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Minhyuk woke up abruptly with a gasp. Sitting up slowly, he could hear his blood pulsing in his head, the pounding headache echoing throughout his skull. Cold sweat drenched his body; the shirt he had stolen from Jooheon was stuck to his back and his hair was practically glued to his forehead. Minhyuk felt terrible, there was no lying to himself. He had felt almost fine before bed, popping a couple over-the-counter painkillers to quell the headache that certainly wasn’t as bad as it was earlier. He groped around for his phone that he had tossed haphazardly onto his mattress and checked the time, wincing at the light that bore into his eyes. It was almost 2am, so he had been asleep for roughly 2 hours… he shot a glance towards Changkyun’s bed, and was relieved to find it empty.
“He’s probably at his studio again,” Minhyuk mumbled to himself, trying to stand up quietly. “He really needs to stop doing that when he can’t sleep…” His muscles ached with each miniscule movement, and he was unable to suppress a groan as he stood fully.
‘Thank god I’m not going to wake him up,’ Minhyuk thought as he began to stumble towards the door. Grasping at air as he made his way through the darkness, he finally made contact with the door. Fumbling around for the doorknob didn’t take much time, and soon he was in the hall, making his way to the kitchen. He needed some water or something, and maybe some more painkillers. Each step he took felt as though he were walking on a ship’s deck, and he swayed back and forth with the rocky waves. A bout of lightheadedness struck him and he fell forwards, crashing into the counter with a loud thud. The blow to the abdomen hurt badly and Minhyuk almost yelled. If he hadn’t woken anyone up with his collison, that would have certainly woken up someone. His stomach was swirling now, but it was nothing that worrisome. He often felt like this when he fell over or slipped when practicing choreography, so he let it drift to the bottom of his list of priorities.
With that, Minhyuk resumed the mission at hand. He stumbled over to the fridge like a seasick seaman, and grabbed a glass from the counter next to it. He was lucky he hadn’t put it away earlier, and that Kihyun hadn’t noticed either. He opened up the fridge, letting the light bleed out onto the kitchen floor. He grabbed the pitcher of water and poured himself a glass with shaky hands. He nearly dropped the pitcher trying to place it back in the fridge, and as he shut the door of the fridge, his stomach surged.
Everything he had in the past few minutes was coming back to bite him, and Minhyuk knew he had to move to the washroom, now . He slammed his glass of water down on the counter, and began to stagger towards the washroom as fast as he could. The sound of his glass falling over was heard in the distance, but Minhyuk didn’t have time to fix it. His entire body was quaking, his head was spinning and he felt like he would burst. The floor felt like it was shifting beneath his feet, but with luck, Minhyuk would make it to the bathroom safely.
“Minhyuk?” Kihyun’s voice broke his concentration. “Why are you making so much noise out here?” Minhyuk looked up, and through squinted eyes, could barely make out Kihyun standing right in front of the bathroom door.
“Now, I don’t know what you’re doing but people are trying to sleep here,” Kihyun’s voice was laced with irritation, and Minhyuk could barely hear it over the blood pounding in his ears. He stumbled, bumping into the wall and slumped over, groaning. Kihyun needed to move this second.
“Minhyuk, are you okay?” He felt Kihyun’s hand on his shoulder, and as he opened his mouth to tell Kihyun just what was happening, he vomited.
His throat burned as his stomach’s contents made their way back up and out, all over the floor. He retched again, emptying his stomach of everything it had left, squeezing his eyes shut. He hadn’t anticipated that he’d fall this sick in such a short time, especially not when they still had a schedule to attend to the next day. Earlier, he only had a headache and now, Minhyuk was sure that he at least had the flu. He shivered; his sweat soaked clothes were not helping the situation. He felt absolutely gross and pathetic- and suddenly embarrassed as he realized that he had probably just thrown up on Kihyun.
“I’m so sorry,” Minhyuk rasped, his throat feeling raw. He wanted to curl up on the floor and fall asleep, to forget about this forever. He hugged the wall for support, feeling shaky and weak. Around him- silence.
“Kihyun?” Minhyuk whined, searching for his group mate. Again, no response could be heard. Minhyuk felt anxious and scared. What if Kihyun was mad? What if Kihyun went to tell someone and get him in trouble? What if he wasn’t coming back? Fat tears started to roll down his cheeks and soon, he was wheezing. Suddenly, he felt a wet towel start to gently wipe at his face.
