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sieun had always been prone to sickness as a child. even until now, he still gets sick due to the lack of self-care he has.
his parents were never around for him when he needed them most. they constantly fought and fought until it drove to a divorce. ever since then, his father hasn't paid much attention to sieun. he had thought by providing a shelter for sieun meant it made him adequate enough of a father. sieun's mother was no better. she had always boasted about how smart he is, how he's good at everything, and how never needed anything from her. sieun became accustomed to her absence, so much so that he simply tells people that he doesn't have a mother. it's easier for them to drop the topic, anyway.
a regular monday morning arrives again. sieun woke up before sunrise, but with a gross, familiar feeling. he was sick; his room felt way too cold for him, but his body's temperature was probably through the roof. sieun couldn't help but sigh, resting his palm onto his forehead.
“what did i even do to get sick?” his voice sounding hoarse, with an annoyed rather than confused tone.
he decided to just stay home without leaving a message to anyone that he wasn't attending. it felt too much of a hassle for him to even stand, let alone go to school.
then his eyelids shut, a soft noise of his breathing floated in his bedroom. he still felt gross, but sleeping was the only thing he felt like doing at the moment, and so he does.
a couple hours had passed, and sieun isn't up yet. in-fact, this may have been the longest he's slept in a while.
the only sound that's heard in the room are soft rustles of the blanket, an even breathing, and constant ringing of the doorbell...??
sieun groans as he's awoken by the agitating noise of the doorbell, “who is it?” sieun mumbles as he shuffles towards the door
“deliveryyy!” a faint, familiar voice responds loudly.
sieun's body jolts upright despite his lack of energy, “suho-yah? what are you doing here?” he leans against his doorway,
peeking into the peephole. his ahn suho, who looked somewhat pouty and worried.
“sieun-ah, let me in.”
he doesnt need to be told twice. the door clicks open and sieun sees the taller boy with his windbreaker clutched in his hand.
“yah, why didn't you come today?” suho crosses his arm, staring at the sick-looking boy up and down, “and why do you look like that?”
“'m not feeling well today. it's nothing crazy,” sieun mutters, voice lacking energy, “just felt like staying home today...”
suho flicks the shorter boy's forehead and scoffs, “what? so i dont need to know when youre sick? what if you collapse, hm?” suho scolds sieun, lightly shoving sieun out of his way as he makes his way into the kitchen.
sieun lightly rubs his forehead, staring at the trespassing ahn suho step into his kitchen, scouting for food to energise sieun.
“yeon sieun... why do you not have anything nutritious?” suho whips his head, his lips pressed together, facing sieun with an irritated look.
sieun slightly tilts his head, not responding to suho, "i'm not hungry, suho-yah, it's fine."
"you don't look fine," suho closes his fridge, now inching closer to sieun, "i'm gonna grab some things for you, alright? let me back in." suho presses a kiss onto sieun's forehead before heading out, momentarily.
sieun couldn't tell if his fever had just worsen in an instant or if suho's kiss just made him feel like he was melting. either way, he knew he felt too weak to do anything else. so, he crawls onto his couch and takes a short nap while awaiting suho's return.
rustle, rustle, soft groans
sieun slowly sits up on the couch, now all of a sudden, unable to fall asleep. he was sure he felt exhausted. so, why is it that he couldn't fall back asleep after suho had left?
DING DONG
sieun practically leapt out of the couch and swings the door wide open, "welcome back."
suho stands in front of the sick boy, amused, then scoffs, "did you miss me, hm?" he teases, leaning closer to sieun, "let me in, baby." the words rolled out of his mouth so naturally. almost as if he was made to call sieun ‘baby.’
his sickly pale face was slowly replaced by a faint pink that coloured on his cheeks and the tip of his ears. sieun steps away from the door to the kitchen as suho follows along. suho set a plastic bag filled with ingredients for the meal he was about to prepare for sieun.
“how'd you end up sick anyway?” suho hums as he rummages through the plastic bag, picking out the items he had bought.
“i don't know either. just woke up feeling sick.” sieun's words are slightly slurred when he responds.
sieun felt as if his head was splitting into two; his palms digging into his eye-sockets, suppressing any attempts of making any noise.
suho's head snaps up when he hears the other boy groan in pain, “what's wrong sieun-ah?” suho frowns as his head slightly tilts, reaching for his arms
“headache.”
suho lightly squeezes sieun's arms, now bringing it closer to his face, "you should go back to sleep while i prepare food for you.” he smiles, planting a kiss on sieun's hand.
“'m okay,, i'll stay here with you.”
“sieun-ah, you're not feeling well. go rest.” suho's voice grew stern but still had that softness.
“i'm fine, suho-yah...” sieun sniffles, his hands still placed near suho's lips. suho could feel the heat rising from sieun's body, assuming his fever's gone worse.
