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fairyniceyeah · 30 days ago

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💎🐕I can't breathe

Title from HOT (SEVENTEEN)

Summary: Mingyu couldn’t breathe. His lungs filled with hot air but he couldn’t catch his breath.

CW: emeto, panic

Whumpee/Sickie: Mingyu Caretaker: Wonwoo + Seungcheol/S.Coups + Joshua

“I think I already sweated off all my makeup again”, Seungkwan groaned and flopped onto the couch next to Mingyu. Mingyu winced at the motion, the couch not seeming as stable as it should be. And why was Seungkwan so close? He just said it was hot.

“Maybe you will be a clown by the end of the performance”, Jeonghan teased. Seungkwan half-heartedly threw a couch cushion at him. It was as if even the pillow wasn’t interested in movement, flying in a small curve and then just falling straight to the ground far away from its intended target.

“Why are we doing a pillow fight when it’s like fourty fucking degrees outside?”, Woozi grumbled, tugging at his jean jacket.

“I’ll do you one better: Why is it fourty fucking degrees outside?”, Dino complained. “Hey, Seungkwannie-hyung, that’s my fan.”

“Not anymore. If you want it, come get it.”

Dino didn’t even think about moving, just flopping back down onto a chair.

“Well, apparently German summers are hot”, Seungcheol said, walking inside with his own jean jacket slung over his shoulder. Mingyu knew instinctively that the jacket wouldn’t last their first song.

Mingyu groaned. For a whole minute he had forgotten the reason why they were here - sweating to death - with all the bickering. But yeah, they were in Germany. They had about an hour left until their stage. Their first stage at Lollapalooza Berlin. Their first stage at Lollapalooza in general. And their first time headlining it.

It wasn’t that he was nervous per say. But they had never performed in front of German Carats before - and he had heard rumors that there were Carats from all over Europe there. They had just made their debut in Europe at Glastonbury and now they were back again.

Somehow his nerves were melting along with his body and his members.

“No shit, Sherlock”, Jeonghan grumbled. “At least you can take your jacket off.”

“Nobody is stopping you, Hannie”, Seungcheol said with a shrug.

“I’m wearing white, genius”, Jeonghan said, “I want to go out with a bang on my last stage but that doesn’t mean I want to flash Carats once it becomes see through with sweat. They won’t survive that so shortly before…”

Mingyu closed his eyes, trying to drown the resulting arguing out. He was hot. He was sweaty. He was supposed to stand in front of one of their biggest crowds yet, in less than an hour. He was going to perform in front of so many expecting Carats, Carats who likely only had this one chance at seeing them. He couldn’t fuck this up.

He couldn’t …

He couldn’t breathe. His lungs filled with hot air but he couldn’t catch his breath.

He couldn’t …

💎

“Mingyu-yah, you okay?”, Joshua suddenly asked, appearing from beside him, a hand on Mingyu’s shoulder.

He jerked under the unexpected touch but quickly opened his eyes and nodded. “I’m just hot”, he mumbled.

“That’s what you are supposed to be - according to Carats”, Hoshi quipped. Seokmin obnoxiously started singing the refrain to Hot on top of his lungs. He shut up abruptly with a pained yelp. Mingyu had no idea what had happened but he was thankful.

“Oh, fuck off, hyung”, Mingyu replied, glaring at him. “You’re not as funny as you think you are.”

Hoshi didn’t seem to get the memo. “I mean, just imagine them going crazy all over your sweat soaked body. Not everybody can get that reaction out of people.”

“Carats will definitely appreciate those muscles. I still don’t get how you and Jihoonie-hyung lift the same weights at the gym”, Seungkwan added mischievously. Mingyu closed his eyes again.

There was the sound of a smack and a protesting sound from Seungkwan. Apparently not only was Mingyu offended, so was Woozi - though for a totally different reason.

It was all in good fun, of course, but still Mingyu felt himself flush. It wasn’t like he didn’t know he was attractive and a fan favourite. But that was never an easy title, seeing other members stare at their phone screens waiting for photos and videos to get more likes and never getting as much as him. He hated it.

