Chapter Text
All he had was a cough okay?
Or at least that's how all this madness started.
Landon was in one of the few classes that he shared with Hope when he let out a little cough in a semi-quiet room. It wasn't anything that anyone really noticed. Even Hope, who was sitting right next to him, only glanced up for half a second tops.
But then he just kept coughing. And this time people did notice. Including Hope.
Especially Hope.
What started off as a tickle in the back of his throat soon turned into a hacking fit that nearly left Landon breathless. Beyond his coughing he could feel Hope's hand patting his back in a comfort gesture while she gave him some of her water with the other. Of course he drank it and a few moments later, the fit had died down to a few stuttering breaths and Landon was fine. Granted, for the rest of class Hope hand never really did leave his back but Landon didn't have any objections to it. And that was the end of that.
Or at least it was supposed to be.
The next day Landon barely makes it through the first few classes before collapsing down on a couch in the student lounge where Hope had saved a seat for him. She noticed that Landon looked paler than usual and moved her focus from her book to him.
"Are you okay?" She asked. Landon nodded, "Just didn't sleep so well last night and I'm all stiff. Knew I should've taken a cup of coffee at breakfast."
Hope made a considering face and felt his forehead with the back of her hand. "By the looks of it, coffee might be the last thing you need. You're warm."
Hope put her books down on the table and maneuvered Landon in way so that he was laying down with his head in her lap. Landon had no complaints and closed his eyes as he got comfortable.
"Hmm...that feels nice." Landon said groggily as Hope started to play with his curls.
A few moments later Rafael appeared with Kaleb and Lizzie in tow and sat down on a nearby chair.
"We interrupting something or...?" Rafael joked. Landon half heartedly shooed him.
"The couple of despair...how bittersweet." Lizzie said taking a seat next to Kaleb.
"It sounds like you's the only bitter one here." Kaleb accidentally on purpose muttered under his breath but not quite low enough for Lizzie not to hear him. She smacked him on the arm in retaliation earning a chuckle from Rafael.
The four of them kept a conversation going while Landon simply drifted in and out of consciousness. His stomach was in knots. Maybe he was coming down with something but the thought didn't really stick inside his mind as he was a bit busy being distracted by Hope's fingers massaging his scalp. There's no way she's doing this without magic right?
In hindsight, Landon probably should've paid more attention to how he was feeling because as the day progressed, he only got worse.
During his forth class his cough came back and muscle aches spread throughout his body. At his next class Landon surprised and grateful that he didn't get detention or yelled at for how many times he had to get up just to blow his nose. The fact that he was able to get up was a feat in and of itself seeing how Landon felt like he'd just run a marathon. Now, all of these symptoms on their own was nothing to worry about. Yes, it could be annoying but it wasn't anything Landon couldn't handle. A lifetime of living in different homes with different people who carried all types of things and living on the streets had toughened Landon's immune system.
However, it didn't change the fact that with all of those symptoms combined and getting worse, Landon felt ready to keel over by the end of the day. And he almost did if it wasn't for Rafael catching him in the hallway.
"Man you look like crap." Rafael said, swinging one of Landon's arm around him. Usually Landon would object to being coddle but for right now...screw it.
"Rafa, you say the sweetest things." Landon retorts.
"And one of those things is gonna be telling Hope that you won't be in school tomorrow because you're sick." Rafael replied casually. Making Landon stop walking in second. "No, no, no." Landon started, removing himself from Rafael, "You can't tell her."
Rafael looked at him confused, "Why not? I think she'd wanna know."
"Yeah but she's already got so much on her plate with school and the artifacts, and the Malivore crap started by yours truly." Landon answered, referring to himself. Rafael let out a long sigh at his bro's...naivety (to put it nicely) before consenting.
"That's...really dumb bro. But hey, it's your choice. But what are you gonna do about school tomorrow?"
"What do you mean by that? I'm still gonna go. I worked too hard to get here I'm not gonna let a few sniffles and a headache stop me. I'm fine really. Probably just need an allergy pill or something." Landon said.
"Whatever you say." Rafael muttered before guiding Landon back to their room.
