Work Text:
Collections/Challenges: Whumpay, Day 14 (+16)
Prompt(s): Flu/Fever, Tonsillitis
Characters: OFC, OMC, Jason, Reyna
Rating: General
Summary: Riley has a history of pushing people away when she’s hurt, Jason knows this, Reyna knows this, Chase lived with it. Growing up in the legion you’re taught to deal with it on your own. But sometimes, when you’re two inches from death, you’re forced to ask for help whether you want too or not.
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“You okay?” The question is soft, barely a whisper. Jason’s eyes trace over her body, taking in the flushed face, the bags weighing heavily under her eyes, and the unsteady swaying. She didn’t look good, that’s for sure. Riley was usually good with taking care of herself. She made sure to be, or at least that’s what she’d promised Jason the last time this happened.
“I’m fine,” It slips out just as quiet, almost as easy as breathing. She was fine, right? It was just a sore throat, it wasn’t anything anyone needed to know besides herself. It’s not like she was going to make out with everyone in the legion, and she was fairly certain she wasn’t contagious.
“No, you’re not.” Jason said firmly, stepping closer to her. His hand reached out, the fingers curling in the air almost like he wanted to grab the shorter woman. He sighed, his hand coming down slowly as he repeated, quietly. “I know you’re not.”
Riley shrugged, giving him a half smile. It was forced. But she had practice with fake smiles, even if she wasn’t fooling Jason, she didn’t want to look weak.
“Jason I’m fine.” She said again, this time putting extra emphasis on the word. Riley laughed softly, giving him a nonchalant head tilt. “Honestly, I’m okay.”
Jason knew she was lying, it was the same thing she said last winter before they found her passed out on the floor. He knew from experience that pushing it wouldn’t get him anywhere, and that pissed him off. He sighed quietly, shaking his head a little—Riley could be very stubborn, stupidly so.
”Fine, but the second you aren’t okay, tell me. I don’t want a repeat of last time, alright?” Riley still wasn’t used to the guilt, keeping the wince off her face. Her facade never faltered and she kept smiling, nodding softly.
”Of course I will,” she said, “there’s no need to worry about me. If there’s something I can’t deal with by myself, I’ll tell you.”
Jason sighed, Riley had always been the kind of person to deal with things on her own. He gave her a small smile and Riley’s face brightened.
“Okay.” He said, shaking his head softly. He hoped she wouldn’t let it get too bad this time, that she’d finally let go of her ego.
“Okay..” Riley echoed, her eyes darting from his face to the ground. Her finger twitched, ignoring a sudden, creeping wave of nausea. She almost let her face slip when she felt a sharp pain in her throat, accompanied closely by the urge to vomit.
She shook it off, blinking a few times. “I gotta head out, Reyna wanted help directing the troops. And well, you know how loud I am.” Her voice was light, forcing a snicker as she walked off, feet padding softly on the ground. She almost didn’t hear Jason's huff, or his quiet giggle. Her grin turned sour at the sound, eyes dulling before the smile dropped off her face entirely. She hated lying to him, but she hated asking for help even more.
It’s not like she wanted to push him away, but she couldn’t help it. It’s just.. the way she was raised. You had to be fine, no matter what. If you weren’t, you dealt with it on your own. Everyone in the legion was raised like that.
With a small sigh, her hand covering her stomach, she walked over to the fields. She knew she should tell somebody, or at least rest, but she couldn’t. This was nothing compared to her cramps anyway, or the time she was hospitalized for a broken arm. She had shit to do, the three Tylenol she took a couple hours ago would have to suffice until she was done.
Naturally, she underestimated how long it would take to build the fortress.
Usually it only took a couple hours, but not six. She supposed that was her own fault, they had to restart the build halfway through because her instructions on the base weren’t clear enough and Reyna had been talking to one of the praetors. You’d think Roman’s who’d been doing this for years would’ve picked up a thing or two, but whatever, Riley was too tired to care anyway.
The pain had spiked roughly an hour before they finished, a steadily nauseating and annoying scratch in the back of her throat. It made focusing difficult, her voice was hoarse, and she almost tripped on nothing too many times to count, but she pushed past it and blamed it on the heat. The second they were done, she’d almost cried out of relief.
“-nburnt” Reyna’s voice suddenly filtered through her thoughts, pulling her out of her own head. She coughed, blinking a couple times.
“Sorry—apparently my brain decided you’re not worth listening too, can you say that again?” She felt bad but said it with a half laugh, and the snort of amusement Reyna let out made her feel a bit better.
“I said, ‘are you okay, you’re swaying and you look sunburnt’” Reyna rolled her eyes, almost affectionately, crossing her arms with a sudden stern look. She raised an eyebrow as she waited for an answer.
“Oh—” Riley said, cleverly. “Yeah I’m fine, just the heat you know? I’m not used to spending this much time in the sun, I’m turning into a lobster.” She explained, the joke-accompanied-lie coming out effortlessly.
Reyna narrowed her eyes, she always had an uncanny ability to know when people were lying, but she seemed to let this go. She sighed softly, pursing her lips. “Then you should head back to the barracks. Get some water and some rest. You look like you’re about to pass out”
“I do not.” Riley exclaimed, a hand pressed to her chest as she put on a faux hurt face. But Reyna was right and she subtly winced, her vision blurring for a moment as the pain spiked again. “Well—maybe a little,” she said sheepishly. Reyna only hummed knowingly, her eyes darting from her down to the city of New Rome, almost like she was saying, ‘well? Get on with it’
Riley sighed quietly, giving her a mock salute as she started her trek down the hill. She ignored how feverish she felt, knowing it was just the sickness. Whatever said sickness was. She couldn’t tell if he had a cold, a fever, maybe strep, but whatever it was, it was kicking her in the ass. Something she wasn’t gonna admit to anyone yet.
