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Waking up exhausted was something that Juhoon felt like he was getting the hang of. He was blessed with a roommate who enjoyed his own space and respected a need for quiet, but somehow the shuffle of James getting out of bed seemed unusually loud that morning. Juhoon found himself squinting at the light coming in the window, and he rolled over, struggling midway through because of the sudden intense pain in his neck.
“Juhoon?” James asked, having heard a sharp inhale of breath, like he was in pain. Juhoon tracked footsteps around his bed, then felt his blanket be inched down until he could feel the air conditioning on his face.
“Hyung, no,” Juhoon whispered, trying to coordinate his hands to pull the blanket back up over his head. The light had graduated to piecing his eyes, and he would place bets that the high pitched humming he was hearing was the electricity.
“Juhoon? What’s going on?” James said, concerned. Sure, they were often exhausted, and he wasn’t a stranger to the group’s grumpy and strange moods in the morning, but this seemed a little…worse than normal.
“Hyung, please, can I just…sleep some more?” James’ eyebrows furrowed as he took in the request, checking the time on his phone. 6:47AM. They technically had some time before they were supposed to leave at 8AM, but it meant Juhoon would need to get up and moving soon.
“Yeah, I’ll get you up in a few minutes, alright?” Juhoon covered his head with his blanket in thanks, curling up into a ball of misery.
James walked out of their room, quietly cracking the door. He could hear someone in the kitchen, talking loudly, likely to whomever was still in the other bedroom.
“Hey, knock it off,” he said calmly, walking into the kitchen to see Martin and Keonho bantering about the correct ratio of fruit to yogurt.
“Good morning to you too, hyung,” Keonho said merrily, volume not any lower.
“I’m serious, y’all. Juhoon’s got a headache or something, he’s sleeping a little bit longer.”
Martin and Keonho stilled at that, concern for their member and friend on their faces.
“Is he okay?”
James nodded slowly, making his regular coffee more out of routine than an immediate need for caffeine.
“I think loud noise is bothering him, and he was squinting too, but he also just woke up.”
“Oh, does Juhoon-hyung have a migraine?” Seonghyeon asked, walking into the kitchen already dressed in going out clothes and with wet hair, indicating a shower had occurred recently. James never thought they would need to make a shower taking policy to their house rules taped to the fridge, but he had started to consider making a shower-a-day mandatory. For a bunch of teenage, hard working and sweaty boys, one would think that they could invest in more high-quality deodorant.
James shook his head quickly. He was getting side tracked.
“A migraine? You’re sure? My sister gets those and they’re awful,” Keonho said, worried.
“I mean, it sounds like it. I used to get them pretty often, let me check on him. If it is a migraine, he’ll probably need to stay here today,” Seonghyeon said, getting a worried nod of confirmation from Martin.
Seonghyeon didn’t realize the other three were following him until he turned to shut the bedroom door behind him quickly, and nearly gave Keonho a devastating bruise.
The two maknaes approached Juhoon’s curling up figure slowly, Martin and James hanging back near the door but still close enough to hear what was said.
“Juhoon-hyung? Hyung?” Seonghyeon whispered, running a hand gently over what he felt to be Juhoon’s back.
“Hmm?”
“Hey, can we lower the blanket?” Keonho asked gently, creeping a hand under the blanket to hold onto Juhoon’s hand, which he found was disturbingly cold. Frowning, he turned to Martin and James, to find Martin shutting the blinds on the windows in the room, and James frantically typing on his phone. If Keonho guessed, he would suspect that he was googling common migraine symptoms.
“Hey, there you are,” Keonho tuned back in to Seonghyeon talking quietly to Juhoon, voice low. He crept closer, phone in hand to message Martin and James what they found out in case they were talking too softly.
“Seonghyeon?” Juhoon asked quietly, feeling a pulsating throb encapsulate his head.
“Yeah, it’s us. How are you feeling?”
“Hmm…head hurts.”
“How bad, hyung?”
“Bad.” Juhoon thought that it was the person who was holding his hand who made a sad noise at that, and Juhoon squeezed whoever’s hand was in his. He didn’t want them to be sad, especially not about him.
“Light hurts? And sounds?” Seonghyeon continued his questioning.
