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Mid-eum was not sick. Mid-eum didn't get sick. He got stuffy noses, sometimes, or chills or a headache, but he never got sick. He wasn't sure what it was about him that made his immune system so good; realistically, with his sleep schedule and the fact that his diet generally consisted of whatever frozen meal or take-out he could drag himself out of bed to prepare he should have been constantly getting sick. For whatever reason, however, he managed to scrape by with almost never getting more than a head cold, and for that he was grateful.
All this considered, when a headache began to creep up on him in the early hours of the morning, he didn't think much of it. His body had long ago adjusted to only receiving two or three hours of sleep most nights, and it had been quite a while since he'd last gotten an exhaustion headache, but he figured it made sense. In the past week, Mid-eum had probably gotten a total of six hours of sleep, none of it consecutive, and even he couldn't scrape by without some sort of backlash. He hadn't worried; he'd just taken some painkillers and settled on the couch with a podcast on, entirely giving up on sleeping.
By mid-morning, Mid-eum was starting to worry. The painkillers had worked their magic, but as the sun came up and he threw the curtains open to let in the sun-warmed light he could feel a dull ache settling into his bones. He felt awful unbelievably fast, and it wasn't long before he was staggering to his room to collapse on the bed.
He should have taken his temperature, or called Yi-hyuk, but the last thing he wanted to do was make a big deal of this. He wasn't sick. He was just…feeling a little off. That was the lie he told himself, anyway, as he pulled the covers over him and the friction made his skin burn like it was on fire.
"Fuck," he muttered, reaching for his phone. His vision blurred at the brightness of the screen, but he blinked twice and it reluctantly came into focus. The first thing he saw was texts from Yi-hyuk. The first one was from hours ago.
bored. wanna watch a movie? I found this horror film I think you'll love
There was a decent break between that text and the next one; Mid-eum was notoriously bad at checking his phone, and his boyfriend had realised pretty early on in their relationship that if he texted Mid-eum he couldn't reasonably expect a reply for at least an hour.
Mid-eumnnnnnn. check you phone!!!
That was about an hour ago, and the last few were delivered a few minutes later in rapid succession.
stop ignoring me :(
whatever
I'm coming over anyways
if you see this before I get there tough luck because I'm coming over whether you like it or not
I'm gonna bring ice cream. what flavour do you want?
nvm I'm getting peanut butter chocolate.
Mid-eum's thoughts were moving slowly, like his brain was covered in a thick sludge, but he still found the capacity to be alarmed. He wasn't sick, but if he was the last thing he needed was for Yi-hyuk to come over and get himself sick as well. He scrambled to reply and tell him that he was out of the apartment, or that he was busy, anything to get Yi-hyuk to stay away, but he hadn't even typed out half a text before a new one from his boyfriend popped up.
here :)
Then, another, seconds later.
if you don't answer the door I'm just going to let myself in
Mid-eum groaned, deleting the half-written text and beginning to craft another one that would tell his boyfriend to fuck the hell off. His fingers fumbled across the keyboard, teeth gritting as his vision swam and the letters floated across the screen. With each typo and missed letter, his frustration grew.
Movement at his door had him jumping in alarm, head swivelling to see Yi-hyuk standing in the doorway. Mid-eum muttered a curse, tossing his phone on the bed beside him in defeat and pulling his headphones off.
"I brought ice cream! And soup sounded tasty, so there's the stuff to make it in the fridge if we get hungry," Yi-hyuk said, voice almost obnoxiously chipper. He came around the bed, bending to give Mid-eum a kiss, but he shoved him away before he could think.
Yi-hyuk blinked, confusion flashing across his face, "Mid-eum?"
"Don't. I…"
I'm sick. That's what sprang to his lips, but the last thing he wanted to do was admit that.
"Not right now," he finished lamely, rolling over to avoid Yi-hyuk's increasingly worried expression.
Yi-hyuk was silent for a long moment, before the bed dipped and a hand fell on his shoulder, thumb rubbing gently. Mid-eum grimaced as the contact sent an uncomfortable burn through the skin there, and rolled his shoulder to knock his hand away. Guilt immediately flooded him, "Fuck, sorry. Just. Not right now, please?"
