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Hot, burning, suffocating.
He couldn't move his body.
Saheon forced his eyes open, vision hazy in the darkness. He couldn't feel his body, trapped.
Saheon, trying to keep calm, could only move his eyes, darting around for anything that could help him get out of the heat cocoon. After a few more attempts of wriggling Baek Saheon finally woke up.
He was just under his bed sheets in his room. Baek Saheon used his trembling limbs to lift up the cover sitting up in bed. Sweat dripped down his face from the motion as Saheon vision flickered from the sweat burning his eyes.
He was unfortunately, definitely and undoubtedly sick, and he couldn't even get out of work for it as it was a Sunday. Baek Saheon dragged a hand down his face though it was more like his hand slid over his face like a slip and slide from how much sweat he was letting out.
"Fuuuckkk it's hot," Baek Saheon moaned out to no one as he crawled out of bed dragging his sheets down with.
Saheon stumbled all the way to his door, fumbling the knob open and making his way down the hall towards the bathroom like some sort of elderly slug.
-
Kim Soleum sat on the sofa drinking his morning coffee chatting quietly to Braun about today's list of chores while the sound of the morning kids show played in the background.
Loud trudging sounds made Soleum quirk his brow but he didn't bother turning around. He'd already scared Saheon yesterday by standing outside his door and speaking to Braun in a voice pretending to be quiet but loud enough for Saheon to hear his crazy roommate talking to his imaginary friend. (Though I am 100% a real friend of course! - Braun) He'll let him go just for this morning. Of course he'd already prepared for his next prank, good old suspicious symbols drawn into the mirror steam in the bathroom never fails.
Soleum took another sip of his roast, closing his eyes to savour his well earned weekend.
BANG, CRASZHH. BMP BBDMP DBDMP.
Soleum's hand shook, spilling a bit of coffee down his chin.
"Oh dear, it seems like someone is having a bit of trouble in the bathroom," Braun chuckled.
"What happened?" Soleum wiped away the coffee.
"I assume your poor sighted roommate may have taken a graceless fall in the tub from his incompetence," Braun tutted as Soleum set his cup down on the coffee table.
...
He listened for more sounds, nothing, no curses, no yelling, no more sound.
Soleum quickly paled, did Saheon hit his head and die or something? Or concuss himself? Was Viper this easy to take down? An incredibly unremarkable ending for the unpredictable man.
Soleum got up from the couch to check.
And then sat back down.
"Oh dear you'll probably have to see some unsightly things from here on if you decide to investigate my good friend, if I were you I'd walk past the bathroom. Out of sight out of mind, yes?"
Soleum pinched his brow, it's just a naked body it's just a naked body... he'd seen guts strewn on the floor and bodies mutated beyond the human limit, he could handle seeing Baek Saheon's little Baek Saheon for a bit.
Soleum sighed and stood up, Braun clicked his tongue but protested no more as Soleum slowly walked to the bathroom. Better a concussed viper than a dead body in his house if he could help it.
-
Baek Saheon's eyes flickered, his head felt like heaven right now as a long hand raked through his curls scrubbing his scalp and scratching all the itches. The hands combed to the side of his head, fingers scratching the soft skin near his ears causing Saheon to tilt his head back to give the hands more access. The air didn't have a particular scent but smelled warm and clean.
"Is this a darkness that washes people's hair?" Baek Saheon's brain was unhelpfully supplied. What kind of darkness even is that?
He didn't have time to dwell on that thought as he felt his vision going dark again, sleep taking over as the scrubbing was now accompanied by warm water washing off the soap in his hair.
-
Baek Saheon's eyes slowly opened, he was in his room again, how is he here? Wasn't he just in the shower?
Baek Saheon turned his head before his eyes snapped open, goosebumps rose on his arms under the cover, black pupils met his eyes glowing an eerie red in the centre.
Baek Saheon froze as the two stared at each other in silence, he could feel his legs becoming numb and he shifted jerkily to sit up a bit from under his cover.
"Um.." Baek Saheon started quietly.
"Do you remember what happened?" Soleum asked with no expression.
"..."
What happened? Baek Saheon had no idea what happened, the fuzzy gap between entering the shower and waking up in his bed popped in and out of focus in his head. What happened...
"I was... showering"
"Right,"
"And... and I finished showering?"
"Wrong,"
Baek Saheon flinched at that, Soleum all of a sudden smiled, the snake's fangs were around the neck of a trembling mouse.
"You don't remember?"
"... no- No sir," Baek Saheon considered the efficiency of escaping through his bedroom window.
Soleum looked at him for another minute as Baek Saheon's eyes drifted to Soleum's clothes, his black sweater sleeves were rolled up and his pants had a few dark patches on them.
