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skyloftian-nutcase · 2 years

Note

Because I hate getting strep-

Strep. With Warriors. (You probably guessed that part.)

(thanks Anon, I’m glad you love the writing!)

Guess who’s going to have to deal with each other while feeling like garbage? >:)

(Click to read on AO3)

Legend smiled in satisfaction as he finished his mending. When he heard fabric shift, he glanced up to see Hyrule turning in bed, still asleep but clearly uncomfortable. He’d been ill since yesterday, and he’d really only woken to vomit or drink some water or broth that Wild had prepared specifically for him. They had been planning to leave yesterday, but after Hyrule had been bedridden everyone settled into domesticity for a little while longer. Twilight, Sky, and Legend had been taking rotating shifts to look after Hyrule since he was so ill, while the others filed in and out to visit.

The door creaked open quietly, and Legend turned to see Sky poking his head in. The veteran gave a small smile and a nod, and the two traded places. It was strange that the Skyloftian knight would almost always take the night shift considering Legend knew how much he enjoyed sleeping, but he didn’t argue the point. Nobody liked night shifts anyway.

Entering his own room, the veteran saw that the large bed was empty. Before Hyrule had gotten ill, the team had been divided into three groups since the rooms at the inn only had a single large bed. To maximize on cost efficiency, three heroes stayed together. Legend’s original roommates were Warriors and Wind, but after Hyrule took over a room for himself, Wind had joined Time, Twilight, and Four, and Wild and Sky had moved in with Legend and Warriors.

Warriors usually stayed up a little late, but the champion often went to bed before anyone, as soon as dinner was finished and the dishes were cleaned. Legend wondered where he’d gone off to.

Shrugging it off, the veteran settled onto the soft mattress, stretching and sighing in contentment, falling asleep.

…Until someone coughing woke him up.

Groaning, Legend squeezed his eyes closed, twisting in bed and accidentally smacking whoever was beside him.

A loud snore erupted from the person next to him, and Legend jumped. When he opened his eyes he saw Wild cupping his nose, grumbling, and Warriors sitting up in bed, clutching his throat with a grimace.

“What’s up with you?” Legend half slurred from sleepiness.

The captain remained silent, shifting and getting out of bed.

“Hey, you ignoring me?” Legend snapped, already annoyed at being woken up.

Warriors turned to glare at him, saying in a raspy voice, “The world doesn’t revolve around you, you know. I’m getting some water.”

“Was that so hard to explain? You woke us up anyway, might as well be courteous and answer our questions.” Legend snarked back.

Wild groaned from under his hands, muttering something that distinctly sounded like, “Why did I get stuck in this room?”

Legend rolled his eyes, slamming his head back onto his pillow and trying to get back to sleep. He vaguely thought he heard the door opening and closing, but he was too tired to care. When morning came and Wild hopped out of bed with his usual pep, Legend slowly sat up and looked around with bleary eyes.

Warriors wasn’t there.

It wasn’t unheard of. The captain didn’t wake up at the butt crack of dawn like a certain champion, but he was still an early riser.

He just got up early. That was all.

Legend nodded, deciding that was that, and got out of the bed, stretching. An hour later, he finally dragged his feet out of the room and paused at a window.

Warriors was outside alone, hunched over a railing on the porch.

He was probably fine. The captain sometimes went off to be alone. They all had moments where they’d had enough of each other. Legend’s first hour of every morning was like that.

Peeking into Hyrule’s room, Legend saw Sky and the traveler sitting side-by-side in the bed reading a book. Or, well, they had probably been reading it at some point; Sky had fallen asleep on Hyrule’s shoulder, and the traveler’s head was bobbing as he nodded off. It was an exasperating sight, even if it did make the veteran smile. Good grief, bird brain.

Hyrule noticed Legend’s gaze, and he gave a sleepy smile.

“Doing better?” Legend asked quietly.

Hyrule nodded, looking far more energized than he had since this had started. It reassured the veteran a little bit. It was good to see that he was on the mend. Hopefully it stayed that way.

Legend didn’t want to intrude too much, and so he nodded with a small smile in return and closed the door. Twilight had the morning shift, so he’d get Sky to bed.

Heading downstairs to grab some breakfast, Legend saw Time and Twilight head outside, the latter looking slightly concerned. Curious, the veteran followed them to see where they were going, and he caught sight of Warriors doubled over by some bushes, very clearly unwell.

Oh. Oh, no.

Legend groaned, rolling his eyes. Why was Warriors getting sick just as Hyrule was improving? They couldn’t be together; he might make the traveler worse! What were they going to do, get another room? Would Legend have to move?