"yah, your body temperature makes you feel like you're on fire. go rest." suho walks over to sieun, who is now being dragged to his bedroom; being tucked into his bed by the taller boy.
sieun couldnt help but get teary-eyed at the sight of suho treating him better than his parents had ever done. he had grown to accept the familiar feeling of coldness around his family--who barely acknowledged sieun when he was sick. to the younger sieun, who still lives in his mind: when he'd get sick, it would mean hearing his parents shout at each other and complaining about the boy's health. he had always felt like a burden rather than someone who needed help. that changed when ahn suho made his way into sieun's life.
“sieun-ah? why’re you crying?” suho frowns, eyes softening as he tucks sieun into his bed, now his hand resting over the blanket.
sieun doesn't immediately respond and continues staring at suho, eyes that resembled a sad looking cat. he felt grateful that a person like suho came into his life. even if the gesture felt small, sieun felt that his inner child had been healed in many ways that no one could ever help. unless it was ahn suho.
sieun sits up on his bed, eyes locked onto the other boy, “suho-yah…”
“ah– yah! i just tucked you in, sieun-ahhhh” suho was about to make sieun lay back down and get some rest, but he couldn't because he felt a tug on his sleeve.
“please stay.”
suho blankly stares at sieun, who’s still gripping onto suho’s sleeve. neither of them say anything after that. just two idiots mindlessly blinking at one another.
suho eventually gives in and crawls under the sheets with sieun. still no words exchanged. he shuffles closer to sieun, who looked a second away from falling asleep. soon, suho does the same.
some time passes and sieun wakes up, still feeling feverish and groggily opens his eyes—rubbing one of them—unable to find suho. this sight puts a frown on his face as he gets out of bed to the kitchen, where he sees suho preparing porridge for him.
“mmn? sieun-ah, you’re awake.” suho looks up from the counter, where the food was placed, smiling at the boy.
sieun hums in response, inching closer to suho before he entirely invaded his personal space, “why did you leave me?”
“you had to eat and i wasn’t going to delay that.” suho responds his right arm now wrapped around sieun’s waist as he finishes up his task, “come, let’s eat.”
sieun doesn’t let go of suho. in fact, he presses his face onto suho’s shoulder, unwilling to let go.
“yah, are you serious?”
“yeah.”
“oh my god.”
suho takes a good look at sieun, his messy hair from sleeping, a warm sensation hitting his shoulder, and the most important: how cute he looked from suho’s perspective.
“you’re so cute, did you know that?”
“what?”
“open your mouth,” suho’s free hand reach for the bowl and takes a spoonful of porridge, inching it closer to his mouth, “say ahh.”
sieun doesn’t move, his face still smushed onto suho’s shoulder.
“my arm’s going to die if you leave me hanging.”
he finally accepts the spoonful of porridge from suho, lifting his head for the spoon—suho is holding—to enter his mouth.
“is it good?”
sieun hums again, “can you keep feeding me?”
suho obliges without protesting, a smile forming on his face as he continues feeding sieun.
once the both of them finish their meal, suho offered helping sieun to shower—knowing it’d feel exhausting to do alone. sieun was hesitant at first, saying he could do it himself, but suho was not risking sieun getting injured in the bathroom.
he gives up. now he finds himself in his bathtub, warm bath water filled halfway and suho sitting on the ledge of the bathtub as he scrubs sieun.
it wasn’t awkward for either of them, but it was done in silence. suho gently humming a tune as he washes the boy, whose eyes are locked onto suho.
“you look like a cat. a sad, wet cat.” suho softly chuckles.
“i don’t.”
“you do. you look adorable.”
sieun doesn’t say another word, but his eyes aren’t locked onto suho’s anymore, lowering his head; nearly falling asleep again. before he could sleep though, he felt a bucket of water pouring down on him—which caused him to jolt awake—looking at suho with an offended look.
“you had to be washed off, kitty.”
after suho finished cleaning sieun, he dries sieun off before wrapping him in the towel like a burrito.
“is this really necessary.”
“yeah, without this i think i would be dead.”
sieun scoffs at the response, his body slightly leaning into suho.
this time sieun got to change into a new pair of clothes without suho having to do it for him. but now, he finds himself sitting on a chair with suho blow drying his hair. usually he hated the sound of the blow drier; it was loud. now that suho was the one holding the hair drier, he didn’t mind it as much.
amidst of the whooshing sound coming from the hair drier, sieun—once again—nearly falls asleep. like a sense of deja vu, he jolts awake again but not by a bucket of water washing over him. this time it was a kiss planted on his head by suho.
“you can sleep once i’m done.” suho’s face rises from sieun’s head, feeling that vibration of the words made him slightly shiver.
he doesn’t argue and allows suho to continue. it only took him about another minute or two before he shut the machine off, “you can sleep now.”
sieun did not need to say another word. he knew suho would follow him into bed.
and suho does exactly that. neither of them speak again, but sieun had a small smile forming on his face, wondering when he’d gotten this lucky.
maybe being sick this time wasn’t that bad.