It was when Gray suffered from severe headache due to overworking and being stuffed up in the studio -new albums awaiting and concerts upcoming-, but remained silent about his worsened condition, plus shooing away his crew and colleagues including Simon. And you know how Simon was trying to be considerate and caring towards Gray but being roughly and rudely shooed away left a scar on his pride. Just by remembering the moment made Gray cringe in disgust of what he had done towards the older, what did he do wrong? He was just trying to take good care of him yet he shut him away. But Gray was not a big fan of pain, heck everyone was not, and now he was perplexed of how he could make it up to the older.

And now he was sitting in his studio GRAYGROUND, eating the leftover delivery food he had from his lunch while facing his computer. His alarm suddenly blared, making him jolt his body upwards in shock and throw a look at his clock at the upper corner of the table.

0530

Sighing, Gray brought his finger to massage his temples. The sudden blare made his blood pressure elevate rapidly and suddenly, thus resulted in headache. Again. He had been getting headaches at least five times tonight, due to staying up and sleep deprivation. A bottle of acetaminophen was on the couch behind his chair, nearly half of the bottle had been consumed since he got his first trigger of headache a few days ago. Considering his condition, he could not afford to drive to the nearest hospital or clinic, afraid of accidents for his lack of alertness. He could not contact any of his colleagues and crews, they were probably celebrating Thanksgiving with their families. The thought brought Gray to crack a small smile, he could not go back unless he had finished his project. He could not burden his family due to his sickness, so he would rather stay here and endure the pain himself.

He knew he needed rest, but the thing was that he made Simon misunderstood his current situation. Gray was not the one who loves to tell people his concerns and problems, so having a headache was a thing he thought would be settled down in the matter of a few days. While he was suffering, he was also working for Simon’s new single, but the headache slowed his progress and that made the artist curious about what was up to the producer. The rough and rude way he shooed Simon away while working on the latter’s new single made Simon misunderstood the gesture as something burdensome to Gray.

“Then stop working on my album! I can ask Chase to produce the thing!”
“Hyung just go!”
“The is with you Lee Sunghwa?!”
“Go away! Leave me alone!”

And the moment Simon stormed out of his studio, he was not in a situation to notice the tears dropping out from Gray’s eyes. The pain, the guilt all contributed to somewhat a ticking bomb in his head.

So he tried to make it up to Simon by just continue working on his single, maybe produce a beat or two as surprise? He earlier had messaged ChaCha to let him continue working on the project, and the latter just agreed as he too had to go back to Seattle and probably would have to postpone the release of Simon’s single, if he was to take the job earlier.

The sudden regurgitation made Gray stumble to get up and sloppily run to the bathroom to let the food he consumed just now out from his body. The headache just got worse, bringing nausea and vomiting together. Throwing up made his body ran out of energy, and eating back would just trigger his stomach to pour everything out again.

The cycle went around for a while. Gray coming out from the bathroom to collapse on the couch in his studio, only to run back again to the bathroom to vomit. Until when he was in the bathroom for the nth time that he heard a click on the lock of the company’s main door.

–

Simon could not help but to go back to his company, as he left his book behind. Spending Thanksgiving alone since his parents were on a vacation with his younger brother at China, he planned to spend his time reading books, including the one he left there. The book was a gift from Gray when they celebrated his birthday last year. Reminiscing the moment back brought a smile to his face, remembering how cute and childish Gray could be when they spent their time together. Speaking of the latter, ironically both of them had not been able to spend time together since the last few days. Gray had been acting weird, all fussy and grumpy especially when he came in his studio to pay a visit. All AOMG noticed Gray’s changes but no one could blame him, he was the one with the most workload to be done. Maybe he should give up on doing my project? Chase told him a while ago that Gray would finish up what he started. But why all the fuss if completing my project was just a burden to him?

After thanking his driver, Simon got out from the car and made his step towards the building’s main door. He entered the password, and a click sound was heard. To his surprise, the lamps are all switched on and air conditioners are functional. Who would be here on Thanksgiving? The question cued in Simon’s head as he strolled around every nook and cranny of the building, searching for signs of any creature staying here.

