Chapter Text
"Sodium Chloride"
"Varian"
"Sodium Chloride"
"Son, stop"
"Sodium Chloride"
"Look I know you're upset that you have to stay in bed, but must you remind me that you're salty about it?"
"Sodium Chloride!"
Quirin sighed, ever since this morning, Varian has been nothing but grumpy with him. Grumbling about the work that he needed to finish, rolling his eyes when his father took his temperature again, his fever was 99.5 degrees this morning, and was now repeating the phrase, "sodium chloride" over and over to make his point that he was not happy. The man had patience, but it was thin as his boy kept up his unruly behavior.
"Sodium Chloride"
The retired knight gave the teen a look, silencing him. Varian was laying on the couch, watching his father rub his forehead, a small headache forming, his son was always like this when he was sick, moody, annoyed, but mostly grumpy. Laying in bed and resting was not the ideal way to spend an afternoon and unfortunately he made sure everyone knew it, "look, I'm going to talk with Adam and explain the situation, that way I can take a few days off to be with you, but you need to stay on the couch and actually rest while I do so. No getting up to check on something, no seeing what that noise was in the other room, and definitely no making a concoction that would make the sickness go away. Stay on the couch and rest, when I get back we'll play some games together and try to make the most out of this situation, okay?" Varian sunk lower into the blankets, his eyes narrowing as his father had taken away every excuse he had, until one popped in his head.
"What if I need water?"
"Then Ruddigar will be more than happy to get it for you", the raccoon, who was sitting on his boy's chest because it was comfortable, and to make sure he didn't get up, chittered out an approval, making the old farmer smirk
"What about tissues?" The man silently pointed to the full box sitting right next to the teen on the stand, "what if I use them all?"
"In that unlikely scenario, Ruddigar knows where there are more and has graciously volunteered to grab them if needed", his father stated, "oh, and bathroom breaks, you take the raccoon with you and head straight back here", he added sternly, "if you're butt is not on that couch by the time I get back, you won't be doing any alchemy even when you *are* better". The alchemist sunk lower in the blankets, narrowing his eyes to glare at the little patch on couch, making his father sigh once more, "I hate having to be strict with you Varian, but I want you to feel better, so you can do what you love and more without the risk of getting worse".
"But I feel fine, just a little stuffy", the alchemist argued before he sneezed
"Bless you"
"Thanks...." he sniffled
He nodded before continuing, "I know right now all you feel is stuffy, with some sneezing and coughing. But I also know there's a bug going around and the first symptoms are exactly the ones you have. It's safe to assume you'll be getting more, you already have a fever".
"It's only 99.5"
"A small fever that you know will get worse as time goes on, plus if you start working then it'll definitely get worse and you'll be stuck resting much longer, do you really want that?"
The alchemist thought about it for a moment, genuinely debating if he wanted to take the risk before coming to the conclusion that losing alchemy for an undetermined amount of time as his father had established earlier due to him leaving the dreaded couch would not be worth it, "no.... but only because I don't know exactly how long you'd ground me for"
His father chuckled, "you won't know either because I'm still not telling you"
"Killjoy"
"I know", he walked over and kissed Varian's forehead, which was extremely hot at the moment. Making a mental note to get a wet wash clothe and place it on him later, the man turned and walked towards the door.
"Dad?" He turned back towards his son, who had sat up just a bit, his cheeks were still flushed, "you'll be back soon, right?"
The retired knight smiled, "always", with that he walked out the door, shutting and locking it behind him.
****
"So the pyromaniac is sick huh? Guess it was about damn time", Adam stated as he leaned against the fence surrounding the fields, "that boy is more stubborn than a mule, still surprised he didn't get sick earlier"
"A small part of me is too, though I still don't like that fact that he's sick, I sincerely wish he wasn't", Quirin stated, rubbing his head a bit
The old farmer laughed, "yeah, betcha he's givin you a run for your money ain't he?" The Village Leader sighed as his friend laughed
"He's something alright, anyway about the work load-!"
