Being sick . Royally. There was no two ways around it.

But being sick when you had to work?

Even worse.

So, on a Tuesday morning when Taemin awoke, feeling worse than death itself, he opted to ignore it and continue his day to day life, praying at the four other boys he lived with wouldn’t notice his deteriorating state.

Because after all, Taemin didn’t get sick often, it just wasn’t something that happened to him. Taemin was the over excited brat who never cried, didn’t tend to get involved with drama, never got sick and practically lived to get on his hyung’s nerves...they loved him for it, of course, but Taemin couldn’t help but try to push them over the edge every now and again. But when Taemin did get sick, it was difficult to hide it, because 9 times out of 10, the sickness hit him hard. Taemin never got a weak cold, he got pneumonia, he didn’t get a small papercut, he’d get a deep slice that needed stitches... the maknae never did things by halves after all, go big or go home.

While he lay there in bed, head rhythmically pounding in a way that made Taemin felt as though sumos were practicing on his temples, he realised that the last time he’d felt this bad was around 5 years ago during the Swine Flu outbreak, in which he suffered quite badly with it.

‘Great.’ Taemin’s internal monologue mocked. ‘Let’s remember the time you were deathly sick and could have died! That’s sure to make you feel better.’

Taemin groaned, rolling over onto his front in the bed. 2009 had been a great year for many reasons, the Swine Flu epidemic?...Not so great.

A few raps on his wooden door snapped Taemin to attention.

“Taeminnie, time to get up, we have work to do today.” Onew, of course, their ever happy leader come to wake them all, ready to start the day.

“I’m already up, coming.” Taemin called back, flinching slightly at the grating sandpaper in his throat and the tell-tale crack in his voice. He could almost see Onew frown on the other side of the door.

“Taemin? Are you alright?”

Taemin cleared his throat before answering again, praying that his voice wouldn’t crack again. “I’m fine, hyung, I’ll meet you in the kitchen for breakfast, okay?”

Onew sighed, before giving what Taemin assumed was a nod from the other side of the door and walking away.

Taemin was pretty much busted already and he’d only said two sentences. The maknae took a deep breath...then hauled himself out of the cocoon of sheets that had been his comfy bed, taking a tired gaze at himself in the mirror...well, wasn’t that attractive? Rhetorical question, don’t answer that...

Taemin’s bangs were pasted to his forehead from the cold sweat on his brow, his cheeks glowing red and his upper lip slimey. The rest of his hair, once again its natural black colour, stuck up all over the place, the dictionary definition of a bedhead.

With a slightly sickly twist to it anyway.

The boy let out a slight groan, putting his hand up to his forehead in an attempt to soothe the vicious pounding, and hopefully steady the swaying world around him.

“Okay, Taemin,” He uttered to himself while leaning forward, resting his slick forehead against the mirror in front of him while he gazed at himself, preparing for the prep talk he was about to give himself. “Don’t be such a baby. If Jinki-hyung can get through a throat operation fine, you can get through a stupid little cold. Now man up. You’re TaeMAN, not Taemin anymore. Let’s get this done. Work is more important. Think of the fans.” He stared at himself for another 30 seconds, before pushing himself off the mirror. “Let’s do this.”

Taemin made his way into the main living area of the dorm, giving a tired, grumpy Jonghyun a small wave as he passed, only getting a grunt in return...which was normal if Taemin was honest with himself.

“Jinki-hyung,” Taemin started once he’d made his way to the little island in the middle of the kitchen area where Jinki stood, preparing breakfast for them all.

“Taemin, are you okay?” Onew asked, his voice still sounding a little rough from its previous strain.

Taemin gave a forced grin in response. He wasn’t a stranger to lying to his hyungs to make life easier for himself, unfortunately. “I’m fine, hyung. How’re you feeling? Is it okay if I go for a shower before breakfast?”

Onew smiled and gave a nod. “Of course, be quick about it though, Key’s getting up in a few minutes, then Minho, and you know how those two always fight for the bathroom in the morning.”

“I’ll be quick, thanks, hyung.” Taemin muttered before hurrying off into the direction of the bathroom. All he had to do while in there was get the disgusting sticky feeling from the sweat away from his body...and make himself look...healthier. He was sure there was a spare tube of BB cream hiding in one of the draws he could use to hide his pale skin and flushed cheeks...hopefully it’d give him an even, healthy tone and he could brush off his prior paleness to being tired. Yeah...that’d work.

