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Seokjin has had a headache for the past week.
He’s taken all the Advil, all the Tylenol he is physically allowed to, he’s gotten acupuncture, and he’s even got a massage from the one and only Jung Hoseok, and even that didn’t work.
On the seventh day of his awful, terrible headache, Seokjin goes out to the store to get more Advil. And by the time he gets back to the dorm, his head is pounding. He drops the little drugstore bag and moans, flopping dramatically on the living-room couch.
Yoongi calls at him as he comes out of the kitchen. “Take a bath, hyung.”
“Maybe later,” he groans back. He doesn’t know if that might help, but honestly, it’s been seven days of agony and he’ll take any suggestions at this point.
Hoseok and Jungkook take one look at Seokjin clutching his head on the couch and immediately volunteer to cook dinner that night. Jimin, sensing that a member needs comfort, magically materializes in the living room and flops on top of him. Seokjin whines and complains about his headache while Jimin strokes his hair the way he likes, and god, Seokjin seriously loves his dongsaengs.
The more he considers it, the more he thinks that maybe a bath would help. Warm water, soft soothing scents… yeah. That sounds like a fantastic idea.
He tells everyone later over dinner that he plans on taking a bath, and if anyone disturbs him, he will personally switch their dry shampoo with itching powder. They all solemnly swear to stay out of his way, as they should.
But he still has a couple things to prepare for tomorrow, still has to make lunches for the younger members. And before he realizes, it’s gotten very late. He needs to take a bath soon if he wants to get any sort of sleep before their schedule tomorrow. He heads to his room to change and gather his things.
As he’s putting his old pajamas on, someone knocks on his door.
“It’s open,” he says, grabbing his towel.
Taehyung comes in. He’s shirtless, dripping water on the floor. There seems to be something white and foamy in his hair. Seokjin thinks it might be soap.
“Hi hyung,” he says, smile a little too wide. Seokjin is immediately put on edge. “The most wonderful, caring, considerate hyung!”
“Taehyung-”
“The most gentle, amazing, would-never-ever-hurt-me-in-a-fit-of-rage, best hyung ever-“
“Taehyung," he crosses his arms, "what happened?”
Taehyung fidgets in his doorway. “Um, well, I was maybe taking a bath before you because I know you like to take long baths and I was gonna be out quick like honestly I swear it was gonna be like twenty minutes max-“
“Taehyung-“
“Okay it was probably gonna be more like twenty five but I was still gonna leave some time for the water to get warm for you but I was just having a little fun and kind of messing around a little-“
“Taehyung, for the love of god-“
“And long story short there may or may not be a rubber duck stuck down the bathtub drain.”
There is a beat of silence. Taehyung continues to drip water on the floor.
Seokjin rubs the bridge of his nose, and counts down from five in his head. He can feel the comfort of a nice, relaxing, late-night bath slipping through his fingers.
“A rubber duck.”
“Yes.”
“Down the drain.”
Taehyung fidgets some more. “Um, I can neither confirm nor deny-“
Seokjin growls. “Kim Taehyung-”
“Okay, yes.” Taehyung scratches at his head, and little soap bubbles stick to his hand. He wipes them on his pants.
Seokjin sighs, tells himself it’s not that bad, and goes to grab his phone to call the plumbers. It’ll be fine. No big deal. They’re a world-famous, record-breaking, gorgeous-looking Korean boy band. They’ll call a plumber, the plumber will come in and fix it in no time, and maybe if there's still time left then Seokjin can take a quick bath. How hard can it be to find a plumber at two in the morning anyway?
As it turns out, very hard. Like, incredibly super-hard. Actually, it’s impossible, because it’s way too late (or too early, if he’s being technical), and everything is closed.
Shit. Guess that means he has to do it himself.
Well, actually, him and Taehyung. Because if Seokjin has to unclog a drain at two in the morning, Taehyung deserves to suffer with him.
When Seokjin opens the bathroom door and steps inside, he nearly falls flat on his ass, because there is soapy, bubbly water literally everywhere.
“I’m sorry," Taehyung babbles, clinging a bit to Seokjin’s arm, "I tried to get the duck out for like fifteen minutes but I couldn’t reach it and it was really slippery." Seokjin thinks that Taehyung must’ve filled the tub to the brim because, seriously, how is there this much water everywhere?
