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As a water nymph there is no reason Chan should hate rain, right? Wrong. It gets him wet when he doesn’t want to, it’s cold when you have the air around you, and it always confuses his gills.
There is, however, one thing he likes about it — sitting under a roof somewhere protected and listening as it pitter-patters against whatever surface is around you. Of those types, his favourite rain is a light summer evening rain, when the rain cools down the heated day, there’s a light breeze coming through where you sit, and the birds are still up, chattering amidst the gentle pitter-patter of the rain against the roof above you. He loves to curl up with a blanket in a lawn chair underneath the roof, maybe with a cup of hot cocoa and a book, and just … calm down from the day. The next best thing is hearing the rain through the bedroom window as he lays there to sleep, curled up with Jisung.
But Jisung hasn’t been home for almost five days, still gone on a business trip. Chan spends the rainy days sleeping in the pond.
———
“C’mon Chan-hyung, you need to get up.”
Chan surfaces only to tell Jisung, “No. I don’t want to.” He slinks back under the surface of the pond before the cold drops of rain can hit him for too long.
Jisung's sigh is muffled through the water. “Stop behaving like a child.” His tone has changed slightly, and there’s a hint of anger in it now that Chan does not want to face. Instead, he turns around and curls up against his favourite stone. One of the fishes stares at him for a moment before swimming away.
Suddenly, something disturbs the water, and arms extend down to grab him. Chan trashes against the arms on instinct, but calms down before he can pull Jisung down into the pond. A towel is placed around his shoulders and he’s pulled into Jisung's arms under the umbrella. The air is cold around him and his gills are confused for a moment about the dampness of the air before he can get his lungs to work.
“I don’t like the rain,” Chan complains, his teeth clattering against each other.
“I know,” Jisung says, his tone gentle as he lifts Chan up and brings him inside the house.
He’s gently toweling Chan dry, careful to avoid the wound on his neck, when he finally speaks again. “We need to go to the hospital to have that wound checked. I know you don’t want to, but I’m not going to allow you to leave an infected wound and just sit in the pond all day.”
Chan knows, he really does, but he can’t yet let himself admit it to Jisung. Instead he keeps quiet but lets Jisung get him dry and dressed.
———
When Jisung had come home that morning he had found Chan sleeping in the pond. Chan had been eager to greet him, and had for those moments managed to not notice the pain close to one of his gills. Jisung had noticed the wound first and pointed out how bad it looked.
And then Chan had, like a coward, fled down into the pond.
———
They have to wait in the waiting room to be called. Jisunh holds his hands, and Chan does not tremble. He does not. His gills ache, feels dry, and it hurts to breath, even with his lungs. He wants to be back in the water, but he stays put, if only to appease Jisung.
His phone rings while they're waiting. Jisung gives him a look and squeezes his hands, but Chan wrestles one free to answer.
It's Minho.
"Hello?"
"Yeah, hi," Minho says, sounding preoccupied. "Do you have some sugar i can borrow? I'm baking and just noticed I'm out but I can't go to the store."
"Yeah, we do," Chan starts saying, noticing how raspy his voice is, "but we're not at home."
"Ah, do you know when you'll be back home?"
Chan glances over at Jisung, who's looking questioningly at him. "I'm not sure, we…"
"Are you okay, hyung?" Minho suddenly asks, his tone taking on a hint of worrying. "You sound a little raspy."
"I'm fine," Chan hurries to assure him.
Now Jisung gives him a proper Look™ and holds out his free hand for the phone. Chan hands it over with a silent sigh.
"Hi, Minho-hyung," Jisung says, and then nods at something. "No, he's not. Uh-huh. Yeah." He's silent for a moment, and Chan worries what they're talking about. "An infected wound. Yeah, we're waiting right now."
Chan slumps in his chair. He hadn't planned to tell Minho at all, not wanting to worry him unnecessarily. He tunes out the conversation and turns to stare at the door the doctor is supposed to come through.
It opens just a few moments later, right after Jisung has hung up the call and put a hand on Chan's knee. He knows he's worried, so he takes his hand in his when they stand up to follow the doctor.
Chan sits down on the brits, letting the doctor examine the wound after he and Jisung had explained the situation. Truthfully, Chan has already forgotten how many days Jisung had been away, but it had felt like an eternity.
