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Jihoon expected to just wake up, stare at his phone for a little bit to wake himself up, and go back to the studio to finish working. What he did not expect was that he would wake up feeling hot; his head hurting as if a ton of bricks fell on him and his nose is stuffed to the brim with mucus.
‘This is gonna be a shit day.’
He brought his hand to his forehead, feeling the heat radiate off the skin. ’Yep, definitely a fever’ He thought. A groan escaped his lips as he tossed to the side to pick up his phone. Once it was in his grasp, he messaged Bumzu, his manager and Seungcheol that he won’t be able to work today. All three of them immediately replied, telling him to get well soon and not to worry about work for a while.
Jihoon dropped his phone and slowly raised himself up to check if his roommate was here with him. He looked over to the bed across his; the covers and pillow were neatly arranged. He let out a sigh of relief. He didn’t have to worry about spreading his sickness to Mingyu (not that he’d ever voice that out loud to said roommate).
‘God, I feel like shit’ He complained as he lay back down to sleep the pain away. Maybe if he slept more his condition would get better? That was his last thought before his consciousness drifted away.
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“Do you think his heart still beating?”
“You dummy, he just has a fever, he isn’t dying.”
Jihoon knew exactly who those voices belonged to. ‘Why are they here?’ He tried his best not to alarm the two as he continued to pretend sleep in hopes that they would leave him alone for a while. He didn’t have the energy to deal with them at the moment.
“Does he feel hotter than normal?” Jeonghan asks as he takes a seat at Mingyu’s bed. Joshua places his hand on the younger’s forehead, letting out a little hum as he confirms his suspicions. As soon as his hand came into contact with Jihoon’s skin, he immediately felt how intense the body heat the latter was releasing.
“He’s really hot.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.” Jeonghan jokes. The 3rd oldest says nothing to that remark. He removes his hand from him and instructs the eldest in the room to get the thermometer. Jeonghan jokingly sighs and gets right to the younger one’s commands.
Joshua looks over to Jihoon, his eyes softening at the sight of his “sleeping” form. “Jihoon, you should have told us you were sick. We would have dropped everything and take care of you.” He muttered as his hand went to pet his hair.
Jihoon pressed his lips in a straight line, trying not to comment on what the lead vocalist had said. ‘That was so cheesy I want to vomit’ He thought as he pretended to wake up. His hands went to rub his eyes to seal the deal.
“Oh you’re finally awake Hoonie” He hears Joshua say, retracting his hand from his head.(He wanted to whine but he knew it would come out weird so he didn’t) He gives him a tired smile and slightly nods. “Well I couldn’t sleep peacefully knowing that there are people here that aren’t my roommate in here with me.” He quipped.
Joshua let out a tiny giggle, his hand coming up to cover his mouth as he did. “Even when you’re sick you still have that bite.” He joked, his hand going back to pet his dyed brown hair. Jihoon immediately leaned into the elder’s touch. He watched Joshua’s lips curl up a little from his response to petting
“I’m back with the thermometer you asked for Joshuji.”
Both of them look at the doorway to find Jeonghan, smirking at them as if he caught them doing something weird. His long fingers were twirling the thermometer around like you would a pen when you’re bored in class.
“Jeonghan, stop twirling that around you might drop it and break it.” He nagged as he walked towards the blond and proceeded to take it from him before it could fall to the ground.
After he had gotten it from Jeonghan, he strode over to where the vocal unit boss laid. He wordlessly instructed him to make open his arm a little so he can place the medical instrument in his armpit. The brunette did the action without complaint (He knew if he puts up a fuss he’d regret it immediately). He pinched the white stick between his arms and waited for the beep to sound out.
“I’ll be back.” Jeonghan mutters as he exits the room once more, leaving the remaining boys confused about his action. They looked at each other from a moment before lightly shrugging off what just happened.
Beep Beep.
The thermometer chimed, alerting Joshua that the device is finished taking Jihoon’s temperature. His fingers grabbed it from the pit and checked the digits being presented to him.
38.5 c
“Wow that’s a pretty high fever.”
A small chuckle escaped from Jihoon at his elder’s comment. “Thanks for stating the obvious hyung.” He joked before wincing in pain from his migraine. Joshua immediately hunched down to Jihoon’s height, asking if anything was hurting.
“Hyung relax, it’s just a migraine.” The brunette said.
Joshua bit the inside of his cheek, trying not to talk back to the sick one; instead he stood up from his crouched position and said: “I’ll be back in two minutes Jihoon.” and exited his room. The younger had a confused look on his face for a moment till he realized something
‘He must have gone to the medicine cabinet.’
He suddenly felt how empty the room was without his vocal unit members or his roommate present. He let out a small sigh as he grabbed his phone again to distract himself till both his hyungs come back with what they went out to get.
