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This time of day would normally be the end of practice, but today they have some things to finish recording before they can go home. They’re staying late today and are in desperate need of some fuel before they can continue. Jeongin and Seungmin walk a little ahead of Hyunjin and Felix, talking among themselves. The four of them have been sent to get food and drinks for the group.
They’re walking down the hallway, determined to just pick up the pre-ordered food and get back so they can get started on recording. They have a comeback in a month, starting an mini-album series they’re calling Clé. The music is almost done, everything is planned, this week is just the calm before the storm, if barely having time to sleep can be called calm. Dancing, recording, vocal lessons, meetings, stylists, filming, it’s a lot to do.
The maknaes are chatting about something they’re clearly interested in, but Felix is only focused on Hyunjin. He went quiet a while ago, looking like he had to force himself to keep up with practice. They’re all exhausted, but for Hyunjin that brings with it some bigger risks. Their schedule doesn’t allow for much time for Hyunjin to get enough sleep, adding even more to the risk.
As they walk down the hallway, Felix can see that Hyunjin isn’t feeling the best. He’s exhausted like the rest of them, the kid of exhausted that no amount of sleep can fix or prevent. He needs to rest, some time off to recuperate. Comeback is a whole process of many more steps than people know and more than enough reasons to be stressed at any point in time.
Being at the practice center for twelve hours a day every day for weeks would be too much for anyone and their company should know better than making Hyunjin do it. Felix will talk to Chan about it when they get home, Hyunjin needs a break. He hasn’t had a seizure since last year, and while they’re only in the beginning of February, and he doesn’t have flareups that often, that’s a long time for him to go without being triggered by anything. A seizure is to be expected if they continue like this.
They’re almost at the top of the infamous long, steep stairs, only a few steps down when Hyunjin stops walking, his arms coming out at his sides like he got dizzy and tries to steady himself. Felix stops walking as well, rolling his eyes a little as he looks up at the ceiling. He knew Hyunjin pushed himself too far, he’s probably moments from passing out or just falling asleep right here.
Rather than going straight to scolding Hyunjin for being irresponsible and not telling anyone before it got this bad, he forces out a fake laugh because this is so typical of him. Felix shouldn’t be mad at Hyunjin, it’s just frustrating that he never learns.
When he turns to look at Hyunjin, he stops mid-laugh, immediately knowing what is going on. He’s pale, shaking a little, and his eyes are far away, seeing right through Felix. It looks like an absence, but Hyunjin doesn’t snap out of it within a few seconds. The maknaes stop walking when they notice Hyunjin and Felix aren’t following, looking up at where they’re still standing almost at the top.
Felix wants to reach out to Hyunjin, see if he’ll respond to the touch, but he knows he shouldn’t. It’s dangerous to stay here though, a fall down the stairs from this height would cause more than a few bruises for Hyunjin. Felix doesn’t have enough time to figure out how to move Hyunjin before he sees his eyes roll back, body losing all strength as he starts falling.
Felix throws himself at Hyunjin, grabbing his arm and pulling it up to break his fall. The stairs are made of stone, and even Hyunjin doesn’t have enough luck to fall down them more than once without breaking anything. To slow down the falling, Felix pulls his arm up before slowly lowering him down while looking around frantically as he thinks of what to do. He has to be quick, and he knows that he should never move someone having a seizure, unless they’re in a dangerous place.
Having a seizure on the stairs is definitely dangerous, so Felix keeps his hold on Hyunjin’s arm and pulls him up to the top before carefully laying him down on the floor. He glances at the two youngest standing further down in the stairs, trying to think of what to do with them while he pulls off the jacket he had tied around his waist and curling it up under Hyunjin’s head.
“Start a timer.” Felix says, and Seungmin pulls out his phone, asking Felix if he wants the phone and Felix nods. Seungmin walks a little hesitantly up the stairs, pointedly not looking at Hyunjin and puts the phone of the floor beside Hyunjin’s head so Felix can see it. As far as Felix knows, the two of them have never seen a seizure before. There is always someone else around to take care of him. But they don’t look like they’re leaving this time, probably understanding on some level that Felix shouldn’t have to do this alone.
