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Jean woke up feeling groggy. He didn’t sleep well last night, and felt a slight headache coming on as a result. It was only a faint pressure between his eyes for now, more of a nuisance than anything too painful. He figured he’d feel better after breakfast; maybe eating something would give him the energy that a failed night’s rest couldn’t.
Unfortunately, breakfast came and went, and by lunch time Jean’s headache had grown stronger, a pulsing pressure spreading across his forehead.
Jean poked at his food with his spoon. He was beginning to feel nauseous as the pounding in his head grew stronger.
“Are you gonna keep playing with your food like a toddler, or can I have it?” Sasha grinned at him from across the table and Jean rolled his eyes.
“Where do you even put it all,” Jean pushed his plate across the table to Sasha, “it’s gross how much you can eat.”
Sasha happily accepted Jean’s plate and began eating, unphased by his comment.
“Uh oh, Mr. Grumpy,” Connie remarked from where he sat next to Sasha. “Are we missing mommy extra hard today?”
Sasha snorted around a spoonful of soup, sending specks of broth splattering over the table. “Aww, Jean! Don’t be sad! You have me and Connie here for you, so you don’t have to miss home!”
Jean wrinkled his nose up at Sasha, who spoke as she chewed.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, it’s disgusting.” He folded his arms on the table in front of him and rested his head on top, squeezing his eyes shut tightly, “and quit being so loud!”
Connie and Sasha looked at each other and shrugged, turning back to their plates to finish lunch.
By dinner time, Jean felt like his head might actually crack open, a fierce throbbing beat which held no rhythm pulsating behind his eyes. He wanted to go to the infirmary for medicine, but he knew resources were low as it is, and there were others who needed medicine way more than he did for injuries far worse. Besides, Jean was tough, and he wouldn’t let something as small as a headache send him crying to the nurses for help. He knew the mess hall would be loud with chatter and the clattering of utensils scrapping plates, so he decided to skip dinner and head straight for the barracks. He was still nauseous anyway, so skipping a meal wouldn’t be a problem, he figured.
He went to his bed and layed down on his back, throwing an arm over his eyes to block out any light. The candles were dim as they grew closer to flickering out, but they were still far too bright for Jean’s comfort. The room was near silent, save for the chirps of crickets outside, but Jean couldn’t relax enough to fall asleep. He knew his head would feel better if he could just get some rest. He tried to concentrate on his breathing, hoping to distract himself from the hammering in his head long enough to ease into sleep.
Any hope of sleep was quickly snuffed out as the chatter from the mess hall made its way into the barracks, everyone coming back from finishing dinner. Jean groaned and rolled over onto his side, squeezing his eyes as tightly as he could and pulled his pillow over his head. No matter how hard he pressed it down over his ears, the noise didn’t get any quieter.
He felt a soft poke at his side but didn’t move. A moment later, he felt another one, slightly more pressure used this time. He lifted the pillow, peeking open an eye to see what it was.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?”
Just what Jean needed. Was he not suffering enough already? Apparently not, the universe decided, because there, towering over him, stood the very bane of his existence, Eren Jaeger. He looked down at Jean with a smirk on his face.
“Go away.” Jean went back to hide under his pillow, having no energy to deal with Eren at the moment.
“Are you sick or something? Cause if you are, can you go sleep in the infirmary or somewhere not here? I don’t want to catch whatever you have. I do need to stay in tip top shape after all.” Eren stepped over Jean, climbing into his bunk above him.
“Be quiet. I’m trying to sleep.”
“I’m not even being loud.”
Jean weighed his options of sitting up to whack Eren across the face with his pillow.
“Seriously, though. What’s wrong,” Eren asked as he leaned over the side of his bed, hair flopping down in front of him, “you’re not usually this grumpy. Don’t get me wrong, you’re always grumpy. Just not this grumpy.”
Jean sat up and brought his pillow with him, whacking Eren smack in the face.
“Hey! What the hell was that for?!” Eren pulled himself back onto his bed, rubbing his nose.
“I told you to shut it! My head is pounding and I’m tired, so let me sleep!” Jean threw his pillow onto his bed, giving it a few hits to fluff it up before dropping onto it face first.
Eren rolled his eyes, flopping down onto his own pillow. “Whatever. Goodnight, jerk.”
As everyone began settling into bed and falling asleep, Jean began feeling slightly better. His head was still aching, but after all the candles were blown out and the talking died down, he was able to relax some. He didn’t have to squeeze his face into the pillow anymore to block any of it out, and he turned over to lay on his back like he usually slept.
A few minutes passed and Jean let out a frustrated sigh. He couldn’t get comfortable even after everything had settled down. He turned on to his left side, then his right after that hadn’t worked. After laying on his right side for a few minutes, he went back to laying on his back. It didn’t matter though, because the pounding in his head was too loud and hurt too much, leaving Jean restless. He tried flipping onto his stomach again when he heard an irritated groan from above him.
“Will you quit moving so much? Some of us are trying to sleep here.” Jean wished he had the energy to throw his pillow again.
“Yeah, so am I. It’s not my fault I can’t get comfortable.” Jean came back in a harsh whisper.
Eren sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes, “Your head still hurting?”
“Yes.”
There was a moment of silence, and Jean figured Eren had gone back to sleep.
Then, “Come up here for a sec.”
“What? No way!” Jean held himself up on his elbows.
“Quit being a baby and come up here! I just wanna try something. If it doesn’t work, you’re free to go back and suffer all alone on your own bed.”
