Chapter Text
There, wrapped firmly in Woojin’s comforting hold Jisung could have easily been lulled to sleep. And, boy did he want to give in – to give in and sleep, enveloped, safe and secure in his hyung’s grasp. But, he hadn’t seen Felix, Hyunjin, or Seungmin yet. He’d only briefly spoken to Minho. Before Jisung would allow himself to sleep, he needed to check on the others.
It was surprisingly hard to pull away from Woojin; he was so soft and so comfy.
“Our sleepy Sung going to play big brother instead of sleeping?” Woojin’s low tones rumbled against Jisung’s body, “They’re fine. You can nap if you’d like, Sungie.”
“Don’t tempt me,” he forced himself up, with a mild whimper, “I gotta at least make an appearance – calm the waters and all that.”
“Our sweet Sungie,” Woojin said softly, gently pushing the younger up so that he was standing, “I’m always here for snuggles though.”
Jisung hummed appreciatively and started his way back to the bedrooms, passing Chan along the way.
The door to Woojin, Changbin, and Felix’s room was open, but the voices inside only matched one-third of its occupants.
Carefully, Jisung poked his head into the room. Changbin sat at the desk and Minho lounged on the nearest bed – Woojin’s, “You guys good?”
“I think that should be our question,” Minho countered sitting up slightly, “Sounds like you got poked quite a bit today.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Jisung walked the short distance to the bed, only to be shoved off as he went to sit, “Hey!”
“Bed’s too small~” Minho cackled at the soft thump Jisung made when he landed.
“I hate you Minho-hyung,”
“I love you too Sungie,” Minho reached over and pulled Jisung’s top half into a tight hug.
Jisung did his best to pretend to struggle and appear disgusted, but leaned into it regardless, “Yeah. Yeah.”
“Your arm doesn’t hurt, though. Right?” Changbin muttered softly – smiling at the pair.
“Oh yeah,” he waved the question off, “If anything where I poked myself hurts worse than where you poked me. But it isn’t a big deal. I’m sure it’ll get better.” He rushed out the last part upon seeing Changbin’s frown.
“If you say so,”
“I do! I say so, very loudly and obnoxiously!”
With an eye roll and half-smirk, Changbin turned back to his desk, “Well, I’m sure we can get a different monitoring system if you need one.”
Jisung tried to wave it off again, but his arms remained trapped by Minho, “Sungie is a brave boy~”
“God. Stop~”
“You gonna go talk to ‘lix and the rest?”
“Yeah. My next stop.”
“They looked alright, Sung,” Changbin mumbled again, “So don’t worry too much, ‘kay?”
“I’m not –“ Jisung huffed trying to escape from Minho’s grasp, “worrying – I’m just – let – go,” he flailed then fell forward when he was released, “Thank you.”
“You aren’t welcome~” Minho laughed from the bed as Jisung left to find the others.
They were also easy to find, hidden behind the closed door leading to Chan, Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Minho’s room. All the 2000 line members seemed to be inside if the voices spilling out were any indication.
Seungmin’s hushed and level, Felix’s low and tight, and Hyunjin’s slightly strung out and wavering.
He didn’t want to listen, but Jisung still overhead bits anyway; it was hard to ignore when the discussion was clearly about him.
“Hyunjinie, he said it himself, you don’t have to be the one to ever give it to him. Especially, if you’re uncomfortable,” Seungmin’s voice was muffled through the door. Hyunjin responded in some way, but it couldn’t be made out. “It’s not that big of a deal, Jinnie,” Seungmin responded making Jisung smile.
“It is!”
“Hyunjinie, stop,” Felix joined in, “He’s fine. You’re fine. Everyone is fine. You don’t need to worry this much.”
Jisung felt a swell of pride, Felix sounded so sure of himself.
“I do…I need to…”
Jisung paused a moment longer, before knocking.
There was another moment, shuffling, before Seungmin called out, exasperated, “come in.”
With a quick breath, Jisung put a smile on his face and pushed open the door, “You guys holding a super-secret meeting without me? Totally unfair…”
There were precisely five beats of awkward silence; Felix looking torn and about to argue, Seungmin simply smiling, and Hyunjin looking utterly flustered.