“Can hear the ‘lectricity,” Juhoon murmured.
“Do you feel like you’re gonna throw up?”
Juhoon made a vaguely negative noise.
“Okay, well, hyung, we think you have a migraine,” Keonho said quietly, Seonghyeon nodding along as Keonho explained why he thought that.
“Juhoon, what do you think about going with us to the company today?” Martin asked quietly from the end of the bed. Although there wasn’t a verbal response, the tallest could see how Juhoon’s face got significantly paler at the thought spoken into his mind.
“I’m already messaging the manager to get you today off, I just wanted to check,” Martin added, seeing the “read” notification for his text to their main manager. He had a sinking feeling Juhoon might have to stay here by himself, and his fear was brought to light when the manager replied that they could rearrange Juhoon’s schedule and catch him up on choreography, but that none of the healthy members could stay with him.
Having relayed that to the group, they all stood or sat in silence for a eommaent, each internally thinking about what needed to happen.
“Can we come back and check on him throughout the day? Like, as we finish up with our individual schedules or something?” Seonghyeon asked quietly.
“Let me ask,” Martin muttered, fingers typing again.
James snuck to sit behind the lump of Juhoon on his bed, making sure to not jostle his hurting dongsaeng. He brought his hand up to feel for a fever, trying to remember what his eomma used to do whenever he wasn’t feeling good at home. He pushed off the pang of homesickness that spread through his body.
“Hey,” he spoke gently, finger tracing the lines of pain on Juhoon’s face. “We’ll be back soon, alright? If you need anything, just call, and we’ll drop everything and come back.” The rest of the members nodded in agreement, even though Juhoon’s eyes weren’t open to see it.
“Hyung, you want some pain meds?” A slight nod got Martin speed walking to the kitchen to find some, while Keonho and Seonghyeon tried to get Juhoon upright without worsening the throbbing in his head.
“Juhoon, I brought a smoothie with me, because these will make you nauseous if you take them on an empty stomach, and your blood sugar is probably low right now too,” Martin rambled out of nervousness, keeping a hand on the smoothie cup to steady it from the shaking of Juhoon’s hand. After some encouragement, they got Juhoon to sip enough of it that Martin and James felt decently confident that his stomach wouldn’t immediately revolt with the pain meds.
“We need to get ready,” Martin checked the time. 7:35AM.
“Hyung, do you want to go to the bathroom?” Seonghyeon asked. With an affirmative nod, James and Seonghyeon both helped steady him and guide him through the bright hallway. Going to the bathroom and doing a quick skincare and teeth brushing event in the dark wasn’t something James had done before, but Seonghyeon acted comfortable enough with it that James started questioning just how often these migraines of his own were happening. Maybe they needed to have another team pow-wow about things that might impact each other, such as medical concerns.
James focused back in enough to quickly wrap Juhoon up in a back hug, as the younger started slumping out of nowhere.
“Hey, hey,” James said, heart clenching as Juhoon whimpered as his head was jostled from the quick movement.
“Sorry, Juhoon-ah,” the pair soothed, barely maneuvering around Martin, who was pinwheeling around trying to simultaneously pull on his shoes and have a conversation over the phone.
“Martin, sit down, you’re a hazard,” James whispered fiercely, watching with maternal glee as Martin did as instructed and plopped onto the ground, phone still firmly tucked between his shoulder and his ear.
“Martin okay?” Juhoon asked quietly as they shuffled back into their room.
“He’s fine; for someone who’s 190 centimeters tall, he wears bigger shoes than necessary,” James replied, heart lifting at the smile that appeared on Juhoon’s face, mirrored on Seonghyeon’s.
Juhoon ended up haphazardly tucked into James’ bed instead of his own, for no other reason than he kept inching in that direction after snagging his own blanket. James didn’t particularly care, considering according to Google, migraines weren’t contagious, so the trio made quick work of creating a little nest of blankets and stuffed animals and a random pillow that James hadn’t realized belonged to him.
“Here, wait, before you totally smother him,” Seonghyeon heard from the doorway as he shook out the blanket that would be covering Juhoon, and he turned to find Keonho juggling some granola bars, water bottles, what looked to be a ginger ale from the “sick singer” stash that Keonho’s eomma graciously packed for the group, a heating pad that looked suspiciously like James’, an ice pack, neon colored fuzzy socks, and a small stuffed animal that Seonghyeon recognized from Keonho’s own bed.
