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Riki was tired. Which both made sense and didn’t make any sense at the same time. The group has had a pretty packed schedule seeing as they were in the middle of promoting their most recent comeback, so Riki being tired made perfect sense. However, he had also been getting a full night’s rest the past couple of days, unlike his hungs, so him being tired when he’s the only one who’s been sleeping a full eight hours doesn’t fully check out.
As the final alarm on his phone went off, Riki sluggishly got out of bed and made his way to the common area where breakfast should be ready. He was too tired to get dressed before eating. Besides, chances of him getting put in different clothes at the venue was highly likely, so it didn’t really matter anyway. Riki sat down at the table and began eating the food that was placed in front of him.
“You feeling okay Riki?” Riki startled a little bit at the question. He looked towards Heeseung before answering “I feel fine, hyung. Why do you ask?”
“You’ve been scooping air into your mouth for the past three minutes. Your plate is empty.” Riki glanced down to his plate and sure enough it was clean
“I guess I’m just a bit tired and my throat hurts a little.” He admitted reluctantly. He didn’t want to admit to being so tired but if he’s spacing out to the point of not realizing he finished eating, he might as well tell the truth. After a moment, Riki felt a hand rest on the back of his neck and another one being placed on his forehead. He couldn’t help but instinctively lean in to the touch.
“Can whoever’s in the bathroom bring me the thermometer please?!” Heeseung called through the dorm. The slamming of drawers and cabinets could be heard before Sunoo came out of the bathroom holding the requested device. It didn’t take more than a second for Sunoo to figure out that Heeseung wanted to take Riki’s temperature. He scanned the younger’s forehead and the reading came back as 38.3C (101F).
“Ok Riki, you’re going back to bed. There’s no way you’re going to be able to perform with a fever that’s making you this spacey. Riki nodded and went back to his room. Jungwon was in the room getting dressed and was confused when Riki crawled into his bed and closed his eyes.
“Riki, what are you doing? We have to leave in half an hour.”
“Heeseung hyung said bed.” Riki responded already half asleep. Jungwon knew that there was probably a reason that Riki was sent back to bed so he shrugged it off until he finished getting dressed. Upon finding out that Riki had a fever, Jungwon was quick to text their manager so a statement could me made making Engene aware that they’d be performing as six instead of seven for the next couple of stages.
Riki heard his members finish getting ready to go. Sunghoon had checked in with him before leaving asking if he needed anything. Riki felt like there was something he needed to tell his members, but couldn’t remember what it was. The brain fog from the fever clouding his thought process too much. So he just responded with a sleepy groan before drifting off to sleep fully.
Jihoon had been in his studio for the past two hours working on tracks for Seventeen’s next album. He started to feel hungry and looked at the time. It had been around four hours since he had last eaten, so he decided to save his progress and head back to the dorm for lunch. He was walking down the hallway towards the elevator when he saw who he was pretty sure was the maknae of Enhypen staring at one of the practice room doors. This confused him because he knew that the group was currently promoting.
Jihoon approached the younger man and as he got closer noticed that his gaze didn’t seem to be focused in any sense of the word. “Hey you’re Niki right. How’s your comeback promotions going?”
“The room isn’t there.” Riki responded in a mix of Korean and Japanese. It took a minute for Jihoon to fully process what the younger had said, and he was even more confused by the fact that the younger wasn’t making any sense. Riki then said a few more nonsensical things in a mix of Japanese and Korean before Jihoon heard a snore coming from him. Jihoon swore as he realized the younger must be sleep walking.
Jihoon had no idea where the Enhypen dorms were and hoped that they were close seeing as the group’s maknae must have walked all the way here. The producer now took notice that Riki was clearly wearing pajamas and seemed to be sweating a bit.The producer didn’t feel comfortable going back to his dorm and leave Niki here alone. He was pretty sure the younger was sleep walking and sick. His members were likely at a schedule, so he decided to take Niki with him so he could be looked after. Jihoon knew that it was supposedly not safe to wake a sleep walker, so he decided to just ask Niki to come with him and hope that he would follow.