The rest of the day is pretty uneventful. Some of their friends come to Rafael and Landon's room (including Hope) and they just hung out and did homework together while Landon tried to ignore Rafael epically unsubtle attempts to tell Hope the truth.
Landon doesn't because she's laughing, and joking around and actually seems at a bit of peace for once and Landon doesn't want to mess with that for anything. So he keeps quiet, enjoys the night and bids everyone that came adieu before he gets ready for bed.
Landon wakes up in the middle of the night with soaked sheets, sweaty skin, and a gummy mouth.
Shit.
He knows what that means and he doesn't have long until the contents of his stomach come back up.
As quickly as he can, Landon practically falls out of bed and races to the bathroom with a hand over his mouth. He can literally feel his stomach gurgling and it's disgusting. Landon can't make it to the toilet so he settles for upchucking his dinner (and maybe lunch too) into the sink. He doesn't hear Rafael's foots steps over the sound of his own vomiting.
Rafael grabs a bottle of water from his backpack and sets it down on the sink before rubbing a hand up and down Landon's back. "It's only sniffles and a headache he says. I can handle it he says." Rafael mocks in a nasally voice.
Somehow Landon still has the strength to roll his eyes and even come up with a retort. He means to say "I don't sound like that." but the vomit kind of muffles his voice so it comes out "I gown't suoond lioooke thabelgh."
Not the most clear translation he admits.
"Well you're definitely not going to school tomorrow...today and Hope's gonna find out anyway so you might as well tell her now."
At this point Landon's stomach has finally stopped and he's tentatively taking sips from the water bottle. "No," Landon says after a big gulp, "I just need to get my hands on some alka seltzers and to take it easy for a bit. No need to raise any alarms." Landon finishes with finality. Rafael rolls his eyes again before throwing his hands up in surrender because he knows just how stubborn Landon could be.
"I'll go see if the nurse has anything." Rafael tells Landon before walking away, "Assuming she's still awake at three in the freaking morning."
"Thank you!" Landon says at Rafael's retreating back only for his brother to wave him off without even turning around.
Rafael comes back about 20 minutes later and tells Landon a little story about how he indeed had to wake up the nurse who nearly cursed him out before relenting and giving him some alka seltzer. Landon downs it with the rest of his water before the two of them go back to bed. Landon tosses and turns all night but he doesn't actually wake up until the morning comes and he's met with a surprise when he does.
Last night (or this early morning) Landon had gone to sleep by himself with a single blanket and pillow and that's it. When the sun comes up, Landon wakes up in a half blanket burrito, surrounded by about a million pillows with a cold washcloth on his head and a thermometer in his mouth.
Landon also pretty sure he could smell chicken soup. He looked around the room in a groggy, disoriented and confused haze until his eyes landed on Hope who was looked ready to go to school but instead was here plucking the thermometer out of his mouth. "Oh good, you're awake. How are you feeling?" She asked, inspecting him and the thermometer, "Mm-hmm. Just as a thought; you have a fever. And Rafael told me you were puking last night. I think you have the flu or a stomach bug or something."
Landon sat up in his blanket and pillow cocoon and leans over to look at Rafael who was still getting ready and brushing his teeth. "You told her?"
" 'Her' is right here by the way." Hope said with some snark earning some apologetic looks from the boys.
"No. I'm as surprised as you are. I woke up and all of this was just here. I didn't even see Hope until I woke up." Rafael answered. "I just figured you somehow finally saw logic and told her. Clearly not."
Landon felt sheepish and the blush on his face began to grow with the interrogating yet somber-like looks from Hope and Rafael.
"At least someone wanted to tell me." Hope said, turning back to Landon, "Problem is, it wasn't you. Why not? How come you didn't want to tell me?" Hope asked, a bit of sorrow in her voice. A piece of Landon's heart broke. He never meant to hurt her.
"You know what? I can finish getting ready in the bathroom. With the shower on." Rafael announced, effectively excusing himself and leaving the couple alone. After Rafael left Landon wasted no time and held Hope's hand with one of his own and cradled her cheek with the other.
"I didn't mean to hurt you in any way at all. I just know that you have a lot on your plate and this should be the least of your worries. I really did think I could handle this on my own."
