brighter than a blue sky (joongnine)

ten;

TW: small amount of bullying, physical abuse.

nines body felt heavy. after the events of last night, he was painfully tired, but it wasn't like they could miss a day of university. loud voices echoed around the room, and in his mind, his head splitting migraine worsening. he wasn't sure why he felt so terrible, but it seemed easy enough to put it down to the long night he
had.

'p'nine' a warm hand tapped his shoulder, and he turned slightly to see who it was.

'oh, hi chen' he whispered.

he had unintentionally started calling joong chen more, and although he didn't mean to, it seemed to comfort the boy.

'p' you're sweating, are you feeling okay?'

nine quirked his brows, drawing his hand up to his pale face. wiping along his forehead slightly, he noticed joong was right, feeling the way the sweat dripped down him. now nine thought of it, it was strange, because he actually felt immensely cold.

'y-yeah i'm fine' he managed to say, hoping joong would leave it

but of course he didn't.

'p'nine you look sick, i can ask to go to the nurses office?' joong offered him a small smile.

'no, no, you don't need to do that, i'm okay!' nine announced, but this only led joong to raise his eyebrows in disbelief.

'nine' he spoke with a little more authority this time. 'you're not well, you need to go to the nurse'

nine desperately wanted to refuse, he really did, but something about joongs tone made him unable to refuse, and he simply obeyed.

'okay'

———————

'sweetheart, i think you have a fever' the nurse mumbled 'it's probably best if you take a few days off, so you can recover quicker.'

nines eyes went wide, shaking his head profusely 'no, i can't, i have so much work to do' his eyes began to fill with tears, just from the prospect of not going in.

before he could even register it, a hand met his own, gently rubbing soft circles into it. he turned around, to come face to face with joong.

'don't get upset, nai, it's okay' he whispered.

nine took a deep breath, knowing that getting upset wasn't going to help his current state, and nodded slightly.

'okay, thank you'

the nurse smiled, before heading out of the room, leaving joong and nine alone. they sat in an almost uncomfortable silence, before nine spoke up.

'i don't want to be sick' he mumbled, almost silently.

joong chuckled a little, turning the elder to face him.

'i know nine, but if you rest, you'll feel better much sooner, and i'll be there taking care of you''

nine sighed. he felt awful. no only because he literally felt awful, but simply because he should be the one taking care of joong. joong was younger than him, and had just gone through a breakup, yet he was the one who had to look after nine.

'i'm sorry' nine whispered in a tiny voice.

'what? no, please don't apologise. come on, let's get you home, hm?'

he nodded at joong, before both boys quietly made their way back into the main university.

'shall we go and get our stuff, and then meet by the main exit? are you going to be okay alone?' joong quizzed, voice full of concern.