Ting-a-ling!

Kibum’s gaze darted toward the door of the cafe, his breath hitching and releasing a second later when he saw that it wasn’t Minho. Sighing, he looked back at his half-drunk tea and swished it around.

Why was Minho late? He was never late...especially not on their one shared day off. Maybe he picked up a shift at the restaurant, but he would have said something, right?

He dug his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it, opening it to his and Minho’s messages.

Min

9:47pm // ugh

9:47pm // okay

9:48pm // ??

9:55pm // so these s come in, right? and the first thing they do when they sit down is joke about how they’re gonna walk out and I’m just like “k thanks this is just my livelihood nbd your food comes out of my tips if you do so obviously i don’t need this to pay rent but sure joke about that its fine i don’t mind” and then as soon as i bring their apps out they complain about me not being quick enough and the food not being hot enough all while i’m standing there burning my hand on this ing scalding plate...ugh...then there was a hair in the food that was clearly theirs because all the guys have short BLACK hair in the boh and it was a BLUE hair and the ing lady at the ing table had ing blue hair and they just ing stared at me like i was supposed to do something about it and then of course Jinki comped their food because that’s what managers do and they didn’t even ing tip

9:55pm // i’m just tired

9:55pm // :((( I’m sorry, buddy that ing

9:56pm // to top it all off Taem is sick AND at work so yeah

9:56pm // [ ± _ ± ]

9:57pm // lol yeah

9:57pm // hey i just got sat I’ll text you when I’m off

9:58pm // good luck

12:24am // hey I’m off

12:24am // you’re probably asleep so good night ^^ rest well ^^ I’ll see you tomorrow ^^

Kibum smiled fondly at the last text before he set his phone down. So, he still was planning on seeing him today. He probably overslept. Kibum took a sip of his lukewarm tea before he picked his phone up again to call Minho. Just to see if he was awake. Part of him wished that the phone call would wake him up, because a sleepy Minho was an adorable Minho.

And, being who he was as a person, Kibum would never say no to having more adorable Minho in his life.

Five long rings later, Minho picked up. “H.....hello...”

Kibum’s hand tightened on his phone as he grinned. “Good morning, sleepy head...or, I should say, good afternoon.”

There was some rustling on the other end of the phone, and Minho groaned. “Damn, I slept really late,” he sniffed, and then he blew his nose.

Kibum pulled his phone away from his ear for a second. “Are you sick?”

“What? No! I never get sick!”

“Minho...”

“Name once in my -- “ he coughed, and it almost sounded like a seal barking, “ -- life that I’ve ever been sick.”

“Right now.”

“Nope.” He sniffed again, and his teeth chattered as he said, “Choi’s don’t get sick.”

“Do you have a first aid kit at your place?”

“I...can’t remember.” There was some more rustling -- it sounded like he was arranging his blankets around himself. Maybe.

“Stay in bed, okay? I’ll be there in like an hour or so.” Minho mumbled something and Kibum hung up the phone. “God, how is he that cute when he’s sick.”

Kibum could hear Jonghyun’s voice as he hurried to take his cup back to the counter. “You’ve got it bad, kid. Just ing ask him out already. He’ll probably say yes.” He rolled his eyes. Probably. Probably was the operative word. See, Minho was nice. Nice and sweet and kind and good. But, he was that way to everyone he ever interacted with. Jonghyun always said there was a difference when it came to Kibum, but they had been best friends since forever! Of course there would be a difference.

He wrapped his jacket around him as he went outside into the rain, walking down the street to the first convenience store he could find. He bought a thermometer, some cold medicine, cough drops, and an armful of ramen before he hurried along to the nearest bus stop.

Soon, he was on his way to Minho’s apartment in Busan.

It had almost been a year now since Minho got a second job serving at Seorae in addition to working at his parent’s grocery store and his school work. When he first started, he got burned out really quickly, because he didn’t take any days off from either school or his jobs. It didn’t take long for Kibum to suggest that he take one day off every week and do whatever he wanted to do.

At the time, Minho agreed, and soon they fell into a routine where they spent that one day together.

It was nice -- Kibum always looked forward to Mondays now, because it meant he got to spend the day with Minho. And, he was not about to let a little cold take that away from him.

The bus let him off just in front of Minho’s apartment complex, and Kibum ducked under the awning and out of the rain. He made his way to Minho’s front door and shook off the rain before he knocked. No answer. He knocked again, waiting, but still nothing. Kibum flipped over the doormat and snorted when he saw the spare key lying there.

“You’ve got to find a better place to hide that, babe...”

Kibum let himself inside and closed the door quietly behind him. All the lights were off inside, and he could hear Minho snoring from his bedroom. He set the plastic bags full of groceries down on the couch before he tiptoed into Minho’s bedroom.

He was sprawled out, his bare foot hanging out from under the heaps of blankets. His phone was still to his ear, and it was covering the only part of his face that wasn’t smashed into his pillow. Kibum bit back a smile before he went in and rearranged the blankets around him. He took his phone and set it on the nightstand and pressed the back of his fingers against Minho’s forehead. A little warm, but that could have just been all the blankets. Kibum could wait to take his temperature until he was actually awake.

Minho shifted in his sleep, and Kibum tucked the blankets around him again before he left the bedroom.