“Am I dying or something? You look like you raided a pharmacy,” Juhoon mumbled softly, taking the small stuffed animal that Keonho offered in his direction.
“What? No, you’re too tough to die by a migraine,” Keonho responded merrily, dropping most of his haul onto the bedside table. “My sister swears by an ice pack on the forehead and peppermint oil on the side of her head, but I don’t have any peppermint oil, but I asked my eomma and she can drop some off later. I brought a heating pad because Seonghyeon was telling me about how his neck gets super tight when he gets a migraine” - at that, James shot a concerned glare at Seonghyeon, who stoically straightened the bed sheets and avoided eye contact - “so, I brought that. And I brought snacks in case you wake up later hungry but don’t want something heavy, and some ginger ale from the stash my eomma made for us in case you get nauseous, and oh! We should get you a trash can just in case, and I also brought water, because I promise being dehydrated will make however you’re feeling worse, and fuzzy socks because they make everything better and they even have these little grippy things on the bottom in case you have to get up without us but are dizzy, which you shouldn’t be getting up without us if you’re dizzy because then you’ll fall. Oh, and you already have Squid,” Keonho finished, having snuggly wrapped Juhoon up in the blanket, with the heating pad on his neck and upper back, ice pack on his forehead, and neon fuzzy socks swapping out the slippers that had tried to come into the bed with him.
“Keonho, you know that’s an octopus, right?” James teased lightly, running a hand through Juhoon’s hair, smiling when the younger relaxed into his bed a little bit more. Seonghyeon and Keonho carried on the conversation, seeing that the unserious topic was helping Juhoon slip into sleep faster.
“He is NOT an octopus, he's a squid, obviously! He doesn’t have eight legs,” Keonho defended his stuffed animal fiercely.
“He had tentacles, not legs, and he only has seven because Cookie bit the eighth one off, you told me, and we’re late and the manager is outside, please be ready to go,” Martin said in one breath, slightly winded afterwards.
“Ah, shoot,” Keonho jolted to attention and made the faster exit James had seen from him before 11AM.
“Maknae!” Martin whisper-shouted in despair, internally crying at having to add yet another text into his thread with their manager that morning. They crept out of the room, shutting the door behind them on their way out.
“Seonghyeon, we’re gonna talk about your migraines, just be prepared,” James warned, lacing up his shoes with more coordination than should be expected for such an early morning. Said maknae pouted but didn’t fight it, picking his bag up and moving to stand by the door.
“James-hyung, are you okay heading back here after our morning schedule? You’re the farthest ahead on choreography, and between the choreographer and the rest of us, we should be okay for an afternoon,” Martin asked.
“Yeah, definitely. I don’t feel like he should be alone like this,” James confessed.
“I just hope he can sleep; if this is the first one he’s had, we don’t have prescription meds or anything for him, and apparently over-the-counter meds don’t often help. But hopefully it’s fine, and we can avoid an urgent care or something more involved,” Martin worried, putting his keys in his pocket after closing the door.
“Lock it, Martin-hyung!” Keonho reminded the older. It was a bit of a running joke among them that Martin shouldn’t be the last one out of the dorm because of his tendency to turn the key the wrong way and not actually lock the door. They had already had two scares coming back to the dorm to find the door unlocked, and all the staff and members agreed that two people should check the door every time someone (cough, cough, Martin) left.
Martin quickly did so, catching up to the maknaes in a few quick strides as James had to hit a full on jog to do the same.
“Clear your heads and work hard; we’ll be back soon,” Martin encouraged. The group nodded seriously. They were going to have the most productive, fastest day possible, so they could check back in on Juhoon soon.
Martin’s heart sank at the text message he received from James. The eldest had gone back to the dorm about 30 minutes ago, and the rest of the group were having a speedy working lunch. According to their task list, they were ahead of schedule by 12 minutes, and hopefully working through lunch would shave off some more time.
“Oh! Was that James-hyung?” Seonghyeon asked, having heard the buzzing of Martin’s phone over the incomplete beats ringing through his headphones.
