#Caretaker San

[fairyniceyeah]

⌛🧸🐿️ I know, I’m with you, lean on

Title from Better (ATEEZ)

Summary: Jongho and Hongjoong suffer from food poisoning on the way to an MV filming.

CW: emeto

Sickie: Jongho + Hongjoong Caretakers: Seonghwa + Mingi + Yunho + San

It was dark outside, the only light coming from the few buildings they were passing and the occasional car that drove in the opposite direction. It was calm and quiet and Jongho was reminded of the car trips with his parents when he was younger, where he would watch the streets passing by until he fell asleep curled up under a blanket and his dad carried him inside to his bed.

He missed them.

Despite his parents living in Seoul he barely saw them, the last time nearly three months back. He supposed he couldn’t complain, San’s parents were all the way in Namhae and Seonghwa’s in Jinju. His oldest hyung hadn’t seen his family in over a year and hadn’t even met his older brother’s daughter yet.

Jongho turned his attention to his sleeping members. Their day had been exhausting between recording and dance practice and now they were on their way to some remote location for their next M/V shooting.

He could see all of them from where he sat in the back row where he was squished between the window on his left and Mingi on his right. Their normal van had to be repaired so they were left in a regular nine-seater divided in three rows, which was a tight fit especially for their taller members. Mingi was resting partially against San, his long legs entangled with Jongho’s in the younger’s footrest. San, for his part, was asleep against the window, using Shiber as a pillow.

In the middle row Yeosang and Wooyoung were curled up against each other, having fallen asleep while listening to music together. Seonghwa was leaning against the door, his neck bent in an uncomfortable position which surely would leave him aching when he woke up. Jongho didn’t want to disturb him and possibly the others when they got so little sleep in total to get him to sit in a better position.

Yunho was asleep in the front row, leaning against the door, the only place where he could at least somewhat stretch out his legs. Hongjoong, who was talking quietly with the manager driving them, was resting his head against Yunho’s upper arm.

Originally they had decided that Mingi would sit in the front with Yunho so he too could stretch his legs. 

Their plans were crossed when Hongjoong had woken that morning with a headache which had gradually gotten worse over the day. At one point their captain had even taken pain medication, which he normally refused since they made him drowsy, and let Eden do the recording with them while he napped on Seonghwa’s shoulder until it was his turn. 

Their second oldest hyung had still looked pale and ashen when they had made their way down to the garage and had quietly asked Mingi if they could switch places as he wasn’t feeling well and whenever he was not feeling good it was a sure thing he would get motion sick. Mingi had agreed immediately, worried for his favorite hyung, and proclaimed that he wanted to sit next to Jongho.

The maknae smiled faintly at the memory until without much warning dizziness overcame him, making him feel hot and cold at the same time. He was confused, he had been feeling completely fine one second and now he had to rest his head firmly against the headrest as the world tilted around him. Nausea made itself known in his stomach and he took a deep breath. He tried to breathe through it, hoping it was a momentary fluke.

But no, with his eyes closed he felt even more dizzy, his brain not sure where up, down, left and right were. It was disorientating and not knowing what else to do, he tried to reach out for his Mingi-hyung, wanting some purchase and comfort. His hands trembled and he let them fall back to his lap, whining lowly in his throat in frustration. He really wasn’t feeling good.

“Mingi-hyung”, he whispered. No reaction.

“Mingi-hyung”, he tried louder. Still, Mingi only shifted slightly but kept on sleeping.

“Mingi-hyung, I don’t feel well”, he said loudly. If he wasn’t so distressed and focused on staying upright, he would have thought it funny when suddenly most of his hyungs jerked awake. 

Still staring straight ahead to abate the vertigo he saw how Yeosang and Wooyoung’s heads collided painfully as they startled. Ordinarily he would have laughed at them. Ordinarily he wouldn’t have felt sick from the disturbance as Mingi in his confusion detangled their legs rather violently.

“Jongho-yah?”, Hongjoong asked from the front, apparently the only person not completely disoriented as he hadn’t been in deep sleep a few seconds ago, “what’s going on?”

Jongho tried to speak, but his tongue wouldn’t move and his mouth was filling with saliva. He tried to lean forward, as he hoped that putting his head between his knees might help the nausea but he hadn’t accounted for the seat belt pressing against his stomach.

He gagged violently and suddenly his stomach contents were escaping from his mouth, splattering on his hands, jeans, shoes and the back of Yeosang’s seat. He was vaguely aware of loud and confused shouting but the only things he could focus on was the lack of air in his lungs, the warm vomit on his body and the hand rubbing his shoulder blades.

He cried, frustrated as his body betrayed him and left him feeling so so sick.

⌛

The next thing he was really aware of was gentle hands pulling him from his seat between two bouts of retching, soft voices coaxing him towards them. He blindly trusted his hyungs, not knowing how else to feel. Somebody was helping him slide out of the car but his knees buckled the moment they had to support his weight. Strong hands caught him and helped him to the ground, where he continued getting sick.

Yet, the fresh air was helping with the dizziness and - while he was still extremely nauseous - for the first time since it started he was mostly aware of what was going on. He was leaning against a strong chest, the person behind him definitely taller than him, so he supposed it was Mingi holding him. Seonghwa was kneeling next to him, softly smiling when Jongho lifted his head to look around. San, Yunho, Hongjoong and their manager were standing a few meters away, far enough to give him some semblance of privacy but close enough to help should they need it. He couldn’t see Wooyoung and Yeosang from his position on the ground.

As the vertigo started to abate Jongho became acutely aware of how embarrassed he was. Yellowish sick was covering the ground around him, his jeans, shirt and hands and even worse, some parts of Seonghwa’s pants as well. If he had to guess Mingi probably also wasn’t spared.

“Hey, baby”, Seonghwa said, a sad smile on his face, “are you feeling better?”

Jongho took a moment to take stock of his body. He wasn’t as dizzy anymore and the slight queasiness he was still feeling stemmed more from the disgust than actual nausea, he thought. His head was aching faintly and his stomach was feeling a bit weird but otherwise he felt … fine.

He nodded reluctantly. “Yes, hyung”, he said quietly.

“How about we move to the picnic table?”, his oldest hyung suggested, gesturing at the sitting area a few meters away. Luckily it was completely empty, like the whole rest stop they were at, so nobody else had witnessed his … episode. God, if somebody had recognized him and posted it. Tears welled up in his eyes but he refused to cry over something that hadn’t even happened. 

Instead he nodded yes to Seonghwa’s question.

Gently, like Jongho might break, he was lifted to his feet by Seonghwa and Mingi who, as expected, had been the one to sit behind him. They took it slow, walking a wide berth around the sick on the grass and letting Jongho decide the tempo and rest his weight on them. 

As he stared at the ground, unable to look up in embarrassment, he noticed how Mingi’s lower pants were completely covered in sick, causing the older man to walk slightly awkwardly so it wouldn’t stick to his legs. Now tears were falling down Jongho’s cheeks again in earnest.

“I’m sorry”, he whispered, feeling like he had reached a new low. Sure, he had been sick during the time he knew the others but he wasn’t sick often. Especially not this terribly, disgustingly sick. Not like Yunho and Seonghwa who seemed to catch every illness going around or even Hongjoong who wasn’t ‘sick sick’ often but often enough sick from his food intolerances, motion sickness and migraines. This was the worst time for Jongho yet.

⌛

“It’s fine, maknae. Don’t worry”, Mingi assured him, following his gaze downward to his pants, despite wincing a bit, “everybody gets sick sometimes.”

If the situation wasn’t as bad as it was, Jongho might have laughed at the timing. His other hyungs and the manager were coming closer now that Jongho was done playing the exorcist but apparently it wasn’t enough that he had stopped vomiting.

Hongjoong, who was trailing a bit behind the others, lost all of his color then (considering that he could probably see and smell everything, Jongho couldn’t blame him), placed a hand in front of his mouth and gagged, looking panicked.

“Oh, God”, he groaned, barely loud enough for them to hear, and turned on his heel to run towards the bathroom signs illuminating the side of the rest stop. Hongjoong managed to take a few steps before he stumbled and crashed to his hands and knees. He coughed loudly and even from the distance Jongho was able to sick the sick splattering onto the ground in front of him.

Yunho and San worriedly and a bit overwhelmed looked at each other, apparently not having expected that. Then San followed their captain, kneeling down beside him and rubbing his back. Yunho and the manager knew that Hongjoong hated attention when he was ill, so they turned their backs and came closer to Jongho.

“Shit”, Seonghwa, on the other hand, cursed but tugged Jongho to the bench where they helped the maknae sit down, Mingi sitting to hug him from behind again. They both glanced towards Hongjoong a few times but tried to focus on the maknae.

“Baby, can we clean you up?”, Mingi asked carefully.

Tearing his gaze away from the sick captain as well, Jongho nodded blankly. Seonghwa squeezed his shoulder, probably the only part of Jongho that was not soiled. 

“Hey, don’t worry. Joong-ah will be fine, you know he hasn’t been feeling well all day. It’s not your fault”, the eldest comforted, squatting down in front of Jongho. 

“If I hadn’t gotten sick…”, Jongho started, body starting to shake in the cold air. He was still glad that despite being treated to the sounds of retching and gagging, as well as the sight of his captain vomiting, he wasn’t feeling sick again himself.

“Yunho-yah, can you go get Jongho-yah some fresh clothes?”, the manager said, leaving no time for arguments. “And maybe some towels and water?”

The manager crouched down to look up at Jongho and gave him a sad smile: “For what it’s worth, Joong-ah asked me to stop at this gas station anyways because he wasn’t feeling well even before that. It’s not your fault, I’m surprised he held out this long.”

“Hm, do you think it’s a virus or food poisoning?”, Seonghwa asked then. “I mean”, he offered when they all looked at him, “maknae here doesn’t get motion sick normally. Hongjoong-ah wasn’t feeling well all day, yes, he could be motion sick but considering that Jongho was also sick I think that’s unlikely.”

The manager shrugged. “Did you and Hongjoong-ah share food that nobody else ate, Jongho-yah?”

Jongho bit his lip and tried to think back. “I mean, we had some eggs for breakfast today which Wooyoung didn’t manage to eat because he was so slow in getting ready but I could have sworn they were good.”  

“Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t”, the manager said and groaned as he got to his feet, “it doesn’t matter really. I will see if I can get the car clean, you three take care of Jongho-yah, hm?” 

At that moment Yunho appeared next to the manager, holding towels, water bottles and fresh clothes as instructed and the manager patted his shoulder before leaving. Out of the corner of his eyes Jongho saw San lead Hongjoong into the gas station, probably to help him clean up too. San was carrying a towel too, so Yunho must have stopped to give it to them before.

Jongho was too tired to protest when Seonghwa wet the towel with a water bottle and started to clean his face and hands, while Yunho helped Mingi get out of his pants and held a big towel around him so he could change without being seen. There was nobody there except them but being idols they had learned not to assume things like that.

Jongho was bundled up in one of Yunho’s large sweaters and a pair of sweatpants he didn’t recognize who they belonged to. When he looked up he saw San and a pale Hongjoong approaching them. The captain truly looked awful, face washed out and his hairline was covered in sweat. San had wrapped an arm around the captain’s shoulders and held an honestly impressive amount of plastic bags in one hand.

Seonghwa raised his eyebrow at him as they arrived and the younger man grinned. “I think the cashier likes me. I asked for a few bags and he gave me like at least fifteen.”

“Don’t you think it’s rather because Hongjoong-hyung still looks really bad?”, Yunho asked teasingly, hoping to lighten the mood.

Hongjoong just weakly stuck out his tongue, lacking his normal enthusiasm at disciplining unruly dongsaeng. He must still be feeling really awful and Jongho noticed his hand hovering over his stomach. Yeah, definitely still nauseous. 

Before the mood could get awkward San offered: “Well, anyway, I figured the bags might come in handy. Since Jongho-yah normally doesn’t get carsick and he and Hongjoong-hyung shared breakfast we think they might have food poisoning.”

“Yeah, we came to the same conclusion”, Mingi agreed, having managed to change himself and now  was helping Seonghwa.

“I’m really sorry, Jjongie”, Hongjoong whispered sadly, a vast difference to his normally loud and happy voice, “I should have been more careful. Next time please tell me to wear my glasses and check the best-before date.”

San sighed, obviously unhappy with the captain blaming himself but he kept quiet and helped Hongjoong sit down on the bench next to Jongho. Then he handed a few of the bags to Seonghwa who put the soiled clothing inside to be discarded. 

