It was nearly the end of another long day for Jules and she was busy driving her car all the way home while jamming out to music on the radio. The sunset in the sky was slightly hidden behind some clouds, which only illuminated the orange color in the distance.

"Phew. That was a pretty long day." She sighs, turning the volume down a little. "Not that I'm annoyed or anything, but I'm glad to be home to have some dinner and relax."

As Jules hops out the car, locks it, and approaches the front door she reaches for the handle and finds out that the door is still unlocked.

"Huh. That's odd. Jones and Midas should still be at work right now."

Stepping inside she finds a certain blond man busy in the kitchen with a tea towel over his shoulder. He turns around to the sound of the front door opening to see Jules standing there, toolkit in hand.

"Oh! Hey Jules!" He greets her. "Nice day?"

"Uh, yeah..." She responds, putting her kit down and going over to him. "I thought you'd be at work still."

"Well, that was the plan...but uh, I had to stay home today." He chuckles slightly, wiping his face with the tea towel.

"Why?"

"Well, it started last night..."

--------------

Last night...

It was 2:55 in the morning, with the moon shining brightly through the window accompanied by glittering stars. Jones was sleeping peacefully, stuck in his own little world, that is until he hears the sound of someone getting up out of bed.

"Hm? Midas? That you?"

Midas sighs, wishing he had been more quiet about getting up. He bites his lip as Jones turns around in bed.

"I'm... I'm okay Jones. D-Don't worry." He mutters, lying through his teeth. "I'm just a little thirsty, that's all."

"Midas are you sure? You don't... sound okay. Let me-"

"No, no. I don't want you to trouble yourself." He stops Jones, taking his hands. "Listen I'll just fetch a glass of water while you go back to sleep, alright?"

Jones knew Midas didn't seem okay, but chooses to not piss him off and argue about it.

"Okay. Just be careful. Call me if you need help."

Midas strains to get up from their bed, stumbling towards the wall and leaning against it as he makes his way into the bathroom and turns on the light.

Jones slowly lays back down again, closing his eyes as he hears the sound of the tap running.

Until...

Jones shoots up in bed again upon hearing that noise and turns to the lit up bathroom.

"Midas?! You okay in there?"

No response comes through. Jones frantically begins getting up and running into the bathroom.

He finds the poor man leaning against the bathtub, breathing heavily. Jones kneels near him, feeling his head.

"Jeez dude, your head's boiling hot and you're paler than normal. I knew you were lying about being fine."

Midas tries to respond but his words disappear as Jones sighs sadly and runs a hand through his now messy locks of hair.

"You're obviously not fit for going anywhere today. And I ain't going anywhere either." Jones tells him, getting up to soak a small towel and dab it across Midas' temples.

"W-Wha? B-But.." Is the only words he can mutter out before Jones shushes him.

"Midas, look at yourself. You've been hit with some kind of fever. You're burning up real bad baby. You're paler than normal and even your golden eye has barely any life in it." He tells him. "You need to stay home, and I need to stay to look after you."

"N-No. Don't trouble yourself with me-"

"Midas."

He pauses as Jones talks to him in a stern tone of voice while putting the cold wet towel against his forehead.

"Please don't argue with me Goldie. Especially when you're like this."

Midas tries to get up on to his feet again, but he simply cannot muster up anymore strength after falling and collapses into the blond's lap, shivering a little. Jones sighs, stroking strands of hair out of his face and brushing a hand over his cheek.

"I-I... I'm s-sorry Jonesy..." He whispers, his trembling hands gripping on to Jones' vest. His head rested on his chest and hearing his soft heartbeat.

The blond shushes him softly, taking his hands and giving him a sneaky gentle kiss on the forehead.

"That's enough Midas. You have no need to be sorry for anything." He smiles. "Why don't we clean you up with a bath, put you in fresh clothes, get you a glass of warm milk and a little bite to eat before you go back to sleep."

Midas seems to like that plan, though he does raise an eyebrow at the warm milk suggestion. Thus prompting Jones to blurt out...

"Uh... warm milk usually always helped me when I was ill, haha."

The shattered mastermind hums with the smallest of smiles before Jones helps him stand and get into the bathtub.

---------------

Present day.

"And that's what happened." Jones says. "I ran him a bath and did his hair before giving him some clean clothes and sending him to bed with a glass of warm milk and a piece of buttered toast."

Jules looks to the side briefly before turning back to the blond.

"I see. How on earth did he get so ill that he's been bedridden all day?" She asks, disbelief in her eyes.

"I'm not sure." Jones shrugs as he resumes stirring something in a pot on the stove. "My only guess is someone at work came in ill and spread it around the workplace, and Midas was unlucky enough to catch it."

"Tch, sounds like a real jerk." Jules scoffs, rolling her eyes and folding her arms.

"Tell me about it." Jones agrees.

The two of them stand in silence while Jones continues to stir. That is until he gets another question in his head.

"Hey, random question. Does Midas get ill often?"

Jules shakes her head.

