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fairyniceyeah · 7 months ago

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⌛🐿️ Nobody loves you like (we) do

Title from All about you (ATEEZ)

Summary: After going to bed early during film night Hongjoong starts feeling unwell, his members come to the rescue.

CW: emeto

Sickie: Hongjoong Caretaker(s): Seonghwa (+Yunho + Jongho)

“Maybe you should just go to bed, Joong-hyung”, San suggested as Hongjoong yawned for the umpteenth time that evening. Hongjoong supposed that was fair, he really was tired.

Still it was their monthly super-important-very-obligatory-no-you-cannot-stay-late-at-the-studio-to-work-Hongjoong-hyung-movie-night as Wooyoung had titled it. Nobody had dared dispute it. Hongjoong wanted to be there, spend time with his members for once. He knew he spend too much time at the studio working on songs so it was nice to just relax with them.

The kids had spread out all over their furniture in the living room, leaving just a tiny space for their oldest hyung at the edge of the sofa. The moment Seonghwa had sat down, Mingi's head had landed in his lap. Typical. They were a bit more merciful to Hongjoong, glad to have him home and aware he wouldn’t like to be cuddled to death, so he was allowed to just curl up against Yunho’s side. The dancer had looked way too gleeful when Hongjoong had arrived, waving him over. From the way the others were pouting Hongjoong supposed Yunho had won some sort of game.

But he was glad for his current seat. Truth be told, Hongjoong had been happy to avoid the bee’s nest that was the other end of the couch where Wooyoung, San and Yeosang were lying together, limbs so tangled it was impossible to tell what belonged to who. For a moment Hongjoong wondered how in the world that could be comfortable (not that he ever wanted to find out), but that was when Yeosang shoved Wooyoung off of him so he would not get crushed.

For some time they all were focused on the movie and the popcorn for which Seonghwa had sacrificed a nice sitting space.

Well, most of them were. Hongjoong hadn’t really been paying attention from the beginning, eyes falling shut the moment he had sat down. He probably had fallen asleep at some point. As he looked up, the protagonist of the movie was blind and the whole world was in flames – Hongjoong didn’t know why but at this point he was afraid to ask. No need to get teased even more about his inability to stay awake to watch movies.

“You keep yawning and, knowing you, you have no idea what is happening anyways”, Wooyoung added, speaking around a handful of popcorn and grinning cheekily. Hongjoong growled at him but he didn’t argue against that. He knew better than trying to lie about something he had no idea about. Any question about the movie – including the title – would out him.

Maybe it was for the best if he went to sleep early or, well, earlier than normal. They had a free day on the weekend where they could spend more time together when Hongjoong was actually awake. It was perhaps the better choice for all involved.

So Hongjoong nodded and de-lodged himself from his comfy position half on Yunho to stretch.

“Good night, guys”, he said, interrupted again by a yawn again, and left to get ready. He quickly brushed his teeth and climbed up the ladder to his bunk. His energy was close to zero so he was glad he didn’t have to change clothes, already wearing pajamas from after his shower.

He closed his eyes and curled around his pillow, longing for dreamland.

⌛

Yet, sleep escaped him, no matter how tired he was. He turned around to find a more comfy situation, pausing in his movement as his stomach lightly cramped. Huh, weird. As soon as it had come it went, so he didn’t think much of it at first.

Then the nausea crashed over him and he had to swallow against the sudden, unexpected and very much unwelcome tightness in his throat. He tasted bile in his mouth, not unlike when he had heart-burn, and he swallowed again. What was going on? He had been fine all day but now from one second to the next he felt terrible.

His tiredness had given way to extreme exhaustion and he felt so, so sick. Moving any limb seemed like a herculean task and, no matter how much he tried to work through it, it didn’t matter. He couldn't find a position that was comfortable to lay in and where he might be able to sleep through this weird queasiness.

Hongjoong laid still for what seemed like hours, but it was unlikely considering that Seonghwa hadn’t come in to sleep yet. He kept palming his stomach in hopes of calming the storming sea inside down.

Unexpectedly his stomach gave another lurch and, clenching his jaw shut, he feared he would actually throw up then and there on his bed. Hongjoong held his breath and slowly the nausea subsided, leaving him with an awful taste in his mouth. This was not good. He fought against the tears wanting to escape his tightly shut eyes. He was so tired.