“We have private conversations without you all the time Sungie,”
“Ouch…I am hurt!” Jisung smiled as he watched Felix relax, “Really, though, you guys alright? You can’t hide from me – you can, but we live together and work together and I’d miss you…so.”
“We weren’t hiding. I swear – I just, it’s just,” Hyunjin sputtered.
“Hey, Jinnie it’s fine,” Jisung placated, “I was kidding.”
“No…it’s not…”
A pinched look crossed Seungmin’s face, “Hyunjinie is worried. He doesn’t like the idea of having to hurt you.”
“We tried telling him that he doesn’t have to be the one to, you know, and that even if he was it wouldn’t hurt you but,” Felix added warmly.
“It’s not…” Hyunjin tried to counter, stuttering slightly, “I know, I just…”
This was Jisung’s biggest fear, causing pain and worry to the ones he loved. His chest stung, “Jinnie, I swear you never have to. The nine of us are almost always together. Right? And now that I can check and stuff, it’ll probably never happen again, right?”
“The doctor wouldn’t have given those kits to you if he thought that,”
With a sigh, Jisung continued, “Maybe. But Jinnie, like,” his words caught in his throat, unsure of what he could possibly say to help. He sighed again, “Both Channie-hyung and Changbinnie-hyung gave me a shot today. Neither hurt then. Neither hurt now. So if that is what you are worried about, then don’t. And,” he paused again, briefly debating whether or not to give the next point. He had avoided outright thinking it, let along actually saying it aloud, “if, I won’t but if, I pass out again,” Jisung swallowed feeling a sudden swell of unease bubble up from his gut, “that shot is important…so, I mean, I wouldn’t be angry…or whatever…even if it did hurt, you know.” He shuffled and looked away, uncomfortable, “it would be alright…”
“What? No!” Hyunjin latched onto to Jisung within a second, “I know it is important! That’s what’s bothering me! What if I don’t do it right and it doesn’t work? Or what if I can’t do it and something happens? What if I am responsible for you at that moment and I let you down?” the questions became faster and more frantic as they continued.
“Hyunjinnie, we talked about this. Calm down,” Seungmin stepped forward, “Nothing bad is going to happen to Sungie.”
Jisung looped his arms around the slender form of Hyunjin, “You don’t have to think like that. Don’t worry over ‘what ifs,’ okay? Please.”
“Jisungie is right, Jinnie.”
“But-“
“Okay,” without releasing the hug, Jisung maneuvered them clumsily to the bed and plopped them down. Pausing for a few more seconds until the others sat as well, “let’s just work through them then. Alright? If you give me a shot and it doesn’t work, you call an ambulance and give me a second shot.”
“but-“
“Shh, let Jisungie speak,”
“If you can’t do it, and someone else is around, you ask for help.”
“But Jisungie-“
“And, I know that if we were in a situation where you had to be responsible, you’d do it without a second thought,” Jisung tugged Hyunjin a bit closer for a second, “but if you are really worried about that, we can try to make sure the two of us aren’t alone together for long periods of time until you are more comfortable. Or, I think the doctor mentioned he was willing to set up a session to officially teach people if they wanted, you could do that too. If that’d help.”
“Can I do that?” Seungmin spoke up instantly, “I’d like to have instruction from a professional?”
Jisung nodded with a smile, “I don’t see why not. See Hyunjinie, everything will be alright.”
Hyunjin nodded against Jisung’s shoulder, “are you okay? For real?” he mumbled quietly close to Jisung’s ear.
“I am right now.” He pulled back, “and I will be tomorrow. And the day after. But, it’s gonna be a day by day thing…I guess…until everything is figured out. I’ll do my best though.”
“You better!” Seungmin scolded with an eye-roll.
“Yeah!” Felix added, “Or I’ll have to punish you.”
“Punish, how? You are a cupcake!”
“Try me!”
“You’d have to catch me first~ Sunshine boy,” Jisung teased already pulling away from Hyunjin and preparing to bolt.
“Easy – HEY!”
Jisung was out the door before Felix even blinked, “NEVER.”
“Why are you so loud!?”
Felix caught up to him just as Jisung had reached the couch, and barreled the two full speed onto Chan and Woojin who were sitting there.
Without pause, Felix started to tickle Jisung with vigor, “Told you. Easy!”
Through breathless laughter, Jisung smiled brightly. Things were probably going to be just fine.