Work Text:
⭒ ☆ ━━━ ☆ ⭒
Jeongin was doing his best to keep up with the choreo that Minho was teaching him, but for some reason his legs couldn’t keep up with the fast pace. Hyunjin and Jisung would both passive-aggressively stare at him while he tried to get the move right, but somehow he just couldn’t move his legs the right way.
At first he’d thought it was just him slacking off, but after many nights of extra practice he still struggled to keep up with the fast choreo. Chan had talked with him about it but since Jeongin didn’t have a valid excuse for dancing wrong, they agreed that Jeongin would just put in as much effort as he could.
It wasn’t that easy, though. It had been a week and somehow it had been getting even worse; it had gotten to the point where Jeongin had to sit out of practice because he was too embarrassed to dance in front of his boyfriends when he knew he’d just mess up.
He was currently sitting in the back of the studio and watching his seven boyfriends follow Minho’s lead, being taught the choreo for their next comeback. Jeongin was as excited as they were to release another album for their fans, but he was getting anxious at the idea of having to sit out of promotions for literally no reason besides the fact that Jeongin suddenly sucked ass at dancing.
Minho called a break and Chan came to sit next to Jeongin. Minho sat on Jeongin’s lap and for some reason he winced; his legs suddenly ached just from holding his boyfriend up.
“Are you going to join us after the break?” Chan asked carefully; it was an invitation, but it was as if he wasn’t trying to push him too hard.
Jeongin wanted to say no, but he saw Felix hopping over to him and he seemed so excited at the idea that Jeongin would dance with them. So Jeongin nodded, and Felix giggled happily, pressing a kiss to Jeongin’s cheek.
The break didn’t last long enough, so Jeongin was up dancing in no time. Minho quickly showed him the steps, which Jeongin already knew as he’d been watching them the whole time. But the problem showed itself when they all started dancing; Jeongin’s legs were aching and shaking and when he tried to do footwork he ended up failing. Minho was staring at him from the corner of the room, and Jeongin found himself hurting at the idea of holding his group back from promotions.
“Jeongin,” Minho said, his voice firm and Jeongin could tell he was angry. Jeongin stopped moving, turning to look at his boyfriend.
“Yeah?” Jeongin asked, his voice squeaking.
“What’s wrong?” Minho asked, “Why are you holding back? What’s happening?”
Jeongin shook his head; he had no idea. He wanted to know, he really did, but he had no fucking clue. His voice cracked when he said, “I don’t know, hyung.”
Minho took a step towards him and Jeongin could faintly hear Hyunjin whisper something, accompanied by a slap. Minho’s brows furrowed and he said, “So why can’t you do the moves? Are you slacking off?”
Jeongin shook his head again, feeling tears pool up in his eyes. He was disappointing the people around him and he couldn’t stand it.
“No,” he said, “I’m not. I promise I’m trying, I really am, but my legs aren’t doing what I’m telling them to do, hyung. I try to take a step but it’s like my legs are numb, or something.”
Minho raised an eyebrow. “Numb? So you can’t feel your legs?”
Jeongin thought about it for a moment. “No, not like that. I can feel them; they hurt, hyung. But they just won’t move . I try to take a step only to find out that I didn’t move at all.”
Minho just stared at him blankly. “Are you making up excuses?”
Jeongin’s tears finally started to spill from his eyes. “No, no, I’m not. Hyung—“
“You need to focus, Jeongin,” Minho said, and Jeongin just nodded, his vision blurring from the tears. He would just have to put in more effort; eventually everything would be back to normal, right?
Changbin wiped away Jeongin’s tears and wished him good luck before they all got into position this time. Jeongin focused harder than ever before, his eyes narrowing and his ears intently listening to Minho counting the beats off. But he made a mistake, feeling his legs shake and he fell to the ground, just barely catching himself with his hands. He heard a few gasps around him.
“Jeongin,” said Chan’s voice, and he was being helped to stand up. But Jeongin could only barely hold himself up, his legs shaking and on the verge of collapsing.
He felt more hands around him and when he opened his eyes they met Changbin’s, then Seungmin’s. His boyfriends were all around him now, matching worried expressions on their faces.
“Jeongin, what happened?” Seungmin asked, him and Minho being the most calm of the bunch. That didn’t particularly mean they weren’t worried, though.
“I… I don’t know,” Jeongin said, involuntarily leaning into Chan’s hold. “My legs hurt, hyungs,” he whined out, feeling himself start crying again. “I’m scared.”
Hyunjin and Felix were in his face in an instant, smothering his nose and cheeks in tiny little kisses. Jisung was at his shoulder, cooing at him to not worry, that everything would be okay.
But Jeongin was worried. What was wrong with him? His legs had never given up like this before; were they broken? Would it get better? He couldn’t even stand right now, and his boyfriends caught onto that fact, as they lowered him to the floor.
“What happens now?” He heard Jisung whisper to Chan, and Jeongin broke down again, burying his face in Hyunjin’s shoulder while Felix kissed his hands and neck.
What would happen now? Was Jeongin a lost cause? What if something was wrong and he’d never be able to move his legs again? What if it was contagious and he’d spread it to all his boyfriends as well? Or what if it was contagious and they broke up with him so they didn’t get it either? Jeongin was more scared than he’d ever been before.
His boyfriends whispered to each other around him before Jeongin felt his chin being raised up to meet Minho’s eyes. Minho said, “Jeongin, we’re taking you to the hospital, okay?”
Jeongin nodded, and Minho seemed pleased because he pressed a kiss to Jeongin’s lips, Jeongin’s lip quivering as he kissed him back.
Minho pulled away and Jeongin felt himself being lifted up by Changbin. Once he was on his boyfriend’s back, his entourage followed them downstairs to a company van that was already somehow waiting for them.
