Felix was about to fall asleep in Hyunjin's arms when there was a quiet knock on the door and Minho came into the room.

It was already quite late, yet Minho had the promised pizza with him and an apologetic smile on his lips. "Well, are you still hungry? Or did you enjoy the delicious hospital dinner?"

Felix sat up sluggishly, although he would have liked to continue cuddling with Hyunjin. "Jinnie got soup and rice porridge. He's not allowed to eat pizza yet," Felix said, trying to stay serious, with Hyunjin's cute, disappointed expression. "Innie waited especially for the pizza."

"He almost cried when the doctor explained that he should only eat light food for the next few days," Jeongin giggled.

"Shut up," Hyunjin grumbled. He wanted to cross his arms in front of his chest until he remembered that he couldn't do it right now, and he let his arms sink again, demotivated. "You suck..." In his opinion, the smell of the pizza spread far too quickly in the room and he would have loved to eat some.

Giggling, Minho put the pizza box on the table and then went over to Hyunjin's bed. Apparently to greet Felix, but instead he pulled a small, brightly colored silk bag from his backpack and held it to Hyunjin.

Who looked at the older confused, while Felix's eyes were already starting to light up and he would have liked to jump up to hug Minho.

He knew very well that most people only perceived Minho's rough, sometimes prickly shell - but he knew the soft, fluffy and so loving core inside Minho and loved him so much for it. He showed his affection and care much more in gestures than in words, which Felix thought was all the more valuable.

"Take it already, " he whispered to Hyunjin, nudging his best friend.

Jeongin watched the three and felt a sharp sting in his heart. He understood that they were friends and had known each other for a long time and somehow he also felt hypercritical, after all, Felix had already given him a damn gift basket. But somehow he had the feeling that it meant something different if it came from Minho.

A surprised smile appeared on Hyunjin's lips and he reached for the silk bag. One that was often given by his relatives to Chuseok and opened it carefully. Inside was a smaller, insanely good-smelling bag with "Healing" written on it and a key ring with a guardian angel and three jade beads on it.

"Thank you..." Hyunjin whispered in surprise and grabbed Minho's hand somehow overwhelmed. "But why...?" he asked softly.

"I thought you could use a little protection... and I know Felix will sleep better because of it," Minho explained, just as if he had done the whole thing just for Felix.

Smiling contentedly, Minho turned and looked at Jeongin, who was sitting on his bed, trying to hide how sad he looked.

"Hey, little one, don't look like that. I brought you one too...", Minho tried to appease him immediately, because he somehow simply couldn't stand the sad expression in the eyes of the younger one. In just two steps, he was next to Jeongin's bed, pulling another silk bag out of his backpack to hand it to him.

The youngest's fingers trembled slightly as he reached for the colorful bag and Minho could have sworn that he had seen tears in his eyes.

Jeongin's bag also had a smaller bag with "Hope" written on it and a key ring with a small, fluffy cat attached to it.

"Because I couldn't bring you any of the real kittens."

Now tears were actually running down Jeongin's cheeks and after a short hesitation he stretched out his arms to Minho, who gently pulled him to him.

"Thank you," he whispered and snuggled up to the older.

"Gladly." And although Minho knew very well that in any case Felix, if not even Hyunjin, were watching them, he held the youngest in his arms for quite a while. Only when Jeongin finally sighed softly and his stomach growled quite loudly, they broke away from each other.

"Let's eat something!"

Grumbling softly, Hyunjin lay on his bed, while Felix, Jeongin and Minho sat down at the table and enjoyed the pizza.

And despite the hospital room, the whole thing felt like warmth, togetherness and comfort.

The seductive smell of pizza spread throughout the room and although Hyunjin was full of his rice porridge and soup, his mouth watered. "That's so unfair..." he muttered softly. Of course he was happy for Jeongin, who had almost been looking forward to the pizza, but right now he just felt sorry for himself. "I want pizza too..."

Felix looked over at him with pity and immediately had a guilty conscience. "If you can eat some again, I'll buy you a jumbo pizza of your choice, okay, baby?"

That made Minho and Jeongin giggle, Hyunjin, on the other hand, looked only half-appeased.

"Are you at least coming to cuddle for a while? Or do you eat and then just leave me..?" Hyunjin asked with a pitifully pout.

