My first fic! I hope yall like it and please be nice 😭
Caretakers: Jake and Jungwon
Jay sighed with relief as Enhypen’s group dance practice ended, glancing at his phone to check the time. The bright screen caused Jay’s eyes to water as he read the time: 2:30 am. The group had been practicing since 9:30 pm, right after their other schedules had been completed. They had just released their new album, “Dark Blood”, and were very busy with promotions. With vocal lessons, dance practices, performances, interviews, and filming other content for Engenes, the boys of Enhypen had worked themselves to the bone. They were trying their best to stay healthy, chugging down vitamin C drinks every morning and making sure to eat proper meals when they could, but it was only a matter of time before one of the members got sick. With their busy schedules, all the members were struggling, but Jay seemed to be struggling the most. Dark circles under his eyes stood out against his smooth skin, pale from lack of sunlight and sleep. He groaned softly, stretching his aching muscles as the group piled into the van to go back to their dorm.
When the members got back to their dorm, they played rock-paper-scissors to decide the order of their showers. Jay won, and he tiredly made his way to the shower. As he turned on the water, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He looked paler than usual, or maybe his dark circles just looked worse. He couldn’t tell. His eyes had a tired gloss over them and his cheeks were slightly flushed. He sighed and stepped in the shower, letting the hot water relax his tired body. He could’ve stayed in the shower for hours, he thought as he felt a prickle in his nose. Jay sniffed, trying to get rid of the sensation, but the action only made it worse. He turned the water off and started drying himself off, scrubbing at his itching nose. Then, his breath hitched. Jay raised an elbow to his face, waiting. “Ah…heh..HAECHOO! ItSHuhh!” The sneezes sounded breathy and desperate, and Jay sniffled. “Bless you, mate!” Jake yelled, his Aussie accent prominent since he was speaking English. “Thank you!” Jay called back as he finished drying off, throwing on a pair of sweatpants and heading to his room.
Jay yawned as he lightly massaged his forehead, nursing a slight headache. He brushed it off as being too tired, and turned on the air conditioner as soon as he entered his room. Jay decided to take a few minutes to message Engenes on Bubble and Weverse while Jake took his shower, not wanting to turn off the lights and bother his roommate. Jay smiled, thinking about how much he loved Engenes, when the door opened and Jake walked in with a shiver. “Why is the air conditioner on so high? You’re gonna get sick, especially if you sleep with wet hair,” Jake scolded the older member. “Remember when Wonnie slept with the air conditioner on and he was so sick that he couldn’t sing for two weeks?” Jay rolled his eyes, telling Engenes goodnight before answering Jake. “I’ll be fine, you’re just worrying. I’m pretty sure Wonnie was gonna get sick anyway, whether he had the air conditioner on or not.” Jay said as he turned off his phone and got under his blankets, a light shiver going through him. Jake noticed this, of course, and raised an eyebrow, but did not push it any further. It was late and he didn’t want to make his hyung truly upset. He turned the lights off and yawned, mumbling a sleepy “night, hyung” as he drifted off to sleep.
Jay woke up four hours later to the sound of Jake’s alarm. He groaned and brought a hand to his forehead, massaging his temples, as the headache he had gone to bed with had gotten much worse overnight. Congestion had settled into his sinuses as well as a sore throat while he had been asleep. Jay sat up slowly, trying to stretch his aching muscles and clearing his throat. Sniffling wetly as the congestion in his head shifted, Jay looked to the nightstand between his bed and Jake’s bed, looking for tissues. There were none, so he settled for wiping his nose on his blanket.
“Hyung, you awake? You were snoring last night, are you feeling alright?” Jake asked in his usual husky morning voice as he dug through his closet for an outfit. Jay cleared his throat before answering, hoping that would make his voice sound less bad than it was. “Yeah, I’mb fide, just a little stuffy,” Jay said hoarsely, internally cringing at how congested he sounded. There’s no way Jake would fall for that, he thought. Proving his point, Jake looked skeptically at his roommate and moved a hand to his forehead, looking confused when Jay suddenly moved away from him. “Hyung, what the-” the Aussie started to say, but he was cut off with an outburst from Jay. “Het-CHOO! Ah… Hi-CHEW! Ugh, sorry.” Jay sniffled wetly after the sneezes and Jake cringed. “Bless you, mate. Now tell me honestly, how do you feel?” Jay sighed, looking up at Jake with glossy eyes. “Fide. I don’t feel good. Do we have ady tissues?” Jake nodded. “Yeah, hold on, I’ll be right back,” he said, closing the door and heading to the kitchen to find Jungwon.
