Chapter Six
Taking Care of TaeminIt had been an hour, and the angry white digits on Taemin's phone now flashed the numbers 3:14 AM at his red, puffy eyes.
Taemin was exhausted- but as much as he wanted sleep, he was now incapable of resting. His nose had seemingly decided to stuff up out of nowhere, and he couldn't sleep with the uncomfortable feeling of blocked sinuses.
He sniffled pitifully, but since he couldn't breathe through his nose the air rolled awkwardly in his lungs, causing a violent cough to rip through his newly-formed sore throat.
Taemin felt himself getting exasperated as he released a heavy sigh. "I thought I was supposed to be getting better.." He mumbled to no one; everyone else in the dorm was still asleep, and most of them slept like the dead.
Taemin wrapped his blanket tighter around his shivering frame. In the few hours since everyone had been asleep, along with everything else, his fever had spiked yet again. Not wanting to wake anyone, Taemin sat in his spot on the couch curled into a ball of pain.
Every bit of his body ached, his nose was stuffy, he was beginning to develop a cough (which was not helping his sand-paper like throat), he was shivering, exhausted, and he didn't want to wake anyone up but he was just so miserable-
The fever-ridden teenager felt his eyes prickle with frustrated tears. Rationally, he knew crying would only make him feel worse- he could already feel the headache forming- but he couldn't help it.
Taemin snuffled, feeling his nose beginning to run. Of course, the air refused to go through his blocked nose, causing yet another brutal cough to rattle out of his lungs.
Taemin jumped violently when there was a crash of thunder, timed exactly to when there was a flash of lightning; another gunshot lighting, much like the one that had awoken him on his first day in the dorm. It was followed by a furious peal of thunder that was powerful enough to shake the beads hanging off the decorated lamps on the side table next to him.
Taemin sighed- the storm was picking up again.
"Taetae...?" Taemin jumped for the second time. The gentle voice caught him off guard- he had thought everyone else was asleep.
The soft voice belonged to none other than the leader of EXO-M. Kris rolled onto his side (careful not to hit the band-mates sleeping comfortably on his chest), and tried to look at Taemin in the dark room.
The only light was from the TV, playing a rerun of a newly released movie, and lightning that illuminated the room in brief, bright blue hues every few seconds.
"Hyung?" Taemin cursed his voice for sounding almost as bad as he felt; he didn't want to worry his friends.
It didn't seem like it mattered though, because Taemin could see Kris' face scrunch up in worry as he tenderly extracted himself from the grips of his band members.
Walking lightly, Kris took great care not to wake anyone up.
Taemin watched as the leader paused here and there so that he could pull the blanket back around Luhan, or softly place Jongin's head back onto a pillow from where he had rolled over in his sleep.
Kris frowned at the dark-skinned dancer; Jongin was usually a pretty sound sleeper- once he was out, he wasn't moving. Kris was beginning to worry not only for Taemin, but for Jongin as well. Kris pushed the sweaty bangs off of Jongin's forehead and hoped that he would relax.
Taemin and Kai were so close- they could worry themselves sick over each other. It was an absolutely heart wrenching thing to see; Taemin and Jongin had always been one in the same. It was a package deal- one never came without the other. When one of them was feeling down, the other was always there to pick them up, dust them off, and take them to get coffee. Jongin was fiercely protective of Taemin- he didn't even bother to hide it. He was cautious and caring in even the smallest of gestures.
Taemin, Kris had noticed, was just as protective, but he was more subtle. Kris had seen it in a select few moments; the memory of Taemin going off on one of SM's managers when Kai had hurt his back was the most vivid.
Taemin had been furious that Jongin was forced to perform a concert- and while SHINee was pulling Taemin away from the manager, apologizing profusely for his behavior and foul language, Taemin had flipped the manager the finger and stormed off to dote on his injured best friend. It had been completely out of character for the shy teenager, and even though Taemin was back to normal the next day, he never apologized for what he did (because, he stated, he wasn't sorry).
So one by one, Kris made sure that all of EXO was cozy and content. When he looked satisfied that his sleeping "children" were comfortable, he padded over to his last dongsaeng. Kris sat on the couch and pulled Taemin's head onto his chest, where he tangled his fingers into the teen's messy hair.
"Hey," Kris spoke so softly and with so much compassion that Taemin almost didn't recognize his voice. Kris was a dork sometimes, but he was still one of the leaders of EXO and he always spoke with a certain tone of authority. This was a side of Kris that he rarely showed. "Did the thunder wake you up?"
