His head hurted. It hurted as .

Sungmin tried to say something but his voice was long lost. The concert had been exciting but it did him no good for the stupid cold he had caught. Now he had to walk around with seven layers of clothes and a bag full of meds. Sungmin coughed and tried to curse but only a weird noise, a mix between high-pitched and hoarse, came from his mouth.

“Just lay down and rest.” Hyukjae said, forcing Sungmin into the blankets. The blonde tried to speak again. “No. I'm not gonna change my mind. Stay here and sleep, you'll feel better in a few days. We will be back tomorrow so don't worry.”

“I think he is complaining because he wants to come.” Kyuhyun said, and Sungmin nodded effusively.

“I don't care.”

“Neither do I.” Wookie forced Sungmin into the blankets the same way Hyukjae had done it before and the blonde protested. A voiceless groan and a few kicks against the mattres, but the two men standing by his bed payed him no attention. Sungmin looked at Kyuhyun asking for some help, but the maknae seemed to be having lots of fun with the situation.

“I know you want to be in the show, but you cannot even talk.”

“He cannot breath either.” Kyuhyun said and Sungmin held his middle finger at him for not helping.

“Exactly. So what are you going to do? Just sit there awkwardly with that face of the death and snot coming down your nose?” Sungmin rubbed his jumper's sleeve against his nose. “Yeah, that's what I thought. Lay down, sleep, rest, get better, then you'll join the activities again.” Hyukjae finally smiled at him when Sungmin threw his head against the pillow. “Good boy.”

“Hyung, call us if you are feeling too bad. Or if you need anything.”

“There is no use in calling, he cannot say a word so everything we will hear will be a cat spitting out a hairball.” Sungmin threw one of his pillows at Kyuhyun but the maknae was too fast or Sungmin was too slow, so he grabbed it in the air.

“Kyuhyun is right, and we won't be able to do anything anyway.” Hyukjae held his chin with one hand and looked at the wall thinking about a solution. Sungmin tried to disregard their worry with a movement of his hand, but while doing it he started coughing again until tears fell from his eyes.

“Oh hyung... I don't want to leave him like this.” Wookie said, so Sungmin put on his best puppy eyes hoping that the eternal maknae would want to take him to the show too. It wasn't like Sungmin had an uncontrolable desire of attending that particular show, it was just that he hated to be sick and useless, even if he had to stay sitting quietly in a corner with snot coming down his nose. “Oh!” Wookie exclaimed and the other three men looked at him. “Hyung, you just go to sleep. You need to rest. We are going. Come on, guys, let him sleep, come on.” and before Sungmin could try to say anything else, Wookie had kicked the other two out of the room along with himself. Sungmin sighed and closed his eyes, feeling how the pain in his head was relieved now that there was no light. Maybe it wasn't a bad idea to stay in bed for one day after all. Just for one day.

“What is wrong with you?” Kyuhyun said, and Wookie shushed him so Sungmin wouldn't hear.

“I had an idea. But Sungmin-hyung is not going to like it.”

“Interesting...” said Kyuhyun, whom for some reason found it specially appealing.

“What is it Wook?”

“Well... you know how we cannot leave him all alone here when he may need some help getting out of bed, or he could get temperature, or choke in his own saliva...”

“To the point, Ryeowook”

“I've thought that there is one of us that is not coming either, and I bet he has nothing else to do.” Kyuhyun and Hyukjae looked at each other without understanding and looked at Wookie again. “Yesung-hyung.” The evil spark in Hyukjae and Kyuhyun's eyes was so obvious that Wookie had to roll his eyes.

Sungmin rolled on the bed trying to hide his face against the pillows. Why was the room spining? Which kind of joke was this? He growled and moaned, touching his face with both hands and realizing how warm he was. His mouth was excessively dry and his eyes were swollen, he tried to breath but his nose was too clogged to allow it. Sungmin made a wild noise and almost had a heart attack when his bedroom's door opened in front of his eyes and a black silhouette appeared under the frame.

“Are you alright?” the husky voice was unmistakable although the light didn't let Sungmin see his face. The figure took a few steps towards him and Sungmin shook his hand in the air asking him to close the door again. The light was blinding him and making his headache get even worse, although Sungmin thought that was impossible. Jongwoon closed it and moved unconfortably around the room trying not to step on anything, but he walked on one of Sungmin's shoes and tripped over it, making much more noise than what Sungmin's head could possibly bear. Sungmin groaned. Who the hell asked Yesung to come here? Why today? He had been gone for months now and he had to come and visit today right when he was feeling like ? If there was one person Sungmin didn't have patience to deal with right now it was Kim Jongwoon.

