Nothing to Whine About
Fandom: SHINee
Sickie: Kibum (strep throat)
Caregiver(s): Jonghyun
Word Count: 2,198
Notes: Back in November, @haifa896 sent the idea of someone having to stay at the dorm over a holiday, and another member staying back with them. The request was for Key and Jjong, and I'm happy to have FINALLY cranked this fic out!!!
Kibum knew he was a complainer. It was just part of his DNA. He had a lot of opinions, and couldn’t help that everyone else was just wrong about so many things in life. But at the end of the day, Kibum acknowledged that about two thirds of the time, his whining was more for the sake of humor and dramatics.
But right now, when Kibum was laying in bed, staring up at his ceiling, trying to ignore the sharp stinging pain in his throat and the fever aches gripping every single muscle while his members all left to visit home for the Chuseok holiday, fell into the other third, when his complaints were absolutely, irrevocably justified.
It had all started with Minho, naturally the source of most of Kibum’s problems. Minho had been the one to bring strep into their dorm. Because he was Minho, he’d ignored the sore throat at first, no matter how severe, claiming he was fine and didn’t need a doctor, just water. He fought the member’s worried caretaking attempts and insistence to keep his distance from them, assuring them it was just a cold. Then the fever hit, spiking so high he physically couldn’t move from bed. Jinki and Jonhyun had had the unpleasant task of manhandling Minho to the car, a terrible experience for all involved as Minho was finally in enough pain to give up the tough guy act, and barely had the strength to stay upright for more than a minute at a time. It was a genuine shock for everyone; they hadn’t seen Minho fall apart like this, ever. Of course he’d had his fair share of breakdowns over the years, but never had the members seen him so helplessly vulnerable. The manager who took him to the doctor said Minho cried basically the whole trip. And the tears didn’t fully stop until he’d taken his first dose of antibiotics and slept for five hours. Only then was the world back in order, and three days later, Minho was right as rain.
It felt almost cosmically divined that on that third day, when Minho regained his health, Jinki woke up with a sore throat. Unlike Minho, he understood the severity of the situation immediately and didn’t refuse rest, medicine, or isolation. Unfortunately, like Minho, the fever hit hard and fast, rendering their leader an anxious mess. He’d lost his voice almost immediately from the coughing and swollen tonsils, which maliciously transformed into flashbacks of his vocal polyps experience, when he feared he might never sing again. Scared and in pain, with no way to communicate clearly, Jinki had spent the better part of three days inconsolable, which broke his members beyond belief. While Minho’s body had reacted to the antibiotics right away, it took Jinki’s a bit longer, which in itself was unusual and further cause for concern from the members, unable to do much else for their leader until his body figured it out.
With Jinki so distressed, it had been difficult to keep Taemin away from him. Taemin couldn’t resist snuggle time on a good day, and given that Jinki was currently having several very bad days, and the members were terrified to leave him alone, they unfortunately had to let their young starfish do his thing and pray for the best.
So it wasn’t at all surprising that Taemin got sick next, but it was a pleasant turn of events that his symptoms ended up on the more mild side, given how intensely the same bug had knocked out Minho and Jinki. Sure, he was still feverish and fatigued, and more than a little loopy because of it. But the sore throat only lasted 24 hours for Taemin, which created a new problem: keeping him at rest. Even with the fever, Taemin tried to weasel his way to practice after the allotted antibiotic time, insisting that he felt ‘so much better’ and ‘really wasn’t that sick anyway.’ Naturally, he’d failed to convince all of his hyungs, and was forcibly kept at home for three extra days to prevent a relapse. Not to be completely defeated, Taemin bartered for extra cuddles, which all of his members (Kibum excluded) were happy to oblige.
