Jongin realizes he's running a fever the second he jerks awake, an hour before his alarm is supposed to go off. He struggles to stifle his groan at the burgeoning headache starting to ricochet in his skull, trying not to disturb Kyungsoo where he’s still sleeping beside him.

Jongin slips out from under the sheets and immediately regrets it when he shivers so violently he nearly bites his tongue in half. Everything aches as he pads over to the kitchen, rummaging in the drawer to dig up some medicine. They're out of cough syrup so the pain killers will have to do for now. His nose is stuffy and his throat feels painfully raw when he tries to clear it, immediately dissolving into a fit of dry coughs. The glass of water he chugs down doesn’t really do much to soothe the ache. He listens for any sign that he's woken Kyungsoo but the morning silence hangs heavily in the air.

Dropping into one of the chairs around the table, Jongin holds his head in his hands, feeling what little energy he had already draining from his body. He catches sight of the table calendar and nearly swears out loud but settles for aggressively chewing on his lip instead. There’s a red circle marking today’s date. Of course he’d wake up as sick as a horse on the day of their anniversary dinner. The dinner at the restaurant Kyungsoo's been calling everyday for nearly three weeks until a spot finally opened up to make a reservation, just because they have the best chicken in town. They’ve been planning this for almost a month, working their schedules around it to make sure they’d absolutely be free tonight.

Kneading his temples, Jongin closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, wheezing dryly. The only solution he can think of is not to tell Kyungsoo. Screwing everything up over a stuffy nose and a headache is just not an option at this point.

Frankly, his body is screaming at him to go back to bed and stay there for the rest of the day but Jongin's made up his mind. He’s been looking forward to today and he knows Kyungsoo has been too.

Luckily, Kyungsoo starts work a little later in the morning today, so Jongin will be able to slip out of the house before he wakes up and notices anything wrong.

The bustling office is the last place he’d rather be with a burning fever but he forces himself into it for the sake of keeping up appearances.

The hours drone by, stretching on forever and Jongin feels dead at his desk, laying his cheek down against the cool surface of his desk when he can spare a free moment. Jongdae pokes his head over the wall of his cubicle, throwing him a sympathetic look before pushing a cup of soup towards him, coaxing him up to eat it. Jongin hopes his sniffle sounds as grateful as he feels, even as Jongdae chuckles and shakes his head at his plan to fake healthiness in this state.

When it’s finally time to clock out, Jongin makes his way home slowly, trying painstakingly hard not to sneeze into the wheel and crash his car into a lamppost. He's starting to feel the ache of the fever heavy in his bones, the wear and effort of the day weighing him down like he’s moving underwater..

Jongin leans against the front door for a moment before actually pushing it open, taking a second to pull it together before going in.

Kyungsoo’s in the shower when Jongin pads inside, giving him enough time to blow his nose noisily and splash his face in the kitchen sink to look fresher. He decides to stuff enough tissues in his suit pocket to last the night.

The ambiance in the restaurant is gorgeous, complete with a live jazz band playing in the background. Kyungsoo beams at him from across the table, taking another sip from his water. He looks a little tired, the bags under his eyes looking more pronounced than usual.

“Long day?” Jongin asks empathically, catching Kyungsoo’s ankle between his own under the table. Kyungsoo blinks at him, confused, before he catches on slowly and nods, giving a tired smile.

“Seemed to drag on forever. I’m glad we’re doing this,” he says, sitting up straighter when the waiter comes over with their food. Jongin takes the opportunity to blow his nose on the side quickly with the waiter is busying himself with folding a napkin on Kyungsoo’s lap.

Chicken is Jongin’s favourite but the sight of the huge portion looks almost nauseating, making his stomach churn uncomfortably. He takes a bite anyway, chewing on the morsel for a moment before realizing he can barely even taste it through his stuffy nose. Swallowing it without wincing is another battle that he manages to get through without raising any suspicion.

Kyungsoo seems content with the taste, pinching up a potato wedge with his fork. It doesn’t make it to his mouth though because he whips his head to the side and sneezes loudly, letting his fork clatter onto the plate.

“Chicken’s a bit spicy,” Kyungsoo says apologetically, blowing his nose in his napkin. Jongin stares down at his food, confused. He hasn’t tasted any spice in there even though they both ordered the same thing. Kyungsoo’s eyes are slightly bloodshot when he pulls his napkin away, tucking it into his pocket and Jongin frowns in concern.

Kyungsoo moves onto a different topic though, bringing up the season finale of the drama they watched together the day before and Jongin shrugs. His throat is starting to ache again from all the talking and his nose is so blocked he can barely breathe through it.

By some of luck, Kyungsoo excuses himself to the bathroom and Jongin pulls out a handful of clean tissues from his pocket, hoping his nose won't be too conspicuously red when he’s done. He’s feeling a little dizzy and overheated when Kyungsoo comes back.

