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Marco knew Eren was awake when he heard the shifting and coughing coming from the other room. Whatever it was that he was sick with, it was a doozy - Marco had been out of class with it for a week, and had felt positively shitty for a week more, before it had gotten out of his system. Jean and Eren had both managed to last Marco's illness out, only for Eren to catch it from his project partner and Armin's girlfriend, Annie, a couple days later.
Moments afterward, Eren came stumbling out of their shared bedroom, rubbing his eyes and sniffling incessantly, and Marco gave him a look of deepest sympathy. "How are you feeling, honey?" he called from his post on the couch, study materials spread on the coffee table in front of him.
"Shit-tastic," Eren grumbled. When he brought the heels of his hands away from his face, Marco saw he was pouting and that his eyes were red. Truthfully, he looked an absolute mess. "Where's Jean?"
"He went to get some more sherbet and ginger ale," Marco informed him, setting his textbook down to focus solely on his boyfriend. "He should be back any time."
“Does that mean we’re out?” Eren asked, stepping into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator. He brought out the two-liter bottle of Canada Dry and rattled it around a bit, making a satisfied noise when he found there was still some left. He poured what was left into a glass and left the bottle on the counter as he approached the living room. Marco held out his arms in a welcoming gesture. Eren plunked himself into his lap.
Kissing Eren’s sweaty forehead, gently rubbing circles into his back, Marco let Eren’s head droop onto his shoulder and calmly continued reading his textbook, occasionally highlighting what seemed like important information.
“I feel like I could go right back to sleep,” Eren muttered after a minute or two, “Even though I already slept all day.”
“That was just how I felt a couple weeks ago,” Marco assured him. “Try and stay awake for a little bit, at least. You don’t want to mess up your sleep schedule too much.”
“Hmm,” Eren groaned. Just then, they heard somebody stomping up the steps outside. Within moments, Jean had come in the front door, holding one heavy grocery bag in his left hand, the other clutching his keys.
“Hey,” he commented, “You’re finally awake! Do you know, you actually slept for nineteen hours straight. Pretty incredible.”
“Twenty, actually,” Marco corrected, making note of the time. “He woke up at four.”
Setting his load down on the counter next to the empty soda bottle, Jean took a good look at the setup on the couch, eyes coming to rest on Eren’s face. He didn’t even have the heart to make fun of him, instead coming forward to set himself next to them, crooning gently, “How do you feel, man?”
An actual frustrated tear came down Eren’s cheek. “Like a turd. Also scared because finals are coming up and I can’t afford to miss more classes.”
“Oh, right,” Marco said, leaning forward to grab a notebook off the table - Eren’s, it turned out - and handing it to him. “I went to your class for you today, like you guys did when I was sick. I even got the person next to me to tell me what was important and put little hearts and stars around those bits, just like you guys.” He gave a little smile that made Eren feel like kissing him.
“Oh my god,” he said. “You’re amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“And I’m doing it tomorrow, when he’s in class,” Jean told him, “That is, if you’re still feeling turd-ish.”
“You guys are the best,” Eren muttered distractedly, opening his notebook to the pages Marco had written on. After a moment, he looked back at Jean. “Speaking of feeling turd-ish - get away from me, you’re gonna catch the yucks.”
Jean let out a groan. “I’m tired of staying away from you guys. It was bad enough avoiding Marco for two weeks, I’m staying right where I am.”
And then he was brushing Eren’s unwashed hair back from his forehead in that gentle way he sometimes did when his boyfriends were feeling stressed or frustrated or just generally crappy, pressing a little kiss to his jaw, and Eren, unable to argue, let his head drift backwards, savoring the touch. Marco happily laid his forehead on Eren’s and reached over to Jean to wrap a hand around his shoulder.
And as they stayed that way, Eren thought to himself that maybe feeling like a massive lump of shit had its benefits.