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For the most part, Seungcheol had effectively taught Minghao a lesson, all until Junhui got injured.
Since Minghao had been left alone in the hospital, he hadn’t been again. Seungcheol was impressed by how well Minghao had been monitoring himself, even if there were a few times the members would catch him pale and sluggish, confused and too far into the hypo to know to check his blood sugar. Even if he had reached some really bad states, to the point of being delusional, he’d avoided fainting and seizures.
They were just in practice when Junhui attempted onto of his martial arts jumps and fell, ankle twisting under him as he tried to land and back hitting the floor, hand twisting under him as his head hit the floor. He rolled onto his front with a hiss of pain, grabbing his wrist with his other hand and bringing his legs up to his chest.
Minghao and Chan were immediately by his side, Chan trying to get him to roll over and Minghao stroking his hair to try and soothe him.
Junhui was trying to hold in his tears, screwing his eyes shut and breathing deeply, slightly strained.
As soon as Chan rested his hand on Junhui’s back to see where it was hurting, Junhui cried out and turned onto his side in an attempt to throw Chan off him.
“Jun, I need to check your arm and leg.” Chan sighed, reaching for Junhui’s wrist.
Junhui let go of his arm and Chan grabbed it, gently pulling it closer. While Chan checked the wrist, Minghao moved to check Junhui’s ankle.
The joint had already swollen up, turning red and awfully painful. Minghao raised it gently, accepting the ice pack Jeonghan passed over and wrapping it around Junhui’s ankle.
Junhui whimpered softly at the feeling of the ice and tried to pull his leg away, but Minghao wouldn’t let him.
“My hip hurts too much. And my tailbone. They really hurt.”
Wonwoo moved forward, lightly pressing a hand to Junhui’s back. “If his back hurts like this we should get it checked out. That ankle looks broken too. You should get it checked as soon as possible. Alright?”
Junhui nodded, face still screwed up in pain as Chan, Minghao, Wonwoo and Jeonghan helped him to his feet. He let out a small cry of pain as he moved a bit too much.
“We just need to get into the car, honey. It’s not too far. We’ll take the elevator.” Wonwoo encouraged, holding the ice pack around Junhui’s wrist.
Minghao could only hold Junhui’s hand as the four struggled to get him out to the elevator. Junhui seemed to be in increasing pain with each step.
This was one of the first times one of Minghao’s members got injured badly since his Addison’s disease diagnosis, and he really didn’t like it.
———————
Junhui, Minghao, Jeonghan and Wonwoo got back from the hospital really early the next day. It was around three in the morning when Junhui was discharged.
At the hospital, a few X-rays had been taken and had confirmed that Junhui’s ankle had broken during the fall. His wrist was only sprained but being on crutches for a few weeks would have made it worse, so Junhui was in a wheelchair. Not only had Junhui broken his ankle and sprained his wrist, but he had also broken his tailbone and fractured his pelvis. The pelvic fracture required pins to be stabilised, and Junhui would be out of promotions for over three months.
The cherry on top of the cake was the mild concussion Junhui had earned from hitting the floor.
All in all, Junhui was in for a long and painful recovery.
Minghao was worried from the start, staying right by Junhui’s side and pushing his wheelchair, but when Jeonghan noticed him getting pale and tired, he told Minghao to stop and check his blood sugar.
It was low enough to cause concern, and Wonwoo helped him grab some snacks as Jeonghan helped Junhui get into the car without moving too much, packing the foldable wheelchair into the boot.
Junhui was exhausted and in pain, even with the prescription painkillers he was on, both from the quick surgery and to try and ease the pain in his back.
His ankle had been fixed in a cast, and his wrist was strapped into a brace. His hip had been bandaged with some dressings to protect the metal pins which were poking out of the skin.
Seeing his boyfriend like that was really awful, and Minghao was scared Junhui would fall again the next time he was in practice, even if that was a few months in the future.
Once they got back to the dorms, they got Junhui into bed so he could rest and try to sleep a bit.
Minghao lay down next to him, too scared to throw his arm across Junhui’s chest and wrap his legs around one of the elders, which was his normal position for sleeping.
When Minghao moved a pillow to his side to hug, Junhui chuckled.
“Please don’t replace me with a pillow. You can hug me soon.” Junhui whispered.
Minghao sighed. “A pillow can’t replace you, Ge. I’m just not used to sleeping like this and not being able to cuddle you.”
Junhui chuckled again. “You’re adorable. Can’t even sleep without having me to cling on to.”
