Sehun was irritated, not that it was an uncommon thing to happen but heck, it was always because of the same thing or, dare he say, because of the same person, meaning Byun Baekhyun. As per usual, the untitled princess of EXO was being babied by all of the members without exception, him excluded for obvious reasons, or rather because he would rather be caught dead than baby his hyung.

The hobbit had come down with a nasty cold and Sehun’s guess was that he had caught it from Luhan who had been sick previously that week. It was kind of unsettling seeing the usually bright bundle of energy so quiet; it was almost eerie. He had woken up the morning before with the sound of Baekhyun’s coughs and when he came downstairs, way early in the morning, unable to sleep, and entered the kitchen, he had found a disgruntled Baekhyun making some tea for himself, coughing into his hand. Sehun almost winced when he heard the hacking sounds that seem to come down from his hyung's chest. He must have made some noise because the older turned his tired eyes from the pot on the stove to him, before averting them again.

“I guess that even nobility like you can't escape the plebian disease known as a cold, oh great princess Byun.”

“A cold is not a plebian disease; if I caught rabies than you would be making sense but since I wouldn’t touch you even with a ten foot poll I wouldn’t know!” replied Baekhyun, his voice low and scratchy as if he had been swallowing broken glass shards.

“You are an !”

“And you’re a hypocrite. Are we done or you’re going to continue to state the obvious?” asked Baekhyun, breaking into a coughing fit and doubling over with the force of it.

“Is everything okay?” asked a new voice from the kitchen doorway.

“Everything is fine hyung.” rasped Baekhyun slightly out of breath earning a raised eyebrow from the newcomer. “I’ve prepared your coffee, it’s in the pot!”

He turned away from everyone, resting his head against the low cupboard in front of him, trying to alleviate the searing headache that was currently trying to drive him insane. A cool hand on his forehead made him look into Minseok’s eyes, who looked at him with worry.

“You’re burning up!”

“It’s nothing hyung.”

“Are you kidding me?” asked Minseok growing increasingly more worried, especially when Baekhyun slumped against him, drained, and making him holler for Kris.

The giant leader appeared moments later, completely disgruntled and muttering curses under his breath, stomping his giant feet as he stumbled through the kitchen.

“What?” he spat obviously annoyed at being called so early in the morning and weeping at the thought of his lonely bed.

“Baekhyunnie’s sick!”

Sehun watched with little interest as Kris’ mood took a completely one eighty turn, as the now alert leader walked to his dongsaeng and cradled his face, feeling his temperature with his large palm and hissing when he found it too hot for his liking. He frowned at the smaller man.

“Baekhyunnie, I told you to warn me if the cold got worse. I thought we were past the point of discussing this! You should know better!”

“It’s nothing Kris! I just need some medicine and I’ll be fine. It’s just a cold!” interrupted Baekhyun stubbornly.

“Luhan said the same and he was in bed for a day and a half before he felt good enough to start moving around again.” commented Minseok. “You should know that, you were his Florence Nightingale.”

Sehun’s ears perked at that; while he did know that Luhan had been sick, he hadn’t been aware that Baekhyun had been the other’s nurse throughout his sick days.

“You’re going to bed, no practice for you today!” commanded Kris.

“Of course…” muttered Sehun earning disapproving glances from his eldest hyungs.

“Over my dead body!” exclaimed Baekhyun, raising his head and glaring at Kris. “We have a lot of things to do today and hell if I am going to sit around with so much to do!”

“Baekhyun, I think it would be the best for you to rest today. Junmyeon will say the same to you when he wakes up!”

“With all due respect, I don’t really care what you or Junmyeon have to say about this. We are a group and there are a whole lot of things to do before our show on Wednesday and personally, I have choreography and a song that I need to work on and I refuse to let everyone down because I haven’t worked enough like I should.”

With a final cough and a nicely added sneeze Baekhyun left the kitchen, stumbling a little saying he was going to wake up Chanyeol and Jongdae, his roommates.

“Are you going to let him go to practice like this?” asked Minseok to Kris.

“He doesn’t listen! He’s horribly stubborn and he will do it despite whatever Junmyeon or I have to say. I’ll just have to make sure he makes it through the day without falling flat on his face.”

“It’s your entire fault!” interjected Sehun from his place on the kitchen table, munching on a piece of toast. “You let him do whatever the hell he wants and obviously he now doesn’t listen to anybody. And people say I’m crazy when I point these things out!”

“You shut up!” told him Minseok, flustered. “Seriously, he’s sick and that’s all you have to say? You talk about him a whole lot that he’s this or that, but sometimes you are way worse than he is!”

The older man left the kitchen, completely forgoing his cup of coffee in search of his sick dongsaeng.

“You are really out of the line sometimes, Sehun! Where was the necessity of this little scene right here?”

“I am just saying…”

“You are not just saying, don’t play innocent with me! I know very well what you’re trying to do and to exploit Baekhyun weaknesses when he’s sick is beyond mean! So get yourself together.”

