#i have a few more plushies but my littlest sister keeps taking them so she feels less lonely now that she has her own room | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kihuis · 5 years

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{06} Holiday Sweets

Kihuis’ days of Christmas series: Zhong Chenle x Reader

Day Six: Reader and Chenle meet in the ER on Christmas Eve.

Word Count: 1.9k Warnings: i guess a little emotional (mentions of sick relatives and brief mentions of death) but it’s happy i promise! no one dies!

The house had erupted into chaos when your sister announced her water had broke and that she was most definitely going into labor. You weren’t even halfway finished with the pot roast on your plate when you saw her face become white and asked her what was wrong. She wasn’t due for another two weeks, that’s why your mother insisted on a nice dinner on the Eve of the holiday before they started inducing her labor, but obviously that plan didn’t go accordingly.

Now you’re at the hospital, only a little freaked out seeing a couple nurses put your sister on a stretcher and watching her husband help wheel her away to the maternity ward. She’s a lot calmer that you expected her to be, not screaming her head off like you’ve always imagined a woman in labor would sound like. No, she was breathing easy and occasionally winced at the pain but never did she scream. Her husband seems much more distressed than she does and he’s not about to push an actual human out of him.

Your little cousin pouts next to you on a waiting chair. He’s done nothing but pout at the fact that he isn’t getting to open presents right away. “Why did she have to be pregnant now?”

“You’re not supposed to open presents until Christmas Day anyways, goober,” you tell him, fluffing his hair. He responds by swiping at it and sticking his bottom lip out in a pitiful display of dismay.

You shake your head and roll your eyes, grabbing a magazine from the table beside you as a distraction.

Hospitals creep you out. You’re not in them often for good reason. It’s where people come to die, right? It’s somewhere you bring your sick relatives when you know they don’t have much longer to be here.

Sure, it’s also a place for life, much like the one your sister is about to deliver, but it still gives you the chills knowing that there are people in this building right now that might be holding onto their last breaths.

You scan the contents of the home decor magazine, yawning with blatant boredom. Fancy chairs and rugs obviously don’t do it for you.

“Y/N, why don’t you go to the gift shop and grab a card for your sister. You can get some food for the kids, too so they don’t starve,” you mother says from above you, passing you her credit card.

With a sigh, you take it, thankful to be done with vases and to have a real distraction. The gift shop and food court will hopefully make it feel less like a hospital and more like it has hospitality.

Your littlest cousin opts to come with you, grabbing your hand and sticking her free thumb in between her teeth to suck on it. You walk down through the ER lobby and make your way past a few hallways and wards, trying to ignore the hospital smell that fills the air. At the end of the corridor is a small, open staircase that leads to the food court, the gift shop right next to it. Older people litter the chairs and tables, nibbling on food and conversing with each other. You forget that the ER is attached to a wellness center for the elderly.

You lead your cousin down the steps, watching her as she hops down the steps one at a time. Finally you make your way to the gift shop, letting her run off to the stuffed animals at the back. You busy yourself at the candy counter, looking for your sister’s favorites for when she’s done giving birth to your new nephew.

When you find them, a small smile spreads on your face seeing it’s the last pack of the candy, but when you reach for it, a hand snatches the bag quickly, relentlessly ignoring your shocked expression.

You look over at the kid who took your candy, his hair an odd green color and tongue slightly protruding from his lips as he looks for more candy.

“Excuse me?” you say, clearly annoyed.

He looks over at you with wide eyes and a questioning expression.

“That’s the last bag and I was about to take them,” you tell him, pointing to the candies he practically stole from you.

The boy holds up the bag, examining it for a second before looking back up at you. “But I grabbed them first.”

“I mean, yeah, but we were reaching for them at the same time,” you try to reason with him, reaching out for the bag, which he holds further away from you with a confused yet amused look on his face. Now he nods.

“And I grabbed them first.”

With that he turns away, walking towards the back where there’s a coffee machine. Stubbornly, you follow him, ready to put your foot down. He might be right, but you obviously need that candy. It’s your sister’s favorite and she needs to know that you were thinking about her.

“I’ll pay you for them,” you say as you approach him. You hear him sigh before he turns around to look at you again, the corner of his mouth tugged up just a little bit.

“Why must you have this candy in particular? There’s all kinds to choose from, just get something else,” he suggests, nodding towards the candy bar you’d just came from.

“My sister is pushing a baby out of her pretty soon and those are her favorite. I’m just trying to be a good sibling.”

“And I’m just trying to be a good grandson. These are my grandpa’s favorite too and I would really like to give them to him. You know, he’s sick and all, so.”

