Chapter Text
It’s not that his day had started off great, in fact Jin had thought that his day couldn’t possibly be worse after he’d spent the entire early hours of the morning hunched over steaming bowls, desperate to relieve himself of the heavy congestion that had materialized the night before. But unfortunately, he stood corrected.
Namjoon had barely let him get a word in when he’d called later that morning, pleading for the elder to come into work. Jin was pretty sure his cousin hadn’t heard a single word he’d said when he’d tried to explain that he couldn’t just come. He was technically on holiday, and most importantly, he was sick.
The only answer he received was more adamant pleas and passionately descriptive threats towards the floor manager that had apparently quit on the spot after getting into an argument with their bartender an hour after opening, and two part-time waitresses that had been slacking the past few weeks and had finally decided to stop coming.
“Hyung, please. I can’t cover this afternoon and no one else is available.”
Jin regrets ever deciding to work with family.
He was a health hazard at the moment, but what else was Namjoon going to do? There was no other stand in for the position – despite what Taehyung liked to believe when offering his own services. [The youngest of the three cousins was absolute shit at management, even if he did somehow make every customer fall to the charms of his personality.] So as much as he wanted to strongly decline and tell Joonie to kindly piss off, he wasn’t going to. Because that would cause even more unnecessary stress.
Resting his head on his kitchen table, his slouched frame aching in his seat with a mug of cooling tea loosely grasped in his hand. Jin coughed out an exhausted ‘okay’ and hung up to Namjoon telling him to come in at 3.
This day was definitely going to get worse, not to mention he had not yet told his boyfriend about how he felt, or that he had come back from visiting his parents early… In the completely unrelated situation of ‘hiding his problems’, he had hoped that being home could be a surprise later on, once a few days of rest and health had been achieved – maybe like a little blessing after the long hours Yoongi had been working, but it appeared his wishes would be ungranted and he could only hope Yoongi wouldn’t be too angry or disappointed that he wasn’t told sooner.
Jin sipped at his tea, the taste disgustingly bland as he struggled to make out the time on his phone. The glaring light didn’t help with how the numbers and apps on his screen seemed to reach in and out of focus but eventually he was able to see that he had a few hours still to go. Who knows, maybe he’d be able to pull it off once he takes another dose of medicine and a much needed shower.
Miracles were possible.
**
He was late. Only by ten minutes, but it still hardly ever happened.
Usually he would be present and in the kitchen by one, overseeing some prep work before sinking into his duties as head chef. Usually he’d be well into the routine of teasing the sous chefs while getting into the motion of the next dish to be sent out or cracking jokes to the waiters as they handed over their tickets if the orders were quiet. Now he wasn’t even going to be in the kitchen – although, once again, the flaring signs of health hazard flashed through his mind. So that was probably for the best.
He scrubbed at his nose with a tissue as he moved towards the back door, his mask pulled beneath his chin after having blown his nose at least four times before leaving his car. He didn’t even want to imagine what he must have looked like. There was no way his last-minute make up was going to hold through this shift and he could already feel a headache sinking its claws in deep despite the tablets he’d swallowed before leaving his apartment. Just an added blessing to this night.
Jin could hear the staff before he could see them, the kitchen barking out orders and times to each other. He could vaguely make out Yoongi’s low grumbling, masked by Hoseok’s booming projections and laughter, and he couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at his lips. How those two managed to work so well together was a factor none of them could really figure out. For a time everyone on the staff was sure it was because of Jin but he knew that wasn’t the case – him currently not being there just showed as proof that he wasn’t some type of ‘glue’.
The chef gave his nose one final rub, despising the itchy heaviness in his sinuses, before he pulled his mask back up and shoved the tissue into the deep pockets of his coat – accompanying the rest of his stash of tissues and cough drops.
He pushed open the door after a soft knock and was flooded with the sight of bustling staff and bright white fluorescent lights. He had to squint and rest a finger to his nose to hold off the need to sneeze while he quickly gave a brief half bow to a waiter as they dashed past him, and then again towards the kitchen when he heard Yoongi call out to him with bemusement. Jin would try to have a word with him later, but it would have to wait a little bit longer. He had a job to do first.
“Seokjin-hyung!”
Jin had managed a weak smile towards Yoongi just before he moved out of the staff area and onto the floor towards the familiar voice of Namjoon, where he met the eyes of his cousin standing by the bar with Jimin. Jin lifted his hand in greeting before coughing into his fist, vaguely hearing Hoseok scold Yoongi in the distance about over cooking a steak.
“Hey,” he sniffed as he stopped just beside them. Ignoring the look of concern and guilt that flashed in the respective eyes of the pair. He nodded to the list in Jimin’s hands. “Restocking?”
“Yeah… we had some huge reservations the past few days and I’m practically moving onto the last of what we have.” Jimin pulled a face that had Jin smiling.
