#!sickrickybowen

[rickybowensfever]

"Great. A Cold on My Birthday" (Ricky Bowen) - Sicktember 2024

IT'S HERE!!!! And it's over 2k words. So for my fellow Ricky lovers...you're welcome.

Here is sweet, sneezy Ricky on his birthday. Poor Ricky! Also sorry E.J. but you *can* be a gullible. We still love you. 😍

Sicktember 2024

"Great. I Got a Cold for My Birthday"

The Sniffles

AO3 LINK @sicktember

*SET AT CAMP SHALLOW LAKE*

“LET IT GO” S3, EP8 of HSMTMTS (REIMAGINED)

Ricky Bowen woke up on his 18th birthday feeling congested as hell but he was not going to let a little cold stop him.

 He sat up in bed, his nose tickled and he let out a wet sneeze. “Aah-tschieww!!”

“Gesundheit” Carlos said, looking up at his sneezy friend.  Ricky muttered a thank you, pulling the covers off of him and swung his legs over his bunk to face his friend. 

“Great. I got a cold for my birthday” Ricky announced with disappointment in his hoarse and nasally voice.

Carlos scrunched his face at him, “Maybe you should go to the nurse,” he suggested. Ricky’s eyes bulged, jumping down from the bunk. He sniffled, “No way, dude! It’s opening night. E.J. will kill me if I’m–” Ricky paused, unable to say the word. 

“Sick” Carlos added, finishing his friend's sentence. “No, no, no. It’s just a cold. I’m perfectly fine” he said feeling another tickle in his nose, “Aah-tschieww!!” he leaned into his elbow, catching the sneeze.  

“Bless you. Right…Maybe a hot shower will help?” Carlos suggested. “But make it quick, we have to get over to The Barn for the final run-through.”

“Good thinking!” Ricky replied. As Carlos gathered his Olaf costume, he rooted around his bag with first-aid supplies including a packet of tissues and Vicks Vapor Rub. 

Then a familiar brooding voice chimed in, “You might be able to get around E.J. But Val will smell you from a mile away. She’s like a hawk” Jet added looking at the two boys, wearing all black as usual. Ricky shuddered, forgetting about his other roommate. 

“What…do you mean?” Ricky answered, slowly. Jet was right. E.J. could be gullible. So he shouldn’t have a hard time hiding this from him, but if Val was on high alert, he was doomed. The show would be ruined as well as his birthday. 

“Val is a super sleuth. She can smell a sickness before it’s even coming” he said, his voice low and mysterious as if he were telling a ghost story, “A few summers ago, when some of the cast for The Music Man got food poisoning, she knew the minute it happened. Last year, she sent home a girl with pink eye during auditions for Annie. You can’t get anything past her” Jet said, shrugging his shoulders. 

The mysterious boy walked toward the front door and wished his roommate “good luck” as he disappeared out of the yurt. 

Carlos walked over to his curly-haired friend as he gathered his shower essentials out of his duffle bag. He tapped him on the shoulder, startling the boy. Ricky jumped in place and turned around to face his friend. 

When he looked down at the gifts, Ricky grinned.

“Happy Birthday, Ricky” Carlos said, handing him the sick supplies.

 “Thanks, Carlos,” he croaked, his voice hoarse, giving him a side hug. 

The two parted ways, Carlos to The Barn for rehearsal and Ricky to the showers. He grabbed his towel, clean clothes, and toiletries, hoping and praying that no one saw him. 

Ricky tried to hide himself from any friend he saw which wasn’t as easy as he thought it’d be. As he walked, he hid behind trees and bushes, trying to hide himself from his fellow Wildcats. 

As he walked closer to the showers, he saw Ashlyn walking right toward him. The fortunate part of being at camp was the trees. They made great hiding spots. As he stood behind a tree waiting for Ashlyn to pass him, he started to sniffle. “Nooo”, he groaned at the thought of sneezing again. How was he going to make it through the day unscathed when he was drowning in mucus and his nose wouldn’t cooperate. 

Ricky groaned loudly. “Oh, Ricky! There you are” Ashlyn said, looking at her friend with a puzzled look as he stood by the tree pinching his nose. 

“Happy Birthday!” she exclaimed giving him a big toothy grin. 

He tried to hold in the sneeze which was successful at first. He sighed of relief, “Ahh” feeling the sneeze pass. Unfortunately, the sneeze crept back up without warning. 

“Hnn'gtt!!” Ricky caught the sneeze in his elbow, pulling out one of Carlos’ tissues. 

