Taemin awoke an hour later with a start and a gasp, causing poor Chanyeol to jump hard enough to slam his long legs into the coffee table. Some of the members swiveled their heads at the sudden noise, but most just shushed Chanyeol in mild annoyance and kept watching the movie with small smiles. 

Chanyeol looked down at Taemin who was watching him with wide eyes. "Are you okay?"

Chanyeol nodded, frantically rubbing his stinging knees, and whispered back, "Yeah. Are you okay?"

Taemin heaved a deep breath and set a hand on his chest, where Chanyeol could guess his heart was pounding. "Yeah, I'm good. I don't even know what woke me up."

Chanyeol patted the younger mans chest and stretched his arms up, still trying to be quiet to avoid the wrath of their movie-enraptured friends. "I heard that sometimes people wake up for no reason because they fell asleep too fast and it freaked their brain out."

Taemin furrowed his eyebrows in disbelief. "... So.. I fell asleep too fast, and... My brain woke me up to make sure I'm still alive...?"

Chanyeol shrugged his shoulders. "Something like that. I don't know- I read it on some medical website. It ended in .org so I'm, like, 85% sure it was legit..."

Taemin pouted his bottom lip out and narrowed his eyes, giving his friend a long "I-can't-tell-if-you're-joking-or-if-you're-being-serious" look, before chuckling and shifting onto his side to watch the movie. Still feeling incredibly lousy, he wished he had been able to stay unconscious.

Quickly turning his face into the throw pillow he'd been resting on, Taemin narrowly avoided coughing right into Chanyeol's face. The cough ripped through the dried, raw flesh of his throat, sounding more congested than before and turning several heads in their direction.

One of those heads happened to be Jongin, and Taemin frowned when he saw his friends naturally dark skin had paled in color. Before he could ask if his friend was okay, Luhan hopped up from his seat, briefly saying that he was going to get Taemin some water.

"Hyung, put the kettle on and make some tea instead." Kyungsoo called from his spot on the floor by Taemin's head. He had noticed Taemin shivering, and he figured that ice water wouldn't help. Quickly and quietly standing up, he went into his and Jongin's room (or, temporarily, Taemin and Jongin's room) and grabbed the fluffiest, warmest looking blanket he could find. Walking back into the living room, he deposited the blanket onto Taemin's limp form and watched the boy curl up into it with a contented sigh.

Kyungsoo hid a small smile and plopped back down in his spot. Feeling eyes burn into the back of his head, he turned his head to see the beagle line grinning at him from their spots on the couch with Taemin. "What?" He asked, defensive.

"You're so sweet, 'Soo~"

"You like to pretend you're Mr.Satansoo, but you're just a tiny package of love!"

Taemin's muffled giggle erupting from under the blanket had Kyungsoo's sarcastic retort dying in his throat. He sighed and turned back to the movie, pointedly ignoring the laughter bubbling from the boys behind him.

The darkness in the room was only interrupted by the movie playing on the TV screen and the light pouring in over the island as Luhan waited for the water to boil in the kitchen. Taemin was content to stay as he was, but his stuffy nose was becoming a problem again, refusing to allow him rest. So instead of sleeping, Taemin allowed his eyes to trail back over to his best friend, deciding to keep a watchful eye on him.

Taemin loved Jongin to death- he'd told him this a thousand times ("No homo, dude")- but Taemin was the first to admit that Jongin was an idiot. He pitied the poor girl who would eventually become his wife; she was going to have her hands full with a stubborn mule. Jongin more often than not ignored his own basic needs, for no particular reason. Taemin constantly told Jongin that he was a "lazy buttface" when he got too upset about his friend's self-preservation instincts (or lack thereof). 

"Jongin," Taemin whispered. "Hey!"

Jongin turned his head to his friend, eyebrows raised to show he was listening.

"C'mere," Taemin patted the empty spot next to him, right beside Baekhyun.

Jongin gave his friend a confused look, but didn't protest and quietly moved to sit beside Taemin. Taemin quickly re-arranged his limbs so that his head was still in Chanyeol's lap, but his legs were now resting on Jongin's lap. He'd moved the blanket from around himself so that it now rested comfortably over his own lower half, while also draping it over Jongin's hips and legs. He watched with concerned eyes as Jongin sunk into the warmth when he thought no one was watching.

Baekhyun had apparently seen the subtle move as well, as he quickly moved to put a hand on Jongin's forehead with a 'tsk'. Jongin pushed the offending hand off immediately, but not before Baekhyun had felt the unnatural heat. Baekhyun gave Jongin a heated glare, before calling to the kitchen.

"Hey hyung, you better make that two cups of tea. Our youngest dancer seems to have gotten himself sick." He said with another glare at his dongsaeng.

"Are you serious?" Chen all but crawled over Baekhyun's body to get to Jongin, who had sunk down in his seat with a hand covering his face to block out the scowls his band-mates were sending him.

"Jongin!" Chen cried. "I thought you said you were going to take care of yourself!"

Jongin pouted and tried not to look defensive. "I am!"

Kris scoffed. "Clearly." He sighed. "Hey Lulu, will you bring that thermometer in here when you're done?"

Luhan walked into the room with two steaming cups of tea. "Yeah, I'll get it in a second," he said as he sat the cups on the coffee table in front of their sick boys. He gave his leader a warning look. "And don't call me that."

Kris did a facial-shrug and put his hands up in surrender. "Ok, ok. Fair enough~"

Taemin noticed that Jongin seemed happy with the attention off of him for a couple minutes. Jongin noticed Taemin watching him and sent his friend a look of despair, and Taemin wanted to be mad. He wanted to be mad at his friend for neglecting and worrying himself to the point that he'd gotten sick, but he couldn't do it. Jongin was going to be getting a lot of crap about it from the hyungs (and Sehun) until he healed up, and Taemin figured he shouldn't give his friend any more grief than necessary. So he gave his friend a grin and mouthed 'we're in this together', seeing a smile light up his friend's face.

