No one's POV.:
Hyunjin fell asleep within minutes despite the storm still raging on outside their dorm. The little was exhausted, especially considering it was already late at night, and finally felt safe in his daddy's arms. He had always been convinced that his caregiver's hugs could cure anything, at least insomnia and sads. However, Chan wasn't as lucky as his dongsaeng and despite being exhausted too, he didn't manage to fall asleep. Guilt was eating him up inside and his head started to hurt the longer he lay awake. The turmoil outside reflecting the whirlwind of emotions confusing his mind. He was grateful to have Hyunjin next to him, the dancer's body keeping him warm as Chan still felt the chill from walking through the rain deep in his bones. The leader pressed himself closer to the little, trying to absorb as much of his warmth as he could, while suppressing a shiver. He was quite certain his head was hurting because he had been crying so much earlier, so he fought to hold his tears back as they threatened to spill again. Chan didn't even know why he felt the urge to cry again, sure, he felt guilty but he wasn't sad. He could never be sad when Hyunjin was with him. It was probably the amount of his motions that he couldn't even name that was slowly overwhelming. Too much had happened over the course of the day and he was struggling to take it all in. No matter how hard he tried to not think about it, he couldn't get his mind to quieten down, whimpering softly as his headache thumped harder behind his brows.
By the time Chan fell asleep, the sun was already rising and so was Hyunjin. Despite going to bed late last night, the little couldn't wait to get up and spend time with his daddy. He wanted to wake the older but something was holding him back. Maybe it were the dark circles under the leader's eyes or the dried tearstains on his cheeks. It might also have been Chan's raspy breathing that told the dancer to let his caregiver rest a bit longer. Not wanting to play with anyone other than his daddy, Hyunjin remained seated on the bed next to the older and played with his plushies. Every once in a while, he heard the older groan in his sleep and although they all knew Chan always sounded distressed when he slept, it scared the little. He tried to distract himself from it but it didn't work to well, besides, he was also getting bored all by himself. Placing Snowflake in his lap, Hyunjin reached over and shook Chan's shoulder. The leader barely acknowledged him, turning over and shoving his face into the pillow. Pouting, the little shook him again, harder this time, which earned him a frustrated groan from his caregiver. "Daddy wake up!", the dancer whined, growing annoyed. Chan rolled onto his side and looked up at his dongsaengs with half-closed eyes, rasping: "'m 'wake." – "We pway now?", Hyunjin beamed, getting excited. Suppressing a groan, the older nodded before turning his face back into the pillow to muffle a cough.
He had only been awake for a few minutes but Chan could already tell that today wouldn't be his day at all. After only sleeping for two hours at most, his head was hurting just as bad as it did last night but he couldn't miss out on playing with Hyunjin after what the little had been through. At least the storm had passed over night. Putting on a forced smile, the caregiver sat up and whispered: "Shouldn't we eat breakfast first, Angel?" – "Hm. Jinnie hungwy. Eat pwease", the younger agreed, climbing over Chan to get out of bed and rushing out of the room. How did he have so much energy after only sleeping a bit? The leader couldn't help but envy him as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed and was hit by a wave of dizziness upon trying to stand up. Blinking the dark spots away, he followed Hyunjin to the kitchen. The little seemed a bit indecisive about what he wanted to eat but then his face lit up. Tugging on his daddy's sleeve, he beamed: "Daddy, waffwes pwease." Chan nodded and went to look for the waffle maker. "Do you want to color while Daddy makes breakfast?", he whispered, already starting to set everything up. Hyunjin nodded, waddling off to pass the time till breakfast would be ready.
