Work Text:
1. Denial
"Yes, so just like I said it's canceled. What? No. I've already told you how it is so no. The whole week, okay? That's right. Yes, I'll keep you informed." Jin breathed out dramatically the moment he hung up. The industry people were still so hard to talk to even after these many years. Kame's manager, on top of them.
Half an hour before that stressful phone call, when Jin saved a stumbling Kame from almost collapsing on the stairs, instantly diagnosed him with a high fever and a bad cold and managed to send him off back to bed despite his protests, he was pretty much sure he had come to the same level of Superman in power. He prevented Kamenashi Kazuya, the number one dutiful and conscientious person in the jimusho from showing up for work. Normal humans weren't able to do that.
After dealing with his manager, that unsurprisingly was as persistent and just freaking crazy as his idol, Jin wished he had been given the strength of Iron man instead. Or all the superheroes maybe.
Sighing, he walked back to their room, meaning to check if Kame needed something, he seriously was worried when he almost fell from the stairs and when Jin got him; he was just burning in his arms.
But what he found out was that his idiot boyfriend only needed a smack on the head and a very considerable amount of scolding.
"Wha— what the actual hell are you doing?" Jin felt a strong urge to facepalm. "I thought I told you to take them off." He pointed at the general direction of the closet where Kame's jacket and coat were sprawled on the floor.
With one hand trying to button up his collar and the other busy folding the tie, Kame didn't seem to really care what Jin had told him.
"Am fine," he said but his brows wrinkled in a frown when the tie didn't cooperate and left him with a funny looking knot lying loosely on his chest. "Can you hand me that hair spray on the stand– Hey!" His eyebrows knitted in a perfect shape together though, the moment when Jin snatched the necktie from him and made him flop down on the chair nearby.
It was one of those rare times Jin had proved to be able to act wisely and do what was necessary.
"Sit." he pressed his hand on Kame's shoulders when he tried to get back up and surprisingly for once Kame actually obeyed. Thank you very much, some unknown gods for granting him the sudden power, Jin prayed.
"Open up." he ordered and gently tapped on his chin when Kame stared at him confusedly. When he did, after a few more seconds of giving him weird looks, Jin carefully took the thermometer he'd been carrying around with him the whole morning out of its cover and placed it in Kame's mouth.
"Jin it's–" Kame started to argue only to be cut off by a "Shhh" with a finger put on his crooked nose to silence him.
So he just kept quiet but the corners of his lips unavoidably curved down in a little pout all the while he was holding the equipment under his tongue, waiting for its short beep to finally break the silence. The lost puppy face though was not pitiful enough to make Jin let him off the hook, however.
"Look? It reads 38 which means no you're not *fine*. You have a damn fever." Jin shook his head in disapproval as he took the thermometer back and placed his hand on Kame's forehead in order to double check everything with his own sense. Right, still burning.
"That's because it's broken. I'm totally...." but Kame never made to finish his sentence thanks to the sneeze that broke in so rudely and unwelcome if Kame might say so.
Jin gave him a meaningful look as well as a tissue, his right eyebrow rising up in criticism. "Well, your brain might be broken, but my senses still work and their signals clearly say you're sick and need a doctor and will be resting up the day until— Hey, I said rest! Give me that tie back right now!"
*****
2. Anger
"You did what?!"
Jin gulped nervously just by hearing that tone in Kame's voice. He was pretty much sure his flushed skin was not due to his fever this time, neither was his rapid tapping foot on the floor.
Kame was mad.
"I, um..." stopping to clear his dry throat, Jin tried to manage a half smile, shifting his weight from one leg to another, "I just did what it was needed to be done." He uttered as fast as he could and shrugged, a sincerely innocent look on his face.
It took him quite a while to be able to eventually convince Kame to take the day off and finally settle down for a minute. Hell, he thought the hardest part would be making him to change back into his pajamas or asking him not to leave the bed every 10 seconds, but in contrast to what Jin had expected, it turned out announcing he had a day off was the most energy-consuming task.
When Kame instead of answering squeezed his eyes shut and started to chew on his bottom lip, Jin knew he was in a trouble. "Look babe, it's just a–"
"Don't you babe me now!" Kame didn't let him even start to defend himself. "You canceled everything? Are you nuts? I don't need a day off. I have work to do...a ton of. You can't just go cancel my plans as you please...tsk, I should've been in that meeting. We're going to be behind the schedule for the tour now and it's all thanks to YOU." he clicked his tongue in annoyance again and clutched at his hair desperately.
