Chapter Text
Pain.
That was the first thing Azul felt when he awoke.
There was no specific point in his body for it, only an aching and sore sensation that seemed to bury deep into his core, stretching out to every nerve in his body. He tried to flex his fingers only to be met with a groggy and slow response. Even breathing felt painful, the air grating against his throat almost like sand. Furthermore, each breath felt labored, like his body was actively fighting against him. The worst part, however, was how his teeth wouldn’t stop chattering, a chill settling into his bones despite the sweat he could feel beading on his forehead.
Wonderful. He had caught a cold, no doubt from the sudden snowstorm.
So far, the month of November had been cold as usual but had lacked any real snowstorms besides the occasional few inches. This weekend was supposed to be another one of those light snowfalls, one that fell in line perfectly with the fact it was going to be a four-day weekend instead due to holidays. The staff had gone home as usual on Thursday, and everything was normal. Sevens, even Jade and Floyd had gone out of their way to take advantage of the weather and short break, heading home for the extended weekend to do some ‘family business.’ They’d extended the offer to Azul to come as well, but he’d declined; he’d had work to do after all.
Work that it seemed wouldn’t get done.
He’d fully intended on having a productive weekend, but then that storm just had to occur!
He’d been studying late at night in the library on Thursday to get a head start on his activities. Hours had gone by, and before he knew it, he was alone, only the Librarian ghost remaining before he was told they needed to close. He’d been fine with that; it had been what he was expecting to do anyway. What had not been fine, however, was stepping outside and seeing that what had once been a few centimeters of snow had now developed into a thick layer, coating the campus in white.
And while he’d dressed for the cold, he hadn’t exactly dressed to weather a complete blizzard. It was safe to say the 10-minute walk back to the main building had been little short of a nightmare, all of his usual spells failing against the ferocity of the wind and piercing ice.
And now it seemed he was facing the consequences of that very experience.
He began to open his eyes, his room's ceiling coming into view in a mix of blurry colors and lights that made him wince, a headache already forming behind his eyes. He must’ve forgotten to turn them off the night before. Despite the multiple warning signals going off in his mind, he persisted further, pushing himself upright into a sitting position even while every muscle protested it.
Even just having his upper half out of the blanket caused him to shiver further despite the thick pajamas he wore. If there was one thing he hated about getting sick, it was how it lowered his usually excellent resistance to the cold. However, if he wanted to feel better in any capacity, then he’d need to get medicine.
He stared across the room to the blurry bathroom door. Even though it was only a few short meters, the distance might as well have been a whole canyon's length considering how terrible Azul felt right now. His fists clenched the bedding, with a grip far weaker than normal. If only Floyd and Jade weren’t visiting their mother, then he could just call them! But it seemed he had only one option now.
He took a deep breath, steeling himself for the journey ahead, before swinging his legs off the bed one at a time. The cold air hit him immediately yet again, his clothes doing nothing to stop the biting chill; if he had the strength, he’d turn the thermostat up to blast. No, medicine first; he couldn’t allow himself to get distracted. After all, if anyone found him like this, a sick pathetic mess…
Medicine. Right.
Not allowing himself to hesitate for a moment longer, Azul pushed himself off of the bed, the cold tiling of the floor immediately sending another bout of chills down his spine. Medicine, focus on the medicine.
Slowly and carefully, he took a step forward, then another. It felt like he was learning how to walk on land for the first time all over again, his legs feeling like jelly and all motor controls flying straight out the window. He caught himself having to pause a few times, leaning against furniture or a wall to catch his breath as fatigue from a simple task such as walking became too much. It was only after he’d gotten halfway across the room and stubbed his toe against a misplaced chair that he realized that he’d left both his slippers and glasses next to his bed. But he couldn’t turn back now; he only had the energy for one round trip, it seemed.
Finally, after what felt like forever, but was probably only a few minutes, he reached his bathroom sink.
He leaned against the countertop for a moment, a white-knuckled grip on the marble as he tried to steady himself long enough to look into the mirror. Unfortunately, he looked just as bad as he felt.
