That was a bad idea. That was a really bad idea, Fred thought as he got a limp Jean into his bedroom where Diana floated in the middle of, frowning with her arms folded.

“You're one hell of an idiot, Freddie,” she said as Fred bent down to lift Jean up bridal style while trying to keep the guy's bag from pouring its contents all over the floor.

“I know and chew me out later but can you help me now?” Fred begged her as he nearly tripped on his feet when putting Jean on his bed.

“I don't serve his kind!” she snapped, her anger showing by the way the mini library on his desk toppled over all on its own.

“I'm not asking you to serve him!” Fred whine loudly.

He put the bag on the floor and looked down at Jean with worry in his eyes. It was a very, very stupid idea but it was the first thing that came to his mind that could've cheered Jean up. He had completely forgotten how unpredictable Malcolm was, even when weak and trapped in one hallway.

Jean's eyes kept opening and closing as he mumbled words, looking delirious and sweaty. He looked like he was in pain as well, a sad aftereffect of a vampire’s hypnosis when forced out of it.

“Shit. Shit. Shit,” he muttered when Jean let out a pitiful groan.

Fred slammed his hand on the wall before he yelled, “Deal’s off! And no blood for a week!”

“You're kidding? Fred come on!” Malcolm yelled back but Fred did not answer him.

“Just let him be. Them white people need a little pain to understand what they done to us,” Diana said from behind him, her grudge with the people that did her wrong still so strong.

“Diana, no. That's not how equality works and that's not what this is about, dammit,” Fred said with a sigh before dashing towards his bathroom to get a throw up bag then coming back, holding it out at the side of the bed as Jean sat up to throw up.

He made a disgusted face as the human threw up the contents of his stomach in the bag, some getting on his fingers.

“Nasty,” Fred muttered under his breath, nose scrunched up in disgust.

He was surprised that Jean was able to glare up at him. Fred expected him to be out of it for a good while, too weak to even speak and yet there he was. Throwing up while looking ready to kill Fred with his eyes.

It reminded Fred of his cousin, Niamh, when she had morning sickness.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Jean croaked, sitting up and wiping the side of his mouth with a hand, hair sticking to his face.

“How are you feeling right now?” Fred asked. He wasn't a stranger to the pains that came with a vampire's hypnosis, except it wasn't as strong with him.

“Like my brain and stomach got repeatedly pummeled. So peachy,” Jean said sarcastically, making retching noises but nothing else came out.

Huh. He's got a mouth on him. Never would've guessed it.

Fred tied up the vomit bag and put it in the trash can on the right of his bedroom door before heading for the mini-fridge in front of his bed to get out a bottle of water.

“Here,” Fred offered as he sat down on the edge of the bed, Jean taking the offered drink with a nod of gratitude.

“You don't owe this boy anything,” Diana said, hovering beside Fred as she glared down at Jean.

“Why’s your room so cold?” Jean asked, putting the bottle between his legs to rub his hands together.

“Cause I'm so chill?” Fred tried to cheer Jean up but ended up just receiving an eye roll and even a comment from Diana.

“Really?” she said sarcastically and Fred quietly told her to shut up.

Jean's sighed heavily, getting both their attentions before he made to get off the bed but Fred gently put his hand on the guy's shoulder to stop him.

“Not a good idea right now. The vamp hypnosis thing messes up with a lot of things, especially sense of gravity. You'd be tripping on your way outside the hallway for an hour.”

Jean made a face at that, sighing again.

“I'll be on the roof,” Diana said. “Call for me if he starts making trouble.”

Fred didn't respond, only nodded once and she was gone, leaving him in a very odd situation.

“My head feels so bad,” Jean groaned and Fred could understand that.

“I'd offer painkillers but I don't have any.”

Jean sat up straighter, drank some of the water and turned to his right to eye the wall separating them from Malcolm.

“Why exactly did he do that?” Jean mumbled and Fred wasn't sure if the question was aimed at him or not.

Fred felt bad. He should've expected Malcolm to do something but one couldn't ever tell with the vamp. Some moments, he looked ready to destroy everyone in his path, then another, he's transfixed with the images of cartoons and animations, imitating them until Fred couldn't take it anymore.

Either way, bringing Jean to Malcolm was a bad idea. Even if he knew Malcolm would avoid drinking human blood and stretching his remaining three hundred years to four hundred, that didn't mean he couldn't have done anything else.

Fucking bastard.

“I don't know,” Fred said with a weak smile. “He's unpredictable like that. He does what he can when he wants to. Ain't no mystery why he's all chained up. Told you vampires suck.”

“Hmm,” Jean hummed in response and they were quiet for a while.

Fred opened and closed his mouth, trying to come up with something to say that'd prevent Jean from just getting up and leaving and never talking to him again after that fiasco.

He knew that he had been apprehensive of the guy when they actually met, Jean being human and all and easier to get hurt, but then he thought it through after sitting with Jean that Saturday evening. Jean was weird, but that also meant different and so far, Fred's only actual chance to make his first actual human friend. He didn't have to keep a distance or avoid conversations past ‘hey’ because Jean knew and he was okay with it.

So Fred really, really didn't want to mess that up.

“Why…Why are you still talking to me?” Jean asked, surprising Fred.

He blinked rapidly, staring at the back of Jean's head out of confusion.

“What you mean?”

Jean turned around to look up at Fred, looking hesitant and like a washed up racoon-kitten hybrid with curly hair and Fred wanted to just coo and get him a teddy bear.

“After I told you I wasn't going to tell anyone, you could've just left it at that. I would have liked to understand your side of the world more but I would have gotten it. What I don't understand is why you went through all this trouble. I told you it was okay you couldn't come yesterday but even that promise, I didn't understand.”

Fred was beginning to think Jean had some mood issues. The way he switched from excited to snappy to quiet was worrisome.

Fred looked to his right and scratched the back of his neck. “I thought it was obvious.”

Jean looked at him, waiting for an answer.

“I'm trying to be your friend here, dude,” Fred said, expression deadpan. He honestly thought it was pretty fucking obvious.

Jean scoffed. “Yeah right.”

The immediate disbelief shocked Fred who dramatically put a hand on his chest like he had been physically hit.

“You accuse me of lying?”

“Yep.”

It was Fred's turn to scoff but in surprise. “I'm serious!”

“Sure,” June said, stretching out the word sarcastically.

“Why is this so surprising? I want to be your friend and your hurtful disbelief is making me even more determined, dammit,” Fred argued, scowling.

“The day I have a friend would be the day pigs can fly. Besides, I've never really wanted a friend.”

Fred did not know how to take that statement. It made him feel kind of sad actually, at the same time, it sounded funny because pigs could fly. A bit of magic could do a lot of shit.

“Well I want to be your friend so it's gonna happen,” Fred argued. Their conversation had changed so drastically.

“Good luck with that.”

Something clicked in Fred's mind, activated by that blatant challenge. His eyes flared up and he felt the flames of determination burn passionately through him.

Challenge accepted.