Work Text:
Beomgyu was currently in the bathroom with the door shut and faucet running. He was sitting on the closed toilet with a thermometer in his mouth. He was pretty sure he had a fever, seeing as he went to bed in only his boxers, yet woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. He knew it wasn't too hot or cold in the dorm because he passed the thermostat on his way to the bathroom and it read what it always does. However, one can hope.
The only reason Beomgyu had the faucet on was so his members wouldn't hear the thermometer beep on the off chance one of them were awake. The device beeped and he pulled it out of his mouth. Beomgyu sighed as he read the number. He definitely had a fever. He didn’t have time to be sick though. Their comeback is literally in two days. He’ll just have to take some medicine and power through how shitty he currently feels. He went into the medicine cabinet and grabbed some tylenol. He quickly took the pill before putting everything away. Then he went back to his room in hopes of getting a couple more hours of shut eye.
By the time Soobin was knocking on his door to make sure he was awake, Beomgyu hadn’t really gotten any more sleep. He spent the night in a constant state of being either too hot or too cold. It didn’t matter how many layers he had or didn’t have, he just couldn’t get comfortable. As he was getting dressed, Beomgyu caught sight of himself in the mirror that was mounted to his bedroom door. He definitely looked tired, but that’s it. There was no feverish flush to his cheeks, even though he knew he had one. He didn’t think he looked paler than he normally does first thing in the morning. He just looked tired and he didn’t feel good.
Beomgyu was going to use that to his advantage. If he only looked tired, he could easily tell his members that he had a bout of insomnia or something and that’s why he was so tired. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he should probably tell either Soobin or Yeonjun that he’s sick, but the part of his brain that was equal parts anxious and excited about their comeback was far louder in telling him there’s no time for rest. Therefore, since he didn’t look sick, he just needed to act like he was feeling perfectly fine. His members won’t suspect a thing.
Beomgyu finished getting dressed then left his room to eat breakfast with the others. It was taking the youngest Choi longer than usual to eat. He was listlessly scooping food into his mouth.Sure enough, one of the members noticed he wasn't quite himself.
"Hyung, why are you eating so slowly?" Taehyun asked. Right after Beomgyu’s head rolled forward before instantly jerking up. “Huh, wha? I’m awake.” Beomgyu said as he startled awake and took another mouthful of food.
“Yeah, right Beomie. You pretty much just fell asleep while eating breakfast. Did you not sleep last night?” Yeonjun asked through a chuckle. Beomgyu hummed in response before speaking. “No, I spent the majority of the night tossing and turning. I’ll be fine.” Yeonjun responded by pouring the younger man a mug of coffee. Beomgyu would have felt bad about omitting the full truth, but the fever was clouding his judgment a little.
The group finished their breakfast, and Soobin gave everyone a rundown of the day. Beomgyu was a bit relieved to hear that he had solo vocal practice in the morning, followed by a two hour break, then as a group they had dance practice. Beomgyu already knew that he’d likely be using his break to hide in his studio to take a nap.
Vocal practice had gone well. There had been a couple moments where Beomgyu had been a little bit pitchy, but the vocal coach excused it as being overly tired because the sick member kept yawning. Once Beomgyu was released from his vocal lessons, he quickly stopped at a vending machine to get a quick snack to eat, then went to his studio to take a nap. On the way he made sure to set an alarm on his phone so that he wouldn’t miss dance practice.
An hour and a half later, Beomgyu was startled awake by his phone’s alarm blaring. He took note of the time, before grabbing his bag and heading to the dance studio. As he was walking down the hall and he woke up a bit more, Beomgyu realized that he was feeling a bit worse than before. He was developing a headache and he was feeling cold. He grabbed his water bottle from his bag and took a few sips. He knew that he would be dancing for the next couple of hours, and as such would get warm that way, so he didn’t worry too much about feeling cold.
Beomgyu wound up being the first person to arrive at the studio. He decided to hook up his own phone and get started on stretching and warm ups. Beomgyu winced a little when the music started playing. As he was stretching, he was realizing that he was a bit more achy than he normally is. He sighed at himself knowing that the aches were a combination of his fever and all of the preparations they’ve been doing for their comeback. He also knew that since he was slowly feeling worse as the day wore on, he should really tell someone that he’s sick. He contemplated going to the sofa to lie down to signal to his members that something was wrong. However, the other members walked in and started stretching alongside him, before he could move. Now it would just look like he’s trying to get out of practice if he got up to lie on the couch, so Beomgyu decided against it.
Considering how bad Beomgyu was feeling, dance practice had gone surprisingly well. Granted he still had a headache, his muscles and joints were even achier, and he was ready to fall asleep as soon as they got home. But he managed to make almost no mistakes, which for the sickie was a huge win. The group went home and had a quick dinner before getting ready for bed. Beomgyu took a quick shower and some tylenol before crashing on his bed for the night.
The following morning, Beomgyu found that he wasn’t feeling any better. He might have been feeling worse, but he wasn’t quite sure. He immediately felt dizzy as he got out of bed. He slowly made his way to the bathroom and locked the door behind him. He turned the faucet on and filled up a cup as he put the thermometer in his mouth. As he waited for the device to beep, Beomgyu grabbed a dose of tylenol from the medicine cabinet and set it on the counter next to his water. He groaned as he saw his temp was a little bit higher than the day before and took the pill. He brushed his teeth before leaving the bathroom and moving to the kitchen to get some breakfast.