"So," the doctor says and sits down, "the infection isn't too bad yet, so you shouldn't need any medication. Of course, if it gets worse don't hesitate to come back." She leans slightly out another doorway and calls for a nurse. "You should clean it a few times a day, let it air dry before putting on a new dressing. A nurse will show you how."
She pauses for a moment, and asks if they have any questions. Chan looks to Jisung, and shakes his head when he does as well.
"Right then, you will have to keep the wound dry until it's healed properly."
Jisung nods in understanding, but Chan feels his brow furrow. What, no, he can't do that! He needs the comfort of being in the water!
But he doesn't voice any of that out loud, just sits still as a nurse comes in and shows Jisung how to clean the wound.
He zoones out for the rest of the visit, knowing that Jisung will make sure they don't miss anything.
"Hyung," Jisung says, taking Chan's hand as they step out of the hospital. "It will be fine."
"Sure," Chan dismisses, feeling his mood grow sour. He doesn't want to take it out on Jisung, but if he presses him right now, he just might. "Let's just go home."
Jisung sighs, but doesn't say anything as they walk over to their bikes. It's still raining, but Jisung doesn't look too bothered by it. The seat of their bikes are wet from the rain, and Chan shudders at the thought of having to sit down on that. He just wants to get home and take a bath and then go to sleep.
Of course it’s not that simple.
Jisung tried to hold Chan’s hand like he did when they returned to the plant school together to actually pick out plants for the pond, but Chan pulled his hands to himself. He’d lagged behind when they turned onto the gravel road leading up to their and Minho’s houses, so when their house finally comes into view, Jisung is just stepping down from his bike, talking with Minho who is standing on their porch. Of course he’s here.
Chan finds himself sighing, not sure if he’s actually annoyed with that. He only knows that he’s wet and cold, he just wants a bath, but he can’t get the wound wet. He wants to sleep.
“How are you, hyung?” Minho asked when Chan stops his bike next to them. Jisung has already put his bike to the side and is opening the front door.
“I’m fine,” Chan says, stepping off and letting his bike fall to the side. He doesn’t have the energy to deal with it right now.
Minho slides his hand over Chan’s arm and Chan passes, and doesn’t say anything.
Chan stops short in his tracks when he reaches the living room. There’s a fire burning in the fireplace, and the couch is overflowing with soft, fluffy blankets that weren’t there when he and Jisung left earlier. He turns to Minho to ask about it.
“Jisung asked me,” Minho says before Chan can even open his mouth. “I’ve drawn a bath for you as well. Go warm up and then come down here, I’ll be making some hot chocolate.”
“Oh.” Chan’s breath feels as if punched out of his chest, suddenly seized with love for Minho.
The bathroom is steaming from the hot water, the mirror already fogged over. He feels better already as he steps inside, but hurries to rid himself of his wet clothes and slides into the bath. It smells faintly of the forest, so Minho must have added one of the soothing bath bombs Felix made together with Changbin some time ago.
Jisung appears a few minutes later, stepping inside the bathroom with a soft, “Hi, how are you?”
Chan gives him a small smile. “Better than before. I’m sorry for being so cold towards you.”
“It’s okay, hyung,” Jisung says, sliding his fingers into Chan’s hair and massaging his scalp. “I know you just want to spend time in the water when you’re not feeling well. It’s okay to be upset about not being able to do that.”
Chan turns his head into Jisung’s touch, lightly knocking his forehead against Jisung’s stomach. Whatever would he do without the other boy?
“Is there room for me as well?” Jisung asks after a moment.
“Of course,” Chans says, scooting up to lean against one end of the tub, leaving room for Jisung in the other end.
He smiles at Chan when he slides in, knocking their knees together playfully.
“I asked hyung to put out some warm clothes for you.” Jisung gestures towards the top of the hamper with his head, where there is in fact a stack of clothes laying. Chan reminds himself to make sure to properly thank Minho later.
———
Minho has three steaming mugs of hot chocolate ready when Chan and Jisung emerges from the bathroom a little later. Chan already feels better, now that he’s warm and dry, and has the prospect of cuddling with two of his favourite people in the world to look forward to.
They make themselves comfortable on the couch, Chan settled in between the other two, with loads of blankets around and on top of them.
Chan blows on his hot chocolate and takes a sip, letting comfort sliding over him as the liquid slides warm down his throat. Everything will be fine, in the end.