[Prompt: Hyukjae has a fever but he hides it from Donghae because he doesn't want him to panic.]

 

Hyukjae sighed. He wasn’t feeling well. His body felt weak and he had a slight headache since he woke up that morning. Normally he would complain to Donghae, but this time he was pretty sure he had a fever, and Donghae would make a big deal out of it. Besides, Hae had a reunion with his high school friends planned for weeks. If Donghae found out that he was feeling a little under the weather, the first thing he would do would be to take the thermometer. Then, he would cancel everything to stay with him. Hyukjae didn't want to ruin his plans. 

It was lunchtime and he didn't have much of an appetite, which was strange indeed. He looked at Donghae, who was eating quietly in front of him, and decided to break the silence so as not to make him suspicious. 

"What time are you coming back today?"

"Mm, I shouldn't be back too late. I'll be here for dinner," he assured him with a smile. Hyukjae smiled back at him. "Are you going to stay here all afternoon?"

Yes. He needed to. At those moments all he wanted was to curl up in his bed and stay there forever. But he needed to keep his cover.

"Maybe I'll go to the grocery store."

"Oh, can you buy soap and toothpaste?"

. Hyukjae wasn't really planning to go to the supermarket.

"Sure."

"You’re not hungry?" noticed Donghae.

"Oh, it's just that I ate some chocolate bars earlier," he lied.

“Some?” Donghae shook his head in disapproval. "That's why you're so sweet, you eat too much sugar."

"You're not sweet, then?"

Donghae laughed. “I’m naturally sweet.”

“Because you eat fruit?”

“Yeah.” Donghae laughed adorably.

Once they finished, they both removed their plates from the table. Hyukjae felt a little cold, his body was tired and he just hoped Donghae would leave soon so he could take a nap and recover before he noticed. Donghae laughed.

"Why are you walking so slow?"

Hyukjae laughed softly. "You walk too fast." Donghae quickly washed the dishes while Hyukjae dried them. A couple of times, Donghae threw small drops of water at his boyfriend, who had no other choice but to laugh. "Stop that," he said softly, as if he didn’t mean it. Which he did. His body felt so uncomfortable.

After finishing, Donghae washed his hands and grabbed his keys and wallet. "See you later." 

"Have fun," Hyukjae said. Donghae kissed his lips and left the apartment.

Hyukjae went straight to his room. He took out the thermometer that was in one of his closet drawers and placed it under his arm as he sat on the bed. He closed his eyes. A slight shiver ran through his body. The thermometer beeped and Hyukjae took it out: 38°C. He supposed it wasn't that bad, but he'd been pretending to be in a good mood the entire day so he really needed a nap. 

He wrinkled his nose as he remembered they had fever medicine in the bathroom, he didn't want to get up. He grabbed the blanket they had for watching movies and walked slowly to the bathroom wrapped in it. He took his pill and the whole glass of water, his mouth felt dry.

Just as he managed to settle into bed and close his eyes to take a nap, he heard the door open. , Donghae must have forgotten something. He quickly uncovered himself and sat on the bed, leaning against the backrest, trying to look relaxed. He picked up his phone and started looking at it, like he always did after lunch. He heard footsteps approaching and finally Donghae appeared through the door frame, smiling. 

"I forgot my phone," he laughed, but then frowned at the lack of response. "Aren't you going to tease me?" he asked and Hyukjae found it adorable. Before he got to respond, Donghae spoke. "Wait, why are you so disheveled?"

"Uhm... I don't know," Hyukjae laughed softly.

Donghae walked over to comb Hyukjae's hair with a smile on his face. He tilted his head to the side as he felt his cheeks warm. "Oh? Are you hot? Why don't you take off that sweater..." Unconsciously, he began to look around him. The blankets were in disarray, there was a glass of water on the bedside table and...

Donghae gasped.

"Why is the thermometer out? You have a fever? Why didn't you tell me, are you feeling well?" he his face gently, pushing the hair away from his forehead.

"It’s just a slight fever, don't worry."

Donghae frowned. 

"Don't worry? You didn't even eat at lunch... it must have been those chocolate bars."

Hyukjae snorted. "I didn't eat them, baby. I just didn't want you to get suspicious."

"That's worse!" Donghae said with a pout on his face. "When did you start feeling bad? At lunch?"

"Uhm, yeah," he tried.

"It was before that!?"

Hyukjae closed his eyes. "Hae… you're going to be late. I just need a nap and I’ll feel better, okay?"

Now Donghae felt bad. He was bombarding Hyukjae with questions when he was visibly exhausted. "I'm sorry," he said softly. He moved away from the bed and Hyukjae watched him. He watched as he left his keys on a countertop and pulled a thin sweater out of the closet. Then he approached his boyfriend. "Come on, take that off."

"But I'm cold..." Hyukjae was starting to get irritated. He had been wanting to sleep for hours now.

Donghae shook his head. "The fever won’t go down if you stay warm like this."

Hyukjae gave up and stretched his arms. He let Donghae pull out his sweater and quickly put on another thinner sweater. He laid down and closed his eyes, he let Donghae cover him with the blanket they used to watch movies. He felt a kiss on his cheek and thought Donghae would leave for his meeting with friends, but a minute later he felt him climb into bed with him. Donghae sat up and Hyukjae opened his eyes to see him covering his legs with the same blanket.

"What are you doing... you have to go to your thing," he muttered.

"I texted them, we'll meet tomorrow." Donghae his hair. Hyukjae got closer to his leg and leaned against it. "Sleep."

Hyukjae didn't need to be told twice. In less than a minute he was breathing peacefully  and Donghae covered him a little more with the blanket.

An hour later, Hyukjae woke up feeling much better. He still felt a little weak, he would gladly keep sleeping. He snuggled against Donghae and realized that he was now leaning against his chest. He smiled as he felt him his hair.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better. Hm... I wanna keep sleeping."

"You have to eat first."

"Ugh..." he hugged his boyfriend, who pulled him even closer to his body. "Five minutes."

Donghae caressed his shoulders and arms tenderly. 

"Do you know what could have made you feel ill?"

"Well... This week I hung out with Yesung hyung and Shindong hyung. Maybe one of them was starting to get sick?"

"Maybe." He sighed, making his boyfriend laugh.

“Why are you sighing?”

“I was worried about you.”

"You worry too much, I don't feel that bad. Just tired."

“Still… why didn’t you tell me?”

“I knew you were gonna get scared and cancel that meeting with your ex-classmates. I wanted you to go and have fun.”

Donghae kissed his temple. “But I’m glad I came back and that I stayed. Because you wouldn’t have eaten anything, you would have kept sleeping and dehydrating…”

“Hey, give me some credit… I took a pill.”

“I know you can take care of a fever, you always take care of me in general, but when it comes to yourself… you just seem to forget all about it and try to ignore it. That’s why I worry.” Hyukjae just got even closer to him as a response.  Donghae rubbed his chin on his hair. “I’ll bring you something to eat.”

Hyukjae saw Donghae appear with a wooden tray in their room a few minutes later.

“Okay, open wide,” Donghae said with an irresistible smile after he arranged everything on their bed, offering him a spoonful of oatmeal. 

Hyukjae let out a laugh, but he did it nonetheless. He closed his eyes at the feeling of the comforting dish in his mouth. “So good.”

Donghae watched happily as Hyukjae slowly went back to his cheerful self after each bite.