Now that Felix can look at him better, he can see how tense Hyunjin is, but it’s well hidden by his baggy clothes. This is either a tonic seizure or the beginning of a tonic-clonic. Tonic seizures mostly happen when he’s sleeping, but considering how tired he looked, it’s a very real possibility. Either way, Felix starts talking to him in case he can hear it.
“You’re safe, Hyun-ie, just relax, breathe, I’ll take care of you.” He continues his string of words, wishing he could do more to help Hyunjin. It’s been months since he had a seizure and Felix isn’t used to seeing it anymore, feeling a lump forming in his throat at what Hyunjin must be going through. But Hyunjin can’t hear him cry, that will only make this worse for him, so Felix keeps it together by talking through the lump.
A grunt is pushed out of Hyunjin’s chest and then he starts convulsing on the floor. It starts in his chest and spreads out over his body. One of his arms lock up to his chest, the other laying still by his side, his legs kick into the floor and his back arches out. Seungmin jumps in fear and rushes back down to Jeongin, clearly uncomfortable by the sight.
Felix feels so out of practice, he would love some help from Chan or Jisung, even Changbin, just so he doesn’t have to be alone. But he needs to stay calm, so he doesn’t freak out the others even more. He can’t stop a few tears from escaping though, wiping roughly at them and continuing to talk to Hyunjin.
“Are you okay?” Jeongin asks, suddenly at Felix’s side and Felix nods, not taking his eyes off of Hyunjin. His eyes are rolled back with only a sliver of white showing and foamy drool is running down his cheeks. Jeongin touches Felix’s shoulder, probably seeing that this isn’t easy for Felix either even though he knows what to do.
“You’re okay, you’re safe, we’re taking care of you. We won’t let anything happen to you.” Felix promises, knowing what Hyunjin needs to hear, but also what he needs to remind himself to stay calm. It doesn’t look like the kind of seizure where he can hear them, but seizures are never black and white, they can never know just from how it looks.
“Can we do anything to help?” Jeongin asks softly and Felix thinks about it for a moment. It doesn’t take more than one person to keep Hyunjin safe, he can handle it by himself. But maybe they need to feel useful.
“Maybe get his bag from the practice room, he has everything we need in there.” Felix says, knowing that they might need towels and a change of clothes. The rest of their group has probably already moved to the studio, they were on their way out when they decided someone should get food, but their things would be left in the practice room.
Seungmin is moving before Felix finishes speaking, coming back up the stairs and rushing past them and down the hall. The timer passes one minute and Hyunjin starts to slow down. Felix thanks whoever is listening that it seems to be a short seizure. He knows how much Hyunjin hates being seen, and this is a busy time of day. Thankfully, they seem to have caught a lull in the waves of people leaving for the day.
“Is it over?” Jeongin asks, standing a few feet behind Felix like he’s too nervous to get closer. Felix nods a little, seeing that Hyunjin is laying still on the floor safe for a slight twitch in his lip. Jeongin comes closer then, kneeling beside Felix and hovering a hand over Hyunjin’s hip with a questioning look. When Felix nods, Jeongin starts rubbing Hyunjin’s hip comfortingly.
Hyunjin lets out a low whine, it sounds like he’s in pain, and Jeongin asks if he is. Felix explains that the noises he makes at this stage are involuntary, but even as he’s saying it, something feel off. Hyunjin isn’t normally this loud, moaning and whining while he’s waking up, it makes Felix a little worried.
When Hyunjin’s eyes open, they’re glassy with tears, looking around wildly in search of something. “I’m right here, Felix is here, you’re safe.” Felix says, taking Hyunjin’s hand in his own and leaning into his field of vision. Hyunjin doesn’t relax like he usually does when their eyes meet, instead another deep whine escapes his throat.
“Everything’s okay, we got you, don’t worry.” Felix tires to say, wondering what is making Hyunjin so upset. But Hyunjin still isn’t reassured, continuing to make the sounds like he’s in pain as a few tears fall down the sides of his face. He opens his mouth like he’s trying to speak, struggling for a moment before uttering a single word that sends Felix’s heart into his throat.