But instead of falling asleep as he so desperately wanted he realized that he needed to climb down the steps of his bunk bed and drag himself to the bathroom to hopefully avoid disaster. Well, Hongjoong wanted to avoid vomiting altogether but that possibility was becoming moot. So being in the bathroom was the second best choice. Probably. He really didn’t want to disturb the other members.

He activated his phone’s flashlight, for the first time noticing the headache assaulting his brain as the light seemed to literally stab his retinas. He took a deep breath and slowly, with the help of the railing of the bunk bed, he sat up. His stomach cramped again and he whimpered silently. Painfully, he took each step down the ladder, shaking from cold and nausea, socketed feet finally reaching the ground just as he started to fear he would fall from the dizziness.

Hongjoong walked down the dark hallway as quickly as possible. Quietness had to be sacrificed in place of quickness. Why did he and Seonghwa have to have the room farthest from the bathroom? Didn’t matter now.

He briefly spared a thought to how this would affect the group, not necessarily how they would worry but the dynamics for the next week. Sickness always was bad especially in their careers and in the close proximity of the dorms. Whenever one of them would fall sick it was guaranteed at least a few of them if not all would also fall victim to whatever viruses or bacteria crawled inside them.

He shuddered at the thought of anything crawling inside him, the image disgusting even when he wasn’t worried about throwing up in the middle of the hall. He used one hand to hold onto his stomach, the other to guide himself along the wall to keep himself upright, knees feeling extremely weak. He could only walk slightly bend over his churning stomach and focused on his feet, counting the steps to stay calm. Why couldn't he just have a good night’s sleep?

There were sounds coming from the living room - probably the others still watching the movie. For a moment he thought about calling out for help – not wanting to be alone. But he still held out hope that it was all a fluke though he knew it was less likely every second.

The decision was taken out of his hands as suddenly footsteps came in his direction and he, not really paying attention to anything but putting one foot in front of the next, nearly collided with someone. The person reached down to steady him and he blinked up at his gentle giant. "Hongjoong-hyung, are you alright?", Yunho asked, concern clear in his voice, "you don't look so good?" Hongjoong had no strength to argue and he didn't see a point in lying. If he truly threw up, he couldn't keep it a secret. He had once tried to dance after spending the whole night worshiping the porcelain god and it hadn't ended well. Seonghwa still held it above his head to threaten him into compliance when he was unreasonable. Yes, Hongjoong was confident in himself enough to know that he was unreasonable.

Christ, did he have a fever? His thoughts were all jumbled, though not nearly as much as his stomach. "I don't feel so good", he mumbled in admittance, slightly leaning into Yunho's comforting touch. As he looked up he saw Yunho's eyes widen in shock for a moment - either at the fact that Hongjoong just admitted to being unwell or the fact that Hongjoong was unwell at all - but he couldn't care less about that. Why was the hallways swaying like a boat on the stormy sea? "What's wrong?", the younger man asked, tender concern in his voice and he used the hand not steadying Hongjoong to take his hand and rub light circles on it. It felt so good to be comforted. Hongjoong sank even closer to his puppy.

"I'm really nauseous. I think I need to be in the bathroom for now", Hongjoong admitted and he heard Yunho suck in a deep breath yet his huge hands kept holding onto Hongjoong.

"Think you'll be sick?", Yunho asked, never stopping the comforting touch even though he risked being in the line of fire, "do you want me to get Seonghwa-hyung?"

Hongjoong shrugged in response to the first question and then nodded. Yes, yes above all he wanted his Seonghwa-hyung so badly it hurt. His hyung had the amazing capability to calm him down and make everything not as bad as it first felt. He wanted Seonghwa to hug him, rub his back and tell him everything would be fine even if he wasn’t. Seonghwa was a good hyung, always taking care and taking charge when needed. Hongjoong didn’t know what he would do without him. Crash and burn (out) probably.

Suddenly, Hongjoong's stomach lurched again and he gagged against the hand he had clamped over his mouth just in time. Yunho looked startled for half a second, then fell into his patented ‘I’m the oldest of the 99-line and taller than you so I am now taking care of you’-mode he had perfected over the past years. "Come, hyung, let's get you to the bathroom", he urged and, wrapping an arm around Hongjoong's shoulder, pulled him to the appropriate location for what was about to happen without hesitation. Hongjoong stumbled along, leaning on Yunho and he swore the hallway really had never been so long. His legs constantly threatened to give way under him and his body was so exhausted he felt like collapsing in a pile right there where he stood. Yunho kept a hold on him all the time, firm but gentle, and wow… he really was a saint. Once they reached the bathroom, Hongjoong pulled free from his dongsaeng and stumbled the few steps to the toilet hastily, pulling the seat up. He pushed his body upwards, so his head was resting on his hands, elbows on the toilet and nearly immediately he started gagging and retching, a wave of dinner painting the bowl light brown. Over the wretched sounds his own body produced, he heard Yunho panickedly yell for their oldest hyung: "Seonghwa-hyung? Seonghwa-hyung? Hongjoong-hyung is throwing up!"