"You know I'll handle it, no worries, the farm is in good hands while you take care of your pyro kid"
"He works with chemicals you know"
"Yet he makes more fires than anything else", Quirin raised an unamused brow, "now I'm just kiddin, he's a good kid, you know I know that"
"I know, sorry, just a little tired from today's events", he stated, once again rubbing his aching forehead
"Maybe go for a walk?" Adam stated, "a little fresh air never killed anybody"
"No, I need to get back, he's alone over there and I want to make sure he rests"
"Right, right, well you know I'll handle the farm, oh, actually, been wanting to ask you about something", Adam stated, straightening up, "I wanna train Evan over there to take over if I or you aren't available, wanted to run it by you first, he'll be needin a second in command, but I've left him alone for a full hour and when I came back things were fine, I think he'd be good for it"
The Village Leader looked at the man Adam was referring to, Evan was a strong yet kind individual who always put the welfare of others before him, "yeah you can do that, I think he'd be a good pick too"
"Great, I was also gonna ask if your boy would wanna sub for him as a second in command, that way he's got someone there who knows how to handle things, but he can ask him for any help"
"I'll ask Varian", Quirin smirked, "thank you, you've been very patient lately, I really appreciate it"
"Just doin my part", Adam smiled, "also, if you ask me, best part about being sick is getting treats and playin games"
"What kind of treats do you have in mind?"
****
Varian was bored, well, that was an understatement, but it was the best his mind could come up with at the moment. He was coughing up a lung, his fever was getting worse, and his stomach was bubbling, he'd been lying on the couch, counting the bumps on the ceiling for the third time that day, mind you he couldn't see all of them, but there were a lot.
"One thousand two hundred and forty three, one thousand two hundred and forty four, one thousand two hundred and forty five, one th- oh wait, that's not a bump that's a spider, great..."He watched the little arachnid scuttle across the ceiling until it disappeared from sight, "you wouldn't let me up even if that spider came down to bite me would you?" Ruddigar, who was still on his boy's chest and had been watching him this entire time, chittered a response, "figured".
Varian huffed as he saw the spider reappear and crawl slowly across the ceiling again, "you know Lance would be freaking out if he saw that", he smirked, "he'd probably let out a squeak and move to the other side of the room, making up some excuse about how spiders were super dangerous and more often than not, poisonous", he chuckled, "you know, if he did a little research, he'd find out that out of the literal 50,000 species of spiders known to mankind, on 25 of them actually have venom that can cause illness to us humans", he then looked back at the racoon, "though I'm not so sure how you would handle their venom, maybe I'll research that a bit more", the little creature let out a chitter, "I wouldn't actually have spiders bite you, I would just look for books on the matter, geez, I may be grumpy, but I'm not sadistic!"
The raccoon chittered once more, "you and dad sound exactly the same, I know I'm a brat, I am well aware of this fact, it makes for funny banter", he coughed, Ruddigar walked up to his face to make sure he was okay, once his boy stopped, the little raccoon bent his head down and rubbed his furry cheek on the teen's, "t-thanks buddy", he stated weakly, stroking the creature's fur, "I hate being sick, it's no fun....."
The raccoon went back to the teen's chest and curled up again, listening to his boy's heartbeat, it was slower today, that made the animal worry.
"Ruddigar?" The raccoon looked at his boy, "d-do you think I was too harsh on him earlier?" The animal tilted his head to the side, noticing small tears in the young boy's eyes, "dad I mean.... H-he was just trying to help, and I wasn't.... D-do you think I made him upset?"
Ruddigar was going to respond when suddenly there was a knock on the door. The animal looked over to it when someone knocked again, this time louder. The larger human wouldn't knock to get into his own house, he'd just open the door, so who was there?
"Varian? Quirin?" The princess's voice called out, the raccoon immediately recognized her, looking at his boy, the teen looked just as surprised as the animal felt
"Hairstripe? Quirin? Are either of you in there?" Another voice said, Ruddigar recognized Flynn Rider too. Again he looked at his boy, who looked even more surprised
"What do we do? I'm not allowed to get up", the alchemist stated, chittering, the raccoon jumped over to his boy's shoulder, bit the blanket that was over him, and dragged it upwards more, resting it on Varian's chin, before motioning to the door, "you want me to stay here while you answer the door?" Ruddigar nodded, then shot his boy a look, "alright, I won't move, I don't think they'll be happy if I do", he stated, sniffling a bit to clear his nose
With that, the animal jumped off the couch and headed to the door, he heard them whispering, apparently they were starting to get worried, and were debating just opening the door. But the raccoon knew they would have a tough time doing that considering the larger human locked it before he left. So Ruddigar chittered, "wait, do you hear that?" The princess's voice stated
"It sounds like that little raccoon Varian has, what was his name?" The voice of the clumsy human, Lance, replied. The raccoon got slightly annoyed at that, *I remember your name, how could you not remember mine?* he thought to himself
"Ruddigar, his name is Ruddigar", the voice of Flynn replied, making the animal chitter out a happy reply, "Ruddigar, are you able to open the door?"
