Work Text:
Yangyang woke up to the sound of his Dexcom alert going off, groaning as he slapped at the screen to try and make the noises stop before it woke up everyone in the room. He glanced at the screen, sighing as he saw that his blood sugar was at 196 and had two arrows pointing straight up to indicate that his blood sugar was rising rapidly despite the fact that he hadn’t eaten anything since dinner and he was sure that he’d taken the correct amount of insulin for what he’d eaten. It wasn’t something that happened often, but Yangyang knew that it wasn’t a good sign; unexpected highs were a sign that he was more than likely getting sick, and he could get really sick if his blood sugar got too far out of control. And Yangyang knew that the last thing any of them needed was for him to end up in the hospital in the middle of a global pandemic.
Yangyang forced himself out of the bed, wrapping his favorite blanket around his shoulders as he headed out to grab his insulin and a new syringe so that he could give himself a shot once he double-checked that his Dexcom was accurate. It was definitely his least favorite thing about being diabetic; Yangyang hated the needles, but it was a necessary evil considering the fact that his doctor still wasn’t quite convinced that an insulin pump would be appropriate for Yangyang’s particular situation. Given how much trouble his Dexcom gave him with the wire coming out of his skin, Yangyang understood why his doctor had some concerns. The pumps worked in essentially the same way as the CGM, and if the tube in his skin popped out he could potentially go for a very long time without actually receiving any insulin when he desperately needed it.
It took a few minutes for Yangyang to get everything ready and measured out once he’d confirmed that his Dexcom was pretty much spot on, given the fact that it was three in the morning and he needed to triple-check everything to make sure that he wasn’t going to accidentally overcorrect for the high blood sugar he was experiencing. Managing his blood sugar was always a delicate balancing act, but trying to do that in the middle of the night was especially difficult. If he gave himself too much insulin, he could easily throw himself into an even more dangerous low - and Yangyang couldn’t guarantee that he would wake up in time to treat a low before it became life threatening if that happened.
“Yah… it’s so early, Yangie…” Guanheng muttered, as the elder walked into the kitchen and got a cup to fill with water from the cooler in the corner. It seemed to take him a moment to process that Yangyang was in the middle of giving himself a dose of insulin, although the elder relaxed when he seemed to realize that Yangyang had everything under control already and he was putting the syringe into the plastic sharps container that came with Yangyang’s new insulin refills each month. “You’re that high?”
Yangyang picked up his phone, opening the Dexcom app and showing the older man that his blood sugar was already up to 212. “It was 196 when I woke up,” Yangyang replied.
“That’s… yeah, that’s bad,” Guanheng replied, putting the cup of water down next to Yangyang before going to grab himself another cup. “Drink some water, okay? You should probably go check for ketones, too…”
“I’m not that high yet,” Yangyang replied, shaking his head. “I’ll check if I’m not coming down in fifteen minutes, but as long as it stays under 250 I don’t have to worry that much about ketones.”
Guanheng nodded slowly. “Still, you should drink some water… even if you aren’t dropping ketones, if you’re starting to get sick you don’t want to end up getting dehydrated,” the older man commented. “Are you having any other symptoms yet, or just the high blood sugar?”
“Just the high,” Yangyang replied, shaking his head. “I mean, I’m really tired, but it’s like three AM so it’s not really a time I should be awake…”
“Is there anything I can do to help? I know food isn’t a good idea, but if there’s anything I can get you…” Guanheng began, as he sat down next to Yangyang.
Yangyang shook his head. “I’m going to get my blood sugar down, and then I’m going to go back to sleep for the rest of the night,” Yangyang replied. “I’ll worry about everything else in the morning.”
Guanheng nodded again, reaching out to gently squeeze Yangyang’s knee. “Any idea what might be going on? Have you been around anyone sick lately?” the elder asked softly.
“I don’t know,” Yangyang replied, shrugging. Yangyang watched as Guanheng got up suddenly, hurrying over towards the fridge and pulling out a bottle full of something that he held under Yangyang’s nose. It smelled awful, and Yangyang couldn’t help making a face. “Ge! What the heck…?”
“Sorry… I had to check…” Guanheng replied, as he put the fish sauce back in the fridge. “Your sense of smell still seems okay, so it’s probably not COVID…”
“Oh…” Yangyang nodded, realizing exactly why his friend had done that. While he was generally pretty good at keeping himself healthy, Yangyang knew all too well what Guanheng’s concern was; diabetes was one of the more dangerous preexisting conditions to have with the virus, and they had all been following extremely strict precautions to make sure that it didn’t make it into the WayV dorms. Yangyang’s endocrinologist had been adamant that they do everything they could to keep him from being exposed as much as possible, and the company had even extended Sicheng and Xuxi’s time in quarantine when they had each returned from China to make sure that they wouldn’t accidentally bring it back to him.
