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Jeonghan woke up to an attack on the senses. He could hear low chatter over the hums of the plane engine. A musty, sterile smell swirled into the few scents of foods being eaten at the time. Had he missed a meal time? He hoped not, there was a tacky feeling in his mouth that was making him cringe slightly.
Opening his eyes reluctantly, Jeonghan had to blink through the blinding artificial light after the darkness of sleep. He didn’t know how long he had been asleep. Hopefully long enough that the flight was nearly over. He couldn’t wait to get off the plane.
He wasn’t generally a nervous flyer but they made him even more tired than usual, no matter how long he slept. On top of that sitting for so long, in uncomfortable seats made his body tense up and ache for days afterwards.
He was already feeling achy, a pain in his shoulders from the position he had slept in. And he was cold. Really, really cold.
“Hey Jeonghan,” he heard a voice mutter quietly.
It was Seungcheol, sitting beside him. Jeonghan sniffed, blinking harshly a couple of times before shifting his body to face his boyfriend.
“You awake now?” Seungcheol asked cutely, taking Jeonghan’s hand in his own, bigger one.
“Yeah,” he breathed heavily, his voice was rough from a sting in his throat, “how much longer do we have?”
“A couple of hours still.”
Jeonghan huffed at that, closing his eyes again.
“Hey, Jeonghan!” Seungcheol shook his shoulder slightly. He opened his eyes to see Seungcheol looking at him face full of concern.
“What?” Jeonghan asked gruffly.
“Are you ok? You don’t sound good.”
Jeonghan shrugged, swallowing thickly and wincing at the pain stubbornly living in the back of his throat.
“I think I’m getting a cold.” He smiled at Seungcheol, leaning in to use his chest as a pillow.
“You’re shaking and your face is really pale,” Seungcheol continued, “ do you want to wear my hoodie over yours?”
Jeonghan considered this briefly. He didn’t really want to get up from the comfortable spot he had just found but he was cold. Plus Seungcheol's hoodies always smelt really good so he agreed to take it.
He made quick work of lifting the hoodie over his head, before nudging Jeonghan’s arms up to slide it over his body. Sure, Jeonghan could have done it himself, but why would he do that when Seungcheol would do it for him.
“Will you not be cold now?” He asked, worried. Seungcheol was always doing things to make Jeonghan more comfortable, he worried that sometimes his boyfriend forgot about his own comfort.
“No, I’ll be fine,” he replied, lifting his arm for Jeonghan to cuddle into. He leans down, careful not to jostle Jeonghan around and places a kiss onto his forehead, “Your head’s hot too, Jeonghan.”
Jeonghan hummed, not having the energy to answer.
“And you were sleeping longer than you usually do on planes, are you sure it’s just a cold?” He continued, voice getting a bit louder as he became more concerned. He didn’t even give Jeonghan a chance to answer before starting again, “There might be a medic on board should I go see. Or maybe the managers, they’re first aid trained aren’t they?”
Before Seungcheol could force the plane to do an emergency landing because his boyfriend has a cold, Jeonghan grasped onto his arm, holding him down on the seat.
“Seungcheol you’re being over-the-top,” he laughed teasingly, sniffing harshly again, “I promise I’ll be fine!”
Seungcheol sat frozen in the seat to avoid waking Jeonghan up. His boyfriend had always been a sensitive sleeper- needing complete silence and darkness. It meant that most of the time, they couldn’t sleep together because Seungcheol’s breathing or movements would keep Jeonghan up all night. Despite this, if Jeonghan was exhausted or sick, he would curl up anywhere to sleep. Often Seungcheol gladly offered his own shoulder or lap for him to do this but he always worried about waking Jeonghan up by moving too much.
He didn’t want to reach for his phone, which was resting on the tray in front of him, so was glad he had his headphones in to pass the time. Usually when they travelled he listened to music, catching up on new releases and listening to his all time favourites. Sometimes though, like today, he listened to podcasts. It was something he was trying to do more often. Minghao and Joshua were always recommending that he listen to their favourite shows, which when he did were usually quite boring. Not that he would tell either of them that. Luckily he managed to find some shows himself that he enjoyed. He listened to a lot of comedy shows and sometimes ones about music.
