Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Just put one foot infront of the other. Thats all you have to do. One foot infront of the other. One foot-"

There was a knock on the dressing room door "Spamton?" Tenna can be heard from the otherside

Spamton, now snapped out of his chanting, looks away from his vanity mirror and towards the door in panic "I-I'll be out in a minute!"

"We're on in 5, what's taking you so long?"

"I-I uh- it's just my damn luck Tens! I spilled some coffee on my suit, right before I was about to get out the door too!!" He lies, already fully dressed, but does grab a napkin to pat some sweat off his face

"Oh noo! Do you need me to get you a spare? Oh!- actually wait let me see, I bet I can get the stain out in a jiffy-" Tenna happily offers as he cracks the door open.

Spamton immediately rushes to push the door shut again, before Tenna could see how disheveled he was "No!- no need for that ahaha!! I already found an extra lying around, I'm actually getting dressed right now- so you can't come in! But I'll be out in a second, I promise!!"

"Oh, sorry! Um...Okay then, I'll see you on stage!"

Spanton heard footsteps receed, and then lets out an exhausted sigh. As it is he already felt so achy and tired, but it took even more out of him to force himself to sound so chipper during that conversation.

He walks back to his vanity mirror, to take another look at himself. He once again pats away some sweat before grabbing a comb, to try and get some stray hairs in order.

He's come down with something, he can tell from the headache he's had since the moment he woke up, the soreness in his throat, and the aches in his muscles. But whatever it is matters little to him, he has a show to do. He hasn't missed a day on set, there's no way he's going to miss one now.

And plus...this show is important to Tenna, he can't let him down! It's probably just a silly little cold anyway, he can push through it.

He puts down the comb after he finishes getting his look in order, and takes a few small steps towards the door. His walking is shakey at first, but by the time he has his hand on the knob he manages to get himself steady.

He just has to hide this until the show is over, and then he can make up some excuse to leave. And probably lay down in his room for the rest of the day. He can do this, easy peasy. "Just put one foot infront of the other." He says to himself one last time, before putting on a big smile and heading out.

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Tenna was already on stage doing the show's opening, Spamton waited in the sidelines for his cue join him. The audience's clapping and cheers hurt his ears, it worsens the nausea creeping upon him. He was so distracted by it that he nearly missed his cue.

He gets his wits about him and walks on-stage "About time you called me in, I was starting to worry you were going to do the show without me!" He gives a quick laugh, and waves to the crowd as he stands himself on center stage next to Tenna.

Hearing himself speak was grating, his head pounds with every syllable he speaks, and the glare of the stage lights don't help with this. Not to mention the heat (did they always feel this hot?) radiating from them make him feel as though he's being cooked alive.

"And have all the fun without you? Never! But the idea sure was tempting!" Tenna jests as he put his hand to the side of his lips and fake-whispered to the crowd, causing a hearty laugh from them.

He really wishes they'd stop laughing, but it's not like them being silent would help much anyways. Because the lights were searing into eyes, they feel like they're being burned right out of his sockets.

"-ton?"

Shit, he missed what he said "Huh? S-sorry Tens, come again?"

"I said, are you ready to get the show started? But it looks like maybe you need a minute, or two, or ten!" another laugh from the crowd, but despite the joke Tenna notably keeps looking at Spamton, he might be catching on that something is off with him.

Dammit, he has to stay focused, he'll ruin the show if he keeps messing up like this.

"Haha, of course I'm ready! But hey- I'd be happy to spend 10 minutes giving an ad reel if you reeeally want me to!" he says while elbowing the other, more laughter ensues, and Tenna even seems to lighten up a bit. Looks like he bought it.

"Sounds nice, buuuut lets put a raincheck on that, I think we've kept everyone waiting long enough!!"

"Suit yourself!" He shrugs before putting his hands in his pockets, and letting Tenna give the details of today's physical challenges. He was thankful to have this break from talking, he can feel his throat tightening from all the strain he's put on it, to sound normal.

Though that's the least of his problems, as apparent by the growing ringing in his ears. His head feels like it's full of cotton, and he feels so dizzy, it's miracle he's still standing. He tries to distract himself by just trying to focus on keeping his breathing steady, he just has to keep it together for a bit longer.

"_______?"

He looks up at Tenna, now realizing just how loud the ringing has become, so much so that he couldn't hear anything he was saying to him. He sounds so muffled like he's far away from him, Spamton tries his best to keep his smile plastered on "C-come againn...?"

"_______ ___ ___ ____?"

"Aha, sorry Tens Im having a...a hard time hearin'..maybee micssnot....n-nnotworkin'.."

His vision starts to blur, the room feels like its spinning, and every passing second it feels harder and harder to breathe. He tries to keep talking, to let everyone know that he's okay! But he can bearly hear himself, he's not even sure if he's saying anything.

