Royce was laying on the bed, the sun reflecting its light through his windows, which were covered with a thin layer of fabric. It was Sunday, the only time he got some rest for having to work a side-job and being a student at the same time.

A few days have passed since Royce came to Evergreen University. All the days that has passed became a memorable experience for him, and he couldn't stop smiling and thinking about what he has come to.

First, he made friends with interesting combinations. Johannes with his adorable confidence, Richard being the stressed father-figure of the group, Cameroon being scarily creepy, and Jonathan being silent almost at all times.

It's been years since Royce actually had made friends. He can't even remember the last friend he became close with.

Suddenly, his phone, which was on a desk next to his bed, made the familiar chime that a notification had appeared. Who could message him early in the morning?

Royce grabbed his phone tiredly, his eyes not cooperating. He flinched at the bright screen, turning it down and reading his notification.

It was from Johannes.

'Hey, so I think I might've caught something—I'm sick. Can you come to my house and help me out? Jonathan and Father are out right now.'

Out of all people, why Royce? It was pretty surprising that he'd chosen him, but Royce didn't question it. He wanted to be a good friend—after all that Johannes and the group had done for him.

Royce got off his bed immediately and went to his closet to pick out some clothes. He simply grabbed the first thing he saw, an orange hoodie and jeans. After sliding his phone into the hoodie pocket and retrieving his Converse.

He opened the door to his room and went downstairs to see his little sister doing her assignments while eating a slice of bread.

"One of my friends needs me, are you alright staying alone. I'll be back soon, there's food in the fridge in case you get hungry," he added. Being quiet and nonsocial, his sister just nodded.

"As if I'm going to eat your trash cooking," she muttered hastily.

Royce rolled his eyes and grabbed his house keys, and a minute later he was already on the sidewalk and speed-walking to Johannes'.

He kind of remembered Johannes' address—who wouldn't? His house was literally dominating the neighborhood.

He didn't waste time listening to music or looking through his phone on the way there. For some odd reason, he'd really wanted to get there as quickly as possible, despite the fact that his home was an eight minute walk.

