Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sound of the crowd below him, cheering for him, for his hyungs, for his dongsaengs, was something he never quite got used to. It gave him an immense feeling that he couldn't describe, but that felt amazing - like an overwhelming euphoria. 

He could hear them now: the fanchant on time with the music, mingling with excited screams of their names. He danced and sang with everything he had. They had all put so much into this comeback and it was oh, so worth it.

These were some of the most complex dances they had ever performed, and they'd all spent hours learning them to perfection. Everything had to go perfectly. Jimin was sure they could all perform in their sleep by now, if they wanted to. Sure, it was tiring, but the sense of achievement it gave him was so much more important that that, and the look of pride on the other member's faces made him feel so lucky. 

But of course, there was bound to be something that went wrong. It had all been flawless so far, so naturally, it wouldn't remain so. 

They were in the middle of performing DNA when he realised they had edged closer to the end of the stage. It was a little smaller than they were used to, given the size of the venue, and they seemed to have forgotten this and moved too far. 

Jimin was in the front, highly aware that hundreds of cameras were on him in that moment; he couldn't afford a slip-up, not now. Yet he also knew that if he moved any further forwards he would fall into the small gap between the stage and the fans, and there would be a practically inevitable riot trying to reach him. He couldn't fall. 

But it happened anyway. He attempted a move whilst simultaneously trying to move backwards, and the result was his feet flying out from underneath him. He would have been able to pick himself up and slide back into the routine, had his legs not been dangling just off the edge of the stage, and one fan gotten hold of his shoe. 

There was a mere split second between his fall and this particular fan tugging hard at his foot - he had only just registered the shooting pain in his ribs from connecting with the hard floor when his entire body was pulled forcefully backwards. 

He could hear the screams intensifying as he got closer to the fans. And then pain blossomed through his head, making him cry out - as he slipped from the edge of the stage his head had been forcefully banged against it. 

Landing on the ground was barely registered through the sudden pain - but suddenly he could feel the cold, hard floor tiles pressed against his body uncomfortably. 

He could see hands grabbing in his direction, but by what he hazily supposed was some stroke of luck, he was just a little way out of their reach. 

Security was flocking towards him, he could see them out of the corner of his eye; yet everything was slightly fuzzy to his sight, and the screams of ARMY were beginnnjng to sound muffled, as though he was underwater. Distantly, he heard the music cut off abruptly. 

He felt immobilised, barely registering anything now apart from the immense stabbing feeling in his head. His foot was beginning to ache a little, too, twisted slightly where he had landed in a heap on top of it. 

There was a moment of darkness and then he felt somebody grab ahold of his shoulder, bringing him plummeting back down to earth. 

"-min. Jimin!" 

The voice sounded panicked; it was familiar, yet he was unable to quite place it. His shoulder was being shaken almost violently now. 

He attempted to force his eyelids open but the light hit them and they flew shut again. He groaned again, not quite sure how to form a sentence in that moment, not quite sure about anything, really. 

The hands on his shoulder faltered slightly; one moved to his face and smoothed gently along his cheek in a comforting gesture he was finally able to recognise as Seokjin. 

Somehow, the gentle touch from his eldest hyung brought a little attention away from his pounding head and he was able to take in several deep breaths, trying to calm his erratic breathing a little while he felt lucid. 

A split second later, strong arms wrapped around his body and Jimin felt himself being lifted from the floor. His body moved upwards in a swift motion - for a second he felt weightless, and then all feeling returned to his head, a black dog rushed over him, and he felt himself being ripped from consciousness.

Chapter Text

Somebody was crying. That was what woke him, at first. Then he became aware of the pain in his head and the dull ache in his right ankle.

"Jiminie?"

The voice was small, almost cautious, which wasn't something he usually ever related to the other members - but he knew it was one of them. His head registered the voice just enough to know it was familiar. He thought it was possibly Taehyung, but he couldn't be sure.

"Can you hear me? Are you awake?"

As he came to more, he recognised this second voice as Namjoon. He tried to nod in response, but the jarring motion sent his head spinning and he cried out.

"He's awake," Namjoon's voice sounded relieved; it was followed by quite a bit of shuffling, and then someone threaded their fingers through Jimin's hair.

