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The moment Felix laid eyes on Chan in the recovery chair, he knew something had gone wrong. His boyfriend was heaving deep breaths, tears welled in his eyes, and his entire body shivering uncontrollably. He was worlds away from the strong, confident leader that Felix knew so well and the sight made an ugly feeling of horror curl up in his stomach.
What the hell had happened to him?
“Channie?” Felix asked, hurrying over to his boyfriend’s huddled form. He crouched down next to him and gently grabbed at Chan’s hand, finding him freezing cold, the way he always was when he was panicking and trying not to show it.
Chan’s eyes locked on Felix, but they were fuzzy, like he wasn’t all there yet. Some muffled sounds left this gauze-filled mouth, words that Felix couldn’t make out, but wished he could.
Chan’s body gave involuntary shudders, his hand clinging onto Felix’s as tightly as he could. Felix wasn’t sure what had happened between Chan going back for his wisdom teeth surgery and ending up panicking in front of him, but he knew something had to have gone wrong. His boyfriend never broke down like this and whenever he got close to it, it was always behind the privacy of their bedroom door.
“Channie? Baby, try to breathe for me, alright? I don’t want you making yourself sick,” Felix urged gently, rubbing his thumb over the back of Chan’s hand.
Chan’s face wobbled a bit more, but he nodded, a muffled whimper leaving his mouth. He sniffled in a couple long breaths before the hyperventilating started up again, leaving Felix completely unsure how to help his baby.
One of the nurses walked by and Felix flagged her down, raising his hand to get her attention. “Excuse me? My- my boyfriend just got out of surgery and he’s not doing very well. Is there something that can be done for him?”
The nurse paused and glanced at Chan, who now had a couple tears rolling down his cheeks. She cocked an eyebrow before her face settled into a mask of calm, though condescension peeked through the cracks at the edges.
“Honey, why are you crying?” The nurse addressed Chan first, her tone overly sweet and making Felix feel slightly sick to his stomach. Chan just sniffled and recoiled closer to him. Next, she turned back to Felix and shrugged. “Sometimes, people just tend to get a bit… emotional. Nothing to be worried about.”
Felix felt anger, white-hot and burning, bubble up in his system at the dismissal. Indignation was lurking under the faux politeness in his voice as he replied, “Pardon me, but I know my boyfriend and I know he wouldn’t react like this unless something was really wrong. He’s normally quiet and cuddly after anesthesia, not shaking and in a clear panic—can you do something to help calm him down?”
The nurse gave Felix a painfully fake smile—it was apparent she had no idea who she was dealing with. She took a deep breath as if to collect herself before saying, “Sometimes, people get emotional. There’s no reason to freak out because your boyfriend couldn’t handle waking up very well.”
Chan sniffled again from beside Felix and squeezed at his hand weakly. The little action made Felix’s heart twist angrily inside his chest—who was this woman to say there was nothing that could be done? He wouldn’t be taking no for an answer, not when the love of Felix’s fucking life was shaking like a leaf next to him, obviously traumatized by something that had happened to him.
Felix didn’t necessarily like using his idol status to get his way, but this was for Chan. And for his Channie, Felix would do anything.
He leaned over to press a kiss to Chan’s temple, whispering, “I’ll get this straightened out, lovebug,” before standing up to level the nurse with the most scathing look he could muster.
“Apologies, ma’am, but you must not know who either of us are. I’m Felix Lee, and this is Chris Bang, from the group Stray Kids—you might have seen us on TV once or twice or maybe on the news every time we’re here. We’re both from Australia and we wanted to come back home so that Channie could have his surgery in a familiar place. Our mistake, apparently, if this is how he’s being treated here,” Felix kept his voice level and no-nonsense, narrowing his eyes to stare down the nurse and ignoring the fact that she was taller than him by a few inches.
The nurse raised her eyebrows slightly and opened her mouth to respond, but Felix cut her off before she could get a word out, letting his voice drop lower, “I really don’t think you’d want it to get out that you saw my very lovely, very famous boyfriend having a panic attack after surgery and then you left him to suffer like this. I see that he still has his IV in, so I would suggest getting some medicine to help him relax, or believe me on this—I will make it your problem.”
The nurse stared at him for several long seconds, like she was sizing up whether it was worth taking a chance at arguing with Felix further. But then, she nodded, pursing her lips and glancing back at Chan, who was still sniffling and huddled into one corner of the sofa chair.
“I’ll see what I can do for him,” she said, wasting no time in scurrying off to find something that might help.
“Good choice,” Felix muttered mostly to himself. He sat back down next to Chan again and leaned close to kiss him on the temple, avoiding his puffy, swollen chipmunk cheek. “Hi, bubby, I’m sorry you’ve had such a tough time, but I made sure you’re going to get something to help you calm down. Does that sound okay with you?”