“Are you okay?” he asks, giving Jongin a strange look as he drops into his seat again.

Jongin nods but takes in Kyungsoo’s appearance properly, his dishevelled hair falling into his pale face. “Are you?”

Kyungsoo tries to answer but suddenly dissolves into a fit of coughs, wheezing deep in his chest. Alarmed, Jongin shifts his chair closer and pushes a glass of water into his hands, rubbing his hand along Kyungsoo’s back soothingly.

“You sound weird,” Kyungsoo gasps when he’s downed the entire glass and right on cue, Jongin sneezes and promptly starts coughing himself, burying his face in his napkin until it’s over.

Kyungsoo reaches over to brush his hair out of his eyes when he resurfaces, pressing his palm to Jongin’s forehead.

“You have a fever,” he says with a frown, cupping his cheek before sliding his hand around to feel the back of his neck. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Bit rich coming from you,” Jongin retorts, and Kyungsoo drops his hand sheepishly. His shoulders slump, deflating when he sighs and drops the act. He brings Jongin’s palm up to press it against his own cheek, sighing again at the cool feeling.

“I didn’t want to ruin this,” he says quietly, looking up at Jongin even as he turns his face further into Jongin’s palm. Their food is still sitting there on the table half untouched; it’s probably gone cold by now.

“Well. Neither did I,” Jongin says, sliding his thumb along the curve of Kyungsoo’s cheek. “Maybe we should just call it a night?”

Kyungsoo nods, kissing his palm and deftly swerving out of the way when Jongin sneezes again, heading over to deal with the bill quickly.

By the time they make their way out of the restaurant into the street, they're both probably looking as sick as they feel, finally dropping the facade. They lean into each other for support while making their way down the road where Kyungsoo parked the car.

When they get there, Kyungsoo stares down at the car despondently, looking reluctant to even reach back to pull the keys out from his pocket.

"Home's too far," he grumbles tiredly, looking away. "How about we just check into a hotel for tonight?”

He scans the area, trying to see over the mass of people passing by."That one over there.”

Jongin follows his line of sight and nearly triggers a fresh coughing fit when he lets out a laugh.

“The love motel? Interesting choice.”

Kyungsoo whacks him on the chest, immediately apologizing for it when Jongin really does start coughing violently this time. Still, when Kyungsoo’s made sure Jongin can finally breathe again, he grabs his hand and tugs him along with him across the street.

The interior is as tacky as they could expect in a place like this but it'll do the job. Jongin leaves Kyungsoo to check them in at the reception while he pops out again for a moment, heading for the convenience store he'd noticed next door. He makes quick work of going through the aisles, picking out sachets of instant soup and some painkillers.

Kyungsoo’s waiting inside, standing discreetly to the side and leaning against one of the columns with the keycard in hand. He looks even worse for wear under the crappy neon lighting and Jongin wraps an arm around his shoulders, kissing the side of his head and feels Kyungsoo’s skin burning under his lips.

He resists the urge to collapse onto the bed the second Kyungsoo works the door open, dragging himself over to the dresser to set down his watch and wallet and hangs his jacket over the back of the chair. Kyungsoo has already worked his tie off, throwing it aside and slips out of the rest of his stiff, stuffy outfit. They’re both stripped down to their underwear in a matter of minutes.

Jongin finds some folded blankets in the closet, lugging them onto the bed and Kyungsoo slides up beside him, pushing a couple of painkillers into his palm and holds up a glass of water for him. He watches sympathetically when Jongin winces at the painful swallow.

They share the soup Jongin bought, boiling it in a couple of mugs that Kyungsoo finds in the kitchen cabinet. Surprisingly, there’s a couple of tea bags there that Kyungsoo brews for both of them too.

Flicking on the TV, he clambers onto the bed and pats the space beside him for Jongin to join him. Jongin is more than happy to crawl into his side, tugging the blankets over them both when the chills start to set in again.

Kyungsoo bends down to kiss him, but Jongin wrinkles his nose, acutely aware of the how many germs he must have hanging all over him.

“Who cares?” Kyungsoo shrugs, dipping lower to brush their noses together. “We’re both sick anyway.”

Jongin mulls over it for another two seconds before closing the distance and kissing him properly. It’s the first actual kiss they’ve shared all day, and Jongin lets Kyungsoo take, letting him tilt his head to into his mouth and kiss him languidly, making his skin burn a little hotter than his fever.

They break off in an unceremonious coughing fit when they run out of air too quickly. Kyungsoo tries to laugh through it, content to let Jongin plant his head on his thighs and rub his back slowly.

“Happy anniversary, Jongin,” he says, combing his fingers through Jongin’s hair.