Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a clear, cool morning in the forest, and the rays from the sun were shining through the windows of every building there was. At Toothy's house, Toothy was in his room sleeping in his bed. However, some of the rays from the sun reached his eyes, causing him to open them slowly. At first, he turned over, trying to avoid the sunlight. He didn't want to wake up. He was feeling too tired, but it slowly occurred to him that it was already morning.

With that, Toothy sat up in bed and rubbed one of his eyes with his hand. Suddenly, he felt an intense tickling sensation in his throat, so he raised his hand to his mouth and cleared his throat quietly. Not much of an effect, so he just groaned and removed his hand. He then sniffled, without even knowing what he was doing, and then rubbed his nose with his hand.

Toothy really wasn't feeling like himself this morning. The night before, he was feeling fine, but felt quite tired and decided to go to bed early. For most of the night, though, he couldn't sleep. When he finally fell asleep, it was about a few minutes to midnight, much later than when he usually went to bed. He didn't think this was why he wasn't feeling so good, but he wouldn't have been surprised if it was.

A mild itching sensation formed in his nose, causing it to twitch mildly. He could feel it happening, so he sniffled again. As he couldn't feel any air entering his nostrils, however, that didn't work. He rubbed his hand under his nose several times, trying to stop it from itching, but it just made it worse. His nostrils started to flare up slightly. He was going to sneeze.

"Aah... Aaaaah..." Toothy tilted his neck back slightly. He didn't want to sneeze, but he could feel the itch in his nose getting worse and worse with every passing second. And he already wasn't feeling good, so he figured that he didn't have much of a choice. Toothy held his hands over his mouth as he tilted his neck as far back as possible. "Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh... AaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAH--"

"CHOOOOOOoooooooooooo!" He doubled over as he sneezed into his hands, coating them with his spray. It wasn't enough to stop his nose from tickling, so he kept his hands in front of his mouth and let another sneeze out. "AHHHH-CHOOOOooooooooooooooo!"

That sneeze, however, was more satisfying than the one before it. Toothy sniffled somewhat loudly as he pulled one of his hands away from his face, and wiped his nose on his arm. His nose felt like it was running, but he remembered that he had a small box of tissues on the end table next to his bed. He turned to the end table, took the box of tissues and placed it in front of him. He sniffled again before he took one of the tissues and and held it to his nose. Before he could blow, however, he sneezed again.

"AAAAAAAAH-CHOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo!" Toothy sneezed hard into the tissue that he was holding. The sneeze was at least forceful enough to expel a good amount of mucus, however. Deciding he didn't need to blow after all, he then sniffled and wiped his nose on the tissue. After that, he balled up the tissue and placed it on the blanket over him.

Despite having sneezed and blown his nose at the same time, the beaver's poor nose was still feeling itchy. He sniffled as he rubbed his nose with his arm. He tried sniffling more forcefully, but as he did, the mucus that was in his nose ended up in his throat, causing him to cough several times. The short fit ended as he sighed to himself, sniffling a bit more mildly than before.

"Ugh. I dod't feel good..." Toothy placed his hand on his forehead, cringing internally from the hot, burning sensation. He must have been running a fever. He removed his hand from his head and tried clearing his throat again, but it didn't work. "I thig I bight have a code."

Toothy then lowered the blanket over him, and slowly stepped out of bed. A numb sensation surged through his legs, as though they had fallen asleep. He started to walk out of his room, but stumbled a few times along the way. By the time he had reached the door, his nose had started itching again.

"Aaaaaaaah...!" Toothy brought his hand up to his nose and rubbed, trying to stop it from itching, but it didn't work. "Aah, aaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHH--" He tilted his neck really far back, lowering his hand as he did so. He could tell that this was going to be a much bigger sneeze than the last two he had released.

"CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

Toothy doubled over as he released an uncovered sneeze, which released a good amount of saliva and a good amount of clear mucus from his nose. Upon recovering from the sneeze, his forefinger snapped to his dripping nose, rubbing repeatedly. He tried sniffling again, but his nose just kept running.

He pushed the door open and headed over to the bathroom. Along the way, he kept rubbing his nose on his finger, not caring as the phlegm oozed onto it. When he finally arrived at the bathroom, he opened the door and walked in, stumbling into the sink as he did.

Toothy turned on the light, causing the lamps on the ceiling to flick on. He took a tissue from the box on the sink and started to blow his nose, but before he could, he needed to sneeze again. This one must have been from the light that had gotten in his face.

"AaaaaaaAAAAH-CHOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo!" Toothy made sure to release the sneeze into the tissue, mostly to keep any more mucus from pouring out of his nose. Upon recovering, he raised the tissue to his face and blew his nose loudly. Some of the mucus was cleared from his nose, but it was still feeling runny for a few seconds, so he wiped it several times before he threw the tissue into the trash can.

Toothy continued to sniffle several times as he turned on the sink and washed the saliva off his hands. By the time he had dried them off, his nose had stopped running, but it was now pretty stuffed up. Not as messy as when his nose was running, but no less annoying. Toothy tilted his neck back as he sniffled deeply a couple of times, trying to clear his nose, but to no avail. Taking a nearby cup and washing it out with water from the sink, he opened the medicine cabinet and took out a bottle labelled "cold medicine."

"Maybe this'll help me feel better..." he thought to himself.

He filled the cup halfway with water, then inserted one of the pills from the medicine bottle into his mouth. He then drank the water, hoping it would help him swallow the pill. Once he had finished with it, he gasped a few times, then closed the bottle and set the cup back down on the sink. He then turned off the light and walked out of the bathroom.

