Work Text:
The very first time Till had fallen sick for over a week, he had been awfully clingy and needy. Ivan still makes fun of him till this day.
It went like this accordingly:
Till opens his eyes, his eyelids drooping down right away. He had just woken up from a cold night’s rest, and somehow he was sweating under his pajamas. He grimaces, hoisting himself up weakly with his arms. He rests his back against the soft headboard of the bed, and he feels his head buzzing and aching at its wake. It is certainly hard to breathe, considering his nose is blocked and runny at the same time.
A great start.
His headache worsens when he looks around the room, only now realizing that it is oddly empty. The space beside him on the bed is vacant, and his confusion grows. Ivan was usually the one who stayed in bed. Now, he was gone before Till woke up. Teal eyes narrow, and he touches Ivan’s pillow. It is freezing to the touch, as the air conditioner in the room is blasted at full.
“Fuck.” Till curses, reaching for the remote to adjust the temperature. No wonder he was feeling like shit so early first thing in the morning. “Where the fuck is Ivan? Did that bastard even come home?”
The door opens, startling Till. “This bastard you’re talking about is home. In fact, I returned home last night. But you were already passed out by then.” Ivan arches an eyebrow, leaning on the doorway. Till notices he was wearing an apron. “I think I may or may not have caught onto your sickness.”
Ivan lets out a snotty sneeze. Till stares. Ivan’s eyebrow remains raised.
“Well, that’s just great. Now we’re both sick.” Till mutters, ignoring the underlying guilt that settled in his chest. Fantastic. He got Ivan sick. Now his work would be affected and it was all Till’s fault. “Why are you in an apron?”
“Cooking. What else?”
“Cooking? In your current state?”
“I can cook perfectly fine in my current state. And I want to make breakfast for my lovely husband over here, sitting on our bed with a runny nose.”
At this moment, Till loves Ivan more than ever. “Sure. You’re sick as well.”
Ivan shrugs. “It’s just a sore throat. I don’t remember ever having to use my throat to cook.”
“Well, your voice certainly doesn’t sound different.”
“I ate some medicine earlier, and I made peppermint tea for your sore throat.”
Till scowls at the mention of peppermint tea. “My throat is fine . I’m fine . It’s just my nose that’s–” He chokes on a cough, and he feels his throat light up. He groans at Ivan’s amused face.
“You were saying?” Till wants to throw a punch to Ivan’s smirking face.
“Fuck you.”
“Sure. I will, after you recover. But we can if you’re willing to do it when you’re sick.” Ivan’s eyes sparkle, and Till swears he can see literal stars in his eyes. Ivan watches as Till’s face turns pink.
“No. Absolutely not.” Till grits his teeth, yet refuses to meet Ivan’s eyes. “...Are you done with breakfast?”
“Yeah. Do you want me to bring it over?”
“In bed?” Till frowns.
Ivan nods. “Kind of romantic, don’t you think? I’ve always wanted to serve my partner breakfast in bed.”
Till feels his face flush slightly. He averts his gaze and looks down at his clenched hands. “...Okay. I probably won’t be able to get out of bed anyway.”
The expression on Ivan’s face softens drastically. When has Ivan started looking at him so fondly? Till’s face stays red. Ivan’s smile is soft yet blinding, dazzling even, and Till’s heart skips a beat. “Alright. Rest well, okay? I’ll be over in a minute.”
“Yeah, yeah. I got you.” And the door clicks closed, Ivan’s muffled footsteps gradually getting softer and quieter as he walks away from their bedroom to the kitchen. Till sighs, staring forward mindlessly. His head is a mess, his sickness is horrid, his throat is on fire, and his nose proved a major disaster to him as he reluctantly reaches for a pack of tissues on the drawer beside the bed.
It was one of those perfect autumn days when the air outside was crisp and filled with the earthy scent of dry and fallen leaves. Till has no favoritism over the seasons, but he has a certain fondness for when fall arrives at his doorstep. Autumn is his birth season, and Till has always thought he resonated with it better than the other seasons. Not that he has anything against them, of course, that will be improper and foolish.
But now, he had something against himself for falling awfully sick during his favourite time of the year. He couldn’t even hang out with Hyuna and the others, the fall activities they had planned… he would need to send a text to notify and apologize to them later.
Till stares out of the window. The sky is brilliantly blue, punctuated by only a few to no lazy clouds drifting by. The weather is ideal, and Till despises himself for having fallen ill during this lovely and fine day. Now he is stuck in bed, the blankets only reaching up to his waist, a red nose and a dry sore throat.
