Chapter Text
When Netty woke up the next day, he felt like shit. His entire body felt like he had been sleeping in an oven, sweat ran down his brow, his throat burned and his stomach was killing him. Groaning, the boy slowly rolled onto his side to peer around the hut to look for both Renny and Stub. Almost instantly, the boy’s stomach acted up and something hot and bitter shot up his throat. In five seconds, Netty squeaked and cupped both hands over his mouth, struggling to keep down the bile that had gathered within his throat. He didn’t know how he managed it but he did and looked up to the upstairs part of the hut where he knew his two brothers were sleeping.
“Renny! Stub!” Renny was up in five seconds at the sound of his little brother’s voice, he was a light sleeper as he was the eldest and was always up even at the crack of dawn to care for his two younger brothers. So obviously, Renny was out of bed and downstairs to Netty’s bedside. The older brother gasped as he stared down at his little brother who was staring back at him, looking awful. “Netty? Are you okay?” the older brother asked his youngest as he settled himself beside Netty’s bedside, one hand reaching out so he could feel the boy’s forehead. Netty shivered as Renny’s cool hand came in contact with his warm, sweaty forehead for a few seconds before pulling away.
“Oh gees, you’re burning up! You’ve got a really bad fever!” Renny said in concern, running a hand through the boy’s auburn hair as he wrapped his arms around his little brother to hug him close. Even with him being in a shitty situation, Netty sighed as he curled up into his brother’s arms, his own arms wrapped around Renny’s neck and head curled up into his chest to feel his warmth. Renny sighed as he lifted the little boy off his bed and snuggled him close, rubbing his little brother’s back as he nuzzled his nose into Netty’s messy hair. “Oh you poor thing,” Renny cooed gently, removing his nose from his hair so the eldest brother could plant a few brotherly kisses on Netty’s warm forehead before he went back to nuzzling affectionately.
“Renny,” Netty whined in pure embarrassment as he tried to turn his head away from his brother’s affectionate kisses and nuzzles, though he couldn’t help a big smile from spreading onto his face as he curled up into his older brother’s chest. “What?” His older brother asked with a raised eyebrow, hand stroking Netty’s messy hair as he smiled down at his sick little brother curled up cutely on his chest like the times Netty was a baby and had woken from a nightmare. The latter in question was about to answer but was interrupted when he felt a trail of bile shot up his throat, Netty squeaked as he slapped a hand over his mouth.
Renny caught this almost immediately and quickly looked down at his younger brother who shot free from his oldest brother’s arms and quickly sprinted to the front of the hut then outside. At first, Renny sat there on the floor in shock, not sure what the hell had just happened. That is until he heard the sound of the young boy retching, panic suddenly spiking into his core. “Netty! Netty!” he shouted as he shot up from his spot on the floor to the front of his hut.
Outside Her Hut
Six wasn’t entirely sure how her day was going to go, but she wasn’t expecting this. As she wandered around New Dream, she was surprised to find two of the Brothers outside their hut. Despite her disinterest, her curiosity peaked, so Six wandered over to the Brothers’ hut to see the situation. Despite herself, Six felt her eyes widened when she spotted Netty hunched over outside his hut, vomiting up everything in his stomach into the grass. Renny was standing beside him, rubbing his back comfortingly while whispering sweet nothings in his ear, stuff that not even Six’s ears could catch, probably because she was in shock at the situation in front of her.
Despite being disgusted by the scent of bile, Six couldn’t help but stick around so she could figure out the whole story and what was up with poor Netty. Finally, Netty stopped vomiting and seemed to collapse on the ground. Thankfully for him, Renny caught the boy as he was falling over and picked him up in his strong arms where the little boy curled up against the older boy’s chest, shivering and whimpering softly probably from being exposed to the cold even though it was only a bit nippy for a warm summer day for the village of New Dream.
Renny sighed heavily as he started rubbing Netty’s back and shushing him in some attempt to calm him down, sometimes placing small kisses on his forehead to relax him further, a sight that confused the hell outta Six as she hadn’t seen too many boys kiss each other let alone their siblings though that bit was her lack of social skills talking. Hell, not even Mono kissed anyone let alone her when they traveled in the Pale City, though she reckoned that was because of their age.