"What hurts, Jiminie?" This was Seokjin. Jimin pushed his head slightly into the older man's hands, letting the gentle touch soothe him as always.

Jimin could feel his head being placed, carefully, on somebody's lap. He was lying down, he could tell now. He opened one eyelid a little, wincing when the light hit him. After more hushed discussion, the lights were dimmed just enough for them to be bearable.

He looked upwards; his head was on Hoseok's lap.

Confused, he lifted one hand to his throbbing head, only to have it pulled away swiftly.

"Don't make it worse," Yoongi said sharply, concern clear in his voice, as he placed Jimin's hand back at his side. "We think you have a concussion. How do you feel?"

"My head hurts," he said after a moment; it was all he could focus on in that moment. "And my ankle," he added.

"Do you remember what happened?" Taehyung asked. Jimin looked over to him, his vision still a little cloudy, and saw he had his arm around Jungkook who was still crying.

"I.... I fell?" he asked. He could pick up vague snippets of his fall but not really the whole thing. "Why's Kookie crying?"

He attempted to move to get to the boy in question and three pairs of hands pushed him down, accompanied by a panicky 'woah' from Hoseok.

"Don't move," Namjoon said gently from somewhere behind him; he sighed and lay still, knowing not to argue with the leader in tense situations, though he still couldn't quite remember what had happened.

"You fell pretty hard, actually," said Jin. "Your head was bleeding and we think you twisted your ankle, too."

"I thought you'd died!" Jungkook broke in through his tears, suddenly throwing himself at Jimin who only just had time to prepare himself for the impact.

He managed to rearrange his arms round the maknae, but with some difficulty, as Hoseok seemed to be holding his head steady - presumably, he thought, to prevent it from being jolted too harshly by Jungkook's landing.

The boy in question was now practically sobbing into the nape of Jimin's neck.

"Hey, I'm here, aren't I? I survived." He tried to reassure him, pouting at Yoongi when he muttered 'only just' darkly from somewhere to his right.

"But you can't remember what happened!" Jungkook wailed. "You could have, I don't know, amnesia or something and - and I don't want you to die!"

Above him, he saw Jin send a sharp look towards Taehyung - who, to his credit, was able to extract the maknae and steer him from the room to calm down with very few words.

Jimin let Jungkook's words sink in, and then felt himself gripped by panic. He looked up at Namjoon quickly. "What -"

"You'd know if you had amnesia, Jiminie," he said calmly, knowing Jimin's question before he had even voiced it. "You remember everything except for falling, don't you?"

Jimin furrowed his brow a little. "Yeah," he answered eventually. He caught sight of Hoseok's concerned frown at his delayed answer and felt his bottom lip wobble slightly. "Hobi-hyung, my head hurts."

"I know it does, Jiminie," Hoseok said sadly, combing one hand through his hair, making sure to avoid his injury. Jimin sighed and pushed backwards into his hand slightly, focusing on the other members rather than the pain in his head and ankle. "The medical staff have already had a quick look at you, but there's nothing they can do for you here."

"There's an ambulance in its way," Yoongi pitched in, appearing in his line of vision as he crouched next to the sofa he was lying on, and laced their hands together. "You think you'll be okay until then?"

"Mmm," Jimin managed to confirm, not wanting to nod for fear of jarring his head, seeing as his vision had only just cleared. He was more aware of his surroundings now; the backstage room, usually full of managers, stylist noonas, sound technicians and other people from the venue, was empty save for the five of them. Distantly, he could hear the fans, presumably still in their seats, waiting for some sort of update on Jimin's condition. A little closer than that, he could hear Taehyung soothing Jungkook - they didn't seem to have gone far.

The fall was coming back to him in snippets, now. He groaned.

"What is it?" asked Jin, on full alert.

"Everyone saw," he said helplessly, feeling his face flush with emotion at the realisation. "I messed up the dance."

"You did no such thing," Taehyung said indignantly, seeming to take this as an injustice as he come back into the room with a considerably calmer Jungkook at his side - still, he watched as the maknae made a beeline for Namjoon's open arms and buried his head away in the nape of their leader's neck.

"We certainly saw everything, Jiminie," Jin said, sounding surprisingly calm given the situation. "You were too close to the edge of the stage, your dancing skills had nothing to do with it." His voice was firm, and Jimin took solace in him taking control of the situation. It was something he was used to.

