Jay wakes up in the middle of the night, and only one person can comfort him.

-

Waking up in the middle of the night is never a good sign. Whether you're waking up to noises outside, or to your phone ringing at ass-o'clock in the morning, it's hardly ever something pleasant.

So when Jay woke up and found the dorm in eerie silence, the headache that hit him soon after shouldn't have been quite as much of a surprise as it was. It was most likely the same thing that had woken him up in the first place, along with the ringing in his ears and the uncomfortable feeling of his shirt sticking to his back.

The debate in his head between getting up and trying to go back to sleep bounced back and forth in his brain until he eventually went with the lazy option. Anyway, it's not like getting up would do much for his aching limbs.

His brain felt far too active behind his closed eyelids for him to fall asleep, his body was more painful than it was tired, and the ringing in his ears was making him question whether it was really in his head, or whether someone's phone was ringing instead.

Frustrated, Jay pulled his covers over his head despite the brewing warmth that he was already feeling, squeezing his eyes shut as he told himself, go to sleep.

Unsurprisingly, demanding himself to sleep didn't do anything for him, but he lay there for long enough to begin to drift without even knowing it. To him, he was still fully aware, but the world around him was fading out as an uncomfortable void swallowed him up.

-

Usually, Jay doesn't remember his dreams. He wakes up early and doesn't really have the time to think about what happened in his dreams, but he had plenty of time now, and he didn't like it.

He felt significantly warmer now, searing pain in the front of his head making him feel dizzy as he hauled himself to sit up. His eyes burned with tears and the headache that was beginning to seep inside the cracks of his mind.

"Jake," he whispered, hoping that the boy in the bunk above him was awake. Jay waited, his grip on the sheets growing tighter as he shut his eyes, "Jake, wake up,"

He leaned against the headboard of the bed as panic swelled up inside of him. What would he do if no one would wake up? Why wasn't he waking up? He pulled his duvet towards him and exhaled heavily, until he heard a voice.

"Jay-hyung, did you say something?" Jake replied, his voice loud enough to disrupt Jungwon who was in the single bed on the other side of the room. The latter sat up and rubbed his eyes, frowning as he caught sight of Jay.

"What's up, hyung?" Jungwon asked, glancing over as he leaned towards the older boy. Jay turned away, biting his lip as he massaged his sinuses with his fingers.

"Nothing, Jungwonnie. Go back to sleep," Jay mumbled, but that only concerned the two boys more. Jake climbed down from his bunk and kneeled beside Jay's bed, and Jay's face seemed to heat up more than it already had from all of the attention.

"Hyung, you don't look so good. Did you sleep okay?" said Jake, reaching forward to move Jay's hair out of his eyes but he let out a little gasp and placed his hand on Jay's forehead, "Not to be funny, but you're really hot."

Jay shrugged and Jungwon smiled a little bit, but the grin quickly disappeared as he saw Jay pull away from Jake with embarrassment, "It'll go away."

"Jungwonnie, can you go and get Heesung-hyung?" Jake asked, and the younger nodded as he scuttled out of the room. He crept down the hall and knocked on Heesung and Sunghoon's room but there was no response. Slowly, he edged the door open and peered into the room.

They were both fast asleep, and he silently scurried to Heesung's bed and poked his shoulder. Jungwon almost giggled as Heesung shrugged off his hand, then he said quietly, "Heesung-hyung, wake up, please."

Heesung's eyes snapped open as soon as he heard Jungwon's voice, and he sat up quick enough that he almost headbutted him.

"What's wrong? Are you okay, Jungwonnie? Has anything happened to you?" He checked Jungwon's face and hands for any sign of him being hurt, but Jungwon shook his head as a reassurance.

"I'm fine, but Jay-hyung has a fever," Jungwon said, and the sleepiness in Heesung's eyes returned as he said,
"Thank god… Wait, what? Where is he?" He scrambled out of bed and initiated his motherly instincts, directing himself to the room that the three boys shared.

He found Jake kneeling next to Jay's bunk, which was currently occupied by a lump underneath the duvet. Said lump mumbled quietly, and Heesung knelt beside Jake to hear it better the second time, "Go away, please."

Heesung's heart sunk with pity as he reached towards the duvet so that he could pull it down to reveal the face beneath it, but then two small but strong hands kept the sheet in place with a determined grip.

"Can you guys go to my room? You can get some more sleep, and please don't bother Sunghoon," Heesung requested, to which the two younger members nodded and scampered into the corridor. He turned back to Jay, who still insisted on remaining under his covers.

"Not just them, you too hyung," Jay complained, but Heesung shushed him.

"I'm not leaving, Jay. Now tell me what's wrong." Heesung slowly pulled the duvet down again and helped Jay to sit up, the latter sulking as he glared at his mattress.