When he finally arrived at Johannes' house, he breathed a sigh of relief and clicked the doorbell on the locked gate of the big mansion.

~~~

Johannes was laying on his bed—too sick to move. Even with the air conditioner on, Johannes still felt hot, his body temperature rising every minute.

Johannes heard a ding on his phone and unlocked it to view the notification sent to him.

Someone had rung the doorbell.

Johannes groaned, hating that he was the only person in the house right now.

He tried to get off his bed but to no avail, he collapsed back on the bed again.

Johannes could only groan again in annoyance, until he looked back at his phone and realized he could simply unlock the gate by inputting the password in his phone.

He muttered a curse word before opening his phone and putting the password of the gate in.

From outside, the gate slowly swung open and a surprised Royce stepped through.

He proceeded to the front door, aware of the two security cameras creeping up on him. The door was already unlocked by Johannes from his phone.

It was eerie and weird stepping into the house without someone familiar. Like breaking-and-entering—just wrong. Behind him, the door closed slowly.

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The mansion was so big that Royce forgot where Johannes' room was. He started wandering around, but luckily, the doors had nameplates on them to make it less confusing.

Royce approached the stairs and started going up them to look for Johannes' room.

Not long after, he found the familiar door. He knocked.

A raspy voice answered. "Come in."

"Hi."

The first thing Royce saw was Johannes lying in his bed, barely visible, with tissue boxes next to him, and a garbage can near. His laptop was tilted and open on his nightstand.

"Oh my god," were the first words Johannes sputtered out before grabbing his phone to check something.

He'd messaged the wrong person, the text was meant for Cameroon. Johannes' face blushed when he looked back at Royce, obviously embarrassed,

"I am so sorry—I—I thought I sent it to Cameroon," he said, adjusting on his bed so that he was sitting up. "I mean, I obviously want you here—"

Royce was also blushing now.

"...I meant—! Ugh! Forget it, it's alright. You can stay if you'd like." Johannes said before laying back on his bed.

He probably thought Royce was going to awkwardly walk out of there, afraid of catching his sickness, but Royce did exactly the opposite and stayed.

There was silence.

"Is there anything I can help you with? Water?" Royce asked after Johannes had coughed hazily.

Johannes looked at Royce, obviously still embarrassed at the fact that he'd mistakenly made someone come to his house and baby him. Though he sort of seemed to like the idea of Royce taking care of him.

"Could you grab my meds on the shelf next to you?" Johannes asked, making Royce look at the mentioned area.

Royce was baffled that there was lots of medication but fortunately most were labelled.

"Grab the one for fever, there's a label on it. You can also find my vitamins, they're on the blue plastic casing," Johannes instructed.

Royce did as told, finding all the listed items. "Here," he said, leaning into Johannes to hand him the meds.

"What's the flavour of the fever medicine?" Johannes asked, making Royce raise a brow.

"Uhm—banana," Royce responded.

Johannes looked disgusted by this news. "Ugh, I told Father to buy strawberry. That sadist." Johannes pouted.

Royce didn't know what to respond to this, so he didn't. Royce read the labels of the medicine to check how much Johannes should drink.

He was going to remember this embarrassing memory in the future.

Royce opened the box of the medicine to find a measuring cup and the liquid medicine. "How much do you weigh?" he asked, reading the instructions.

"Eighty pounds," Johannes said. Royce was stunned.

He didn't always eat every night, yet he weighed more than him.

"And I'm not drinking that." He turned his back to Royce, like a child not wanting to drink their medicine.

"Come on, Johannes," Royce begged, "it's barely anything. Please just drink it."

"I'm going to puke that right out—no," Johannes argued.

"Do it for your health. Do it for your body. Do it for me," Royce said desperately, hardly even processing the words that just came out of his mouth.

"No." Johannes repeated.

He then had an idea. "Hey—if I can do it, so can you."

Johannes turned around to see what he was talking about, and saw the cup lifted up to Royce's mouth and then drank it.

Royce flinched.

It tasted absolutely disgusting. No wonder Johannes refused.

Royce had done this trick with his sister before, back when she was younger. It always worked; she strived to be as brave as her older brother.

"I can sense that you hate it too! I'm not drinking it," Johannes pouted before covering his head with his blanket.

Royce sighed lightly.

His legs got tired, so he grabbed Johannes' desk chair, the kind that rolls, and wheeled it to Johannes' bed.

Royce then got another idea to make Johannes drink it, but it sounded extremely weird. Royce already had faith that it would work, but Johannes would definitely hate him after that.

There was no other way. Royce blushed, but still poured the medicine into the cup.

He looked at Johannes—who was hiding under his big blanket. He looked so unrelentlessly adorable, but boy, he is such a drama king.

Royce pulled the blanket to reveal Johannes. "Watch," he said calmly. He drank it once more, his whole face turning red.

Johannes pouted, but couldn't help a quiet chuckle when he saw Royce's reaction.

Although he wasn't prepared when Royce suddenly brought his lips to his.

Johannes was surprised that he accidentally opened his mouth, making him drink the medicine.

He wasn't pulling back, though. In fact, he might've gone in even more. Royce's soft hands were on Johannes' cheeks.

The two were both red as they kissed.

After what hadn't seemed like enough, they separated. Johannes couldn't stop looking at Royce, now differently than he had before, and Royce couldn't stop staring down at the floor.

"I—sorry. Should I go now?" Royce asked quickly.

"...can you still watch over me—?" Johannes asked nervously, still blushing.

Royce went possibly even redder, if that was possible. "Er—yeah, of course. I'll just text my sister," Royce said.

He took out his phone to tell his sister, not including any information about what had happened, but just explaining that his friend needed him a bit longer.

Johannes was watching him, he had noticed, he was back into his bundle of blankets, looking very cozy and cuddly. His head was barely visible through them. "Can you come here, next to me?" Johannes asked. "I'm cold."

"...yeah, sure."

Royce put his phone on the nightstand, kicking off his shoes and lying down. As predicted, the bed was very warm. Johannes' body was hot that Royce could cook an egg on him.

Royce wasn't worried about him getting sick, in fact, he never got sick his entire life. Thanks to his mother's inventions.

Johannes felt a pair of arms cuddling him, Royce's arms felt comfortable for Johannes. Johannes could feel his body being pulled closer to Royce's. He hasn't felt this comfortable with someone for a long time.

Johannes smiled as he closed his eyes, feeling like he's going to fall asleep soon. Slowly, he fell into a deep slumber as Royce still kept his arms around him.