Chapter Text
Red felt like shit. Well, more shitty than he usually did.
He was hot and sweaty underneath his fur, his body ached, and he couldn’t stop coughing.
And everyone was starting to notice.
The three were in the middle of a lesson. Yellow had asked some stupid off-handed question about how trees grow and now a squirrel was explaining photosynthesis. Or something. Honestly, he wasn’t really following. While Red usually put some effort into paying attention, this time he couldn’t bring himself to perform even the bare minimum.
When he couldn’t hold back another cough, the teacher, who’d been in the middle of its song, paused and addressed Red directly. “Hey. You’re kind of… um, interrupting. Could you quit making those noises?”
“My bad,” Red responded, voice strangely raspy. He cleared his throat and continued, “Keep singing, don’t mind me.”
The teacher gave him an irritated look but carried on. Just as it began the main chorus, Red coughed again.
“Oh, come on!” The teacher growled. “How am I meant to teach you lot with this racket?!”
Yellow looked at Red with wide eyes. “Are you broken?”
“I am not broken,” Red said, voice cracking.
Duck snorted in that condescending way of his. “Sounds pretty broken to me.”
“I am not broken,” Red insisted. “I told you, just ignore me.”
The teacher let out an exasperated sigh but continued. After about five seconds Red coughed again.
“UGH! That’s it! That great big shaggy one needs to leave or else we’ll never get through this!” the teacher cried, pointing an accusing paw.
Duck crossed his arms. “If he leaves, then we all leave.”
“Yeah,” Yellow affirmed.
Red sighed. “Literally I’m fine, shut up, the both of you.”
“I don’t know about that, old chap.” Duck approached him. “Kneel down and let me feel your forehead.”
“What? Why?”
“Are you daft? So I can feel your temperature!” Duck squawked. “Now do as I tell you!”
“I don’t think I even have a forehead,” Red pointed out but kneeled down anyway. Duck placed his wing between Red’s eyes, where his ‘forehead’ would be. He kept it pressed there for a few moments until the Duck made an affirmative sound and moved away. Red took that as his cue to stand back up.
“He's burning up, just as I suspected,” Duck said. “He must be riddled with disease.”
“Oh, which one?” asked Yellow.
“I’m not certain. It could be anhidrosis, diabetes, fibromyalgia, the flu- honestly, the possibilities are endless. How exciting!”
Red scoffed. “It’s not exciting, and I don’t have a disease, you’re just-” he cut himself off with a cough. And this time, it hurt. They were getting deeper, as though they were coming from inside his chest.
“I told you so,” Duck said smugly.
“What do we do now?” asked Yellow.
“We go home, of course. We can’t be out and about when that one’s in such a state.”
The forgotten teacher squealed in anger, lashing its tail. “What? You can’t just ditch me!”
“Yeah, no," Red said, "I don’t want to go back to the house, I want to finish the… I want…”
His whole body swayed. He had to lean against a tree so he didn’t topple over.
“Right, that’s enough out of you,” Duck said. He pushed Red off the tree and began steering him toward the direction of the house. “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”
Something about the Duck’s brisk movements caught Red off-guard. His legs began to tremble. The world was becoming blurry.
“I want,” Red said slowly, “I want…”
His body swayed again. The heat and achiness were suddenly too much. It was all too much. He drooped and then everything went black.
***
When Red came to his senses, he was in his bed, tucked neatly underneath a bundle of blankets. And it didn't take him long to realize Duck and Yellow were staring at him.
“What the… were you guys watching me sleep?!” he exclaimed.
“Yeah,” Yellow said.
“That’s creepy!”
“We were bored,” Yellow said.
“Yes, and you were making a lot of very strange noises,” Duck added. “Whatever were you dreaming about?”
Red opened his mouth to tell him that he usually didn't have dreams at all- but paused when a short scene flashed vaguely before his eyes. Apparently, he did have one. Huh.
“I dreamed about, um… flashing colors… screaming objects… a giant lady with weird eyebrows… I dunno. It’s all kind of fuzzy now,” Red tried to explain.
“A giant lady?” asked Yellow. There was an odd note to his voice.
“Hah! What nonsense. Dreams are such silly things. I don’t even know why I asked,” Duck said, completely disregarding Yellow as usual. “Never mind that. How are you feeling? You still look awfully diseased!”
Red did not feel better. If anything he felt worse. But he didn't want to admit it, because he hated admitting when the Duck was right. "I'll be okay."