It took barely ten seconds for Seonghwa to burst into the bathroom, though to Hongjoong it felt like hours. "Joong-ah?", he asked, nearly making Hongjoong cry in relief at the comforting quality in his voice and the familiar nickname. He was distracted by another wave of nausea and another round of gagging. A smaller hand than before touched his shoulder gently and another gently brushed his hair from his forehead, holding it back.

⌛

Seonghwa was worried. It was concerningly normal for their captain to stay late at the company to work on new songs. It took Eden-hyung to threaten him to ban him from the studios for a week and the reminder of the obligatory movie night to get Hongjoong home this time. Unsurprisingly, Hongjoong crashed hard. But all of their lives were hectic and falling asleep at the dinner table and during movies was not an unusual occasion (especially for Hongjoong, even new ATINYs knew that Hongjoong for the life of him couldn’t stay awake during movies), neither was not being hungry after strenuous dance practices. Therefore Seonghwa kept silent. Now, while worried, he was glad that Hongjoong let himself be convinced to go to bed when San and Wooyoung suggested it. Normally he would have fought tooth and nail to stay – claiming that since he was home for once he wanted to bond with them.

Normally Seonghwa couldn’t deny him even though it always ended up with him carrying his captain to the bedroom because Hongjoong of course fell asleep. Normally it ended with them cuddling in Seonghwa’s lower bunk because - while all of them were taller than Hongjoong - the captain was still a grown man and the bunk bed was high.

"Is Hongjoong-hyung okay?", Jongho asked, concerned, when Hongjoong’s footsteps had faded and the door to their bedroom had fallen shut.

Jongho, Yunho and Mingi were looking expectantly at him, while WooSanSang were still arguing over how to lay comfortably. Wooyoung and San had somehow ended up on top of Yeosang again and Seonghwa was sure that Yeosang had no idea how that had happened but he was disgruntled by it nevertheless. "I’m sure Hongjoong-ah will be fine. He's just really exhausted. After all he stayed late at the studio the past week", Seonghwa answered the question. "I wish he wouldn't stay up all night", Yunho mumbled, leaning his head against Mingi's stomach. He had switched to sitting on the ground in front of the couch, needing the hard ground to help his sore muscles and probably feeling left out now that his cuddle partner had left him. "Me too", Mingi whispered, "hyung works so hard for us. I wish he knew we don't just love him for his productive output. I want to take that burden off his shoulders." Seonghwa ran a gentle hand through Mingi's hair, aware that even their trouble-triplets had finished squabbling and were waiting for an answer. "He knows we love him", Seonghwa answered, ignoring the 'he just doesn't love himself enough' that his mind immediately threw at him. "He wants the best for us and he has his responsibilities as captain. He'll come to us when he really needs help." Seonghwa didn't even believe in his last sentence so he wasn't surprised when Jongho snorted in disbelief but none of them had an answer on how to help their overworked leader. With a sigh, Yunho grabbed the remote and started the movie again, normalcy returning to them as San accidentally kicked Mingi as he adjusted his position once again, which ended in a light and unserious debate.

⌛

Seonghwa was not prepared for Yunho yelling for him half an hour later when he had left to use the bathroom. The second the words “Hongjoong-hyung is throwing up” registered in his mind he jumped up and ran, nearly colliding with the doorframe. So something was wrong after all.

As soon as he entered the bathroom he found Yunho standing a few feet away from the captain, looking lost. Seonghwa ignored him for now and knelt down behind Hongjoong to hold back his sweaty hair and to hold him up by his shoulder. It broke Seonghwa’s heart watching Hongjoong go through the violent sickness.

Hongjoong’s whole body was wrecked by tremors and seized every time his stomach cramped. The wretched sound of vomiting echoed in the bowl, causing Seonghwa to shudder but he reminded himself that now matter how bad he was feeling Hongjoong was feeling worse. Hongjoong was gasping for breath in the few seconds of respite he was getting from expelling his stomach and Seonghwa remembered Hongjoong once telling him that for him it was the worst part – not being able to breathe.

