Rebirth; A New Age || seongjoong || ATEEZ

Chapter 10 : Mutiny in Fashion

Seonghwa was put on bed rest.

It didn't matter how much he complained, threatened, or did his best to prove that he was fine and he didn't need to be subjected to his bed all day long for god knows how long. Yeosang was stern in his decision, his voice unwavering as he told Seonghwa that he had two choices. One, he could lay down and rest willingly or two, Yeosang would physically put him there himself and tie him down so he couldn't move.

Wooyoung had barked out a laugh and said that Seonghwa would probably like that, to which the younger was punched in the shoulder.

But Seonghwa did eventually give in to Yeosang's requests. It was hard to tell what was actually wrong because it wasn't like he could get an x-ray and Yeosang didn't have the proper tools he needed to make an accurate diagnosis, so they had to rely on what was visible and what hurt to the touch. He was bruised, they knew that much. Yeosang had sucked in an audible breath when he pulled the back of Seonghwa's shirt up as he laid stomach down on his bed.

"You're bruised pretty bad," he told the older, pulling down his shirt. He hadn't even dared to touch him all that much besides his upper back to see if anything was misaligned. "It doesn't look like anything is broken, and the fact that you can still walk is a very good sign. We'll have to wait until the bruising and swelling goes down before I'll look even more at your lower back, I don't want to aggravate it any more than it already is."

Seonghwa just groaned and shoved his head into the pillow.

"Any numbness or anything?" The blonde asked, pressing into Seonghwa's fingers and then into his legs and feet.

Seonghwa shook his head, able to feel Yeosang digging into him with his long fingernails. It almost tickled, and he had to suppress the urge to jerk his feet away from the man's hands. Seonghwa failed to tell him how his legs had felt numb when it first happened, he figured it was probably the stress of the situation that made everything go numb, so there was no point in saying anything.

"That's good, but you need to let me know if that changes. I'll be back in a second, don't move," Yeosang was moving off the bed, pushing past Wooyoung and Yunho who stood just in front of the door. They were watching silently, their faces were drawn downwards in worry.

Seonghwa turned to look at them, the feeling of the soft pillow against his clean skin brought more comfort than it used to. They caught his gaze instantly, moving forward as Yunho sat at the edge of the bed and Wooyoung chose to stand just in front of Seonghwa's head.

The oldest tried to push the embarrassment away, he tried to shake the humiliation that was raging through his veins. He didn't want them to see him like this. But at the same time, he didn't want them to be out of his sight. He didn't want any of them out of his sight for that matter, especially Yeosang who had seemed to pick up on it and spent more time with him to help calm his restless heart.

Yunho's hand patted Seonghwa's shoulder, his touch so soft like he was afraid that Seonghwa would break as soon as he touched him.

Sometimes, Seonghwa thought he was dreaming. He thought it was too good to be true that Yunho was actually still with him after that whole mission. Part of him still believed that the tall man was still back at the lab instead of sitting on the same bed as him.

"I'm glad you're okay," he whispered to Yunho, turning his head back as much as he could to look at the taller. He hadn't gotten the chance to talk to him much ever since he got back. Especially since after Hongjoong proclaimed he had found the cure, the whole base roared up with questions like "who exactly are you?", "what do you mean a cure?", "are we cursed?"... so even after they all had just gotten back from an absolute massacre, they had to jump into immediate damage control.