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namjoon had been feeling off all week. his body felt heavy, weighed down with the knowledge of the impending meeting that he and yoongi had to attend. they had debuted a few months ago and things weren’t going as well as planned. it was painfully obvious that changes needed to be made.
namjoon couldn’t get his mind off of the meeting. was the group going to change? did bang pd want them to drop some members? was his producing not good enough? he could feel himself getting more and more anxious the closer they got to the day. sleep evaded him, replaced instead by the broken record player that was his thoughts.
over and over again, the scenarios played out in his brain. he struggled to focus on his daily tasks and could feel the exhaustion weighing down his body. his body was a paradox; it wanted sleep but gave him only endless thoughts whenever he tried.
the day before the meeting, however, things started to worsen.
it started in the afternoon when he was working with yoongi on some songs. the weight in his head slowly increased to a dull ache, one that left him dizzy if he moved too fast. all he wanted to do was lay down and sleep.
yoongi was rambling on about something but he lacked the energy to properly respond to his words. he sank further in his seat, a quiet groan escaping his lips.
yoongi looked away from his computer, frowning when he saw the grimace of pain on namjoon’s face. “joon ah? you feeling okay?”
namjoon slowly shook his head. “headache. i’m just really tired, i haven’t been sleeping well.”
yoongi had heard namjoon shifting restlessly at night and noticed his tired demeanor. it was obvious he was anxious over the meeting.
“i think you should head back to the dorm and get some rest. take a nap before dinner, yeah?”
namjoon nodded in agreement. all he wanted to do was to sleep and finally rest properly, unlike the previous few days. he slowly got up and grabbed his jacket, preparing to walk home.
“do you need me to come with you?” yoongi offered.
namjoon shook his head. “i’ll be fine, you should keep working anyways. thank you, though.”
yoongi hummed. “alright. i hope you feel better, joon ah.”
namjoon smiled weakly. “thanks hyung.” he walked out of the studio, beginning the trek home.
the walk home was uneventful. his feet felt heavy and his head pounded in rhythm to his footsteps. the promise of sleep was the only thing that kept him going. the dorm was empty by the time he got back, the sound of the door shutting behind him echoing throughout it. he slipped his shoes off and tossed them aside, not caring to be organized. he dropped his jacket in the small living room before heading over to their shared dorm room.
namjoon curled up on his bunk, feeling his body melt against the mattress. he shivered and cursed the poor heating in the dorm, yanking his blankets over him. he closed his eyes and breathed slowly, hoping to finally drift off.
it seemed his body was at its limit as he easily fell asleep, the plagues of anxiety finally leaving him alone.
for the first time, his body stayed asleep instead of drifting in and out of conscious like it had been the past few days. he was only woken up a few hours later by someone shaking his shoulder.
he groaned and groggily opened his eyes, the world coming into a fuzzy view. it felt like someone had draped a blanket over his mind, making his thoughts muggy and confused.
“joon ah. hey, i’ve got some food made.”
namjoon blinked slowly before finally realizing who it was. seokjin was standing over his bunk, hair wet with sweat from extra dance practices. they must have just gotten home, seeing as seokjin had yet to use the shower.
namjoon hummed and sat up, eyes fluttering back shut. he rubbed at his face, trying to wake himself up more. everything felt tilted, just mildly off. one thing that namjoon was sure of, however, was that he wasn’t in the mood for food.
“‘m not hungry,” namjoon slurred, dropping his hands.
seokjin frowned. everyone in the dorm was always hungry, their bodies needing the energy after being pushed to the limit every day. he pressed a hand to namjoon’s forehead, testing for a fever, but found no lingering heat. “you feeling okay?”
namjoon shrugged. “i don’t know, everything feels kind of funny.” he sighed and laid back down. “i just wanna sleep.”
seokjin was torn between letting namjoon sleep or forcing him to eat. in the end, after seeing that namjoon had practically drifted off once again, seokjin decided to let him be.
hopefully namjoon would be awake later to eat something, seokjin concluded.
