Chapter Text
Hyunjin wakes up to particularly dull sunlight peering through the curtains, indicating it would be an overcast day. He stretches his arms, and twists his back before sitting up and finding a clock only to discover that he should’ve been awake over an hour ago. He groans, pushing his legs off of the edge, and searching for the house slippers at his feet. He reaches for his phone and pockets it, then stands up to hazily stumble out of his room. With one hand, he combs through the hair on one side of his head, frayed from a night’s sleep.
His brain starts to function, under the impression that Seungmin must’ve forgotten to wake him up again. Then he recalls that he spent the night with Jeongin and so it would’ve been the younger that was responsible for letting him sleep in. He makes a mental note to try not to rely on Jeongin in the future for the task .
He walks into the kitchen to find Felix washing some of the plates and bowls from the other members. He scours the counter and stove top for what’s left of breakfast. Unsatisfied with the selection he grabs a bowl and a box of cereal before munching on his gourmet meal at the table. He unlocks his phone to read their schedule of the day, taking mental notes of their stage rehearsal later that night, with nothing else planned earlier on in the day at least for him.
“Some of us are going grocery shopping in like thirty minutes,” says Felix, rinsing a bowl, “to the place Changbin-hyung always talks about, so if you wanna come you should get ready soon”.
“Who’s going?” Hyunjin asks, mouth crunching away at his cereal.
“Me, Minho-hyung, and Jeongin,” he replies. He turns off the sink and dries his hands, “would you know where Seungmin is around this time?”
“Wouldn’t be sure,” he backs up his chair and stands up. He picks up his bowl, and instructs, “I’ll come so don’t leave without me”. Felix nods and they both make their way out of the kitchen.
Hyunjin heads for his bedroom to get dressed and upon first glance of his reflection, he decides he’s wearing a hat. After taking a spoonful of flakes, he sets his bowl of cereal down on the dresser before changing out of his sleeping clothes and pulling together his outfit of the day. He searches for a sweater that he purposely left on their shared dresser, looking at a bowl of cereal which is definitely not it. He scans the room until something else catches his eye.
“Seungminnie?” he asks, talking to the top bunk featuring an unmade bed and a Kim Seungmin sized lump of blanket. He walks over and concludes that there is in fact a Seungmin still in bed, “how am I out of bed before you?” He reaches up to rub the lump to which he is met with a short and soft groan, indicating that he wasn’t asleep. He tries to pull the blanket off but the younger has somehow positioned his body such that every edge of the blanket was tucked under part of his body, forming a cocoon around him. He steps onto the ladder trying to try again, grabbing the blanket around his feet without success. As a last resort he climbs up and onto the top bunk, then crawls around the cocoon, trying to locate an edge of the blanket to pull at, “what are you doing?”
He pulls the blanket off, uncovering Seungmin’s head, finding his dark hair disheveled, head turned away, eye mask askew. His body curls up tighter and shivers at the exposure. Hyunjin then gets on his knees to pull back more of the blanket to find both his sweater and its wearer wrapped around a pillow. He spreads the blanket back over him, not wanting to bother him much further and lies down behind him. He mumbles into Seungmin’s neck, “Are you sick Seungminnie? Is that why you’re still here?”
He squeezes his friend with a hug to which he is met with another groan, “didn’t sleep… that well,” he manages to say.
“And you’re wearing my sweater?”
“...Was cold”.
After Hyunjin calls one of their managers to let them know about Seungmin’s current state, they are able to book him with a check-up appointment in the afternoon. Hyunjin also informs Chan who expresses that if he’s not feeling well he should rest and skip their rehearsal later. In the meantime, Hyunjin ends up staying home to watch over Seungmin, even if Jisung would have been home anyway. As a result he sends off the others with a list of ingredients and snacks to bring back. He leaves Seungmin in bed with his much thicker blanket, then thinks of something warm he could feed Seungmin until the others return with groceries.
By now, even Jisung had gotten out of bed and scavenged the leftovers of the other members. Hyunjin resorts to the only food he knows he can’t possibly mess up: instant noodles. After struggling to find a clean pot, he can smell the goodness of artificial flavours. When he’s done, he walks Seungmin out to the kitchen, blanket drawn around him like a cape, and tries his best to get him to eat.
“Seungmin you ate like 4 noodles, I know I’m not that bad at cooking,” Hyunjin whines. Seungmin leans back in his chair and yawns. Hyunjin sighs, admitting his defeat, “why don’t we try a nap since you didn’t sleep that well?” He reaches for his chopsticks taking another mouthful of noodles from the bowl. After chewing for what feels like forever he swallows.
“Not sleepy,” he mumbles.
“I’ll help”.
After his failed attempt at breakfast, Hyunjin practically carries Seungmin back to their room, setting him down on his bunk, adjusting the pillows to his comfort before joining him under the blanket, to sit up next to him. The younger initially lies down on his side facing the wall and away from the other. Hyunjin sighs before rolling him over, and lifting up Seungmin’s head onto his chest. Hyunjin frowns when Seungmin keeps his hands tucked close to his own body, expecting some sort of embrace, especially considering how well he and Felix had been getting along as of late. Unsure that he could even get him to sleep again after dragging him out of bed prior, he brings a hand up to stroke his dark hair in hopes that it’ll relax him a bit more. Hyunjin finally feels relief when he hears steady and slow breathing, each inhale accompanied by a tiny whistling sound. He picks up his phone from the nightstand and sends a very important text.
please tell me you can make kimchi stew
Almost two hours later, Seungmin wakes up, but doesn’t want to move despite his approaching appointment. The others return around the time when Hyunjin is forcing Seungmin into the shower and setting out clothes that actually belong to him. After washing up and drying his hair, he starts to look more like himself other than the more prominent dark circles around his eyes. He’s soon picked up by one of their managers for his check-up allowing Hyunjin to go around the dorm for any ideas as to why felt off.
“Oh he was looking for you last night,” Jeongin says nonchalantly.
“Looking for me? When? Wasn’t he with Felix?”
“That’s what I thought too but he came into your room while we were sleep-”
“Why was he asking for me?” Hyunjin interrupts, “you should’ve told me this earlier Innie”.
“It didn’t cross my mind till now,” Jeongin replies, “and he didn’t tell me why. I think he didn’t want to wake you up.”
“Not the only time you should’ve woken me up but didn’t,” Hyunjin taunts.
With that Hyunjin searches for Felix who might know a bit more about what happened, only to discover that Felix left the dorm almost directly after coming back with groceries to attend language classes. After texting him, Hyunjin learns that he would be going straight to the company to re-record some lines for their album. Alas, Hyunjin wouldn’t be able to see him in person until their stage rehearsal that night.
Later, Hyunjin spends a considerable amount of time in the kitchen with Minho, wishing to help him prepare stew for Seungmin’s return. Minho is hesitant to let Hyunjin help, but lets him cut an onion anyway. He tears up and starts to whine until he’s done. Minho later tells him that he could handle the rest and that he wanted another picture of him crying for his album. While stirring the pot of stew, Minho calls Hyunjin clingy and accuses him of babying Seungmin. The younger can’t deny the claim and vaguely alludes to the fact that he could have been responsible, even if there was little to go off of. The older suggests that ‘the puppy’ might not appreciate Hyunjin’s constant attention, but rather some space and time alone to rest when he gets home. Hyunjin thinks of different ways he can approach Seungmin while watching Minho prepare what he refers to as ‘Kim-Seungmin-ssi Stew’.