[M] Chapter 19 (1/1)

As soon as they were back home, they flung the front door open, slammed the file down onto the table in the hallway and rushed into the living room to put Seungho down somewhere he could be warm and comfortable. “I remember eight years ago when this was you, baby.” Dongwoon whispered timidly to his lover as they fetched the teenager some blankets and pillows from their bedroom. “We saved you then, and we’re going to save Seungho now.” He added, seeing how stressed Gikwang was. The shorter man nodded determinedly and rushed downstairs again to prop Seungho’s head up with the pillows and wrap him in the blankets while Dongwoon went off to find his mother.

Mrs. Son was busy washing the dishes in the kitchen when Dongwoon skidded in, a desperate look on his face. She let the plate she was washing clatter to the bottom of the sink and immediately walked up to her son, frowning. “Woonie? What’s happened?” she asked, starting to get scared. “Eomma, I’ll explain it all properly later, but we had to bring a boy back from the orphanage. He’s severely sick with the same illness as the one Doojoon died from. If we don’t do something right now he might die.” He burbled, grabbing his mother’s arm and pulling her into the living room, where Gikwang was rubbing Seungho’s hand to try and warm it up. Mrs. Son’s eyes widened at the sight of the boy; she had seen sepsis before many times, but never as serious as this. “Dongwoon, go to the infirmary and get Doctor Yang. Tell her there is a boy here with a life-threatening case of sepsis and we need her to drop whatever she’s doing and get here now. Gikwang, go and get Narsha, I want you two to get bowls of hot water and towels. Then get my husband down here with me and tell Taecyeon to keep himself and Haneul out of the way.” She ordered assertively, pushing her panic to one side and staying as calm as she could. Dongwoon nodded and grabbed his coat, not wasting a second before leaving the house and running all the way to the infirmary. As soon as Gikwang heard the front door slam, he too got up and dashed upstairs to inform everyone about what was going on. After Gikwang had breathlessly explained the situation to Mr. Son and Narsha, the three thundered back downstairs, parting at the hallway so that Mr. Son joined his wife and the young adults headed into the kitchen. Taecyeon and Haneul stood  on the landing at the top of the stairs, dazed and confused. “What’s going on?” she whined, wanting to see her parents after having missed them all day. Taecyeon shrugged, knitting his eyebrows together. Meanwhile, downstairs, Mr. Son and Mrs. Son had finished checking Seungho over and had decided to move out of the way so that Gikwang and Narsha had enough space to clean the teenager’s shredded back. Seungho flinched and winced as the water got into the wounds, trying to hold onto his pride by blinking back the tears that threatened to fall. Narsha and Gikwang tried to clean him as carefully as possible so as not to hurt him, the young woman pausing occasionally to run her fingers through his hair and give him a comforting squeeze on the shoulder. Once they had finished and could finally let Seungho rest, Gikwang turned to Narsha. “Narsh.. I should look after him alone.. he’s my responsibility. It’s my fault he’s so sick. I owe it to him to help him.” He said desperately, looking at the teenager who had fallen into another uncomfortable sleep. The young woman studied his face for a moment before answering. “Baby, you didn’t make him sick. Yet again, that was Seunghyun. You can’t tell me you seriously still blame yourself for Doojoonie’s death, right?” Gikwang looked away, his eyes brimming over. Narsha softened. “You need to stop blaming yourself for everything. We couldn’t save Doojoonie but I know we can save Seungho. This time we have actual doctors coming round to help him; surely you see the difference that will make?” “I know, but you didn’t see the children at the orphanage, Narsh. You didn’t see how angry they were, how scared they were. They didn’t know what to do when I left and Seungho clearly became their new hyung. He’s had so much pressure put on him because of me and now he’s sick too. I need to look after him. Please, Narsh.. Just until Doctor Yang gets here..” he looked at her with such a pleading expression that she really couldn’t say no. She stroked his cheek and nodded slightly as she got to her feet. “Just please don’t blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault. He’ll be perfectly fine in a few weeks, you’ll see.” She reassured. “Also, if you need anything, me, eomma and appa aren’t going to be far away. Just give me a shout, ok?” she smiled. The young man smiled back and nodded before turning back to Seungho, his mouth returning to a little worried line. About ten minutes later, Dongwoon returned with Doctor Yang, red in the face from running and very breathless. She set to work immediately, telling Gikwang and Dongwoon