Silent Blue ✦ 2jae (discontinued)

. nine .

Youngjae felt clammy, hands and neck sweating horribly. He turned his head to the left and saw a towel flop onto the bed. Where did that come from? His throat was scratchy, but that he could ignore— the throbbing pain in his head and chest was much more unbearable.

"You woke up sooner than I thought you would," said a deep voice from the corner of the room. He didn't want to move his head to see who it was. "Gnarly fall you had..."

"Fall?" The towel next to him was picked up and thrown in a bowl and rung out by hands that Youngjae thought he recognized, but he still didn't see who it was taking care of him. The familiar pair of hands wiped his face down gently, and he closed his eyes while the warmth overtook him— from the warm water on the towel and the other hand on his arm.

"You remember, right?" He thought about it, but nothing came to mind. "I caught up to you, Youngjae," the voice chuckled. "But I guess you were sick already. You fainted when we were leaving the bookstore."

"Shit." He closed his eyes once again and turned his head the other way, and he felt his neck being wiped down with the warm water. Suddenly the memory came back to him, far less dramatic than it seemed to be in his head. He figured the person with the voice brought him back to his dorm room. Except, he opened his eyes and looked to a closet that wasn't in his dorm room.

A feeling of panic set in, and he sat up quickly, ready to run from whatever sicko decided to kidnap him, but he saw Jaebum and the panic went away instantly. "What happened?" the older asked worriedly, eyes wide at Youngjae's sudden outburst. "Lie back down, Youngjae, come on." The boy's heart needed to slow down, and his fear only made his chest hurt worse. It felt like a bruise that covered everything and went deep down inside, even to his lungs. He couldn't breathe too hard.

"This is my apartment," Jaebum told him, just in case he hadn't figured that out already. Youngjae saw him standing in a tight shirt and jeans, hip jutted out to the side, head down. As he walked into another room, he could still hear, "We were closer to here than the university," he said. "It would have taken too long to bring you there."

"I like this room," Youngjae stated simply, eyes still threatening to cross. He wanted so badly to fall back asleep, but he wasn't sure whether he hit his head or if it just hurt from the pressure.

"Thanks," Jaebum responded with a smile, walking back into the bedroom. "I'm glad you do." Youngjae closed his eyes once more while the older pushed the hair out of his face and kept his head up. "Here," he said. "Don't let it fall off." He put another towel on Youngjae's forehead, this one significantly colder than the rag his face was rinsed with, but he didn't mind at all. "You're running a fever, by the way. Take this."

Youngjae almost wanted to say, Jaebum, it's okay, this isn't necessary, I'll be fine, but in truth he liked being taken care of like this. He was handed some medicine and a glass of water, which he downed with the two small pills quickly.

"I'll be in the other room if you need anything, okay?"

Jaebum almost left the room when, "Wait— Jaebum... could you stay here?" The older didn't say anything, and Youngjae almost took that as his discomfort. "Ah, that's embarrassing," he chuckled.

"No, it's alright. No judgement in this place," Jaebum told him matter-of-factly as he walked over and sat on the floor next to Youngjae.

"Yah, on the bed. This is yours anyway..." Jaebum sat down and bothered to get comfortable since he figured Youngjae would want him to stay a while. "Sorry if I'm bothering you, but thanks for taking care of me, Jaebum," he said, and rest his hand on top of the older's. 

Soon enough, he was asleep again, and Jaebum didn't move his hand.

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© illjae, 2017