In Sickness and In Health

Pip's friends were worried about him. For almost two weeks now, he had been arriving at school looking worse for wear, thin, pale and overall ill.

"Pip, you should get some rest, take sick leave." Butters said worriedly, looking up at the slightly-taller Brit. Pip smiled gently and shook his head.

"I can't. I can't afford to miss any of this study. Plus, I need to work to be able to keep my funds up, so I can pay easily for my house. As much as I have quite a lot of money, it doesn't come fully into my possession for another 2 years– then I'll be 18 and they can start to give me my inheritance. But until then, I'm paying for the house and my food and bills with the money I earn at Harbucks." Pip explained in a voice so soft it was barely above a whisper. His frail-looking frame shook violently with coughing, and he bent over double with the force.

"If you take sick leave, I-I can still pay you... holiday leave o-or summin. We d-don't want you working –nngh- too hard. I can give you m-my wages too, if you like. They-they're basically like pocket-money to me, I-I don't NEED the money. You do." Tweek said, patting Pip on the back as the coughing subsided. Pip shook his head.

"I can't take your money. If I get money, I earn it. That's why I work. Else I'd be living off money gifts, like a beggar. I like to know I'm not relying on others." Pip said, gasping slightly. Tweek and Butters exchanged a glace. They were about to say more, when their boyfriends walked over. It was the end of the school day – Butters walked with Kenny and Tweek took the bus with Craig.

Kenny wrapped his arms around his small boyfriend's waist from behind, pulling Butters back and nuzzling his nose into his neck.

"Hey Buttercup." He purred, and Butters turned his head to peck his cheek. Kenny started conversing with Butters, by talking in a low quiet voice into his ear. Butters giggled and started complaining that it tickled, simply encouraging Kenny to start blowing gently onto his ear and neck, holding him captive as the smaller blonde started wriggling.

When he looked over to Tweek an equally affectionate display was occurring, though not in quite the same way. Despite the fact that Craig didn't show all that much emotion outwardly, it was obvious he loved his little spastic blonde; his lips curved into the smallest of loving smiles, and his normally hard steel grey-blue eyes softened.

Tweek was pressed tight against Craig's side; clasping one of the noirette's hands like his life depended on it, much like the other was holding onto his thermos. He was smiling as he told Craig a vague description of his day, including various theories that had occurred to him. Craig was listening and nodding, his arm slung over Tweek's shoulder, occasionally dipping his head to affectionately peck his lover's face.

"I'll see you later guys." Pip said, though it was more to himself and so quiet anyway that no-one would have heard him. However, as he started to walk away Tweek broke away from Craig to grab his arm.

"T-take today off Pip." Pip was about to protest when Tweek interrupted him "I-I mean it Pip. No work today. I'll talk to you later."

Pip nodded and Tweek smiled at him, waved goodbye and returned to Craig, allowing himself to be gently sheparded in the direction of the bus. Butters also called a goodbye, and even Kenny nodded at him in acknowledgment.

As Pip walked home, he thought of the loving couples and how he wished he had someone to love him like Craig and Kenny loved Tweek and Butters.

-X-

Pip let himself into his house. The familiar cream walls, clean light-brown carpet and chocolate-coloured furniture soothed him; everything was how he'd left it.

He briefly checked the kitchen and bedrooms, taking some medicine, changing into some looser and more comfortable clothes and sitting down with a good cup of English tea. Pip checked his notebooks, completed some English homework and, at around 5, decided to have a small dinner – a simple sandwich with some salad. He wasn't really hungry, just tired.

Eventually the stress of the day, the illness he was suffering from and pure exhaustion took its toll on the fragile Brit, and he dozed off on his sofa.

When he suddenly jolted awake, shivering and covered in a cold sweat, his front room was almost pitch black. He felt his way to the light-switch, and looked at the clock. It was 12pm, midnight. Pip decided a short warm shower would help to make him drowsy again, so he trudged up the stairs. After showering he changed into his pyjamas, lay in his large empty bed, and waited for sleep to once again claim him.

