💎🍚 Won’t let you down
Title from _WORLD (SEVENTEEN)
Summary: Sometimes they forgot that besides being the vocal boss and producer, Jihoon was their middle child. But when he is sick it becomes obvious that he is the maknae of the hyung line.
CW: emeto
Sickie: Woozi/Jihoon Caretakers: S.Coups/Seungcheol + Jeonghan
“Shhh”, Jeonghan whispered as Seungcheol stepped back into the living room, balancing a tray with cups of tea and dry toast. “I think he fell asleep, finally.”
Seungcheol carefully put down the tray on the TV table and peeked over, leaning in a way that Jeonghan couldn’t, trapped as he was under warm, sleepy, sick younger member. Dark lashes brushed a pale, round face that finally looked peaceful for the first time that day. Except maybe for the flush on his cheeks, an indication of the low-grade fever.
“Yeah, he’s out”, Seungcheol replied quietly and tucked the blanket higher so it fell over Jeonghan and his precious bundle. Then he brushed black, sweaty hair from a warm forehead as he sat down on the floor beside the sofa. He winced a bit as his knee bent but it was much better than it had been earlier.
“He’s so different when he’s sick”, Jeonghan mumbled after a moment, “normally he is so fierce and grumpy, now look at him. He’s still clinging to me, even in sleep.”
Seungcheol chuckled. “He always did that, even back when he was a trainee. I remember how he got sick shortly after coming to the company, all sharp knees and tongue, tiny but a force to be reckoned with. The NU’EST trainees loved him but he hated how they fussed over him. Until he threw up in the car and clung to Eunji-noona for the next day. He didn’t let go once, I think she had to beg him to let go so she could use the bathroom. She was the first to call him her Jihoonie. After that it stuck.”
“It fits”, Jeonghan replied. “Look how cute he is. All curled up. I mean, normally he is tiny but this is … I didn’t think an adult man could be this small.”
“Don’t let him hear you say that. He’ll kill you.”
“Nah, I am his pillow. He loves me.”
“Two things can be true at the same time”, Seungcheol said and turned back to the tray he had brought. “Do you want your tea? After all, you didn’t get to finish yours this morning.”
💎
The morning had been quiet, calm. They had had a long schedule until late in the night the previous day and so their management had moved practice into the afternoon so they could sleep in and rest. By eleven in the morning only Seungcheol and Jeonghan had been awake, sitting in the kitchen and sipping hot tea while trying not to burn their tongues. Jeonghan had been thinking about his upcoming enlistment and as the days grew closer he slept less, trying to spend as much time with them as he could. Seungcheol had woken to a deep ache in his knee that had been mostly fixed with the good painkillers.
The rest of the group had stayed asleep or at least they hadn’t appeared despite the invitation in the group chat to join them in the Jeonghan/Hoshi/Woozi/Seungkwan dorm.
But then Jihoon had stumbled into the kitchen, hair a mess, barefoot and eyes barely open.
Jeonghan had lovingly laughed at their “mess of a producer” and told him to sit while he fixed Jihoon something. Jihoon hadn’t even protested, just mumbled a thanks and sat down on Jeonghan’s vacated chair, letting his head fall onto the table.
Seungcheol had felt the first tightening of worry then. “Are you feeling okay?”, he had asked, measuring Jihoon’s exhausted form. He seemed to be sweating but he was also shivering as if he was cold.
“Hm”, Jihoon had replied, swallowing. “Tired, but when am I not? Kinda hungry though, I think.”
“Scrambled eggs coming right up”, Jeonghan had teased. “Should I use coffee instead of milk for them, maybe?” Jihoon hadn’t dignified that with an answer.
Five minutes later Jeonghan placed the eggs in front of Jihoon, taking his cup of tea and moving to sit across from them. The eggs smelled amazing and Seungcheol had slightly regretted not bullying Jeonghan into making him a portion too. (He already had had some breakfast but it had really looked good. The whites of the eggs were perfectly done with the yellow parts still liquid and delicious.)
Jihoon had thanked Jeonghan again and slowly began eating. Seungcheol had been about to open his mouth and try his luck in asking Jeonghan when Jihoon made a weird sound. He ended up coughing a bit, as if he had swallowed wrong. Seungcheol had reached over and patted his back while Jeonghan slid over his cup of tea in case Jihoon needed to drink something.
But instead of drinking or being able to stop coughing, Jihoon had coughed harder. The sound had been weirdly wet and choking. Seungcheol had realised a second too late what was happening.
