Take care of me

It was lunchtime on a Thursday afternoon and the college students and filtered in to the room to stay out of the cold world beyond the college walls. It had been snowing for the past few days, and college had been closed up until yesterday, although some students didn't return until today, bringing with them tales of all the things they had done while the snow lay thick and fresh upon the ground. But, some teachers were unable to attend, and there were still classes on hiatus.

Sadly, his class wasn't one of them.

Finding a table to sit and eat, tiredness had swept in and instead of eating, head was placed into the warmth of a curled arm. The sounds of others joining him at the table could be heard outside his private cocoon, but he didn't acknowledge their arrival until one spoke out.

"Well, don't we look like death warmed up," a male commented, reaching over and stealing a handful of Nat's French fries, despite having a plate full of his own.

"Hello Jamie," Nat murmured in reply, tilting his head on his arm to look at the male seated opposite. His head felt like lead, and every now and again, a pain cough broke through his system.

"I do believe our poor little Nathanael is suffering from a cold," spoke the girl seated beside the ginger haired male, reaching over and smoothing her hand over the long, silky soft strands as if petting a cat or some other household pet. "Why aren't you at home in bed?"

"Don't tell us you've fallen out with that little thing you drag around and call a boyfriend?" asked Jamie somewhat sarcastically.

Since graduating high school, and leaving the familiarity of being in his brother's shadow, Nathanael had broadened his horizons and developed friendships of his own since he didn't have his twin around to help him make friends. The group seated with him now were all in studying the same mathematics course. Theodore called them the 'Geek Squad' because they were all very intelligent mathematicians. There was Jamie, Anna and Matty.

Nat groaned at the other's comment. "His classes have been canceled until Monday. I didn't want to bother him," he replied, allowing Anna to wrap her arms around him and give him a hug. She was so warm compared to how cold he felt.

"What about your brother?" Matty asked, glancing up from his laptop screen. Matty always seemed to be glued to the thing, but Nat found him to be a loyal friend. They all liked him for who he was, and none held any problems with the fact Nathanael was in a gay relationship. Jamie said he was fine with it as long as he wasn't graced with intimate details. He reminded Nat of his twin in some ways.

"He and Lila have an appointment with the doctor or something for her sonogram."

Anna made an "Aww" sound and Matty asked "How does it feel to be an uncle so young?"

"Twenty two isn't that young," he replied, still not wanting to lift his head from the nest of his arms. Anna's fingers felt nice through his hair, but he knew he'd prefer to have someone else running their fingers through the ginger strands. Sadly, he was at home where it was warm. He was about to say something else, when his body was hit by a wave of harsh coughs, the male having to sit up to try and clear some of the crap from his throat.

"Die quietly," Jamie retorted sarcastically.

Anna sighed softly, making gentle soothing noises to her friend. "I don't think you should come to algebra after lunch. I think you should go home. We'll tell Professor Gregory that you're ill and had to go home. I'm sure he won't mind." Anna had taken up the role of mother in the group, possibly because she was the only girl. She made sure they all did their homework with time to spare, and that they all stayed fit and healthy. "I'll come over to your apartment tonight and cook you something nice to help you feel better."

"Anna, he has a boyfriend that can do that too, you know," Matty informed her, his blue eyes fixed on his screen, watching it through thin rimmed glasses. Matty and Anna were the only two of the four to wear glasses, although Jamie wore contacts. It seemed that Nat was the only one with perfect vision. "You don't need to mollycoddle him just because he has a cough,"

"And he's burning up," she added, fingers brushing away the strands of hair from Nat's forehead. "Do you think you can drive him home, Matty?"

Nat groaned. He didn't want them going out of their way to look after him. Forcing himself to sit up, he shook his head. "I can walk. It's not that far." He normally caught the bus, but due to the weather and condition of the road the buses weren't running today.

"Bollocks," replied Jamie, rolling his eyes at Nat. "If Matty can't take you, I'll drive you,"

"He needs to get home alive and in one piece, Jamie," Anna replied, narrowing her eyes at the male. "That deathtrap you call a car is not safe for a passenger like our poor Natty."

"I can take him," Matty said, folding close the lid of his computer and moved to pack it away. "I don't mind being late for class. I'll make sure he gets home safely."

Anna smiled brightly, wanting to lean over and hug her friend, but instead chose to rub Nat's back as he began coughing again, using a curled fist to cover his mouth. "I'll come over tonight and bring your homework with me, Nat. Don't you worry."

Jamie scoffed. "The poor man is dying, and you want to bring him his homework, woman?"