Jean was going to just flop back onto his pillow and ignore Eren. He had to fall asleep eventually, so whatever Eren had in mind wasn’t needed. But as he turned his head, a sharp pain shot down the back of his head to the base of his neck, leaving him near tears.
“Fine. But don’t try any funny stuff, or I’ll make sure you’re titan food our next expedition.” Jean slowly sat up and climbed up to Eren’s bed, sitting as far away as the small mattress allowed him to.
“Don’t be so weird about it. I’m only doing this so you’ll settle down already. It’s impossible to get any sleep with you rolling around so much.” Eren rolled his eyes but held no real irritation in his voice. “you’re gonna have to come closer.” Eren patted a spot on the mattress right next to him. Jean just stared at Eren, causing him to roll his eyes again.
“I used to do this with Mikasa all the time when we were kids. She would get these really bad headaches a lot and this helped her.” Eren looked at Jean, waiting for him to move closer. After a moment, Jean gave an exasperated sigh then scooted over the small distance so he sat directly in front of Eren.
“Um, can you turn and face the other way? I need to be behind you.”
“Huh?! What for?!” Jean turned his head back to face Eren, instantly regretting moving so fast. He dropped his head into his hands, groaning as a wave of nausea passed through him.
Eren placed a hand on his shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze. Jean peaked out from his hands looking absolutely miserable.
Eren frowned, brows knit together in concern. “Just trust me, okay? If it doesn’t work, feel free to feed me to the titans. I won’t even fight back.”
Jean sat up straight at that and shimmied himself so he was positioned with his back to Eren.
“I’ll hold you to that, you bastard.”
Eren huffed a small laugh and smiled. “Okay, close your eyes. And just concentrate on your breathing, alright?”
Jean still felt uneasy about whatever this was, but did as he was told. He stiffened the moment he felt hands in his hair.
“What are you doing?” He pulled back and turned to face Eren, taking care to move slower this time.
“God, you’re gonna give me a headache too if you don’t relax already. I’m not gonna kill you, okay! I’m trying to help you.”
“Right, sorry. You just caught me off guard.”
Closing his eyes once more, Jean faced forward again. This time when Eren’s hands found their way into his hair, he didn’t pull away. He sat stiff as a board, not quite sure what to make of this. Then Eren began moving his fingers through Jean’s hair, gently rubbing circles into Jean’s scalp. Jean sighed, his shoulders slowly beginning to sag. Eren ran his fingers through Jean’s hair, gliding through the soft locks with ease. He started at the base of Jean’s neck and slowly ran his fingers up to his hairline where he began to massage down then across Jean’s forehead. Jean felt his head grow heavy as the tension he was holding all day began to fall away. He started to fall forward, but Eren caught his shoulders and pulled him back up. Eren kept his thumbs placed firmly at the back of Jean’s shoulder while he used his other fingers to rub across the top of them with slight pressure.
“‘S nice.” Jean slurred, barely above a whisper.
Eren paused in his movements, Jean’s voice startling him from his concentration.
“Told you,” Eren smiled, his cheeks growing a little warm, “I’m gonna move you back now, okay?” Jean gave a small “Mm” which Eren took as an affirmation. He held Jean up with one hand while he used the other to balance on his mattress, scooting back til his back was pressed against the wall. Then he brought both hands back to Jean’s shoulders, easing him down so his head now rested in Eren’s lap.
Eren brought his hands back to Jean’s head, using his middle and ring fingers to rub soothing circles into Jean’s temples while his thumbs were planted firmly behind his ears, keeping his head in place.
Jean looked up at Eren with a dopey smile on his face. “You know, this isn’t so bad.”
Eren looked down at Jean with a teasing grin, “Oh yeah? So what you’re saying is, you totally owe me one later for this, huh?”
Jean’s lazed blinking stopped then, his eyelids too heavy to keep open any longer. “Sure. S’long as it gets me more of this, whatever.”
Eren had to hold back laughter at Jean’s slurred speech.
“You’re gonna regret saying that when you feel better tomorrow, ya know.”
“Nope,” Jean turned his head to the side, smushing his cheek into Eren’s hand, effectively trapping it between his face and Eren’s leg, “you’ll be titan food, so it doesn’t even matter.”
Eren paused the movement of his free hand, but kept his hand rested in Jean’s hair.
“Wow, I thought you might change your mind about that after all this. That’s kind of harsh to let me get eaten after I helped you, isn’t it?”
Jean reached an arm above him, blindly searching for Eren’s other hand that still rested in his hair. Eren found the wayward limb, giving Jean’s hand a small squeeze. Jean wrapped his fingers lazily around Eren’s and brought their hands down to rest on his chest.
“Yeah, I guess. I’d miss you too much if that happened anyways.” Jean’s words were getting harder to hear, mashing together in a whispered mumble as he began drifting off to sleep.
Eren gaped down at Jean. He knew if Jean were more awake, he wouldn’t have let something like that slip out, but to see the taller boy allowing himself to be this vulnerable around him did something funny to Eren’s heart. He watched until the rise of Jean’s chest evened out, letting Eren know he had finally fallen asleep.
“You’re a pain in my ass, but… I’d miss you, too,” Eren brought Jean’s hand that still gripped his own up to his lips, placing a chaste kiss to Jean’s knuckles.
“Goodnight, Jean.” Eren leaned back as much as he could without moving Jean from his lap. He was going to wake up sore as hell tomorrow, but he found he didn’t really mind.