Chan’s lower lip wobbled around the gauze still stuffed in his mouth and he nodded slowly, another rough shiver wracking its way through his body. A tiny whimper escaped him that broke Felix’s heart into a thousand little pieces and he reached for Chan’s hand to intertwine their fingers together again.
Felix watched his boyfriend carefully, how his breaths were still coming in short bursts, even if they’d evened out a little more since Felix first arrived. He wanted to know what had happened to shake his strong, put-together boyfriend this badly. There was a sneaking suspicion lurking under his skin that it had everything to do with the anesthesiologist not listening to what Chan had told her about his needs when he got knocked out.
The nurse returned shortly after, a syringe and a couple packets of alcohol swabs in her hand. “I brought some medication that will help alleviate the pain he may be feeling and it’ll help calm those nerves.”
“Thank you,” Felix replied, actually meaning it that time. He watched as the nurse wiped off one of the entrances to Chan’s IV with an alcohol swab before connecting the syringe to it and pushing the clear liquid into the IV.
It only took a few seconds before Chan took a stuttering breath and relaxed back into the chair, the tremors in his hand lessening for the first time since Felix had gotten ahold of him.
“Better?” Felix asked gently.
Chan nodded again, humming softly and squeezing Felix’s hand. His chest started rising and falling at a more normal, controlled pace, no longer heaving in panicked breaths as he had been earlier.
“I’ll give you two a minute before the doctor comes to see you and clears your boyfriend to go home,” the nurse told Felix, barely making eye contact as she strode off and left them alone again.
“Did you get woken up too early?” Felix asked when it was just him and Chan.
Chan blinked sleepily before frowning and humming in affirmation around the gauze in his mouth. He mumbled another couple words that Felix could barely make out, but it sounded something like, “M’de m’ geh uh foo earry.”
“And they had you start moving around right away?” Felix prodded carefully.
Chan’s face wobbled slightly and he made a sad, little whimpering sound that made Felix want to rage at every single person who dared not to treat his boyfriend like he deserved. He prided himself on not getting overly upset and angry unnecessarily, but when faced with the teary, blotchy face of the love of him life, Felix tended to act a little irrationally. Chan’s safety and comfort was Felix’s top priority, especially after all he’d done to put himself on the line to make sure Felix debuted with him all those years ago.
“I’m so sorry they did that to you, honey,” Felix said. “Nobody should have to get up and move around right after waking up like that.”
“W’s s’bad,” Chan mumbled through the gauze, little red spots of blood starting to form near the edges of his mouth.
“I know it was, baby, they had no right to treat you like that. I’ll tell the doctor and then we’ll get you home so you can rest,” Felix promised, giving Chan the sweetest smile he could muster up.
Chan mumbled something unintelligible and leaned closer to Felix, his eyes falling shut as he rested his forehead against Felix’s shoulder. Felix wasted no time gently nuzzling his nose into Chan’s rumpled curls and taking a deep inhale, the concentrated scent of shampoo and conditioner and something that was so uniquely Chan filling his lungs.
They waited together until the oral surgeon came by and explained how Chan’s recovery process would go. Chan was half asleep but Felix listened intently, not wanting to miss any crucial parts of helping his boyfriend recover.
When the doctor was about to excuse himself, Felix stood and asked, “If it’s alright, I’d like a word with you, please. Alone.”
The doctor frowned slightly in confusion but gestured with his head and Felix carefully helped move Chan to lean against the chair. He followed the doctor to a different recovery area that was empty several meters away. “What is it you wanted to discuss?”
“Just that your anesthesiologist was less than caring when they woke my boyfriend up and one of your nurses didn’t seem to give a shit that Chris was having a panic attack from being forced to be up and moving around right after waking up,” Felix stated simply. He liked this doctor—he had listened when they brought up Chan’s ability to process anesthesia and pain medications faster than average. But the doctor needed to know that some of the people working under him left much to be desired when it came to patient care.
“I apologize for that. I know it’s normal to get patients up and moving so we can get an xray to make sure we got everything and then we let them recover after. Most patients don’t remember anything or have adverse reactions,” the doctor replied.
“And I understand that, I really do, but in special cases like Chris’, those patients need to be treated more carefully. It shouldn’t be normal to hear from a nurse that it’s standard procedure to leave a patient having a panic attack because they weren’t given the proper time to come back to reality,” Felix paused to take a breath, not wanting to come off acting like he knew better than the doctor standing in front of him. But he did know that how Chan was treated wasn’t right and had to be corrected. “I don’t want to tell you how to do your job or run your office, I just don’t think it’s right that I had to beg for fair treatment for my boyfriend when he was clearly struggling.”
For several tense moments, the surgeon just looked at Felix, regarding him closely. Felix just hoped he wouldn’t get thrown out for bringing up something like this—not that he planned on staying for much longer, anyway. He had to get Chan home and in bed before the numbing wore off and the post-surgery pain set in.
Eventually, the doctor sighed and nodded. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I’m usually out of the room by the time the patient wakes up, so I don’t know how quickly they get patients moving. I’ll talk with my staff and make sure they aren’t forcing anyone to get up before they’re ready.”