The raccoon let out a reply he heard Pascal translating, "ok, we'll wait", the princess replied, *thank goodness she brought the chameleon along*, the little racoon thought as he climbed up the little steps his boy had made for him, just in case the little animal wanted to go outside, course an open window would've also been fine, but it was the thought that counts. Ruddigar hopped over to the door knob and, with some effort, was able to unlatch the lock and open the door, sliding down as the humans saw him.
"Thanks little buddy!" The clumsy one exclaimed, picking up the animal and scratching him behind the ear, the raccoon let out chitters of content as he watched them walk in, close the door, and lock it behind them.
"Why was the door locked but you're still here?" Eugene asked, "I thought the kid brought you everywhere"
"I do", came a weak reply, Ruddigar's ears straightened as he remembered why he'd been the one to answer the door in the first place. Wiggling out of Lance's grasp, he ran over to where his boy was lying, gesturing the group to follow him. They did and all gasped when they saw Varian, who was shivering more but had stayed in bed none the less, Ruddigar was proud.
The raccoon hopped onto the couch and gently stepped onto his boy's chest, curling onto his chest as the Flynn Rider human sat down next to the teen, "holy cow, what happened to you?"
"Oh you know the usual, falling into rivers, almost getting killed by skeletons, and hiking through the forest kinda takes it out of you", the alchemist replied before he started coughing, making Lance back up a bit as Eugene rubbed the teen's back until the coughing subsided.
"Geez kiddo, you sound awful"
"Not as bad as I feel though", he let out a weak laugh before sliding down, "I hate being sick.... Dad fusses over me, I can't do anything, I feel like shit", Ruddigar chittered, "he's not here right now and it's true, both very good reasons to swear", the raccoon raised a brow at him, Varian raised a brow back
"And you're sassier than ever", Eugene added
"I call it rebellious, but yes", the alchemist stated, letting out a few more coughs before groaning
Rapunzel, who was sitting on the arm of the couch, looked around, "where is Quirin anyway?"
"He went to go ask Adam if he could watch the farm for a few days so he could take care of me, he left Ruddigar in charge while he was out, it's only been a half an hour, he'll be back soon"
"Ah", all three guests stated
"Well, we were going to just pop by and say hello, but I don't want to leave you like this", the princess stated
"Rapunzel you don't have to spend your day with me, dad'll be back soon and it's not much will happen while I'm sick"
"Who says I came here to be entertained?"
The teen looked up at her, "don't you have other plans? I don't wanna get in the way of them, plus you could catch this"
"So? Then we'd be sick together!" She stated happily
"You're stuck with us now, you know that right?" Lance stated, "once you said you were sick, it was all over"
Varian smirked, "some part of me knew"
Eugene stroked Ruddigar's fur, "so what are the rules?"
Varian cleared his throat, than in a rough, low, gravely voice he stated, "if your butt leaves this couch for any reason by the time I get home, no alchemy for an undermined amount of time because I am dad and I do not wish for you to have fun!" He coughed a bit, then looked at Eugene, "I am sentenced to this couch till the end of days"
Rapunzel and Lance laughed as Eugene stifled a chuckle, "you know he's only doing that to help you rest right?" He stated, smiling as he did
"I know, I actually feel a little bad for him, I gave him kind of a hard time.... I just hate being sick, but I know that's not his fault...." He looked down at the blankets, he felt ashamed for how he'd acted earlier, all his father wanted to do was help him feel better, and he'd been rather nasty to him
Lance smiled, "hey look, your dad loves you, even if you gave him a bit of a hard time, he probably understands and is gonna walk through that door more with a smile on his face because he'll be happy you stayed on the couch while he was out".
The little alchemist looked up, "you think so?"
"Buddy I know so, if I were your dad, I wouldn't care if you gave me a hard time or not, you're sick, sick brains don't help you make good decisions", the man explained, he then stepped closer and gently ruffled the boy's head, "but if you're really feelin bad, you could always apologize to him"
"Yeah, I probably should", Varian stated, "t-thanks Lance"
"You're welcome"
"Oh, there's a spider on the ceiling, wanted to warn you"
Lance suddenly got as pale as Varian's as he looked up, eyes darting right to left looking for the little arachnid, "w-what did it l-look like?"
