Work Text:
“I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always.
As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.”
.. .----. .-.. .-.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. --- .-. . ...- . .-.
It wasn’t a nightmare, to say, but the dreams did affect Joshua in the worst ways. He became upset, clingy, like he was longing for physical affection, but angry and rash when the physical affection didn’t come from certain people. The elder members down to Jihoon knew what was bothering their eldest foreigner. Vernon had a grasp on what could be the problem but never mentioned it in fear of his sweet Shua-hyung yelling at him.
Joshua would always seek out Jeonghan, Seungcheol, and Wonwoo. Jeonghan would coddle him like the American was Chan, Seungcheol would walk Joshua through breathing exercises to calm him down in fits of anger or crying, and Wonwoo would listen to Joshua rant about whatever he wanted, silently listening and offering advice when appropriate.
Today was a Jeonghan day, Joshua felt like the emotions in him would bubble over and he’d burst at some innocent member - unless it was Minghao, the little shit had messed with Joshua’s shampoo and body wash the previous night.
With his soft, light blue blanket, Joshua climbed the stairs to Jeonghan’s room. The elder was still asleep, Joshua snuck in to not disturb him even though everyone in the dorms knew Jeonghan really was like a parent and would wake up with his sixth sense telling him something was wrong. It didn’t surprise Joshua when the slightly older vocalist detached himself from Seungcheol’s sleeping form, turned in his bed, and opened his arms.
“Aigo, did my baby boy have another bad dream?” Jeonghan had a small smile of concern on his face upon noticing Joshua with his special blanket. His mother had sent it in the last care package, almost five months ago. The second oldest vocal had refused vehemently everytime Mingyu offers to wash it, he keeps it close to him while they relax in the dorms. Jeonghan once saw Chan use it and Joshua had a meltdown.
The blanket meant a lot to Joshua, any of the members knew that. But Jeonghan knew it ran deeper.
He missed home.
“Cummere, sweetie. Lay with Cheolie and I. We have,” Jeonghan looked at the alarm clock beside his bed, “four hours before we have to be up.” He kept his voice soft, trying to not wake the leader still sleeping beside him.
Joshua climbed over Jeonghan’s long body to fit himself between the two older members. Seungcheol shifted in his sleep, Joshua was wrapped in strong, solid arms a second later. Slightly chapped lips were pressed to his neck as Seungcheol snuggled into him. Jeonghan laid the blue blanket over Joshua’s frame, making sure the tips of his toes to the top of his chin were covered in the soft material.
Joshua rested his head on Jeonghan’s chest, it was slightly uncomfortable for the elder singer but he wasn’t going to disrupt either of his boys’ sleep. Jeonghan simply wrapped an arm around Joshua’s stomach and pressed a soft kiss to the top of his hair. He hoped Josh would sleep for another five hours if he didn’t have another dream.
.. .----. .-.. .-.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. --- .-. . ...- . .-.
Soonyoung was the member tasked with waking up Jeonghan and Seungcheol, usually the leader was up by now getting everyone else ready but he had slept in or was doing something else. Soonyoung timidly knocked on the door when he heard nothing. There was a quiet ‘come in’ from the other side and Soonyoung opened the door to see three men piled onto the queen bed.
“Is that Shua-hyung?” Soonyoung asked quietly, Joshua and Jeonghan were still asleep. Seungcheol simply nodded.
“Is breakfast ready? Is everyone up? I would have been up by now but Soo latched onto me and Hannie isn’t helping the matter. I didn’t want to wake them up if I didn’t have to. Only the dancers have lessons this morning, right, Hosh?” Seungcheol asked so many questions at once. Soonyoung just replied with ‘yes’ and left the room.
Back in the kitchen, making sure there were no maknaes around, Soonyoung announced that Joshua wasn’t feeling well again. “He’s in there with Hannie-hyung and Cheolie-hyung. He brought the blanket and everything. You know how he gets when he’s homesick.”
“Who’s homesick?” Seungkwan’s high voice pierced through the kitchen. Jihoon spun around quickly, “no one! Nobody is homesick, go shower brat.” The reply was too aggressive for even Jihoon this early in the morning. Seungkwan was suspicious, deciding to tell the other maknaes and look out for the foreign members.
Vernon would have told him and Minghao, without fail, goes to Jun when he’s missing China. That only left the older members. Seungkwan hasn’t ever seen Joshua homesick, Jun, plenty. The eldest Chinese member got homesick around big holidays and birthdays. He’d cling to Hao and Joshua and Wonwoo and Mingyu until the feelings went away, sometimes a day sometimes it took weeks.
Chan was in his room, Seokmin, Vernon, and Mingyu accompanied him, all sitting around waiting for breakfast. “Guys, we have a problem, a hyung is homesick.”
Chan’s eyes got wide, “Do you think it’s Junnie-hyung?”
