Chapter Text
Of course. Of course the day Legend is getting released from the hospital, Ravio is late .
He’s sure he looks like a cucco with its head cut off, running about the apartment as he gets dressed, shoves some burnt toast in his mouth (courtesy of Warriors), and grabs whatever else he needs. He already brought Legend clothes―but would he need something else? A blanket for the car ride home? He’s stepped in and out of his room twenty times making sure he hasn’t forgotten anything. He checks his pockets (technically, they’re the pockets in Legend’s hoodie but who’s asking), heart stuttering as he fumbles for his keys, but there’s a much bigger concern― where is his phone?
“ Ravio ,” Warriors hisses. His project from last night is still spread across the counter, and the man had woken up about ten minutes into Ravio’s mad dash across the apartment. He’s perched by it now, holding up Ravio’s purple clad phone. “Your dad’s called you three times.”
And now Ravio really, really wishes he’d actually lost his phone. “Oh.” He hurries over, grabbing it. “I’ll answer him in the car. I need to go. Sorry for making so much noise this morning!”
And he’s out. His phone finally stops vibrating for all of thirty seconds before it starts again. Damn, dad really wants his attention today.
Unfortunately, Legend is getting all of Ravio’s attention this weekend.
Ravio slams the car door as soon as he’s in, hooks up his phone, and backs out of his parking space. Soon, he’s on the road, listening to the sound of his phone trying to dial his dad’s.
Yuga wastes no time in picking up. “You could be more punctual.”
“Love you too, dad,” Ravio grumbles. “Look, dad, I’m really busy. I don’t have a lot of time. What do you want?”
“I wanted to remind you that I’m hosting a reception tonight, considering you forgot about my gallery showing last night,” Yuga responds, with that same disdain he talks to Ravio with whenever Ravio does something he doesn’t particularly like.
Ravio had completely forgotten about that. To be fair, he had bigger things to worry about than some art exhibit. “I didn’t know I had to go to that,” he lies.
It’s a big unspoken rule in the Lorule household that you show up to everything , especially when it’s one of Yuga’s events. Ravio has tried to skip them before, and had woken up to his bank account locked for a month. Legend had just about marched up to Yuga’s door to give him a piece of his mind when that happened, and it had only been the combined forces of Ravio, Warriors, and Sky stopping him from doing something that would have intensified the entire situation.
Yuga huffs. “Don’t miss the reception.”
Ravio’s hands tighten around his steering wheel. “But my friend’s in the hospital. I promised to keep an eye on him when he gets out.”
“Your friend’s an adult, perfectly capable of taking care of himself.”
Except Legend has shown multiple times he’s perfectly incapable of taking care of himself when it really matters.
Ravio grinds his teeth. “I can’t just―”
“It was quite embarrassing, you know. Everyone asked about you, and imagine what I had to say when I said you couldn’t make it,” Yuga continues. Ravio practically has this speech memorized by now. “Honestly, if you can’t be responsible enough to show up to your father’s gallery opening, how are you ever managing in school? I ought to just rescind my payments to the school now.”
Ravio nearly crushes the brakes. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“Don’t come to the reception, and we’ll see what I dare,” Yuga answers. “I’ll see you there.”
He disconnects then and there, not even bothering with a goodbye. Ravio spends the rest of the drive trying (and failing) to control his breathing.
If he’s an hour late to being in Legend’s hospital room because of the subsequent panic attack, no one has to know.
Alfon still looks like he knows something happened, and Ravio doesn’t meet his eyes for the entire time they’re there in the morning, waiting for Legend to finally get released.
It isn’t until Legend’s been wheeled out and helped into the car that anyone talks about how quiet Ravio is.
“What’s wrong?” Legend asks tiredly. He’s leaned heavily against the door, looking half-asleep. He’d said he hadn’t slept well during the night, complaining about nurses coming in and out of the room, and he looks the part, nearly overridden by Ravio’s purple hoodie and his blonde hair more unkempt than Ravio has ever seen.
