Chapter Text
Theo knew he was screwed the moment he opened his eyes.
The light seeping in through the window was the first sign he'd screwed up, the brightness making him shut his eyes immediately. Theo always woke up long before dawn. This was bad.
Theo sat up, and immediately felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. He fell back on the bed again, now very confused. What time was it? He tried opening his eyes again, but his vision was so blurry that he could hardly see his own hands in front of him. Somewhere across the room, the clock read 5 'til 10. Not that he could tell which hands were the hour and minute anyways, the pounding in his head making his vision go in and out at the corners. The cockatiel closed his eyes again.
Oh no, this was really bad.
He put his hands behind him to push himself up, but even with all his strength, he could barely prop himself up against the headboard. What happened?, Theo wondered, still trying to force his eyes to adjust to the brightness by opening them as slowly as possible.
He heard the door open, soft footsteps stopping at the end of his bed. He gasped, popping his eyes open to grab his sword, but was so slow that he almost fell right out of the bed. Luckily, his "assailant" was Parrot, who caught him as he went face first towards the floor.
"Theo, what's wrong? This is the third time this has happened now," Parrot murmured.
"What?" The cockatiel rasped, wincing as a sting flew down his throat.
"Do you not remember waking up earlier? When I told you to stay in bed?" The macaw asked.
Theo shook his head no, not wanting to bring more pain up his throat. Hell, he might vomit, he was in so much pain.
"I told you that you would get sick, bro," Parrot scolded, helping him sit back against the headboard again. "You've been in and out of it all morning." Parrot handed him some honey. "Here, drink some more. You got us enough for a few days yesterday."
Theo begrudgingly took a swig, the sweetness making him even more nauseous. He felt a hand reach towards his forehead.
"Yeah, you're still really warm," Parrot remarked. "You want some water?"
Theo shook his head no. "I might vomit," he managed to say, before coughing like he'd breathed in a lake. He felt pitiful, practically shaking under his covers. He hated this even more now.
"You stay here, keep resting. Don't worry about the shop, I've got it." Parrot's gaze softened slightly at the sight of Theo looking up at him so sadly. He knew that the cockatiel hated resting, even if it was for his own good. But he'd board up the front door if it meant the other would finally relax. He stood up, left the room, and closed the door as softly as he had when he'd entered.
Theo laid on his side. He looked around, surely he had a bucket somewhere that he could throw up into. But the thought of standing made him even more nauseous, and his headache was still pounding, even with his eyes closed again. Surely he wasn't completely stuck here, right?
He slowly brought his legs out from under the covers, the colder air a relief against his damp legs. Damn, it's really hot in here, he thought, momentarily trying to wipe away sweat from his forehead. That's when he realized he was burning up, the thought of which he dreaded. He was never sick. How did he get sick? Surely he ate enough dirt as a fledgling to keep his immune system ready for anything!
He firmly planted his feet on the floor, then tried to push himself up from the bed. He was standing!... and he was on the ground. He blinked, suddenly looking at the ceiling instead of the desk across the room. Wait, huh?
Parrot rushed back into the room. "Dude, what did I just tell you?" He scolded, Theo blinking plainly at the ceiling, as if the fall had knocked the thoughts out of his head. "Bro, answer me or something! Some sign of intelligent life!"
"I'm fine, Parrot," the cockatiel slowly waved him away. "'Tis but a scratch." He tried to push himself to sit up again, but his arms gave way and his head thudded on the ground again.
"Oh my god, Theo." Parrot pulled him up back into his bed. Theo coughed at the effort. He hated feeling like this, sounding like this, having to be saved by Parrot. He wanted to curl up in a ball and try today all over again.
"What happened, man? I was fine yesterday..." Theo mumbled.
"I was sick yesterday, and now you're sick. I told you this would happen, but you thought you were better than this."
"I thought I ate enough dirt as a kid to counteract this sort of thing!" He coughed just at the effort to half-yell.
"You're insane, Theo. What were you getting up for?"
"Water, or a bucket," Theo rasped, back to feeling miserable again.
"Drink some honey, I'll get water." The macaw left the room, walking quicker than normal. Theo reached down to grab the bottle of honey, the taste still just as nauseating as before.
Parrot stepped back in, sitting next to him on the bed. "Here. Nice and cold, it's been in the fridge since I felt your fever this morning. You've been in and out, so I figured I should wait until you were conscious enough to do something stupid so I could be sure you wouldn't aspirate on the water."
Theo chugged it down, the cold slightly stinging against his sore throat, but washing away the sweet honey. This was better.
"I'll leave you now, but stay in bed. Call for me if you need something."
Theo fell back in the bed again. He wasn't sure he could even speak anymore, his head hurting worse than ever, and black spots dancing in his vision. He closed his eyes to try and ease his pain.
The cockatiel wasn't sure when or how he'd fell asleep, but he woke up to the sound of thunder. He startled, but the jump made him realize how much his muscles hurt. He tried rolling onto his back, but the weight made his wings hurt, so he just rolled some more to face the wall. He felt trapped, and entirely too bored. He considered going down to help Parrot with the shop again, but the dark skies made him feel even more tired than before. He stared at the wall for a while, half asleep, when he once again heard the door opening softly.
