Chapter Text
It is the most intense time of the year- they are just preparing for their tour and basically spend all their free time horded up in their rehearsal room, only ever leaving when they have to film new episodes for VS Arashi or Arashi ni Shiyagare. Sometimes they are lucky and get to leave for photo shoots for the weekly television magazine and so on.
They see each other first thing in the morning and last thing in the evening. Everyone notices everything.
Jun finds himself scolding Nino for staying up too late and playing games, comforting Aiba, who had to take pictures with animals at an animal sanctuary and is left in tears afterwards.
He has woken Ohno countless times after he fell asleep at the most impossible places, the recent ones involving spread out over two chairs which were standing about 1m apart, he still wonders how Riida managed to fall asleep like this.
He has supplied Sho with cough drops when he caught a little cold and was desperately trying to hide it. But like this you can't keep a secret in any way, which sucks.
Jun groans and rolls over in his bed. He is not a morning person, but this feels more like a hangover, not his normal sleepiness. Except for the fact that he didn't drink yesterday.
He grabs his glasses on the way to the toilet and runs a hand though his messed up hair. It feels a bit greasy so he should probably take a shower before heading out.
When he reaches the mirror he has to look twice to see himself in the pale complexion staring back at him. Crap, you can tell that he is not feeling all too well this morning.
He lazily drops the T-shirt he slept in and steps under the shower. The cold water makes him gasp, but at least it adds a bit of blush to his pale complexion. He hates the cold, but some sacrifices demand to be made.
When he gets out of the shower he at least doesn`t look like he is half dead anymore.
Looking at the clock makes him skip his breakfast and hurry to the Jimshou.
The cold November air hits him hard and he starts coughing. Maybe he should have blow-dried his hair, but he just didn't have the time. It's not like him to oversleep but here he his.
As he pushes up his glasses he notices that he didn't put in the contacts. This could be a problem. The others know that he only wears his glasses when he feels a bit under the weather. So he is now stuck at the question: Go back and risk being late or risk them finding out that he feels like crap.
He takes the easy way out and turns into the next convenience store. The contacts he buys are not perfect but they'll do for the day. Years of using contacts have trained him to put them in in any kind of circumstances, so he just uses the mirror of the closest car to do so.
It is quarter to nine when he reaches their practice room. They decided to start the practice at nine so he is fine.
He isn't even the last. Sho is still missing, so he'll be fine. He takes a short breath before he enters the room. Ohno is sitting in one of the corners, stretching and warming up, Nino is right next to him, leaning against a wall and caught up with his games.
Aiba is trying to talk to him, but is being ignored.
When he closes the door they all look up.
"'morning" he greats with a small smile and they all return his greeting.
He drops his bag on one of the chairs in the corner and starts undressing, losing his coat. When he starts taking of his scarf he stops and decides to keep it on until they are properly warmed up. At least everyone knows that he hates the cold so no one will question this.
The door opens again and their remaining member steps in.
Sho is wearing a mask and looks a bit worse for wear.
Aiba is the first to ask, "Sho-chan, are you ok?"
Sho smiles under his mask. "It seems like I've caught a bit of a cold, but I'm fine. I don't have a fever."
Without looking up Jun takes the small bottle of pills he is carrying and tosses them. Sho looks a bit surprised, but they are all used to him carrying his own little pharmacy so he just takes two pills and returns the bottle to Jun.
"Thank you!"
He looks very grateful as he swallows the medicine.
And this is probably the first time Jun is actually happy about someone else being sick because now all the other members start fussing over Sho, herding him off to the couch and asking repeatedly if he his fine. No one pays attention to Jun, as he has to cough again.
They're practices is pretty normal. They are taking a few breaks more because no one wants to strain Sho and Jun is pretty glad about this.
He will be fine tomorrow, but for now he is grateful for the breaks.
They have a selection of obentos brought over for lunch and Jun opts for the Japanese one. He thinks that he might be able to stomach some rice.
But after only a few bites he feels his stomach cramping up and puts down his chopsticks.
When he looks up he finds Sho staring at him.
"Are you not hungry?" He asks in a concerned tone.
"You could ask yourself the same question." Jun snaps back and apologizes right afterwards. "Sorry. I'm just trying to lose some of the weight I've put on in the last weeks."
"You don't really look like you've gained weight." Ohno mentions but they let him be and return to fussing over Sho.
"Do you have some more of..."
Wordlessly Jun hands the bottle of pills over to Nino who then hands Sho some more.
When he takes them again he makes sure to put them in his pocket instead of returning them to his bag.
A short trip to the toilet with his meds should take care of the headache building up between his eyebrows.
When they are finally done for the day he tries to leave quietly, but Sho calls him back.
"Matsujun, thank you again for the meds!"
He nods and muffles a cough.
Sho narrows his eyes and stares at him for a moment, before deciding not to say anything.
"Have a safe trip home!"
Jun stares at the thermometer in his hand in disbelief. He thought this was only a 24h bug, but the numbers don't lie.
38°C
Shit.
He had woken up feeling almost as bad as the previous night. And people say a good nights sleep cures everything.
It is for certain true for Sho who is back to his normal self when he reaches their rehearsal place.
"Thanks to your meds I'm totally fine." He grins as Jun flops down on one of the couches.
"I'm glad you're feeling better!" He manages a small smile.
They are the only ones in the room so far.
When Jun looks back up he finds Sho mustering him again.
"Is something wrong with my hair?"
Sho just cocks his head.
"I was just thinking that you look a bit pale. Are you sure you slept enough last night?"
Jun feels the heat in his face grow.
"I'm fine! You know that I'm not very good with mornings."
"No reason to get upset, Macchan!"
His old nickname takes him by surprise and he can't suppress a smile.
"Thanks for worrying, but I'm fine."