"You really don't remember?" Soleum asked again, voice lowered.
Baek Saheon shook his head, if he behaves maybe Soleum will reconsider stabbing him in his sleep later.
Soleum let out a big sigh, closing his eyes and crossing his arms.
"You fell over in the shower, I had to rescue your dumbass,"
Baek Saheon let this information process for a bit.
"Um,"
"I had to dress you too,"
Saheon suddenly felt that his pjs do indeed feel more comfortable than before but also felt like he wanted to die.
"..."
"We both have one but that doesn't mean I enjoy seeing it," Soleum smirked a little at that, "wasn't much to see anyways".
Baek Saheon hoped that the ceiling would collapse now, instantly killing both of them in this room.
"right, sorry"
Soleum gave him a pointed stare.
"I mean, thank you very much for saving me,".
Awkward~Atmosphere~~~~
Soleum suddenly stood up and left the room without closing the door. Baek Saheon made a middle finger with his hand under the cover.
At least that guy’s gone now, now Saheon can spend the rest of the day overthinking and being embarrassed in peace. Let’s see if submitting a report for sexual harassment is possible…
Before he could get comfy footsteps returned. Soleum walked in holding a bowl in his hand.
"Here,"
"?"
"Porridge"
"..."
Saheon sat up and took the bowl in his hand. A steaming bowl of porridge stared back at him as Soleum handed him a spoon to his other hand. It looked fine but...
"...this porridge," Baek Saheon murmured.
"?"
"What's in it?"
…
"This brat is just as wary of me as always, even a cold won't get him to let his guard down" Soleum thought to himself.
"I put a little something in there for you," Soleum said, smiling kindly.
"! This creepy as hell smile" Baek Saheon started sweating harder as Soleum's eyes curved into crescents, his whites almost disappearing leaving only a piercing black and red pupil staring straight into Baek Saheon's soul.
He was going to die or at least be horribly mangled by this man via porridge.
"... I'm not hungry-"
Soleum's hand came to rest on the bed pushing himself far far into Saheon's beloved personal space causing Saheon to freeze in place, their faces almost touching. The scent of the basic shampoo the company provided wafted into his nose but at that point all Baek Saheon could smell was his own fear.
"You aren't going to waste my kindness are you? Saheon-ah?" Soleum naturally breathed out a threat, saccharine voice setting off every alarm in Baek Saheon's body.
If Baek Saheon were to refuse his help-
"Unspeakable, nightmarish consequences for sure" Baek Saheon thought to himself as his brain worked out his survival rate should he give a bad answer...
...
The tense silence in the room was choking Saheon, at this rate he might die early from fear rather than his cold.
Soleum sat back into his chair.
"Don't worry, I promise you won't die from it" Soleum stated crossing his arms with finality. He stared at Baek Saheon as if he was bored of the situation already.
The bowl of porridge was hot in Baek Saheon's hands.
Saheon with trembling hands picked up the spoon. Here goes nothing, at least he has the psychopath's word that he won't die, he wouldn't lie about something like this right? I mean if he dies how is Mr "I take pleasure from human suffering" going to get his dose of fun? He still has value as his play thing right? I mean all his roommate does at home is torment him with the sounds of children's tv shows on the tv at odd hours of the night and making eye contact with Saheon in a game of chicken until Saheon broke or the time he woke up after falling asleep on the couch to Soleum staring at him with no expression or the time he was-
"Hurry up"
"YES, I mean yes SiR!-"
Baek Saheon's hand with the spoon in a death grip shot up to his mouth with the deadly porridge no sooner had the food touched his mouth-
He dropped it back into the bowl splattering a bit of porridge everywhere"
"OW, HOth-..."
He burnt his tongue. The porridge didn't feel as hot on the outside but was burning in the centre.
"..."
Saheon blinked through the pain as fast as he could. He looked over to see stark pieces of rice stuck onto his roommate's BLACK sweater, highlighting everything Saheon has ever done wrong in his life.
Soleum's face was furrowed, more confusion than anger. An "are you stupid?" was plastered all over his face.
Before Baek Saheon could begin to beg for his life Soleum picked up the bowl from Saheon's hands trembling both with fear and his dumb cold.
Saheon closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, "he's definitely going to do something insane like throwing the porridge at me or or maybe dump it all over my head for daring to get his shirt dirty and then he'll-"
"open your mouth"
Baek Saheon squinted his eyes but didn't dare open them fully as his mouth slowly creaked open his jaws popped as he prepared for the worst.
A blurry outline of something in front of his face met him as he looked at the spoon held in front of his mouth.
The metal spoon gently pushes in clacking against his teeth forcing him to open his mouth more as he is spoon fed porridge by a crazy person.
