Stress relief || Enhypen littlespace/agere fanfic ||

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October 11th, 2023

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After a few hours of sleep, Ni-ki began stirring and woke up with a harsh cough. After taking a few moments to become aware of his surroundings and adjust to the darkness, he started to also became aware of two things; one being that he apparently had some sort of cold, with a sore throat and a cough. The other being that he felt oddly small. Not physically small, but he felt little, if that was a good way to describe it. He sniffled, tears beginning to prick at his eyes as he felt his throat dry up again and sat up, leaning against the headboard. He blinked back tears and froze in fear at a new realization- he was alone. In the dark. Monsters would surely get him, right?

Why were those thoughts even scaring him? He's not a child. Not a baby. He's supposed to be brave. He's almost an adult, for crying out loud.

He swallowed, looking around for the plushie, then sighing in relief and bringing it up to his chest. Resting his chin on the plushie, he brought his knees to his chest. If he was sick, he couldn't go to practice tomorrow. He had to work. Engene had to be proud of him. He had to work his absolute best right now, or else Engene would be disappointed in him once again. He always let them down, he couldn't handle letting them down once more.

He sneezed, tears threatening to fall again. He frowned, looking down at the ground.

'Heeseung.'

He thought. Heeseung could fix this. All he had to do was walk out of the room, down the hall, go to Heeseung's room. It couldn't be too hard.

Monsters.

Tears began to spill from his eyes onto his cheeks. He could never make it to Heeseung. Or any of his hyungs, if he was being honest. He coughed again, then wiped his tears and drew in a shaky breath. He at least had to try, right? And monsters don't exist. Nothing's stopping him from getting to Heeseung.

Except for a dark, cold, scary hallway.

He sniffled, hesitantly planting his feet on the floor and standing up. He felt his head spinning as he stood but eventually was able to regulate himself and begin walking out of the room. He opened the door, slipping out into the hallway and shutting the door again. He then began walking- more like speed-walking- to Heeseung's room.

After finally making it, he opened the door and entered the room. He neared the bed and cringed when the mattress dipped under his weight, but luckily Heeseung didn't wake up, so he slipped under the covers. Sighing in relief, he was able to start relaxing again and was able to close his eyes. Suddenly, he felt Heeseung shifting around, then sitting up, and heard a voice.

"Ni-ki?"

He frowned. Did he wake Heeseung up?

Sitting up as well, a light suddenly turned on and he noticed Heeseung had leaned over to turn on a light.

Heeseung sighed, turning towards Ni-ki. "Why are you here, hm?"

Ni-ki opened his mouth, then closed it. He shrugged. Heeseung raised an eyebrow. Why had the maknae been acting so weird?

Ni-ki sat up as well, hair disheveled and a tired look on his face.

"C'mon, tell me what's wrong." Heeseung spoke in a more serious tone, trying to get to the bottom of why Ni-ki would even be in his bed. Especially in the middle of the night. He had three roommates, one being Sunoo, who Ni-ki often cuddled and slept with, so why was he here?

Ni-ki frowned softly, shrugging again. Tears threatened to fall again and he opened his mouth to talk but same as before, he just closed his mouth. He shook his head, looking down slightly. Heeseung noticed dried up tear tracks over Ni-ki's cheeks, instantly becoming worried. Ni-ki wasn't often the type to get nightmares, especially ones bad enough that he decided to get comfort from another member, so obviously it must be something else, right?

Heeseung furrowed his brows, racking his brain for some solution as to why the youngest was acting like this. Insomnia, maybe? Or maybe bad sleep paralysis. Ni-ki had never complained about anything like that before, though.

It wasn't helpful that whenever Ni-ki tried to talk, he stuttered out a few syllables and then teared up out of frustration. It must be his throat, so he hesitated to reach out but tapped Heeseung's arm and snapped him out of his thoughts. Frantically pointing at his throat, Heeseung finally got the memo and realized Ni-ki could be sick.

"Are you sick?" Heeseung asked, already knowing he answer but expecting the maknae to at least confirm.

Ni-ki nodded again, and looked up at Heeseung with pleading eyes. His hyung had to know how to make the pain stop, right? His throat hurt to much to sing. He knew it didn't hurt enough to stop him from talking, so why was it such a struggle to try talking?

Heeseung raised a hand towards Ni-ki's forehead, stopping shortly before making contact. "Fever? Can I touch you?"

Ni-ki nodded rapidly. He'd been hoping Heeseung would finally give him some sort of physical touch, although felt heat rising to his cheeks when he realized how eager he must've seemed to nod that quickly. Heeseung gave Ni-ki a questioning look, seeing the maknae so eager, but complied and reached out to feel his forehead.

Bingo.

Ni-ki felt warm to the touch, and obviously this is why he came to Heeseung's room.

"Oh, you don't feel good, do you?" Heeseung cooed, feeling Ni-ki lean into his hand. Ni-ki just nodded and looked up at Heeseung with drowsy eyes.

Why was Ni-ki suddenly so cute? He never liked when people touched him too much. He never liked watching Disney movies unless forced to. He never came to Heeseung's room willingly, even when he was running a fever. And he especially never gave anyone puppy eyes like the ones he was giving Heeseung currently. So why was he acting this way?