I’m still a little bit sick today but I feel better than yesterday. I think it’s Jongin’s special soup helping me. My nose isn’t so runny anymore and I can breathe!!

Achoo.

“Waaa…” Joonmyun sniffs and darts around the lounge in search of tissues, two fingers clamped on the end of his runny nose as he upturns cushions and blankets and pillows. The box is already empty so he runs to the kitchen where Sehun is busy chopping vegetables for dinner, yanking a handful from the box stationed on the kitchen island. He blows his nose with a great deal of ruckus and Sehun turns around in alarm.

Joonmyun patters up to him. “Sehug, I fig I god a cold. Help,” he says pitifully, pointing at his nose, which has gone red from being blown so many times.

Sehun takes one look at the unhappy catboy hugging his box of tissues and shakes his head. “Yeah, I think you got a cold too, Joonie.”

Jongin’s return home from work is relatively uneventful. The usual ball of energy that always bounds up to greet him at the door is missing, the house is awfully quiet and it feels a little strange.

“Where’s Joonmyun?” he calls out as he wanders into the kitchen.

“In the lounge,” Sehun replies, glancing up from sampling the beef stew. It needs a bit more salt. “He’s not feeling well. I made dinner but he said he didn’t want to eat.”

“Aw, poor baby. I’d better go and see how he’s doing.” Jongin walks into the lounge to find Joonmyun burrowed into the corner of the couch fast asleep, swathed in a blanket with his polar bear plushie. He briefly places the back of his hand against the catboy’s forehead, but Joonmyun doesn’t seem to have a temperature. The catboy snuffles in his sleep and rolls over. There’s a miniature mountain of tissues on the floor next to the couch, none of which look entirely clean. Jongin deliberately side-steps them when he goes back to the kitchen to help set up dinner, which turns out to be mostly a silent affair without the lively third member of their little family.

Joonmyun wakes up, groggy and disoriented, when Jongin carries him back to his room that night. ”I feel yucky,” he moans. “My nose is blogged. I can’t breathe proberly…” He settles down though, after Jongin brings him some warm milk and another box of tissues.

“Hey kitten, guess what I’ve got,” Jongin grins, holding out his fist. He drops some candies into Joonmyun’s hand and the catboy gasps delightedly. “Quick, eat them before Sehun comes to check on you.”

Joonmyun can’t say he feels all that much better the next day, but when he gets up his stomach is really growly so he climbs out of bed to find something to eat. He can’t find Sehun anywhere, and then he remembers his owner has work today. At least Jongin’s home to look after him.

“Oh Joonmyun, you’re awake!” Jongin’s in the kitchen stirring a pot of soup on the stove. He waves his hand at the dinner table. “You slept right in until noon! I was going to come and get you. It’s almost done, okay?”

“I’m hugry,” the catboy says, kitty ears turned down miserably. His stomach makes another funny noise and Jongin takes pity on him, scooping him up in his arms for a comforting hug and a kiss to the top of his head.

“Just another minute and it’ll be done,” he reassures Joonmyun, and the latter obediently goes to the table to wait for the soup.

Jongin brings over a steaming bowl of it for each of them and Joonmyun’s almost about to sniff enthusiastically at it when he remembers his nose is blocked, and he can’t smell anything at all. He nearly starts crying, looking at his owner with a sad expression and eyes shiny with tears.

Jongin chuckles behind a hand at his antics and pulls out a chair at the table to sit in, motioning for Joonmyun to sit in his lap. “Come here, kitten.”

The response is instant; Joonmyun abandons his seat immediately, clambers into Jongin’s lap as asked and Jongin ends up spoon-feeding him the entire bowl.

“Goddammit, Joonmyun, not another banana peel–” Jongin lets out a string of expletives as his little Luigi slips up on the banana peel, spins in his cart and careens off to the side.

Joonmyun cheers his Princess Peach character on as she zooms past Jongin, leaving him in the dust. “I got you,” he giggles, and Jongin gives him a look that just makes the catboy laugh harder. They race one more lap around the circuit track, coming head to head just before the finish line. Joonmyun’s eyebrows draw together and he glares at the screen, his tail flicking about as he concentrates on weaving around all the obstacles.

“Alright, Joonmyun,” Jongin warns, poking him in the side with a finger, “if you throw one more banana peel I will put down this controller, and I will tickle you.”

They’ve been playing Mario Kart for hours now, both snuggled up together on the giant beanbag in front of the TV. They’re not even supposed to be that close because of Joonmyun’s cold but Jongin had barely been able to help himself at the sight of the catboy buried up to his nose in a blanket, all alone by himself with only a plushie to hug, so he’d grabbed Joonmyun at once and squished both of them onto the beanbag.

Joonmyun doesn’t spend much longer on there after he drops a banana peel straight into Luigi’s path, prompting Jongin to actually put his controller down with a growl and tickle Joonmyun’s sides until the catboy rolls off the beanbag screaming hysterically. They play until Joonmyun runs out of energy to fend him off and Jongin takes him back to the kitchen to spoon-feed him a second round of soup. Joonmyun pleads for one more round of Mario Kart and Jongin’s indulges him, letting him win – but only just – in case Joonmyun goes and irreparably destroys his reputation by telling Sehun all about how Jongin’s so easy to beat.

They end up falling asleep cuddled together on the beanbag and that’s how Sehun finds them, Joonmyun’s tiny figure nestled under Jongin’s chin and Jongin’s arm tucked protectively around the catboy’s waist.

Joonmyun feels much better several days later, bounding out of bed early in the morning so he can go and sneak into Jongin and Sehun’s bed before they wake up. He hasn’t even made it to the master bedroom when he hears a voice talking in the kitchen and tiptoes down to see who it is.

“Yeah, sorry about that… yes. I can make up the hours next week anyway.” Oh. It’s just Jongin making a phone call. Joonmyun watches him stifle a yawn with his hand. “Nah, I’ll be fine, I’ve just got a cold…”