“I am sorry...” he said once he stadied. Sungmin groaned again. “I bet you are wondering what am I doing here...” Isn't it obvious? He thought. “The members told me you were sick, and they didn't want to leave you alone. So I came... to help.” Jongwoon cleared his throat and played with Sungmin's shoe, kicking it so it would roll on the floor. Sungmin closed his eyes and facepalmed himself mentally. He would find out who had the clever idea and would make him regret it for the rest of his life. “So... if you need anything just give me a shout.” Jongwoon laughed. “Well, you cannot give me a shout because you have no voice.” he laughed again and Sungmin wished he could pass out at that precise moment. An awkward silence filled the room. “Ok, so if you need anything let me know. Uhm... are you hungry or...” Sungmin made a denial noise. “Ok. I'll be outside. Uhm... take some rest.” once Jongwoon left the room Sungmin moaned quietly. His face was burning and he felt like crying to sleep. In theory when you are sick and you sleep you feel better later, why was he feeling even worse? Before he could think on any answer he felt asleep again.

By the time Sungmin woke up he noticed that his face was not burning anymore, at least not as intensely as it was doing it before. It was when he reached to his forehead with one hand that he realized he had a wet towel on top of it. Sungmin used the towel to rub his whole face and covered his eyes with it. Had Jongwoon placed it there? It couldn't have been anyone else. Sungmin groaned and a noise coming from the other bed scared him to death.

“Are you awake?” Sungmin held his chest with one hand, trying to recover from the shock and looked at Jongwoon with wide eyes. “You were... having a difficult sleep, so I preferred to stay near, just in case.” he stood from Kyuhyun's bed and approached him, placing his hand on Sungmin's forehead. The blonde was frozen in place with the feeling of Jongwoon's cold hand against his skin. When the brunette pulled his hand away Sungmin felt the urge of asking him to leave it where it was. “You are still burning. Take this.” Jongwoon grabbed a few pills and a glass of water from the bedside table and helped Sungmin to sit. The younger felt dizzy once sitting and Jongwoon had to hold him still and help him with the glass of water. “This is not good. Have you gone to the hospital?” Sungmin shook his head. “Why not?” Sungmin shrugged. “Aren't the hyungs taking care of you?” and Sungmin wanted to say It's not like you ever did anyway but couldn't. “I'm going to prepare something for you to eat. Do you want to sleep? Or would you prefer to sit in the livingroom?” Jongwoon was talking with a very gentle voice and Sungmin felt weird. It was the first time that he was in such a situation with his hyung. He had seen Jongwoon taking care of the maknaes several times but him? Never. The awkwardness was too intense to ignore it so Sungmin always avoided to be alone with Jongwoon, but now he had no option, and he was seeing a part of the older that he had never seen before. And Sungmin was sure it was because of the fever, but he was liking it. Liar.

Sungmin gestured towards the livingroom, at least he could sit in the couch and watch some tv while Jongwoon was cooking. “Ok, let's go then.” the brunette threw the covers to the side and helped Sungmin getting out of the bed, passing the blonde's arm around his shoulders and slowly walking with him. Sungmin groaned and hid his face in Jongwoon's neck when they got out of the bedroom. “I'll close the curtains, but you need to make it to the couch first.” Sungmin felt weak, as he had said before, useless, and had to be dragged by Jongwoon to the couch. The older smiled at him when Sungmin didn't let go of his hand. “If you keep holding me I won't be able to close the curtains and you will have to endure all this light.” the younger pouted and set him free. “Lay down, I'll make chicken soup.” Sungmin turned the tv on and started to lazily zapping through the different channels. After only a few minutes Jongwoon appeared by his side again with a massive glass of orange juice. Sungmin looked at the juice, then Jongwoon, then the juice again. “Yeah, I want you to drink it all before we eat, or you won't have a single spoon of my soup.” Sungmin knew he was lying but didn't care, the dryness in his mouth was shouting him to drink that whole glass in one gulp. He didn't know at which point he had fallen asleep again, but suddenly the movie made no sense at all. Who was that woman? Why was the main character's brother trying to kill him? What happened to the city and why was it set on fire? Sungmin tried to roll over, but once he noticed that the table was set and that Jongwoon was sleeping with Sungmin's legs on top of his lap the blonde remained still. He wondered for a few minutes if he should wake the older up or not, finally deciding that he was way too hungry to wait for the other man to wake up on his own. He kicked Jongwoon's chest, perhaps a little bit stronger than how he had intended, and the other instantly opened his eyes, suddenly standing and approaching Sungmin in the blink of an eye, placing his hand on the blonde's forehead and grabbing his face right after with both hands. “Are you ok? Are you feeling bad? What happened?” Sungmin tried not to laugh and gestured him to calm down and to sit on the couch next to him. Sungmin rubbed his stomach and pouted, then Jongwoon let go of the breath he had been holding. “Damn you, kid. You scared the hell out of me.” He closed his eyes and leaned against Sungmin's legs. The blonde smiled for the first time in days and stared at Jongwoon for a couple of seconds. Sungmin noticed how different did Jongwoon look with his cut hair. It wasn't a bad look for him, but different. Sungmin's favourite was redhead Yesung, or blonde Yesung, or maybe pinkhead Yesung. He definitely looked less Yesung and more Jongwoon with the cut hair. The older then opened his eyes again. “Let me bring the soup, you felt asleep and I didn't want to wake you up.”