“They’ll probably still want to test you, but at least we know that it’s probably something less serious,” Guanheng replied, moving to sit back next to Yangyang. “How much longer do you have to wait, to see if the insulin is going to work?”
“About twelve minutes…” Yangyang replied, starting to clean up the rest of his trash. “You don’t have to stay up with me, ge… if things are bad, I’ll wake up Kun-ge or the manager. But I really do have everything under control…”
“It’s not that much longer,” Guanheng commented, shaking his head. “Besides, it’s easier to stay awake when there’s someone to talk to, right?”
Yangyang smiled, nodding as he sat down and took a sip from the glass of water the older man had gotten for him earlier. “Yeah, it is,” he replied.
“What’s going on?” Yangyang looked up as he heard Kun’s voice from the doorway to the kitchen, feeling more than a little guilty as he realized that someone else was now awake. While he could easily convince Guanheng that everything would be fine, Kun definitely wasn’t going to be so easily swayed. “Is everything okay?”
“I got a high alert,” Yangyang admitted. “It’s not a big deal - I already gave myself a shot, I’m just waiting for it to kick in so I know if I’m good to go back to sleep or if I need to do something else.”
Kun raised an eyebrow, moving over to put a hand on Yangyang’s forehead. “You aren’t warm… is anything else weird going on yet?” the leader asked.
“No… and please don’t make me smell the fish sauce again,” Yangyang replied, shaking the man off.
“I already checked… he still has his sense of smell,” Guanhing added.
There was a brief moment of silence, where Yangyang could see Kun mentally processing what the two of them were saying before he buried his face in the palm of his hand. “Do I even want to know why that was the first thing you thought of?” Kun asked, shaking his head. “You know what… never mind. I don’t want to know, because it’s way too early in the morning for this.”
“It was the first bottle I grabbed when I opened the fridge,” Guanheng replied, shrugging.
“Okay… Yangie, what’s your blood sugar right now?” Kun asked.
“It still hasn’t been fifteen minutes since I corrected,” Yangyang replied. “Last number I saw before that was 212, though.”
“What’s your Dexcom saying right now?” Kun asked.
Yangyang checked the app, before turning it so that Kun could see that it was still definitely over 200. “It only registers every five minutes, so hopefully it’s lower now. But the double arrows pointed up are gone,” Yangyang replied.
Kun nodded, running a hand through Yangyang’s hair. “Okay… as long as it isn’t getting out of control, that’s the most important thing,” the leader replied. “Have you done anything else, besides the insulin?”
“I don’t need to check for ketones, because I stayed under 250,” Yangyang replied. “All I’ve had since I woke up is some water that Guanheng-ge got for me… I’m waiting until I know what’s going on with my blood sugar before I decide if I need to do anything else.”
“Okay,” Kun replied, taking a deep breath and relaxing a bit more. “It sounds like you have everything under control. I’ll be back in a minute, but if you need anything let me know.”
“I’m fine, hyung… I’m probably going to be sick sometime soon, but for right now I’m not even feeling any symptoms of a high,” Yangyang replied. “I’m honestly just tired, that’s all.”
Kun just nodded, before heading out of the kitchen and leaving Yangyang and Guanheng alone again. “There’s really nothing else we can do to help right now?” Guanheng asked, as Yangyang moved to put his insulin away. Given the fact that the double arrows were gone, he felt safe assuming that he wouldn’t need to take any more of the medication; as long as his blood sugar wasn’t still rising rapidly, he would be okay to go back to bed and wait until morning to do anything else about his current situation.
“Unless you can magically make my pancreas suddenly start working again, there’s really nothing else that anyone can do right now,” Yangyang replied, shaking his head. “It looks like things are stabilizing right now, so it’s fine… I just have to wait a little longer to make sure that everything is going down or at least stable, and then I can go back to sleep. I’ll be fine, ge.”
Guanheng looked apprehensive, but he nodded slowly. “You’re sure?”
“I’m positive, ge. Kun-ge is up now, and he’s not going to leave me alone,” Yangyang replied. “We won’t be up that much longer, honestly.”