“Hurts.” He says, sounding strained as his face twists in pain. Felix realizes that this is about more than his usual soreness. He must be hurt somewhere, either from the fall or the convulsions despite Felix’s attempt at keeping him safe. He knew he shouldn’t have done this on his own, he isn’t enough to keep Hyunjin safe.
“Can you get Chan or someone? And stay there with Seungmin.” Felix says to Jeongin, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. The younger nods and takes off down the hall in search of their members. Felix turns his attention back to Hyunjin, wiping carefully at his tears and trying to see if there are any visible injuries. He isn’t bleeding anywhere that he can see, and no limbs are bent weird.
“Can you tell me where it hurts?” Felix asks gently, wondering if he’s even getting through to Hyunjin. The only response is another ‘hurts’ that he sobs around, the pain seemingly getting worse the more he wakes up. Felix starts running his hands down Hyunjin’s body in search of anything that feels weird or earns a reaction. There’s no reaction as his hands glide down Hyunjin’s chest, circling his abdomen and running down his hips.
“It hurts.” Hyunjin cries again, cutting himself off with a gasp when Felix runs over his knees. Felix goes back, carefully stroking over his knees again, but that wasn’t what Hyunjin reacted to.
“Felix, it hurts.” Hyunjin sobs, gritting his teeth and squeezing his eyes shut. Felix comes back up to Hyunjin’s head, trailing his hands along the sides of Hyunjin’s ribs and down his arms. When his hands come up again, moving over his shoulders, Hyunjin gasps, his eyes opening in shock.
“Ow, stop, it hurts!” Hyunjin cries, voice hoarse and coming from deep in his gut. Felix moves back over his shoulders, barely touching his shirt in fear of hurting him, and Hyunjin cries out, his legs kicking against the floor. Seeing him in this much pain makes Felix’s whole world stop, only focused on helping him.
Remembering how Felix had to grab him by the arm and pull, he figures that’s the shoulder that’s hurt, so he carefully touches that side again, but there’s no change in Hyunjin’s steady crying and moaning. It has to be the other one then, he might have hit it on the stairs on his way down. Ice runs down his back at the realization. Felix did everything he could to keep Hyunjin safe, but it hurt him instead.
“Felix?” Chan’s voice comes from behind him, hurried footsteps coming in their direction. It feels like Jeongin left only a short moment ago, but clearly, it’s been long enough for Chan to get here.
“Chan-ie, he’s hurt, his shoulder, I don’t know what it is.” Felix stutters, just now realizing that he’s crying. No part off him is surprised that he’s crying at seeing Hyunjin like this, he’s just surprised that he didn’t notice. He always thought people were exaggerating when they say that.
“Which shoulder?” Chan asks, somehow making sense of what Felix said. Felix gestures to the shoulder on the opposite side of where he’s sitting, and Chan drops to his knees on Hyunjin’s side.
“Hyunjin. I need you to listen to me, okay?” Chan says, loud and clear, but Hyunjin shows no sign that he heard him. He’s crying, but the sounds he’s making are moans in pain, not sobs. His lower body is writhing against the floor while he’s keeping his upper body perfectly still. It looks like he’s holding himself back because moving his shoulder hurts too much.
“Hyunjin-ie, I think you can hear me, you’re just in too much pain, right?” Chan says and this time there’s a small responding nod. “Okay, good. I’m going to feel your shoulder, okay? We need to know what’s wrong. Felix will take your hand and you squeeze it when it hurts, just don’t move, got it?” Chan says and Felix scrambles to take Hyunjin hand between his own again, bringing it up to his lips to kiss his knuckles.
Hyunjin is already squeezing Felix’s hand before Chan touches his shoulder, but Felix lets him. If this is the only thing he can do to help, then he will gladly let Hyunjin break his hand. Felix watches Chan reach out for Hyunjin’s shoulder, light fingers touching his upper arm and chest before moving toward his shoulder. Hyunjin suddenly cries out, kicking his legs against the floor, but he doesn’t move.
