34: When it comes to Yixing, Sehun's a hypochondriac. Pairing!ing, Side!KrisSoo/KaiLu, College!Fluff

Yixing was studying to be a nurse, and as such he got to hear all about Sehun's imaginary illnesses, even the ones that Yixing had inadvertently caused himself. Yet Sehun never shared the why of his physical problems—just the what of them—so Yixing remained gloriously oblivious; but then, so did Sehun.

~~~

"Hyung," Sehun moaned with a forced wheeze, "Sometimes, like, I can't breathe and then everything gets kind of hazy, you know?"

"Well, yeah," Kyungsoo, who was a public health major but had taken some basic nursing classes too, agreed with Sehun's symptoms like they weren't strange. "Of course you'd have side effects when you aren't getting enough air to your brain."

"Explains a lot, actually." That came from Kris, Kyungsoo's boyfriend, who had no health background in the slightest but liked being a pretentious about everything all the same.

"Now now," Yixing interjected with his hands raised to keep Sehun and Kris from lunging at one another, "play nice, you two." His command was firm, but nicely delivered, and Sehun could feel his breath disappearing almost as a direct result.

"Hyung, hyung!" He gasped again, clutching at his throat and making Kris laugh at his dramatics. "It's happening!"

Kyungsoo and Yixing both snapped their attention to the maknae of their friend group, though their reactions to the situation differed greatly. The Do boy heard Sehun's repeated "Hyung!" and figured that if he could talk, he could also breathe, so he'd be fine. Yixing, on the other hand, grabbed a bottle of water from his bag and reached a soothing hand to pat rhythmically at Sehun's back until the younger began breathing evenly again.

"Better?" Yixing's concern was heartwarming and Sehun had the thought that his Chinese friend would make a wonderfully caring nurse someday soon.

Sehun nodded slowly and gulped gratefully at Yixing's water, ignoring an amused Kris when he pointed out that Yixing and Sehun had just shared an indirect kiss. The younger boy said no when Yixing asked if he maybe had asthma, and repeated the same answer when Kyungsoo suggested the problem was actually a panic attack.

"I don't think so," Sehun disagreed in response to both, then shocked all three of his friends by declaring knowledgeably instead, "It's probably lung cancer."

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and shook his head like he couldn't believe the words his friend had just said; Kris muttered a horrified "Sehun, what the hell?!" while shying away like the lung cancer Sehun didn't have was contagious or something; Yixing just laughed and called Sehun a pabo, but then told him quite seriously to get the problem checked out if it got any worse. Sehun made no mention of the fact that it only occurred when Yixing was around—his shortness of breath, that is—mostly because he didn't even realize that there was a connection between his dyspnea and Yixing's mere presence.

~~~

"Ow!" Sehun shouted out that he was in sudden pain, but his and Yixing's duet dance practice hadn't even started yet, so injury was practically impossible at that point. "Ow, ow! It hurts!"

"Are you alright, sunbae?" Kai asked in concern. He was sort of Sehun's fan, so to speak—a freshman who came to watch the dance club's practices because 1) he was a dance major, 2) so was Sehun, and 3) Kai thought Sehun moved like a god but Yixing wasn't too bad of a dancer either.

"My heart," Sehun whimpered as his hands clapped hurriedly to cover his chest, "I could be dying."

Yixing, who was fiddling with his phone over in the corner by the speakers, came rushing over in a panic and all of a sudden began barking rapid fire questions to Sehun about the side of the pain, the state of his opposite arm, whether or not there was tingling, etc.

"Hyung," Sehun replied in a calming voice that belied none of the regret he felt over being a nuisance, "I'm not having a heart attack, okay?"

Yixing looked unconvinced, but allowed Sehun to usher him away with the confirmation that Kai could hover while Yixing finished preparing the music.

"Are you sure you're alright, sunbae?" Kai wanted to know. He'd noticed that Sehun's pain seemed to increase once Yixing appeared, and that made the freshman wonder if the cause of Sehun's illness was something entirely different than what Sehun probably thought. "Shouldn't Yixing-sunbae cancel practice at least?"

"I'll be fine," Sehun said, seemingly more to himself than to Kai. He sent the freshman a knowing look and added in a quiet whisper, "And if looking at Yixing-hyung makes my heart constrict like that, then I just won't look."

He sounded pretty resolute, but Kai was worried for his precious sunbae's health, and prodded dubiously, "You think you can do that?" Kai paused and considered how best to say his next point without getting hit. "It seems to me like you might have a crush?"

"On Yixing-hyung?" Sehun's voice was loud and incredulous, but Kai thought he noticed a slight wobble in his sunbae's tone. The slightly older dancer stood up as Yixing returned from the speakers with music now blaring at a perfect tempo for warming up. He shook his head in vehement disagreement to Kai's suggestion that he liked Yixing and added, "It's probably just costochondritis, anyway."