"Ummgpf?" (what?) Bark Saheon managed to say as he slowly chewed the porridge a bit before swallowing. oh fuck he swallowed it-
"Stop talking, eat,"
Whatever Baek Saheon was going to say abruptly left his mind as his survival instincts kicked in. He quietly observed what was happening.
Kim Soleum scooped up a spoonful of steaming porridge and blew on it before holding the spoon out of Baek Saheon again.
"... I don't want to eat something that you breathed on-"
"hey"
Baek Saheon obediently opened his mouth, fighting willpower, leaving like a baby bird dropped out of its nest.
Second spoonful of porridge. Once past the body freezing fear stage Saheon could taste a bit of ginger and spring onion in the porridge, it was only lightly salted but it was still....
"Is it good?"
"...yes"
"of course it is I made it"
Saheon could feel his stomach clench from the hunger he had forgotten since waking up, only realising at the first taste of food that he hadn't eaten since yesterday. He opened his mouth up for another bite-
"heh"
Soleum turned away hiding a smirk that Baek Saheon absolutely saw.
Wha...
"nothing, open your mouth" Soleum turned back with no expression but the corner of his mouth twitched just a bit.
"oh so all that was just to make fun of how stupid he looked needing to be taken care of huh? This crazy person takes joy from messing with Baek Saheon even while he was DEATHLY ill (Kim Soleum: it's just a fever and a cold?) and could only depend on his greatest op for help-"
Baek Saheon thought all this and more but kept his mouth open even as he felt the rising heat on his cheeks on top of his fever flush. He will find a way to get this asshole back AFTER he recovers.
Soleum didn't mess with him again after this, just scooped up the porridge and fed Saheon until the last scoop leaving Saheon to lick his lips of the faint taste of ginger and spring onion.
"Now sleep"
Soleum commanded getting Saheon to lie down by pushing Saheon directly on top of his head. Saheon had never been manhandled in this strange way before feeling like a plushie in a claw machine and could only lay down in slight confusion.
They stared at each other some more as Baek Saheon went lower and lower under the cover until only half his face was showing.
...
"close your eyes"
"...oh or should I say eye hahaha-"
Baek Saheon thinks "eat shit and die" but he still closes his eyes like a lil bitch. He turned his head away as fast as he could to the other side. A psychopath is still a psychopath even if he was nursing him. Never forgetting to add a comment after every interaction.
Eyes shut he listened for when Kim Soleum leaves. The silence stretched on as Baek Saheon's shoulders hunched up to shield his vitals.
The sound of movement started as Kim Soleum seemed to get up from beside the bed.
"He's finally gonna leave" Baek Saheon relaxed a bit as he stopped his face from scrunching and just as he was about to peek his eyes open a little-
"You're going to sleep right?"
Hot breath tickled his ear, Saheon felt his whole body shiver. He closed his eyes harder without answering, trying to keep his face neutral.
"Good boys go to sleep quickly, yes?"
Saheon couldn't stop the involuntary jerk of his head at that, a small gasp left his throat. What was that? Why did his body react like that?
As Saheon worked up the courage to retort, a finger gently grazed his temple. Ghosting over his head for just a second, it brushed a piece of hair aside and then disappeared all together.
At the sound of footsteps and the doors closing Saheon's eyes snapped open, his breath quick and his body feeling strange. He glanced behind, just him.
Why did he pretend to be asleep at that moment? He could've just answered obviously Soleum knew he was awake he had literally just closed his eyes. And why did his body shiver like that? Why did he feel his thighs squeeze together under the sheets?
"This cold's messing with my brain" Saheon muttered under his breath as he closed his eyes again, willing himself to not think about what happened.
Tomorrow, I'll deal with it... tomorrow"
"Psycho..." was the last thought that echoed in Saheon's mind as he drifted off into a dreamless sleep plagued only by what had happened just then.
______________
When Saheon woke up his first thought was "I think I was turned on by that" which was immediately replaced with "oh shit did he do something to me". He quickly checked, feeling his body for any changes, amputations, wounds or other types of bodily harm and inflictions Soleum could've possibly done to him last night.
Nothing.
Saheon sat dazed in bed staring blankly at the white walls. That guy really just nursed him and put him to sleep last night without doing anything else.
...
"Is he actually just crazy on the outside and soft on the inside?" Baek Saheon thought to himself. Getting out of bed Baek Saheon finally found strength in his limbs, hair fresh and skin glowing. He walked to the bathroom to wash his face of last night's sweat. Letting hot water run, Saheon started brushing his teeth. Then his hand slipped brushing some toothpaste into his face.
"oh fuck this guy-"
In the mirror strange symbols began appearing from the steam all over as Saheon felt his skin begin to crawl.
Saheon's day started off miserable as always.