“Sweetheart, did you eat something bad or do you think you’ve got the stomach flu? Lee Know mentioned it was going around at their dorms too”, Seonghwa asked gently when Hongjoong was given a break from his upset stomach. In the meantime the captain had slumped back more and more into his hyung so that Seonghwa was struggling to keep him upright from their awkward positions.

Hongjoong shrugged. He probably had no idea what was wrong, but Seonghwa sure as hell hoped that the sickness - whatever the cause - wouldn’t last long and that he wasn’t contagious. It would be a disaster if all of them got sick.

Seonghwa sighed and leaned over Hongjoong to flush down his stomach contents, before pulling Hongjoong close to his chest again, scooting back so that they were sitting against the bathtub. Yunho knelt down next to them, a glass of water in his hand.

“Try to drink something, hyung”, he encouraged and when Hongjoong made no move to hold the glass himself, tipped it against Hongjoong’s lips. Hongjoong swallowed a few sips but then he was barely able to push past Yunho to throw himself at the toilet again. He nearly made it too. But another gag overwhelmed him and the next moment the captain was choking, undigested food spilling from his lips onto the bathroom floor, his shirt and even the towel somebody had left on the floor in front of the shower.

For a moment the world seemed frozen as the three of them tried to process what had happened, but then Seonghwa woke from his stupor to pull Hongjoong the rest of the way. He took great care in kneeling down, not wanting to get even more of his own and Hongjoong’s clothes drenched in stomach contents. Gently, he smoothed back Hongjoong's sweaty hair and ran his other hand over the younger's back. Yunho, who was a pillar to lean on but had a weak stomach at times, left in order to keep his own stomach where it belonged. Finally, after what felt like hours, Hongjoong seemed to be done for the moment, breathing unsteady and heaving, but no longer cut off by his rebelling body. "Done?", Seonghwa asked and let Hongjoong lean against him. The captain closed his eyes and nodded. Seonghwa sighed and ran his hand through Hongjoong’s sweaty hair. The captain looked terrible, all pale and shaky. "Let's get you cleaned up and back to bed", the older proposed, waiting for Hongjoong to nod before he helped the man stand up. With knees weak from illness, he nearly would have fallen if Seonghwa hadn't caught him against his chest. Seonghwa leaned over to flush the toilet again and then he was lost for a second. It was obvious Hongjoong couldn't stand on his own but Seonghwa couldn't sit him down on the closed toilet lid in good conscience. He didn't think either of their stomach's were strong enough for staying close to the puddle of sick for much longer. "Let's get you out of your clothes", he whispered and moved uncooperative limbs out of the pajamas when Hongjoong didn't make a move, too exhausted to help. "How long have you felt bad?", Seonghwa asked, careful not to get them more dirty, and helped Hongjoong, who was resting his head against Seonghwa's shoulder, keep his balance. “Do you know what is making you so sick?” "I dunno", Hongjoong muttered, "I was so tired but I couldn’t fall asleep and it got worse really fast." He sounded tired and exhausted, frustrated even. Seonghwa understood, he had been working for so long and now he couldn't even rest. "Alright, let's get you into the shower, hm?", Seonghwa whispered, when Hongjoong was only left in his boxers. He wasn't going to venture any further in taking off his clothes, wanting to preserve at least some of Hongjoong’s dignity. Hongjoong took a few shaky steps and then sank down onto the shower floor, not able to keep his body upright any longer. It was probably best that he was sitting, there was less chance of him getting dizzy and falling that way. Seonghwa reached up and handed him the shower head, hoping he was able to wash himself. "Can you get yourself clean?", Seonghwa asked, crouching down in front of him, "I'll get you some clean clothes and clean up in here." The other man nodded, looking so incredibly small curled up like that, that it broke Seonghwa's heart. Their infallible captain had fallen after all.

⌛

Satisfied that Hongjoong would not drown or collapse at the moment, he quickly left the bathroom, leaving the door open to be able to listen for any suspicious sounds. He walked by the living room to get to their shared room but was stopped by the younger members calling his name. He entered to find Mingi rubbing Yunho’s back, as the older one was sipping from a glass of water. Jongho looked on worriedly, while WooSanSang were missing.