"No," Taemin once again wished his voice wasn't so awful. It sounded weak even to his own ears; little more than a whisper, it sounded raspy and hoarse. He coughed to see if it would help, but it simply grated on his throat, ending in a poorly concealed wince. "I was just having trouble sleeping..."
Kris immediately stopped playing with Taemin's hair and moved to the side to look at the younger's face. When Taemin's head drooped down to hide, Kris placed both of his hands on the boy's heated cheeks to lift his head up a little. "Aw, Tae..."
Taemin looked terrible. The bags under his eyes were more pronounced due to the pale face and flushed cheeks. His eyes were glassy as well, but Kris couldn't tell if it was from the fever or if it was because Taemin was ready to cry; he wasn't sure which scenario he preferred.
Kris brushed the pads of his thumbs over Taemin's cheeks softly. "Taetae~ why didn't you wake one of us? Your fever's back up..."
"I know, I just didn't- I don't-... I don't know.." Taemin felt tears welling up in his eyes again and he hoped that Kris didn't notice. Taemin could suffer in silence, but as soon as someone came to ask him if he was okay, he always broke down when he had to say something to them.
Kris pulled the distressed teen into a comforting hug- he hated seeing Taemin so miserable. Being sick just royally , especially when you were an idol and there was a lot of pressure to get better ASAP. "I know, buddy. Let's go get you some fever medicine, yeah? And maybe we can find some stuff for your nose and throat, too." Kris smiled at Taemin and tapped the tip of the sick boys nose, before he took Taemin by the arm and slowly led him into the kitchen area behind the island.
While Kris rustled around in the kitchen, Taemin looked at the massive pile of boys in the living room.
No one was left out- everyone was holding someone. Or they were the one being held. Or they had their feet on someone's stomach. Or their feet were entangled with the feet of another someone. Or they slept facing opposite directions with their backs touching.
Fingers were tangled in shirts, toes tickled tummies, and elbows were dangerously close to groins... But it worked.
It was a a truly spectacular thing that in a group of twelve testosterone pumped boys, everyone got along. There was no one who honestly disliked someone else.
Taemin turned to his only conscious hyung. "Hey... Kris?"
Kris hummed to let Taemin know he was listening- he was still scanning the different pill boxes to know what each one was for.
"Thank you."
Kris raised an eyebrow and looked over to Taemin, who was shifting his weight around and looking extremely awkward. The two words had come out sounding so genuine and sincere that Kris paused for a moment before saying anything. "For what?"
"For, I don't know, like, taking care of me like this..?" Taemin fidgeted with his hands and tapped his toes on the ground behind him- something Kris knew he only did when he was nervous. "I mean... I know I'm not the easiest sick person, and you're all doing so much for me. And you guys only have so much time off, and I feel like I'm stealing some of it away from you, and... Just, thanks for always looking out for me like you do.. And I would totally say this to everyone here... But, uhm..." Taemin gestured meaningfully to the pack of drooling boys.
Kris sniggered affectionately and walked over to Taemin. Taemin was much smaller than Kris, so Kris actually had to look down at him. The leader gave a loving, genuine smile as he placed a hand on Taemin's bowed head. "Taetae, you're not stealing time away from our break. Everyone here loves spending time with you- EXO adores SHINee, and we don't get to see you enough." He ruffled Taemin's newly-colored hair. "Seriously, every time I see you something has changed. It's honestly nice to just get to hang around with you like this, Tae."
Taemin blushed lightly and looked down to hide his tiny smile, nodding his head. He had missed seeing EXO too.
Kris grinned, leaned in like he was telling some kind of big secret "And I feel like Jongin over there has been having some separation anxiety or something~ he's missed you a lot... Like, a LOT. He won't shut up about how he never gets to see you."
Taemin covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he let out quiet peals of laughter. Taemin had complained to the SHINee hyungs about the exact same thing not more than two weeks before.
... Taemin and Jongin were best friends for a reason.
"Oookay, kid...." Kris interrupted Taemin's thoughts as he summarized what he was reading on a pill box. "I think this is a medicine that will help you out- it says it's for "severe fever's" and it has something in it for stuffy noses, soo... I'm pretty sure you qualify."
Taemin took the medicine without a struggle.
He and Kris stayed on the couch, piled together watching K-Drama's until four in the morning. Taemin finally felt his airway open enough for sleep to be an option, lulled by Kris' heartbeat the same way he was with Chanyeol's. And he wasn't about to fight the pull of sleep- he was exhausted.
When EXO woke up in the morning, there was no morning light. Just more rain and thunder and lightning and looming clouds.