A smile crept over Nat's lips as he watched and listened to his friends interact. "Thanks guys," he croaked out meekly, allowing Anna to help him stand. Coat was grabbed from the back of the chair and quickly thrown on. He was about to button it up, when Anna wrapped her own scarf around him, and her smaller fingers tapped his away and she buttoned him up.

"Now, I want you to go home and go straight to bed," she ordered him, glancing to Matty who had now moved to stand beside her. "And you make sure he does, Matthew, or else."

Matty smiled down at her, leaning down to her level to place a kiss onto her cheek. "Yes, mother hen."

Anna's attempted to slip her pink mittens onto Nat's hands, but the male pulled them away and stuffed them into his pockets. The cold had set in that morning, and Nat had neglected finding his own gloves. Evander had been asleep and he hadn't wanted to wake him just to ask where his gloves were.. Despite being the youngest, Anna treated them all like she was the eldest. She was a simply wonderful girl, intelligent, funny and pretty in her plainness. Not to mention she wasn't easily swayed by a flirtatious grin and a quick wink from Theodore, almost as if she were immune to the male's charms.

She sent the pair on their way with a big hug and a kiss to both their cheeks, receiving the same in return from both men. Nat's heavy as lead legs tried to keep up with Matty, who despite being three inches shorter than him, seemed to have a faster paced walked and longer stride. Even when he wasn't ill, Nat noticed that Matty walked faster than he did when he didn't have Anna hanging off his arm to keep him walking with the rest of them. He often wondered if there wasn't more going on between the pair, but Anna had a boyfriend, but Matty seemed single. Sometimes though, he seemed awfully close, but Nat didn't want to pry and ask questions that might upset his friends.

They were nearing an exit to the building when another coughing fit hit, and Nat nearly keeled over, were it not for Matty's arms holding him up. Once it subsided, Nat smiled at him as he was released and continued walking, this time Matty keeping pace with him. "Thank you for this, even though you're going to be late for your next class,"

"I don't mind. Plus, Anna will worry too much if no one made sure you got home. She always worries too much over her friends." He smiled in a way that told Nat he was remembering something. "She was grounded once because she didn't tell her Dad where she was going and ended up staying the night over at my house while I lay in bed with the flu."

"You knew each other as kids?" Nat asked, snuggling down into his coat, catching Anna's scent on the scarf around his neck as he nuzzled down into it.

"Didn't she tell you? We grew up next door to each other."

The ginger haired male shook his head. "She mentioned you two went to the same high school, I didn't think you had grown up together."

"She's a few months older than me. Her Dad hated her being friends with me, but we always thought it was because her parents and my mother didn't get along. Then when prom day came, and I wanted to ask Anna to go with me, my Mom told us the reason why our families didn't get along."

Nat listened intently, allowing Matty to open his car door for him. Watching the other male, he never noticed just how similar their smiles were. Then it hit him. "You're not...?"

Matty chuckled, nodding his head as he pulled out of the student parking lot. "Her Dad couldn't keep his dick in his pants," he sighed softly, running his hand through his brown hair. "I take after my mother too much for it to be noticeable, but yeah, Anna is my big sister. Our parents just couldn't stop us from being friends. It was weird at first, but we don't notice it so much anymore. We never actually dated, but we were branded as geeks at high school, so you know, it wasn't like with were the cream of the crop for students to want to go out with us."

Nat chuckled softly. "Try being a bisexual geek. With a twin."

"You scored Evander. I wish I could find someone like him, only, you know, a girl version," Matty replied, smiling brightly and helping Nat out of his car and to his apartment building.

After another coughing fit, Nat patted his friend on the back. "Well, you know, there's no harm in being gay. There are some really delicious guys at college."

Matty laughed, shaking his head at the other's reply. "No thanks, Nat, I'm golden."

Evander was situated on the couch when the pair walked in. He quickly flew up and over to his boyfriend, noticing the state he was in. His fingers, soft and tender wandered over Nat's face while he spoke soft and tender little words to his love, worried over what was wrong with him.

"Anna sent him home," he informed Evander when the smaller male looked up at him. "Make sure you wrap him up warm in bed. I have to get back to class, but Anna said she'll be around later to make food and bring his homework."

"Will you be coming too?" Evander asked, nodding to everything Matty had said.

"Maybe. Jamie might visit too. You know us, always looking out for one another. You take care of him, all right?" He leaned down and placed his own goodbye kiss to both Evander and Nat's cheek, before waving and leaving. "Maybe one day, Nat, I'll take you up on that offer," he added, before closing the door behind himself.

Frowning at Nat curiously while stripping him out of his coat, Evander wondered what the comment meant. "What was that all about?"

Nat smiled weakly up at him, allowing the brunet to lead him to their bedroom. "It's a math geeks thing, don't worry, my precious."