GLOW-UP

33 | hospital seat ownership

if you had told kim doyoung a few years ago that he'd be sitting in a hospital chair at all hours waiting for a boy he barely knew, he would've laughed.

granted, it was a very cute boy, and it's not like he barely knew him. he'd started getting pretty close with his next door neighbour, but that was besides the point.

doyoung didn't do favours - for anyone, least of all strangers.

he was the sort of person who tended to keep to himself, hard to reach, slow to trust. (maybe that was because of the way his mother had taken off and left him half a dozen years ago, but that was another story). so going to all these lengths for someone that pulled at his heart strings, and stay until after the sun had gone down - it was unfamiliar territory. drowsing off in the plastic orange seat, doyoung couldn't help but question himself.

why? it's not like he was jaehyun's closest friend. johnny should be the one in his place. so why was he still here?

half a dozen doctors and nurses had already told him that it wasn't serious as jaehyun had woken up from his concussion, and that he'd be better off getting some dinner and going home to sleep. but doyoung had insisted on staying, only dashing down to the hospital cafe to grab a bite to eat before coming back to find jaehyun had drifted off again. now, his stomach still rumbled and he was sitting outside the hospital room since he didn't want the aggressive rumbling to wake jaehyun from his slumber.

maybe he should just go home.

that's what the logical side of his brain kept telling him. but it was like doyoung was glued to that orange plastic chair, like he couldn't leave until he was really sure jaehyun was okay. they hadn't had much of a chance to talk since jaehyun had come around after passing out and getting a cast on his fractured arm, and doyoung didn't want to leave before jaehyun woke up again, and could tell him for sure he would be fine.

besides, doyoung couldn't face going back to his apartment block and knowing the apartment next door would be an empty void without its occupant.

everything seemed to feel empty without jaehyun these days.

"doyoung?"

he'd almost managed to finally doze off when a cluster of footsteps approached and a voice called his name. doyoung opened one eye to see the large looming figure of johnny in front of him, accompanied by ten and mark. doyoung slowly opened the other eye and hesitated as he thought about how to greet them.

in the end, he settled with a quiet, "hi..." followed by a badly stifled yawn.

"we came as soon as we could," johnny blurted, clearly on edge by the way he was fidgeting, "well, i wanted to come sooner but ten made me shower after the game and have something to eat, and then markie said he wanted kfc so we went to kfc-"

"speaking of food," ten interrupted, pushing johnny aside and rolling his eyes at the american's nervous rambling, "have you eaten yet, doyoung? you haven't been here the whole time, have you?"

doyoung didn't quite answer the question, giving a small shrug. "i'm not really hungry," he replied.

that was a huge lie and everyone knew it, because doyoung's stomach gave a loud rumble of complaint.

"aw, no, you have to eat something," ten whined, turning into a worried mother as he tugged at doyoung's arm, "you must be starving."

"i could eat a whole pizza even after that kfc," johnny mumbled his agreement.

"hyung, you had, like, three whole chickens all to yourself just now," mark piped up over ten's shoulder. the freshman looked exhausted after the pressure of the hockey game, and as much as he probably wanted to see jaehyun, it was pretty obvious all he really wanted to do was crash right then.