He sniffled, “Thanks, Ash. Allergies, right?” he said laughing nervously, trying to play off his symptoms casually. 

Ashlyn was quiet for a moment, noticing his pink nose. Maybe he should be playing Sven tonight… 

Ashlyn was healthy as a horse. “Nope, not me!” she answered, patting him on the back. “See you later!” she said, walking off toward the girl’s yurts.

Ricky sighed, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Today was going to be difficult and his chest was starting to hurt. 

Carlos was right, a hot shower did help. His congestion had subsided for now which was going to help in convincing everyone he was perfectly fine. He wore his Kristoff costume which consisted of a dark pom-pom hat, a long sleeveless tunic with a long sleeve dark gray thermal shirt underneath paired with black pants and winter boots. Despite it being 92°F outside in sunny California, Ricky shockingly felt warm and cozy. 

He cleared his throat, puffed his chest out, and fixed his posture, then walked into The Barn with a brave face on. Everyone was rearranging furniture, transforming the small space into a suitable arrangement for friends and parents to come watch their children perform their role on stage. Luckily since everyone was preoccupied, the attention would be off of him for the time being.

Ricky walked over to Gina who sat on the edge of the stage holding a piece of paper, mumbling to herself. 

“Because she’s my sister!” she enunciated.

Ricky furrowed his eyebrow. “Hey G,” he said, standing next to her with a big grin on his face.

Gina put the paper down beside her on the stage. She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at Ricky, suspiciously. He was acting strange, she thought. Ricky was a chipper guy but to her, it seemed today, he was playing up his positive vibe.

“Hi” she said hesitantly, furrowing her brow at him.

“Ready for the big night, Anna?” he said playfully elbowing her in the side. Gina laughed, cracking a big toothy grin at him.

Moments later, E.J. stood by the stage shouting to get the room’s attention. Ricky held his ears at the sound as it felt like the boy was screaming in his ear. “I don’t think that was loud enough” the curly haired boy teased, plugging his ears which were beginning to ache.

His stomach dropped, anxiety fluttering in his chest as Val came and stood beside the director. Ricky got up and walked to the back of the clutter of people, to hide himself from Val as much as he possibly could. As everyone began to move and get to their places, Ricky couldn’t help but feel on edge.

Finally, it was Ricky’s turn to rehearse for "Kristoff’s Lullaby", his solo. He cleared his throat and crossed his fingers, hoping that his body would cooperate for the duration of the song. He grabbed his acoustic guitar, strummed the strings by the sound hole, and began to sing.

♪ What is this hollow kind of helplessness I'm feeling? ♪

♪This type of terror is new ♪

♪And, the fact that I can hardly breathe is now revealing ♪

When the chorus came, that is when all hell broke loose. His voice cracked as he tried to reach the high note, but his scratchy throat wasn’t doing him any favors.

Ricky’s chest tightened as E.J. started to bark at him, “Ricky, this is not what we rehearsed! You’re not supposed to sound like there’s a frog in your throat. This is Frozen” the taller boy flailed his arms in the air in disappointment.

Ricky frowned, holding his throat and stood up. “Why don’t we take 5?” Val intervened. She stood for a moment staring into Ricky’s eyes. This gave him goosebumps. He shuddered and turned his back toward her.

As he and his castmates were backstage taking a breather, Val worked on calming E.J. down. Ricky sighed loudly, relived to be out of the spotlight. He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Gina with her long-braided hair in Anna’s winter costume.

“Hey, are you feeling okay?” she asked furrowing her brow. “Yeah, yeah. It’s just allergies” he said clearing his throat and wincing at the discomfort. He tried to brush it off with a grin but seeing Gina frown, he knew he was doomed.

“Ricky, you have to tell somebody” she said cocking an eyebrow at him, placing a hand on her hip and stared him down until he confessed.

Ricky shrugged, “But the show!” he whispered, his voice cracking as he spoke.  “I’m sure you can still do the show. Why don’t we go and ask Val?” Gina suggested. Ricky immediately put his hands up in defense. “No way” he cried, envisioning the worst outcomes.

If what Jet said earlier was true, Ricky would be saying goodbye to his friends and fellow campers. Ricky started to feel sad as he thought about packing his bags and going back to Salt Lake. During his daydreaming, he completely missed Gina pulling him by the arm and over Val and E.J. who sat next to each other on the chairs for tonight’s audience doing breathing exercises.