And that hit him. The purple hue from GRAYGROUND peeked through a slight opening from the door, signalling that the studio was being occupied just now. His feet automatically made their way into the dim studio, eyes roaming around to search for anything that could be a hint. His gaze dropped onto the bottle of acetaminophen, a bunch of emptied water bottles on the couch, energy bar wrappers, a ruffled blanket and Gray’s jacket loosely hanging from his chair. Simon furrowed his eyebrows. What the heck is this kid up to?

–

Gray breathed heavily, leaning onto the door while clutching onto his stomach. He had been trying to hold his vomit back, afraid of making a sound that could cue the person of his whereabouts. An encounter with Simon was the last thing he wanted, he just could not afford looking at the older’s eyes the same anymore. Simon might just hate him after what he had said to him. But on the other side he was grateful that someone had come, unofficially being his knight in shining armour. But how could he react if the person underneath the shining mask happened to be Simon?

–

After paddling around and cleaning the younger’s studio, Simon took a seat on Gray’s couch, and reached for the bottle of acetaminophen. So Sunghwa was sick this whole time? No wonder he became all moody like he was on his period. Simon chuckled. Knowing Gray, the latter would be freaking out and hide from him out of embarrasment and guilt. And that was probably his situation, best to explain his absence. Simon stood up as an idea cued in his head. Bathroom.

–

Gray just could not hold it back anymore. He stumbled onto the sink and started vomiting again, this time just liquid and air. He was drained out of energy, headache starting to take over his head. He wet his hands and brought them to his head, massaging them slowly. The continuous zaps and jolts in his head finally led a groan to escape his lips. He just could not stand it anymore. Gray made his way -wall as his guide- to open the bathroom door. And the final, strong zap in his head knocked him out, unconscious as he collapsed onto someone’s arms.

--

His eyelids fluttered open but he immediately brought his hands to cover his face; his headache made him overly sensitive to lights even when Simon set the light intensity to the lowest. Gray groaned in pain, his head felt like it had been pounding continuously like crazy. He curled his body into a ball, deeper into the blanket when he heard the door clicked. Footsteps approached and Gray peeked from the blanket’s edge to see who played the role of his knight.

Simon.

Simon sat at the edge of the bed where Gray was lying before cautiously putting his hand on presumably Gray’s stomach, since the latter had curled himself like a ball. Gray shuddered under the touch, but Simon calmed him down by his hair gently.

“Do you feel like throwing up some more?” Simon asked. Gray just shook his head, weak. The intensity of his headache had decreased a bit, and was very dry that he squeaked at Simon to ask for a glass of water. The older understood the gesture and he reached for a water bottle on the bedside table, before holding Gray to help him into a sitting position. The younger leaned into Simon’s hold, his surrounding felt like moving so rapid and fast he did not like it a bit. He closed his eyes firm and bit his lower lip, enduring the pain before leaning his back on the older’s torso. Simon wrapped his left arm around Gray’s waist while his right hand offered the water bottle to the younger.

“Take a sip or two. Your lips are too dry.”

Gray had to force himself to gulp the water and he leaned back to Simon’s backhug, head resting on the older’s collarbone with his eyes closed. Simon carefully set the bottle back to its original position before climbing onto the bed, gently moving Gray’s body on his way before he settled down. He put Gray slowly into a lying position, facing upwards while he laid down, left elbow supporting his head on his hand while his right hand the younger’s hair gently.

The younger was about to drift off again to sleep, but his nose sensed Simon’s cologne, the one he loved to put on when he wanted to go out casually and hang out especially with Gray. He realized that he had not apologize to the older yet. Guilt bit his heart and he forced himself to peek at Simon who was staring blankly at the window behind him, hand still his hair. The thing he loved a lot about his hyung was that his touch was the one that could make him feel comfortable, even just the slightest gesture. Did Simon figure out about his condition beforehand? How did he react when he fell into his arms? Did he feel like he was such a burden?

Questions lingered around Gray’s mind until Simon caught him staring.

“What? Does looking at me make you feel better?” Gray snapped from his absentminded stare before mentally facepalming himself. He just shook his head and shuffled closer to Simon’s chest, hiding his face. And he felt like he was on cloud nine when the older’s laughter vibrated through his chest where he leaned onto.

So he was not mad at me anymore? His cocky question and that hearty laugh said so. But Gray thought he still owed his hyung an apology for his rudeness and blatant response.

