets?” Booster asks sitting on the couch next to Beetle.
“I sent him to the store to pick up some stuff. Orange juice is supposed to be good for you when you're sick right?” Beetle asks.
“Don't know. You're the one with the college degree aren't you?”
Beetle goes back to watching the TV, but Booster not quite able to handle moving images just watches Beetle instead. They have hung out together in civvies before, but never this casually. Beetle's hair is rumpled, his shirt is wrinkled, and his cheek still has a pillow crease.
“You know I'm trying my hardest not to stare with horror at your face.” Ted grumbles, but Booster is saved the embarrassment of responding by the door opening. Skeets floats in, plastic bag hanging from his shell.
“Glad to see your awake Sir!” Skeets says lowering the bag onto the table with surprising grace. “I'm afraid the store I visited only sold the kind with pulp.”
“Uh, that's fine. Thanks.” Skeets freed from his burden hovers near the couch and scans Booster's face. “Your fever appears to have gone down, my research indicates that a bath with oatmeal will help relieve symptoms. As well as having someone apply calamine lotion on the affected areas.”
Beetle give Skeets a look. “I hope your inventors designed you with hands because I am not touching any of Boost's 'affected areas'.”
“I'll just take a bath.” Booster says walking to the kitchen to examine the bag. He finds it containing the aforementioned orange juice, lotion, and oatmeal. He grabs the box and heads for his bathroom.
As it turns out oatmeal baths were... messy and more than a little gross. Still at least it helped ease the itching a little. Or at least catching his reflection in the mirror was a worse pain. The dots had grown from the size of bug-bites littering his chest to a complete covering of blistering red. He looked awful and that wasn't something Booster Gold really knew what to do with.
He quickly fled the bathroom with only a towel around his hips. Booster was surprised to see Beetle still there on the couch. Beetle glances over at the sound of the opening door raising an eyebrow. “Good to know you're a natural blond. How are you feeling?”
“Better than before I guess.”
“So you're not going to pass out on me. Progress.”
“You know Beetle, I appreciate you watching out for me, but you don't have to stay-”
“First, when I'm hanging around your apartment while you're half naked you can call me Ted. And second we're business partners. I'm looking out for my investment. Now go get some clothes on, what would the neighbors think?”
That's when the phone rings. Ted moves to answer it. Booster moves into his bedroom to change only catching snippets of the conversation. Apparently it was for Ted anyway and he's turning whoever it is down. So it's probably not a woman. Not sure what 21st century etiquette is in this situation Booster returns to the couch.
“Was that the JLI?” Booster asks when Ted comes back, but Ted shakes his head.
“Just Amaris wondering when they were getting their tech back. I told them they should probably call someone else to look into it.”
“You can't afford to turn down clients Ted.”
“Then what's the point of being my own boss? Now finish your soup.”
Booster stares at the bowl for a moment, “Thank you Ted.”
“For the soup? Skeets made it.” And they spent the rest of the evening watching football.
A/N: Prompter wanted a hurt/comfort fic set during early JLI, instead they get a sick fic set during the middle of the JLI-era with strange pacing. Sorry. I hope you at least got a smile out of this silly thing.
Author: franzbrotchen
Prompt 1 - FIC: Hurt/comfort. Ted and Booster in the early days of JLI, when they're just starting to become friends. Gen or slash.
Booster Gold has been called many things; a glory-hound, an opportunist, and an egotist but he could never be called a slacker. Every morning he has Skeets wake him up at 6 AM so he could go through his exercise routine, take a shower, and check his suit over for any problems. Only then, after checking his hair and teeth for the second time would he be ready to head over to the JLI embassy.
This morning though, fighting to just open his eyes Booster barely manages to drag himself to his bathroom. Only to find that there isn't enough sprucing in the world that could make him look presentable. He hadn't been feeling that great for the last few days, but this was the last straw, as the 21st century expression went. To make matters even worse he had managed to get a cluster of bug bites on his chest which itched terribly. He goes back into bed, telling Skeets to call out sick for him and to not wake him up for anything less than the end of the world. Which made him admittedly concerned when a few hours later Skeets attempts to beep him awake.