Yangyang had everything put away except for his glass of water and the glucometer by the time Kun returned to the kitchen, and Guanheng had taken his own glass of water back to the room he shared with Ten to go back to sleep. “You’re still feeling okay?” Kun asked again, as Yangyang sipped on his water.
“I’m really okay… I know it means I’m probably getting sick, but I don’t feel any symptoms yet,” Yangyang replied, shaking his head. “It might not even be anything… maybe my body is just fighting something off, and it won’t actually turn into anything we have to worry about…”
“Maybe…” Kun replied, glancing down at Yangyang’s phone again. “When do you have to check your blood sugar again?”
Yangyang checked the time, sighing. “About now,” he replied, pulling up the Dexcom app first as he started to get everything ready to prick his finger again. “Dexcom says 209, which is better.”
“What are the arrows doing?” Kun asked.
“It’s sideways right now… steady,” Yangyang replied. “If the numbers are consistent, I should be fine to just go back to sleep for at least a few hours.”
“I want you to come sleep with me, so that I can hear your phone if it alerts again,” Kun commented.
“I can handle it, ge…” Yangyang began.
Kun sighed. “I know that you can, Yangie… it isn’t that I don’t trust you,” Kun replied, as Yangyang pricked his finger to check his blood sugar. “I just… I don’t want you to have to do all of it on your own. It’s a lot for anyone to handle, and I don’t want you to get overwhelmed by everything and end up doing something that will end up making you really sick in the long run… I just want to help.”
Yangyang nodded as they waited for the machine to register his blood sugar, realizing that the older man probably had good reason to be worried about him. “Thank you, ge.”
***
Waking up somewhere other than his own bed was a little disorienting, but it didn’t take Yangyang long to realize that he was in Kun’s bed. The leader was across the room, talking to someone through the half-closed door. “… running a low fever. I think we should just let him sleep.”
“What’s his blood sugar?” their manager’s voice asked, from the other side of the door.
“189, according to the Dexcom. He was up around 3 AM for a high, and I’ve been checking it every couple of hours since we went back to sleep,” Kun replied. “It’s been pretty steady… everything is under control, I promise. If anything worrying happens, I’ll call and make sure that you know.”
Yangyang could hear the manager sigh. “Okay… make sure he rests, and that he gets plenty of fluids. And keep an eye on his blood sugar,” the older man replied.
“Of course, ge.” Yangyang watched as the older man slowly closed the door, before Kun turned to face him. The older man smiled as he realized that Yangyang had woken up. “Hey… you’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“Okay… my head hurts a little, but nothing serious,” Yangyang replied, shaking his head. “Manager-ge didn’t argue with you about giving us the day off?”
“He can’t really argue with it when you’re sick,” Kun replied, shrugging. “If you’re running a fever, we need to pay closer attention to what’s going on with your blood sugar and everything else. If the company doesn’t take proper care of you, it could turn into a really serious issue a lot faster than it would for the rest of us…”
Yangyang nodded slowly, knowing that the older man was right; if they didn’t pay attention to his blood sugar, he could end up seriously ill very quickly. “I should probably get up and try to do something about my blood sugar…” Yangyang began, slowly forcing himself to sit up despite the fact that it made his headache worse. The change in positions made it obvious that Yangyang’s nose was starting to get congested, a clear sign that it was a cold he was starting to come down with.
“You should try to eat some breakfast, too… I can make you some oatmeal, since it isn’t too bad on carbs…” Kun suggested.
Yangyang nodded. “Thanks, ge,” he replied.
“Go get cleaned up, okay? I’ll start on some breakfast for us both.”
Yangyang wasn’t all that surprised to see that most of the other members had already vacated the dorm by the time he left the bathroom; their manager had been in the process of rounding up everyone who planned on going to the company building when he and Kun had emerged from the room they shared with Xiaojun, and only Kun and the animals were still hanging around the living room when Yangyang made his way into the main area of the dorm. “Everyone else went to work?” Yangyang asked.
“They all wanted to work on things at the company building,” Kun explained. “Everyone thought it would be best if things were quiet here, so that you could get some rest. Manager-ge said he would pick up some medicine for you, if you start having any specific symptoms we can treat other than the fever and headache, but otherwise the plan is for anyone who doesn’t know how to stay quiet to find somewhere else to be for most of the day…”
“So basically everyone but Ten-ge and Sicheng-ge is banned from coming home for most of the day?” Yangyang joked.
