Work Text:
Routine, that was what all the rehearsals were to Chan.
Practice for the real thing that was going to happen, and doing it a couple of times before the actual performance helped get familiar with the stage. These rehearsals lasting thirty minutes to sometimes an hour or two each time.
All of them usually being a little boring, or in Chan's mind, routine and planed. The whole group just going through the motions and preparing for the real stage the next couple days.
Now this whole little mess of Chan getting sick started during one of the rehearsals, while Seventeen was going over some some positioning for the stage, their youngest messing around with one of the water guns located in the venue, specifically for their next concert.
Mind you messing with the water guns was supposed to be off limits till the actual performance.
The origins of the water guns mixed in with the show all started from a water themed stage, growing from an idea one of the boys had to use for the a summer theme. The said boy wanting to add some fun and flare to their performances this summer.
Now the boys weren't supposed to be messing with the water and getting wet during rehearsals. Being especially told not to get wet and end up not drying off properly after, resulting in catching a cold.
Well too bad tonight was just one of the nights Chan chose to take a bit of risk and mess with something he wasn't supposed to be.
Call it a bit of maknae mischief if you will, Seventeen's youngest rarely let himself indulge in once and awhile.
Though as the young boy played around and shot the gun around he somehow managed to get himself covered in more water than he sprayed at the other members, them all having ganging up on him in the end. Fight back fire with fire, right. But in this case water with more water.
By the end of all the rehearsals Chan was soaked through all his clothes. Everything starting to stick to his skin, and his hair being pretty drippy now because of how much water had been dumped on him in the little battle from earlier, that he in fact initiated, with all his hyungs.
"You know Chan I don't think it was worth it for you to start that water battle earlier," Joshua said with a light smile on his face, scanning the boy up and down. "You're like completely soaked even though you 'won' the game."
Seventeen's maknae just smiled at the ground and sighed.
Even if I end up winning I always end up feeling like I lost in some way
The older then just gently shook his head.
"Just make sure you dry off properly when we get back at the hotel."
Chan nodded as he began to get into the van with a few towels around his shoulders and replied, "Okay hyung I will."
Satisfied the third eldest closed the van door and walked to the second van for all the members, this one now being full with Chan being the last one to fit.
"Was it worth it to go around saying that no one could hit you," Seventeen's maknae heard a voice say in front of him as he buckled his seatbelt. "Or was it not."
Chan looked up and was meet by Minghao grinning in the front seat.
"Whatever hyung, you were just watching as the rest of the group targeted me. You can't really say much about it."
"Yes I can," The older countered with a hint of sass clear in his voice. "I was observing, and to me it looked like you didn't need any help. You were the one who got yourself into that mess after all."
Seventeen's maknae just narrowed his eyes at the older but didn't say anything, Chan most certainly didn't want to start a fight with the fourth youngest.
Chan had little doubt if the two of them started to argue Minghao would win by a landslide, because even though the younger of the two could be quite stubborn and tough the older could be straight up savage. Sometimes ending a whole argument by just saying a sentence or two.
So instead of pressing on the older more the younger boy just chose to look out the window and wait till they got back to the hotel not feeling in the mood to fight the older.
After getting back to his room at the hotel and changing clothes Chan flopped onto his bed and looked up at the ceiling.
Ughhh I don't feel like drying my hair
Then right as the boy thought this he looked over to his left and saw his roommate, Mingyu, turn in his sleep.
A lightbulb formed in Chan's head and the second bad idea of the night now developed in the boy's mind.
No one would notice if I just slept and didn't dry my hair, right? I mean how could they, My roommate's asleep
So instead of drying his hair and probably turning the heat a little bit higher Chan opted to just go to sleep, not thinking or worrying that he would get sick if he didn't.
Boy was Seventeen's maknae wrong.
Concert Night
Only a few minutes before Seventeen went on Chan quickly checked the clock on the wall for the fifteenth time in the last couple of minutes.