He pats Taehyung's arm in consolation. “Taehyung, honey, you have to empty the tub first before you can get to the drain.”
“Sorry,” he says again.
“It’s okay,” Seokjin sighs, and rolls his sleeves up. “I’ll get the buckets.”
The only buckets they have are a little big and hard to carry when they're full of water. They have to shuttle the water from the tub to the sink and empty it by hand because the duck is blocking the water flow. Seokjin usually loves their bathtub, because it’s spacious and high-quality. But right now, he wishes it was as small as the one they had when they were trainees. He curses as he slips on the soap bubbles on the floor and spills more bath water on himself. It’s been sitting long enough that it’s starting to get cold, and Seokjin thinks he might start shivering if he spills any more on himself.
“Why the hell is this water so bubbly?” He asks, using his knee to help heave the bucket into the sink. While it drains he picks up the bottle of soap lying sadly on the floor, and it feels suspiciously empty-
“I just really wanted to make a bubble beard and I didn’t know how much to put in so I just put the whole thing,” Taehyung says sadly.
“You put the whole-" Seokjin wheezes. "Jesus Christ, Tae.”
“I know, god, I’m really- really sorry hyung,” Taehyung says, his voice a little hiccup-y, and Seokjin's brain shouts TEARS INCOMING. And sure enough, no sooner does the thought come to his mind then Taehyung's eyes start to well with tears, and Seokjin absolutely cannot have that. He immediately leaves the bucket in the sink and goes to hug Taehyung from behind.
“Hey, no, stop that, don’t cry Tae. It’s really okay.”
Taehyung sniffles. “But I know you wanted to take a bath-“
“I can take one tomorrow, okay?” He rubs his hand up and down Taehyung’s arms. “We can even take one together if you want, don’t you think that would be fun? I can go to the shop tomorrow and get us a super-cool bath bomb, or you could even go and pick a good one for both of us, yeah? And then we can take a bath together, okay?”
Taehyung sniffles again, and then nods. “Okay, hyung,” he says softly, and Seokjin’s heart melts. He really can’t stay mad at him. Seokjin ruffles his hair, and they get back to work.
All in all, it takes them an hour to get the stupid goddamn duck out, and Seokjin does end up shivering a little, and he also scrapes his hand a couple times on the drain. But he refuses to complain about it because Taehyung’s eyes still look a little watery. They both agree to just leave the soapy floor for now and get to it in the morning. When they both head off to their rooms, Seokjin gives Taehyung a big hug.
He still has a headache, but as he drifts off to sleep, he thinks that tomorrow will surely be better.
...Except the next day, it’s really not. It’s the exact opposite of okay, because it’s even worse. It’s actually so bad that he has to leave Taehyung to clean up the water in the bathroom by himself, and he can’t go to their schedule either.
When the members leave in the morning, Taehyung looks devastated, like it’s somehow his fault. Seokjin grits his teeth in a smile and tells Taehyung he can go to the store for him and pick a bath-bomb, maybe even two if he wants.
He hangs around the dorm all day curled up on the couch, barely moving, and sleeps for a long time.
When he wakes up a couple of hours later, he can hear the members coming in the door. He lifts his head up to look, and they all come in to greet him. All except one.
“Where’s Taehyung?” He asks, groggily.
“He split off to go to the store, he should be back soon," Jimin says, coming over to the couch. "I think he might have said he was getting you bath bombs?” He scratches behind Seokjin's ear, and Seokjin leans into the touch.
“Hyung,” Namjoon says, kneeling down to feel his forehead, “we saw the floor this morning. Taehyung told us about the duck thing. Are you sure that a bath-bomb is a better idea?”
“Joonie, at this point it can’t hurt, right?”
Namjoon looks a little unsure. “Do you want some Tylenol just in case?”
“Yes, please,” he moans, and he downs two of them in one go as soon as Namjoon hands them over, no water needed.
Twenty minutes later, Seokjin sees Taehyung come in through the door carrying a very heavy-looking bag.
“Hyung, I’ve got the bath-bomb stuff, I just need to put it together. If you want you can go to the bathroom and get ready.” Seokjin doesn't really know why Taehyung needs to put together a bath-bomb, but he doesn't really have the energy to care.
