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He knew this test was inevitable.
Everyone in the dorm had been feeling like shit and they had to know one way or the other.
They’d taken the test millions of times, especially when they were doing interviews and photoshoots they took it almost every week. But every time those tests had been administered by someone else .
This time they had to do it themselves.
Making sure the swab got back far enough was entirely up to them, and it was their willpower alone that would have to force them to withstand it.
It was just a swab up each nostril for 15 seconds and then they were done.
So why the hell was this so scary?
Yoongi sat there staring at the pile of rapid covid test boxes with complete dread.
They were all gathered around the table to take the test. Namjoon did it first perfectly fine, demonstrating how to open the swab packet stick side first. How to swirl it into the dropper container that contained the liquid. How to carefully drag the swab up against the side of the vile to get everything in. How they needed to make sure to put 4 drops not 5. Which of course the maknaes and Jin immediately picked up on and wouldn’t drop whatever stupid joke they started.
Namjoon’s test came back positive.
Shit.
They really all had to take the test now. It was too much to hope they just had a cold from hell. If one of them was positive it was more than likely they all were too, or at least all would be soon.
Jin went next and then Hobi.
Jin was negative which he was relieved about. Hoseok was positive, which earned him a wisecrack from Tae that it was because he always tried to “stay positive”.
I know he’s trying to be funny but that just grating on my nerves more.
The maknaes decided to all take it at the same time. Couldn’t stand to watch each other in pain or some shit. Probably just didn’t trust each other not to do something stupid while the other had a cotton swab a centimeter away from their brain.
Tae was the only one negative.
“Lucky bastard.” I thought with an eye roll.
“Okay Hyung! It’s your turn.” Jungkook said turning to me with way too much brightness for any sane person in this situation.
Jin placed the box in front of him with a pat on the shoulder.
“It’s not so bad, and once we’re done we can all go relax. We’re not going anywhere for a while .” He said with a grimace.
“Not that bad my ass,” Yoongi thought. He’d seen everyone's eyes water while they were itching their brains.
He made no effort to move, just glared at the box. He’d been feeling the worst out of everyone.
His throat felt like it had an open cat scratch, that only lemon tea and honey seemed to ease. He felt exhausted but was too sick to sleep, and he had a headache forming where his nasal cavities were behind his right eye. Apparently wearing his glasses and taking Advil wasn’t the right answer because the area behind his eye still hurt.
Jin seemed to take his stillness as an invitation to set up the test.
It was not.
Jin placed a paper towel down in front of him. Emptying the box and then placing it down, next to it he put the plastic test, previously called a pregnancy test as a joke, and then the packaged swab.
He poked the hole in the box and placed the dropper vial into the hole so it stood up, ready for Yoongi to put the swab in and swirl the contents of whatever was in his nose that told them he had covid.
Even with the test all set up he made absolutely no move to take it.
His second stage of grief had passed. No longer glaring at the test, but now wondering if he could just give everyone 5,000 won and call it a day.
Technically he felt like shit, so if he just skipped the test and said he had covid he wouldn’t be wrong.
He had to quarantine with them anyway . Why the hell did he have to take the test to prove that he felt like death.
“Hyung, we didn’t accept Jimin and Taehyung's barter of doing laundry for the next week to forge the test. Whatever you’re thinking won’t work. We gotta send the plastic tests into PD-nim.” Namjoon said quietly.
Damnit.
He could feel himself physically deflate.
Which didn’t go unnoticed by the rest. Yoongi wasn’t usually someone who put up a fight during health checkups. Yeah, he didn’t like doing certain things but he never tried to refuse a flu shot or blood draw.
“I know the swab sucks Hyung but the sneeze after is so satisfying it’s worth it!” Hobi pipped up trying to be helpful.
The two soulmates yelled in agreement, “And it’s kind of cool to be able to feel what you’re doing in the back of your nose.” Jungkook tried to supply.
Yoongi looked up and made eye contact with Jungkook.
Their maknae . He’d taken the test just fine, hadn’t even cried.
So why the hell couldn’t he man up and just take the damn swab and go for it?
He felt his chest tighten as he reached out for the swab packet with shaking hands. “Shit this is way harder than I thought.” He didn’t see the concerned looks Namjoon and Jin shared above his head.
Now they could all see how much he was freaking out.
He carefully peeled the package open and stared at the thin white plastic end of the swab. His chest tightened more.
Yoongi looked up at Jin.
“Do I have to?” His last-ditch effort to get out of this.
It was heartbreaking how small his voice was, how uncomfortable he was visible in his eyes.