Minghao huffed, sitting up to look at Junhui properly with a pout on his face. “I hate this. You can’t even sit up on your own. You can’t walk or even use crutches properly because you didn’t take care in practice. It was one fall. One fall and everything’s changing. I can’t hug you for weeks. Weeks, Junhui. That’s weeks too long. What if it’s so bad you can’t dance properly, even after it’s healed? What will I do then?”
Junhui took Minghao’s hand, letting Minghao tap the plastic brace rhythmically. “I think this is Anxiety Hao speaking. Please stop. I’m fine. It hardly hurt at all.” Junhui argued, voice soft and reassuring, a small smile on his face.
Minghao rolled his eyes. “And you’re a terrible liar. ‘It hardly hurt at all’. Please. You broke three bones. It must’ve been agony. I felt bad enough when I hurt my back, and it wasn’t even broken. You broke your tailbone.”
Junhui just smiled more. “Please stop worrying. Lie down and go to sleep with me. I don’t mind if you need the pillow but at least hold my hand.”
Minghao sighed and lay down, wrapping his arms around the pillow but keeping hold of Minghao’s hand.
A final ‘I love you’ was whispered between them before they settled down and fell asleep.
———————
Minghao and Junhui woke up very late the next day.
When they emerged for breakfast, Junhui in his wheelchair, Jeonghan laughed, saying he was impressed they’d managed to sleep over 14 hours.
“I didn’t think you two could do it. Minghao’s a light sleeper and Junhui moves too much.” Jeonghan said, pouring them both bowls of cereal.
Minghao laughed. “Well, he couldn’t really move around much so I slept great.”
Junhui nodded, slowly, wincing slightly. “Yeah. I think the painkillers just knocked me out.”
Jeonghan sighed and pushed away the box of cereal, pouring milk into Junhui and Minghao’s bowls.
“Well, I think Junhui should stay in bed as much as possible for at least a week and Minghao, you can take care of him because you sleep together. Someone will always help if you want.” Seungcheol added, moving his cereal bowl to sit beside Junhui’s wheelchair.
Minghao nodded, raising a spoonful of cereal to his mouth.
Seungcheol knew that Minghao was going to be difficult. Minghao was going to care for Junhui and just completely forget about the fact that he needed to check his blood sugar and take him medication.
“Minghao, don’t forget your meds. Alright? You still need to take them.” Seungcheol reminded him, gently ruffling Minghao’s hair.
Minghao nodded, humming as he chewed on his cereal.
Junhui sighed. “I don’t have an appetite. Can I go back to sleep?”
Jeonghan nodded. “Of course. I’ll help you. Minghao, finish your food.”
Minghao was very quick to finish his cereal, not wanting a lecture from Seungcheol and desperate to get back to Junhui’s side.
Once he was finished, he dumped his bowl and spoon into the sink and headed straight back to his room.
Junhui was lying in bed, propped up by some pillows behind his back. Minghao lay down beside him, pressing a kiss to Junhui’s cheek.
“I love you, HuiHui.”
Junhui chuckled, taking Minghao’s hand. “I know. I love you too. But please stop worrying so much.”
Minghao just smiled, pulling the covers over himself. “You’ve already told me to stop worrying. Maybe if you didn’t have a broken ankle and hip, I wouldn’t worry, but you can’t walk without a wheelchair so I am worried.”
Junhui rolled his eyes. “Shut up and go to sleep. I love you so much.”
Minghao just sighed and threw an arm across the pillow between him and Junhui, closing his eyes and falling asleep in a few minutes.
———————
The next day was when Minghao began to break.
He hadn’t taken his medication for two days and it was getting obvious to him, especially when he woke up with all his muscles aching. He was just about to go grab his pills when Junhui woke up and asked to be moved to his wheelchair.
Minghao, not wanting to ignore Junhui, instead ignored himself and helped Junhui.
They had a very quick breakfast, but Minghao didn’t even make it to the end.
Seungcheol had just placed a plate of pancakes in front of him when his vision turned dark and his body slumped against the table, completely unconscious.
———————
Seungcheol could see Minghao was paler than usual, a lot paler than usual, and was just about to remind Minghao to take his pills as he placed the plate down when Minghao’s eyes slipped shut with a small grunt and his body fell to the side, Junhui attempting to reach out for him, but not before he was out of reach and hit the floor.
Seungcheol ran around the table as Minghao fell, grabbing Minghao’s arm and roughly pulling him up so his head could rest on Seungcheol’s legs just in time for his body to tense up and start convulsing.
Mingyu, having seen what happened, ran across the room and knelt beside the two on the floor.
“Gyu, grab his bag. Quickly!” Seungcheol yelled, wincing as Minghao’s body gave a particularly nasty jerk in his arms.
