In Sickness, Health, and Stealth
Pairing: Outlaw!Roy Harper x fem!reader
Summary: In sickness and health. That is what he'd promised, and he'd make good on it. Though, he'd need to add stealth to that list, since the both of you are on the run yet again.
CW: talk of sickness, fever, unconsciousness, death, maybe OOC
WC: 1.67K
Leche's Note: Hi all, so sorry for the long break from this event!! I've been struggling a lot recently with personal issues + mental health, but I've missed interacting with everyone!!! Hope you all like this, bc there's more outlaw to loverboy roy to come!! Also, thank you @that-dumb-bunny for the request!! I loved it :3
In sickness and health. That is what he'd promised, and he'd make good on it. Though, he'd need to add stealth to that list, since the both of you are on the run yet again.
The Sickness had taken too many from town already. Roy knew, inevitably, it would finally strike you both too, in that little safehouse of his by the countryside. But when disaster hasn’t yet hit you, you believe you have all the time in the world. And now, he knew disaster had finally hit his own home, too.
It started with chills. You’d brushed it off, laughing softly about how he was taking this too seriously, that this would end soon. But soon never came, for you slowly slipped deeper and deeper into the clutches of the sickness, and farther and farther away from his hope.
So, he gathered you up, and ran. It was the only thing he knew how to do, really—run from all his problems, the law. Everything but you. So, he’d do what he does best, and hope that whatever gods existed would keep luck on your side.
Bundled up against the cold, he holds your cheek to his shoulder, shuddering softly while making sure you were as warm as he could physically keep you. His arm’s wrapped around your middle, the other tugging at Gingersnap’s reins, steering you both towards whatever nearby clinic he could find.
He should’ve suspected his efforts would be futile, for nothing ever does work out in his favor. Not until he’d met you, at least. Was that why he’d been so trusting you’d be okay? Or was that his sheer desperation speaking? He wouldn’t know.
Stopping by the small shack farthest from town, he drops to the ground, carefully bringing your bundled, sleeping body close to his, holding you up bridal-style while he trudges through the thick snow.
“Hey, doll. Ya gotta wake up, ‘kay? C’mon darlin’, stay awake for me.” He rasps, voice hoarse from disuse, and pats your cheek with his free hand, trying to force you awake again. You stir slightly, but it’s not enough. Your eyes won’t open, and you shudder, face buried in his neck to seep whatever warmth he had left in him.
“Please, doll, please. I’m beggin’ you.” He whispers, walking over to the nearest physician he can find, begging them to take you in. The first few refuse, but one agrees, and the sliver of hope is enough he needs to not collapse on the spot. Watching as you’re set down, cooled with a damp cloth, and made comfortable, some relief fills him.
Sitting down beside you, he holds your hand tightly, whispering prayers under his breath to gods he barely believed in. While he wouldn’t consider himself a religious man by any means, it was the only thing he could do apart from pulling his hair out that could ease the anxiety threatening to spill out of his being.
His hands squeeze yours, growing tighter when you show no signs of responding, even as hours pass by and the physician has already given you medicine thrice. What would he do if you didn’t wake up? He couldn’t bring himself to consider it as a possibility, even as the physician tries reasoning with him, seeing how cold it is outside, and how feeble you’d become in the span of mere hours.
But everything comes to a head an hour later, when some of the sheriff’s men come sniffing around the shack, holding up wanted signs of his face, asking around the sickly patients and staff if they’d seen him.
His heart drops. He could leave, and stay safe, but it would risk your life. He could stay, and he’d lose you anyways. This had to be a cruel game fate was playing with him this time, or better yet, a nightmare he could wake up from. But no matter how many times he pinched himself, he couldn’t feel himself awakening.
To make it worse, you groan softly, sweat beading your brow, making his hand instinctively wipe it away with his thumb. He washes your lashes flutter, your mouth opens briefly before swallowing thickly as though your throat were coated with honey, and for a moment, he feels time still.
It all comes back when he hears voices asking if they’d seen him, though. And in the heat of the moment, he makes a decision, one he’s sure will cost him. But he’s willing to do anything, if only to keep you safe.
He had a vow to make good on, after all—in sickness and health, right? Well, he’d be adding stealth to the mix, but it only makes the game of life more fun, doesn’t it? That’s how he wants to look at it.