So it really wasn’t a shock either that Jonghyun went down after, given that he was Taemin’s roommate and thus his preferred cuddle companion, because, even though he didn’t have the antibodies, Jonghyun couldn’t deny Taemin anything. His experience fell somewhere in the middle, not as blissfully mild as Taemin’s but also not as severe as the first two. The cough had been the worst for him, keeping him up most of the night, and also stealing his voice away. It was heart breaking and downright painful to listen to him talk, but that didn’t deter Jonghyun at all from chattering up a storm whenever his members came home from their daily activities. He was down for the count for just about five days. And then all five of them breathed a sigh of relief that they’d finally, after nearly a month, overcome their strep-apocalypse, believing wholeheartedly in Kibum’s immunity.
It took three more days to prove them all wrong.
But it made little sense to Kibum how he’d gotten sick. The previous pattern made sense: Minho to his roommate, Jinki to his starfish, Taemin to his roommate. But Kibum had avoided all of them through it all. Even when they’d all let Jonghyun chill on the couch 24 hours post-antibiotic, he’d worn a mask for Kibum’s sake (as had Kibum), and stayed in the same spot on the couch so it would be ‘easier to disinfect later.’ He had done everything right to stay healthy. And it hadn’t worked.
Which brought Kibum back to this moment, staring at the ceiling, pitying himself. He’d replayed the same loop again and again, trying to divine the moment his body betrayed him. He was so far unsuccessful, and no closer to improving his mood. It stung that he’d gotten sick at all, but the fact that he was too sick to travel home for the Chuseok holiday? That was cruel and unusual punishment. Even though Kibum could have moved his travel arrangements a day or two after the first 24-hours on antibiotics, he felt wrong about it, not willing to risk infecting anyone else despite wearing a mask. He also felt absolutely horrible, and knew there was no chance he’d actually survive the trip down to Daegu.
The creak of his bedroom door interrupted his melancholic musings. Kibum sat up, brows furrowed, as Jonghyun peeked his head in and gave a small wave.
Kibum’s scowl stayed put. “What the hell are you doing here?” His voice was borderline menacing in spite of how raw and croaky he was.
Jonghyun’s smile widened as he pushed further into the doorway. “Hanging out with you, duh.”
“Why?”
Jonghyun shrugged. “So you aren’t alone for Chuseok? Come on, Bammie, I thought you’d be happy.”
Kibum resisted the urge to cross his arms, afraid to look too much like a petulant child. “But your mom…”
“Has my sister. And I can go home tomorrow, or the next day. And Taemin’s going to stop over, and Jinki and Minho are coming back a bit early too. Cause it’s not fair to leave you wallowing in misery by yourself after you looked out for all of us this past month…” “I really didn’t help with any of you,” Kibum interrupted. A stab of guilt shot through his chest, but he swallowed it back down, which was incredibly difficult given the shrieking pain in his throat when he so much as moved.
Jonghyun rolled his eyes. “Come on, be fair to yourself. You may not have been holding our hands, but you were the one making soup in the kitchen and running to the store for popsicles.”
Kibum shrugged, glancing at his window blinds. “Listen, the popsicles were the only way to keep Jinki-hyung hydrated and Taemin quiet.”
“Okay. Be a brat, that’s fine.” Jonghyun’s smile grew irritatingly larger at Kibum’s glare. “But regardless, I’m staying home with you. And I thought we could have a little picnic!”
“Picnic?” “Yeah. I made us dinner, and I can either bring it in here, or we can move out to the living room cause I know you don’t like crumbs in your bed. However, few of the foods I made even have crumbs, because they are all soft, easy on the throat things.”
Kibum blinked, waiting for his brain to catch up. “You… made us dinner?” Jonghyun nodded. “When?”
“Last hour or so.”
“But… everyone just left. How did you…?” “No, they left about two hours ago, bud.” Kibum’s eye widened comically. Jonghyun did his best to contain his smile. “It’s normal to lose some time when on those meds.”
“I guess…” Kibum trailed off, looking away in slight embarrassment. He hid it behind a wince as he attempted to swallow again.