“Yoon, you know you gotta,” Jin replied in an equally small but comforting voice. He reached out and stroked the youngers shoulder with his thumb.
And then Yoongi went completely out of character. He dropped the swab packet and buried his face in his hands, ears turning a new shade of red.
Jin immediately went to his side, kneeling next to his chair and wrapping the younger boy in a tight hug. Namjoon ushered out the maknaes from the room, and Hobi appeared on Yoongi's other side.
“Oh Angel what’s wrong?” Jin asked, mother mode activated
Yoongi didn’t respond, his body heaved with a sob instead.
“Is it the swab Hyung?” Namjoon asked. “Are you afraid it’s going to hurt?” Hobi asked.
But how could he just explain that the thought of having to shove the swab up and force himself through a long 15 seconds of extreme discomfort was the last thing on earth that he wanted to do? And that it filled him with so much dread he would rather wash Jungkook's disgusting workout clothes by hand for the rest of the year instead.
He would rather dress up as a waiter in the stupid maid's costume again than do this.
With that at least he wasn’t physically uncomfortable or in pain, sure it took him a solid week for his pride to be restored but he would do it again if it meant not doing this.
He just pushed himself further into Jin trying to hide the tears falling.
“Oh it’s okay darling, we don’t have to do it right away. We can go slow, once you’ve calmed down a bit we can try again.” He said, rubbing his back. Yoongi felt the tightness in his chest ease slightly.
Namjoon and Hobi tried saying encouraging things, it was more annoying than helpful.
After a few minutes, Hobi then decided to switch tactics. “Ya know Hyung, people I’ve met always pick their noses, but I never did.” He could feel the weird look Jin was giving him. “ I always liked the one nose I was born with.”
It was silent for a moment before he heard Namjoon chuckle.
“Yeah but it’s ugly as hell,” I mumbled into Jin's shirt with a small smirk, no heat behind my words.
Hobi’s yell of indignation was drowned out by Jin and Namjoon laughing.
“Ya know, I think Jungkook accidentally sprayed that horrible deodorant the maknaes all love in his mouth.” I waited for Namjoon to elaborate, trying to figure out where the hell this was going. “Now whenever he talks there's this weird ax-scent coming out.”
That earned him a laugh from both boys and a groan from me.
Jin kept rubbing soothing circles into Yoongi’s back. Yoongi’s chest loosened even more, maybe from the terrible jokes maybe from his comforting Hyung.
“When I was shopping for dinner last week I noticed something about the other customers. Whenever people walked by snobby vegetables in the market……..pause for effect” he said with a smirk………..”They always turnip their noses!”
Jin grinned when he felt Yoongi laughing quietly against his chest.
“I don’t know what’s worse, the food pun or the fact you said pause for effect,” Yoongi said looking up at his Hyung, finally removing his hands from his face tears subsiding.
“Food puns are top-quality entertainment!” Jin defended.
“Maybe if you’re old,” Yoongi mumbled, but not quitely enough for Jin not to hear.
“I’M THREE MONTHS OLDER THAN YOU!” Jin pulled away from hugging Yoongi “You are so lucky I'm not deep enough into mom mode yet or I’d whoop your a-”
“Why is Jin Hyung about to curse?” Jungkook asked with a smirk, popping his head in from the living room. Probably where the maknaes went off to so they could still listen in.
“Ahh” Jin cleared his throat, “I wasn’t! Now go away, we’re having precious Hyung time. We’ll call you back when we’re ready.” He said shooing Jungkook away with his hand.
At the mention of having to take the test again, Yoongi deflated.
“What’s freaking you out the most?” Namjoon asked
“I just- can’t wrap my head around sticking the swab up my nose like that,” Yoongi said, casting his eyes down. “It’s different when we have a nurse doing it because I- I kind of have no choice but to suck it up. But when I’m the one doing it. It’s just….different.” Yoongi leaned his head back against Jin's shoulder. He felt a little better after voicing his worries.
“I get what you mean Hyung!” Jungkook popped back in, much to Jin’s annoyance.
“I don’t always want to work out on our days off, but it’s easier when it’s built into our schedules.” He crept in slowly making sure he wouldn’t be exiled again. “I find it’s easier sometimes when I can drag Jimin-ah along with me.” Jimin appeared at the sound of his name, dragging Tae along.
“Yeah, and remember when I had to take that horrible medicine for that sinus infection? And you turned it into a game of shots.” Hobi pipped in.
“You….WHAT?!” Jin nearly yelled staring down at Yoongi.
“It’s not as bad as he’s making it sound,” Yoongi said not bothering to look up.