-
the sound of someone’s alarm going off startled namjoon awake. once he realized what was going on, he groaned and rolled onto his side, not wanting to get up.
as he slowly woke up more, the sound of the alarm never quite shutting up getting to him, he realized that something was very, very wrong with his stomach.
he pressed a hand against his stomach, feeling the bloat of it. it was churning unpleasantly and nausea was threatening him in the back of his mind.
his body couldn’t have had any worse timing. he would have to suck it up and ignore it all through the meeting, something that seemed impossible from the way his stomach was hurting.
some grumbling above him alerted him of yoongi finally rising. the alarm finally silenced, the rest of the door sleeping soundly on. there was rustling before namjoon heard a dull thud. footsteps came over and stopped in front of namjoon’s bed.
yoongi’s hand shook his shoulder. “namjoon ah, i know you’re awake. we gotta get going.”
namjoon groaned and reluctantly sat up, grimacing through the pain. he really didn’t feel like getting up.
a cool hand went to his forehead. a moment passed as yoongi felt for a fever. then, “you’re burning up, joon ah.”
namjoon whimpered. he was fucking screwed, he was sick and there was a meeting in two hours and he was probably going to be asked to step down as leader and he was so fucking screwed.
“you’re not going to that meeting.”
namjoon finally opened his eyes and stared up at yoongi in disbelief. “hyung, i can’t just skip the meeting.”
yoongi shook his head. “i’m not letting you go when you’re sick.”
namjoon felt anxiety bubble in his chest. “h-hyung, i really have to go. please, i’ve been so anxious about this all week, i can’t skip it.”
yoongi hesitated, his worry wanting to force namjoon to stay and sleep whatever was plaguing him away, but seeing the desperation in the younger’s eyes made him break. “alright. on one condition; the second you feel worse, you tell me and i get seokjin to come pick you up.”
namjoon nodded in understanding. “i will.”
the two prepared to leave, taking turns in the shower. yoongi made some breakfast, but namjoon could only stomach a few bites. he smiled sheepishly, but yoongi just shook his head.
“i still don’t think you should go, but i know you’ll be worse off if you skip it.”
the ride to the company building was where namjoon’s symptoms increased tenfold. it appeared that his post sleep haze had dulled some of it. he curled up helplessly against yoongi’s side, clutching onto yoongi’s jacket as his stomach cramped and gurgled in warning.
yoongi soothed him the best he could, eyebrows pulled together in worry. his hand brushed through namjoon’s hair. “i shouldn’t have let you come.”
namjoon shook his head, insisting that yoongi made the right choice. even so, he clung to yoongi’s side even when they arrived and walked into the building. he kept a hand on his stomach, desperate to try to keep his measle breakfast put.
it was when they reached the hall of the conference room that namjoon burped loudly and groaned, stopping in his steps.
“hyung, i’m gonna…”
yoongi swore loudly, grabbing namjoon by the arm and moving quickly back down the hall and towards the bathroom. he could hear namjoon start to gag behind him, holding back to keep from embarrassing himself further.
as soon as they were in the bathroom, namjoon stumbled into one of the stalls and bent over the toilet, burping before gagging loudly. he spit into the toilet, breathing heavily and shaking.
“my stomach, oh fuck,” namjoon moaned, a hand grasping at his abdomen.
yoongi settled next to him, massaging his neck. “you’re okay, you’re doing okay.”
namjoon heaved, his body moving forward with the movement and his grip tightening. he felt dizzy with nausea and illness.
namjoon was left hovering over the toilet, burping and heaving sprodically as minutes ticked by. it wasn’t until after a deep, sickly belch that had yoongi wincing did he finally start vomiting, bringing up his breakfast.
yoongi rubbed his back, wincing at the sound of namjoon’s vomiting.
namjoon pulled back from the toilet and seemed to settle, breathing heavily with his eyes closed. yoongi opened his mouth to speak again when namjoon’s eyes flew back open and he fell forward, vomiting once again.
namjoon was in the middle of it all when yoongi felt his phone start to buzz. panic trickled down his spine and he eyed namjoon. he had a feeling who it was that was calling him and knew better than to leave it unanswered.
yoongi stepped out of the stall and pulled out his phone, wincing at the contact info. bang pd himself. he answered it, namjoon retching in the background.
