SUE: Chicken Soup for the Sick Soul

[Jonathan & Jacob Bishop]

John and Jake had texted Rain early that morning, excited of the prospects of spending the day with her. Ever since the Prom, the twins had been walking on sunshine. It had taken them since Christmas to work up the courage to ask Rain out. After the awkward mess of that snowy evening, they had worried they would screw it up. But now, they had a girlfriend. It was amazing.

So when Rain had replied that she couldn't go out that day, the brothers had gone into severe anxiety mode for the thirty second it took for her to also add that she couldn't go out because she was sick.

Of course, then they felt bad for feeling glad she was only sick.

The brothers had borrowed the car and driven up to the school, stopping along the way to pick up some flowers, two get well cards, and of course a can of chicken soup. After all, that's all one needed to get better, right?

They arrived at Rain's dorm, realizing for the first time just how worried their girlfriend living in a co-ed dorm made them, and knocked on the door to her room.

"Rain?" "You awake? the brothers called out. They had shot Rain some quick texts letting her know they were on their way, but they didn't want to burst into her bedroom in case she was trying to rest.

"We came to make you all better!" "We came to make you all better!"

[Rain Tseung]

Rain rushed to the bathroom, having to cross the common room from her bedroom was not ideal for this situation… She fell ill this week, the week the school goes on summer break… She really wished she wasn’t sick for it… She would love to be getting ready for summer, going shopping, getting in shape, doing some other things that she could do with not having to worry about school anymore… Oh Not to mention spending most of it with JJ…


The girl hadn’t expected the twins to want to come over. And all though she would love for them to come over and take care of her, she didn’t want them to get sick… She wondered if it was just her awful immune system that she got sick, and that maybe the twins immune system was stronger. She hoped so as she heard the knock, followed by the twins voice. Once she was done vomiting she went over to the sink, splashed water over her face, and quickly brushed her teeth. To say the least, it took Rain a good minute before she could get to the door.

Once she opened the door, she gave a weak smile to JJ. “hey! I’m glad you guys stopped by… But I don’t want to get you two sick…” Was she trying to tell them to leave? Not really, “But since you are here… Come on in.” She moved out of the way to let them in.

[Jonathan & Jacob Bishop]

It took Rain a while to answer the door. For a moment the brothers worried that maybe she had been trying to sleep. Or was possibly down in the nurses office because she was that sick. They gave each other worried glances and were about to turn away when they heard someone walking towards the door.

The worried faced from their faces as they grinned at the girl standing in front of them. She looked horrible and beautiful all at the same time. And it made them want to pull her close for a hug and cover her with blankets and soup at the same time.

"Nah don't worry about us," John said, waving away her concern with a hand.

"How are you feeling?" Jake asked, clearly concerned.

"These are for you." "These are for you." they said, holding out the soup, flowers, and cards as they walked into the room.

"Uh...where should we put them?" John added. They didn't want to force Rain to deal with everything at once. She looked like maybe she should sit down, not try to juggle all of their get well stuff.

[Rain Tseung]

Rain gave the twins a small smile, it was nice having boyfriends… She liked how caring they were toward her. It made her feel a lot better. “Okay. But I’m gonna make it up to you in some way, okay?” She didn’t want to hear any ‘buts’ because she felt like she had to do something to say ‘thank you’… She just had to think of what.

“I’ve… felt better..” For a moment Rain wondered what type of question that was… But she knew that he was just concerned for her. She walked over to Jake, mostly because he was the closest one and hugged him/mostly leaned on. “oh, thank you, I didn’t even realize you guys were holding stuff… Sorry.” She did feel a little overwhelmed as she looked at how much they were holding, and where to put everything. Then John asked to put them somewhere, and she relaxed a little. “Uh.. the soup can go on the counter… and the flowers can go on the desk in my room. I can take the cards.” Her voice was probably a little muffled by Jake’s shoulder because she hadn’t moved an inch.

[Jonathan & Jacob Bishop]

The twins started to protest that she didn't have to repay them . After all this was what boyfriends were supposed to do right? True, they hadn't been official for very long. And also true, John and Jake still weren't exactly sure how this relationship was supposed to work and what exactly each of them were supposed to fit into it. But certainly, caring for Rain when she was sick was somewhere on the list of Dos.

"Don't worry about it," John said.

"We just wanted to make you feel better," Jake added.

Of course past soup and flowers, they weren't exactly what else they could do.

Jake blushed and smiled when Rain hugged/leaned on him, trying not to drop what he was holding. He handed her the card he was carrying before shifting slightly so he could hand the soup to John. "We made it ourselves," he said, meaning the soup.