As the days went by getting closer and closer to their performance that night the maknae had started to feel worse and worse. One day getting to the point of having really bad headaches and the next not being able to keep down some food for almost twenty-four hours, to today when Chan feels almost the way he did since then.
Besides having headaches and feeling nauseous Chan now had developed a fever that seemed to rise a few degrees each time he checked it.
Now during all this time Seventeen's maknae had tried to keep his sickness from his hyungs to not worry them, but that might not be as easy as it seemed.
The young boy had not had it easy and keeping this secret from his hyungs only added to the stress, so though these past days Chan hadn't struggled per say, but had a lot of difficultly hiding his sickness from all the older when they all hung out or went out together.
One incident that was memorable was when Seventeen youngest had been eating with the rest of his group at a restaurant, and by the end of their meal at dessert had to be excused because he didn't feel too well by the sight of melting ice cream.
Right as Chan made eye contact with the food the boy gulped and held his mouth, the sheer look of the food making him feel nauseous for some weird reason. Ultimately deciding to excuse himself from the table.
"Hyung I'm going to the bathroom, okay." The boy said as he pushed his chair out from the table that Seventeen occupied.
Seungcheol looked at the youngest curiously, slightly wondering why the boy left right then.
Chan usually liked having dessert after eating why was he deciding now to go to the restaurant when the ice cream just got here?
Right as the younger boy started to pass by the oldest on his way out Seventeen's leader caught the maknae's wrist gently, getting the younger's attention.
"Everything okay," The oldest asked with concern for the sudden moment of action of the younger boy. "You feeling alright?"
Seventeen's maknae quickly looked at the older with a queasy smile.
"Y-yeah hyung I'm feeling fine," Chan said as he grew increasingly inpatient to get out of there, desperately trying to hold back his gag reflex. He just felt really sick at just the sight of the food on the table and needed to get out of there fast. "Just need to go to the bathroom for a minute, I'll be right back."
Seungcheol reluctantly let go of the younger boy and the maknae hurriedly made it to the bathroom right before he emptied the contents of his stomach into the toilet.
After that day Chan chose to stay at the hotel the next night and keep Jihoon company while he worked, thinking that going out with everyone again wasn't a really good idea again.
Which it was because that night all Chan wanted to do was sleep like there was no tomorrow, feeling absolutely drained the whole day after doing almost nothing.
"Seventeen is on in five minutes!" A staff called out backstage making the young maknae snap out of his thoughts.
Well I can't worry about being sick right now, I'll have plenty of rest after tonight's concert, The boy thought as he started to stretch lightly and mentally prepare himself for what was going to happen soon. It's just one night Chan, you can do one night
In retrospect Seventeen's maknae should have thought more in depth about it before deciding he could last the whole night, but he didn't, so here he was in the encore of the concert struggling to keep it up.
It had all been going surprising well at the beginning, Chan thought as he was bent over trying to catch his breath, looking out at all the other members jumping around on stage. Why did things have to start getting worst right at the end?
While the maknae was still taking a minute to rest he saw some of his members flashing him looks of concern when he would take longer and longer breaks each time, it being kind of unlike how the young boy usually was during a concert.
Not that it was uncommon for the members to get that tired if the concert was long, or the oxygen levels were different than normal, so that checked out. But right now there was really no big reason Chan would be that tired after this concert tonight, right?
"You good?" A voice call out over all the noise around them.
The young boy looked up and was meet by the oldest member of Seventeen giving him quick once over, seeing if he had any injuries from preforming.
"Yeah fine," Chan said with a strained smile, trying not to show actually how much he was tired and in pain at the moment. "Didn't sleep that much last night is all, my fault really."
Seungcheol nodded and seemingly convinced by the younger, so he patted Chan's back and walked off to center stage.
If he got caught doing this stage sick Chan would never hear the end of it from the oldest, especially since it was his fault for not drying off properly that night he got sick.