“So Niki, some of my members have been wanting to get to know you a bit more. Why don’t you come back to the Seventeen dorm for lunch?” Riki just hummed in response, but thankfully followed Jihoon out of the building and to his car. Before he pulled out of the parking lot Jihoon texted Seungcheol to let him know that he was bringing a guest over for lunch. By the time the leader had responded Riki was fully back asleep and softly snoring in the passenger seat of the car. Jihoon took the opportunity to feel the younger’s forehead and frowned at the warmth. He quickly texted Seungcheol to get the thermometer and fever reducers out as well before he started driving to his dorm.
Jihoon parked his car and sighed. He would either need to wake up the Enhypen member or get a couple of his own members to help carry him inside. He decided to try to wake Niki first. He gently nudged the younger’s shoulder. “Hey Niki, I need you to wake up. We’re here.” Jihoon was fully prepared to call one or two of his members out to help him, but thankfully Riki stirred awake. Although it was questionable as to how awake he was.
“Hmmmn, five more minutes hyung.” Riki moaned. “Niki, it's time to wake up. We’re at the dorm and lunch is ready.” Jihoon received a grunt in response, but Riki did open his eyes and get out of the car. Jihoon led Riki into the Seventeen dorm. Almost immediately after opening the door, Jihoon was met with the very concerned looks of both Seungcheol and Jeonghan.
Jihoon ignored his hyungs’ concerned glances as he led Riki to the couch. He grabbed the thermometer that had been placed on the coffee table and immediately stuck it in the younger’s mouth. He then turned to the two older members who were now also looking a bit confused.
“I was on my way out of the building when I came across Enhypen’s maknae. I’m pretty sure he was sleep walking and I think he’s sick.” At that moment the thermometer beeped and Jihoon removed the device. “Definitely sick. He’s got a fever of 38.7 (101.6). I also assumed that his members are all at schedules since they’re in the middle of a comeback and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone, so I brought him here.” Jihoon poured out a dose of the fever reducer and handed it to his sick hoobae.
“Here, drink this. It’ll help you feel better.” Jihoon said as he handed the medicine cup to Riki. Riki drank the medicine, and the nasty fake cherry flavor seemed to fully wake the sick Enhypen member. Riki coughed a little bit and unintentionally spat out the medicine.
“Gross hyung, what is this?” Riki glared at the medicine cup that was still in his hand. Jihoon took the medicine cup and refilled it. “Relax Niki-ssi, it’s just some medicine to lower your fever.” He handed the cup back to Riki, who successfully drank it. Jihoo turned on the tv and sat down. He wanted to wait until the younger’s fever. was a bit lower before trying to talk to him about why he was at the company instead of his dorm. Seungcheol and Jeonghan joined him.
Over the course of the next forty five minutes, the other members came out of their own rooms. Minghao and Wonwoo both went to the kitchen to make lunch for everyone. Seungcheol made sure to let them know to make enough food for their guest. The rest of the members joined the group in the living room. They each gave a questioning glance towards Niki, but didn’t actually verbalize their question.
“Lunch is ready.” Called Minghao. All of the members got up and began moving to the kitchen to grab their food. Jihoon stopped Riki from getting up and stuck the thermometer in his mouth again. They waited a minute for it to beep and Jihoon was glad that his temp had lowered to 38 degrees (100.4C). “Ok Niki-ssi let’s go get some food.” Jihoon said as he stood up.
The group of fourteen had decided to just fill their plates and go back to the living room to continue watching the show that had been airing. The fever reducers having fully kicked in, coupled with eating lunch, allowed Riki’s brain fog to mostly leave. It still took him a solid minute before he fully realized that, one, he wasn’t in his dorm, and two, he was with Seventeen sunbaenims instead of his members.
Due in part to the realization, and in part from still having a fever, Riki abruptly stood up, accidentally spilling his food all over the floor. Just as quickly as he had stood up, Riki tried to bow, but wound up falling backwards onto the couch.