“So, picnic in here or living room?”
“Living room please.”
“Alright! I’ll go set up, and then come back for you!”
As Jonghyun disappeared, Kibum settled back against his pillows, utterly baffled by this turn of events. Sure, Jonghyun’s family lived the closest to the dorm, and he could go visit them in a day or so, but something about the older man willingly sacrificing his holiday to spend it with Kibum? When he was in peak whining condition? It made him want to cry.
Especially because he felt like he’d actually been quite a jerk several times throughout the past month. Germaphobe that he was, Kibum had been snappier and more closed off, especially to whichever member was ill at the time. He knew it was mean, knew it was out of their control, but he couldn’t temper the voices in his head.
But… the more he thought about it, with Jonghyun’s words as a guide, maybe Kibum had been more involved than he’d assumed. A few memories began to tug at his heart…
~ “Is he…?” Kibum turned from the doorway to see Taemin lingering in the hallway. His fingers were knotted in the hem of his t-shirt. The maknae bit his lip, avoided Kibum’s eyes. “Is Minho gonna be…?”
Kibum swept forward and pulled Taemin close. “Of course he is, bug.” There hadn’t been a way to keep Taemin from watching Jinki and Jonghyun basically dragging Minho to the manager’s car, but Kibum could hold him now. Focusing on Taemin’s distress over Minho’s distress helped Kibum ignore his own distress…. ~
~ “What’re you doing?” Kibum asked, leaning in the doorway to Jinki and Minho’s room.
Taemin, sprawled atop Jinki’s bed with the sleeping leader curled up next to him, looked up only briefly from his Gameboy. “Helping.”
Kibum settled against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, lips pursed. “How?”
“Whenever hyung starts moving around, you know, with a bad dream or something, I pet his head, and he stays asleep.”
“Okay, that’s… actually quite attentive.” Kibum shifted the box of popsicles in his hands. “Next time hyung wakes up, can you call me? We need to make sure he eats at least one of these?” Taemin’s eyes lit up. “Can I have one?”
“Sure. When hyung wakes up. AND!” Kibum held up a warning finger, “When he wakes up naturally, Taem.”
Taemin rolled his eyes. “I’m not that selfish, hyung….” ~
~ “Here. Chug this.” Kibum threw a bottle of Robitussin on the coffee table, clattering next to the amoxicillin that was nearly empty after passing between four separate people in the past two weeks.
“Oh my god, in 24 hours, I’m giving you the best thank you kiss of your life,” Jonghyun exclaimed, relief evident in his entire body even as he winced in discomfort reaching for the new medicine. Despite the fact that Jonghyun was already 24 hours post-antibiotic, the joke had become a house favorite throughout the strep-apocalypse.
“Um, no. You can kiss me in five to seven business days.”
Minho snorted from the kitchen. “If you haven’t caught it by now, Kibum, one kiss won’t kill you.”
“You wanna make it seven to ten days?” Kibum shot back, head snapping sharply towards the now cackling rapper.
“NooOOOO!!!!” Jonghyun cried, eyes wide in panic.
Jinki cuffed Minho on the back of the head as the rapper continued laughing. “Stop being a menace!”
“Hey.”
Kibum shook his head, glancing towards the doorway, where Jonghyun had returned. “Ready for our picnic?” He cocked his head to the side when Kibum just stared back at him.
“Why… why me?” Jonghyun waited as Kibum puzzled through his words. “I just… I don’t deser-“
“Don’t say that,” Jonghyun interrupted, rushing to the bed. He cupped Kibum’s face, forcing eye contact. “You deserve the world, Kibum. Whether you think you do or not, you do. We all know you do. You don’t need to earn love, okay?”
The tears spilled down Kibum’s cheeks before he knew what was happening. His throat tightened ever so slightly, which was more significant given his already swollen tonsils. “Okay,” he choked out. Maybe, just maybe, he’d have one less thing to whine about now.
