The Journey Into Us

Pairing: Hiccup X Toothless
Rating:
M for Mature

Disclaimer: I do not own anything HTTYD-related.

Chapter 57

=Normal POV=
(Thursday, 5/14/2020; 8:00 am)
(Barbarchi City, Archipelago)
(Hunter's House)

The night had been peaceful after Hunter and Trayden cooked dinner together, and Trayden even ate a little. It was a child-size portion with one meatball and light on the sauce, but he ate something and Hunter was happy Trayden could keep it down. The two cleaned up their meal, put away leftovers, and did the dishes together before sitting down on the couch for a movie until 10:00 pm when Trayden started to fall asleep on Hunter's shoulder. The two hugged and Trayden went off to bed as Hunter locked up. That was it for Tuesday night. Wednesday brought more concern as Trayden woke up late again, definitely feeling achy and had a fever of 101.8. Trayden also admitted to having a headache and still feeling tired. Trayden did try to eat something light for breakfast, and less than fifteen minutes after, he was feeling a tad nauseous. It was decided to leave food alone, stay on water, and continue resting. Hunter did report to Blake how the morning had gone, and promised to keep him updated while Trayden was sleeping.

Unfortunately, the afternoon wasn't any better and Trayden began experiencing a light cough and runny nose. Hunter felt like it was maybe Trayden just had a cold, but around 7:45 pm, Trayden said his throat felt sore and the coughing got worse. Trayden stated his head was pounding and that it felt like a migraine. Also, to Hunter's dismay, Trayden's fever rose to 102.5 and that was with meds in his system. Hunter was slowly losing hope of it being something basic. Trayden ended up going off to bed at 9:00 pm after taking more medication. Hunter only stayed up until he heard from the show workers; he did work on Wednesday, but not as long and really for the group dances. Hunter did two or three solo routines when Trayden was taking a bath or resting in his room because he just couldn't handle the noise or lights. When the night was over, Hunter shut things down in the house and went off to bed.

Hunter was up at 7 am and went about his normal routine for the morning. Now, at 8 am, Hunter was exiting his room to make coffee and figure out breakfast, but a sound hit his ears as he reached the kitchen. Someone throwing up and it obviously wasn't him, so it had to be Trayden. Fear shooting through Hunter, he quickly went to the bathroom, seeing that the door was closed and the light was showing under the door. Calming himself, Hunter knocked on the wood.

"Babe?" Hunter asked, hearing hard coughing and heavy breathing on the other side. "Tray?" Hunter knocked again, a little louder than before. After a bit more coughing, slight panting, and a groan, then a whimper, Hunter heard the toilet flush, following by the sink water going. Hunter heard Trayden spit a few times, then take a few breaths before the water turned off. Hunter took a step back from the door as It opened revealing Trayden to him and Hunter could already see that it was time to consider getting a test for the Coronavirus. "Are you okay?" Hunter caressed Trayden's cheek. "I already know you aren't feeling any better," He added.

Trayden sighed a bit and looked down. "I couldn't get comfortable last night, I've been up since 3:30 feeling nauseated and congested. Little bouts of chills and throwing up." Trayden leaned against the door frame. Hunter felt his forehead and cheek, frowning.

"You're burning up, babe…" Hunter said. "I think it's time to call your doctor,"

"He's just gonna tell me to stay on fluids and rest…" Trayden mumbled.

"Or tell you to get tested for Covid-19." Hunter stared at him. "I know it's not what you want to hear, Tray…But you have to consider that this is day three and your symptoms have only gotten worse…And everything you're experiencing is listed as a symptom of the Coronavirus. The only thing I haven't seen is shortness of breath, and with your asthma, even being that it's rare, I don't want to be trying to figure things out when you're struggling to breathe because I don't think your inhaler would help…Please?"

"Okay…I'll call my doctor and get a test scheduled…" Trayden gave in.

Hunter breathed out in relief. "Thank you," Hunter pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek. "Want to take a shower or come relax on the couch?"

"Think I'll take a shower, and more meds…Then I'll call my doctor." Trayden closed his eyes, Hunter saw him hiccup twice.