“I told you, I'm not going out today.”
“I'm sorry sir, but the Blue Beetle said if you didn't come out he would break in anyway.”
“Don't we have security?”
“You gave the Beetle a key, remember sir?” Skeets just managed to say before a familiar blue head appeared in the doorway.
“Good morning Booster old buddy!” He strolled into the room all smiles, stopping to give Booster an appraising look. “Huh, the bot wasn't lying was he? I thought you didn't get sick in the future.”
Booster peeks out from under his blankets enough to scowl at Beetle is just standing there looking annoyingly healthy.
“Well you know Mama Beetle always said fresh air was good for a cold.” He says “And I happen to have a wonderful reason to get you outside!”
Booster buries himself under his blankets. “I'm taking today off. I'm not up to dealing with your crazy schemes, Beetle.” He grumbles. Beetle isn't the least bit perturbed by the flat refusal.
“Come on Boost, it's for the ol' Blue and Gold. Just a little retrieval job, a gang of hooligans stole some gadgets from a shipment that Amaris Co.wants back. You'll be back before your bed even misses you.” He says leaning over Booster, his persuasive tone cutting past Booster's defenses in a way only Beetle was able to do. Still Booster is going to hold out for as long as he could.
“If it's so simple why don't you do it?”
There's a pause of silence so unlike Beetle that Booster actually glances up to at his partner, who by his look of intense concentration is trying to come up with a convincing lie. “Well, this is a partnership after all. There can't be a Blue without Gold, that'd be false advertising!”
“Beetle.”
“...And it also might just so happen that the thieves who stole the gadgets were last spotted in Gotham-”
“No.” Booster pulls the blankets up around his head once more.
“What kind of friend are you? Come on Booster, I just need someone to watch my back. There are more crazies there per square foot there than there are pizza places in Chicago! What if I got eaten by a alligator? How bad would you feel then? Abandoning your best friend just when he needs you the most!” Booster just grunts.
Beetle crosses his arms. “Alright.” He sighs, “I'll take your monitor duty.”
“Really?”
“Cross my little Beetle heart.”
“Fine.” Booster gets out of bed, ignoring his headache. “I'll be ready in a minute.”
Beetle smiles brightly like whenever he gets his way. Again. “I'll be outside in the Bug.”
*
By the time they land in Gotham Booster's bug bites have gotten itchier, no doubt irritated by the suit. His head is also starting to pound and he doesn't think it's just because of air-sickness. If Beetle notices Booster's discomfort he doesn't give any sign and lands the Bug on the outskirts of Gotham. Probably hoping that Batman won't notice. Booster thinks it's a lost cause and wishes they could just get it over with as soon as possible.
They head for the docks where the thieves had last been spotted, and Booster feels a strange sense of non-deja-vu. He hadn't been in back to Gotham since his Mother had thrown him out of the apartment, and it was bizarre how different everything was. In his mind he had known it was a completely different city at this time, but somehow he had expected it to look the same. Even the Batman statue wouldn't be erected for another century.
In the future Gotham harbor would be filled in, and these endless rows of warehouses new and decrepit alike would be long gone. Along with everyone else who was living in Gotham at this time. Completely unaware of the future waiting in store for them; a future Booster had already seen. For a moment Booster feels so alone in this different time he forgets about his aching head and itchy chest.
“Come on Booster, we're not here for sight-seeing!” Beetle shouts and Booster realizes he has been blankly staring at the polluted waters of Gotham harbor. He quickly catches up to Beetle.
“That's it.” Beetle whispers as they arrive at a particularly beaten down structure. The windows broken and one side sagging.
“It looks abandoned.” Booster said.
“That's usually the idea with thieve hide-outs. Now I need you to kick down the door to catch them off guard. They won't know what hit them!”