A half an hour passed by and Seventeen was finally at the closing of the concert just having to make it back to the center stage to bow out and leave, Chan had finally made it to end.
But just as the boy lightly jogged over to the place he was supposed to be in the line up he slipped, falling to the ground with an audible 'thud', catching only a few of the members attention.
All around the stage having been covered in a thin layer of dew from all the water guns blasting during the concert, making it a hazard to all to Seventeen.
Chan, being complete exhausted from the concert and on top of that being sick, just had get to the middle of the stage to say goodbye on his mind instead. So when he knew he should have been watching out for larger puddles of water he didn't.
Seventeen maknae was glad that at least it was over quick when he fell, not really feeling any of the pain from the fall and nobody was around to criticize him for not paying attention to his surroundings.
Though it was a little bit embarrassing when any of them fell on stage or made a mistake Chan thought, but even more so if it was any member of the performance team being the one who did.
With a sigh Chan sat up and was meet by Minghao reaching a hand down with a small smile on his face. A second later the younger boy finally took the hand and was carefully pulled up to his feet as the older put an arm around the smaller's waist, keeping him balanced.
This was just like the fourth youngest to be considerate and helping other members on stage when they fall of slip, at time like this Chan was glad to have a hyung like him. Though the younger also quite liked it when he was Minghao was savage to the members of the group always thinking it was quite amusing when he did, except when he did it to Chan of course.
"Thanks hyung." The maknae said sincerely out of nowhere, with a content smile tugging on his lips.
The older boy just laughed lightly at the younger's comment execution.
"Let's just get back to the main stage without falling, okay."
Seventeen's youngest nodded and both boys started to walk in tandem to the stage.
After getting to the stage and doing an end meant followed by a bow or two the concert was done, and just in the nick of time.
Right as the large closed started to close Seventeen's maknae eyes started to lose focus, finally feeling all his energy drained out of his system and all the adrenaline run out.
Black spots started to fill Chan's vision as he leaned more and more onto Minghao for support and help, thank goodness that they were the closest to the doors when they blocked out both boys from view. Carats would be so worried if they saw Seventeen's Dino collapse right after a concert.
The fourth youngest eventually started got curious why Chan felt like he was getting heavier and looked over right as he felt the weight of the younger start to build at an increasingly fast rate.
Minghao's eyes grew wide as the younger boy started to fall back and caught Chan's head right before it hit the stage floor, gently laying it down instead. Alert to the maknae in distressing Minghao was now on his knees trying to get the maknae to him what was wrong, while also trying to signal the staff that something was wrong and Chan needed immediate medical attention.
While the fourth youngest unsuccessfully tried to keep the Seventeen's youngest awake some of the other members also saw was up so they all quickly began to make their way over to help.
As Chan looked up at his closest hyung's face, it being Minghao, the boy smiled happy he finally finished the concert.
Seventeen's maknae was content, he could rest now and get a well deserved break.
I'm going to rest now, take a quick nap. See you all in a few minutes...
That being the last thing on Chan's mind before he blacked out.
The next time Chan woke up he was on the couch in the designated medical room backstage, slightly aching everywhere as he sat up.
The staff quickly explained to him he collapsed due to fever and over exhaustion as he was quickly ushered to take medicine for both, and told that he should just tell the staff if he wasn't feeling up to preforming the next day.
All to which Sventeen's maknae promised to do next time and not have a repeat of this again, fingers crossed.
The young boy then looked at his phone that somehow popped up in the same room as him and checked the time.
Chan sighed and put it in his back pocket as he went to go and find all the rest of his members probably finishing up a vlive in the other room.
It had only been around an hour and half since he had blacked out and now he had to go face the tougher side of not telling everyone he was sick.
You would think it would be the staff that would get more mad then his group, but oh how you're wrong, Seventeen was way worst Chan had learned.