Sehun grumbled at his hyung, not denying the accusation, in a way he was doing exactly what Kris said but he really couldn’t help it. He shrugged with one shoulder and kept on munching on the toast, ignoring Kris disappointed stare.

“I hope you don’t regret what you’re doing in the end!” he whispered.

Practice had today and if someone said otherwise Sehun would smack them in the face with a brick. They hadn’t got anything done, at least not properly, since they had to stop every other few minutes because Baekhyun would start coughing or hacking up a lung more precisely, and they’d have to stop and assure themselves that the little hobbit didn’t pass out.

“Are you okay?” asked Jongdae to the hobbit when the other started coughing brutally.

“He’s okay, he said that himself more than once, let’s just keep going.” grumbled Sehun.

“Of course he’s fine, Sehun, anyone can see that!” spat Jongdae clearly irritated.

“Let’s break it up guys, no need to mess this anymore than it is!” whispered Luhan to them, hoping that neither Junmyeon nor Kris would hear them, otherwise Sehun would be in trouble.

“Oh sh…”

Hearing Chanyeol almost curse, which was really rare for the giant, made them turn just in time to see Jongin grabbing the garbage bucket and shoving it on Baekhyun’s face who promptly emptied his stomach, retching all of the tiny amount of breakfast he'd ate in the morning, while Chanyeol held him up, hand brushing the smaller’s bangs aside.

Junmyeon immediately ran towards the smaller, along with everybody else. Baekhyun was very pale and looked tired.

“I told you that you should’ve stayed home!” chided him Junmyeon.

“I’m okay momma Myeon!” replied Baekhyun with a faint smile, eyes closing a little, and sagging weight against Chanyeol, who wrapped his arms around the older.

“That’s it, you’re going home!” stated Jongdae watching is friend deteriorating state.

They were interrupted by Baekhyun and Kyungsoo’s vocal coach who appeared in the practice room.

“Baekhyun-shi, it’s time for our vocal lesson.”

“Baekhyun is not in a good condition to sing today. He’s sick.” stated Junmyeon softly.

“That sounds like a really poor excuse for being lazy. He must work hard to improve and to achieve his full potential and him being sick is not enough of an excuse.” interjected the man strictly.

“But…”

“It’s okay guys, really. How can I be good enough if I don’t practice? I’ll be back later.” told them Baekhyun before raising himself from Chanyeol’s arms and wiping his mouth with his towel, before grabbing a bottle of water and taking a sip.

“I don’t think that this is smart Baekhyun hyung!” piped Tao from where he was sitting.

“Don’t worry about me Taozi! Just do your thing; hyung will come to you when he’s finished, okay?” rasped Baekhyun patting Tao’s cheek.

“Okay…”

They all stood still, right where they were, watching a coughing Baekhyun walk out the door, waving animatedly at them, before his coach pulled him forcefully by the neck into the direction of his training room. Despite what Baekhyun might have said, Sehun didn’t see his hyung until the very next day.

Kris and Junmyeon were worried out of their minds, it was nearing to one a.m. and Baekhyun hadn’t returned to the dorms yet. Everybody was already sleeping, tired after a long day filled with practices. They both had tried to call their dongsaeng more than once but while the phone rang, nobody answered it. It wasn’t until a phone call from Kyunhyun made them a little bit less worried. Their sunbae had just told them that he had seen Baekhyun in one of the practice rooms, dancing like a man on a mission, but was a little worried since the tiny male appeared to be a little off.

Both leaders had looked at each other and immediately warned their elder members, Minseok and Luhan, before running to the SM building to retrieve their friend. As Kyunhyun had said, they found Baekhyun in one the dancing rooms, sweat dripping from his burning forehead and looking very tired and too pale for their liking.

“What are you doing?” cried Junmyeon hurrying to the side of the smaller male who almost instantaneously collapsed into his arms.

Junmyeon felt the other’s forehead and hissed; apparently the fever wasn’t anywhere near gone, if anything, Baekhyun’s temperature seemed way hotter than it was supposed to be.

“I was practicing. I didn’t practice my dance this morning!” he rasped, voice nearly halfway gone.

“I warned you to stay in bed, didn’t I!” chided Kris, angrily stomping near his dongsaeng and helping Junmyeon support the other’s weight.

“I can’t! I’ve got to practice and get better. I have to prove to you I am worthy to be here!” babbled to other, not coherent enough.

Junmyeon and Kris looked to one another.

“Where did that came from? You’re as good as anyone in here.”

“I’m not. I didn’t train for as long as you did. I have to do better to be worthy of you guys and be at your level!”

“Who says so?” asked Junmyeon absolutely scandalized.

“My vocal coach, our manager, our dance coach…”

“That’s rubbish and you know that!” interjected Kris “You are an amazing singer and a very good dancer, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

But Baekhyun wasn’t listening anymore; he was halfway gone due to his fever.

“Let’s take him to the dorms. He needs to rest.”