And right now he didn’t have the patience. He didn’t want to be teased. He just felt … grumpy.

“You wish you could do that”, he hissed towards Seungkwan and stood up, ignoring the headrush. He pushed past the other members, looking straight ahead so he could ignore their surprised looks. Mingyu didn’t know why he was so sensitive right now, so irritated. But he didn’t want to stay in that hot room, being the butt of a joke yet again.

💎

Outside in the coolish hallway he leaned against the wall, taking a deep breath and wiping his sweaty hands on his jeans.

“That wasn’t very nice”, a deep voice commented. Mingyu didn’t need to look to the side to see who had followed him, mirroring his position against the wall.

Still he turned his head towards Wonwoo who was mustering him with something akin to worry in his eyes. “What’s up?”

Mingyu wanted to say that it was nothing. That he was overreacting.

But the truth spilled from his lips: “It’s fucking hot. I don’t want to get teased again and again. I know they don’t mean any harm. But I’m already on edge. We’re about to headline one of the biggest festivals in the world. We’re about to perform in front of - hopefully - a lot of Carats who have never seen us live and might never get the chance to again. They are expecting so much, I am sure. There are going to be thousands of people who just watched OneRepublic, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan and … what if we fuck up K-Pop for every Lollapalooza festival because nobody wants to see us? What if I make a mistake? What if something goes wrong? What if ….”

As he kept talking Mingyu noticed how everything was swimming around him and his stomach started to feel off. His breath was … “Hyung, I can’t breathe!”

“You’re panicking”, Wonwoo replied, far too calm. He came to step closer to Mingyu, taking his hands in his. Mingyu wanted to reply something witty like ‘I noticed’ but he couldn’t. All that came out was a choked sob.

Wonwoo gently pulled him into his arms, a strong hand coming to rest on his back. “Shh, it’s okay”, his best friend gently whispered into his ear, “you’re okay. Everything will be okay. You’ll do great - as always.”

Mingyu wanted to believe him. Wanted to take a deep breath, nod and agree. But fear was gripping his chest like a vice.

His chest … and his stomach.

“Hyung”, he whimpered, suppressing the sudden urge to gag, “I feel sick.”

“Oh, baby”, Wonwoo mumbled, pulling away to look at him with a worried frown, “do you think you’re gonna throw up?”

Mingyu wanted to answer but he wasn’t sure that all that would come out would be words. So he just pressed his lips shut and nodded. He didn’t know how everything had escalated in such a short time but that wasn’t the pressing issue right now. He just … he clung to Wonwoo, trusting his best friend completely. He was too disoriented, too breathless, too overwhelmed to do anything else.

💎

In any other situation Mingyu might have laughed at the expressions on his members' faces as Wonwoo pulled him back into the waiting room. The bathrooms were pretty far away and neither of them had wanted Mingyu to puke on the floor of the hallway.

So a trash can in the waiting room probably was the best and only choice. Even if it was humiliating to vomit in front of the whole team due to … whatever this was.

Wonwoo managed to help him kneel in front of the impromptu puke bucket just in time. The first gag was painful and very loud. Yet not loud enough to drown out the indignant squeak from Seungkwan, the curse from Jeonghan as he ordered emetophobic Seokmin and Vernon out of the room and the “dude, really?” from Woozi (and the following squeak as somebody slapped him).

Mingyu wanted to reply, apologize, do anything but kneel hopelessly over a bucket in a waiting room not even an hour before their stage started, puking his guts out. But here he was. Another gag seized him and more hot vomit shot into his mouth, the taste awful and sour. He spat it out, coughing harshly and gasping for air. Cold sweat was dripping down his face and he was shivering, hot and cold at the same time.

“What happened?”, Seungcheol asked, standing apparently much closer than Mingyu remembered him being. “What’s wrong with him? He can't be having a heatstroke already, right?”