After a long night of restlessness and little sleep, Pip was in a far worse state than the previous day. But still he went through his usual routine – wash, change, brush hair, have breakfast, brush teeth, pack up and leave for school. It took him a little while longer than usual – the poor blonde was feeling extremely worn out and weak.

He trudged wearily through the snowy streets, trying to keep his usual smart posture. His head was thick and spinning slightly, he couldn't think straight and the shapes before him started to blur together. Pip stumbled into the cold snow, tried to pick himself up, then fell back and passed out.

-X-

It was almost 10 minutes until someone passed Pip's unconscious form. The tall figure of a teenage boy, with pitch-black attire that accented the paleness of his skin, and long black bangs that hung handsomely over his dark eyes, eventually found the Brit.

Having decided to walk to school instead of appearing at the gates in a column of fire, as he could have done, the boy was wrapped in his own thoughts when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of bright red.

There lay Pip. If it hadn't been for the fact that the black-clad figure recognised the long blonde hair and slightly feminine features of the sleeping boy, the newcomer may have simply left him there. Instead he searched Pip's pockets until he found his phone and, choosing one of the very few numbers at random, called it.

"Hello? Pip?" a childish voice answered the phone after a few rings.

"This isn't Pip. I've just found your friend passed out in the snow. I suggest you come down and help him as soon as possible, I don't know how long he's been lying here." The newcomer said.

"Oh sweet Jesus! Tweek! We've gotta go help Pip!" the voice gasped on the other end. The voice faded slightly as it shouted away from the phone, but soon came back "Where is he?"

The newcomer gave a location, hung up, replaced the Brit's phone and carried on his way.

-X-

When Pip came to, he found himself lying somewhere warm and soft. He could hear two soft voices talking near-by.

"Is the doctor coming?"

"Y-yeah. He said he's –nngh- coming right over."

"That's good. Golly, I hope this is nothing serious. I wish he'd just taken some rest, like we told him."

"W-what are we going to do now? When he comes round he-he'll just get up and make himself worse again."

"No he's not! I'm going to stay here with him till he's better. He needs someone to help him while he recovers. I don't care what he says, I'm his friend by golly, and I'm not letting him make himself ill again."

Pip squeezed his eyes tighter shut and tried to shake his head to clear it. He could just about recognise the voices as being those of two people he knew, but he still couldn't think straight enough to figure out who they were. A phone started going off, and one of the voices excused themselves.

"Hey Craig..." he heard, before whoever the voice belonged to walked out of clear hearing range.

"Nnngh..." Pip tensed and stretched his muscles, and attempted to sit up. His vision was still slightly blurry, but he saw a familiar figure with platinum blonde hair and a baby-blue fleece hurry over to his side and ease him back down.

"Lie down Pip. You need to rest."

Pip rubbed his eyes, and his eyes finally came into focus. He yawned slightly, and looked around. He was in his bedroom, though he had no idea how he'd gotten there.

"B-Butters? What on Earth happened...?"

"You passed out. You were out in the snow for who knows how long. Honestly Pip, we told you to rest. You're really ill." Butters looked down at him sympathetically, then felt his forehead. "Jeez, you're burning up. Oh Pip..."

The small blonde moved away before coming back with a cool, slightly damp cloth and pressed it against Pip's forehead. Then he bustled around the bed, fluffing the pillows and arranging various things out of Pip's sight.

Tweek returned to the room, and smiled at Pip when he saw he was awake.

"H-hey Pip." He turned to Butters "I told Craig we wouldn't be in today because we're looking after P-Pip, and to tell Mr. Garrison that too. He said he'd tell Kenny, and they might come around after school. He hopes you get better soon, Pip."

"That's just because he wants you back." Pip joked quietly. He tried to give a short laugh, but instead started coughing feebly. He lay heavily back, his chest rising up and down as he tried to regain his breath.

"Go back to sleep Pip. We'll look after you." Butters said. Pip happily complied, slipping back into a happy, warm unconsciousness filled with nothing but black.

-X-

"Class you may, or may not, remember Damien. He has rejoined us after 8 years, so make him welcome."