By the time she got back to her bunk she could barely keep her eyes open, her stomach was churning, tightening, and she was horribly nauseous. Not to mention the sharp jabs of pain she had to endure. She kept a hand on her mouth despite knowing there wasn’t anything she could throw up, besides stomach acid. This stupid illness made it impossible to keep down food, no matter what it was. Hell even when she drank plain water she threw it back up. It was annoying. Her throat was always itchy and it burned from how often he found herself retching.
With a sigh she climbed into her bunk, kicking off her shorts. She tossed them somewhere near the end of her bed before she collapsed, groaning softly into the pillow.
She shoved the blanket between her thighs, hoping to alleviate some of the pain. I mean, it worked with cramps so why not this too? To her great shock and surprise, she eventually passed out, drifting into an uneasy sleep.
She woke up in agony, her throat sending sharp bolts of pain through her head. Her head was pounding, and the nausea had returned tenfold. She groaned rather loudly before she curled in on herself, squeezing her eyes closed tighter. She didn’t know if she was trying to pass out again or hope the change of positions would take the pain away. Whatever it was, it wasn’t working that well. She cursed quietly, tossing her blanket aside as she sat up, wincing. Her body ached, every movement was a battle, but she needed to get up.
She looked around, blinking blearily. The bunks were all empty and that begged the question, did she sleep for 24 hours or did she just have a nap? The answer to which, she had no idea.
She grabbed her shorts, pulling them on before she started to carefully climb down, nearly losing her grip a few times. Every muscle hurt and she was weaker than she had been, proven by the sheer difficulty of climbing down a ladder. She finally landed on the floor, standing straighter, pressing a hand to her stomach as she fought back tears. She was doing her best not to throw up everywhere—she really didn’t feel like cleaning it up.
Riley turning to grab the bottle of pills she stole from the infirmary, pressing her lips together at the pain. Riley tossed a couple into her hand, swallowing them dry. She cringed, lips pursing in disgust before she stepped towards the door. Thankfully, the sun had almost set, and she silently prayed that she was only asleep for a few hours.
Once she was out in public, she started making her way down to the mess hall, everyone was likely eating dinner by now. Maybe she could grab a glass of water—if she was feeling daring enough, maybe an apple. When her stomach protested the thought, sending a wave of nausea and chills throughout her body, she decided food was an unfortunate no go. The stiffness was getting better with every step, but the muscle aches were only getting worse.
She only made it halfway there before she crumpled on the street, coughing as another set of chills ran through her body. Goosebumps rose on Riley’s skin, and she was shivering despite the heat. She took in a shaky breath—okay, she’d admit it, she needed to tell someone. This wasn’t good—and the symptoms were getting worse with every second.
She shoved himself up, eyes widening at another sharp stab of pain, forcing a rough cough out of her mouth. She grimaced, walking faster now despite every inch of her body begging her not too.
She swallowed thickly, her heart felt like it was beating a million miles an hour and she felt so weak. Her vision was blurring every time she lost focus, which was every-time the pain spiked, which was every step she took.
After what felt like ages, but was probably closer to five minutes, she could see everyone bustling around tables, fauns and ghosts chattering with the demigods. She frowned, scanning the crowd before—bingo.
She pulled herself together, her face a blank mask as she walked through the crowd of people. Blue eyes were locked on her friends, they were the only people he trusted with this.
Jason spotted her first, the two locking eyes and somehow, from the brief eye contact Riley could tell that Jason knew. He pushed himself off his chair, his eyes narrowing in concern. Reyna’s gaze was next, then lastly Chase turned to look at her with confusion—which quickly turned to concern. Oh that wasn’t good. And here Riley thought it wasn’t obvious.
She made it over there without any other eyes on her, almost collapsing into Jason. Her grabbed her arm, steadying her before gently pulling her closer. She didn’t say anything, but they both knew something was wrong from her red complexion and the shivers racking the others body.
“Riley?” Reyna’s voice echoed in her head for a second, and she blinked, gathering enough sense to explain herself.
“I think I’m dying, this—this is what it feels like to die right?” The yearly award for explaining something with no tact and no details goes to her, clearly.
Jason blanched, his grip tightening unconsciously.
“What?” He snapped, quietly. “I thought you were fine—“
“I was!” She snapped, her head spinning. Her throat hurt. Her muscles wanted nothing more than to lay down. She was swaying and unstable on her feet, trying to hold back the building tears. “I thought it was nothing,” she said softly, biting her lip as she avoided Reyna’s sharp look. She was shocked, concerned, and angry. Mainly concerned. Riley shivered again and she tightened her arms around herself, closing her eyes. The darkness helped a bit with her headache and she pushed herself into Jason, silently apologizing for what she was doing. Vaguely she could hear voices above her, telling her to keep her eyes open, but she didn’t want too.
She felt someone pick her up into a princess carry and she tucked her face into their neck. She shivered again, her breaths came in short puffs and she could hear blood rushing in her ears. She knew they were walking somewhere, but she didn’t know where.
She didn’t care. Here in Jason’s arms she felt protected, warm. She wasn’t asleep—gods, she was in too much pain for that—but she wasn’t fully aware either. She trusted them.
Her friends would take care of her.