Their leader sounded a mix of panicked - worried for his dongsaeng and their stage. Mingyu swallowed. He was feeling so hot now, sweat dripping everywhere. Gosh, he hoped he wasn’t overheated. That would be awful. He did not want to be the one explaining that the management and how would the Carats react?

Another lurch of his stomach and Mingyu retched again, wincing at the sound of liquid hitting liquid. He swallowed harshly but it didn’t help much.

Wonwoo, a hand rubbing small circles between Mingyu’s shoulder blades, sighed. “He’s nervous.”

Could it be …? In all the hectic of the sudden irritation and swirling thoughts Mingyu hadn’t even thought much further than “I’m gonna puke”. Anxiety over the stage making him feel sick? That made a sick - he hated that pun - sort of sense. It wouldn’t be the first time and he feared it wouldn’t be the last time either.

“You could put it a bit … more dramatic”, Mingyu groaned, wiping his mouth. Being nervous sounded very bad. Having a panic attack due to stage fright sounded … a bit better. At least not as pathetic.

Seungcheol patted his shoulder in sympathy. Their leader had had his fair share of panic before stages before and he certainly - it was an open secret in the group - had thrown up before stages too.

“Are you done?”, Wonwoo asked gently and Mingyu nodded, slumping back to rest against Wonwoo’s legs, head lolling against the older’s thigh. He lifted his hand to wipe his mouth but a hand on his wrist stopped him.

“Don’t”, Joshua - where had he come from so suddenly? - said with a gentle smile, holding out a cloth. “Use this.”

Upon further inspection Mingyu realised that it was one of the bandanas the stylists had given some of them to go with their denim outfits.

“Noona will kill me if I dirty it”, Mingyu mumbled.

“Nah. She likes me and I will tell her it was for a good cause. Besides, I was ogling that one belt earlier and do me a favor and give me a reason to wear that instead”, Joshua explained and - impatiently - wiped Mingyu’s mouth himself with it.

Mingyu rolled his eyes and coughed, taking the cloth from his hyung’s hand. He didn’t want to be babied right now. Not when they had a stage soon.

“Will you be okay?”, Seungcheol asked and crouched down next to Mingyu. Neither of the three of them missed the way he winced as he bent his knee but they knew better than to point it out.

“I … yeah”, Mingyu mumbled. “I just need to drink something and then we can kill the stage.”

“That’s the spirit”, Wonwoo replied, patting his shoulder.

And as Mingyu stepped out onto the stage, surrounded by his members, and in front of thousands of screaming and happy Carats, singing along to all their songs and cheering them on, he realised he had never had needed to be nervous at all.

Carats loved them.

Notes: I know this isn't my best work and I probably could have improved it a bit with time but I hope you like it anyways. I just wanted to post something again and so I managed to at least write about Lollapalooza (which I miss terribly). Also, yeah, it was fucking hot there. I think I told you before but my tongue literally got stuck on the ice cream due to the temperature difference and I'm telling you it was bloody- pun intended - awful. But SEVENTEEN killed it and I am so happy I can rewatch it again and again!

Masterlist links: Fairy's Masterlist 2024 Fairy's Masterlist 2025 Fairy's Masterlist - SEVENTEEN

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fairyniceyeah · 17 days ago

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💎🐸I want to hold your hand

Title from Shadow (SEVENTEEN)

Summary: “By the time the ambulance arrived he was barely conscious anymore and he was so feverish. He seemed to be in so much pain, he was holding Jihoonie’s hand so tightly that it was turning white."

CW: emeto, hospital, panic attacks (mentioned)

Sickie: Minghao Whumpee: Seungcheol/S.Coups + Jihoon/Woozi) Caretaker: Seungcheol/S.Coups + Jun + Soonyoung/Hoshi + Jihoon/Woozi + Seungkwan

“Hyung, don't freak out.”

Seungcheol, of course, freaked out.

What else was he supposed to do? He hadn’t expected a call from Hoshi, who was supposed to be on a schedule with Woozi, Minghao and Seungkwan until late at night.