"Just what am I supposed to do with you, Jin?"
Ha! He put it as if Jin was the one with a problem here. What the? Well, yeah he actually was. His problem was this workaholic mess of an idol with his too stylish look for a sick person, gazing up at him from his seat with displeased eyes not wanting to accept even the fucking traffic lights would go on a hiatus sometimes when they got sick.
What worsen it all more for Jin though was that Kame had not even listened till the end, yet and he was this pissed.
"Okay, listen." Jin bent and squatted down in front of him, grabbing the edge of the couch for balance in the meantime so they were almost in equal height now. He had to tell him anyway. "It's not a....day."
"Eh?"
"It's a week." Jin grinned sheepishly and lightly patted Kame's knee just because he didn't know what to do with his hand.
Kame blinked at him a couple times then fell dead silent. In his mind he was probably estimating the damage Jin had caused to the whole entertainment industry or most probably looking for the 101-ways-to-kill-Jin-without-anyone-noticing list he had stored in his memory ever since they met. Jin was starting to get worried perhaps he just gave him a heart attack when Kame finally spoke.
"Say that once again." was the only words leaving his mouth, though after what looked like all eternity.
Jin took a deep breath, closed his eyes and repeated, "It's a week off." and then wishing for the realization to have been sunk in this time Jin opened his eyes slowly only to shut them again instantly in pain, when Kame's shin kicked him right in the crotch, hard and fast. Neat.
"You–" Jin gasped, rolling onto his back on the floor like an injured animal because that fucking hurt. "Heartless stupid asshole!"
He should've really known better to sit in a position like that when talking to a crazy fucking son of a bitch.
*****
3. Depression
"I'm telling you, it's nothing." Jin repeated that phrase for the 26th times in the past three days. Busy reading the labels on each bottle of medicine, he didn't honestly know what Kame was complaining about even. He almost had come to the point where it didn't matter what the topic was he gave the same answer on auto pilot and it actually worked, most of the time.
"But what if it stays like this forever? What if it never comes back? What if I will be stuck with this funny voice for the rest of my life?!" A muffled weak voice whined back from under the pillows where its owner had his head buried deep under them.
Ah, right. Sore throat. When found what he was looking for, he poured a glass of water as well and placed them both on the nightstand somewhere in Kame's reach.
"Don't make a big deal out of it. You, too, know having a sore throat is just common when you have a cold. Get over it already," he said and walked back to his armchair by the window, checking his phone. He had like a million unread messages. Boy, nursing was no joke.
Kame on the other hand was not done grieving the loss of his velvet voice though. "It's different for me. My whole career depends on it, my whole life, my goddamn image! It's a disaster!" He was just this much near to burst out crying out of frustration.
"You know, you don't have to worry that much really." Jin's eyes glued to the phone screen, his lips curved up in a nasty smirk as he went on. "I mean, your voice now is not as bad as when you were a spiky haired junior with a froggy voice, is it?"
Jin's full smile was successfully disrupted by the pillow that smacked right into his face less than 30 seconds later.
His phone, needless to say, fell victim of his bad humor and Kame's worse temper. Its screen was screwed, lying there sadly by the wall. Jin decided he was past the point where he would give a damn.
"Shut the hell up!" Kame croaked, irritated but that only resulted to him hearing his own voice out loud and uncensored without enough pillows to cover his ears. His face contorted in agony once again, letting himself fall face down on the bedsheets with a soft thud as if he didn't have any bone in him.
"I hate being sick." He groaned.
Jin let out s breath and shook his head. What a whining patient, he thought to himself. Nevertheless he couldn't help but found it kind of cute too. Affectionately, he smiled a little bit witnessing that scene. Getting up and approaching the boneless turtle, carefully his fingers started to march on Kame's spine until they reached the roots of his hair just a little above his nape and gently started to curl the strands around his fingertips.
Kame loved to be petted. If Jin couldn't heal his voice with a magical spell or something, he could at least do this much to comfort him.
"Come on," he whispered to his arm like he was talking to a little boy, "get up take your medicine?"
But Kame just sulked more and turned around, hugging the pillows like a giant teddy bear. He really was a little boy, huh?
That didn't make Jin give up though. He jokingly poked him in the side, going for the ticklish parts, determined not to let go until he took a sound out of the spoiled brat. It didn't matter the sound turned out to be a cold "shoo" Jin was still happy he did get one. It meant, despite what it looked like, Kame in fact didn't want to be left alone.