Picking you up, he tosses your limp body carefully over his shoulder, using his cloak to hide you both from view before bolting out the back door, the wood creaking against its hinges, making him cringe and hope that he wasn’t heard.
Running out, he grabs Gingersnap’s reins, mounting the horse at once and steering himself towards the opposite direction, your head against his chest, blankets wrapped so tightly you could be called a mummy any moment now.
“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…” He hisses under his breath, snapping the reins and holding you tighter, hearing the sounds of men scrambling onto their horses and hearing their screams for him to stop echoing in his ears.
But he couldn’t focus on them now. His sole duty was getting you out of here, and finding another physician to help with whatever this sickness was.
The hours blur together, inevitably. He’s been on the road with Gingersnap for god knows how long, his hand pressed against the side of your head, keeping you close. Murmuring soft nothings, he repeatedly kisses the top of your hair, mumbling about how you should get up now, to stop giving him a fright.
“Honey…please. Please, I’m beggin’ you, and you know I don’t do that. If you don’t get up, I’ll go mad. I know you’d call me that anyways, but I’ll take that if it’s from you. C’mon, doll, don’t leave me stranded here. I can’t do this without you…you know that. Please.” He rasps, holding onto your still frame, desperation clawing at his chest.
When he doesn’t even get a slight response, he panics, looking around for any sort of help. But there’s none. Every doctor around here had turned him down, refusing all his money from the risk they’d be taking with the law to help him. To help you.
But when Gingersnap suddenly whinnies, he’s quick to look up, realizing the men who’d been following him were finally catching up. He sighs, and curses under his breath, muttering about bad timing as he grabs the reins with one hand, clicking his tongue for his steed to pick up the pace again.
Heading towards a dense forest, he pauses, glancing up at the damp, dark scenery around him. This place would give him enough cover from those lawmen, and he’d be able to focus on what really mattered—you.
So, in the quiet of the trees surrounding you both, he stops, and dismounts from Gingersnap, patting the horse’s flank and tying her to a tree branch, before trudging off with you in his arms to go start a fire.
Sitting down alone with you against a tree, a small fire started, he’s finally able to breathe again. You’re so close to him, yet so far away. Far enough to make him feel like he was truly alone in the world, save for your quiet, shallow breaths.
It’s at that moment that the dread finally hits, wondering if you’d ever recover. What if you never woke up? Never smiled, or laughed, or mocked him? How could he live without you? He’d repeated his vows to you countless times already, joking about how he needed to practice them for the big day. But now? He may never get the chance to make it come true, to say it to you when it matters.
He doesn't know if he could live with that idea. If such a reality came true, would he be able to handle it? To live without you? He doubts it.
Glancing down at your face, he cups your cheeks, his breath fanning your face as he whispers one more time, hoping that, if he were close enough, you would be able to hear him, despite your raging fever.
“Please. Please, you know I need you. Without you…I can’t see a future for myself. So wake up. We still need to get married, don’t we?” He says finally, eyes brimming with tears, his red hair drooping over his forehead, looking crestfallen.
To his shock, you stir. Barely, but it’s there. Choking on a breath, he pulls you impossibly closer, hands on your face as he taps you awake, soaking in the way your face scrunches up before relaxing in recognition, eyes glazed over with fever as you wake up.
You’d woken up. Seven hells, you’d woken up. Gasping, he buries your face in his chest, immediately bringing you into him, barely able to hold back sobs of relief at the sight of you waking up.
At the feeling of your hands clutching his shirt, confused, he struggles not to cry, looking back at you, with the most grateful expression you’ve seen from him. He looks relieved, no, more than that—like he’d been blessed by the heavens, just because you’d come out of your unconscious state.
“Roy? You…okay?” You ask hesitantly, hand coming up to cup his cheek, a weak smile forming on your lips as he immediately leans into your touch, before bringing you into a sharp kiss, sickness be damned.
When you pull back, his eyes shine with unshed tears, and he barks out a laugh, which comes out more as a wet sob. “I am, now that you’re here.” He says, sniffling and wiping your tears away with his thumbs, pulling you back into a tight hug, as if to confirm you’re really here.
Everything else could be a problem for later, because right now? With you? Nothing else mattered. Not when he’d finally gotten back his lucky charm.
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