The seizure seemed a lot more violent than usual.
“And grab his seizure bag too,” Seungcheol called after Mingyu, trying his best to hold Minghao’s head still.
Minghao let out a horrible choked sound, head jerking back into Seungcheol’s leg.
Seungcheol turned Minghao’s head to the side, letting all the saliva that had collected pour out of his mouth.
Mingyu returned less than thirty seconds later with the two bags, dropping them beside Seungcheol and opening them both.
Seungcheol brushed Minghao’s hair down to conceal his open eyes, taking a deep breath to remind himself that Minghao was unconscious and wouldn’t remember a thing, but what never failed to scare Seungcheol was knowing that the seizure was caused by Minghao’s brain no longer being able to handle the low cortisone.
Mingyu quickly slipped the oxygen mask over Minghao’s face and turned on the small cylinder. As soon as he was getting the additional oxygen, Seungcheol could hear Minghao’s breathing clear up a bit. He went from abnormal, shallow wheezing to slightly slow but steady gasps.
Seungcheol took a hold of Minghao’s curled hand, looking at where his nails had gone slightly blue. They were lucky to have an oxygen mask with them if the hypoxia Minghao was suffering was anything to go by.
Within two minutes his nails had gone back to their normal colour, but the seizure wasn’t letting up.
Seungcheol knew that Minghao was having an Addisonian crisis, so he told Mingyu to call an ambulance for him and tell them he was both in adrenal failure and having a seizure.
The ambulance didn’t take long to arrive. Minghao had been seizing for seven minutes, much too long for an ambulance in Seungcheol’s opinion but better than not at all.
The paramedics gave Minghao some strong lorazepam and waited a few seconds for the seizure to calm down before getting him onto the gurney and letting Mingyu throw one of Minghao’s warm blankets over the unconscious boy before strapping him down with some loose fabric straps across his shoulders, waist and legs.
Mingyu volunteered to go to the hospital with Minghao, as Junhui’s wheelchair wouldn’t get in the ambulance beside the gurney.
During the short journey, Mingyu sat still and watched as the paramedic stuck a needle into Minghao’s hand to administer dextrose, hydrocortisone and corticosteroids with some saline.
Mingyu knew Minghao was going to try and rip out the IV as soon as he woke up, and wanted to voice as much, but the paramedic looked too busy attaching electrodes to Minghao’s chest.
As soon as Minghao opened his eyes, albeit half-lidded, he thrashed out at the paramedic and reached for the IV chord, ripping the tube out of his hand.
Feeling the sudden pain in his hand, Minghao whimpered and looked at his hand, blood beginning to drip down his arm.
The paramedic took Minghao’s hand and pressed a bunch of gauze to it, holding his wrist tightly when Minghao tried to escape his grip. As quickly as he could, the paramedic grabbed a clean needle and carefully inserted it into Minghao’s forearm so he could keep getting the hormones.
“He’s trypanophobic. He hates needles. He always faints when he gets injections and blood draws. He’s also normally aggressive when he wakes up after seizures, especially in ambulances.” Mingyu explained, “The best you can do is restrain him, although he won’t like that either.”
The paramedic sighed and grabbed a roll of bandages, getting Mingyu to hold Minghao’s wrists against the rails of the gurney before tying Minghao’s small wrists to the metal bars with the bandages.
Minghao whimpered, trying to thrash more but being unable to with his wrists pinned to the rails.
Mingyu took Minghao's hand, running his thumb across Minghao’s knuckles. “Calm down, honey. The paramedic is going to help you. He’s going to help you.”
Minghao shook his head, eyes wide and fearful, too confused to know why he was tied down and why there was a needle in his arm.
“The needle. Get the needle out! Please!” Minghao begged, tears slipping from his eyes. “Please get it out. Get it out!”
“Sir, you need to relax.” The paramedic spoke up, reaching for the midazolam and a syringe.
Mingyu wanted to tell the paramedic not to further drug Minghao. He wanted to knock the midazolam from the paramedic's hand, but at the same time, he knew what Minghao really needed was to relax.
Minghao whimpered when he saw the vial of clear liquid, shaking his head. “Please don’t drug me. Please. No more needles.”
Mingyu sighed, torn between getting Minghao to relax or not sticking him with more needles.
“Okay, Hao. If you stop thrashing around and just breathe for us, the paramedic won’t have to give you the drugs, alright?”
Minghao nodded, sighing quietly and whining as the ambulance turned into the hospital.
As soon as the ambulance pulled up outside the hospital, the doors of the ambulance opened and the gurney was wheeled into the emergency room.