So instead of finding literal sunshine, they found a personified version. A deeply sleeping Taemin- messy hair, pillow wrinkles and all.
... Who was cuddled against a very wide awake leader, who seemed to be in protective-papa mode (seeing as he threatened to beat them all to death with a spoon if they woke the boy up).
They also found a certain tanned dancer was not awake yet, which was extremely odd. Kai was usually up and ready to go first thing in the morning, thanks to owning dogs that have tiny bladders. But he was borderline unconscious, not moving an inch and breathing deeply.
Naturally, Kris held as much worry for Jongin as he did for Taemin, and he threatened that if anyone woke the dancer he would skin them with a cheese grater.
Kyungsoo walked over to his roommate and squatted next to the sleeping form, feeling Jongin's forehead with a cool hand. He clicked his tongue in displeasure. "Yeah, he's kinda warm..."
Jongin let out a content sigh and unintentionally leaned into Kyungsoo's touch. Kyungsoo pitied his dongsaeng and soothingly ran his fingers through Jongin's dark locks as his eyebrows knit with worry.
It was no secret that playing with Jongin's hair was his greatest weakness- he became putty in their hands every time they did it.
Suho wandered over from where he had been making breakfast, wiping his hands on a dishtowel. "Wait, so is he sick?" The second leader's eyes met Kris' from where he continued to sit on the couch with Taemin, who was blissfully unconscious.
Kris pouted his lips in thought. "No, I don't think he's actually caught anything. I think it's more of just him stressing too much over this one here-" he nodded at Taemin's lax figure. "-and not getting enough rest. Just let him sleep it off; once he eats something, I'll bet he starts feeling better."
Xiumin hummed from the dinning room. "Yeah, and the doctor said Taebaby isn't even contagious. So at least we're in the clear as far as anyone catching anything from him."
Chen walked over to Jongin, worry written all over his face. "Yeah..." Chen took Kyungsoo's place and began playing with Jongin's hair, while making himself comfortable. He placed a pillow in his lap and carefully shifted Jongin's head onto it. "So we'll just let them sleep? I mean... They can't stay in the living room all day, you know?"
Chanyeol nodded and sat next to the sleeping SHINee maknae. "Yeah, I mean, come on. Jongin is on the floor, and he already has an injured back. Taemin has got his neck all kinked up and he's practically sitting when he should be laying down." Chanyeol looked at their "twins" skeptically, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "Actually... They look... Kinda.. Comfy right now.. No, but that's not the point! We need to move them or someone is going to wake one, or both of them, up."
Lay walked into the living room with a plate of steaming food, going straight to the DVD player to put on a Disney movie. "And even if we don't wake them up, God know's they're going to wake up later feeling like crap because of their awkward positions- they're going to be completely sore."
"Fine," Kris spoke up softly, covering one of Taemin's ears to the best of his ability to hopefully block some of the noise. "We'll let them sleep through the movie- if they're not up by the middle of it, we'll move them to the bedroom, okay?"
Everyone nodded and hummed their agreement.
Sure enough, by the middle of the movie, Taemin and Jongin were as unconscious as they were in the beginning.
Tao shook his head, his dark brown eyes stormy with worry. "I'm legitimately worried you guys- neither one of them has moved an inch. Is their breathing okay? Are their fevers too high?" He stumbled over his words, feeling mild panic for his friends.
"It's okay," Sehun was quick to reassure his fellow maknae. "I'm sure they're just exhausted. But I do think we should move them now, dont'cha think?" He looked at the older members with his eyebrows raised.
Suho played with Jongin's hair and made eye-contact with Kris, who was slowly massaging Taemin's back. They didn't need to say anything.
"Chennie~" Suho looked to Chen expectantly, who had Jongin basically in his lap at this point. Chen raised his eyebrows. "Would you be so kind as to help little Jonginnie to the bedroom?"
Chen narrowed his eyes a fraction. "Why do I have to be the one to get up?" He whined and pouted his lips like a stubborn toddler. "I just got comfy and my fuzzy blanket is so soft-"
"-And it'll be even softer once Jongin gets to a bed and your legs get some circulation."
Chen sighed. "Fine." He looked to Sehun hopefully. "Will you help me out?"
Sehun snuggled into Luhan's side comfortably and smirked. He made a mock-impression of Chen. "Why do I have to be the one to get up?"
Before Chen could say anything back, Luhan had lightly flicked Sehun's forehead and stood up from his spot on the couch next to Kris. "I'll help you out, Jongdae."
Chen grinned at his hyung.