"It was black, I couldn't really see it that much, just a tiny dot on the ceiling"
The former thief let out a very high pitched squeak as he pointed, "i-it's right there", he stated, barely above a whisper as he pointed to it, they all looked up to see the tiny black dot Varian had seen earlier now crawling on the wall towards the sick boy. None of them noticed the door open and close as Lance screamed and picked up the little alchemist, who let out a yelp of surprise. "IT'S GONNA KILL US ALL!!!!" The man screamed, holding the sick teen close to his chest as the boy protested.
"L-Lance! Put me down!" Varian stated before he started to cough, the blankets that were over him had fallen off and Ruddigar had gotten tangled in them. Eugene was trying to get Varian out of Lance's arms as Rapunzel tried to help Ruddigar out, all of them stopped when they heard a firm thud hit the wall.
They looked and saw a very aggravated Quirin, who had slammed a cup over the spider and slid a thin piece of cardboard under its legs. He moved the little arachnid over to the window, opened it, and let it free, closing the window again and putting the cup and cardboard down before looking at all of them. Rapunzel had finally gotten Ruddigar out of the blankets, the little mammal shooting out of the blankets and, noticing the larger human was back, ran up his body, got on his shoulder, and chittered to the man about the entire situation, seemingly calming him.
"Quirin, s-sorry, we didn't mean to break in or anything", Rapunzel stated hastily
"We didn't break in", Lance added, "we were let in by the raccoon"
"His name is Ruddigar and could you please put Varian down?" Eugene replied
"Oh! Right", the former thief gently placed the alchemist back on the couch, covering him up in the blankets and backing away slowly as the teen coughed a bit then sneezed
"Bless you", his father stated as he walked over and handed his son a tissue
"Thank you", Varian replied weakly, accepting the tissue and blowing his nose, which had gotten very red at this point
"So uh..... did you have a nice trip?" Rapunzel asked, trying to break the tension
The Village Leader turned to face her, "yeah, it was fine, got a few things while I was out"
"Are you-!"
"I'm not upset, Ruddigar told me what happened, I'm actually glad someone was here to keep my son company, even if it was for a little bit", he stated, "though I don't appreciate someone holding him while screaming about a tiny spider on the ceiling", he raised a brow at Lance, making the man flinch a little, "but I'm willing to let that slide"
"Wait you said you got a few things? Varian said you were just asking Adam to take you shift", Eugene pointed out
"I realize, but Adam gave me an idea", he walked back over to the bag he'd dropped in favor of rescuing his son and the spider, picking it up he smiled and walked back over, sitting down next to Varian and stroking his head, the boy looked up at him, he was paler than this morning and his face was even more flushed, "sorry I took so long"
"It's okay", his son replied, his voice was very hoarse, "oh d-dad about this morning I-!"
"Don't worry about it"
"Huh?"
"I figured you'd feel a little bad about how you acted earlier, you're not really like that and I could tell when I was leaving that you didn't want to end on bad terms", his father smiled, "you're sick, it's okay, Ruddigar told me you stayed on the couch though, thank you". He smiled and kissed his boy's forehead, making the alchemist smile back, "I know I was gone for a bit longer, but Adam gave me some treat ideas that might help with your stomach", he stated, digging through his bag, he pulled out some salted crackers, a couple of lemon and strawberry tarts from Attila's bakery, popsicles, and some tea, "all of these apparently will help your stomach and make you feel better"
"Even the tarts?"
"Well no, not exactly, but he said comfort foods would help your body want more food, and I know you love the lemon tarts, plus we've got plenty of apples and oranges to help you get you vitamin C"
Varian smiled, "thanks dad"
"You're welcome, I'll got put the food away, unless you want some"
The alchemist thought for a moment before smiling, "pumpkin soup?"
His father grinned, "I'll get you some pumpkin soup, with some tea, that'll be a nice combo", he got up and started to walk towards the kitchen before he stopped, "oh", he turned around and gave Varian a book, "I managed to snag a big book on the way back, should keep your mind from being bored for too long yeah?"
Varian turned it over and saw it was a book about herbs and how to mix them together to create potions and such, "ooh! W-where'd you find this?"