Hope sighed as the expression on her face softened...before smacking Landon on the arm. Hard.
"Ow!" Landon exclaimed holding his arm.
"You doofus. What's the point in having a girlfriend if you don't come to me with stuff like this? Pretty sure it's in the job description." She joked.
"Well then in that case consider it me giving you a little vacation." Landon replied. Hope smirked and pressed their foreheads together. "Denied." She said before pulling away, "Now you are going to stay here and let me take care of you while you focus on getting better. And only that."
Landon smiled a bit, "Why don't I feel like I have a choice in this?"
"Because you don't. Plus I'm pretty sure Rafael agrees with me so you've been outvoted."
"SHE'S RIGHT!" Rafael calls out from the bathroom, "NOT THAT I'M LISTENING OR ANYTHING."
Hope laughs while Landon rolled his eyes at his brothers antics. If he kept doing that they were going to get stuck up there.
"I gotta ask though, how'd you know if Rafa didn't blab?"
"Well, Josie had told me earlier that you look a bit faint in the halls and I meant to check up on you but then Dr. Saltzman needed me for something. I didn't really find out until about...what, 3am-ish? I went downstairs to get a snack and I ran into Josie who wanted to get some Advil from the nurse and we saw Rafael walking back and he kept muttering about having a 'dumbass brother who can bug him for Alka-Seltzer at 3am but won't tell anybody or get better'." Hope summarized.
Landon made a considering sound, "Yeah, that sounds like him. But how'd you get in and do all this?" He asked gesturing to the many blankets and pillows and soup, "And when'd you get in?"
Now it was Hope that was looking a bit sheepish, "I may or may not have snuck in about a half hour later to check in on you and saw that you looked like shit."
Landon snorts, "Thanks." He's mostly amused by the situation because the thought of Hope sneaking around the school in pajamas is probably a bit funnier to him than it should be. Especially since a part of him just knows, that she found a way to pull all of this off without magic.
But he's also really touched. Landon can count on one hand how many people would really go the distance for him and he's got plenty of fingers to spare.
"Should I be impressed or thinking about your life as a future cat burglar?" Landon teases.
"Maybe a bit of both." She smiles before getting up, "Now I have to get to class soon but don't worry, I'll come check in on you later with Rafael and the others I'm sure. If I find out you did anything other than try to get better this sickness of yours will be the least of your problems."
Ah, threatening him with love...he thinks. Landon might be swooning a bit.
Hope slings her backpack over her shoulders, "I should probably go now so that Rafael can finish getting dressed."
As if on cue, the two of them hear the shower turn off and watch as Rafael steps out of the bathroom fully dressed. "No need. Been ready for awhile. I just feel bad for wasting water."
"Guess we're on our way then." Hope said before placing a quick kiss on Landon's forehead, "Be back soon."
Rafael gave Landon a fist bump as he passed by, "Feel better buddy."
Landon waved them both goodbye and settled into his bed once he was alone. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Now where's that soup?
Turns out that despite Hope's reputation of alone and detached she can be quite...ferociously protective if she feels the need to. Anything or anyone that tries to hurt someone she cares about tends to be inevitably screwed even if it isn't a corporal being she can physically fight.
Like the flu for example.
Exactly like the flu.
For the past few days, Landon really doesn't have the energy to be specific, Hope has been aggressively coddling him with love. It's kind of adorably terrifying.
Landon means that in a good way.
She visits him after almost every class, brings him medicine, food, liquids to stay hydrated, blankets, pillows and whatever else she thinks he needs. He's tried to tell her that she doesn't need to go the extra mile but Hope simply won't have it.
( "Don't you trust me?" She asks, whenever Landon tries to get her to relax. Sometimes she even pulls out the puppy dog eyes which is just unfair seeing as she has an unfair advantage with being an actual wolf.
"Of course I do." Landon eventually relents every time.
"Then you let me handle everything and you'll be back in shape in no time." Hope says, satisfied and ends their conversation with a quick kiss. Almost every time Landon asks if she'll get sick from that but she assures him it's impossible. Wolfy immune system and all.")