Heart pounding in his chest, he fled the dance practice room where he had been with Jun and Dino, helping them with their practice with a watchful eye. He didn’t even manage to mutter an apology to them.

Once outside he leaned against the wall, bowing forwards to hold himself up with one hand on his knee, the other holding his phone in a white-knuckled grip to his ears. He could hear how awful, how ragged and fast his own breathing was. But he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t Hoshi’s style to call, especially not during a schedule and not with those words. He was used to them coming from Mingyu who had broken something again or maybe even, without the formal speech form, from Jeonghan after he had been too mischevious for his own good.

“What’s going on, Soonyoung-ah?”, he asked, trying to steady his breathing. It wouldn’t help if he fell into a panic attack himself.

Hoshi seemed to think along the same lines. “Are you okay, hyung? Breathe.”

“I’m okay”, Seungcheol pressed out, “Soonyoung-ah, why am I not supposed to freak out?”

Hoshi sighed and replied: “We had to call an ambulance for Hao. A manager and Jihoonie are with him. The paramedics think he has appendicitis and decided to take him to the hospital.”

Seungcheol felt his head swim. Minghao. Hospital. Appendicitis. And he hadn’t been there. Of course he knew that Hoshi and Woozi, especially combined, were able to take care of the younger members well, but still the leader wished he had been there. Maybe he … no. There was nothing he could have done.

“Hyung, you still there?”

“Yeah, umm…”, Seungcheol swallowed, licked his dry lips, “what happened?”

💎

“I’m sorry”, Minghao apologized, curled into himself on the chair some staff had brought for him. Jihoon was kneeling in front of him, patting his mouth with a damp towel. Seungkwan was standing behind the sitting dancer, rubbing his neck in a comforting way. Hoshi, not wanting to crowd the sick member, stood to the side, holding a bottle and a plastic bag just in case. “I didn’t mean to ruin the take.”

“You didn’t ruin anything, hyung”, Seungkwan instantly protested, “you’re sick. It’s not your fault.”

“Kwan-ah is right”, Hoshi added, bowing to a staff member who brought an ice pack wrapped in a towel in thanks. He handed the ice to Seungkwan who placed it onto Minghao’s neck. “You should have said you felt this sick earlier.”

Minghao hadn’t looked great when he had climbed into the car that morning, wincing and in pain. When Woozi had asked, he reluctantly told them he had a stomach ache since the night but he would be fine. And he had seemed better. Well, until he had suddenly rushed off in the middle of a scene to throw up to the side of the filming location. Luckily they had been outside, so not much damage was done - though maybe some to Minghao’s pride when he realized that all staff had watched him puke.

“Still, I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing, Hao”, Woozi grumbled with fondness in his no-nonsense voice especially reserved for stubborn maknae-line members. And if he had to admit it, also towards Hoshi. “How are you feeling now? Is your stomach still hurting? Still feeling sick?”

“Yeah”, Minghao mumbled, unconsciously tightening the hold he had on his stomach. “To both. But give me a few minutes, then I can continue.”

Woozi and Hoshi exchanged a worried glance. They both were reluctant to let their sick dongsaeng continue working but they also knew that filming could not just be halted for an upset stomach. Nearly all thirteen of them had fought through stomach related issues for work before, filmings, MV shootings, concerts, interviews, you name it. If any accommodations could be made, they would be done before the member could ask for them, but what could they do for Minghao?

“Do you want another painkiller, Minghao-yah?”, their manager asked, finally speaking up. He was as worried as the members were, they knew that, but the responsibility and pressure of the shooting rested on his shoulders.

“Another?”, Hoshi echoed.

“He asked for one earlier”, the manager explained. Minghao nodded in agreement to that statement but then said: “No, thank you. I … I feel too queasy to take anything right now, I think.”

“Are you sure?”, Seungkwan asked, playing with Minghao’s hair now, “it might help you feel better.”

“Yeah”, Minghao breathed out. It was clear he was still really nauseous. “Let’s go on.”