Most of Jongho’s and Mingi’s clothes couldn’t be saved anyways and Seonghwa probably wanted to get rid of the memory with the clothes.

“It’s alright, hyung”, Jongho said, feeling bad that his captain was feeling bad. He had genuinely enjoyed their morning. It wasn’t often that the two of them had uninterrupted time with just each other with their hectic schedules so he had relished in just talking with his hyung about not-work related stuff. It hurt, feeling unfair, that their amazing time had turned into this disaster. “I should have been more careful too. I don’t regret having spent time with you this morning for once.” 

He beckoned Hongjoong closer and wrapped an arm around the smaller man. Hongjoong relaxed into his side and nodded faintly, letting Mingi wrap an arm around him too. It was clear that the captain was exhausted by the ordeal and likely long nights spent at the studio.

“That’s all very nice”, Seonghwa interrupted them, turning his oldest-hyung mode on, “but how are you two feeling now?”

Jongho took a second to check in with his body and he was very surprised. He was still slightly queasy, but it was more of an empty feeling. His vision had stopped swirling some time ago. Honestly, if he hadn’t thrown up half an hour ago he would have assumed he was just fine.

“I feel okay”, Jongho said and, when Hongjoong and Seonghwa stared at him with similar looks of disbelief, he added: “Truly! I’m not dizzy anymore and my stomach feels okay, just empty but not nauseous. I’m just really tired.” As if to prove his point, he yawned.

“Okay”, Seonghwa agreed, “that’s good. What about you, Joong-ah? Also the truth, please.”

Hongjoong grimaced, looking dazed. “My head still hurts and I’m a bit queasy still. I think I just need some more pain medication. I took some like half an hour ago but I threw it up just now, so…” He trailed off, looking at the manager who was walking up towards them. “I can go on though. No use in staying here of all places.”

“Alright”, the manager said, “Sadly they don’t have a pharmacy inside the station, so I couldn’t get any medication. We can stop later if you need us to. I bought some cleaning supplies though and the car is as clean as it gets. We can go on if you’re ready. Anybody who needs the bathroom better go now and somebody please go find Woo and Sang-ah.”

“Oh, well, they are inside in a booth”, San explained, “Wooyoungie wasn’t so good with the puking, so Sang-ah is distracting him with ice cream and games. I’ll go get them.”

The manager nodded and they split up with Jongho, Seonghwa and the manager going towards the bathroom while Mingi and Yunho, both having wrapped an arm around Hongjoong’s waist, walked towards the car which the manager had moved away from the puddle of vomit.

⌛

When they returned Yunho, Mingi, San, Wooyoung and Yeosang were standing next to the car with Hongjoong sitting in the footwell in the middle row, legs pulled up to his chest and leaning sideways against the middle row seat. He looked incredibly tiny and young that way, making Jongho feel extra bad for him. It was unfair really how much he was suffering while Jongho was fine after throwing up once. 

In all seriousness Jongho was surprised that Hongjoong had been so sick while the maknae had eaten way more eggs than him but he supposed the elder’s exhaustion, headache and motion sickness didn’t make his situation better. Still, he wished that the captain would feel better soon. Jongho knew that Hongjoong had looked forward to the filming a lot, able to escape his stressful everyday life for a more relaxed atmosphere with his friends.

“We weren’t really sure how we should do the seating arrangement”, Yunho explained sheepishly, “technically Jongho-yah and Hongjoong-ah should both be in the front to help with the nausea but we don’t think it’s a good idea since they might get sick again and can’t help each other.”

“I can sit in the back row again”, Jongho said immediately, “I don’t feel sick anymore.”

“That’s very good, Jongho”, Seonghwa placated, shaking his head, “but I agree with Yunho. You already got so sick, we should try to avoid a repeat of that.”

Jongho nodded, too exhausted to discuss this in detail. He knew his overprotective hyungs would do everything to protect him even if there was nothing to protect him from. Also, he wasn’t sure if the motion of the car might set his stomach off again.

“Jjongie can go in the front, with either Mingi or Yunho”, Hongjoong said tiredly and without lifting his head from the seat, “Wooyoung and Yeosang should go in the middle row, we all know that Wooyoungie feels better when he feels like he can escape easily out of the door as soon as we stop. San can go with them. I’ll go in the back with Seonghwa and either Yunho or Mingi. I can take Jongho’s old seat so I’m furthest away from Wooyoungie as possible.”

Jongho couldn’t help but be impressed with their captain. He had put some obvious thought to the seating arrangement, despite still looking in pain and queasy. 

San would be able to help Yeosang calm Wooyoung down should he have another emetophobia-fuelled panic attack. Mingi and Yunho needed the space the front provided. Seonghwa always felt best when helping members so he would go with Hongjoong (though Jongho supposed it was also a slightly selfish longing on the captain’s part, wanting his only hyung close). And Jongho would feel best in the front should the illness return.

The only flaw was that Hongjoong looked all sorts of ashen and green already and Jongho didn’t doubt he would be sick again, no matter if it was motion sickness or food poisoning.

Seonghwa seemed to think along the same lines as Jongho. “Joong-ah, you can’t be serious? I’m sorry to be so frank but you look like you’re about to hurl again and sitting in the back won’t help.”

Hongjoong sighed. “I feel like it too but whatever we do, if this is food poisoning I will be sick again no matter where I sit. Jongho might avoid getting sick again if he is in the front, considering he feels better, and Wooyoungie can’t sit in the back row, no matter how much it was cleaned. I’m sorry that you have to suffer our stupidity, Wooyoungie.”

Wooyoung just silently nodded in thanks, squeezing Yeosang’s hand tightly.

“Alright”, the manager interjected, “let’s get in everybody.”

Seonghwa sighed and helped Hongjoong up, so they could crawl into the back where the captain immediately rested his aching head against the cool window and clutched a plastic bag in his hands. Without looking at Mingi, Yunho jumped into the last empty seat in the back. When Mingi tried to protest he was shushed: “Go sit in the front with our maknae, Mingi-yah, I know you want to be with him. Besides I already had the privilege of not being a sardine in a box.”

Mingi grinned and thanked him before hopping into the front seat and pulling Jongho to sit next to him. Within minutes of exiting the rest stop, Jongho was asleep on his hyung.

⌛

During the drive he vaguely woke up when the car stopped and the members in the back got out of the van but Mingi guided his head back to his shoulder, whispering that he should go back to sleep, Hongjoong was just sick again, but he needed to rest.

It was early in the morning when they arrived at the filming location. Jongho had slept through the rest of the drive, he was told, through Hongjoong getting sick a few times until they arrived.

They had Hongjoong sit out from the filming for an hour or two, letting him sleep curled up in the middle row of the van with a member occasionally checking on him. But when he woke up, claiming to feel much better, he basically begged the manager to film with them and the manager agreed since he hadn’t thrown up since the drive.

When they returned to their dorms a few days later they found the carton of eggs to toss, which mocked them with a best-before date that was still  in the future. 

At least they weren’t to blame.

Masterlist links: Fairy's Full Masterlist Fairy's Masterlist - ATEEZ

[anigst]

The Yuzuki Family’s Four Sons - Ep 11

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU Drabble - Moonbloom

Time for Nightmare to finish up some loose ends! Don't worry :3 it is a good one in my opinion <3

First Drabble Prev Drabble Next Drabble

We good? Lets go! (also be ready because it is a long one.)

*------------------*

Nightmare looks around their garden but still can't spot Killer. Maybe he went to their nest? Seems weird as Nightmare thought he would be working on the grapes at the moment.

Still. Best search there. He walks back towards the house as he weaves between the grapes and vines growing. The first layer is looking amazing and beautiful!

He gets to the set of stairs and walks back into the house. Finding Killer is easy as he is laying in their nest watching something on the TV. A fan aimed at him to help keep him cool in the summer heat.

Killer blinks and grins "OUr little nightlight!" and Nightmare gets grabbed and snuggled close. Nightmare hums happily as he leans into the snuggles for a moment.

Killer grins as he lounges "Come watch westerns with me! It iwll be fun." and he grins.

Nightmare glances at the tv for a moment, it shows a cowboy on the back of a horse with the show having this yellowish colour over it. Nightmare hums "later?"

Killer grins "Sure. What do you want to do now?"

Nightmare rubs his hands before muttering "can... can you do soemthing for me?"

Killer nods "sure! what is it?"

Nightmare smiles as he leans against Killer before he asks his request. It had been on his mind for a while now and with him fixing Dani and Ellie's tree farm... He thinks this may actually work.

--------

Grillby cleans the bar and sighs. Another long night after an even longer day.

His club is profitable and it keeps others safe but he does not enjoy owning it. Grillby had always wanted to own his own business but not like this.

Sadly this is where their fate had let them.

He finishes with the bar and goes about checking the seating area and dancing area. Finding some very dubious stains. A deeper sigh but he gets to work.

He tries not to let his mind wander as he works. It is better to focus or the ever present heat that is now just a part of life.

He finally finishes up his normal round as he leaves his building. His flame flickering a bit brighter at the sight of Sans.

Sans notices him and grins "Sup Grills!"

Grillby is very lucky that even after everything and how everyone spoke about hi that Sans still speaks to him. He knows this.

They walk together as the move to waterfall. Sans takes out the umbrella and hands it to him wordlessly. Grillby takes it and the two continue walking "Thank you again for coming with me."

Sans grins at him "Hey no worries. I always love hanging out with you~" and he gives a wink and sweet smile.

It is ruined by someone whistling loudly "Hey Sans! Down to fuck later? I can show you a real boner!!" loud laughter after.

Sans just shoots them a look and glances up and down before smiling a bit sharper but still oh so sweet "Hon I don't think you have the stamina to keep it up or do anything near pleasing~ Maybe best practise a few rounds first." and the walk pass them.

No real conversation after that as the peaceful mood had been ruined.

Grillby misses Sans. Sans used to go to his club and dance there. Spend time there. It had been something Grillby honestly enjoyed. The heat that went through him felt more real when it was focused and about Sans. It had been honest as Grillby had always felt that way.

Sans had throw his whole mindset into dancing and other work at his club when the experiment failed. Sans sadly took the burn of most of that failure even if there had been more scientists at work on an artificial heat to help their reproduction.

Sadly Sans had been the best known among everyone and so ended up being the black sheep of it all.

Grillby had just been happy to have Sans near even when everything changed drastically... Eventually his inaction got to much and Sans left after one too many comments.

Girllby still misses him daily.

Maybe another reason why he had tried so hard to do right for that tiny child. A tiny skeleton looking so young. Grillby tried to not let it interfer but it had been so hard. He had just wanted to do right and something for once.

He still wonders how that tiny child is doing. He hadn't told another soul. Too afraid what some heat affected monsters would do.

"Grillby? Is something wrong?"

Grillby looks back at Sans and sees those pink eye lights watch him. Grillby always gets lost in that face and those eyes.

Grillby had come close to confessing what happened that night to Sans. So close. but he is afraid that Sans will just be disappointed in him. For not getting the child to a safe location. to hide it from him for so long. Grillby thinks this underground will actually be hell if Sans stopped talking to him.

A loud whistle and Grillby and Sans both look over annoyed. Only for Sans to freeze and Grillby can only assume it is shock. BEfore that is another skeleton. yet they are dressed strange.

Well strange for them.

They are in constant heat after all. Meaning everyone feels hot and too hot all the time. Everyone loves wearing and showing off their bodies. It is why Grillby is wearing his minimal outfit. It is why Sans is wearing the shortest shorts possible and that little top as he keeps his coat low and barely on.

This skeleton? Is wearing shorts but they cover his legs until his knees. he is wearing sneakers to finish that side up. Upwards? A black turtle neck, a sweater version at that.

Another very strange thing about them? The black tar like tears streaming down their cheeks. The completely empty sockets. and well, the out and proud soul is a very bold choice. Even for the monsters who like to attract all the attention. They are grinning widely at them.

Grillby blinks but suddenly feels Sans grab his hand and pull him back. Sans has yet to look away from the other skeleton but... but that look? That... that is fear... What? Who?

Grillby frowns "Sans?"

Sans shoots him an anxious look before glancing around at all the water. he pushes the umbrella fully in his arms "You need to go grillby." their is desperation in his voice.

Grillby does not feel the need to go. in matter of fact. if this person freaks Sans out of all mosnters? That means this person is dangerous and Grillby is not leaving his friend alone. He instead looks at the other skeleton.

