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Theo sighed, looking out the window. The pattering of the rain always calmed him down. But today was different. Parrot was sick, and Theo couldn't figure out why.
The morning had started like any other. Theo woke up early, as usual, because he always had. Theo knew nothing but waking up early. The potion shop always had to be ready when it was time to open the doors. The customers were always ready to pour in - if they didn't close their shop at night, the pair would never know rest. Some mornings, there were players lined up outside their door, hoping to get a fresh potion or two off the stand before their adventures. Theo always greeted them, always kept his sword in its sheath. But a cart in the supply room never hurt anyone, did it?
When Theo had woken up that morning, he had tried to be quiet, as usual. Usually he succeeded, and his sleeping birdie wouldn't wake up until the morning rush was over. Today, he wasn't sure that he'd been successful, as he heard coughing in the next room. He debated going in, but decided that whatever Parrot was up to was really none of his business. He climbed almost silently down the ladder to the first floor of the potion shop, shuffling over to the chests at the far end of the shop to see what he needed to start brewing first. The rain was a good omen - people got sick, and they always wanted instant health potions when they were sick. Theo couldn't attest to them working very well, but whatever brought business in.
The cockatiel was counting (and recounting) all the potions in every chest, when he heard someone else walking behind him. He instantly slammed the chest shut and whipped out his sword - he was not going to be robbed on such a good morning. But to his surprise, Parrot was behind him, wings fluttering as the macaw coughed roughly again. Theo had half the mind to scold the other for scaring him, but the blue bird looked so pitiful that he decided against it.
"Parrot, are you okay? You look miserable," Theo asked.
Parrot flinched. "Dude, I have this horrible headache, and I have no idea why. I-" he coughed again, "I feel like I can't even breathe, bro." Parrot's voice sounded so raspy that Theo wondered if he'd drank any water in the last year.
"Go back to bed dude, you're up so early for nothing. You know I can handle the morning rush." The cockatiel tried to walk over to the macaw, but received a look instead.
"Stay back, I don't want you getting sick too. Something's got to be going around to have me feeling like this."
"Dude, we live in the same tiny shop. I've got whatever you got, I'll be fine."
"Someone needs to run the shop, Theo. Just tell everyone I'm sick, I just wanted to look for some water bottles. My throat is killing me," the macaw sighed.
"Parrot, let me at least help you get back to bed. I'll bring you some water."
At that, Parrot relented, and Theo practically dragged him back to bed. Parrot insisted he was fine to get up the ladder, but he was so weak that he could hardly protest when the cockatiel fireman carried (or rather, pulled) him up the ladder. He plopped Parrot back in bed with a "stay here," and bumbled over to the supplies chest to grab some water. He'd have to put the cauldron out to get some more while it was still raining, but these three water bottles would suffice for now.
With the macaw resting again, Theo went back down. The rain usually didn't bother him, in fact, he liked the calming sound. It meant there were no battles to be fought, no carts to be exploded. He didn't have to be on edge, or looking over his shoulder, waiting for someone to sneak up on him. He felt drawn to the window, like the rain itself was calling his name. The rain, always bringing others down with it, now including his best friend Parrot. What was a cockatiel to do but mourn the day he had envisioned?
Theo brought his list back out, muttering as he tried to find his place again. Invisibility, Swiftness, Strength... he could barely read his own handwriting, but he'd stopped at "turt. master". What did he need to abbreviate by two letters for, anyways? He went back into the chests, counting the water breathing potions, tied with neat teal bows. Let's see, one, two, three- he stopped at what sounded like Parrot hacking up a lung. Theo paused, and decided that maybe he would need to try an instant health pot on Parrot after all. Maybe the macaw knew how to make it even stronger. He was the one who made all of the shop's recipes, after all.
Closing the lid of the chest, his list now complete, the cockatiel subconsciously pulled himself up the ladder faster than he ever had before. He scuttled over to Parrot's room before calmly knocking on the door, wondering why he was out of breath. He thought he heard a come in, but honestly, there was so much coughing Theo wasn't sure what he'd heard. He opened the door slowly, but a shocked look came over his face before he could stop it. There were loose feathers on the bed and floor, where Parrot had been coughing so hard that it was practically self-preening.
"My god, Parrot, what's wrong?" Theo exclaimed. "Actually, don't answer that. I don't want to hear more of that coughing." The gray bird looked around the room frantically, as if trying to find an answer to the predicament at hand that the macaw hadn't already thought of. Parrot looked paler, and slumped in his bed, seemed even weaker than before. "Do you want a health pot?" Theo asked, hoping the other would just nod his head. But of course, Parrot couldn't help talking.
"No, I need some hon-" he coughed, practically shaking from how weak he was when he was done. "Honey bottles, please," he managed to croak out.
"On it, sir," Theo saluted, then practically threw himself down the ladder and out the door. He knew where an apiary was - except that it was still raining. There was no way the bees would let him get honey out of their hives. Not to mention, he had zero bottles on him. They were still in the chests. He hustled back in, shaking his wings off and leaving the floor all wet as he went back for as many bottles as he could carry. He considered leaving his sword behind to put a bottle in there, but remembered that he had plenty of people who would love to catch him off guard at the moment.
