Chapter Text
Ron winced and gritted his teeth through yet another migraine. They were becoming a regular occurrence ever since he graduated the academy.
Sometimes, they were very light headaches, other times, it was like someone was hammering on the inside of his skull and burning his eyes from the inside. He spent lots of his time out of work in his apartment, curtains closed and a blanket over his head. Gone was the partying, carefree Ronald Knox.
Currently, he was clad in only briefs, sprawled out over the couch with a hand to his temple. He was thankful for his day off as it meant he could recuperate at home without any of his co-workers realizing something was wrong. The last thing he needed was to be sent to the infirmary, or worse, demoted.
He jumped when the phone rang, groaning as it made his headache worse. It was one of the worst ones he’d had so far so he was thankful to be alone away from others.
“Hello?” He grumbled.
“Knox.” Came William T Spears’ voice from the other end of the line. “You are needed in at work. There was been a major incident and we need all the staff who are available to collect souls.”
“Overtime?” Ron moaned, dreading having to go into the office.
William sighed. “Yes, Knox. Overtime. Now come over here and make it quick.” He added. “I don’t want your tardiness to affect the schedule.” With that, the line went dead.
Ron groaned again. ‘Today is not my day.’ He thought, rising from the couch to get dressed. It was meant to be his day off, he was going to spend the day sleeping under his blanket and attempting to soothe his headache.
He went into his bedroom, opening the wardrobe and putting on his uniform. He quickly buttoned his shirt, fumbling with the buttons before putting on his tie looser than usual. Looking in the mirror, he sighed at his reflection. Even he could see he was a sight to behold, his whole body was shaking slightly and there was a green tinge to his face. He put a clammy hand to his forehead, trying to soothe the hammering in his skull but to no avail.
He sighed, straightening his jacket, before exiting the apartment.
~*~
He ported into the offices. Instantly, his eyes were assaulted by the bright lights and he winced.
“Knox!” Will called, making him wince again. “What took you so long?!”
“Sorry, Sir.” Ron mumbled quietly.
Will looked over his subordinate closely. Ron’s face was pale, a sheen of sweat coating his skin. His eyes had huge bags under them and he was looking quite dazed. “Just get to work.” Will sighed. ‘Probably just the reminisce of a hangover.’ He thought to himself. ‘Nothing to worry about as long as he gets his job done.’
Ron nodded and looked over his ledger to see he had ten souls to collect. He was paired with Eric instead of Grell today, Grell already being on the field.
“Hey, kid!” A Scottish accent called from the other end of the offices. “Ye’ ready?”
Ron nodded and they both ported to the destination of their first soul.
Luckily, it was fairly dark in the warehouse where the soul was destined to die, so Ronald’s eyes didn’t suffer as much. His head, however, was much worse than before. He didn’t even want to think about what his head would be like once he’d started up his lawnmower.
Revving the engine to life, he groaned quietly, not quite loud enough for Eric to hear. The Scotsman was busy collecting his own souls, but frowned when he saw Ron swaying on his feet.
Ron managed to catch the first soul without incident but he ended up needing Eric’s help with the second and third souls. By the ninth soul, he was pretty sure he was ready to pass out any minute.
“Ye alrigh’, laddie?” Eric asked. “Yer lookin’ a bit pale.”
Ronald swallowed back the nausea that had made itself up his throat and nodded. “Yeah m’fine.”
Eric’s eyebrow furrowed but he said nothing. If the kid wasn’t going to talk, he wasn’t going to make him. He trusted that Ron would say something if it really was that bad.
Ronald then collected the final soul, almost collapsing onto the floor. His breathing was laboured and he looked up to see Eric staring at him with a look he couldn’t decipher. Before Eric even had a chance to question him, Ron ported away and back to the offices.
“Knox.” Will called. “Have you completed your field work assignment?”
“Yes, Sir.” Ron answered quietly, struggling to keep his eyes open.
Will watched him with a frown. “You are dismissed. You will write up your reports tomorrow, understood?” Ron nodded. “Good. Now go sleep off that hangover, will you?”
Ron’s face contorted into a confused expression as he hadn’t drank in weeks as it worsened his headaches but he shrugged off his boss’ words, thankful to be able to go home.
He quickly ported back into his apartment, not even bothering to take off his uniform before slumping onto the bed.
“You can’t keep doing this!”