The boy turns back to the coffee station, pumping out the hot liquid into a to-go cup. Your heart drops at the mention of his grandpa. Great, now you just feel bad for thinking you of all people deserved the candy.

“I’m sorry,” you mumble, grabbing your own cup to keep you from looking stupid by just standing behind him and doing nothing.

“For what, your demanding nature or my sick relative?” he quips, amusement laced in his voice. You almost want to kick him for being rude despite the fact that you apologized. Granted, you guess you can’t blame him.

“Both I guess,” you respond, rolling your eyes and walking away. You hear him sigh as you head towards your cousin, who is still looking over the table of plushies, trying to find one for your new nephew-to-be. “Find something?”

“Not yet. Can I get some gummies?” she asks you randomly.

“Sure, just be quick,” you say, watching her run off in the opposite direction. She stops in front of the candy bar, looking over every bag. You’re displeased to see that the kid from earlier is there too, holding the candy you wanted in his hand and his steaming coffee in the other. Your cousin smiles up at him, pointing to something on his shirt. He seems to laugh and nods down at her, sneaking a glance in your direction. You refrain from rolling your eyes and go back to searching for a plushie, finally deciding on a small stuffed reindeer, an homage to your new nephew’s birthday.

After a few more minutes, your cousin comes running back up to you, two bags of treats in her hands.

“I can’t buy you two,” you tell her, but when she hands you one of them, you realize it’s the candy you’d wanted for your sister.

“Chenle said Merry Christmas and that he was sorry,” she says, giving you the bag of candy. You take it, seeing some small writing on it.

‘Redo?’

“Chenle?” you ask your cousin, looking down at the writing.

“He’s already gone. He said this is paid for already, too,” she tells you. Then she takes off towards the drinks section to pick something out.

You look around curiously, realizing that the kid, Chenle, is indeed no where to be found.

After you’ve paid for the other items including a couple sandwiches and a few bags of chips for the rest of your family, you and your cousin make your way back to the lobby. When you pass a corridor on your right, you see a tuft of green in your peripheral vision, making you stop in your tracks. Down the hall, he’s sitting on a chair outside of a room you can only guess is his grandpa’s. When your cousin stops too, she follows your line of vision and smiles.

“Chenle!” she hollers down the hallway.

Chenle looks up from his phone a smile spreading onto his lips when he sees you before standing up and walking your way.

“I was hoping you’d stop by. I wanted to apologize for the way I acted earlier,” he tells you, glancing down at the candies you’re holding.

“Really?” you ask in a slightly snooty tone, not entirely convinced he would randomly have a change of heart.

“Yes, really. It’s the holidays, I shouldn’t be so cocky for no reason. I blame my crankiness on the lack of sleep I’ve had but we won’t get into that.”

“Do you want to eat sandwiches with us?” you cousin asks excitedly to Chenle. You tug on her hand, dragging out her name in disapproval, but Chenle just chuckles at her and ruffles her hair.

“If she doesn’t mind,” he says, giving you a look. Him and your cousin both look hopeful as they wait for your answer.

He’s cute, you can’t deny it, and he was kind enough after being frustrating to not only give you the candy you’d wanted, but buy it for you with no warrant. Granted, he felt bad about being rude but now you feel bad looking at him, wanting to tell him no because not too long ago you wanted to smack him. You guess it is Christmas time after all and since he redeemed himself, you might as well do the same. Demanding you have the candy in the first place was possibly just as rude.

“Sure, why not,” you say after a while, your cousin cheering in excitement before shouting at Chenle to follow her and running off down the hallway.

“I really am sorry. Christmas isn’t really the time of year you want to see your family in the hospital and I took my stress out on you,” Chenle tells you as you walk towards the lobby together.

“Well I apologize too. You clearly had the candy first,” you quip, holding up the bag. After inspecting it for a moment, Chenle’s neat scribble on it, you hold it out to him. He reluctantly takes it but then opens it, taking out a few of the wrapped pieces and then handing the full bag back to you.

“Grandpa shouldn’t be eating too many sweets anyways. You should give those to your sister.”

You smile shyly in thanks full on stopping in your tracks to stick your hand out to him. He’s caught off guard but grins at you. “I’m Y/N,” you tell him. “It’s nice to meet you.”

He nods, taking your hand in his. “Chenle. Merry Christmas.”

“Guys! We’re hungry!” your cousin’s voice pierces through the hallway.

Chenle raises his eyebrows at you before letting you lead the way to the lobby. Maybe he’s sweeter than you gave him credit for.

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