What a nuisance.

Storming outside, Legend opened his mouth to get on Warriors’ case when he saw how pale the captain looked. The fire in his gut died out, and he hastily turned and went back inside, grabbing some water before returning.

By this point Warriors was sitting on the ground, head in his hands, as Twilight and Time flanked him with hands on his shoulders.

“I… I don’t… understand,” Warriors said hoarsely. “I barely got near… Traveler, and… everyone else is fine…”

Legend paused upon hearing him speak. The captain was right, after all; though he’d visited Hyrule, he was probably one of the least likely to get ill with how little he’d exposed himself.

Shrugging, the veteran held out some water. “Guess you’ve got a crappy immune system, Captain.”

“Or he got it from someone else,” Twilight muttered worriedly, looking at Time.

“No one else is sick, to my knowledge,” Time replied. “I’ll check on the others. In the meantime, Captain, let’s get you to bed.”

“Traveler’s just getting better,” Legend said cautiously. “He shouldn’t be with him.”

“We’ll just take him back to his own room for now and figure the rest out later,” Time decided.

Warriors, still curled in on himself, waved a hand dismissively. “I-I can… stay out here… for now.”

The captain shivered, his body tensing, and his head sank further into his knees as he clawed at his hair.

Time’s good eye narrowed. “Captain, either we can assist you back to your room or our Ordonian will carry you back to your room.”

Twilight chuckled and looked like he was absolutely ready and willing to do so.

Warriors raised his head long enough to glare at Time, mumble something, and then lower it again.

It seemed Time was willing, just for the moment, to be merciful. Instead of immediately sicking Twilight on the captain, he slipped a hand under the man’s arm and Twilight did the same on the other side. Both helped haul Warriors to his feet, and he stood well enough, albeit a little wobbly.

Sighing heavily, Legend turned around and went back to his shared room, grabbing his things and getting the bed ready for the captain’s arrival. As he heard footsteps coming down the hallway, he caught the last bit of Warriors’ seeming worried petition to Time.

“P-please… just make sure… everyone else is okay… makes no s-sense for me… to be t-the only one…”

“We’ll check, Captain,” Time said gently as they entered the room.

Legend crossed his arms. “Maybe you’ve just got rotten luck.”

Warriors raised his head, already glistening with sweat, to glare at the veteran, though the motion had little bite to it. Legend offered to take the morning watch for Hyrule after getting some breakfast, and Twilight stayed with the captain. Time checked in on all the boys and it quickly became apparent that no one else actually was sick.

Legend snickered to himself, leaning back in his seat as he grabbed some fresh clothes to mend. The miserable captain really did have terrible luck, poor guy.

That afternoon, Wind took watch for Warriors, who had spent the entire morning sleeping, and Wild took over for Hyrule, who the group quickly decided was healthy enough to not need a constant companion at his bedside after Wild left to make dinner. Legend decided it was as good a time as any to take a nap, and he settled outside on a nice hill with the softest grass he could find, plopping his hat over his face.

It wasn’t until he woke up from his nap that he realized the issue. Because of course Warriors didn’t magically catch Hyrule’s illness when everyone else had not.

And of course it was Legend’s rotten luck to have been the carrier.

Clearing his scratchy throat, the veteran tried to sneak into the inn to grab some water and then hide somewhere in the village. He wasn’t going to take the blame for this; Warriors would never let him hear the end of it. He’d rather just die of whatever this disease was than have the others find out.

With that goal in mind, Legend grabbed his belongings, which had been sitting in the hallway by Warriors’ newly repurposed sickbed, and started to creep down the stairs.

“Veteran?”

Legend paused, swearing internally. He couldn’t ignore the raspy voice. Turning, he saw Hyrule at the top of the stairs watching him curiously.

“What are you doing out of bed?” Legend asked, swallowing and grimacing.

Hyrule looked as if he were about to answer when he recognized the expression on Legend’s face. He frowned. “You got it too?”

“Veteran got what?”

Legend shriveled. No. Not Wind. If he found out everyone would know. “N-nothing.”

“I think Veteran’s sick too,” Hyrule said a little guiltily, looking somewhere to his right down the hallway.

There was a gasp. It might as well have been a death knell as far as Legend was concerned. “VET GOT IT TOO? That makes so much sense, he spent way more time with you than the captain!”

Aaaaand there it was. Great. Great.

Wild boxed him in at the bottom of the stairs, standing there with an eyebrow raised. “You’re sick?”

Legend tried to clear his throat quietly, but based on how everyone’s expression changed as soon as he did it, he clearly didn’t succeed.