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“Jihoon-ah”
His eyes looked up from his phone’s screen to see a blonde mop of hair, and in that blonde’s grasp was a tray. Jihoon slowly lifted himself up to get a good look at what his hyung had brought him. His eyes squinted a little at what was at the center of the tray. Jeonghan had caught the younger’s reaction to what he had with him.
“I’m assuming Shua-hyung made this, right?”
The blonde let out a fake gasp.
“Hey, I can cook you know.”
His judgmental gaze was unwavering. He obviously wasn’t buying it. Jeonghan let out a sigh then a little before placing the tray on the bedside table. “I was joking Hoonie, I was trying to make your mood better.” He explained, his hands moving to check the younger’s temperature. “You’re still very warm….” He muttered, removing contact of his hand. He urged the vocal team leader to sit up straight so he can eat the porridge.
“Where’s Joshua-hyung?”
“He went out to buy medicine, apparently we ran out.”
Jihoon’s mouth let out a little “oh” making Jeonghan let out a little giggle. He tilted his head a little bit, confused to why the older giggled. Jeonghan waved his hand, trying to dismiss his curiosity. “It’s nothing Jihoon. You’re just too cute sometimes.” Jeonghan said, his hand going to Jihoon’s head to give it an affectionate pat.
He felt his cheeks get a little hotter from his hyung’s words and turned his face away from him. “Ha, only sometimes Jeonghan-hyung?” He said, trying to hide how flustered he was. Jeonghan let out another laugh.
“Ah so cute, even when you’re sick~” He teased, poking the younger’s cheek.
Once he got a good laugh out, Jeonghan instructed the vocal unit boss to eat what Joshua had prepared for him. “He said, and I quote: ‘Jihoon better finish the porridge or I’ll be really upset with him!’.” He even added a cute little gesture at the end to exaggerate what Joshua really meant.
Jihoon laughed at the impersonation. He really can imagine Joshua saying that.
Jihoon’s hands went to grab the tray Jeonghan had placed on his dresser, but it was immediately slapped away. His eyes looked in surprised as Jeonghan took the tray from the dresser and placed it on his lap.
“Hyung, what are you-“
“Isn’t it obvious? I’ll be feeding you.”
His mouth formed another “o”, too flustered to even comment on what he had said.
(Jeonghan took that opportunity to spoon-feed him his first bite.)
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“I’m back”
The two vocalists look up to see Joshua, around his wrist was a small white plastic bag with a pharmacy’s logo printed on it.
“Welcome back Joshuji” Jeonghan greeted while the younger just nodded. He let out an annoyed sigh from the nickname.
“How’s Jihoon’s temperature?” He asked as he walked towards the two. Jeonghan placed his hand again on Jihoon’s forehead to check. “It feels like it got higher. Wait let me double check…” He trailed off as he got the thermometer from the top of the dresser. He instructed the younger to place it between his pits.
While all that was happening, Joshua took out the medicine from its bag to reread the directions for intake. He wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings and bumped his hip against the bedside table.
“Ouch.” He winced and held where he had made contact with the furniture.
“Hyung are you okay?” Jihoon asked, his smaller hand reaching out in worry.
“Joshua had his head in the clouds. Joshuji be careful, I can’t look after a sick person and an injured person at the same time you know.” Jeonghan joked.
The black haired male just let out a fake laugh, oh how he wanted to shove the blond right now, but that should be the least of his concerns right now. He took hold of Jihoon’s out-stretched hand, lacing his fingers with his.
“I’m fine Jihoon, it’s probably not gonna bruise.” He said, flashing his sweet smile to try to erase any worry the younger had. Jihoon let out quite sigh, squeezing his hyung’s hand in response. The thermometer sounded out, prompting Jeonghan to take it to check.
“Your fever went down by a little bit, it’s a start.”
“That’s good, here take your medicine, it will help lower it some more.” Joshua instructed, taking out the tablet to hand over to him following up with the glass of water Jeonghan had left there for him to drink right after eating. Jihoon stared at the white tablet for a moment before throwing it in his mouth and drowning it with water. He felt one of his hyungs hands on his head patting him for taking his medicine. While he would have complained about how they were treating him like a child, it was nice to know that they cared enough to look after him.
(Not like he would ever say that out loud but he knows that they know he likes this)
“The pharmacist said that taking this would make you feel drowsy.”
“That’s good, sleep is essential for getting better you know!” Jeonghan said all too happily.
The two jis looked at each other for a moment before laughing at Jeonghan’s (factual) statement. The blonde gave them a joke glare before joining their little giggle fest.
This wasn’t a terrible day if his hyungs were here to care for him.