Yay! You guys are amazing! Really, where would I be without your encouraging reviews? Here, have a cupcake! (Hands everyone a cupcake) I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. As much as I love fanfiction, I have a real life too, but now I'm back with the next chapter! Remember ... means a change in POV.

Disclaimer: I don't own Animaniacs and no profit was made off this story.

Chapter 6: Hiding Something

"Please Wakko, just try," Yakko pleaded, pushing the juice box in Wakko's direction.

Wakko turned his head away from it.

"I'm not thirsty," he said, trying to stand his ground, but the attempt was ruined by an abrupt coughing fit.

Yakko was beginning to lose his patience. Wakko refused to drink anything, and as if that didn't scare Yakko enough, Wakko wasn't eating anything either. Wakko Warner. Not hungry. Could those four words even be in the same sentence together?

That's it, the apocalypse has begun, Yakko thought grimly.

"Wakko, please..." Yakko said, trying to keep his growing impatience leveled down.

"No. I'm not thirsty," he said again, breathing heavily with every word.

"Wakko," Yakko said in a hard tone, "If you don't drink you'll get dehydrated. If you get dehydrated you'll have to go to the hospital where they'll give you fluid through needles! Is that what you want?" Yakko yelled.

Wakko's ears drooped and his gaze fell upon his covers in shame. He reached out with a shaky hand and grabbed the juice, taking a sip. Yakko's annoyance was replaced with pity for his younger brother. He hated seeing him like this. Tired and barely able to stand on his own two feet. It broke his heart. Usually, Wakko was the most energetic out of all of them, always running or jumping with a goofy smile on his face. Wakko being in this state was unnatural.

Yakko sighed and ran a gloved hand through Wakko's hair, which was damp with sweat.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you," said Yakko in a much calmer tone.

"It's not your fault," Wakko muttered as he sat the juice on the table next to his bed. "I-I'm the one w-who didn't listen," he shivered.

Yakko pulled the blanket over Wakko and smiled at him reassuringly.

"Don't worry, you're forgiven. Just, try drinking more, okay?"

"Okay..."

"I'm going to go talk to Plotz, but I'll be right back," he said.

"Yakko, I'm fine," he said, getting tired of Yakko constantly hovering over him.

Yakko sighed and reluctantly left the room. He didn't want to leave, but he knew Wakko was annoyed at him for hanging over him all day. Wakko just wanted to be alone for a while. Besides, Yakko had to call Plotz back anyways. When he had called him before, saying that they couldn't come today, Plotz had gone into a rant about how children aren't responsible and blah, blah, blah. Yakko hadn't gotten the chance to tell the angry CEO about Wakko's condition, so he just hung up on him. Maybe he was calmed down by now.

"Hello Plotz, it's Yakk-"

"Yakko! You get down from that tower with your siblings right now and do your job!"

Or maybe not.

"Mr. Plotz-"

"How can we make money if we have no cartoons! I don't want your stupid childish excuses either!" yelled the short CEO from the other line.

"Wakko's sick," Yakko said simply into the phone.

"And you- wait, what?"

"We're not there because Wakko's sick. Okay T.P.?"

Yakko was expecting a nice 'Oh, I hope he gets better,' but no. Plotz, sounding even more enraged, began hollering into the phone once again.

"Well it's your responsibility to take care of yourself and your crazy family! But it looks like you couldn't even do that much! I swear, you three are impossible!"

Yakko sighed and shook his head.

"It's not nice to swear T.P. Anyways, I see that this is gonna be just like the last conversation I had with you, so I'm gonna go."

"Don't you dare-"

Yakko hung up the phone before Plotz could finish. He headed towards Wakko's room and put his hand on the knob, but then hesitated.

"Yakko, I'm fine."

Yakko remembered how Wakko had said it, like he didn't want Yakko in the room with him at all. It hurt a little, but Yakko could understand. He let go of the doorknob and walked towards the kitchen instead.

I'll give him some time to himself. Just a little bit.

Meanwhile...

Wakko hated it. He hated being sick. Toons usually never got sick, and he was no exception. He wasn't used to it. Everything hurt, but that's not what bothered him the most. What bothered him the most was that everything hurt at the same time. If it wasn't the burning in his throat it was the pounding in his head or the aching in his limbs. How could humans put up with it more than once? Did humans have to put up with overprotective older brothers too?

Why do my arms hurt so bad?

Wakko had been wondering all day now. His whole body ached, but his arms hurt the most. He couldn't even really explain the type of pain he was feeling. It just hurt to move them at all, and if he did it was like being stuck with a million needles at the same time. He hadn't told anybody about it, not even Yakko. If he did, he knew Yakko would freak out and take him to the hospital. He really didn't want to go to the hospital. He had been there before when Yakko had broken his leg while shooting one of their episodes, and it was horrible. It's like a white prison.

A white prison, like that lab I was in.

Wakko shivered.

His head snapped up when he heard a knock at the door. He immediately regretted his action because it only made his head throb more. He assumed it was Yakko at his door, come to hover over him once again, but he was slightly shocked when he saw Dot poke her head through the door. She saw he was awake and looked kind of guilty. Wakko wondered why. He wanted someone to talk to, really he did, he just didn't want to constantly be asked how he was feeling or the last time he went to the bathroom. Who wants to answer a question like that?

"I'm sorry. I'll leave," said Dot suddenly.

"No wait! I mean, please? I want someone to talk to," Wakko said in a hoarse voice.

Dot smiled and ran over to his bed, sitting on the edge.

"How ya feeling?" she asked.

"I'm feeling tired of Yakko."

"Constantly hovering over you?"

Wakko sighed.

"Yep."

"Well, I didn't come in to ask you when you last ate. I just came in to talk to you."

Wakko smiled brightly at her, or as much as he could anyway.

