Jeonghan thought he knew how to deal with the pain of waiting and he thought himself to be a pretty patient guy to begin with. He remembers when he was 10, he would take his little sister school shopping and he would wait patiently while she fawned over cute little pencils and stickers, never even complaining no matter how long she took. He remembers when he was 14 and he discovered his love for singing, auditioning for his first school talent show and waiting an entire week for the results to be posted, never grumbling once no matter how badly he wanted to know how he did. He remembers being 16 years old and street casted by an agent from Pledis and going through yet another audition and having to wait months for a reply from the company, never showing any signs of impatience during the wait. Hell, even during Seventeen's predebute days and having spent 2 years as a trainee only to find out that their debut date had been pushed back, Jeonghan never said anything negative about having to wait even longer. Because that's just who Jeonghan was. He was patient and understanding and waiting was never a problem for him.

So why were these 30 minutes sitting outside the ICU and waiting to see Seungcheol pure torture for the singer? 

Seungcheol's family was in there with the leader. They were scared and worried and they had every right to spend as long as they wanted with their youngest. Jeonghan knew that. But at the same time, Jeonghan wanted to scream and shout at how unfair it was that the Choi's were taking such a long time, delaying his own chance to be in the room with Seungcheol. The only thing stopping him from barging in there himself was the threat from their manager to stay put or else he would force all the members back to the dorm and deny any request to visit Seungcheol during his time in the hospital. He knew the threat would be carried out if he did anything stupid so instead Jeonghan fiddled with his fingers and shook his foot while staring at something interesting on the floor. He knew it was annoying and Woozi looked ready to punch him but Jeonghan needed to busy himself with anything just to forget about how many seconds went by. 

And finally, the torturous wait was over when Jeonghan saw Seunggil walk out with his parents. Dr. Kim was discussing something with Mr. Choi so it was Seungcheol's mother that greeted them with a forced smile. 

"Oh my, Seungcheol is very lucky to have so many friends that care for him. You all have to promise me that you'll be there for my little boy during all of this. It's going to be so hard for him and I know nothing will make him happier than all of you being there to support him. He speaks so highly of you 12 and I just know you won't let him down."

"Of course Mrs. Choi! We love Seungcheol very much and we'll help him however we can!" Dino said with a big smile. The youngest looking so determined to help out his hyung.

The others all agreed with the maknae and then one by one, they hugged Mrs. Choi before she left, all of them whispering their own encouraging words to her as they gave her a lite squeeze. 

When it was Jeonghan's turn, he hugged the tiny woman and felt her start to sob again so he rubbed her back and gently rocked her from side to side, hoping to calm her down.

"Mrs. Choi, if you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to call. I love your son like he were my own family and I would be more than happy to help you take care of him over the next few months....Please...I want to be there for him and I want to be there for you too. So if there's anything at all that I can do to help, please just call me."

She cupped Jeonghan's cheeks and for the first time that night, Mrs. Choi let out a real smile. "No wonder Seungcheol likes you so much."

"What?"

"Nothing. Forget I said anything. Now you better hurry along if you want to see Seungcheol. It looks like your friends are arguing over who's going in."

And sure enough, when Jeonghan bid the woman farewell and turned around, he saw his 11 members engrossed in a heated game of rock, paper, scissors.

"Shua...what on earth is going on?"

"The nurse said they only allow a set number of people inside a room at a time. She offered to take us in 2 groups and now we're trying to decide who goes first."

"Hey, you cheated! You were scissors but you changed to paper!" - Hoshi

"I did not!" - Minghao

"Does it matter? You both lost!" - Jun

"Who asked you, you piece of sh-"

"Alright! I know me, Cheol and Shua call you guys kids but I didn't think you'd actually act like children over a game of rock paper scissors." Jeonghan intervened. 

"But hyung, they were cheating!" Mingyu said in defense.

"It doesn't matter, the fact that you all are fighting over this is childish."

"But we're just trying to see who gets to see Coups first." said Vernon.

"Okay, I'll make it easy for you guys. First group is everyone who was born in 97 or later. Group 2 is hyung line. I've decided so no complaints or arguments! Group 1, you better hurry because you've got 10 minutes before we switch out groups. Understood?" Jeonghan said in a tone that the youngers had called his 'mom voice' and they all followed his instructions without hesitation.

Jeonghan watched the younger ones follow the nurse to Seungcheol's room while the rest of Seventeen sat back down in the waiting area. Jeonghan felt his stress levels increase with having to watch over s and he ran a hand through his short blonde hair and took a deep breath as he took his seat. Joshua sat down next to him and gave him an amused look. Too tired to try and figure out what that look meant, Jeonghan just stared back in confusion.

"That was pretty nice of you, letting the younger ones in first. I thought you would've made sure you were the first one to see Cheol. Unless your real intention was to be the last one so that you could spend the most time with him after everyone has left the room."

Jeonghan scoffed. "And if I do? What's wrong with wanting to spend more time with Seungcheol?"

"Nothing. I'm just pointing it out." Joshua said with another amused smile.

Jeonghan was truly confused now. "You're being weird."

"And you're an idiot" Joshua laughed and then moved to another seat before Jeonghan could hit him.

Exactly 10 minutes later, the first batch had finished their visiting time with Seungcheol and the next group want in. Jeonghan opened the door and stepped in first, immediately hating everything about the room and its atmosphere. Everything was stale and bland and lacked the lively aura that Seungcheol always managed to carry around him. The only sound that could be heard was the noise coming from the ventilator and the sound of Seungcheol breathing through the mask. Jeonghan was speechless and found himself drifting towards the back of the room as the others filed in. 

