Chapter Text
“Stray Kids!”
The crowd erupted, and Chan found himself being attacked on all sides. An infectious laugh bubbled through him as he returned their affections. Felix was wrapped around his chest, already crying, Seungmin clapped ecstatically, in the midst of being picked up by Changbin, and even Minho had his hands in the air in celebration.
They’d won awards before, but it still felt new every time. Chan forced himself to walk forward, bowing to the announcer as he accepted the trophy with a generous smile. He waved out at the crowd and said the words that he’d rehearsed in his head a million times.
As they left the stage, all his members were quite energetic. Innie was on Changbin’s back, charging forward like they were a knight and steed. Felix and Hyunjin were chatting aimlessly, with Seungmin stuck between them. Minho had one of those hesitant smiles on his face as he and Jisung walked side-by-side, with Jisung talking at a million-words-a-minute.
Chan didn’t try and stop Hyunjin from taking the trophy. “Don’t get too grabby,” he chided gently. “We can all hold it when we get back to the room.”
An arm suddenly draped around him. “I told you we’d do it, Channie,” Jisung said, still grinning like a madman. “Looks like all those hours in the studio paid off, huh?”
“They better have.” Minho stuck his head between them. “Do you know how many nights I had to stay up waiting for the three of you to get home?”
“You don’t have to do that,” Jisung argued. “I guess you just can’t stand when the three best members are gone—”
“Oh, you wish!” Minho smacked him on the head lightly.
Jisung cackled and scrambled out of Minho’s reach.
They all stopped quite suddenly.
“What the hell, man?”
Innie was on the ground, for some reason, and Changbin stood in front of him, massive body blocking their maknae from the towering idol that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
Chan started forward without thinking.
Felix was already reaching down to help Jeongin up.
Chan gripped his elbow lightly. “You okay?”
Jeongin stared up at the man and bowed deeply. “I’m sorry. I didn’t see you there.”
The man smirked. He had blonde hair swept into a short ponytail, paired with a heavily-chained leather jacket. And he stood about half-a-foot taller than Changbin. “You should really watch where you’re going, string bean.”
Chan visibly bristled. “Come on. Name-calling isn’t necessary. He apologized.”
The man sniffed and glanced down at Changbin. “What are you? His guard dog?”
Trying to incite something. That’s what this man was doing. Chan stepped forward again, this time stopping next to Binnie and bowing to the man himself. “This isn’t necessary.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Chan. We’re Stray Kids—”
“You feel like bragging since you just won?”
Chan blinked. He could feel the tension in the members behind him. Before he even realized he was doing it, he had a hand on Changbin’s arm. The action said enough.
Don’t.
Immediately, Changbin took a step back to stick closer to Jeongin.
Chan gave the man a small smile. “Who are you? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Does it matter?”
He grit his teeth and forced in an even breath. “No. I just wanted to introduce us properly. If you’re not interested in doing that, then we’ll be on our way.” Chan bowed again. “Please excuse any inconvenience we may have caused.” Then he glanced back at Minho.
The second-oldest knew what he meant in an instant. Chan waited until Minho was done guiding them past the man before he followed behind them all.
“You’re running away so soon, Christopher.”
He stopped. The man spoke in English. Chan’s eyes went to Felix, who had also frozen when he heard the random switch in language. Now, he had two options. He could turn around and face this stranger, risking an incident but also defending both himself and the seven younger boys with varying levels of shock and confusion on their faces. Or he could continue walking like he hadn’t heard anything, absorbing the disrespect and allowing this asshole to keep harassing his members.
Both options were awful.
Chan glanced up at his members again. Something caught his eye. Felix had his arms wrapped comfortingly around Innie, who had his head cowered, staring at the ground. There was no mistaking the silent shudder of his shoulders. Chan’s gaze caught the tear that dropped from Innie’s chin and onto the hallway floor.
And suddenly, it was decided. He turned, slowly, and stared at the jackass who made Innie cry with death and rage in his eyes. “Minho,” he bit out. “Take them back to the room.”