The thing is...Landon's actually been getting a lot worse. And it's by no means Hope's fault. Landon's not a complete dolt, he knows he's going to get significantly worse before he gets better. The problem is that Hope doesn't quite seem to be making that connection. As in, she holds herself responsible for not trying hard enough to help him get better when in reality this is the hardest anyone's (minus Rafael) tried for him ever. But Hope's not exactly used to human sickness. Sure, she knows what it is and people around her have gotten it before but she's never had to personally deal with it. Furthermore, she's never tried to treat it. And why would she? Her immune system can fight pretty much everything and the rest of her family members, if they don't have immunity, can fight it off with magic because chances are, they don't have the flu.
In summary, it's a lot of trial and error for Hope. Landon just wishes that she wasn't taking it so hard.
He's still in bed binge watching Cutthroat Kitchen (Landon's on season three now because Hope just had to get him hooked. He swears he's getting her back with The Terminator...or E.T.) when Josie comes in to check on him. That's another thing. Somehow, someway, Hope has convinced the rest of their friend (?) group to check in on him as well. Josie, Rafael and M.G. check in on him on the regular. Even Lizzie and Kaleb come by from time to time bearing presents from Hope. So far, the most frequent visitor that isn't Landon's roommate or girlfriend is Josie.
But Landon has a theory as to why that may be.
"Hey Josie." Landon greets politely with a nasally voice. Being congested truly sucks. "More soup?"
Josie nods with a smile, "Hope you like noodles and broccoli."
"Thanks. You mind putting it with the others?" Landon asks. She nods and puts it in the mini fridge (yes, Hope brought him a mini fridge...for soup.) before sitting down next to him on the edge of his bed.
"How are you feeling?"
"Perfect." He lies with a voice dripping in sarcasm...and snot. "Isn't there some type of spell to make this all go away?"
"Mmm...kinda. There is a temporary relief spell but since magic is all about nature and nature is all about balance, you'd just be making things worse for yourself later on. Trust me."
"Great." Landon deadpans, "So why are you here? What class are you missing?"
"Study hall," Josie answers easily, getting more comfortable on the bed, "Plus I might just stay here with you if you don't mind."
"Not at all. Just don't want you getting sick."
Josie waves off his concerns. "I'll be fine." She says. Landon moves himself over so that Josie has more room to just lay on the bed in comfort. He's not exactly sure how, when or why they got to this stage of friendship (if you could call it that. He still remembers her voting him out) but he can't find it in him to question it much. Josie accepts the invitation and gets comfortable in one of the many, many blankets.
They're just about to start watching a new episode when Landon speaks up again. "Anything to avoid Penelope huh?"
Landon doesn't think he's seen another person go red so quickly, himself included.
"W-what? I-I'm not a-avoiding Pe-...her." Josie stutters out. Landon just gives her a knowing look and she breaks. "How'd you even know about that? You've been here like three days."
Landon shrugs trying to look inconspicuous.
"It was Hope wasn't it?" She asks except it's not really a question.
"...I cannot confirm or deny anything or reveal my sources." Landon hits the play button before anymore questions can be asked.
Landon doesn't see Josie for the next few days but when he does, she's sick too.
He finds out one day in the early morning when Lizzie barges into his and Raf's room screaming bloody murder.
Except his ears are still pretty clogged so it's more like muffled bloody murder.
"Where's Hope? Hasn't she been spending all her time here?" Lizzie demands. Raf's still waking up despite the enhanced hearing and Landon...well it's a miracle if he can hear.
"She left for more supplies." Rafael said. Fun fact: Hope's been sleeping over the past few days to keep an eye on Landon and none of the teachers have caught wind of it yet. Landon truly hopes it stays like that.
"When is she gonna be back?" Lizzie asks.
"I don't know. When she's finished?" Rafael responds smartly.
"Well I need her to take care of Josie for today...and maybe everyday for a bit."
That part Landon does hear.
"What's wrong with Josie?" Both of the boys ask.
"Thanks to this walking lump of disease," Lizzie gestures to Landon and he would like to deny that...he's barely moved in days sans going to the bathroom. Hope's glares has kept him immobile. Plus he's really comfortable. " and Josie spending so much time him she somehow caught whatever plague he has. This better not be another monster or something coming after us."
