Prompt: Roommate gets sick and needs tissues and cough drops and soup.

I didn't really mean to sideline this collection the last couple of months. I just couldn't finish anything that I started for it. This is actually a sequel to chapter 12 of Shorts, so they're not roommates but neighbors. It's twice as long as I meant for it to be and doesn't end like I'd imagined. I'm planning on writing another drabble where they finally get together (or get closer to getting together), so, yeah, expect that eventually. I don't feel like re-reading this so I hope it makes sense.

The first thing Sunggyu says to Howon after he opens the door is, "You look like crap." Of all the lines he'd been practicing in his head on the short walk over, that hadn't been one of them. In Sunggyu's defense, Howon isn't looking his usually attractive self at the moment. His nose and eyes are red, his skin is pale, and he's sweating and shivering at the same time. He's wrapped up in a long blanket, looking very much like a small child. Sunggyu rushes to explain himself. "T-that's not what I meant," he sputters. "I-I just—I didn't realize you were this sick."

Howon's loud sneezes and incessant coughing had seeped through the thin wall between their apartments throughout the night. Rather than being annoyed, Sunggyu had only felt concern. Howon had sounded miserable and he definitely looks it now. Despite his embarrassment Sunggyu is sure he made the right decision in coming over to check on his neighbor.

"I think I'll be better after some rest," Howon says. His voice sounds muffled from his stuffed-up nose. Besides that, Sunggyu doesn't think "some rest" is going to cut it for the other man.

Sunggyu lifts his arm to show Howon the canvas bag he'd brought with him. "I can help speed up your recovery if you want." They're not exactly the closest of neighbors. After the whole mess with Howon's mail, Sunggyu has tried to keep his distance. He'd made a huge fool of himself and he couldn't bear facing Howon again. (Woohyun keeps telling him he's overreacting because the couple of times Sunggyu and Howon had bumped into each other had passed uneventfully. No odd looks or suppressed laughter, like Howon had forgotten the whole incident.) Now Sunggyu just really wants to put the past behind him—Howon already seems to have done it.

His neighbor looks from Sunggyu's face to the bag in his hand, sniffling all the while. A moment later he steps aside to give Sunggyu room to step into the apartment. Sunggyu gapes at him in surprise and confusion. He wasn't expecting Howon to accept the offer so quickly. Or to be invited into his home. He takes a few hesitant steps into the apartment, hugging his bag to his chest. When Howon closes the door behind them, Sunggyu notes the way he keeps his hands inside the blanket as he does it. There's a small smile on his face as he follows Howon into the living room.

The apartments are symmetrical in their layout. Whereas the open space of Sunggyu's living room is on the right, Howon's is on the left. That means his kitchen is on the right instead and it also means their bedrooms are adjacent. That's about where the similarities end, though. For one thing, Howon's place is much cleaner than Sunggyu's. There seems to be an order to and a place for everything. Sunggyu can't help wondering how he managed that even in his sick state.

"So what's supposed to speed up my recovery," Howon asks, reminding Sunggyu of why he's there. He settles cross-legged on one end of the couch. The blanket opens slightly, giving Sunggyu a glimpse of a plain white t-shirt and purple striped pajama pants.

Setting the bag carefully on the table, he joins Howon on the couch. "I might've oversold that a little bit," he admits sheepishly. He starts unloading the bag as he continues talking. "You've probably already used these, so I don't know how effective they'll be." He sets a bag of cough drops and a bottle of cold medicine on the table.

Howon finally takes an arm out of his blanket cocoon to reach for the cold medicine. "Children's?" He turns the bottle to show Sunggyu the label. His laugh is somewhat hoarse, but Sunggyu takes the sound as a good sign. It means Howon doesn't think Sunggyu's making fun of him.

"I think that's supposed to be for me," Sunggyu starts. Without even being present Woohyun is still able to embarrass him. "I asked my friend to pick this stuff up for me. He thinks I act like a baby when I'm sick and I didn't tell him who this was for, so..."

Howon laughs again and puts the bottle back on the table. "I guess we have something in common, then." He elaborates when Sunggyu looks over at him in surprise. "My friends call me a baby when I'm sick too. It's kind of my nickname now," he admits.

"Your friends call you baby?"

"Sort of." Howon glances at Sunggyu as he pulls his blanket tighter around himself. "I probably shouldn't admit stuff like that in case you might use it against me. And I think I've said too much already."

"We're kind of even right now," Sunggyu reassures him. A part of him is thrilled to hear that Howon thinks they'll become close enough to tease each other. Sunggyu still isn't sure that day will ever come. That doesn't mean he doesn't have any hope, though. He reaches for the last item in the bag and sets it on the table. "This is actually what's going to make you better," he says confidently.

"You sound so sure." Howon reaches for the thermos Sunggyu brought and unscrews the top. His eyebrows dip slightly as he takes a hesitant sniff of the contents. "You made me soup?"

Sunggyu wants to chalk up the light pink dusting Howon's cheeks to the steam coming from the thermos, but he's doubtful. Behind the surprise, he can see that the other man is touched by the gesture. He would like to take credit for Woohyun's work, but then Howon might really think he knows how to cook and he'd have to prove it. "My friend did, actually," he admits. "His soup is the best—even better than my mom's—but I'd never tell him that. His head is big enough."

Howon snorts softly, carefully pouring some of the soup into the thermos cap. He sips the warm broth slowly. "Can I still thank him if it works?"

Although they've technically met before, the last thing Sunggyu wants is for Howon to properly meet Woohyun. He just knows his friend would do something to embarrass him. "We'll see," he says noncommittally. Howon snorts again, but doesn't say anything else. In the silence that settles between them, he goes back to sipping the soup and Sunggyu looks around the room so he's not blatantly staring at Howon. His gaze falls on the TV across from them. It takes a second for the images on the screen to make sense, but a wide grin breaks out on Sunggyu's face when they do. "Oh my God. You really are a baby."

Howon looks from Sunggyu to the TV. Now there's no mistaking the redness of his cheeks. "I-I was scrolling through the channels when you knocked," he tries to defend himself. He sets the thermos on the coffee table and pulls his blanket closer around himself. "I guess that's where it ended up."

Sunggyu doesn’t feel as bad for laughing as he probably should. Or as embarrassed by how loudly he’s laughing. He can’t help it when Howon is pulling the blanket over his head to hide his face from Sunggyu’s chuckling and the children’s show playing in front of them. At first, he'd thought Howon was intimidating. The other man had seemed disinterested the day they met and Sunggyu had taken that as his cue to keep his distance. But now sitting here with him, laughing (at Howon) and bonding (maybe; hopefully), Sunggyu realizes that it had been awkwardness rather than indifference. As he had guessed from Howon's first impression, he's not exactly a people person but it seems to be because he doesn't know how to act around people rather than because he doesn't like them. Sunggyu finds the idea comforting somehow; like they’re now on the same page. Maybe becoming friends will be a lot easier than he’d thought.