What if Road caught a head cold?

It was just an ordinary day in the house of the Noah. Tyki sat in a chair, reading a book; the twins sat on the couch, watching a gory action movie; Road sat next to them, scribbling down answers for homework as she partially watched the video.

On the screen, another explosion went off, sending several men flying through the air in all directions. The twins burst into hysterical laughter.

"Look at them fly!" Debbito cried, gasping for breath.

Jasdero held up his gun, pointing it at one of the characters that was on the screen. "Him next! Him next!"

"No way," Debbito argued, shaking his head. "No, the nurse is next. Definitely. She's screwed!"

"Him! Him!"

"Will you two shut up?" Tyki shouted from where he sat on the other side of the room, looking up from his book to glare at the back of the boys' heads. "Honestly, why do you have to spend every evening watching that trash?"

"It's the funniest shit on television," Debbito explained. "You'll see. Just watch."

It was silent as everyone in the room stared at the TV, where a young nurse was running for cover into a small office. Inside waited a gunman, who immediately shot several times.

Bam! BAM! BAM!

"I told you!" Debbito laughed proudly. "That bitch had it coming."

Tyki rolled his eyes. "Watching humans killing each other is not amusing."

Debbito spun around, ready to argue, but Road's sudden and loud sneeze cut him off. He cringed, turning his gaze to her. "Don't spit all over me!"

"I didn't!" she snapped, turning back to her homework. As she wrote, she began coughing.

"Ew! Germs!" Jasdero sang, sliding away from her on the couch. "Road is nasty!"

She stuck her tongue out at the twins. "I am not! All I did was sneeze once…once…" She let out another sneeze, quickly turning away from the boys.

"You're killing the mood," Debbito snapped, pointing to the TV. "Keep it down, will you? Otherwise, get lost."

"I can go wherever I want to!"

"Then go! Go away!"

She ignored him, opening up another textbook to begin reading. Tyki turned back to his book and all was silent except for the screams and gunshots coming from the television and the twins' laughter.

Road bit her tongue, feeling another sneeze coming. She turned away, hoping she could muffle the sound so the twins wouldn't bother her.

"Ah-cho!"

Debbito rolled his eyes. "Ugh, will you go do your homework somewhere else, you boogery bitchface?"

Jasdero laughed. "Boogery bitchface! Boogery bitchface!"

"Hey!" Tyki shouted, not bothering to look up from his book this time. "Knock it off!"

Debbito turned back to Jasdero, smirking. "It had a ring to it, didn't it? Boogery bitchf-"

"Debbito!"

He groaned, turning back to the TV.

Road collected her books in her arms, storming out of the room. "Fine. I'll go study upstairs." The twins began applauding.

Road stomped her way over to the staircase, a sour pout on her face. Tyki glanced up from his book.

"Road," he called, making her pause at the foot of the stairs. "Are you sure you're all right?"

She shrugged. "I'm probably just cold. Thanks anyway." She turned and skipped up the stairs two at a time.

---

No one was surprised when Road woke up with a head cold the next morning. She lay in her bed, too tired to get up, with a terrible cough and a running nose.

"Here," Tyki said, holding up a thermometer to her mouth.

She stared at it strangely. "What the hell is that?"

"It's going to tell if you have a fever or not."

She rolled her eyes. "You and your human toys." She opened her mouth, allowing him to place it underneath her tongue. After a moment, he took it out again, staring at it.

A frown crossed his face. "Oh, Road, your temperature is 101 degrees. You have a fever…"

Road shrugged. "I still have to go to school, though. I have a test I can't miss today."

He placed his hands on her shoulders, pushing her back down onto the bed. "You can make it up. You're not going anywhere today."

She cringed. "Come on, Tyki. One day of school won't kill me."

He ignored her, standing up and walking towards the door. "Don't move," he warned her, exiting.

Tyki walked into the kitchen, searching through the cabinets for any kind of medicine. Debbito and Jasdero, who were eating their breakfast, glanced over at him curiously.

"What're you doing?" Debbito demanded.

"Road's got a fever," he explained, slamming the last cupboard shut. "Damn, we don't have any medicine. Well, I can't leave the house! I have to stay with Road." He glanced over his shoulder at Debbito. "Why don't you go pick something up for her?"

He rolled his eyes, laughing. "Yeah, right. I'm not wasting my time like that."

Tyki glared at him. "It's the least you could do after being so rude yesterday."

Debbito exchanged a glance with Jasdero. "I was just teasing her…"

"Go get the medicine," Tyki said in a strict tone, heading back for the stairs. "I have to go make sure Road's all right."

Debbito rolled his eyes, taking the last bite of his cereal. "Well, this sucks."

"It sucks donkey ass."

"No, this is definitely mongoose ass."

"Mongoose, then."

Debbito groaned, standing up and storming to the door. "I guess I don't have much of a choice. I'm off!"

---

Twenty minutes later, Debbito returned from the pharmacy, some sort of strange purple medicine in his hand that the pharmacist had recommended for Road's fever. Skin Boric glanced over at him as he entered the house.

"That looks sweeeeet…" he sang, staring intently at the bottle as Debbito passed by.

"There's no way I'm giving this to you after the hell I went through to find it," Debbito snapped. "After I walked through the rain to the pharmacy, I had to wait in line for ten minutes while some old guy bought half the store…" He continued to grumble about it as he stormed up the stairs, dripping water onto the floor as he went.

Tyki cringed when Debbito walked into the room, water dripping from every part of his body. "Why don't you dry off before walking through the house?" he complained, snatching the bottle.

He rolled his eyes. "Jeez, I went through all that trouble and I don't get so much as a 'thank you, Debbito'. I hope the medicine makes it worse," he sneered, storming out of the room.

Tyki groaned as he began pouring the medicine. "Idiot."

---

The next morning, Debbito woke up with a terrible head cold, which he had caught while walking in the rain. Unfortunately, Skin Boric had already drank all the medicine.