Gray was about to open to apology before another thunderclap occured in his head. He squeaked and immediately brought his hands to press his temples, sudden pain brought tears to his eye. Simon drew his body closer to the younger, hands rubbing his back to soothe him down while he positioned Gray’s head to lean onto his chest. He later took an ice pack he prepared earlier on the bedside table and pressed the pack onto the boy’s neck. 

A few minutes passed and Gray exhaled heavily, headache slowly faded away before he lifted his head off Simon’s chest to rub his face and eyes, only to realize he had been crying a bit during the onset. His sniffs alerted Simon as he drift his body further from the boy to look at his face.

Gray covered his face with his palms. “Don’t look.”

“It’s not like it’s your first time crying on me.”

“Hyung..”

Simon laughed. And that somehow brought a smile to Gray’s face as he removed his hands from his puffy eyes and cheeks. Simon took the chance to place kisses on the younger’s eyes, gently wiping away the remaining tears. “You’re strong enough, you did good.”

Simon’s words and actions made Gray’s heart sank even more. How could he assure me despite my cocky attitude towards him a few days ago? He threw his puppy eyes at Simon as the older stared back at him.

“Hyung."

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry."

“You know I won’t be able to resist when you stare at me like that.”

“Hyung.” Frustrated, he threw a weak punch at Simon’s chest before the older laughed again, this time pulling him into his embrace while ruffling his hair.

“Sorry for what?”

“You know..” He stopped before continuing, eyeing Simon’s reaction. “I was not in my best state to do work so I was a bit cocky -well I guess I am very cocky- but I don’t know, I cannot go back home and be a burden to my parents since my headache wouldn’t go away until now and it made me stressed and depressed and eventually made me act up rude and cocky and selfish especially to you since I was working on your single so I’m sorry hyung I don’t know I never intended to be rude to you and say harsh things to you but -”

“Hey, you’re rambling,” Simon chuckled before hugging the boy even tighter, his chin rested on his head while his hand rubbed Gray’s back to soothe him down.

“It’s okay, I understand.”

“You do?”

“Not really.”

“Hyunggg~!”

Simon laughed.

Gray failed to hold his smile, so he just shook his head in defeat and shuffled his body closer. Simon’s warmth comforted him even more.

“Why did you come?” Gray asked.

“My damsel was in distress.”

“Why would I be your damsel?”

“I’m not saying you as my damsel.” Simon smirked. “I want to take my book and bring it home. Seems like this lost damsel also wants to tag along.”

“This hyung-”

“Hey, at least be grateful to me that I came at the right time. Who knew you would fall straight away after you swung the door open?”

Gray stayed silent.

“See, I lifted you up to the bed and changed your clothes too. Oh and take a look at your lair I have been cleaning up since I got here.”

Silence.

Simon lowered his head on par with the suddenly-fell-silent Gray. Oh, my poor boy. He cried again.

“Hey, why do you cry? Did the headache come again?”

“No.”

“Then?”

“I don’t know how to make it up to you..”

“What are you talking about?”

Gray sighed. “Stop pretending not to know, idiot.”

“But I really don’t know.” Simon laughed. he tightened his hug around Gray. “You are cute when you become frustrated.”

“You are the only one who can make me feel guilty and frustrated at the same time to the same person.”

“Hey, you know I would do things like this for you. Why would you suddenly feel all guilty and ashamed of yourself?”

“Why would you burden yourself hyung..”

“Because,” he paused before stealing a peck on Gray’s forehead. “You are my fluffy ball in distress, and I’m your knight in shining armour with your favourite cologne.”

“Why the sudden confession with the self-brag as well?” Gray laughed. Simon just shrugged his shoulder with his famous seductive smirk plastered on his face. He looked down to look at Gray before ruffling his head. “Just tell me you like it. Sleep well, fluff ball.”

“Are we going to spend our Thanksgiving like this?”

“Then what do I get in return as a thanks from you?”

“Turn around.”

As Simon turned his head around, Gray pushed himself to be on the same level with Simon’s cheek before placing a kiss, and shuffled back onto the older’s chest, a smile bloomed on his face with Simon’s laugh.

“Love you, fluff ball.”

“Love you too, Busan knight.”