Chapter Text
Junhui startles from sleep in the middle of the night, a hand pressing down on the centre of his chest. He gasps, initially panicked, until he catches sight of Chan scrambling off the side of their bed in the dark. Junhui shakes himself awake when Chan crashes against the door frame as he runs from their bedroom.
By the time Junhui gets to the bathroom, Chan’s already hunched over the toilet, throwing up his dinner. Jun takes a breath and calms himself down, closing the door behind himself before kneeling down by Chan’s side. He rubs circles into Chan’s back and shushes him gently.
It only takes a few minutes before Chan runs out of stuff in his stomach and he’s left dry heaving into the bowl. His eyes are squeezed shut, grimacing as his stomach cramps painfully around nothing. Junhui tugs at his shoulders to get him to sit up, trying to get him away from the toilet which could only make him feel sicker.
“That’s it, pumpkin. You’re done, sit up for me.” Chan complains, weakly pulling against Jun, fingertips white where he's gripping the toilet seat.
“‘M not finished, stop- don’t wanna make a mess.” He slurs, but he quickly gives up, too exhausted to put up a fight. He’s pliant as Junhui lies him down on the floor, pulling a towel from the drying rack to fold up under his head as a makeshift pillow. Junhui strokes his hair, waiting for him to settle down a little. He's still coughing and sniffling, his face is a mess, but Junhui presses soft kisses to any clean bit of skin that he can find.
"I know you don't feel good. Let me look after you, Chan-ah. Let's get you sorted out." He coos, even though he's pretty certain Chan isn't listening to him. With a final kiss to his eyelid, Junhui stands up. He flushes the toilet before soaking a flannel under the warm tap to clean Chan's face, drying him up afterwards with a corner of the towel he's lying on. Chan whines, half-asleep. "You're not having a good time, are you? I'm sorry, baby, I'm sorry you feel like this." Chan doesn't answer him, but he does wrap a hand around Junhui's ankle as a sign of sleepy affection- he'll take it.
Jun lets Chan lie there for a little longer, watching as his pale face regains a bit of colour and he relaxes properly. It's when Chan wriggles uncomfortably against the tiles that Junhui cradles his chin between his palms, directing his face to look up at him. He runs his thumbs along Chan's cheekbones until he blinks his eyes open, looking more than shattered. Junhui hums sadly. "Let's get you back into bed, pumpkin, hmm? Does that sound okay?"
Chan coughs a little before he responds. "What if I'm sick again? I don't want to make a mess." Jun presses his lips to the spot between his eyebrows.
"That's okay, Channie. I'll make sure there are no messes. Trust me." Chan seems to be convinced, nuzzling his face against one of Jun's palms and seemingly content to fall asleep on the bathroom floor. Junhui won't have that. "Come on, up we get. Help me out, Channie, you're a big boy now." He teases, gently, as he rolls Chan onto his back and takes his hands, tugging him up from the floor. Chan leans against Jun as he tries to get his feet under himself- Junhui wraps him up in a hug as he does so.
They slowly make it back to the bedroom where they find Soonyoung sat up in bed, frowning tiredly and looking around the room like he's trying to figure out what's going on. When he spots the pair of them, though, he's immediately alert, jumping from his bed to support Chan on his other side. "What happened? Why didn't you wake me? Channie, baby, are you okay?" Chan leaves Jun to answer all of his questions, just leaning his head on Soonyoung's shoulder as they traverse the rest of the bedroom.
"He threw up. It all happened too quickly for me to wake you, sorry." Junhui apologises, but Soonyoung gives him a reassuring smile. They get Chan tucked back into bed quickly, not before changing his shirt, which had gotten dirty during the ordeal. He's passed out again by the time he's under the covers, Soonyoung perched by his side, hands caressing his face and his hair. "Stay with him, I'll be back in a second," Junhui tells Soonyoung, leaving the room with Chan's water bottle to refill and a bucket to find.
When he comes back, Soonyoung hasn't moved. He puts both the bucket and the bottle on Chan's side of the bed before sitting next to Soonyoung and looking down at their maknae. He leans into Soonyoung's side, who quickly wraps an arm around his shoulders. "He'll be okay," Soonyoung reassures him, reassuring himself as well. Junhui nods.
"I should stay up with him. Just in case he wakes up again." Junhui says, but Soonyoung is quickly cutting off his train of thought.
"No, Junnie, you're exhausted. You've had a tough time of it as well." He's not wrong. Junhui had been in such a state when Chan had passed out, it had taken almost an hour of sitting under the shower head with Minghao before he'd calmed down. And still, he'd cried until he had Chan in his arms again. "Go lie with Hao-Hao, get some sleep. I'll look after Channie, yeah?" Soonyoung says, giving Jun a chaste kiss on the lips before he gets up to do what he's told, falling into the other bed and cuddling up to Minghao's side, falling asleep almost immediately.
Soonyoung watches him fondly for a minute before he turns back to Chan. Junhui worries about all of them so much, especially their maknae. They all have to remind themselves that he needs looking after as well, he can't be responsible for everyone's troubles, no matter how much he wants to help. He loves them so much.
