Work Text:
Taehyung is sick.
Jeongguk is worried.
Taehyung is laying their bed, four blankets piled on top of him and a slow-growing mountain of tissues gathering near his face. Jeongguk has been exiled from the room, Taehyung demanding he leave because, if you get sick too, who will water my plants? So Jeongguk sits outside their bedroom door all day, just in case Taehyung needs him for whatever reason. Every once and a while Taehyung would sneeze violently, or erupt into a coughing fit, and Jeongguk would be by his side before Taehyung could even reach for a tissue. More than once, Jeongguk presses his palm to Taehyung’s forehead, his own forehead lined with worry wrinkles, and gently suggests maybe Taehyung go to the doctor—
“No!” Taehyung immediately yells, burrowing himself further into their bed. His wheezing breaths are muted under the blanket, but Jeongguk can still hear Taehyung as he struggles to breathe through the mucus in his sinuses. “Just—“ just thunderous coughing, Jeongguk thinks bitterly as Taehyung cuts himself off to cough into Jeongguk’s pillow. “A head cold, Jeonggukie. Just a head cold.”
“I still think you should go to the doctor, love.” Jeongguk says, pushing Taehyung’s bangs away from his head. They’re damp, and Jeongguk sighs; Taehyung has a fever and refuses to let Jeongguk take him to get medicine. “They’ll be able to prescribe you something and you can get back to the kids faster.”
Jeongguk thinks he’s hit the jackpot when he sees Taehyung’s eyes soften at the mention of his kids. As a kindergarten teacher, Taehyung gets to spend his whole day with kids, (“and come home to one at night”, Taehyung often jokes, much to Jeongguk’s chagrin) and Jeongguk knows he hates missing class — hates leaving his kids with a substitute that doesn’t let them be creative like Taehyung does.
(Or at the very least, that’s what Taehyung thinks. Taehyung had missed four days of school near the beginning of the year, after Jeongguk had begged him to take some time off so they could go to Busan to meet his parents. “They really want to meet you, Tae, and they’re going on a cruise soon and won’t be home, please take the time off work?” Taehyung could never say no to Jeongguk and his big doe eyes, especially not when Jeongguk has his bottom lip pouted and is holding onto to Taehyung’s hands so tightly he feels like they might fall off if he doesn’t say yes. So Taehyung had relented, taken the time off work and left his kids in the hands of a substitute, and as soon as he’d gotten back his kids had attacked him, begged him to never leave them alone again because the substitute wouldn’t even let them have snack time — snack time — Taehyung vowed to never miss a day of school again — yet here he is.)
But then, the soft look in Taehyung’s eyes is gone as quick as it came as his body is consumed by another fit of coughing. Jeongguk rubs at his boyfriends back, gingerly trying to pat some of the gunk out his lungs. Taehyung rolls over in their bed, red eyes looking up at Jeongguk as he wipes his nose on the sleeve of his (Jeongguk’s) sweater.
“I’m not going to the doctor.” Taehyung says, and the air of finality in his voice would have been more convincing, had his voice not died off into a croaky whisper at the end of his sentence. Taehyung sniffles once more and Jeongguk has to keep himself from cooing at how adorable his boyfriend is.
“Tae, please,” Jeongguk says, but Taehyung glares at him weakly, and because Jeongguk has always been too soft for Taehyung, he gives up. Jeongguk sighs and leans down to press a kiss to Taehyung’s mouth, but the older man scoots out of the way before he makes contact, hissing out a, “my plants, Jeongguk!” and Jeongguk just laughs and smacks a kiss to Taehyung’s cheek instead. Jeongguk slips out of the room after that, leaving Taehyung to get some rest.
—
It’s the middle of the night when Jeongguk decides enough is enough. He’s laying beside Taehyung in bed, one hand on the older boy’s chest, feeling the way each breath becomes more labored than the last. Taehyung is still asleep, albeit having woken himself up numerous times in a coughing fit. One time, he had sneezed so hard that he head butted Jeongguk in the jaw. Jeongguk slips out of bed quietly and gets dressed, scurrying around their apartment quietly as he collects his wallet and keys. He can hear Taehyung coughing in the other room, and when he hears a quiet, “Jeonggukie?” coming from their room, Jeongguk pounces quickly.
“Hey, Tae-baby.” Jeongguk says quietly, gently pushing one of his arms under Taehyung’s back. Still mostly asleep, Taehyung immediately cuddles into his hold, thinking that Jeongguk is scooping him up so he can sleep on Jeongguk’s chest. Taehyung startles a little when he feels Jeongguk’s other arm under his legs, picking him up along with their duvet. Taehyung doesn’t pay the carrying any mind, actually he quite likes it, until he feels cold air bite at his toes.
Taehyung’s eyes snap open as he realizes they’re outside, Jeongguk fully dressed and bending down to open the car door. “What are you doing?” Taehyung asks, digging his fingers into Jeongguk’s shoulders as the younger tries to set him down in the car. Jeongguk doesn’t say anything, just shakes Taehyung off of him and buckles him into the seat. Jeongguk closes the car door softly before jogging around to his side of the car. “Where are we going?”
Jeongguk looks over at Taehyung, at least having the decency to look shameful, as he mutters, “the doctors office.” Taehyung all but chokes on his on mucus as he splutters at the revelation. Jeongguk reaches out a hand to soothe him, but Taehyung bats it away, looking betrayed. He reaches for the door handle only to find himself unable to open it.
“You child locked me in the car?” Taehyung asks, coughing loudly at the end of his sentence. Jeongguk smiles guiltily as he backs out of the driveway, towards the twenty-four urgent care that’s in the middle of town. As they get closer and closer to their destination, Jeongguk notices Taehyung cowering deeper and deeper into their duvet, his hand snaking out from under the cocoon to clutch at Jeongguk’s arm.
