[Synopsis: Player unwittingly ate something with a lot of milk in it for lunch, and now the lactose intolerant bean feels downright awful. Fortunately, his sister knows how to deal with a situation like this.(INCOMING SIBLING FLUFF!!!)]

[Location: The Skeld]

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"Hey, Veteran!"

"Hm? Oh, hey, Dum, what's up?"

Dum was approaching Veteran as he finished up his last task for the day, sipping on a can of Dr Pepper as he flipped the Storage trash lever down, emptying its contents out into space.

"Do you know where Player is? He hasn't been around since lunchtime, and I wanted to show him this meme I found!"

"Yoooo, I love memes! Mind if I see it too?"

Dum tapped her her phone screen to play the video and showed it to him, stifling her giggles with her hand over her mouth.

"Here, watch these cats..."

https://youtu.be/GfT5CqrWJW0

"Oh my God, did it just scream!?!"

"YES...!"

Both of them doubled over wheezing a moment later, and they stood there laughing for several long moments before Veteran finally spoke up again.

"Player's gonna love that."

"Hee hee...Eh...You know where he is?"

"Oh, right, you asked me that earlier. Sorry. Goldfish brain, remember?"

"It's okay, Veteran."

"Heh...Yeah, uh, you remember what we had for lunch today?"

"Some of Stoner's creamy three-herb tomato soup? Ohhh, yeah...That was delicious, wasn't it?"

"Sure was...Unfortunately, Stoner didn't know that Player was lactose intolerant, and that soup turned out to have quite a bit o' milk in it."

"Oh..."

"Yeah...If you're lookin' for him, he's probably in his room by now. It didn't take long for him to start feeling off, so he told me he was gonna be in the bathroom for a while, but he wasn't in there last time I checked. That's why he hasn't been out here doing the rest of his tasks."

"...I'm gonna go check up on him," she told him, turning to head to the dormitory of the Skeld. "I'll tell you how he is!"

"Thanks, Dum, you do that!"

As Veteran's voice faded, she made her way through the hall and towards her younger brother's door...The light was on in his room, so she knocked on it lightly...No audible response, so she decided to open his door and peer inside.

"...Player?" she called out quietly, prying the door open some more. "Are you in here?"

"Hn...?"

She heard a response that time, and decided to look into the room all the way...She saw him curled up on his bed, his back facing her. Dum quietly shut the door behind her as she entered and approached his bedside, making her way around the mattress so that she could see his face.

...She frowned when she saw him. He was clutching his stomach, and the look in his eyes was pained and fatigued.

"Are you okay, little bro?"

He shook his head and curled into himself a bit more.

"S-stoner's tomato soup...I didn't know it had milk in it, and he didn't know I was allergic," he groaned. "...Stuff gave me the runs. Bad...I-I was in the bathroom for almost an hour before...Uuugh..."

Dum cringed. So that was where he'd disappeared to before.

"...Does it just hurt, or do you feel nauseous?"

"Yeah...I do," Player nodded lightly. "I just wanna lie here and not move..."

He groaned again and curled up some more, one of his hands pulling his beanie over his visor while he wrapped the other further around his abdomen. Dum's expression shifted into one of pity; she hated seeing her brother like this, and all she wanted was for him to feel better.

"Hey, Player?" she addressed him, twiddling her fingers a bit.

"Hm?"

"...You remember what I did whenever you had this happen back when we were kids?"

Player caught onto what she was insinuating, and he sighed.

"Oh, no, I...I don't know if that'll work, Dum. Besides, I don't...I-it's embarrassing..."

"Pretty please? I just want to help you feel a bit better, and it used to work, didn't it?"

He looked away for a moment, giving the matter some thought.

"Hm...I guess it did," he acknowledged, shakily sitting up in bed, hissing a bit as his stomach cramped up again. "Well...okay. But only because I'm hoping it'll work."

Dum smiled as she sat down beside him on the bed, drawing him close and nuzzling up to him a bit.

"It'll be okay, Player."

He leaned into his sister's hug and took a deep breath as he tried to relax, but she felt him flinch a bit when she reached out and rested her hand against his belly.

"You okay?"

"Y-yeah..." he replied quietly, "It just hurts..."

"Awww, Player..." she cooed sympathetically. "It's alright, I'll make it better."

Dum moved the hand she'd rested against his stomach in a slow circular motion, quietly shushing him and whispering to him lovingly.

"There there, Player...Does that help at all?"

He sighed again, seeming a bit less tense than what he'd been before.

"A little, yeah..."

She cooed again softly, kissing her little brother on the top of his head as she rubbed his sore tummy...When they were younger, she would do this often when Player had an upset stomach, and he seemed to melt right into her hold every time she did it.

Dum felt a bit nostalgic; it'd been years since her brother had willingly let her be so affectionate towards him, and she understood that...But that would never stop her from loving him or showing him how much she cared about him.

No matter how old either of them got, in Dum's eyes, he would ALWAYS be her little baby brother.

