Honestly I just wanted to be sure you were up to a request, bc I have had one rattling around
But. Thinking abt a ill or weakened MC being taken care of by these birbs is a good train of thought. Some soft and excellent content of them just helping take care of a human who's having a bit of trouble for a few days.
A/N: It's no problem at all~. I don't mind doing small things here and there. It's only my 9K or so word fics I cannot do, as I usually open those with a 'throw at me what you got' post. But I can do some like 3 page or so stories and headcanon things. X3 So I'll see about them taking care of MC~.
｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆ ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆
Getting caught in rain probably wasn't the best idea for you and your health. Having done it many times before, you didn't think it would have any ramifications, but as life would have it—no. Fever, being miserable, and very weakened, it was hellish to even consider moving out of bed.
Well... the bed that the Swatchlings directed you towards, anyways, when they saw you collapse in Castle Town.
You woke to find four of them looming over you in intense worry. One green, blue, red, and yellow.
“They're awake,” squawked the green.
“Thank the Light,” you swore you heard the yellow murmur.
“What... where am I...?” you asked, trying to get yourself to move at least upright in the bed you found yourself within. When you attempted, pain struck through you, making you flinch.
The red Swatchling came to your side, urging you to be still as the warmth of his black feathers kept you still. “Don't move so much, young master. You fainted from a fever. We wanted to be certain you were all right.”
Fainted? The illness from a downpour got that bad? That was odd. Never had a fever or anything struck you down that poorly before. “That's one...intense fever...” Admittedly, you were burning up.
To be certain you were still quite warm for a human, the blue Swatchling moved his hand near your cheeks. His feathers puffed at the sensation. “Still a bit hot for one of their kind.”
“I'll be just a moment,” the red Swatchling insisted with a bow. “I'll return with some water to drink.” He removed himself in haste from the room to do so.
“Is there anything else we can get for you?” The green one was tapping the tips of his fingers together in excitement at what you could ask of him. Being butlers, they lived to serve.
The yellow one chimed in. “Something to eat, maybe?”
You noted the blue one sweating a bit at the very thought. “I don't know about that. They are sick. It would be ill advised to do such a thing. They could become sicker.”
Yellow stifled a low trilling sound in their throat. “Oh, right. More to clean up if that happens....”
Your lips thinned at the very thought of being that sick. So far, you just felt achy all over, a bit sweaty and weak. However, you dared not push the thought of food so soon really. “I'm, uh... I'm fine, thanks.”
The red one returned, bringing the water to your side. “Do you need help drinking it, young master?”
“I promise, I'm not that debilitated but thanks.” At least, you wanted to hope not. Trying to sit upright in bed to even be at a proper sitting position to grab and drink the water so it didn't go everywhere, you found yourself struggling. Those so-called minor aches shot worse pain through your body, reminding you that you were far more ill than you gave yourself credit for.
The blue one began to panic, bringing his balled up hands to his beak with a wide-eyed stare. “Oh, umm, young master? It might be better you not stress yourself.”
Green moved closer to you, ushering his arm behind your neck to assist you into a sitting position. “There. Is this better?”
It hurt to even have him move you, but it was better that someone else let your muscles relax at the very least. “Y-Yeah. Thanks.”
The moment you tried to grab the glass, red moved it away. “It's all right. I can help you myself, young master.”
Hearing such a title felt unbefitting for someone such as yourself. “It's okay to call me by my name.” You told them what it was, making them all simultaneously speak it amongst themselves. It reminded you of a group of birds parroting a word they just learned.
“Well, don't worry then,” red began once more, tailoring your name to his speech. “We will take care of everything from here. Don't you worry about a thing.”
Before you could hope to add anything onto that, red brought the glass closer to your lips to help you with drinking it. The water was just what your body needed. It was the best relief ever...
The moment you motioned away, the red Swatchling did as you wordlessly ordered. “How did that feel?”
They were all peering at you as if waiting excitedly for an answer. It felt a bit suffocating when they did such a thing. “Umm, great.. thanks, uh...What's your names?”
“Swatchlings,” they all answered in unison.
“You all have the same name...?” you asked, a bit confused.
“Well, you can call me Red Swatchling, if that makes you feel better?” the red one offered. “Only our boss, Swatch, has a different name from us.”
That still sounded a bit odd. “Well, what do you call each other?”
“Friend.”
“Brother.”
“Sister.”
“Swatchling.”
