@doublenotted cont. from here
HE REALLY HAD DONE HIS BEST TO BRAVE IT. As someone with ample practice in faking good health, Astoria knows a pretender when she sees one. And he'd done a valiant job of it. Playing it straight and stoic when he'd come to pick her up for classes, holding back sniffles in the car, and wiping sweat from his brow when he thought she wasn't looking. All for nothing when it caught up to him all at once.
"You know, most men would be delighted to have a pretty girl fussing over them like this," in the weeks they've known each other she's started taking a page out of his book and flirting with him. Just a little. Nothing too scandalous, but the occasional tongue in cheek comment was made. Astoria settles beside him, flipping the cloth so that the cooler side presses to his blistering forehead, tutting at his theatrics. "Such a drama queen. Honestly, anybody would think you had a terminal illness instead of the flu."













