Hoseok manages to get Kihyun to go home that night by forcing down two whole bowls of the stew the younger had made. However, he throws it up almost immediately after leaving. He has no idea what's wrong with him. He's never had an issue eating before, even when he was sick. He takes a shower after puking his guts out, lingering in the bathroom to check his reflection. 

No wonder Kihyun had been so worried about him. He looks close to death with his sunken in cheeks and lanky figure. He's never been one to consider himself as skinny, per se, but right now he's definitely skinny. He hasn't been eating much, and because of this weird virus he hasn't been able to go to the gym at all lately. This has left him with a kind of skin-and-bones appearance, a hollow version of himself. He swears, as soon as he gets to feeling better he's forging himself on proteins and living at the gym. 

God, even my hair looks crappy now, he thinks tiredly, plucking up some bleached strands between his fingers. He's always preferred having blonde hair, thinking that the color suits his soft personality better than the severe black, but it's been so long that now his natural hair color is beginning to bleed through via his roots. He makes a note to himself to add going to the salon on his list of things to do once he's recovered. 

He barely makes it to his bed, collapsing on the pile of blankets and snuggling into them. He heaves a deep breath, hoping that he'll feel better when he wakes up. 

“Come on, hyung,” Changkyun practically begs. “Kihyunnie-hyung has a friend that needs to get out of his apartment, you need to get out of the apartment—”

“I get out of the apartment plenty,” Jooheon says defensively, pouting slightly at the younger’s words. “I go to work everyday.”

“Hyung, that doesn't count,” his dongsaeng argues. “Please, just come with me next week.”

“I don't wanna interrupt any sort of date you and Kihyun-hyung have planned,” Jooheon tells him. 

“It won't be interrupting!” Changkyun insists. “You Hoseok-hyung can go off and do your own thing. We’ll be in an arcade, so there'll be plenty to do.” The younger’s pout deepens, his bottom lip poking out further than humanly possible and his eyes becoming mere discs on his face. Jooheon sighs, knowing he's lost. Changkyun giggles delightedly, knowing the sigh is a sign of his victory, and hugs Jooheon tightly. “Don't worry, hyung. It'll be fun!” 

Suddenly, Changkyun's phone goes off, alerting him of a text. He scrambles to see who it's from, though only two people ever text him and one is sitting next to him on their cheap couch. He smiles brightly at seeing Kihyun's name pop up on the notification, and opens his phone to read the message. 

“Oh,” he says, sounding disappointed, “Hoseok-hyung is really sick, so we may have to push it back a week…”

“Fine by me,” Jooheon says a bit too quickly. “I'm not getting sick because of you, Kyunnie, no matter how much you beg.” Changkyun chuckles, typing out a reply to his boyfriend and locking his phone again, though now he keeps it in his hand so to avoid from missing any new texts. 

Jooheon merely smirks at this, rolling his eyes as he goes back to playing his video game. 

Changkyun-ah is so adorably typical when he's dating someone, Jooheon silently muses, which is something he's never thought of the younger being before. Ever since they met in middle school, Jooheon had thought of the younger as many things, but typical definitely wasn't one of them until now.