hfjONE: Back, But At What Cost? (College AU)

Chapter 10: Over

⭐Chapter 10: Over

Liam had a test today.

Only one problem: he didn't feel so good.

Maybe it was the cold weather, maybe it was something else. Either way, something had snuck up on him and got him, so now he was laying in bed, emailing his professors that he wouldn't be able to attend his classes today because he'd gotten sick and couldn't have warned them ahead of time.

Oh, and he was a backpack. Again.

It was probably from the stress of the test.

Liam frankly didn't care if his professors called it an excuse or whatever, because at this point he couldn't process anything. He just knew he couldn't go to the nurse about this because...well...it was already obvious. He doubted the nurse would keep it a secret because of how the college worked, and he wasn't ready to get involved in stuff he didn't have to. So there he sat, laptop off to the side and covered in bedsheets, a small collection of tissues off to the side that he'd managed to pull over along with a trash can. He probably should've eaten something, but he didn't feel well enough to get up. Even if he wasn't a backpack, he'd also still be concerned about infecting others.

Every part of him ached, from his head (if backpacks even had heads) to his toes. It was one of those times when there weren't any leftovers around to snack on too, which sucked. He figured that, maybe if he went back to sleep he could get better or something. So he tried...and failed, mostly because of how sore everything was. As predicted, his roommate walked in some hours later and immediately saw the situation.

"Dude, don't you have a class now?!" he'd exclaimed.

"I thing I haffa cold," Liam sniffed from where he was.

"Dang, I didn't think that'd...alright, alright," his roommate huffed. "Have you eaten anything at least? Drank water?"

"...no."

"Oh my god-"

"Lizzen! My body hurtz..." Liam complained.

"Okay, save the talking, I'll...get you something," his roommate sighed, tossing his stuff to the side and rummaging around in it for anything useful.

"You reelie don hav too..."

"No, I have to. You've probably never dealt with this away from home, huh?"

"No..."

"Alright well. Stay there, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

And with that, his roommate was out of the room...after he'd grabbed a few things, of course. Liam remained where he was, more than willing to just sit there instead of get up and move. He tried not to focus on his body to lessen the pain, but even breathing right felt like a chore. Liam felt a little eased knowing that he could just shrug the day off, and it wasn't like he was in some life-threatening situation. When his roommate came back, he'd set down a bunch of things: Breakfast from the dining hall, cough drops, and a couple of other items. He'd also gone into the room's bathroom to get a thermometer and a mask, though as he approached Liam (to supposedly take his temperature) he paused.

"...do you think a thermometer still works if you're a backpack?" he asked.

"It doezz...I at leest tried that..." Liam muttered.

"Alright then, I'll...take your word for it."

So he took his temperature as normal.

Yeah, no...he had a cold.

"Well shoot, I can't exactly give you anything, huh?" his roommate muttered. "Not to mention I have classes coming up..."

"Ghh...go too yhurr glazzez," Liam managed. "Don get a bad grayyd becuz of mee..."

"Are you...are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yeh."

"Mmm...tell you what. I'll add my contact to your phone and if stuff happens you can call me."

"Okeyy..."

Liam unlocked his phone and watched his roommate enter his information before handing it back and pacing around the room. Liam looked at what he'd put for his information, almost completely forgetting about the fact he still hadn't gotten the guy's name. Turns out, he'd named himself "ur college roommate" without any "real name" under it. Maybe it was for the better though, since Liam was sure he'd get confused with some other name in his current state.

Once his roommate had gotten himself situated, he explained his schedule to Liam. Apparently, he DID have late classes, though there were small segments of time he could pop in and check on him. Liam was fine either way, he didn't want to be the cause of someone else's downfall like that. As his roommate left the room for his next class, Liam mustered up some strength to sit up, moving around a bit in case anything stopped hurting in the process. He ached a little less, but it still hurt some.

Eyeing the food, Liam made an attempt to move over to it, though slowly. His roommate was right, he had to consume something. Once he finally got over to the plate of food, he could smell everything on it, which energized him a bit more. He used the desk's drawers as steps to get up to the top of the desk, since he couldn't reach it from the chair. Looking at the plate, Liam could also see a plastic fork and spoon to the side of it, as well as a bottle of water and a cup of juice.

His roommate really did this for him, huh...

Well. He'd have to thank him when he felt better.

-----

It was later in the evening when his roommate returned, and by that point Liam had eaten more and gotten up to move around. The cold faded to dull aching, though Liam had put a mask on to be safe. In addition, he was back to being a human again, and was currently trying to finish up an assignment to catch up on missed work. He'd perked up from his bedside and looked away from his laptop towards the door to the room.

"Oh, you're up," his roommate noted as he closed the door behind him. "I assume everything went alright? I didn't get any calls..."

"Mhm," Liam nodded.

"Feel any better?"

"I ah...it's just a headache now. And a bit of a sore throat. The cough drops helped though, so...thanks," Liam said.

"Yeah..." his roommate nodded. "No problem."

"You really didn't have to do all of this, though..."

"What? Yeah I did," his roommate replied. "I thought you said you didn't want people finding out about your whole...backpack thing."

"I'm sure it would've passed by itself..."

"Ah, don't be so hard on yourself. How long have you been up, anyway? You gonna go to sleep soon?"

"Yeah, I plan to."

"Cool."

Liam managed to crack a weak but genuine smile as he laid back against the pillows on his bed.

He could last until December.