a/n: hi, kmi and anon person.

Disclaimer: Ha, ha, no.

Title: have a hand to hold

Word Count: 450

Summary: Hector readjusted Ron's pillow just to avoid his gaze. "In all fairness, you were dying." [tumblr prompt, gender AU – M/M]

"You look like shit," Ron muttered when he came back to consciousness again. His eyelids were pearly with exhaustion, his mouth chapped and edges still blue from the poison.

Hector let go of Ron's hand and jumped in his seat, knocking the book on traditional mooncalf dances to the floor, and immediately knelt by Ron's bedside. He knew how he looked at the moment in Ron's eyes, frizzy brown hair and nervous darting eyes, but he also knew that Halley was just as unkempt as were the rest of the remaining Weasley brothers while Rom slowly recovered from being poisoned.

"Do you need anything?" Hector asked. "Water? Another pillow?"

"No," said Ron. He turned his head to face Hector, his skin startling pale against the starched-white sheets. "Did Halley really shove something that was inside a goat's stomach down my throat?"

Hector readjusted Ron's pillow just to avoid his gaze. "In all fairness, you were dying."

"Worst birthday ever…" Ron shifted his weight in the bed, craning his neck as Hector fussed around him, grabbing another blanket from the cupboard, above the bed, filling a glass of water in his shaking hands. "Why are you still here? I thought you hated me right now."

Hector tried to carefully arrange his words, but the last few weeks flashed through his mind: Ron obnoxiously intertwined with Lavender, their arguments and growing tension, but also Ron unconscious in the hospital bed, his face blue from the lack of oxygen. "We are having a truce." He allowed himself to meet Ron's blue eyes. They were a startling shade, much like the late afternoon sky outside the window.

"Oh."

"Yes." Finally settled, Hector returned to his seat and picked up his book. He needed to do something with his hands now that Ron was awake. He flipped to a random page and found an interesting paragraph on mooncalf mating rituals. "I will be properly mad with you once you are back in the dorm."

Ron folded a lanky arm behind his head. "But are we still friends? Because your voice gets all posh when you're pissed with me."

A page ripped. Frustrated, Hector turned the book over in his hands. He considered throwing it across the room.

Ron continued talking. "And I've been a berk to you. Merlin's beard, you should be anywhere else but here by my sorry side." He stopped speaking and blinked. "Wait, were you holding my hand when I first woke up?" Blushing, he looked down at his calloused hand as if he could feel the imprint of their touch.

Hector opened his book again. He forced himself to look at the page. "Hallucinations are common with this kind of poison."