“Woah there Niki. You stood up a bit too fast there I think. Wonwoo, Chan, can you both grab some towels to clean this up?” Niki wasn’t entirely sure which member had spoken but it didn’t really matter. He was sick and now he had food all over his clothes and on the floor. “I’m so sorry sunbaenim. I didn’t mean to make a mess of your home.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll get everything cleaned up. By the way, would you like some clean clothes? Maybe a shower too?” Riki distinctly recognized the member talking as Hoshi. Riki nodded to both and Hoshi left the room as well. It wasn’t long before Hoshi returned with a change of clothes and motioning for Riki to follow him to the bathroom.
“Since we’re about the same height, I just grabbed some of my pajamas. Ok?” Riki nodded his head. “Also judging by the fever medicine that was on the table, I’m assuming you’re the one that’s sick, since as far as I know no one else is. Anyway, we’ve had some incidents in the past involving fevers and bathing, so I’m going to wait right outside the bathroom just in case.” Once again, Riki nodded in response before going into the bathroom to clean himself up.
Around ten minutes later, Riki came out of the bathroom holding his dirty pajamas. Hoshi smiled while grabbing them and the duo walked back to the living room. The mess he had unintentionally made was cleaned up and there was also a fresh plate of food waiting for him. Riki sat down and accepted the new food, thanking his sunbaenims.
“Sunbaenims, out of sheer curiosity, when did my hyungs ask you to check on me?” Riki asked when he finished eating. Everyone stared at Jihoon because he was the one who had brought Riki over and he hadn’t yet explained anything. Jihoon sighed before he started speaking.
“Ok, first off you can call us hyungs. Secondly, your members never contacted any of us. I found you staring at the door to one of the practice rooms and you seemed to be asleep.” Riki visibly paled when he heard that and groaned.
“I knew I forgot something. Hyungs don’t know I’m prone to sleepwalking when I have a fever.”
“That’s not good Niki. Sleepwalking can be very dangerous, especially since you left your dorm. How far away from the company is your dorm anyway?” Seungcheol asked
“Not far, hyung. Only like three blocks. Also Niki’s just my stage name. You can call me Riki.” All the members of Seventeen seemed to deflate in relief in finding out he hadn’t walked far. Riki broke into a mini coughing fit as all the talking he just did, even though it wasn’t a whole lot, had irritated his throat. One of the members handed him a glass of water in response.
“I suggest the plan of action is that you stay here for the day and rest. One of us will contact your members telling them that you’re here, and then you can go home with them when they pick you up.” Riki wanted to protest, he really did. However, it didn’t take him long to realized that because he had left the dorm while sleeping he didn’t have his keys or his phone. There was also the fact that he was probably going to continue sleepwalking and probably shouldn’t be left alone just in case.
Riki found himself getting comfortable on the couch to settle in for the rest of the day. The members of Seventeen introduced themselves because it became very apparent that in his fevered state, Riki just couldn’t remember who was who.
Once lunch was completely cleaned up Chan approached the sick Enhypen member. “Riki, do you know any of your hyungs’ phone numbers or maybe your manager’s so we can let them know where you are?” Riki shook his head. “Never needed to know them, I just put them in my contacts.” Chan nodded in understanding then turned to the others in the room.
“Hyungs, do any of you have the phone number for any of the Enhypen members?” Seungkwan and Joshua both raised their hands. Riki wound up coughing into his fist as he told them that his group was likely still filming whatever schedule they were currently at and they should just send a text to Jay or Sunoo hyungs. Seungkwan and Joshua did as suggested and texted the two members.
After Enhypen was contacted, Mingyu grabbed the remote and changed the tv’s input. “Do you want to play any games, we’ve got a bunch.” Mingyu held up a bunch of multiplayer games and a few single player games for Riki to see. One of the games that Mingyu held up was Ribbit King, which instantly excited Riki as he hasn’t seen that game since he was a kid.
