Chapter 13 The fever

Hyukjae had never ran as fast as he did that night. The thought of Donghae being in such a bad state that he needed him to go to where he was and fetch him, made the raven´s stomach drop and his pulse to rise.

When he well got there he sprinted inside the hospital entrance, making his way as fast as he could to the lobby. From a distance he could see a tall figure hovering over a slouched over man sitting in one of the lobby seats. The tall man had a frown on his face and was saying things to the other male. All he got in return was a shaking head.

The teacher walked over to where the two males, all the time keeping his focus on the brunet. Before he reached the pair they heard his footsteps, raising their heads to look in his direction.

The brunet´s eyes widened and begun to tear up. He stood up on unstable legs, beginning to meet the neighbor in the middle of the room. Three steps in and the younger started to sway and in a panic Hyukjae ran the remaining distance between them. Right before he was about to make contact with the hard surface, the raven swept in and caught the man in his fall.

A relieved sigh slipped through the kindergarten teacher´s lips and he felt how strong arms s around his waist. Seconds later he felt warm wetness on his shoulder where the brunet happened to have his face. He the shorter man´s hair and pulled him closer to his chest, tightening his embrace.

A fake cough reached his ears and Hyukjae looked over Donghae´s shoulder. Behind the younger the other doctor to-be, formally known as Yunho stood. He had a raised eyebrow, but also a calmed down expression. The uneasy look that he´d had when Hyukjae had arrived was gone without a trace.

“Good evening Yunho-sshi. Has he been this way all day? He didn’t seem all that ill this morning. I only thought he was tired.” The younger shuffle closer to the shorter black-haired male, making the man in question look down.

“Hey, Hyukjae- right?! He wasn’t all that bad this morning, but after lunch he just got worse. Thankfully this is a hospital, so we gave him some pills to reduce the fever and all. He should be okay after some sleep, rest and food. Take care of him, okay?”

Yunho walked to where the two next-door neighbors stood and put a hand on the brunet´s shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. The brunet responded by whining and sneak closer to the man with his arms around the shorter. The tallest of them let out a mixture between a huff and a snort, shaking his head all the while.

“Hyukkie… Let´s go back home, okay…?!” Donghae sounded the weakest the raven had ever heard him, making him worry all over again.

“Absolutely Hae, let me just call us a cab and we´ll be home in a jiff.”

After calling the first firm he could think of and ordered a taxi, Hyukjae said goodbye to the tall man giving them strange looks (Donghae didn’t really say or do anything in his state) and begun to make his way outside. Donghae and the younger´s backpack in his arms.

The drive was relatively short, thankfully and the duo arrived at their apartment complex in no time. He paid the driver and then hauled the other man out of the vehicle. They walked slowly together through the entrance, making their way to the elevator- brining them up to their floor.

Knowing that the shorter wouldn’t be able to take care of himself (and he had promised Yunho to make sure that Donghae was okay) he brought the man with him to his apartment. With a lot of struggle- balancing an out-of-it Donghae wasn’t all that easy- the black-haired male un-locked the front door and pulled the brunet in with him.

He took of their shoes and put the younger´s backpack next to his own that laid in front of the hallway closet. When it was all put away the teacher brought the other man into the bathroom, telling him that he should take a cool shower to reduce the temperature. While the younger was in the shower, the older went to the bedroom. He poked around in the drawer that Donghae had gotten.

Taking out a pair of pajamas was easy, and with it he grabbed a pair of clean underwear (from his own collection, the other hadn’t brought over any of his own). When he had everything he deemed needed, Hyukjae turned around, and was about to bring the articles over to the bathroom, when the younger walked in through the door.

Donghae appeared to have more energy after cooling down. The male was standing with nothing but a white towel around his waist, the dark-brown locks laid flat against his head, drops of water rolling down his face and chest.

Hyukjae stared at the younger man before him. Donghae looked really good, like always.

Shaking his head, the older handed over the clothes when the other reached his side, this was not the time nor place to admire Donghae´s looks.

“Here you go Donghae. Change into these while I´ll make you something to eat. Get in the bed when you´re done and I will bring the food here, okay?!”

The younger only nodded and put the clothes on the bed, preparing to take off his towel. Seeing this the taller hurried out before he would get stuck ogling the brunet.

When Hyukjae had finished cooking up porridge, he knocked on the door to let the other know that he would come in. He got a low hum in return.

Well inside the bedroom, Hyukjae walked over to where the younger was leaning against the headboard under the covers. The black-haired male placed the tray he was carrying on the empty side of the bed. The side he usually slept on.

On the tray there was; a bowl of rice porridge, a tall glass of water, some fresh strawberries and a fever reductant pill.

The brunet begun to eat in a slow pace. While the man was eating, Hyukjae decided to take a quick shower as well and change into his nightwear.

Ten minutes later a clean Hyukjae walked inside the bedroom, seeing that the younger had eaten most of the food and had managed to fall asleep. He took the tray and brought all of the content to the kitchen. Not feeling the ambition to take care of it this evening he placed the items inside the sink. He would deal with them tomorrow.

He sat down on the sofa and let out a sigh. The day had been extremely long, and the raven-head was feeling exhausted. He started the television thinking he could browse through the channels, maybe finding something to watch until he went to bed. It was only a little before ten still. Just as he had landed on some late-night comedy show his cell phone begun to ring.

On the screen the contact name ´mom´ shone. Being the good son he was, the latter picked up the call without a second thought.

