Oh, he was dying.
He had gone through many things throughout his short life.
Gunfights, fistfights, almost being assassinated, being the assassin. Starving, being so thirsty he said fuck it and drank from a stagnant pool of water that he somehow didn't get sick from. Shooting mortars, being blown up by a mortar, and barely surviving.
But this was not something he was prepared for.
Not at all.
His stomach started to cramp more and more with each sneeze that went into his handkerchief. His nose was clogged up something nasty and he just felt miserable.
His neck pringled with Yeona's and Seokju's stares as he kept on sneezing into the handkerchief.
At last, after the seventh sneeze, he stopped sneezing and was left suppressing a groan as his congestion headache made itself known once again.
How the hell did he have to deal with allergies here in South Korea but not in Grian, where every single inch of the place was a fucking plant?
There was a hand nudging his elbow. He looked up to see Seokju, holding out a small packet of medicine, still in its protective casing.
"Here," Seokju motioned for him to take it," Its allergy medicine. I get pretty bad allergies too."
He took it without question.
He trusted Seokju, and if he said that it was allergy medicine, then he was going to go ahead and trust him.
Muttering out thanks, he popped the pill into his mouth and tried his best to remain alert for the rest of the car ride to the training grounds.
The longer he sat down, the more tired he got. And he was damn near exhausted by the time he sat down on the bench in the locker room, trying to find the energy to deal with the sudden exhaustion and the jackhammer in his head before he got dressed.
In an effort to help his pounding headache, he closed his eyes for a few seconds.
It was only supposed to be a few seconds.
The Team Two leader did a headcount as he waited for everyone to arrive. He frowned when he realized that they were one person short. He even counted them again just to make sure that he counted right, but it didn't take long for him to realize that he was missing their gray-haired teammate.
"Where's Ijin?"
His question sent mutters through the group, all of them looking around as they realized that Ijin had yet to leave the locker room.
Seokju rose his hand," He's probably blowing his nose. He's having some bad allergies at the moment."
For some reason, the image of their stoic and distant teammate dealing with something as trivial as allergies made them chuckle.
"Is that so?"
The teenager nodded his head," Yes. I gave him one of my allergy pills on our way here, so he should be out momentarily. "
Oh no.
"Uh," They all looked to one of their older members, who had a raised brow as he asked," Don't you use allergy pills that knocks everyone but you onto their ass?"
The look on Seokju's face told them that he forgot. Seokju used a brand of allergy pill that would often make the user so drowsy, they're forced to go to sleep. However, Seokju used the brand for so long, he no longer got sleepy. Which was fine, if he didn't forget that he was the only one who wasn't affected by the drowsiness and gave it out to others.
That meant that Ijin was already knocked out in the locker room, or he was going to be a bleary-eyed mess for the entirety of the training.
He pinched the skin between his brows, somewhat annoyed but also amused," Alright, I'll go and check on him," he waved his hand around flippantly as he said," You lot start warming up."
After getting their agreements, and a slightly bashful look from Seokju, he went to the locker room.
As he expected, Ijin was sitting on the bench, hunched over as he leaned his head on his palm.
He was still in his school uniform.
He had taken one of those allergy pills before and it was practically a sleeping pill that worked wonders. So he wasn't particularly surprised.
He slowly approached the still teenager.
He already knew that Ijin had been professionally trained, to do what, he doesn't know, but he didn't know how he had been trained. He didn't know if the teenager would instinctively attack anyone who touched him while he slept.
"Ijin," He whispered the boy's name, standing next to him as he tried to wake him up.
Nothing, Ijins shoulders rose gently with each breath he was taking, there were no indications that he had even stirred.
That's what happens when you take strong allergy pills.
"Kid," his voice was a little bit louder as he set his hand down onto his shoulder.
As he thought, Ijins hand immediately latched onto his, and he didn't fight it as Ijin wrenched his hand off as he muttered something foreign under his breath. Instead, he just stared at Ijin's confused face as he woke up some more.
Ijin was staring up at him, his eyebrows furrowed as he processed what was happening.
"You fell asleep."
It took almost everything he had to keep his face straight when Ijin started to blush, finally realizing that he had fallen asleep and that it was the team leader who was waking him up.
"It's fine," He cut him off as Ijin scrambled to apologize, stopping him before he got a single sound out," The allergy pill Seokju gave you makes everyone sleepy. He forgot that he's the only one who can stay awake with them."
He saw understanding in the teenager's eyes and his words did nothing to make Ijins blush fade.
This had to be the first time he saw the boy be so embarrassed.
It was hilarious, and he was never going to forget this moment.
"I understand," Ijins voice was slightly groggy with sleep as the boy stood up," I will be out momentarily. Have I been asleep long?"
"No," Ijins ears turned red when he heard the amused tone in the Team leader's voice," Everyone is still warming up. You are welcome to continue your nap if you'd like."
Okay.
It was way too much fun teasing the boy, especially since it was his first chance to do so in the months he's known the kid.
By the time Ijin finished getting dressed, his color had returned to normal, and was completely awake.
Probably because of all of the teasing.
The moment the men saw him, they started another round of teasing that made Ijin blush once again.
Just seeing his skin turn red was enough for the men to continue, enjoying the fact that they were getting a reaction out of the normally monotone teenager.
The team leader chuckled as Ijin covered his face with his palms, his ears still a bright red.
It was moments like these that reminded them that for as powerful and skilled Ijin was.
He was still a teenager.
"Alright alright," he clapped his hands together, getting the attention of everyone," That's enough. Stop teasing Sleeping Beauty."
Oh, Ijin was cherry red now.
This was way too much fun.