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Jay took one look at the older teen convalescing on the couch and raised a brow. He then gave a cheeky grin and asked, “What happened to your phenomenal immune system, huh?”
Morro shot daggers over at Jay with his eyes. “I will kill you.”
“That would be way more threatening if you didn’t sound like you had cotton up your nose.” Jay only continued to smirk at his brother and leaned on the side of the couch. “Is Wu still out of town, then?”
The older teen gave a long, drawn-out sigh, letting his body flop against the back of the couch. “Yes,” he grumbled. Another string of coughs wracking his form and causing him to shoot back up. His hand shot to his face to cover the coughs as best he could before mumbling out, “He’s not coming back till tomorrow.”
Jay frowned. “You know, I’m sure mom and dad wouldn’t mind another body in the house for the night?”
Morro knew he was right. Ed and Edna were like a second family. Though Morro was pretty awkward around them, even after all this time. They still treated him as if they had adopted him along with his brother. Maybe one day he would feel comfortable enough to actually go to them of his own accord. However, he doubted that today was that day.
He shook his head. “I’d rather just stay here and swallow a bottle of cough medicine.” It wasn’t like he couldn’t take care of himself while sick. Jay was just persistent.
“But what if you, like, suffocate in your sleep or something?”
Morro looked up at him with a raised brow. “What the hell are you talking about?”
The blue-clad teen frowned. He pulled at the ends of his scarf, a nervous habit he’d always had. “I just mean, what if something happens? What if you feel worse? What if you get worse?”
The older blinked at him for a moment. Was he really that worried about Morro’s health? Now that he thought about it, Jay had rushed over pretty quickly when he caught wind of his brother’s state. In fact, Jay seemed to have become much more attached to Morro’s hip in the recent year.
Not that it was odd that they had grown closer lately, seeing as it was a year ago that they had learned of their familiar relation with one another. But Jay was especially very clingy with his brother.
Morro sighed. Was Jay really that scared of losing him? “I’ll be fine,” he argued before giving another fit of loud coughs.
Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to persuade Jay into relenting. Instead, his frown only deepened. “I can stay here with you tonight?”
“You have school tomorrow,” was Morro’s instant reply.
“So do you, dumbass.” Jay huffed and crossed his arms.
“I’m sick. I’m probably not even going to school tomorrow. And you’ll get stuck at home if you catch whatever I have as well.”
There wasn’t an instant reply. Only a pregnant pause as Morro stared at Jay and Jay stared at the floor. After a few beats of silence, Morro finally sighed and groaned out a tight, “Fine.”
Morro set up the futon for Jay, without really knowing where the younger had disappeared to. His father’s house wasn’t that big, but Jay always had a knack of getting into shit most people wouldn’t. He was doing everything he could to not accidentally cough onto the sheets.
By the time Morro had gotten the spare bedding out and set up, Jay had finally returned, having a very intense staring contest at two bottles in his hands.
“What are you doing?”
Jay snapped to look back up at him. Before giving a response, his eyes flicked between the futon and Morro. “What are you doing?” He pointed a hand at him.
The older teen only rolled his eyes. “Making your bed. Duh. What are those?” He asked, pointing to the bottles.
“Medicine I found in your cupboards.” He went back to looking down at them. “I’m not sure which one would be better though… and they both look pretty old.”
“Like I said, I don’t really get sick. And Wu is immortal or some stupid shit.” Morro huffed, crossing his arms. “That stuff probably hasn’t been used in years.”
Jay frowned. “Does medicine go bad?”
Morro only gave a shrug and a sound of unknowing.
“Maybe I should call my mom…”
A groan was the response as Morro threw his head back to let out the annoyed sound. “Good Lord, Jay, just let it go. It’s not that big a deal. Why are you so hung up on this stuff?”
Jay blinked at him for a moment, as if trying to figure out where the outburst had come from. However, he knew already. Even if they had grown closer after learning they were brothers, Morro was still Morro. He was still prickly and standoffish on his best days. On his worse days, he was fully antisocial and seemed to bristle with anger in every word.
“Because you shouldn’t have to be alone when you’re sick. It always makes everything worse…”
Morro didn’t respond immediately.
“Even if Master was here, I don’t even know if you’d let him help you right now, and that’s what worries me the most, too. You…” His hands reached for his scarf again, even full of things they still fiddled with its over worn ends. “You shouldn’t have to be alone all the time. I don’t want you to…I wanna be able to keep you company even when you’re sick or angry.”
“Oh.” was all Morro could respond with for a moment. When he finally could pull more words out, all that came was a, “Okay.”
Morro wasn’t good with others. Everyone in the city who knew him knew that. He didn’t greet neighbors or pet dogs. He didn’t engage with his fellow students and most teachers were lucky if he even came to class. His relationship with his own adoptive family was strained and tense. His own inability to connect properly with his father and then those around him seemed to weigh on him more than most realised. But it seemed Jay had. Which, admittedly, scared Morro.
Morro sat down on the futon and reached a hand out. “Can I see those?”
Jay looked up at him before handing over the bottles.
Morro examined them for a moment before holding one up. “This one should be fine. Wu got it only a few months ago when Lloyd was staying with us for a while.” He handed the old one back to Jay to go put up while he took the other.
When Jay came back, it was with a cup of water, which he handed off to the other. He sat next to him and sighed. “Sorry if I’m being really pushy. I just really don’t like it when you’re alone all the time.”
Morro shrugged as he chugged down the water, which actually felt amazing on his raw throat. “I’m used to you being annoying. Do you wanna watch Star Farer?”
Jay snapped back to attention and smiled up at the other. “Hell yeah! We should watch The Great Galactic Escape! That one’s the best.”
Morro only rolled his eyes and handed the TV remote off to him. As the move was being booted up, Morro leaned back on the futon with another cough. It didn’t hurt as bad as the ones earlier.