Who is just... standing there? Grinning widely as they.... swing? They lean back and forth as they swing their arms slightly to keep the motion going. moving their weight from the toes of their feet to the very back. completely relaxed.

Sans glares at him and hisses "I am serious. Go."

Grillby just looks at the other and shakes his head "no."

Sans opens his mouth to speak again but the other speaks up "You two love birds done? Like. I can wait but i kinda got places to be and stuff." they grin as they lean on their fist. Almost like a thinking position but instead of the fist under the chin they lean against it with their cheek.

Sans glares "Why are you here?"

Grillby frowns at his friend "Sans who is this?"

Sans glances at him unsure before glaring back at the other.

This seems to have been a sign the other was waiting for as they just, bounce and skip over. The thrust out their hand "The name is Killer!"

Grillby stands frozen. Because he feels it. What the other sends out. This... this monster...

Grillby can't help it and sends a check.

The information just makes it worse.

This monster has a lot of LOVE.

Killer pouts "Tough crowd." he pulls his arm back and crosses his arms.

Sans glares at him and hisses "You are not allowed to be here. Leave."

Grillby has no doubt that Sans knows just how dangerous Killer is, Sans seems to actually know this guy but... but how?

Killer snorts and waves Sans off "Oh calm down I am not even causing trouble. Anyway. I kinda am here for a thing so cool your jets."

Sans just crosses his arms "I will ends a message to the Stars. I got an emergency vial and I will break it."

Killer raises a brow and smirks sharper "Then I won't be able to complete my job here Lavender..." then he leans closer "Or should I say... Ace?" and he winks "Must suck to have such conflicting needs."

Grillby doesn't think as he pulls Sans behind him. That... that is a very private secret. A soft admission that Sans once entrusted to Grillby. Why Sans hates this heat so much. How he doesn't even desire sex or want it. Yet this heat makes him need and crave it. It messes with his mind.

Grillby glares at Killer and Killer grins as he shrugs "eh. Not my fault he can't take what he dishes out." he grins wider "You know! Becuase he fucks people even when he doesn't desire people- wow!" Killer dodges the fireball Grillby shot at him.

Killer looks at where Grillby's magic attack his the ground "Man! Is it good I picked this spot to search you out! Could have been a hazard if a fire spread in an underground." he looks over "Anyway. I came with a message."

Grillby is about to say he doesn't care when Killer speaks the next sentence.

"From your little friend in the alleyway."

Grillby freezes again. Sans asks him what the other meant but Grillby can't. He can't believe it.

Killer nods with an understanding look "Ah yes. What do you mean? How could that be? In that case. Just so you know. While he liked the pulled beef a lot his favourite of the selection was the pork." and he grins.

The food. He had given the other food. And aparently the little one actually ate it all. his arm slowly falls to his side.

Killer grins and nods "I know right? anyway. I am here because of that." and he shrugs.

Sans frowns "What have you guys been doing here?!"

Killer sighs "calm down lavender. This doesn't actually concern you you know? You are just part of this conversation because you were near him at the time." and he shrugs.

Sans frowns and looks to the side for a moment "I... heard some stuff... from Dream-"

Killer pulls out a knife and aims it at Sans. Sans freezes and Killer grins. Girllby frowns but then sees the drop of blood on the knife edge and the very small cut on Sans's cheek.

Killer grins sharply "None of that now Lavender. I am here with a small mission. No need to include either the gang or the stars. This is a matter of repaying something owned. Calm now? Eithr you stay quiet or... well." he grins sharper "You want to test out how quickly a reset happens to fix a... missing link?"

Sans freezes as he shoots Grillby a nervous glance. Grillby is just very confused. what are these two talking about "Sans?" or Lavender? Why does Killer keep calling Sans that?

Killer stares for a while longer and Sans evneutally sighs and nods. Going silent but not leaving his side.

Killer hums and smiles brightly again. the threatening and freezing air around them disappears "That is what i thought!" is this what LOVE does to a monster? Grillby knew it was dangerous but this is on another level.

Killer sighs "Anyway. your alleyway friend wanted to thank you for your assistance. Which is why I am here. To repay that favour."

Grillby can't keep it in anymore "is he safe? Is he with his family again?" he remembers the poor child saying his mother was gone "With his dad? other parent?"

This is when Sans stares at him in shock and mutters a "what?"

Grillby looks anxiously at Killer but Killer just raises s brow and makes the 'go ahead' motion.

Grillby thinks it over before finally saying it "A long while ago. More than a year..." almost a year and a half honestly "I... i had a very curious visitor. a tiny monster dressed in a large hoody. but... it turned out to be a child... a skeleton one."

Sans gasps and thinks for a moment before shooting Killer a look of disbelieve.

Killer just grins and makes the 'zip it' motion.

Sans shallows "you mean those rumours..."

Killer glares as he crosses his arms "people need to learn to keep their large mouths shut." he turns back to Grillby himself "As to answer your question. he is fine. he is back at home with his parents. perfectly safe and healthy."

Grillby feels a deep relieve and lets out a sigh "Thank you... I ahd been worried... I assume you... you got him home?"

Killer blinks at him before shrugging as he stuffs his hands into his pockets "euh. pretty much."

Grillby can't help but smile. Maybe... maybe this monster isn't that bad? he cared enough to bring a child home to his family. he cared enough to help get the child a message back to Grillby. That must mean something. Sans must have made the same conclusion as he grins and crosses his arms. "Didn't realise that you guys now did babysitting."

Killer shoots him a glare "Don't test your luck Lavender." he sighs louder "anyway! Can we now finally get to the point i have been trying to get to?! The present?" and he waits.

Grillby and Sans share a look and both nod.

Killer huffs "finally! Anyway!" he messes with his pocked and out comes a full flower. it is a very pale purple with four petals. the petals are kinda cresent shaped and point upwards. It is small but nice enough.

Killer nods and marches over "Okay. here you go. Yes you can safely touch it as long as you don't want to burn it." Girllby carefully takes the flower over. That is when it hits him. the flower is the same colour as the small child's eyes had been.

Sans looks at it curiously and tilts his skull "that is... new?"

Killer waves it off "Yeah he is sitll workshopping the name. anyway. hold i got a list for this shit." he makes a victorious noise as he pulls out a piece of paper and reads "okay. okay... lets see. growing and spreading. As long as there is room and the flower is unbothered it will grow copies of itself. so it doens't need water."

Killer snorts as he looks up "Goot news you don't need to handle water for this flower. but yeah just kinda. I dunno. find a spot no one visits and plant sit if you want a shit load of them.but if you don't care about spreading it a lot lot you can just kinda put it in a pot or something."

Grillby looks down at the small flower and smiles. He is so thankful for this wonderful gift. a reminder that he at least managed to help one person.

Killer keeps looking at his little list "okay! So. One petal a person is enough but takes a few days to take effect. For instant but temporary effects just make tea."

Sans blinks "what is the effect?"

Killer opens his mouth. frowns and closes it. looks abck at his list. then shrugs at them "I was not told. I knew we were forgetting something. but. euh." he shrugs again "can you blame him? He is six."

Sans makes a small noice as he looks excited as he glances at Grillby "You saw a six year old babybones?"

Grillby nods and Sans sighs wishfully "I am so jealous. so so jealous."

Killer grins and shrugs "bet. anyway. lets see. oh the last point. The flowers will regrow the petals but can't grow more flowers if they are healing. so if you want a lot of petals you will need to grow flowers first." he grins at them "and that is it. with that done. bye!" he waves nad turns around. He walks back into the shadows and Girllby is left with a small flower in his hands. so fragile and small but beautiful.

Sans looks at him curiously "Want to get a nice large pot and plant the little plant? get more started?"

Grillby nods and they go in a slightly different direction. They get the right supplies and quickly go back to Grillby's house.

Grillby watches as Sans plants the flower for him. Grillby still worried his flames may harm to tiny plant. He just didn't wish to risk it. it takes very little time and they sit on the couch together for a moment.

Grillby can't sotp it anymore "Who even was that?"

Sans frowns as he srhugs "jsut... someone i know...."

Grillby frowns more as he feels that Sans isn't telling him what is wrong "Why did he keep calling you Lavender?" that is a new name. Sans has been called lust by others before, partly as insult because snas play in making the ever present heat. but also as comment on his looks and how desired he was.

Sans shrugs and mutters "I dunno... prefered that over the alternative..."

Grillby frowns "Sans... what..." he deosn't even know what he wants to ask.

Sans just shakes his skull "it... it doesnt matter at the moment... I am sorry you got so close to being hurt..." he rubs his arm and looks away with guilt.

Grillby hums "not your fault." and lets it go for now. his sight finds the flower. curiousity gets the best of him "Want to test those petals with me?"

Sans laughs before glancing at the flower "sure... petal or tea?"

Grillby hums and stares at the flower. feeling a bit reckless "lets just do a whole petal. That way it is done and no need to question it anymore."

Sans looks thoughtful before nodding. Sans pulls off two petals with care before handing one of grillby.

Grillby feels the petal. it is soft and seems fragile but it doesn't even seem to notice his flames. Sans grins and winks at him before both of them just eat the petal.

It tastes strange... slightly of grapes of all flavours. Grillby doesn't taste any of the drugs he is familiar with and he made sure to test those when he was safe. Just to make srue which flavours to not include in food and drinks. make sure nothing can get masked by his things.

They sit together but nothing happens.

Sans hums "the note of the kid did mention that it would take a while. Talking about that." he turns to him adn smiles "kid?"

Grillby chuckles but happily, and finally, shares the story of that day. How sweet the young child had looked but how afraid he had been.

It is nice.

-------

Grillby wakes up the same as always. he makes breakfast as he always does. But then he realises it. what he feels.

or better said. what he doesn't feel.

Grillby is in such shock that he actually drops the plate he had been holding.

It is gone.

the heat within his soul.

It is gone.

He doesn't think as he rushes out of his house. He throws open the door and gets hit by the cold of the air.

It is cold!

Also it is VERY cold!

He grabs his jacket before rushing to Sans's house. He gets there and knocks on the door. loudly.

a grumble and a disgruntled Papyrus opens the door. Papyrus shoots him a look. tired and slightly knowing "Sans is asleep after working last night." he gives him a pointed look.

Grillby still isn't sure how Papyrus figured out about Grillby's interest, but it may have to do something with Grillby always giving Sans the center stage and best hours and let sans keep most of the tips he earned. Now that Grillby thinks about it he was rather obvious.

Grillby shakes his head "It is nothing like that. I need to talk to him. I know it is very early and i apologise."

Papyrus looks annoyed but lets him in wiht a loud sigh. Papyrus orders him to wait there for a moment before moving upstairs to Sans's room.

Grillby waits as he tries to ignore the very pointed decoration. his soul still blissfully cool towards it all. even if he can smell the familiar scent of Sans's perfume.

It doens't take long for Papyrus and Sans to walk downstairs. Sans looks adorable disheveled as he joins him on the couch. Sans is still so pretty even without all the make up and short cut clothes.

Ppayrus sends Grillby another look before loudly proclaiming that he will be making breakfast.

Sans shoots him a tired look "Not that i don't enjoy visits... but we don't really have the same working hours anymore Grills."

Grillby shakes his head and tries to focus on the now "Sans. please. focus and tlel me I am not the only one here."

Sans frowns at him as he tilts his skull.

Grillby keeps staring at him "Notice anything gone? something... burning that is no longer burning?"

Sans stares at him before snorting "Is this the set up for a pun? I mean i love a good pun but you didn't need to wake me up-" he stops mid sentence. sockets wide as one hand slowly raises up to touch his sternum "it is gone."

They share a look and Sans rushes to his room "Give me a moment to get dressed!"

Grillby nods before quickly shouting after him "Make sure to grab a jacket!"

Papyrus shoots them a weird look from his kitchen and Grillby has no way to explain it just quite yet.

Sans rushes back downstairs, with a jacket on thank everything. They quickly say goodbye to Papyrus and rush out together. They run back to Grillby's house as Sans speaks "The flower?"

Grillby answers immediantly "I think it had to be! That is the only thing different about us compared to everyone."

They get back and find the garden pot they had planted the flower in four days ago. It took almost two days for the flower to recover fully from the picked petals but over the next two days the one flower had grown into four.

Sans stares at him in shcok "this... this can fix everything..."

Grillby nods before frowning at his tiny pot "We can maybe plant three of these four somewhere else. with more room to really let them spread. I can keep the last one safe just in case."