“Hey guys. Ricky, how’s that cold?” Val asked, smirking at the curly haired boy. Ricky stood dumbfounded. Jet was right.  “How did you—what?” he said frantically, stumbling over his words.

Val stood up and placed a hand on Ricky’s shoulder, “I have eyes everywhere” she told him. Ricky gulped in terror. “It’s just allergies, really!” he tried to reassure her, flailing his arms in the air to prove he was “healthy.”

 His shoulders slumped as she nodded in disagreement.

What came next didn’t help Ricky’s case. A big ole’ sneeze escaped from his nasal passages.

“Haa'ekkSHIEW!!” Val stood in front of him holding out a tissue which he grabbed, blowing his nose hard.

“Don’t worry ‘bout me, guys. I’b fide! It’s just by dose, by ears, by throat, by chest” he explained in his nasally voice, as E.J. pulled up a chair for him to sit in.

Val kneeled on the ground making eye contact with him. “Ricky, I know it’s your birthday” she began. The barn erupted in chatter all wishing him a happy birthday. Ricky waved, thanking everyone and looked back at Val. “But you’re clearly not 100%. So, I have a proposition” the barn grew quiet as they awaited the girl’s next words.

“You have to go to the nurse with me, get some medicine and some rest. Then, you can perform tonight. But these are the conditions” she explained. Ricky frowned. His list still wasn’t fully complete. He checked the pizza off yesterday at Camp Prom but he was missing a lottery ticket, still.

Finally, as he thought about it, he was surprised Val wasn’t shipping him off on the next bus home.

“Fide” he muttered. “The show bust go od. Ab I right guys?” he announced to crowd. Everyone erupted into applause mixed with laughter.

Val stood up and gestured Ricky to follow her. He complied holding the packet of tissues in one hand and walking out of the barn doors following her lead.

When he got back to the yurt, hopped up on cold medicine, he raised his arms and yawned. The nurse checked his temperature, it was normal. That was a relief. But his sore throat, congested nose, aching ears, and headache confirmed it was indeed a cold.

“A cold on my birthday. Pssh” he mumbled in frustration as he slipped out of his costume, storing it away for that night and changed into joggers and white shirt and dozed off to sleep.

He woke to Carlos shaking him. “Ricky! Wake up! Curtain call is in 20” he said. Ricky woke up groggy, his throat was hurting, and his head pounded. He pulled himself out of bed slowly and walked over to his bag, grabbing his costume and leaving the yurt quickly with Carlos.

When they got backstage, it was dark and quiet. Ricky thought this was strange as Carlos had informed him about curtain call. This close to curtain call, everyone was usually pretty frantic. But maybe they did things differently at Shallow Lake than at East High?

Ricky shrugged and walked closer looking for a light. He turned on the light and jumped, dropping his costume as everyone surprised him. All of his cast mates and Wildcats including Big Red and Miss Jenn smiled big. “Happy Birthday, Ricky!” they shouted, cheering. The room was filled with balloons, streamers, and there was a cake sitting on a lone table.

Ricky sniffled, standing there in disbelief. All of the sudden commotion had him winded. He began to catch his breath and walked over to everyone giving side hugs and thanking them.

Maybe this wasn’t an awful birthday after all.

[rickybowensfever]

Sicktember - Ricky’s Doctor Visit

 Part two of What If Ricky Missed Auditions?

Read on AO3

#Sicktember prompts 

Doctor’s Visit/Check Up

Contagious

CW: Lack of appetite

By Friday, Ricky felt awful. He had a pounding headache, his throat was raw, excruciatingly sore and his fever lingered from the day before. While his Dad was calling him out of school for another day, he texted him. 

R:  can you take me to the dr? 

D: Sure!!

Ricky sat in the cold office. Fluorescent lights flickering. He wore a pair of sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt. He was shivering even though he just took another dose of medicine before he left the house. Talking was becoming unbearable as the pain in his throat got worse with every word he made out. 

“Ricky Bowen?” the nurse called out. 

Ricky nodded as he heard his name and walked back with the nurse to an empty room. 

“So, Ricky, what’s going on?” she asked, with a laptop resting on her lap. 

“My throat. Is. Sore” he said, hoarsely. Almost rolling his eyes at her questions. His throat hurt so much, he’d rather not talk. But, he knew that was impossible. 

“Right. Okay. And, when did that start?” she asked. 

“Wednesday” he muttered, wincing as he talked. 

 After what felt like a million questions, the nurse exited the room until the doctor came in. 

The door opened and a tall, brown man in a white coat came into the room. 