On Beetle's count they rush the door, breaking through the rotten wood; Beetle's BB gun flashing and Booster ready with his blasters. At least the Beetle had been right in saying they didn't know what hit them. The warehouse is utterly devoid of anything but a few empty barrels and crates.
“Beetle, you failed to mention that these thieves were invisible too.” Booster says taking in the empty containers. He wishes not for the first time he was back in bed. Beetle only grunts as he stalks around the barrels as if expecting an angry thug to pop up from behind any one of them.
The interior is marginally better than the cave they had explored in one of their first jobs, but only by the lack of vampires. Everything smells like mold and the shadows had a Gotham sharpness to them that could only mean bad news. And Booster's bug bites were still itching.
Booster leans against a crate wishing his suit had better access to scratch, idly watching Beetle. Which on the bright side wasn't so bad a sight if he has no choice in the matter. Then Beetle leans over, and Booster shifts to get a better view, only to lose his balance knocking over the crate he was resting against. Suddenly Booster finds himself staring down into a dark hole that the crate had been covering.
Beetle who had straightened up hearing the racket claps Booster on the back as he regains his balance. “Good job Booster, I should have realized the warehouse was just a cover for the secret entrance.” Without hesitation Beetle throws his legs over the side of the hole, feet finding the first rung.
“We aren't really going down there are we? This is Gotham. It'll probably lead to a vat of giant mutant alligators or something.” Booster couldn't help sounding petulant at the prospect of a exploring a dark crevice.
“Nothing ventured nothing gained. Come on Boost!” Beetle says as his head disappears. Booster frowns but climbs in after him anyway, noting the slimy texture of the metal rungs. In the darkness it is difficult to gauge how long they climb down. The only source of light comes when Beetle reaches the bottom and begins using his BB gun as a flashlight.
“So which way now?” Booster asks. They are in a tunnel, but being stuck in a dark, smelly tube didn't keep the Blue Beetle down who just glances in both directions before heading to the right.They walk for at least thirty minutes before getting out of the tunnel and entering a what appears to be a cave.
Of course there is an ambush. Of course Booster also has a headache, probably a fever, and now his entire chest is alternatively itching and hurting. Which makes fighting off a gang of thieves that much harder.
“Could use some of your help over here!” Beetle yells. He has two men attacking him from two different directions.
Booster turns out of the reach of his opponent and shoots his energy bolts at the two smugglers ganging up on Beetle. Only for his vision to swim for a moment so instead of the thugs he hits Beetle and the wall above the entrance. Which causes a landslide. Their ambushers immediately disengage sprinting out of the crumbling exit still carrying their ill-gotten goods.
Booster rushes to Beetle's side who is doubled over. “Don't come to me, get them Booster!”
He turns but they're already gone, and the entrance is covered in cement and other debris.
“What was that?” Beetle demands clutching his side and sinking to the ground.
“I'm sorry! I told you I wasn't feeling that great this morning.”
“There's a difference between having the sniffles and being blind.” Beetle says, but then looks around them, eyes calculating the situation. “Guess we're pretty lucky the rest of the place didn't collapse.”
“I said I was sorry.” Booster says trying to keep hurt out of his voice. His blasts appear to have scorched the outside of Beetle's suit, but as far he can tell caused no serious interior damage. It seemed that Booster had only grazed him.
“I know buddy, I guess I should phone the JLI. Guy is never going to let us live that down though.” Beetle got to his feet, coming to the wall of cement between them and freedom. He purses his lips. “But there's not too much heroic ingenuity and elbow grease can do about this. Any bright ideas Booster? Boost? Boost!”
Booster hears Beetle as if through a filter, his vision swam again causing him to fall against the wall. After making sure Beetle was alright the weariness he'd been fighting since he had gotten out of bed came back with a vengeance. It took him a moment to completely regain his senses, but by then Beetle was at his side peering at his face looking the closest to scared Booster had ever seen on his face yet. “Booster please tell me that you used a new shampoo or something this morning.”