While baking the waffles, Chan turned on the kettle to heat up some water. He had woken up to a sharp pain in his throat and could tell that his voice was completely shot without even trying to talk, due to the pain it caused him. Oh, how he wished to have some coffee now to help him function despite barely sleeping but he knew it wouldn't do him much good, so when the water was heated up, he made himself a cup of green tea, which would hopefully help him wake up too while soothing his throat a bit. Sipping his tea, Chan couldn't even smell the sweet scent that filled the kitchen as he baked after his steaming tea had caused his nose to run and he was too busy sniffling. He knew he was probably sick after walking through the rain and not taking a shower to warm up afterwards and it worried him. Not because he couldn't handle catching a cold but rather because he knew Hyunjin would catch it with how clingy he was and the Aussie couldn't stand the thought of getting the little sick. The younger was always more sensitive when he was sick and being in his headspace already made him more delicate, so Chan really didn't want to find out if both of these things were combined. Though it broke his heart, he knew he should try to keep some space between Hyunjin and him, so the little wouldn't catch whatever he was coming down with.
Unable to call out for Hyunjin once the waffles were done, the leader placed them on the table, along with different toppings and went to go get the younger. Getting excited, the dancer instantly leapt into his daddy's arms and almost knocked them both over as Chan felt too shaky and unstable to carry him. He also didn't want the little to get too close to him, so he put him back down and motioned at the table. Hyunjin pouted but waddled over, waiting for his caregiver to sit down, so that he could sit in his lap. His wish was denied again, when the older pulled out a chair and guided him to sit down alone, staying quiet through most of it. "What do you want to put on your waffle, Angel?", Chan whispered, barely loud enough for the dancer to understand. Hyunjin pouted: "Can Jinnie have spwinkwes and cweam?" The leader nodded with a smile, lathering cream on the waffled before adding some colorful sprinkles on top. He then pushed the waffle in front of the younger. Realizing his daddy wasn't going to feed him, Hyunjin pouted at Chan, who pretended not to see it because he didn't want to outright tell the younger 'no' but he also didn't think it'd be a good idea to feed him despite having already washed his hands a billion times today. At some point, the little did start to eat but Chan could tell he was upset with him. He didn't have much time to feel guilty about it though, as his breath caught in his throat and he quickly turned aside, coughing.
As soon as he started, it didn't feel like he could stop anytime soon. If his throat hadn't hurt before, it certainly did now and the Aussie tried to take small sips of his tea in between in an attempt to stop coughing. By the time he turned back to face Hyunjin, there were tears in his eyes but he was quick to wipe them away, though the little wasn't looking at him anyway. Catching his breath, Chan rested his head on his hands and winced at how warm his skin felt. He didn't have any appetite at all, so he just watched the younger eat. It was surprising really because he had already skipped his dinner the previous day but the thought of eating something just didn't sound appealing at all. It might explain why he felt so weak though. Taking another sip from his tea, he noticed that Hyunjin had finished his waffle and looked at him questioning: "Want another one?" It didn't seem like the younger had heard him at all, so he pointed at the stack of waffles and raised an eyebrow. The little shook his head, asking: "Pway now?" Chan wanted to tell him to wash up first but it seemed like too much of an effort, so he just nodded, watching the little waddle off.
He hadn't noticed how much time passed with him just sitting there but soon the other members joined him, happy that breakfast was ready. "Hey, what's going on? Jinnie seemed pretty upset, playing all by himself", Felix frowned, nudging the leader's shoulder. Chan tried to answer but closed his mouth again, pulling out his phone instead but before he could type his reply, Felix had picked up his cup, inspecting it and looking at him in worry: "You're drinking tea? Are you sick? You hate tea!" The older nodded and pointed at his throat before shaking his head. Felix got the hint and waited patiently for Chan to type on his phone. 'Voice gone. Don't want Jinnie to catch it but he always relies on physical affection, so that's probably why he's upset. I didn't feed him and now I feel bad about it but I think I'd feel much worse if I got him sick.' – "Aish, that sucks. We can always help you out with taking care of him though I know he only really wants you", the younger hummed sympathetically, "Will you be okay though?" – "Jus' a cold", Chan forced out barely audible, causing Felix to cringe: "Please go back to typing on your phone. It hurts to just listen to you." Rolling his eyes at his dongsaeng, the leader got up and slowly made his way to the bathroom. He took his temperature, not surprised at finding out that he had a fever, and splashed some cold water in his face before washing his hands again and leaving to check on Hyunjin.