"Theo," the macaw whispered, like he was trying to avoid waking the other. The grey bird began trying to sit up again, and Parrot rushed over to him to help. Theo blinked wearily at the sudden feeling of being pulled up, and a confused huh? left his mouth.
"What time 's it?" Theo asked. He looked towards the window again, rattling with the echoes of the thunder in the distance.
"It's almost 7 pm. I closed the shop a bit ago, since I ended up opening a bit later than you normally do," Parrot replied matter-of-factly.
"I slept all day?!" The cockatiel's wings fluttered a bit in shock, but for a moment, the vertigo caught up to him, and whatever part of him had sat up slumped back down.
"Yes, and you're going to rest tomorrow too." Parrot put a hand on his shoulder. "If you keep getting worse, I'll close up shop and we'll get you to a doctor."
Theo shook his head at that. "No you're not. I'll be fine."
"Well, in that case, drink this instant health pot." He pulled the bottle he'd been keeping next to him out. Theo had been fearing it was another honey bottle, honestly.
"... No."
"Theo."
"No. That's money we can earn, I don't want you wasting it on me." The cockatiel winced as pain rose in his throat again.
"We don't sell this kind of potion if it's not specifically requested. It's stronger than my normal recipe too." The macaw looked at him, feeling a bit of pity. "Besides, money spent on you isn't wasted."
Theo paused at that. "... We'll be fine without this one pot?"
"Yes, Theo." He handed the bottle over.
Theo looked at it warily. Well, about as warily as his body could afford to waste on an endeavor.
"Thank you, Parrot." He took a swig of the potion, feeling it cool his body down from the fever it'd been fighting all day. A crash of thunder made him jump again, but this time, his wings didn't hurt so bad at the sudden movement.
"If you need a doctor tomorrow, we're closing the shop for the day and we'll get you to one," Parrot said, standing up. "You're fighting well, Theo, just keep resting. Let your body do the work for you now."
Theo looked at the bottle, hearing the door close. He almost wished Parrot had stayed for a bit longer. He wanted to hear about today's customers, if they'd been crazier than usual. If he'd needed Theo's help to calm someone down. If any of the morning customers asked where he was.
Stupid potion shop, he thought. We'll get out of here one day.
When Theo woke up again, it was still dark. His eyes opened with ease, his head no longer completely pounding. Billy was at the foot of his bed.
"Billy?" Theo asked.
"Who warned you, Theo, that friends were weaknesses?" Billy asked. "Hm?"
Theo wanted to stand, but he felt weak. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I mean, who got you sick?" Billy asked, staring at Theo, whose wings fluttered helplessly. "It wasn't me, Theo. I never get sick."
"Parrot's... Parrot's helping me though," Theo whispered. He wanted to yell, to run at the shoebill.
"Parrot's the one who got you into this mess, Theo." He stepped much closer to Theo now, looming over the cockatiel like he was prey. "You never got sick with me. You know why? Because we didn't have people to get sick from. Isn't that convenient?"
Theo tried to shove at Billy, who instead just stepped back. "Get away from me, you..."
"You what? Know-it-all? I told you this would happen. Nothing good ever comes from best friends, Theobald."
At this, Theo stood up. "You have no right to call me that, you-" he felt a shove.
Theo jolted awake. He shot up in bed, looking around frantically for his tormentor. Thunder shook the whole shop. His breathing was so heavy, wings fluttering so loudly, that Parrot ran into his room.
"Theo! Theo, what happened?" The macaw rushed over to the still-panicked bird.
"Where is he? He won't get you, I swear!" Theo yelled, coughs immediately taking over his frail body. He looked around for his sword, where did he leave it-
"THEO!" Parrot yelled, grabbing the other as he started to fall off the bed.
"PARROT! HE'S HERE!"
"NO ONE'S HERE, THEO!" He wrapped his arms around the shaking cockatiel, the pressure enough to knock the wind out of him, then lightening slightly.
Theo panted heavily, his breaths rasping in his throat as he tried to calm himself down, but the air simply not entering his body fast enough.
"5 things you can see, Theo."
"A whole lotta nothing," he replied. "It's too dark for this, Parrot, he's here." He could hardly speak through his panting.
"Billy's not here, Theo. He never was."
"How'd you know who I meant?" Theo coughed out.
"Who else is after you right now?"
Theo's breathing calmed eventually, still shaking in Parrot's arms.
"No one's coming to get you... except maybe a doctor." Parrot patted his friend's back.
Theo relaxed his wings, previously unaware he'd been so tense. He finally pulled away from Parrot's embrace, though still eyeing every dark corner of the room, and sat back in bed.
"You're going to the doctor tomorrow." Maybe a therapist too, Theo added.
The cockatiel sighed, knowing there was no fighting this. "I'll be complaining every step of the way," he muttered.
"That's why we have Sky," Parrot responded.
Theo looked to Parrot, lightning once again lighting up the room. Parrot's face was so gentle, even now. Why wasn't he mad at Theo for waking him up?
"Thank you, Parrot."