Sans nods as he takes out the garden tools he had left here last time and gets to work "great idea. I remember a cavern in the forest which no one really visits. we can plant them there and let them spread in peace."

Grillby nods as he watches Sans work. this could fix everything.

----

Killer strokes the small skull leaning against his sternum as he watches tv. the western is nearing its conclusion as the hero talks about needing to go as the open fields call to him. the main lady is heartbroken and begs him to stay. usual stuff.

Killer looks at Nightmare "What was the flower anyway?"

Nightmare yawns and shoots him a look "should fix the issue there." and he snuggles close.

Killer grins and holds the baby close. euh. whatever. Not his problem. his problem is just making sure the baby is happy and content.

*-----------------------*

First Drabble Prev Drabble Next Drabble

Remember how Nightmare is now the god of restoration? You can push that concept VERY far :3

If Fate finds out Nightmare is messing with universes and stuff like this she/he/they will be pissed.

Anyway!!

Baby repayed his debt!

[acnologiaheart]

Greetings! 🖖 uh, may i humbly ask for a caretaker! chara and sans au? 👉👈💦

— sincerely, miss-chans ❤️💙

"For Asgore sake, I think I’m too old for this... What a shame. I totally forgot how strong humans can be—guess it’s been such a long time... At least they’re not going to pass by." "Chara! Open the door, Chara! Please!"

Two years later, but here it is!

Honestly, I don't know much about the Caretaker Chara AU, and it reminds me of that time when Soriel was super popular (I didn't really follow it, but it felt like it was everywhere). So, it was a bit tricky for me to draw it.

(Also, I remember thinking about your comment for Chansweek last year, but I wasn’t too confident with handling comments yet, so it just stayed in the mailbox :p)

Thanks so much for asking! And I'm really sorry for the delay!

[darl-ingfics]

I absolutely love all your fics, especially your Sicktember series!!! 💖💖💖 You write everything so well, especially the fluff. I was wondering if you’d be able to write a miserable San with what he thinks is a head/chest cold that actually turns out to be the flu with ot8 caretakers? I understand that you’re still figuring San out though, so if you’re not comfortable writing for him yet I’m happy with the sickie being Seokmin instead with ot13 caretakers. Only write this if you want to! I love all your writing, so whatever you write I’ll enjoy 😊

First of all, thank you for being SO kind and SO patient! I received your second message today, and that really inspired me to push through and get this done. And I'm so happy I did, cause writing again has felt really stress-relieving, so thank you! I tried my best to do San justice, and honestly, still don't think I've fully got it, but that hardly matters when you make the character so delirious they're really just along for the ride 😅 Hope you enjoy!!!

Friends Like These

Fandom: ATEEZ

Sickie: San (flu)

Caregiver(s): OT8

Word Count: 1,440

Yeosang had been, admittedly, spacing out when San’s head collapsed against his shoulder on the car ride home. Despite jumping slightly at the sudden weight against him, Yeosang relaxed instantly, arm wrapping instinctively around San’s shoulders.

“What’s up, Sannie?” Yeosang whispered, fingers curling absent mindedly in the hair at the nape of San’s neck. 

“Don’ feel gooood,” San whined, sniffling rather pathetically as his body shifted to try to someone get closer to Yeosang despite the constraints of the car. Yeosang frowned sympathetically, even though San couldn’t see. San had been fighting a cold for the past three days, and had rather blatantly lost that battle during practice that day, taking a very clear turn for the worse after lunch. No one was sure how it had happened; San had diligently been taking extra vitamins, drinking ridiculous amounts of water, sleeping as much as possible, trying any and every health hack TikTok supplied… But his efforts had been fruitless, leaving them with a sad, shivery, sniffly San. Which was more than enough to break even the stoniest of hearts. 

“I’m sorry, love,” Yeosang said gently. “We’re almost home, yeah? Then you can take a nice hot shower, and Wooyoung will make you dinner, and then you can sleep. Maybe Yunho or Mingi will even cuddle with you.”

San’s neck twisted so their eyes could meet. The look on his face, the pout and puppy dog eyes, almost made Yeosang laugh out loud from the pathetic-ness of it. “Why won’t you cuddle with me?”

Yeosang shrugged. “I thought you said Yunho was the best cuddler…”

“It’s because he’s tall,” Wooyoung interjected, leaning over from Yeosang’s other side. “That makes him best by default.”

“What rumors are you spreading about me?” Yunho’s head appeared between the headrests from the backseat. 

“All good things,” Wooyoung defended. 

Yunho pointed a warning finger at him. “It better be.” 

Yeosang chuckled softly at his members’ antics, noting how San did not react at all. That was troubling. Yeosang continued playing with his hair, trying to ignore the heat emanating from his friend’s neck until they got home and could do something about it. No need to worry anyone now…

*

Later that evening, on his way up for a shower, Mingi rounded the steps and nearly had a heart attack, not expecting someone to be sitting in the middle of the stairs. Hand clutched to his chest, Mingi turned back to said person: San, sat on the middle step, leaning heavily against the wall, eyes closed and breathing hard. San had been given the privilege of first shower, usually reserved for any member under the weather, and was currently sporting slightly damp hair and pajamas plus a hoodie; but was still obviously shivering. Mingi instantly scrambled up the steps towards him. “Sannie? What’s wrong?”

“I was…” He swallowed hard, wincing in pain. “Comin’ for dinner but… so far…” He coughed roughly, collapsing in on himself. Mingi’s brow knit in worry; San hadn’t sounded like that earlier. “Couldn’t breathe…”

“Sannie, I don’t think this is just a cold.” Mingi frowned, hand to San’s forehead. “You’re really warm. And you shouldn’t be too tired to make it down the steps.” San simply fell forward, collapsing against Mingi’s chest. The taller man wrapped his arms protectively around his friend, worry exploding in his brain. 

“Help?!” Mingi exclaimed, praying someone could hear him. 

Jongho appeared at the top of the stairs, towel around his neck. “What’s wrong?” His eyes widened when he saw what was happening. 

“Perfect,” Mingi sighed to himself. “Sannie’s really not feeling well. Can you help me move him?”

Jongho nodded, instantly attentive. “Back to bed?” San whined at the suggestion, squirming against Mingi’s chest. “What about the couch, hyung?” San nodded. Mingi pouted his lips at Jongho, heart breaking for their friend. 

San did not remember Mingi and Jongho maneuvering him from the steps to the couch. Did not remember having to stop at the bottom of the stairs from lack of energy, coughing again, nearly gagging from the mucus gathering in his throat. Did not remember his members gathering in the doorway, responding to Mingi’s earlier call for help and his hacking. Did not remember Seonghwa holding a paper towel to his mouth, forcing him to cough out a disgusting clump of yellow phlegm that would’ve have embarrassed him into the next century. Did not remember Mingi and Jongho practically dragging him to the couch, his body crumpling like a sack of potatoes and curling in on itself like a shriveled leaf. 

No, the next thing San remembered was…

“Sannie~”

He peeled his eyes open at Wooyoung’s sweet voice. Wooyoung was kneeling next to the couch, smiling softly. “I made you soup.” He gestured to a bowl on the coffee table behind him. San just blinked at him. “Think you can eat for me? If not, we can just put the soup in the fridge. I made enough so you could get a few meals out of it anyway.” 

“But he does need to get some of it to take his medicine.” Seonghwa appeared behind Wooyoung. His arms were crossed over his chest, his lips drawn into a tight line, but, even in his delirious state, San recognized his posture as worry rather than annoyance or anger. 

Wooyoung nodded. “Right. You still need to eat enough for medicine.” San blinked again, then sighed. Even that slight shift of air irritated his throat, made him cough. He felt hands rubbing his back, hoisting him up, supporting him. As soon as his breath returned, he felt a glass (cool, not cold) thrust against his lips, and let whoever it was pour the lukewarm water down his throat, not trusting his own hands to hold the glass. 

“Look, you’re already sitting up,” Wooyoung chirped. San opened his eyes (when had he closed them?). Seonghwa was taking the glass back to the kitchen, and Wooyoung was now holding the bowl of soup. “Let me give you a few bites, yeah?” San nodded, complied. When his body began to sag backwards, craving sleep, Yunho slipped in behind him, holding him up until Wooyoung could feed him enough for Seonhwa and Hongjoong’s approval. San was peripherally aware that all of his members were hovering close by (except for Mingi, who had run to shower as quickly as possible). Hongjoong kept checking his phone, murmuring to Seonghwa, who would murmur back. San didn’t appreciate them murmuring about him, but was in no position to comment on it. 

Once the captain had given the ‘okay, that should be enough’ cue, Wooyoung disappeared with the soup bowl and Hongjoong knelt on the floor in front of the couch, measuring out a dose of medicine. San was glad they were giving him liquid instead of pills.

“Yeah, we knew you couldn’t handle pills right now, buddy,” Yunho said, giving San a gentle squeeze. San blinked. He hadn’t realized he’d said that out loud. 

“You’ve been giving a running commentary for quite a while,” Hongjoong replied to that, offering San the medicine cup. “For the record, Seonghwa and I murmur about all of you. It’s just your turn today.” San frowned at his members so rudely eavesdropping on his inner thoughts, but accepted the medicine cup and tipped it back slowly. He choked a bit at the bitter flavor, and thankfully Yunho thrust a water bottle in his hands before he could start coughing again. After finishing half of the water, he gave the bottle back and instantly closed his eyes, leaning back in Yunho’s embrace. 

“See? I told you he was the best cuddler,” Yeosang insisted from somewhere. The rest of the members responded to him, but San’s brain was already shuttling him back to sleep to the comforting lull of their voices.

And even though he was also technically asleep at the time, San had an unconscious memory of Yunho petting his hair and kissing his forehead before slipping out from underneath him. Of Yeosang curling up on the other side of the couch, San’s legs resting in his lap. Of Mingi covering him with their coziest blanket. Of Wooyoung setting extra water and tissues on the table for him. Of Jongho singing softly close by, protecting him from bad dreams. Of Hongjoong kneeling next to him with their thermometer gun, taking his temperature. Of Seonghwa sitting in the armchair across from the couch, watching over him under the guise of reading a book.

Even asleep, San could feel his members’ love. And not even the following day’s flu diagnosis could make him feel all that bad with friends like these in his corner. 

Final Note: Again, I cannot reiterate how THANKFUL I am for your kindness, Anon. Your messages we so incredibly sweet, and even your question of when to expect the fic was so respectful and I am so lucky to have a community that supports and encourages this type of creative production in a way that acknowledges and supports the natural ups and downs of life. Thank you again for inspiring me to finish this without pushing; it's people like you who make this enjoyable.

Final Note: Again, I cannot reiterate how THANKFUL I am for your kindness, Anon. Your messages were so incredibly sweet, and even your question of when to expect the fic was so respectful and I am so lucky to have a community that supports and encourages this type of creative production in a way that acknowledges and supports the natural ups and downs of life. Thank you again for inspiring me to finish this without pushing; it's people like you who make this enjoyable. 😘

[eyezofstatic]

doodle memes and other stuff (srry ive been inactive for a while)

[whats-k-popping]

Hello! For the prompt list, could you write 5 & 49 with Seonghwa as the sick one and San as the caretaker? I love their brotherly dynamic~ Thank you!

I'm so sorry this request is about 9 months old! If you're still here, anon, I hope you enjoy this fic. I really did enjoy writing it and I love the dynamic between these two!

Pairing: Seonghwa x San - platonic intentions, but read as you please

Prompts: "Try and get some food down. Anything" || "Sorry. I'm… I'm really dizzy" 

Words Count: 2489

Warnings: Illness || Emeto || Graphic Descriptions of Sickness

San doesn't usually wake up in the middle of the night. He has a very thorough nightly routine that he completes meticulously each evening. He spends upwards of an hour in the bathroom each night, completing his skin care and dental care and emptying himself of anything that might disturb his precious hours of uninterrupted sleep. He swears by this routine. Sleeping in his own bed is a luxury these days, so he doesn't even want to waste 1 precious minute on something as trivial as using the bathroom. 

So he's naturally disgruntled when he wakes in the middle of the night unable to quickly doze back to sleep. Despite his nightly rituals, he still finds himself having to pee at half past 3 in the morning. He blames it on drinking Mingi's leftover coffee. Can't let precious caffeine go to waste either. He only feels a hint of remorse. 