"Ahm...h-howza....bouta...a worsspon?..frum....wwor...wurzponn..sswors.."

Suddenly, he feels a dull thud on side of his head like he was abruptly struck. And in that same instant the whole right side of his body ached in pain. He blinked his eyes, confused to find his vision was now sideways, and at ground level. Since when did he get all the way down here?

He sees Tenna's lemon-yellow shoes, and the carefully stitched hem of his pants. He turns his throbbing head up to see Tenna hovering over him, with a worried expression and shouting something he couldn't quite hear.

It was the last thing he saw, before everything went dark.

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Tenna started to feel concerned for Spamton when he noticed that he was a bit off his A game today.

This quickly turned into worry when he heard him utter out a few nonsense words, before abruptly collapsing to the stage floor. The audience gasps, and Tenna quickly puts a hand up to his antennae to instruct "Mike- cut to commercial!"

On that cue, the cameras cut off, the lights dim, and the curtains move to close around them, giving them their privacy. Tenna crouches down to examine his fallen ad, who was now noticeably drenched in sweat and shaking. "Spamton?! Spamton what's wrong?"

He gets no reponse back, what he does get, is seeing Spamton's eyes fixate on Tenna for just a moment, before they roll back into his head and close.

He gently scoops up the salesman in his arms, at which point Mike runs up to the two of them and asks "What happened?"

"I-I don't know he-he just fell! He- I-I don't think he's injured??" Tenna stammers, having already tried to look for any physical wounds, thankfully seeing none. But he still worries for what could've caused the collapse!

Mike takes a look at Spamton for himself, before stating "I think he's sick...? Looks like a fever, a bad one too."

At that comment, Tenna puts a hand on his forehead, and sure enough he was hot to the touch. "Get a bucket of cool water and rags to my room as soon as you can." He says as he promptly marches to exit the stage while carrying the ad in his arms.

When he gets him to his room, he places Spamton on his bed. He was still sweating profusely, his face was flushed red, and his breathing was shallow.

"This monkey suit isn't helping you!" he determines as he moves to unravel and take off his tie, before unbuttoning his suit.

"Why didn't you just tell me you were sick? We could've easily postponed today's show..." He says as he gets the suit off and tosses it aside, though he can already feel Spamton nagging at him for putting his nice suit on the floor. He'll apologize and have it cleaned later, right now his main concern is him.

He gets his shoes and socks off and puts them aside the same. Now Spamton was just left with his button up and pants. Though he still seems hot even in just that, so he figures it's better if he gets that stuffy shirt off too. Another thing to be yelled at for putting on the ground.

Mike soon comes in with a bucket, some rags, and a bonus waterbottle "I figured he'll need the fluids" he says as he hands the items over

"Great, thank you." Tenna nods, putting the waterbottle on the nightstand, glad that Mike thought to bring it "Please tell the audience that everything is fine, he just fell ill (literally), and tonight's broadcast is cancelled. Just play something from last week, the people that missed it will appreciate a re-run."

Mike nods and leaves to do just that, leaving them alone once again. Tenna puts the bucket on the floor, dipping one of the rags in the cool water and wringing it.

"T...ttenn..." Spamton weakly utters out

"I'm here Spam." He places the rag on his forehead, "Dont worry, this should help cool you."

"Mm..fiiine..Ten..." he says as he lifts his head, trying to move to himself to sit up, but Tenna places the rag over his eyes, using it to gently push his head back down.

"Hey hey, don't you dare move! Everything is already taken care of,, so you're gonna stay and rest." he chides before removing the rag, bleary eyes squint up at him

"Amm I dreamin'..?"

"No silly, you really did take a fall on-stage because you have an awful fever." He says, putting a hand to his cheek as he gets a closer look at his eyes. Oh boy he looks really out of it, which is more apparent by his lopsided smile and response

"Youu look so...sso radient Tens.."

He feels himself blush from the compliment "Hey now, dont try to butter me up try and make up for beFORE-!" he squeaks when Spamton turned his head to kiss the palm of his hand, before nuzzling against it.

He was practically melting in his hand. He looks up at Tenna with warm eyes and a loving smile "...Lie down with mee...?"

On any other occasion Tenna would've loved to oblige, but right now he wants to keep his focus on helping him break the fever "Let's put a pin on that for another day, right now I want to look after you. I need to apparently! You look like you're on the brink of delirium."

"Nnot even if I sayyy....I love tv..?"

Tenna feels his screen warm up, feeling so bashful from how sweet Spamton was suddenly being "Haha, nice try but it's still going to be a no! Focus on getting better first!"

"Aww but I mean it, I looove tv..!"

That causes a rosie red flower to bloom from Tenna's nose. How can he possibly say no to that face? This is too cruel! But no!!- he must remain strong! "S-stop that! Here- just drink up!!" Tenna turns his face away as he stammers, grabbing the waterbottle for the other.

