Keefe whistled to himself, hands in his pockets as he walked through the halls of Foxfire, skipping class once again.
Keefe was making his way to the Healing Center and as soon as he got outside the door, he heard two voices. He froze.
"I'm glad to see you're feeling better. Common cold is horrible, huh?" Elwin questioned.
"Yeah, well someone made me soup and it actually helped a little." A familiar voice said.
Keefe's heart skipped a beat.
Keefe poked his head through the door and he seen Tam and Elwin talking.
"Uh, I was just wondering if I could get some sort of medicine though? I still don't feel entirely better." Tam questioned, looking at Elwin.
"Oh yeah for sure-" Elwin began.
Elwin glanced at the door and seen Keefe's face.
"Keefe, ditching class again?"
Tam's gaze instantly turned to the blonde who grinned nervously as he entered the Healing Center.
"Haha, didn't know you had someone in here..." Keefe said.
Keefe looked at Tam.
"Good to see you're back."
Tam raised an eyebrow at Keefe.
"Implying you're happy to see me Sencen?" Tam questioned, a grin growing on his face.
Keefe scoffed, rolling his eyes as he smiled.
"Hah, as if." Keefe said.
"I just heard Linh saying things about you being sick. Apparently it seemed like you were dying and looked like a corpse."
Tam grumbled. "I'm murdering Linh-"
Tam then coughed out violently and he covered his mouth with his arm. He coughed into his arm.
Keefe grimaced and Elwin sighed.
"Ahh, sit down Tam." Elwin said, patting Tam's shoulder.
"Keefe, sit with Tam. I need to make the medicine for him. I'll be a few minutes."
"I'm not getting scolded? Cool!" Keefe grinned.
"Hah, don't think you're not getting away with this Sencen." Elwin grinned at Keefe before he disappeared into his office.
Tam sat down on one of the beds and Keefe went over, sitting beside Tam.
"Someone made you soup, huh?" Keefe questioned.
"Mmh, that secret admirer." Tam stated, rubbing his eyes.
Keefe looked at Tam.
"Are you even taking care of yourself properly?" Keefe blurted out.
Tam scoffed, looking at Keefe.
"Excuse me?" Tam questioned.
"It's just-" Keefe gulped.
"... You look really tired. Are you not getting enough sleep?"
Tam bit his inner cheek and he tugged at his bangs. Keefe stared at the Shade as he fidgeted.
"...I get enough sleep." Tam mumbled.
"Mmh, right." Keefe nodded.
"Uh, back to your secret admirer. Was the soup good?" Keefe asked.
A small smile grew on Tam's face.
"It was good yeah." Tam nodded.
"It lacked a little bit of flavour but it pretty much worked. I mean, I'm back aren't I?"
Tam looked at Keefe.
Keefe smiled slightly.
"Yeah, I guess." Keefe shrugged.
The two sat in a silence.
Tam began to fiddle with his hands and Keefe tapped his fingers against his knees.
"You often ditch classes here?" Tam asked, breaking the silence.
"Whenever I can, Elwin gets sick of me sometimes so I find somewhere else to hide out." Keefe shrugged.
Tam nodded, humming.
"Yeah, I'm gonna kick you out once Tam has taken his medicine."
Keefe and Tam looked over to see Elwin going over to them.
Elwin grabbed a chair and dragging it over in front of Tam and sitting in front of him.
"Right, have this now so you feel fine for the rest of the day. Do you have water or anything to help down it?" Elwin asked, opening the medicine and glancing at Tam.
"Uh..." Tam hesitated.
Keefe took his bag off his shoulder and unzipped it.
"You can have mine." Keefe offered.
Keefe grabbed his bottle of water and handed it to Tam.
Tam looked at Keefe, suspicious.
"... Is this a prank or something? You fill the water with something else in it?" Tam asked.
Keefe scoffed.
"You're sick, Bangs Boy. I'm not gonna make you feel even shittier, just take it. It's normal water. I swear." Keefe said.