Felix smiled, a genuine one that stretched his face in two. “Thank you, that’s all I’d ask.”
“Feel free to stay however long you need and when you’re ready to go home, one of the nurses will come by to take that IV out,” the doctor replied and held out a hand for Felix to shake.
“We’ll probably wanna get going soon, if you could have someone take his IV out, please. And thank you for listening,” Felix said, taking the doctor’s hand and shaking it briefly.
“Of course, I’ll send someone over. Have a good day, alright?” The doctor said, stepping back so he could find a nurse to take out the IV.
“You too,” Felix called over his shoulder as he turned to make his way back to Chan’s side.
Chan’s eyes were closed, his hands curled against his chest and nose still tinged red from sniffling so much earlier. Felix couldn’t help but smile when he saw him and gave into the urge to brush Chan’s hair back from his forehead.
“You about ready to go home, sweetheart?” Felix asked.
Chan lifted his head to look at Felix, his eyes watery and staring at Felix like he hung the very stars in the sky. Slowly, he nodded and reached for Felix’s hand, squishing at it tightly as he mumbled through the gauze, “G’ h’me.”
“Yeah, honey, I’ll take you home. It’s time for me to take care of you for once,” Felix replied easily. He leaned down to kiss the back of Chan’s hand, letting his lips linger against his soft skin for a couple moments.
One of the nurses came by shortly after and removed the IV from Chan’s hand, wheeling him out while Felix got the car ready so he could bring Chan back to their home. Felix loved being a passenger princess and had put off getting his license as long as possible, but he wouldn’t trust anyone else to take care of his Channie as well as himself. So, the moment he found out that Chan was going to need his wisdom teeth removed, Felix finally relented and took the driving test to get his license.
The drive home was quick and before long, Felix was pulling into the driveway of the house Chan had bought for them the year prior. It was a small thing and not quite the forever home that Chan wanted for them, but he had called it a downpayment on a promise he had made years ago. Felix cried the first time he saw it—a white one story house with blue trim and a garden in the front yard, the ocean to their back.
Felix helped Chan out of the car and into the house, letting his boyfriend lean heavily on him as they shuffled to the bedroom.
“Just a bit farther,” Felix encouraged halfway through the living room. He’d spent nearly a whole week decorating it the way he wanted when Chan had first shown him the house, wanting to make it just right for as long as they’d own it.
When they finally made it to the bedroom, Chan half sat and half collapsed right onto the bed, melting into it like butter on hot pancakes. Felix smiled a little at the sight and set about helping Chan out of his clothes so he could rest more comfortably.
“There we go, does that feel a bit better?” Felix asked after he’d stripped Chan down to nothing but his underwear.
Chan hummed and made a grabbing motion with one hand for where Felix perched on the edge of the bed. Felix wasted no time in shedding his own clothes—he’d be caught dead before wearing outside clothes to bed—and cuddling up to Chan. His boyfriend threw an arm over Felix’s middle and gingerly arranged his head against Felix’s shoulder so he wouldn’t be squishing his sore cheek.
“There’s my good boy,” Felix cooed softly, brushing a hand through Chan’s hair and loving the way the older man leaned into the touch slightly. He really was just like a clingy little puppy, especially all drugged up from surgery. “My sweet sunshine and my brightest moonbeam, all in one.”
Chan shivered under Felix’s touch, positively preening in his loopy, half asleep way. It had been a happy accident the first time Felix had called Chan his sunshine and Chan was so surprised and overwhelmed that he cried. He had been balls deep inside Felix when it happened and only cried harder from embarrassment when he came unexpectedly, but it was a moment that Felix cherished.
He adored seeing how flustered it made Chan and how much he really did brighten every time Felix used that title for him. It wasn’t an everyday thing, but that just made it all the more special when he did pull out that loved title when Chan least expected it.
“I know you’re supposed to stay up for a little bit longer, but I’ll keep watch and make sure nothing bad happens, okay? I need to make sure my Channie gets some rest after such a yucky morning,” Felix told him, leaning down to press a kiss to Chan’s forehead. “And when you wake up, I’ll get the meds for your pain and we can watch a movie and eat some ice cream, hm?”
Chan hummed softly in affirmation, settling into Felix’s hold again while his eyes slipped shut. “Luh you.”
“I love you too, sweet boy,” Felix replied and nuzzled his nose into Chan’s soft hair, breathing in his boyfriend’s natural scent. “Get some sleep and I’ll be right here when you wake up.”
Within minutes, Chan had drifted off to sleep, tiny little snores rumbling in his chest and warming Felix’s heart. Felix knew his boyfriend would be having a rough time when he woke up, but he would do everything in his power to make his recovery as easy and painless for him as possible.
Chan had done so much to take care of Felix throughout their career and their relationship together. Felix couldn’t wait to finally be allowed to return the favor and dote on Chan without argument, just like he deserved.