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They skip the meal they’d planned without much deliberation. If Chenle is struggling to walk, there’s no reason to put more pressure on his ankle for a date that can be rearranged.
“We’ll order food to your place?” Donghyuck asks, to check if Chenle still wants company after all this. He looks exhausted, not hiding his discomfort now the fansign is over, ankle wrapped in ice packs some poor harried staff member was sent to find.
“Sure,” he says, and that’s how Donghyuck knows he’s still needed and wanted, though all Chenle probably wants to do is sleep.
“Make sure you use ice to make the swelling go down,” Jaemin is nagging as they pull up to Chenle’s place. Donghyuck hops out first, offering his hand to Chenle. “Get a good night of sleep, and go to the doctor if it’s worse tomorrow!”
“I know, I know,” Chenle says, accepting Donghyuck’s hand and pulling himself out of the car seat carefully, gritting his teeth and testing his weight on his ankle. “I’ll see you.”
They close the door behind them, and their manager pulls away as they make their way to Chenle’s front door slowly, Chenle still gripping Donghyuck’s hand.
“You really have to get injured every comeback, don’t you? It’s like tradition.”
Chenle laughs as Donghyuck inputs his house code. “I said that on Bubble earlier. At least it’s not bad this time. I’ll be fine once I treat it.”
“You will,” Donghyuck says softly, holding the door for him and helping him slowly take the two steps up into his house.
Daegal comes running out to greet them, yapping excitedly.
“Not now, Daegal-ie, your Appa has to sit down first,” Donghyuck coos. “Come on, I’ll give you attention in a minute.”
He leads Chenle to a chair in his kitchen, and Chenle directs him to a tub he can fill with water, and where he keeps the ice in his freezer. Chenle starts groaning and complaining as soon as he has to keep his ankle in the water, but Daegal is content enough to stay on Chenle’s lap to keep him company, which seems to help distract him a little. Donghyuck does the rest of the work by sitting opposite him and listing the things they could order, making a few unlikely suggestions just to take Chenle’s mind off the cold and the pain.
Chenle has his ankle out and elevated by the time they finish ordering, but it’s time for another 30 minutes in the ice when the food arrives. Donghyuck makes sure Daegal has something to eat as Chenle hungrily unwraps their tubs, so she doesn’t spend the whole meal sitting by the table and begging. He gives into her too easily when she does that.
They got off work a little earlier today—while they’d usually go back and practice after a day of schedules, they called it off today for all their sakes. They could’ve gone to practice with just the six of them, but morale was down enough without trying to work around Chenle’s space. Tomorrow is, blissfully, a quieter day anyway.
After their late dinner, Donghyuck refills Chenle’s tub and leads him into his living room, where the two of them and Daegal watch their own content, and find themselves genuinely laughing at it.
“We really are funny, you know,” Chenle says, though he’s sleepy and soft with it, face half pressed into the couch. “I love watching things like this.”
“I know,” Donghyuck says, petting his hair to pull it out of his eyes. “One more before bed?”
“Alright,” Chenle says, bright eyes on Donghyuck. He shifts himself closer, head on his leg, sighing in contentment as they load up another video. Daegal hops over to be cradled in Chenle’s arms, and he accepts her mindlessly, stroking her as they enjoy a show they’d filmed a few weeks ago.
“How does your ankle feel now?” he asks when the video finishes up.
“Numb from the cold,” Chenle says, sitting up slowly. “I just hope I can barely feel it for real in the morning.”
“Let’s hope,” Donghyuck agrees, standing up and putting his hands out for Chenle to hold. He pulls himself up carefully, and Donghyuck shuffles them over to the bathroom, Chenle still hesitant to put weight on his ankle.
Chenle sits on the toilet lid and brushes his teeth as Donghyuck uses his spare toothbrush over the sink. They wash up the remnants of stage makeup—usually he’d like to wash his hair before bed, but it can wait until the morning.
Shuffling into Chenle’s bedroom comes next, where Donghyuck closes the bedroom door behind them, and Chenle rolls over with a sigh once he lands on his huge bed.
“We can sleep in tomorrow, right?”
“No early morning recording for us. Sleep lots, okay?”
Chenle giggles, and Donghyuck realises the sugary tone he’d been using without thinking, like he was speaking to Daegal.
“Alright,” Chenle chimes back in the same tone, unbuttoning his trousers and pushing at them from an awkward angle laid out on the bed. Donghyuck reaches over to help him pull them down and off, careful around his ankles, tossing the trousers to the floor. His own come off before he climbs under the covers with him, pulling him close from behind, the two of them settling down under the covers.
“Ankle okay?” he says, muffled into Chenle’s shirt.
“All okay,” he says, pulling Donghyuck’s arm over him. “Thank you.”
“No problem,” he says, patting his stomach gently. “Sleep now.”
“Mmh,” Chenle hums back, and his breaths even out in no time at all.
Donghyuck stays awake for a little longer than usual, holding Chenle, letting himself enjoy the moment. They’d all been worried about him today, but Chenle takes things with a brave face whenever he can. He’s gotten better at showing weakness, but Donghyuck is still glad he’s let himself be looked after today, even if he’d insisted on finishing schedules.
As he’s about to drop off to sleep, there’s a scratching at the door. He sighs, and slowly rolls back over, missing Chenle’s body heat immediately.
Daegal scampers in as soon as there’s a crack in the doorway wide enough. He leaves it partially open this time, so she can come and go as she pleases, but Daegal is already up on the bed, looking at him expectantly.
“I know, you can’t be left out,” Donghyuck says quietly, shuffling back into his spot in the bed. Daegal watches him, wagging her tail happily before finding herself a spot on the bed, curled up next to them. Donghyuck reaches over Chenle to scratch behind her ears fondly, before he’s finally able to fall asleep too.