"Not really. He's very cautious about it and rarely ever gets ill." She tells him. "The only time he was really under the weather was back in our younger years when he came down with a flu during winter. Mum was on a business trip, leaving Ares in charge of us."

Jones sighs, guessing about how that went if Ares was around in Midas' childhood.

"I was only 9 while Midas was 12 and yet I inevitably had to nurse him back to health cos, well... y'know what Ares was like back then..."

Jones obviously feels bad that Jules had to look after her brother at a young age when her dad couldn't be bothered. She briefly leans over his shoulder as he thinks this.

"Whatcha doing there anyway?"

"Making some spring vegetable soup with a pinch of pepper." Jones smiles, putting some into a spoon and turning to Jules. "I'm making it for Midas but uh... you wanna try some?"

She takes the spoon and devours it in one gulp. Her face lights up in satisfaction, humming happily.

"Mmm, that's good. You really know how to cook Jones." She compliments him. "Any chance I could get a bowl of it too?"

"Heh, thanks Jules. And sure! There's probably enough in here for the three of us anyway."

As Jones begins pouring the soup into 3 separate bowls, while fetching some spoons, Jules has a question of her own pop into her mind.

"Uh, how is Midas by the way? Is he better than he was this morning?"

"He was fast asleep in bed last I checked before starting dinner."

"Well, lets go see how he's doing."

Without skipping a beat the two of them head upstairs, bowls of soup in hand.

----------

"Brother? C'mon, lets go outside and play!"

"I-I don't feel like playing today Jules."

"Why?"

"I just don't feel well..."

"Does dad know?"

"Yes, but it's not as if he cares. And mum's away on a trip..."

"Hmm....why don't I look after you instead? What can I do?"

"W-Well... you could help by fetching some cold remedy from the cupboard downstairs. You know what it looks like, right?"

"Okay! Don't worry big brother! Nurse Jules is here to make you feel better!"

"Haha... I'm glad I have her as a sister..."

-----------

"Midas? You awake in there?"

The mastermind shuffles in his sleep, recounting that childhood memory, before stretching and opening his eyes a little, a hand over his head.

"Y-Yeah... You can come in..."

Jones and Jules make their way in, her putting down both her and Midas' bowls on the bedside table and kneeling next to him.

"Hey brother. How you feeling?"

"Mmm... Better than this morning, I can tell you that..."

Jones puts a hand over his head before taking it off again.

"Your temperature has gone down, and you definitely sound and look a lot better." Jones remarks. "Your eye is glowing brightly and your skin is its neutral pale again."

Midas begins to sit up as Jules passes him his bowl of soup.

"Here you go. Jones made it himself and it's actually really nice."

He takes it and tastes it with his spoon. A smile forms on his lips, humming a little as he chows down on the pieces of carrot, peas and others vegetables used. He glances over at Jones who is sat near him and rests his head against his arm, seemingly enjoying it.

"Thanks for looking after me Jonesy. I... appreciate you taking the time out of your day to keep an eye on me." He thanks him. "Your cooking is also very delicious."

Jones smiles with a deep red blush appearing on his face.

"Ahaha. W-Well, no prob Goldie."

Midas chuckles as his cheeks gain a pink hue, seeing his boyfriend's flustered expression. Jules simply smiles at them, finding the two men's interactions adorable.

The trio spend the rest of the night eating their soup, exchanging laughs, smiles and small talk. And Midas was glad to be back to his normal self, illness free.

-----------

Later that night...

Jones sighs as he finishes brushing his teeth and washes his face. As he re-enters his and Midas' bedroom he glances over at his boyfriend. He seemed to be asleep, but his expression showed distress.

"Midas?"

He walks over and kneels next to the bed, wondering what was wrong.

Was he having another nightmare?

Jones couldn't help but hear Midas' soft mutters as he grips on to the bedsheets and has a hand hovering over his chest.

"Stop... please...d-don't take it.... I-I need it..."

Jones, while only being told about it, knew what Midas was remembering:

His near-death experience when the Cube Queen tore out his golden power and left him for dead.

The blond immediately reaches a hand out and grips on to Midas' golden one, rubbing his thumb and letting their foreheads touch as he begins to breath rapidly.

"Shh... It's okay Goldie. Nothing can hurt you. It's all in your mind. You're not dying, you're safe." He reassures him.

To try and reassure him Jones presses his lips against the palm of Midas' hand, giving him a gentle kiss to keep him grounded and bring him out of the nightmare. It appears to have worked as the mastermind begins calming down, a small smile appearing on his face.

Upon removing his lips from his hand, Jones walks over to his side of the bed and wraps himself under the covers and relaxes his arm around Midas, giving him a sense of safety.

"I've gotcha buddy. I've got ya."

Midas rolls over on to his other side and shuffles into Jones' arms, resting his head on his bare chest. It makes him blush, but he's not bothered in the slightest, so he gives him a kiss on the forehead before closing his eyes.

"See you in the morning golden boy."

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