Now though, the voices seemed to pass straight through him, he kept missing the jokes and losing concentration. He couldn’t help but worry about Jeonghan. The younger tells him all the time to not get so worked up but when Jeonghan’s sick or tired or sad he becomes consumed with worry.
Unfortunately, Jeonghan’s condition is often not the best. They’re all overworked and Jeonghan, being more fragile, suffers the most. There’s always some part of his body aching, he’s usually the first to grow tired, he’s more prone to catch illnesses than the rest. And Seungcheol- he worries.
Jeonghan’s learned how to hide his issues, not wanting to let people down, he pushes himself through more than he should. And he’s good at hiding it. Way too good. Seugcheol though has learned to see through the facade. He’s always there to massage Jeonghan’s shoulders or legs or back. He’ll call breaks in dance practices and recordings even if no one else needs them. His bag could rival a pharmacy, the amount of medications he carries around, just in case.
Jeonghan grunts slightly as he opens his eyes again, blinking slowly and screwing up his face. He sniffs into Seungcheol’s shirt, realising where he is he looks up to give Seungcheol a smile. Seungcheol returns it, lightly combing his fingers in Jeonghan’s hair.
“Did I wake you up?”
Jeonghan shakes his head, pushing up from where he had been sleeping. He coughs sharply, making Seungcheol frown.
“How much longer is left?” Jeonghan asks again.
“You’ve only been asleep about an hour, we’ve still got a while to go.”
Jeonghan pouts at that.
“Are you hungry, you haven’t eaten in a while,” Seungcheol asks.
“No,” he replies through a cough, “I’m going to go to the toilet though.”
“Will you be okay?”
Jeonghan laughs at him, giving him a teasing look.
“Seungcheol, I can go to the toilet by myself, it’s a cold. You shouldn’t worry so much.”
“Okay,” he submits reluctantly, watching as Jeonghan manoeuvres out of their row of seats, making his way down the aisle to the bathrooms at the back of the plane.
Only when he sees Jeonghan close the door, does he look away.
Mingyu flipped another page of the book he had stolen from Wonwoo to read on the plane. It was a thriller, mystery perfect for being stuck on a flight. Wonwoo was sitting next to him listening to music with his eyes closed, though he wasn’t sleeping. He was close to finishing the book, which meant he was going to have nothing to do the rest of the flight. Maybe he could convince Wonwoo to play a game with him.
The book begins to pick up as it begins to head towards another plot twist when a figure appears above the seat in front of him.
He looks up startled to see Seungcheol’s face peering at them over the seat. He looks worried, brows furrowed and mouth downturned, he’s clinging to the head of the seat and must be kneeling on his own, head tucked down to avoid hitting the plane ceiling.
Migyu can’t help but laugh at the sight.
“Are you okay, Seungcheol?” Wonwoo asks, he looks just as confused and slightly amused as Mingyu is.
“I’m worried about Jeonghan,” Seunghceol told them.
It didn’t surprise him, Mingyu’s pretty sure that Seunghceol spends half of his time worrying about Jeonghan- and the other half making out with him.
“He woke up feeling sick. He said it’s just a cold but he looked really bad.”
“Bad how?” Wonwoo asks.
“I don’t know, he was really pale and sniffing a lot and his voice was all scratchy so I’m sure he has a sore throat.”
“That sounds like it’s just a cold.” Mingyu tells him. Obviously having a cold isn’t fun but it’s nothing to worry about. Well, unless you’re Seungcheol.
“He was shaking as well, you know like he was cold, but his head was hot too,” Seungcheol clarifies.
“That happens sometimes when you have a cold, I’m sure it’s nothing worse than that,” Wonwoo tries to reason.
Mingyu nods in agreement, he couldn’t count the amount of times Seunghceol has overreacted to situations like this.
“Yeah Seungcheol, you’re just being overprotective again,” he teases lightheartedly.
“Where’s Jeonghan even gone?” Wonwoo asks.
“He went to the bathroom. That’s another thing as well! It’s been at least three minutes and he’s not back yet! Do you think he’s ok? What if he’s sick? Should I go check?”
