Chapter Text
Jungkook sighed in relief as the concert rehearsal finally came to a close. His hair was slick with sweat and his legs were burning both from their insane choreography and also because Taehyung kept trying to jump on his back for a piggyback ride. Other than that, things had run smoothly, minus a few minor hiccups; Namjoon had managed to break another microphone and Jimin tripped a little down the stage stairs.
Jungkook could tell that everyone was thankful for how well it went, concerts were usually stressful, but this time they were also introducing some new lights and sound systems. The lights were brighter than the old ones and could switch to more colors, which was amazing to watch as the whole stadium turned a soft pink or deep blue. However sometimes Jungkook felt like the lights were a little too bright, like when he was momentarily blinded by a flash while dancing, or singing, or standing. He thought about asking the other members if they found the lights to be a little intense as well, but all of them and the managers seemed super excited about the lights so he decided not to bring it up.
That night as they headed back to the hotel, Jungkook began to feel a dull throbbing behind his eyes. It wasn’t pleasant, but it certainly wasn’t unbearable and besides he probably hadn’t drank enough water or something stupid like that, no need to bother any of the hyungs who looked as tired as him. So he closed his eyes and rested his shoulder on Hoseok-hyung, who was settled against the window already mostly asleep, and prayed that whatever was bothering his head would just fix itself before tomorrow.
Back in the hotel room, he drank half a bottle of water and ate a granola bar before crashing in the bed.
The next morning the headache was most certainly not gone. In fact, Jungkook was pretty sure that it had gotten worse. A few Tylenol and bed was calling his name, but the last thing he wanted to do was to activate his hyungs’ motherly instinct and end up being constantly watched and smothered; so he settled on going to Yoongi’s room and snatching a few pills while the rapper showered. An hour later they were on their way to the stadium and the headache that had been brewing felt somewhat better. He slept most of the way on Jimin’s shoulder this time, the darkness easing some of the jackhammering.
“Jungkook?” A voice prodded him awake, forcing him to slide open his eyes. Why was it always so bright?
“Yeah hyung?” Jin stood in front of him, a concerned look falling on his features. This is the last thing Jungkook wanted, so he forces his eyes the rest of the way open and acts like he’s shaking off the last bits of sleep, even though every movement makes his head pound more.
“You alright?” Jin asked, nervously biting his lip. He certainly didn’t want the maknae to perform sick because of the concert but at the same time, there was very little else they could do.
“I’m fine, Jin-hyung. We went to bed late last night, I’m just trying to catch back up on sleep.” JK brushed him off and got out the car, where the others were starting to head inside the building.
Jin just gave him a look before following.
The rest of the day was mostly uneventful. Jungkook did his best to act normal, so he played with Taehyung and danced with Hoseok during breaks, even though the movements did nothing to help his returning headache. By 3 o’clock he was forced to go search out some more Tylenol before the concert stuff really began; he really didn’t want to ask one of the members so instead he asked one of the stylist-noonas for some. She agreed but only at the condition that he had to tell the manager if he needed any more than what she gave him. Agreeing without hesitation, he took the pills and swallowed them with the remains of his water bottle. Surely he wouldn’t need anymore after that, headaches didn’t last for days, right? He thought, walking back to their dressing room.
By the time the concert started, Jungkook was feeling almost normal. The headache had retreated and his nerves about the concert were reaching their peak, giving him an excited high that had him almost bouncing off the walls. He loved concerts, loved to perform in general, and nothing was going to get in the way of that.
The rest of the night went by almost flawlessly. No one was injured, the equipment all worked properly, and their choreography was nearly spot on (Hoseok was definitely happy about that). At the end of the night, they all piled into the van, sweaty but happy. The exhaustion of the day had yet to fully sink in, so they chatted about how they thought things had gone.
“Those new speakers they’re using are awesome, my voice has never sounded so clear!” Taehyung said excitedly, before jokingly squealing out a high note that had everyone else cringing. Jimin quickly put his hand over Taehyung’s mouth with his hand and the van was quiet once more.
“Yeah, I really like the new speakers too, but the new lights are amazing,” Jimin said, releasing Taehyung as he licked Jimin’s hand.
“Did you see the pink when we sang Hold Me Tight? That might’ve been my favorite part of the whole night.” Jin said, a wistful tone to his voice.
“What do you think JK?” Namjoon asked turning to their unusually quiet maknae. The rest of the car seemed to quiet at the question, and Jungkook fought to keep an excited look on his face.
