Fluffy ATEEZ Oneshots🧸

Dreadful weather 🌡️

Sickie: Seonghwa
Caregivers: San + Mingi

No one’s POV.:

Seonghwa gave a stuffy sigh as he sat up in bed. He shouldn’t even be awake but the rain pattering against the window made it impossible for him to sleep. Weird. Usually, he found the noise soothing but right now, after laying awake for hours, it almost drove him up the walls. Why couldn’t he sleep? After spending the past couple of days in an allergic misery, Seonghwa had taken the strong antihistamines, which he usually avoided because they made him drowsy. He was already annoyed and frustrated thanks to the relentless itch in his sinuses and the irritated tears spilling from his eyes no matter how much he rubbed at them. Sure, he hadn’t gotten much sleep the previous night, the thick congestion making it tough to breathe. Sitting up on the edge of his bed helped a little his head still ached.

If it wasn’t pouring rain outside, Seonghwa would’ve considered heading over to Hongjoong’s dorm because he craved comfort but didn’t want San nor Mingi to see him in such pathetic state. He rested his head in his hands and gave a tired cough to clear his throat. The motion seemed to dislodge something, choking him. Seonghwa’s throat burned when he finally managed to stop coughing, tears of exhaustion trailing down his cheeks. Usually, his allergies didn’t leave him feeling as run down as he had all day but a week of bad, barely existing sleep certainly explained it. It were moments like this, that made him miss their old dorm so much. Having had Hongjoong as a roommate for so long, he knew the leader would soon be arriving home from the studio and back in the day, they’d still be able to chat for a bit but now. Now he had a room to himself, which was probably a blessing, considering how he had been tossing and turning all night. Not to mention the frequent sniffles and sneezes.

Giving up on sleep, Seonghwa got up and padded to the kitchen. Maybe a hot cup of tea would soothe his throat some or at least help clear his congestion. In reality, he only needed a task, something to take his mind off of his misery. What Seonghwa didn’t expect, was San rummaging through the kitchen cabinets in search of a late night snack. The younger froze at being caught red-handed and furrowed his brows when the expected scolding didn’t come. “Everything alright, hyung?”, the other frowned, watching Seonghwa turn on the kettle. The elder gave an uncertain hum as he dropped a teabag into his favorite cup. Chewing on his bottom lip in confusion, San muttered: “Tea in the middle of the night? What’s up?” – “Can’t sleep”, Seonghwa rasped, his speech slightly slurred, “This fucking rain keeps hitting my window and it’s so annoying.” - “Headphones?”, the younger offered, remembering that his hyung had taken his stronger meds and was most definitely not supposed to be awake right now. Pouring the hot water over his teabag, Seonghwa mumbled: “They’re not doin’ anything. ‘m still as itchy a’d stuffed up.” – “Weird”, San hummed, scratching the back of his head, “Are you sure it’s allergies then? You’ve also been coughing a lot. It really seems to have gone straight to your chest though it usually affects mainly your eyes and nose.”

Seonghwa was stunned. He hadn’t expected San to be this observant. “I dunno”, the eldest muttered, massaging his throat. His dongsaeng did have a point but he didn’t really have the time to be sick right now. They had tight schedules and him catching a cold would be more than inconvenient, so as long as he wasn’t running a high fever that would prove him otherwise, he’d convince himself that his symptoms were brought on by allergies, like they always were around this time of the year. Inhaling the steam from the cup, Seonghwa sniffled: “You should go back to bed, Sannie.” – “So should you, hyung. Maybe take your temperature first ‘cause you shouldn’t look this sick after taking those allergy meds”, San urged, patting his hyung on the shoulder, “You could take some flu meds if you have a fever and might even be able to get some sleep then.”

Though he brushed his dongsaeng’s concerns off, Seonghwa did take his temperature, which made his resolve crumble. It seemed San had been right and it was no surprise that the antihistamines hadn’t made him feel better. Downing a pill for the fever, Seonghwa ran a washcloth under cold water and took it back to his room. He settled back in bed and put in his earphones to drown out the noise of rain still pattering against his window before draping the cold washcloth over his forehead and closing his eyes. It did soothe the headache a little but he still felt awfully lonely. No, he didn’t need anyone to take care of him but knowing somebody was close by always felt comforting. Sure, he knew that San and Mingi were just down the hallway and would probably come if he called them but he never liked burdening his dongsaengs. The only exception was Hongjoong because they were born in the same year but Seonghwa also didn’t want to force the leader to leave his dorm and make the walk over in this dreadful weather.