John handed Rain his card as well hugging her as he did so before setting down the soup and heading toward her room to set down the flowers they had picked up. "Used mom's recipe. Always makes us feel better," he said when he returned.

Jake put his arm around her after looking toward his brother for confirmation that to do so would be a good idea. "Do you want to lie down?" "Do you want to lie down?"

Both of them hated to see Rain feeling so bad. But at the same time it was nice to be with her. And to hold her. They only wished it was for a different reason.

[Rain Tseung]

Rain still wanted to do something nice for the twins. Not just to repay them back, but because well it was the right thing to do right? She didn’t want there to be all that many changes between them just because they were a couple.. It was weird, and yet very exciting to be referring to her relationship with the twins as them being a ‘couple’. She was their girlfriend! Just that thought made her giddy and warm inside.

“You two are so sweet, but just you coming here makes me feel better.” It was true, because they really did make her feel better every day, and knowing that they cared so much about her enough to come all this way just because she was sick.

Rain took the cards from John and Jake, “Oh really?” She took a step back from Jake to look at the soup; however you stomach was not up to eating anything… She felt slightly bad. She looked at both cards in her hands, “are they going to make me cry?” Because she didn’t want to cry… and people usually gave her really sappy, unbelievable sweet cards that made her cry.


Hugging John back, of course, why wouldn’t she? They were so sweet… “That’s adorable. Though I really don’t know how much my stomach will be able to handle.. I’ve been throwing up all day..” They probably didn’t need to know that… but it was true, she even felt like she had to put a trash can next to her bed just in case it came up to quickly.

Rain rested her head on Jake’s shoulder again, “I probably should…” She smiled at them both, and walked them into her room. She liked them being here, to see her and take care of her, and hold her. It was a very different experience…

[Jonathan & Jacob Bishop]

The brothers beamed at the idea that their very presence made Rain feel better. They were sure if they were sick, the reverse would be true. The world seemed a brighter, better place with her by their side.

"Good." "Good." the brothers said. Because really they didn't know too much about helping a sick person. Besides chicken soup, just being there was about all Rain should expect from them.

They were much better at first aid than they were at illness, but they had years of practice in caring for each other under their belts in that area.

"Cry?" "Why?" The brothers asked, cocked their heads to the side in confusion at the same time. Wait, maybe that was one of those "girl things" their older brothers had warned them about.

"They're just get well cards..." John said, still a little confused. Really Rain didn't have to much to worry about. They brothers hadn't had the time between picking them up and getting to her room to write anything besides 'feel better' and sign their names.

"Maybe try a few sips later," Jake offered. That was what their mom always told them.

The brothers followed Rain into her room, standing awkwardly as she made her way to lie down. True, this wasn't the first time they had been in Rain's room. But now she was their girlfriend. And they thought maybe they should be doing something...different. Well, with Rain feeling sick it wasn't like they had to worry too much about that, but it still felt odd.

"Do you want us to let you rest?" John asked. "...let you rest?" Jake echoed.

[Rain Tseung]

If the twins would have gotten sick, Rain would have done the same thing the twins were doing for her. She would be at their house in a heartbeat with homemade soup, and tissues, and Vaseline, and get well cards, and maybe something homemade… Like a plushie or something… For some reason, even though it was kind of horrible she started thinking about the twins being sick, and Rain taking care of them…

“Eh? Oh I get emotional easy, and people tend to think I like really emotional cards.. with the inspiration stuff written in it.” Really she liked the funny cards best, oh and the animal ones, she really liked those too. She didn’t like to cry, and she rather laugh at the world, then cry. Rain chuckled, “Good to know.”

Rain nodded, “Of course, I would love to.” She wasn’t going to say no to the twins on things like that, she would try almost anything for them. In a way, they had her wrapped around their finger.

Rain took to opening up their get well cards, in the middle of opening up one of them she looked up at Jake and John innocently and shook her heads. “No, you’re fine. I’m not that tired.” She realized Jake and John were still standing, she wasn’t going to lie it was awkward, and yet she still didn’t want anything to change between them… At least not in the way that they couldn’t feel comfortable around each other anymore.. “You guys can sit if you want…Or something…” Rain sighed, she wasn’t one to beat around the bush, but she didn’t want to make Jake and John feel more awkward… She gulped, “Is it because I’m sick? Or because you’re not comfortable around me anymore?” She was referring to why they were still standing..

[Jonathan & Jacob Bishop]

The brothers listened along making mental notes to possibly avoid emotional cards altogether. Not that the twins were often drawn to those kinds of sentiments, but they didn't want to chance falling into the category of people who only thought they knew Rain. John and Jake wanted to really know here, the real her. And they hoped they were on the right track to get there.

"You don't have to worry about that with us," John said.

"We usually get the funny cards. Or cute animals," Jake added.