“Calm down, Seungcheol,” Wonwoo stops him from rushing away, “it’s only been three minutes, if that. Just wait, he’ll be fine.”
Seungcheol pouts at them, before reluctantly turning to sit back down in his seat. Once the peering eyes have gone, Mingyu turns to look at Wonwoo, they both share a silent laugh at the oldest member. Mingyu shakes his head at the antics, then returns to his book.
Minghao wakes up to the plan bouncing through turbulence. It wasn’t too much, definitely not dangerous but bumpy enough to wake him. He sits for a second before checking the time on his phone.
About an hour left of the flight still. He considered going back to sleep but he wasn’t really that tired. He would watch a movie but who knows when he would get the time to finish it. The members usually didn’t talk much on flights, wanting to rest and give each other space but he could probably find someone to chat with for the rest of the flight.
He’s sitting at the front of the plane so has to lean around to look at the other members. Everybody looks happy doing their own thing though so he’ll have to find something to do by himself, probably sleep again.
Minghao’s about to resume his sleeping position when something by the bathrooms distracts him.
Jeonghan’s was standing just behind the back row of seats, clutching two on either side of the gap that leads to the bathrooms. He’s swaying slightly, as though rocking with the plane's movement, but his face is deathly pale, eyes unfocussed. Minghao can see from the front seats that Jeonghan is breathing deeply and struggling to do so.
“Seungcheol!” Minghao shouts out, jumping up quickly and moving towards Jeonghan.
Everyone who was awake turned to look at the commotion. Seungcheol looked confused at him, his gaze following the direction Minghao was walking. When seeing Jeonghan, he too leaps up.
“Jeonghan,” Seungcheol calls softly, holding him on either side in an attempt to steady his movement, “come on, let’s go sit down.”
He’s not sure if Jeonghan hears him, he stays where he was.
“Come on, you’ll feel better when you lie down.”
“Do you need help getting back to the seats?” Minghao asks Seungcheol.
“Yeah ok,” he agrees, “take his arm and I’ll get the other.”
They begin to try walking slowly back to the seats, under the watchful eyes of the plane. One of their managers walked backwards in front of them to catch Jeonghan if he fell. Jeonghan is like dead weight in their arms and unsteady on his feet.
“He’s not breathing properly,” Seungcheol says to no one in particular, to anyone who will know what to do.
“Just focus on getting back to the seats first,” Minghao reasons.
They’re about half way back the short distance when Jeonghan crumbles. They rush to catch him before he can fall completely.
Seungcheol slowly sits down, pulling Jeonghan’s head onto his lap. He’s still pale but has stopped the laboured breathing. Jeonghan’s conscious again, eyes focusing as his brain catches up to the event that has just happened.
“Hey Jeonghan,” Seungcheol combs Jeonghan’s hair behind his ears, “You’ll be ok, it’s ok yeah.”
Jeonghan didn't answer and continued to lie against Seungcheol. His hand is curled around Seungcheol’s knee.
“Are you still dizzy?” Seungcheol asks him.
Jeonghan considers this for a moment before slowly shaking his head. He was still feeling pretty bad but the faint, dizzy feeling had stopped for now.
“Can we move back to the seats so you can lie down properly?” Seungcheol requested.
“Yeah,” Jeonghan breathed out, as multiple hands moved to help him up.
They manage to get back to his and Seungcheol’s seats, Someone assisting Jeonghan to ensure he wouldn’t collapse again.
“We found a pillow for you to use,” Wonwoo tells him as Mingyu pulls up the arm rests so Jeonghan can lie flat across the row.
“Thanks Wonwoo,” Seungcheol replied for him and Jeonghan hummed his own thanks.
The seats are uncomfortable but atleast the pillow is there to rest against. Jeonghan can feel Seungcheol’s hand resting on his back and shuts his eyes.
“I’ll have to sit in the row next to you,” Seungcheol whispers, “but tell me if something’s wrong, ok?”
“Ok,” Jeonghan agrees, smiling into the pillow. If he knows anything, Seungcheol will spend the rest of the flight researching on how to take care of someone who has fainted.
And whilst he still feels sick the thought makes him feel warm and cosy inside.