Kai was still skeptical, and he probably looked it, but he stayed silent after that. He'd done a good job so far of staying in Sehun's good graces and not getting hit for presumptuousness, and since Kai wasn't particularly interested in ruining that streak at the moment, he stayed mute about the whole thing—not just for the duration of Sehun's practice, but in general, too.

~~~

"I'm not in love with him," Sehun told Luhan emphatically when the two went out for bubble tea a few days later. Luhan was Kai's sort-of boyfriend—sort-of because Luhan was also Kai's graduate student TA and that type of relationship was still frowned upon, even in college. He and Sehun had become friends easily, bonded over Kai and a mutual love for bubble tea that saw them hanging out quite regularly.

When Luhan shot Sehun a look that clearly said "I don't believe a word you're telling me right now," Sehun harrumphed and pouted childishly.

"I'm not!" He denied strongly, taking a long, avoidy drink of his milk tea before crossing his arms over his chest and defiantly refusing to meet his friend's gaze.

"Oh really?" Luhan sounded sarcastic as he said this, and Sehun would have spat tapioca at his Chinese friend if he didn't value the delectable bubbles so highly.

"Really," Sehun replied with equal sarcasm. "I'm probably just sick or something."

"You're a legit hypochondriac, you know that?" Luhan told his friend with an arrived laugh. "You don't have lung cancer, and you don't have a chest problem. Kai is right; what you have is a crush."

Sehun was beginning to look a little panicked, but he'd just finished his drink so Luhan wasn't entirely sure if the anxiety stemmed from their conversation or the untimely end of Sehun's favorite beverage.

"I. Don't. Have. A. Crush." Sehun bit out each word like even just having this conversation was a painful experience for him, yet Luhan didn't take the hint and continued pressing the conversation forward even though Sehun clearly wanted the subject to be closed.

"Yes. You. Do." Luhan's words were as parceled and terse as Sehun's had been. He glanced quickly at his watch and realized he and Sehun didn't really have time for this conversation just then, at least not if Sehun continued being stubborn about all of it. "Look," Luhan tried a different approach, "I've got class in 20 minutes and I know you and Kai are supposed to meet so you can help him study for his Ballet Theory class, so I'm going to say one last thing and then I'm going to leave you alone about all this, okay?"

Sehun heaved a sigh of obvious relief and nodded; he could put up with a little more of Luhan's overbearing interest since he knew there was a definite end in sight, and that it was only 20 minutes away, if that. "Fine," he allowed, feeling quite grown up in his magnanimity, even though he was only barely a sophomore and Luhan was still three years older.

"Why?" Luhan wondered. "Why can't you breathe when Yixing's around? Why does your heart hurt, or whatever it does, when he catches your eye? Why does thinking about him make you assume your body must be ill somewhere?" He finished speaking, crumpled up his trash, and tossed it away after rising from the table and wrapping himself tightly in his comfortable fall sweater.

Luhan was about to add that Sehun should spend some time thinking about these questions, and that Luhan didn't expect any answers immediately, when Sehun suddenly spoke.

"My chest gets warm and my stomach fluttery, and that's not normal, right?" Sehun posed this like a question but his voice was soft and sort of subdued, so Luhan got the idea that Sehun was mostly just speaking to himself. "Those are definitely symptoms of some illness, Luhan-hyung," Sehun confirmed strongly, once he'd apparently done a good enough job of convincing himself. He tossed his trash into the garbage too and followed his Chinese hyung out the door, annoying Luhan to no end by muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Eh, it's probably measles" as he did so.

~~~

"You're definitely sick alright." That was a now constant comment from Kyungsoo, often followed by Kris' gleeful "Yeah, love sick!" It took this sort of prodding—and no small amount of time—for Sehun to realize that maybe his friends were right. They were no Yixing, and as such it was entirely possible for them to be completely incorrect in their informal diagnosis of his symptoms. Yet once Sehun started wondering if maybe he had a crush on his older friend, he started paying a little more attention to his body's reactions where Yixing was concerned, realizing almost instantly that he was, indeed, afflicted.

"I know I am," he groaned out helplessly.

Kyungsoo and Kris were much more used to Sehun's denials than anything else, so neither was quite prepared for the situation in which they now found themselves.

"Are you admitting to your crush?" Kyungsoo asked, trying to sound nonchalant even had he repeatedly slapped his boyfriend's knee under the table from excitement.

Kris, though, was much less subtle and let out an aggravated cry of "Ow! Babe!" This reaction temporarily pulled a wallowing Sehun out of his misery because the maknae of their group found the whole interaction between his friends particularly hilarious.

"Sorry," Kyungsoo offered in a rush, not sounding at all apologetic. "But Kris-ah! I'm not sure you understand—Sehun just admitted to liking Yixing-hyung. This is great news!"

"Well," Kris muttered with a large pout that looked out of place over lined by his caterpillar eyebrows, "if I didn't before, I certainly do now!" He rubbed hard at the top of his thigh and complained that he might even bruise because Kyungsoo had a tendency to hit a little harder than he meant to.

Kyungsoo said sorry again, though he seemed much more sincere this time, and when Yixing arrived at the cafe to meet them all for lunch, the couple had progressed to making out.

"So uncomfortable," Sehun complained under his breath, emitting a yelp of surprise when Yixing's warm hand landed on his shoulder.