Ravio sighs. “I’m not going to be able to be with you tonight.”
Legend’s eyebrows furrow. “Your dad?”
Ravio nods. “Forgot he had this reception thing tonight.” Ravio decides to not mention the gallery he’d missed―it’ll just make Legend feel guilty. “If I don’t go, he’ll stop paying for my school.”
“He’s a dick,” Legend grumbles, shifting so he’s glaring out the windshield like a toddler having a tantrum.
He coughs into his elbow for a minute, slumping in his seat. He’s still not looking great, but Ravio knows he’ll be better off now that he’s home . As necessary as the hospital was, Ravio knows it’s the last place Legend wants to be, ever .
“Besides,” Legend says, his voice sounding distinctly raspy. “Wars is there, isn’t he?”
Ravio blinks at Legend. “You want Wars to take care of you?”
Legend shrugs. “It’s just a few hours.”
“You yourself said he’s a drama queen,” Ravio remarks.
“Well, he’ll just have to behave himself,” Link answers, with a disturbingly smug look on his face.
Ravio sighs, leaning his head back. He knows he doesn’t have a choice if he wants to stay in school. “ You’d better behave too, Link.”
Ravio is running around again .
Wars thought he’d calm down once Legend was home (he’d passed right out on the couch as soon as they’d walked in, and had only woken up about twenty minutes ago to the sound of Ravio running around), but Wars guesses he’d forgotten just how panicked Ravio’s father can make the usually reserved business student get.
“Are you sure?” Ravio asks again. “I-I’m sure I can figure out something else or―”
“It’s no problem,” Warriors assures him, patting his shoulders. Ravio smells like some sort of fancy cologne―Wars can’t quite name the smell, there’s a reason he’s a fashion student and not a perfume maker―and is dressed to the literal nines , all of his usual purple gone. It looks wrong to see Ravio without anything purple at all. Not even a spec of it on his tie. “You made soup―”
“Not like I’d eat your disgusting ass soup anyways,” Legend grumbles.
Warriors decides to ignore him. “―so we don’t need to worry about food. Besides, I’m sure Legend will just fall asleep. I’ll be out here the whole time working on my project.” He shoves Ravio toward the door. “Now go before you’re late. I don’t trust your dad to not take your car.”
Ravio grimaces. “He would too.” He continues toward the door, pausing by Legend for them to kiss. Warriors is very proud of himself for not making any sort of comment when it lasts too long, but can’t quite stop himself from snorting when Ravio tells Legend, “Be good.”
“ Be good ?” Legend asks, voice raised. “He’s the one who’s a drama queen!”
And of course, because he yelled, Legend begins coughing.
“Says the guy who can’t say a whole sentence without dying,” Warriors answers. “Honestly, whatever will we do with you?”
Legend looks very much like he’s plotting murder. As if to accentuate his point, he throws a pillow in Wars’ general direction. It doesn’t get far, but the threat is there.
“I’m going to go,” Ravio announces, stepping toward the door. “Don’t kill each other.”
“No promises,” both Legend and Warriors call out to him, but the door is already shut and locked behind Ravio.
Legend sighs heavily, tugging his blanket up to his chin and putting his head back down. He curls up, looking very much like a roley-poley. “This is awful.”
“Wow, Ravio hasn’t even been gone a whole minute,” Warriors remarks.
Legend glares again. “I wasn’t talking about Ravio being gone, though that also sucks, for your information.” He takes a moment to cough again. “I’m talking about being sick, dumbass.”
“Don’t you have medicine?” Warriors asks.
Legend groans. “Gotta take it with food.”
“Ravio put some soup by you.”
Legend rolls onto his side, eyeing the bowl like it had personally wronged him. “M’ throat hurts,” he grumbles like a kid, lying his head down. He groans again, lifting one arm up. “Can you grab that pillow?”
Warriors eyes the pillows he’d thrown earlier. “What, and give you more ammunition?”
Legend glares again, waiting expectantly.