“Tae-baby?” Jeongguk asks, risking a glance over at his boyfriend, who is chewing on his lip nervously. “Sweetheart,” Jeongguk can’t help the laugh that escapes him as the reality of the situation dawns on him. “Tae-baby, are you afraid of the doctor?”
“No!” Taehyung yells indignantly, but the way hand tightens around Jeongguk’s arm as they pull into the parking lot gives him away. Jeongguk chuckles and pulls Taehyung across the center consul, into his lap. It’s an uncomfortable fit, but Taehyung doesn’t seem to mind the steering wheel jabbing into his back as he flops his head down on Jeongguk’s chest. “Please don't make me.”
“You have to, love.” Jeongguk sighs, petting Taehyung’s hair. It’s oddly reminiscent of the first time Jeongguk and Taehyung went on vacation abroad, and Jeongguk had practically crawled into Taehyung’s lap every time the plane hit a little bit of turbulence — just reversed. “The quicker you get better, the quicker you get to see your kids, the quicker you can go back to talking to your plants, the quicker you can get back to kissing the hottest guy in the world—“
“Jin hyung? Why would I want to kiss Jin hyung?” Taehyung asks, and Jeongguk can see the mirth swimming in Taehyung’s eyes as he giggles. Jeongguk pinches Taehyung’s leg and he jumps, hitting his head on the roof of the car. “Sorry, sorry. I was kidding.”
“Better be,” Jeongguk grumbles, opening the door to the car. He moves to set Taehyung down, but the older man shrieks and clings to Jeongguk’s chest. Jeongguk belatedly realizes that he forgot to grab Taehyung shoes, more focused on getting him into the car. “Oh. Well. Uh—“
“Looks like you’re carrying me, Jeonggukie!” Taehyung says, almost excitedly. Jeongguk rolls his eyes and pushes the door shut with his ass, before making his way across the parking lot. Taehyung’s giggles die out as Jeongguk pushes the door to the clinic open, and Jeongguk can feel Taehyung’s nervous breath on the back of his neck.
“Uh… Hi.” Jeongguk says, looking awkwardly to the woman at the counter, who is staring at them, looking confused. “This is my boyfriend. He doesn’t have on shoes.”
The woman nods, before slowly asking, “And… why is he here?”
“Oh!” Jeongguk says, and Taehyung giggles in his ear. “He’s sick. Like a cold but uh, but more intense. A cold times a hundred, if you will.”
The woman at the counter is becoming more amused as Jeongguk stumbles his way through an explanation, and cuts him off when Jeongguk starts to talk about the bout of mucus his boyfriend, still nameless, has been hacking up. Apparently it was, “unbelievably gross you wouldn’t even imagine”
“Well, sir, if you give me your boyfriends name and you fill out this paper work, we can have a nurse check him out.” Jeongguk looks mildly stricken as he reaches for the papers, neatly tucked into a clipboard.
“Check him out? I don’t want them to check him out, I just want him to feel better so I stop drowning his plants—“
“Jeonggukie,” Taehyung mutters, trying to save his boyfriend from any further embarrassment. “She means they’re going to give me a check up. Not check me out— chill.”
“Well she could have phrased it better.” Jeongguk mumbles, turning around so the receptionist can’t see his blush. As Jeongguk starts walking away, Taehyung leans back and yells, “I’m Taehyung, by the way!” and the woman nods and gets back to work, a bemused smile on her face.
After they (meaning Jeongguk, Taehyung claiming he was sick and shouldn’t have to write) filled out the paperwork, they were escorted into a room, where they’re sitting now, waiting for a doctor to prescribe Taehyung antibiotics. Taehyung had gripped Jeongguk’s hand tight enough to be on the wrong side of uncomfortable the whole time, but Jeongguk didn’t dare pull his hand away, especially not when the doctor asked if he could pull up Taehyung’s shirt so he could press a stethoscope to his chest. (Jeongguk may have even glared a little, scowling when the doctor laughed at him kindheartedly, and proceeded to bring up his wife and children.)
“So,” Jeongguk says, looking over to where Taehyung is fiddling with the corner of his sticker. (“Normally we don’t give stickers to the adults…” The doctor had said, but handed over the dinosaur sticker anyhow.) Taehyung looks back at Jeongguk expectantly, and Jeongguk grins down at him. “The doctor isn’t so bad, is it?”
“Not when you’re here,” Taehyung says, and Jeongguk sticks his tongue out at the older man for being cheesy. Taehyung grins at him and kisses Jeongguk’s chin, cheeks blushing red when the doctor walks in on Jeongguk reaching his hand under Taehyung’s shirt to poke his stomach.
“All right.” The doctor says, turning a paper towards Taehyung and explaining to him exactly what the antibiotic was and how long it would take for Taehyung to feel better. Jeongguk pays rapt attention, knowing Taehyung is probably just nodding along to be polite, not because he’s taking in any of the information. When the doctor is done, Jeongguk bends down and Taehyung climbs onto his back, and as they walk through the reception area, Taehyung throws a cheeky wave to the woman behind the counter, who is smiling at them, amused.
When they get back home, Jeongguk lays Taehyung on the bed and crawls under the covers next to him, not bothering to kick off his jeans as he cuddles around his boyfriend. “We’ll go get your medicine tomorrow.” Jeongguk says, his eyes drooping closed.
“Goodnight, Jeonggukie.” Taehyung whispers, petting Jeongguk’s hair. Just as he’s falling asleep, Jeongguk hears a horrified gasp as Taehyung says, “did you say you were drowning my plants?!”
Jeongguk merely rolls over and hugs his boyfriend all the tighter, a half asleep apology.