No...people get sick all the time.
It couldn't be that.
He hopes.
Landon audibly gulps and Rafael comes to the rescue.
"If only. Sometimes the flu can be way worse than some monsters. The bubonic plague killed millions in a short span of time you know."
That earns him horrified looks from Lizzie and Landon.
"...That...came out wrong." Rafael backtracks, "How's Josie doing?"
"She's been telling me that she's fine but she turned green three days ago and hasn't changed back." Lizzie answered.
"So what are you doing here?" Landon asks.
"I've been taking care of Josie the best I can by myself. She doesn't want anybody finding out because then the She-Devil might hear and ambush her which is fine and dandy except I have like five tests today...all of them time sensitive!"
"...Point?" Landon hesitantly asks. Lizzie looks one more rant away from popping a vein.
"I need Josie to stay with you guys for today while I'm at school...and maybe a few days after that because I really don't want to get sick."
"Why us and not a nurse? Or your dad?" Rafael questions.
Lizzie rolled her eyes. "Haven't you been listening? She doesn't want anyone finding out especially our Dad. She thinks he's already stressed enough with all this artifact stuff. I've stop trying to convince her to tell him and this way Hope the perfectionist can keep her alive."
The two brothers look at each other and shrug. As long as all the girls involved were okay with it neither of them really had a problem which was how ten minutes later Lizzie was half carrying a flu riddled Josie into their room. And twenty minutes later Josie was lying next to Landon on Rafael's bed. Before the twins got here Rafael had pushed both the beds together to make one king sized mattress in the middle of the room where the two of them could lay comfortably. He said he'd make a pillow fort along with the bean bag chair they had and sleep there for the next few days.
Needless to say, Rafael was awesome.
The same thing went for Hope. When she found out what happened to Josie she wasted no time putting her in the same boat as Landon. The "Do anything to make yourself even more sick and I'll drown you in chicken soup" boat.
More time passed (at this point Landon's lost count and his fever might be causing some delirium...) and Josie hasn't left his side ever since. Their days are spent with Hope's fretting, tissues, soups and re-runs. Someone vaguely mentions taking them both to a hospital but seeing as they haven't moved that idea was clearly shot down.
Landon isn't surprised.
What does surprise him is seeing Lizzie join their bed of misery too.
"Move over." She tiredly demands in the middle of the day. The only reason that he even knows that is because she hasn't bothered to change her uniform.
"What the?" Josie softly asks as Lizzie makes herself comfortable next to him. Landon leans over to look at Lizzie and...yikes.
"You look terrible." He blurts out. This sickness really isn't helping his brain to mouth functions. Lizzie flips him the bird.
"What happened to you? Are you okay?" Josie asks, her raspy voice filled with concerned.
"Looks like all it took was a couple of days of taking care of you for this to get me. I woke up this morning feeling like I got hit by a bus. Thought I could make it until I almost threw up on my English paper."
Josie's face falls. "I'm so sorry-"
"-Don't be. It's not your fault." Lizzie placates before pointing a finger to Landon, "It's his!"
"What did I do?"
"You started this mess in the first place! You and your weak immune sy-" Lizzie abruptly cuts herself off and Landon knows the look on her face. He's seen on himself and Josie and Josie clearly recognizes the look too. In tandem, Landon reaches over to grab the bucket next to the bed and gives it Josie who gives it to Lizzie who proceeds to upchuck her breakfast into the bucket.
This was getting ridiculous.
When it becomes clear that this thing is spreading like wildfire Landon urges Rafael to sleep somewhere else until it all passes. Werewolf immune system be dammed. Unsurprisingly, Rafael stays stubborn in his stance that he's fine and staying and continues to be the nurse to Hope's doctor. Speaking of Hope, Landon tried to pass the same warning to her, thanking her for her endless help but pleading for her to save herself. Her answer was almost identical to Rafael's except she gave him a peck for emphasis.
Cocky wolves.
The two of them proceed to coddle all three of them until one day Rafael stumbles in with Hope carrying him to the bed. He looks like he's on death's row and it's at this time that Landon wonders why no one ever listens to him.