Begrudgingly, he throws the covers off of himself and hustles down to the bathroom. If he's quick, he might be able to get it done without losing the fuzzy feeling of sleep. In and out, then back to sleep. That's the plan. 

That plan comes to a screeching halt when he enters the bathroom to find Seonghwa draped across the toilet seat, skin white as a ghost. And if the sight isn't enough of a clue, there's an overpowering stench of vomit lingering in the air. 

"Hwa-hyung!" San exclaims. He stands petrified in the doorway, like he's awaiting further instruction. He's not really sure what he's supposed to do. Seonghwa is the caretaker of the group, how is he supposed to take care of him. 

Seonghwa lifts his head to look at San, a pained expression on his face and a vacant look in his eyes. He shushes the younger, "You'll-" He cuts himself off with a nauseous burp, "You'll wake Mingi."

Of course, even draped helplessly over the only toilet in their apartment, looking minutes away from comatose, Seonghwa is still thinking about the others. San clicks his tongue. And Mingi, of all people, a historically heavy sleeper. The building could be mid-demolition and he'd be none the wiser. "No I won't," San says confidently. Still he lowers his voice just for good measure. 

The remnants of sleep are gone and he's on high alert now. He knows he won't be able to go back to sleep knowing that his hyung is feeling so miserably unwell. So he enters the small bathroom and closes the door behind him for privacy. He also turns on the bathroom fan, to hopefully ventilate some of the smell out of the room. 

"Don't come any closer, San-ah." Seonghwa stops mid-command to gag. It's unnaturally loud, echoing in the now sealed room, but unproductive. "I might be contagious." 

"I don't care." San replies without thinking, like it's the most natural response in the world. "You need help." 

Seonghwa shakes his head, not making any eye-contact with the younger. "I can take care of myself." He says in such a way that San can't help but be skeptical. "You're younger than me. I'm not your responsibility." 

"You're my hyung," San stands his ground, already resolved to help Seonghwa. At least through the night, he can let Hongjoong know in the morning and they can work out a more long-term plan from there. "And my family is my responsibility." 

Seonghwa looks like he has another objection queued up, but before he can respond he bows his head into the toilet bowl when the formerly unproductive gag returns. This time, a slurry of sick pours out his open mouth. The oldest whimpers and moans as he stomach convulses to get every last drop out of him. 

San notices it's mostly clear and speculates that Seonghwa has been throwing up for so long that he's empty. Since they all ate the same thing, he concludes it's likely a stomach bug, not a lone case of food poisoning. While Seonghwa continues to stare into the bowl, San takes the opportunity to approach his hyung. He crouches down next to him and runs a hand along his back, "You're okay. Get it out. That's good." He whispers sweet reassurances until the episode is over. 

All the tension leaves Seonghwa's body at once, leaving him slack against the toilet seat. San's hand on his back distracts him from the cramping in his stomach, so for now he stops trying to shoo the younger away. The attention actually feels kind of nice, reminds him of home, of being the youngest in the family. Reminds him of how much he misses it. 

The porcelain seat is cold, but San's body is teeming with warmth. He craves that warmth, the comfort that comes with physical contact. It's more alluring than the ceramic bowl. It takes way more effort than it should, but he pushes himself off the toilet seat and into San's open arms. 

San sees Seonghwa's intention and helps him settle in, wrapping his arms comfortingly around his hyung. He uses just enough pressure so that he's hugging, but not squeezing. "Poor hyung, you really must not be feeling well." He soothes, pressing a kiss to Seonghwa's sweaty temple.  

Seonghwa whines, a long drawn out sound that might be an affirmative. He mumbles something about "hurt" and "cold" but all the words are muffled against San's shoulder. 

"C'mon, why don't we get you back to bed?" San suggests. He contemplates getting his hyung in the shower, but decides against it given the elder's weak state. Maybe when some of his energy returns, he'll push for a shower. 

"Couch," Seonghwa counters. 

San's eyebrow raises in curiosity, "You don't want to sleep in your bed. It's much more comfortable than the couch." He recommends, "If you're still worried about waking Mingi, don't be. His door is closed." 

Seonghwa shakes his head the tiniest bit. If San hadn't been critically analyzing his hyung's every movement, he would have missed it. "Not about Mingi," Seonghwa insists. His eyes start to water and his lower lip quivers. "Please, just couch." He begs through a sob. 

Though San doesn't totally understand why, he can tell it's a sensitive topic and surrenders. "Okay, okay," he hushes, "I'll take you to the couch. I'll set up a nice, soft blanket for you and get you extra pillows. Okay, how does that sound?" Seonghwa does like the sound of that, he affirms it with a small "mmhm." 

San pushes Seonghwa away just long enough to stand up on his own. Once he's on his feet, he holds out a hand to his hyung, "Can you stand?" 

Seonghwa holds the outstretched hand, squeezing it with all the might he can muster. He uses his other hand to hold into the edge of the sink, trying to get himself up. He makes it onto his knees, but can't make it any further. With a sniffle, he shakes his head sadly at his dongsaeng. 

San doesn't question it or force anything more from his hyung. He simply steps in and helps Seonghwa to his feet, shouldering much of his hyung's weight onto himself. "There we go, wanna try walking?" When Seonghwa doesn't object, San takes a tentative step forward, out of the bathroom. Seonghwa follows on wobbling knees. 

They make it to the entrance of the living room area when Seonghwa nearly throws himself against the wall. He clings to the wall, slowly sliding down until he's on the floor, head pressed against the wall. San crawls next to him, "What's wrong?" 

"Sorry, I'm… I feel really dizzy." He explains his sudden transition to the floor. "I just need a minute." 

There's a cold hand pressed against Seonghwa's forehead, something to focus on that will hopefully make his world stop spinning. Even with his eyes closed, he feels like he's riding a carousel at 160 kph. "You're burning up." The younger gasps like this is new information. Seonghwa has known of the fever for hours. "And you're probably dehydrated too. We've gotta get some liquid in you." 

A panic shoots through San as he scans the room, hoping that by some miracle someone might be there to help him. But he knows deep down that it's a lost cause. It's still the middle of the night. And the only other person in the apartment is sound asleep. So it's all up to him. "Stay here, okay?" He encourages, "I'm gonna get stuff ready for you." 

Seonghwa just nods, hand resting on his bloated stomach. Without San's cool hand to ground him, his mind is back to whirling around the carousel. He presses his head against the wall and whimpers until San's return. He has no way of knowing if seconds, minutes, or hours pass in his misery. 

San can hear Seonghwa's lonely cries as he passes through the apartment. He starts in the kitchen, setting on a kettle for tea and rummaging through the mostly barren cabinets, swearing up and down that he'd seen a sleeve of crackers lying untouched just a few days ago. When the crackers don’t turn up, San whispers out a curse and peers around for something else that would be easy on his hyung’s stomach. A bowl of jook would be ideal, but that will take a long time to prepare. Seonghwa needs nutrients now. 

He creates a tray of snacks, containing stray food they had in the apartment. He slices up every kind of fruit he could find, microwaves an instant noodle cup and set the flavor packet aside, and he borrowed one of Mingi’s favorite jello cups. San pours the whistling kettle over a peppermint tea bag and allows it to steep for only 1 minute, not wanting the tea to be too strong. Then he adds an electrolyte drink to the tray for good measure before carrying it out to the coffee table. 

He passes through the corridor again, paying Seonghwa little mind. It seems the older has started to drift off as he rested against the wall. San figures it just buys him time to finish setting up the living room. He takes a quick detour to his hyung's room to gather some additional supplies. 

Upon entering the room, San's hit with the smell of vomit. It doesn't take him long to notice the shallow pool of vomit beside the bed. He follows the trail up and sees another small puddle among the bedsheets. It's suddenly abundantly clear why Seonghwa was so adamant about not returning to his room, feeling too sickly to face the mess he'd made at some earlier point in the night. 

He decides to leave the mess for now, recentering his goal of getting Seonghwa nourished, medicated, and rested. He pulls out some fresh clothes for his hyung, figuring that his current outfit is either sweat soaked or vomit stained. Likely a putrid combination of both. 

He forgoes stealing the blankets off Seonghwa's bed and opts to take the bedding from his own room. But he makes sure to pick up Seonghwa’s Star Wars blanket for some familiarity and comfort. It's a child sized blanket. It hardly covers his torso effectively. But it's a great comfort to Seonghwa, especially when he's feeling sick or overly tired. 

Once San spreads out all the blankets to cover the scratchy fabric of the couch, he returns to find his hyung dozed off right where he's left him. He nudges the older awake. “Hwa-hyung, wake up.” He whispers, “You shouldn't sleep here.” 

Ever the light sleeper, Seonghwa rouses, though he immediately resumes his whimpers. “don't wanna get up.” A sob dies out in the back of his throat, “don't feel good.”

“I know you don't hyung,” San sympathizes, “but I have some things set up that will make you feel better.” He doesn't allow time for Seonghwa to refute before he's helping the older man to his feet and guiding him to the couch. 

Seonghwa's whole weight falls onto the couch, ready to sleep as soon as his head hits the pillow that San had laid out for him. He draws the Star Wars blanket close to his face and lets out a relaxed sigh. It feels like home. 

“No, not just yet hyung.” San nearly shouts just to get his hyung's attention. “First, try and get some food down.” He gestures to the options displayed on the coffee table. “Anything, please.” 

“Sannie, my stomach hurts” The older man slurs. “I don't think I can eat anything.” 

“Hyung,” San's voice morphs into a gentle scolding tone. “You need to eat something.” 

“No!” Seonghwa whimpers. “I just need to sleep.” 

“You know if the roles were reversed, you'd be trying to make me eat something.” San doesn't back down, despite his hyung's bratty behavior. He gives up on asking, opting to use a bit more force. He picks up the electrolyte drink and points the straw to Seonghwa’s lips. “take a sip.” 

When Seonghwa opens his mouth to refuse, the straw slides between his lips. He manages three small sips before he pushes the straw out of his mouth. “Cold.” He whines. 

“How about some tea, it's nice and warm by now.” San replaces the drink bottle with the tea cup. “Sit up a bit, I'll help you.” 

Seonghwa finally does as he's told. Propping himself up enough so San can tip the cup against his lips. The tea is warm, sends a wave of comfort through his chilled limbs. And the weak peppermint flavor coats his bubbling stomach. Still, he pushes San away before he's finished the cup. He just found this new comfort, he doesn't want to risk it by filling up too fast. 

San sets the cup down, “jello or apples?” He offers, figuring that the noodles may be too much for his hyung's stomach right now. He's not ecstatic, but he's satisfied with the amount of liquid Seonghwa managed to take but just wants a few bites of food in him as well.

He decides on the jello, likely a result of his natural sweet tooth winning out. San spoon feeds him an astounding five bites before he purses his lips and puts a hand on his stomach. “Done.” The sick man insists. 

“Okay,” San confirms. “Take a little medicine, then you can sleep again.” 

Seonghwa nods and takes the pills San hands him. He only sips a bit more of the electrolyte drink to force the pills down. And finally, he lays back down, settling into the couch and curling himself into a small ball. “You'll stay?” He looks pitifully at San. 

“Of course, hyung. I'll stay.” He leans against the front of the couch, resting his head on his hyung's thigh. 

“Thanks, Sannie.” Seonghwa’s breathing starts to even out as sleep overtakes him, “for taking such good care of me.” 

“Sleep well, Hwa.” San also starts to drift back to sleep, the adrenaline of the past hour finally dying down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Sorry again for another long absence in sharing fics. I have a few more request fics I'm actively working on and some original ideas I want to flesh out. I know my motivations have been wavering, but I'll get through them in time. I'm finally starting to feel more like myself again, so hopefully, I'll get out of this funk soon. But I make no promises to timing. Just know that I'm still here, still writing as I'm able to. Please accept this overdue Ateez fic as a token of my gratitude.

As always, thanks for reading to the end! I really appreciate each and every one of you who make it this far! Feedback is always appreciated. And please let me know if I missed any tags or TWs. And please call me out for any errors you notice!

🧡 Aki

[abhainnwhump]

I'm not comfortable writing the first part, but I will write Nightmare getting the crap beaten out of him.

Masterlist || Chapter Context

(Content warnings: Eye gore, torture, broken bones, mentions of major character death)

Before Nightmare could stab Dream through the chest and steal his soul, Dream caught his tendril. The shock caused Nightmare to shift back into his regular, demonic form. Dream's soul burned with anger. It both strengthened and weakened him.