Chan looks focused, carefully feeling Hyunjin’s shoulder through his shirt for a few seconds before lifting his hands. “Good, you did good. I’m done now, I won’t touch your shoulder anymore.” He says, making eye contact with Felix and that’s when Felix realizes that something is really wrong. Because Chan looks scared, and he isn’t even trying to hide it.
“What? What’s wrong?” The question falls form Felix’s lips before he can think it through. Chan looks between Hyunjin and Felix for a moment like he can’t decide if he wants Hyunjin to hear, but then he sighs, running a hand through his hair.
“It’s dislocated.” Chan says in a low voice, and now it’s Felix that is squeezing Hyunjin’s hand because Hyunjin is seriously injured. This isn’t something he can just walk off. If it’s bad he might need surgery, it might need to heal like a broken bone. If it’s reset wrong, or doesn’t heal right, Hyunjin’s career in dancing could be over.
“What?” Felix repeats incredulously and Chan just nods at him. Felix almost asks if he’s sure, but Chan wouldn’t have said it if he wasn’t. “What do we do?” He asks, having no idea how to handle a dislocated limb.
“I already called an ambulance.” Chan says and Felix looks at him in confusion, when did he have time to do that? “What? You think Jeongin can come crying and terrified, saying you asked for me because Hyunjin hurt himself during a seizure, and it’s so bad that you told them not to come back, and I’m gonna wait to see if he’s okay before calling an ambulance?”
When he puts it that way Felix isn’t surprised at all. He should’ve thought of the message it would send to send Jeongin, but it might turn out to be a good choice even if that wasn’t his intention. If the ambulance was already called before Chan got here, it probably isn’t that far away.
“We can’t do anything but comfort him until they get here.” Chan says, and Felix nods, practically in survival mode at this point. Taking care of Hyunjin and making this a little more bearable for him comes before anything else. Felix lets go of Hyunjin’s hand to cup his face instead, bending down to touch their noses, effectively getting Hyunjin’s attention despite the pain he’s in.
“You’re okay, Hyun-ie. Your shoulder is a little hurt, but it will be okay. The ambulance is on its way and when they get here, they’ll take the pain away, okay? You just have to wait a little longer.” Felix keeps his tone soft, surprising even himself with how well he’s able to hide his own distress.
“I know it hurts, but you’re not in any danger, I promise you.” Felix says, hoping he’s telling the truth. He knows Hyunjin’s life isn’t in danger, but he isn’t sure Hyunjin would agree if he comes out of this with a permanent or long-term shoulder injury. Hyunjin continues to cry, glassy eyes looking at Felix and his brows pulled up in the middle. He looks scared, his uninjured hand coming up to grip Felix’s wrist, keeping him in place.
“I’m not going anywhere, I’ll stay right here with you the whole time, okay?” Felix says, bending down to rub their noses together again. Hyunjin barely nods, letting Felix know that he can hear him even if he can’t communicate that well right now. They suddenly hear thundering footsteps coming up the stairs and Hyunjin’s eyes widen in fear at the noise.
“Shh, it’s just the paramedics, they’re here to help you.” Felix says, reassuring Hyunjin as well as he can. Chan talks to them when they reach the top of the stairs, telling them what happened to the best of his abilities, but he wasn’t there when it happened, so Felix has to explain.
“A seizure came on very suddenly and we were in the stairs, so I took his arm trying to catch him and slow down his fall. His other shoulder must’ve hit the stairs when he fell, I couldn’t stop it.” Felix says, internally cursing their height difference. He never minded it before, never gave it much thought, but if he was taller, he might have been able to prevent this.
“You did the right thing.” One of the paramedics say, but Felix doesn’t feel any better. The other paramedic is asking Chan about allergies and medications, explaining that he needs to know before he can give any pain relief. The first paramedic is loading up a shot of something, and Hyunjin is terrified of needles, so Felix bends into his field of vision again, figuring that the best way to so this is for Hyunjin not to know what’s coming.
“Look at me, hey, Hyun-ie. They’re going to take your pain away, okay?” Felix says, purposefully not mentioning anything about how. Hyunjin just cries in response, his eyes squeezed shut and jaw tense. Felix isn’t looking at the paramedic, but he can tell when the needle enters Hyunjin’s skin by his flinch. He screams at the pain that follows, and Felix just wants to scoop him up in his arms and take the pain away.