His face was a mess of colors, dark and hollow eye bags sunk underneath his eyes, standing out in sharp contrast to his sickly pale skin. Furthermore, his cheeks were stained a rosy color, combined with the sweat and shivers he felt, only further confirming his theory that he was definitely running some sort of fever. He took one last look at himself, picking up on his glassy eyes and chapped lips before he went to open the medicine cabinet.
The cabinet doors swung open, and a thermometer caught his eye immediately, one he quickly grabbed and opened to take his temperature, if only to gauge the damage. He tapped lightly on his hand after doing so, reading off the numbers in slow motion as fog filled his brain.
39.4 C, the number blinked back at him on the thermometer screen. Sevens, no wonder he felt terrible; that was hot, especially for him, seeing as transformed merfolk usually ran much colder than humans. All the more reason to take medicine.
He looked back into the cabinet; boxes and bottles of medicines he rarely used met his eye, but after a few moments of looking he caught the name of the cold and flu brand he’d used before on one of the many bottles. He reached in to grab it, his clumsy and groggy hands knocking over other boxes as he did so. If only he were in his merform right now, he’d pick up the boxes while digging, but alas he was limited to only two hands.
Finally, he was able to reach the correct box, his fingers wrapping around the cool plastic as he pulled it out, setting it onto the countertop. It was surprisingly light, but he swore he felt the light rattle of pills inside. He fumbled with the child lock for a moment, a combination of his current lack of fine motor skills as well as his anticipation making his hands shake. Once he got the medicine, he could go back to sleep and hopefully awake feeling much better. His legs had begun to shake just by the effort of standing for that long, so he was sure the second he made it back to bed he’d fall asleep immediately.
However, when he unscrewed the lid, what he saw inside shocked him.
Coins. Inside his medicine bottle were coins. What looked to be 2 thaunmarks worth. He poured the bottle onto his hand, the two coins falling out, and no pills to follow.
How- why were there coins where medicine was supposed to be?!
He thought back to a few months ago, just after the orientation. Floyd had somehow gotten himself sick with all the influx of new people, and in the name of not infecting anyone else, he had quarantined in Azul's room. Azul had just come back with soup for him when he found the eel digging in the Medicine cabinet, seemingly too impatient to wait for Azul to deliver his Medicine to him. He’d already eaten the remaining few pills by the time Azul had gotten there. Before Azul could even begin to scold him, however, Floyd had already tossed a few coins into the bottle, telling Azul it was his share of the payment to buy a new one.
At the time Azul had accepted it, Floyd had been about as sick as he was now, and he couldn’t exactly punish him for wanting to feel better, especially when he’d paid him back. But through the process of caring for Floyd as well as the school year starting back up, it seemed he’d forgotten to buy a new bottle.
It was fine; surely he had to have more amongst all of the containers in the cabinet, maybe not as effective ones but Medicine nonetheless!
He dug through the cabinet, scanning for any other medicine that might be able to alleviate some of his symptoms. However, all that seemed to fill up his Medicine cabinet was nausea pills and cough syrup, both useful usually, but symptoms he was entirely devoid of at this point. The only medicine he could find that would help a small bit was some fever reducers.
He grabbed a cup of water, swallowing some of the pills, wincing slightly as the liquid touched his throat. It was clear he couldn’t stay like this; even if his fever lowered slightly, he’d need some actual cold and flu medication if he wished to feel better sooner rather than later. But he had none of the sort, leaving him with only a few options.
Option number one, asking his dormmates. It was something he was already very hesitant to do, not wanting to have to be seen looking so terrible, and in doing so he’d owe someone a debt. But, furthermore, he looked at the clock by his bed; the numbers were blurry from afar, but he could make out the light glow of the time, 7:32 AM. Everyone else in the dorm would still be sleeping; he couldn’t wake any of them up like some sniffling child.
That led to option number two, going to Sam’s shop. He usually opened around 8:00 AM, so by the time Azul got dressed and made his way over, he’d be one of his first customers. He could grab the medicine and leave, a quick in-and-out adventure where only Sam had to see him in his terrible state. Now, how he’d get over there without collapsing was a different worry. But one he could face nonetheless; he was the Housewarden of Octanville, a feared and powerful mage. A simple cold shouldn’t cause him that much trouble! All he needed to do was get ready, and then he could execute his plan…
A few minutes later (or rather many,) Azul had managed to make himself semi-presentable. He’d thrown on some of the more casual clothing he owned only to layer it further with a thick jacket; he wasn’t going to get bested by the cold again. The fabric felt rough and gross against his clammy skin, and he could feel himself beginning to sweat, quickly going from far too cold to far too hot. It didn't matter, though; he’d be in and out quickly.