The little sat in the living room, playing with Seungmin, who agreed to eat later, when Felix was done eating, so they could take turns entertaining Hyunjin. Chan sat down too, waving at the little with a tired smile. Hyunjin turned away though, blatantly ignoring his caregiver deciding 'If daddy nuh tawk to Jinnie, Jinnie nuh tawk to daddy!". The Aussie felt a stab in his heart, realizing the younger was that upset with him. He wanted to hug him and talk everything out between them but he could do neither, so he just sat there watching his dongsaengs play and waiting in case the dancer changed his mind. He didn't. Seungmin changed positions with Felix and gave Chan a sad smile though he didn't know what had happened between the two. Felix caught on to Hyunjin ignoring their leader pretty quickly and tried to include the older in their game, only to have it backfire on him when the little got up and decided he didn't want to play with Felix either anymore. Felix shot his boyfriend a look and Changbin quickly followed Hyunjin to his room, while the younger stayed with Chan. He knew his Aussie brother well enough to see the hurt in his glassy eyes despite the leader's efforts to hide it. Not caring about maybe getting himself sick, Felix pulled the leader into a hug, not letting go when the older slowly started to break down.
Hyunjin wasn't the only one who always got more sensitive when he was sick. Chan was no better, though he usually managed to hide his feelings better. He knew the little didn't mean it, he didn't even know his caregiver was sick to begin with, but despite knowing this, Chan still felt hurt by the little's cold behavior. He had been so determined to make it up to the younger for their fight yesterday but now everything seemed to go downhill. Sure, Hyunjin would quickly warm up to him with lots of cuddles but Chan reminded himself that he'd rather suffer from the little's stubbornness than have the younger get sick. "Do you want me to talk to Jinnie and explain what's going on?", Felix whispered, running a hand through his hyung's messy curls. The leader just shrugged. He didn't know what he wanted anymore, contradicting himself. He wanted cuddles but didn't want anyone to catch his cold. He wanted to take care of Jinnie, yet be treated with gentle and more understanding. He wanted to talk everything out with the younger but also wanted to stop breathing because breathing alone burned his throat. He wanted to be strong and fix everything but also just wanted to sleep and feel better.
Not getting more of an answer, Felix hummed: "Why don't you go back to bed? I can feel you burning through your clothes and I don't think you're up to playing with Jinnie anyway. Don't worry, we'll take care of him and also explain what's going on, so he's more understanding." His mind clouded, Chan barely understood half of what the younger told him but allowed the dancer to pull him to his feet, swaying when he was upright. Holding onto Felix with one hand, he pulled his sleeve over the other hand and dried the tears that still continued to fall. Why was he still crying? He just wanted to stop being so pathetic. Getting upset at himself, a sob tore from Chan's throat, the pain alone bad enough to send fresh tears down his face. "Hey, you're okay", Felix assured, hugging the older close for comfort but also to steady him as he still swayed a bit, "Hyung, it's alright. You're sick and we all understand that. Jinnie will eventually understand that too, there's no reason to cry." – "I know", Chan choked out, the pain barely mattering because he was already crying anyway, "Don't know why I cry. Want stop. Can't stop." Soothingly rubbing the leader's back, Felix sighed: "It's probably the fever making you emotional, that's alright. Let's just get you lying down and I'll get you something to drink." He slowly supported Chan to their shared bedroom and sat him down on the edge of his bed before closing the blinds. "Get comfy! I'll be right back", the younger promised, hurrying back to the kitchen while Chan buried his face in his pillow. Slipping back into the darkened room, Felix hummed: "Here, drink something. It'll soothe your throat and hopefully also ease the headache I'm pretty sure you have." The older sniffled, sitting up, and accepted the water bottle. He only managed a few sips, wincing when he swallowed. "Get some rest!", Felix instructed, easing his hyung back down on the mattress and pulling the blanket over him. They'd take care of Jinnie for the time being and hopefully get the little to understand what was going on.