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Yoongi hesitated for a moment, staring at the package of pills in his hand, before stuffing them into his backpack. He sighed. It was the responsible thing to do, and he was nothing if not responsible. All the same, he hated taking medicine almost as much as he hated being sick. Almost.
The headaches had started a couple of days ago, but he was no stranger to headaches. He could deal with headaches. What bothered him most was the sinus pressure. He felt like someone had poured wet cement into his sinus cavity while he wasn’t looking. The roof of his mouth felt tight and ached. His whole head felt way too heavy, and breathing through his nose was completely impossible. The previous night he hit an all-time low and raided Jungkook’s medicine stash after the younger boy had fallen asleep. He found a bottle of saline nasal spray, but when he returned to his room and tried to use it, he found that his nasal passages were too swollen for the medicine to do any good. Instead of providing relief, the spray dripped right back out of his nose without doing anything. Repulsed, he had thrown the bottle across the room in a fit of anger, then feeling foolish, returned the medicine to the maknae’s bedside. With the spray as a nonstarter, cold medicine would have to do.
“Good morning!” Hoseok greeted, far too sunny for Yoongi’s mood. He was leaning against the kitchen counter, already dressed for the day despite the early hour. “You’re up early. Are you leaving already?”
Yoongi grunted as he brushed past the dancer. He needed coffee, and he needed it now. He rummaged around the cabinets but only found grounds for the blond roast Jimin favored. He’d heard that the blond roast actually retained more caffeine than a dark roast, but it didn’t taste right to him.
“I think we’re running low on coffee,” Hoseok said, further souring Yoongi’s mood. “I can make you some tea if you like. There’s toast, too.” Hoseok moved to the toaster, but Yoongi waved him off.
“No thanks. I’ll get coffee on the way.”
“If you want to wait a little while, we could all go together,” Hoseok suggested. “I mean, not Seokjinnie or Jiminie. They already left for the salon so they could get to the recording on time, but everyone else is still here. I don't think Jungkook or Taehyung is up yet and Namjoon is taking the world’s longest shower. I don't want to know what’s taking him so long.”
Yoongi snorted. “Me neither, but I have an idea.”
“We could probably all be ready to go in half an hour,” Hoseok continued. “We could get breakfast together before going to the studio. There’s a new cafe Joonie won’t shut up about.”
Yoongi shook his head. “I want to get there early and make sure everything is all good before we record. It’s stupid for everyone to get there then have to wait around for everything to get set up. You guys should go, though.”
“You just don't want to pay for everyone’s meal,” Hoseok said, laughing.
“I don't care about that. I’ll leave you my card if you want.” He even dug through his pockets for his wallet, but Hoseok laughed him off.
“No, I’m joking. You’re sure you can’t wait, though? It won’t take long to get everything ready at the studio. You could let the managers handle it.”
Breakfast was tempting. The group hardly ever got breakfast together anymore now that they were always so busy with their various schedules, but Yoongi seriously doubted he would be able to enjoy his food much with his nose so stuffy. “No. You know Taehyung isn’t going to be ready in thirty minutes.”
“I can hope,” Hoseok protested. “Jimin isn’t here to slow him down.”
Eventually, Yoongi made it out the door after Hoseok forced several pieces of toast and an apple on him. He ate the toast but put the apple in his bag. It would likely get bruised, but he could give it to Jungkook later. That kid would eat anything. He adjusted the pollution mask covering his mouth and nose and shoved his hands into his pockets. The early autumn weather wasn’t truly cold yet, but there was a definite chill in the air that ruffled his hair. It was a good thing the recording studio wasn’t a long walk from the dorm. He could have taken a cab, but he wanted to get coffee and getting the car to wait for him to go into the shop and order was too awkward to be an option.
Luckily the cafe was mostly empty and his usual barista was working. He got his Americano quickly and without fuss, and soon was in the elevator in the studio building. He tugged his pollution mask down to take a sip of his coffee. His nose was so blocked, he could hardly taste it. All he got was a weird but not unpleasant bitter sensation on his tongue. Still, it was nice to have something hot to warm him up.
The audio engineer was already setting up in the recording booth when Yoongi arrived. The booth was pretty small. All seven of the members could fit inside on the occasions when they all need to be present to record backing vocals or the collective vocals their hooks tended to favor, but it seemed like the space got smaller with every group usage. Namjoon always managed to stand on somebody’s toes, and Yoongi and Jimin kept bumping their chins and cheeks on Jin’s massive shoulders. However, for the individual recordings, the room was perfect. The light was set on a dimmer so that Jin and Taehyung who preferred the room brighter could easily see the lyrics on the page while Yoongi, Jimin, and Jungkook could have the light lower as to not aggravate their nerves while recording. A padded chair and bench were along the wall and a plush rug was on the floor. Bottles of water sat on a low table, and a blanket was folded on the bench. It wasn’t as comfortable as Yoongi’s studio, but the rapper still found the little room a cozy comfort.
Yoongi and the engineer briefly exchanged pleasantries before lapsing into a comfortable silence while Yoongi double checked the music file and made sure the guide vocals Jungkook had previously recorded for him were at the right volume. He took a discrete dose of cold medicine with his coffee and tried to ignore the immense pressure mounting inside his skull.
