Stories Undone, Scars Unseen // Hamilton College AU

James (37)

This one is short but it was necessary bc we kinda replanned the chapters,,, enjoy -L

I walk carefully into the room, looking at the floor.

Please let him not be sick. Please, please let him NOT be sick. "Thomas?" I ask.

He just continues snoring, oblivious to me calling his name.

I should probably just let him sleep. Especially if he is sick. I go to sit by his bedside, not actually sure what I'm doing, before restraining myself and moving to leave the room.

Thomas mumbles something right before I leave, too soft to make out.

I turn back, looking at his form. "What?"

He raises his head slightly and grins. "Morning."

I can't help the large smile that finds my lips. "Good morning Thomas. Sleep well?"

"Mm-hmm," he absently replies, slowly sitting up. "Not like you to wander around in the mornings though."

"I uh, came in here to make sure you're okay. I guess," I stammer, not meeting his eyes.

He wrinkles his nose slightly, giving me a confused look. "Why wouldn't I be okay? Last time I noticed, I'm not the one getting high on cough syrup or anything you do."

"Oh god," I flush. "Please don't bring that up. I just... you're not normally much of a late sleeper? I don't know. If you're fine then I can go..."

"Go ahead, Jemmy. Go get breakfast or some cr-" He cuts himself off sneezing.

My train of thought explodes then, but I force myself calm. "Y'know, on second thought, maybe I'll stay here."

He shakes his head. "I'm fine. God, you worry too much, Jemmy."

"But for good reason! Thomas, are you sick?"

Freezing, he narrows his eyes. "No, I'm not sick, and I'm not some child who needs to be monitored."

"That's not what I- Thomas, I just want to make sure I didn't get you sick," I tell him.

He groans. "If I haven't gotten sick by you yet, then I'm prob-" Thomas sneezes again. He rubs at his nose slightly, but he's never been one to give up. How could a sneeze tempt him into dropping this? "Probably immune."

"Yes Thomas, that makes total sense." I roll my eyes, trying to mask my concern.

Smugly grinning, he winks. "See? Now, you can go get your friggin' breakfast."

"I was being sarcastic. I want to stay-" I cut myself off.

Groaning dramatically, he flops back on his bed. "This is ridiculous. I'm not dying or anything. And if I do, donate my body to science. Because everybody should have a Thomas in life." He grins for as long as he can before coughing.

I take a deep breath and leave the room. He thinks I'm leaving him alone. I'm not. There's cough syrup in my bag. I retrieve it and walk back in.

Thomas raises his head sluggishly again. "Thought you left for good, Jemmy."

"I figure. You gotta take 15 mL of this."

He rolls his eyes. "Not sick."

"Fine. Then this won't help at all. Prove it to me." I challenge him.

He pauses. "What?"

"Take the medicine. If it doesn't help, you're obviously not sick."

Thomas wrinkles his nose. "Let me get this straight. You want me, to take medicine that I don't need, to prove a point? Isn't that dangerous or something?"

"Nope. It would be too dangerous of a medicine if there was a chance something could happen if you took it and you weren't sick." I raise an eyebrow, waiting for him to relent.

"This is stupid. You realize this, right?"

"Not stupid. Come on, don't you want to be right?" I grin.

He glares at me. "I don't want to take medicine, and you know that pretty well. Can't we just say I'm right considering I haven't keeled over yet?"

"Yet. Let's have that not happen. Take the medicine, Thomas." Different tactic. Different result?

Finally, Thomas relents. "Fine. Hand it over."

Score! "15 mL," I remind him, passing him the bottle.

"Nothing's going to happen," Thomas mocks before pouring it out and swigging it down. He immediately gags. "How did you get high off that? It's disgusting."

"I threw away the cotton candy one. That's the gross one. It's almost worse than being sick."

"Which I'm not," he drawls.

"Still. Precautions. You wanna stay here or go downstairs?" I ask him.

He gets out of bed and immediately has to steady himself against the wall. "Downstairs. It's not a good day unless I make fun of Hamilton."

I put a hand on him to support him, ignoring his look. "Yes we know. Come on Tommy, let's go."

"Tommy?" He raises an eyebrow. "You made such a big deal out of me calling you Jemmy, but... Really?"

"Let me live."

Thomas rolls his eyes. "Fine."