Jihoon shifted uncomfortably on the couch.

He glanced at the table for the eight time in three minutes. His fingers were itching to take the plate with the ice cream cake on it and eat it, but he knew he had to wait until s arrive and share it.

His stomach grumbled again and Jihoon tore his eyes away from the table. After a deep sigh, he lay down on the couch.

It was a special day, special meaning that he didn't spend the evening and night in his room, working on their next album. Seungcheol had sent him home earlier, saying that he needed a break from sitting up, though he knew that this break wouldn't last for more than a day. And Jihoon being the good member didn't argue with him, and went back to the dorm with the members.

But now, looking at the cake he sort of regretted this choice.

Jihoon knew that the others wouldn't be ready in another ten minutes or so, and waiting hungrily in a room with a piece of heaven next to him seemed like a torture.

He glanced at the table again, before shifting his gaze to the fridge. Hopping off the couch, he walked towards it and opened it. A soft sigh left his lips when an empty fridge looked back at him, before closing its door.

Jihoon grunted loudly. Why didn't he stay and work on the album? Now he had hunger to deal with while waiting for s, and patience wasn't his strength.

Jihoon lost count on how many times he had eaten that cake mentally. Hunger can mess up people's minds a bit.

And it can make people do some not-so-wise things.

s weren't to show up until a few more minutes, right? That's enough time to find something on the cake that they wouldn't notice if disappeared.

Jihoon walked to the table and leaned close to the cake. It was an ice cream cake with raspberries and strawberries on top, same flavoured ice cream in the middle, and chocolate icing in lines on top of everything. Just a close look at it could make the pink haired boy drool.

Jihoon observed the cake carefully and looked around if anyone was near, before taking a raspberry from the cake. It made no difference, the cake still looked amazing, like no one had touched it at all.

Jihoon quickly put the raspberry into his mouth, but before he could do anything else, Soonyoung burst into the room with a high speed.

"I won!" he shouted.

Instead of freaking out at the dancer's sudden appearance, Jihoon took a sharp breath in surprise, that pushed the raspberry back in his mouth, making him choke on it. He coughed a few times, but the fruit refused to come out of its stuck-in position. Jihoon tried to take as little breaths and cough as big as possible to prevent it from falling deeper.

Soonyoung looked at him from across the room before Chan burst into the room like how he had done a few moments ago.

"Hey, are you okay?" the dancer asked with slight concern in his voice. When Jihoon just continued to cough hard, he hurried to his side along with a panting Chan. Soonyoung patted the pink haired boy's back to help him, but got pushed away immediately.

"No- plea- se-" Jihoon managed to say between coughs. He had already teared up because of the strength of the coughs, and he started to panick slightly when the raspberry still showed no sign of coming out.

Jihoon heard Soonyoung murmur something to Chan, though it was probably him making so loud noises that it made the dancer's voice sound quiet next to it.

Chan ran off quickly and Soonyoung softly pulled Jihoon towards the chairs while trying to calm him down.

"Deep breaths, slowly. Try to slow them down." Jihoon heard the dancer say, and he shook his head, grasping onto the table and shutting his eyes. He tried to do as Soonyoung had said, to slow the coughs down, but he was afraid that the raspberry would fall deeper if he did it. This made him cough even harder than before, more and more desperate to get the fruit out of there.

"Damn-" Soonyoung looked around helplessly, not really knowing how to help, so he just stood by Jihoon's side, trying to come up with something useful.

Jihoon felt a slightly burning feel in his lungs. He leaned down to support himself with one arm on his tigh, to make the fruit as easier way out, and also because the violent coughs were starting to tire him out.

In a few moments Chan entered the room with Seungcheol. They both looked at the composer in concern and the leader stood next to him in no time.

"Hey, sit down." he tried to pull Jihoon softly to sit on the chair next to him, not wanting to force him to move.

Putting his free hand in front of his mouth, Jihoon ignored him and pushed the burning sensation aside. He coughed one harder than any of the ones before, making a part of the raspberry come out of his upper airway. He did nothing for a few moments but standing still, not breathing and moving at all.

When he was sure that he wouldn't break into another coughing fit, he slowly pushed Seungcheol's hands away and made his way to the bathroom.