"Babe?" Hunter asked, but then Trayden suddenly jerked and brought a hand to his mouth before turning back into the bathroom and throwing up in the toilet. Hunter didn't go into the bathroom, but was respecting Trayden's privacy as the man was rushing and the door didn't close all the way. Hunter heard Trayden cough and spit, he was breathing hard. "Can I do anything to help?" He tried.

"Not really…" Trayden groaned and before Hunter knew it, he heard Trayden throw up again. It sounded like he was struggling to catch his breath and it was only scaring Hunter more. And before Hunter could ask anything else, he heard Trayden puke again, then spit and whimper almost.

"Tray…This is starting to scare me," Hunter informed from outside the door.

"I-I'm…O-Okay…" Trayden panted before nearly throwing up again. Hunter peered through the door and saw Trayden sitting on the bathroom floor, trying to catch his breath and clearly in pain.

"Can you breathe?" Hunter questioned. There was a pause and as Hunter was going to ask again, he heard Trayden coughing, gag, and throw up again.

"I think you need a hospital…" Hunter stated.

"No…I…Don't want to go…" Trayden said quickly.

"And I don't want to see you pass out or go into an asthma attack…" Hunter urged. "Babe…" Hunter said as Trayden looked up at him when he heard the door open more to see Hunter standing before him. Hunter knelt down and held Trayden's hands with his. "You're burning up, fatigued, sore, constant headache that feels like a migraine at time, congested, runny nose, no appetite, nauseous, and vomiting. Medicine isn't working to keep these symptoms down, and back to the no eating…You haven't had anything since Tuesday night," He reminded as Trayden sighed, looking down with his eyes closed. "I'm scared that you got exposed on Saturday when you went to the store and that's why all of this has come in in such a short period, and I feel like it's going to get worse."

Hunter raised Trayden's head up a bit and look in his eyes. "You know Covid-19 takes a toll on people with underlying health problems, and you do have asthma, baby. This isn't something you want to mess around with and push to the side…Right now, you're just taking the abuse of being sick without knowing what's causing it. And if we know…Maybe we can get the right stuff to help you. Please? Please let me call someone to get you that help? You know that if you have the virus, I'm automatically exposed and while I feel totally fine, I still have to be under quarantine. So we either need to call your doctor and figure out how to get you tested…Or call paramedics to take you to the hospital, where they have antibiotics and stronger meds that could maybe take some of this away…I'm scared, and I don't want to lose you,"

Trayden caved and nodded to him. "Go get my phone off out of the room…You can…" Trayden paused feeling the vomit come up, but then went down again and he panted a little. "You can call my doctor's office and I'll give my verbal consent for you to speak on my behalf…"

"I'll be right back," Hunter reassured before he got up and went to leave the bathroom.

"Hunter…" Trayden said and Hunter stopped, looking back at him. "C-Can you dim the light down in here?"

"Of course," Hunter turned the dial to the lights down to dim the room for Trayden, but left him some to still be able to see. Hunter went into Trayden's room and grabbed his phone off the charger, seeing on the lit up screen that he had missed messages from all their friends and a couple from Dexter, Natalie, and both parents. Ignoring it, he went back to the bathroom. "I have your phone, babe," Hunter handed it to him.

Trayden set it in front of his face, and the screen unlocked before he handed it back. "Under contacts, there's one labeled Doctor Lund's Office. When you get the automated menu, press two…Once the front desk picks up, just tell them your name and that you're calling on behalf of me. They'll say they need written or verbal consent from me, and then just give me the phone to tell them…After that, they'll work with you," Trayden explained, taking deep breaths to try and keep the nausea down.

"Alright, babe. Sit tight," Hunter nodded before he went to follow the instructions that Trayden gave him for calling the doctor.

. . .

(8:45 am)

"Okay, thank you so much," Hunter said into the phone after spending the last thirty minutes explaining things to the desk worker, then the doctor about Trayden. "Have a good day. Bye," Hunter pulled the phone down and ended the call. Hunter took a breath before going to Trayden's room, knowing his boyfriend had eventually taken a shower and went to lay down in his room after giving verbal consent for Hunter to speak on his behalf. Getting to the door of the spare room Trayden was in, Hunter knocked lightly. "Tray, babe? Are you awake?"