💎

It took only about fifteen minutes, if that, until Minghao suddenly clutched Seungkwan’s wrist, the back of his other hand pressed to his mouth. Seungkwan didn’t hesitate to call for a break, not caring at all if it was his place or not to do so. There was no way he would let Minghao suffer any longer if he could do anything.

“Come on”, he whispered, wrapping his hand around Minghao’s in turn and pulling him away from any cameras and the filming crew. They ended up by a tree just out of sight and Seungkwan helped Minghao crouch down so he was in a squatting position. They didn’t have any longer, Minghao opened his mouth and a spray of mostly liquid vomit wet the ground in front of him. Seungkwan placed both hands on his hyung’s shoulders, rubbing soothing circles into his nape with his thumb.

Footsteps appeared behind them and a quick glance over his shoulder revealed Woozi and Hoshi standing next to each other to help block the view of the poorly member. Both looked incredibly concerned but before any of them could speak, Minghao started to sway even as he continued to get sick. Instantly Seungkwan stepped directly behind him, so he could lean against his legs and tightened his hold on Minghao’s shoulders. Luckily it was enough to keep Minghao from falling and soon after, he was done for the time-being.

With Woozi’s help, Seungkwan was able to pull Minghao to his feet and none of them missed the pained wince on his face at the movement. Nor the groan he let out unwillingly, his hand coming to clutch his upset stomach.

“Hao”, Woozi mumbled with a sigh, “let’s take a longer break, okay? Maybe squeeze in a nap. You can’t keep going like this.”

Seungkwan was so grateful to the hyungs for making that decision. Watching Minghao be so sick was awful. They led the exhausted dancer past the crew, Minghao’s head ducked and Seungkwan was sure he was seeing tears in his eyes, frustrated and embarrassed.

💎

The break and the nap - that even the director and the filming crew had had no problems allowing - didn’t help.

Minghao had only been asleep curled up onto Hoshi’s lap and his arms holding his abused abdomen for about ten minutes when he woke up again, barely able to push himself away from the older to avoid puking on him. Woozi helped hold him up as he gagged and retched, the puddle just growing under him. Tears were running down Minghao’s face, dripping into the vomit below.

Minghao was barely done with throwing up, when the hold he had on one of Woozi’s hands tightened and he blanched even more. “Bathroom”, he whispered, panicked.

Woozi didn’t hesitate to help him up, understanding immediately that Minghao didn’t mean he was going to throw up again. Within a minute he had managed to half-drag half-carry the younger into one of the trailers at the back of the filming areas. It had been difficult - Minghao had seemed to be in so much pain that walking had been hard for him.

Seeing how shaky and ill Minghao was, Woozi didn’t dare leave him alone in the trailer, he just closed the bathroom door while Minghao fumbled with his pants and stepped back. He couldn’t hear anything but pained sobs though and his worry overruling his discomfort at disturbing the younger in such a precarious situation, so within a few minutes he knocked on the door.

“Hao?”, he asked hesitantly, “are you okay?”

It was a stupid question of course but what else could he say?

“It hurts, hyung”, Minghao sobbed, “I thought I had to … but … uhm … I don’t. Everything just hurts so badly. I … I can’t get up.”

Woozi winced internally. He knew how Minghao was about privacy. “Do you need help?”

“Please, hyungie…”

Without any hesitation Woozi pushed open the door, instantly met with Minghao’s teary face. The younger upon seeing him enter covered his face in embarrassment though it was more than obvious that he was flushing red.

“I’ve got you, it’s okay, baby”, Woozi said, a bit helpless in the face of the situation.

Helping Minghao stand up wasn’t even close to embarrassing for either of them. They had seen each other in various states of undress before of course and all their focus was on moving so slowly that Minghao didn’t cry in pain as his muscles ached and cramped. It took a long minute until Minghao was upright and dressed again and by then he was in so much pain that tears were just streaming down his pale face without him even trying to stop them.

They made it about two steps out of the bathroom when Minghao suddenly coughed and throw up dripped down his lips. The coughing painted a grimace on Minghao’s face and he cried out. Nothing much came up but it was enough that Woozi realized that they needed real help. Something was horrifically wrong with the younger.

