As the eldest, Seonghwa did try his utmost to take care of his dongsaengs. He remembered how he felt growing up, and he wanted to make sure that his younger’s felt good and safe around him just as he had felt with his olders. He tried his hardest to make sure that they were all heard, and therefore it wasn’t surprising for some of his dongsaengs to seek him out. Sometimes even later into the night one of his dongsaengs would come to him, and he always made certain that he was available to them. He loved taking care of his dongsaengs and talking with them; however, being woken up at 3 am by an extremely distraught San was not what he had been expecting that night.
 

They had just completed an extremely busy and packed schedule and quite frankly everybody was exhausted, so when they arrived back to the dorm at 1 am Seonghwa thought his night was finally over. He went to his bedroom, laid down and asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Although he was so drained, he had never been a hard sleeper. Most of the members were practically comatose when they slept; however, Seonghwa seemed to wake at ever tiny bump and breeze throughout the night. He had been sleeping well that evening, until suddenly he heard the bedroom door creak. He couldn’t deny that it scared him a bit, and when he sleepy looked towards the door it was a bit further open that it had been prior.
Seonghwa wanted to just chalk it up to the wind and go back to bed, and he almost did...until he heard the soft sounds of crying coming from outside the bedroom. That the eldest couldn’t ignore, so as quietly as possible he stood from his bed, rubbed the sleep from his eyes, and drug his tired limbs silently across the bedroom floor. 

As soon as he was out of the room Seonghwa looked around, not seeing anybody initially. He could hear the sound better now though, and it was definitely crying. Just as he was about to walk towards the others bedrooms Seonghwa suddenly saw him. On the right side of the doorway, hidden within a dark corner was San. The younger was curled into a ball so tight he was hardly visible at all. Shiber was tucked closely to his chest, and San head was buried into his sleeves as his pajamas muffled his crying. 

“Sannie? Baby, what’s wrong?” Seonghwa’s protective instincts instantly activated, his long legs scrunching towards him as he sat directly beside the younger. At first San didn’t seem keen on being close to somebody; however, with a couple minutes he had melted onto Seonghwa’s lap and was sobbing into his hyungs t-shirt. His arms wrapped Shiber even closer to him as his body unfolded. 

“Shh, it’s okay. You’re okay Sannie, just take deep breaths for me.” Seonghwa did his best to comfort the younger, despite still not knowing what had upset him so much. He started running through breathing exercises with him, San’s breath beginning to hitch from crying so hard. It was difficult to witness, and more than anything Seonghwa just wanted to stomp on whatever had made his dongsaeng so incredibly distraught that he nearly went into hysterics.
After what seemed like an eternity, San finally begun to calm down if ever so slightly. Seonghwa didn’t feel as if he was actually soothed at all, but his body seemed to be wearing down due to its exhaustion.
“Everything is going to be okay Sannie, I promise. Do you think you can tell hyung what happened now? I can help you more if I know what’s wrong.”

It took San several minutes to truly answer, and when he did it was syllables choked out in between sniffled cries.
“I went to sleep-and-and then tthere was a man in my dream. He followed us and then he-he hurt you guys and-and I couldn’t wake up.” Describing what had occurred triggered a completely new river of tears; however, Seonghwa knew better how to handle this situation now that he knew what had happened.
Since he had met San till just before debut, he had suffered from nightmares like this quite often. He would dream of these horrible, completely terrifying things and couldn’t wake up from them. He used to say it was like he was trapped there, until he eventually grew so terrified that his body was forced to startle back to consciousness. Not too long after he had gotten Shiber and the group had debuted, San’s nightmares grew fewer and fewer until eventually they stopped altogether. He hadn’t had one in a long time, and especially not anything this bad. 

“Shh, it’s okay San. I’m so sorry. That must have been so so scary, but you’re back now. You’re back with us. I’m not going to let anything happen I promise.” Seonghwa hugged San closer to him, knowing that it would help him to regain his sense of security once again. He figured that something truly awful must have happened in his dreams this time, as it still took San a long time to improve at all. He was really worried for him, almost thinking that he should wake the other members when San’s tears finally slowed to a trickle, and then to just a few drips occasionally. His breathing was completely out of sync, his entire body very clearly completely drained of all energy.
“I’m-I’m sorry for waking you up. I didn’t kknow what else to do.”
“You don’t ever need to apologize for that, okay? I’m so glad that you came and got me. Mingi didn’t wake up at all?” Seonghwa questioned only after seeing that San was getting better and trusting that he would remain that way now, but he needed to ask at least one thing. Mingi was usually very intune with those around him. He had always been one of the first ones to recognize that San was having a nightmare predebut, and it was actually the reason that they roomed together initially. 

“No. He was really tired after the schedule today. He hardly made it into bed before he fell asleep.” Seonghwa nodded, understanding why Mingi hadn’t been quite as aware as usual. The busy schedule had affected all of them, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it was a big part of the reason that San had suddenly had a nightmare again. 

“Today was pretty tiring, huh. Do you think you could try to sleep at least a little more? You really need you’re rest tonight.” Seonghwa combed throughout San’s hair, feeling guilty for trying to push this one him so early. It was obvious that his body and mind were both spent, and Seonghwa was worried that something even worse may happen if he didn’t get any proper sleep tonight.
“I-I don’t know.” San didn’t seem certain of the idea at all, in fact the mere idea of sleeping really scared him right now. He knew that Seonghwa was right, but just wasn’t certain that he felt like he would be safe enough to do it.
“How about I get you a glass of water, and you and shiber can come sleep in my bed with me tonight. You’ll be extra close, and you know that I’ll wake up immediately if anything is wrong and make sure that you wake up.” San still seemed hesitant; however, he was willing to try. He felt safer with Seonghwa close beside him. 

Seonghwa did just as he said he would, and grabbed San a cold glass of water before they moved back into bed. He made certain that the younger drank most of it, wanting his dongsaeng to stay hydrated and take care of his throat after crying so much. Afterwords Seonghwa practically carried San into his bed, the younger’s limbs so tired that they could hardly do much but hug his stuffy against his chest.
With San tucked closely in front of Seonghwa he did feel at least a bit better. He didn’t think San would be having anymore  nightmares tonight, but the younger felt comforted and if anything were to happen he would be immediately there for him. 

Initially Seonghwa had been worried that San wouldn’t be able to sleep well; however, he was calmly snoozing only a few minutes after they lied down. Seonghwa still forced himself to stay awake for what was probably half an hour after, wanting to make sure that San was truly okay before he went to sleep himself. San seemed to be recovering, and he was sleeping soundly with no nightmares tumbling through his head. Seonghwa’s mind finally joined his youngers in rest, neither waking till the sun had long been up and the morning almost over.