Hyunjin is dramatic, he tends to over exaggerate, but not when something is actually hurting or bothering him. If it’s something serious, he plays it down. So seeing him with this intense of a reaction is scary because he must be in so much pain not to be able to hold himself back.
“Felix.” Hyunjin sobs, his good arm wrapping around Felix’s neck and keeping him in place close to his face. Anyone can tell that he’s scared under the obvious pain, grasping for safety. If the situation wasn’t so stressful, Felix would be melting at how Hyunjin is reaching for him to make himself feel safe, shutting out everyone else.
“I know, I’m sorry, Hyun-ie. You’ll feel better soon, I promise.” Felix says, hearing the paramedic tell Chan that the medication will help quickly. They are also discussing how to get Hyunjin to the ambulance. They can’t pop his shoulder back in here, the only time they would do that is if the blood flow is cut off, and in that case Hyunjin’s hand would be changing color.
As promised, the painkillers start working withing a minute. Hyunjin calms down little by little, relaxing a little more as he quiets down. Felix breathes out in relief, he knows this is far from over, but at least Hyunjin isn’t in as much pain now. The easiest way to get Hyunjin to the ambulance is if he walks by himself, and because of his relationship to Felix, they give Felix the task of guiding him through it.
“Hyun-ie? We are going to help you stand up now, okay? It will hurt, so you can scream all you want and squeeze my hand.” Felix says, with the guide of a paramedic. The paramedic gets down on Hyunjin’s hurt side to handle his arm and Felix stays on his other side. He slides one arm under Hyunjin’s upper back while carefully avoiding the hurt shoulder, his other arm staying where he’s holding Hyunjin’s hand.
On the count of three, Felix starts lifting his upper body off the floor and Hyunjin whines in pain, grimacing and biting at his lip so hard it might draw blood.
“You’re okay, it’s okay. Do what you need to handle the pain, okay?” Felix says, waiting for the paramedic’s sign to keep going. She’s putting Hyunjin’s arm in a sling to help stabilize it while they move him. It’s when they start getting him to his feet that things start going downhill again.
Hyunjin screams in pain while trying to get his legs underneath himself and he’s squeezing Felix’s hand so hard that Felix worries about his hand breaking. When he’s finally on his feet and somewhat stable, they start walking. One of the paramedics is holding his arm to keep it as still as possible and Felix is holding up most of Hyunjin’s weight.
He has an arm around Hyunjin’s waist, the other hand holding Hyunjin’s where his arm is slung over Felix’s shoulders. Every step of the stairs seems to bring a fresh wave of pain, a continuous string of moans and groans that Hyunjin can’t hold back leaving his mouth. He looks paler for every step and Felix starts worrying about him passing out from the pain. It doesn’t seem that the painkillers are doing much to help when his shoulder is moving.
They finally reach the bottom of the stairs, and the rest of the walk goes smoother. Felix joins him in the ambulance, thankfully sitting close enough that he can hold Hyunjin’s hand during the ride. He keeps wincing and squeezing Felix’s hand when there’s a bump in the car, so the paramedic gets up to fiddle with some tubes connected to the wall before putting a mask over Hyunjin’s face. Whatever is in the air he’s breathing in seems to be helping as he quiets down again.
“Felix-ie.” Hyunjin suddenly says, the first thing he’s said since he fell, other than moaned words of pain. Felix scoots a little closer so Hyunjin can see him, putting on a soft smile to reassure the other that everything will be okay. Hyunjin’s cheeks are red, wide eyes looking at Felix and helping him relax a little. Hyunjin doesn’t look on the verge of passing out and he’ll take that as a win.
“My shoulder?” Hyunjin asks, looking at Felix with worry and confusion. That’s when Felix realizes that no one told Hyunjin what was going on and he might not have been able to make sense of what they were saying with how much pain he was in. Felix looks to the paramedic in question, seeing that she’s just watching them in silence. She doesn’t seem hesitant to let Hyunjin know, and Felix doesn’t want to lie.