The bartender was surprisingly hateful towards restocking the bar, apparently whenever he did it one of the other bartenders on a different shift would playfully cuss him out and do it ‘the correct way’, undoing everything he had done no matter how sure he was on having gotten it right.
“Let me know if you need any help with it then.”
Jimin nodded with a soft smile but the look in his eyes seemed to stay wary with concern.
“Jimin, can you let Tae know that Jin is on shift now, I need to get going.” Namjoon moved away from behind the counter and set his palm to the small of Jin’s back, steering him to follow. “I’m really sorry for calling you in, Hyung. Nothing is really going to plan this week. It shouldn’t be too bad though – hopefully. Taehyung is working double shifts on the floor to pick up wherever there may be slack, and the kitchen and the bar should handle themselves relatively smoothly, so I’m praying nothing else goes sideways.”
“Aren’t you atheist?”
“I am Praying , hyung. And I am very stressed.”
Jin chuckled which quickly dissolved into a deep cough that had Joon rubbing his back as they walked, quickly moving out of the sight of customers and behind the closed door of their small managing office. He automatically collapsed into the office chair while Namjoon scrambled together some papers and slid them into a file before shoving them into his bag.
“It really shouldn’t be too busy tonight, there’s a couple reservations - two of them are fairly large groups so maybe keep an eye on Tae if he needs help there, and just generally see everything over smoothly … Mostly I need you here just in case something goes wrong, I’m sure it won’t but I really need the security just in case… And if-“
“I get it, Namjoon.” Jin smiled tightly as he cut off his cousins rambling. “I know how the job works. I’ll update you by the end of the night.”
Namjoon let out a relieved breath, an invisible weight lifting off of him. He didn’t know what he’d do if he didn’t have Jin working with him. His cousin was the constant pillar of reliability that he needed to be sane, and he would never not be grateful. “Right. Well, I leave you then. I’m really sorry about calling you in, hyung.” Namjoon said, his voice softer and less frantic than before as he watched Jin pull his mask down to press a tissue hastily to his nose just in time to catch a hoarse, breathy sneeze. “Jimin keeps lemon and ginger stacked behind the bar if you need something in a warm drink, okay? Don’t push too hard and just-“
“Namjoon.” Jin groaned with an unhelpful sniffle.
“Okay okay, I’m going.” Joon double checked his things. Triple checked, then left Jin in a rush of motion and low mutterings about being late.
**
H’I DZZSH H’UH…hhh’he IDCH SHHHEWW… Hh..hnn. .
“Jin?”
He’eeI DCHSHHH’uh.. Ugh…
“Hyungie.. What are you doing here?”
Jin flushed as he felt a familiar hand brush through his hair, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet his boyfriend's eyes. Technically Yoongi should be in the kitchen, their relationship wasn’t supposed to be shown at work, but the younger man didn’t seem to care. Yoongi reached out to pull Jin’s hands from his face only to be met with firm resistance.
“Hey… I have some tissues, let's clean you up a bit, yeah? Why are you working when you’re sick? Why are you working at all? I thought you were supposed to still be with your parents?”
After another plea and gentle tug Jin lowered his hands with shame as Yoongi immediately pressed a tissue to his nose, wiping the red skin softly before returning with a fresh tissue and demanding Jin to blow.
“I came back early because I thought I was getting sick.” Jin replied once the younger pulled away, coughing deeply before sinking back into his chair. “And then Joonie needed help. There was no one else.”
Yoongi gave a low hum as he tossed the tissues in the bin before resting against the desk with his arms crossed over his chest. Jin tried not to focus on the bare skin of his boyfriends forearms, distracting as they may be, the expressionless face that held the faintest of pouts conveyed all the disapproval Jin needed to know on the matter.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything, I just didn’t think I’d feel that bad.” Jin lied, then cringed as Yoongi’s gaze narrowed sharply. “I swear I got home late last night and went straight to bed, I would have probably caved some time during the day and called you, if I didn’t have to come in that is.”
There was a soft sigh and then Yoongi was behind him, running a hand through the elders hair before settling on his broad shoulders. Jin closed his eyes and melted beneath the touch.
“You shouldn’t be here, baby… Jimin can do the end of day cash up and there are only a few reservations, Tae can handle those if there are any problems, your cousin is annoyingly great at customer service… Joon needs to take a breath and admit that this place won’t fall apart if one thing doesn’t go to plan. There are so many staff that are capable of standing in, it doesn’t need to be you just because you’re a co-owner.” Yoongi let his words settle, waiting for the soft hum that signaled he was being heard before continuing. “This was irresponsible of both you and Joon, but I can’t exactly be mad at you. You look awful.”
Jin choked out a hoarse laugh. “Liar. I’m beautiful.. Worldwide handsome.”
“You’re a worldwide pain in my ass, idiot.”