Fluffy ENHYPEN oneshots

I don't see it🌡️🧸

Sickie: Sunoo
Caregivers: Enhypen

No one’s POV.:
Sunoo had already been down with the sniffles for a week and the members had tried their very best to convince him to take some time off to recover. He was adamant though, he could keep going, it was just a cold. Jay already made a point of serving him a glass of orange juice every morning to hopefully boost his immune system, while Jake secretly slipped a fresh travel pack of tissues into their dongsaeng’s backpack every day, chuckling to himself that the boy never remembered to refill them. Sunoo always complained that he could take care of himself perfectly fine and that they shouldn’t go out of their way to help him out but would they listen?

Niki had decreased his teasing significantly, the more he watched Sunoo’s energy fade, though he did occasionally throw cough drops at the older. Jungwon had notified their manager of Sunoo’s condition in case they could make adjustments to his schedule to make it less straining on him without him having to sit out. Watching Sunoo struggle for air during one of their dance practices, the manager ordered him to sit out of dance entirely for the time being but agreed to allowed him to participate in every other part of the groups schedule, requesting the vocal teacher to reevaluate and decide on a daily basis. Initially, Sunoo was upset but he soon found himself too sore and fatigued to dance.

With him having been tired and out of it for multiple days, it went completely unnoticed when he eventually started to run a fever. None of them had really gotten much sleep that night, Sunoo’s cough getting worse at night, keeping him up for hours. His roommates weren’t spared from the disruptions either, so they were all still a little hazy when they were collected for their schedule. Heeseung quietly walked beside Sunoo, occasionally resting his hand on the younger’s arm to steer him into the right direction.

“Should we get you some tea when we stop for coffee?”, Jay asked softly, “Sunghoon-ah said you probably had a sore throat, that you didn’t have too great of a night.” Feeling guilty for keeping his friends up, Sunoo rasped: “Tea sounds awesome. My throat hurts.” – “I can hear that”, the older winced sympathetically, “I’ll ask for extra honey. Anything else we can get you?” Sunoo shook his head and mumbled a shy ‘thanks’. “Has it been that bad?” Heeseung whispered when Jay had gone back to Jake and Sunghoon, “I only heard you cough a couple of times.” Nodding, the younger admitted: “Been coughing through most of the night. I’m really sorry for the others. Though I tried to be quiet and muffle it into my pillow, they didn’t sleep much either.”

Aside from Sunoo himself, Jungwon seemed to be the worst off. Turns out having to lead a team while being sleep-deprived was a challenge but it also helped him relate to Sunghoon and Niki. Aware of the groups situation, their managers tried to take away as much of the stress as possible, providing breaks for coffee and snacks to help everyone function to the best of their abilities. They didn’t like what they saw in Sunoo though. Sure, he had already had a cold but he seemed a lot more out of it than he had been the past few days. That could be explained away by the sleep-deprivation but there was something about the glossy look in the boy’s eyes that gave them pause.

While everyone else filed into the studio, Sunoo was taken aside by one of the managers. He was hesitant to admit that his condition had declined over the course of the night, feeling insecure about his health, but there was no point in lying to their manager. It was easy to figure out why he was feeling worse, a quick temperature check confirmed a fever. Truly upset at his body, Sunoo joined the group in the studio, his expression resembling that of a kicked puppy. “Noo, why so sad?”, Jake frowned, pulling his dongsaeng into a hug. Holding back tears, Sunoo sniffled: “Manager-nim said I have a fever.” For a moment, his breath hitched before he managed to get it back under control. “Can’t my body just function for once?”, he pouted, resting his head on Jake’s shoulder, “This sucks.”

“Come on, you wanna lay down, Sunoo-yah?”, Jay hummed, patting his lap. Him, Jungwon and Niki were sharing one of the couches and gladly let their friend stretch out across their laps. Lightly scratching Sunoo’s head, Jay felt his forehead and winced. Why had they even taken him along today? If only the younger had said something earlier, he could’ve stayed home. Taking off his hat, Heeseung instructed: “Try to sleep. There’s little use in having you try to record with how hoarse you are and you’ll need some energy for our meeting later.” – “Good thing you can leave after the meeting”, Jungwon smiled, “No need to sit through dance practice and watch the rest of us.”