“Oh! How is Juhoon-hyung?” Keonho asked quickly, wheeling his chair closer to hear better.
Martin looked down at his phone.
James: “He’s not looking good; considering urgent care. Trying to get him to drink something now.”
“Oh, what does that mean?” Seonghyeon asked after Martin read the text aloud. Martin maneuvered into a group chat without Juhoon, knowing that the other would be embarrassed once he’s better to have to read their fussing in the main group chat, and asked.
Martin: what you mean? How’s he?
James: Your grammar sucks. He’s in a lot of pain, meds didn’t touch it this morning. Nauseous, super sensitive to light, sort of sound. We’re trying ginger ale right now.
Keonho: Eomma is planning to bring peppermint oil over after she picks up my sister.
Martin: I’m concerned, give my imperfect grammar a bit of mercy. What is making you consider urgent care? Dehydrated? Ideally, we keep him there.
James: I know you’re thinking about this from a leader and logistics perspective, but as we have discussed, this is me rerouting your thoughts. You’re not the one listening to him crying.
Seonghyeon: Poor hyung :(
Martin: didn’t mean it like that, sorry. Let me know and I can call ahead
“He knows that, Martin-hyung,” Keonho encouraged. “I appreciate you thinking about logistics, because I certainly am not.”
Martin nodded, not convinced.
James: I know, don’t fret. I’ll let you know
After not getting anything else, the group swallowed their lunches faster, working on files as the hour before they could probably dance without puking up lunch passed like a snail.
“You’re alright, Juhoon, it’s okay. Try to breathe for me,” James said, trying to keep the tightness out of his voice. One hand pressing a fresh ice pack to Juhoon’s head, the other one tapping a rhythm out on Juhoon’s tremoring hand, and his phone on the dimmest setting playing a soothing piano playlist layered over rain, James felt like he was swimming with one hand and no legs.
Honestly, Juhoon wasn’t even being loud. He wasn’t screaming, he wasn’t complaining, like, at all, but truly that it even more concerning to James. It was the quiet tears that did him in.
James checked his phone, it’d been 30 minutes since he had successfully gotten Juhoon to swallow some water and another round of pills. He had come to the dorm to find Juhoon upright (barely), in the living room blearily, blinking tears in the direction of the door.
(45 minutes prior)
James had never tried so hard to sneak into the dorm, but he found concerning movement just about the moment he stepped into the dorm.
“Juhoon?” He slung his bag onto the ground, hurrying to close the curtains that were letting in a frightening amount of light.
“Hyung? Hurts,” Juhoon mumbled, fumbling for the edge of the blanket that had dropped when he let go of it.
“No better? Let’s get back into bed, huh?” James tried coaxing the worn out singer back into their room, meeting enough resistance to make him think it’s intentional.
“What’s wrong, Juhoon? I think some more sleep will help.”
“Hyung, sorry,” Juhoon started, tears coming out at a faster rate of speed than before.
“Why are you sorry, love? You haven’t done anything wrong,” James reassured, pulling the younger into a gentle hug, swaying slightly in what he hoped was a soothing rhythm.
“Tried to wash them but it was really loud, and didn’t mean to, forgot you were coming back…”
“Juhoon, love, what are you talking about? What are you washing?” James glanced around, finally spotting a blanket, that he recognized from one he had situated around Juhoon earlier, crumpled in a heap on the floor of the hallway.
“Oh, Juhoonie, did you throw up?” The increasing frequency and fierceness of his cries proved James’ theory correct, and the eldest felt his heart go out for the younger, who was more worried about what they would think about it than taking care of himself.
“Ah, boo, it’s okay. Let me set you up out here on the couch, okay? And I’ll start the washing machine,” Juhoon seemed more okay settling on the couch than going back to the bedroom, but still gave resistance.
A quick trip around the dorm later, James had the washing machine going. He ran into the kitchen, grabbing another smoothie Martin had thoughtfully blended out in the hallway earlier that morning, an ice pack, and some more meds.
“Here, Juhoon, here’s another blanket and Squid,” James came out to wrap Juhoon in another layer of warmth, sitting down close to him. Juhoon crept closer, until they were sitting right next to each other, Juhoon’s head on his shoulder.
“Squid?” Juhoon asked, a delayed reaction to the stuffed animal being placed into his hands.