“Yoongi set out multiple shot glasses in a row and in one of them was the medicine and the rest were filled with sprite.” Jin calmed down once hearing they weren’t mixing medication with alcohol “We both had to take the shots as fast as we could. It made it easier to get the medicine down.”
“Do you want one of us to do it for you Hyung?” Jimin asked.
“No!” Yoongi recoiled slightly, he felt Jin rub his back trying to keep him calm “I-I’m sorry but I don’t want to risk losing my sense of smell.” He sighed, “And I should probably really do it myself.”
“Then here, stand up a sec,” Jin said
Yoongi stood up and Jin pulled his chair out a bit further from the table before sitting down and straddled it, He pulled Yoongi back down and wrapped his arms around him.
Namjoon seemed to catch his drift, and swapped seats with Hobi.
Hoseok grabbed Yoongi's left hand and the maknaes pulled their chairs a bit closer and sat down.
“Once we get this done we can watch a movie and eat snacks and cuddle,” Jin said, hugging Yoongi a bit tighter. Knowing Yoongi needed some comfort once this ordeal was over.
“Let’s just take this one step at a time. Don’t even think about the next step until we’re there.” Namjoon said. “And we won’t go to the next step until you’re ready.
Yoongi mulled it over. With Jin hugging him and Hobi holding his hand, it made it a bit easier to endure the swab. And it might be a bit easier to think of this as a one step at a time process.
Yoongi nodded.
“Okay, step 1. Take a deep breath.”
Yoongi looked at him wondering if he was serious.
He was.
With a slight eye roll, Yoongi took a deep breath and exhaled. Creepily enough, everyone else did it with him at the same time.
“Okay, step 2. pick up the cotton swab.”
Yoongi stared at it before reaching out and gingerly picking it up from the table where he’d dropped it earlier.
“Okay, take out the swab and take another deep breath.”
Yoongi copied his instructions, feeling slightly less anxious than before.
“Okay, next step. Take a deep breath and then slowly insert the swab and start counting once you're ready. We’ll take over once you start swabbing your nose.” Namjoon said sounding as confident as possible.
“You can do it Hyung, just go for it!” Jimin said shooting him a smile. Hobi squeezed his hand in encouragement.
Before Yoongi could psyche himself out again, he very slowly started “going for it”.
It felt beyond weird pushing the swab in further than he was supposed to.
“Make sure he shoves it in far enough,” Jin said from behind him.
“That’s what she said,” Tae whispered with a snicker.
All the Hyungs shot him a glare, while the maknaes started laughing. If Yoongi didn’t have this stupid swab up his nose he would have laughed too.
His right eye began to water as he pushed it up further, increasingly becoming uncomfortable.
“Take a deep breath.” Namjoon reminded.
Yoongi did as careful as he could. “One.” he started swirling the swab, his right eye watered even more as the rest of the guys counted to 15. His right nostril felt like it flared up wherever he swabbed, not comfortable with this new sensation.
Jin kept his arms firmly wrapped around Yoongi, which was honestly really comforting. He could feel him counting through his back.
“13…..14……15” Yoongi pulled the swab out as fast as he could. Wiping his eye with his sleeve, careful not to touch the swab to anything.
“Okay, deep breath and then quickly go for the next nostril. You don’t want to leave the swab exposed too long.” Namjoon gave him an apologetic look.
The second swabbing was a little easier. His left eye watered worse but it didn’t feel like it took as long.
Yoongi let out the loudest sneeze as soon as the swab was out of his nose the second time. Hobi was kinda right, it felt really nice after the horrible swabbing.
All the maknaes let out a LOUD cheer.
“Okay okay, next step. Swirl the swab in the liquid in the dropper vial for 30 seconds.”
Yoongi copied the next few directions, feeling better that he was in the homestretch. He felt the tension in his shoulders ease. Jin gingerly put his head on his shoulder so he could watch what he was doing.
Finally, he was dropping the 4 drops onto the test.
“This better be fucking positive after all this shit.” Yoongi thought.
Namjoon collected all the trash from his test once he was done as the maknaes joined Jin and crushed Yoongi in a hug. Hoseok never let go of his hand.
“It’s over darling,” Jin said in his ear.
Yoongi let out a breath he’d been holding since the whole ordeal started.
Namjoon came back from disposing of unneeded test parts and joined the hug, and Yoongi let himself soak up the comfort for a few minutes.
“So, are you positive?” Jin asked.
Everyone broke apart as Yoongi looked down at the test.
Two bright red lines, He was positive. But of course, he knew that.
He knew everyone in the dorm had been feeling like shit and they had to officially know one way or the other.
He knew this test was inevitably going to be positive.