While all this was happening, Kris had slowly but surely been waking Taemin up with his careful ministrations. He didn't want to jerk the maknae awake and scare him- so while the group had casually been arguing, he had moved his massaging all the way up to the base of Taemin's neck.
If playing with Jongin's hair was his weakness, massages and back-rubs were Taemin's. Taemin's neck was especially sensitive, so it was no surprise to the EXO-M leader when Taemin let out a small mewl and buried his face in the crook of Kris's neck.
"Taetae~... Hey kiddo, come on..." Kris spoke softly so Taemin would be the only one to hear him. He gently nudged Taemin's face away from his neck by bouncing his shoulder a few times, successfully getting the sick boy to look at him. Taemin's eyes were glassy and his face looked flushed again.
Kris hoped to high heaven that Taemin's fever wasn't going to spike again.
"Come on, little one." Kris softly pushed Taemin away from him, concern prickling his thoughts when he noticed Taemin's subtle shivers. "You and Jongin get to share the big king-sized bed~"
Taemin gave a small smile. Before anything else could be said, he asked a question. "Ok.. But- can I take a quick shower first? I feel all gross..."
Kris couldn't say no. "Yeah, that's ok.. I'd rather you take a bath, though; you're still pretty weak, Tae. I don't want you passing out in the shower or falling or something."
Taemin shook his head. "No, hyung. I won't be any longer than five minutes- I just need to wash off real fast and get out. I'm sleepy, I want to go to bed."
Kris sighed. "Okay. Let's get you to the bathroom, and while your showering I'll help get the other germ to bed."
Taemin's squinted his red, sleepy eyes at Kris. "Wait- germ? Who-.. Is Jongin sick?"
Kris nodded his head and pulled Taemin to his feet. They walked to the bathroom, which was connected to the room Taemin and Jongin would be sleeping in. "Yeah. He's not super sick, but he's definitely got something going on with him. He's got a little bit of a fever, but not real bad. He honestly just needs some sleep and some good food- he's overworking himself again."
Kris pulled some towels out from the tiny bathroom closet and handed them to Taemin. "Alrighty- we're right in the living room, okay? Just yell if you need anything."
Kris smiled and as he walked away, Taemin heard him mumble a quiet, worried- "Now, I have to go and help our other little one..."
As Taemin washed his hair and scrubbed away the grime on his skin, he couldn't help but think that Kris and Onew were actually pretty similar. Kris might be fierce where Onew is gentle, but they were both caring and loving. And it made Taemin happy.
"Jongin. Please wake up? Come on, you even get the big fluffy king-sized bed."
Jongin had never been one of the members to "rise and shine", and waking up from his nap was no exception.
When Jongin went to speak, he was surprised to hear the small croak in his voice. He sleepily swatted the air where the annoyingly persistent voice was coming from. "Noo, go away..."
When Kris walked into the room once more, he wasn't sure if he should laugh or coo. Jongin looked somewhere between irritated and pitiful- he was pitifully irritated, Kris decided.
Kris smiled. "Come on Jonginnie, don't be like that. Get up for all of two seconds and then you can sleep all day if you want."
Jongin pouted his bottom lip out and held one of his hands up in the air, asking for someone to pull him to his feet. Chanyeol carefully helped his friend to stand, but Jongin got a head-rush as soon as he stood on his own. He quickly grabbed Chanyeol's shoulder to hopefully steady himself, hoping no one had noticed his slight swaying.
Kyungsoo was the first one to see, and in his usual understanding way, he got that Jongin didn't want anyone to fret over him. So the short male carefully took Jongin by the arm and casually said, "I'll take him to the bedroom, be right back."
When they made it the the dark bedroom, the adjoining bathroom light was on and the shower was running. Jongin flopped onto his back on the bed and draped an arm over his eyes. Kyungsoo made the wise decision to not lecture his dongsaeng- Jongin already felt like crap. So he instead made sure the black-out curtains were fully drawn to block any ounce of light, and softly shut the door behind him as the shower shut off.
Taemin walked out of the bathroom with a pair of navy sweatpants and a loose t-shirt hanging on his thin frame. He had a towel around his neck as he dried his hair, looking to where he saw his one and only best friend resting on the large bed.
Quickly walking over to the bed, Taemin jumped directly onto Jongin's stomach, grinning when he heard the satisfying "UMPH".
Jongin went to roll over in his pain, but Taemin straddled his friends waist and glared at him. "Tae..? What- why?"
"That's for scaring me!"
Jongin returned to his position on his back, resting his hands on Taemin's knees. "What?"