They ate in silence and then Jongwoon insisted on Sungmin picking a movie for them to watch. Now that Sungmin was unable to speak a word and had no other thing to pay attention to but his hyung he realized that Jongwoon had become way more interesting than what he had always thought, and that made him feel guilty. Why hadn't he payed enough attention to the man lately? Jongwoon had the ability to get on Sungmin's nerves. That was the main reason. Liar. The reason for the awkward and the distance between them. Jongwoon could be really childish, silly and weird sometimes, and that made him extremely unconfortable. Long ago had he decided to keep distance with Jongwoon and he hadn't failed until now. Now that he was paying more attention to the way his thigh was brushing against Jongwoon's, or the way the older's lips would move than to what he was trying to explain about the movie that he was supposed to be watching. How long had it been since Jongwoon left? Months by now. And hadn't Sungmin missed him before? He didn't know. But he was sure about something, the emptiness he had experienced sometimes while staying in the dorm wasn't there anymore. Now he felt good. He felt complete. And it could be because of him.

Sungmin felt asleep once again, listening to Jongwoon's talk. He let Jongwoon's husky voice become his lullaby and enjoyed the ticklish sensation in his chest. Little by little the words became meaningless but the whispers coming from the older's lips didn't leave him until he was fully asleep. It was also Jongwoon's voice that woke him up what felt like a couple of minutes later, but this time it wasn't the peaceful and serene voice that helped him to sleep.

“Sungmin-ah. Sungmin wake up, please.” Jongwoon's voice was desperate, and although the blonde wanted to tell him not to worry so much, he couldn't, and this time it wasn't because of the lack of voice, but the fact that he was shaking and throwing up on the floor before he could even open his eyes. Jongwoon his back tenderly, held his fringe back so the hair wouldn't bother him, and repeated over and over again that it was ok, that he would feel better later. Sungmin was crying before realizing it, and Jongwoon tried to calm him down during several minutes, holding him against his chest, caressing his sweaty hair and whispering in his ear. “Shh... everything will be alright. You'll be alright. I am here Minnie... I'm here.” Sungmin clung to the older's t-shirt and didn't care about dirtying it with tears, sweat and vomit. Why was he feeling like ? Only hours ago he had wished Jongwoon would disappear and now he was clunging to him like his life was deppending on it. “Calm down, kid...” Jongwoon took his face between his hands and cleaned the tears he shed with his thumbs, rubbing then down his nose and slowly caressing his lips.

Jongwoon didn't look at him in the eyes, too close to be able to do it, but Sungmin was looking directly at his, that pair of deep black eyes, waiting for Jongwoon to cross his stare with his own, waiting for something to make some sense. When the younger felt that Jongwoon was about to come closer, to close the few inches between them, he unconsciously parted his lips, and felt a punch in the gut when the brunette placed a kiss on his forehead. “At least you are not warm anymore. That chicken soup was , I am sorry.” Sungmin shook his head. “I will take you to bed and will clean this mess. Now that everything is out you should start feeling a little bit more person again.” Jongwoon smiled and positioned himself just so Sungmin could clung on his back. The blonded stared at him for a few seconds and Jongwoon had to pull him by the hand for the younger to move. Sungmin let his body rest against Jongwoon's and if it took the older any efforts to carry him down the hall and to the bedroom again he didn't show any signs of it.

Sungmin buried his face in Jongwoon's neck and sniffed the scent of his shampoo. That was creepy. Funcking creepy. Like the kind of things that Jongwoon would do actually. Sungmin laughed and the older tried to look at him over his shoulder.

“You alright back there?” Sungmin nodded, his head still deep buried against the other, and Sungmin felt Jongwoon shiver when he sighed against his skin.