“No, ge would have told me about it by now. Maybe it’s Soonyoung-hyung. Isn’t his family going to be out of town during our comeback?” Minghao chimed in.
Vernon hung his head, “Guys, it’s obviously Shua. The tour places were announced and we’re still not going to LA.”
That actually made sense. Seungkwan sat on the floor next to Mingyu, “So, what do we do? Shua-hyung has never been homesick. Or at least told us he was,” Seungkwan looked to Vernon. The boy had suggested that the elder American was homesick so he must have a solution.
“I don’t know, Kwannie. Everyone deals with it differently. I think the hyungs have it covered though. That’s probably why we’ve never seen Josh homesick.” Vernon supplied, hoping the excuse was enough to suffice Seungkwan and the other worried members.
.. .----. .-.. .-.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. --- .-. . ...- . .-.
Wonwoo had lost rock, paper, scissors. He had to go wake up Joshua. The small boy who was still wrapped in the blanket and comforter, the way Jeonghan had left him.
“Joshuji, baby, you got to wake up and eat something. Maybe some of the rice Gyu made this morning should be enough,” Wonwoo was sat at the edge of the bed, softly carding his fingers through the vocalist’s hair. He was slightly sweaty, probably from being under so much fabric while he slept.
Joshua slowly blinked his eyes open, he smiled when he saw Wonwoo was the one to wake him up. “Hey, Shua. Did you sleep well?” The hand was still running through his hair as he nodded.
Joshua might have slept well, but as he woke up more he realised how bad he felt. On top of missing his parents and family members and the sunshine of LA, his bones ached, he was hot and cold all over and there was a constant pressure in the back of his skull.
“Woo, I think I’m gonna be sick,” He barely pushed himself off the bed and passed Wonwoo before hunching over the garbage can Jeonghan kept beside the door. Joshua heaved the contents of last night’s dinner into the can until straight bile came out of his mouth. Wonwoo, who was never good with people around him throwing up, rushed out of the room and down the stairs to find a hyung. Soonyoung and Junhui were sitting on the couch putting their tennis shoes on for practice.
Jun saw the panicked look on Wonwoo’s face and asked him what was wrong. “Josh, throwing up, can’t help him, hyung,” he panted out. In a flash, Jun was up and out of the room. Soonyoung moved towards Wonwoo, “poor kid, can’t even handle someone puking,” the leader lightly teased.
.. .----. .-.. .-.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. --- .-. . ...- . .-.
Joshua was still cradling the trash can when Junhui entered Jeonghan’s room, immediately dropping to his knees to comfort the elder vocal. The light pressure of Jun’s cold hands on his back and stomach alleviated some of the pain Joshua felt.
“Do you think you’re done, sweetheart? We have to shower and brush your teeth.” Jun cooed to keep Joshua calm. Although the Chinese member had already showered, he was willing to strip with Joshua and get back into the tub. Joshua was weak from throwing up everything in his stomach, heavily leaning into Jun as the younger washed his hair and body. “Ah, hyung, you’re really burning up. I think Cheollie-hyung has some fever reducer somewhere.”
Joshua could only nod, already wanting to fall asleep again, the water was warm and he felt more normal after the shower. Jun was folding the damp towel back to hang it up when Jeonghan came into the bathroom.
“Shua’s sick? Aigoo, my poor baby.” He walked over to Joshua sitting on the toilet and placed his hands all over the younger’s face. “Junnie, get the medicine box from Jihoon’s room. I’m gonna bring Soo to the living room down stairs to rest with the maknaes.”
Jeonghan wasn’t the strongest member of the group but he did have the power of an overprotective hyung. He insisted Joshua get on his back or in his arms so he wouldn’t stumble down the stairs. Joshua protested and Jeonghan just lifted him without so much as a grunt.
.. .----. .-.. .-.. / .-.. --- ...- . / -.-- --- ..- / ..-. --- .-. . ...- . .-.
Like Jeonghan had said, all three maknaes were cuddling on the couch watching some drama on Netflix before Chan had to leave. Seungkwan looked over as Jeonghan placed Joshua on Vernon’s lap. The two began speaking in English, soft murmurs into Vernon’s neck and breathy responses whispered into hair. His limited knowledge of the language gave him the idea that they were talking about Joshua being sick. Seungkwan held Chan closer to him, he couldn’t squeeze Joshua and cuddle him tightly if the boy was sick.
Chan wiggled out of his grip as soon as Soonyoung and Minghao came into the room. “Bye, hyungs, gotta go to practice.” The little brat wormed his way out of the door before Junhui had even come out of his room.
Vernon moved Joshua so he was in between Seungkwan and himself. “Hyung threw up and might do it again. We have to get him water soon though. We don’t know what he has but Hannie-hyung said he needs water and food before taking medicine.” Joshua flinched at the loud voice relatively close to his ear.