"Jihoon..."

"I'm- fine." he managed to say it, though it was much more like a whisper. He slowly left the room and passed by Jeonghan and Jisoo, who were both heading there because of the noises. The two boys stopped to look at him.

"Is something wrong?" Jeonghan asked, confused. When Jihoon shook his head, they disappeared back into the direction they had come from.

The pink haired boy stepped into the bathroom and closed the door before throwing the raspberry into the bin. He still didn't dare to breath properly, because he could still feel something in his airway. He wiped his tears, that he hadn't even realised were there with one hand and looked into the mirror.

His face was red and he looked like he had been crying for minutes. He grunted and started to slowly wash his face.

He didn't even look up when someone knocked on the door, just made a grunt loud enough for the person on the other side of the door to hear it.

He watched in the mirror as Seungcheol peeked into the bathroom before coming in.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, watching the composer's face. Jihoon nodded and reached for a towel to dry his face with.

"Yeah-" his voice cracked and he cleared his throat a little.

"You scared us. For a moment I thought it's something serious." Seungcheol said, eyes not leaving the other's face even for a second. "What happened?"

Jihoon slowly took a deep breaty, relaxing a bit that the uncomfortable feeling in his airway was starting to disappear.

"Nothing. It was just an accident." Seungcheol looked at him with eyes that clearly showed that he wasn't satisfied with the answer.

"No one starts coughing so violently out of nothing. And you're not asthmatic either. So... mind telling me why you looked like you were about to choke to death a few minutes ago?" he asked, leaning against the wall.

Jihoon sighed. At the moment he couldn't come up with any fitting white lies that could save him from his current situation, so he decided to go with the truth. He only hoped the leader was in no mood for lecturing about taking care and such.

"Fine. I was hungry, so I picked a raspberry from the cake and choked on it when Soonyoung suddenly came out of nowhere. End of story, nothing really serious. I'm fine now." he said, trying his best to make it sound like nothing. His stomach grumbled again, reminding him of his hunger that had led to all this.

Jihoon has least expected Seungcheol to laugh, but when he actually did so, he looked confusedly at him.

"What-"

"Seriously? You know... I was about to say to be more careful and to stop stealing from the cake, but your stomach made it impossible to be serious." Jihoon felt his face burn upon this, and looked away from the leader, locking his gaze with the ground in slight embarassment. Seungcheol laughed again and moved to wrap an arm around the shorter boy. "I'm glad it didn't end up in a bigger problem. The last thing we need is you in the hospital. But still, take more care. Like much more, alright?" he asked and looked at Jihoon. The shorter and nodded and smiled faintly, before unwrapping Seungcheol's arm off him.

"Understood."

"Great. Now come, I don't want you to starve right after you survived this." Jihoon laughed softly and nodded, following Seungcheol out of the bathroom. He grunted lowly when he felt the other's arm around his shoulder again, but made no movement to push it off this time. Instead, he stopped and hugged the leader tightly, not allowing him to continue walking. "Uh- what are you doing?" Seungcheol asked, confused.

"Thanking my savior and leader." Jihoon tightened the hug a little more, leaning his forehead on the other's shoulder. Seungcheol stiffened and patted Jihoon's back, unsure of the situation.

"Well- no need to thank me, really..." he blurted out, and tried to wrap the composer's arms off him. Jihoon let him do so, and watched him walk back into the room where the ice cream cake was while being slightly flustered, before moving circles with his now free shoulders.

"Finally." he murmured under his breath and smiled to himself. He knew that he could always count on his leader, that he would always be there to help him like how he did today, even if he didn't really /do/ anything. It is the intention that matters, they say.

Jihoon wouldn't admit it, but he kind of enjoyed the hug, even if it was to make Seungcheol release him. He never really initiated skinship, but when he did, it had a good reason. Now it was mainly because he was irritated, but also because Seungcheol had a soothing presence that prevented him from panicking earlier without his notice, and he was thankful for it.

He made a mental note to thank Soonyoung and Chan too later, but for now he went to join the others and to finally eat the cake he had been longing for in the past hours.

 

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Thank you for reading it^^