"What happened?" Lizzie, Josie and Landon asks simultaneously.
"A couple of days ago we went to see a witch who had an herb garden where she sells herbs in her store in her house. I thought she might have something that would you guys so me and Rafael went to go see her." Hope started explain as she tucked Rafael in a blanket. If one more person got sick they were gonna need another bed. It was starting to get cramped.
"Little did we know at the time that along her herbs were a bunch of plants. One of them being a poppy with a particularly strong wolfsbane strain."
"Spoiler alert: I touched it." Rafael explained, "Should've known something was up when the white flower got red polka dots out of nowhere. The lady got all excited and everything."
"Did you touch it Hope?" Landon wonders. Hope nods, "Yeah but I feel fine. Perks of being a tribrid I guess."
"So what happened? Where is she?" Josie asked.
"Buried somewhere with her plants." Hope answered.
"You killed her?!?" Lizzie asked bewildered. Landon's not surprised. Lizzie still in the early phases of her sickness. Things are gonna be a bit more...surprising for a bit. This morning she got startled by sunlight. Nearly fell out of the bed and everything.
But yeah, murder may have been a bit much but Landon continues to listen.
"No." Hope denies, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "She killed herself. She ran at Rafael with a pair of garden hedge shears but he dodge her, she tripped and snapped her neck on a nearby table. We had to bury her and everything."
The things you miss when you're sick in bed.
"I kind of don't want to ask what happened next...but what happened next?" Landon asks. This time Rafael speaks up. "Before she went all kill crazy she told us that the plant was meant to lower werewolf abilities to make them easier to kill. Especially healing."
"Apparently her boyfriend, who was a werewolf, cheated on her with another werewolf and she's hated them ever since." Hope continues.
"Are you gonna be okay Rafa?" Landon questions concerned. Rafael nodded before collapsing onto a pillow. "I'll be fine but you guys are gonna have a new bedmate for the next couple of days...I didn't mean that in the dirty way."
Hope laughs at Rafael's mess up before standing up and brushing herself off. "I'm gonna go get more soup and blankets.
Eventually Rafael gets better within a matter of days but decides to stay in bed for "mental health reasons." Which would be valid if Landon didn't know it wasn't because Rafael wanted to finish binge watching Law & Order: Special Victims Unit with the rest of them.
Landon couldn't blame him.
They all get visitors too. When Kaleb sees them he calls them all a hot mess before dropping off some muffins that Hope made. He also tells them, due to Lizzie's prompting, that no teachers have questioned their absences because Hope has been spelling the attendance books. When M.G. visits he's dropping off a pitcher of tea and looks forlornly at Lizzie (and the rest of them but mostly Lizzie) before wishing them the best of luck and offering Lizzie to help with her missed assignments and homework.
That boy has got it bad.
Even Penelope visits much to Josie's dismay but potentially hidden joy. Landon's still sussing that out. One thing's obvious that it is very much to Lizzie's dismay as she starts complaining as soon as Penelope walks into the room.
"Begone demon!" Lizzie dismisses short and simple. Penelope only smiles. "Aw Liz, puke green really suits you."
Lizzie gasps in offense before glaring in retaliation. She's too tired to think of another comeback.
"I come baring gifts." Penelope announces holding up salads (also from Hope). A part of Landon wonders how Hope is able to do all of this and keep up with her schoolwork.
Penelope stands at the edge of the bed and hands out the salads (deliberately skipping Lizzie at first before the blonde practically snatches one plastic box away from her) and leans forward towards Josie when she's done.
"How you feeling JoJo?" Penelope asks, all mockingness from earlier gone. Landon's not too sure if he's still hallucinating or not but he thinks he sees her start to reach out for Josie before putting her hand down. Almost like fighting a reflex.
Josie takes a minute to respond. "I'm fine...you can go now." She says it softly but by the look on Penelope's face it's like she screamed it. It's so intense, and private and both boys look everywhere in the room except at the two girls while Lizzie just glares at Penelope until the other girl leaves. It's painfully awkward and silent as the room is filled with nothing but their chewing until Lizzie speaks up.
"Can't stand her." She grunts around her salad.
