College Secrets (An EddiexGaege Fanfic)

Chapter 4: Sickness

A sickening series of coughs escaped Gaege as he collapsed into the seat between Grant and Eddie. His head was a storm of pain and felt the results of a massive headache from staying up too late last night.

Gaege had trouble falling asleep the night before. Hours after hours of tossing and turning, his body refused to sleep after a long day. His mind was racing with stressful thoughts that caused him to shift positions every ten minutes.

"What the hell happened to you?" Grant wrinkled his nose, leaning away when Gaege sneezed again. "You should've called in sick."

"No! I finished this last night!" Gaege exclaimed as he groggily pulled his notebook out of his backpack, accidentally dropping his divider filled with papers.

Students turned their heads to see what the commotion was about, but Eddie quickly gathered up the papers with a sheepish grin before anyone could notice.

"Gaege, you're sick," Eddie whispered to him after everyone had turned, shoving the papers back into his bag. "You need to-" He stopped halfway through his sentence, realizing Gaege's eyes were starting to close as he leaned his head against his hand.

Eddie nudged his shoulder with a frown, making Gaege's eyes snap open. "What?" Gaege said a little too loudly, earning a disapproving look from Grant.

"You know what? I'm taking you home after this," Eddie muttered, his eyebrows angling up in concern as he watched Gaege's exhausted shoulders droop as he slumped back in his chair.

"Taking me home?" Gaege repeated lowly so their professor wouldn't hear. He crossed his arms as he answered with a hoarse voice, "I'm fine, Eddie! I can handle myself!"

"I am not letting you walk in the hot sun while you're sick!" Eddie argued as he gripped the pencil in his hand tighter. "I'm worried about you, Gaege. No offense, but you look like..."

"Shit? Yeah, I feel like it too," Gaege retorted as Eddie pressed his lips into a line. "Fine. You can take me back to the dorms, but only this once okay?"

Eddie grew silent again as he scribbled notes in his paper, his grip still not loosening. Gaege couldn't understand why he was so concerned.

Class seemed to go extremely slow for Gaege, and he had an immensely difficult time even keeping his eyes open. His notes were sloppy and messy as he failed to pay attention to what his professor was saying.

After class, Gaege was drastically relieved to finally be out of his professor's dull and repetitive lecture. Eddie dragged him to his car despite Gaege's constant protests that he's fine, reminding Gaege that he promised to go with him.

A few minutes of silence passed as Gaege gazed out the window. He was thankful for the cold air-con in Eddie's car that kept out the blazing, hot sun. Or maybe it was the fever. He wasn't entirely sure.

His eyes flickered to Eddie's face, who was currently furrowing his eyebrows in concentration at the road in front of him. Almost like a school boy admiring his favorite celebrity, Gaege couldn't but help trail his eyes along Eddie's arms. They flexed a little when he turned the steering wheel, and he never noticed how large his hands were compared to his. His face grew hot at the thought of them before Eddie noticed him staring.

Eddie pressed the palm of his hand to Gaege's forehead, taking him by surprise by his sudden movement. "Gaege, you're burning up." Eddie shook his head with a frown, his hand moving to his cheek. "You probably have a fever."

Gaege was silent, thankful that Eddie didn't know he was blushing because of him and not a fever. The rate of his heart beat increased at the thought of Eddie feeling so concerned about him. Gaege could physically see Eddie's grip tighten on the steering wheel as Gaege replied, "My head is spinning, dude."