Theo ran back out, still not entirely sure where he would get honey at this hour - it was still super early, and the owner of the apiary, JumperWho, would not be happy to be woken at this time - she hated owning the shop, but having a family business was a good enough source of income for her. Still, the cockatiel figured she probably owed him a favor for saving Parrot's life after The Director tried to take him out. He hustled over to the edge of Capitol City, where he heard the buzzing of bees - wow, she got a greenhouse installed! - and figured he'd just leave her some diamonds in exchange for the emergency honey. He grabbed a campfire from a chest, set it under a hive, struck his flint and steel, and waited as the bees calmed down, until he heard almost no movement inside the hive. Then, he gathered as much honey as he could from that hive, then another, filling all of his bottles almost to the brim.
He beat the fire down with a shovel and threw the campfire back in the chest, along with some diamonds and a note - Borrowed some honey, sorry for the trouble, here's some diamonds - Theo, before hurrying back to the potion shop as fast as he could without slipping on the forming mud. The door jingled as he ran in, sliding to a stop at the counter. He gently dropped most of the bottles onto the counter, taking two up with him. He knocked on Parrot's door gently again, still huffing when he heard the macaw cough and figured that was enough of a sign of life.
Theo knew Parrot looked bad, but somehow, in the time that he'd been gone, Parrot had made himself seem even more disheveled, though clearly not without a fight. He was huddled in the corner of the bed, pressed up against the wall, wings wrapped around himself like a blanket.
"I've got some honey," the cockatiel huffed, still out of breath.
"Dude, were you running?" Parrot giggled a little, then winced. "You didn't have to run to get me some bottles of honey, bro."
"I wasn't sure if you were dying or not, man!" Theo almost puffed up, but calmed himself down a bit to hand him a bottle. "Are you sure you don't need like, a doctor or something?" He asked, breathing finally not burning his lungs.
"I'll be fine, man, I just need to rest." Parrot took a swig of the honey, and it seemed to ease his pain.
"Well there's plenty more honey downstairs, you want me to bring it up?"
"Please," the macaw replied. The rasp in his throat made Theo's heart ache a smidge.
The cockatiel made several trips, making sure not to even lose his grip on a single bottle, for fear of losing his hard work (and money). He set all the bottles next to the bed, and with each new delivery, Parrot's wings fluttered.
"That's a lot of honey," Parrot finally said, Theo setting down the last of the bottles.
"If you run out, I'll close shop and get you more," the cockatiel replied.
"Dude, this is gonna last me like, three days!" the blue bird coughed, but it seemed to pain him less now.
"Are you sure you don't want health pots?" Theo asked.
"Nah, I don't want to take something out of our own stock. I think the honey will do me some good," Parrot replied.
"Well, let me know if you change your mind. I've got to put the cauldron out to collect some water still so I can get started."
"Have fun," the macaw sighed as he leaned back against the wall, wrapping his wings back around himself. He was undeniably warm, so keeping both a water bottle and a honey bottle next to his bed seemed to be the move.
Theo shuffled back downstairs, dragging the cauldron out the door to the back of the store. The rain only grew harder, and Theo started to wonder if people would even drop by with how hard the rain had poured. He flipped the sign at the door to "OPEN", but didn't expect much activity, so he began to brew some more potions.
By lunchtime, Theo had only gotten 10 customers, all of whom wanted either instant health or water breathing - he could understand, it felt like they were drowning just walking around town - so he popped back up to Parrot's room.
"Hey, I'm gonna go get some stew, what flavor do you want?" Theo asked.
"Honestly, I feel really nauseous, I'm not sure if I can even eat anything," Parrot replied. He sounded better, and wasn't coughing after every sentence now.
"I didn't ask if you could eat, I'm asking what flavor you want. We have a fridge and a stove, if you can't eat now, I'll heat it up later," Theo said plainly.
"Oh... oxeye daisy then, I guess."
"Got it." The cockatiel closed the door, flipped the sign around to say "CLOSED," and scurried off to get some stew.
When he returned, he found the rain had slowed to a drizzle without him realizing. He set the stews down on the counter, flipped the sign around, and brought the macaw his lunch.
"Theo, you didn't have to," Parrot said.
"Well, it's here. Try to eat, you can't get better without having something in your stomach." With that, he closed the door once more and went back to eat his lunch, hoping customers wouldn't bother him while he was eating, even if he had flipped the open sign back around.
By the time the shop closed, the rain had gone away. The cauldron was still full of water, something the cockatiel appreciated, since it meant he didn't have to go to the river a bunch tomorrow morning. He turned off the lights downstairs and went to flop down in his bed, but decided to check on Parrot one last time.
Theo knocked on the door, but didn't need to open it, as the macaw had done that for him. He stepped back in surprise, but Parrot just giggled.
"You feel better?" Theo asked.
"A lot. I think the honey did me the most good, but the stew was good too," Parrot replied.
"Good to hear. I'm gonna go to bed, I'm so tired dude. But wake me up if you start to feel worse again," Theo said, attempting to step away. Parrot grabbed his arm, surprising the cockatiel yet again.
"Thanks for helping me, Theo. I really do appreciate it." He smiled at the grey bird, whose feathers puffed up in surprise.
"No... no problem, man." Theo replied. Parrot let his arm go, and closed the door again as Theo walked back to his room. He shuffled over and sat down onto his bed, then sighed and fell straight back onto it. It hurt his wings a little, but it was fun.
He thought, for a moment, of Billy. When he was younger, he didn't get to have sick days. He trained at all hours, and even if he was sick, he got a single bottle of honey and got told to "get over it." He honestly had to think hard to remember when the last time he even got sick was. The days blended together, nothing different stuck out to him. His childhood was a blur, honestly. He barely remembered when he got to relax back then. A day off was unheard of.
He decided that he was glad Parrot got the day off.