Twilight was at the bottom of the stairs beside Wild in an instant. Time walked over a moment later.

“Well go on, then,” Time ordered calmly. “Get to bed. Someone will bring dinner when they get the captain’s food.”

Legend felt his hackles raise at the mere thought of it. “You want me to—to room with—”

Time slowly crossed his arms. Legend floundered for a moment, debating if he should argue more, and decided his throat would hurt too much from the effort. Twirling on his heel, he stomped up the stairs, belongings still slung over his arms, and marched into the accursed room.

Warriors was awake. Sitting up in bed. Clearly eavesdropping.

It was obvious from the sour look on his face.

“So you’re the… the one…” he whispered in a barely audible tone, shoulders shaking at the effort.

“Just shut up,” Legend grumbled as he kicked the door closed behind him and collapsed on the opposite edge of the bed.

Dinner was brought by a groggy Sky, and it was eaten in silence. Legend noticed Warriors barely eating the soup and couldn’t help feeling a little guilty, but he wasn’t going to voice it. He ate his own food heartily, thankfully not feeling sick to his stomach at all. When he finished, though, the world was decidedly spinning, and he groaned, leaning back against the pillows and covering his face with his blanket.

He slept fairly well until he was woken by Warriors throwing up. Legend sat up quickly, was hit with a dizzy spell, and then bent forward, covering his eyes to readjust for a moment. When he didn’t feel like his head was floating in the clouds, he turned and saw Warriors halfway off the bed, panting from exertion. Legend reached over and hesitantly grasped the back of the captain’s tunic to hold him steady, and when he was certain Warriors was finished, he pulled him back to the bed.

Looking around, Legend realized no one else was in the room. Maybe Time got paranoid that the illness would spread. That thought faded when the door pried open and Hyrule and Sky peeked inside.

Oh, those two were the last people who needed to be in here with the way this dumb illness was spreading. Hyrule was recovering, and when Sky got sick he fell hard.

“Get out,” Legend hissed, throwing a pillow at the pair. “I’ve got this.”

The door clicked shut quickly with a yelp as the pillow almost hit its targets. Legend rolled his eyes. Glancing at the captain, he saw that the elder Link had already fallen asleep. Nodding to himself, Legend slid back under the covers, shivering a little bit.

Shivering. Wonderful. He probably a fever.

This sucked.

The next morning proved to be far worse.

Legend groaned as his head pounded. His throat was still sore, he clearly still had a fever, and now he had a headache. He got up and walked around to stretch and continued to rub his forehead in a pitiful attempt to rid himself of the throbbing. When that didn’t work, he’d hoped breakfast would at least help, and though when it came it did alleviate some of the pain, the vestiges still lingered.

“This is the worst,” he grumbled.

Warriors glared at him from the other side of the bed. “At least… you… aren’t nauseous.”

Legend’s head snapped in his direction. “Oh, excuse me? I’m still sick, you ass!”

“Yeah, a headache and an… an achy… throat.” Warriors spat, swallowing hard between words. “H-how come… you get it… and give it to me… and you’re fine?”

“I’m fine?!” Legend repeated, incensed. “I have a fever, thank you very much! Not to mention my head feels like a moblin kicked it, punched it, and then sat on it! Oh, and my throat hurts!”

“Your—your throat—” Warriors couldn’t even finish his sentence as his voice completely died out with a whine. He tried again, his face growing redder by the second, and then he rolled his eyes and turned away, surrendering for the moment.

Legend kicked the nearest object in annoyance and pulled out a book to busy himself, letting out the occasional moan or curse when his head or throat decided to be particularly annoying. The pair didn’t speak until Twilight came with lunch.

“H-how’s… how…?” Warriors tried to squeak out with what was left of his voice. Legend and Twilight both waited to see if he would try again, and when he squeezed his eyes closed instead, the veteran sighed.

“I assume he’s trying to ask if everyone else is okay,” he interpreted.

Twilight smiled. “Everyone’s fine. Traveler’s up and about, says the only lingering effect is a sore throat first thing in the morning, but it’s gone now.”

Warriors smiled and then motioned with his hand for Twilight to leave. “V-Vet’s… got it… thanks…”

Twilight looked apprehensively between the pair, and then gave a small nod and left. Legend raised an eyebrow at the captain. “What do you mean I’ve got it?”

“T-thanks for… last night… s-sorry…” Warriors swallowed thickly, wincing, and then grabbed some tea. He turned slightly green after a few sips and sat up straighter, edging towards the waste bin.