He managed to get Minghao to lie down on his side on a couch in the trailer’s mainroom and gently brushed his hair from his face. Had Minghao been burning up this badly earlier too?

“Hyungie, it hurts so badly”, Minghao mumbled, his speech slurred. He had his eyes pressed shut and his whole face was soaked in sweat.

“I know, we’ll get you help, okay?”, Woozi soothed, hoping deep down they could get him relief soon. He squeezed Minghao’s shoulder in comfort, then ran out of the trailer.

They needed more help than they could give Minghao themselves.

💎

“By the time the ambulance arrived he was barely conscious anymore and he was so feverish. He seemed to be in so much pain, he was holding Jihoonie’s hand so tightly that it was turning white”, Hoshi explained, “the paramedics gave him some pain meds but I don’t know how much that helped.”

“Damn”, Seungcheol mumbled, pressing his free hand to his temple, “which hospital are they at?”

Hoshi gave him the name he had gotten from another manager. “You go, hyung, but take care of yourself. Manager-hyung is taking Seungkwannie and me home.”

“Okay, yeah.”

They said their goodbyes, then hung up. Before slipping his phone into his pocket, Seungcheol sent Jihoon a text, letting him know he was on his way.

As much as Seungcheol wanted to get to the hospital as soon as possible, he knew he needed to calm himself down first. It wouldn’t help if he “freaked out” as Hoshi had called it.

Just as he pushed himself off the wall to return to the dance practice room to gather his stuff and get his car keys, Jun exited the room, worry on his face as he spotted Seungcheol.

“Are you okay, hyung?”, he asked, coming closer instantly.

“Soonyoungie called. Minghao is in hospital”, Seungcheol said, ignoring the question about himself. “They think he has appendicitis. He’s been throwing up and his stomach hurts a lot. He’s got a fever too.”

Instantly Jun’s frown deepened. “Can we go see him?”

“I am on my way there but I don’t know how many people can come…”, Seungcheol trailed off as his phone started to ring again. Seeing Woozi’s contact glowing at him, he quickly accepted the call and put him on speaker.

“Jihoonie?”, Seungcheol asked, “how is he doing?”

When Woozi spoke his voice was waving and quivering in a way that Seungcheel hadn’t heard very often. He seemed to be worried out of his mind.

“Can you find Junnie for me? I don’t think that, uh, I don’t think that Minghao knows what’s going on. He keeps crying and fighting the nurses and I … I’m so sorry, hyung. I’m at my wit’s end. I don’t know how to get through him and explain what is happening. I don’t think he even understands Korean …”, Woozi rambled, clearly overwhelmed. At least he had had enough sense to call Seungcheol in case Jun didn’t know what was going on yet. Luckily, he did.

“Stop, Jihoonie”, Jun interrupted him, “I’m here. Let me speak to Xiao Ba, hm?”

“Oh, thank God”, Woozi breathed out and his footsteps sounded hurried through the phone. Then: “Hao? I have Junnie on the phone, okay? He will explain to you what is happening.”

Instantly Jun started to talk to Minghao in rapid Chinese, sounding like he was barely leaving any space between words to breathe.

By that time Dino stuck his head out of the practice room as well, curious and concerned why both his hyungs had disappeared and never came back. He seemed to be instantly able to tell that something was going on with the way Jun was speaking and he probably saw the concern on their faces.

“What’s happening?”, he asked, coming to stand as close as possible by Seungcheol without actively touching him. He seemed uncertain too, faced with the unknown situation. With a sigh, Seungcheol pulled him into his side, tucking the maknae under his arm. “Why is Junnie-hyung speaking that fast in Chinese?”

“Minghao is sick. He was throwing up at the schedule, so they brought him to hospital. Jihoonie just called because he needed Jun to translate some stuff for Hao”, Seungcheol explained, hoping the short and maybe a bit sugarcoated version of things was enough for Dino. It was enough that already he himself, Jihoon, Jun, Hoshi, Seungkwan and most of all Minghao were frightened.