"Nothing," Jay said, glancing up at Heesung but quickly diverting his gaze, "It's nothing, hyung."

"You might want it to be nothing but ignoring it won't do that. You can tell me, okay?"

Jay shrugged, intimidated by Heesung's gaze as he scooted closer to the headboard and further from Heesung.

"Have a headache," he said, giving in, "And… I just want to go home." He picked at his fingernails to avoid looking at Heesung, and the older boy placed his hand on top of Jay's as a sign of reassuring him.

Heesung repeated what Jake had done, feeling Jay's forehead for his temperature. He sighed, ruffling the boy's hair before he got up, heading towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Jay asked, just above a whisper. He'd denied it before, but he really wanted Heesung to stay. It felt like he was his lifeline of positivity.

"I'm getting a thermometer and some medicine, I'll be back in a minute," He said as he left, leaving Jay alone in the room.

Jay lay back down and closed his eyes, now having no distraction for the pain in his skull. He curled up and waited to hear the door open again, but his mind started drifting before he did.

He almost fell asleep, but then he felt a light tapping on his shoulder and he opened his eyes, the brightness in the room seeming more prominent than before. The sudden wave of light made him shut his eyes again as he reached over and patted Heesung's arm with urgency.

"Hyung, the light," Jay mumbled, pulling his duvut over his head. He heard muffled footsteps along the floor and then the light clicked off, and he opened his eyes. Heesung helped him sit up, looking apologetic.

"I got you ibuprofen and a glass of water, then I'll take your temperature, okay?" Heesung said. Jay thought for a moment and nodded, only slightly to avoid jostling his headache.

Heesung popped two pills out of the packet and handed them to Jay, and he waited with the glass of water. Jay frowned as he inspected the pills, but he eventually popped them in his mouth and Heesung held the water out towards him.

"Hyung… I can drink by myself." He looked down with embarrassment, and he began to be able to taste the pills as he hadn't swallowed them yet, but Heesung carefully lifted his chin between his thumb and forefinger, forcing him to meet his gaze.

"No, your hands are shaking." Heesung held the glass to his lips and Jay crossed his arms over his chest, drinking the water but glaring at Heesung at the same time, "Don't be angry at me, please. I'm trying to help."

Jay felt like just having his eyes open for this long was sucking his soul out of him, so as soon as Heesung was done with him he lay down and held onto his duvet again, burying his face in the sheets. He heard Heesung giggle, and his face flushed with embarrassment.

"Sleep well, Jay."

-

The room was still dark when he awoke, but light was flooding in through the gap in the curtains and from underneath the closed door. Other than himself, the room was empty, leaving him with no one that he could climb in bed with and cuddle. Usually when he wanted to cuddle he would wait for them to come to him, as he got flustered easily when he hugged people, but he really felt like he needed it now.

He wouldn't be able to go without it.

So with a grimace on his face, he crawled out from underneath his duvet, the contrast of the cold room to how hot it had felt before making him shiver. He didn't check the time, instead he went straight out of his room and stumbled upon the living area of their dorms, and suddenly six pairs of eyes were on him.

He hid his face in his hands and walked over to Heesung, who was sitting on the couch beside Jake and Sunoo. They had been talking previously but all conversations had stopped as Jay sat down as close to Heesung as humanly possible and lay his head on his shoulder, wrapping his arms around himself sleepily.

"Jay… are you okay?" Heesung whispered, ruffling the boy's hair as his head nodded forward from being so sleepy.

"M' fine," Jay insisted, shivering as he shuffled so close to Heesung that he was almost sitting on him, "Too cold." He closed his eyes and hugged Heesung with both of his arms tightly around the older boy's waist, pulling his knees up to his chest so he could curl up on the sofa.

"Cold? You're a living furnace," Heesung said with a slight giggle, and Jay shook his head and groaned quietly. He didn't say another word, a stark contrast to the talkative Jay that they are used to.

He dropped his head onto Heesung's chest, his sleepiness allowing him to drift off in a rather uncomfortable position. Heesung quickly shooed Sunoo and Jake off the couch and he carefully lay Jay down, who curled up from feeling like he was cold. Leaving Jake in charge for a minute, he went to Jay's room and picked up a blanket and the glass of water that he had left on the bedside table. He brought them back and covered Jay with the blanket, making him sit up to drink some of the water.

Jay tried to fall asleep, but his pulsing headache was too distracting to let him do so. He didn't want to be alone, he wanted Heesung.

He propped himself up on his elbows, but Heesung's hands were immediately on his shoulder pushing him gently back down.