After a few minutes, she looked down at Player and saw him smiling a bit; he still looked a bit queasy and tired, but she could tell he was feeling a little better than before. She kissed him again, on the cheek this time, then looked him in the eye.

"Do you want me to go get you some water?" she offered him. "...You could probably use something to drink if that stuff gave you diarrhea, heh..."

"Heh..."

His eyes lit up at the thought of something cold to drink, and he nodded lethargically. Dum reluctantly let go of her brother and got up off the bed, grabbing one of his pillows and fluffing it really quick.

"Why don't you lie back on your pillows and make yourself a little more comfy? I'll be back in a minute, okay?"

"M'kay, sis. Oh, c-could you put some ice in it please?"

"Sure thing, Player. BRB~!"

She left to fetch his request, and was back in less than a minute with a nice, cold cup of ice water in hand.

"Here you go, Player. Small sips, okay?" she told him, patting his head a little. He smiled at her again as he took the cup from her.

"Okay...Thanks, Dum."

The feeling of cold water running down his parched throat and soothing his achy stomach felt great. He was tempted to gulp it down because of just how good it felt, but he remembered what Dum had said to him; he didn't want to make himself feel worse, after all.

There were a few small ice chips left in the bottom of the cup by the time he was finally done drinking, so he tipped his head back and let the tiny pieces slide down the cup and into his mouth. He didn't care if he gave himself brain freeze; he'd needed that ice water.

"Feeling better, Player?" his sister asked him, smiling at the fact he seemed a bit more energetic.

"Yeah. Not quite 100%, but definitely better than before," he replied, giving her a smile as she took the cup back and put it on his night table. "I just need to lie down for a little while longer, and I should be good to eat dinner."

"Why don't you take a nap, Player?" Dum suggested. "That should help you out some more."

As if on cue, he yawned and settled down into his pillows more.

"...Good idea."

The pink crewmate smiled again; the way he curled up and snuggled up into bed was adorable as all get-out's.

Now that he was settled in, Dum grabbed one of his folded blankets from the corner of his bed and draped it overtop of him, tucking the edges around him. Player cuddled into the blanket and pillows again and got comfortable, earning yet another endeared smile from his sister.

"Awww, you're such a cute lil' snuggle bean~."

"Jess..."

He turned beet red and twiddled his fingers sheepishly, not sure how fond he was of being called cute.

"Well, you are. And I'll prove it."

"Huh?"

Without any warning, Dum hopped back up onto the bed and lay down beside him, then reached out and pulled him close, nuzzling up to him a little.

"See? Snuggle bean," she told him, giggling a bit. Player was still blushing, but now he felt more flattered than flustered. Especially seeing just how cozy it felt huddled up in the blanket and cuddled up with his big sister.

"Mind if we nap together?" Dum asked him. "I just wanna spend some time with you. It's been so long since we really bonded one-on-one like this."

"...I'd like that, sis," Player replied softly, extracting his hands from the blankets and hugging her back. The pink crewmate hummed contently and kissed the top of his head again.

"Love you, little bro."

"Love you too, sis..."

They both closed their eyes, and they were just about to nod off when Dum suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, hey, before we fall asleep, Player, do you mind if I show you something?"

"What?" he asked. "Wait...It's not another TikTok again, is it?"

"Uhhh, well...It's from there, but just trust me, if Veteran liked it, then so will you. I promise."

She pulled her phone back out and showed the video to Player...And he wheezed just as hard as he and Dum had earlier.

"Oh my God! Ha ha ha-!"

He stopped laughing when he felt the dull ache in his tummy get a little worse again, and he calmed himself back down.

"Ah...Man, that is funny," he told Dum. "...But I don't think my stomach can handle a lot of laughing right now. It's still kind of iffy."

"Aww, it's okay, Player...We'll laugh about it later when you're feeling all better again."

"Everything goin' okay in here?"

They both looked up at the doorway to see a familiar yellow figure in a crown standing there.

"Oh. Hey, Vet'," Player greeted him. "Yeah, I'm doin' better. I should be ready to roll again in another half hour or so."

"Okay, cool. In the meantime, I want in on this snuggle action."

Before either of them could protest, he was on his way to join them, and he leapt up as he prepared to plop down on the bed next to his best friend.

"Wait, Vet-!"

"BROGGLES!!"

And just like that, the snuggle duo became a trio.

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This is the first time I've actually incorporated a video into an actual fanfiction. XD

Sorry this took so long to come out; I have a LOT of drafts I've been trying to work on right now, and I keep jumping in between them and I'm not sure which one to finish first, ha ha

Sooo, for future reference, what do you guys wanna see first? Some platonic PlayBro, a wholesome practical joke, or one of MrEgg's older twin brothers who made his childhood a hellhole coming for a surprise visit?(which was referenced in my EngiGnome angst fic.)

Tell me, and I'll put my focus on whichever you want the most and get it published first! Thanks for tuning in! :D