Truthfully, the only affection she had ever gotten from Mono was a hug or even a little forehead nuzzle. Six felt her facial expression shift as she shook her head, freeing her of her past thoughts as she had no fricking clue why she was thinking of this now. Finally, Renny took notice of Six’s existence as he lifted his head to face her with Netty still in his arms. He looked exhausted but still cheerful, something that made Six raise an eyebrow into her bangs as she had zero idea why Renny was doing that, probably so she wouldn’t be worried.
Well unfortunately for him, Six was no idiot and could see what was making the eldest brother worry, she never was not even with Mono seven years ago. “Morning Six,” Renny said, trying to sound cheerful despite his tone being filled with concern and worry for his little brother. “How did you sleep?” The teenage girl sighed at that sentence, rolling her red eyes that were hidden underneath her black bangs. “Fine,” she simply said as bluntly as her other replies, brushing aside some of her black hair that popped out from her stitched yellow hood.
She eyed Netty from beneath her long hair and carefully approached the older and younger brother, she set a hand on the little boy’s forehead finding it warmer than usual and her brows raised in some expression that vaguely resembled concern or worry. It wasn’t an expression that Renny had seen on Six’s face but he decided to ignore it for now and focused his concerns on Netty. “What’s wrong with him?” Six asked finally. At her voice, Renny lifted his gaze toward the Yellow Devil who had taken her hand off Netty’s forehead.
“I’m not sure, but I’m pretty sure he’s got the flu or something. I’ll have to check with Lanu back at the clinic.” When he finished talking, Renny started off in the direction of the clinic, carrying Netty in his arms. Six watched them leave for a few seconds before she let out a sigh, deciding to take advantage of her speed and get to the clinic first before Renny and Netty. Even with her not being close friends with the Brothers, Six felt like Renny’s kindness to her shouldn’t go unpaid.
In The Clinic
It was a rather slow day for Lanu and Serk which was good as that meant they had a few minutes of rest to themselves to unwind before their next patient. And that was what both doctors were doing, Lanu was sitting on one of the clinic’s beds with a file in her hands, filing her nails while swinging her legs back and forth. Serk was resting on one of the beds with his arms behind his head and eyes shut, clearly having a nap. He didn’t say it outloud, but he was grateful for the break from work.
Serk let out a sigh as he stretched out his limbs, nuzzling his head into the pillow as he rerested his arms back underneath his head. He kicked a leg up and crossed the other over the first making the thing creak softly with his movements. Lanu heard the noises but didn’t pay too much attention to that. What did catch her attention was the door to the clinic swinging open and hitting the wall with a bang, nearly causing both doctors to jump out of their skin.
Lanu dropped the file on the floor and stood to her feet, wondering what the hell was going on and who would be coming in. To say she was surprised to see the Yellow Devil standing in the doorway would be an understatement, still Lanu wiped the shock away from her system to greet the girl. “Hello Six, what do you need?” Six didn’t answer in response to the girl’s greeting, instead she simply walked up to the doctor till she was nearly inches from her.
“Are you busy today?” the girl in yellow asked finally, taking in a deep breath through her nose as she looked around the empty clinic and slowly realized that maybe the question was a stupid question to ask. “No, why are you asking?” Six, once again, didn’t answer, instead she turned her attention to the doorway of the clinic, thinking that Renny was coming in at any second. “I need to have this place set up, you have a patient,” Six said at last, her crimson eyes not even looking at the doctor, of course Lanu immediately became concerned.
“What? Are you…?” Lanu’s question was cut off by the Yellow Devil raising a finger to her lips to silence her. “It’s not for me, it’s for the Brothers’. Two of them are coming right now.” That answer confused the hell outta Lanu as evident by her facial expression and a raised eyebrow, she was about to ask more questions about the matter but Six cut her off once again by pressing a finger up to her lips. “Just hurry up, please, they could be here any second.”