“Pills and smoothie first, Juhoonie,” James pulled out every trick he had ever had done on him and he had seen done to others to convince the younger to take the small pill that he didn’t even know if it would work.
Gentle questioning discovered that Juhoon had be throwing up for the better part of the morning, with no change in the status of his pain, and the electricity of the dorm had been cursed to multiple ends of the earth for its loudness. James shared the first two bits of information with the others, choosing to keep the last bit of information as confidential between the two of them, shared over tears on both sides.
(Present time)
“Juhoon, are you awake?” James whispered. They had ended up in the corner of the couch, Juhoon horizontal with his head on James’ lap.
“Hyung, really hurts,” Juhoon whimpered as the pain in his head increased suddenly. Squid got crushed in his hand, and James bent over Juhoon’s head, wishing with his entire heart that Juhoon’s pain would ease.
“Juhoon, do you want to go to the hospital?” James asked, gently repositioning the ice pack to the colder side.
The silence that Juhoon was seriously considering the hospital was enough for James to text the group chat.
James: we’re gonna need a hospital
Martin: calling ahead to check wait times. Hold tight
Seonghyeon: do you want a manager?
Keonho: my eomma is close by. She might be closer
Martin: the children’s hospital is fastest
James: Keonho-ah, if your eomma is close by, she’d be appreciated. We could use a mom
Keonho: She’s on her way. She’ll text when she’s outside and if you need help getting outside.
James dropped his phone to focus back on Juhoon.
“Juhoon, Keonho’s eomma is gonna pick us up soon, okay? I’m gonna go pack a bag.”
“Hyung,” Juhoon’s voice gave out, and James prayed harder that Keonho’s eomma was coming with all haste.
The moment from the text saying, “James-ah, I’m coming up to you, is the door unlocked?”, James felt like his life went at a catastrophic speed.
“Were you in the area?” James asked on the drive, trying his best to brace Juhoon against the turns of the car.
“Ah, I had a feeling I would be needed today for you boys,” Keonho’s eomma responded gently, looking in the back of her car to look at the two stressed out boys. One, wrapped up in a blanket, Squid the plush in one hand, the other latched onto the older’s sweatshirt. The other, bent over the first, one hand coordinating an ice pack and shading from the sun, the other braced against the car door. She had gotten a text from her son that morning, asking about the peppermint oil her daughter used during her migraine attacks. Having a bad feeling, Keonho’s eomma chose to make a day of staying close to the boys’ dorm, just in case. She certainly had no issues having a blast at the mall and cafes nearby, but she was glad she was able to help them out. Juhoon, the poor thing, looked absolutely miserable.
“Alright, now, James-ah, I’m going to drop you off with Juhoon, alright? I spoke to a nurse on the phone, they will have a security guard with red hair, black outfit, name of June to meet you and show you to their confidential area. You FaceTime me now, and if something happens or you are uncomfortable at all, I will come in right away, you hear me?”
Thankfully, it didn’t come to that, and the two boys were able to find their room quickly. It was in a secluded area, colorful walls on two sides, with two curtains finishing off the perimeter of the room. James got Juhoon draped onto the bed, where he rolled onto the side, curling around his stomach.
“Hey, still feel sick?” James asked quietly, running around the room trying to not mess with anything essential looking but also, having been in an emergency room several times himself, the neatly tucked away contraptions didn’t scare him like they might have.
Plastic bag secured, James got Juhoon sat up enough to swap out the hoodie he had been wearing - Seonghyeon’s, if James wasn’t mistaken, although it could actually be his own - for the provided gown. Intake didn’t really take that long, Juhoon coherent enough to “yes” or “no” most of the questions they needed, only hitting a snag when the nurse said they would have to try for an IV.
“It’s standard procedure,” he explained from his wheelie chair in the corner of the room. James liked to imagine that he retreated over there in response to James’ aura expanding quickly in response to Juhoon’s scared expression and tight curl. More realistically, James probably just looked mad, but a guy could dream that he was cool when doing it. “Once we have the IV, we could possibly get some labs off of it, to reduce sticks later while letting us find any electrolyte imbalances or something like that. We’ll use it to give you fluids, to keep you hydrated, and we can give pain medication through your IV, so you don’t have to swallow them and they will be absorbed by your body and work faster.” James changed his mind, maybe an IV was a good idea.