"Really? Really? Did you believe that would work? I know the Nightmare I grew up with died centuries ago. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!" Dream's gold eye lights blazed. They had enough of Nightmare's mind games. He picked his two swords back up and stepped on Nightmare's chest. One of his tendrils wrapped around his wrist, but he chopped it off.

Nightmare glared at him, though he also managed a chuckle. "Fine. Perhaps you've finally grown up and learned to be less of a pathetic, emotional excuse for a guardian. I still won."

"No . . . I WON'T LET YOU!" Without thinking it through, Dream stabbed Nightmare in the eye. The guardian screamed and malice covered his eye as he was rendered blind. Dream stabbed him over and over in a blind rage. Nightmare thrashed under him. Golden magic swirled around his body, consuming his eye sockets until they looked like they were filled with glistening honey.

From the other side of the room, Horror, Dust, and Blue stopped fighting. Dust teleported over to Nightmare and loaded his gun. "Boss! What the fuck, Dream?"

Dream's skull shot up and he bared his teeth. "And you, you're no better. You helped out with all of this. In what ways, I don't know, but I will find out, you impertinent jerk!" Dream harnessed his energy into a ball of light, dodging Dust's bullets as he shot him. He kicked Nightmare in the face to keep him down as he fired the ball of energy at Dust. Dust flew across the room and his skull his the the wall. His chest and jacket were burned from the magic.

Horror threw Blue against the ground as he ran to Dust's dazed form. The knight harnessed his new glitch and teleported in front of him, he bashed Horror in the head for the second time that night. He took the few seconds to look at Dream. "Dream? Did you just-"

"I'M NOT DONE." Dream raised his foot and stomped on Nightmare's ribcage, shattering them. The images of the fallen Birdtale, the Code Purples, Fresh's death, everything with Ink . . . they fueled the fire inside him. He lost too many people because of this- this demon.

Nightmare's breathing shook. Black and teal ooze spread around him like blood. Dream kicked Nightmare in the head and panted, knocking him out. Dream wasn't sure what to do with his body. As much as he wanted to kill him, he couldn't throw off the balance. Core Frisk had Anti-Magic cuffs they could use. Blue's mouth hung open. He spent the time keeping Horror down as he now used blue glitching magic to keep him in place. Dream narrowed their pure gold eye sockets at Horror as they walked over. Blue watched him with a mix of admiration and fear. "That was amazing, but are you okay?"

"Silence." Dream grabbed Horror by his turtleneck and pulled him close, gritting his teeth. They dug their nails deep into the fabric. "Give me the coordinates to Nightmare's castle. Ink is coming home tonight."

[xeiinsuuferst]

OH MY GOD?? 5 reblogs and **9** NOTES!? I know it’s not much but to me it means a LOT!! tysm guys ^^ before I try making a comic.. I wanna start off small ( mostly because I don’t know how to make one lol… )

Goth belongs to Nekophy

Crescent belongs to Lunnar-chan

Anatomy is a pain in my ass.. I promise I’m trying :’)

[shrikeseams]

I would very much like to know why you think Finwe is a shitty husband.

Pretty sure I have exhausted this topic elsewhere on this blog, so in essence (and with the understanding that there are other interpretations etc etc):

Finwe asked his first wife (who was functionally elf!suicidal) to permanently forfeit her fundamental right to life for his convenience. Explicitly because he had found a replacement for her.

Then he also abandons his second wife because he was angry at the valar for usurping his political prerogatives and she was no longer convenient/his favoritest son didn't like her.

I know there are other opinions and interpretations on both of these events, but on numbers alone Finwe has outstripped every other shitty elf husband. After all, Eol was only complicit in the death of one spouse, and he wasn't even aiming at her! Eol never tried to ditch Aredhel for a hot new thing!

(There is an argument that Finwe did, ultimately, let Miriel go free. But my stance on that is that it was fait accompli, and I see no reason to think it would have occurred to him if he hadn't already died. It's not like he was offering to die on weekends so Miriel could meet her grandchildren or anything. [Tbh my counter-canon take on it is that Namo was fibbing, and the valar had decided that finwe was too politically inconvenientfor reimbodiment, so they pressured Miriel to reimbody first. Thus why she technically only hangs out with Vaire.] )

[what-have-i-unleashed]

OMG HOW AM I SO STUPID NETVERSE HORROR SHOULD BE A PARK RANGER AAAAAAA

ok ok so it should still work. like, it's farmtale. they should have protected parks/forests near an agriculture town right? horror can be a park ranger there it would be so cool honestly. he can apply his skills in to combat poachers and trespassers. he used to live in a town near a forest, he would know some stuff for sure.

also horror's a vegetarian because i said so.

[fairyniceyeah]

⏳🐿️ Drink up, one more, drink up

Title from Emergency (ATEEZ)

Summary: Filming for Fever Road Ep. 4 is going well until Hongjoong is required to drink the fish sauce…

CW: emeto, allergic reaction, stye, IVs

Sickie: Hongjoong Caretaker(s): San + Seonghwa

San was not a fan of the new ‘Fever Roads’ mission. It was bad enough that they left Wooyoung to be taken alone to a scary house – knowing fully well that Wooyoung did not like scary stuff at all – but now? Drinking fish sauce?

Well, Americano or fish sauce. Which was only slightly better.

He reached out first, despite loving his members, not willing to actually drink the sauce. The others quickly reached out to grab their own drinks. San watched as Jongho tried to smell if he could detect fish sauce and Seonghwa stared at his chosen cup without getting an answer.

San glanced over when he heard Yunho laugh, sniffing at Hongjoong’s drink. So their hyung had definitely made the wrong choice. San already pitied him, everybody knew that Hongjoong did not like any bitter drinks (Americano included but that was a different problem).

⌛

This could only end in disaster. San grabbed the kitchen roll behind him and handed out tissues to the members. They might be needed to hide their expressions if it was going to be as horrible as San feared it would.

The members kept teasing each other but San kept silent. He didn’t find the mission funny. At all. Yunho was gleeful in Hongjoong’s plight – San couldn’t fault him, objectively it was probably funny. He just didn’t feel it.

Though at first hesitant, Mingi was in luck. It was very clear that he had chosen Americano. With Yeosang, surprisingly, he wasn’t able to tell – though he suspected he had gotten Americano. The other man was definitely not as good an actor to hide if he had chosen fish sauce.

Then it was Hongjoong’s turn. San hadn’t been able to see his facial expression before, sitting next to him. Now that Hongjoong had turned to face the majority of the members there was regret all over his face, and maybe slight panic. Understandably. San really didn’t want to be in his position. He wasn’t sure if the captain was even aware of the grimace on his face.

Then Hongjoong opened the lid and immediately the room started smelling – badly. San felt so bad for his hyung. He couldn’t help but worry about the older man, he could tell that Hongjoong was really not happy under the fake “I’m not happy” demeanour.

Yunho held a tissue to Hongjoong’s mouth but was soon distracted with fake gagging as he breathed in. Jongho, always happy to tease his hyungs, kept telling them to not make it obvious. Like anybody would believe that Hongjoong actually had Americano.

As Hongjoong turned away, trying to get away from the smell, San added sarcastically: “I didn’t know you liked the smell of Americano that much!” San could at least make an effort to act like San though he really didn’t feel like it. Maybe ATINY would appreciate the teasing, then at least it was worth it.

“It’s okay if you don’t act out”, Seonghwa said, also not sounding convinced that this was a good idea. Fish sauce was a condiment, for God’s sake, not a drink.

Hongjoong was still stalling. “Remember we have to save Wooyoung”, San encouraged, hoping that maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t as bad as it smelled. Maybe it would be best to just get it over with.

The captain was smiling through the pain, San could tell, as Hongjoong countered: “Who is that? Who is he?”. Keeping the “six makes one team” joke alive. Okay, Hongjoong could do this.

Their captain pinched his nose closed and drank the whole cup in one go. San was confident Hongjoong, or all of them, really, could keep the act up. Perhaps it was not as bad as he had thought. Maybe he really was just a tad to pessimistic.

The sentiment held as long as Seonghwa muttered an impressed “woah”. Watching the captain closely, San saw how he had trouble swallowing the last part, the taste probably hitting just then. Hongjoong placed the empty cup on the ground and doubled over, coughing.

Yeosang immediately moved his leg out of the way, muttering a concerned “oh, hyung”. For a moment San was frozen, watching their captain cough violently. The only sound other than Hongjoong’s coughing was the other members teasing him, saying the drink “had gone down the wrong pipe” – as if fish sauce needed to go down the wrong pipe to cause this. Again, nobody would ever believe that it was actually Americano.

⌛

Suddenly it all went wrong.

Hongjoong spat out some of the fish sauce he apparently still had in his mouth into his hand, the other grabbing the tissue lying in front of him. San reached over, his own tissue at the ready, and held it to Hongjoong’s mouth. He could at least try to cover the captain’s dignity.

The next moment that motive became moot. Hongjoong’s cough turned into a gag. Alarmed the other members looked over; Yunho’s, Jongho’s and Mingi’s laughter going quiet at once. Yeosang who had been rubbing Hongjoong’s back, looked worried, but didn’t stop.

“Shit, I think he is going to throw up”, Seonghwa called from the end where he was sitting, sounding extremely worried out of a sudden.

“Cut the cameras”, a manager yelled out in response..

Hongjoong leaned over even further, looking panicked. His cough was sounding wet, turning into – for now – dry retches every other second. The crew was whispering to each other but San paid them no mind.

“I don’t…”, Hongjoong gasped, his face red from the coughing, “please, go away.” They all knew that Hongjoong was conscious of those things, hating to inconvenience staff and also very easily embarrassed by his own sickness. While he did mostly tell them when he was feeling unwell, the only person he hesitantly allowed to with him when he threw up was Seonghwa. Now there were five additional members in the room and several camera crew, managers and make-up noonas and hyungs. No wonder Hongjoong was shaking so badly.

“What are you waiting for?”, Jongho called at the staff, who were still milling about. It was very rude of their maknae but San understood. This challenge had the potential to go very wrong and it had. The anger was justified and San knew that Jongho was terrified at the change of events though he knew better than to let it out on others, especially staff. They would have to address and rectify that later. Now he needed to get to their poor captain, who was gasping for breath.

“Move over”, San commanded, nudging Yunho, who was still frozen in shock – how had a fun game turned to their hyung struggling not to be sick while on camera? – back. He might have come across as rude, but if Yunho seriously was hurt by his tone of voice they could talk it over later.

“It’s okay, hyung”, San comforted, joining Yeosang in rubbing their captain’s back. Hongjoong gagged again, his whole back rippling from the motion. He was struggling to hold it back, needing his privacy, but he was losing the battle. “If you need to be sick, let it happen. You will feel better.”

San wasn’t sure if the reassurance had helped or if Hongjoong’s stomach was just done with the fish sauce – either way the next second Hongjoong gagged deeply and fish sauce spilled over his hand. The position looked painful, Hongjoong was nearly touching the ground while still trying to be as far away from his lap as possible. Mingi had scooted away, being in the line of fire, looking on wide-eyed.

Not sure what to do or how to help, San glanced at Seonghwa, who had knelt down by them, an unhappy frown on his face. The crew was finally moving out of the room, sadly too late.

Seonghwa grabbed Hongjoong’s dirtied hand, pulling it out of the line of fire. “Yunho, get the rest out”, he said, having found his composure. Seonghwa seemed really surprised by the turn of the events, but San recognized he had switched into oldest-hyung mode now. Hongjoong heaved again, vile liquid spewing from his mouth. It looked so painful and like Hongjoong was barely able to breath before the next mouthful came up. San couldn’t help but wince at the odour, it really reeked.

Yunho nodded and pulled Jongho to his feet, who was still watching in worry. Mingi was coaching Yeosang away so that Seonghwa could take his place. When Yunho tried to get San away, he shook his hand off his shoulder. “Go”, he hissed and, reluctantly, they left the room.

“San”, Seonghwa sighed, but didn’t try to make him leave.

Together they stayed with the captain, comforting him as he kept on coughing and spilling his stomach contents all over the floor. Wave after wave of clear brown liquid had come up but now it was turning into chunks of their dinner. The whole thing had apparently triggered a real vomit effect.

⌛

It took a few minutes until Hongjoong was able to calm down. He kept on gagging at the bitter taste that was probably left in his mouth, his back quivering with the force of it all. Tears were streaming down his face – San couldn’t tell if they were caused by the vomiting or if Hongjoong was crying of humiliation.