Soobin and Taehyun were in the kitchen making breakfast when Beomgyu arrived. He could hear Kai pestering Yeonjun about something, but didn’t have the mental capacity to try and figure out what. Beomgyu apparently zoned out for several minutes, because he finds himself being startled by a plate of food being placed in front of him.
“What you thinking there hyung?” Kai asked as he sat next to the elder member. Beomgyu shrugged noncommittally as he ate the food on his plate. The other members also began eating their own food and Soobin briefed the group on what their day before comeback would look like. Beomgyu groaned internally as he heard the bulk of their day would be refining their choreography. Unlike yesterday, Beomgyu was more alert during their first meal. As such, trying to hide the fact that he’s sick from his hyungs today is starting off great. He finished his breakfast with the rest of the group, then they all got ready to leave for practice.
By the time the group arrived at practice Beomgyu realized that he was definitely feeling worse than the day before. If it weren’t for the fact that he’d be throwing a wrench into their comeback, he’d definitely be telling someone that he’s sick. But he wasn’t about to be the reason that the comeback got delayed. He put his bag down and began stretching with the others.
It wasn’t until a couple hours into practice that Beomgyu started to really feel sick. It was becoming increasingly harder to stay on beat with the others, and he had developed another headache. It eventually got to the point where Yeonjun decided to stop the music so the group could take five. Beomgyu went to grab his water bottle and found himself getting dizzy as he stood up.
The other four members had all gotten their own water bottles and began chatting. “Soobin, something’s off with Beomgyu. He’s not normally this sloppy with his choreography.” Yeonjun commented. The others nodded in agreement, and Soobin decided to talk to the younger about it. Before Soobin had a chance to turn around however, a loud thud could be heard, startling the other members. All four of them turned to the direction of the sound then ran over to where Beomgyu lay collapsed on the ground.
Taehyun was the first to get to the elder member, and immediately placed his hand on Beomgyu’s forehead. “Shit. Hyungs, he’s majorly burning up.” That got the attention of the others, who all went into action. Mostly just wetting their towels or looking for ice packs. During the chaos, Beomgyu groaned and tried to sit up. Only to have Taehyun shove him back down to the floor. “Hyung, you just collapsed, you are not getting up until you’ve had a few minutes to rest.” Beomgyu looked at Taehyun a little blearily, but nodded nonetheless.
The other three returned with their items and looked relieved that Beomgyu was awake. They still made Beomgyu take his shirt off to help cool him off and Kai began wiping his sick hyung down with a wet towel.
“Beomgyu, people don’t develop a fever that high that quickly. How long have you been sick?” Soobin asked voice incredibly stern compared to what it normally is. Beomgyu looked down at his hands. “I’ve been sick for a couple of days. My temperature wasn’t too bad in the beginning, but it’s slowly been going up.” Soobin sighed as he grabbed his phone and called the groups manager. Meanwhile, Yeonjun was looking mad.
“Beommie, I love you, but you’re an idiot. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to let a fever get too high? Not to mention the fact that you could have seriously injured yourself if you became too out of it.” Yeonjun only paused long enough to take a breath. “Seriously Gyu what could have possibly gone through your-” Yeonjun was cut off in his lecturing by a sob.
The eldest stopped to see Taehyun and Kai comforting Beomgyu as he broke down in tears.
“I’m so-sorry hyung. I just didn’t want to ruin th-the comeback.” Yeonjun’s eyes softened and he instantly began apologizing. It took a moment for Beomgyu to calm down. At roughly the same time, Soobin finished talking with the manager.
“Okay, so manager-nim said that they’re going to push the comeback to next week. And before you stop beating yourself about it, it is not your fault. Illness happens. It wouldn’t be the first time that a comeback got postponed due to illness.” Soobin had a point, and Beomgyu nodded in response.
Yeonjun began to pack up his and Beomgyu’s bags and the two maknaes helped Beomgyu stand up “Let’s get you home, so you can get some proper rest and get better.” Beomgyu nodded, glad to hear that he would be able to sleep in his bed.
The ride to the dorms was relatively quiet as Beomgyu had fallen asleep and the others didn’t want to wake him up. Taehyun carried him to his bed, and as he tucked him in the sickie stirred a little. “M’ sorry again for screwing up the comeback.” Taehyun ran his fingers through the elder’s hair. “Like Soobin said hyung, it’s not your fault that you’re sick. These things happen, and now you just need to focus on getting better. By the time the eldest 2002 liner finished talking, Beomgyu had fallen back asleep and had begun snoring
The following days were spent with Beomgyu primarily just staying in his bed and going between sleeping and eating. Yeonjun had felt bad enough about making the sickie cry that he had essentially become Beomgyu’s personal assistant. However, after the first day of proper rest, Beomgyu’s temperature had dropped significantly. Suggesting that his fever had been caused by stress.
That epiphany made Beomgyu apologize even more about their postponed comeback, because it meant that had he just told everyone he had a fever when he first developed it, the comeback wouldn’t have needed to be postponed to begin with. All it took to shut him up was Kai pointing out that in that scenario Beomgyu could still be sick and a day of rest followed by intense comeback schedule could potentially land them in the same boat they’re in now. So Beomgyu dropped the topic.
Beomgyu had however, gone onto weverse and apologized to MOA about getting sick, and was only met with ‘get well’ wishes. Beomgyu was back to full health by the time the new comeback date arrived and he made sure to put his all into the promotion schedules.