He lifts Spamton's head up to help him get a drink from it, luckily he didn't need much coaxing to do so, guess he was awfully thirsty. And he seemed to have cooled down a bit from the drink and having the suit off of him. Tenna took it as good sign, glad that what he's doing is helping!

"This will be right here if you want more, okay?" He said as he put the waterbottle back on the nightstand, though he heard no response back. He looked back and noticed that Spamton had his head facing away from Tenna, seeming a bit downcast.

"Spamton, did you hear me?"

A pause, before a frown slowly forms on Spamton's face and he mutters out "I ruined....everything didn't I...?"

"Huh- what are you talking about?"

"The sshow.....I ruined-"

"Hey no, don't worry about it, It's all taken care of, I already canceled the plans for today. Everything will be postponed till you feel better!" Tenna reassured, though this only seemed to deepen the other's remorse

"Fuuck...Tenna I'm so sorry, I shoulda..shoulda held it together betterrr..."

"What are you talking about? You're sick, you shouldn't have even been on stage in the first place."

"But...you love your show....and I didn't...didn't want to ruin it with myy....my bullshit....but I ended up ffffuckin' everything up anyways.."

"Well now you're just being dramatic!" Tenna bluntly states while raising his arms in the air, catching Spamton by surprise enough to make him look back at him "I don't want to do the show, if it means you pushing yourself so hard that you pass out! It was good shock value for the audience, but I don't condone it."

He puts a fresh rag in the bucket of water, and wrings it before putting it on the stunned Spamton's forehead "I love the show only as long as you're having fun too. Otherwise- oh well! It'll just have to be delayed. It's not the end of the world." He finishes with a shrug

Spamton didn't expect to hear this from him, he thought he just about blundered the whole thing, that he ruined Tenna's day by his embarrassing display earlier. But here he is, kindly tending to him, and taking all of this in stride. His expression melts in furthur adoration for the crt

"Oh Tenna...my sweet Tennaaa...!"

"My sweet? Oh you're really out of it aren't you?" He gives a small chuckle at that.

"Proobablyy....the lights aren't....aren't reaally helpin' with that...."

"The lights?"

"I feel like they're burnin' my eyes offf..."

"Oh!! Sorry, I'll get that for you!" Tenna springs into action and flips the switch, turning the room dark, much to Spamton's relief

The only thing illuminating the place now was Tenna's screen. Which he was reminded of when he gets back to Spamton's side, and see's how he winces a bit when his light hits him. Luckily it's easy enough to fix, as Tenna manually turns down the brightness of his screen to a dim glow "Better?"

Spamtom gives a small nod and a weary smile "Better.."

Tenna puts the back of his hand on his cheek again to feel his temperature. Still warm but much less so than before, so it is an improvement. "You should get some rest, you'll get better faster if you do."

Spamton sluggishly shook his head "And miss out hanging with yoou?...No wayy..."

"Hey, my plans for today got canceled remember? My schedules free! So I'm not going anywhere anytime soon!" Tenna beams, glad to stay here with him for as long as it takes.

That does reassurance Spamton, he was happy at the idea that the crt will still be here when he opens his eyes again. Only, there was one small problem "Well..thas nice but...I'm not....not even that tired...?" He did technically wake up from a forced short nap just moments ago.

"Oh, right...Well, I guess that can't be helped."

Spamton hummed in thought for a moment, before an idea occurs to him "..Can yoou...you play a movie...to pass the time..?"

Tenna pauses at the request, and then a wide gleeful smile spread across his screen. He makes himself more comfortable, and sits himself at the edge of the bed as he chimes "Of course! Which one should I put on?"

"Hmm I dunno...you choose....I'll probably...probably pass out inn the middle off it anywayss...." he was fine with whatever Tenna would choose, it's just nice to watch something with him

And Tenna felt the same as he nodded "Okay! Let's seeeee-" He flips through a few channels as he thinks on what to pick "Oh- how about this one?" he settles on a light hearted comedy film, one that they've watched many times before but hey, It's an oldie but a goodie! And Spamton agrees on this sentiment.

"Yeah...that's good.." He pulls the blanket over himself, now feeling cool enough to do so, as he settles himself down for the re-watch.

It would actually be more than halfway through the movie for the salesman to fall asleep, not that Tenna would complain. He was delighted to be watched and have his full attention the whole time, till the moment his eyes slowly fluttered shut.

Tenna went ahead and finished the rest of the film himself, there was a mere 15 minutes left after all. Afterwards he switched back to his face as he observed Spamton. He seemed so miserable before, but now he looks more at ease as he slept. It would probably be a while longer till the fever finally broke, but they were well on their way to that. And Tenna was very glad he could help with it!

He wouldn't be glad for hours later, when Spamton wakes up, feeling better enough to reprimand Tenna for leaving his clothes on the floor.