Fortunately, the fever reducer seemed to have worked quickly, as when Azul stood up off of his bed, he was no longer racked with swaying vision and unstable feet, but instead he was able to support himself without feeling like he was going to crash into the ground. Using that advantage while he had it, he began to take steps towards the door, exiting his dorm quickly and hurrying to the mirror chamber before he got seen by any morning stragglers.
He managed to make it out of the mirror chamber and into the main school building in decent time, only slowing down to catch his breath once or twice. As he began to walk through the winding halls of the school, he could feel the cold settling in. Was the heat regulation system broken or something?
He pushed through, however, ignoring the way his teeth began to chatter yet again and the aching feeling across his body that seemed to only get worse by the second. Just grab the medicine and leave, those words repeated in his head like a mantra, the only thing pushing him forward. By the time he rounded the corner to the main exit of school, he felt completely worn out, the minor burst in energy he had before seemingly extinguished from the short walk he’d done so far.
But he was so close! Just up ahead, he could see Sam’s shop, the glowing light from inside spilling out onto the snow. His salvation was only a minute or so walk away, just within his reach, yet he didn’t have the strength.
His legs gave out as he sank to the floor, his back pressing against the entryway wall. It was fine; he’d take a short break to recover and then make his way over to Sam’s. He’d be in far more trouble if he collapsed out of exhaustion in the snow. Just a short break, he told himself; that’s all he needed. His eyes began to flutter close… it was fine, he’d just rest for a moment…
medicine… later….
“… Azul…” a voice broke into his mind. Couldn’t they see he was sleeping?
“Azul… come on wake up…”
How… how had they made it into his room?
He slowly opened his eyes, quickly taking in his surroundings. That right, he’d left his room to get medicine, but he’d only stopped for a short moment. Had he fallen asleep?
A sigh of relief came from in front of him, “Good, you’re awake.”
Azul finally looked up to the owner of the voice, his eyes meeting grey pupils and red hair. Riddle Rosehearts.
Of course, when he'd expected no other soul to be up at this hour, especially on the weekend, the prodigy and Housewarden of Heartslabyul would break that expectation.
“Riddle... what...” he began to speak, the words getting stuck on his tongue and his voice sounding scratchy.
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking the questions?” Riddle stared down at him, a few bags in hand. He must have just come from Sam’s, meaning Azul hadn’t been asleep for that long, luckily. If anyone else had found him and taken photos, he would’ve died from embarrassment.
“...Azul?” Riddle spoke up again, causing Azul's eyes to shoot back to him. He’d gotten lost in thought again, it seemed.
Riddle stared at him expectantly, sighing when he realized that Azul hadn’t heard what he said, “I asked what you were doing out here? Falling asleep in the hallway nonetheless.”
“Oh…” Azul averted his eyes. “I was going to grab Medicine from Sam’s shop. I only paused for a moment, and I suppose I fell asleep.”
Riddle's eyes narrowed, as if he didn’t believe him.
Azul began to push himself off the floor, ignoring the way his limbs still didn’t seem to want to respond correctly to his commands. “Which, I will be going to get now. Thank you for waking me up, Riddle, you can carry on now-“
A hand pushed him back to the ground gently, stopping him before he could rise, “In that condition?” Riddle scoffed, “No offense, Azul, but you look like you have one foot in the grave. I simply can't allow you to walk out in the snow in good conscience when you look as if you'll fall over at any moment. I’ll go get the medicine for you.”
Azul scrunched up his nose. “I assure you, Riddle, I can take care of myself. There’s simply no need to do all of that.” He began to get up again, a scowl appearing on his face as one of his legs gave out beneath him. Curse his stupid body!
Riddle stared at him, eyebrows furrowed in concern. “Stay here, and I’ll go grab what you need from Sam’s. It’s clear you obviously overexerted yourself to get this far, you’re so sick you can barely even stand.” Riddle examined him for a moment. “Besides, did you even remember your wallet?”