The schedule for the day was a long one but luckily not a hectic one, at least not for Yoongi. There were meetings to attend and fittings to go to, so the members would be coming and going all day, but Yoongi was going to stay at the studio to oversee the recordings, then he was planning to begin working on mixing and producing the final product. With any luck, Yoongi would be working late into the night, or better yet, he would work all night and sleep in his studio. That way, no one would need to know he was sick. With everyone working on the new album, no one needed the distraction.
Namjoon sat down on the couch next to Hoseok, sighing lightly. “How’s he doing?”
Hoseok rolled his eyes. “He’s sick, and he’s an idiot. How do you think he’s doing?”
“You’d think he’d know better than to try to hide it from us by now,” Namjoon commented.
“Like I said, an idiot.”
The recording process was well underway. Jungkook, Taehyung, Namjoon, and Hoseok had been the first to come to the studio once Yoongi sent them all a text to let them know he was waiting for them. The leader had to leave for a meeting shortly after arriving, leaving Hoseok to keep the maknaes in line. The older members didn’t have to worry so much about the younger ones now. They still liked to goof off and play around when they were at work, but they were consummate professionals while recording. Even so, it was still a good idea to have at least one of the older members there to make sure that they stayed out of Yoongi’s hair. The rapper, while usually extremely docile when dealing with the younger boys, could get easily irritated if his work was disturbed. Today, however, rather than snapping at Taehyung for running around the halls, Yoongi sat at the soundboard with his headphones over his ears and a glazed expression on his face.
“Has he taken anything for it?” Namjoon asked.
“Not that I’ve seen, but he hasn’t been coughing, and he has that doped up look, so he probably took something earlier,” Hoseok reported.
“That’s something, I guess. I know he was coughing a lot last night.”
Hoseok nodded. “I heard him, too. I was hoping he would just stay home and rest today.”
“He’s never going to skip a recording day,” Namjoon scoffed. “Even if he were dying, he’d find a way to drag himself to the studio and make everyone do a hundred takes of every line.”
“He does know he’s not the only producer, doesn’t he?” Hoseok joked. “He doesn’t mix every track on every album. He could take a sick day and the album would still come out just fine.”
“You try telling him that.”
“I don't have a death wish!” Hoseok laughed. “Do you remember when Jinnie told him to stay home that time he had a stomach bug?”
“I remember the vomit stain in the old studio if that’s what you mean.”
“I just wish he wasn’t so stubborn. He could start feeling better a lot faster if he would only give himself time to rest. Today isn’t the only day we’re recording. If he’s acting this bad now, can you imagine how useless and irritable he’ll be tomorrow?”
Namjoon sighed again. “There’s nothing we can do about it. You know he won’t listen to anyone.”
Yoongi tried to focus on the playback of Hoseok’s verse, but every take they’d taken sounded exactly the same to him. Or maybe they didn’t. Maybe his ears were becoming as clogged as his head was. Maybe he was just having a hard time focusing with the way his head throbbing. He rubbed the bridge of his nose. He knew it wouldn’t do anything to ease the congestion there, but he did it anyway. His took a sip of his coffee and repressed a shudder at how cold it was. Because he had to breathe through his mouth, his lips and tongue were incredibly dry. It was disgusting. God, he just wanted to go home and sleep for the next week and a half.
Jin tapped Yoongi on the shoulder, alerting him to the fact he and Jimin had finally arrived at the studio. “Hey.”
Yoongi slid his headphones down. “What?”
“Hello to you, too.”
“Hello,” Yoongi deadpanned. He went to put his headphones back on, but Jin caught his hand.
“Jimin bought lunch for us.” Looking over his hyung’s shoulder, Yoongi could see boxes of food being set up in the little sitting area behind him. Jimin’s black roots had been touched up and his pink hair looked clean and silky. Jin’s hair looked exactly the same to Yoongi, but he never really paid attention to it.
“I’m fine.”
“You should eat anyway. You have a long afternoon ahead of you.”
“I have coffee.” He held up his mostly empty cup.
Jin sighed, defeated.
“Yoongi-hyung!” Jimin called happily. “Do you like my hair? Isn’t it pretty?”
Yoongi glanced up at the younger boy. Jimin bent over to fully show Yoongi his hair. “Sure.”
Jimin beamed. “I got lunch for everyone! Come eat with us.”
“I’m busy,” Yoongi complained but allowed Jimin to pull him over to the makeshift dining table. Namjoon and Hoseok watched as Yoongi sat down where Jimin told him to and took the plate of food Taehyung handed him. He whined a bit at the amount of food heaped onto his plate, but the older members watched as he ate without complaint. Jin exchanged a look with Namjoon, who raised an eyebrow at Hoseok, who simply rolled his eyes and laughed.
After lunch, instead of returning to his seat at the soundboard, Yoongi sat down on the couch so that Taehyung could learn more about what the audio engineer did and how the soundboard worked. If anyone outside of the maknae line had asked him to move, Yoongi would have said no if he even acknowledged them at all. But when Taehyung sat down in the rapper’s vacated seat with a cheeky smile, all Yoongi did was hand over his headphones without another word. He put his hands between his legs to keep them warm, and in a matter of minutes, he was asleep.