Damien took a seat at an empty desk, behind Christophe and Gregory. The French brunette turned to talk to him.

"'Ello Damien. I 'ave not seen you een a while."

"I know. Dad insists I should come back here. Tsk." Damien shook his head.

"Heh."

"Luckily I don't think being popular here is particularly hard any more. Besides, I don't give a damn about these kids. I'm just here to make Dad happy. Else I'm gonna be kicked out to Earth anyway, have no way home, and no powers for at least two weeks, he said. I wasn't gonna risk it." Damien lit a flame on his finger, as if to prove a point.

"Mmm. Eef I remember correctly, from eenteleegence 'ere, you were friends wiz zat Brit – Peep, oui?"

"Yeah. Then I set him on fire."

"'E seems to be one of a forgeeveeng nature. 'Eck, ze students 'ere 'ave beat 'im for 'owever many years, and 'e is steel ceeveel to zem. I 'ave seen 'im before now, and zo zey have once beaten 'im to almost wizeen an eench of 'is life, 'e ees steel perfectly polite."

At this point, Gregory turned to chip in the conversation.

"I remember that time. I had to save him. As nice and kind as he is, he also never stands up for himself. I have never seen him raise a hand to anyone – not since 4th Grade, with that dodgeball incident. I've hung around with him before, a few times – a nice bit of English company. Still, I would not bet on him instantly forgiving you. Although he thanks you for his friends, he never really looks all too happy if conversation turns to you."

"He thanks me for him having friends?"

"Yes. He said that because of the burns he sustained, he had to go to the nurses office next day, and he met Tweek and Butters there. He said, if you hadn't set him on fire, he'd have never really met them. Then he muttered something like 'figures'."

Damien nodded, and sat silently in thought, and conversation stopped there.

Damien was stood underneath a tree in the school grounds, making a small flame dance around his hand as he stared at it and thought.

"Hey~!" he heard a familiar voice, accompanied by the sight of a familiar blonde.

"Hey Kenny." He said, pretending to groan like he didn't want the boy there.

"Y'know, I heard you talking to Gregory and Christophe – you naughty boy, you lied!"

"So?"

"You're blaming your dad for your return, when actually you've come up here all love-sick and searching for your precious little blonde angel." Kenny looked straight at Damien.

"Keep your voice down." He growled. Kenny chuckled.

"Aw, Damien's going soft." He joked, poking the Antichrist. He received a small scorch mark on his hoodie in reply. "Say, you know your gonna have to hurry up and make yourself taken right? Cause the chicks here ADORE the whole moody bad-ass boys, AKA Craig Tucker and now you, and Craig's not straight – so you, my friend, are now the new chick-magnet."

"Hmm, of course." Damien replied sceptically.

"Look over to your right, behind that bench you will see 3-5 five girls sitting together and giggling – Bebe, Red, Annie and a few others, all looking over at you and getting all fan-girly." Kenny stated, and when Damien checked, it was true. A blonde with curly hair and lots of make-up, a tom-boyish looking girl with long straight auburn hair, and another blonde with extremely frizzy hair were sat together. Behind them were another 2 or three girls, and they were all talking together, giggling and looking in their direction.

"Well, fuck them." Damien dismissed.

"I would if I wasn't currently dating someone." Kenny grinned, and Damien shook his head.

"And speaking of fan-girls, at all costs avoid the Goths – they will practically worship you, and I can bet Henrietta would go gooey over you."

Damien shook his head again. "I wasn't this popular last time I came over here."

"Times change dude." Kenny paused. "And, as we were on the topic of boyfriends and blonde angels, have you seen Pip or Butters today?"

"Pip was passed out in the snow, and I believe it was Butters who went to help him, along with some Tweek." Damien replied, and he frowned slightly. Kenny looked at his face closely, before a grin spread across his features.

"Aw, dude, you're worried!" he cooed, earning a smouldering hole in the arm of his jacket. "Aw that's my good hoodie! Damn you."

"I'm already damned." Damien retorted.