Warriors gives him the pillow. “Eat, then take your medicine.” He turns around, sighing. “And you say I’m the drama queen.”
Warriors is satisfied to hear the sound of a spoon clinking against a bowl as he sits back down, going back to his fabrics and needles and thread. This project had been sitting on his shelf for so long―and now it’s nearly due and he needs to get it done by next week. He sighs, and resigns himself to another all-nighter working on this thing.
Legend goes back to lying quietly beneath his blankets, which Ravio had dragged out of their bedroom when Legend fell asleep, curled up. Warriors can hear him sniffling nearly constantly in the background, the sound of it only broken up by the sound of coughing.
Which wouldn’t be a problem―if Warriors wasn’t trying to focus . “Can you be quieter?”
“Sorry I’m sick ,” Legend huffs, and Warriors sees him rub his nose with his sleeve. Gross .
“Use a tissue, you heathen,” Warriors huffs, throwing the box at Legend.
“I’m drowning in them already,” Legend groans. “Think of the environment.”
“Think of the environment in here first and use a damn tissue,” Warriors huffs, tossing the tissue box at Legend. He doesn’t mean for it to hit the communications student in the head, but it does.
“The fuck , Wars?” Legend snaps, but grabs the box where it fell anyways. He still glares at Warriors as he takes one out and blows his nose. He flops back down, letting out a shout as his head hits the arm of the couch instead of his pillow.
“Ooh, did someone say karma?” Warriors asks, turning back to his project.
“I really wish I could kill you,” Legend grumbles.
Blissfully, Legend falls asleep. Unfortunately, it doesn’t last long.
An hour after he falls asleep, Legend wakes with a loud moan, throwing an arm over his face. “Am I dying?”
“You’re not dying,” Warriors sighs, trying his hardest to bite his tongue.
“Feels like I am,” Legend groans. “I think the lights are roasting me alive.”
“They’re not,” Warriors says.
“They hurt though,” Legend says.
Warriors glances Legend’s way. He has his arm thrown across his face, looking like some over dramatic character from a period drama. All he needs is a floofy dress and he’d be playing the role perfectly.
Warriors can’t help it when he says, “Aww, does the princess want the lights off?”
Legend raises a middle finger. “If it was so hard for you to take care of me, I should have asked Hyrule to come over. He cares about me.”
Warriors rolls his eyes. He turns off as many lights as he can, and brings out his task lamp from his room to keep working.
Eventually, Legend turns on the TV, evidently getting bored of staring at the wall trying to sleep. Which would be fine―if it weren’t ridiculously loud .
“Can you turn that down?” Warriors asks. “You’re going to burst my eardrums.”
“I’m not the TV,” Legend answers.
“You know what I mean,” Warriors huffs.
“Sorry you’re such an old man,” Legend responds, and when Warriors looks, he can tell Legend is riling him up on purpose . The cheeky smirk says it all.
Well if he wants to play that game. “And I’m sorry you’re so deaf you need the TV all the way up to hear.”
Legend grumbles. “My ears are clogged.”
“You got pneumonia, not an ear infection,” Warriors says.
“ You try having your heartbeat piercing your ear for two days straight,” Legend huffs. “My ears are still ringing.”
“Might want to get that checked then,” Warriors remarks. “Won’t want you going deaf. You won’t be able to hear my beautiful voice then.”
Legend huffs, reaching for the remote. “I think that’d be a blessing.”
Legend turns down the TV.
Three hours after Ravio leaves, Warriors decides it’s finally time to get Legend off the couch. He’s been sleeping on and off for the past few hours, and it’s about time Legend actually gets a full night of sleep.
Unfortunately, upon being told he has to get up, Legend lets out a huge groan. “But I feel like shit.”
“And you’ll feel less like shit if you sleep,” Warriors answers.
“I’ve been sleeping.”
“You know what I mean.”
Legend gives Warriors a long look, and then hides his face under his blanket. Honestly, he’s such a pain when he’s sick.
