Chapter Text
If Hoseok is being entirely honest, there are few things he hates more than being around sick people.
When he was younger, he'd had to go to the hospital for an injury he'd received while dancing. It hadn't been bad—he'd barely even been in pain, although that might have just been the adrenaline—but the sights and smells of the hospital had brought back other childhood memories, much worse memories, and Hoseok had vowed then to stay as far away from hospitals as possible.
Hoseok doesn't get sick. It's practically a rule he had given himself. Don't get sick. Getting sick makes everything harder, that's a fact.
But when Jungkook calls him at 7 am, nose stuffy and throat scratchy and on the verge of tears, Hoseok doesn't hesitate before calling out sick at work to take care of him.
(His boss asks him if he's okay, genuinely sounding worried, because Hoseok almost never uses his sick days. Hoseok assures him that yes, he is okay, he just needs to rest, and he tries not to think about how he might really need his sick days when Jungkook inevitably infects him.)
Jungkook says that it's just a cold, that Hoseok doesn't need to come, but Hoseok knows when his baby needs him. He picks up a few cans of soup and cough drops at the corner store by Jungkook's apartment before heading over, and texts Jungkook the time he hopes to be there.
He finds the door unlocked and the apartment quiet. Jungkook is buried under a pile of blankets and pillows on his bed, and Hoseok has trouble making him out from the tangled mess of sheets until he turns his bedroom light on, which makes Jungkook groan. His eyes are glassy and unfocused.
“Hey, baby," Hoseok says. He sits down next to Jungkook and pushes his bangs off his forehead. He feels feverish, but it might just be because he's under so many blankets. "How are you?"
Jungkook doesn't give him a real answer, instead groaning again, in a slightly deeper pitch than
before. Hoseok hums understandingly. "Have you had anything to drink?" Jungkook shakes his head. “Okay. I'll be right back."
Hoseok starts the soup on the stove and fills a tall glass of water. When he returns to Jungkook, he finds him making a feeble attempt to sit up. "Oh, no, baby," Hoseok says, rushing over to coax him into lying back down. "You don't have to get up. I'm here to take care of you."
Jungkook looks up at Hoseok and bursts into tears.
Hoseok isn't good at comforting crying people either, but he kisses Jungkook's forehead and wipes his tears away until Jungkook is only sniffling. "Everything is okay, Kookie," he says over
and over, heart clenching with love and sadness—Jungkook doesn't deserve to be in pain like this.
"I'm sorry," Jungkook chokes. "I took medicine before you got here. I'm really sleepy. I love you."
"Sleep, baby," Hoseok says. He kisses Jungkook's forehead one last time and lies down next to him. "I love you too. I'm not going anywhere."
Jungkook's eyes shut, but he doesn't settle until he's curled around Hoseok. He's hot and sweaty but Hoseok doesn't care—doesn't even care if he gets sick. Jungkook needs him now. "I love you, I love you, I love you," Jungkook says. A few tears slide down his cheeks, but Hoseok doesn't think he even knows that he's crying. "I love you, I love you."
"I love you too." Hoseok strokes Jungkook's hair and holds him close, close, close.
"I love you," Jungkook says, just a whisper now, as he steadily drifts off to sleep.
With every minute that passes with Jungkook in his arms, Hoseok loves him more and more and more. His boy. His baby. Hoseok isn't going anywhere.