SHINee Sickfics

Kibum : Too Soon, Too Late

warning: throwing up

These days, Kibum had noticed that something was wrong. He always had a sluggish feeling holding him back from feeling alright. He struggled to eat anything because he was scared he was going to throw up. Kibum sometimes skipped a few meals because he didn't feel like eating.

He figured it was just a flu or something minor like that. Nothing too worrisome.

But slowly, the sick feeling increased. He always had a burning sensation in the pit of his stomach which was painful. It disappeared momentarily after he ate, but would come back in full force to haunt him a few hours later. The nausea had gotten worse too.

Kibum tried to not make it too obvious to the others. He didn't want them poking their noses into his affairs. He was fine. The whole problem would go away on its own. Frankly, he only said the last words to comfort himself.

------

"Kibum hyung, you barely ate anything! Have some more," Taemin said.

Kibum really regretted coming to the restaurant with the others. He had thought that maybe he could eat a little bit and nobody would notice, but no. Minho had made them all get lots of food and had dished it out to all of them. Kibum wanted to cry.

"I'm good."

"Come on, come on," Taemin encouraged. "Have some-"

"Please, Taemin, no." Kibum's voice shook uncharacteristically, making the others grow quiet.

"What's wrong?" Jinki asked. "You alright?"

Kibum groaned internally. Now they were all going to ask and he was going to have to give them an explanation.

"Kibum? You're pale...? Are you not feeling well?" Jonghyun asked.

Jinki reached across to feel Kibum's forehead. "He doesn't have a fever."

"I... fine, really."

"Really?" Jinki raised an eyebrow. "You know that we can tell if you're not okay, right?"

"I know." Kibum nodded. "I know. If anything goes wrong, I'll be sure to tell."

Minho was looking worried, but he didn't say anything. He and Taemin reluctantly dove back into the food, continuing to eat to their heart's content. They weren't on a diet right now, they could whatever they wanted.

Kibum resumed chewing his food slowly. If he took deep breaths and forced himself to relax, everything would be okay. He glanced down at his watch every few minutes and silently counted down the minutes until he could leave.

The table was a lot quieter than it usually would've been.

--------

"You can trust me, you know that."

Kibum nodded. He knew he could trust Jinki. Jinki who was so patient and sweet. But something kept holding him back. He didn't want to admit that he wasn't alright.

"I can take you to the doctor if you need to," Jinki continued. "If it's something embarrassing, I won't tell the others. I know, Taemin is kind of-"

"It's really nothing," Kibum said. "I'm okay."

Jinki gave him a strange look.

Kibum gave him a tight-lipped smile before patting his back.

"Stop worrying hyung. Everything is alright."

--------

As fate would have it, Kibum was forced to tell Jinki. It wasn't like Jinki pressured him, but more like Kibum had to because he was getting worried about his own health.