The nurse adjusted one of Seungcheol's pillows and then turned to all of them with a sad smile. "He's very tired right now so I'm not sure if he'll even respond to you. But you are free to talk to him for the next 15 minutes. After that I'm afraid that I'll have to you all out so that we can let him sleep. And if anything happens, please press the red call button on the side of his bed and a nurse will come immediately to check on him if needed." 

After that, the nurse left the room and they all started to talk to Seungcheol one by one. They went in age order, starting with Woozi, then Wonwoo and so on. Jeonghan barely registered what they were saying to the leader, still trying process the image of Seungcheol on the bed. Seungcheol looked so peaceful and if you took the mask and the machine away, Jeonghan could almost fool himself into thinking Seungcheol was taking a simple nap which was much nicer to think about rather than the truth of the situation.

Jeonghan was brought out of his thoughts by Jun who waved a hand in front of his face.

"Hyung, don't you want to say anything to Seungcheol? We've all said what we wanted to say so it's your turn."

Jeonghan didn't reply and continued to stare at Seungcheol lying on the bed.

"Actually, why don't we head back to the waiting area and give them some alone time." Joshua said and ushered the rest out of the room.

Jeonghan finally snapped out of it when the door shut and he mentally thanked Joshua for giving him some privacy with the eldest.

He stood up and slowly made his way towards Seungcheol's bedside. The image was all wrong. Seungcheol was supposed to be strong but the man lying on the bed looked frail and much too delicate. Seungcheol looked absolutely broken and Jeonghan hated it. And he hated it even more knowing that Seungcheol got this way in order to save him and Dokyeom. Jeonghan knew it was stupid to blame himself but he couldn't help the twinge of guilt he felt every time he looked at Seungcheol with all of his bruises and broken bones and the large bandage wrapped around his head. 

Jeonghan felt like crying all over again.

Without even thinking, he took Seungcheol's right hand into his and caressed his fingers, absentmindedly playing with the ring on his pinky. He didn't know what possessed him next, but after seeing the ring was still in perfect condition even after the accident, Jeonghan couldn't help but to lean down and kissed the face of it. It was almost like seeing the piece of jewelry that symbolized their dreams as a group remain unharmed gave Jeonghan more hope that Seungcheol was going to be just fine.

He smiled again but it was short lived when he felt the fingers of Seungcheol's right hand twitch. Jeonghan held his breath, afraid that he was imagining things and waited to see if Seungcheol would move again.

After what felt like minutes, Jeonghan saw Seungcheol's eyes start to flutter. 

"Seungcheol! Can you hear me? Seungcheol.....Ya Coups!"

Seungcheol looked like he had trouble focusing as he blinked several times and shook his head a couple of times. When it looked like he had finally adjusted his sight, Jeonghan saw Seungcheol's lips moving and heard the other attempt to speak. Jeonghan lifted the mask slightly to better hear the other.

"Do...Do...yoon.....Doyoon"

Jeonghan didn't know why but it felt like his heart shattered when he heard Seungcheol call him by another's name. 

"Seungcheol....I'm not Doyoon. My name is Jeonghan. Remember? Yoon Jeonghan? Your angel?"

Seungcheol's brow furrowed in confusion and looked like Jeonghan was telling him the most ridiculous thing ever. "No...your name...is....Doyoon"

"No it's not! My name is Jeonghan!" Jeonghan was beginning to get frustrated because damn it why couldn't Seungcheol remember his name!

Seungcheol looked like he was getting just as frustrated and annoyed as Jeonghan when his face suddenly contorted into a look of discomfort before his face turned pale and he was desperately scanning the room for something before he pointed to the small trashcan in the corner of the room.

"Give.....it...please!"

Jeonghan didn't have to be told twice and quickly handed it over to Seungcheol. 

Within seconds, Seungcheol was vomiting. It was hard to watch and all Jeonghan could do was rub his back in an attempt to help the other through it. His retching turned violent and Seungcheol looked like he was in a world of pain. Jeonghan was panicking at this point and he frantically pushed the call button until several nurses came rushing into the room.

"What happened?!"

"I don't know. He....he woke up and tried speaking and then he started throwing up!" Jeonghan was scared and he felt utterly useless as the nurses tried to get Seungcheol to stop before he hurt himself even more.

Jeonghan was frozen in place and one of the nurses gently escorted him towards the door. "Sir, I'm going ask you to step outside the room. We will take care of the patient but we need you to leave."

"But-"

"Please! The group you came with is waiting outside and we've already told them to go home. Like I said, we will take care of him and then you can come back tomorrow to see how he's doing, alright?"

Jeonghan nodded numbly okay and proceeded to exit the building and walk towards the vans in the car park. 

He slid inside the first van and saw that everyone was already sleeping. He wanted to do the same but he knew he'd be haunted by a million unpleasant thoughts, especially after what he had just witnessed. He wondered how he was going to make it through the next 5-10 days that Seungcheol would be in the hospital. And then the next few months where the older would be recovering in a town over 3 hours away from him. 

He was scared and worried and he didn't know what was going to happen and right now, all Jeonghan wanted was a comforting hug from Seungcheol as the other would tell him that things were going to be okay. 

A/N: First day of classes and I'm already stressing! Lowkey wished I could just spend all day writing this fic LOL

Anyway, here's chapter 6! I hope you guys enjoy and as always, please remember to comment!! ♡