borahaehae

Hey! How’s work? Are you stopping by today?

Squinting at the unread message on his phone, Yoongi’s fingers hover over the screen. It’s late, and he hasn’t seen his boyfriend yet today. In fact, Jungkook has been suspiciously quiet since he’d last seen him the afternoon before. Yoongi knows he’s been busy and is probably in the middle of working on something right now, but he still can’t help but feel a little worried about the lack of messages. 

Come work on music with me? Need my pretty songbird to help me out with a melody :)

To his relief, Yoongi doesn’t have to wait much longer after that for Jungkook’s reply to light up his phone screen.

can’t, hyung. throat isn’t in good condition

Yoongi frowns, typing out a response: No problem! You don’t have to sing today, we can do that tomorrow maybe?

After that, his phone is quiet again. Yoongi sets it down on his desk and turns back to his laptop, absently biting the inside of his cheek. His studio is chilly and dimly lit inside; the atmosphere may or may not be influenced by a certain Jeon Jungkook, who just so happens to hate being hot and bright lights. It’s a little colder than Yoongi would usually choose, but he’s been hoping to see Jungkook so he prepared it in advance. 

Jungkook doesn’t confirm that he’s actually coming by until about ten minutes later, and it’s followed soon after by a knock on the door.

“Hey,” Yoongi greets him eagerly when he opens the door to see Jungkook standing there with two to-go cups of coffee in hand. 

Jungkook smiles shyly at him from within the depths of his hood, pulled so far over his head it creates a shadow across his whole face.

“Hi.” Jungkook hands one of the coffees over, and Yoongi takes a grateful sip.

“You’re a lifesaver,” Yoongi gushes. “Thank you.”

Jungkook fiddles with the plastic lid on his own cup. He’s extra quiet today, maybe sleepy. Yoongi reaches over and rubs his back through his hoodie.

“Want to sit down?”

Yoongi gestures at the couch, then sits in his chair at his desk.

Instead of the couch, Jungkook finds a closer seat– Yoongi’s lap.

“Hey!” Yoongi’s breath punches out, but his arms wrap around Jungkook’s waist automatically. “Well, hello,” he chuckles. “Missed you today.”

Jungkook is still silent. He leans back against Yoongi’s chest, his head ducked down so his face is hidden. Yoongi reaches around him to start the song on his laptop, and then settles back in his chair as the first few notes begin to play, arms tightening around Jungkook again.       

He hears Jungkook gasp softly at the chorus, and then again at the bridge, his back expanding against Yoongi’s chest. The rest of the time, he’s still– almost uncharacteristically so, given that they’re listening to music and that usually gets Jungkook swaying back and forth at the very least.

As the song nears its end, Yoongi feels Jungkook start to shake against him. His right hand, resting on Jungkook’s stomach, is jostled with the movement. At first, he’s confused, but the moment he cranes his neck to get a look at Jungkook’s face he realizes what’s going on.

“Oh, baby– don’t cry,” he murmurs, reaching up to brush the tears from Jungkook’s cheek. “What’s wrong?”

Jungkook hunches forward and brings his sleeves up to his face, sniffling. “It’s beautiful,” he whispers hoarsely.

It takes Yoongi a second to realize he’s talking about a song, and a surprised laugh bursts out of him before he can stop it.

“Sorry,” he cuts himself off. “I guess it is kind of a moving song, isn’t it?”

Yoongi reaches up and tugs Jungkook’s hood back to get a better look at his face. Jungkook is still sniffling wetly into his sleeves, but he lowers his hands when Yoongi starts carding his fingers through his hair. 

“Whoa,” Yoongi pauses, his hand against Jungkook’s forehead. “You’re really warm, baby.”

Jungkook nods. His eyes are glistening with more tears. When he sniffles again, Yoongi’s eyes are drawn to his nose, which is an alarmingly bright shade of pink.

“I really liked it, Hyung,” Jungkook croaks out, and Yoongi once again doesn’t clock that he’s talking about the song for a moment. 

“Why…why does your voice sound like that?” He asks, maneuvering Jungkook sideways in his lap. “Baby, are you sick?” 

“Mm hmm.”