“’m sorry for being an empty weight needing to be dragged around”, Sunoo mumbled, tears stinging his eyes. Firmly cupping the boy’s flushed cheeks, Jay wiped away the tears and scolded: “That’s not a way I wanna hear you talk about yourself. You hear me? You’re not an empty weight but you’re right, we shouldn’t be dragging you around. You should be in bed and nowhere else.” – “We’re glad to have you with us, Sunoo-yah. We love you but we’d much rather know you’re resting”, Jake shushed, squeezing the boy’s hand, “It hurts my heart to see you spreading yourself so thin and still push yourself while you’re not okay.” – “Sleep, so you can get better for us, ‘kay?”, Heeseung smiled, covering Sunoo’s eyes with his hat to shield him from the light. Hopefully, he’d get some shut-eye before their meeting.

Despite his friends’ reassurances, going to sleep with so much self doubt in his mind proved to be a bad idea, no matter how badly Sunoo needed the rest. He should’ve known better. Hell, he had been sick frequently enough to know he didn’t cope well with fevers. They always messed with his emotions and he also had a tendency to get vivid fever dreams and nightmares. It was easy to be fooled by these illusions his fever muddled brain conjured up and they never failed to break Sunoo’s heart. How did he even make it through i-land? If he was so obviously unfit to be an idol, how did he manage to become one and why did the members still lie to him and tell him they wanted him in their group, despite him only holding them back?

He was all alone, which shouldn’t have come as that much of a surprise. It had only been a matter of time till the members would leave him behind, heading for a much brighter future without him. Still, it hurt, knowing to not be enough for them, despite always giving it his all. What else could he do?

Sitting up with a gasp, Sunoo doubled over coughing. His heart thumped in his chest, making it difficult to notice anything else. Like, the hands on his arms for example. Supporting his dongsaeng’s shoulders with one hand, Jay patted his back with the other but tensed when the younger choked on a sob. Jake offered Sunoo a hand, which the other desperately clutched onto, finally realizing that he wasn’t alone.

“It’s just a nightmare. You’re safe”, Jake promised, giving his dongsaeng’s hand a gentle squeeze, “Look around, Sunoo-yah. Where are we, hm?” Sniffing back tears, Sunoo glanced around the room. Looking up at Jake, he pouted: “We’re at the studio. You guys are here…. I thought you had left me.” – “You know we wouldn’t do that, hyung”, Niki denied, hugging the older. Uncapping Sunoo’s water bottle, Jungwon encouraged him to have a few sips and confirmed: “We wouldn’t leave you, we want you here with us but I’m not sure that is actually a good idea right now.” Sunoo looked at the leader with tears in his eyes. “You’re doing worse every day, hyung. Maybe you should take a couple of days off to recover. It’s not gonna get better if you don’t give yourself that time”, Jungwon elaborated.

“Wonnie isn’t wrong”, Heeseung broke the tense silence, “The decision is up to you and no matter how you choose, we’ll support you, just know that you don’t have to force yourself to attend that meeting for our sake. We won’t think any less of you if you decided you’d rather go home and lay down.” Sitting up a little straighter, Sunoo accepted the tissue Sunghoon handed him and cleaned himself up. He sniffled back the thick congestion in his sinuses before rasping: “I can sit through a meeting, hyung. Not gonna lie though, I’m really glad to go back to the dorm afterwards. As much as I’d want to be included in all our schedules, I accept that I’m not well enough to dance right now. My bed really sounds like heaven.” – “As hyung said, however you choose, we’ll try to support you to the best of our abilities, so how about I get more tea and we get you medicated”, Jake offered, already turning to leave the studio.

“Let’s try to get you as comfortable as possible to sit through the meeting and if you want, we can watch a drama for some quality time tonight”, Jay smiled softly, stroking Sunoo’s hair, “I hope you’ll one day be able to see yourself the way we see you.”