Legend sighed heavily. “Maybe talk less, Captain.”

Warriors sat at the edge of the bed, waiting with palpable anxiety and misery. Legend watched him for a while and then hissed as his own headache throbbed again. “Ugh, I hate this.”

Warriors’ stomach finally gave out, and he lost the entirety of his lunch. Legend felt his own stomach churn at the sound of it, and he covered his ears. When he saw the captain was finished, he walked over and offered him his tea. “You know, you could try to vomit quietly before it makes me puke.”

Warriors glared at him while snatching the cup. “Very f-funny.”

“Hey, look, you said a full sentence this time.”

Warriors slammed the empty cup onto the nightstand and curled back under the covers with a huff.

By evening, Legend was ready to lose his mind. His throat was itching at this point, his headache was still nagging behind his eyes, and his fever was just present enough to make him too hot and too cold all at once. Warriors had been sleeping most of the day and was able to hold down broth brought to him a little after lunch, so he at least seemed like he wasn’t quite as ill.

Legend settled for trying to nap, bored out of his mind from being stuck in the same room all day, and found himself kicking off covers before putting them back on just a moment later.

“Could you not do that…?” Warriors asked after the veteran removed and added another blanket for the fourth time.

“Well, I can’t help that I’m feeling terrible!” Legend snapped.

Warriors slowly, painfully, methodically turned in bed to throw a withering stare. “You feel terrible?”

“Yes! I do!” Legend hissed, crossing his arms. “So you feel like shit, so what, I do too! Besides, your voice sounds better and you haven’t gotten sick since lunch, you’re probably on the mend! I’m just getting worse!”

With that, he flung himself into his pillow and faced the opposite wall, fuming.

“Unbelievable…” the captain muttered.

“You know,” Legend said as he rolled over to face Warriors. “For the record, I want you to know, from the depth of my heart…”

Warriors, who had been glaring at him moments ago, relaxed, raising an eyebrow in bemusement.

“…That you are the biggest baby I have ever met!” Legend finished, shoving the captain right off the bed.

Warriors yelped as he hit the wooden floor, and then he clawed at the blankets in an attempt to help himself sit up. Instead, it ripped the little protection Legend had from his feverish shivering, and the veteran yelled in protest as the blanket fell on the floor.

“Why you—I’m the childish one?!” the captain shouted hoarsely as he finally peeked his head over the mattress. “You’ve been nothing but insufferable since you got ill!”

“I’ve been insufferable?! Oh, that’s rich coming from you—”

Outside the room, Sky hovered by the door, a tray with two bowls of stew in hand. Twilight put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

“Best give it a minute,” the rancher said with an exasperated expression as obscenities were hoarsely squeaked back and forth in the room.

Sky grimaced as Legend shouted something particularly unpleasant, thankful that their throats were too inflamed for their voices to really carry across the entire inn. “You’re probably right.”

Twilight sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know if the Old Man wanted them dead, but it certainly seems like his intent for making them room together.”

Eventually, the younger knight chortled softly. “Maybe he knew they were the only ones who could tolerate each other in this state.”

Twilight had to giggle at that. “Probably. But still… I’d give them a minute.”

Hyrule paused as he walked by, and then he smiled brightly. “Oh, they must be feeling better if they’re arguing like that.”

Twilight’s giggles burst into outright laughter. “You know what, I think you’re right, Traveler.”

Thankfully, that was, in fact, the case. Within the next two days everyone was well enough for travel, and the group readied themselves outside of the inn, eager to hit the road once more.

Warriors approached Legend with a serious look on his face. The veteran watched him tiredly. Both were fairly sick of each other after having to room together for so long.

“Need something? Because I’m all done babysitting,” Legend grumbled once the captain stopped in front of him.

“You know,” Warriors said as he crossed his arms. “For the record, I want you to know, from the depth of my heart…”

Legend tensed, recognizing the remark, waiting for something bad to happen, already feeling his ire rise.

Warriors reached a hand out and put it on Legend’s head, soft and gentle. His face relaxed, and he gave him a small, sincere smile. “That I’m grateful you tried to take care of me even though you were ill as well. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you out as much.”

The fire went out of him, and Legend immediately felt an embarrassed blush scald his cheeks. He looked down, a smile ghosting his lips, muttering, “It was nothing.”

Warriors’ thumb traced along his scalp and then his hand moved slightly, fingers curling around his hat.

“But you’re also an ass,” Warriors said, and Legend could see the smirk on his face just from his tone.

And then the captain proceeded to pull Legend’s hat entirely over the veteran’s face as the teenager stammered and fumbled in rage.

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