Finally it was over. Hongjoong took a deep breath and scooted back, away from the disgusting puddle on the floor. Seonghwa and San followed him, but still tried to give him some space. The captain pulled his knees to his chest and pressed his face into his upper arm, softly crying and hiccoughing. The soiled hand dangled at his side, as he tried to keep it away from himself.

San hadn’t ever seen his hyung like that, sad and defeated. It felt like a punch in the stomach, seeing the strong man brought down low. His heart yearned to help.

He grabbed the roll of kitchen towels that conveniently laid next to him and wet it with some water from one of the bottles. Then he gently took his hyung’s dirty hand, provisionally cleaning it off.

Hongjoong let out a deep sob at the touch.

“Hongjoong?”, Seonghwa asked, emboldened by San’s attempt to help. “Can I hug you?”

For a moment they didn’t think Hongjoong would answer but then Seonghwa had his lap full of crying human. Gently Seonghwa rocked them side to side, shushing Hongjoong’s cries and rubbing his back. Hongjoong had buried his face in the crook of Seonghwa’s neck and just kept trembling. Not knowing what else to do except offer comfort, San gently enfolded his hyung’s small hand in his own, bigger one. At first he wasn’t sure if it was welcome but then Hongjoong held on tightly.

Time passed and slowly Hongjoong’s cries quietened down until he was silent in Seonghwa’s arms. When Hongjoong made no move to get out of the safety of his hyung’s arms, Seonghwa, though with a look of regret, moved him so they could look at each other.

“Do you feel better, love?”, the oldest asked, gently as if speaking to a frightened child.

Hongjoong barely reacted, the shrug he gave hardly moving his shoulders. He looked down at his knees as if they were a very interesting, new sight. San followed his gaze to the small, wet spot on his calf where it seemed he had thrown up on himself a bit.

“Let’s get you clean up, okay?”, San suggested, keeping his voice steady despite the tears he felt bubbling up in him.

Together Seonghwa and San helped the captain to his feet, yet Hongjoong just sagging between them in defeat.

Loud voices from the other room had them looking up. “This is ridiculous!”, Jongho yelled, although his voice was muffled by the wall. Several exclamations followed, buzzing together so that they didn’t understand what was being said.

“I’ll go sort this out”, Seonghwa said with a sigh, “can you help Hongjoong-ah, San-ah?”

⌛

Without hesitation, San nodded. He wrapped his arm around his hyung’s waist and led the silent captain to the adjoining bathroom. While they hadn’t had time to unpack their stuff, at least their toiletry bags had been placed inside. San couldn’t deny how terribly Hongjoong’s breath stank from the combined forces of fish sauce and vomit, so he was glad for the option of brushing his teeth.

First he made Hongjoong wash his hands with soap, putting on some hand sanitizer for the extra safety. Then repeated the same thing for himself.

He had Hongjoong sit down on the closed toilet seat afterwards, as the older was still a bit unsteady. Next he grabbed Hongjoong’s bag and ruffled through it. Normally, Hongjoong would hate for somebody looking through his stuff. Now he just watched apathetically as San took out his toothbrush, then searched through Seonghwa’s back for toothpaste.

“Here you go, hyung”, San said and held it out to him after he had squeezed the toothpaste on the brush and had wet it slightly, “you’ll see, it’ll help.”

“Thanks”, Hongjoong muttered quietly and began brushing his teeth. At least he had spoken, if not much. It was clear he was still in the process of, well, of processing the events. His face was still flushed red from either shame or the coughs.

San quietly stayed with him, just keeping him some company. He knew that Hongjoong often tried to run away and hide from the younger members when he was embarrassed or sick or just not feeling good, however, for the moment he seemed content enough with San’s presence. If it only helped just a tiny bit it was enough for San. Clearly the captain didn’t felt like being alone at the moment.

Hongjoong finally stopped brushing his teeth just as San was about to suggest he stop before he ruined his gums. The foam he spat out still was tinged slightly brown, so he had been too late, but the motion had clearly brought Hongjoong a little comfort and gave him back control. His strength waned with the action of getting up, however, and he just slumped back down on the toilet once done rinsing his mouth.

Rifling through his bag again, San found a face cloth and ran it under warm water. Then he knelt down in front of Hongjoong and looked up at the elder’s red-tinged eyes and his tear stained cheeks.

“Can I?”, he asked, gesturing with the cloth. Hongjoong nodded, apparently too exhausted to do it himself, so San tenderly wiped his face clean. Hongjoong closed his eyes and sighed, relaxing under the motion and warmth (and presumably the feeling of at last being a bit cleaner). Once done, San wiped a bit at Hongjoong’s soiled jeans, not sure if it actually helped.

San bit his lip in hesitation, no sure if he should proceed. But worry for his hyung - and knowing Hongjoong would never fault him for trying to make sure anybody (him included) was feeling okay - made him continue. “Hyung, do you wanna talk about it?”, he questioned.

Hongjoong sighed, defeated. His voice nearly broke with his next words; he sounded so insecure and hurt. “I don’t know, San-ah. I … what is there even to say? Am I angry that this happened? Yes, of course. Do I feel humiliated and like I just want to hide under my blankets forever? Definitely yes. Will that change anything? No. So what can I even say?”

“Oh, hyung”, San said, feeling tears gather in his eyes. He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Hongjoong, happy to feel him breathing against his neck. They stayed like this for a few moments until San’s knees started to protest his position. So instead, he gently took Hongjoong’s hand in his own. “Ready to get out?”

“Just give me one more minute, San-ah”, Hongjoong said. San just squeezed his hand in a gesture of comfort, happy to wait with him. Hongjoong took a few deep breaths, obviously steeling himself. His face turned a bit harder, blocking out the vulnerability. The pain, however, stayed.

“Okay, let’s go”, Hongjoong said, removing his hand from San’s. “Don’t worry so much about your hyung, San-ah. I’m very happy I have such caring and sweet dongsaengs, but really I will be fine.” San nodded, touched by the captain’s words.

⌛

Together they stood up and stepped back into the main room. The members and the staff  had also returned and seemed to have stopped arguing (if it even was an argument, San wasn’t so sure). They clearly were waiting for them. Seonghwa had an arm wrapped around Yeosang and Jongho each, the maknae staring down at his feet and Yeosang looking lost. In a reverse of their more natural roles, Mingi seemed to be comforting Yunho. Somebody had already cleaned up the vomit from the floor and the cups had been moved to the side.

As soon as they appeared in view, Yunho looked up and rushed forward, breaking Mingi’s gentle grip on his arm.

“Hyung, I’m so sorry for laughing! I never would have if I knew”, he apologized, looking truly like a kicked puppy. The other members also stepped forward, giving their own apologies. Hongjoong looked startled. “You don’t need to apologize, guys”, he said, “you didn’t know that … what would happen. It was an honest mistake and it probably was funny or will be in retrospect. Really, Yunho!” He emphasised the last part, seeing Yunho still pouting. “It’s okay.”

“Can I hug you, hyung?”, Yunho asked. Hongjoong nodded, stepping forward, and stood on his tiptoes to hug the taller one. San saw him whispering something in Yunho’s ear but didn’t hear and didn’t want to anyway.

“Hyung?”, Jongho said, freeing himself from Seonghwa’s arm and taking a tiny step towards Hongjoong. “I really want to apologize. I really was an asshole.”

“No, don’t say that about yourself, maknae-ah”, Hongjoong replied, walking over to him and gently touching his cheek. “I know you didn’t mean no harm. You were having fun teasing your captain, I can’t have you feel bad for that.”

“Hyung”, Jongho whined but the way his shoulders slumped down showed his relief.

“We are very sorry, too”, the director of the episode added, stepping forward and bowing. “We didn’t know that simple fish sauce could have such an effect on anybody.”

“I accept your apologies”, Hongjoong said formally, though his voice was scarily emotionless.

“However, we do need to keep filming the episode. We informed Wooyoung of … the incident but you still need to finish the mission. We will start where we left off”, the director added.

“Manager-hyung”, Seonghwa injected right away, “you … we can’t.”

“I’m sorry, Seonghwa-yah”, the main manager said, really looking the part, “but director-nim is right. We spend so much time, money and effort on this series, we need to continue. I wish it was different.”

“But surely we can continue filming tomorrow?”, Seonghwa suggested, sounding desperate, “surely one day can’t hurt that much? Or we can continue without Joong-ah?”

The manager shook his head. “Again, I’m truly sorry. We booked something for tomorrow, we can’t rent it out on a different day, so we can’t delay filming.”

The director added: “We need Hongjoong on film, we can cut some scenes or block them differently but we really need him. If he really can’t continue he doesn’t have to, but the … vomiting really was just from the fish sauce not illness, right?”

Hongjoong blushed deep red but nodded. “I’m really sorry about that, director-nim”, he said quietly.

“Ah, enough apologies”, the director said, waving Hongjoong off, “we’ll switch out all the cups so that they have Americano in them and then we can go on. We’ll start again with the others saying the drink went down the wrong pipe and then we’ll go on with Yunho. Look lively. Hwaiting!”

Small mercies but San couldn’t just keep quiet. He had seen first hand how affected Hongjoong had been, how exhausted he still was. “Can we at least take a short break before we start? Hyung should eat a bit before we start again and, I’m sorry to be so blunt, but he still has puke on his jeans.”

“San-ah”, Hongjoong groaned. All gazes were locked on Hongjoong’s jeans now. Oops?

“Well, it’ll look like water or fish sauce on camera, don’t worry”, one of the camerawomen said, a bit of disgust in her voice.

“See, don’t worry. We can’t change his outfit now, chances are people won’t even notice. A garderobe change would raise suspicion”, the director said. The manager did look a bit worried now that these things had been pointed out but he stayed silent. San knew he would step in if they needed him to should the occasion arise. He held on his plan to help the members learn to defend themselves and advocate for themselves on set.

To their collective surprise it was Yeosang who spoke up next. “But, hyung really should eat before we start filming again. Hongjoong-hyung is probably running on fumes.”

“I really don’t feel like eating right now, don’t worry. If I really need to I will eat later”, the captain said, coughing a bit. He looked a bit embarrassed again.

“Alright, alright, let’s start”, the director said, “the quicker we start, the quicker we finish.”

⌛

Not at all happy with what they were going to do, the members sat down like in their previous shot. It felt wrong to have Hongjoong continue when he had been sick just minutes earlier and with his clothes still stained. But there was nothing to be done once the cameras started rolling.

Fortunately, they all were good actors and managed to get over the re-filming of the scenes, over Hongjoong fake coughing in the background while the members told the cameras that he had just swallowed wrong in a repeat of earlier so it could be cut together more easily. They all went through drinking their own cups of Americano swiftly enough, since none of them were struggling to keep it down or had to fake their way through it for entertainment purposes. Hongjoong kept coughing a bit throughout and Yunho kept telling him to be quiet though - of course - Hongjoong’s breath smelled fine.

They called Wooyoung, telling him to sing to the elephant. All the while, San kept his eyes on Hongjoong who was suspiciously quiet, all his answer seeming forced. His cough had not gone away at all and his face was still a bit red. San couldn’t help but worry, fear that something was still going wrong gnawing at him.

But they passed the mission, were reunited with Wooyoung and they could laugh at his pictures and video. They got the second puzzle piece. Hongjoong tried to act engaged and looked the part mostly, acting as if he had a headache from the chaos. His hair was in disarray from how often he had run his hand through it, a nervous gesture for sure.

⌛

“Cut”, the director finally called, “we are done except for the going to bed scene. Get changed and we will be finished within the hour.”

The members cheered, hugging each other. Out of his corner of his eye San saw Hongjoong walk over to his manager, placing a hand on the older man’s arm and muttering something. San saw the alarm on the manager’s face before he exclaimed loudly: “Hongjoong-ah! You can’t keep something like this secret!”

“Hyung”, Hongjoong whined, though his voice sounded strained, “I was letting you know, that’s the definition of not keeping a secret.”

“What is going on?”, Seonghwa asked, rushing over to them.

“It’s nothing really. I’m just having a bit of trouble breathing”, Hongjoong said, causing a the group to collectively suck in a breath. Seonghwa lifted Hongjoong’s chin to look at him.

“That is not ‘nothing’, Hongjoong-ah!”, he insisted, saying what they all were thinking. “Besides, your face is looking a bit swollen or puffy and still quite red. I think you are having an allergic reaction.” From his position between Yeosang who was watching with wide-eyes and Wooyoung who was clutching San’s hand with a lot of force, San could see what had Seonghwa so worried. Hongjoong really didn’t look good and, now that he knew, San could tell that his breathing was indeed a bit uneven and shallow.