Juhoon’s teary eyes disagreed.
“Juhoon,” James crept into the younger’s line of sight, crouching down to be at eye level. “Juhoon, are you scared of the IV?” James spoke in English, trying to give a semblance of privacy for their conversation.
“Know I should, but scared,” Juhoon replied softly, wincing in pain as his neck spasmed, sending waves of pain up and down.
“I think it’d be good to do, and I’ll be here the whole time,” James encouraged softly. Stars, he wasn’t used to this, but he sure was gonna make sure he was everything Juhoon needed.
The next ten minutes were filled with warm packs, silent tears, and a lot of hand holding. Once Juhoon was the owner of a traumatic looking IV, James decided that he was in need of some hugs, and made the nurse take labs and hook Juhoon up to fluids and pain meds while avoiding him. Eventually, the nurse left, making sure to turn off the lights on his way out. James could feel his prickly exterior thaw a bit now that Juhoon wasn’t being messed with, and the eldest wormed his way to back hug Juhoon.
“Hyung, okay?” Juhoon asked wearily, not having any energy left to enunciate any more clearly.
“Yeah, I’m okay, you’re okay too. Close your eyes for a little bit, okay? Pain meds will probably make you kinda sleepy. I’ll be right here,” James said softly, shuffling around so he could free a hand to stroke through Juhoon’s hair.
Juhoon hummed, eyes already closed.
The next time Juhoon felt like he had any awareness at all, something warm and kind was stroking his nose, and whatever was wrapped around him squeezed just faintly tighter.
“Juhoon-ah, hello there,” Keonho’s eomma cooed, eyes squinting into a smile as she took in the young boy in front of him. She had long since decided that her son’s friends should feel comfortable with her and her family, especially knowing that they were blessed with being closer to them than others, but now she had an especially strong desire to never let any of them out of her sight ever again.
“Juhoon-ah, are you awake?” She questioned gently, heart expanding more when, as Juhoon reached to rub his eye, she could see her son’s plush Squid still trapped in a tight hold.
“Sorry, ma’am,” Juhoon started, realizing that he had been far from polite recently.
“No, baby, no, you stay right there and don’t apologize. You got nothing to be sorry for, love, I’m just glad I was close enough to come help out. This doctor has a few things to tell you, okay? Are you okay if James and I stay in the room?” She said quietly. She had been on her way inside anyway, after FaceTiming Keonho and giving a quick update and phone hugs, when James had texted her asking if she could please come inside and help because he felt like he wasn’t doing enough, and boy if that didn’t have her running down hallways. James had managed to get Juhoon to sleep, which she knew was the best thing to help with a migraine, but the older boy had been worked up himself about how he felt like he hadn’t been able to help Juhoon the way he should and heavens, Keonho’s eomma was glad she was able to shut down that negative talking and instruct him to sleep as well.
Seeing his patient awake, the doctor crept forward, having been warned by the nurse that the support person, who currently was blinking himself awake in response to Juhoon’s movements, was quite protective of the patient, and the doctor had absolutely no intention of appearing as a threat to any of them.
“Alright, Juhoon, how is your pain right now?”
“Not as bad,” Juhoon replied quietly.
“How would you rate it, on a scale from 1-10?”
“Maybe a 6,” Juhoon answered honestly, feeling James frown and tug him closer into a hug.
“Okay, well, that’s definitely higher than we want it to be. How are you feeling otherwise? Are you still nauseous? Do lights and noises hurt?”
“Not as nauseous, not so bad.” James agreed, Juhoon wasn’t squinting as much as he was when they had gotten there.
“Alright, well, your vital signs are looking okay. Your blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature are all slightly elevated, but that’s expected with the amount and duration of pain you’re in right now. We also got your labs back; some of your electrolytes are low. Not unexpected after prolonged vomiting, but something for us to keep an eye on.”
“Is that something we should replace while we’re here?” James asked.
The doctor rubbed his eyes.