Kun smiled as he stirred the pot of oatmeal he had already started cooking, shaking his head. “Take your insulin, Yangie…”
Yangyang did as he was told, making sure that he checked his blood sugar to figure out how much insulin he needed to correct for his current situation as well as treating for the number of carbs that he would be eating once Kun finished cooking their breakfast. “How much are you making, ge?” Yangyang asked, as he started to calculate how many units of insulin he needed to bring his blood sugar down to a healthier level.
“Two cups… one for each of us,” Kun replied. “I already checked, and it’s 49 net carbs. I don’t think that’s too high, is it?”
“Not really… maybe a little, since I’m not working for a day or two because I’m sick, but I don’t think it’s going to be a big deal,” Yangyang replied. “I’m probably not going to want to eat much later today, so that’ll make up for it.” Yangyang checked the notes in his phone for the correct formula to use to calculate how much insulin he needed to take since he was sick. It was still more of a guess than anything else; although they had a good grasp on how his body did with insulin at normal times, he was generally healthy and they hadn’t really had much of a chance to test his reaction to insulin during an illness. They had made a few adjustments to the calculations the couple of times he’d gotten sick since his diagnosis, but Yangyang knew that there really wasn’t a perfect way to calculate insulin dosages in his current situation.
“You should probably call your endocrinologist after breakfast, too… they need to know that you’re sick, and they might be able to give us some advice on what to do,” Kun suggested, as Yangyang plugged in the numbers and did the math to figure out what he needed to take in order to keep his blood sugar under control.
Yangyang nodded. “Yeah… yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Yangyang replied, as he set everything up for the insulin shot he needed to take before breakfast. “It doesn’t take long to make oatmeal, does it?”
“It’ll be done in a couple of minutes,” Kun replied. “You should be good to go ahead and give yourself the shot… it should be ready before you are.”
The shots were honestly Yangyang’s least favorite part about being diabetic; while he knew that it was a necessity to keep himself healthy, he hated the needles and the way that the medication stung when it went into the fatty tissue in his thigh. He hated the fact that he didn’t really have any alternatives, because his doctor didn’t think that an insulin pump was a viable option given his career choice. But mostly, Yangyang hated the fact that he was going to be dependent on a medication for the rest of his life and absent some sort of medical miracle there was nothing he could do about it.
The first cough caught Yangyang off guard; he still hadn’t really noticed any other symptoms of whatever mystery illness was making his blood sugar skyrocket, but the coughing had come seemingly out of nowhere. It was quiet for a moment, as Kun pulled their oatmeal off the stove before he turned around to focus on Yangyang. “Is your throat hurting, or anything else?” Kun asked, moving to check Yangyang’s forehead again as Yangyang threw the empty syringe in the sharps bin.
“I’m feeling kind of congested,” Yangyang admitted, closing his eyes. “I think I’m going to lay down again after breakfast…”
“I’ll get manager-ge to pick up some medicine for you, and if you aren’t feeling better tomorrow we’ll send you to go get a test,” Kun replied.
Yangyang nodded, knowing that it was probably a smart idea under the circumstances. “Yeah… probably a good idea.”
***
Yangyang ripped off his mask as quickly as he could once he got back into the dorm, thankful that he wasn’t being forced to keep it on. Although he was still definitely sick, his COVID test had come back negative and he had been sent home to rest and drink plenty of fluids. As long as he could keep his blood sugar under control and his symptoms didn’t worsen, his doctors didn’t see any reason for Yangyang to change anything about how he had already been handling his cold.
“Not COVID?” Dejun asked, as the older man stepped towards the entryway of their dorm with Leon in his arms.
“Just a cold. The doctor sent him home with some medicine that shouldn’t mess with his blood sugar, and instructions to rest and drink plenty of fluids,” their manager replied, when Yangyang began to cough before he could respond. “If anyone wants to go to the company building now that we know we’re in the clear, I’ll drive anyone over after you’ve all eaten lunch…”
“I’ll let the others know,” Dejun replied, as he passed the cat to Yangyang so that he could cuddle with the animal. Yangyang was Leon’s favorite person, and Yangyang was honestly happy to be able to cuddle with the cat for a little while.
“Go lay down for a little while… try to get some more rest,” the manager instructed, gently pushing Yangyang towards his room so that he could go try and take a nap.
Leon seemed to understand that Yangyang wasn’t feeling well, and the cat curled up on Yangyang’s bed once he was put down while Yangyang changed out of his street clothes and back into a pair of sweats so that he would be more comfortable. He couldn’t help smiling as the cat snuggled in next to him once he’d laid down on the bed, gently scratching behind the cat’s ears. “How are you feeling, bāobèi?” Ten asked, as the older man walked into the room.
