Page 13 of Just a Footnote

Aiden swallows, then wrinkles his nose at the pain in his throat. “I assure you this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve taken care of myself. You can go now.”

Liam sends him a disbelieving look, before letting out a loud sigh. He unfurls from the bed. All long legs and messy hair. Maybe Aiden has a fever still and he’s dreaming. Liam bends down to grab a paper bag off the floor. He hands it to Aiden, their fingers brushing as he does so, before yanking his hand away.

“It’s my favorite chicken soup from a deli across town. I had it delivered for you. It should still be warm.” Liam rocks on his heels a little. “Let me know if you need anything else?”

“What?” Aiden means to think it, but his brain to mouth filter is obviously not working.

“It’s finals week so, I’m sure you don’t want to be down. Just trying to be helpful.”

“Okay,” Aiden responds.

Liam smiles at him, sending Aiden’s heart rate galloping. Maybe he’s having a reaction to the cold medicine actually. The cold medicine and the energy drink are fucking with him. He watches Liam leave, then listens as the front door closes. Inside the bag are two containers of soup and a bottle of his favorite Gatorade flavor. What the hell?

His door opens back up to reveal a smirking Archer.

“I see your nurse has finally left.”

Aiden rolls his eyes. “Fuck you, dude.”

“I’m going to stay away from you because I’m not as confident in my immune system as Liam is with his. But text me if you need something?”

Aiden waves him off, watching as Archer returns to his own room. He carefully eats one of the bowls of soup, sighing blissfully at how good it feels on his throat. The soup seemingly brought him back to life, along with the nap.

Five hours later his paper is done along with both bowls of chicken noodle soup Liam left for him. Between the soup and the cold medicine… he might survive finals week after all.

Finals week is sobusy that he easily hides away from everyone. Even after he’s recovered from his sickness, he avoids Archer. That’s pretty typical for him this time of year though. Mostpeople go home after finals week so it leaves the campus eerily empty. Archer, Miles, and him usually fuck off by going to see movies at the empty theater.

This year is different. Not just because they have somewhere to go on Christmas Day but because suddenly it is the week of Christmas…and Liam Walsh is spending the days with them. Aiden thought that they’d just see him on Christmas Day but apparently not.

“Are you feeling better?” Liam asks, hip cocked against the kitchen counter.

“Yes.”

“You’re welcome for the soup.” A smirk spreads across Liam’s face. Aiden is torn on whether he wants to punch him or kiss him. It’s been a thin line lately.

“Thank you for the soup,” Aiden bites out.

“Glad to see you survived your sicknessandfinals.”

Aiden smiles at him over his shoulder as he grabs an energy drink. “And none of you caught it from me.”

“And that.”

“It’s a two-hour drive to see snow,” Miles announces to them. “Take me to see snow and I won’t whine the rest of the week about it.”

“Your whining doesn’t bother me.”

Aiden sips his energy drink while Miles and Liam play fight in the living room. Liam gets Miles in a headlock that Miles can’t escape from. A few moments later Miles taps out and they laugh at each other. It feels weird. He’s seen it a million times before, but something about it now unnerves him a little.

“We’re going to see snow,” Archer says, shrugging on his letterman jacket. “Aiden, go put on something warmer than that. I don’t need you catching another cold because you didn’t dress warm enough for this little adventure.”

Aiden thinks about arguing just to be a little shit, butultimately decides against it. He doesn’t want another cold either. He keeps the AU hoodie that he has on and slides his leather jacket on top of it. The ensemble is decidedly douchey but it’s also warm so he doesn’t really care.

They file into Liam’s car since he’s the only one with a vehicle between the four of them. A warm feeling fills Aiden’s chest, he pushes it down deep so he can’t think about it. The city slowly fades away to turn into mountains and large snow laden trees. Snow is new for Aiden since they spent most of their youth in California until they’d both gotten scholarships at Athens University. Between Archer’s hockey scholarship and Aiden’s academic scholarship their college and living expenses are paid for but that was it. The only travel Archer gets is for away games. Rarely, Aiden gets to attend when he hitches a ride with Skye.

Liam pulls off into a state park after a few hours' drive. The place is mostly empty considering it’s the week of Christmas.

“Aiden, you’re in charge of making sure none of us get hurt,” Miles says as they start on a small hike up one of the trails.

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