Once he was laying on bed and covered in blankets, Jongwoon took the towel that they had left in the bedside table and went out of the room, coming back after a few seconds and placing it freshly wet against Sungmin's head. When the younger moaned in pleasure at the sensation he heard Jongwoon's laugh.

“That was way too ual.” said the brunette, and Sungmin tried to punch him in the arm without success. “You are still shaking. Are you cold?” Sungmin nodded. “You need the bed to get warm, wait a few minutes and you will be fine. I will be right back, ok?” Sungmin nodded again and Jongwoon left the room, closing the door behind him.

It had to be the fever. It had been definitely the fever what made him want to kiss Jongwoon's lips back in the livingroom. It was the fever that made him want to taste his skin. It was the fever what was making him find the other so appealing all of a sudden. Liar. He thought for the third time. It wasn't the first time Sungmin had imagined these things. Oh no. But he was way too ashamed of it to accept it was true. The weirdness in Jongwoon could be one of the main reasons why Sungmin felt unconfortable around him, and one of the reasons why he decided to keep his distance with the older.

But it was clearly not the only one.

It was back on training days when Sungmin had had that crazy of a crush in the talented and enigmatic Yesung. Then Jongwoon dated this girl that Sungmin didn't like very much and he forced himself to move on because it was pretty clear Jongwoon was not attracted to men at all. It wasn't like Sungmin was either. Well. Only Jongwoon. And maybe he found a few others really attractive, but that was irrelevant. And after that he couldn't stay alone in the same room with Jongwoon without feeling awkward.

ual frustration. That was the other reason.

It was around the second year after debuting as Super Junior that everything that Yesung did made Sungmin mad. Like properly angry. And he stopped talking to him for a while. Then they made that stupid musical together, and Jongwoon's voice was so perfect, and his acting was so good, and he worked so hard that Sungmin couldn't help but fall for the man again. Stupid, silly bunny.

And now? Well. Now Sungmin just felt like , and had thrown up on the livingroom's floor. And the reason of his ual frustration was cleaning it up. Pathetic. And the stupid bed wouldn't get warm and he was still shaking like a lost puppy in the rain.

He sighed.

“Ok. All done.” Jongwoon placed a glass of water on the bedside table. “Drink this whenever your stomach is feeling better, ok? The orange juice was all over the floor.” Sungmin reddened and covered his hace with both hands. Jongwoon laughed. “Don't be so ashamed. You've even farted on my face in public television.” Sungmin groaned loudly and threw the blankets over his face feeling his it burning in embarrasment. Jongwoon laughed hard, and the sound of his hausky laugh coming from the deep of his throat made Sungmin's heart pound. Now he wondered why his hyung had still tried all these years to get closer to him, to make him laugh with stupid jokes, and to care for him from the distance when he had always been a to him. Sungmin peeked over the covers and Jongwoon was staring directly at him.

“I am sorry.” said the younger with much difficulties and Jongwoon widened his eyes.

“Don't be. And don't talk. That won't make you any good.” Jongwoon Sungmin's hair and the blonde covered again his flushed face under the blankets. “You won't stop shivering, will you?” He didn't say anything but Jongwoon was right. He was still feeling cold and for some undetermined reason his body was shaking uncontrolably, his lips parted just so he could breath through his mouth. Sungmin took on a deep breath and held it down when he felt the weight of Jongwoon's body climbing on his bed. Jongwoon laid on top of the blankets while Sungmin was still hiding behind them, and the brunette moved next to him looking for a confortable position to finally slide his arm over Sungmin's waist and pull him closer, spooning the younger from behind. “Ok. Let's see if this helps.” he whispered, and it took Sungmin at least twenty senconds to release the tension in his body.

He could feel Jongwoon's warm breath against the back of his neck, could feel his chest tightening against his back to the rhythm of his breathing. Sungmin swallowed the knot in his throat and released the bite on his lower lip before letting the words come out of his mouth.

“Get inside.”

And the few seconds that took Jongwoon to process the information that had been sent to his brain made Sungmin extremely anxious. It felt like an eternity but suddenly the older was calmly making his way through the blankets and sliding his body under them. He pressed his chest against Sungmin's back and encircled his waist with his arms, pulling the blonde closer. Sungmin could feel his heart pounding painfully against his ribs and he forced himself to control his breathing. He might have gone insane, he thought, because there was no other explanation on why he was turning over only to press his face against the curve of Jongwoon's neck.

“Feels better?” the husky voice whispered and Sungmin felt the older's Adam's apple vibrate against his lips.

“Feels perfect.”

[TBC] - A/N: It's way too long to be considered a drabble so I had to stop here because WOW I kind of got excited XD