“Well, so there are some options. Juhoon, you’ve been given three doses of our standard migraine cocktail. Considering that has only dropped your pain level down to a 6, I would recommend starting a more rigorous medication for the pain. However, we cannot give that medication in the emergency room, and it is given in the infusion center inside the hospital. In order to get it tonight, we’d need to admit you inpatient. Alternatively, we could discharge you tonight, send you home with the same medication you’ve been getting but in pill form, and make an appointment for the first available outpatient infusion opening they have.”
The doctor stopped talking for a moment, letting the options sink in.
“What happens if we go home tonight, and it gets worse again? I don’t want him to go through all that all over again,” James asked.
“If he gets worse, definitely come back, and we can do a direct admit from there. It’s unfortunate that we can’t give those medications here, I know,” the doctor said apologetically.
“Boys, why don’t we call the rest of your group, and ask for opinions,” Keonho’s eomma suggested, watching the two tired boys in front her spiral into anxiety.
“I’ll step out for a few moments. When you have a decision, go ahead and press the call button, or one of you can step out and request me,” the doctor bowed as he left.
“Alright,” Keonho’s eomma sat down at the edge of the bed, the two boys scooting over to give her room. “Is it okay if I’m in here too?”
“Sorry to keep you out late,” Juhoon apologized quietly, anxiously rubbing at the tape holding his IV in place.
“Not another word about that, love. I’m always happy to come help any of you out. Now, who do you think is most likely to answer a FaceTime? We’ll use my phone, alright? I think yours will likely be closer to dead than mine.”
James nodded, knowing his own phone had unfortunately died about 30 minutes prior and was currently charging at the nurses station.
“Eomma,” Keonho greeted, face very close to the screen. He, and the others, had gotten back to the dorm about an hour earlier, rushing through showers and now eating, worry and concern spreading like a siren throughout the dorm. The washing machine was running its second load, and Martin had restarted making smoothies, only this time he was able to make them in the kitchen and not the hallway.
“Hello, love, how are you? The boys?” Keonho wasn’t going to lie and say that hearing his mom’s voice calmed him down significantly, especially now that she was smiling.
“Eomma, we’re okay. Just finished dinner,” Keonho answered dutifully, walking around to find Seonghyeon from their room before going to find Martin in the kitchen.
“Martin-hyung!” Seonghyeon shouted over the sound of the blender.
“Oh!” Martin stopped blending immediately, Keonho being able to make out partially blended strawberries, blueberries, and bananas floating around in the blender. Seonghyeon and Keonho shared a quick glance, not having thought that Martin would be a stress-smoothie maker.
“Let’s go to the couch?” Martin asked, and the three trooped into the living room, gathering around the phone like penguins huddling for warmth, all anxious to get an update and praying for only good news.
Keonho’s eomma adjusted the phone to have her, James, and the bed in the frame, and after a moment Martin identified Juhoon’s lump of hair against the pillow.
“Hey,” Seonghyeon started, voice softening while looking at his hyung. Keonho grabbed onto Martin’s hand, needing to hold onto something since he can’t fly through the screen and hug his hyungs. “Juhoon, how are you?”
A thumbs up appeared in the screen, only slightly shaking.
“We have some considerations about our plan tonight and tomorrow,” James started.
Silence reigned in the living room after the information was shared, everyone processing.
“Juhoon,” Martin started. “Do you want to stay there overnight?”
Juhoon shook his head gently, wincing as his head throb spiked.
“Wanna go home,” Juhoon said quietly. James made another sad sound, tucking him still closer into their hug.
“And you’re feeling okay right now for a car ride?” Seonghyeon asked questioningly.
A small nod.
“Alright, we’ll get the doctor back in here and start discussing discharge. We’ll give updates and information about the infusion center tomorrow,” Keonho’s eomma summed up, giving the boys encouraging looks.
“Okay, let us know when his meds are sent to the pharmacy, and we can run out with one of the managers,” Martin volunteered, not wanting Juhoon to be trapped in a vehicle longer than necessary.
“Thanks, guys,” James spoke up, exhaustion evident in his voice.
“Thank you, Eomma, for being with them tonight,” Keonho thanked his eomma a bit later, when she was walking to pull up the car to the ED entrance.
“Oh, baby, you know I love you, and I know you love them, in your own teenage way. That means that I love them as well, and I’m always here for you, and them. Don’t you get in the way of me loving your friends.”