“yoongi ah, where are you two at? it’s been fifteen minutes.”
yoongi sighed softly, looking back at namjoon. “we’re in one of the bathrooms. namjoon ah is vomiting.” on cue, namjoon heaved and brought up bile.
“vomiting? wait, what all happened?”
yoongi explained namjoon getting sick and trying to attend the meeting anyways, only to get violently ill.
thankfully, bang pd was understanding. he informed yoongi that he’d move the meeting, knowing that there was no way namjoon could make it through it without vomiting everywhere.
“get him home and rested so he can heal,” bang pd instructed.
“will do.” yoongi sighed and finally hung up after saying goodbye.
he moved into stall. namjoon had stopped vomiting, but every now and then he couldn’t help the dry heave that escaped him. his cheeks were puffy and his eyes swollen with tears. all in all, he looked very sick.
“don’t worry about the meeting,” yoongi grabbed some toilet paper and wiped namjoon’s mouth clean, “it’s been rescheduled.”
namjoon whimpered, leaning into yoongi’s touch. any previous stubbornness was gone. “i really don’t feel good, hyung.”
yoongi felt his heart break, hearing namjoon’s hoarse voice. “i know, baby, i know. we’re gonna go home now though, okay? you can sleep at home. jungkook will even give you his bed.” yoongi grasped namjoon’s hand, a small gesture that meant so much more.
namjoon nodded slowly, his hand grabbing tightly onto yoongi’s.
“do you think your stomach is settled enough to move?”
namjoon shrugged. “it’s hurts, but i don’t think i’m gonna throw up anymore.”
it would be enough. yoongi helped namjoon up, taking all of his weight and pulling him close. the two made their way out of the bathroom where one of their managers was waiting. he and yoongi slung namjoon’s arms around their shoulders and helped guide him down to the van.
the ride back was uneventful, namjoon dozing off on yoongi’s shoulder. he was obviously exhausted from puking his guts out and running a fever. yoongi practically carried namjoon’s half awake body to their dorm when they arrived.
the other members were still asleep, the morning too young to awaken the dozing teenagers. yoongi would let jungkook claim his bed for now, instead moving namjoon to the couch.
“think you’ll be good for a couple of minutes while i get supplies?” yoongi asked.
namjoon nodded his head, hand rubbing slowly at his stomach and eyes half closed. they watched as yoongi moved to the bedroom and then the bathroom.
when he returned, he was carrying a trash can and as many blankets as his arms could carry. the trash can was placed in front of the couch, a cautionary that namjoon was sure he’d be using. then yoongi went to work wrapping namjoon up in blankets, sealing him from the chill of the winter.
he was almost done wrapping namjoon up when namjoon spoke up. “will you cuddle me, hyung?” his voice was slurred with drowsiness and sickness, raw from vomiting earlier.
yoongi leaned forward and pressed a kiss to namjoon’s forehead. “of course.”
yoongi settled against the pillows on the couch, opening his arms up for namjoon to settle in. namjoon eagerly laid against yoongi’s chest, wrapped up and warm with fever. yoongi let his hands rest on namjoon’s back, holding him gently.
“you can rest now, namjoon.”
-
(hoseok walked out of the bedroom, stretching his arms above his head. he paused when he saw yoongi on the couch, a lump of blankets and what appeared to be namjoon’s hair on top of him. he frowned and opened his mouth to speak, only to get cut off.”
“he’s sick, started vomiting at the company building. he’s sleeping for now.”
hoseok nodded. “ah, poor guy. must have caught some stomach bug then.” he smiled, nodding at their position. “he looks quite cozy, though.”
yoongi smiled softly down at namjoon, lazily petting his hair. “to think i ever found him intimidating. he asked me for cuddles, hobi ah, it was the cutest thing ever.”
hoseok laughed. “i’m glad you’re taking care of him. i’m sure seokjin hyung will be a mess later.”
yoongi hummed in agreement. namjoon mumbled in his sleep, moving a bit before settling back again on yoongi’s chest. yoongi stared at him fondly.
“by the way,” yoongi looked back up at hoseok, “prepare to confiscate jungkook of his bed. i promised namjoon he could use it.”
hoseok raised his eyebrows. “you’re preparing for war, hyung.”
yoongi shrugged, unbothered. “and i’m gonna win it.”)