They all had a different answer, making you think (even if your head was killing you). “What about...” You pointed to the red one. “...if I call you Phoenix? And you, the blue one, Berry. And you, the green one, Sage. And for yellow...” You drew a blank for a second, wondering what to call them. “I guess...Canary?” It wasn't unique, but it was good enough.
“If it pleased you, we will accept these names,” Phoenix said as they all bowed. “Now, it would be wise you stay put for the moment. We don't need you getting far worse than you are.” It was there he turned towards the blue one. “I need you to watch them for us, Blue.”
“Berry,” you corrected.
“Oh, right. Berry,” Phoenix said with an apologetic bow towards you. “I'll see if boss has anything the human can eat that won't make them worse off.”
Berry's chest puffed up all content like. “At once.”
As everyone left the room, Berry turned to you with a smile as even his blue eyes upturned in excitement. “Anything I can help you with? It's a pleasure to serve you, young master.”
You reminded him of your name. “I don't think there's a thing I can do right now. I feel so awful,” you grumbled, trying to move yourself back down onto the bed.
Berry moved swiftly to your side, grabbing at your upper arms to lower you with elegant ease back to the bed's pillow and mattress. Knowing you were quite hot, it was there he began to use his feathered hands to fan you. “Feel a bit better now?”
It did feel nice but the aches and everything sure weren't gone. “Thank you, Berry.”
The feathers about his collar fluffed with content. “It's my pleasure. Anything to assist you.”
Phoenix returned an hour later, swapping places with Berry. “Here,” he offered, placing the bed tray down properly nearby so that you could access the food. “Our boss insisted you eat one of his homemade soups. He says Lightners appear to love it when they're sick and search for it all the time. It's called chicken noodle.”
“Oh?”
“Worry not,” Phoenix insisted, perhaps having mistook your words for worry, “it isn't real chicken, as we could never harm a fellow fowl. It is just lumps of more noodles.”
“Well that's lovely,” you commented, not really sure if you'd even have the energy to grab the spoon. It was sad to admit but you were really sapped of your energy.
He titled his head to the side. “Something else wrong?”
“I, umm.. I just...” Did you want to ask for help? It was so embarrassing to feel this weak and useless. “I think I need help eating it...” You lowered your head in shame to confess that.
“Certainly,” Phoenix chirped with delight, grabbing the spoon for you. Scooping up a good bit of the noodles and broth, he moved it closer to your mouth. “Open wide.”
That made you feel like a toddler, but you had to remind yourself what Kris and the others said: that they came from a computer world that had countless data at their fingertips. No doubt they saw this as just humans feeding smaller humans.
Closing your mouth about the spoon, you gladly ate the small bite you were offered. It was far warmer than you wanted it to be. Why would they serve you something so hot to try and make you feel less warm? Why would even the Light World do that?
“How was it?” Phoenix probed, his words showing he was eagerly awaiting your answer.
“It was very good, just very hot too,” you admitted.
“Didn't burn you or anything, did it?”
“No, it didn't.”
“Good, good,” he chanted with an added squawk of delight. “The boss said this will help calm your temperature and feed you in the meantime. I'm hoping for your speedy recovery.”
“Thanks,” you said, looking away as the Swatchling said such a thing so delightedly. “That's weirdly very kind of you.”
“We live to serve, young master,” the Swatchling reminded you.
Once more, you reminded him of your name.
After you managed to eat, you were able to lie down and rest for a bit till Berry came back to check in on you. You didn't notice him at first as they were quiet for giant, muscle like monsters for sure. Being undetectable still, he looked you over with his arms folded behind his back.
“Still warm,” he muttered to himself. “I can feel it a bit from here.” Berry called your name quietly, waking you ever so. “Are you fairing well? It's been a few hours.”
“Has it...?” You were still so tired. All you wanted to do was sleep. On reflex, you glanced out the nearby window only to see darkness.
Right... you were in the Dark World.
“Nearly six to be exact,” the blue Swatchling reminded you. “Would you care for a bath, maybe? I can draw you one.”
“It's not like I could make it to the bath even if I wanted to, Berry.” You were still quite weak. It would take far more than a few hours to just magically recover.
“Well, how about I assist you with one?” he asked with a bow.
Your mind went blank at that very offer. To be honest, you would prefer to have one alone, even if that meant you drowned in the water. Your cheeks warmed worse than before. “I-I can... I can handle myself, thanks!”
