Fluffy ATEEZ Oneshots🧸

Staircase PR🩹🧸

Sickie: Jongho

Caregivers: Ateez

No one's POV.:

When the car door finally shut behind him, Jongho dropped his head into his hands. This wasn't how he had imagined his afternoon going. Despite the painkiller he had taken, he could still feel his blood pulsing in his ankle. "Are you going to call them or do you want me to?", his manager asked, buckling his seat belt. The older had spent the past few hours in the emergency room with Jongho, waiting for the vocalist to have an MRI taken before he could get the appropriate treatment. With Jongho injuring himself during an individual schedule, the rest of the group didn't know about their maknae's mishap yet and he didn't know if he had the energy to break the news. He buckled his seatbelt and tried to relax into his seat, mumbling: "Could you tell them please, hyung? Not sure I can deal with Hongjoong-hyung's scolding right now" – "You know he means well though, right?", his manager chuckled. "Yeah, I know."

Jongho was relieved when he was finally dropped off at his dorm. The hours he had spent sitting in the uncomfortable plastic chair in the emergency room had left him sore and exhausted. At least, his manager had gotten both of them a sandwich at some point during their wait because Jongho would have some difficulty preparing himself a meal right now. He was ready to throw his crutches into a corner to never even look at them again and it had barely been two hours since he got them. The weeks ahead would certainly be interesting.

Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, Jongho ignored it and hobbled to his room. He knew the group chat was probably flooding with worried messages from his members but he couldn't deal with them right now. To try and keep his mind busy, Jongho picked out a fresh set of cloths, so he could hopefully feel a little more comfortable. The others were having dance practice right now if he remembered their schedule correctly and the thought made his chest tighten with anxiety. He would not be dancing at all for the next few weeks, so he already knew he'd have a very hard time to catch up to the rest of the group once he could return to practice. Plopping down on the edge of his bed, Jongho took a deep breath as his head started to spin. How was he going to catch up? He couldn't miss practice. People already claimed he was only part of the group for his voice and that he had no talent whatsoever when it came to dancing. His hyungs always told him that it wasn't true, that people just wanted to say what they knew would hurt him but it was hard to drown out the voices when there were so many.

Jongho had needed some time to collect himself before he got changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt. He wanted to try and take good care of himself, so he wouldn't feel so useless, plus, he really needed to get off his foot for a while as it was already starting to hurt worse again. Knowing he'd be spending a lot of time in his room, he decided to hang out in the living room for the time being and slowly made his way to the kitchen to grab an icepack before he'd get settled on the couch. Jongho elevated his ankle on a cushion before pulling out his phone to finally respond to the messages. As predicted, there were a bunch in their group chat as well as individual chats. Their manager had updated them on what had happened and how long the youngest would have to sit out on dancing. He'd still take his vocal lessons and attend interviews with them, maybe even one or two fansign events but dancing was a clear no.

Not wanting to distract them from their practice too much, Jongho only replied to the group chat, lying that he wasn't in any pain and would just need to stay off his ankle for a while. Since Jongho was very self-sufficient and mature despite being the youngest, they believed him when he said despite wearing a brace, he could take care of himself on crutches and had everything he needed. That wasn't a complete lie. He could take care of himself. Soon he had to realize that he didn't have everything he needed. With the icepack on his brace, Jongho soon started to feel a little cold. Maybe he shouldn't have chosen to wear a t-shirt in October but his mind also hadn't been with it when he had picked out his clothes. It didn't take long for goosebumps to spread down his arms but he skillfully ignored them, turning on the TV to distract himself.