There was a little grumbling, then rustling. "Yeah. You can come in," Trayden finally said. Hunter opened the door and went inside, seeing Trayden laying on the bed, somewhat upright because of the congestion hitting hard if he laid flat. "How'd the call go?" He wondered

"Well, the receptionist felt it was worthy of putting me on hold to talk to your doctor. So she managed to get him and I relayed all the same information before he decided that you do need to go get a Coronavirus test. You have too many symptoms, plus the underlying condition of asthma, to ignore finding out for sure with how fast it came on," Hunter explained.

"So when do I have to go for it?" Trayden asked.

"Because you're high risk, he's trying to get it for today at the nearest location. He said he'd fax over the information once it was set." Hunter said softly.

"Okay…" Trayden mumbled.

"How are you feeling right now?" Hunter inquired, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Shitty…" Trayden replied tiredly.

"Your doctor said that he'd prescribe some antibiotics and possibly have you go back to your breathing treatments to lessen the chance of an asthma attack. But I believe he said that was only if you do test positive." Hunter told him.

"Great." Trayden sighed.

"It's precautionary, babe," Hunter reminded. "It's for your health, and I won't forgive myself if something happened to you under my care."

"I know…I understand and don't hold it against you," Trayden tried to adjust to get comfortable. Hunter checked his forehead, then cheek again.

"My poor baby," Hunter leaned over to give him a light kiss on the forehead. Just then, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Hunter pulled it out and glanced at the screen. "Huh…Don't recognize that number," He blinked, then answered the call before putting it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Is this Hunter Forger?" Asked a voice.

"Speaking," Hunter replied.

"Oh, good. Hi, sweetheart, it's Rachel Raseri," Hunter's eyes widened a bit as Trayden looked at him, arching a brow in confusion. Trayden mouthed a 'who is it' and Hunter said back, 'your mom'. Trayden blinked a few times, clearly wondering what she wanted and why she was calling Hunter, so Hunter went and pushed speakerphone.

"H-Hi, Mrs. Raseri. How are you?" Hunter questioned.

"I'm good, dear. How about yourself?" Rachel inquired.

"I'm doing fine, just…Tidying up the house and preparing a few things for tonight's show," Hunter answered. "Uh, out of curiosity…How did you get my number?"

"I won't keep you too long then. Oh, and we got it from Gregory. We had exchanged numbers the night of my birthday party," Rachel informed. Hunter almost facepalmed. "I called to ask if my son is okay. His friends, siblings, father and I have been trying to message and call him, but there's never an answer." Rachel wondered. Hunter looked at Trayden now, asking silently what he should say. Trayden closed his eyes, sighing silently. It looked like he was just going to talk instead, but then he covered his mouth and scrambled out of bed to get to the bathroom. Hunter heard that door shut and sighed, he knew he couldn't lie to Trayden's parents. They were obviously trying to reach him and Dustin could probably get information about his kids easy.

"He's…Not feeling well," Hunter finally said.

"How unwell?" Rachel questioned and Hunter did pick up the tone of seriousness and concern rising.

Hunter sighed and had left Trayden's room in all that waiting, he went near the bathroom door and knocked a few times just as Dustin spoke to him. "On sec, Mrs. Raseri…" Hunter said, then moved the phone a bit. "You okay, babe?" He asked gently.

"N-No…" Trayden whimpered a bit.

"What can I do for you that would help?" Hunter tried, hopeful.

"I-I don't…Know…" Trayden answered. "Make the nausea and headache stop…" It almost sounded like he was about to cry, which stabbed at Hunter's heart.

"I'll go check my bathroom and see if I have anything stronger than what you've already tried. Hang tight, okay? Just stay on the water and try to control your breathing. I don't want you to get dehydrated or go into an asthma attack…" Hunter told him, then walked away from the bathroom to get to his room's bathroom.

"Rachel, relax. We don't know anything right now, and your panicking is not going to help the situation." That was clearly Dustin's voice. "Hunter? It's Dustin. Are you still there, son?" Dustin asked.