to stand back and give her some space as she checked the teenager out. Seungho groaned at being pulled out of his sleep and yelped as his back burned from the infection. “Seungho, right?” Doctor Yang asked gently, pulling on a pair of specialist gloves. The boy forced himself to nod once, though it was obviously taking a lot out of him to do so. “That’s a lovely name. So, Seungho, Dongwoonie has explained everything to me, but I don’t need to go over that again with you. Now, the plan is that I will give you a look-over and do some examinations. Tell me if I’m hurting you at any point and I’ll try and lessen the pain.” She said with an encouraging smile. The examinations took around twenty minutes, as the doctor really had to be sure of what she was dealing with. Seungho took it all well, not complaining once, so that nobody else would be able to tell even if he was in agony- though it was clear he was more than uncomfortable. He was one of the bravest patients the doctor had ever had. Once her job was done, she gave Gikwang a few basic instructions such as keeping him well fed, rested and clean most importantly. She told the young man that they should start off feeding Seungho small things, because too much food could overwhelm his system and make him even more sick as he hadn’t eaten properly in so long. She told him that she would be back in a day or so to check on how things were going and in the meantime she would be doing some research into exactly what medicines to prescribe. Gikwang and Dongwoon thanked her profusely, extremely relieved that the doctor seemed hopeful Seungho would survive. Having waited upstairs for so long, Haneul and Taecyeon’s mutual curiosity had reached boiling point. They had tried everything they could think of to distract themselves; reading, playing, talking and even studying. Each task only lasted five minutes before the burning desire to know what was going on got the better of the short attention spans that came with their youth. They waited until they heard Mr. and Mrs. Son going to bed before sprinting down the stairs, shoving and elbowing each other to try and see what was going on first. Taecyeon, being older and bigger than his tiny competition, won and skidded on the polished floor in his socks outside of the living room, where most of the sound had been coming from. Haneul pouted and skipped down the last few steps, pushing the fact that she had lost to the back of her mind and following meekly behind Taecyeon. They forgot to knock- as children do- before entering, both equally surprised to see someone else on the couch.“Haneul! Taecyeon! Have you never heard of knocking?” Gikwang said a little sternly, his eyes red from all the crying. The little girl looked up at her father with surprise, as he had never been angry with her before. Her bottom lip trembled. Gikwang sighed and held his arms out to his daughter, who gladly ran into them and snuggled up.“I’m sorry, da.. we were just curious..” she mumbled into the hug, sniffing. Her father smiled a little and held her at arms’ length.“It’s alright, sweetie. I’m not really angry. Or at you, Taec. I guess it’s only right you know what’s going on. I know I would want to know too.” He reasoned wearily. Dongwoon kissed his cheek and nodded, letting him know he was doing the right thing by explaining.“I’ll go and make you some tea, baby.” Dongwoon whispered, leaving the room to give Gikwang some space for him to explain. The younger man nodded, giving him a grateful smile. He then turned his attention to the children.“Da, who’s the boy on the sofa?” Haneul asked, tilting her head to try and get a clearer look of the boy’s face. Taecyeon stared at the figure on the sofa and gulped, feeling his throat and mouth go dry. He couldn’t avert his eyes from Seungho and his body had become stiff, as if he was in a trance. Haneul knitted her eyebrows together in confusion. Gikwang took a deep breath.“Hannie, Taec, his name is-““Seungho hyung.” Taecyeon said breathlessly, eyes brimming with tears.“You remember him?” Gikwang enquired softly, putting his hand flat on the young boy’s back to comfort him.“Of course I do..” Taecyeon whispered. “But why is he here?”“Who is Seungho~?” Haneul whined, feeling left out. Gikwang put his other arm around her.