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Jimin had made a mistake.
Last night, the boys went out to celebrate the final show of their time in America before heading off elsewhere to continue their tour a few days later. It was fun; so fun, in fact, that Jimin ended up getting so caught up in the happiness of their successful concerts and the heavy buzz he’d taken on that he overindulged a bit. American food has never really sat well with him, but it was a particularly greasy selection that he’d paid no mind to the consequences of.
And now he’s paying the price.
He didn’t drink enough to be hungover...but he’d eaten enough to wake up to a horribly bloated belly and a bad stomach ache.
Jimin blows out a deep exhale, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and pressing a hand to the taut flesh of his unhappy tummy with a grimace. He stands up and stretches, glancing over to Jungkook’s unmade bed on the other side of the hotel room—since when does Jungkook get up before him?
Jimin makes his way out to the kitchen, all of the others already getting ready to eat a (rather late) breakfast.
Hoseok is the first to notice Jimin’s arrival, smiling at him. “Hey, sleepyhead. I was just about to go wake you up...make sure you didn’t die, you know, since Jungkook never gets up before you,” he says, shooting a glance to the maknae who’s currently too involved in some game on his phone to notice.
Jimin chuckles softly, taking a seat at the table along with the others. Jin emerges from the kitchen to put plates of various breakfast foods on the table before sitting down himself. The boys are quick to fill their plates while Jimin sits idle and stares at his empty one instead.
Jin looks at him, concern in his eyes. “Aren’t you gonna eat?”
Jimin shakes his head. “Ahh, I’m not hungry...”
“You should at least eat something, though,” Hoseok chimes in from beside him.
“I’m really not...” Jimin trails off as Jin puts a few pieces of toast on his plate for him, clearly not taking no for an answer. The vocalist sighs deeply, but obeys anyway, slowly but surely managing to eat the meager three pieces of toast. Though toast is recommended for stomach aches, putting anything, even that, in his body only worsens the bloated feeling and gurgly ache.
As he sits, waiting for everyone else to finish, he slides a hand under the table to undo the button of the jeans he’d fallen asleep in from last night; they certainly weren’t helping his case, after all. Jimin glances to the others, hoping none of them noticed. Jin, however, who had had his eyes on the younger man out of worry, quickly picked up on his discomfort.
“You’re that full from toast?” He asks, looking Jimin up and down.
“Huh? I...no, I just…”
“Last night?” Jin suggests quietly, careful not to attract the attention of the other boys who can obviously hear the conversation but aren’t paying any mind to the hushed words being said.
Jimin nods sheepishly, wincing as his stomach cramps up and putting a hand into it. Jin hums sympathetically, pausing for a moment to think before standing. “I’ll get you something.”
The younger vocalist opens his mouth to protest, but Jin’s already gone, and he returns in record time with a glass of water bubbling with the antacid he’d just dropped in it. By now, all of the others are aware that something’s up.
Hoseok,, who’s sitting right next to Jimin, runs a hand up and down his spine. “You okay, baby?”
“I’m fine, yeah, I’m...I’m okay,” Jimin insists, blushing at the sudden attention over something so small.
The boys get the hint and drop the topic, though they all spare concerned glances towards Jimin every so often. It seems like ages before they’re finally cleaning up and Jimin can head back to his room and relax for a bit before they all end up going out again anyway.
Jimin manages to handle his discomfort rather well, smiling through the pain and making it through the rest of the day, at least partially distracted by the others. It couldn’t get worse or anything, and it would have to be gone by night, right?
That’s the second mistake he makes.
When they do finally get home, he’s even more bloated than he had been before, sodas and snacks being shared over the course of their day out and about now making things even worse. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, Jimin can feel gas bubbling inside of him. That wouldn’t bother him so much if he had a room alone, but he’s sharing a room with Jungkook, too.
And Jungkook likes to cuddle with him. How is he supposed to hide it then?
Jimin and Jungkook have both gotten ready for bed, and the older is happy to be out of his constricting day clothes and in a pair of sweats and a loose shirt. Everyone is settled down and heading to sleep, leaving the apartment quiet. Silent.
Jungkook is next to Jimin, head on the older boy’s chest as he scrolls through his phone. Jimin hopes the maknae can’t hear his internal turmoil--if he does, he doesn’t say anything. Not long after, Jungkook is dozing off, dropping his phone next to Jimin and using his arm to cuddle close to the older boy instead.
Jimin smiles fondly; he’d enjoy this, be happy with this, if he wasn’t so uncomfortable. He leans over to plug both his and the youngest’s phones in and clicking off the light before trying to sleep himself.
It doesn’t go so well.
The gurgling ache that’s been resting in his stomach all day still hasn’t let up, the gas cramps not any better; though Jungkook was asleep, he wasn’t too keen on letting go, should he wake up or something. Jimin’s over-cautious about this kind of thing.
The older boy shifts and turns and squirms in an attempt to get at least remotely comfortable and try to fall asleep as well, but he just can’t seem to. Jimin doesn’t realize just how much he’s been wriggling around until Jungkook shifts beside him, roused from sleep by all the jostling.
“What’re you doin…?” The maknae asks, voice low from sleep.
Jimin wants to lie.
But honestly...at this point, what does he have to lose?
“It’s...my stomach is still really upset,” he mumbles sheepishly, and Jungkook hums in understanding. Jimin almost thinks he’s falling back asleep before he rolls over and lays on his back, patting his chest to beckon Jimin to lay on him. When Jimin hesitates, he speaks up.
“C’mere. I’ll rub your belly,” he offers, gesturing again for the older boy to come lay on him.
Jimin realizes that if he does let the maknae rub his belly he’ll probably end up letting go of everything he’d been fighting to bottle up all day. In the subtle moonlight streaming through the open window, Jungkook can see that Jimin’s blushing.
“Why’re you…” Jungkook trails off, pausing a moment before snorting and giggling. “Hyung, are you gassy ?”
Jimin rolls over and buries his face in a pillow. Jungkook only laughs harder.
“Come on, stupid. Let me help you. You know I don’t care.”
Jimin doesn’t move.
“You do realize it’s me you’re...moaning bashfully to, right? Me? I probably fart the most out of all of us,” Jungkook laughs, choosing to pat Jimin on the back to get his attention instead. He feels the older boy jolt beneath his touch, and for a moment Jungkook thinks something’s wrong before realizing that he’s actually laughing.
Jimin finally scoots over to rest on Jungkook’s chest. He does have a point; as far as being around the other members goes, Jungkook’s probably the gassiest by far. Because he genuinely doesn’t care--because he has the mentality of a fifteen-year-old boy and still finds it funnier than he should. Sometimes he
intentionally
does it as a punchline. Jimin shouldn’t be getting so embarrassed.
Jungkook runs one hand through Jimin’s hair, using the other to reach under the fabric of his shirt and access his horribly bloated middle. He works gently at first before starting to apply more pressure and Jimin practically melts under his caress.
Sure, an orchestra of gas does escape him at a rapid rate, but at this point, Jimin doesn’t care. He’s been in pain all day and he’s finally getting some relief. He can finally relax.
And letting Jungkook help him is the farthest thing from all the mistakes he’d made today.