“What choice do we have?”
“There’s not enough food!”
“Send him out!”
The voices kept screaming and Ron tried to cover his ears to block them out. Who were these people? Why are they yelling?
The scene changed to some seedy bar in the backstreets of London. There were hookers everywhere. A balding man approached Ronald.
“How much?” Ronald didn’t even utter a reply but the man continued like he’d heard an answer. “Alright then, upstairs sweet cheeks.”
The scene changed again and Ronald was lying on a bed as the man loomed above him.
Ron jolted awake, his headache worse than it had ever been, followed by a nagging pain in his stomach. His clothes were drenched in sweat and he groaned, running a hand over his face before heading to the bathroom. He had just over an hour before he had to head to work so he had to make it quick.
He turned on the shower, waiting for it to warm up before removing his clothes and jumping in. He could barely stand so ended up using the wall for support and just letting the water run over him.
By the time he’d got dressed, his stomach ache had grown considerably. He felt like one wrong movement would cause him to throw up everywhere. Pushing his feelings aside, he grabbed a bottle of water from the kitchen and ported into the dispatch.
~*~
William T Spears was surprised to see that his subordinate still looked ill. In fact, he looked worse than before. He watched Ronald walk over to his desk and slump into his seat. He noticed visible tremors going through his body as the boy picked up his pen to complete his large mound of paperwork. He had an arm wrapped timidly around his stomach and a permanent look of pain on his face.
Will sighed, getting up from his chair and making his way towards Ron’s desk. “Knox.” He said sternly. The reaper in question only blearily looked up at him. “You are ill.” He stated.
“W-what? No! M’fine.” Ron stuttered.
“You are certainly not fine.” Will said matter-of-factly.
“Aye!” Eric chimed from the office cubicle next door. “I thought ‘e was gonna keel over in front of me!”
“T-There’s nothing wrong!” Ronald protested, but quickly slammed his mouth shut when he felt the familiar feeling of nausea bubbling at his throat.
“Ronald, stop this. Go home. There is no point you staying here if- Knox?” Will questioned as Ron doubled over, clutching his head.
“I..” Ronald didn’t even have a chance to finish his sentence as he winced and cried out, clutching his forehead. Images were flying at 100 miles an hour through his brain, hammering his skull until he thought it would split.
Ronald was lying on a lumpy mattress, violated. The balding man from his nightmare looked down at him, licking his lips before throwing some notes into the blonde’s hands.
“There you go, you filthy whore.” He muttered before leaving the room.
“I don’t want this.”
“Make it stop.”
“M-my family.”
“For them.”
“For them.”
“Knox!”
Ron’s head snapped upright, the fog behind his eyes lifting.
“Ronald, tell me what’s happening this instant!” Will demanded, worry coating his tone. The way Ronald had almost collapsed in front of him terrified him. Will was the boss, he was supposed to know everything but he had no idea how to help Ron and that scared him more than anything, especially when it came to said reaper. He’d always had a soft spot for Ronald, even if he tried not to show it. He was cheerful and helped Will remember that there was more to his existence than signing reports and collecting souls.
Ron looked up at him, blinking heavily. He had slumped down in his seat, his head bowed down and his unruly hair covering his eyes. Will was knelt down in front of him, one hand on either arm of the chair so that if Ron should fall, he could catch him.
“I-I d-don’t…” Ron trailed off, his breath shuddering. Will took an arm away from the chair to remove Ronald’s fringe from his eyes. The reaper was still trembling, his breathing harsh and ragged and his eyes were threatening to close.
“I’m going to take you home.” Will said softly. “Slingby!” He called. Ronald winced at the harsh volume and Will apologized softly, running his hands through the younger reaper’s locks to soothe him.
Eric’s head peeked over the cubicle wall. “Christ! Is he alrigh’?”
“I’m not so sure.” Will muttered, looking back at Ronald who was only half conscious. “I’m taking him home. It is my job as Supervisor to look after my subordinates. Whilst I am absent, you are in charge.”
“But Boss, I can’t- “
“You can, Slingby. You’ve worked here just as long as I have and you are the only person that I trust with this task, you will do well.” William assured, before pulling Ron up into a standing position.
He grabbed Ron’s arm and slung it over his shoulder before leaving Ron’s cubicle. “Hang in there, Knox.” He said as Ronald moaned weakly.