He sighs again when Ivan pushes the door open gently and walks in with a tray of food. Till raises his head to meet Ivan’s eyes, and he feels a spark of joy burst in his heart at the sight of the man. Ivan’s single presence could light up the room if he wanted to, with a toothy grin and bright eyes.
“You sigh a lot nowadays.” Ivan comments, placing down the tray of food on the drawer beside the bed. Till watches silently as Ivan pulls out a small foldable table from underneath the bed.
“Am I? I haven’t noticed.” Till replies, coughing. This damn sore throat. A flash of concern washes over Ivan’s face as he unfolds the table and places it over Till’s legs.
“You don’t notice a lot of things about yourself, Till. For example, how endearing you are.” Ivan shakes his head and smiles, bringing the tray of food over to the table. “I don’t get it, how you don’t appreciate the way that you are.”
Till’s face turns embarrassedly maroon. “Now is not the time to flirt, you shameless man.”
Ivan chuckles, leaning down to plant a soft and gentle kiss on his forehead. “I can’t help it, you beautiful, beautiful man.” He gets up and leaves the room, not before telling Till that he was going to go out to buy groceries, saying how their fridge was empty. Ivan closes the door behind him, and Till stares at the breakfast he has prepared.
He stays that way for a long time before finally picking up his fork when he hears the clicking of keys and the door closing.
—————
Till finds himself sitting on the couch in the living room. He somehow manages to pull himself out of bed after wolfing down his breakfast. Being sick did wonders to his appetite. Or maybe it was because he had gone to bed with an empty stomach last night, he wouldn’t know.
He grabs his phone. He should send a text to Hyuna to let her know he was down with the cold and he couldn’t make it to whatever their plans were. As he finishes typing out a message, Till hears the rattling of keys and the sound of the door being unlocked. He turns his head to greet the source of the noise, and Ivan is at the doorway, carrying a large number of paper bags in his arms.
Till wants to move to help his husband, but his body stops him before he can even get his ass off the couch. So he reluctantly watches Ivan throw his keys into their key bowl and places the bags on the table. Ivan doesn’t seem to realize he is here until he speaks.
“Got everything?” Till asks, and he has never seen anyone jump so high. Ivan trips and lands head first onto their carpeted floor. Thank god for their carpeted floor, Till does not want to deal with a broken and bloody nose when he himself is down with a cold.
“T-Till! You scared the shit out of me! God, why aren’t you in bed? Shouldn’t you be resting?” Ivan splutters, struggling to get up. Till laughs, and Ivan turns comically red. He will never, ever get used to that sound.
“The room’s too stuffy. I wanted a bit of fresh air.” Till explains as he shakily stands up from the couch and walks over to Ivan, helping him up. “How was your shopping trip?”
“…As always.” Ivan narrows his eyes. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
Till raises an eyebrow. “I’m fine. Why?”
“Oh. Oh, that’s good. You just look awful, that’s why.” Ivan releases a long breath, looking at Till. They stare into each other’s eyes for a moment, and Till wants to desperately shy away from Ivan’s intense gaze. He was feeling a bit self-conscious, did he really look that bad?
When Till decides to speak up and break the silence, he feels Ivan come forward and suddenly, he’s wrapped in a tight and warm embrace. Ivan buries his head in Till’s shoulder, snuggling into his neck. Till freezes, and he doesn’t know what to do. What was up with Ivan all of a sudden?
“…Ivan.”
“…Till.”
Till brings his arms up to hug Ivan back. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just want to hug you. It was cold out there, I need my lovely husband to give me warmth.” Ivan says, grinning. Till rolls his eyes, but his cheeks are dusted with pink. His hands reach out before he can stop and he brings Ivan’s face down to his height, and Till’s lips touch Ivan’s nose lightly and gently, sending butterflies fluttering in Ivan’s stomach.
Till pokes Ivan’s cheeks playfully, chuckling at his astonished expression. “What are you? A needy husband who wants hugs every second?”
Ivan hums. “I was gone for about an hour or so. That’s about 3600 seconds. So you owe me 3600 hugs later. 3599 more to go.”
Till feels his heart might burst out of his chest at any given moment now. “It’s like you’re begging to get even more sick. I can sneeze in your face right now.”
“You could cough in my mouth for all I care. I want my damn hugs. Being sick is no excuse, my darling Till. Do your duty as a husband and shower me with hugs.”
Till rolls his eyes, and pinches Ivan’s cheeks a bit too aggressively, earning a whine from the taller. “Yes, yes. I will. Now, can you work on lunch? I’m starving.”
“Didn’t you eat breakfast not long ago?”