There was no word of response. Just the silent shuffle of reluctant feet as they left.
Chan crossed his arms and tilted his head. “Do you have a problem?”
The man chuckled and raised his hand in surrender. “No, not at all. I just thought it was important that you understand that you only won because JYP paid to put you in that spot. If you think about it, it’s kind of embarrassing.”
“Honestly, I think it’s embarrassing that you’re willing to harass my members when clearly your problem is your own self-esteem. So piss off back to your own group and let them deal with your problems. Because I don’t have time to deal with this.”
“ Chan-hyung! ”
Chan whipped around to see a teary-eyed Felix sprinting down the hall. His heart stuttered, and he found himself running to greet him. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s—Innie—he—” Felix wasn’t in a state enough to get the words out.
So Chan grabbed his sleeve and dragged him down the hall, back towards their room. He could hardly breathe when he burst into the room, only to see Minho crouching with a worried expression as Innie seized violently on the ground. He practically fell to his knees next to Innie. “How long so far?”
“Going on one minute,” Seungmin managed in a shaky voice.
Veins bulged out of Jeongin’s neck and forehead, the whites of his eyes visible as he continued thrashing. Chan carefully readjusted the sweatshirt stuffed under his head. He hardly heard the snuff of laughter that came from the door, but when he glanced up, all he saw was a glimpse of a phone and Changbin sprinting out the door.
He didn’t have time to worry about why.
Suddenly, Innie stopped. His muscles spasmed one last time, and he went limp. Bits of vomit were stuck to his lips and chin, and Chan gently rolled him onto his side so that the spit and bile could roll out freely. Minho took it upon himself to brush Innie’s hair back so it wouldn’t get messy.
Chan took hold of Innie’s hand. “You coming back now, Innie?”
A whimper escaped from the maknae’s lips.
Chan’s heart ached . He wanted more than anything else to stop this pain, but all he could do was watch. “It’s alright, bud. We’re all right here. You’re coming out of a tonic-clonic. It lasted…” He glanced up at Seungmin.
“Two minutes, forty seconds,” he reported.
“Two minutes and forty seconds,” Chan said gently. “But you’re okay now. I promise.” He put a hand on Innie’s forehead as more whimpers rippled into the air.
“I—” Innie’s eyes squeezed shut. “Sorry…”
“No, no…we talked about this. You don’t apologize for what you can’t control.” Chan took the wet washcloth that appeared beside him and gently wiped off Jeongin’s chin. “Do you want something to drink, buddy?”
Innie moaned weakly and nodded.
“Here…”
Chan took the small bottle of water from Jisung. “Minho, can you—?”
Minho was already moving. “Hey, Innie,” he started softly. “I’m gonna sit you up now. Is that okay?”
Innie nodded again. He was practically limp in Minho’s arms as he was lifted up, and when he finally leaned against Minho’s body, Innie sighed.
“Alright, here…” Chan lifted the bottle to Innie’s lips and let him drink as much as he wanted. By the time he capped the bottle again, Innie’s gaze looked much more clear, but now there were tears streaking down his cheeks. “Does something hurt?”
Jeongin shook his head.
“Are you scared?”
He shook his head again.
“Why the tears, then?”
Innie shuddered and cowered into Minho.
A hand landed on Chan’s shoulder. Felix crouched down, then. “Let me try, hyung…” Without waiting for Chan’s approval, Felix sat on the ground in front of Innie and brushed his thumbs across the maknae’s cheeks. “Hey…”
“‘Bokkie.” Innie sniffed and shivered. “ ‘M sorry…”
“There’s no need to be sorry, Innie. It’s not your fault.”
“It is! I—I got upset. I know it’s one of my triggers, but I couldn’t—I couldn’t help it. It’s my fault.” Innie launched himself forward, clutching desperately holding onto Felix as he sobbed.
That’s what caused this. Righteous anger swept through Chan. He balled his hands into fists and starkly stood. “Can you handle this, Minho?”