“Can I play Ribbit King please?” He asked while pointing towards the game. Mingyu looked confused for a moment as he looked at the game Riki was gesturing to. “Hey Dokyeom, any chance you know where either our Wii or Gamecube are?” He yelled since the member had temporarily left the room. “Check the second hall closet. It's probably in the electronics box from when we last moved.” Mingyu replied with a thanks before running off down the hallway.
Riki found himself dozing off in the few minutes that Mingyu was off searching for the semi forgotten gaming console. “Let’s hold off on the gaming until after you’ve taken another nap.” Mingyu said. Riki startled slightly, but ultimately nodded as he was feeling exhausted again. He settled down on the couch as one of the other members covered him up with a blanket. It was a matter of minutes before Riki was fast asleep. The Seventeen members decided to do some quiet activities, but decided that they weren’t going to fully leave the sick man alone, in fear that he would sleepwalk again.
The hunch that Riki would sleepwalk again was correct, as about an hour later the sick man suddenly got off the couch and walked to the kitchen. The Seventeen members watched as he opened up the fridge and pulled a bottle of salad dressing out and placed it on the floor. Riki then returned to the living room and grabbed the remote and then just stood there as he pointed it at the tv without pressing any buttons. It only lasted another minute before he sat down on the floor and fell back asleep. The others were quick to shrug the experience off and decided to just let Riki continue sleeping.
Riki woke up around forty five minutes later. He coughed a bit and was given a glass of water. “Can I play Ribbit King now?” He asked. The others nodded their heads and Mingyu set up the console. For some reason Seventeen had an empty data cartridge, so Riki was able to start the game from scratch. He wound up playing the game for a couple of hours, actually getting pretty far in the story. He had several mini coughing fits and Seungcheol gave him a cough drop at one point.
Riki was in the middle of the industrial world when Minghao and Jun announced that dinner was ready. The game was paused and he was given a plate of food from one of the members. Riki glanced at the clock and his eyes widened a little in surprise at the time. He accidentally aspirated and started coughing again. Jihoon hit his back a couple of times until he recovered.
“Sorry hyungs, but I’m pretty sure my hyungs should be done with schedules by now. Can one of you call them?” Joshua nodded and pulled out his phone to dial Jay’s number. The first time it went to voicemail. The second time Jay picked up on the third ring.
“Josh, now is not the time. Our maknae is missing. He’s sick and not here and he left his wallet and phone behind.” Joshua let the younger American rant until he was finished. “Jay, I know, but Riki’s perfectly fine. He’s in our dorm right now.”
“What do you mean he’s in your dorm? Hold on, I'm putting you on speaker.” Joshua rolled his eyes, but put his phone on speaker as well. “Let me get this straight hyung, Riki’s with you, but he doesn’t have his phone, wallet, or anything?”
“About that hyung,” Riki started. Multiple sighs of relief could be heard over the speaker. “I somehow forgot to tell you guys that I’m prone to sleepwalking when I have a fever.” Riki turned to the side and coughed into his fist.
“What does sleepwalking have to do with anything?” Jungwon asked.
“I was working on some track at the company and I found him wandering the halls as I was leaving. He was completely asleep. Meaning he left your dorm and walked to the company while asleep.” Silence fell over the phone line until Jake could be heard swearing in English.
“As soon as I realized what was happening, I brought him to our dorms and we’ve been taking care of him. He did sleepwalk one more time, but all he did was take the salad dressing out of the fridge and place it on the floor.” Jihoon continued to explain
“Thank you for looking after our maknae hyungs. Heeseung will be there in a bit to bring him home.” Jungwon said. The two groups then said their goodbyes before hanging up the phone.
A short while later Heeseung was at the dorm to collect the maknae. Vernon answered the door and let him in. They all chatted for a little bit and Vernon told Heeseung that if Riki still has a fever tomorrow, at least one of them is free to watch him to make sure he doesn’t have any dangerous sleepwalking spells. Heeseung and Riki thanked Seventeen before they left for their own dorm.