*Cough Cough*

Snake woke up with a hard cough and a headache. Struggling, he tried to sit, suddenly falling back on the couch with a poof.

"Greatsss… I'm sssick…" hissing in utter annoyance he started to shiver, it was the middle of summer and he was shivering, yup, definitely sick… What would the boss think?

He may not have the most commonsense in the group, but even Snake knew that Ace, the leader of the Gangreen Gang, did not like excuses when there was work to be done. Surprisingly enough, no one in the gang had ever gotten sick, but there was a bug going around, and of course Snake had to catch it.

"Sssstupid weak immune sssssysssstem…" he hissed again, suddenly, the front door opened.

"Hola amigo'! Good to see you're finally awake" Arturo, the youngest member of the gang, said smiling at his reptilian friend, "just in time too, the boss got back from Townsville, he got FOOD!"

Relieved it was Arturo and delighted to hear the word was enough to get Snake off the couch, despite his illness, "he gotsss food? How? What about the Powerpukesss", it was the adopted name the gang had "affectionately" given the Powerpuff Girls.

The youngest green just shrugged his shoulders, "beats me, he just has a big freakin sack full, ya might want to hurry up though amigo', Big Billy was already digging through the stuff when I le-!" Arturo stopped when Snake started to cough, "…you sick?" he asked when the coughing subsided.

" No!" Snake replied quickly, "jussst ssssomething in my throat…"

"Yeah right," Arturo looked up at him, "You gonna be okay?"

"…Yesss… I think ssso…" Snake said softly, his voice was going too, great…

Arturo just looked at his scaly friend and shrugged, "okay, just be careful, not sure how Ace is gonna react to this…"

"Thankss for reminding messs…" with that, both teens exited the shack to find the leader.

Ace just laughed as he watched Grubber and Billy fight over a chocolate bar, Grubber had grabbed it first and there were plenty more in the bag, but it was just too amusing to stop.

"Billy had it first!" The round teen cried

"Pbbbbbbbht!" Grubber retorted saying something along the lines of, "no, I had it first Billy, drop it!"

Laughing harder now Ace had to hold his stomach, fearing he might bust it, "HA HA! You twos are idiots yous know dahahahat?"

He stopped for a minute though, he had told Arturo to grab Snake a while ago, what was keeping him?

As if he'd read his mind, Arturo came out of the shack, Snake in toe, but something was off about the scaly teen.

"Quit it you two!" Arturo yelled at the fighting pair, "there's plenty more in the bag! Also, Grubber had it first."

"Phhbt phbt phhh!" the distorted teen spat meaning, "I told you!"

Letting go of the candy bar, Billy looked at Grubber apologetically, "sorry Grubber…" with that he gave him a hug, making Ace laugh harder at the annoyed face Grubber made.

"Billy… hesss turning blue…" Snake stated, making Billy drop Grubber, who took in deep breaths of air, looking very much like a panting dog.

"heh heh, what took yous two, I've been watchin dem fight ovah dat candy bar for 15 whole minutes". The leader asked when his laughing subsided.

Arturo looked at Snake, who looked back at him, then turned to face Ace, "I was waking him up, 's hard to do when he's that comfortable". He lied, making Snake sigh with relief.

Cocking his head to the side and raising one eyebrow, Ace looked at his second in command, the guy was shaking and was definitely paler than usual, but didn't question it, yet, "ahrighty den, come grab somthin' before Billy takes it all."

They did as they were told and grabbed enough food that would last you or me about a week. Sitting down they looked up at Ace, as Grubber and Billy took their share of the rations. The two sat down beside Arturo and also looked up at Ace, who then grabbed some for himself, leaving enough for tomorrow, but still getting his fair share, secretly grabbing a soup he sat down next to Snake.

They started to eat, and while they did, talked and laughed with each other, just like always, even though Snake noticed that Ace was keeping a close eye on him.

"…and then I told him, that's not a sausage, that's my wife!" Arturo finished the joke, getting a burst of laughter from the gang, save for Grubber, who spat raspberries instead.

Suddenly they all stopped laughing when they heard coughing, looking at Snake, the poor reptilian teen started turning red as the coughing fit would not subside.

Ace's eyes narrowed as he clapped Snakes back a couple times, making the teen cough once more before stopping completely, "you're sick." The leader stated matter of fact.

Snake blushed, "nosss, I'm fine, ssseee." He tried to breathe in deeply, but when he did, he coughed again.

"Snake okay?" Billy asked, his one eye growing wide with worry.

"I'm fine guysss, really." He stated, "it wass jusssst sssomething in my throat, thatss all". He started to shiver, even though there was no wind. Making all of the gang huddle around him to share their warmth with him, it didn't help.

After a couple minutes of shivering and coughs, Ace had had enough, Snake was sick, he had to do something. Getting up, Ace walked over to Snake, "can yous walk?"

"Huh?" Snake looked at Ace.

"Can yous walk?' Ace asked again, stating it more clearly than before.

"Uh-um… I don'tssss knowsss…" He said softly, his voice was very nearly gone by this point, he ached so bad it wasn't funny, and his vision kept going blurry.