"Thanks," he said.

There was an awkward silence for several minutes, until Dot broke it.

"What's it like to be sick? I mean, I've never been sick before."

Wakko shuffled his feet a little beneath the blanket. How was he supposed to answer? It sucked! No, she would want a better answer than that.

"It's really weird. Your hot and cold at the same time and everything hurts. It's not fun," he said.

She smiled sympathetically at him.

"I can tell."

...

Dot lay next to Wakko on the bed, his head resting on her shoulder. He had fallen asleep not long after their conversation. She was just relieved he was getting some rest. She was really worried about him. She placed a hand on his forehead and was stunned at how warm he was. His whole body was emitting heat from fever. She could see a slight redness in his cheeks and his chest moving up and down with every shaky breath he took. She frowned when he whimpered in his sleep.

He doesn't deserve this. He's already been through enough.

She saw his body become tense, but then relax again. He grinned a small grin as he slept and his breaths became a little more even. Not much, but it was better than nothing.

Dot studied him as he slept. He looked a lot like Yakko without his hat, except his head was more rounded and he had a little bit of hair sticking up from the top. It was weird seeing him without his hat, like a big part of him was missing. She sighed and rubbed his arm gently, but pulled away when she saw him wince.

That was weird.

Dot shrugged.

She heard the doorknob turning on the other side and her heart stopped. She wasn't supposed to be in the room. Yakko had told her earlier to leave Wakko alone and let him rest.

I'm so dead.

Dot thought about it.

It was worth it. It was worth it to talk to Wakko. Besides, we just got him back, does Yakko seriously think I'm just gonna sit back and not talk to him? I'm sure I can get out of whatever punishment he has planned for me. I'll just use my big eyes. He can't stay angry at me when my big eyes are on.

Yakko opened the door and Dot looked up at him innocently. He didn't look mad at all though.

Yakko just sighed and smiled at her.

"I knew I couldn't keep you out," he said.

She giggled quietly, as to not wake her sleeping brother.

"I just wanted to talk to him," she whispered. "You know, ask him normal questions, not questions about the last time he peed."

Yakko's face turned red, but then he relaxed again.

"Well sister sibling, it's crucial to know things like that when-"

"Save it nurse Yakko, I don't want to hear it. I understand you're just worried."

Yakko motioned her out and she reluctantly left Wakko's side, carefully moving his head from her shoulder to the pillow.

"He'll be ok, you know," Yakko reassured her.

She looked back to the room.

"I hope so."

The next morning...

"Ow..." Wakko moaned as he woke.

He had tried to stretch out his arms, as he does every morning, but found it extremely painful. He gritted his teeth as he moved one of his arms onto his lap. He needed to see why they hurt so bad. Yesterday they were bothering him, but he could still ignore it, now though, it was unbearable. He kept himself from crying out as he moved his right arm to his left, pulling up his left sleeve. He always wore long sleeves. Of course he didn't always where a turtleneck, that was just on his show, but he did like it. Now he was reconsidering it. He looked down at his left arm and gasped at what he saw. He was suddenly flooded with emotions, mostly along the lines of confused and frightened. There were strange white blotches all over his arm, like some of the ink had been drained from him.

What's going on? What's happening to me?

Wakko heard a knock at his door and frantically pulled down his sleeve. He pretended to be asleep when his door opened. He could tell it was Yakko by the sound of the steps. Yakko was tall, so he took bigger steps than him and Dot. He could feel Yakko's eyes on him and he did the best he could to act asleep. He really hoped Yakko was buying it. He didn't want to have to lie to his brother about something being wrong, because he knew he wouldn't be able to. Wakko became relieved when he heard Yakko leave the room and close the door. He waited a few minutes and let out a breath. He looked up. No Yakko in sight.

I can't tell him.

Wakko knew if he told him, Yakko would flip his lid. He didn't want to put Yakko and Dot through all that trouble. He would hide it. Yeah, he could do that. He'd hide it until it went away.

It will go away. It has to.

Wakko lost his train of thought when his stomach rumbled. He hadn't been eating much, and he was Wakko Warner! It was only natural that he'd be hungry. As much as he hated doing it, he forced himself out of bed, being careful not to move his arms much. He stood up and began to see the room spin. He steadied himself on the edge of his bed. His head began to pound as he staggered out of his room and into the kitchen. He could've just called Yakko to get him some food, but he was tired of laying around in his room.

"Wakko? What are you doing out of your room?" asked Yakko, hurrying over to his staggering brother.

"I-I'm hungry," he said, nearly falling to the floor.

Yakko frantically reached for Wakko's arms to pull him up, but when he grabbed them, Wakko's yelped in pain. Yakko instead grabbed Wakko underneath his arms, confused by Wakko's scream, but still focused on getting his brother into the chair.

"Wakk? You alright?" he asked, reaching for Wakko's arms so he could see what's wrong.

"I-I'm fine!" Wakko yelled while quickly pulling his arms away, which startled Yakko.

"Wakko? What's wrong with your arms?" he asked, half worried and half suspicious.

"Nothing! I-I mean, nothing..."

Yakko continued to eye him suspiciously.

"If it's nothing, then let me see."

"No."

He's hiding something.

"Why not? I just want to see, and if it's nothing then it shouldn't be a big deal, right?"

Wakko shuffled his feet nervously.

"Um... well, I... um..."

"Come on Wakko. You're worrying me. Just let me see." Yakko took a step towards him.

Wakko jumped up from the chair and staggered backwards a little as he became very dizzy. He grasped the side of the table to catch himself.

"Wakko, just let me-"

But Wakko didn't hear anymore. His eyes fluttered shut and his legs gave out from beneath him.

Everything went black.

Wow. Sorry the update took so long. I'll try to be quicker with the next one. See ya next chapter!