“Minhyuk, it’s alright, I’m still here,” Kihyun’s voice was soft and Minhyuk almost felt better… almost. Kihyun dabbed at the areas around his mouth, wiping away the vomit that settled on his lips. The towel was cool and pleasant, it felt nice on Minhyuk’s skin. He began to slide down the wall, only to be grabbed by Kihyun.
“Um… I don’t think that here is the best place to sit,” Kihyun sounded incredibly polite and slightly panicked and it took Minhyuk a moment to realize why.
“Oh my- Ki, I’m so sorry-” Minhyuk’s words were cut off by Kihyun shushing him. Kihyun shuffled around the puddle of vomit and reached around Minhyuk to support him under the armpit.
“C’mon, let’s get you out of the hallway,” Kiyun guided him around the puddle, and they waddled down the hall into the washroom. Kihyun bent down, sitting Minhyuk down on the toilet seat.
“I’ll be right back,” Kihyun reassured Minhyuk before flicking on the light. The fluorescent lights of the bathroom were shocking, bright white lights shining directly into Minhyuk’s eyes. He hissed as Kihyun shut the bathroom door behind himself. He was alone in the bathroom now, and he felt strangely calm. It was as if shock had hit him. He looked down at the little bits of vomit that had splattered up his legs and shorts and felt mild disgust, but made no move to correct anything. All of his energy had seeped out of him. He was exhausted. Just then, the door creaked open slowly and Kihyun shuffled in with an armload of things.
“I brought you a change of clothes, another towel, some water and some stomach medicine,” Kihyun rambled, placing the stack of clothes on the counter and passing Minhyuk the water. Minhyuk grabbed it with shaking hands, and tentatively took a sip. Kihyun tapped his free hand and placed a few pills in Minhyuk’s open palm.
“Take these, they should help you feel less sick,” Kihyun unfolded the towel quickly, wetting it lightly using the sink. “It’s too late to get you something to fill your stomach, plus, I don’t think it’s a good idea if you still feel nauseous.” Minhyuk nodded, quickly swallowing the pills, tossing his head back with a gulp of water. It hurt his sore throat, but the reassurance that he’d feel better later kept him from being angry about it. Kihyun began to wipe his legs down with the towel, as Minhyuk sipped gently at his water. They sat in silence for a bit as Kihyun made his way down Minhyuk’s legs.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone you were feeling sick earlier?” Kihyun’s voice cut through the silence like a knife. He sounded upset- Minhyuk’s headache had finally started to calm down enough for him to pay attention properly and he was taken aback. Why was Kihyun upset?
“I didn’t feel sick earlier, I promise,” His voice barely above a whisper. “I had a bit of a headache, but I honestly didn’t think it would turn into this…” The hum of the air conditioner was calming as they sat in silence again, Kihyun, wiping off Minhyuk’s feet.
“Just know that if you have any problems, you can talk to us right,” Kihyun sounded softer than usual. It threw Minhyuk off guard. It was so common to hear Kihyun scolding him and the other members for making messes or bugging him, yet here he was helping him with his mess, even after he had been woken up by Minhyuk crashing about. Kihyun really cared for them all, and Minhyuk knew that, but he had never really paid that much attention. He felt a bit bad for that.
“Don’t worry, I will,” He chuckled. “Unless you’re the source of my problem.” Kihyun looked up and frowned, and Minhyuk smirked at him.
“Never mind, I’m not helping you anymore,” Kihyun started to fold the towel, standing up. Minhyuk gasped, and Kihyun smirked right back at him.
“Yah, Kihyun!” Minhyuk giggled. “How could you! When I’m so terribly sick…” He feigned crying, winking at Kihyun. Kihyun rolled his eyes, and tossed him his change of clothes.
“You can’t be that sick if you’re joking around like this,” Kihyun opened the door to the bathroom. “Get changed into some clean clothes, you’ll feel even better- if you need me, just say my name.” With that, he left the bathroom. It hit Minhyuk that he was already feeling better. His headache was starting to calm down, and the lightheadedness had subsided almost completely. He chuckled again- stupid Kihyun and his magic touch. He stood up slowly and stripped out of his dirty clothes, placing them haphazardly on top of the soiled towel that Kihyun had folded so carefully. He paused, folding his clothes after some deliberation. Kihyun was doing something nice for him, he might as well do something nice back. He pulled his clothes on quickly, and downed the rest of his water. He really needed to thank Kihyun, so he opened the door to the bathroom, following Kihyun back into the dorm.
In the light escaping from the bathroom, he really didn’t expect to see Kihyun on his hands and knees with a cloth and a bucket of water on the floor. Kihyun, seemingly in a trance, was spritzing the area vigorously with some sort of cleaning spray, scrubbing viciously at Minhyuk’s mess with a cloth in his gloved hands.