“Tired,” Yangyang replied, rubbing his cheek against Leon’s fur. “It’s just a cold, thankfully… as long as I keep my blood sugar under control, it isn’t a big deal. And I’ve been able to keep it under 200 since I realized something was wrong, so I just have to stay on top of things.”
Ten nodded, smiling slightly. “Do you need anything?” the elder man asked.
“Maybe some water? I meant to grab a bottle on the way in here, but someone distracted me,” Yangyang replied, motioning towards Leon with his head as he leaned in to kiss the top of the cat’s head. “I don’t really want to move right now…”
“I can do that,” Ten replied, shaking his head. “It’s almost lunch time… do you want me to bring your stuff in, so that you can go ahead and take your insulin and then eat in here?”
“Please,” Yangyang replied, nodding. “I’m really tired, and I’m probably going to fall asleep as soon as I’m done eating.”
“What’s your blood sugar right now?” Ten asked.
Yangyang pulled out his phone, pulling up the Dexcom app to see what it said. “125… which is honestly the best number I’ve seen since I started getting sick,” Yangyang admitted. “I think this is the first meal I’m not going to have to take extra insulin to correct for a high reading along with what I’m taking for the meal itself.”
“That’s good… at least it shows that you’re managing your blood sugar pretty well right now,” Ten replied, nodding. “I’m going to go get everything, okay? Try not to fall asleep until you’ve had a chance to eat.”
Yangyang nodded, turning back to Leon and focusing on petting the cat and cuddling with the little ball of fur. The cat seemed unusually content with the attention; normally, Leon would have been annoyed with Yangyang wanting to lay still and just cuddle and pet him, but the kitten was purring and rubbing his face against Yangyang’s chest as if it was perfectly normal for their relationship. “You’re being sweet because you know I don’t feel well, aren’t you?” he asked, before he had to turn away so that he wouldn’t cough on the cat.
Even more surprising was the fact that it wasn’t long before Louis came to join them, purring and nuzzling his face against Yangyang’s as well. “I see you’re already being well taken care of,” Guanheng’s voice commented from the doorway, Yangyang turned to cough again. “The fact that you somehow got both of them to cuddle with you is impressive…”
“What can I say? They love me…” Yangyang replied, smiling slightly as Ten came back into the room with the insulin and all of Yangyang’s supplies for his next shot. “I need to know what we’re eating for lunch…”
“Kun-ge made dak kalguksu for you,” Ten replied. “We looked it up, and it’s about 78 net carbs for a serving.”
Yangyang nodded, pulling out his phone so that he could quickly do the math and figure out how much insulin he would need to account for that many carbs. “I really wish I could convince my doctor to just let me try an insulin pump for a few weeks… it would be nice to not have to go through all of this multiple times every day…”
“It might be worth bringing it up again the next time you go see your endocrinologist,” Ten suggested, as he handed over all of the supplies Yangyang needed to give himself the shot. “Maybe there’s some version of the pump that might work for you? It’s worth looking into, at least…”
“I think most of them only leave the actual cannula in for like, three days or something like that,” Yangyang replied, as he started to set up for the new shot. “I don’t really understand why he’s so opposed to letting me try a pump, when I’ve never had a Dexcom sensor fail in less than seven… the adhesive is more likely to fail than the cannula, and I’ve already figured out how to deal with that issue with the extra tape.”
“Maybe you should bring that up, then,” Guanheng replied. “If even the Dexcom lasts that much longer than the pump would have to, then that would hopefully take away at least one of his concerns…”
“But if it did fail…” Yangyang began.
“You still know how to give yourself shots,” Ten interrupted, as Yangyang filled the syringe with the correct number of units for his lunch dose. “It isn’t like you’re going to be completely dependent on the pump… you’ve been doing this for over two years now.”
Yangyang nodded, sighing. “I think I’ve just gotten so used to being told it’s not a good idea, that I have a hard time coming up with good responses to all of his arguments,” Yangyang replied.
“We can help you with that,” Guanheng replied. “Seriously, think about who you live with, Yangie… you have twenty-two friends who would be more than happy to help you come up with a good argument for why you should be allowed to at least give it a try.”
“In the meantime, though, you are going to keep your butt in this bed and snuggle with our babies as much as possible until your fever goes away,” Ten replied. “We can worry about how you’re going to bring that up with your doctor later.”
Yangyang smirked slightly, lifting his shirt so that he could inject his insulin into the small amount of fat on his belly. “Yes, ma,” he replied.
“Yah… brat,” Ten commented, shaking his head.