With a choked retch, Jihoon had doubled over. The egg came back up, spilling from Jihoon’s lips down his shirt and into his lap.
“Shit”, Jeonghan had cursed. Seungcheol had nstinctively pulled Jihoon’s chair away from the table so the next wave of vomit landed between Jihoon’s dangling feet on the floor. It clearly wasn’t a case of choking on food anymore - rather something more violent. More stomach contents had come up, turning spitting up into real throwing up. Seungcheol had patted Jihoon’s back carefully, making sure he didn’t topple over. Jeonghan grabbed a bucket and a mop.
Jihoon had teared up when he was done, unusual for him but he was tired and feeling awful, overwhelmed. “My stomach had felt weird but I thought I was just hungry”, he had said.
They had cleaned him up, put him on the couch, a bucket close by. They had informed the group chat and told them to go practice without the three of them. Seungcheol knew he probably shouldn’t dance when his knee hurt this way and Jeonghan had quickly been demoted to Jihoon’s pillow. One picture later and management had agreed to let all three of them stay home. Followed by a heart-eyed emoji.
💎
“Yes, please”, Jeonghan replied. “How is your knee?”
“I’m okay”, Seungcheol said, noticing how Jeonghan narrowed his eyes in suspicion. “Truly. It was bad this morning and it’s a bit stiff but not really painful anymore. I’m more worried about Jihoonie.”
Said younger member seemed to be aware they spoke about him, even in sleep. He muttered something unintelligible and instantly both hyungs held their breaths. But Jihoon didn’t wake. He just shifted a little closer to Jeonghan’s chest, turning his face the other direction against Jeonghan’s heart and snuggled back in. A slight snore escaped him, something that seldom happened. Normally he was a rather quiet sleeper, flat on his back. Maybe the position changed his breathing enough to allow the quiet, peaceful sound.
But as he moved his knees, he trapped Jeonghan’s right hand, pinning them between his thighs and Jeonghan’s side. Jeonghan chuckled softly and patted Jihoon’s hair with his left hand.
“Maybe no tea”, he said. “If he moves while I hold it with my left like this, I’ll spill it on him. But can you hand me my phone? It pinged earlier and I want to turn it off before it wakes him.”
Seungcheol reached towards the abandoned device and lifted it. As the lock screen lit up he caught a glimpse of some weverse notifications as well as a message that probably was the culprit that Jeonghan meant.
Joshujiiii <3 (15:17): How is Jihoonie?
“Shua wants to know how Jihoon is doing”, Seungcheol said. “Should I …?”
He trailed off, instead taking a few sips of his own cooling tea.
“If he kills me for calling him tiny he will definitely kill you if you take a picture now”, Jeonghan reasoned. “So please do it quickly, I want to see it before my premature death by the hands of a five foot gremlin.”
Seungcheol put down his cup and checked about five times if the sound and the flash were off before he dared taking a picture and sending it to Joshua, completely forgetting the fact that he wasn’t even using his own phone. Well, that happened if you were so close. You knew each other’s passwords anyway.
Joshua replied with a cat and a baby emoji, causing Seungcheol to nearly spit out his next sip of tea.
It fit perfectly. Jihoon truly had something catlike about him. Tiny, sharp attitude, unafraid to scratch when needed but also very sweet when he wanted to be. Curled up on Jeonghan’s lap, face lax in sleep as he recovered his strength, he was truly the maknae of the hyung line.
Sometimes they forgot that besides being the vocal boss and producer, Jihoon was their middle child. In fact, he was closer in age to Seokmin who was only two months younger than him than to Wonwoo who was four months older than him. If there hadn’t been a year change between Jihoon’s and Seokmin’s birthdays then Jihoon would probably have been counted to the maknae line.
But now, he undeniably had something babyish about him - even if nobody would dare say it to him.
Seungcheol showed Jeonghan the phone screen, causing Jeonghan to chuckle. “At least Shua will die with us. Think Jun will be a good leader?”
💎
Seungcheol didn’t have time to contemplate the answer (though his heart screamed No. None of the younger members should have to bear that burden.) because Jihoon mumbled something under his breath and then opened his eyes. He must have woken from the laughter that had escaped Jeonghan.
“Huh?”, he whispered, voice a bit rough. “Hyung?”
“Hey, Jihoonie”, Jeonghan greeted, smoothing down Jihoon’s hair gently. “You can go back to sleep if you want.”
Jihoon yawned widely and then blinked as if he fought against his closing eyes.
