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'Boy it sure is a crappy day outside today.'
That's what freshman college student Jean Kirstein thought to himself. But it's not like he was expecting as much at all, for the weather that day basically described his first month of the hellscape physically. Nothing but dull, quiet classrooms, the teachers not being that much fun as he hoped, and most people had their hands too full to arrange any outings with friends. Jean never really thought of going to college in the first place, but according to his mom, it'd be easier to find better employment opportunities for him than just stay at home all day and not even try to find a suitable job - There were also other... complications Jean needed to get over too.
So with one look out the window at the tedious weather, Jean made his way across his dorm room, picked up his fittingly grey hoodie and whipped it right on before turning towards the door. But right then, he felt like he had forgotten something. He stopped for a second, until his thoughts were interrupted by the brief sound of shifting blankets on the wooden bunk bed behind him. Of course, his forgetful mind had forgotten to wake up his roommate again.
"Hey, you up there." Jean turned his head to call out the boy beneath all that comfy bedding. There was no answer, which made Jean groan in annoyance. The bearded man steps his way up the ladder of the bunk bed just to stare at the bundle of blankets, moving in time with the boy's breathing. Jean harshly shakes them before calling out again. "Hello? I'm talking here. If you don't wanna be late for classes, you have to move your lazy a..."
What he heard before he could finish sounded like a cough, but it was very quiet so who could tell - Jean definitely did. With curiosity he lifted the blankets slightly, the light from the room caused the boy's eyes to quickly squint. One look and Jean can see that his face was sweating badly, he could think that it's because of the blankets, but he noticed his nose was pretty red too. A sniffle escaped from the boy as Jean continued to examine his roommate's condition; it seemed that the guy has caught a really bad fever.
"Oh." Jean uttered to himself. He moved his free hand to the boy's forehead just to check how bad it is, and wow did it felt as hot as a drink left out in the sun for too long. "You're burning hot! Marco, is it? You have to down to the infirmary."
The poor boy finally opened his eyes once he heard that word; his big, brown eyes stared right back at Jean who was still making eye contact. The bearded man looked away immediately though, and looked down to the wooden floor so he could carefully make his way down the bed ladder. Marco used what little strength he had to lift his head up from his pillow, to see more clearly on what Jean is planning on doing. "I'll just head down and tell a nurse that..."
Jean felt a tight tug on the hood of his hoodie; the quick movement almost made him choke. "Ack! H-Hey, what are you doing?!" He exclaimed, turning around and shaking to get Marco's grip off of him. One look and he could see the desperation on the sick boy's sweaty face, even when he was shaking it as he's trying to beg him not to leave the dorm. You could think that it's because of the fever that Marco couldn't communicate verbally to his roommate, but the truth is that he can't speak verbally to anyone at all.
For as long as he can remember, Marco has always been mute, which made a lot of situations through his life really hard for him to handle by himself. He's very lucky to be intelligent enough and for his very supportive mother to make it into college, but it still never helped him with making friends within or outside of school hours. Despite all of that, Marco was not the type to give up, so he tries to communicate with Jean to get him to stay in the only way he can in this state - by pointing right at him and using a 'palm-down Y hand shape' to signal him.
Jean couldn't understand what his sick roommate was trying to tell him at first, but quickly picked it up once Marco kept pointing at him miserably. Looked like Marco reeeally wanted Jean to be the one to stay and look after him, but why? What's he got against an actual nurse in the infirmary? Or is he just too weak to get out of bed? The thought put a sour expression on Jean's face, Marco saw this and paused.
"Sorry man, but I have classes to go to right now. What do you expect me to do? Play hooky just because you're the one who's sick? I'd get told off for that, got it?" That came out a lot more harsh than it was suppose to be, in fact, Jean started to regret when he saw Marco's eyes sadden once more. The freckled boy lied back down onto his pillow with more faint sniffing, and whipped the blanket right back over himself. God, Jean really had to pull no punches there, did he? So the man decided to give in, dropping his bag and gave out a sigh in defeat. "Alright. I'll stay."