Sensing more heat coming from you, Berry's feathered fingers rose to his white masked cheeks. “Oh my, I can feel you're becoming hotter. I should make the bath this instant! Maybe it will aid in your recovery.”
“That's not at all—!”
Too late. He was already gone.
“I don't need this monster seeing me naked...!” you panicked to yourself. However, the second you tried to move, the moment you were reminded of how much it hurt to even consider doing so. One single attempt to try and get out of bed felt like you had run three miles.
Dammit...
Berry returned moments later with a towel that would be suitable for someone human sized. “All right, just allow me to assist you.” With a gentleman's bow, he took to the covers and pulled them off of your body to help in moving you to his arms.
This bird monster was so muscular it was no doubt like you moving your own pillow off of the bed and nothing more. He held you with great caution and a smile to add. You couldn't even encourage your arms to wrap about his thick neck, or rather... it appeared thick... the feathers might have been bluffing that a bit. Who knew, really.
“Being sick is the worst,” you mumbled, resting against his chest. It was weird to confess, but feeling his chest push against your cheek as he breathed was oddly comforting.
“Do not fret. We'll do our best with you.”
With that, he turned and headed to the bathroom.
The moment you were sat down in a nearby chair, Berry began to work on undressing you. What could you even say or do at this point? He was more in control than you were.
You expected for the monster to maybe gasp in horror at your body or something, maybe having never seen a human like this before. But he said and did nothing. He remained professional. Folding your clothes up and out of the way, he returned before you with a bucket of warm water, soap and a bathing sponge.
“Just relax,” Berry insisted with another smile. “I can sense your stress, but there is no need to be so. We're here for you.”
Before you could even respond, he cradled your heel and began to wash the bottom of your feet first.
Still embarrassed by it all, you glanced away. “Th-Thanks, Berry. You're very nice.”
He began to chirp and whistle a song to pass the time, working you from toe to the top of your head. The moment it was over, he carefully dumped the water over you body to wash the shampoo and soap from you. His other feathered hand shielded your eyes, making sure nothing got in them.
With a towel being used to dry you off, he kept you wrapped within it before taking you back into the bedroom with your clothes as well. “Don't worry, dear human. We'll make sure the water doesn't mistreat you this time.”
It wasn't the water that truly could make you sick. It was just the rain that did, but you knew the Swatchling was just trying to help. You couldn't stop yourself but stifle a small laugh at the very childlike naive demeanor they all seemed to have.
“There we go. All dry, unlike last time.” Berry pulled the towel away and then began to put you in cleaner clothing. Well, correction... it was a single white shirt that was probably one of their undershirts.
It was so big on you that it went down past your knees and nearly to your feet.
“Umm, thanks for this...?”
“You're quite welcome! It belonged to Canary. They said you can keep it.”
Your hands were at the bend of where the arm should have been. It was comfortable, really. “It's very sweet of them.”
Berry clapped his hands. “Now then, get back to sleep. We'll check on you in a few more hours. How does that sound? Sage will come in with your dinner soon.” Moving the covers up and over your shoulders, he made sure to tuck you in. “There, all warm but in a good way.”
You didn't feel one hundred percent but, yeah, you felt a good bit better after a bit of rest and a bath. “Thanks again, Berry.”
“My pleasure; my pleasure! It warms me up to know you're doing well.” he chanted with his fingers pyramided before him. “Now, I'll be on my way to let you rest. Be well.”
Once more, the door closed and you were left alone. Even if you were a bit sick, maybe it wouldn't be so bad with the Swatchlings and even Swatch helping you try to recover in the coming days.
Before I hit the hay for the night (I say as it's nearly 4 AM my time.. lol), I want to try and add more to the Swatch and or Swatchling / Reader fic I have out in circulation right now--give me something to work on when I'm up to it.
Welcome to the Color Café is the drabble fic I mean. This isn't just purely focused on romance or smut or anything of that nature. It can be whatever you're interested in seeing but has to consist of Swatch and or the Swatchlings interacting with a reader of some type. ♥
I have anons on, so you can ask whatever you wish. If I think it's something I can write and do justice to, I'll accept it. ♥
Send me an ask with the following:
General idea
Gender of reader (if not specified, I'm going to assume based on what is asked)
Rating (SFW/NSFW). I can do NSFW heavy kinky stuff but... this type of request will be shorter than any others if there is no plot involved.
Is the reader a monster or human? (if nothing is said, I'll assume human)