“Ledge, get up,” Warriors snaps.
Legend doesn’t answer.
“Legend,” Warriors huffs, and drags Legend off the couch.
Legend lets out a startled yelp, scrambling to grab hold to stop himself from being dragged away, but unfortunately it’s too late, and he ends up skewed haphazardly between the couch, the floor, and the coffee table.
“You’re trying to kill me. You’re actually trying to kill me,” Legend gasps.
“Oh dear, I didn’t realize your bed meant death,” Warriors answers sarcastically. He sighs when Legend doesn’t answer, watching as he maneuvers so he’s sitting on the floor instead, head leaned back against the couch. “Come on. You’re already halfway there.”
Legend groans. “One minute. My head’s actually spinning.”
Warriors sighs, and holds out a hand. “Honestly, can’t make you do anything on your own.” He shakes his head, rolling his eyes.
Legend glowers, but lets Warriors help him up and to his room.
11:48 PM. LEGEND: Do we have popsicles?
11:48 PM. WARRIORS: No.
11:49 PM. LEGEND: … can you get some?
11:49 PM. WARRIORS: I’m not your butler
11:49 PM. LEGEND: 🥺
11:59 PM. WARRIORS: Fuck you which kind do you want?
12:02 AM. LEGEND: Red 🙂
12:02 AM. WARRIORS: Fuck you I’m getting blue
12:22 AM. LEGEND: Thanks for the red popsicles you asshole
12:26 AM. LEGEND: You can have one too if you want btw
12:26 AM. WARRIORS: WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN HAVE ONE TOO??? I BOUGHT THEM
It’s nearly one in the morning when Warriors hears Legend calling. The communications student sounds just as horrible as he had earlier, voice so croaky it’s a miracle Legend isn’t ribbit ing yet.
Warriors sighs and gets up, daring to cross the threshold into Legend and Ravio’s room. He’s pleasantly surprised to find it neater than his own, but he knows that’s only because Ravio is a stress-cleaner.
Legend is lying curled up on his bed in a mountain of blankets, popsicle wrapper in his hand.
Warriors stares. “You were yelling for me. Over a popsicle wrapper ?”
“I didn’t want to get up,” Legend answers.
Warriors groans loudly, hitting his head against the doorframe. “I should leave now. Let you die.”
“You would never,” Legend goads.
Warriors grumbles, but Legend’s right. He sighs and stomps over to him, grabbing the wrapper.
“It’s. Sticky ,” Warriors snaps, takes two steps toward where Legend’s and Ravio’s desks are lined up against the wall, and pointedly lets go of the wrapper, letting it flutter down into their trash can. “ Better , your highness?”
“ Very ,” Legend huffs. Then, with a twinkle in his eye, adds, “ Mr. Court Jester .”
“I am not―” Wars begins, then sighs heavily. “If I’m the court jester, you’re a bastard prince.”
“I’m already a bastard, thanks,” Legend answers with a cheeky grin.
Warriors makes a point to shove him on the way out.
“ Ah! He’s tried to assassinate me. For the second time tonight!” Legend gasps overdramatically, rolling onto his back and throwing an arm over his face.
“And I’ll try again if you keep pulling this shit,” Warriors grumbles.
Warriors hears Legend before he sees him.
“Go back to bed,” Warriors says, sending Legend a glare out of the corner of his eye.
“No,” Legend huffs, and flops onto the couch again. He spends a moment coughing miserably, one arm flopped over his brow.
“Are you trying to infect everyone in this apartment?” Warriors asks.
“Come over here and I’ll cough on you,” Legend snaps, and curls on his side.
It’s extremely telling that he doesn’t bother instigating further. Legend absolutely could, and usually would go further. It’s how he and Warriors are .
“Hey,” Wars says, abandoning his project and sitting on the end of the couch. Legend moves his feet up for him to sit. “Are you okay?”
Legend doesn’t say anything, staring listlessly at the back of the couch.
“Ledge?” Wars asks.