“‘m thirsty”, he mumbled. “Can I have something to drink?”
He was adorably out of it. Seungcheol hummed and shifted, reaching for the tray. Clumsy as he was, he managed to bump one of the cups with his elbow. Luckily it only spilled on the plastic tray and not everywhere else. And it was just plain mint tea so it wasn’t even sticky. Still Seungcheol cursed, quickly rescuing the other cup and drying it off with a tissue before handing it to Jeonghan.
Meanwhile Jeonghan had propped Jihoon up on his lap a bit, freeing his trapped hand. Gently he tilted the cup to Jihoon’s lips, helping him take a few sips. “Drink slowly even if you’re thirsty”, he admonished with a soft voice, “your stomach might still be off.”
As if it was listening, Jihoon’s stomach grumbled audibly and Jihoon pressed a hand to it, swallowing harshly.
“You okay?”, Seungcheol asked, hand already hovering preemptively by the trash can they had brought for these occasions.
Jihoon swallowed again and shook his head. “Dunno.”
“That’s okay, come on, sit up a bit”, Jeonghan said, patting Jihoon’s hip and helping him sit more upright, sliding Jihoon off his lap but keeping an arm around him. Seungcheol handed them the trash can, pushing himself up with the table so he could sit on Jihoon’s other side. He put the cup back onto the table and then within seconds of sitting properly a heavy, exhausted head landed against his shoulder. Jihoon wasn’t tall enough to comfortably rest his head on Seungcheol's shoulder, so it was more on his upper arm.
For a while they just sat like that. Jeonghan kept balancing the bucket on Jihoon’s lap, making sure it was accessible if Jihoon needed it. Seungcheol ran his hand up and down Jihoon’s back while Jihoon clearly fought the nausea.
When it was too much to fight against and it all came back up, they were ready. Seungcheol held Jihoon’s hair and Jeonghan whispered comforting words as sips of tea, rests of partially digested dinner and bile spilled from Jihoon’s lips into the receptacle. It was nearly silent, just small gags that clearly stole all of Jihoon’s strength again. Mouthfuls came up, nearly slow, not rushed like earlier but still clearly very unpleasant.
💎
By the time it was done, Jihoon was slumped into Seungcheol’s side, eyes closed and spit and bile dangling from his lips. Seungcheol pressed a kiss to Jihoon’s slightly warm forehead. Jeonghan reached for a tissue and wiped Jihoon’s mouth before throwing it onto the tray where it immediately soaked up more spilled tea.
“I’m gonna go wash out the bucket”, Jeonghan mumbled when it was clear Jihoon was closer to falling asleep than throwing up. “Thanks”, Seungcheol mumbled. Jeonghan had always been better at dealing with the disgusting aftermath.
“Hey, our Jihoonie”, he whispered as Jihoon’s head grew heavy with tendrils of sleep. “I promise you can keep sleeping. But I want to take your temperature again, okay?”
Jihoon mumbled something that might have been a confirmation. Seungcheol let Jihoon rest his head against his chest while he held the thermometer steady under Jihoon’s tongue. It was nearly a wonder Jihoon hadn’t gagged at that but maybe it was because he was too tired. The long schedule of the previous day and the sickness were really kicking his ass.
When it beeped in a hurried tone, Seungcheol sighed. 37.6°C. Somewhere in the range between an elevated temperature and a fever. Sometimes Seungcheol wondered why he knew this so well but that’s probably what happened when you took care of your younger brothers for ten years. He knew for Jihoon the range between elevated temperature and fever was a blur but he instantly got tired when his temperature was higher than 37°C. For the others it was different - for example Minghao only had what would be a fever if he reached 38°C but then he was down bad while Seungkwan already felt unwell when he reached anything higher than 37°C.
“Sleep, baby”, he mumbled, helping Jihoon lie down properly now, head tucked into Seungcheol’s lap, blanket pulled up to his shoulders.
💎
Five minutes later when Jeonghan returned, Jihoon was completely out, snoring softly. He set down the bucket close by and sighed as he looked at the tray of spilled tea and soaked tissue, then looked back at Seungcheol who was trapped under Jihoon’s sleeping body.
Seungcheol raised his hands in innocence, in one his own half-drank cup. “If you want some tea, you could make yourself a new one. I wouldn’t drink the germ pool of Jihoon’s leftovers if you don’t want to end up with your head in the toilet and yours spilled, so…”
Masterlist links: Fairy's Full Masterlist Fairy's Masterlist - SEVENTEEN