After all laughter, and baby animals, were the best medicine, right?

John smiled and immediately took a seat on Rain's bed near her knees when she offered. Both of them were excited to be able to call Rain their girlfriend, but John was the only one of the two who had any real experience with having one at all. Though his experience was limited to the time he'd had a girlfriend in the 5th grade for two week.s Still it was more than Jake could claim. He had never even kissed a girl on a dare.

"We're comfortable," Jake said, though he was laying a bit. He was pretty sure most of the comfort he was feeling was coming from John. It's not that he didn't want to be okay with this wall. And it wasn't that he didn't love Rain and the idea of being with her. It was just all so new.

"He's just worried he'll blurt something out again," John teased. Though it was pretty much the truth. Jake still hadn't recovered from his outburst at the Prom and he kinda thought it would be best to let John take the lead for a while. Even thought it had felt great, really great, to have Rain leaning on his shoulder and hugging him.

"Can we get anything else for you?" "Can we get anything else for you?"

[Rain Tseung]

Really the only reason why Rain had said anything because people assumed she liked those types of cards. That she liked sentimental kinds, they were always nice but they weren’t her favorite. She also knew that those types of cards really weren’t the ones that the twins would get, she knew that much. Or at least she assumed the twins were like her with cards. And they just proved her theory. She smiled at them, “good! I’m glad we are on the same page with that.” She winked at them, which the flirty action was quite surprising to her, not only because it was flirty but also because she was sick and didn’t think she could have the strength to be anything but sleepy.

Rain was the same as the twins really. She had no experience, and she didn’t even really have anyone else to look at as a relationship role model, considering her brother himself didn’t have experience either, at least not that she knew up, sort of. If you didn’t count the one girl she became best friends with. But out of that dating experience of River and the girl, Rain got out of it that even though she was in a relationship with some one/s that had been her friend/s doesn’t mean that friendship had to stop. Actually being in a relationship seemed like a thing that made people even more friendly toward each other. She was still kind of confused with certain things, and very insecure with the whole thing, but she hoped one day it will all come together. Rain could relate to Jake, she never kissed a girl either, or guy for that matter…


However, there was something very nice about being the twins first girlfriend… It didn’t seem like they had any expectations of her, or the relationship. She’s seen a few friends get into relationship where it seemed like the other had this expectation of what they wanted the relationship to be like. “Are you sure? You can talk to me about anything, really.” She really did just want the twins to be fully comfortable and non-awkward around her, she guessed that was really the first step for all of them..

“Worried?” She felt strange hearing that Jake had worried about that… She looked at Jake, and then at her hands, “Why worried? I liked how you were opened with me… and I felt like both of you just coming out with your feelings was a very good thing.. So what is there to be worried about now? Is there something I missed?” Did the twins see something about Prom night that had been negative? And Rain had just been oblivious to it? She rather have the twins blurt something out, then try to hide something from her.

“No I think I’m fine for now. I have my pukey bucket if I need it, and a drink… And I have you guys, and I used to have Ribbon…”She looked around for the rabbit, spotting him in his cardboard box house. “He left me though.” She said pointing at the bunny.

[Jonathan & Jacob Bishop]

The brothers smiled back and blushed a little at the wink. Even though Rain was sleepy and a little pitifully sick, she was definitely still sexy. Though they were probably a bit bias on the subject. But what they were really smiling about was having their girlfriend say they were all on the same page. Though the brothers doubted it could really be true, it was nice hearing her say it. Maybe she was delirious with a fever.

Rain was right in assuming that the twins had no expectations what so ever. Even though she was now their girlfriend. Girlfriend. It was still a new and wonderful concept. Rain was their girlfriend.

"Anything?" John asked with a grin. He was trying to be half-teasing, half-flirting and hoping it was working. Jake shot him a look with one eyebrow raised, but as usual, he was comfortable letting John to be the first to test the waters of flirting.

"It's just that when I blurt stuff out-" Jake started.

"-then they don't sound like I want them to," John finished.

"It's not that we're hiding. We just want everything to be perfect." "It's not that we're hiding. We just want everything to be perfect." The pronouns were a bit confusing these days, but hopefully Rain would be okay with that. They waited for her to reply, hoping she would understand. They just wanted everything to be wonderful for Rain. She was their first really love. She was their first girlfriend (they were never going to tire of that word). It wasn't so much that they worried that she would leave them (there was a little of that, sure) but instead they just wanted her to have the best.

"Yes, you have us," "Yes, you have us," the twins agreed. John scooted a bit closer to Rain on the bed, while Jake also found himself a seat on the mattress. They turned in unison to look at Ribbon hiding. He had no clue what he was missing out on not being on the bed with this beautiful girl.