"Right…" Yi-hyuk replied slowly, "Are you…alright?"
"I'm fine," Mid-eum scowled. He forced himself to sit up, biting back a wince as his joints ached in protest. The world spun around him, and he closed his eyes with an involuntary groan.
"You're a really bad liar," Yi-hyuk said. A warm hand landed on his forehead, "Are you sick?"
"No," Mid-eum replied flatly and pushing his hand away, hoping he'd done it fast enough to keep Yi-hyuk from realising how warm his skin was, "I don't get sick."
"You are a liar," Yi-hyuk said. Apparently, Mid-eum hadn't been fast enough because alarm tinted his voice, "You're burning up!"
"I said I'm fine!" Mid-eum shot back, "Fuck off!"
He threw back the covers angrily and pushed himself to his feet. The cold of the floorboards was almost uncomfortable with the way it contradicted the heat of his body, and he fought to steady himself as his vision swam. Nausea swept through him like a tidal wave, and the next thing he knew, he was kneeling beside his bed, one hand over his mouth to keep from throwing up. His ears rang, spots dancing in his vision.
"Shit!"
Feet rang against the floor in rapid steps, and when Mid-eum blinked slowly, vision slowly clearing, he was met with Yi-hyuk's worried gaze. His stomach settled as he lay his head on the mattress, "Dammit."
"You look awful, babe," Yi-hyuk breathed, running a nervous hand through his hair. He was kneeling in front of Mid-eum, one hand tapping an anxious rhythm onto his thigh, "Okay. Um. I'm going to run back to my place and grab a thermometer to take your temperature. And some ice packs. Do you have ice packs? Never mind, I'll get some just in case. And I'll make soup. Man, I am glad I bought the things to make soup."
His words came out in a rapid stream as he helped Mid-eum back onto the bed. Mid-eum wanted to protest, but found he didn't have the strength. All he could do was allow Yi-hyuk to tuck the blankets around him and press a kiss to his forehead.
"I'll be right back," Yi-hyuk said.
His footsteps retreated and Mid-eum curled up on his side, holding a pillow to his chest, realising only in hindsight that he shouldn't have let Yi-hyuk kiss him. If his boyfriend got sick because of him, he was going to feel awful.
A lump formed in his throat as he lay there, tears burning his eyes. He let them fall. Fuck, everything hurt. His headache had begun to return and with it came more aches in places he didn't even know could ache, and even lying down he felt dizzy. His skin burned each time he shifted and finally, with a frustrated whimper, he sat up and tugged his shirt off his head before falling back down onto the mattress.
"I'm back, and I have the thermometer…are you okay?" Yi-hyuk appeared at the side of the bed, crouching down to eye level. He extended a hand, wiping a tear from Mid-eum's cheek, "You're crying?"
"No shit, Sherlock," Mid-eum snapped, not angry, but not knowing how else to let out the pain that had seeped deep into every crack of his body. At this point he had to admit to himself that he was definitely sick, most likely with a flu of some kind, and that was an injustice that only seemed to make this whole situation even worse, "Everything fucking hurts."
"I'm sorry," Yi-hyuk replied, and he sounded like he meant it. He was almost uncomfortably sincere, at times; Mid-eum wasn't convinced the guy had ever told a lie in his life. Mid-eum never knew how to respond to sincerity like that; he'd never really had someone to care about him in the first place, and he'd never even dreamt that he would find someone who would do that, who would worry when he was sick and stay by his side on the bad days when even getting out of bed was a chore, doing it all like it was the greatest privilege they could be given.
And yet here Yi-hyuk was, kind and silly, a little stupid at times, but overwhelmingly sincere. Mid-eum didn't deserve him, really.
"Whatever," Mid-eum sighed, wiping his eyes and forcing himself to sit up, "Just take my temperature. Don't know why you need to, though. I'm definitely sick."