Almost all of them each scolded you a different way, or each wording being different every time, making it antagonizingly feel longer. On top of that all of the older boys each wanted an individual apology sometimes, making it basically twelve times as hard to say sorry at one time.
Seventeen's maknae stared up at the ceiling and hoped that this would all go well.
As Chan walked into the room nervously he lightly tapped on the door to catch all his hyungs attention, them all doing their own thing waiting for the roads to calm down again before they all headed back to the hotel.
"H-hey hyungs," Seventeen's youngest said as he looked at all older boys faces around the room. "I'm back."
Right after those words came out of the boy's mouth he was immediately meet by multiple voices starting to reprimand him for his actions.
"You shouldn't have done that Chan!"
"You scared Minghao half to death when you collapsed why did you do that?!"
"Maknae-ah you are in so much trouble when we get back to the hotel!"
Chan sighed again as he was motioned to sit down in front of all his agitated hyungs.
This is going to be a long night
Several comments later, followed by much more lectures, it had been decided that Chan was grounded to bed rest till for the rest of the week. Not allowed really to go out till at least two days of rest, and by what Jeonghan said no exceptions.
When the group actually did get back to the hotel later that night he was given his punishment and sent to go get some much needed sleep.
Seventeen's youngest understood why he was getting punished and why what he did was wrong, but the young maknae still couldn't help feeling that the punishment was a bit unfair.
So with that in mind Chan tried to sneak out the second night he was grounded and get some fresh air after being cooped up for so long, just wanting a few minutes of freedom before going back in.
After quietly making it passed everyones rooms and down to the lobby what the boy wasn't expecting to see was Mingyu standing there on his phone, glancing up when he saw Chan coming over.
Was he expecting this or something? The young boy never remembered telling any of his hyungs about this night so how had he known?
Seventeen's maknae forced himself to walk over to the older, despite internally not wanting to, and hoped he wouldn't drag him back to the room again.
"Hi Chan-ah," The taller greeted casually with a smile. "Going somewhere?"
The younger sighed and shrugged.
"I guess not since your here."
Mingyu frowned.
"Why not I asked you to go out tonight?"
Chan looked at the taller boy confused, not understanding what was going on.
"You did?"
"Yeah I did, or are you not feeling up to it tonight?"
Mingyu would let Chan go out and not say anything about it, but only if the younger let the older come with him. If Chan said no then the older would just escort Seventeen's youngest back to their room and he would be stuck there for the rest of the night.
Now getting what the older was hinting at this time the shorter quickly shook his head and replied, "N-no I wanted to go out, I wanted to go with you tonight."
The fifth youngest then smiled and started to walk towards the door.
"Well come then, let's go."
It wasn't ideal but it was getting out of the hotel so Chan would go with it, for now at least.
A few minutes later both boys were now out in the fresh air of the night all the city's light glowing around, lighting up the roads and sidewalks as they walked.
Chan took a big breath in and let it out with a content huff. He was glad to be out of the stuffy hotel after sleeping and rest the past day or two.
After both boys just walked along the sidewalk while Mingyu started to lead them somewhere Chan started to wonder why Mingyu had known about tonight, how the maknae was going to be out tonight.
Curiosity eventually getting the better of him Seventeen's maknae asked, "How did you know I was going to sneak out tonight hyung?" Making the older perk up a little.
Mingyu just chuckled a little bit at the question before answering, "You talk in your sleep sometimes."
Chan's mouth formed an 'o' shape and understood that he must have heard it yesterday when the boy was asleep for more then half the day.
"If you knew then why didn't you tell the other hyungs," Seventeen's maknae asked, not understanding the older's logic at all. "Or why didn't you try to stop me?"
Mingyu took a breath and started to explain.
"First of all everyone in the group knows that once you put your mind to it nothing can stop you, and second I kind of think you need to get a break from there after seeing the way you pouted about it last night."
The shorter boy crossed his arms and turned his had to the side in disagreement.
"I wasn't pouting," Chan argued holding his gaze with the street for a few seconds.