Minho gave him a firm nod.
Before he could step out the door, Changbin appeared in the doorway, panting like he’d just run a mile. Chan let himself be dragged out the door by the arm and into the hallway. “Binnie, what are you—”
“That man in the hall. He’s part of R20 Souls. He—he followed us to the room and I saw him with his phone. I think he was taking pictures of Innie while he—”
Chan already felt himself shaking. He ran a hand through his hair. “Did you see where his group’s room was?”
Changbin took off in a run and Chan followed right behind him. Minho knew enough to be getting ahold of their managers at this point. But unease still ripped through Chan. The public didn’t know about Innie’s epilepsy, and Innie wanted it to stay that way. If this man leaked whatever the hell he caught on his phone—
No. Chan would not let that happen.
As soon as they stopped in front of the door, Chan pounded his fist until the damn thing opened.
A man about his height opened the door with wide eyes that only got wider as he saw how out of breath Chan and Changbin were. “What’s wrong, Chan? Can I help you with something?”
Before he could finish, Chan pushed into the room. His eyes immediately locked onto the man from earlier. “ You. ” He strided past the wide-eyed members of the group until he was right in front of the ponytail-ed man from earlier.
“Well, that’s quite disrespectful, don’t you think?” the man said with a twisted smirk.
“Hey,” someone said. “I’m the leader here. My name is Changki. What’s happening?”
Chan didn’t spare the leader a look. “Delete it. Now.”
The man batted his eyelashes innocently.
“I saw you with your phone out,” Changbin practically yelled.
“Since when is that a crime?”
“Bang Chan,” Changki started carefully. “Can you tell me what’s happening?”
Chan took a calming breath. He refused to take his eyes off Ponytail. “My group ran into him in the hallway. He knocked down and insulted one of our members and tried to instigate something. Then I was informed that the member he insulted went into a tonic-clonic seizure triggered by an emotional episode.”
“And jackass here had his phone recording the seizure,” Changbin added adamantly.
“Is that true, Ridae?”
“Does it matter?”
Changki sighed. “Give me your phone.”
Ridae’s smile faltered. “What? Don’t tell me you believe him over me .”
“Phone, Ridae. This is serious. If you don’t clear yourself…”
Ridae rolled his eyes and handed his phone over. Chan finally ripped his glare away and stood next to Changki as he scrolled through Ridae’s phone. The newest video pulled up. It showed shaky footage of Innie mid-seizure, surrounded by his members as bile sputtered out of his mouth.
“Fuck…” Changki covered his mouth with hand. Immediately, he deleted the video from the phone, faced Chan, and bowed to him so deeply, Chan thought the leader might fall over. “I am so sorry. Ridae will take full responsibility and management will handle his discipline.”
“Changki!” Ridae burst. “What the hell?”
“What did you expect, Ridae? You filmed someone having a seizure!” he yelled back. He turned back to Chan. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll hold onto his phone until we get this all sorted out. I swear to you that nothing about your member will get out.”
Chan’s lungs were finally pushing air in and out normally. He gently grabbed Changki’s elbows and pulled him up again. “Thank you.” Now it was his turn to bow. “I have to return to my member now, but my manager will be in contact with you to discuss things.”
“Of course.”
A hand gripped his shoulder, then, and Chan’s body turned in response. He hardly heard the yell of warning from Changbin. There was no chance of responding in time. A body slammed into Chan’s and all the breath squeezed out of his lungs as his back rammed into the ground.
A balled up fist slammed into his jaw. Chan rocked to the side, barely managing to scrape up enough sense to hold up his forearms and stop the next punch from landing. Hands worked past his arms, gripping his throat instead. He slammed his hand up, grabbing Ridae’s blurry face and shoving it away.
Suddenly, the weight on him disappeared. Chan scrambled up onto his feet, not caring to stop Changbin from stepping in front of him protectively.
There were four or five members holding back Ridae as he tried to charge again and again, blond hair now frizzed out and making him look even crazier.