Right now they're all still in bed binge watching while Hope sits at Landon's desk finishing some work in her pajamas. Landon's actually started to feel a lot better, has been for a bit now along with the twins, but has grown to enjoy hanging out with everybody so much that he starts to consider living the rest of his life as a blanket burrito. He enjoys the camaraderie, something he hasn't had much, if any, of, even if they're all starting to smell a bit ripe.
Their peaceful day is interrupting when Dr. Saltzman walks into the room surprised to see them all and shocking the teens. Even Hope's head whips up from her book.
"This is where you guys have all been?" The older man asks, "I feel like I haven't seen you guys in ages."
"It's only been two weeks." Hope replies with a shrug. Landon raises a brow a that. Really? Two weeks? It feels like they've been stuck and sick with each other for a month.
"Why are you all here?" Dr. Saltzman continues as if he wasn't interrupted.
"Well...I got sick...then Josie got sick, then Lizzie, then Rafael and Hope's been taking care of us." Landon lists off easily.
"Turns out an apple a day keeps the doctor away but not Hope." Josie adds, grinning.
Hope sheepishly smiles when Dr. Saltzman looks at her in confusion.
"You guys have been sick?" Dr. Saltzman asks, especially his daughters. He puts his hands over both of their foreheads and they feel fine. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"We didn't want to worry you." Josie says.
"Plus Hope is unsurprisingly a good nurse." Lizzie says bitterly.
"Was that supposed to be an insult?" Hope asks.
"What do you think?" Lizzie snaps.
"Do I even want to know what you guys have been up to in the meantime?" Dr. Saltzman questions. Rafael groans in response. "Nothing. Literally nothing. I can't feel my legs."
Worry washes over Hope's face. "That might be side effects from the plant."
"What plant?" Dr. Saltzman asks.
"Oh we have got a lot to catch you up on." The twins say simultaneously as they finally, finally, climb out of bed in their pajamas. Thank God Hope had gotten their clothes from their rooms earlier for them to change into. They lead their dad out of the room and into to hall presumably to catch up on some stuff together.
Landon really hopes that they can convince their dad not to punish them all too harshly for missing about fourteen days of school. Depending on the person.
"I should get up too." Rafael mentions, his joints creaking with every move he makes to get up. He stretches his back with a loud crack before groaning in satisfaction. "That bathtub has been singing my name since Tuesday."
"I thought you couldn't stand?" Landon asks sarcastically. Rafael doesn't miss a beat and shrugs. "Miraculous recovery."
He walks away leaving Hope and Landon alone for the first time in days. She walks over and jumps into bed beside him.
"How are you?" She asks, genuinely curious. The goal from day one was to help him get better. She hopes she's helped.
Landon smiles, "Better thanks to you. Thank you for taking care of me, for taking care of all of us. Not many people would do that for me." He admits because he's grateful. Hope may have been an overprotective hawk watching over them all but Landon's so happy that he can say that at all. It's a rarity for him to have people who truly care for him and Rafael.
"Not many people are me." She says cheekily, "Does this mean I can kiss you now without you having a spaz attack?"
Landon pretends to ponder over it before breaking character, "One way to find out."
Landon feels Hope laugh into their kiss and he loves it.
The following Monday they're all back in class with their regular schedules. While Dr. Saltzman was happy that they were all feeling better he was still upset at the kids for not telling him that they were sick and at himself for not noticing in the first place. He's been busier than he thought he was. The twins worked their magic and got them off with a week of detention.
It still sucked but it was better than any other punishment they could've asked for. Landon's slightly curious if Dr. Saltzman knows about the herb witch but he doesn't want to risk finding out that the headmaster doesn't know so he just keeps that tidbit to himself.
Days later in Magical History, Landon's still trying to think of a way to make it up to Hope for everything she did for him. The best he can come up with is flowers...or chocolate...or those sour gummy worms that she really likes but it all feels...lame and underwhelming. He wants to do something good, no great, to show his appreciation.
His Hail Mary comes in a form a sneeze.
A sneeze from Hope who's sitting right next to him with the most shocked look on her face before she sneezes again and again and again.
Landon gets up and grabs a tissue for her across the room. He smiles at her as she accepts it.
"My turn."