[One Month Ago....]

Donghae doesn't know why he's in his room at 2pm on a school day. Did he not wake up on time? No, he's sure he woke up four hours before he needed to today. There's no way he could have overslept. It's true that he didn't get much sleep the previous night but waking up late was never an option. There's absolutely no way, especially when he spent at least a good few weeks panicking about this very day, how he isolated himself from the world and cut all contact with all friends and family, how each and every social media account had been on a strict hiatus just because he needed to prepare for this very day. Presentation Day. 

No. Impossible. 

It takes Donghae a few minutes to realise that he is indeed not wearing his pyjamas but the very clothes he planned to wear on this day. Did he already make his presentation without remembering a single second of it?

It takes Donghae longer to realise that he's freezing cold, despite it being the warmest day of the year. 

Oh. That's how it is. 

***

[Two hours before...]

Hyukjae felt excited. He didn't tell Donghae that he would go sneak into the back of his lecture room to watch his presentation. Why would he when Donghae wouldn't talk to him for weeks because he was too busy preparing for it? Donghae had never taken his studies seriously before, mostly because he was naturally gifted in literally every subject (much to Hyukjae's distaste).

But then Hyukjae remembers that this is actually Donghae's first ever presentation, how Donghae had never done one in High School and how he managed to get out of it every single time whether he was faking an illness or giving the teacher puppy eyes. But this is the first presentation that has ever been compulsory. There was no getting out of it this time, no matter how many times he explains his stage fright. 

Hyukjae says that the reason he's excited is because he wants to see Donghae finally, finally present something, and the possibility of him messing up is too hilarious of an idea to miss as well. Hyukjae knows that seeing Donghae's face after weeks for longer than five seconds is more exciting. 

The older spots the brunette shaking in the front row and smiles, thinking that he looks kinda cute when he's nervous. His cheeks were already a bright pink, something that happens automatically when standing in front of an audience. But the older's smile immediately turns when he sees the younger stand up, still shaking - no, shivering - clear that what he is feeling is not actually nervousness. It seems that the reason for his pinkness was not due to the audience either.

Oh, no.

Donghae wobbles towards the centre of the stage but does not last very long on his feet. Hyukjae doesn't last long in his seat either. 

***

"You feeling any better?" The redhead asks softly, stepping into the younger's room holding a tray with what looks like soup and a cup of tea. 

Donghae, wrapped in a massive blanket, sits up and turns to look at the other. "Not really. Actually, remembering what happened just makes me feel worse. Weeks of preparation just for that to happen. I don't want to believe it." He mutters and raises an eyebrow. "You were there, weren't you?" 

The redhead smiles. "Of course! I couldn't miss Lee Donghae's first ever real presentation. I can't believe you managed to get out of it again, though." He walks over to sit on the end of the bed and places the tray on the desk nearby. "This time you're not faking illness at least." 

To confirm this, Hyukjae places the back of his hand on Donghae's forehead, only to feel a great surge of warmth. "Jesus Christ, Donghae, you're really burning up. As expected I'm gonna have to stay here with you."

Shocked, Donghae realises that Hyukjae is supposed to be in class right now. It's almost the end of the school year so no doubt it's an important class one must not miss before his exams begin. No way Donghae wants another person to fail because of him. 

"No way, Hyukjae. Go to class, I'll be fine by myself." He whispers, realising his voice had somewhat disappeared too, something Hyukjae did not fail to notice.

"I'm staying," the redhead says firmly. 

Why is he so insistent? Donghae wonders. It's not like he's dying, it's just a mere fever. 

"Hyukjae, you have final exams to prepare for too. You can't stay here. Of course I'll be okay."

"No, Donghae! You told me you'd be okay everyday in the past three weeks that you stayed in your room. That obviously wasn't the case, was it?" 