“Hi, Ricky! I’m Dr. Martinez” the man said, taking a seat where the nurse sat. 

Ricky answered the same questions he just told the nurse. He felt annoyed having to repeat himself especially when his throat was on fire. 

The man examined his eyes, nose, and finally, his throat. 

“Ah, I see. Well, I’m going to run a strep test. Is that alright?” he asked. 

Ricky nodded. Sure, whatever would make him get out of here faster and make his throat hurt less. 

The doctor came back with a white stick incased in plastic. He opened the plastic and revealed the thin stick. 

“This will be a little uncomfortable, but it’ll be quick” he explained, holding the instrument up in the air. 

“Open” the doctor instructed. Ricky opened his mouth and the doctor swabbed his throat. Ricky coughed, groaning from the pain. 

“Be right back!” the doctor said. 

Ricky yawned. God, he was so tired. He just wanted to go home and go right back to bed. 

Minutes later, the doctor came back. 

“Hi, Ricky. The strep test came back positive,” the doctor said, “I’m going to write you a prescription for some antibiotics, and I can write you a doctor’s note as well. You’ll probably be back at school in about 5-7 days. I’ll consult with your Dad on when the note should be good until” the doctor explained to him. 

He quickly wrote on a white sheet of paper and handed it to him. 

“Here is the prescription. You can give this to your dad and I’ll walk you out” the man said.  

Ricky nodded. “Thanks,” he said, raspy. 

“Sure thing! Feel better” he said as they walked into the waiting room. 

“Mr. Bowen, a word?” the doctor said. Mike got up from his seat to greet the doctor. 

“Dr. Martinez, nice to meet you,” the man said, and continued to fill his Dad in on everything. 

 Ricky sat in the waiting room until his Dad finished talking. “Alright, let’s get this prescription in and I’ll take you home to get some rest. Then, I’ll go pick it up later. You might want to give Nini and Miss Jenn a heads up. Sorry, bud” his dad said, feeling bad for his son. 

 Ricky was relieved when the car drove into their driveway. He quickly unbuckled his seat belt and slowly walked up to his room. 

“I’ll bring up some more of that pain reliever and maybe some soup?” His Dad asked his son as he was halfway up the stairs. 

Ricky turned his head, nodding at his Dad. 

“Sorry, I know you’re in pain,” he said, “Get some rest, and I’ll keep the soup on the stove for later” 

Ricky nodded again and finally made it to his bed where he curled up under the covers and fell asleep. 

 His phone was blowing up when he woke up. His room was dark. Ugh, he must’ve been asleep for hours. 

N: hey babe, any news? 

N: hope you’re resting, love you <3 

Wildcats GC 50 Unread Messages

 His throat was raw, the pain medicine from earlier clearly wore off. Ricky dreaded having to tell his friends and Nini that he was too sick for auditions. It was Friday. Usually, he was going to Slices with Nini and meeting their friends there for their Friday night plans - playing board games and watching movies on Netflix at Ashlynn’s. 

Ricky took a deep breath. He took his phone, tapped Nini’s messages opening them on his screen, and started typing away. 

R: gonna miss auditions 

R: i have strep 

Nini was probably already at Ashlynn’s, rehearsing for tomorrow. So, while he waited for his phone to buzz, he attempted to get out of bed and get his antibiotics. 

He slowly walked down the stairs, hearing the TV playing. His Dad was watching college baseball. Trying to be as quiet as possible, his Dad inevitably heard him. 

“Hey, Rick! I got your medicine and there’s some soup on the stove. Medicine is on the counter” 

“Thanks,” he said, his voice hoarse.  Ricky took the white bag from the pharmacy and pulled out an orange bottle with his name on it, reading the directions, he took one large pill chasing down with water. 

His appetite was non-existent. But, he knew he had to eat something. He clicked on the stovetop where the pot of soup was sitting and stirred it with a spoon, waiting for the heat to kick on. 

Bzz. 

 N: Aw, that’s not good :( I’m sorry! I’m at Ash’s and everyone says to get better!

N: Let me know if you need anything! Love you <3

R: thx but strep is contagious, i don’t want you catching it 

N: That doesn’t mean I can’t drop something off at your house :)

Ricky smiled softly.  He was so excited for auditions when Miss Jenn announced it. Though, he would’ve preferred HSM 2. He was more prepared for that, anyway. However, since he auditioned and was the lead for High School Musical, he really enjoyed singing and dancing - and now it was being taken from him. 

Well, I guess that’s what he got for trying to miss his Math test.