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Jimin moves over to the back of the room, resting on the wall and slowly sliding down, until he’s sitting on the floor, legs spread in front of him. He’s sweating mad, panting heavily as he tries to regain a normal heart rate, whipping his forehead with the back of his hand. He would use a towel, but the one he had brought along is on the other side of the room, along with a beautiful plastic bottle filled with blissfully cold water. He barely had enough strength to even pull his feet over to this side of the room, no way was he going to even try and reach for his things. So he sighted, moving his eyes on the huge mirrors covering the wall in front of him.
The music was still playing in the stereo a few feet away from him, though not as loudly as during actual practice hours. There were still people working, even at the late hour, and he didn’t want to bother anyone, though he knew the walls were all sound-proof. Still, it felt wrong to bust the volume at maximum at two in the morning, so he didn’t.
It took another three songs for his breathing to go back to normal. He was still tired as hell, his feet hurting as he got up. He stretched a bit, willing his muscles back into action. He went in the middle of the room, taking in a shaky breath and waited for the melody to start over again.
He shouldn’t have been in the practice room, not really. Taehyung had even texted him a while ago, nagging at him to go back home. He had responded playfully for a while, until he simply stopped bothering with the phone. He knew it wasn’t really a nice thing to do, especially since he could hear it vibrate for another hour until Tae probably gave up. He would apologize to the other in the morning or something, because he’d been screwing up a few steps and he wanted them to be perfect.
Namjoon had told him not to practice today too, and he even agreed and reassured the leader he wouldn’t, yet here he was, forcing his body to go beyond what he already knew was his limit. He should apologize to Namjoon once he sees him again. He hadn’t intended to lie per see, it just kind of happened.
A sudden jolt of pain woke him up from his little trance as a yelp escaped his mouth and he crashed to the floor. He remained still for a few moments, eyes wide and staring at the ceiling. A groan made its way out of his mouth as he propped himself on his elbows and glared down at his left leg. His shoelace was undone and he tripped because of it. Actually, now that he looked closely, his shoes were kind of beaten up. Maybe he should get a new pair for practice.
He tried to get up, but his body seemed to have finally decided it was done with him. He could barely still hold himself on his hands. As soon as he propped one arm to try and get up, it would shake and another wave of pain would crawl along it. With a loud sigh, he gave up and crashed back down on his back. He could feel the sweat slowly sliding down his body and a small thought appeared at the back of his head, wondering if he’d make a little puddle underneath him, because he was pretty sure he was soaking. Probably smelled awful too; he should take a shower soon.
“You look like shit”
The sudden voice made him start a bit. He hadn’t even registered the door opening. He moved his head to the side, still a bit dazed from all the exhaustion and made out Yoongi standing right next to the entrance. The other’s eyes suddenly went wide and he moved over, a nervous expression on his face as he whispered “Hey… You OK? What happened? Why are you crying?”
Jimin blinked; he hadn’t realized he’d started crying.
Yoongi moved a hand over the other only to pull it back immediately while looking around the room. He went over to where Jimin’s stuff were and grabbed his towel and bottle of water, the two heavenly objects he had seemingly forgotten about. When the elder came back, he got down on his knees, dropped a bit of water on the cloth in his hands and moved it to wipe the other’s face.
Jimin won’t lie; it was a pretty damn good feeling. And now that he had a contrast, he suddenly felt like his whole body was on fire. Actually, he started realizing a lot of things. He was still panting quite a bit, his muscles hurt like hell, it felt like millions of ants were crawling up his feet, his head was a bit dizzy, making the room and everything in it spin a bit and his eyes were out of focus. It was alarming, really, and he should have noticed earlier and the fact that he didn’t scared him. He must have showed his panic, because Yoongi frowned, looking him over, biting his lower lip. Maybe he thought he had hurt himself? Which he did, because, honestly, his butt still hurt from that fall he took a while ago.
The rapper moved the towel over Jimin’s arms, still inspecting his body up and down. He wanted to make sure he hadn’t injured himself or something. He already looked awful; he could feel the heat resonating from his body from the door, for God’s sake!
When Taehyung had come to him and Namjoon (who were watching a show) pouting and agitated, complaining that Jimin was not answering his texts anymore and that he was still not back, they were ready to just wave him off, saying it was nothing, that the boy probably ran out of battery or something. Jungkook, who had been sitting at the side suddenly got up and ran after Taehyung who practically stomped his way into their bedroom, muttering under his breath about how they were all stuck up and ignorant.
Another hour later, when most people were asleep, Yoongi caught Tae as he was grabbing some shoes.
“What are you doing?” He asked, noting how the younger looked about ready to fall asleep where he stood.
“I’m going to get Jimin” Even his voice sounded sleepy, so Yoongi pushed him into the bedroom, promising to go himself. He forgot his charger at the studio anyway, might as well use the opportunity and scold the dancer for worrying Tae so much. And Jungkook, because the maknae was also awake, trying to call Jimin, when Yoongi pushed Taehyung into his bed and told the both of them to go to sleep.
After making sure the two had gone to dream-land (which took no more than five minutes after he promised to go get the other) he made his way to the door, grabbed his coat and went on his way.
He hadn’t been expecting to hear the music still playing as he reached the door to the practice room. He knew Jimin had remained to dance since they finished their training for the day, more than five hours ago. How much can one person dance?