It didn’t take long for Kibum to unpack the groceries, and he dug around in Minho’s cupboards for some tea. When he found some, he set the kettle on and went out into the living room to look through Minho’s many movies. The kettle was singing by the time he picked some out, and he went back into the kitchen to finish making the tea.

There was a thump! from Minho’s room, and Kibum looked up, waiting to see when Minho would step through the door. When he did, he was brandishing one of his soccer cleats and looking about as menacing as a kitten, with his hair sticking out from sleep and the way he was still all wrapped up in his blankets.

“Oh,” he croaked, then coughed. “It’s you.”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing it’s just me. Imagine if I were a murderer.” Minho sniffed, blinking at Kibum as he dropped the cleat. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine-d.”

“Uh-huh.” Kibum turned, trying to keep himself from grinning too broadly as he set the kettle back down on the stove. No one should ever be this adorable when sick...like, it should be against the law...god... He took a deep breath and made his way over to Minho. “You want to watch something? I picked out a couple of things, but we can watch whatever.”

“Kiki?”

“For sure.” Kiki’s Delivery Service was their favorite movie to watch since they discovered it like, twenty years ago, so of course, it had been Kibum’s first pick. “Sit down, I’ll put it in.” Minho shuffled over to the couch and flopped down on it.

“Damn, I forgot my tissues.”

“I’ll get them.” Kibum closed the DVD player and raised his voice when he went into Minho’s room. “I thought you said you weren’t sick.”

“I’m not. It’s just allergies.”

Kibum smirked. “Yeah, okay.” He held the box of tissues out to Minho, who was fumbling with the remote. “Have you eaten at all today?” Minho shook his head and pulled out a tissue. “I’ll make some ramen.” He ruffled Minho’s hair as he passed, pausing as he brushed his fingers against his forehead. “Wait, let me take your temperature.”

“Bummie, I’m fine-d.”

37.8 C

Kibum winced and pushed Minho’s hair back. “I’ll get you some medicine, first.” He put the thermometer on the counter as he went back into the kitchen. He dug around in one of the bags for the Dimetapp, unscrewing the bottle and pouring out a dose.

“If I ever got a black cat, I’d name it Jiji.”

“Mm-hmm. Too bad you’re allergic.”

Minho folded his arms over his chest, coughing once. “Don't remind me.”

Smiling, Kibum came back into the living room and passed Minho his medicine. “Sorry.”

“Speaking of, why didn’t you bring the kids?” Minho asked as Kibum rinsed out the now-empty cup of medicine.

“I thought we were gonna meet at the cafe like usual, so I just left them at home.” Minho tore his eyes away from the TV and looked over at Kibum as he put the kettle back on. “Don’t you dare apologize, Min, I’m happy to be here to take care of you.”

“I’m still sorry, though.”

“Don’t be.” Kibum took a sip of his tea and leaned up against the counter, watching Minho as he waited for the kettle to whistle. He could feel himself smiling. But, he couldn't help it. Jonghyun, if he were there, he would definitely be making fun of his love-struck smile.

The kettle whistled, snapping Kibum out of his trance, and he poured the water into the bowl of ramen. He set it down on the coffee table in front of Minho before he climbed over his stretched-out legs and sat beside him on the couch. Minho shifted in his seat, leaning on Kibum once he was settled.

"I wish I could fly."

Kibum smiled, glancing over at Minho, who was watching the movie intently. Kiki was flying high over the ocean on the way to her new town. It was the same conversation they had every time they watched this movie. "Would you really want to fly on a broom though? I feel like it would be uncomfortable."

"Just because you'd rather have wings like Howl does sometimes doesn't mean the rest of us do."

"Rest of us?"

"Shut up." Minho tried to dig his elbow into Kibum's side, but it was too cushioned by his many blankets. "You know what I mean."

Laughing, Kibum leaned forward and stirred Minho's ramen. When he sat back, he relaxed into the couch and Minho moved so his head was leaning on Kibum's shoulder. By the time Kiki had gotten her job at the bakery, Minho was fast asleep. Kibum rearranged the blankets over his shoulders and pressed a light kiss into his hair before he went back to watching the movie.

The movie finished before he woke up, but Kibum couldn't bring himself to get up and change out the disc for something else. All the lights were off in the apartment, and with the heat radiating from Minho, Kibum almost drifted off himself. He leaned his head on Minho's but forced himself to stay awake when Minho started to stir.

He untangled one of his arms from his blanket and wrapped it around Kibum's side. "Sorry..."

"For...for what?" He mumbled something into Kibum's shoulder. "What?"

"For getting sick on our anniversary."

"Okay, so now you'll admit that you're si -- " Kibum stared unblinkingly at the bouncing logo on the TV. "Wait, what anniversary?"

"Okay, so it's technically not an anniversary, but we've been dating for six months today..."

Kibum's eyes widened, and he stared straight ahead, trying to remember what happened six months ago that would have led Minho to believe that they were dating. If he remembered right, that was about when they started setting time apart for each other every week. Well, if Minho thought they were dating, then who was he to disagree with him?

"I didn't know it's been six months already." He cupped Minho's fever-flushed cheek and kissed his warm forehead. Minho hummed contentedly and snuggled a little closer to him. "It feels like it hasn't been any time at all."