Chapter Text
It was inevitable really.
They played in the pool, ate, and then played in the pool again. They played to decide who would clean up the dishes and, after a lot of rounds, Jaemin lost.
As everyone laughed, proud of themselves for cleverly avoiding the boring task, Jaemin stood stupefied for a while, then he grumbled at the unfairness of it all as he got out of the pool.
Some of the kids would really do anything just to win. Jaemin didn’t really mind either way so even when the cheating against him was blatant, he just let it be.
He did find it unfair that they chose to target him. He was the one who prepared the snacks this afternoon for them, he’s been cleaning the dishes since yesterday, was volunteered to go to the supermarket, and he was already designated to grill the meat later. Were they intending to push all the housework to him or something?
“It’s okay, Jaemin-ah!” Mark yelled, laughing, “You’ll get lots of one shots with the camera! Think of the screen time, the screen time!”
“Aah, I’m actually a bit jealous now,” Donghyuck moaned, obviously untrue, “I want to get a lot of screen time too!”
Seeing the kids laughing happily, Jaemin just smiled back at them.
He toweled his hair a bit, patted his body with the towel so that he wouldn’t drip all over the house and then gathered the dishes to wash them inside.
He wasn’t really the type who talked to himself even with cameras present. And he wasn’t the type who wanted screen time either. So the dish washing was spent in serious silence.
And then, just when he was putting away the last plate, his body suddenly felt unusually heavy. With a frown, he braced both hands against the sink, his shoulders hunched up as if something was pressing down on him.
Exhaustion. It was exhaustion, wasn’t it?
Before coming here, they spent a week preparing the album and practicing the new choreography. They shot a lot of promotional activities too. It was just day after day of work. And that was fine because they were never made to work beyond the set time and they had ample amounts of rest but everyone had been uncharacteristically fuzzy recently.
Jisung couldn’t sleep well. Jeno spent a lot more time playing games. Renjun was a bit moody. Jaemin himself liked to lock himself in his room right after arriving home.
They’ve had a couple of comebacks already but the pressure they felt on this one, a full album promotion, was different. They really, really wanted it to do well, more than before.
Unfortunately, their dorm auntie had gotten ill and Jaemin, unable to stand the messy dorm, took it upon himself to clean up.
Now that he thought about it, he’s been constantly working, hasn’t he? Back at home and even now when they were supposed to be relaxing.
Amused at his fate, he shook his head and smiled. He turned to one of the camera directors and said, “I’m a bit sleepy suddenly. Is it okay if I go and sleep?”
The director nodded, “Go ahead. We’ll get one of the members to wake you up later.”
“Not Haechan or Chenle, please,” he joked.
Everyone around Jaemin laughed, knowing that those two wouldn’t wake anyone up normally.
When the staff bid him to rest well, Jaemin thanked them and went to his room to rest.
A while later, it was one of their managers who woke him up.
Jaemin was tempted to tell him that he wasn’t feeling well like they normally would do but, it was just a few more hours of work anyway. They weren’t going to do anything strenuous. It should be fine.
He got up, noticed that his body was a lot heavier, and went outside. From his room and all the way outside, it felt like he was walking through water. Everything was bit dull and muted too.
His reaction time was slower too. When Jeno had thrown the fire resistant gloves to him for grilling, it had hit him square in the face. Everyone spluttered into laughter as he looked unamused at Jeno.
“If it’s grilling it must be Na Jaemin!”
“No one cooks meat better than Na Jaemin!”
“Na Jaemin jjang!”
“Na Jaemin fighting!”
“Chef Na we look forward for your performance today!”
“Yah,” he said, staring at the members all seated around a table, “Am I gonna cook this by myself while you guys eat?”
Before they could explain, Jaemin already knew the answer from their mischievous faces.
“You see,” Mark started, “We played a game a while ago to decide and since you weren’t there it was just decided automatically, you know? It was a unanimous decision.”
“Hyung, what are you talking about?” he asked, amused. As always, Mark never really made much sense when ad-libbing excuses.
The mood mellowed down significantly after that. The plan was to talk about their expectations for this album, their dreams, how far they’ve reached since they debuted. Jaemin would occasionally say a few words but he was silently cooking most of the time.
During a lull in conversation, Jaemin called for Jisung and asked him to get a plate inside.
Adorably, Jisung didn’t even grumble, he stood up immediately and brought a plate to him. He stacked up the meat on the plate and made Jisung bring it to the table for the members to eat.
He really wasn’t feeling hungry so he just continued to grill more meat.
On the second re-fill, Jisung tugged at his sleeves and said, “Eat with us, hyung. Aren’t you hungry?”
“It’s okay. I’ll just finish this one.”