Without hesitation, Felix stuffed the piece of pizza he had in his hand into his mouth, wiped his fingers and crawled back to Hyunjin into bed.

"If you kiss me now, it must taste like pizza," Felix said and made a playful gesture in Hyunjin's direction.

"Hey, I'm still here, in case you forgot," Minho growled, but only made the others laugh.

And Hyunjin actually couldn't help pressing a soft kiss on Felix's lips.

⍭〄⍭

"I think we should leave before we get kicked out," Minho muttered at some point, trying to hide his yawn.

He was still sitting at the table with Jeongin, while Felix was still in bed with Hyunjin and looked like he was about to fall asleep.

"Good idea, the nurse just didn't look enthusiastic about you still being here. If you're still there when the late shift comes, they'll probably start complaining," Jeongin guessed, with some quiet concern in his voice.

"Definitely. And you should both sleep. The day was long and exhausting enough," Minho decided and indeed no one protested. "Come on, baby."

Yawning, Felix crawled carefully off the bed, but only after he had kissed Hyunjin goodbye. Then he tapped over to the table and wrapped his arms around Jeongin to say goodbye to him. "Bye, little one, maybe I'll come visit you again tomorrow."

"Thank you for coming here. Without you, I would have lost my mind while waiting," Jeongin whispered so softly that Hyunjin couldn't hear him.

"Anytime!", Felix lovingly ruffled through Jeongin's hair.

Minho said goodbye to Hyunjin and Jeongin by taking both of them briefly in his arms. Neither of them had expected this and accordingly they couldn't really react at that moment.

Felix watched the whole thing and had to smile, but he too was relatively tired by now, which is why he said nothing about it at that moment.

"Sleep well and don't do anything stupid!"

"You too. Lix, please text me when you get home," Hyunjin muttered, turning to the side and looking like he was about to fall asleep.

"I will. Bye, cuties."

Silently, Minho reached for Felix's hand and dragged him through the corridors. He just wanted to go home and cuddle up with Felix in bed. The meeting with his father had somehow been quite ok, definitely not as reproachful as usual, but still he felt emotionally just drained.

In the corridors, the hustle and bustle of the day had given way to a strange calm and both were somehow happy that they could drive home. Outside, dusk had already begun, but the heavy rain had given way to a gentle drizzle.

"Shall I get the car and you wait here?" Minho asked quietly as soon as they stepped out of the main entrance.

"You don't have to, I'll — Binnie..?"

Surprised, Felix stopped and reached out to the young man, who was standing next to him and looked pretty much done.

"What.. — Oh Lix.. What are you doing here?"

Smiling tiredly, Felix wrapped his arms around the older. "Jinnie is here. Oh, I didn't tell you yet, did I..?"

Surprised, Changbin shook his head, but was then distracted by the vibration of his phone. "Oh damn, Minnie is stuck at work. Such a bummer," he muttered, putting his phone back in his pocket. "Can you drive me home? Seungmin has to stay at work any longer and can't pick me up."

Immediately Felix nodded and all three started moving almost at the same time, with Minho leading the small group.

"The day just sucked..." Changbin muttered, rubbing his hand over his face.

Felix chewed thoughtfully on his lower lip. He felt Changbin's restlessness and agitation and somehow didn't feel comfortable at the thought of just leaving Changbin at home and then leaving him alone. "You are also welcome to join us until Seungmin gets off work. Then you're not alone," he suggested quietly.

And although Minho wasn't so excited about the idea, he nodded in agreement. He knew Felix's emphatic nature too well and knew very well that his boyfriend would feel terrible if he didn't at least offer to help someone.

"Are you sure...? I don't want to disturb you...." Changbin muttered, but couldn't hide the hopeful glow in his eyes.

"Of course!"

And so they sat together a short time later in the car, on the way to Minho's apartment. The rain dripped gently against the windshield as the lights of Seoul passed them.

Tired, Minho looked at the rain-soaked street, a vague feeling telling him the evening wouldn't go quite as he'd
hoped. Still, a soft smile crept onto his lips as he glanced at Felix. He'd do so much for his boyfriend, what were a few hours sleep less anyway.

47
꧁⟢ ⍭〄⍭ ⟣꧂