"You're gonna be just fine before you even know it." He gave a little ruffle to that slightly sweaty mop of hair and kept on encouraging, "Going back up there all sparkling and dazzling again and your beautiful voice will make every single one of the audience cry their eyes out the moment you open your mouth." Jin leaned in and placed a tender kiss on the back of Kame's neck just because it felt right.
"So cheer up, okay?"
Hesitantly but finally Kame tilted his head. A faint tiny smile gracing his lips. "You think so?"
Jin nodded his answer and grinned, was about to lean in again to offer his embrace but then he remembered.
"But make sure to buy me a new phone the first thing after you got paid for making people cry, you jerk," he said with a serious face, trying to feign fury as he locked his arms in front of his chest. "You just shattered it into pieces, idiot."
This time, Kame couldn't hold back the smirk, saying, "didn't you learn not to play on my nerves when I'm not in the mood last time?" and sneakily stretched out to brush his fingers on Jin's groin playfully.
"Okay, okay, fine." Scared for his life, Jin immediately jumped away as far from Kame as he could. "Enough of spoiling. Hurry up and drink your water or whatever....just don't you even touch me." He really was just a little shit. A pretty one.
Kame only laughed it off but trauma or not, Jin didn't need any skinship from him for at least a little while....
*****
4. Bargaining nagging
"No getting off the bed until you finish it, I said."
Kame was almost in that stage where he was just this near to strangle Jin if he spoke just one more word. Seriously, what was he? His mom?
"Look, I'm not a kid anymore, okay? You don't have to tell me what to do in this age, you know?" he rolled his eyes and sat up nevertheless. "Besides," Kame made a slightly disgusted face at the bowl on his lap as he stirred his spoon in it pointlessly. "Your cooking is awful. This soup tastes bland. What did you put in it? Just water?"
One reason Kame tried his best to never get sick was because that would put Jin in charge of everything and it had proved to be kind of dangerous when that happened. Not to mention it drove Kame super crazy too. Like, his obsessive tendencies started to kick in really hard every time he had to just sit down and watch Jin redecorate all the furniture and stuff in the wrong order while cleaning.
When Jin appeared in the doorframe, holding Kame's best pot, which suspiciously looked kind of darker than he remembered it near the bottom....wait that was actually burnt, right? Oh God...Kame just knew he was going to shoot Jin, right then and there. He only did not because having Jin wearing his apron around his hip and tucking his hair back in a small ponytail above his head, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows looked somehow....cute, maybe? He could probably do without that pot anyway when he thought more about it.
Stomping his way toward him, Jin took the bowl and spoon from him and proceeded to settle down on the bedside. "My cooking is to die for. It's just that you lost your taste and appetite thanks to your stupid cold. Here," he said as he brought the full spoon up near his mouth, waiting for him to open up.
"Ugh, please," Kame wrinkled his nose and backed down until he hit half a dozen of pillows Jin had placed behind him. "I said I'm not a kid." and yet Jin treated him like he was a 5-year-old brat.
"Come on now, it's getting cold already." Jin pouted and moved the spoon up and down impatiently. "Finish this and then you can have whatever you want for dinner."
"And you're going to make it? No thanks."
"Fine, eat half of it then."
"Nah."
"Just five more spoons?" Jin tried his best and last offer but Kame was more stubborn than him. He squeezed his eyes and shook his head. His arms crossed tightly over his chest.
"Okay then," shrugging, Jin put the bowl down. "You've got two choices, Kamenashi." He got on his feet and started to search his pockets. "You'll either eat this, no complaining, no nagging, also no making fun of my cooking or..."
Kame scoffed. "Next option, whatever that is."
"Or," fishing out his phone from his back pocket, Jin shot him a smug look, "I guess you don't care if I call your manager and talk about Sunday night bangumi? Maybe even canceling it?" He was enjoying himself too much bossing Kame around. This was exactly why Kame never ever, ever, wanted to give him his contact info from the start, no matter how much he begged.
"You don't dare," Kame stressed on each word through gritted teeth.
"Try me." His finger hovering on the scratched screen of his phone threatening, he pointed at the almost cold broth by his chin. "So what do you—"
"Wait," Kame cut him off with a hand, suddenly sniffling. He could recognize that smell even with a blocked nose. "This smell...Isn't that..."