"You should go over and see him. I'm going by to pick up Buttercup, and I'd guess Craig's going to pick up Tweek. You could talk to him then."

"Yeah." Damien nodded, resolving to go straight to Pip's house after school – as soon as he found out his address.

-X-

Pip stirred and made a small noise of protest as his blankets were removed, but jolted instantly awake when he felt someone fiddling with the buttons of his jacket.

"Ah- ah!" he swatted at the hand and tried to get into a sitting position. He blinked his eyes at the light to get them to focus – when he did Butters and Tweek were stood to one side, a grown man on the other, with a stethoscope around his neck.

"Stay lying down Pip. I'm not going to hurt you." Instructed the man, presumably the doctor he'd heard about earlier.

"Sorry sir, you startled me." He whispered in apology. The doctor nodded, then held out the stethoscope and gestured by way of asking for permission to proceed. Pip nodded.

The doctor didn't take off his shirt fully, just undid a few buttons and poked his ice-cold stethoscope inside to listen to his breathing and heart.

"You're wheezing quite a bit." He noted, and Pip made a small noise that was supposed to sound good-humoured.

"I think I had a cold and it went to my chest. I do have quite a weak chest – English defect." He attempted a laugh again, and it deteriorated into feeble coughing.

The doctor finished his examination and straightened up.

"I don't think it's too serious – a slight chest infection and fever." He looked over at Pip "I think you are working too hard young man, and putting too much strain on yourself."

Pip noticed Butters looking at Tweek, and they exchanged a look that seemed to say 'We told him so'.

"I suggest you take a week or two off of school, and any work you have"

"But sir! I have to work, to earn money for my food and bills!"

"Do your parents not work?" the doctor looked puzzled. Pip flinched slightly, but his voice was calm as he replied.

"My parents are dead back in England, sir, they have been since I was born. My foster parents died in one of the freak accidents that happen here so often." He explained. The doctor apologised for bringing up such a sensitive subject unknowingly.

"But still..." he continued "a week off. Your friends here can help you, can't you boys?"

Butters and Tweek nodded enthusiastically. The doctor turned to leave, bidding them farewell and advising Pip change his clothes – he was still wearing the damp ones he'd been found in.

"We'll leave you to change, and get some more rest. We'll be downstairs, so call us if you need us." Butters said. Pip nodded and his friends walked out of the room. The Brit changed into some warm, thick pyjamas, picked up his old, much-read book 'Oliver' and lay back in bed, reading until he fell asleep.

Pip slept and woke at intervals, reading whenever he was awake. Butters and Tweek came up to check on him every now and then – sometimes they brought a cup of tea, and at around noon Butters gave him some sort of chicken soup that tasted absolutely delicious.

At half three, Pip was sat up slightly, reading, when Butters emerged.

"Someone's c-come to visit you..." he said, though he looked slightly wary and Pip picked up on the stutter that only usually made itself present if Butters was scared or nervous. Pip smiled kindly and bid the guest enter.

Although he hadn't seen the boy who stepped into the room for over 8 years, Pip recognised him at once.

"D-Damien?" he faltered, and promptly fainted.

-X-

Words: 3,084

A/N: This is practically a super-long one-shot, that I'm splitting up. CAUSE I FEEL LIKE IT, SO NYAH :P

Ahem. So... I am very, very into Dip atm! And I've never really written a Dip fic where I torture Pip too much. I've made him ill before. I think this is because the books I've read by Charles Dickens (that being Great Expectations and Oliver Twist) that centre on orphaned children make them ill at some point. Like, super ill. Obviously Victorian children were extremely susceptible to fevers. And I have a horrible cough, so I feel horrible at the moment. But I don't get a week off school like this lucky bugger does XD

I always make Pip live on his own. I think that at some point I'll write a fic where his adoptive parents are in it, but for now, he is simply very good at looking after himself. Deal with it.

N'aww at Damien everyone! 3

Interesting fact: because I do stuff like this, I've written 'Damien' in code on my hand, and it's pissing off my friends cause I won't tell them what it means XD

232614182213 – try and figure out that code, now you know what it spells ;)