Azul's eyes widened as he patted himself down; he had forgotten. He’d been so busy worrying about just making the journey, he hadn’t even thought of payment! He sank back into the ground. “Fine… just cold and flu medicine will be all.” He wrapped his arms around himself, attempting to shield himself from both the cold and his own embarrassment.
Riddle nodded in response, setting down the bags he already had next to Azul,
“I’ll be back shortly. Don’t move. I don’t want to come back to find you face first in the snow because you thought you could make it.”
“I won’t…” Azul muttered under his breath. Sevens, this was so embarrassing! He was being treated like- like some sort of child! And of course, out of everyone to find him, it had to be Riddle, so much for earning his respect as an academic rival now! Now that he’d seen him reduced to a pathetic sniveling ball, Riddle would never look at him the same again.
Azul sat against the wall, the thoughts bouncing around his head over the sheer embarrassment he was going through. Something that was only made worse by his ever-persistent headache, runny nose, and aches and chills. He almost wanted to fall back asleep again just to be rid of all of his horrible feelings. However, before he could even fully consider doing so, Riddle had already returned.
His shoes clicked against the tiles as he approached Azul, two bags in hand, which Azul didn’t fail to notice were far too many for just one bottle of cold and flu medicine.
Riddle caught him looking. “I bought some other stuff as well, seeing as if you lack in cold and flu medicine, I assumed you’d lack in other departments as well.” He reached down, picking up the other bags he’d left, his eyes trailing on Azul as he did so.
A thought crossed Azul's mind; surely Riddle was going to send him to the infirmary. He was right after all; he was so sick he could barely stand, among other things. But going to the infirmary meant having to put his sickness on full display, a pathetic show that would surely reduce the reputation he’d spent so long trying to build. But there was no way he’d win against Riddle, at least not physically, but maybe mentally…?
“Thank you, Riddle,” he began, dragging himself off the ground again and fortunately maintaining his balance this time, “I’ll get going now., I assure you there’s no need for the infirmary; once I take the medicine, I’ll be right as rain quickly.”
Riddle scoffed, “Fortunately for you, the infirmary is closed right now. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the storm messed up some of the magic temperature regulations on campus. The Headmage has got his hands full enough with that as it is.”
Azul let out a sigh of relief; he was free from that humiliation, it seemed.
“That being said, however," Riddle added on, “I’ll be walking you back to your dorm. If I cannot take you to the infirmary, then that is the next best option.”
Azul's head snapped toward Riddle as he began to protest, “You’ve already done more than enough. As I’ve stated, I can handl-“
“You can handle yourself.” Riddle interrupted. “I understand that, Azul, but that doesn’t mean you have to. I’d rather make your trip easier by walking with you than having to drag yourself all the way back to your dorm while carrying these bags. If you’re that worried about owing me, then I’m sure I can come up with many tasks you can complete once you’re better.”
Azul was taken aback; Riddle had read him like a book, down to his worry about owing a debt. It seemed he’d have to give in; he knew when he was beat.
“Fine,” he said, steadying himself against the wall, “if you insist."
“Good then.” Riddle said, “Let’s get going.”
The pair began to walk down the halls, or rather Riddle did. To Azul, each step felt as if he was dragging his feet along the ground, a sustained effort each time to lift them just enough to move. Although he wouldn’t voice it, he was happy Riddle was there; the trip back was far more grueling than it had been there, and he worried that he’d collapse at any second, no saying how much faster it would’ve occurred if he had been carrying bags as well. It was safe to say he'd underestimated just how horrible he felt to try and leave in the first place, and now he was met with the punishment of humiliation for it.
Despite his slow and painful pace, however, Riddle waited for him patiently, pausing his steps as Azul leaned against the wall to catch his breath. He even went as far as to use magic to carry the bags, using his free hands to steady Azul despite the octo-mer's attempts to shove them away. Not once did he look at Azul with any disgust or judgement, only a level expression of concern. But Azul had a sinking feeling; he’d come to hate him just by seeing how pathetic he was. Riddle wasn’t any different from the others after all.
Through their sustained efforts (and a lot of breaks), the two of them finally made their way back into Octanville and all the way into Azul's dorm room.