“Yes, and it’s not enough. I like eating your cooking.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll get to it in a minute. And— wait, is that my hoodie you’re wearing?”
—————
Much to Till’s disbelief, his cold has gotten even worse after lunch. A lot more worse. Now he’s in bed, sniffing and using more tissue than he actually should. There were rolled up tissues covered with his snot lying on the bedroom floor, and he’s bundled up tightly in the blankets.
Ivan had taken his new role as nurse very seriously, even though he was down with a sore throat as well. He set up a makeshift sick bay in their bedroom, complete with a mountain of pillows and warm blankets, a stack of Till’s favorite books, and a steady supply of tea and tissues.
The supply of tissues was depleting much faster than Ivan had anticipated.
“It looks like a warzone in here.” Ivan leans on the doorway, watching Till as he brings a tissue to his nose and sneezes into it.
“I’m suffering.” Till groans, wiping his nose with his sleeve. At this point, he could care less about dirtying his clothes.
“Do you need anything?” Ivan stares at Till, concern and worry etched into his face. Till gives him a weak smile, shaking his head. This makes Ivan worry even more, but he doesn’t voice it. The last thing he wants is to tire Till out with his unnecessary bursts of worry rambles. But still, he asks one more time, “Are you sure? I can bring you whatever you want.”
Till pauses, thinking. “Whatever I want?”
“Whatever you want, dear.” Ivan watches fondly as Till’s ears turn red, and he patiently waits for his answer as he thinks it through.
“Come here.” Till makes a hand motion at Ivan, inviting him to come closer to him.
“I will, after I navigate myself through this ocean of tissues first. Say, Till, how many packets of tissue have you used?”
“Probably six, but I didn’t keep count so it may be inaccurate.” Till scoffs at Ivan’s slow pace, “Hurry up, you fucking snail. You have slippers on.”
“I’m trying . But it’s not helping that they’re getting stuck to the base of my slippers.” Ivan grunted.
Till laughs, and Ivan thinks he still sounds beautiful despite his hoarse voice. “Come over here.” He holds out his arms, and Ivan falls right in them as soon as he is close enough.
“What’s up?” Ivan mumbles in Till’s shoulder.
“Nothing. I just want to hug you.” Till says quietly, closing his eyes and breathing in Ivan’s scent. He smells like home, and there was no place Till would rather be than in Ivan’s strong arms. “Can you stay with me?”
“That sounds more like a statement than a question.”
“That’s because it is, smartass. Get on the bed.”
Ivan obeys without a word, climbing into the space beside Till and falling asleep in his arms.
The next day, Ivan had fallen gravely ill. Till had ended up on the floor laughing when they woke up tangled in each other’s arms and legs.
—————
“It wasn’t my fault. Honestly, you asked for cuddles and I couldn’t resist.” Ivan says, pouting as Till continues laughing away through his tears. “And that was a long time ago! Quit laughing already!”
Till nudges Ivan’s shoulder playfully. “You’re so easy to tease, you know?”
“That’s because it’s you.” Ivan raises an eyebrow, deadly serious. Till clicks his tongue as he feels his stomach grow warm. Seriously. All Ivan has to do is say a couple of cheesy words to send butterflies to flutter in Till’s stomach. Sometimes, he feels as if Ivan’s flirty personality is a bit too much.
“Enough. Stop saying cloying words. It gives me goosebumps.”
“That’s good. You should be feeling something when I flirt with you.”
“You have no shame at all.”
“And you’re beautiful.”
Till feels the conversation seems awfully familiar, but shakes the thought out his head. He looks at Ivan, and the latter’s gaze is focused on him. “You have a knack for staring.”
“I’m a simple man, you see. If I see something absolutely gorgeous, I will stare.” Ivan responds almost immediately, smirking as he sees Till blush at his words. “Speaking of cheesy, want to know something?”
Till nods slowly, expecting to hear the most out of pocket thing Ivan has to say. “Okay.”
“I found out I liked you when you agreed to go out with me, when I got to know the kind of things you like and enjoy, and when you played the guitar whenever I was around.” Ivan smiles softly, and it is the most magnificent thing Till has ever seen. Ivan takes a deep breath, taking Till’s hand in his own, and he stares dreamily at the ring Till is wearing on his ring finger.
“But I found out I loved you when you sat in our bed like an unbothered prince with a ring on your finger, and I got to serve you breakfast in bed.”
Kind of romantic, don’t you think? I’ve always wanted to serve my partner breakfast in bed.
Till laughs weakly. “You shameless man.”
Ivan grins, leaning in to rest his forehead against Till’s. “And you. You beautiful man.”