"I have to gain seven pounds in a week?" Jonghyun asked, his eyes wide in disbelief. Jinki sighed, waving his hand out in front of him.

 

"You don't have to. But if you do, you can come home for the weekend." Jinki explained. "I could pick you up Friday morning, and bring you home to see Taemin, then I could bring the boys home and you would have the whole weekend with everyone."

 

"But what if I can't do it?" Jonghyun asked desperately. He was sitting off in the far corner of the room with Jinki, feeling frustrated because, while he had come with the other three to visit for the day, they were now getting an up close look at just how childish Jonghyun could be. Jinki looked pointedly at the half finished plate of dried fruit in front of his oldest charge. Jonghyun sighed. "It hurts, appa."

 

Silence decended on the room for a moment as Jonghyun realized his slip. He'd been referring to Jinki as 'appa" quite a lot recently, but only in his head. It was more of a personal comfort than anything else, but now he was embarrassed. His face flamed and his shoulders went up reflexively as he looked anywhere but at the slightly surprised Jinki sitting across from him. Key was biting the inside of his lip as he watched anxiously, and Minho swallowed hard, not sure what was about to happen. That was a line they had all tried to steer clear of, and Key was the only one who had slipped in the past, but he had been very young at the time. Taemin rolled his eyes at the whole scene. He didn't understand the sudden tension in the air from his hyungs, especially since the smile breaking Jinki's face in two was probably visibile in the parking lot.

 

"What hurts, Jjongie?" He asked. Jonghyun glanced up, his heart still beating too quickly, and then looked back down. Jinki sighed. "Don't be embarrassed. I call you my son. It's nice to know the feeling is returned."

 

"Y-you do?" Jonghyun asked, picking his head up slowly. Jinki nodded.

 

"All four of you actually." Jinki admitted. Minho visibly relaxed, but Key just swallowed and looked away. "Now will you tell me what hurts?"

 

"Neh. It's just my stomach." Jonghyun said, shaking his head. "It's still not that big, you know? It takes longer to stretch than it does to shrink, but they keep stuffing me until I feel sick and it becomes painful."

 

"They're trying to help you gain weight quickly so you can come home." Jinki said. Jonghyun nodded, staring that the table between them. "They said..being here really isn't doing you much good. You're not participating in therapy, all you do is eat and sleep."

 

"There's nothing to do." Jonghyun defended, looking upset. "I'm not allowed to do anything but eat and sleep and take vitimins."

 

"I know, I know, calm down." Jinki said, holding up his hands. "I'm just saying, your doctor told me you would be better off at home. You just need to gain the weight first."

 

"I'm trying." Jonghyun said, fidgiting slightly in his seat.

 

"What's wrong?" Minho asked, seeing his boyfriend squirming uncomfortably. Jonghyun looked over at him, surprised, like he'd forgotten he was there.

 

"Uh.." Jonghyun looked around awkwardly. "I have to..go to the bathroom.."

 

"Oh." Minho said, looking at him strangely, before realization dawned on him. "Oh!"

 

He got up and took the brakes off of the wheels and pushed Jonghyun through the door and out to the main area. Jjong's favorite nurse was working, and she smiled at him as she approached. Both boys looked slightly uncomfortable, and the nurse laughed, ruffling Jonghyun's hair, causing the older of the boys to scrunch up his nose.

 

"I had wondered how long you were going to try to hold out today." She said, shooing Minho out of the way and taking a grip on the handles. "It's probably not good for you, you know."

 

"Aish." Jonghyun said, feigning irritability. Minho chuckled at his hyung, and the nurse did the same. When they came out a minute or so later, Jonghyun looked frazzled. Minho raised a brow and Jonghyun just glared at his lap. The nurse was politely trying to hold back her giggles, but it only partially working. "Stop it already. Laugh. I don't care."

 

"Your tone says otherwise, puppy." She said. Jonghyun bristled and turned to look at her, annoyance on his face.

 

"Yah. Stop calling me that!" He demanded. She waved her hand and Jonghyun looked up at Minho. "She's so mean."

 

"What happened?" Minho asked, humoring him. Jonghyun bit the inside of his lip.

 

"They've had me eating all this fatty food to gain weight, right? The ones with added flavor and food dye?" Jonghyun said. "Well, apparently I ate too much red food dye or something because I seriously thought I was peeing blood, and I started freaking out, and she laughed."

 

"That wasn't very nice of her." Minho said, holding in his own giggles. Jonghyun pouted, and the nurse giggled again.

 

"We told you it might happen." She said. When she got no response she tried a different approach. "If you fluff your hair up on the sides, it'll look like you have puppy ears."

 

"Minho~" Jonghyun whined, and Minho's eyes widened. He wasn't used to seeing his boyfriend so animated. He love it. "Tell appa I need a haircut."

 

"But then there won't be a puppy." The nurse said, sounding genuinely sad. Jonghyun slumped down in his seat, a sign that the teasing was begining to bother the small boy. Minho crouched in front of him, and looked at Jonghyun seriously.

 

"He's too manly to be a puppy." Minho said, pinpointing Jonghyun's insecurity after a moment. "He's more like a t-rex."

 

"Hey!" Jonghyun whined. "I'd rather be a puppy. At least they're proportionate and cute."

 

"You're impossible to please." Minho said decisively. Jonghyun looked up at him quickly, then reached out and grabbed Minho's hand.

 

"No." Jonghyun said. "I just don't see why I have to be compared to so many things. Why can't I just be me?"

 

"Now I feel bad." The nurse said, pouting. Minho laughed a bit before getting up and tugging his hand from the elder's grasp. He walked around behind Jonghyun, getting ready to push him back to the room when the nurse stopped him. "Jonghyun, don't forget you have X-rays in an hour."

 

"I know." He said, nodding. Minho tilted his head.

 

"Did you hurt yourself again?" Minho asked. Jonghyun laughed.

 

"No. They want to see if I'm healed already. I've been on high doses of calcium, so there's a chance I can get the casts off early." Jonghyun explained. Minho smiled widely and pushed Jonghyun back into the room.

 

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This chapter had no point whatsoever. It's a filler, if you will, to show some progress. As you may have guessed, I'm not ending the story yet. But, I'm still going to do a sequel. Why? Because it's easier for me that way. :3