On his way back to the bathroom, Toothy's nose started to twitch again. But he knew what was going to happen, so he just accepted his fate. He raised one of his hands over his mouth.

"Aaaaah... AaaaaaaaaAAAAH--" He tilted his neck back twice, and then sneezed into his hand. "AHH-CHOOOOOooooooooooo!"

Toothy sniffled a few times as he pulled his hand away from his mouth, and then rubbed his nose on that same hand. He continued towards his bedroom, and once he had arrived, he crawled back into his bed.

He took a tissue from his tissue box and used all of his strength to blow as hard as he could, but it was no use. His nose just stayed stuffed up, and the blow ended up making him need to sneeze, again.

"Aaaaaah... AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Toothy shot his neck forwards as he sneezed again, a small amount of saliva blasting out of his mouth. He then sniffled again, rubbing his nose on his arm. He tried blowing his nose again, but his nose just stayed stuffy. He lay down in his bed, sniffling a few times.

"Dow I dow how Lubpy feels whed he gets sick..." he muttered to himself. He turned over, continuing to sniffle as he tried to go back to sleep. Given how stuffy his nose was, though, he was pretty sure it wasn't going to be easy.

Chapter Text

Later that day, Cuddles was hanging out at the park. He was just relaxing, listening to the birds and the chatter of Generic Tree Friends around him. Suddenly, however, his cell phone rang, so he took it out and checked who was calling. It was Toothy, so Cuddles answered.

"Hello?"

"C-Cuddles?" Toothy replied on the other line. His voice didn't sound much better than it had that morning.

"Hey, Toothy, what's up?" Cuddles asked.

"Actually..." Toothy gave an audible sniff. "I dod't feel so good..."

"Oh, really?" Cuddles became a bit concerned. "What's wrong?"

"I've cobe dowd with a code," Toothy said. He cleared his throat a little and continued. "Do you thig you cad cobe over ad take care of be?"

"Oh, sure, Toothy," Cuddles said in concern. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Th-thadk you..." Toothy then hung up.

Cuddles put away his phone, then got up, pulled out his skateboard and rode it on the way to Toothy's house.

Toothy was still laying in his bed, not feeling any better. His throat was still feeling sore, his head was pounding, and his nose was a bright red shade. As he waited for Cuddles to arrive, Toothy sniffled, coughed and rubbed his head a few times. The final action wasn't making his head feel any better, but he didn't care. He just wanted to feel better. After a couple of minutes had gone by, Cuddles finally arrived and knocked before he opened the door to Toothy's bedroom.

"Hey, Toothy," Cuddles greeted him. "You alright?"

"N-no..." Toothy said with a sniffle.

Cuddles opened the door completely and went over to Toothy. "You don't look so good, either."

"I dow." Toothy's nose suddenly twitched, a sign that he was going to sneeze. Knowing what was about to happen, Toothy turned away from Cuddles and tilted his neck back. His hands moved up to cover his mouth. "Aaaaah... AaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAH-- CHOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooo!"

Cuddles winced a little as Toothy doubled over with his sneeze. He then removed his hands and sniffled as he rubbed his nose with his arm.

"Ugh, sorry..." Toothy apologized.

"No, it's fine. Bless ya," Cuddles replied.

"Thadk you." Toothy blushed as he continued to rub his nose. Aside from the occasional "Gesundheit," hearing Cuddles bless anyone after they sneezed was a rare thing, but Toothy was happy to have heard him say it.

Cuddles placed his hand on Toothy's forehead, but it was feeling warm. "Yep, you got a fever," Cuddles said.

"I cad tell..." Toothy said as he sniffled again.

"Don't worry, buddy," Cuddles said reassuringly. "You're gonna be just fine."

"Thadks, Cuddles..." Toothy gave a weak smile. "I ab so happy you agreed to do this for be."

"Anything for you, Toothy," said Cuddles with a smile. "If there's anything you need from me, just tell me."

Toothy sniffled in response. "I guess I'd just like sobe water, please..."

"Alrighty, then." With that, Cuddles left the room to fulfill Toothy's request.

Toothy stayed in his bed, sniffling once again. His nose had started running a bit, so he rubbed it a few times. He could tell it wasn't helping, however; his nostrils had started to flare up slightly. Toothy pulled his hand away from his nose and tilted his neck back, about to sneeze again.

"Aaaaaaah... Haaaaaaaaahhhhhhh... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--" What followed that final inhale was the kind of sneeze that Toothy almost never released, followed by another one of the same flavor. "--CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!"

"Ugh!!" Toothy rubbed his runny nose several times with his forefinger as he sniffled wetly. He then reached over to his tissue box, grabbed a tissue and blew his nose loudly. He then groaned as he wiped his nose with the tissue, looking embarrassed about himself. And the next thing he knew, Cuddles was walking back into the bedroom with his water.

"Whoa! Bless you!" Cuddles was looking and sounding surprised. He must have heard the two loud sneezes.

Toothy blushed even more as he continued to wipe his poor nose.

"Um, excuse be..." He blew his nose again, for a brief moment this time. It wasn't much relief, so he kept wiping his nose. "I didn't dow I was godda sdeeze that loud."

"It's alright. I just didn't know, either." Cuddles walked up to Toothy and handed him the bottle of water he had asked for. "Here's your water."

"Th-thadks." Toothy took it, opened it and drank some of the water. It felt cool and soothing as it made its way down his throat. When he finished, he sighed.

"Anything else?" Cuddles wanted to know.

"I'll... let you dow..." Toothy replied before he had some more of his water.

Cuddles nodded in understanding, but stayed in the room with Toothy. He could tell that this was going to be a long day for the two of them.