“Do you remember falling on the stairs?” Felix asks, knowing that Hyunjin might have no memory of it because of the seizure. Hyunjin shakes his head, pulling his bottom lip into his mouth. “We were walking down the stairs when you started having a seizure. When you fell, I tried to catch you by the arm, but your other shoulder hit the stairs anyway and your shoulder dislocated.”
Hyunjin looks at him with wide eyes for a long moment, fear, confusion, and worry painted on his face. Felix worries he might start crying. This isn’t his first dislocated shoulder, but the first time it happened, he was fourteen and didn’t have a dance career to worry about. The tears don’t come though, instead Hyunjin starts smiling like he can’t hold it back, then he’s laughing breathily, too tired to put much effort into it.
“I should start taking the elevator.” Hyunjin says, his voice a little slurred while giggling to himself and Felix can’t hide his surprise. This is not the reaction he expected, at all. Despite how good it feels to hear him laugh; he worries that Hyunjin isn’t understanding what he’s saying.
“Why are you laughing?” Felix asks dumbly, a part of him almost wanting to make Hyunjin understand how scary the situation is. But he doesn’t want to take that dumb smile off his face, and he doesn’t want to make Hyunjin more scared than he already is.
“I obviously should’ve stopped taking the stairs after the first time I fell.” Hyunjin says between giggles. And he kind of has a point. The last time he fell down them, they didn’t understand the extent of his injuries until a few days later when the bruises had time to fully develop, and the ache set into his muscles. He was blue and purple around pretty much every joint and having trouble moving without wincing in pain.
“He’s probably a little loopy from the gas and air.” The paramedic says with a knowing smile. Felix nods at her, that explains a lot. Hyunjin is a little high right now, he probably won’t understand the gravity of the situation no matter how it’s explained to him. Thinking about it, that’s probably for the best.
A few minutes later they arrive at the hospital, pulling up at the emergency intake. Felix walks beside Hyunjin as he’s rolled into the hospital, wincing at every little bump again since they had to take off the gas and air that was connected to the ambulance.
They’re given a room where Hyunjin is painfully transferred to a hospital bed. He tries to hold back his scream of pain at the motion, squeezing Felix’s hand so hard it hurts both of them.
Then a doctor comes into the room, greeting them and introducing herself. She asks them many of the same questions as the paramedics did, but this time it’s up to Felix to answer them since Hyunjin’s can’t remember anything and Chan isn’t here. He has epilepsy and had a seizure, hit his arm on the stairs, he takes this medication and doesn’t have any allergies, and he’s in a lot of pain, but that part Hyunjin could say for himself.
“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. I need to reset your shoulder. It’s quick, but it will hurt. You hold Felix’s hand and take it out on him when it hurts, just don’t try to move your arm, okay?” She says, making Felix smile when she directs it at Hyunjin. They’ve dealt with enough doctors who speak to Felix about Hyunjin’s health like Hyunjin can’t talk for himself just because he has seizures and might look a little distant at times. This doctor doesn’t hesitate about addressing Hyunjin directly.
“First, I’m going to have to remove your shirt so I can see what type of dislocation it is, okay?” She says, earning a hesitant nod from Hyunjin. When she takes out a pair of scissors and starts cutting off his shirt, he seems to relax a little. He was probably worried he’d have to take it off properly when even the slightest movement of his arm and shoulder already hurts so badly.
Seeing the injury makes Felix a little lightheaded, so he looks away, focusing on Hyunjin’s face instead. Hyunjin is looking back at him with worry and Felix squeezes his hand just to remind him that he’s here. Hyunjin moans when his arm moves a little as she’s cutting the part of the shirt that’s covering it.
“Take a deep breath, focus on Felix, and remember not to try to move your arm, okay? It’ll be quick, but I’ll give you a count to three if you want.” She says, and Hyunjin nods shortly, closing his eyes and holding tightly onto Felix’s hand. Felix runs his free hands through Hyunjin’s hair, scratching lightly at his scalp to hopefully comfort him.