“Oh my god,” Minhyuk gasped, making Kihyun jump. “You don’t need to do that!” He could feel his ears heating up in embarrassment. Kihyun was practically a godsend here, but that didn’t mean that Minhyuk wanted him to feel the need to clean up his puke! Kihyun laughed and shushed Minhyuk a bit.
“It’s fine Minhyuk, I was dirty anyways,” Kihyun continued to scrub, much to the shock of Minhyuk.
“By that you mean…” Minhyuk whispered, afraid to hear what he had to say.
“Uh, yeah, you did throw up on me,” Kihyun’s voice was sheepish, and Minhyuk felt his entire face go red. “It’s fine though, I know it wasn’t on purpose.” Minhyuk wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
“I wiped myself down while I was grabbing your things,” Kihyun wrung out the cloth into the bucket as Minhyuk nodded. “I didn’t want you to feel bad about it.” Minhyuk wanted to cry. Kihyun was being so nice to him when he did something so gross- and he still felt terrible. Minhyuk stumbled a bit, bumping into the wall.
“Min, you need to get back to bed,” Kihyun stood up, taking his gloves off carefully. He sat them down gently beside the bucket, and began to shove Minhyuk in the direction of his room.
“What?” Minhyuk was confused as Kihyun pushed him away from his own room, further down the hall towards the room he had to himself. “Why are you taking me to your room?” Kihyun scoffed.
“You need rest, and you need no one to bother you while you sleep,” Kihyun said this as if it were obvious. Minhyuk sat down on Kihyun’s bed tentatively, looking up at Kihyun.
“Thank you so much,” Minhyuk was so grateful for everything that Kihyun had done. He really respected Kihyun’s ability to be calm in difficult situations and his um… assertive empathy for lack of better words. They expressed their affections differently, and right now Kihyun was showing that he really cared. Minhyuk liked it- not that he would ever tell Kihyun to his face. Kihyun smiled softly.
“I’ll bring you some more water and pills later, okay,” Minhyuk hummed in agreement, throwing back the covers on the bed. “Also, don’t make a mess of everything.” Minhyuk snorted, settling down on the soft mattress.
“No promises.” Kihyun chuckled, turning around and leaving. The door quietly clicked shut behind him. Minhyuk yawned and buried himself in Kihyun’s plush blankets. He’d need to buy Kihyun a meal or two to thank him for everything. His stomach and headache were no longer bothering him as much, and in the silence of Kihyun’s room, he fell into a surprisingly comfortable sleep.
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Minhyuk woke up peacefully to the light of the sun peeking through the curtains. He felt much better than the previous night. Who knows if it were just a 24 hour bug, but whatever it was, he was glad that it was almost over. He felt well enough to tackle today’s schedule- wait, what time was it. He looked over at Kihyun’s nice alarm clock, and nearly fell out of bed. He should have gotten up hours ago. He scrambled out of bed, throwing the blankets haphazardly. He’d apologize to Kihyun later. Scurrying down the hall, he tried to get into his room, barely noticing the note stuck to his door. He paused, grabbing it and skimming over the hastily scrawled words.
‘Hey Minhyuk. I talked to the managers about excluding you from today’s schedule, because I know you aren’t feeling well. ’ Kihyun’s handwriting was clear despite being written in a hurry- Minhyuk was envious. ‘They agreed that we should let you rest today so I made sure no one went to wake you up when the day started. Drink the water that I left on your bedside table and take the pills- even though you feel fine, you should still take the proper precautions so you can get better quickly. ’ Minhyuk flinched; it was as if Kihyun could read his mind. ‘ Stay home and rest today- I prepared you some porridge, so make sure you eat it.” Minhyuk could just imagine Kihyun yelling at him to eat, and it brought a smile to his face. Kihyun’s signature lined the bottom of the page with a rather terrible drawing of a little man smiling. He pocketed the note, and opened the door to his room. A glass of water was sat on his bedside table, as promised, along a few little stomach pills. He downed them quickly, and got to work on relaxing.
A few hours later, the sun was starting to set on the horizon. He had gotten changed, eaten the porridge, and was just generally enjoying the day. It had been so long since they had had a break, and he was going to try and make it count, even if he was sick. The only thing missing was the other members. As he was sitting in the main room watching a drama, the front door to the dorm creaked open, the loud voices of his members now bouncing about against the walls.