Taemin nodded to himself before stripping down out of his sleep pants and baggy shirt, stretching his long arms up above his head while letting out a light groan, his muscles straining and stretching in his back. Switching the dial on, Taemin climbed into the shower and let the hot water soak his body, his head once again falling forward, but this time resting on the warm, wet tiles of their bathroom wall.

“No, no come on, stop it. Please stop.” He begged himself out loud, both hands coming up to grip his head as his eyes unfocused, his head spinning rapidly as his knees buckled. Taemin quickly bit his lip to stop the yelp of pain as his bony knees hit the hard floor, eyes shut tight and the taste of copper filling his mouth as his lip split between his teeth. “. . Please stop. Please.”

Taemin stayed in that position for 10 minutes, his hands gripping his head as he knelt on the floor, allowing the hot water to batter his aching body into submission as he continued to mutter under his breath, begging his body to co-operate, begging himself to just make it through the day.

“Come on, just focus, work with me here and I promise I’ll ask Jinki-hyung to buy us some banana milk, okay? If you co-operate, we can have banana milk... it’s official, I’m going insane. I’m bargaining with my own body.”

“Taemin?” A tired, cranky voice called from outside the door, a light rap of knuckles on the wood accompanying it. “Are you almost done in there? I need the bathroom.”

Taemin’s head shot up at the voice, cursing lightly under his breath. “I-I’ll be out in a second, Kibum-hyung.”  The boy rushed to his feet, stumbling a little as he did so and gasping, reaching out to grasp the glass walls of the shower and his world once again tilted violently.

“Taemin? Are you okay? You sound...off.”

“I-I’m fine, hyung!”  Taemin called out again, his voice wavering just as bad as his vision.

“If you say so...” Key trailed off, concern obvious in his voice, but too tired and cranky to argue and force the truth out of Taemin. Key his heel, deciding he’d better have some breakfast before doing his morning routine so at least he was doing something productive. Well, he was about to go and have breakfast...before a loud crash in the bathroom drew his attention.

“...Taemin?” Key hesitated, knocking on the door lightly again. When Key was only greeted by the trickle of water from the shower, his heart leapt into his throat. “Minho, Jonghyun-hyung, Jinki-hyung, I think something is wrong with Taemin! Taemin, open this door right now!” Key yelled through the wood, smacking on the wood with the flat palm of his hand.

However, it was only a few seconds later that Key was shoved out of the way by Minho, the quiet boy pushing a key into the lock and opening the door, hurrying in with the remaining two members trailing behind him, Key now at the back of the group.

“Jonghyun, Key, do me a favour and go grab some towels? Minho, help me out a second.” Onew ordered, leader mode now activated.

“I-Is he okay?” Kibum asked, trying to peer over to where Jinki was now knelt.

“He’ll be fine, just go grab some towels with Jonghyun, okay?” Jinki turned a little, giving the worried Key a small smile.

Key gave a small nod before grabbing Jonghyun’s bicep, hurrying out of the room to do as he was told.

Minho gulped as he looked down at Taemin’s prone, unconscious body. “Is...is he okay, Jinki-hyung?”

“He’s fine, Minho, I think he fainted. He wasn’t looking too good this morning when he came to talk to me, his eyes kept unfocusing.”

“So...he’s sick? Why didn’t he tell us?”

“He’s hardly had chance, neither you nor Key have been up long, Minho. Either way... he probably wouldn’t have told us even if you had been. You know what he’s like.”

Minho sighed, nodding in agreement, and began running long, thin fingers through Taemin’s dark hair. It was odd to see it black, since he’d almost always had brown or a ginger tone for comebacks... for it to be black again was both nice and strange, Taemin had always liked being back to his natural colour, after all...

Key rushed in a few seconds later, arms piled with towels. “I didn’t know how many you needed, Jinki-hyung, so I grabbed them all.”

Jinki frowned, turning around in disbelief. “All of them? Kibum, I needed two at most...”

Jonghyun grinned from the doorway. “I told him that, but he went all “mother mode”.”

“I’m worried, leave me alone!”

“Key, calm down, Taemin just fainted, he’s okay. He’s just got a bit of a fever.” Jinki reassured, taking the top towel from the pile and carefully covering Taemin’s body with it to give him a bit of modesty before moving out of the way so Key could finally see his best friend.

“A-a fever?” Key muttered, before kneeling beside Taemin, ignoring the fact the knees of his sleep shorts up the water from the floor. “Taeminnie, can you hear me? Come on, Minnie, wakey-wakey time.” The older called, gently shaking Taemin’s shoulders.