“Have you eaten anything yet Baekhyunnie?”

“No…I threw all up.” mumbled Baekhyun into the crook of Junmyeon’s neck; apparently a sick Baekhyun was a docile, pliable and remarkably honest one, it was amazing how things you wouldn’t usually caught him saying just kept tumbling from his mouth.

“Ok then! Let’s just take you home!”

With a lot of careful handling, Junmyeon and Kris had successfully put Baekhyun on the latter’s back, both feeling really bad at the painful whimpers coming from the younger male.

“Hyung, my body hurts.” He complained in Kris’ ear, although the taller was sure the smaller wasn’t even realizing what he was saying.

“I know; you’ll be better once we get home.”

“’Kay…”he rasped before falling into a troubled slumber.

When they returned to the dorms, Luhan and Minseok were waiting up for them in the living room and, unbeknown to them, Sehun was hiding in the dark kitchen, wanting to know what had made his hyungs so worried. He peeked through the door, watching everything unfold.

“What happened?” asked Minseok, getting up as soon as he saw their leaders plus a very sick Baekhyun getting inside the dorms.

“Kyunhyun huyng called me; he said Baekhyun was practicing his dance routine.”

“How is he?” asked Luhan coming closer to Kris in order to see his dongsaeng, sweeping the others sweaty bangs from his forehead.

“He’s sicker. He said he threw up anything that he ate and he complained that his body is hurting. I am not really sure if he was completely aware of what he was saying, everything he says just seems a lot of gibberish.”

“Poor Baekhyun…”

“He’s only like this because he took care of me last week!” muttered Luhan “I told him he shouldn’t but you know how he is; now he’s sick.”

“It’s just a cold. He’ll be fine in a heartbeat; he just needs plenty of rest and a lot of TLC.” replied Junmyeon rubbing Baekhyun’s back, smiling softly when the other cooed in pleasure even in his fever induced state.

“I just don’t get it; why would he push himself this hard? He needs to draw limits, being sick is one of them.”

“Apparently people have been saying he needs to step up his game to make up for the fact that he wasn’t a trainee for long. But he’s pushing himself too hard, it’s not the first time that a sunbae calls me to tell me to watch out for him; he’s going to fall over from exhaustion one day.”

“He really needs to stop and take better care of himself.”

“Tomorrow we’ll take a day off; he needs to gain his strength back and we need to take care of him. This way he won’t object.”

“That’s settled then.”

“Help me to take him to my bedroom, he won’t be sleeping with Jongdae and Chanyeol tonight; I need to watch him overnight to see if he turns worse and I won’t want to risk it and get somebody else sick too.” quipped Kris in a hushed tone.

“Take him up to my room instead.” offered Minseok “It’s just me and Luhan in there. I’ll move to Baekhyun’s bed and Luhan will move to yours.”

“Thank you hyung.” replied a very grateful Kris.

“You’re welcome. Take good care of Baekhyunnie.”

Kris took Baekhyun upstairs and everybody followed, after roughly ten minutes, everything was silent again and Sehun was left feeling guilty. He never knew that his hyung worked that much; he had always assumed the other didn’t think he needed to practice but it would appear otherwise. Also, he had taunted Baekhyun relentlessly today and his hyung had been really sick. A queasy feeling settled himself in his stomach; he had been a real a-hole today and he hadn’t been fair, he admitted that, and knowing that he might have aggravated the situation only made him feel worse.

He got up from his hiding spot and made his way to his bedroom. Unfortunately, he found Luhan on his way.

“What are you doing up?” asked Luhan looking at him in concern. When Sehun failed to say anything, Luhan understood what it went down. “So you were spying. Never thought you’d do something like that!”

“It wasn’t like that Luhan hyung!”

“Wasn’t it though?” Luhan sighed deeply “Look, I get that you don’t like Baekhyun and nobody is saying that you have to but at least be a little more considerate; he is really sick and has you probably heard those little quips you and everybody make only worsen up the situation. Baekhyun may not say anything and he may appear tough as nails but those comments are really hurtful and clearly detrimental for his health since he doesn’t know when to stop and you all only fuel that. So please, I am begging you, stop with this stupid thing.”

With that final sentence, Luhan turned his back on him and entered the bathroom. Sehun made his way to his own bedroom, while pondering his hyung’s words. While he didn’t like Baekhyun, he admitted he went too far and that it had been kind of painful to see his lively hyung like that. He promised himself to make an effort and trying to be less mean, at least until Baekhyun got better.

A/N: Here it is! Another chapter of my story, my new baby! I am really thankful for all the comments and subscribers, I wasn't expecting that many; I only have two chapters!!! Please, if you like the story, comment, vote and subscribe! It's always nice to feel your story is loved.
I just finished writing the fifth chapter of this story (I AM AHEAD THIS TIME HA!) and I seriously can't wait to read your reactions to it because something very important happens (clue, clue, clue!). Let me know all of your thoughts on it!
Have a wonderful day! ^^
Love always <3