Legend sighs, and pulls the blanket up over his face, curling up tighter. Slowly, Warriors reaches out and rubs one of his legs.
“Nightmare?” Warriors guesses.
Legend hums an affirmative.
“... was it about her ?” Warriors asks softly.
Legend peeks out from the edge of his blanket, blonde and pink hair frizzy from being underneath it. He shrugs, not looking at Warriors.
“What was it about, then?” Warriors asks.
Legend curls tighter. “‘M worried ‘bout Ravio,” he says instead. “It’s late. What if― it’s a fancy party. He was drinking―what if he―” He breaks off with a cough for a minute. “―what if he doesn’t come back?”
“He’ll be fine.” When Legend doesn’t look particularly convinced, Warriors sighs, and lifts his arm. “Come here. We’ll wait for him together.”
Legend wastes no time in laying his head on Warriors’ lap instead, letting Warriors run a hand through his hair. Warriors quietly turns on the TV. He sees Legend’s eyes flitting between the movie and the clock.
“Sorry for ‘bein a pain,” Legend says suddenly, his voice small.
“You’re not a pain,” Warriors answers, rubbing his shoulder. “If anything, I am. Sorry for giving you shit.”
Legend tugs his blanket closer to his chin until only his head is visible. “You had your project you had to work on.” He presses his face into Wars’ leg. “What a horribly timed cold. Ravs had that stupid party, you have your project―”
“Hey,” Wars says. “The project is my fault. I was putting it off for a while. And you know the party is Yuga’s fault.”
Legend grunts. “Wish I could punch that asshole.”
“I know you do.”
“I hope I killed him in another life.”
Warriors sighs. “I’m sure you did.”
Legend looks particularly proud of that. The expression doesn’t last, however, because very quickly exhaustion settles across his features, and he slowly falls asleep on Warriors’ lap.
Warriors sighs, leaning back to enjoy the movie, one hand staying on Legend’s arm. His project can wait another day.
Ravio sighs heavily, running a hand through his hair. It had of course begun snowing on the way home and of course, no one ever knew how to drive in the snow and had gone five under the entire half an hour drive.
He didn’t mean to be gone this long. He hopes desperately that Legend’s okay.
He hurries to the front door, fumbling with his keys and stepping in, kicking off his shoes and throwing his jacket off to the side. He’ll pick them up in the morning―Legend is more important now.
“Hey,” a voice says through the darkness and Ravio jumps.
A lamp turns on a second later, and Ravio sees Warriors rubbing sleep from his eyes.
“Is everything okay?” Ravio asks automatically, heart fluttering. If Legend got more sick again…
“Wow. Where’s the hello, how are you, Wars, after dealing with my boyfriend for the past few hours ?” Warriors teases. He shakes his head. “You’re fine,” he assures, then nods to the space next to him. “He just fell asleep. Trapped me here.”
Ravio hums, stepping around the couch and, oh . Legend is curled up, head resting on Warriors’ lap. He’s starting to stir thanks to the light, and blinks tiredly for a moment.
And then he jumps up. “Ravs!”
Ravio smiles gently. “Hey. Sorry I’m late. It started to snow and―”
And Legend is hugging him now, grabbing him tight around the shoulders. Legend’s still warm, not as warm as a few days ago thank goodness, but Ravio has a feeling this isn’t from his fever.
“Missed you,’ Legend says softly. “I was worried.”
Ravio hugs back. He can worry later. “Missed you too.” He draws away, though Legend follows by a half-step. “How about we go to bed?”
Legend rubs his face, gathering his blanket from the couch. “Sure.”
Ravio grins, and as he and Legend head to their bedroom together, he smiles back at Warriors. “Thanks, Wars.”
“You’re welcome,” Warriors calls. “And fuck you, Legend.”
Legend sticks his tongue out, and Ravio tugs on his arm to get him into the bedroom. Legend comes, snorting at whatever face Warriors had made.
Yeah, Legend’s going to be just fine.