“Huh? No.” Of all the things to be asking about... That's when Booster catches his reflection in Beetle's goggles. His face is completely covered over in red welts, some already blistering. All at once the irritating itchiness that had been forgotten in the heat of the fight came back only instead of just on his chest it was all over his body.
“Beetle, what's going on.” They were on his hands too.
“I have no clue, if it's not allergies. Have you been in contact with aliens or anything strange lately?”
“You think this is an alien disease?”
“It's possible. You said your future genes protected you from basically all bugs we have in the present?”
“Yes, but our records of this time are incomplete, who knows what we may have missed.” Panic sets in so it's hard to breathe. Suddenly he's being strapped to a bed his body deteriorating with no way to stop it. Watching Mom fall apart before his very eyes.
Then he feels arms around him and a voice, calm in his ear, speaking “...Deep breaths, sit down and conserve your energy. I'm going to contact the League right now, OK Booster?”
A part of Booster bristles at being treated like a child. However most of him is too tired to care and finds being taken care of kind of nice. Things start to get blurry after that. All at once the physical exertion hits him like a brick. Beetle lowers him to against a wall. He gets the vague impression of Beetle petting his hair in a distracting yet comforting way. His voice babbling, “I'm sorry. Booster. They'll be here soon. Just hang in there.”
*
Booster wakes up and realizes he's not dead because his head hurts too much and he itches all over.
“You're awake. Good.” Booster turns his head to see J'onn, his face impassive, standing by Booster's bedside.
“Where am I?” Booster asks and notices the glass of water. The red welts are still on his hands, but Booster tries to shut down his panic. He sips the water taking in the room. It was far nicer than any hospital room he had ever been in.
“You're currently in the embassy. Since we weren't sure what you were infected with we didn't want to risk exposing others by taking you to a hospital.” J'onn answers walking over to the door. He smiles a little. “And you have someone anxious to see you.” For a moment Booster is transported to a time where he had been knocked out during a football game, but Michelle was dead so who could...
Beetle stood in the doorway, out of costume and relief so naked on his face that Booster was almost embarrassed. J'onn quietly takes his leave as Beetle takes a chair next to the bed. There was a silence. Beetle's expression grew sheepish, turning his face away from Booster. “So next time pal tell me when you're really not feeling up to superhero-ing. You really had me worried for a moment there.”
“What do I have?” J'onn probably would have mentioned if Booster was currently dieing.
Beetle shrugs, but a line between his eyebrows betrays his annoyance. “They checked you out while you were asleep, but only told me that you would live. Have to say it wasn't all that comforting.”
“Did you wait all this time for me to wake up?”
Beetle seems to be staring very intently at something on the blank white wall. “It was only a few hours. I just felt responsible, you know, for dragging you on the stupid job in the first place.”
“Excuse me.” They both startle and look at the door where an older woman with a clipboard stood. “Now that you're awake, Mr.Gold, I can inform you about your condition.”
Booster straightens up as she entered the room.
“Of course with your line of work we recognized the possibility that your condition might have been caused by something we had never encountered before. However analysis confirms my suspicions that you are simply infected by varicella zoster virus.”
Understanding dawns in Beetle's eyes. “You mean-”
“Yes, Mr. Gold has managed to contract a case of the chickenpox. Actually he's pretty lucky, some adults who get it without any immunity can have some very serious symptoms. As far as we can tell his faint was caused by overexertion, but once I perform a final examination he should be free to go home. With strict orders of bed rest of course.” She adds pointedly.
She takes his temperature, taking notes on how he was feeling and within half an hour he is given street clothes and being shuffled into a taxi. The only surprising thing about the whole business is that Beetle stays through it all, and is apparently taking him back home.
“Knowing your luck you'd get ambushed by some gang of super-villains if I let you go alone. Chickenpox. ” He says it as if it was the most ridiculous thing he had ever heard, “That's what you get for saving that school bus last week. I thought your future genes would protect you against childhood diseases.”
“It's extinct in our time.” Booster says defensively, even as Beetle opens the door to the cab for him and pays the driver.