Jongin put his fist out for Taemin to bump. "Taekai for life~" he whispered, and couldn't help the genuine laugh that bubbled up his throat when Taemin actually returned the bro-fist.

Kris walked over, looking down at the thermometer in his hands and pressing the power button. Telling Jongin to sit still, he carefully moved the device back and forth over his dongsaeng's forehead before moving it down under Jongin's chin to get an accurate reading. Looking at the number that bleeped up at him, Kris gave Jongin a long, worried look before moving over to Taemin and giving him the same treatment.

"Yeah..." He said slowly, looking down at the two curious faces watching him from under their blanket. "Taemin- your fever is still at 103.3°, and Jongin yours is at 101.9°."

Kyungsoo leveled them both with a no-nonsense glare. "Drink your tea, you brats."

Luhan came back from the kitchen after disappearing a third time, this time carrying fever reducers. "Taemin, we can't give you anymore medicine for a few more hours, but Jonginnn-" he stretched out the name as he struggled to pull the tiny pill packages out of the box- "these are for you~" he said with a grin and handed the medicine to the tanned boy.

While Jongin took the medicine obediently, Chanyeol placed a hand on Taemin's over-heated forehead, pushing his sweaty bangs back. "How do you feel?"

Taemin didn't want to lie, but he didn't want to tell his hyung that he couldn't stand without getting unbearably dizzy. So Taemin bit his lip and averted his eyes, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders. Chanyeol eyed Taemin and gave him a look that clearly said he wasn't getting out of this one.

"I'm o-"

"Taemin."

"What? I'm just telling you I'm-"

"Taemin."

Taemin sighed. Chanyeol was a towering, happy-go-lucky dork 99% of the time, and it was easy to forget that his lanky hyung was as protective as anyone else in the band. Looking into Chanyeol's concerned, but unbudging, brown eyes Taemin relented and quietly told his hyung what he wanted to know.

"Uh, well, my head kinda hurts, and so does.. Everything, really, but I'm okay..." Taemin left the rest of his symptoms out on purpose, knowing that what he had said was enough fuel for Chanyeol at the moment.

Chanyeol narrowed his eyes slightly and let an exasperated breath out through his nose as he tilted his head to the side. "Taemin, I don't know if you know this, but it's okay to not be okay."

Taemin felt his face flush in embarrassment as he rolled away from Chanyeol, forcing out little self-conscious chuckles as he ducked his head to avoid the older man's penetrating eyes. "I know, but I'm okay..."

Chanyeol gave him a look that clearly said he didn't believe him, but he didn't question Taemin further, instead turning his attention back to the forgotten movie. Everyone began to follow his example, and soon everyone was engrossed in the movie again. When the end credits began to roll, Tao looked at the clock. 3:34.

He stretched his arms above his head, "What movie do you guys want to turn on next?"

Chanyeol and Baekhyun gave each other matching looks. Baekhyun spoke first, "I don't really mind what we watch next, but we should probably move these two into the bedroom..."

Everyone turned their heads to look at the "these two" that had been referenced, and they all but cooed at the sight. Taemin had his head on Chanyeol's lap, his face turned into the older boys abdomen. Jongin had pulled his legs up onto the couch and had fallen asleep with his head resting on Baekhyun's shoulder. Taemin and Jongin's legs were wound together and tangled up in their shared blanket, both of them struggling to soak in as much warmth as they could get into their shivering bodies.

Kris grinned. "Chan, if you've got Taemin, then I can get Jongin."

Chanyeol nodded without another word and put his arms around Taemin and picked the smaller boy up bridal-style. Taemin was completely out- he didn't even try to make it easier by putting his arms around his friends neck. He stayed limp and asleep as Chanyeol carried him into Jongin-and-Kyungsoo's-[but-temporarily-Taemin's]-bedroom and plopped the tiny boy onto Kyungsoo's comfy bed. Kris followed in soon after, with an arm wrapped securely around Jongin's shoulders as the dancer rubbed his sleepy eyes and leaned heavily into his leader's chest.

Kris quickly deposited his charge onto the other messy bed in the room. Jongin looked confused, as he usually was when he was exhausted, and tried to sit up amongst the pillows and blankets, not fully registering what was happening around him. Kris smiled at the younger fondly, before pushing his chest down and gently telling him to go to sleep.

Jongin silently smacked his lips and nodded his head as he complied to the soft command. He turned his face into his pillow, throwing his arms up under it and hugging it closer to his face and neck, and stayed still.

Chanyeol gave Kris a bewildered but comical look from the other bed, where he was trying to get Taemin situated under the blankets. "Can he even breath like that?"

Kris smiled and stood up from the bed. "I don't know... Sure. Definitely."

Chanyeol stood up from the other bed and walked with the leader out the door, laughing quietly. "If Jongin suffocates himself to death with his own pillow, it's on you hyung."

So you little buggers should know that your sweet, encouraging little comments actually made me tear up. Like. Seriously.

You guys are the best. I seriously appreciate and love you all so so much.

I read every single comment, so don't think I'm ignoring you guys! I just didn't want to write the same thing over and over again and tell every single one of you that you made me cry with how sweet you guys are, so I just decided to try to update ASAP. So here you go~! I actually put a  put a personal experience in here- the part with "its ok to not be ok" was an actual thing that happened to me when I was sad for no reason a couple years ago and I kept saying I was ok until a friend said that to me. :P

SO- I LOVE YOU. I LOVE YOU DEARLY. THANK YOU FOR READING MY TERRIBLE WRITING. Let me know what you think of the chapter! :D

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