Before the door could even shut behind him, Azul collapsed on the bed, not even bothering to take off his jacket despite the sweat that soaked him. Exhaustion pierced him down to the very bone, and all he wanted to do was close his eyes and fall asleep, to at least escape his pain for a moment. But he couldn’t, not with Riddle still standing in his room.
The redhead had set down the bags on a cabinet, digging through one for a moment before pulling out the cold and flu medicine and setting it next to Azul's beside the table, frowning at the state of him. Azul was too out of it to care at this point.
“For someone so smart, you can make such stupid decisions, you know that?” Riddle said as he opened the bottle.
“What…?” Azul asked, finding the energy to sit up and slowly take off some of his jacket.
Riddle shot him as he grabbed him a glass of water from the sink, "Attempting to walk all the way out there when you’re like this. Overexerting yourself is never a good idea.”
“I told you already, I can man-“
“Yes, you’ve said that many times.” Riddle walked towards the bed, staring down at Azul as he breathed heavily just from a short walk. “But it’s become clear to me you can’t right now. You’re shaking.”
Azul clenched his fists after taking off his jacket, leaving him with just an old purple t-shirt and black sweatpants. “I’m fine…” The scratchiness of his voice proved his words wrong as he spoke.
Riddle sighed, rubbing his temples as he did so, “I’m going to leave now, but I’m going to get Floyd and Jade whether you like it or not. I can’t allow you to be unattended when you are like this.”
Azul scoffed, finding the fact Riddle didn’t know funnier than he should, “Those two are visiting the sea at the moment. So unless you want to swim all the way out there, you’re out of luck. I’ll be alright on my own.” He picked up the bottle, examining the dosage amount before taking his medicine. Why Riddle went through the effort of getting him water and opening the bottle but not handing him the pills himself, he had no clue.
Riddle frowned, “This is unacceptable…” he pulled out a phone, dialing a number that Azul didn’t recognize.
“Trey? Yes, I’m alright. I’ll be staying at Octanville for the moment- no, not against my will.” he began to speak into his phone.
Azul shot up, wincing at the way the world spun when he did so. “What- what are you doing?!” He tried to reach out to stop Riddle, only for the tyrant to move away.
“I’ll come back briefly, but then I must leave again, you can handle things, yes?” Riddle ignored Azul. “Alright then, thank you.” He hung up the phone, turning back to where Azul had practically fallen out of the bed at this point.
“I’ve settled things with Trey. Considering the snow, I don’t have many housewarden duties this weekend. I’ll be your caretaker until your condition has improved.”
Azul's jaw dropped to the floor. How was Riddle acting so calm about this?!
“Riddle, that is completely unnecessary-" a sneeze interrupted his sentence. “I’m not some child. I don’t need you to give up your time to- to monitor me!” His arms shook as he supported himself on the bed. If only his body would actually listen to him, maybe then he could make a more convincing argument.
“Nonsense.” Riddle shook his head. “You can barely walk, let alone care for yourself. If you injured yourself or worsened your condition trying to do things yourself, I would be the one responsible.” he crossed his arms. “Besides, I’m benefiting from this as well. I’m planning on going into medicine, so it’s always good to practice my nursing skills and bedside manners.”
Azul wanted to protest further; having Riddle walk him back to his room had already been a humiliating experience enough, for him to work to nurse Azul back to health would be a shame he couldn’t manage. But… he did make a good point, as each second ticked by Azul felt worse and worse; he knew he was far too sick as he was now to really care for himself in any capacity. So he only had one option.
“Fine,” he sighed, lying back down on the bed, “but only for a short while. Once I’m well enough to care for myself, you’ll leave.”
Riddle nodded, “I’ll agree to those conditions.” He went back over to the cabinet, grabbing his bags as well as one of Azul's bags off of where they were sitting, “I’ll go put my stuff back at Heartslabyul and return shortly. Try and rest while I’m gone.”
Riddle gently closed the dorm behind him, leaving Azul to start drifting off into sleep. As his eyes fluttered close, he told himself it would be fine; he’d recover fast before Riddle could get sick of him. Those grey eyes would never have to look at him with disgust and fear. He didn’t think he could take it, not from Riddle.