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Jihoon is not the type to show everyone he’s having a hard time. He will hide it as much as he can and pretend he’s doing okay in front of others. And most of the time he succeeds, and he is left alone to deal with it.
Except for one, Soonyoung.
Stupid, crazy, always-by-his-side Soonyoung. The man whom he can’t hide anything from even if he wants to — one look at Jihoon’s face and it’s like suddenly he’s the only thing he cares about.
There comes the sweet gestures, the silly jokes, the reassuring smiles and on most days, to not overwhelm or pressure him into opening up, just little pat pats here and there. It may look like normal interactions but they mean so much to each other.
“I think I’ll wrap it up now. I feel kind of sleepy,” he announces while closing the program after saving his latest work. “Good job everyone!”
He reaches the dorm quite fast and heads straight into his room, falling into his bed with a massive thud and sighing loudly. His whole body hurts, his head hurts, everything is painful. He could cry if he wanted to but he figures he should just rest and sleep like a dead log for the night.
That is until his phone dings the second he closes his eyes. His mind suggests he should ignore the text as it’s probably not as important as his sleep but that specific ringtone…
hoshi: are you sick?
He doesn’t know whether to feel embarrassed or grateful that someone actually noticed — although it’s an expected person — but he realizes that he should reply to ease the other’s mind before really going to bed. Since he can’t lie to Soonyoung, might as well tell the truth.
jihoonie: yeah i feel like dying
He locks his phone after a few seconds of no reply, thinking his friend is probably busy on something. And his eyes feel really heavy now, the bed is like sucking his entire body into a void and making his head fuzzy.
The phone dings again.
With one eye open and out of reflex, he sees the message and it’s a reply from Hoshi that made him widen his eyes to check if he had read that right, cheeks flaring and feeling his body become hot all of a sudden.
hoshi: oh poor baby :( don’t be sick :(
What.
What did he say?
Who.
Who is he calling baby?!
This person. Kwon Soonyoung. He just called him an endearment in such a casual way which, sure, he has been referred to as that many times before but it doesn’t get any easier! And no, he is still not used to it!
He doesn’t realize he has been staring at the notification for almost ten minutes now, completely blanked out of his mind with a crimson red face. His fever might be getting worse at this rate. Shaking his head after recovering a bit, he just typed whatever came to mind, closed his phone, and tossed it far away from him.
jihoonie: lunatic.
Fortunately after that, his phone becomes silent for a few minutes and he sighs, finally able to succumb to sleep.
He gets a solid hour of sleep and feels slightly better. While he still feels lightheaded, he can slightly move his body without too much strain now. His stomach grumbles as soon as he sits up and it was at that timing that his phone dings as well, a kakaotalk notification.
He grabs his phone which has reached the side of his bed to look at the time first, the clock showing it’s already eight pm. He opens the messaging app to see that Hoshi actually replied to his last message and a blush threatens to appear again, remembering the text he was replying to then. It looks like Soonyoung just laughed at him for calling him crazy, typical of him.
hoshi: be sure to eat dinner, alright?
Sometimes, this boy freaks him out. How does he know him so well? If they haven’t been friends for a decade he will find it terrifying but all he feels is warmth. Soonyoung is such a caring and sweet person, a good friend. He always makes sure everyone in his vicinity is happy and well taken care of.
jihoonie: i will
A thought enters Jihoon’s mind on the spur of the moment. He doesn’t know if it's fatigue, pain, stress, headache — honestly, whatever it is — but right now a company sounds nice. Although, thinking about it again, spending time with Hoshi is nothing unusual.
He hates letting others, members included, see his vulnerable side but with him — with Soonyoung, it might be okay once in a while.
jihoonie: i just woke up so i actually haven’t eaten yet. do you want to join me?
hoshi: omw!
-
Once Jihoon is snuggled up in bed again, full and satiated, Soonyoung sits beside him while playing with his phone. They just finished eating and the former is feeling unwell again so he gets taken to bed immediately.
“Rest. I’ll stay here with you.”
“Okay.”
“Is it really?” Damn this guy and always wanting the full answer out of him. Something about communication is important.
“I… I like it. Thank you for being here.”
Not even five seconds later, Soonyoung is scooting closer to him with a tiny smile. “So, I might’ve told carats you’re sick. I even gave them a phrase they can put into real-time trends. Do you want to see? This might cheer you up.”
And — he will admit, Soonyoung is a little annoying sometimes. (He means it, affectionately.)