Minghao didn’t like how a doctor and a few nurses gathered around him, removing the makeshift restraints from his arms and moving him from the gurney to the bed.
As soon as he was on the hospital bed and his wrists were free, Minghao thrashed out at the nearest doctor, desperately trying to escape and run to the doors.
After a bit of struggling, Minghao got past the doctor and nurses and bolted for the exit, ripping out his IV before being intercepted by Mingyu on the way. Minghao struggled in his grip for a few seconds before falling limp in Mingyu’s arms.
Mingyu gently tilted his head back, finding his eyes shut and body completely limp.
As carefully as he could, Mingyu carried Minghao back to the hospital bed and out of the sight of other people watching in the ER.
Blood dripped down Minghao’s arm from the wound the IV tube had left when it was pulled from his arm, joining the wound on his hand.
Mingyu set him down on the bed, letting one of the nurses mop up the blood from his arm while a nurse went to fetch some restraints and something to sedate Minghao with.
The doctor fixed an oxygen mask over Minghao’s face just as he began to wake up, whimpering and thrashing weakly as the nurses pinned his wrists to the bed and strapped the soft restraints around his wrists.
“No…” Minghao whined, voice weak and exhausted.
He didn’t have a chance to react as the doctor sedated him, needle breaching the skin of his hand and drugs getting into his blood before he could push the doctor away or scream. While one doctor sedated him, another put a new IV line into Minghao’s other arm for the hormones.
Mingyu had to turn away as Minghao’s eyes slipped shut. The last look Minghao gave him was distressed and scared before he lost consciousness and fell limp once again.
“This will calm him down, right?” Mingyu asked the doctor, voice teary and shaky.
The doctor nodded. “Yes. He’ll be asleep for maybe an hour or so but when he wakes up he should be calm. Once the drugs wear off, a psychiatrist will come down to assess him to decide if we can remove the restraints and avoid a second dose of the drugs. You can stay with him until he wakes up, but he may have to stay in the hospital overnight.”
Mingyu shook his head. “No. He can’t be alone overnight. He gets really freaked out by hospitals. Someone should stay with him overnight.”
The doctor sighed. “I’m sure I can clear you to stay overnight, but we’ll see how his condition is first. Is that alright?”
Mingyu nodded. “Yes, thank you.”
The doctor walked off and Mingyu sighed, sitting down in the chair beside Minghao’s bed and taking his hand.
Minghao looked awful, pale and exhausted, even in unconsciousness.
Mingyu just hoped he could relax and get some rest.
———————
Minghao was discharged the next morning after an overnight stay.
According to the doctors, Minghao’s Addisonian crisis was triggered by not taking his medication and the stress of trying to look after Junhui while not eating.
Mingyu had stayed with Minghao in the hospital all night, something Minghao was thankful for after waking up from the sedation with very little memory of anything before waking up on the morning of his Addisonian Crisis.
Minghao wasn't delighted to find both his left hand and wrist bandaged up, especially not when he was told he needed to redress the wounds every day.
Minghao was still very tired and unsteady from the morning before, but he got some help from Mingyu and Seungcheol walking to the car, strongly refusing to use a wheelchair. He was very unsteady on his feet, swaying and stumbling, Mingyu’s arm looped tightly around his waist as he kept tripping and almost falling to the floor. At one point, Seungcheol had to grab him tightly as his legs gave out and he almost fell to the concrete of the car park.
“Honey, you should have taken the wheelchair.” Seungcheol sighed, looping an arm under Minghao’s legs and lifting him up to get to the car.
Seungcheol gently set Minghao down in the backseat, letting Minghao lie across the three seats. Mingyu climbed into the passenger seat and Seungcheol got into the driver's seat, pulling out of the hospital car park.
When they got back to the dorms, Junhui gave Minghao a small scolding, but he was secretly happy that Minghao had been so caring to him while he was struggling.
Once Junhui was finished with his short lecture, the two headed to bed, Minghao once again throwing his arm over a pillow between him and Junhui. Junhui gently took Minghao’s hand.
“I love you, but please take your pills. And don’t worry so much. I’ll be fine, it just takes a while.” Junhui whispered.
Minghao pressed a kiss to Junhui’’s forehead. “You’ve broken so many bones. It scares me. I’m scared I’ll never get to cuddle you again or you’ll never get to dance again. You love dancing.”
Junhui smiled. “But I love you more, and I hate seeing you so scared for me. It’ll get better soon. I promise. Now stop talking and go to sleep. I’m sure you’re tired.”
Minghao chuckled and lay down properly, pressing a kiss to Junhui’s hand before closing his eyes and falling asleep.