Sanghyuk hisses as his finger accidentally comes in contact with the scalding hot pot of soup, burning himself yet again. He mutters swears under his breath as he stirs more carefully this time, holding the spoon at the very end in order for his fingers to stay as far away from the pot as possible.

Burns aside, he's pretty satisfied with his soup. Usually whenever he cooks it always ends with disaster, but this soup.. it's good. He takes another slow sip from the spoon and mmms, smiling to himself.

Another fit of coughing comes from the living room, awful sounds that makes Sanghyuk's heart squeeze with sympathy. He takes a quick peek into the living room to see Taekwoon hunched over in his blankets on the couch, coughing up a storm into a tissue. "Soup's almost done, hyung," he says, and gets a nod in response.

Sanghyuk spoons a big portion of the soup into a bowl, toasts a slice of bread for dipping and sets it all on a tray. Taekwoon his lips as Sanghyuk sets it down on the coffee table in front of him.

"It looks good, Sanghyuk-ah," he says, voice weak and scratchy. "I'm.. surprised."

Sanghyuk scoffs. "Of course it looks good. They don't call me Hyuk Ramsay for nothing."

"No one calls you that."

"Shh." Sanghyuk dips a spoonful of the soup and blows on it gently. "Stop talking, just eat."

Taekwoon's eyes light up as he sips the soup from the spoon, nodding approvingly. "It tastes delicious, too." He beams at Sanghyuk. "Great job, Sanghyuk-ah, the very first edible dish you've made."

Sanghyuk can feel his ears turning red from the compliment, and from the small, proud smile Taekwoon is giving him. "Yeah, yeah, no big deal," he says, but smiles as well as he dips up another spoonful.

-

Sanghyuk grumbles under his breath as he searches through his and Taekwoon's shared sock drawer. After dinner Taekwoon had slipped into a nap, but woke up not long after in a whiny baby mood, for his "fuzzy socks" and interrupting Sanghyuk's video gaming.

He grabs the first pair he sees and brings them out, only for Taekwoon to whine, "No, not those. The ones with the penguins on them."

Sanghyuk huffs. "Really, hyung? They both keep your feet warm. There's no difference."

"There is a difference," Taekwoon sniffs. "You bought me the penguin socks when we went to the zoo, remember?"

Oh. Sanghyuk does remember, and now his heart is squeezing again, from a mixture of adoration because of how endearing Taekwoon is and guilt because of himself complaining about having to pause his video game. "Okay, hyung, I'll look for them," he says in a gentler tone.

He finds them, and slips them on Taekwoon's feet for him, finding the sight of a grown man wearing such socks very amusing. He remembers he originally bought them as a joke, but Taekwoon took a genuine liking to them and the little penguin pattern.

Taekwoon begins coughing again, hard enough for his shoulders to tremble. Sanghyuk frowns and sits onto the couch, his hand patting Taekwoon's back through the coughing fit. He passes him his glass of water when it's over, helping him sip carefully.

"Thanks," Taekwoon says. "You can get back to your video game now."

Sanghyuk blinks, having completely forgotten about it for a moment. "Oh, it's okay. Hongbin hyung was leaving anyway and it's no fun without him."

"Mm." Taekwoon seems to be getting tired again, his eyelids fluttering. Sanghyuk wordlessly wraps an arm around him and cuddles him close to his side. Taekwoon accepts it and leans his head onto his boyfriend's shoulder.

"I know you'll be happy to see me get better," Taekwoon mumbles, half asleep at this point. "Sorry if I'm annoying.."

Sanghyuk shakes his head. "You're not annoying me, hyung. I don't mind taking care of you, okay? I mean, I will be happy when you're better but only because I don't like to see you sick."

"Okay.. thanks, Sanghyuk-ah.."

Sanghyuk checks to see if Taekwoon's drifted off to sleep, and he has. Sanghyuk smiles to himself at how peaceful his hyung looks while he's sleeping, and can't resist giving him a tiny peck on the cheek. He knows that if Taekwoon was awake, he would have scolded him for it because he didn't want him to become sick too. Sanghyuk's sure he'll be fine, he rarely gets sick.

-

Sanghyuk is not fine.

He wakes up two days later with aching bones, a stuffy nose, and a bad cough. He groans whenever he tries to move. Surely this is what death must feel like.

Taekwoon's concerned. He puts a hand to his forehead, checking his temperature. "Sanghyuk, you're burning up. You must have caught it from me."

All Sanghyuk can do is whine, "Hyuuung."

Taekwoon chuckles at that, how the tables have turned and now Sanghyuk's going to be the sick, whiny baby. He gets up from bed. "Just lay there and rest, I'll bring some medicine and start on the soup."