"Ah!" Snake yelped when he felt a hand go underneath his legs and back, slowly he was lifted, bridal style, by Ace of all people.

"Lets getcha back to the shack then." The leader walked slowly with a weak and surprised snake in his arms, and his gang behind him, Arturo had grabbed the bag of food and kept it away from Billy.

In the shack, Ace put Snake on the couch and tucked him in with the one blanket they had, then he grabbed the soup he had in his pocket, pulled it out and had Grubber heat it up. While he did that, Billy had the task of making sure Snake was happy while in this condition, it kept him pre-occupied from the food, which Arturo hid, after grabbing the first-aid kit the gang had stolen from a house one time, there was still plenty of supplier when they needed it, and it also had painkillers in there, perfect for a headache.

Ace had grabbed a trash can and set it next to Snake, while also heating up a wet wash cloth and putting it on Snakes head, "shoulda told me yous was sick, I would've grabbed more soup…" Ace said, lightly nudging Snakes stuffed nose.

"I thought you wanted no excussssesssss bossss…" Snake said softly, "sssso I kept it a sssssecret…"

"I told ya I wanted no excuses when wes came back from a powerpuke beatin, wes still gots to heal each othah, yous can control dat, when you're sick dat's different, yous can't control dat!" Ace snapped, making Snake cower beneath the cover.

Sighing Ace calmed down, "look, when you're sick, you needs help, everyone knows dat, yous don't do dis again ok? You could get worse if yous don't tells me dese things! Den where will yous be?" He scolded, "no mattah what we's doin dat day, yous gotta tells me when you ain't feelin well", he then turned to face the rest of his gang, "dat goes for all of ya, when you get sick, tell me, alright?"

The answer was silent, but all of the gang members, save for Grubber who was still heating the soup, nodded and smiled, "good! If yous don't, I'm gonna get you bettah, den pummel ya to the ground!"

Turning back to Snake he sighed, "I'll let it go, dis once! Don't do dat again!"

Snake nodded vigorously, making his head spin, he only stopped when Ace grabbed his nose, "yeah, yous can stop noddin now", he chuckled.

Grubber came back from the kitchen, the soup warmed up. He gave it to Snake who almost dropped it, Ace caught it at the last minute.

"Don't thinks dat's gonna work" He said. Grabbing the spoon from Grubber's hand, Ace dipped it in the soup, blew on it, and fed it to Snake.

"You sure you wantsss to feed me bosss?" Snake asked after swallowing the first spoonful.

"Well you sure ain't getting the job done, so just shaddup and drink the soup." Ace replied, giving him another spoonful. No further comments were made after that.

14 hours later…

Snake yawned, the gang had been sitting around him the whole day, making sure he had been attended to, Ace the most. Now the sick teen started to get tired, snuggling deeper into the blankets he sighed and curled into a position that shouldn't have been, but was, comfortable. By this time, he had lost his voice completely, but he didn't mind, it's not like he used it much anyway.

"Getting tired amigo?" Arturo asked the curly serpent.

Snake only nodded and started to close his eyes when he realized something, looking up he saw the rest of the gang watching him, small smiles on their faces. Cocking his head to the side, Ace seemed to understand his silent question, " don't worry bout us, wes gots a place to sleep for the night, you just get some rest, kay?"

Stepping closer to his sick friend, Ace put a hand on his shoulder and pushed him down in the covers more, making Snake feel as though he were sinking in a mass of grey fuzzies. Not that he minded though, he yawned one last time, took one last look at the gang, and fell into a deep sleep.

*GASP!* Snake bounced from the blankets, and fell unceremoniously on the floor.

"Damn it! That'sss the sssssecound time tonight I've had a nasssty dream… You sure get sssstrange dreamsss when you're sssick… I wish Accce were awake…" He thought sadly.

Getting up, he wobbled back over to the couch, he was so tired he couldn't even see straight, suddenly, a hand caught him just as he was about to fall again, pulling him up, all Snake could make out were… fangs?

"Snake, you do you keep fallin on the floor? It's drivin me crazy, ya startle me every time!" The leader snapped quietly, as he put the sick reptile back on the couch. He then noticed the other was shaking, "hey… yous alright? You're shakin pretty badly…"

Snake just looked at his boss… Not being able to speak kinda sucked right at this moment…

"…it's the nightmares ain't it?"

Surprised, Snake raised his eyebrows, "how did he knowsss?" he wondered quietly.

"Yeah, kinda figured…" With that Ace flopped onto the couch next to Snake, pulled the covers over himself, and looked at the shocked serpent, "don't give me dat looke, I' only doin dis so yous don't fall off again…"

Laughing a little, Snake secretly thanked whatever God was out there, and snuggled next to Ace, flickering his tongue happily.

"Hey! Stop dat! You're tickling my ear!"

Snake stopped and looked at Ace apologetically, then laid his head on the older teen's chest and closed his eyes. He felt an arm go around his waist, as he fell into a deep sleep, he could just barely make out the words that were whispered in his ear.

"Goodnight Snake."

THE END!