“Wait, wait, no.” Hyunjin suddenly says desperately, looking at Felix with intense fear. Felix cups Hyunjin’s cheek with his hand, turning his head slightly so he won’t see what’s going on with his arm. By the way Hyunjin is looking at him, Felix is scared that he will faint or trigger another seizure if he doesn’t calm down. Felix looks to the doctor, silently asking for a moment and she nods with a reassuring smile.
“You’re okay, Hyun-ie, it’ll be okay.” Felix says, stroking his thumb over Hyunjin’s cheekbone. Hyunjin shakes his head, looking on the verge of tears. Felix leans closer to touch their noses together again, feeling Hyunjin’s breath tickle his lips. “Yes, it will. Just focus on me, okay? And I promise you won’t feel a thing, I’ll protect you.” Felix says, feeling bad about lying but also understanding now why his mom used to lie to him about things like this.
It’s about making Hyunjin feel comfortable enough that his emotions won’t make the pain any worse. It’s better if he doesn’t expect it, if the pain is surprising. Felix was always left with the thought that it wasn’t so bad because he didn’t expect it to be. Hyunjin nods hesitantly and the doctor gets ready again, getting a firm grip on his arm.
“One…” She starts moving his arm on two, but Felix doesn’t look at what she’s doing, having enough to do with comforting Hyunjin. He’s grimacing in pain, groaning from deep in his chest like it hurts so bad that he can’t even scream. He goes white as a sheet, pulling his hand out of Felix’s to close around his forearm instead, squeezing so hard that there will be red fingerprint marks left on Felix’s skin for a while.
They hear a clicking sound, like when Felix cracks his neck but a lot louder and then Hyunjin gasps in a deep breath. Felix glances at his shoulder, seeing with relief that it looks normal again. The doctor has laid Hyunjin arm close to his body, his upper arm lies against his ribs and his forearm crosses his abdomen, just staying like that for a moment while Hyunjin catches his breath.
“How is your pain now?” She asks and Hyunjin opens his eyes to look at her. He’s regaining the color in his cheeks, looking less tense and relaxing his grip on Felix’s arm.
“Much better.” Hyunjin says, sounding a little relieved. The doctor has him sitting up, and it doesn’t hurt him nearly as much as it did earlier. It still looks like it hurts, and it probably will for a while, but getting his shoulder back in its socket took away most of it. His arm is put in a sling again, keeping it in place against his body.
“It will hurt for a few weeks, but it shouldn’t get any worse. We’ll send you for imaging just to make sure there’s no damage to the surrounding tissue, but I wouldn’t be worried. It wasn’t a severe dislocation and it popped back in easily.” She says with a kind smile before getting ready to leave. Felix thanks her, wanting to tell her how much he appreciates her kindness.
Felix has to wait outside of the room while Hyunjin is in the scan, but he gets to watch through a glass window, keeping an eye on him the whole time. When they get back to the room, Chan is there, and he brought a change of clothes for Hyunjin. Carefully, they help Hyunjin change his pants and pull on a hoodie, leaving his hurt arm in the sling inside of the hoodie. Felix ties the empty sleeve in a big knot, so it doesn’t get in the way as much.
“What if something’s wrong?” Hyunjin asks quietly once they’ve settled down. This is the moment Felix has been waiting for. He’s clearheaded enough now to think of the consequences of his injury, what might happen if the surrounding tissue or his shoulder has a lasting injury. Felix doesn’t get to say anything before the same doctor from earlier comes back into the room. She holds up a folder, presumably containing the results of the scan.
“I got your imaging back and everything looks good.” She says right away, and Felix feels Hyunjin relax at her words. “I’m going to ask you to be careful for the next three to four weeks before coming in for a check-up to make sure everything is healing well.” She gives a few instructions on how to be careful and limit the movement of his shoulder and to contact them if it gets worse. Then he’s discharged and told to leave whenever he’s ready.
Hyunjin is eager to get out of there, getting up as soon as she’s left the room. Felix and Chan help support him on their walk to the car, seeing how exhausted he is. In the car on their way back to the dorm, Hyunjin falls asleep almost immediately, completely wiped out from the day’s events.