“Oh no, poor hyung”, Dino said, sounding heartfelt sorry.

“They are taking him to surgery now”, Jun said with a tremble in his voice, Seungcheol’s phone in hand, call ended. “They needed him to give permission for it but he didn’t even understand what was wrong and what they wanted him to sign. He was so scared…”

“Come here, love”, Seungcheol offered, reaching out his free arm to the younger. Instantly Jun complied and wrapped his other arm around Dino. Together they stood in the hallway for a moment, just holding each other.

💎

The moment Seungcheol and Jun stepped into the waiting room, the leader had his arms full of shaking Jihoon. It was clear that the producer was overwhelmed and scared and he couldn’t blame him. From what Jun had said after the phone call it was clear that MInghao had been too feverish and sick to make any sense. The younger dancer had been crying so badly he kept throwing up and he didn’t understand what was going on at all. His Korean sure was great now but medical terms? That was even hard for native speakers.

“He … hyung, he is so sick”, Jihoon whispered, resting his head against Seungcheol’s shoulder. “I didn’t know how to help him except hold his hand. He was so scared. I don’t think he even knew I was there.”

“He knew, I’m sure”, Jun comforted, placing a hand on Jihoon’s shoulder.

Seungcheol nodded in agreement and moved his hand up to ruffle the producer’s hair. “You did well, Jihoonie.”

They all turned to look at the manager and a nurse arriving behind them, though Jihoon’s hand stayed fisted to the back of Seungcheol’s hoodie.

“They took him into surgery now”, the nurse explained, “it’s a standard procedure, so don’t worry too much. We perform appendectomies every day multiple times. Your friend is in good hands.”

“How long will the surgery take?”, Seungcheol asked anxiously. He couldn’t imagine waiting for hours now.

“About an hour is typical”, the nurse explained, “less now that they have already started, probably. I can bring you to what is going to be his room after surgery. You can wait there for him.”

Waiting was agony. It was like the arms of the clock didn’t want to move at all. There were only two chairs in the room, which meant Jun having his own and Jihoon ending up on Seungcheol’s lap. Surprisingly he didn’t mind. Normally Jihoon tended to be a pacer but right now it seemed like being in contact with his members was priority.

The manager had gone outside for various phone calls with management. Seungcheol had called Jeonghan to let him know what was going on and to have him go check on the members worried in the dorms and to spread the news. Their second-oldest hadn’t been a fan of not being allowed at the hospital but the nurse had already made sure that they knew they were already over the limit of visitors allowed and that it was an exception. Besides, Jeonghan knew that taking care of the concerned members was important too.

It was about forty-five minutes after they had arrived in the room that the door opened and an orderly was pushing in a bed. Minghao was stark pale against the sheets and he was still asleep from the anesthetics.

As soon as the orderly had left, they crowded around the bed. Jihoon was instantly clutching one of Minghao’s hands but Jun visibly recoiled from the other where there were various lines in his veins.

A doctor who entered with the manager said: “Don’t be scared of the IV-lines. He needs pain meds, some fever reducers and we gave him some antiemetics just in case. He should wake up in the next half hour. Let somebody know when he does.”

While being physically close to Minghao brought some comfort it was also hard to see him like that. His skin was flushed from his fever and he was soaked in sweat. Connected to the IVs he seemed so small on the bed. Like a young child not an internationally known idol.

“The worst is over, Junnie”, Seungcheol said and took Jun’s hand, guiding it to hold Minghao’s. “He’s okay. The surgery must have gone well, they would have said something if it didn’t.” Jun nodded hesitantly and knelt down next to Minghao’s bed, pressing his head onto the mattress.

Seungcheol took a few steps back, watching the scene. Minghao would need some time to recover but he was fine. Their friends were worried but a quick text to Jeonghan would calm them down.

Finally it felt easier to breathe.

Masterlist links: Fairy's Masterlist 2024 Fairy's Masterlist 2025 Fairy's Masterlist - SEVENTEEN

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