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Chan’s least favourite thing was getting sick, it had been since he was a child and nothing was going to change that.
On the other hand, one thing Chan loved was dancing, since he was a child, and nothing would change that.
Unfortunately, in his work environment, being sick meant not dancing, so Chan was forced to deal with something he hated while not being able to do something he loved, and it sure felt suffocating.
Chan was one of the few members in SEVENTEEN who hid sickness, like Minghao and Vernon. It felt accomplished to do something productive while being sick, but more than often they ended up in the worse.
Since the beginning of the week, a bug had been going around the members, starting off at the HipHop unit with Wonwoo, progressing to the Vocal unit (Most likely through Seungcheol and Jeonghan) and finally reaching the Performance team (Why did Minghao have to go on a cute little night out with Seokmin?).
Since it started spreading, Chan had been extra careful to wash his hands at every given opportunity or wear masks more than usual, but as they were so close as a group he knew he would most likely get it eventually.
That was exactly what happened.
Chan woke up feeling like his head was filled with cotton and his throat had been lined with sandpaper. He groaned, screwing his eyes shut before opening them and looking around the room.
So far, everyone in the room had already been sick and recovered, starting at Minghao, moving to Junhui and Soonyoung and apparently Chan too, despite the fact that Soonyoung and Junhui had been better for almost two days.
Instead of moping around in bed, Chan got up and headed to the bathroom, filling his water bottle again and again and he gulped down as much water as possible to try to soothe his throat, but it was to no avail. Chan had already had three full bottles of water when he gave up, realising that they had an hour-long car journey to their next concert venue.
Chan cursed his luck, pissed about the fact that he had to be been sick at the same time as Soonyoung and Junhui, he would have been feeling better already.
Once he was finished cursing himself, Chan shoved a throat lozenge in his mouth and headed out to the kitchen, pouring himself cereal and finishing the bowl before anyone else even got out of bed.
Chan took a quick shower, hoping that the steam would clear his nose (It didn’t) before getting into some comfy clothes for the soundcheck and sitting in the lounge with his phone to wait for everyone else to be ready.
It was another hour before everyone was ready, and then there was a big faff over getting the bags downstairs. (Who the Hell didn’t pack a small bag the night before and why did Soonyoung need such a big bag?)
The hour-long car journey was a struggle, Chan trying his best not to cough until they reached the venue.
The soundcheck was absolute hell. Chan’s vision kept blurring halfway through the dances, warranted a few concerned looks from his members. He was barely making it through his singing parts, using the majority of his energy for the dances.
Chan felt so relieved when the soundcheck was over, but that wasn’t the end of his torture, oh no.
It was just the start.
The members had an hour before the beginning of the concert, to take the time to get their hair and makeup done.
Chan felt like he was in a time portal, things skipping by without him realising. It didn’t feel like long before Chan was being ushered on stage by one of their managers, dragged along by the wrist by Seungcheol.
To be honest, Chan had no idea how he got through the performance. Most of his time on stage was spent trying not to faint.
The lights faded out for the final time to the sound of cheers from the fans and instructions coming through his ears. Chan vaguely felt hands grab his arms, two people on either side of him guiding him off stage.
Chan forced his head up to see Seungkwan holding one arm, and Minghao the other, the two supporting him to get him off the stage and out of the sight of fans.
They were only just off the stage when Chan’s world faded to black and his knees buckled, bringing him to the floor of the backstage area.
———————
Seungcheol froze when he heard Minghao’s voice calling for help. He quickly spun around on his heels to see Minghao and Seungkwan holding Chan’s unconscious form between them.
Minghao and Chan were on the floor, the Maknae leaning heavily on the Chinese boy. Seungkwan was holding Chan’s arm, keeping him from putting all of his weight on Minghao.
Seungcheol rushed towards them, grabbing Chan’s other arm and lifting him off Minghao, Seungkwan helping get Chan onto Seungcheol’s back.
As soon as he was holding Chan securely, Seungcheol carried him through to the nearby medical room, setting him down on one of the floor mats.
The two medical staff quickly moved to him, placing an oxygen mask over his face and bringing over a blood pressure monitor.
Seungcheol was just brushing back Chan’s hair to comfort him when he felt just how hot his forehead was.
“Oh my god- He’s burning up…” Seungcheol said, looking up at the medical staff.
The staff member placed their hand on Chan’s forehead, feeling the intense heat.
“Can we get an ice pack for him?” The medical staff asked, looking at their colleague.
The ice pack was soon on Chan’s forehead, attempting to counter the fever and help Chan wake up.
By the time Chan did come around, an ambulance was on the way and his temperature had been brought down a little.
As soon as he opened his eyes they started brimming with tears, looking glazed as he gazed up at Seungcheol with a tired and anxious expression.
“The ambulance is on its way buddy. Just hold on a little longer.” Seungcheol whispered to the distressed Maknae.
Chan could barely tell what was going on around him. He recognised Seungcheol’s scared voice, loud sirens overhead as he was jostled around, and then he was left in a quiet room with someone sitting next to him.
Slowly, over what must have been an hour or two, Chan started to come around from whatever daze he had been in, looking around the room to see Seungcheol in the plastic chair next to him. There was an IV drip in his arm and a few electrodes stuck to his chest linked up to machines Chan couldn’t have made sense of in any state.
As soon as Seungcheol notices that Chan is scanning the room, he lets out a relieved sigh.
“Oh, thank God, Channie. You scared me so much.” Seungcheol said, moving to perch on the edge of Chan’s bed.
Chan shook his head. “What happened?”
Seungcheol was chewing his bottom lip, a telltale sign of his anxiety. Chan was itching to pull his lip out from between his teeth. “You fainted after our performance. The doctor said you have a cold, but getting on stage made it really bad. Your temperature got too high and you passed out. You scared the hell out of Minghao and Seungkwan.”
Chan sighed and threw his head back into the pillow. “I’m so tired. And my head still hurts.”
Seungcheol sighed sympathetically and pulled the blankets more over Chan’s body. “They said they’ll discharge you once your fever went down. It won’t be long.”
Chan closed his eyes, entwining his fingers with Seungcheol’s as he let himself calm down and fall asleep.
———————
Chan was discharged early the next morning after his fever was mostly gone and he could walk straight.
Jeonghan and their manager greeted them at the car, Jeonghan caging Chan in a big, relieved hug and helping him into the car.
The drive back to the dorm was silent, Jeonghan keeping an arm looped around Chan’s shoulders while the Maknae rested his head on Jeonghan’s shoulder.
When they got back to the dorms, the three idols headed straight up to their dorms while the manager headed back to the company building.
The moment Chan stepped through the dorm door, he was swarmed with worried Hyungs crowding him and asking him how he was.
When the cacophony of noise finally got too much for the tired Maknae, he threw his arms up.
“Hyungs, I’m fine now. I was sick, I went to the hospital and now I’m fine.” Chan reassured his members.
Once they were all quiet Chan gave them all final hugs before heading to his room, pulling on some comfy clothes and getting into bed.
Seungcheol came into his room once he was in bed to give him a final hug and wish him a good night.
Almost the moment Seungcheol left the room and the lights were off, Chan fell fast asleep.