“Good evening mom. Aren´t you usually asleep at this time?” Hyukjae was genially curious.

“Hello sweetheart. How are you doing? Your dad and I just got back from the Kim’s´ house. They had us over for dinner. Hyoyeon came by, you should have also come over. She told me that she set you up on a date a few weeks ago. How come you haven’t told me about it, huh?!”

Of course, Hyoyeon would tell his parents (basically both of their parents) about his dating life- the little of it that existed. The two families where a bit too close or Hyukjae´s liking at moments like these. Hopefully she hadn’t told them about all of his blind dates. A man could pray.

“I´m doing fine. I didn’t really get invited to come over, mom. And I had other things planed for tonight, though it was not really worth it in the end. So, maybe eating with all of you would have been better time spent. The date she fixed was a total disaster. What son talks about their love life with their parents either way?”

“What mother wouldn’t want to know about her children´s love life? Hyukjae, you think to lowly of your father and me. Now, tell me all about the date! If you don’t then I´ll just ask Hyoyeon.”

Knowing that his mom was serious about asking his long-time friend if he himself wouldn’t tell her about it. Worrying that the blonde girl would tell the curious mother more that she needed to know, he started telling her (briefly) about the failed date.

His mother had way too many opinions of her own and interrupted him a lot of time throughout the storytelling. She had always wanted to know more than what her children wanted to share. After a while he got lost in complaining about the failed love life he had and began to describe other failed dates he had experienced these last few weeks. As well as the brilliant idea his friends had had, the source of his blooming dating.

“I just don´t understand what I do wrong for all of my dates to turn out so badly. I don’t even want to go to them to begin with, but still. Anyone that says that dating gets easier with age has never searched for a love life after their teens. Or have anyone else do it for them. Despite your own wishes.”

“It takes time getting to know someone well enough to develop feelings for them Hyuk. There it to such thing as ´love at first sight´.”

“Yes mum, I know that. And I´m not talking about falling madly in love here. I just want people around me not to be self-absorbed jerks or only going out with me to make their friend stop asking for it.”

In the middle of complaining about the first date with the fitness freak a shuffling sound reached the raven´s ears.

He stopped talking and turned towards the noise and was greeted by a tired Donghae, wrapped in the duvet. The younger man rubbed his right eye, a small pout grazed his lips. Hyukjae blinked. The sound of his mother talking on the other end of the phone became a mere white-sound in the background. All of the man´s attention focused on the brunet.

“Hey… Did I wake you up? How are you feeling, any better?”

Donghae walked silently over to where the older man was sitting on the couch. When he reached the furniture, he sat down next to Hyukjae. He let out a tired sigh, un-covered himself from the duvet and laid down- the brunet´s head placed in the other male´s lap.

When he had found a comfortable position, Donghae tried to place the bedding over himself. Which didn’t work out all that well. Seeing the other´s struggle, the kindergarten teacher reached over and helped the younger with the covers.

After the younger had gotten tugged in, he smiled up at the black-haired male and closed his eyes. Trying to fall back to sleep. By instinct Hyukjae began to comb his fingers through the other´s dark-brown softly curled locks. The corners of Donghae´s lips pulled upwards, a content breath slipped through his thin lips.

“-jae? Hyukjae?! Who where you talking to? Is everything okay? Tell me that you haven’t gotten any girl pregnant or something… Are you listening to me, sweetheart?”

Hyukjae heard his mother´s voice asking him unsurely and averted his eyes away from Donghae, deciding to focus on his conversation on the phone again.

“Sorry mom. A friend of mind is staying over tonight. He´s got a fever and lives alone so I´m looking after him. How am I supposed to get girls pregnant when all my dates are disasters? I´ll call you tomorrow, okay? Say hi to dad from me. Goodnight. Love you.”

In return he got a startled goodnight back and had to promise to tell her all about his dates and his new friend. After he had hung up, he placed the device next to him on the sofa.

Donghae turned around so he was face to face with the older. “Hyukkie. Thank you for taking care of me. You´re so kind. And sweet. And…”

Soft snores reached the teacher´s ears. Donghae had managed to fall back asleep. Hyukjae laughed quietly, turned his focus back to the television and continued watching the screen, all the while playing with the younger´s strands of hair.

The two sat in the living room for some time, the brunet falling deeper and deeper asleep. Hyukjae kept stealing glances of the other man, laying on his thighs.

When it got close to twelve the raven-head deemed it time for bed (more like moving the brunet over to the bed, to continue sleeping there). He got up carefully, lifting up Donghae´s head, sneaked off the sofa and stole a pillow from the other side of the couch. He then placed the cranium on top of the pillow where he had previously been sitting.

He crept to his bathroom to brush his teeth. When he was done the teacher came back to the living room and cautiously slipped his arms under the younger man, bringing him and the bedwear to his chest bridal style. Carefully (to not drop the man) he made his way over to the bedroom. Well inside Hyukjae placed the man on the mattress and fixed the duvet so it laid securely over the younger´s body.

As Hyukjae turned around to get back outside and sleep on the sofa now that his bed was occupied, a warm hand grabbed his wrist. Scared the man turned back to the sleeping-space. He was met by a sad and tired looking doctor to-be. The man in question looked close to tears.

“Please don’t leave me. I don’t want to be alone. Please don’t leave me as well.” A tear slipped down the younger´s cheek making the older panic. He had never seen the other ma