“Hyung, we’re home!” Jooheon yelled at him as he came bumbling into the dorm, Changkyun following quietly behind him. Jooheon threw himself onto the couch, and immediately cuddled right up to Minhyuk. Changkyun slithered around to the other side, and sat beside them, cuddling up as well.
“Feeling any better?” Changkyun asked, patting Minhyuk on the leg. “I got worried when I came home and found Kihyun in your bed instead of you.” Minhyuk laughed.
“I’m feeling much better,” Jooheon and Changkyun hummed in approval. “All thanks to the help of our favorite Kihyun~.” They all chuckled as Hyungwon and Hyunwoo shuffled in.
“You seem better than last night,” Hyunwoo mused, placing his bag down beside the couch. Minhyuk gasped, his ears going red.
“What?” Minhyuk sat up, jostling Changkyun, who groaned. “I thought you guys were asleep!” Jooheon chuckled.
“You weren’t exactly quiet,” Minhyuk blushed at Jooheon’s blunt words. “We didn’t want to interrupt though, so we just stayed in our room.” Shownu nodded in agreement, much to Minhyuk’s chagrin.
“I didn’t hear anything last night, if that helps,” Hyungwon piped up, Minhyuk letting loose a snort. Hyungwon slept like the dead, and at times like this, it was really funny.
“I did however, hear about everything this morning though,” Hyungwon grinned, bending over to elbow Minhyuk. “What a frickin’ story to hear in the car at 6am.”
“You got that right,” Changkyun leaned over to fistbump Hyungwon. “Heard it straight from Kihyungie himself.” It was just then that Kihyun decided to make an appearance.
“You guys really need to learn to clean up your mess!” Kihyun waggled his finger like an auntie, scolding them. “I go to start the laundry and when I come back, I find shoes scattered everywhere in the entryway.” Jooheon snorted.
“Sorry hyung, but we were just in such a hurry to see Minhyukie,” Jooheon pouted, turning on the aegyo. “Look, he’s just so sick.” Minhyuk laughed, falling back further onto the couch, pretending to faint.
“Kihyun, I just can’t go on any more,” He wailed, still smirking. “If only there was someone who could heal me and make me allll better.” Kihyun rolled his eyes.
“Oh come on, you’re fine,” A small smile graced his lips. “Plus, if you keep this up, I’m not going to make you anything for dinner.”
“Nice, more for us,” Hyungwon nudged Hyunwoo who nodded in approval.
“Hey,” Minhyuk feigned offense, “You’re the one that told me to make sure I eat earlier!” Kihyun shrugged, and made his way into the kitchen.
“It would be such a terrible tragedy if we got to eat more food than usual,” Changkyun deadpanned from beside Minhyuk.
“Kyunnie, you’re so mean,” Minhyuk began to mess up Changkyun’s hair, eliciting a yelp from the maknae.
“Hyung!” He whined, and Hyunwoo laughed, watching them scuffle.
“Come on, stop fighting,” He smiled. “Anyways, Minhyuk, we’re all glad you’re feeling much better.” Minhyuk’s heart swelled as everyone around him hummed in agreement with their leader. He had missed them all day, wanting to at least share some skinship with one of his members. He still felt a bit crummy, but at least they were here now.
The rest of the evening continued on without any problems, and Minhyuk was thankful. The members joked and told stories of their schedule today, shared videos with each other, and enjoyed a meal together, courtesy of Kihyun. Minhyuk smiled at Kihyun in appreciation.
“Yah, Kihyun,” Minhyuk garbled through a mouthful of rice. “Let me buy you a meal sometime, to thank you for your help.” Changkyun cackled.
“You’re going to need to buy him more than a meal after throwing up on him,” Changkyun pointed at Minhyuk with his chopsticks. Beside him, Hyungwon snorted, choking on his soup.
“Haha, very funny,” Minhyuk leaned forward to swat at Changkyun, who dodged, bumping into Hyunwoo. Kihyun laughed, joining in with the shenanigans.
“I think I might take you up on that offer, Minhyukie,” Kihyun’s smile was wide. “Thank you for thinking of me.” Minhyuk grinned back at him.
“It’s the least I could do,” Minhyuk murmured, continuing to eat. The sweet vibe and tender emotions settled over the table as everyone continued to eat. The day faded away into night and Minhyuk finally felt better. He made eye contact with Kihyun and winked, Kihyun rolling his eyes again. He was glad they were close, and that everything was better now. He had yet to tell Kihyun how important he was to him, but that could wait another day. For now, they would continue to laugh and help each other, just as good friends do.