"You have a fever and I want to make sure it's not too high," Yi-hyuk replied, pulling the cap off the thermometer. He hesitated, staring at it with a frown. A furrow formed between his eyebrows, the kind that always meant he was trying to figure something out, "When is a fever too high? Like, when would you need to go to the hospital?"
"I don't need to go to the hospital, Yi-hyuk," Mid-eum sighed.
"How do you know? Isn't there a temperature that would mean your fever's too high and it's dangerous and you need to go to the hospital? What if you're dying? You could be dying and I wouldn't even know!" Yi-hyuk said, and he seemed genuinely worried. Mid-eum was reminded of, not for the first time, a slightly dumb but unbelievably affectionate dog.
"Let's just get my temperature taken," Mid-eum said. Sitting up was quickly becoming too much effort and he sank back into the pillows, head resting against the headboard. Tears threatened to fall again as the movement made his joints ache, and he closed his eyes to keep them at bay. He fought to keep a tremor from his voice as he continued, "If it's over 104 degrees Fahrenheit, then I should go to the hospital. If not, don't worry. I'm not delirious and I'm not throwing up so I'm fine."
"Fine is a bit of a stretch," Yi-hyuk muttered before sighing and holding up the thermometer, "Okay. Say 'aah'."
Mid-eum stared at him, "I can take my own temperature."
"I know you can," Yi-hyuk said, trying and failing to keep a grin off his face. Really, his emotional resiliance was astounding. He was just fretting and griping about Mid-eum's health, looking almost as near to tears as Mid-eum felt, and now he was badly masking a shit-eating grin, looking for all the world like annoying Mid-eum was the most entertaining thing in the world, "Say 'aah', baby."
Mid-eum glared at him. Yi-hyuk smiled back, unfazed, and their staring contest continued until Mid-eum decided he was too exhausted to waste energy fighting an uphill battle against his stupid boyfriend. With a sigh, he opened his mouth and allowed the thermometer to be placed under his tongue. It gave a few short beeps, then one more, loud and shrill.
Yi-hyuk glanced at it, taking it out of Mid-eum's mouth, "102.5 degrees. So, not great."
"But I'm not dying," Mid-eum said, shifting until he was lying down again. His eyes drifted shut, listening to the sound of his boyfriend's soft breath, the soft whir of the fan. The voices always quieted when Yi-hyuk was around, and now they were nothing more than a gentle murmur in the back of his mind, soothing in a way.
Something cold settled on his forehead and he gasped, eyes flying open. An icepack wrapped in a soft cloth had been placed on his forehead, and as Mid-eum watched, Yi-hyuk pulled the covers up over his chest, tucking them around his shoulders. He was unbelievably gentle, lifting the covers high so they didn't brush against Mid-eum's skin before settling them gently over him. Again, Mid-eum felt tears burning in his eyes, and this time he couldn't stop them.
"Fuck," he whispered, fighting a losing battle to stop the tears, "Sorry."
"Hey, hey, you don't need to apologise," Yi-hyuk said quickly, sitting beside his head. One hand reached out to brush a knuckle lightly over Mid-eum's cheek, the touch barely there, too light to hurt, and the care only made the tears fall faster.
Mid-eum rolled onto his side, embarrassment flooding him as he buried his face in the pillow. The icepack slipped from his forehead, but he couldn't bring himself to care as sobs shook his aching body, "Sorry. I'm sorry."
Fuck, this was stupid. He didn't even know what he was crying about. Yi-hyuk had done nothing but show him the basic kindness a person would expect to receive from their partner and yet here Mid-eum was, crying and blubbering about it like he was a child. His parents' voices run in his ears, cold and sharp. You mustn't cry, Mid-eum. It won't do any good anyway, and you're only embarrassing yourself.
He barely reacted as he was pulled into Yi-hyuk's lap. He absolutely didn't have enough water in his body to be crying this much, but still, they managed to fall and fall and fall soaking into the fabric of Yi-hyuk's shirt. His boyfriend was whispering to him, soft soothing reassurances breathed against the top of his head like Mid-eum was a small child in need of comfort. Mid-eum felt small, there in Yi-hyuk's arms, trying desperately to control his tears. He never cried like this in front of people, not unless he was sick, but he couldn't help it. He was so tired and everything hurt so much.