"How on earth did you even manage to get sick?! I'm not even contagious!" At some point Taemin's hand had found its way to Jongin's slightly heated forehead.
"That's what your freaking out about? Taeminnie~ I'm okay. I'm just sleepy~"
Jongin knew what his best friend was thinking- he didn't even have to ask him. Taemin felt like it was his fault Jongin was sick.
Jongin always worried about him so much and it scared Taemin sometimes because Jongin would forget to take care of himself.
Taemin leveled Jongin with a poker face. "You're stupid."
"You're dumb."
"You're dumber."
Taemin grinned at his friend and snapped his fingers in a Z.
Jongin grinned right back and shoved Taemin off of his stomach and onto the cushy mattress. "Man, Tae. That was sassy~" he said sarcastically.
Taemin hit Jongin in the face with a pillow and sprawled out on the bed, making sure to invade his friend's bubble-space. Jongin flipped himself so that his head was hanging over the side of the bed so that he could plant his feet firmly on his friend's side, where he gave a single hard kick that nearly pushed Taemin off the edge.
While the two boys wrestled, Baekhyun peaked in from the door. He smiled and quickly waved Chanyeol and Jongdae to closer, where they stood in a small huddle watching the scene in fond amusement.
After a short while, Baekhyun decided to break the moment. "Hiya kiddies!" He shouted and belly-flopped on the bed, successfully landing on both Taemin and Jongin.
Jongin groaned and wrapped his arms around his middle while rolling onto his side to face his band-mate. "Aren't you supposed to, like, be careful with the sick guys?"
Baekhyun gently ruffled Jongin's mussed hair. "Taemin is sick; you're just a stupid dongsaeng who worries too much."
Taemin looked at his best friend accusingly, crossing his arms over his chest. "I couldn't have said it better myself."
Jongin rolled his eyes and pushed his hyung's hand away from his head. "What did you want, anyway? You didn't come in here to just jump on us, right?"
Jongdae and Chanyeol walked in and sat on the bed as well. "Yeah... We've got some bad news.."
Jongin sat up and looked at his hyungs. "What bad news?"
Jongdae put a hand on Taemin's forehead. "First of all- Taebaby, how are you feeling, bud?"
Taemin looked unsure, but shrugged his shoulders. "I'm okay for now, I guess."
Chanyeol then put a hand on Jongin's forehead. "What about you?"
"I'm fine."
Baekhyun gave an uneasy smile. "Well I'm glad to hear you say that- because we have to go to the SM building to practice."
"What? But we're supposed to be off!"
"I know, but the manager needs to talk to Kris an Suho about future plans or something, and he said we need to practice at least a little bit over our break."
"Oh yeah, because a two week break is going to make us forget the hours and hours of practice we've already put in.." Jongin fumed.
Chanyeol sighed. "I know, it's dumb. But we have to go- we're leaving in like, thirty minutes."
Taemin looked at the clock. It read 10:30AM. "Wait, so what am I going to do?"
Baekhyun draped an arm over Taemin's shoulders and smiled. "Well you can't stay here by yourself, so it looks like you're tagging along with us kiddo!"
Jongin had protested at first, but the only alternative was Taemin staying by himself, and that was out of the question for the group of protective males. So while they got ready, everyone made sure Taemin was bundled nicely in a long-sleeve black shirt, a navy blue sweater, a black coat, and a beanie to go with his black sweat pants.
They also made sure Jongin wore the warmest clothes he would allow; he was more of an "I-can-take-care-of-myself-not-really-but-dont-try-to-help" person, so they could only force their dancer to do so much.
As soon as they opened their door to leave, a loud boom of thunder rolled over the black sky, while the rain came down in torrents. Lightning continued to flash through the clouds, and if Taemin hadn't seen the time himself, he would have thought it was night-time.
He looked at Jongin with an awkward smile. "This is gonna be fun."
BOO!
Happy Halloween sweetiepies
ALRIGHT BABIES. KIND OF OFF TOPIC AND OLD NEWS- BUT FIRST AND FOREMOST...
WHERE MY A.R.M.Y.'S AT??
BECAUSE I AM INCREDIBLY BTS BIASED, AND TAEHYUNG IS MY ULTIMATE BIAS AND I LOVE ALL SEVEN MEMBERS WITH ALL MY HEART AND SOUL AND THEIR STUPID PROLOG HAD/HAS ME COMPLETELY WRECKED. ;___; LIKE THEY SERIOUSLY DID SO GOOD AND I'M SO SO SO SO PROUD OF THEM.<3
I'm sorry for the late update! School started on August 13th and it's been every kind of crazy. D:
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