“You wanna do it right now?” Seokjin asks, getting up anyway. He was thinking that they'd do it after dinner, but Taehyung seems pretty eager. Seokjin watches him move into the kitchen, probably to unpack the bath-bomb.
“Yeah, why not?” He calls. Seokjin rubs his temples and thinks about it.
Eh, what the hell. Can’t hurt, right? “Okay, I’ll see you there.”
“I'll be there in a minute!”
Seokjin heads to the bathroom and undresses while he fills the tub up to about chest level. When he eases in, he lets out a groan. The water is nice and warm, the steam rising in gentle plumes. He closes his eyes and waits for Taehyung.
It doesn’t take him very long, because a couple of minutes later, Taehyung enters quietly. Seokjin opens his eyes a bit and waves.
"Come on in, the water's fine."
“I’ve got the bath-bomb, hyung. I’m gonna get in and then drop it in with us, okay?”
“Okay,” Seokjin says, pulling his feet in a bit. The tub isn’t really big enough for two people, so when Taehyung slips in he puts his back against the other side of the tub and lets their legs tangle in the middle.
Taehyung holds the bath-bomb over the tub, and Seokjin finally gets a good look at it. It’s much larger than Seokjin thought it would be, and it looks a little discolored-
“Here goes nothing,” Taehyung says, and gently places it in the water.
The second the bath-bomb touches liquid, it explodes. The water starts bubbling like crazy, like they’re in the world’s most uncomfortable hot-tub. Seokjin can feel pinpricks exploding over his chest and arms, and he yelps. The bath bomb falls apart in chunks, and the water starts to turn black like the deepest pits of hell, and nope nope nope Seokjin is not dying today, no sir. He tries to brace a foot against the bottom of the tub to stand up but he can't get any leverage on the smooth, slippery surface. His foot slides forward and he falls back onto his ass, taking Taehyung with him.
“Hyung, wait, you gotta-”
“Oh my god, Tae, you have to move-”
“Hold on, just move your leg so I can-"
"I’m trying-”
They struggle and panic a little bit, but eventually they get themselves untangled. They fall over out of the bathtub and onto the floor, black water sloshing over the bathroom tile.
They both sit there, naked and dripping wet, and watch the bath-bomb implode in the tub.
After a few silent minutes, Seokjin turns to face Taehyung. “Tae.”
“…yeah hyung?”
“What was that.”
Taehyung traces a finger through the water on the floor. “Um. It was a super-bomb.”
“A what?”
“You know, when you combine a bunch of bath-bombs into a bigger one. Um." He clears his throat. "I made one. For you.”
They sit in silence again while Seokjin processes that. He inhales and the smell of lavender and vanilla and at least fifty other scents fills his nose, making him a little dizzy. He coughs. His chest is starting to feel a little itchy, and he thinks there might be some kind of rash starting to form on his arms.
“Tae.”
“…yeah hyung?”
“I don’t think you’re supposed to do that.”
Taehyung puts his head down, and Seokjin scoots closer to wrap his arm around his shoulders, because he really did try. “You’re probably right.”
They grab towels and dry themselves off, and yeah, Seokjin is definitely getting a rash, and so is Taehyung. They're going to get an earful from their managers tomorrow. He dresses himself and mops up the water on the floor while Taehyung drains the tub. They don’t really talk, but Taehyung’s eyes look a little watery again so Seokjin stays close, brushing shoulders and patting his back. They leave the bathroom together, and the rest of the night, Seokjin puts his arm around Taehyung and glares murderously at anyone who looks like they might be about to laugh at them. Taehyung might have gone a little overboard, but he is Seokjin's Child, and he meant well. And honestly, Seokjin doesn't care if his head hurts, or his chest itches, or whatever, because at least his dongsaeng cares about him. Seokjin holds his hand all through dinner, and goes to bed not giving a shit.
When Seokjin gets up the next morning, his chest itches like crazy and his arms are covered in red welts, and the stylists and makeup noonas are probably going to have a fit but his headache is completely, one-hundred percent gone. He smiles, takes a deep breath, and heads to Taehyung’s room to give him the good news.