There was no sound that came out from Marco, of course, only the lift of the blanket from his head and the guy can be seen stunned from Jean's decision. He kept his eyes on him as Jean moves back up to the bunk bed to climb back up the ladder.
"But you have to at least let me leave to get food or a bucket if you ever throw up, okay?"
He asserted, trying not to sound too harsh again. All Marco did was give a nod in agreement along with a weak smile, which puts Jean off for a moment. He thought to himself before stepping back down. 'I guess this counts as a win for not going to boring classes today.'
~~~~
As the day went on, it became sort of a mix bag of emotions with Jean having to watch over a sick Marco. Most of it wasn't a bother because Marco would suddenly fall asleep due to his temperature, which gave Jean plenty of time to either rush down to get some food and drinks from the canteen and some supplies like ice from the infirmary, or just spend some quiet time studying to himself since he'd be skipping his classes today. But as soon as Marco woke up, everything turned on its head with his constant attempts to communicate through hand motions of what he needed or basically sneezing like crazy. Jean tried to keep his cool though, only losing it once when Marco lightly threw up over his bed sheets.
It was mid-afternoon now, and Jean was still clearing out the vomit stain out of Marco's sheet, while the freckled boy was borrowing the one from Jean's bed. He was eating a nice, healthy garden salad alongside a glass of water, it's a relief he was still be able to eat probably even while he's ill. After a few more scrubs, Jean hanged the blanket over the window ledge to let it dry in the cold wind, and he brought his focus back to Marco at the top of the bunk bed. It started to feel like he was watching over a sickly child, but didn't say it aloud for not wanting to upset him.
"Next time you should warn me to bring the bucket over before puking, you know?" Jean huffed while crossing his arms.
Marco took notice of his words, he nods softly before reaching for his glass of water. Strange, for a second Jean could see a hint of guilt on his face, his smile faded and he tilted his head down to his meal. A common thought ran through Jean's head, 'Great. I sounded too harsh again.' This always came to mind whenever he thought he was behaving like a jerk to someone. Surely he would mean the things he says at times, but most of it was out of irritation. Hesitantly, the bearded man climbed back up the ladder once more.
"Look, um... if I sounded rude this morning, it wasn't my intention to be. College has just been hell for me right now, and I took that out on you. And... maybe cause I was afraid that I could get into trouble over something so simple. Heh heh." Jean chuckled to try and bring a bit of humour into the conversation, he wasn't sure cause all Marco did was stare back at him with those big eyes of his. "A-Anyway, I'm don't normally talk with people like you, actually, I never talked with a mute person at all. So it's not your fault, it's just me being dumb and not understanding your situation, okay?"
There was a pause. Jean could feel himself getting all embarrassed, wishing he didn't say anything at all, until he looked back at Marco who was giving a bright smile across his face. This close up of his face suddenly sparked something inside of Jean; he can feel something swirling in his stomach and heat inside his cheeks. Just one look from this guy can make him feel such unknown emotions? This is the third strangest thing that has happened to him today. Jean tries to change the subject by pressing his hand upon Marco's forehead again, only this time it felt as cool as window glass.
"Huh. Seems that you're fever is going down, man. You should be better for going back to classes tomorrow." Jean assured his healing roommate.
That and his brief apology had got to be the nicest thing Jean said to Marco the whole day. It seemed to have cheered him up too, for yet another smile grew on Marco's lips, which sorta made Jean feel relieved and proud of himself. Before he could leave the bed, he caught a glimpse of what appears to be another hand motion from the freckled boy. He placed his fingers together on his chin and brought them forward to Jean, still grinning at him as well.
Unfortunately, Jean is not all familiar with how these sign languages work or what they mean, so all he can give in return is the confused brow. "S-Sorry, man. I don't really know what you're trying to say.
Marco's grin started to fade, but bowed his head as if to show that he understands. Feeling guilty again, Jean places his hand on Marco's knee and when Marco looks back up to react, his roommate finally returns a genuine smile back at him. A smile that made him feel safe and delighted, along with the words that came out after. "But it looks like I got a whole year to learn about it."