Though the cold washcloth helped, Seonghwa still felt restless and only managed to doze off for a couple of minutes at a time. While the tea had been nice on his throat, it didn’t lessen the itch in the slightest. The bothersome urge to cough ruining his attempts at sleeping. At some point, there was a knock at the door and Seonghwa blearily looked up, fully expecting San coming to check whether his suspicion had been correct but no. “Are you okay, hyung?”, Mingi hummed. His voice was thick with sleep and came out huskier than usual. Seonghwa felt a jab of guilt, figuring he had woken the rapper with all of his coughing. Taking a seat on the edge of his hyung’s bed, Mingi mumbled: “I got you some water. Are you really sure those are just allergies? Your cough sounds bad.” – “Thanks, Mingi-yah”, the older rasped. He propped himself up on his elbow and accepted the drink.

Once Seonghwa had sipped about half of it, his voice was starting to return and he admitted: “’s not allergies. Got a fever too.” Placing the glass onto the nightstand, he sat up against the headboard, so he could talk to Mingi on eye level. “The strong antihistamines weren’t working, so Sannie told me to take my temperature”, he sniffled, rubbing at his face, “Should’ve known it wasn’t allergies. My throat does get itchy, yeah, but never like this.” – “You already took medicine?”, Mingi asked softly, switching on the reading lamp to get a proper look at Seonghwa, who hissed and shielded his eyes from the lamp. The older gave an exhausted nod before dropping his head back against the wall.

Unsure of how else to help, Mingi hummed: “Does Hongjoong-hyung already know you’re sick?” Seonghwa shook his head and mumbled: “Was gonna call him in the morning. Didn’t want to wake him in case he’s sleeping for once.” Knowing their leader preferred to make his own judgement, he would probably come over right away to assess how bad it was because he didn’t trust his only hyung to not downplay his symptoms. “Besides, he’d probably come over and I don’t want him being out in this dreadful weather”, Seonghwa added.

“Do you need anything?”, Mingi asked, desperate to help. Seonghwa always took care of them, so he obviously deserved the same but how? Glancing at the rapper with barely concealed frustration, the older muttered: “Aside from sleep? No.” – “Oh, I’m sorry”, Mingi gasped, sheepishly scratching his neck, “I- I’ll leave. Good night, hyung.” He was already getting up when Seonghwa realized how his words had been taken and rasped: “Tha’s not how I meant it.” He didn’t want his dongsaeng to leave, although he knew that it would be for the best to contain the spread of his cold but he had finally not been lonely anymore. “I can’t sleep”, Seonghwa tried his best to explain, desperation evident in his voice, “I’m so freaking tired but I can’t. The antihistamines did work, they are making me drowsy as hell but not enough to actually fall asleep.” – “Hm, if you’ve been trying for hours with no success, how about we distract you?”, Mingi offered, “Just laying here and waiting for the morning will only leave you more exhausted and frustrated. We could watch a movie if you want.”

Though feeling incredibly guilty for keeping his dongsaeng up, Seonghwa let himself be talked into hanging out in the living room. He had bundled up in two blankets because he still felt a little chilled despite the fever reducers he took and now waited for Mingi to get settled too. The rapper turned on the TV and smiled: “Should we catch up on that drama you like so much?” – “Won’t it be boring for you to watch the episodes out of context?”, Seonghwa frowned but his dongsaeng just shrugged. “I don’t mind”, he said truthfully. He’d probably fall asleep pretty quickly and miss the plot anyway but he didn’t want his hyung to know how tired he secretly was.

“Movie night?”, San yawned as he shuffled to the living room. The commotion had woken him and he wanted to check what his dorm mates were up to. Looking up, Mingi hummed in confirmation and explained: “Insomnia.” He didn’t want to give too much details that Seonghwa might not be willing to give. More worried now that he realized Seonghwa still wasn’t able to sleep, San frowned: “Hyung, did you take your temperature?” – “Mhm”, the eldest hummed hoarsely but he didn’t elaborate, so San pressed: “Was I right?” – “Mhm”, Seonghwa nodded miserably. The younger sat down with a sigh and brushed the back of his hand against his hyung’s forehead to see just how bad it was. “Oh”, San muttered, “Yeah, no wonder you feel so restless, hyung.” – “Hoped ‘twas jus’ allergies”, the eldest slurred, rubbing his knuckles against the side of his nose. Running his fingers through his hyung’s hair, Mingi shushed: “Nothing we can do about it now, so we might as well make the best of it and enjoy movie night.” San agreed, so Seonghwa had little choice but to tolerate their company because he knew his dongsaengs wouldn’t heed his warnings of contagion. Maybe that wasn’t so bad though. Relaxing between San and Mingi, Seonghwa allowed himself to be egoistic and soak up his friends’ affection for once. He probably wouldn’t have found the courage to ask for someone to keep him company, no matter how much he craved it, so he truly appreciated how San and Mingi had taken that decision from him. He was cozy now, feeling warm between his dongsaengs, his favorite drama playing, drowning out the rain.