Changbin grabbed his arm, suddenly. “We should leave.”
Chan nodded wordlessly, trying to blink the shock out of his eyes as he and Changbin left the room. He swiped a hand over his chin, collecting some of the blood dripping down onto his shirt. “It’s fine,” he slurred. “Just bit my tongue.” Changbin’s hand stayed on his arm.
When they got back to their room, Innie was fast asleep on the couch, head in Felix’s lap. Minho was in the corner, speaking to someone in a harsh whisper. Seungmin and Hyunjin were both staring aimlessly at the wall, and Jisung paced back and forth. Not so surprisingly, he was the first to notice. His eyes widened. “Chan? What the hell happened?”
Chan waved him off and allowed Changbin to sit him down on the free couch. “I’m fine,” he grunted.
Hyunjin and Seungmin looked equal parts terrified and angry.
Changbin recounted everything to Minho, who was trying his best to keep up two conversations at once. Chan usually would have offered to start helping now, but he was at his wits end after everything that just happened. He lowered his head into his hands, thankful that Innie was tired enough that he didn’t wake to all the noise.
“Channie?” Hyunjin. His eyes looked red and puffy. He was crying, then.
“You okay?” he asked.
Hyunjin smiled softly. “Of course. Just a little scared. Can I take a look at your bruise?”
“What bruise?”
“Your throat.”
Right. Chan vaguely remembered Ridae taking hold of it. He lowered his hands so that Hyunjin could see it. Typically, he wouldn’t let anyone care for him like this, but he knew that if anyone needed to do something right now, it was Hyunjin. He fought off a flinch as Hyunjin ran a cool cloth along the bruised spot.
“It doesn’t look too bad,” he said. “What about your mouth?”
“Bit my tongue. That’s it.”
“Your teeth are okay?”
Chan nodded. “Okay.”
Suddenly, there were two fingers on his pulse point. Hyunjin’s eyes went wide. “Chan—”
“Shhh.” Chan grabbed Hyunjin’s hand. He knew his heart was still racing. He lowered Hyunjin’s hand. “I’m calming down, I promise,” he said quietly. “I don’t want the others to be scared.”
Hyunjin swallowed and nodded. “Are you okay?” he whispered.
“I’m fine, Hyunjin. Just…I want to make sure that everyone is okay.”
“We’re all fine now, Chan-hyung. Thanks to you.”
Chan found himself smiling at that. He tapped Hyunjin’s cheeks affectionately. “Good boy.”
///
Chan got back to he, Felix, Jisung, and Innie’s room at the hotel somewhere around four in the morning. And to be quite honest, he was ready to fall over and sleep as soon as his foot crossed the threshold.
He grabbed some clothes out of his bag first and headed to the bathroom for his shower. It had been long enough since Ridae’s attack that the bruises were starkly visible now. When he shrugged off his zip-up hoodie and turned around to examine his back in the mirror, he couldn’t help wincing.
It looked bad. It would probably suck to sleep on it. Somehow, hot water running over them felt even worse. He only showered long enough to get the make-up off his face and the gel out of his hair, and then he was trudging back into their room again.
Innie was curled up against Felix, dead asleep, and Jisung was sprawled out in the other bed, legs tangled up in the blankets. Chan smiled. They all looked so peaceful right now. He made up his mind before he really even thought about it. As quietly as he could, Chan scooped up a pillow from Jisung’s bed and lowered himself onto the floor at the foot of the bed.
It felt like he’d hardly even blinked when he woke up.
A pair of eyes stared down at him. “What the hell are you doing down here, hyung?” Jisung whispered.
“Sleeping. What does it look like?”
“Why on the floor?”
“I didn’t want to wake you up.”
Jisung sighed and shook his head. “Come on, you big idiot.”
Chan hardly argued. He felt himself collapsing into the bed before he even registered that he had moved. And then, before he had a chance to say thank you to Jisung, the wheels in his brain stopped turning completely.