"Ah, Spring . . . such a wonderful season that embodies the innocence and fragility of youth. Buds from the many flowers are just beginning to blossom, blessing us with beautiful scenery that is breathtaking to the common artist. Animals are emerging from their burrows now that the snow is cleared and the babes are just opening their eyes and learning to walk courtesy of their elders. Spring, glorious Spring, how we love you so." Leper said, his eyes sparkling as he looked around at the many plants that decorated the Devon campus.

"Yeah, hooray for Spring. I've been waiting a whole year for my allergies to come back due to those damn sunflowers." I said sarcastically through clenched teeth. Leper frowned then began tugging me off of the sidewalk.

"Aw c'mon Brinker, don't be so uptight and smell the flowers!"

"Why? So I can't breathe?"

"Sorry . . . bad metaphor," He apologized, "why don't you take off your shoes and walk through the grass for the first time in months. Soak up the sun's warmth that you've been longing all throughout Winter for."

". . . I'd rather not get eaten alive by ants and get painted red with sunburn. Thanks but no thanks Leper," I sneezed onto my sleeve, "there's too many sunflowers out here, they're cancelling out my allergy medicine."

"I feel so bad for you."

"Don't; I'd rather be inside than out here anyways." I turned without so much as a wave and began heading back to the dorms.

"Oh . . . well I hope you feel better and tell Brownie I say hi and that I hope he gets better too since I know you're going to check up on him!" Leper yelled after me. I raised my hand as I walked, waved it a bit, then lowered it back to my side as a farewell to the Lepellier.

He was right; I was going to see my roommate. Like me, he is allergic to things that most people, like Leper, enjoy this time of year. The only difference between his and mine is that his symptoms are worse and Dr. Stanpole told me to check up on him every no and then to see if he's okay and if he needs some more of his medicine. I would try to be there the whole time, tending to his needs but . . . I guess you could say that we have . . . problems.

"Hi Brownie, how are you?" I greeted when I entered our room, putting on a big smile for him. Behind his long bangs, he looked at me then sunk in his bed. "Do you need anything?" I asked, standing at his bedside. He scooted to the other side a bit and hid under the covers with the blanket just under his nose. His cheeks were a rosy pink, from embarrassment or whatever, and his nose was as red as can be. He had been sneezing alot. But that's odd since there's no plant or anything in our room.

Suddenly I noticed the flowers in a small vase on his nightstand. I picked them up and started walking out of the room, covering my nose. They were sunflowers. My eyes were burning and I wiped them when I set the flowers down. There was note in between the flowers and I had to read who was making Brownie, and no me, suffer.

I opened the note and it read:

I heard you were sick so I got you flowers I saw on the way here. They're pretty, aren't they? Get well soon even though I don't know you well.

~Chet Douglass

I accidentally crumbled the paper in my hand. Of course, it was that auburn headed, trumpet playing kid who's annoying as hell asking fifty million questions in class.

Leaving the accursed flowers, I reentered our room. Brownie was sitting up but as soon as he looked at me, he shrunk back against his pillows. I can't tell if he's either deathly scared of me or severely shy. "Now do you feel better?" I asked him when I returned to his side. He didn't respond.

"Brownie?" I asked. He just stared at me. With a sigh I ignored his unresponsiveness and put my hand on his forehead to check for a fever since Dr. Stanpole had said that that might be one of the side effects of his medicine.

He was right; Brownie's forehead was really warm. "So you do have a fever." I muttered, moving my hand to his cheek. The skin underneath my hand warmed. I couldn't help but smile as I moved my hand away. "Just checking to see if you have a fever and you do. How are you feeling?"

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Do you need anything?"

He shook his head.

Seeing that he would absolutely not talk to me, I headed towards the door. What's the use in staying if the person cowers in fear when you're around them and manages to answer every question with a simple shrug of the shoulders or shake of the head . . . although . . .

I turned back around and shock was present on Brownie's face. "I've got a question. Are you not talking to me because I scare you or are you just super shy?" Brownie stared with no expression at me.