“Jungkook?” Namjoon called. “Come here.”
The maknae bounded over, followed closely by Jimin. “What’s up?”
“I have a mission for you.”
“A mission?” Jimin echoed excitedly, draping his arm over Jungkook’s shoulders. “What is it?”
Yoongi felt the couch move beneath him as someone sat down next to him. He groaned a little to make his displeasure known but didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t want to wake up yet. He was too tired, and his head hurt too much. The intruder pressed up close against his side and rested their head on his shoulder. Reluctantly, Yoongi peeled his eyes open to see who was disturbing his nap.
“What do you want, Jungkook-ah?”
“Sleep. I’m tired,” Jungkook mumbled. He moved impossibly closer to the rapper to tuck his head under his hyung’s chin.
Yoongi blinked hard, trying to wake up a little more. “Why are you tired? Didn’t you sleep well?” He hoped he hadn’t accidentally disturbed the youngest member the night before when he was sneaking around.
He felt Jungkook shrug. “I don't know.”
“You’re not getting sick, are you?” Yoongi felt horrible just at the thought of Jungkook getting sick because of him.
Jungkook shrugged again. Yoongi wrapped his arm around the boy and subtly felt the back of his neck. He didn’t feel like he had a fever, which was a relief. Perhaps he had just pushed himself too far or had overexerted himself playing with Taehyung.
“You know you’re done recording for the day,” Yoongi reminded him. “You can go home if you want to.”
“Don't you need backing vocals still?” Jungkook asked.
“Yeah, but if you’re tired, they’re not going to sound as good. We’re not recording the whole album in a day. We can get the rest of your vocals tomorrow or later in the week.”
“Are you sure I can go home?”
“Yeah. Just let one of the managers and Namjoon know you’re leaving.”
“I don't want to go home by myself, though,” Jungkook whined.
Yoongi laughed quietly and immediately regretted it when it tickled his throat. “Yah, how old are you? You can be home alone for a few hours, can’t you?”
Jungkook whined again. “I’ll get bored if I’m there alone.”
“Take Tae with you, then. He’s done for the day. Everyone else still has recording to do.”
“He’s busy.” Jungkook pulled away from Yoongi’s chest to nod at Taehyung, who was bobbing his head to the playback he was listening to. “Can’t you come with me?”
“I need to stay and help with the recording.”
“Namjoon-hyung could do that.”
Yoongi looked over to where Namjoon was leaning against the wall and was seemingly watching them intently but looked away as soon as they made eye contact. “I guess.”
“Please? We can nap together.”
“I don't know. I can’t just skip out on the album.” Yoongi thought Jungkook would complain or try wheedle him more, but instead, the maknae bent over in a very loud coughing fit. Immediately Jimin appeared at his side.
“What’s wrong? Are you sick? Are you feeling sick?”
“I’m okay,” Jungkook said in a breathy voice. “I’m just tired.”
“You should bring him home, hyung,” Jimin said. “I’ll get Namjoonie-hyung.”
Yoongi narrowed his eyes but didn’t say anything.
The leader was very quick indeed to give the plan his seal of approval, and soon Jungkook and Yoongi were dressed in their jackets, standing in the cool afternoon air of the sidewalk. “Do you want to stop at the convenience store on the way home?” Jungkook asked. Miraculously, his voice was suddenly back to its normal tone. “We could get a drink, or some snacks, or tea, or medicine…”
“You’re terrible at this,” said Yoongi, crossing his arms over his chest. “Never become an actor, Kookie.”
“What do you mean?” Jungkook widened his eyes to feign his innocence, but Yoongi wasn’t having it.
“Who put you up to this? Was it Jin? Or was it Hobi?”
“Namjoon said to- I mean,” Jungkook cut himself off, “What do you mean?” Yoongi stared at him, and Jungkook’s wide-eyed expression gave way to a guilty smile. “Don't be mad.”
“I’m not,” Yoongi admitted, “but don't push your luck, kid.”
“Everyone knows you’re not feeling well,” said Jungkook. “We just want you to rest.”
“I can take care of myself just fine, but if you want to treat me like an invalid, you can carry me back to the apartment.”
Rather than seeing it as a punishment, Jungkook eagerly agreed, squatting down in front of the older boy. Yoongi immediately regretted his comment, but clambered awkwardly onto his back, happy that Jungkook at least couldn’t see how embarrassing this whole situation was for him. “All right then. Let’s go."
“Did you want to stop at the store?” Jungkook asked as he began walking back towards the house.
“I have medicine in my bag, and you know Jin is going to come home with a whole damn pharmacy.”
“So no convenience store?”
“You just want snacks, don't you?” Yoongi sighed when Jungkook stayed silent. “Fine, but you can only get one thing. I mean it this time.”
Later that evening when Hoseok and Taehyung arrived back home, Jungkook could be found lying on the bed next to a passed out Yoongi, no fewer than three snack wrappers strewn around him.