"Oddly enough, from the horticulture section, the clerk told me about it and said you may be interested", he chuckled at his son's surprised face and turned, walking into the kitchen to start the soup, giving their guests permission to stay if they wish.
****
"This book is *amazing*! It has so many different things I could try! I didn't even know they grow mint leaves near here! I've gotta find them! They'd be perfect for m-!" Varian ended up having a coughing fit, his face turned bright red as he kept coughing, Quirin handed him another tissue as tears started to fall down his face, he grabbed it and covered his mouth as his father rubbed his back. Once the coughing quieted down, he regained his composure and smiled weakly at his dad, "my goo bombs"
The retired knight chuckled, "I bet they would, but lets see if we can get a little more soup down hm?" he asked before picking up the spoon and handing it to his son
"Ok", the alchemist stated as he took the spoon, he'd been eating the soup slowly so he wouldn't upset his stomach, but he ate all of the crackers and drank nearly all the tea
"Let it be known that you have more of an apatite when you're sick hairstripe", Eugene teased
"Let it be known that my dad's cooking is amazing especially when I'm sick Horace", Varian shot back
The prince gasped in horror, "who told y- you know what? Never mind, Edmund will feel my wrath soon"
"Pretty bold words to say in front of one of his knights, even a retired one", Quirin retorted
"Isn't he technically the prince? Couldn't he demote you?" Lance asked
"That's not how it works", Rapunzel chimed, "for a knight to be demoted he or she would need to lose their honor, from there the head of state would demote them and possibly even have them face public humifaction depending on what the knight, or dame for female knights, would do", she explained, "speaking for Quirin and as a princess, he's a retired knight and one that had immense amounts of honor and loyalty towards the Dark kingdom and the king at the time, thus he wouldn't be acting irrational or with disloyalty if he were to defend his king from the crowned prince"
"Rapunzel's right", Varian replied, swallowing the spoonful of soup he had in his mouth, "there have been several occasions where the prince has overtaken the kingdom from their king's, in which case, a knight's loyalty is tested, depending on who knighted them, they would have to fight on that side", he explained, "if you were to attack the Dark Kingdom Eugene, my dad, and the rest of the brotherhood, should they choose to raise their swords for battle, would have to fight against you since grandpa was the one they swore loyalty to, so, that being said, what my dad just said would get immeasurable amounts of praise and honor whereas you would get scolded"
"Geez, I was joking", Eugene raised his hands in the air, trying to show peace
"We know", Varian stated as he grabbed another spoonful
"We were answering Lance mostly, but Varian is right, you should be careful for what you say, especially in front of anyone who was or is loyal to your dad", Rapunzel added, "though, I don't think Quirin took it that seriously"
"I didn't, but I'm glad we discussed it because it brings up a point", he looked at Eugene, "do you have a person you have in mind to knight? Usually the prince of the Dark Kingdom would've chosen a second in command by this point"
"Second in command?" The prince looked at the Village Leader confused
"A second in command would be sort of like a lady in waiting for a princess", he noticed Varian and Rapunzel flinch a little, "sorry"
"It's okay, she's.... she'll be back one day, I know she will", Rapunzel replied, "and once she does, we'll talk and get this whole thing sorted out"
Varian yawned, his eyes were drooping and he placed the spoon back inside the bowl, "sleepy?" Quirin asked
"Mmm...." was the only response he got as the little alchemist rubbed his eyes
"Looks like the little man needs some shut eye", Lance chuckled, "we'll be quiet while he rests"
"Thank you", Quirin replied as he tucked Varian into the sheets. His son wasn't fighting, he must be extremely tired, taking the wet wash clothe he'd gotten a little while ago and dunking it into the water basin next to the couch, the retired knight placed it gently on his son's head and watched as his little boy drifted off to sleep.
Ruddigar purred to help soothe the boy, receiving scratches behind the ear from Quirin, the man grabbed the bowl of unfinished soup and placed it on the stand next to the couch. He then picked up all the tissues scattered on the floor
"Thank goodness you have gloves", Eugene whispered, making the man chuckle as he placed them inside the waste basket. After all was clean, we gestured for the three of them to follow into the kitchen, they did so and as Quirin slowly closed the door behind him, he took one last glance at his son, who was sleeping peacefully on the couch with his raccoon, he smiled, finally closing the door.