“I’m guessing he has a headache too, can you turn on the captions and mute the t.v, Kwannie?” Vernon asked in a softer voice as Joshua nuzzled further into his neck. Jihoon came into the living room holding Joshua’s blanket, the American immediately reached out for it.
Jihoon wrapped the soft fabric over Joshua’s slightly shaking body and grabbed the medicine from the box. “Shua-hyung, I know Seungcheol-hyung usually gives you medicine but he had to leave for a meeting. Can I give it to you, or do you want Hannie?”
Joshua mumbled out in English, something along the lines of ‘you can give it to me but I still want Hannie.’ Vernon translated for his dumbfounded Jihoon-hyung, the smaller man standing up from his seated position to retrieve the desired man.
It took a few minutes for Jeonghan to come to the living room, explaining he had been cleaning his room and had taken a shower. His hair was still damp but he hands were cool against Joshua’s face. “Let’s get an official temp for you, then food, then a nap. Does that sound nice, babe?”
Jeonghan had an admittedly smoother voice when he was talking to a younger or sick member, almost like he was a caring father soothing a crying child. It usually put Joshua at ease, it was one of the reasons Joshua took comfort in Jeonghan, but Joshua was so overwhelmed and homesick and now he was sick on top of all this stress.
“Oh, sweetie, you don’t have to cry. Let me take care of you, come on.” Jeonghan was lifting Josh out of Vernon’s embrace, the warmth leaving the sick man and causing a whimper to emerge from him. He settled back into the loveseat on top of Jeonghan’s legs.
Jeonghan kept him wrapped up in his arms, but the blanket had slipped from Joshua’s shoulders. It spurred on more tears from the American and caused more panic in Jeonghan’s grip. Joshua clung to Jeonghan’s shirt tightly, a similar texture to his own blue blanket, but a soft yellow. It upset the sick man deeply.
Jeonghan cooed, trying to distract Joshua from the lost as he silently begged with his eyes for one of the maknaes to pick up the comforter. Hansol was stunned into immobilisation. He had never seen his hyung like this, desperate, unkempt, inconsolable. Seungkwan quickly leaned over the boy to grab the blue blanket and hand it to Jeonghan.
The eldest pushed the fabric into Joshua’s hands so he could feel it against his skin. It calmed the man down almost instantaneously. He’s breathing slowed, the sobbing turned to sniffles, the grip on Jeonghan relaxed, it seemed like a miracle to Jeonghan that the man in his lap was a pitiful mess a second ago.
“Joshuji, are you better now?” Jeonghan asked after a few minutes. He didn’t get a response, Joshua was already fast asleep. The elder vocalist didn’t move a muscle for three hours before deciding Josh really needed to wake up and eat something. And take medicine.
While Joshua was in the bathroom washing the tear tracks from his face, Jeonghan called Joshua’s mom.
“Hi, Mrs. Hong, Joshua woke up sick this morning and I was wondering if I could have the recipe for chicken noodle soup again. Seokminnie ruined the last cookbook we had.” Jeonghan asked politely, trying to act like Joshua hadn’t fallen apart in his arms a few hours ago to reassure Mrs. Hong.
He got the recipe, in his phone this time so a younger member couldn’t destroy it, hopefully. He left Mrs. Hong on the line so that Joshua could talk to her when he came out of the bathroom.
“Shua, there’s someone who wants to talk. Grab my phone. I’m gonna make some soup and bread for you while you two chat,” Jeonghan thrusted the phone into Joshua’s hand and guided him to a kitchen chair. Joshua complained quietly about Jeonghan’s lack of cooking skills before bringing the phone to his ear.
“Hello? Who is this?”
“Josh, did you really pick up a phone and not look at the caller I.D.?” A bright voice blared through the speaker in English.
Tears were already starting to form, “Momma?” Joshua looked over at Jeonghan like he had performed magic, he was already coming up with a million ways to thank the older man.
“Yes, baby. Tell me what’s wrong, sweetheart. You sound pretty bad,” her voice was soft, caring as always, there was a hint of longing that Joshua tried to hide so well from her but couldn’t.
“I have a sore throat, I’m nauseous, I have a headache, I napped for three hours, I haven’t eaten, I-” he paused for a second. This was his mother, he could tell her anything, “I think I’m homesick. I wanna come home.”
“Oh, lamb chop,” she chuckled into the phone, “if you come home, how are any of those boys going to function. You’re the who helps keep the younger ones contained and you help Seungcheol-ah and Jeonghannie-ah keep their sanity, baby. They’d all miss you dearly and then I’d have to go pick up 12 Korean boys who barely know English up from LAX because they’re in America for a sleepover with you.” Joshua barked out a laugh.
Jeonghan looked over and smiled brightly. Joshua was gonna be okay.