“Come on, Hongjoong-ah”, the manager said, “you earned yourself a trip to the emergency room.” Hongjoong nodded, seemingly defeated and relieved at the same time.

“I wanna go with hyung”, San said, stepping forward but not letting go of Wooyoung. He never would.

“I’m sorry, San-ah”, the manager said, wrapping an arm around Hongjoong’s shoulder and leading him to the door. “I can excuse one member missing for a medical emergency but not a second one. I will keep Joong-ah company and you updated. Have a good night and sleep well!”

“I will be okay”, Hongjoong tried to reassure them, though it was kind of hard to believe. With every minute he looked worse. “I will be back before you know it.”

They stepped out of the door.

The rest of the evening passed in slow motion. The members got ready for bed and spread some cushions on the ground as a sleep arrangement. They were really getting too damn good at acting exited while feeling down and worried all the while.

⌛

“Cut”, the director called and the crew bid the members good-night. One of the managers walked up to them. “I just got the message, I’ll read it out: ‘Hongjoong-ah is doing fine. It was an allergic reaction from the fish sauce, as expected, but he got an IV with antihistamines, an anti-emetic and fluids as soon as we arrived. He’ll need to stay until it is done but unless anything else unexpectedly happens I can take him home once it is done. Sleep tight and don’t worry.”

“That’s good”, Wooyoung remarked, having crawled down from the lone sofa the moment the cameras had shut off and cuddling up to Seonghwa. San had laid down on top of Yunho just as quickly, happy to have his hyung hold him. Even Jongho had reluctantly reached out to hold hands with Mingi, while Yeosang had turned around on his sofa to stroke Wooyoung’s hair.

The others nodded at Wooyoung’s comment though their hearts felt heavy still.

“Try to get some sleep”, the manager said, “tomorrow morning is coming awfully soon.”

“Yunho?”, San whispered some minutes later.

“San-ah?”, Yunho slurred back, apparently already half-asleep from the stress of the day, “are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m just really sorry that I was rude earlier.”

“I don’t even know what you mean. Go to sleep. Love you.”

“Good. Love you too.”

⏳

San had tried to stay awake until Hongjoong returned home, he really had. He must have fallen asleep though, because he was awoken the next day by the very captain he had been missing shaking his shoulder.

“Hyung!”, he exclaimed, reaching out to hug him. The rest of the members stirred at his call, waking up slowly. Then San noticed the medical tape over Hongjoong’s left eye. “What happened?”

That woke the others even quicker. Before Hongjoong even had a chance to answer, the rest stared at him, apprehension on their faces and talking all over themselves.

“Relax”, Seonghwa had to call out over them, but using the sudden stop by the others to sneak in between Yunho and Hongjoong to wrap an arm around the captain’s shoulder. “Let Joong-ah tell us what happened.”

“Nothing happened”, Hongjoong said, rolling his good eye, “I am just very unlucky and got a stye. At least I was already at the right place.” Very funny.

“Fair enough”, Mingi said, nodding, “when did you return then?”

“It was close to four in the morning, I think”, Hongjoong said, “I didn’t look at the clock, I was so tired. We entered through the backdoor and the managers let me sleep in their room so we didn’t disturb you.”

“It would have been a happy disturbance”, Yeosang said and pouted. “True, I wanted to sleep next to hyung”, Jongho added, smiling at Hongjoong cutely.

“Well, the good news is that we need to film ‘us waking up’, so I can at least lay down next to you for some time.”

“Wait, hyung”, San said, before Hongjoong could call out to the crew to start filming, “are you really okay?”

“Yes, I’m truly fine.” Hongjoong smiled.

Notes: This is a 'what if' or 'what might have happened' of the time Hongjoong had to drink the fish sauce in Fever Road Ep. 4. Some of the things the members say are direct quotes from the subtitles of the episode.

Masterlist links: Fairy's Full Masterlist Fairy's Masterlist - ATEEZ

[obamerht]

wooo two new pages, I’m nearing to the end of the first chapter of HeartTale, I know this isin’t well polished and stuff, but I’m getting a proper drawing tablet and with it I’ll also get a better drawing program, so I hope the quality will soon increase:]

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU Drabble - Mud

Hello! I am back with the baby-AU! Lmao! @spotaus

I am excited about this one :3

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Lets just get right into it shall we? :3

*-------------------*

Nightmare should probably be paying attention.

But the truth is it has already been a long day and he just doesn't feel like it.

Instead he just keeps holding Cross's hand as he eats his chocolate bar.

Nightmare is actually standing on the ground today, which is nice for a chance. It is mostly because he just spend the last two hours or so sitting still for some doctors and healers. For his monthly check up.

Which is new to him! Since when does he have a monthly check up?!

Nightmare huffs as he keeps eating his candy bar. It is sweet and he likes that. much like the light rain that is around them. He also likes the rain.

Cross shoots him an apologetic look "I know Nightmare. We will go home soon."

Nightmare hums and leans against Cross's side. He wants to go home already. The town is nice but busy today. Something to do with it being near halloween Crop had explained.

Nightmare looks up and sees that Killer is also very done with the conversation, even if he still has a smile on his face. Cross is better with acting interested. Gerson is talking to them so Nightmare can understand why they are still humouring this whole thing.

Nightmare finishes his snack and looks aorund, searching for a garbage can. He easily spots one and goes to let go of the hand.

Cross tightens his hold and looks down at him anxious "NIghtmare? Are you okay?" he gives Gerson an apologetic smile.

Nightmare rolls his eye lights and shows the obvious wrapper "Going to throw it away." duh.

Cross looks around and spots the same garbage can "I mean... okay... fast..." he slowly lets go of the hand as Gerson pulls him back to the conversation. Social guidelines nad rules keeping him captured.

Nightmare grins and walks over to the garbage can. He is careful to not slip on the wet and muddy ground. He is getting close when he spots a large mud pool and frowns at it. Annoying as he already starts to feel his spine acting up.

Seems like being carried and letting his spine relax a bit mad ehim less used to the pain... or is it because he is small now? Nightmare really doesn't know...

Still go carefully makes his way around the mud, he is wearing his new favourite sweater, the one Dust got him when they first got here, and he doesn't want to risk it getting dirty. He is already unhappy wiht it getting wet.

He gets to the garbage can and throws away the wrapper. Mission accomplished. Now to go back to Cross and Killer.

He turns around and bums into someone. Nightmare quickly takes a few steps back and slips only slightly before regaining his balance. He looks up and sees two boys.

Nightmare mutters "sorry..." he glances around and sees that Killer is already side eyeing him and his situation and he feels a bit calmer. He is fine. Killer is here.

One of the two boys huffs "How dare you! You dirtied my shoe!"

Nightmare blinks and feels confused. What does he mean? Nightmare bummed into him yeah but he didn't hit his shoe right? He looks down and sees that the shoes are covered with mud.

Nightmare frowns and rubs his arm "Sorry?" he isn't sure but also does not want trouble "Maybe it can be washed off?" he isn't sure. Some stuff is still hard to remember.

The boy huffs "Well that doesnt make it better!"

The other boy laughs "You know what would make it better?"

Nightmare realises soemthing is wrong right away and looks for an escape but one of them grabs his arm and the next thing he knows gravity pulls him down right into the mud he had been avoiding.

It hurts so bad.

His eye sockets sting both with tears and the mud. he looks down at himself and is absolutely covered. The other two laugh but it is already becoming a background noise.

His sweater is dirty...

He had tried to be careful with it and... and...

Two arms grab him and he is suddenly held close in a hug. "nightmare?! Are you okay? Is your spine okay? Are you hurt?" Cross speaks gently as he carefully removes some of the mud from Nightmare's face.

Nightmare can't explain. it is already hard to keep in the tears and now he is also ruining Cross's clothes and his body hurts and-

He sobs. He can't keep it in. He ruined his sweater. he ruined Cross's stuff. everything hurts. it is cold. he wants to go home.

Cross just pulls him closer and rubs his shoulders gently "Oh it is okay. Don't worry okay? We will get home and get all cleaned up and we will check your injuries."

Cross's voice helps him focus. Helps him breath and get passed the sobs and tears. his face is still all wet and muddy and he is dirty and his sweater. it had been a gift! He should know better than think he is allowed to have nice things.

Someone screeches "What do you think you are doing to my dareling boys?!"

Nightmare flinches and pushes closer to Cross. he dares to glance up and sees Killer growling and glaring at the two boys. He is holding one arm of one of the boys, the one Ngihtmare run into, behind his back and Nightmare knows that angle is painful.

Killer glances at the lady before looking back at the boy near tears "Teaching your child manners about how he shouldn't bully or harm a young child." Killer's voice is compeltely calm. Giving nothing away. Nightmare knows it means he is beyond furious.

The lady glares "It are just boys! Boys will be boys!" she huffs "What did they even do?" she notices him and huffs again "It is just mud! It is harmless!"

Killer looks at her before grinning. He lets go of the child and steps back. He moves quickly and Nightmare isn't even sure how he does it but next thing there is a wave of mud which covers all three.

Killer crosses his arms and waits.

The lady screeches again "How dare you?! This is real fur!"

Killer raies a brow "What? I thought you just told me. It. Is. Just. Mud." he stares her down "All you will have to do? Clean it. Which is much easier for you. As you have one of those handie bodies to keep it out of your system. Unlike wiht us skeletons that can cause quite a bit of different injuries. All caused by dirt getting stuck in joints. You know, like mud. And between joints, that this babybones has."

The lady shakes slightly as she looks around before looking back at Killer.

Killer stares at her "I will make this clear. YOu are going to walk away with those two brats of yours. You are not going to cause us anymore issues. understood?"

The lady nods and grabs her two boys and leaves.

Killer huffs before looking back at him. cold and emotionless look gone as he looks at him "tiny boss?"

Nightmare knows he is still crying as he pulls on his sweater a tiny bit. it sticks to his body, it rubs and hurts everything... but his sweater. He looks at Killer and isnt sure how to explain "my sweater..." he knows he is still crying "Dusty got this for me...." it was so expensive and special and Nightmare tried to be careful with it but he wanted the warm hug of the sweater at his appointment because it was Dust's relax day but now it is dirty and ruined and and and.

He can't explain adn just sobs.

Cross seems to understand as he pulls him closer "oh baby it is okay. We are going home. get you all cleaned up and clean up your sweater too. You will be wearing it again before you know it!"

Nightmare just sobs again.

Cross nuzzles him gently and that makes him feel a bit better.

"Hey tiny boss! Look!"

Nightmar eblinks and looks over at Killer. Killer sees him look and he grins widely. Before kicking his own feet out from under him and faceplanting right into the mud that Nightmare fell into.

Cross gasps "Killer!"

Killer pulls his face out and grins widely. The mud and tears mix and it is messy and he is covered in mud but it falls in almost slowmotion and-

Nightmare can't stop the giggle leaving him.

Killer grins and gets up. Each step makes a weird slurp and slosh. Nightmare snorts and laughs more.

Killer gets to them and grins at him.

Cross looks amused himself "You are a mess." he still nuzzles nightmare.

Killer grins and winks at Nightmare "Just means tiny boss and I will both need a bath." He then stands straight and shows his outfit "And look! More clothes that need washing! We will just wash our stuff together!"

Nightmare giggles and nods before starting to reach for Killer. He still pulls his hand back again. It feels... needy...

Killer grins as he sloshes over and nuzzles his face all over.

Cross sighs "Killer you are getting your goop all over him."

Killer grins at Cross "It is fine crossy! When we get home it is bathtime anyway!"

Nightmare feels himself relax a bit more as Killer rubs the tears away and Nightmare leans back against Cross. They are going home and wash up together.

He really hopes the sweater will turn out to be okay but the others probably know how to wash it out carefully.

*-------------------*

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[acnologiaheart]

𝔻𝕒𝕪𝟙(ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕟𝕤𝕎𝕖𝕖𝕜𝟚𝟘𝟚𝟛) - ℂ𝕙𝕝𝕚𝕕𝕙𝕠𝕠𝕕/ℝ𝕖𝕦𝕟𝕚𝕠𝕟

(Caretaker!Chara meets UT!Sans)

@chans-week

[zhoudadudugongjin]

Lü Ziming, Vice Commander of my HEART