"Well?" I urged, holding back my smirk. Brownie looked down and then back at me. He opened his mouth to talk but he turned his head and coughed into the sleeve of his shirt. He began rubbing the front of his neck and then I understood. It wasn't that he wouldn't talk to me, it was that he couldn't talk to me. He had a really sore throat.

"Why didn't you give me a hint earlier that your throat was hurting?" I asked, lightly rubbing his neck for him. He pursed his lips and looked nervously up at me in which I guessed he was trying to say 'I'm sorry.'

"I'll be right back." I said, removing my hand. I left the room to get a few things.

One, I was going to make some tea for his throat. Tea helps . . . right? It's warm so . . . hopefully I'm right and hopefully he likes tea as well.

Two, I needed to get a notebook and a pencil. He could write what he needed to say to 'talk' to me and anyone else that comes in the room. That should help alot. If someone who didn't know why he was sick-like the idiot that got him the very thing that was making him SICK-gets him something that he's allergic to, he could tell them that he was allergic.

Lastly, he would need some cough drops. Coughing won't help his sore throat at all, it'll only make it worse. Cough drops should help . . . I wonder if he likes the cherry flavored ones . . . oh well, if not, I could always get him some more.

"I hope these things will make you feel better." I said when I returned from getting the few things Brownie needed. He looked surprised to see me.

First I handed him the tea. The cafeteria had so many kinds to get, I just picked something i liked. Regular, normal tea with a bit of sugar and a teaspoon of honey. He took it in his hands, smiled at me, and took a small sip since the tea was hot.

He opened his mouth to talk but ended up having to cough again. I gave him the notebook and the pencil so he could write what he needed to say. (See! Told you it would come in handy!) Brownie opened the notebook and began writing. When he was done, he handed it to me.

Thank you so much Brinker! The tea is perfect; how did you know which one to make? It helps my throat alot :) and thank you for the notebook, it feels better to communicate to people. I wish I could do this all the time, it's easier than talking.

"No problem," I handed the notebook back to him, "I just made it the way I make it for myself. By the way, I have one last thing." I handed him the cough drops and he smiled at me before writing another thing.

Thanks again. For the cough drops and for taking care of me. I didn't expect anyone to care when my allergies kicked in.

"Once again, no problem. Someone needs to take care of you and I don't mind doing it."

This makes me feel better that I can make him happier. I told you that we had some 'problems' but I think right now they're gone. Speaking of our basic problem of no communication, I want to know why he seems so scared of me not just today but every day in general.

"Brownie, sorry to ask but every day when I see you, you try to avoid me, is it because you're super shy or do I scare you?" I asked, Brownie took a few seconds to think before answering.

Sorry but a little bit of both. You can scare me sometimes when you act super serious but it ends up being a joke but other than that I like being around you. Weird as it sounds, you're the only one I feel comfortable around and you're the only one I consider a friend.

I looked up from the notebook and he looked embarrassed. He took the notebook and scribbled out the last sentence and added onto it.

Ignore that last thing . . . not it feels too weird that I wrote it.

"It's okay Brownie. I understand what you meant." I said, grinning at him. He returned the friendly smile and I hugged him. "Get better Brownie." I said, leaving the room. I heard knocking on the desk behind me and I saw Brownie holding up the notebook.

Bye, you get better too :)

I couldn't hold back my smile.

I had originally intended to write something in Brownie's POV for once and it ended up as Brinker's . . . again ^^;

but yeah, it's Spring and everyone has their allergies so they're all sick. I have no allergies so I don't have to worry about that but what I do have to worry about is how close I stand to people that are sick. I already have a sore throat; I don't need more D

anyways, yeah, sweet, short story that is not yaoi. Its just a friend caring about his friend and nothing more. Nothing going on between them *shakes head* nope! Non yaoi . . . even though I can easily make it yaoi 8D but it's not so no.

I had Chet have some characteristics of an annoying person in one of my classes. He is always off topic and asks the most random questions and it is REALLY annoying .;; he is the reason that we get book work in the class that we really shouldn't have bookwork in