The brunette finally acknowledges how bad his lifestyle had been the past few weeks. He only ate snacks and drank energy drinks, he rarely slept, and despite living in the same apartment as Hyukjae, he had only seen him when he left his room to go to the toilet. He's also aware that he was ignoring Hyukjae in the process. 

It doesn't matter though, he thinks, I can take care of myself properly now. 

"Okay, that's true, but I really mean it this time. It's not like I'm gonna study today or prepare for anything, I won't be stressing myself out like that again."

"But if I leave you alone I will be the one stressing out."

Suddenly, Donghae doesn't know what to say. Hyukjae sounds so serious now, did he really worry him that much? 

The older puts his head down, unable to look at Donghae with what he wants to say next. "Honestly I.. I'm really annoyed with myself. Even if you said you were fine I should have known that you weren't. I shouldn't have left you alone and I should have at least been checking up on you." 

Donghae knows exactly what to say next. 

"You're an idiot," the younger chuckles, gaining the redhead's attention. "No, Hyukjae, it's not your fault this happened. I was the one that told you to leave me alone and to not check up on me. Naturally you wouldn't have noticed a thing. I didn't even notice myself." How could he even blame himself in this situation? "But it's really fine, Hyuk. Just go to school." He smiles and pinches Hyukjae's cheek, assuring him that he really can do this.

"Hae, nothing you will say will make me go. I'm staying here to look after you, got it? I'm not leaving this room until your fever has completely gone down." 

"Hyu-"

Unexpectedly, the redhead jumps onto the younger, tackling him (and the massive blanket) in a hug. Hyukjae giggles and refrains from tightening his grasp to make sure the marshmallow-looking-brunette can still breathe. Maybe I might have missed him a little, he wants to say, but telling Donghae that he's staying because he was worried seemed like a sufficient explanation."Shhh, go back to sleep." 

Donghae, surprised with the sudden clinginess, is glad that he can blame his increasingly brightening cheeks on something else."You , do you want to get sick too?" 

The older adjusts their positions so that they're both under the blanket and lie next to each other. "Donghae, unlike you, I have been ill multiple times." Hyukjae thinks that the younger still looks cold and wraps his arms around him once again. "And if I do get sick you're going to that party next month and you won't complain about it, okay?" He winks. 

Has Hyukjae always cared for him this much? Sure, they'd been friends since they were in diapers. Since then Donghae thought that he'd seen every side of Hyukjae possible. But this was a new one. 

Actually this side always existed. It just took Donghae a while to become aware of it. 

***

Some time in the middle of the night, the brunette wakes up. He turns his head to the side, only to spot a snoozing redhead beside him. He smiles but he has no idea why. Donghae attempts to turn away or at least close his eyes to sleep, but for some reason he can't. For some reason, he wants to look at him for longer. For some reason Hyukjae looks so soft and the urge to touch his face won't go away. For some reason, his heartbeat is continuously increasing in speed. 

Donghae gently removes the older's hands that laced around his stomach and quietly leaves his bed. He moves to their living room sofa, blanketless, and lies down.

He feels his face get warmer but he knows that it's not because of his fever. 

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_{Author's Note: Hello!!! Remember this? I sure didn't. It's been almost a year haha.}

_{I suddenly realised that I wrote this and thought.. why not? Honestly, I haven't written since. I don't really remember how to write any more so this is probably really bad. I don't even remember my plan after this so if I do continue to write it might be really messy.} 

_{And, well, if this didn't really make sense to you I'll explain: Last chapter Donghae and Hyukjae referred to "a month ago". This very day changed Donghae's perspective on things. Since I don't plan to write what happened between this chapter and the last, assume that Donghae had finally been looking at their friendship in a new light. And in this past month Donghae became more aware that they were very very close friends, that the way they act around each other may not be how two best friends should act around each other. Rather than completely distancing himself, he just stopped doing what others might find "weird" and tried to stay away from situations that would make his heart beat faster. Obviously this was not left unnoticed by Hyukjae. The next chapter will be the day after the first chapter, probably.}