“Sweetie, do you remember how I told you I used to look after a few of the children from my old orphanage when I was there?” the little girl nodded. “Well, Seungho was one of them. He was eight years old when I left, so he’s sixteen now. He’s here because me and daddy went to the orphanage today to try and get hold of Doojoonie’s file so we could show you a picture of him, but we found out that Seungho was seriously sick just like angel appa. We brought him home so we can look after him and make sure he gets better.” He explained, smoothing off the rough edges of the story so as not to upset Haneul. Taecyeon filled in the gaps for himself, looking at how guilty his hyung seemed to feel. His mouth couldn’t form the words to speak. He walked over to the sofa and knelt down, feeling strange about seeing Seungho so weak when he had always acted so strong.Haneul felt strange as she stood in the room, like she was going to be sick. It was scary seeing a boy so thin he looked like he could shatter at any moment. It was unnerving seeing the ugly yellowing bruises and scars from deep cuts littering his shockingly white skin. It was terrifying knowing that this is what her appa must have looked like all those years ago when he was dying of the same thing. She felt her eyes welling up just looking at Seungho. She made a whimpering noise in her throat as she struggled to stop herself crying, which alerted Gikwang, who had been preoccupied with watching Taecyeon stare blankly at the sick teenager. He crouched down to his daughter’s height and smiled at her comfortingly, running his fingers through her glossy hair.“You don’t have to fight it, princess.. I know it’s strange and I know it feels horrible knowing angel appa had this too..” he closed his eyes and a few tears streamed down his own cheeks. Haneul let out  a sob. “You have to cry when you feel sad, sweetie. If you don’t then all the sad will be bottled up and eventually it will explode and you’ll be a hundred times more sad. It’s all very confusing, but I feel it too. You’re not on your own at all. In fact, I think Taecyeon is just as shaken up.” He tried to reassure, kissing his daughter’s forehead.“Will S-Seungho d-die? Like.. like appa..?” Haneul asked, trembling. Gikwang frowned and shook his head, pulling her into a hug.“No. No, that’s not going to happen. I promise that won’t happen. I’m not going to give up until he’s better.” He said fiercely, meaning every word.A few minutes later, Dongwoon came back into the room, clutching a steaming cup of tea for Gikwang and two cups of warmed milk for Taecyeon and Haneul. The three took their drinks gratefully, thanking Dongwoon as the man made himself comfortable on the armchair opposite the sofa. Haneul detached herself from Gikwang and hopped up onto her daddy’s lap, snuggling up to his chest and sipping her milk. Gikwang smiled a little.“Total daddy’s girl.” He noted. Dongwoon nodded mock-meekly.“Of course, I’m extremely loveable.” He answered, earning a small giggle from Haneul as she wiped her tears on his shirt. “Hey! I’m not a tissue, you know.”“Loveable idiot, alright.” Gikwang chuckled, looking at his lover and daughter fondly.Taecyeon sniffed and stood up, walking to the armchair and sitting down on the arm, holding his cup in shaky hands. His eyes were bloodshot from crying and he had a kind of dazed look on his face, as if he couldn’t quite believe what was going on. Dongwoon nudged Haneul over a little and pulled Taecyeon down onto his lap too, even though he was twice the size and weight of the little girl and often acted like he was too old for hugs. This time, he let all of his boyish pride go and buried his face in the warmth that was Dongwoon. Haneul reached out with her free hand and squeezed Taecyeon’s. Gikwang put his empty cup on the table next to the chair.“Room for a little one?” he asked, before squishing in between the children on his lover’s lap. Dongwoon nuzzled his nose against Gikwang’s cheek and put his arms around his little family, holding onto them like he would never let go.They sat like that in silence, just content in cuddling each other while the children continued to drink their warm milk. Before long, Dongwoon and Gikwang felt the children’s heads loll onto one side, their chests heaving up and down.“Are they asleep?” Dongwoon murmured. Gikwang smiled and nodded.“They must’ve been exhausted. It’s quite late, too. Could you take them to bed for me?” Dongwoon looked confused.“Aren’t you coming to bed too?”“I can’t just leave Seungho down here on his own. He might wake up and need someone or something. I’ll stay here with him tonight, if that’s ok? I need to know that he’s looked after.” The younger man explained, carefully climbing off his lover’s lap and pulling up a chair next to where Seungho was still sleeping. Dongwoon nodded and tapped the children on their shoulders gently.“Hey, sleepy-heads. You’re both too big to carry all the way to bed now. Give me a hand, yeah?” the children groaned but groggily opened their eyes and stood up, shuffling to the door. Dongwoon smiled. Taecyeon remembered that Seungho was sick and his tired eyes widened slightly.“Seungho..” he mumbled.“Will be looked after by Kiki.” Dongwoon replied firmly. Taecyeon nodded sleepily and threw one last anxious look to Gikwang before sighing and continuing to leave the room. Haneul yawned and held onto her daddy’s arm all the way upstairs, too tired to walk on her own.   A/N: aww cuddly scenes are cuddly :) *squishes Kiki's face*

thank-you all for reeeaaaddiiing~~~ not only BTS and EXO fics should be read! thank you for giving BEAST some love too~~ :) *gives black and white roses*