“you know,” jongdae sniffles, “with all this high-tech medicine we’re developing, you’d think there’d be a better alternative for pills by now."
minseok leans on the bed to card his fingers through jongdae’s wild locks, but quickly recoils when jongdae’s chest heaves as coughs shake his body. crossing his arms, minseok stares jongdae down from where he’s swaddled in a thick nest of blankets. 

“if you wanna get better, you’re gonna have to take one. it’s not a big deal,” minseok pleads. he looks pitifully at jongdae, whose eyes are red and watery. his nose is running and coughs rack him ever so often. jongdae’s brows crease as he whines with a raspy voice, “but i don’t want to. i can’t.” 

“will you try? please? i want you to feel better,” minseok frowns, already leaving to go fetch the pills and a glass of water. as he returns, he’s greeted with jongdae quivering from yet more hacking coughs. 

“nooo,” jongdae whines, hiding his face in his pillow. minseok sits on the edge of the bed near jongdae’s tousled hair anyway, setting the glass of water on the bedside table. he cradles jongdae’s cheek in his palm as their eyes meet. minseok feels his chest flutter with the familiar swarm of butterflies he always has when jongdae looks at him with such an intense gaze. and then he ruins it all by holding the pill out to him. 

“here,” minseok murmurs, “i have the water right here.” 

jongdae eyes the pill loathingly for a moment before snaking a hand out from under the blankets to take it. he reaches for the glass of water, hesitating. 

“don’t watch me,” jongdae demands. minseok obeys, turning around to stare at the closed curtains, cutting off the room from the bright afternoon sunlight. his mind wanders. He thinks with longing about how he and jongdae could be taking a walk, having a picnic, going out to- “ok, i’m done!”

jongdae’s muffled, raspy voice still manages to sound somewhat angelic as he hands the glass of water to minseok. despite his dark circles and runny nose, jongdae’s beaming with a sweet smile on his face as he looks up at minseok. minseok grins back down at him, turning for a moment to set the glass of water back down. and then all of his butterflies fly away as he spots the pill floating in the water. what a betrayal. he turns back to jongdae with a sour look on his face, “jongdae! why can’t you just swallow it?” 

jongdae giggles, but begins to cough as he avoids minseok’s eyes and runs a hand through his poofy hair. 

“i just can’t, min! i don’t know why. can’t you just kiss me better?” 

minseok’s ears burn pink and he rolls his eyes, “no. then i’ll get sick, too. i’ll give you a kiss if you swallow this pill, though.” 

jongdae’s watery eyes light up. now he’s motivated. reaching for the glass of water, he fishes the pill back out of the water. he takes a deep breath.

“ok, don’t look. i promise i’ll actually try this time.” 

minseok sighs and turns to face the curtains again. there’s no sound but the nearly silent humming of the radiator in the stuffy room. minseok leans back, resting his head on jongdae’s nest of blankets. 

“oh, oh my god. i did it, min! i took it!” jongdae exclaims as he coughs wildly, setting the glass of water down and shaking minseok’s shoulders. minseok bolts up to meet jongdae’s genuine smile this time. 

“see, it wasn’t that bad! i’m so proud of you,” minseok says, tackling jongdae down into his mountain of pillows. they grin at each other before minseok dives and plants his lips on jongdae’s chapped, cracked ones. taken by surprise, jongdae’s kissing him for a moment, wrapping his arms around minseok’s neck, and then all of a sudden he’s coughing into minseok’s mouth, trembling violently. minseok sputters and rolls off of jongdae to the other side of the bed. and to his further disgust, jongdae’s waving the pill in his face, yelling, “min! look, i coughed it back up! i told you i can’t take pills!”