"You..." Jimin furrowed his brow. He thought he could remember Seokjin's presence when he fell, but wasn't entirely sure of himself. "You were... there?"

"He jumped straight off the stage after you," Namjoon confirmed, just a siren sounded outside and Jin took hold of Jimin's hand in response to it.

There was a long pause, and then Jimin let out a choked "thank you," and suddenly Hoseok pulled him upright a little into a tight hug, and Jin's arms followed him, and distantly Taehyung's voice whispered "cuddle pile!" before the rest of the members were entwining themselves into the hug.

It didn't last long; there were only moments between this and the paramedics being led into the room by one of their managers, but for Jimin, surrounded by his members, it felt like all the time in the world.

Chapter Text

The ride to the hospital was brief and a little unclear in Jimin's mind. He remembered being pried from the members' warm embrace by the paramedics, their bright jackets hurting his eyes. He thought he might have cried a little bit when they told him that only Namjoon would be riding in the ambulance with him, and the others would have to follow on behind.

He remembered that the ambulance was too bright and the sirens were too loud and they hadn't let him fall asleep again, just in case it was dangerous. His head continued to throb. He remembered salty tears running down his face though not really being aware of producing them, and he remembered Namjoon's tight grip on his hand.

In the end the hospital only checked him briefly, confirming that he did indeed have a concussion. He was finally allowed to sleep when they gave him a bed, and he fell asleep with his eyes screwed shut against the artificial white of the room and doctors buzzing around him and Namjoon's hand still tightly attached to his own.

*******

When he came around, it was with surprisingly little pain in either his head or his ankle. A quick glance to his left confirmed that he was, in fact, on some sort of painkillers. It also confirmed that Hoseok, Jungkook, and Taehyung were sitting by his bed, watching him anxiously.

"Welcome back, sleeping beauty," Taehyung teased lightly, the concern never leaving his eyes as he leaned forwards and rearranged a strand of Jimin's hair. "How do you feel?"

"Better," he answered honestly. "You aren't getting rid of me that easily. It was only a little knock to the head."

"That's an understatement," Hoseok smiled at him. "Your head's gonna be pretty nicely bruised and the effects of your concussion are gonna last a little while."

Jimin sighed. "Honestly, if it means I get the rest of you waiting on me for the next few weeks, so be it. Maybe Namjoon-hyung'll buy me food."

"Jin-hyung's already planning on making your food and I doubt that Namjoon's gonna be allowed near he kitchen for that time," Hoseok smirked, making Tae giggle.

Jungkook was looking down at his lap and twisting his hands anxiously, not responding to the conversation.

Jimin pushed himself into a slight sitting position - Taehyung rushed to reposition his pillows to accommodate it - and looked over the maknae.

"Kook," he said gently. Jungkook's head snapped up worriedly. Jimin smiled and opened his arms slightly and Jungkook bolted into them as though it was what he'd wanted to do all along.

Jungkook was taller than him but somehow managed to curl himself up small, burrowing into Jimin's arms, crinkling the smooth white hospital sheets. 

"I'm glad you're alive," the younger boy mumbles quietly. Jimin sees Taehyung surpress a smirk at the sheer absurdity of it and shoots him a sharp look; he knows that losing the other members is a legitimate fear of Jungkook's. He's had the younger crawl into his bed many nights after nightmares about the others dying, and if a hug is what's going to make his dongsaeng feel better then damn it, he's going to hug him.

Speaking of which - "Where are the others?"

"Yoongi-hyung went to get some snacks from the vending machine just before you woke up. Jin- and Namjoon-hyungs had to go see the managers." Hoseok explains quickly. 

Jimin sighs, reaching to feel the bumpy bandages wrapped around his head. 

Taehyung speaks before he can even open his mouth. "You'll be out by tonight anyway, and the bandages are only temporary."

"I don't want to let army down," he says, threading a hand through Jungkook's hair.

"You aren't letting anyone down," Jungkook says fiercely, "You have to put yourself first for once."

"He's right," says a new voice - Jimin looks sideways to see Yoongi slip through the doorway, arms loaded with snacks.

"We already told you, none of this is your fault," Hoseok adds before he can even protest. "Especially not if you let us share some of those snacks."