“Oh no, my pretty songbird lost his voice.” He takes in Jungkook’s pale face, pink nose, mussed hair. He presses his hand to Jungkook’s forehead again, then the side of the face, then the side of his neck. “I think you have a fever, baby.”

“Yeah.” Jungkook nods sadly, his voice crackling weakly. “But I took medicine and I’m drinking tea,” he adds, holding up his paper cup. “Well, it tastes kind of gross, actually…”

“Jungkook-ie, why didn’t you say so?”

Jungkook’s expression crumples into something slightly annoyed. “I did.” He leans over, tucking his face into the crook of Yoongi’s neck. 

“You said that your throat isn’t in good condition,” Yoongi retorts, but Jungkook doesn’t respond. He just presses his nose against Yoongi’s skin and sniffles softly. 

Jungkook clutches his cup of tea to his chest. He lets out a long, tired-sounding sigh, his breath tickling Yoongi’s neck.

“It really was a beautiful song,” Jungkook whispers after a minute, and then he’s crying again, wet sniffles and hot tears and shaking shoulders. 

“Shh,” Yoongi soothes, taking his cup to set it on the desk. “Oh, baby.”

He wraps his arms around Jungkook’s waist again and rocks him gently back and forth as he cries. “Shh, you’re okay.” 

It should be offputting, the amount of wetness that’s coming out of Jungkook’s face and dampening Yoongi’s throat and the collar of his shirt, but he can’t quite bring himself to care when Jungkook sounds so pitiful. Jungkook muffles his sniffling and crying against Yoongi’s shirt and Yoongi can feel the worrying heat seeping off of him too well.

It’s not long before Jungkook’s tears begin to slow, his breath hitching softly. He wipes his face with his sleeve and Yoongi kisses his temple, cradling the side of his face with one hand.

“I can’t tell if you’re more emotional because of the song, or the fever,” Yoongi murmurs. “How long ago did you take medicine?” 

Jungkook sniffles. “Hour ago.”

“Okay. I’m going to take you home so you can rest, okay? Try saving your voice, baby.”

Jungkook leans away so he can meet Yoongi’s eyes. “Your home?”

Yoongi chuckles and pulls Jungkook back against his chest. “Okay, baby. I’ll bring you home with me. No more talking though. You poor thing.” 

After a moment of silence, Jungkook shivers against him. “Cold in here,” he whispers hoarsely.

“Because of you,” Yoongi snorts. “You’re always melting when it gets over twenty degrees.” 

He absolutely does not expect for Jungkook to react the way he does– burying his face into his sleeves again before bursting into tears.

“Shit,” Yoongi hisses, his stomach dropping. 

His poor, sweet songbird– so sensitive, emotional from the fever, and miserably sick– is never going to stop crying at this point unless Yoongi can get him home and tucked into bed.

“I’ll turn up the heat,” he rushes to say, gently guiding Jungkook off his lap so he can stand up. He leads Jungkook to the couch and waits for Jungkook to sit before wrapping a throw blanket around his shoulders.    

Jungkook’s nose is running faster than a faucet. Yoongi grabs the tissue box from his desk and settles it in Jungkook’s lap, plucking a handful of tissues from the box and tucking them into Jungkook’s hands. 

“Wipe your nose, baby,” Yoongi encourages. He has half the mind to do it for Jungkook as he watches him clumsily swipe at his nose with the tissues. 

Jungkook pouts up at him, his big eyes watery and filled with emotions Yoongi couldn’t possibly name with a single word. His chin wobbles and his pink nostrils flare wide– Yoongi can tell he’s once again on the verge of tears.

“I know,” Yoongi coos, bending down and cupping Jungkook’s face in his hands. “Baby, we’re going home very soon, I promise. Just give me one more minute to get all of my stuff.” 

He presses a kiss to Jungkook’s forehead, then rushes around to shut everything down and gather all of his belongings. When he turns back to Jungkook, he sees his boyfriend sniffling into a wad of tissues. 

“Let’s bring that with us,” Yoongi suggests, picking up the tissue box and tucking it under his arm. 

He helps Jungkook stand up. It’s not terribly cold outside, but Yoongi peels off his jacket and wraps it around Jungkook’s shoulders instead, smiling when Jungkook hums happily at the warmth. 

“So nice,” Jungkook whispers, fresh tears welling up in his eyes.