“Yes, Eomma,” Keonho replied, smile in his voice.
“Everyone at home loves you and misses you too,” she continued. Keonho teared up with a sudden desire to go home and never leave again.
“We can hug when you come by?”
“Keonho, love, I’ll hug you until time ends,” Keonho’s eomma replied. “Love, I’m pulling up to the entrance, so I’ll see you soon, alright?”
“Alright, Eomma, miss you. See you soon.”
“See you soon, love. James-ah, let me help you, you stubborn boy!” The call ended, and Keonho exhaled shakily, hurrying to get up and try to find something to do.
“Seonghyeon, what are you doing?”
Seonghyeon turned around from where he was folding laundry like he was paid for it. He noticed the teary expression on his friend’s face, but chose not to mention it, just check in with him later.
“I’m setting up James-hyung and Juhoon-hyung’s room. Although, they might want to sleep in the living room, but I thought they’d feel better knowing they have clean sheets,” Seonghyeon explained, fussing around with the sheet corners until they were perfectly symmetrical.
“Maybe we can set up the shower? With, like, things that don’t smell? Maybe a lamp or fairy lights?” Keonho offered quietly, messing around with straightening the stuffed animals left on James’ bed.
“That’s a good idea, I bet they’d both want to shower.” Seonghyeon turned around, making sure Keonho was paying good attention to him before continuing. “Juhoon is going to be fine. You know this from seeing your sister deal with this, probably, but it feels different, right?”
“Yeah,” Keonho sighed.
“Are you two alright?” Martin stopped by, one hand holding a homemade ice pack and the other holding three pairs of sunglasses.
“Yeah, just worried,” Seonghyeon answered after a moment, Keonho nodding in agreement.
“Is there anything else we need to be doing right now? I have fairy lights set up in the hallways along the floor, around the ceiling in the bathroom, and in the living room. There are multiple trash can options, and I have the meds,” Martin proved his pharmacy trip by lifting up a bulky looking plastic bag.
“Hyung, that looks…heavy,” Keonho started, reaching to go through the bag.
“Yeah, well, I picked up the medications, then some electrolyte replacements in case he can stomach it, or I guess maybe they can replace it tomorrow. I got another ice pack,” he lifted the one in his hand victoriously, the fabric cover with an overly happy bunny saying “hop into healing” looking at the two maknaes with glee. “Oh, and a heating pad, so James can use his too. And then…oh right!” He perked up again at the small stuffed elephant held in one of Seonghyeon’s hand. “I think we should name him Trunky.”
“There is no way-“
“Absolutely not-“ both of the maknaes disagreed at once, causing Martin to frown for a second. Along with what had been mentioned were some more over the counter pain medications.
“It sounds like we’re pretty ready for him,” Seonghyeon moved on, trying not to be misguided by their still-pouting leader.
“Let’s go wait for them, then. They should be close by,” Keonho suggested. The group agreed, and trucking to the entrance, making sure to turn off all the main lights on their way out.
“Here they come!” Keonho cheered, racing ahead to greet them faster.
“Hey, hey, shh, remember,” Martin reminded quietly, racing behind as well though. They were all worried and shocked when only Keonho’s eomma came out of the vehicle once it was parked, though, although they were reassured by her smiling eyes.
“Hello, boys,” she said quietly, wrapping all three up in individual hugs, bringing tears to the eyes of all.
“Are they okay?” Seonghyeon asked quickly, trying to peer through the tinted windows to get a glance at his hyungs.
“They’re asleep in the back,” Keonho’s eomma replied, swaying Keonho side to side, each still wrapped up in the hug.
“Oh! Let’s take a picture!” Keonho whispered with glee, encouraging the others to crawl through the passenger door to get a look at their hyungs in the backseat.
“Shut. Up. They are adorable!!” Kenoho and Seonghyeon gushed.
“And exhausted and in pain,” Martin brought them back to reality, not stopping them from taking a few photos first.
“Let’s get inside, boys, and we’ll go from there,” Keonho’s eomma herded them upstairs, both Juhoon and James being guided by others with one eye maximum open.
“Come on, let’s get ready for bed,” James whispered quietly as they breached the dorm. Shoulders slumped, bags dropped, and the night seemed just a little bit more manageable. Like they might could make it after all.