With a sigh, Soonyoung rounds the bed to get in on the other side, sitting up against the headboard- he doesn't want to lie down for the risk of falling asleep whilst he's on Channie-watch. He laces a hand in Chan's hair and watches him sleep, the familiar little pout on his face making Soonyoung's heart beat a little faster. He's too cute for his own good.
*
Once everyone's up the next morning, Junhui steals his spot back from Soonyoung, who hadn't slept a wink. He gets Soonyoung back into the other bed, tucking him in with a kiss to the forehead for a nap. He lies back down next to Chan, who cuddles up to his chest, head resting on his shoulder. Jun lies there with him for most of the morning, stroking his hair and singing quiet, Chinese lullabies to him as he sleeps.
It's almost noon when Minghao comes to find him, convincing him to go and eat, seeing as he'd skipped breakfast to stay with Chan. Chan stirs when Junhui worms his way out from under him, carefully lowering him back down onto the mattress. Jun rubs his back as he groans and blinks his tired eyes open, one hand reaching out to grip at Jun's thigh. "You okay, pumpkin?" He asks, Minghao ready behind him with the bucket in his hands.
"My head hurts," Chan complains, his voice obviously strained from all the crying he'd done the night before. Junhui makes a mental note to send someone out for cough syrup. He won't have his baby in pain if he can do anything about it.
"I bet it does, sweetie. I'll get you some painkillers, okay?" Junhui responds, but Minghao steps up behind him, one arm curling around Junhui's shoulders.
"I'll get them, you go have some food. We can't have you bedridden as well." Minghao says, and Junhui has to stop himself from frowning. Chan's the one in need right now, not him. Chan's the one that needs looking after. He doesn't argue though, just presses a kiss to the top of Chan's head and slinks off to the kitchen. "I'll be back in a second, Chan-ah," Minghao tells him, and Chan gets another kiss- humming happily at all the affection.
Despite hating his anxiety and everything that comes with it, Chan can never say no to a bit of attention from his hyungs.
Minghao comes back a few minutes later, two white pills in his palm and a damp washcloth. He feeds Chan the medicine with a sip from his water bottle and lays the flannel across his warm forehead- Chan thanks him with a tired smile. He's exhausted, the poor thing, the bruises under his eyes look painful and he hasn't moved voluntarily in hours, just laying as still as he can. Minghao brushes his knuckles across Chan's cheek softly, the younger letting his eyes fall shut.
Minghao can't help but admire how beautiful their Channie is, despite not feeling well. His dark eyelashes are splayed across his cheekbones, his pink lips set in that familiar pout they know and love, and even his hands are pretty, where they're holding onto the hem of Minghao's shirt.
Despite how much he needs it, Chan doesn't go back to sleep. "Can we go sit in the living room?" Chan asks with a small voice, opening his eyes again to glance up at Minghao, who frowns. Chan shifts until his head is resting on the top of Minghao's thigh, nuzzling against him like a little kitty- he probably got that from Junhui.
"Are you sure, pumpkin? You really need to rest." Minghao tells him, but he's not in any position to tell Chan 'no.' He could ask for Minghao to pull down the moon right now and he wouldn't be able to refuse.
"Please," Chan responds, and his wide, sweet eyes seal the deal. Minghao still hesitates though- if they want Chan to be feeling better as soon as possible, he really should stay lying down. "I'm sick of this bed." Well, he could lie down in the living room, Minghao supposes. Minghao lets out an exaggerated sigh, tilting his head to one side.
"Well, I guess I could work something out." Chan giggles- if Minghao wasn't already convinced to grant his every wish, that would have done it. He presses a kiss to Chan's nose just to remind him how precious he is. "Come on then, kid." With a little bit of work and both arms around his waist, Minghao helps Chan into the living room, dragging his blanket behind them, his water bottle in his free hand. Chan leans against him heavily, knees still weak and shaky.
Anxiety attacks usually take a harsh toll on his body for the following days, but this one was far worse than usual- it's no surprise that he's so thrown off kilter. It's the adrenaline rush he experiences followed by the most severe crashes, it drains the energy right out of him. And passing out couldn't have made him feel any better- Seungcheol's already got him a doctor's appointment booked for the next day, just to check that everything's still okay. It should be, but they'd all like to be sure.
"Channie." Jeonghan scolds, Minghao smiling sheepishly as he lowers Chan into the vacant armchair, taking his water bottle to place on the floor within arm's reach. "What happened to bed rest, huh? You shouldn't be pushing yourself." Jeonghan asks, but everyone knows he can't say no to their maknae either, especially not after yesterday. As it stands, he's probably going to get his own way for at least the next year, after this.
"I missed you all," Chan replies, using the most sickly-sweet voice he can conjure up with his sore throat, and Jeonghan's resolve immediately cracks. He crosses the room to kiss Chan's cheek, and he would stay there with him if Mingyu wasn't already stealing the spot, worming his way under Chan's blanket, curling his long legs up to cuddle into the younger's side, chin hooking over his shoulder. "Hello," Chan says, his voice flat- Mingyu frowns and everyone else laughs.
As expected, Chan ends up falling asleep, not before convincing his hyungs to put his favourite movie on the television.