"Don't worry it's cute." The taller said as he gently pet the younger's head.
Sventeen's maknae looked back at the older's direction with a softening expression.
"Thank you Mingyu-hyung."
Silence then filled the air once again and both boys quietly basked in each others presence as the night went on.
About five more minutes of walking and they had arrived at their destination.
"We're here," Mingyu said as he motioned to the sign, watching Chan's face for his reaction. "I thought you would like some ice cream after being sick for a couple of days."
The shorter of the two laughed brightly and beamed at older.
"I hope they have chocolate I haven't had it in forever."
"I'm sure they do, what place doesn't have chocolate."
After spending a few minutes picking out what flavors they wanted and paying both boys were once again outside, eating ice cream on a cool summer night in the city.
Mingyu sighed as he looked over at the shorter boy beside him happily liking his ice cream.
It took a few minutes longer than the older would have expected to pay when they were inside, it taking a good ten minutes longer because the moment they got inside Chan was like a kid in a candy store seeing all the different flavors of ice cream on display. The maknae then debating on what to get and changing his mind every other flavor.
But after the maknae finally ended up going full circle he stuck with chocolate and Mingyu, feeling simple today, got vanilla. In the end though it didn't really matter how long it took since they were the only two costumers in the shop but looking at it now it still took a lot longer then it should have.
The older of the two than pulled out his phone and snapped a few pictures of the two eating their frozen treats before they headed back to the hotel. Both thinking that they had been out long enough for tonight.
Only a few minutes away from the hotel now Chan started to shiver from the wind, ice cream and a slightly chilly night not being a good mix without a light jacket.
Seventeen's maknae not wanting to be a bother tried to stop shivering and not let it show, but Mingyu being the kind of person he is ended up noticing anyway, taking off his jacket and persuading Chan to put it on. The shorter of the two saying he didn't need when he obviously did, just getting over a cold not too long ago.
"I didn't need the jacket but thanks." The maknae said wanting to start a little squabble with the taller boy.
Mingyu didn't take the bait the younger set and instead said, "I know you didn't but if you get another cold from tonight Jeonghan-hyung as well the rest of the group will kill me for taking you out tonight."
"Fine," Chan huffed, as he thought about it. Already knowing the older boy was right. "But don't blame me if you get a cold tomorrow."
Right as both boys got back to the their hotel room Chan gave a shy smile up to Mingyu as he looked over at older laying on his bed.
"Thanks again for tonight hyung," Seventeen's youngest said gratefully, wanting to let the taller know how much it meant to the shorter. "It was fun."
The fifth youngest smiled as the Seventeen's youngest spoke and had a content smile pull at his lips.
Chan then continued when the older didn't say anything back, "The ice cream part not the almost catching another cold without a jacket part, I don't want to ever catch another summer cold before a concert again. You guys were all so mad and-"
Mingyu quickly Chan off before he could ramble on farther.
"You're welcome Chan-ah, just don't get sick right before a concert and not tell the group or staff."
The younger nodded, memories of the concert and how he struggled to get through it flashing though his mind, wanting to never have something like this happen again.
"Yeah next time I will, I promise."
While Chan mostly thought about not wanting to have to struggle like he had at concert that day Mingyu thought about how he didn't want to see Chan fall like that ever again. All of Seventeen not knowing that the boy just passed out from over exhaustion and a fever at the time, and them all thinking it was something a bit more serious cause it instead.
Right as Seventeen's maknae started to drift off in thought a sneeze from the other side of the room caught his attention and made him look over at the older.
"I told you if you catch a cold it's not my fault, the ice cream was your idea."
With that Mingyu turned and faced away from Chan not wanting to hear another word from the younger boy for the rest of the night.
"Good. Night. Channie."
Seventeen youngest just laughed lightly at the older and reached for the light saying, "Night hyung." Right before flipping it off and also going to sleep like the taller boy.