Yellow’s eyes flashed anxiously. “You won’t become dead from this, right? We won’t need to bury you in the ground?”
Red sighed. If only.
“Of course not," he said out loud. "I just need to stay in bed for a bit, and I'll be right as rain."
Duck and Yellow both nodded in agreement. Neither made any move to leave, just continued to stare at him intently.
"... Um," Red said when he realized this wasn't going to stop anytime soon. "While I'm stuck here, can you guys quit watching me? It’s creeping me out."
"What else are we supposed to do?" Yellow asked, still staring with those wide eyes.
"I dunno," Red said. "Just... literally anything else. I'm sure you'll figure it out."
Duck and Yellow shared a glance, mirroring each other's hesitant expressions. It was clear that both of them were reluctant to leave to their friend's bedside. Red couldn't understand why. He wasn't going anywhere, after all.
Despite the expression never leaving his face, Yellow followed Red's order in silence. Duck trailed behind, but as he reached the door, he paused and cast a glance back at Red. “I don’t understand why you want to be alone. Someone should be keeping an eye on you!" he said, eyebrows furrowing sternly.
“I’m fine,” Red replied. Then he sneezed.
Duck gave him a suspicious look.
“I’m fine,” Red insisted. “You have absolutely nothing to worry about, mate.”
Duck looked like he wanted to disagree, so Red braced himself for an argument- but surprisingly he did not. “Alright, but I will be back to check on you,” he said and stared at Red for a few more moments before leaving without shutting the door behind him.
Jerk.
***
If there was one thing Red understood about his world, it was that pain was a constant but never lasted for very long. So he was not accustomed to this lingering achiness. It was driving him crazy.
And the Duck was not helping.
Red did not realize that when he said ‘I’ll be back to check on you,’ it meant he was going to check on him every twenty minutes. Every time Red coughed or sneezed or made literally any sort of noise whatsoever, he would race over to Red’s bedside to fawn over him like a mother hen. It was ridiculous; Red hadn't asked for help in the first place and did not appreciate being coddled.
Suddenly, Red's bedroom door swung open, interrupting his thoughts. "I have something!" Duck chirped, striding confidently forward to stand beside him.
“What is it,” Red said through gritted teeth.
“I brought you some tea," Duck said. "Isn’t that nice?”
“It would be nice if it wasn’t the fourth cup you brought me today.”
“You’ll need lots of tea or else you’ll never get better,” Duck informed him, placing a steaming teacup on top of his bedside table. “And you want to get better, don’t you?”
“What I want is for you to leave me alone,” Red said. “I certainly don’t want any more tea.”
“What? Whyever would you want such a thing?! I'm the best one!!”
Red glared at him. “Because you’re annoying.”
Duck glared back. “I'm only trying to help.”
“Well, I didn’t ask for your help."
"You didn't have to ask!”
He'd been trying to keep his patience but Red was becoming incredibly frustrated with him. “You've clearly done enough, can't you take a hint?!”
When the Duck’s eyes flashed dangerously, Red immediately regretted snapping.
“Then I guess you won’t need this tea!” Duck squawked, and in one swift motion, he grabbed the teacup he’d placed on Red’s bedside table and smashed it against the wall. He left the room in a huff, slamming the door behind him.
... At least he closed it this time.
He probably wouldn’t come back after... that. Well, whatever. Duck would be fine. He always was. It was his own fault for caring so much.
Red could not for the life of him understand why he cared so much.
***
Red spent the rest of the day by himself.
Now that the Duck wasn’t checking on him, he had no source of entertainment other than his thoughts. Which helped him realize he didn’t particularly like being alone with his thoughts. Mostly because he didn’t have a lot of good things to think about.
He found himself thinking about Duck quite a bit. He was not sure if he regretted snapping at him. After he left it didn't feel like Red's day got much better. Maybe he'd been too harsh.
Later that evening, Red was trying his hardest to fall asleep, but his fever seemed to be acting up. He couldn’t stop coughing, his fur was damp with sweat, and his body felt like it was on fire. God, what was wrong with him? Why was this happening? Was he going to be stuck in bed forever?!
Well. If that happens then at least I wouldn't have to participate in any more lessons. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad…
Red stared at the tea stain Duck had left on the wall and tried to think about nothing in particular- tried to keep his mind completely blank- until his eyes closed automatically and finally, finally he fell asleep.
But it would not be for very long.