Jin's eyes widened in horror when Kame's suspect crossed his mind as well. "Shit," all of a sudden, he ran hurriedly towards the door. "Oh shit, the kitchen!" Phone and manager all forgotten just like how his curses paled gradually as he disappeared into the said kitchen.
Easy. Kame sighed with a mix of relief and vague feeling of affection. Sometimes deceiving Jin was much much easier than trying to argue with or convince him. Most of the time. Who was the 5-year-old again?
Taking advantage of this chance to get rid of Jin's very specially made soup, Kame murmured a sorry under his breath as he flushed the content of the bowl down the toilet and soon after found his own phone to message his manager to immediately get himself a new number.
Only God knew what a mess Jin had made out of his schedule till now. Kame just had to take action himself if he didn't want to get unemployed by the end of the week.
*****
5. Acceptance
"You know what? I was thinking maybe you might've been right." Kame admitted while stepping out from the bathroom. With a towel wrapped around his head, he fastened the belt on his robe and put on his fluffy matching slippers. He felt so much livelier after the shower he had. "Well, just a little bit though."
"About shaving your armpits occasionally?" Jin tried to be smart and at the same time jumped to hand Kame his clothes to change before he got cold, plus the hair dryer.
Kame's glare told him the answer was an obvious no. "Do you really think you're in a position to talk about shaving with me?" He raised an eyebrow and narrowed his eyes at Jin's not-trimmed-in-at-least-a-couple-weeks stubble.
"Just a suggestion." Jin shrugged, not taking any offense.
"Anyway, I mean about taking a break." He said and tried not to lock eyes with him for more than 3 seconds or he would end up punching that annoying smug face for real this time.
Jin stepped a bit nearer, took Kame's still warm and slightly flushed cheeks from the hot bath into his palms and said, "You enjoyed it, didn't you?"
Kame still didn't meet his eyes; he found the big yellow smiley design on Jin's t-shirt more interesting. But he nodded, once, because yes he did. It didn't feel like fun at all at first but little by little? He kind of had a good rest, so he nodded again and Jin's annoyingly wide grin got even bigger as a result, so Kame eventually punched him, in the shoulder, and Jin just burst out laughing as he fell back on the bouncy mattress.
He was such a bastard.
"Of course I was right. But you idiot have to just get sick and forced to take a break to finally notice it." He rolled his eyes and chuckled some more.
Kame though tried to totally ignore him, focusing on the very important and critical act of moisturizing his skin after a bath on the dresser.
"So," Jin propped himself up on an elbow and coughed his throat clear when he was done teasing him. "Does that mean you're also feeling better?" He asked and his tone was sincere and caring this time so Kame decided this was probably worthy of his attention.
"Yeah," he nodded. "Well, kind of. My throat still feels a bit weird but sneezing and sniffling are not a problem anymore." He rubbed at his cheeks and down to his neck as he talked.
"Good to hear." Jin shot him a smile, one of his warm gentle room-brightening smiles and Kame felt like the lotion was already melting on his skin, looking back at him through the mirror.
Jin might've been a bastard, but he was a pretty gorgeous one, luckily for him.
"Do you think you're free?" Kame suddenly blurted out. "I mean—the Hawaii trip."
Jin blinked.
"I've been thinking about it ever since you mentioned it." Kame kept twisting the end of the robe's belt around his fingers, a bit uneasy. "It'd be nice, you know. But I...I'm not waving an okay sign yet. I only wanted to...you know....Just maybe if you're—"
"I am." Jin was fast enough to save him from stumbling on his own words. His timing was always perfect. "Of course, I'm free." He held Kame's eyes.
Eventually Kame let go of his belt as well as Jin's reflection on the mirror, turned around and slowly settled down on the edge of the bed with a defeated look on his face. "I can't escape from work for a long while," He admitted, brushing a strand of hair away from Jin's face with a delicate touch absent-mindedly.
"Have to make up for lost time. Shoots and filming and recording. Stuff like that."
"Just whenever you need it is fine." Jin sat up as well, taking his hands in his, squeezing reassuringly. "I can wait."
Kame smiled. Finally.
Leaning in, Jin stole a kiss from his curved up lips, breathing in his scent. Kame smelled of flowers. Roses or jasmine or maybe lavender. Jin's mind couldn't differentiate. He just smelled nice and fresh and just so like Kame. He was lucky to have him. He was a workaholic. A star with a crazy schedule and an idiot who didn't know when to push the pause button and just take a breath.
But Jin was lucky to have him.
"Come on get ready. I will make hot tea with honey for us."
******