“Yeah, the new lights are great hyung!” The words fall from his mouth but he knows in his gut that he’s lying. It’s not that he doesn’t think the lights are cool because he does. The colors are a lot better than their last set of lights. But there’s something about the way they have a tendency to flash in his face that makes them just a little...irritating.
At his response, the others go back to talking in little groups; Yoongi and Namjoon are discussing new song lyrics as Jin, Jimin, and Taehyung are arguing about some video on YouTube. Meanwhile, Jungkook closed his eyes for a second and ran a hand over his face, a lingering pain in his head causing him to sigh. When was this thing going to end? He thought, opening his eyes to see Hoseok staring at him.
“You okay Kookie?” He asked quietly, and Jungkook was fighting the urge to hug him for not bringing in the others.
“Yeah, just tired. Don’t worry, hyung.” He replied, smiling a little to reassure the dancer. He didn’t want to bother any of his hyungs with his problem, they were all busy enough worrying about themselves as it is.
“Okay, if you’re sure,” Hoseok said, letting his hand run through Jungkook’s hair a few times, making the younger melt into his side.
That night, Jungkook made sure to drink lots of water before bed and even made the effort to eat an extra protein bar before hopping into the shower to rinse off. When he got out, Jimin was already sprawled out on the bed. Jungkook crawled in with him, leaving a little bit of space so neither of them would get too hot, but was sure to toss an arm over the elder’s torso before falling asleep.
“Kookie, time to get up.”
Jungkook groaned a little as the voice drew him out of his peaceful sleep and back into the real world. His eyes were still closed as he stretched out on the bed, joints popping. When he finally decided to open his eyes he immediately closed them again, the light felt like an ice pick being slammed into his brain.
“Kook, come on. We can’t be late.” Jimin said gently, shaking the boy’s shoulder a little. It wasn’t harsh at all but the movement had Jungkook’s head pounding even worse than before. However there was still the concert later, and he didn’t want to disappoint everyone by having to sit out because of a measly headache. He was 100% sure that Namjoon-hyung had once performed with the flu and Jimin-hyung had once performed on a badly sprained ankle. If they could do it, so could he.
Jungkook rolled out of the bed and tried to ignore how the world seemed to shift with every movement. His stomach was rolling and he felt like he was one wrong step away from puking. Stumbling a bit, he made his way to his suitcase to pull on some clean clothes and hopefully get going so they could leave and he could rest in the dressing room.
He kept having to close his eyes, as each flash of light that entered his eyes when he opened them made him want to shove a knife into his head.
“Jimin-hyung do you have any sunglasses?”
“Yeah, I think so, let me just…” Jungkook watched as he rifled through his small bag only to pull out a pair of cheap sunglasses they had purchased a while back out of the bag with an “Ahah! Here you are Kook.” He tossed the sunglasses to the maknae before gathering the rest of his things to go. “You ready to leave?”
Jungkook put the sunglasses and opened his eyes, it wasn’t as bad as before at least. “Yeah, ready to go when you are.”
Jungkook was frustrated. The others had teased him when he wore the sunglasses inside and despite his best efforts to ignore them, their teasing had only agitated him and made the headache worse. Now he was stuck trying to reread their script for tonight so he wouldn’t miss any of his cues, but his eyes weren’t working. Grey spots kept blocking parts of his peripheral vision which forced him to directly stare at every single word in order to read.
So, with a frustrated groan, he set the papers on a nearby table and walked over to the couch to try and take a nap. He was just starting to doze off when someone began to poke at his face. Shaking them off, he turned to face the other side, but it didn’t seem to help and the fingers were back in a couple seconds. He tried swatting at the arms but they were persistent, and the movement was making everything worse. In fact, now that he was waking back up he was pretty sure that his left hand was numb, and so was his left cheek.
“Hyung stop.” He said, becoming more alert at the realization.
There was just a giggle and the hands that had stopped for a moment were back.
Oh God, what if he was having a stroke? The thought made his blood run cold and panic slipped through right after like fire. Suddenly whoever was poking him needed to get off, like right now.
“Stop!” He almost yelled, pushing a little harder than necessary at the person- Taehyung- he now notices, so he can get out of the room and to the bathroom before he gets sick in front of everyone.
He hurried down the hall and to the bathroom, which was thankfully a one person room, and shut the door behind him, clicking the lock. He didn’t even realize he was shaking until he was on the floor in front of the toilet, dry heaving.
When he was done, he slumped down in front of the toilet and pulled his phone out. Five minutes later he was confident that he was at least not having a stroke, but his head was still throbbing. Standing up on wobbly legs, he turned off the lights and sat propped up against the door.