"Sleep, Jay, you're tired," Heesung said and Jay sulked as he tried to sit up again, and he grabbed onto Heesung's wrist and didn't let go. Heesung almost smiled, but he hid it as he didn't want Jay to get embarrassed again.

Jay sat up properly and left a gap at the end of the sofa, which he demanded Heesung to sit in. Then he shuffled up towards Heesung, seating himself on his lap and leaning back against his chest. He closed his eyes, becoming peaceful enough that they all believed he was asleep.

That was, until he opened his eyes again and grabbed Heesung's wrists to wrap the older's arms around him, "At least try to hug me properly, hyung."

-

The fever dreams were getting worse. This time it was different though.

It was a dark, confusing dream, and everything he did seemed to just make it worse. He wanted to wake up, but he couldn't even tell if it was a dream.

He was trapped inside his own consciousness, and he was no longer the master of his own fate as the dream dragged on, making him shake and sweat but not wake up, not until the very last minute.

Jay sat up abruptly, his breath quick and sharp and his eyes pouring with tears as he tried to open his eyes to look around the room. His eyes were tired and bleary, the room too dark for him to see anything.

He was trapped in darkness, for the second time that night. His sobs wracked through his body as he searched around him for any trace of the other members, but there was complete darkness and silence.

Knowing that his phone was in his room, Jay kicked his blanket off of him and hauled himself to his feet, straining his eyes to see through the darkness. He should turn on a light, or open a curtain, but he didn't. He was set on getting to his phone, and he was just too tired and emotional to be thinking straight.

He got to his room, but stopped before he could go inside. Dizziness hit him, and he quickly reached out to hold the doorframe to stop himself from stumbling. When he carefully pushed open the door of his room so he could proceed, he felt as if his body wasn't going to be able to support itself to get to the other side of the room. The distance got further and further as the corridor he was in began to compress, and he sunk to the floor with his hands holding his head.

Through the dizziness, he used the doorframe to pull himself to his feet, and he carefully walked forward as the room warped around him. He spotted a phone on the bedside table, and at last he kneeled in front of it and grabbed his phone, unlocking the screen as quickly as he could with bleary eyed and a pulsing headache.

He called Heesung, wincing as the phone rang loudly while he waited for him to pick up. It went on, and on, and Jay thought that he wasn't going to pick up, but at last the ringing stopped and Heesung's voice was on the other side.

"Hi Jay, are you okay? What's wrong, there's only a few minutes left of practice." Jay hadn't really had the thought to check the time, and he didn't care much now either.

"Hyung, come back," he whined, staring at the floor as his flushed cheeks went pinker. He sounded ridiculous.

"We'll be back soon, okay? What's wrong?" Jay sulked and wrapped his arm around himself, the nausea having caused him and unsettled stomach.

"Just come home now, hyung. Please."

"Okay… you're worrying me, Jay. I'll see if I can get out early, okay?"

"M' too dizzy… can't stand up," his headache took over and he nodded off, Heesung ending the call as he presumably went to ask to get off practice early.

Jay woke up not 5 minutes later, but he felt like he had slept for hours. And Heesung still wasn't there. Now desperate, he stood up and made his way out of the room, no matter what nausea or dizziness it caused him.

-

When the other 6 members got back from practice, Heesung went straight to Jay's room with a slight panic, only to find that he wasn't there.

He was on the verge of beginning to really panic, when he heard stifled laughter, and Jungwon and Niki ran towards him. Niki whispered, "Hyung, we found Jay."

He followed the pair with uncertainty and almost giggled himself when they took him into his room and found Jay asleep in his bed, face buried in the soft material of one of Jungwon's plushies. He was fast asleep, and Heesung regrettably had to wake him up to check on him.

He gently shook his shoulder until Jay sat up and nearly bumped heads with Heesung. When he pulled his eyes open properly and saw Heesung, he managed just the slightest smile. Heesung placed his arms around Jay, and the latter sniffled as he buried his face in Heesung's shoulder.

"Jay-hyung, are you crying?" Sunghoon asked, trying not to sound like it was a little bit entertaining but he ultimately failed. Sunoo also tried to hide a fit of giggles, and that didn't work too well either.

"Shut up," Jay said, wiping his eyes on his sleeve but not letting go of Heesung. Heesung smiled as he ruffled Jay's hair sweetly, his panic now beginning to cease.

"I guess we know who's the most emotional when they're sick, don't we?"

Jay groaned, tucking his head underneath Heesung's chin to hide his reddening face.

--

So I started writing the Jake fic when no one replied but then two people voted Jay 😂 but I think I need to rewrite the one for Jake anyway so I'm glad.

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed :)

P.S: this is not yet fully proof read like the other one, but I will proof read it after school. ( [Edit] spoiler: I didn't)