When he entered the room, Jimin was sprawled in the middle, chest moving up and down at a rapid pace. The whole room was suffocating, too warm and too smelly and he couldn’t imagine how much the other had actually danced to cause a part of the mirror to actually steam up. He gulped down the worry building up in his gut and threw a snarky comment, hoping to ease the tension building up at the back of his head. But once he saw the tears running down Jimin’s face, he screwed it all.
Yoongi helped the dancer sit up and had to force himself to not grimace at how wet his shirt was. He was pretty sure that if he squeezed it, it would end up like one of those cartoons and a little river would just continue to fall for a full minute at least. He threw the small towel onto Jimin’s back and left him there, going to look through his bag. Fortunately, he found what he was looking for: a hoodie. He went back next to Jimin who seemed to slowly be coming back to his senses.
“Take your shirt off before you get sick…”
Jimin had a look, for a second, that said he would have wanted to throw a flirty comment, as per usual, but he was still too out of it, so he complied silently. As soon as the (what once was) shirt was off, Yoongi pushed the hoodie on him and threw the wet thing next to the bag.
“You don’t happen to have a spare pair of pants around here somewhere, do you?”
Jimin took a moment to understand the question before he shook his head. He immediately regretted the action, moving a hand to grab at his temples. His head felt too light for any kind of movement at the moment.
Yoongi sighted and passed the half-filled bottle in the other’s hand. “Drink up before you faint”
He left the younger to gulp down the water and moved over to his studio room to look around. Usually, they wouldn’t really leave their things there, but, sometimes, Jungkook and Hoseok would store a shirt or something, just in case. He really hoped he could find a pair of pants, because Jimin’s were soaking and he didn’t really want to have to drag him through the night breeze like that. What if he got a cold or something?
Unfortunately, fate wasn’t on his side. The only pieces of clothing he managed to find were one of Namjoon’s snapbacks and a t-shirt. Giving up, Yoongi grabbed his charger and moved outside again.
Jimin was silently massaging at his leg, a small pout on his face.
“Does your leg hurt?”
Jimin looked up with a tired smile and shook his head “It stings a bit” his voice was as bad as Tae’ before he forced him in bed a while ago. It sent an unpleasant chill down his spine.
“Should I help?” He hesitated as he crouched down, tentatively moving his hands on Jimin’s other leg. When the younger didn’t protest, he started copying his movements, gently pressing up and down his leg. He could feel the way the muscles would tense and relax under his palms and he couldn’t help wonder just how much had he danced to get in this bad of a state.
He remembered a time when Hoseok had done the same, back before they debuted. He had worked himself until he could literally not stand. When he and Namjoon looked him over, disbelief clear in their faces, he only offered them a shy laugh as he whispered “Sorry… I can’t move”
Yoongi guessed, now that he looked at the way Jimin would relax into the touch, breathing out evenly again, that it was a dancer thing. Much like how he and the leader would end up spending hours with no sleep, writing down all the lyrics that would pop up in their heads and trying out all the beats they dreamed of. He hoped there wouldn’t be a day they would find Jungkook in the same situation though.
A few minutes later, Jimin was able to stand again, albeit shaking a bit and almost falling over the first time. Yoongi made a displeased sound with his tongue as he passed the other his jacket and the scarf he had used when he came to pick him up.
Jimin whispered a soft “Sorry…” face flustered in embarrassment.
Honestly, Yoongi felt like teasing him a bit, but decided against it when he looked him over and saw just how bad thing were. Jimin’s shoulder were slouched, his eyes staying close a second more than normal and his eyes still seemed unable to focus on one thing at a time.
“Come on, let’s get you home”
The walk back to the dorm took a bit longer than usual, because Jimin was just too tired. And even though Yoongi was cold without his scarf, he didn’t complain. And the only reason he pulled the other to go a tiny bit faster was because he didn’t want him to get pneumonia or something, because his pants were still very much drenched in sweat.
As soon as they reached the dorm, Yoongi pushed Jimin into the shower and went in the room to grab him a new pair of (slightly warmer than necessary) clothes. Much to his amusement, and annoyance, Jungkook woke up as soon as he heard shuffling. It was actually quite shocking, considering Kookie could sleep through the national army screaming into his ear.
Nonetheless, Jungkook moved over to the couch, waiting patiently for Jimin to come out of the bathroom. As soon as he did, the younger was all over him.
“How could you stay so late? Why didn’t you answer our calls? You’re so mean, hyung” and a whole lot more. Poor Jimin looked completely confused, unable to keep up, though he did apologize.
Kookie then pulled him into the bedroom and more-or-less shoved him into his bed. Jimin seemed to want to argue at first, but didn’t. Instead he buried his face into Jungkook’s extra-fluffy pillow and promptly fell asleep.
Satisfied, Kookie went to get a drink and then climbed up in Jimin’s bed instead.
Yoongi didn’t have to ask why exactly he did that. Jimin had, on more occasions, joked about how Jungkook’s bed was more comfortable. He had fallen asleep in it a few times before too. Most of the times, the maknae would complain, but there were times when he wouldn’t say a word; usually, when Jimin was sad or too tired.
Yoongi snapped a picture of Jimin (because him cuddling with Tae’s lion was too cute) before he also went to bed, finally.