Jungwon’s head turned when he heard footstepts coming into the kitchen and he smiled. However, his expression quickly changed to confusion when he saw Jake instead of Jay standing there. Usually, Jay was awake and making breakfast for the other members. Where was he now? “Jake-hyung, where’s Jay-hyung?” The leader asked. Jake sighed. “Jay-hyung’s sick, I think he has a cold. He needs tissues. I should also probably check his temperature,” Jake said, thinking out loud. Jungwon put down his protein shake and went into the laundry room, tossing a box of tissues to Jake when he found them. “Here. I’ll come take his temperature so I can let our manager know what to do with the schedules today.” Jake nodded, knowing that would be easiest for the leader, as they headed to Jay’s room.
The pair opened the door to the sick members room, but didn’t get so much as a nod of acknowledgement. Jay had ditched the blanket, now cupping his hands over his face as his eyelids fluttered and his breath hitched. “Ha…HATCHOO! HaSHIEW! ITCHOO!” He winced afterwards, still unaware of the other members. Jungwon frowned and Jake spoke up. “Bless you, hyung. Here,” Jake opened up the tissue box and took a few out, handing them to Jay and setting the box on the nightstand. Jay took them gratefully, blowing his nose productively, which caused both Jake and Jungwon to cringe. The leader reached and felt his hyung’s forehead, frowning at the warmth he felt. “I think you have a fever, hyung. Let me make sure so I can get your schedules cleared.” Jay was about to protest, but was cut off by harsh coughs. He felt Jake’s hand rubbing his back as he sniffled again. Jungwon quickly slid the thermometer across the older’s forehead as his breath hitched once again. “38.5 degrees. You’re definitely staying home today, hyung,” The leader read Jay’s temperature out loud. “N-no..I…Ha-CHOO! ACHOO! I can’t afford to miss a day of schedules, not right now.” Jungwon sighed. He knew how taxing the schedules would be with one member gone, but he couldn’t afford Jay being sick for longer or getting the other members sick. “Hyung, I know you don’t wanna miss anything right now, but if you don’t let yourself rest, you’ll be sick for longer. Plus, you’ll risk the other members getting sick.” The room was quiet for a minute, aside from Jay’s sniffles, when there was a knock on the door. “Can I come in?” Heeseung’s voice came from the other side. “Yeah,” Jake called back. Heeseung opened the door and his eyes widened. “Is Jay sick?” He asked. The other two nodded. Heeseung frowned as Jay sneezed three more times into the tissues he had been holding. “Bless you, Jay-hyung,” Jake said softly. Heeseung reached out and patted Jay on the back. “What’s our first schedule today?” The oldest member asked. Jungwon pulled up their schedule for the day and showed it to Heeseung. “Individual vocal lessons. I’m gonna see if I can move mine to a different day so I can take care of Jay-hyung,” Jungwon said as he texted the group’s manager. “Just lay down and rest, I’ll let you know what’s happening” he said to Jay in a no-nonsense tone. Jay nodded and layed back down, giving a stuffy sigh as the others left the room.
Heeseung and Jake prepared protein shakes for the rest of the members while Jungwon made sure they were all up, checking his phone every couple minutes to see if their manager had answered him. Soon enough, all the healthy members were up and ready to pile into the van for their lessons. Jungwon was getting anxious, not wanting to have to force Jay to get up and go to a full day of schedules or be home sick by himself, when his phone rang. The leader answered immediately, speaking quickly to their manager. The other members listened intently, picking up on the fact that Jungwon was stressed. After a couple minutes, they heard a relieved sigh. “Thank you so much, manager-nim. I really appreciate it,” Jungwon breathed as he hung up the phone and turned to the other members. “You guys are good to go to practice. I’m taking the day off to take care of Jay-hyung. Heeseung-hyung, make sure everyone’s behaving.” The members nodded in understanding and left the dorm, while Jungwon got some tea and medicine ready for Jay.
Jay decided that he wanted to be in the living room more than his own room, so he slowly got up and shuffled towards the couch, only to pause as he felt another annoying tickle in his nose. He raised his hands to his face, tilting his head up as his breath hitched again. “AT-CHUH! HAETCHOO! Heh..HAT-CHOO! Ugh,” Jay sniffled and winced, as the sneezes had hurt his throat more. Jungwon, who hadn’t known that Jay was there, jumped. “Hyung, you scared me!” The leader laughed, entering the living room with tea and medicine. “Here, take this.” Jay sighed with a smile. “Sorry, Wonnie. And thank you.” Jay swallowed the pills and rested his head on Jungwon’s shoulder with a sigh. Jungwon pressed a small kiss to the older’s too-warm forehead and smiled. “Get some rest, okay?” Jay nodded against his neck and soon, the sound of congested snoring filled the room.