He supposed Yunho had already told the what was going on, so Yeosang and San had taken Wooyoung to the room Yeosang shared with the maknaes where – Seonghwa knew from previous illnesses – cuddles, earphones and movies would wait for emetophobic Wooyoung. While the second maknae was in therapy for it they really couldn’t afford him to freak out now.

“How are you doing, Yunho-yah?”, Seonghwa asked worriedly.

“I’m okay, just needed a breather. Can we help you?”, Yunho replied, putting down the glass. Seonghwa decided to trust his judgment for now. "Actually, yes. I need somebody to get Joong-ah clothes and someone to get some cleaning supplies. Then I can go back to check on him now, he’s just taking a shower but he is quite unsteady", Seonghwa said, not willing to decide who got which job. “I’ll get the cleaning supplies”, Mingi suggested, “Yunho-hyung, why don’t you get Hongjoong-hyung some of your clothes? He loves wearing oversized things after all.”

Yunho nodded and they both got up.

“Do you want me to help too, hyung?”, Jongho asked, already getting up.

“If you want to, I sure could use an extra pair of hands.” In the end it had been a good idea for Jongho to come with. Hongjoong was still in the same position in the shower, letting the warm water wash his body but making no effort on his own to get cleaned up. Jongho didn’t even look bothered by the smell as he entered the dirty bathroom and at once knelt down so that he was on eye level with Hongjoong.

“Hey, hyung”, he greeted softly, smiling a bit, “do you want to get out of the shower or do you want some help washing up?”

“Jongho-yah?”, Hongjoong mumbled and opened his eyes, “oh.”

He didn’t answer the maknae’s question, so Jongho took it in his own hands and chucked off his shirt so he could lean into the shower and not get his clothes wet. Gently he lathered Hongjoong’s hair in shampoo and even held his hand over Hongjoong’s forehead so that none of the suds would get in his eyes.

Hongjoong let him do as he pleased, so Seonghwa joined Mingi in cleaning up the floor, the younger one having just arrived. Yunho appeared in the doorway and placed fresh clothes on the counter before helping Jongho get Hongjoong upright and dry, the captain leaning on them. They quickly helped him slip on some of his own pajama pants and then huddled him in one of Yunho’s bathrobes for warmth.

Then suddenly Hongjoong, who had seemed on the verge of sleep, slapped his hand over his mouth, eyes widening. Jongho and Yunho rushed him over to the sink, where Hongjoong proceeded to get sick again. Jongho, who never had been squeamish at all, opened the tab to let the water wash away the sick, and when the sick didn’t properly flow away due to not quite being liquid, he reached down and pulled the plug out of the way. Jongho just calmly washed his hand when Hongjoong was done vomiting and was held up by Yunho, who looked a bit pale again.

“Better?”, Seonghwa asked, coming over as he and Mingi finished up cleaning.

Hongjoong shrugged, probably too tired to answer.

“Alright, let’s set you up with a bucket in our room?”, Seonghwa suggested and as Hongjoong consented, Yunho carried him to the bedroom where he was wrapped in Yunho’s shirt and in Seonghwa’s blankets. Yunho left the room to fetch a bucket and to check on Mingi and Jongho (who was still washing his hands).

“Think you’ll be sick again?”, Seonghwa asked even though he would have put a bucket next to the bed either way. Hongjoong nodded and reached up to him. Seonghwa smiled and slipped under the blankets with him, cuddling him. He knew they would be up soon enough with Hongjoong’s rebelling stomach showing no signs of stopping. While he doubted that Hongjoong would be able to sleep with how nauseous he still seemed, he wanted him to at least be able to rest his eyes.

“I’m sorry”, Hongjoong whispered after a moment.

“What for? Being sick? It happens, Joong-ah”, Seonghwa soothed, “were glad to help you when you need it. Eight makes one tea after all. Please just rest for now.”

Sleepily Hongjoong nodded, placing his head on Seonghwa’s chest.

⌛

Just as Seonghwa had predicted, Hongjoong was up multiple times that night, violently expelling his stomach contents. Their schedules were canceled the next day, Seonghwa too sleep deprived and too worried to work and Hongjoong barely able to move. A manager came by to check on them in the early afternoon, trying to get Hongjoong to take some medicine but he still couldn’t keep it down.

Yet in the evening Hongjoong started to feel better, still shaky and headachy but not as nauseous anymore. He was finally able to keep down some water for longer than a few minutes and even fell asleep, victim to his exhaustion. He slept through the night and the next morning, but felt marginally better when he woke.

He went into work the next morning, feeling completely restored.

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

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