Tam bit his lower lip and he took the water.
"Mmh... okay." Tam mumbled.
Elwin poured part of the medicine on a spoon and held it as Tam opened the bottle.
"Ready?" Elwin asked.
Tam and Keefe's face scrunched up.
"Eugh, Elwin that smells horrible!" Keefe scowled, bringing his cape over his nose, holding it like that.
Tam nearly gagged.
"Don't complain." Elwin said.
"Just down it."
"I don't think water's gonna wash it down-"
"Tam..."
"... Ugh fine!"
Elwin held the spoon up to Tam and Tam hesitantly leaned in and took it.
Tam instantly backed away and brought the bottle up to his mouth, downing half of the bottle.
Keefe watched in concern as Elwin placed the cap on the medicine and set it on the bedside table.
Tam took the bottle away and his face was scrunched up, his tongue sticking out.
"Bleghh!"
"I'm gonna be sick-" Tam stated, getting up.
"You're not gonna be sick-" Elwin began.
Before Tam could even run to the toilet, vomit came out of his mouth as he hunched over.
Tam groaned as he stood up.
He then looked down to see his vomit was all over Keefe's lap.
Keefe held his breath and he looked at Tam. Tam froze.
Elwin sighed and shook his head.
"Ugh... maybe I forgot something in the medicine, you shouldn't have thrown up...especially not so quickly..." Elwin stated, getting up.
"Keefe, I have extra clothes somewhere in my office, go ahead and get cleaned up."
Elwin walked off and Keefe slowly rose from the bed.
"Keefe-" Tam began.
"Just... drink water." Keefe said, looking at Tam.
"Water will help."
Tam furrowed his eyebrows as Keefe shuffled away, groaning in disgust.
Tam sat back down and he took the water, taking another sip of it.
Why didn't Keefe yell at him?
And why did Keefe look so worried about him rather his own clothes?
*****
" You threw up all over Keefe?!" Fitz burst out in laughter.
Tam felt guilty as Keefe grumbled while Fitz and Linh were laughing and giggling.
"I didn't mean to, it just came up-" Tam began.
"Tam, seriously it's whatever. I'm just thankful Elwin had extra clothes that actually fit me..." Keefe said, looking at his new pair of pants.
"I still feel bad. Especially since you gave me your water too-" Tam began.
"Keefe gave you his water...?" Fitz questioned, now not laughing, glancing between the two boys.
"I wasn't gonna let him suffer, was I?" Keefe shrugged.
Fitz blinked at Keefe.
"... Who are you and what have you done with Keefe Sencen?" Fitz questioned.
"Hey! I'm not that much of a dickhead!" Keefe scowled, leaning in across the table to glare at Fitz.
Linh giggled.
"What'd I miss?"
Biana slid next to Tam, who was now squished between her and Keefe.
Tam took a whiff of the air and he froze for a moment.
Keefe noticed how Tam froze and he looked at him. He was about to speak before he got a whiff of the air and smelled Biana was wearing her new perfume.
The perfume he had used to spray the letter for Tam.
Tam seemed to be looked at Biana now, smiling nervously.
"Uh...I threw up all over Keefe earlier..." Tam said, kinda quietly while tugging his bangs.
Keefe blinked at Tam.
Why was he acting so different now? He was acting more... shy?
Keefe felt a strange emotion in his chest.
"What? Pfft haha! Poor Keefe!" Biana giggled out.
"Oh no, are you okay now?"
Tam nodded, smiling as he made googly eyes at Biana.
Keefe bit his inner cheek and scoffed, resting his cheek on his hand as he looked away.
He did not want to see Tam making googly eyes at Biana.
Fitz noticed this and he raised his eyebrows at Keefe who acted all... what was the word? Fitz couldn't think of it.
Oh well, Keefe sometimes overreacted. And his emotions were never really clear.
Fitz wasn't an empath so he couldn't tell what Keefe was feeling.
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Word count: 1343