They enter Booster's apartment. “Alright, just go to bed and I'll make you soup or something.”
“Can you even cook?” Booster asks, but is too tired to much care that he'll probably be force fed some greasy burnt monstrosity in the near future. He goes into his bedroom and falls face first onto his bed. He's unconscious on impact.
*
Booster wakes up still feeling sick, but someone had covered him in a blanket. He leaves the bedroom surprised to find the rest of his apartment in one piece, and is even more surprised to find Beetle sitting on his couch watching television. He turns his head when Booster walks past.
“Oh you're awake? There's some soup in the refrigerator if you want it. Skeets made it.” He specifies after seeing Booster's expression of disbelief.
Not knowing what to say to that Booster goes into the kitchen and finds the promised soup. Warming it up took a minute, and it wasn't half bad. Everything still itched/hurt, but at least he has soup.
“So where's Skeets?” Booster asks sitting on the couch next to Beetle.
“I sent him to the store to pick up some stuff. Orange juice is supposed to be good for you when you're sick right?” Beetle asks.
“Don't know. You're the one with the college degree aren't you?”
Beetle goes back to watching the TV, but Booster not quite able to handle moving images just watches Beetle instead. They have hung out together in civvies before, but never this casually. Beetle's hair is rumpled, his shirt is wrinkled, and his cheek still has a pillow crease.
“You know I'm trying my hardest not to stare with horror at your face.” Ted grumbles, but Booster is saved the embarrassment of responding by the door opening. Skeets floats in, plastic bag hanging from his shell.
“Glad to see your awake Sir!” Skeets says lowering the bag onto the table with surprising grace. “I'm afraid the store I visited only sold the kind with pulp.”
“Uh, that's fine. Thanks.” Skeets freed from his burden hovers near the couch and scans Booster's face. “Your fever appears to have gone down, my research indicates that a bath with oatmeal will help relieve symptoms. As well as having someone apply calamine lotion on the affected areas.”
Beetle give Skeets a look. “I hope your inventors designed you with hands because I am not touching any of Boost's 'affected areas'.”
“I'll just take a bath.” Booster says walking to the kitchen to examine the bag. He finds it containing the aforementioned orange juice, lotion, and oatmeal. He grabs the box and heads for his bathroom.
As it turns out oatmeal baths were... messy and more than a little gross. Still at least it helped ease the itching a little. Or at least catching his reflection in the mirror was a worse pain. The dots had grown from the size of bug-bites littering his chest to a complete covering of blistering red. He looked awful and that wasn't something Booster Gold really knew what to do with.
He quickly fled the bathroom with only a towel around his hips. Booster was surprised to see Beetle still there on the couch. Beetle glances over at the sound of the opening door raising an eyebrow. “Good to know you're a natural blond. How are you feeling?”
“Better than before I guess.”
“So you're not going to pass out on me. Progress.”
“You know Beetle, I appreciate you watching out for me, but you don't have to stay-”
“First, when I'm hanging around your apartment while you're half naked you can call me Ted. And second we're business partners. I'm looking out for my investment. Now go get some clothes on, what would the neighbors think?”
That's when the phone rings. Ted moves to answer it. Booster moves into his bedroom to change only catching snippets of the conversation. Apparently it was for Ted anyway and he's turning whoever it is down. So it's probably not a woman. Not sure what 21st century etiquette is in this situation Booster returns to the couch.
“Was that the JLI?” Booster asks when Ted comes back, but Ted shakes his head.
“Just Amaris wondering when they were getting their tech back. I told them they should probably call someone else to look into it.”
“You can't afford to turn down clients Ted.”
“Then what's the point of being my own boss? Now finish your soup.”
Booster stares at the bowl for a moment, “Thank you Ted.”
“For the soup? Skeets made it.” And they spent the rest of the evening watching football.
A/N: Prompter wanted a hurt/comfort fic set during early JLI, instead they get a sick fic set during the middle of the JLI-era with strange pacing. Sorry. I hope you at least got a smile out of this silly thing.