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Yoongi was convinced they were making the choreography harder just to torture him.
While his dancing had improved visibly over the years, he'd never be on the same level as say, Hoseok or Jimin; the two were known for their incredible dancing skills and usually he'd be willing to appreciate that just as much as the fans did. However, at times like these when they'd been practising for nearly five straight hours and the other two had long since mastered the moves and still seemed to have boundless positivity and energy, he did begrudge them just a little bit.
"Let's go again!"
That was Jimin, flipping his hair away from his face as he got to his feet. Yoongi groaned. He, Jin and Taehyung had only just managed to catch a break, fumbling for their water bottles during a few minutes of blissful respite. For some reason, it was them in particular who were struggling with the choreo. He and Jin were used to it, but he could tell Taehyung was struggling - usually he'd be one of the first to pick up their dances. The extra hours of practise Namjoon had been putting in had paid off, and Yoongi had seen the pain in Taehyung's eyes when the older had grasped it before him. He'd have to remind the other not to work himself too hard after practise, as he could already tell he would. That was, if he remembered.
In all honesty his plan was to go straight back to the dorms after practise and crash. He needed to recuperate; he was feeling overworked and exhausted, and he knew from past experience that it could end badly for him. He hadn't slept in over a day - he was unsure of the exact time, but he didn't remember going home from the studio the night before last either. His head was beginning to ache with the sleep deprivation, making his movements slow, like his limbs were weighted with lead as he couldn't seem to get his mind and his body to cooperate properly. It was causing a dull throbbing just behind his eyes, similar to the onset of a migraine, and he had to blink forcibly a few times to remind himself just to keep his eyelids open. He hadn't eaten in a while either - the last he remembered was Seokjin passing him a cereal bar early that morning, and it had been hours since then.
Nevertheless, he dragged himself up off the floor and got back into position as Jimin restarted the music. His head span as the bass of the song reverberated through him, and he struggled to make his limbs respond in time to hit the first movement. By some miracle he managed to make the first few transitions without visibly showing his struggles.
The real trouble came once they hit the chorus. Their dance trainer pushed himself off the wall where he had been resting and paused the music. They were all relatively close to him, even considering him a friend, but right now Yoongi didn't think he knew how to react to criticism. His words were too loud even without the accompanying music and Yoongi shivered slightly, hearing him but not processing what he was saying. That was, until he heard his own name.
"You're still too stiff, Yoongi-yah, could you try going through the chorus again but focusing on making the moves flow better?"
Yoongi blinked at him dumbly, standing completely still, white noise buzzing in his ears. After a second, he moved to do as he was told, but had barely taken half a step forwards before the world tilted on its axis.
He felt himself falling before he had even registered what had happened - his vision tunnelled rapidly as he neared the cold wooden floor.
The impact he was expecting didn't hit, but even as a pair of arms circled around him mid-air, his vision went completely black and he felt his eyes roll back in his head.
*******
He couldn't have been out for more than a minute, because when he forced his eyelids open again, he was still on the floor but with his head on someone's lap. There were hands tapping insistently at his face, and when his ears tuned back in, he could hear frantic calls of his name.
He took several deep breaths, but even as he did so, he felt all of his exhaustion and hunger hit him all at once, with the force of a brick wall. He rolled to the side, ignoring the protesting voices around him, and retched violently all over the floor of the practise room. His stomach flipped uncomfortably and he felt his eyes sting with hot tears at the metallic taste in the back of his throat.
He was being entirely supported by someone, he assumed one of his members, as his whole body had gone limp. He felt himself being rolled onto his back again.
"Hyung, can you hear me?"
Jimin appeared in his line of vision, the younger's face sticky and shining with tears. He nodded, head spinning with the action. Luckily, he didn't feel as though he would throw up again, or he was certain the sudden movement would have triggered it. After a second, he moved to push himself up off the floor.
"Hang on a second, Yoongi-yah," said Jin, in a voice that sounded soothing but was betrayed by an underlying shakiness. "How do you feel?"
He thought for a moment, leaning back against the lap he'd been resting on - he was fairly sure it was Jungkook - to stop the others from seeing the way his arms shook under his weight.
"Tired. Hungry."
Jin nodded, looking disappointed but not surprised. He guessed it was easier to work with now that they knew what was happening. Yoongi had done this a few times before (and internally cursed himself for doing it again) - worked so hard that he'd forgotten his basic needs, until he physically couldn't work any more. The last time it had happened was almost a year ago; he'd almost ended up in hospital and he had sworn to the others it wouldn't happen again.
It was indeed Jungkook behind him, and the younger helped him to sit up, keeping a tight grip on his waist the whole time. Almost as soon as the rest of the members could see that he was up and seemingly unhurt, a water bottle and a packet of crisps were forcibly thrust towards him. He took the water first, managing to keep a grip on it as he took several long sips.
"Hyung, you promised this wouldn't happen again!"
If Yoongi had felt bad seeing Taehyung struggling with the choreo earlier, it was nothing compared to the guilt he felt now faced with the younger's disappointed pouting. Jimin was tucked under his arm now, still crying. Yoongi almost wanted to cry himself.
Yoongi looked down, screwing the lid back onto the water bottle and setting it aside so he could eat something. He really didn't want to - the aftertaste of his sickness was lingering in the back of his throat - but he knew this was half the reason he felt this way to begin with. He needed to eat.
"I'm sorry," he mumbled, still avoiding eye contact. Jungkook's grip tightened momentarily on his waist.
"I'm going to call of practise for the rest of the day." Hoseok was crouched by his legs, not even attempting to hide the concern on his face. "You need to rest, hyung."
It was another few minutes before Yoongi felt stable enough to stand up, but once he did Jungkook and Namjoon were quick to support him on either side, Jimin running to open the doors for them. They managed to get down to the car fairly quickly, though once Yoongi was sat down it took another few minutes for the others to work out the seating arrangements. (He could hear them through the car door - Taehyung was whispering, albeit rather loudly, "I'm sitting with Yoongi-hyung!", and Jimin was pitching in with a put-out "But that isn't fair!"). Evidently, Taehyung won in the end, because moments later he slid into the seat beside him with a smug, victorious sort of smile and passed him half a cereal bar that seemed to have just been fished out of the bottom of his bag.
It didn't take long after Jin started driving for Yoongi's eyes to begin to droop, head nodding under the weight of his exhaustion. He allowed himself, in his half-conscious state, to rest against Taehyung, and the last thing he felt before falling asleep was the younger's arms slipping around him in a tight hug.