T/W: mentions of illness

During the weekdays a cold snap had arrived, nothing too extreme but it signified the end of summer and the start of fall. It was strange, really, how drastic the change from hot to cold was in Korea. The problem was that the sudden cold air always brought a big influx of colds, coughs and chest infections. The cooler months were, naturally, more stressful than the warmer months, especially when GPs and pharmacies palmed as many people as possible off to the hospitals. The elderly and the very young were always very vulnerable during this time, with the younger ones having an insufficient immune response to deal with the germs, and the older ones were a lot more sensitive to the cold than the average, healthy adult.

Yixing didn’t really want to voice it, but he was a little bit grateful, with the influx of younger patients being brought in Junmyeon was spending a lot more of his time in the ER than the children’s ward.

Now that temperatures were dipping a lot more during the night, he was finding a lot of stressed-out first-time parents were coming in, out of their mind with worry for their little ones. Yixing liked children, they were always a breath of fresh air in an otherwise morose department. But it was always sad to see very poorly children come in.

He’d been watching, from a seat in the nurse's station, as paramedics brought in a very sick looking toddler. The parents looked like they hadn’t slept in days, on the brink of tears, probably feeling very worried and unable to focus. Junmyeon had come rather quickly, cooing and trying to comfort the little boy whilst he did his observations, but even he was struggling to rouse a response from the lethargic little thing.

Children were both delicate and robust creatures. They were normally able to bounce back from illnesses a lot quicker than people would expect, but at the same time, when they were very poorly, it didn’t often show until they were very very poorly. That's why doctors specialise in paediatric care because the attention that children required was a bit different to adults.

Yixing came over, having a brief look at the paramedic’s notes before observing the boy. His cheeks were flushed pink, partially covered by his pacifier which he’d been ling on the entire time he’d been here. Yixing could tell he’d been crying, the telltale watery appearance of his eyes and the redness to his nose. Even he wanted to just bundle the little boy up and console him, he couldn’t even begin to imagine how this must have felt for his parents.

The boy would cough periodically, and it sounded bad. Junmyeon tutted before bringing his stethoscope to the boy’s bare chest. After listening to the front he asked Yixing to help lift him forward so he could hear the back. When Yixing felt the temperature of the boy’s skin he felt alarmed, he was very hot to the touch, a high fever. Disturbing him from his rest hadn’t helped and the tears soon came back, Yixing did his best to coo at him, hushing his cries and affectionately brushing the boy’s damp hair back off his head, which worked somewhat, but the boy was probably in pain and not very happy.

Junmyeon hummed. “There’s definitely some crackling on the chest which concerns me, I think it would be best if we send him for an X-Ray now and start him off with some medicine,” normally he would smile at the parents, but this time he didn’t, which worried Yixing.

They both left the parents with their son, pulling the blue curtains shut to give them some privacy. Junmyeon sighed, turning to him. “He’s so feverish, normally I’d request paracetamol suspension but I think he needs the IV.”

Yixing agreed. “How bad was the crackling on his chest?”

“His GP had diagnosed him with a chest infection, but I think it’s worsened. It’s not good, I think he might have pneumonia.”

Pneumonia was horrid, and to babies and immunocompromised patients, it was a killer. For once Yixing was more than happy that the boy had been brought in by paramedics, as the hospital was easily the best place for him to be. “We should start him on antibiotics now, just in case.”

Junmyeon went off to contact radiography whilst Yixing got together the medications they needed. One of the nurses had been so kind as to put in a cannula ready for when Yixing came back, and when Yixing walked into the bay he saw the nurse gently the boy’s hair again. It seemed like everyone was feeling bad for the poor little thing, but when Yixing turned he saw the parents weren’t there.

Noticing his confusion, the nurse spoke. “I think the mother is in the relative's room on the phone, the father has gone to get coffee for the both of them.” she smiled, but it was a little sad.

She flushed the lines with saline before hooking up the glass bottle and plastic pouch to the split IV. The cannula was going into his left foot which had been bandaged with blue tape, Yixing always thought cannulas looked unbearably uncomfortable, but the boy hadn’t cried until the cold saline flush had gone in. The nurse had gone off to attend another patient, it seemed like she was one of the only people working in the department tonight.

He looked uncomfortable, and even though the boy had a fever he was covered in multiple blankets. He was crying out for his mother making grabby hands at Yixing who was a little flustered. He kind of wished the nurse had stayed, as he wasn’t totally sure what to do, but he’d spent enough time around young family relatives to know how to soothe a baby, at least until the parents came back.

Wrapping him up so he was snug, Yixing brought him to his chest. The toddler didn’t have any clothes on, just a diaper and the blankets, so he tried to make sure he was totally covered. The boy leaned into Yixing, head resting on his collarbone as he pulled lightly at his work shirt. He had to adjust himself so that the lines were a bit more slack but eventually the boy seemed to get comfortable, though he hadn’t stopped crying. Rubbing his back slowly, he hummed quietly, it wasn’t even a lullaby but it still made the boy settle. When he glanced at his watch he saw how late it was, the boy was probably very tired but unable to sleep whilst feverish.

Eventually, he stopped crying, and Yixing was very grateful, as he’d been quite close to his ears and the boy certainly wasn’t quiet. He really couldn’t be mad th