"Tell me about it," Yixing agreed with a whisper to Sehun's ear that made the younger student shiver and sent a pierce of pain straight to his abdomen.

Sehun didn't react to the pain with anything other than a slight grimace when Yixing was busy greeting the other two, so it was quite a shock to everyone at the table when he suddenly doubled over in severe pain less than five minutes later. Yixing's healer instincts kicked in and he nearly knocked his plate of bibimbap to the floor in his hurry to check if Sehun was alright. Kyungsoo, too, seemed worried, but Kris, as usual, thought Sehun was overreacting, and for once Sehun agreed.

"Oh, I'm fine," he gasped pathetically, arm still wrapped tightly around his abdomen. "It's probably just," he paused and sent a pointed look to Kyungsoo, "You know."

Kyungsoo nodded, because he did know, but Yixing still didn't understand.

"No," he denied firmly, "I don't know actually. And something could be terribly wrong, alright? You have to tell me what you think is wrong with you!"

The nursing students voice increased in volume and urgency as he spoke because Sehun's face contorted into another sign of silent pain and Yixing was beginning to get seriously scared.

"I like you," Sehun confessed shyly, his voice wobbly, though from nerves or pain, no one knew. "Seeing you literally takes my breath away; and talking to you makes my heart hurt; and when you're around I start feeling all warm and fluttery. So I'm fine, okay?"

Yixing looked startled, but not necessarily shocked by Sehun's diagnosis, and he said with a small smile that made his dimples emerge even as he still hovered worriedly, "I could tell you liked someone, sure. I just didn't think it'd be me."

It was Sehun's turn to look startled, though that was a hard appearance to pull off when he had to double over again from the pain.

"I've liked you since you first joined the dance club last year," Yixing admitted sounding nearly as shy in his confession as Sehun had been. "Why do you think I asked to do the duet with you for the showcase?"

"I thought it was because Suho-hyung can't really dance!" Sehun was practically yelling as his spoke because the pain near his waist was becoming nearly unbearable, and knowing why he hurt didn't help him feel any better. Yixing's head shake and quiet "It's because I wanted a chance to confess, silly," helped as a natural pain reliever somewhat, but was still less effective than a kiss might be—that's what Sehun cheekily told Yixing at least.

Kyungsoo and Kris, who were probably trying to give their two friends some privacy, left then with excuses about unfinished essays and class projects. As they walked out of the cafe, hand-in-hand, Kyungsoo asked to remain updated if Sehun really was sick, but Kris just called out "Be good, kids!" And ignored Sehun's possible sickness entirely.

Yixing had been slightly distracted by Sehun's confession, his own in return, and then the silent question between them of "What happens now?" yet Sehun's sudden gasp returned Yixing's attention to the problem at hand. Such a reminder couldn't have come at a better time, either, because in that moment Sehun's eyes rolled to the back of his head and he passed out, finally succumbing to the pain.

In a panic, Yixing scrambled through his pockets to find his phone and dial for an ambulance; though he was a nursing student, he was nowhere near equipped to handle this situation, even if he had an inkling of what Sehun's problem might be.

The EMT's were helpful and kind, arriving swiftly, operating with careful precision as they placed Sehun in their vehicle, and even allowing Yixing to travel with them once he admitted to being the patient's boyfriend.

"You are?" Yixing heard a thin voice pull him from his worry and he snapped his head up to meet Sehun's gaze; evidently, the younger had woken up, though they were still on their way to the hospital and the medicine he'd been given for his pain was probably making him lucid.

"Am what?" Yixing asked evenly, not wanting to scare Sehun by admitting how terrified Yixing had been back at the cafe.

"My boyfriend," Sehun clarified as he watched Yixing slide a little closer and caught the crooked smirk of the EMT sitting beside the gurney. "I heard you mention it, I think."

"I can be," Yixing offered shyly, his face flushed a deep red and his dimples glinting in the florescent lights of the ambulance. Sehun let out a sudden groan of pain and Yixing amended anxiously, "I mean, yes, of course! I'm your boyfriend. You'll be mine, right?"

Sehun whimpered, but nodded and tried to smile, though he just looked sort of pathetic for all the effort.

"You'll have to get better, though," Yixing challenged his new boyfriend cutely in an attempt to make Sehun forget about the pain long enough for the medicine to actually start working.

"I can do that," Sehun flirted back in agreement. He made the EMT snort incredulously when he added with a small, though tired, grin, "It's probably just love sickness."

"Actually," Yixing countered with an agreeing nod from the EMT as he placed a hand over his new boyfriend's and entwined their fingers tightly, "it's probably appendicitis."

~~~

Yixing was right, and Sehun ended up in the hospital for the rest of the week, hopped up on pain medication and generally bored out of his mind. Having a boyfriend to distract was pleasant enough though, particularly since making out with said boyfriend consumed much of Sehun's time. This was true even when his friends came to visit his hospital room because their well-wishes soon turned to gloating and Sehun had no problem kissing his boyfriend soundly to essentially kick them all out.

Though Yixing made some noises of protest whenever this happened, he seemed to have absolutely no problem with it either, especially since he always kissed Sehun back.