“Jeno-hyung can finish grilling it,” Jisung said louder, getting everyone’s attention. “Jeno-hyung can grill it so Jaemin-hyung can eat.”
Mark nodded, “Yeah, come and eat, Jaemin-ah.”
“It’s just this batch left, it’s fine.”
Despite his protests, when Jeno took the tongs from him and pushed him towards the table, Jaemin could only laugh and admit defeat.
He got a plate, took a few pieces of meat, much less than usual, and began to eat. The conversation picked up again and he comfortably ate in silence.
And then Jisung asked, “Not hungry, hyung?”
Haechan and Renjun were bickering while Chenle was laughing hysterically. Amidst this racket, Jaemin smiled, “Mn. Had a lot of coffee a while ago.”
It was a lie but at least it reassured Jisung.
Dinner was the last schedule of the day. Most of the staff all packed up and left leaving only the members and the managers inside the compound. There were still cameras running inside though to capture moments of the members preparing to sleep.
Jaemin had already laid down on the upper bunk bed for a while, trying to sleep early, hoping he’d feel better the next day when his stomach began rolling.
He’d already felt a little bit nauseous after eating and now the feeling grew worse. He took deep breaths to calm it down but it didn’t work.
When Jisung entered their room, Jaemin was sitting up, his head bowed between his knees, taking deep deep breaths.
Instantly alarmed, Jisung was about to climb up to check on his hyung when Jaemin croaked a, “Bag, Jisung-ah. Get me a— ugh, a bag.”
Jisung ran out of the room, alarming everyone there. He didn’t know where to find a bag so he ran up to one of the managers and panicked, “Hyung, a bag. A plastic bag! Jaemin-hyung needs a plastic bag! I think he’s sick. Hyung—,”
The manager understood, quickly grabbed a plastic bag under the sink and ran inside Jaemin and Jisung’s room. Seeing Jaemin with his eyes closed in pain, his heart leapt in panic as he handed the bag to the younger boy.
Jaemin took the bag and heaved. By the time Jaemin stopped vomiting, he was covered in sweat, pale and shivering.
At this time, the medical staff that was called had arrived. She took the bag from Jaemin and peered at its contents. After handing it down to her colleague, she gave Jaemin a cleansing wipe to clear off his face and then a towel to dry. When Jaemin had calmed down, she took his temperature and asked him a few questions. In the end, she concluded that it was as Jaemin suspected, exhaustion.
"Do you think you could go down, Jaemin-sshi?"
Jaemin honestly didn't want to do anything other than to sleep but he also knew it would be easier for everyone if his bed was easier to access.
He nodded.
As he made his way down, he could practically feel the tension in the room. It was in the way his manager supported his back as he climbed down, the way his members all told him to take it slow, to do it carefully, the way they all looked so seriously at him as he turned around and faced them.
They all looked like he was going to collapse at any moment that he couldn't help but smile and laugh.
"It's just a fever. It's nothing serious."
Jaemin wanted them all to feel better, to remove the worry in their eyes, but unexpectedly, their worry grew instead. They also became angry.
"What do you mean it's nothing serious? You just—,"
"You're obviously shivering, Jaemin-ah."
"Do you even know how you look like right now, hyung?"
"It's not just a fever! Hyung, you—,"
"You look like you're about to collapse! And you're saying it's nothing serious?"
"Will you stop trying to make us feel better?" Jeno complained, "We want to take care of you too, you know."
Touched, he smiled warmly at his members.
In the end, he took over Donghyuck's huge bed. It was on the first floor, had its own bathroom, and it was easier for the staff and the members to check up on him.
Not that he knew they were constantly checking up on him though.
After changing clothes and changing his room, Jaemin had quickly fallen asleep. So when the members all entered the room, when Jeno sat down beside him and carefully, gently, brushed the hair sticking to his forehead, when Jisung sat down on his other side and held his hand, he didn't know.
Jisung was gently playing with Jaemin's fingers when he said softly, "It's our fault, isn't it?"
"No, it's mine," Donghyuck muttered miserably, burrowing against Mark's side, "If I hadn't cheated so much—,"
"We all cheated," Renjun quickly intervened, "And we all didn't notice that he wasn't feeling well."
"It's not like he wanted us to know either," Jeno quipped, knowing this side of Jaemin, "He complains when it's not serious. If it is serious, he'll only tell the managers. This time, he probably really thought he could handle it."
"Hyung still wouldn't have felt as bad if we hadn't pushed all the housework to him though," Chenle said softly.
Mark smiled at his friends and, knowing they needed a hyung right now, he said confidently, "It'll be fine. The nurse said he was fine, didn't she? Just a good night's rest, that's all. We can all just make it up to him tomorrow."