Eventually, he ran out of tears to cry and he just sat there, shivering, nausea rolling through him as his head pounded. Yi-hyuk was rocking them side to side gently, humming a soft tune that Mid-eum didn't recognise, seemingly content to stay there like that until Mid-eum was ready to move. Mid-eum's stomach rolled again, more violently this time, and he fought back a gag.
"Fuck," he whispered, pushing out of Yi-hyuk's lap and stumbling across the room to the bathroom. His stomach continued to squirm, throat working, and he barely made it to the bathroom before he was throwing up violently, tasting stomach acid and old food on his tongue. He couldn't breathe as his stomach continued to constrict, pushing more up into his throat, blocking off his airflow and Mid-eum cried tearlessly, panic clawing at his throat. His vision was tunnelling, grip on the edge of the toilet so tight it was painful. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't fucking breathe.
In the background of his panic, he could hear Yi-hyuk speaking slowly to him, fingers pressing slow, undulating pressure along the muscles of his shoulder blades. Mid-eum tried to focus on the pressure, praying that his panic didn't make him throw up more, just trying to grasp for air where he could.
"Good," he heard Yi-hyuk say as he sucked in a breath, "Good, baby, you're doing good. You're okay. Just keep trying to breathe."
It seemed like ages before Mid-eum finally calmed down enough to accept a glass of water from his boyfriend (he wasn't sure where he'd gotten it, or when, but he was too exhausted to care). Yi-hyuk helped him clean up, then they just sat there, Mid-eum in his boyfriend's lap again.
He felt slightly better now, the only good thing that came from his stomach, apparently, trying its hardest to eject itself from Mid-eum's body and into the toilet.
"Feeling any better?" Yi-hyuk asked, as if on cue.
"A little," Mid-eum muttered, voice sensitive and raw from the stomach acid.
"Well. That's one good thing, at least," Yi-hyuk said, "Ready to go back to bed? Or do you want to stay here a while longer?"
"No, I'll go back to bed. I think I need to sleep," Mid-eum replied. He tried to push off of Yi-hyuk and too his feet, but Yi-hyuk shot that down quickly.
"Woah woah woah, wait," Yi-hyuk said, grabbing him around the waist. With more ease than Mid-eum would have thought possible, he stood with him in his arms. Mid-eum felt red fill his cheeks that had nothing to do with the fever at the reminder of just how strong his boyfriend was.
He was deposited gently in bed, covers tucked around him like he was a small child. Mid-eum, sleep creeping on him almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, smiled slightly, "You'd make a great dad."
Yi-hyuk laughed, pressing a kiss to Mid-eum's forehead, "Thanks? I think?"
"That was a compliment," Mid-eum assured him, "Also stop kissing me; you'll get sick."
"A price I am willing to pay for the honour of kissing you," Yi-hyuk said grandly, "Don't marriage vows go 'in sickness or in death' anyways?"
"We're not married," Mid-eum muttered, too tired to fully process the hilarity of this situation.
"So what? We will be one day, so might as well get a head start!"
And if Mid-eum was too tired to process Yi-hyuk's last words, he was certainly too tired to process this. He frowned, cracking open one eye, "Can we not talk about marriage when I am half-asleep with a fever?"
Yi-hyuk simply laughed, giving Mid-eum another soft kiss on the forehead (damn him). The bed shifted as he stood, "I'm going to make that soup in case you wake up wanting to eat. The ice packs are on the nightstand in towels and water, but if you need help ,just holler. Or, like, throw something on the ground if you can't holler. I'll be listening."
Mid-eum hummed in response, eyes drifting closed again. He could hear Yi-hyuk in the kitchen, dishes banging together, his boyfriend singing softly. Warmth that had nothing to do with the fever or the blankets covering him filled his chest, and he smiled despite himself, allowing the noise to lull him to sleep.