"I'm here, Mr. Raseri." Hunter responded calmly.

"How sick is he, Hunter? Be honest, please?" Dustin questioned with some worry, be not overly demanding. "Does he have the virus?" There was fear in that question.

"We don't know…" Hunter said truthfully. "His doctor is supposed to be scheduling it and faxing me the information when set," He added.

"Tell me everything, please?" Dustin almost pleaded.

Hunter reached his bathroom and starting sifting through his over the sink cabinet. "The short summary is that he was really tired Monday night and has just progressively gotten worse over the last three days." Hunter stated, checking all of the medications he had and finding that nothing would really help Trayden or it was stuff he already tried.

Dustin sighed. "Symptoms?"

"Monday night, tired. Tuesday morning and afternoon was more fatigue, headache, no appetite. Tuesday night he started feeling sore, chalked it up to being immobile all day with basically sleeping on the couch and managed to eat a child-size portion of spaghetti and meatballs, light on the sauce. Wednesday was fatigue, headache, no appetite, achy and sore, fever over 101. As that day continued, fever rose to 102 felt a little nauseous, sore throat, coughing, runny nose. And today…I found him throwing up around 8 am when I came out of my room. Said he'd been up since 3 am, congested and uncomfortable. He felt like he was burning up when I felt his forehead, took his temp and it was 102.9." Hunter explained, leaving his room to see if he could think of anything else.

"And you called his doctor?" Dustin asked softly.

"Yes, less than an hour ago after Tray had thrown up a few times and I told him that he should. I think the headache is more like a migraine because he can't seem to handle a lot of light or sound. He had me call his doctor, and give verbal consent to talk on his behalf. After I explained things to the desk worker, she had me speak to his doctor, who said the best course of action is to go get a test done and continue to monitor that Trayden doesn't reach a point where a hospital admission could be necessary due to his asthma…And that if Trayden tests positive for Covid-19, he may have Trayden go back on breathing treatments to prevent any asthma attacks, even though it's not guaranteed." Hunter repeated what he'd just told Trayden after speaking to the doctor.

"Have you heard back from the doctor yet on when that test will be?" Dustin wondered.

"Nothing yet, sir. But I only got off the phone with the doctor about twenty minutes ago, he said he'd do his best to get Trayden in for one sometime today under high risk," Hunter stated.

"How is he doing right now?" Rachel whimpered with a little fear.

"Pretty miserable, Mrs. Raseri. Right when you called he ended up running to the bathroom to throw up and now he's just asking if I can find a way to make the nausea and headache stop. Which regrettably, I don't have any medication that he hasn't already tried." Hunter informed.

"Anti-nausea meds?" Rachel offered.

"Tried it. I don't think over the counter ones are strong enough," Hunter replied while sifting through his cupboards. Hunter saw his box of tea and a thought struck him. "But we haven't tried that yet…"

"What?" Rachel and Dustin both asked.

"Tea. Specifically, Ginger Tea. A lot of meds never used to work for me when I got sick either, unless they were hospital level…But Uncle Greg made Ginger Tea once and it worked to settle my nausea…" Hunter said, somewhat to himself as he recalled it. "It would be good for his throat and headache too…" He grabbed the stuff and got to work making it.

"I thought you said it was a migraine," Dustin reminded.

"I said it might be a migraine because of the light and sound thing, but regardless…I'm just considering that maybe the nausea isn't from him being sick, but maybe from the migraine…" Hunter told the Raseri parents. "I'm just trying to find something that might give him a little relief. Not throwing up would keep him from coughing, gagging, and being able to catch his breath…"

"It won't hurt to try. We'll let you go, so you can focus on him…But please, keep us posted about that test date, and when results come in? Or if anything changes?" Rachel hoped.

"You have my word." Hunter vows to them.

"Thank you, Hunter. Tell Trayden we love him," Rachel said.

"I will," Hunter replied, and then after the call ended, Hunter set his phone into his pocket and quickly got the water started for the tea. Hunter only prayed that it would help Trayden, even just a little bit.