As a groan escaped the youngest’s lips, everyone relaxed a little bit, letting out breaths they didn’t even know they’d held.

“Lee Taemin, never do that again. Do you know how dangerous that was? You could have drowned.” Jonghyun scolded, frowning as he placed one hand on Taemin’s forehead and the other on his own. “You are fevered. Right, back to bed with you.”

Taemin struggled a little, still dazed and confused. “I could have drowned..? Why is everyone in the bathroom with me..?”

“Because, you dolt,” Kibum chimed in, frowning but a small smile still on his face, relived that Taemin had woken so quickly. “You passed out in the shower because you decided not to tell anyone you felt unwell.”

Taemin groaned, slowly pulling an aching arm up to cover his eyes. “Didn’t want to be a burden...” He slurred tiredly.

Jinki sighed in response. “Taemin, you’re never a burden. Come on, let’s get you to bed.” He nodded a little at Minho before taking one of Taemin’s arms and looping it over his shoulder, making sure the towel was still secure, while Minho took the other arm so Onew didn’t have to take his entire weight. Although Taemin was quite light for his age, Onew wasn’t at 100% health himself from his own illness.

“Key, go get something to eat, you didn’t have dinner last night due to getting home late. Jonghyun, will you do me a favour and call the studio? Tell them Taemin is sick and we can’t make it to practice but we’ll still be at the meeting later. If they have a problem with it, they’re to take it up with me, not you or Taemin, alright?” Jinki ordered, his face unnaturally serious. Jonghyun and Key only nodded in response, going to complete their various jobs.

“Come on, Jinki-hyung.” Minho smiled, before beginning to walk, supporting the hardly conscious Taemin’s weight. “Jesus, Taeminnie, you don’t do things by half, do you? Can’t you just get a little cold or a niggling cough instead of passing out in the shower?” Minho joked, nudging his bandmate and best friend gently to get a response. Taemin only let out a weak laugh before lifting his unfocused gaze to Minho.

“Don’t be mean, hyung.” He trailed off, eyes glazed with fever. Minho just smiled in response before laying Taemin down on the bed and going to get fever medication for him.

Jinki frowned at Taemin.

“Hyung..?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you felt unwell?”

“I told you, I didn’t want to be a burden...”

“You’re never a burden, Lee Taemin. I’ve watched you grow and mature, you’re like my baby brother, and I want to look after you. You and the others have helped me the past few weeks, so let us help you. If you’d just told me you felt unwell, we could have avoided you almost drowning.”

“I didn’t almost drown though..”

“You would have if Key hadn’t heard you fall and Minho didn’t have the key to the bathroom.”

Taemin frowned a little as he settled back into his pillows. “Why does Minho have a key to the bathroom anyway...?”

“Two reasons, one, in case anything like this happens and we need to get in there for an emergency, and two, the lock is sticky and sometimes doesn’t unlock from the inside. Therefore, I keep a key.” Minho smiled as he walked into the room holding a glass of water and two pills. “Sit up.” He ordered.

“Okay, Minho-hyung.” Taemin pushed himself into a sitting position, taking the pills from Minho’s hand and gulping them down with a glass of water. “Once these kick in, I’m going to practice.”

“...Sure.” Minho agreed, ignoring the glare Onew threw his way.

Taemin let out a small, boyish smile at the agreement, sinking back into his cushions and cuddling back into his cocoon of sheets. “Yay...” He wiggled happily. “You agreed...just...let me nap first...” Taemin’s voice trailed off a final time, before his dark eyes slid closed and light snores escaped Taemin’s slightly parted lips.

Onew turned to Minho once he was sure Taemin was completely asleep. “You told him he can go to practice?” He frowned, trying not to be angry at the younger before he got the whole story. Minho simply smiled at his hyung...Jinki’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

Minho nodded.

“You gave him sleeping drugs along with the fever medication, didn’t you?”

Minho nodded again. “Otherwise he’d of complained and wanted to go to practice.”

“Sometimes, Minho, I underestimate you.”

“I know.”

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There it is! I begun writing this weeks ago when I myself was sick...again... but never completed it. I thought, in celebration of our Taeminnie's birthday, I'd torture him and make him sick! Yay!

Just kill me, I'm so mean to my bias. :'3

I hope you enjoyed this! Please let me know what you think and feel free to recommend oneshot ideas!