Jeongin wondered if dispatch would see this scene out of context and try to make it seem like Changbin and Jeongin were dating. Not that they were wrong, though.
Jeongin sat in between Minho and Seungmin, the two calmest, and Jeongin appreciated that greatly. He couldn’t worry too much when the people sitting next to him were acting calm, as if they were simply on their way to another schedule rather than to the hospital.
Jeongin was carried into the hospital by Chan this time, and as soon as he was sitting in the checkup room with only Chan and a doctor, he felt himself start crying again.
Chan comforted him while the doctor asked questions; Chan answered as many as he could before he had to force Jeongin to man up and answer some questions, too.
Jeongin’s voice shook but he answered her questions, such as when this feeling started, had he done anything different before he started feeling symptoms, etc etc. The doctor then left to “go over the results” and Jeongin was left alone with his boyfriend.
Jeongin swallowed his nerves. “So what now?”
Chan shrugged. “I have no idea. I’m sure it’ll be okay, though.”
Jeongin didn’t think it’d be okay, but he nodded regardless.
⭒ ☆ ━━━ ☆ ⭒
“This fucking sucks,” Jeongin whined out, crossing his arms in frustration.
“I think it’s cute,” Jisung giggled, pinching Jeongin’s cheek and cooing.
“You have weird kinks,” Minho joked, and Jeongin fake gagged.
“Anyways,” Chan said, “How are we getting this thing into the car?”
“That’s your guys’ problem,” Minho decided, picking Jeongin up off of his wheelchair and helping him to sit in the front seat. Hyunjin and Jisung ended up watching a Youtube tutorial on how to fold up a wheelchair and they put it in the trunk, cheering and kissing afterwards.
After the four-hour-long doctor’s appointment, Jeongin had been told that he had temporarily lost function in his legs due to a disease but he’d be healed soon as long as he took care of himself; the doctors had given Chan a long list of ‘actions of care’ that Chan had given to the most responsible of the group, Seungmin. Seungmin was currently in the backseat researching on his phone like the smart guy he was. Jeongin wondered how he retained so much information.
The good news was that no matter what, Jeongin’s legs would be back to normal. The doctors told him he had come at the perfect time for ‘optimum healing results’, whatever that meant.
After the short drive back to the dorms, Jeongin was helped back into his wheelchair and they realized too late that their dorm rooms weren’t wheelchair-friendly. Hyunjin had started crying, saying that he didn’t want Jeongin to have to live outside the dorms, until Changbin pointed out that there were three perfectly strong members in their team and that Jeongin wasn’t even that heavy, anyways. Hyunjin cheered up immediately and offered to carry Jeongin into the dorms, only to practically drop him once they reached the stairs. Chan declared that the only ones allowed to carry Jeongin from now on were Chan, Changbin, and Minho. Minho pretended to not want to, but he ended up safely carrying Jeongin up the stairs and only complained a little.
Once Jeongin was set onto the couch his boyfriends huddled around him, apologizing for being so harsh on him.
“I already said I forgive you guys,” Jeongin giggled, pushing cuddleracha (A.K.A. Hyunjin, Jisung, and Felix) away from where they’d started to press kisses to his neck and face.
“I’m just so sorry,” Jisung whined, and Hyunjin let out a sob although he wasn’t crying.
“Me too,” Hyunjin agreed, and Felix hummed to agree as well.
Jeongin gave up on pushing them away and instead proposed for them to be allowed to cuddle him all night, which they all gladly agreed to. Seungmin and Minho both gave Jeongin a few kisses before disappearing into the kitchen.
“What are they doing?” Jeongin asked, looking around Felix’s mess of blond hair to Changbin.
“Cooking,” Changbin answered, cuddling up into Felix’s side. The four of them that were left on the couch decided to turn on a show while Jisung and Chan left to take a shower.
Food was done in no time; it was bulgogi, a meal that was simple enough to make. Felix helped to plate it while Changbin left to get Chan and Jisung from where Jeongin figured they were making out or something, as the shower had turned off a while ago.
Minho carried Jeongin to the table and set him down on his stool. Jeongin was feeling pretty pathetic because he couldn’t even walk properly, and the members must have sensed his distress because Seungmin gave him a kiss and Felix pet his hair, urging him to take the first bite of their homemade meal.
Jeongin listened to the buzz of conversation, adding in his own thoughts on what they were talking about; aliens. They dropped the conversation though once Minho and Jisung started making sex jokes.
Jeongin was carried back to the couch and they decided to watch a movie together, all of them cuddled up on the couch and their floor, sharing popcorn and two tubs of ice cream. Jeongin felt a bit weird when he needed to ask the members to carry him to the bathroom, but besides that, he was getting used to his new condition.
Jeongin happily leaned against Changbin’s arm, the most amount of skinship he was comfortable with at the moment. Changbin smiled at him and gave him a peck on his forehead which Jeongin playfully acted disgusted by. Changbin giggled at him before turning back to the movie, and Jeongin focused again as well.
Jeongin was happy that his boyfriends were there for him no matter what. He would never be able to thank them enough; without them, he wouldn’t have ever gotten to this stage of happiness and contentment. He was in love with his boyfriends; his seven little devils with dirty mouths and pretty smiles, who joked about how even their grandparents could walk better than him. He wasn’t offended by their jokes, instead playing along, because he knew they didn’t actually mean it. He didn’t mean it, either, when he said that Minho’s cats were rats and that Kkami was a spawn of Satan, and he knew his boyfriends didn’t believe his words.
Jeongin felt at home here, more than he ever had before, even if that meant he couldn’t fucking pee without his boyfriends asking if he needed help wiping too.
⭒ ☆ ━━━ ☆ ⭒